My Heart Collective Charm Swap....

It was another hot day here today and is still very warm tonight. It was the kind of day where even walking in my barefeet...my feet were still sweaty, ick :P ( now there's a pretty picture to envision lol ! )

A short while ago I friended a wonderful artist, Julee Hermann, on Facebook. She was having a charm swap on her Heart Collective FB page. June 6 is the mailing deadline and I only had 2 charms to make.

Here you can see the 3 charms I created last year, using computer & jewelry bits, foil, glitter & a few vintage images/words. They were made using vintage wooden game piece tiles, there's 2 I put out to show you.
I first remove the shiny coating with sandpaper and then glue on the homeade bales. Sometimes I'll even glue a round mini mirror on the back --which I've done for these 5. The charms will each be different in designs but have the same base ( game piece ), mirror and bales ( even though 2 of the 5 bales will be blue instead of silver wire ).


Tonight I thought I'd show you how I made the last 2 charms --but I realised the pic. of the 5th. charm showed I hadn't finished the edges, so that one I will show you tomorrow :)

This charm I'm calling 'Starshine'. The silver glittery star was a perfect backdrop for the silvertoned rose earring bit. Game piece was painted black. A vintage Kodachrome slide is a nice neat addition.

I then created my version of a starfield by dabbing drops of white paint and then spattering with a wet paintbrush on both tile and slide. Once dry I brushed on a thin layer of satin varnish and then sprinkled on a touch of holographic glitter

Slide edges were painted black and then all was glued in place and more dabs of white paint, spatter and glitter added. Although mostly concealed, you can just make out the ever so slight 3d effect from the 'stars' on the game piece shining through the slide.

Gloss varnish finishes it off, not quite dry in this pic.

Check back tomorrow to see the 5th. charm, my most favorite one :)

Mary's Felties, Charms and the answer to "what was that felt thing" ?

Hi all ! Been a few days since popping over here :) So I've got a long one for you today and it's filled with fun treasures woohoo !

I would like to introduce you to a wonderful new Etsy creator and seller, her name is Mary and her shop is:

♥~~HappyFelties.etsy.com~~♥

Mary makes wonderfully whimsical and detailed wee felty characters, using a wide variety of colorful felt and definately a happy imagination.

I found her while I was trying to get an idea of prices for felt brooches. Her bright colors immediately caught my attention and I couldn't resist buying one of her creations. The wee blue cat was listed as 'Its good to be blue happy feltie cat brooch'. I'm still wearing as I type and won't be taking it off anytime soon.

Please go on, go on and check out her delightful wares. You won't be disappointed, a wonderful shop and wonderful seller and wonderful packaging too !

Mary, in the memorable words of Ahny "I'll be back" :) ♥

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So, what are these charms ?

Well you may remember when Amber Dawn had her International Charm Swap ? ( April 28 ).

Today I received these lovelies and am so delighted with them ! The first lot are from Lorraine who lives in Liverpool England ! I love the eclecticness of these pieces and plan to wear them as a trio with added beads, will show a pic. later on. The atc ( artist trading card ) was such a beautiful addition, it will be sitting along with my other atcs in my art room :)

Please, pop on over to her wonderful blog and Etsy shop ( see pic. below ), she makes huggable shoulder bags and enchanting art bags --even ones for ATCs ! Thank-you Lorraine !♥

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Who's next ? Well it's a very sweet birdy charm from Pat Winter ! Isn't it precious ? This is one of her charms she was offering for the Charm Day, thank-you Pat :) I love the wee ribbon work, little blue 'egg', little bird, everything !

I plan to add this charm along with some of my other bird inspired charms, probably make a necklace or brooch for me to show off.

Pat creates wonders with fabric and thread, you'll be amazed at her ribbonwork. Please check out her Etsy shop ( and her Fairy brooches ) won't you: Patwintergatherings.etsy.com

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So here is the unknown creature from my prev. post. Say hello to Charlie the crow :) At first he was a raven, but the more I sewed, the more he began looking like the crow from an aceo I made several years ago. So now he's a crow.

