Sneak peek at fresh pendants with a vintage touch

Yay, I'm slowly getting some fresh new pendants created, finally. My vintage shop was taking over there for a bit while my art shop was gathering dust.

This pendant was the first made, using a pink and white flowered plastic surround ( purchased from MimiLoLo ) . The white was painted black with black glitter, I drilled a hole for a jump ring instead of a bail & finished it with 6 dark pink rhinestones. Printed images were collaged onto the glass cabochon, love the Eiffel Tower ! BUT...and this is where I get really picky...if you look closely you can see the Eiffel image is not straight and there's dried glue around the image. It's the image not being straight that bothers me the most, so maybe I'll still list the necklace but as one of those 'OOPS' items that's been discounted ? It bothers me THAT much yet it's too nice to take apart. We'll see.

Now this pendant is one of my favorites. I'm calling it 'Foreign Object in Eye' because the image came directly from a 1959 St.John Ambulance course book & shows a person putting a matchstick over the eye & then rolling the lid up, to get to the foreign object. Kinda different but hey, I'm kinda different too & think oddball items like this are fun. So, am I being picky about THIS pendant ? Ummmmm, it looks great left as it is but I'm wondering if I should attach a lobster clasp to the ballchain. It's a 24" chain, slips on/off the head but opening the ballchain can be a little difficult because of it being the tiny 1.5mm chain. Like I wrote above -- We'll see :)

And finally is this neat-o piece. 'Skywaymen' was taken directly from a 1930's Boy's Own Paper book ( B.O.P's 'The Skywaymen' was some group you could join to become a remote control pilot ) and decoupaged on to a piece of brass which I hand cut & etched with my dremel. That's all I've done so far. The brass edges will need to be smoothed down. It will become a necklace but it needs some bits attached to it, maybe some gears dangling below ? I don't want to go overboard but it's definately calling for more of something. Rivets would look cool  but they'd have to be teeny-tiny ones which I don't have, Hmmmm, I could glue it onto another piece of brass and then rivet the fresh brass ? Can't wait to see how this turns out.

What I'm Working on Right Now....

Hi everyone ! Always amazes me how time flies by. We've been busy with finishing up the gardening, the Halloween thing, family life, etc... and now here we are in that pre-Christmas, pre-holiday mode, with hot chocolate weather over here, and I'm looking forward to decorating woohoo ! --though I won't start until the beginning of December. I've a decorating project waiting to start, a tabletop thrift shop Christmas tree will be spray painted white, then I'll add some white mini lights and festoon it with lots of bright ball decorations. I got the idea from a recent magazine which showed off some unique trees, their large white tree with the bright ball decorations took my breath away ! Of course it was sitting in a much fancier hallway to add to the breathtaking effect ;) I just liked the look of the tree and will display it in our entryway, I'll take a before and after pic. for you.

So I have a few art projects on the go. For awhile I decided to stop making large altered art items, due to the higher shipping costs. After some time I decided to heck with what the shipping costs and just make what I love, what comes naturally to me. I'm a funny bunny, getting all concerned over shipping instead of thinking that someone might say "oooooh I really like what she's done and really want it ". If other's can list their large art pieces then so can I, so there !

Okay, here are a few shots of upcoming items. The first photos are of a pink plastic heart shaped music box I found in a thrift shop a few years back ( the lid was plain pink, I've since decoupaged the gold & floral paper ) with a cheap light pink felt lining which I've recovered with a real piece of velvet in fuschia.
Since Monday the box has been surrounded in red glitter, pink sequins, pink gel glue, glittered nest with a bird which I handpainted pink ( was orange ), pink blossoms on plastic green stems which I've flocked brown, vintage faux pearls, stars, glitter and more. I'll post the finished box in the next couple of days. It's gloriously gaudy !

The next project is much simpler, using a pretty pink mother of pearl-style cameo pendant around which I've attached pink rhinestones. I'm not yet sure what else I want to add, maybe a lush layer of lace ? We'll see :)

So now I'm off to make a nice cuppa tea. It's a blustery rainy day here, perfect for a big pot of hot vanilla chocolate, popcorn, a cuddly blanket and fun Christmas movies...maybe on the weekend. Until then I need to get these art projects done and find some vintage treasures to list in my vintage shop.