Hee-hee, isn't he a sweety ? Crows and ravens are my absolute fav. birds ( next favs. are swallows and owls ). I find crows and ravens such intelligent creatures and rather whimsical too. One time, while driving somewhere, I noticed on the side of the road a pair of crows. One had it's head lowered while the other was very gently preening it, almost as if it was kissing the top of it's head. When the preening crow would look away, the other crow would wiggle over and gently nudge him for more 'kissing'. My heart melted, the sweetest thing I ever did see. Apparantly crows and ravens mate for life, another reason why I love them so much.

So when it comes time to call my husband and I a pair of 'old crows', well I certainly won't be insulted lol :)

Wee Charlie here took a lot longer to make than I thought ! Part lots of handsewing and part procrastination :P

The sequins came from my birthgrandmothers stash and outline his wing. I dabbed on some shimmery purple and black paint along his back, you know how crows and ravens have those blue-black feathers. His feet were fun to make, out of copper wire and then wrapped with DMC floss. I was going to paint his toenails black but decided the copper gave them a bit of punch. His funny smile was lined with beads for additional glimmer. Oh how I love this fella ! I finished him off by sewing on a simple safety pin. He is puffy and is meant to 'stand out' from wherever you pin him, not flat at all !

Oh, the glittery black fabric came from my garbage bag of fabric scraps. This particular piece belonged to my dear friend Kris.

Funny how you think you don't want certain things ( like fabric scraps ) and then a couple of years later you're so glad you kept them !

I look forward to making more crows for you :) Why not pop over and check him out in my shop:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25142810

Now it's time for me to get cracking on Christians printed tshirt. We're going to Video Games Live on Thurs. and he wants a Resident Evil shirt. I'll post pics. of it later :)

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Showing off some charms today --a long post !

It's INTERNATIONAL CHARM DAY TODAY ! A big THANK-YOU to Amber Dawn of Inventive Soul for starting this fun event ( you can click on her link in the links list, or click on the Charm Day image upper right ). Hopefully it will become a yearly event too :)

So okay, I'm off to a slow start. It's 10:33 a.m. as I write this, been feeling just a wee bit under the weather but nothing that a good hot cup of tea won't cure.

Let's first start off with the charm I'm offering as a prize, woohoo ! I posted it yesterday too, and all you have to do is leave a comment either on the post below or on this one. When our son comes home from school today ( around 2:40 ), I will get him to pick a name ( names will be on paper and placed in a bowl ). The winner will be announced here in a new blog post, so check back by 3 p.m. ( pacific time ) to see if you're the lucky recipient of this fun charm !

These are Scrabble charms using actual vintage Scrabble tiles I found at a flea market several years ago. Last year I was all 'gung-ho' about starting my own style of Scrabble tile charms on Etsy, but it didn't last long because I just got bored. Yup, bored. As much as I love working in small format, these proved to be a bit too small for my liking. So I pulled them out of my shop and have decided to use them in other ways.

On these tiles I used a variety of items, from stars, to lace to vintage 1950's Popular Science magazines. The bales are handmade from sterling silver wire and then glued ( E6000 ) to back. Some tiles have a layer of Triple Thick gel gloss, others were sealed with a ployurethane varnish.

This goofy fun charm was a test. I had this acrylic chandelier pendant just hanging around and wanted to see how well it would accept an ink jet copy of part of one of my vintage valentines. But before I glued on the image ( using Crafter's Pick The Ultimate Glue ), I first glued on individual letters from a vintage dictionary, spelling out 'That's a spicy meatball'. Then I glued on the image and waited. Well, for some unknown reason the image peeled off after 2 days of drying ! The letters stayed firm. I decided to reglue the image ( same glue ) and waited about 4 days. This time it stayed stuck and I then dabbed some orange and pink glitter around the edges, painted back of crystal with Halo Gold Lumiere paint and sealed the back, really well, with polyurethane varnish. It's now been a couple of months and so far nothing has come loose, phew !