Take care all. I'll be back with shots of the finished projects ~♥~

" I'll have more poo please "

Hello hello helloooo :)

Ever eaten the poo from kittly litter ? How about munching on some chopped fingers or carefully munching the ear wax from Q-tips ?
Well I did that tonight and let me tell ya, I'm a changed woman ! Oh yes. One bite of cat poo and the universe sang. The chopped fingers tasted just like chicken and the ear wax....apart from bits of it still stuck in my teeth, I am truly speechless. Really, I kid you not.

Supposedly this food is quite rare and only comes out once a year. It's appearance happens on an odd day called 'Halloween' every October 31st., a day and night where humans can dress in strange, freaky, horrific, funny things called costumes and then go around to various abodes ( usually in the evening ) where they yell at the occupants "Trick or Treat !" and then hold out open containers in the form of buckets, bags or pillow cases with the hopes of getting some kind of sweet and/or salty treat tossed in. This can go on for a few hours !

Okay, getting back to the poo and such....

I decided to try my hand at making these 'rare' foods for our son's school lunch -which happens to be on Halloween- and had a jolly good time. The poo isn't really poo sillies ! Hee-hee ! No, it's actually lightly melted and then molded Tootsie Rolls which are then creatively placed on top of ( some slightly immersed ) a cake covered with what looks like cat litter -BUT- our son is not a fan of cake ( except ice cream ) so I made a layer of chocolate pudding followed by butterscotch pudding and then covered with a mix of lightly pulverized oatmeal & pulverized oatmeal cookies. It tastes quite....tasty.
WARNING: when Tootsie Rolls are slightly warmed up and then pulled and reshaped, they re-harden harder than an unwarmed Tootsie Roll. So for those with dentures, you'll need extra Polident ! I don't have dentures but found I had to chew my cat poo a little slower than usual because I don't like the sensation of pulled fillings:

Now how about those chopped fingers ? Did I say they tasted like chicken ? Ha-haaa, nope. They taste like cheese, mozzarella to be exact.
I took mozza cheese strings, casually gave the ends quick rough cuts to make them look more finger-like and then took the middle & gave it a slow twist so when it broke in half the ends would look ragged. I then made nail beds on the rounded finger ends and stuck in half an almond ( you can use whole ones, blanched or slivers too ). A few finger joint creases were made with a knife and then I dipped the chopped ends into hot sauce ( or you could use ketchup, jam, other suaces ). Really easy to make !

Lastly: the ear wax covered Q-tips....yum ! ( imagine John Pinette making his face while saying "Yum !" ). These are a light tasty snack.
I didn't have any toothpicks so I took actual Q-tips and removed the cotton ends, making sure there were no cottony bits remaining on the little white sticks. I then took some mini marshmallows & pushed one on each end of the stick and proceeded to squish the marshies into cotton-looking blobs. The finale was melting an unwrapped caramel -melt until liquidy, about 20 seconds in the micro- and then dipping each Q-tip into the melted caramel creating gobs of rich ear wax. Another simple and fun munchy.

So there you have it. Gross but tasty treats for Halloween, or year round ! Gosh, imagine how your family would react to having kitty litter as a Thanksgiving dessert. How about tossing a few ear wax Q-tips inside a half eaten box of chocolates for your Valentine sweety ? You'll be memorable ;)

Well, bon appetit my friends. Have a safe & fun Halloween boogedy-boogedy-boogedy !

Bored Monkey is excited ! --and my new banner :)

Good day all. Well I finally listed my first diorama necklace, woohoo ! It's called Bored Monkey, quite whimsical, a conversation piece.

 It took me much longer than hoped, but I had to make sure it was created properly. Instead of attaching a bail on to the back of this diorama ( because the backing is just magazine paper & sheet of plastic ), I drilled two holes and inserted some blue anodised aluminum wire to make a 'jump ring hanger'. It occurred to me a day later that the holes needed to be sealed ! Visions of a rain drop finding it's way inside the diorama & possibly causing havoc, oh no ! So I used my fav. awesome adhesive & then added 2 coats of more indoor/outdoor varnish. That should do the trick ! But I recommend this piece still be kept away from water --just to be on the safe side. He's in my Etsy shop with hopes of seeing more of the world & feeling less bored ;D

And here is my fresh new banner for my shop. Yes, it is kinda odd, but that's what I create so why not go all out ;) As much as I like to dream of a perfect neat and tidy shop, selling all the same items, well, ha-ha, I know that will never happen !

This is my banner from before:

Banners are quite easy to make, you just need a good picture editor and patience. Etsy asks your banner to be 760 pixels wide & 100 pixels high.

I use Microsoft Picture It ! Premium 10, it came with the Fuji Finepix camera I purchased over 5 yrs. ago. No it is not Photoshop but it does the trick for me. I'm not sure if Paint would work, you could try.

When I go into my Picture It program I first click on 'New' and then key in the size of what I want. Once that is done i can then go and find the pictures I want to play around with. I don't click the insert pic. button because it inserts the huge version of your pic. and can be a pain with resizing to fit a small area. Simply opening sep. pictures is better because then you can go and crop/change colour/resize/ etc... and then drag it onto your blank page ( or banner ). I tend to play going by the 'trial and error' method and, so far, it seems to work.

Making a banner for my Etsy shop is really fun ! I hope this new one represents my shop whimsiness and 'bazaar' feel.

That's it for today. I'm finishing off more tags, a pair of circus themed tags woohoo !

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday 9a.m. everywhere !!

Yay ! It's that time of year again ! We've had our Canadian Thanksgiving but I'm looking more forward to the U.S. Thanksgiving because of their yearly:
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

woohoo !!

Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate all Thanksgiving days, the turkey, the stuffing, the family and friends. But there's just something aboout having a parade too :)

It's only been in the last 3 years that I've decided to make the Macy's Parade my own personal tradition. My dear husband and son are always at work/school and I'm home working on art creations for my Etsy shop. But now I take that day 'off' and get ready for Christmas --by watching the parade. Before this special day I don't think much about decorating, baking, etc...until after the parade, and then I'm all in that Christmas spirit :)

So for this year's parade I'm whipping up some homemade hot chocolate and maybe even some kind of cookie. After the parade I may head downstairs and start pulling out the Christmas decorations. Ooh it's making me all wiggly.

Drop me a line if you too will be enjoying this event. I wish I was right there for it. Just something about New York.

For our area ( Vancouver Island british Columbia ) you'll be watching either channel 14 (Kiro on CBS) or channel 18 (King NBC)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving U.S.A ! Many blessings for all of you xoooo

Here's even more info. about the parade:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macy's_Thanksgiving_Day_Parade

What my little studio has been enjoying lately....

My art desk has been getting a good workout lately. I've found yet another form of art that i plan to stick with for awhile ( unlike my felt creations ! ).
 I've dubbed this art 'Vintage Reinvented' and it is simply taking my big stash of mostly vintage broken jewelry parts and recreating them into fresh new jewelry.

For the longest time I would use only small pieces of my stash, hesitant to go all out because most of the bits I had only one of and would probably never find another of it's kind again. I also have some pieces that look too pretty to give away, but they're just sitting in one of my drawers. So if I don't make something for myself then why am I keeping such pretty things hidden away ? So what I've been doing is taking out one or two pretty pieces, putting them somewhere visible, leaving them for a day or two to enjoy & decide if I'm going to use them for myself or share. Well I already have quite a few pretty pieces my family & friends have given me and I really don't need anymore in my personal jewelry boxes, so I usually end up choosing to share the other bits. And it's a good feeling transforming these pieces into wonderful, perhaps even magical, wearable 'works of art' with the hopes someone out there will also find them just as magical. I also love to run my hands over the piece before reconstructing it, wondering quietly who the person was that wore it, are they still around, was it a special gift from a friend, a lover, a family member or simply a fun purchase for themselves ? Sometimes my heart will ache from not knowing exactly where it came from --but maybe it's a good idea I don't know, otherwise I'd never use the bits & bobs, they'd become even more vintage without ever seeing light again !

So here is a picture I took tonight ( Nov.3) of what my desk now looks like. I was doing so well putting everything away each night...when I was working on my felt pendants. But now ? Ha, forget it ! Just too many little things to constantly put away. And I find I tend to work better when surrounded by these tiny delights, they help to keep my mind churning out ideas for future goodies. Fortunately the rest of my wee studio is fairly organised, if it wasn't then I'd be feeling stress instead of joy.
You can just make out some of the 'stuff' I've been using for my 'vintage reinvented' jewelry....rhinestones, faux pearls, attachments, etc...