The other 'charms' you see were my attempt at Sculpey mini-foods. I've made several cupcakes using various beads, glitter, etc...a couple of donuts and my most fav. piece: a chocolate covered cherry ! The heart was just something random, mixing glitter into the clay and sprinkling on top before baking. And to let you know, I first tried pushing in hardware hooks but soon switched to homemade hooks. The hardware ones would split the clay, you can just make out a split on the donut.

Here is another test charm, using a vintage Buss Fuses container ( about 2" long and 1.5" wide ). I found it in my dear dads pile of woodshop junk and fell in love with its possibilities. There were a couple of fuses left so I took one, along with glitter and stars, layered it inside the clear plastic fuse case and covered all with a big dose of Triple Thick Gloss gel. The handmade copper bale was attached via two small drilled holes and glued with E6000.

Well, unfortunately I'm not super fond of this charm. I was hoping the glitter would be much glitterier and the fuse a bit more obvious. Plus, the coloring on the plastic stars began to come off and seep into the gel. Sigh. Oh well, it was a test piece and I can always remove the Buss Fuses box and use somewhere else. For now I may still wear as a charm but add some other funky charms along with it.

This is one of my favorite charms ! I should have taken a before shot of this pendant, darn :P
It started off as a plain clear glass 'intaglio' ( I believe that is what the cameo is, carved into the glass from the back ), the surrounding was a dull silver colored filigree metal. The cameo was quite easy to remove simply by rasing the prongs. My dear friend gave me some purple silk which I had to use on this cameo ! But first I glued some golden stars around the cameo edge, along with glitter of course, and then glued the fabric over the back. Once fully dry I sealed the back with several layers of varnish to 'tighten up' the fabric. The silver colored filigree surround was painted with Lumiere paint ( a rich gold purple ) and then I hand sewed a variety of beads and plastic stars, sealing with more varnish and finishing with a lovely rich purple metal rose. I just LOVE this charm !! If I could find more I would be in heaven :) I'm not a sewer, but sitting there, sewing on those beads, etc...was so very relaxing, and seeing it come together so prettily WHILE I was sewing, what a thrill !
I am contemplating whether or not to sell one of my Charmblies with this charm ( a Charmbly is a whimsical paper dolly that comes with it's own charm, in my Etsy shop ). If I come across more 'sewable' pendants like this, then I'll go for it. For now it's mine :)


These fun charms will soon grace my Charmblies in my Etsy shop.
--'Be the author of your own love story' was made with Scrabble tiles and using faux gems, pink bugle beads, a wee bit of pink glitter, paper, heart charm and words from some vintage book ( don't remember which one ).
--'I am' was created on the backside of a plastic eyeglass lens, using vintage 'magic numbers' paper ( it came from my 1970's Magic Hat toy ), the eye came from a vintage advert. about hypnosis, the word 'am' also vintage paper and the red 'burst effect' from a bag of super fun paper cutouts I found at Michaels ( sometimes they do have fun stuff ! ). Edged with black paint and sealed on the back. Not yet complete, I may add other smaller charms to it.
--'Marilyn' was one of those 'let's see how fast I can make a charm' challenges ( just a personal thing I like to do ). I think Marilyn was created in an hour. Her image was slightly altered to give her pink hair ( a light wash of watered down paint ) and then faux pink gems attached. I glued her to some recycled cereal box, added pink glitter and handsewed some thick pink thread around the edges. A pink anodized jump ring hangs from the thread and below dangles a plastic 'lucite style' heart on which I used a pink Zig marker on one side only ( really makes the pink POp ! ). Marker was covered with a coating of Triple Thick. Charm was finished with a rather wonky looking large pink eyelet ( I do okay with small ones but these large ones never work out properly for me, they always get that raised edge. Is that normal ? ) and handmade wire 'jump ring'. Oh, forgot to mention the cereal box back was covered with pink plum blossom paper. FuN !