The piece below is what I am working on right now. It's a real music box, but miniature ! It had a keychain attachment but I felt it should be seen instead of getting banged up by a bunch of keys ! So now it's on it's way to becoming a necklace. The tune it plays is 'Beautiful Dreamer', and as you can see I've tried to create a 'beautiful dreamer' scene. Two of the 'pretty pieces' I was hesitant to use were the aurora borealis chain and the ivory coloured flower with rhinestone. I've since seen other vintage ab chain for sale on Etsy so am not too concerned about never finding more again ( I used some on my Candied Sugar necklace already listed in my Etsy shop ). But the ivory flower piece was one of about 10 others I took from a broken brooch. Even tho it was broken, it took me awhile to decide if I wanted to cut off the flower. Well as you can see, I did it and survived lol ! :) Really liking how this piece is turning out so far.

The next piece is called A Drop or Two and consists of vintage chandelier crystals (drops), vint. ab glass beads ( from earrings), 7 vint. diamond-like rhinestones ( from a rhinestone encrusted collar ), a vint. red flatback rhinestone and a vint. bright red celluloid flower ( from damaged brooch which has 2 other flowers ). The filigree backing and chain are part of a 1970's necklace. It's a rather romantic modish looking piece with a bit of a flapper influence ( I can see this worn with one of those flapper dresses from the 1920's ). Already listed if you want to see more pictures HERE

I have to say, the pieces I've made lately have been a bit difficult to list. I want to keep them ! Sure I could do that but then what would I do for my Etsy shop ? This is my lifestyle right now, being creative comes naturally and it's in my blood, and it's great having a place like Etsy to show off and sell my wares.

Well that's it for tonight. I'll be back again soon xo ♥

Birds and Bounty....

I so love looking out our sundeck doors and watching the birds fatten up for Winter. I've got to get myself another feeder to replace the suet holder ( just behind the squiggly branch ). I'll prob. 'tie' the suet holder in between the two arms, so that will mean more birds will be able to enjoy more food.
The plate is temporary, I wanted to see if the birds would actually feed off of it. Right now there's some ripe pear smeared with peanut butter and sprinkled with bird seed. It seems to be quite a hit !

The main birds so far are: red breasted nuthatch's ( love the racing stripes on their heads ! ), chickadees and others I don't know the name or just can't recall right now ( I think the black-headed birds, one on sundeck floor, is called a Towhee ).

They have their ranks & sometimes squabbles, but it's still such a joy watching them with a big mug of hot tea. A great way to wake up !

And this whimsical pic. is showing off our really small bounty of apples this year :P We've only been in our new house for a year, last year the tree was full of apples & I was able to make quite a few pies. BUT, we also have a full pear tree and a couple of days ago we picked quite a few, with the hopes that they will ripen this year ( we picked too early and they stayed rock hard ). Our toes are crossed, hoping to be able to make some tarts or whatever else is tasty in the way of pear treats.

And dontcha love the pumpkin bowl lol !! I found it at Michaels last year & could not resist it's whimsical face and wobbly googly eyes. It's a Dept.56 item ( just noticed the insignia last week ).

The pinecones fell, along with many others, from our neighbors pine tree. The smell is wonderful ! I am so looking forward to collecting fallen pine and cedar branches too, they're so Christmassy to me & make tealights in glittery red glass votives so festive.

Now back too arting, what's new :)

There's a Monkey on Your Chest ( or fridge ) !

For the King Kong fans ! Here's another of my 3-in-1 pendants, soon to be listed in my Etsy shop once the gloss dries.

At first I was going to make a steampunk pendant but then my eyes landed on the King Kong image found from a vintage 'Evergreen' book ( a publication in England ). The vintage photo slide really adds to the piece too.
This is ooak -one-of-a-kind- because I took the image directly from the book and don't plan on making another ( if I ever did then the image would probably be a computer print ).

Great fun !

They're heading your way Donna ! :)

These fun 5x7 felt pictures were made for my birthfather's wonderful wife Donna to give to her family members.
I had made a felt brooch for Etsy called 'Happy House on Candy Hill' with a very similar theme. It was probably the most liked item I've ever made ! My birthmom purchased it from me and ever since I've been thinking up ways to make other Happy House themed items ( there's a Happy House necklace on Etsy right now but called 'Purple House' instead ).

So there you go Donna, they were mailed out Friday afternoon regular mail and should hopefully arrive around the same time as Jean & Angela's parcel. ♥

New bRooChes for EtSy !

Woohoo ! Here are my newest fabric & felt brooch creations for Etsy: Bubble Tea, Cotton Candy Oddity, Ice, My Heart's a Flower and Blossom Blob ~~~

-My Heart's a Flower ( upper right ) was made using a slice of beautiful Japanese fabric my birthsister Angela gave to me, with addition of 3d bloom & a bubble encased single flower cut from same fabric.
-Bubble Tea ( bottom left ) consists of felt, acrylic paint & a gloss covered mix of beads
-Ice ( middle ) was made after observing the dreamlike interior of icecubes. Bits of rhinestone necklace, a chunk of local beach glass, vintage plastic beads, czech beads, sequins, glitter and real pink quartz spears.
-Cotton Candy Oddity ( bottom right ) has czech beads, pink fluff thread and a recycled piece of blue anodized aluminum
-Blossom Blob (upper left ) was made with some gorgeous cherry blossom fabric & embellished with felt blossoms, fuzzy balls & a plastic pink flower.

All with blanket stitching, all handsewn, lots of love and, as always, that wonky touch of whimsy :)

I'll be making a lot more, but I'm also thinking about trying my hand at painting ! Nothing huge, maybe 5x7 size. Images of things with flowers, maybe some collaging....let's wait and see what the gods of whimsiness place in my heart ♥

A BeauTiful ThaNk-You & CooKies with TeA !

Awhile back I found a lady online who makes beautiful altered art wonders. Her name is Kecia Deveney and she has a natural talent for creating things out of found objects, turning them into delicious shabby fun elegant ( and even Steampunk ) treasures, from necklaces to paintings to dollies with whimsical dressings !

You must, must, must check out her links - 2 fab. shops and 2 blogs:

-Etsy shop
'Lemoncholy's'
-Lovely blog
Lemoncholy's Flight of Fancy ( she's also posted her Facebook link )
-Her fab. shop of gorgeous eye candy for the body and soul
Lemoncholy's Studio
-Her other blog where you can find out about upcoming flea markets and other fun flea market delights:
Flea Market Junkture ( Kecia LOVES flea markets ! )

Kecia also teaches classes. If I were anywhere near her I would be one of the first to sign up !

We are friends on Facebook and I'm always looking forward to reading up on her latest finds and makings.
She had posted a picture of some found beach glass and so I decided to send her some of the beach glass my birth-grandmother had collected over 30 years ! Of course the parcel ended up getting stuffed with other wee fun finds too, couldn't help myself it was so much fun :)

As a thank-you to me, Kecia created a necklace using one of the pieces of beach glass I sent her. When it arrived I was so excited and thrilled at how lovely it was --and how much it means to me to be wearing something my birth-grandmother found with her hands ( she passed last year. I feel very lucky to have had the chance to meet her, if only twice and for a few short hours ).

The necklace came 'packaged' inside a most unique piece of art. It is so much like a mini quilt with wonderful stitching, lace, various fabrics and a sweet image of a child. I just love it and will proudly hang it in my art room, on the wall by my tv, so every time I look up it will always be in my line of sight :)

Thank-you Kecia for your beautiful treasures and for bringing joy to so many.

Isn't this necklace beautifully elegant ?
The child is part of a pocket sewn onto the 'quilt' piece, inside which was the necklace. Love the thoughtful details, such a delight
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After receiving Kecia's treasures I then popped onto Facebook to see any new updates. Another of my FB friends had spent the day baking a load of mouthwatering goodies.

Since it was raining today I too decided to bake something, something in which I could sprinkle some tea leaves !

I have well over 50 varieties of tea, in fact, I have my very own tea cupboard in the kitchen. It's stocked with boxes and bags of tea and all my tea accoutrements.

So, I decided to make whipped shortbread...an easy dough with few ingredients (butter,flour,icing sugar). I then divided the dough and in one portion I mixed the loose tea from 2 bags of Stash's Double Spice Chai & added a wee bit of cinnamon. In the other batch I added 2 bags of Stash's Earl Grey Green tea, some Formosa Jasmine and a handful of leftover milk chocolate chips. Yeh, I was feeling kindof adventurous lol ! Too impatient to let them sit in the fridge, I chose to make them drop cookies instead....