Finally, these are shrinky dink charms I made from a computer collage using some of my own photos and collected images. You can see my original shrink plastic collage pendant ( with these images ) in my Etsy shop, it's called 'getting to the other side'. These two future charms ended up being too small for my liking ( wasgoing to use individually ) so I may create soome kind of fun dangly thing with both of them.

Hopefull you can click to enlarge these pictures. If they are clickable but look the same size, sometimes you can make them larger by clicking the zoom button on your monitor. Look for a small magnifying glass image on the bottom right, it will say 100% next to it. Click on it and you can enlarge the picture 125% or 150%. And as always, photos don't do any justice, these creations look much more awesome when in 3d :)

Wow ! There you go ! I'm tempted to post more charm pics., maybe when I post the winner of the playing card charm later this afternoon.

I hope you enjoyed going through my wee stash 'o charms and their descriptions, maybe they inspired you to make more of your own charms or start your first one.....? Would love to see a pic. if you do feel like creating :)

So HAPPY CHARM DAY EVERYONE !!!!!

---now go and leave a comment so I can put your name in to win my playing card charm :)

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A birthmom, a nest and a charm to win !

I am thrilled to show off my birthmom to you :) We had our first meeting last Thursday on a lovely sunny day at Island View Beach ( in Saanichton British Columbia ). We sat, gabbed and ate lunch munchies on a log from noon until just after 5, boy was me bum tender ! Then Judy came back home with me where she got to meet my husband Jacques and our son Christian :) It was all so very wonderful, lots of smiling and laughing.
Of course I couldn't help but wonder what similarities we had. Judy enjoys whimsy, crows and ravens, among many other things.
Although I will always love my quiet time, I do look forward to her and I becoming good friends :) I believe my dear mom and dad, now both passed, have had a spiritual helping hand in this meeting and that of my birthfather. It's rather amazing that in less than a year I've been reunited with both of them !!

This perfectly made robins nest was found in our large cedar tree that grows in front of our living room window. Photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. My husband has since taken another photo a couple of days ago, the nest was housing 1 brand new baby robin and 2 robin eggs. I'll get the photo up asap !



*♥*♥*Okay folks ! Here is one of my charms I'm previewing the day before CHARM DAY APRIL 28th !*♥*♥* AND YOU COULD WIN IT !! Please see my last blog about this special fun day or click on the link to your top right.

This charm was made in 2006, using a playing card, wire, broken jewellery bits, faux gems and shell-like 'chips' ( or teeth is what I call them ), along with dabs of paint. The card was attached to the back of some peel and stick floor tile ( remnants from when I was a teenager back in the '80's and wanted to move downstairs. My dear dad created a black and white checkerboard floor for me ).
This is definately considered an 'altered art' charm because of 'altering' the playing card into something other than it's normal use. It's 6" long and 3" wide with the wire. Make a necklace, hang in your window, turn into a magnet, whatever you wish :)

Would you like to win this charm ? All you need to do is leave a wee comment on either this post or tomorrows post. When our son comes home from school Tuesday afternoon, I'll get him to draw a name from a dish. Good luck !!

It's Charmbly Time !

Well I've FINALLY begun listing my Charmblies, yay :) What a nice feeling too, after almost a year of digging out from under my dear moms passing, house moving and renos. Good sigh.

These new creations are such a joy to make, I'm sure some of it has rubbed off on them. All the paper dollies start off as bits of cereal box or other sturdy & recyclable cardboard. The pieces are cut out and then the fun begins, using various papers from my large stash. I have around 30 National Geographics from the 30's to late 40's I can't wait to use, along with scrapbook papers, dictionary, old magazines and more. The goofy heads are printed off, sealed to cardboard and attached. I may add a wee bit more whimsy to them too, and every head has a little heart attached. Each dolly comes with it's own cupcake charm. I was going to create cupcakes, donuts and chocolate covered cherries and sell 3 pieces with the dolls, but then again I was getting in over my head, so found a happy medium by creating only cupcakes. The altered art charms will all be different, using whatever crosses my path. My poor art desk is already crammed with wonderful artsy crap that, so far, I've not had to move too far to find the bits & baubles for the charms ! But I am beginning to feel somewhat cramped, because now my once lovely large desk has me down to a few inches. But it's all good woohoo !