After approx. 13 minutes in the oven, they came out like this:

And after several bites, we decided the Earl Grey Formosa ones were the better tasting. The chai cookies were okay too but they left a wee bit of a bitter aftertaste. Maybe next time I'll bake some with freshly brewed tea leaves ?

That's it for today. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lovely new treasure to hang on my art room wall ( I'm wearing the necklace, had to put it on asap ! )...and then I'm grabbing a plate of cookies, some tea and my book for a few good minutes of quiet time.

Tracy ♥

Show & Tell: Another brooch on the way, & one already done...

Took this past weekend off and the family and I played lazy. Oh it was so nice to just sit around being all blobby, playing computer games, drinking tea & eating popcorn. Sometimes it's nice to not feel the need to do something !
A part of me is kinda hoping that when our son and I visit my birth father and his family ( in Ottawa early August )...we'll be able to play lazy & just hang out there too :)

Now for today's show & tell. I've always liked paintings of houses, especially ones that are 'happy', full of sunshine, open spaces, etc...So I decided to make my own 'painting' of a happy house --a handsewn felt brooch I'm calling
'The Happy House on Candy Hill'

Why 'Candy Hill' ? Isn't it obvious ? This is no ordinary house ! The owners of this house are distant relatives of Willy Wonka. They too adore candy and have found a way to grow it on their property. Even the tree sprouts colorful sweets 7 months of the year.
Oh, wait, of course it's not obvious to you just yet, the brooch isn't even finished ha ! Give me a few more hours.......

Planning it out...

Lots of handsewing...
It's coming together nicely...

And here is the brooch I finished a couple of days ago. I've named it

'The Colors of My Heart'.

Each color represents the 4 main emotions we feel: black for anger/dark moments, blues for gentle sadness to depression, pinks for all types of love and yellows for joy :) The large golden beads are for those unforgettable joyful moments. I've added smaller beads including an edging of bugles.

Like the rest of my brooches, this one is also on the large side because they are meant to be seen.

In my Etsy shop :)

I'll be back tomorrow to show off the Happy House brooch :)

My Art Room all prettied up and ready to create in FINALLY !

Yay ! My shoulders feel so light again :) I've been working on my art room, removing unwanted-unused items and this time really making the effort to get my room the way I really wanted it --free from ugly clutter, etc...My desk was covered with so much crap, I could still work but found that my creative energy would get sapped so quickly, and I'd end up going into the living room just for more elbow space.
So now I can finally say that I am truly happy with this room, and I can really get to creating which will add to my Etsy shop ( and hopefully bring more people to it which will hopefully generate more sales ) --always got the brain turning lol !

Let me indulge you with these pics :) I'm hoping you can enlarge them to see better details. First one is actually 2 pics. which I merged together. There's my paint and varnish shelves, my wall 'o fav. pictures ( the bottom right one of the cabin was painted by my birth-grandmother Frieda. She never felt she was a real artist because she didn't go to art school. Such a shame, her works were amazing ! This pic. of hers was just a practice one ! ). There's my fav. set of colorful drawers, filled with riboons,beads,watches,tags,sanding paper,glitter,paint pens,doll parts,candywrappers,etc...On top are drawers filled to the brim with broken jewelry parts ! On my desk is a pretty canister in which I store my most used glues. A future project waits for my attention. The desk and brown bureau were in the back bedroom of my parents home, it's vintage and hails from the 1960's. But what I really really want is a pair of stainless steel 3 basket carts in place of the brown bureau, so I don't have to always get up and search through all my papers/china roses/game pieces/trinkets/charms etc...I can just roll the cart to me :) I'd also love a larger desk with a glass top, one day. More art goodies are held in the vintage copper flour/sugar/tea/coffee holder on the dresser as well as the 2 plastic white drawers ( these hold all my clasps,chains,etc...for making necklaces and brooches )

I look out onto the front road with a lovely large cedar in which I enjoy watching the birds flit about. There's a couple of Vogue mirrors/images, I'm a fan of Art Nouveau and Deco. I made the blue framed picture behind one of my parents vintage 1960's chairs ( will soon make some covered cushions for this chair, and will change the faded yellow footstool fabric to probably pink, woohoo ! ) The picture of the redheaded woman -behind vintage lamp-was created by a dear friend of mine. I've strung white lights above the chair, makes a pretty fairy-like effect at night. And there's my dear teddy bear. He's over 40 yrs. old and can still growl when you turn him on his tummy. Oh the number of times we've had tea together :)

This is another of my parents furniture. I believe my dad made this piece and for a long time we couldn't figure out where to put it ! We enjoy the more modern clean-lined furniture and I found this piece looked too 'old' in our living room, but I refused to give it up. Don't you think it looks great in this room ?! There's my grandmothers ( my moms ) chiming clock, my moms jewelry box ( which now holds some of my incense collection ), a pretty Italian vase holding more of my incense, my parents vintage windup clock, vintage egg basket with florals, my fav. Pot of Gold chocolate tin and lots of other sentimental doo-dads, including the one Spring Dolly I had given to my dear mom ( in front of cd player ). My dear friend gave me the wonderful Eiffel Tower wrapping paper. Inside each drawer: left one holds all my soy tarts CountryHearts on Etsy makes wonderfully smelling tarts which fill almost the entire house with luscious scent ), middle holds a variety of flowers and end holds all my candles ( mostly Partylite )


On the left is my collection of Somerset Studio magazines, they sit on top of an altered bread box which holds more S.S. mags. Behind these closet doors you'll find a floor to ceiling high grey military locker filled with boxes and more creative doo-dads, next to it is floor to ceiling plastic shelving which holds all my mail stuff ( boxes, bubble wrap, etc...) as well as sewing, spray varnishes, big box of future art projects and various memorabilia. Can you see the 2 clay swallow nests ? They were a very cool find at my parents next door neighbors garage sale a few years ago. On one of the doors hangs a bag full of more items for future creations.


My mom used to display her lovely silverware tea set on the bureau, it really gleemed ! The teapots, etc...are in the china cabinet but I wanted to keep the tray out to show off my own glittery delights :) Jar on left holds swarovski crystals and broken rhinestone bits, jar on right holds nothing but vintage chandelier crystals. Small jar in front was my moms cold cream jar, it now houses vintage keys. The pretty plate with glass is actually a candleholder my dear friend made, fabulous way to recycle those vintage glasses ! Table it's sitting on was also made by my dad.

Just a closeup of the bureau. One of my fav. tiny treasures is the wee woolly sheep on top of the Asian-style box :) Oh yes, behind the cupboards lie about 40 1930's National Geographic magazines, 1980's fashion mags., blank envelopes and cards, vintage box of ribbon bits and a big box of hardware stuff ( nails, washers, pic. hooks, ton of stuff more ). My fav. journal rests on top --cover design made by Anahata Katkin



Well there you go, a wee 'tour' of my studio. My next 'goal' is to purchase a small flat screen tv for the bureau, one that's under 20". I don't actually want to sit and watch the tv, just something that I can turn on and look at while handsewing/beading. Ellen is fun to watch, and I also really like that these flat tvs have music channels now, so I can wiggle away to the electronic music :)

Now I need to fully complete our guest bedroom downstairs, thank goodness it's almost done. And then I've got to finish my stinky sock brooches !

Stay tuned for more artsy-fartsy stuff :)

Our Gear for Video Games Live tonight @ 8pm, woohoo !!

I am sooo excited !

Tonight I'm taking our son Christian and myself to see Video Games Live !! It's a worldwide show where symphonies ( here it's our wonderful Victoria symphony ) perform music from the more popular video games of today and yesterday. Scenes from games play in the background, there are laser shows and sometimes even live performances from actors reenacting game scenes.

This is the kind of show where dressing up as your fav. video game character is 'the norm', but we won't be dressing as any characters. Instead, Christian made a computer collage of two of his fav. Resident Evil teams, which he then ironed onto a fresh black shirt, along with another Res. Evil image on the back. Looks really sharp !


I made myself a shirt too :) Instead of a scene from a game I just printed and ironed a wonderful raven and then placed 'Mechanical' above it ( actually I was going to put 'mechanical chicken' found from a 1950's Popular Mechanix magazine ( it was an egg vending machine they were talking about ), but then I wondered if people might mistake it for me being a chicken of mechanics, so just mechanical it was.
On the back is the wonderful 'rock,paper,scissors,lizard,Spock' diagram created from The Big Bang Theory --my most fav. show of all ! I am a big fan of Sheldon :)
It might be a bit of an odd shirt, but I like odd !