For now there are 2 Charmbly listings in my Etsy shop, another one or two on Friday ( the giraffe is next, then maybe Clara Bow ). I'm now searching out a whimsical image of a male wearing a top hat, but so far they've been rather dull or their heads are turned sideways. It'll happen.

It's almost midnight here and our son has one more day of school until his fun weekend, he's going for a sleepover woohoo ! So off to bed I go ♥

My art mojo is back !

Posting a quicky today. Thought I'd let you know that I'm no longer worried about the loss of my art mojo, because it's back woohoo !
I discovered one of the reasons why I wasn't creating ( among the house renos and boxes of my parents stuff to still go through ) was that i was trying to create too many different things. My art room is full of different things to alter, plenty of watch parts, jewellry bits, papers, cards, beads, buttons, ribbons, you name I probably have it. And it became overwhelming. So I had a good long talk with myself the other night ( yes it really does help to talk out loud to yourself ) and figured out that I need to work 'small' and stick with working 'small'. Soooo, my new work will be charms, fun things attached to recycled backgrounds like bottle caps, tin lids, etc...Just charms, no complicated necklaces, no more brooches, boxes or other items I tend to overdo and then wonder why I'm not making as much as I'd like. Oh I may try to the odd different piece here and there, but my heart is into charms :)

I'll keep you posted ! Now back to arting....:)

A couple more upcoming creations....

Looks like the number 8 is popular with these two upcoming pieces for Etsy.

The bejewelled piece is upside down for a glued piece to dry. I'm calling it Number 8 Cog House. My other wee goody is another of my Rummy Charms. This one will have a key and hopefully look like something from an old hotel.

A quick blurb today !

Smashed Bookmarks, Puckered Lips Popcorn and a Partridge ( not in a pear tree )...

Our family has been rather busy what with Christmas and all, so I'm putting aside my weightloss challenge until after Christmas but I will try to stay on track food wise. Okay, okay, I'll admit I've been digging into the chocolate wafers I use for my Smashed Bookmarks.

Smashed Bookmarks ??? Yes, there's an image above showing you a 'hint'. Our son Christian and I took hammers and flattened some spoons to make into bookmarks, but there's a sweet addition too. You're just going to have to pop over to my Etsy shop www.ravensmagiclantern.etsy.com to check them out ;)

Well Christian is now taking cooking lessons in Grade 6. Here you see him making us some flavored popcorn. I guess his teacher has yet to teach them about using 'large quantities of margarine' lol ! This popcorn had at least 2 big tblspns. of marg. and then smothered with brown sugar, cinnamon sugar and garlic salt. Oh my it definately was salty but oh was it good ! We were smacking our lips after a few handfuls and had to gulp down a ton of water, but it was worth it.

He has since gone on to making grilled cheese sandwiches and 'Egg McBayside's' --Bayside is the name of his school and they made a faux version of an Egg McMuffin using a microwave. He can also make his own mac n' cheese ( the Kraft stuff ) and all we do is make sure he drains the macaroni all into the collander instead of the sink.

It's a real joy seeing him grow and learn all these new things !

Finally, you may remember I joined an Artful Christmas Swap ( see link in list ) and have since received the package of gifts. Well today was day one of gift opening woohoo !

The first gift #1 was from Jennifer Conway, another fabulous Etsy artist: www.jenniferconway.etsy.com do go and check out her wonderful shop !! She made a fab. and fun sweet partridge which is coated in beeswax. I really adore it ! THANK-YOU Jennifer for the wonderful partridge, it will be a permanent part of my Christmas display :)

Saturday will be the opening of gift #2 so keep your eyes open for pics.

Have a good night all :)