Here is my Resident Evil 2 necklace, just finished today. It's a shrinky dink pendant with red glass beading to look like blood droplets. Really loved making this, might make more for my shop.

Finally, Halo earrings !! Such a fun game. The real swarovski crystal drops give them a wee bit of elegance.

Well gotta go and get ready. We're heading to town around 6 so we can find a parking close to the theatre, don't want to be walking around town at night. Might grab a bubble tea and snack, there will probably be some fun stuff to do outside the theatre.

Woohoo !!

Finally Listed These 2 New Brooches :)

These felt brooches have been a hoot to make ! The first one is called Popeye the Pink Bunny, a whimsical and shabby wee pink felt bunny dude. His eyes and nose are vintage, glitter on his mouth and he sports a tiny red heart brad ( which can easily be removed if you want ). I named him Popeye because of the way I attached his eyes. Instead of poking the floss through to the back of the brooch, I decided to attach them in a shabby fashion, wrapping the thread around the base a couple of times so the eyes would stand (pop) out.

The 2nd. brooch, called Bliss, is a crazy mix of colors and beads and all started when I noticed the Bliss sticker in a package of K&Company stickers I'd purchased from Michaels.
To attach the sticker to the felt, I just stuck it on and then hand sewed the edging with beads and sequins. A vintage earring ( bottom right ) was glued to the corner and attached with more handsewn beads, including a vintage shimmery pink swarovski rivoli. There are other vintage attachments, edging was painted with Lumiere and the entire piece was handsewn onto the vintage cardboard backing from a frame ( you can even hang it up by the metal triangel. Just have to gently pry it away from backing ). Oh yes, there's a bit of polyfill stuffing to give it more depth and pull away from the sharp frame corners.

I really enjoyed creating these brooches but I think I'll stick to making the shabby whimsical animal ones for now. The Bliss brooch and Magnificent Marilyn brooch are enough for now. I tend to go overboard at times instead of sticking with my first idea. Here it was to create small brooches and I end up with Bliss and Marilyn. That doesn't mean I won't make these kinds ever again, I just want to stick to things that are whimsical and small.

My next felt brooch...not yet sure, but it will be silly :)

Forgot to point out, the Bliss sticker was varnished twice and then covered with Triple Thick gloss gel to make the sticker 'bendy'. Of course, the brooch is not meant for wet weather because everything else is not sealed ( it could have been done but would have made the piece look plastic ).

Thanks for all your wonderfully 'charming' comments :)

Wasn't the International Charm Day FUN ?! And thank-you all for such wonderful comments, they really keep me inspired ( and you know we all need to keep that inspiration up there ! )

I'll be posting Carols charm prize later this week. I was hoping to get it out today but yesterday I made the mistake of drinking 2 cups of my husbands coffee early morning. Throughout the day I just was not feeling 'right', it felt like my insides were having a revolt to me drinking coffee ( I'm a huge tea drinker ) and there were several boxing matches going on in my stomach and bones. By the evening I was one boneless headachey and very tired person. Weird ! I just got dressed today around 2 p.m. but feel like taking a nap. Thank goodness the boxing match has ended but now I feel all creaky. Looks like I need to take in even more water and flush all the crap out.

Okay, so there's my health for you today :)

Once I'm back to bouncing around I will be listing more Charmblies in my shop ( using some of the charms you saw yesterday ) AND I've been thinking about listing photo art cards too.

I enjoy taking photos and creating collages and have seen many wonderful art cards on Etsy. I first need to figure the costs of printing my own, where to find good quality card stock ( maybe Michaels ? But I'm sure I could find similar somewhere else for less ) and envelopes. They will be blank, I don't want to get too complicated with these. How does a 5 pack of cards sound ? $10 a pack ?
No harm in trying right ? I've been changing my Etsy shop, getting rid of the large complicated items, you know the ones.....they take weeks to make and either never sell ( because your price isn't what the buyer wants to pay ) or they sell much less than what you'd like, or they only sell when they go on sale ! Too much stress thank-you very much. So I'm sticking with small items, things that have similar shipping costs, etc....and so far they've been so much fun !

Well I have to stop writing, going to take a nap ( not a nap taker ).

Oh, the photo above is an altered one of a beautiful path my family and I found just a short distance from our area. I call it 'Solitude'