Fall, Turkey Bounty, Pirate's Booty & Possibly a Tarsier too !

Fall rituals: changing of the tree colors, leaves dancing & flying, a day or two or three of heavy rain, the flights of birds big & small, fresh bird seed & some peanut butter too, peanuts for the squirrels, pots of hot chocolate, rib sticking stews & chowders, candy corn & ghastly masks, cozy cuddly sweaters, flannel bedsheets, a favored pair of pink fuzzy slippers.....

(the neighbors breathtaking trees)

(a big pot of thick & rich Thanksgiving turkey chowder,with curly pasta, carrots,

peas,sweet potato,green onion,garlic,dill,seasoning salt

& lots of turkey broth --with bits of leftover

stuffing & plenty of pulled turkey. YuM !)

My Steamed Pirate's Booty earrings, just listed in my Etsy shop.

Vintage treasure,a boys discarded plastic coins & a touch of Steampunk.

This little fella will soon be in my Etsy shop too.
Meet Mr.Tarsier Charmbly. Can you tell he's REALLY happy to SEE you ?
His legs 'n arms are covered with funky napkin paper, & his middle sports a
whimsical image cut from a vintage Dutch image ( at least I think it's Dutch, had the paper
for quite sometime & forget where it came from :P).
His wee heart brad tells you he
has a heart of gold :)

This is the unique charm that comes with Mr.Tarsier Charmbly !
I've named it 'Horse Circuitry'.
A vintage playing card ( my parents had these horse cards since the 60's ), handsewn
with thread-beads-faux rhinestones. I don't remember where the circuit piece
came from ( I have lots of 'don't remember where they came from' bits and pieces ) but it's been
glammed up with glitter and gloss and a vintage glass chandelier with tiny swarovski crystal !
Yes, it's an odd charm, one I'm proud of :) You can use it as a necklace pendant, make a
bookmark, heavy earring, scrapbook decor, Christmas ornament and more !

Now off to bed.....g'night all ♥

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 !

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 ).

Felt !!

Well here you go ! I have a new love ( again ), it's felt ! I stumbled across some felt brooches awhile back on Etsy and just loved the way the creators used vibrant colors, the way their items almost screamed FUN ! So slowly I thought that maybe I'd eventually like to try it out.

Here is my very first felt item, in Marilyn :) Now I've never been a big fan of Miss M.M. but her image is so popular, and you can have fun with it too.

The image is a print which I decoupaged onto cardboard and then hand sewed onto the lovely pink felt. Of course Miss M. had to have her dose of stars and shimmery beads, plus a necklace with her very own chandelier crystal :) I used DMC black thread and stretchy metallic silver thread.
She was finished with another backing of pink felt and a simple brooch back ( the kind that you flip to open/close ).

The last thing I need to do is wear her around the house, just to make sure she sits properly without twisting, etc... And then into my Etsy shop she goes !

Oh I forgot to mention her size: she's a whopper at 7.5" long and 5" across ! Not for the shy type.
Took just over 3 hours to make.

ARTchix Bi-Weekly Lottery, yay !

~Flights of Fantasy~

~ARTchix Yahoo group~

Here is my entry into the ARTchix Bi-Weekly Lottery, the theme is Fantasy Imagination ( right up my alley lol ! ).
The person to get picked wins all the other entrants lottery treasures, woohoo !

Flights of Fantasy was created on a section of Kraft Mac n Cheese box. Bird images are official ARTchix ( you usually have to have at least one ARTchix item used ) and one of the birds is holding a real crystal dangling heart. The lady was transformed into a pink fairy and finished with stars, glitter, gems, paint and shimmery bits. Fun !

( This piece is also going to star in one of my shrinky creations too. I hope it turns out the way I see it in my minds eye. So keep your eye on my Etsy shop, look for it under Collage Pendants )

~Helga Strauss is owner extraordinaire of ARTchix here on Vancouver Island. The shop is so wonderful and art from all around the globe adorns the walls ( makes me think of a candy shop ! ).
She also has a blog, My Artistic Life, which you can access via my blog links on the right ( opens in a new window ). You can get to her store via her blog or my Wonderful Shops, etc...list ( again on the right )

If you've ever wanted to try a swap,contest,etc...then there are plenty with ARTchix, and all so much fun !! **please note, for the Yahoo Group, they ask that any art you post use at least one ARTchix item.

I'm so happy to finally be participating again in contests and soon a swap or two or three or...lol :)

...and if you join the ARTchix Yahoo group, then drop us a line and say hi --you will definately get lots of welcome responses ! And the art there is divine ( including the artists ) :)

Creamed Soda and Collages....

Yay it is finally Spring ! Today was quite sunny, so I poked my head outside and let the rays fall across my delighted face.

I had bought a bottle of Cream Soda for our son and his friend, meant to give it to them 2 days ago but had left it in the car trunk ! I remembered today :)
Now pop is not one of my fav. drinks, I'm more of a chocolate milk gal. But if I do want 'sugar water' then it's usually Cream Soda. It has that wonderful rich pinky-red coloring and reminds me of carnivals.

Here are a couple pics. you can use. One was shot while looking into the glass. The bubble blobs are from me trying to add cherry candy flavoring, just to see what would happen. Well the flavoring didn't mix in, but it smelled oh so wonderful and looked quite pretty floating on top.
The next image was taken simply because of the sun shining through the glass, love that color !

Woohoo, here are two of my computer created collages I've made into shrinky dink pendants. They're now in my Etsy shop along with 3 other collages. I'm having so much fun making these and can't wait for Monday to come so I can get more printed and baked.
Each collage uses images from my computer collection along with other items I've scanned into the computer --vintage papers, photos, 3-dimensional bits and pieces and more. Some collages also have my own photos.
They are all carefully created and meant to be dreamlike, whimsical or just plain weird lol !
I'm still wondering about the ballchain that comes with the pendant. Maybe I'll offer either a ballchain or a black satin slide knot necklace ( for those who have a chain of their own, are allergic to certain metals or just aren't into ballchains/cords ).

I hope you like my new pendants :) Thanks for stopping in ♥

I Love Chocolate

It's always the oddest times of day when I get these great chocolate urges ! Today while I was cleaning up the guest room I got them. The other day I think I was on the toilet O_0

And here is another Charmbly. It's Clara Bow this time, that lovely actress from the past. I've never seen any of her films yet I've always liked her.

That's it for today, a quick one and to the point...well, sortof.

Oh, the image in the background of the cute wee doggies, that's a birthday card we bought for our sons 13th. birthday. The pug is trying to get a lick of a cupcake, but I love the French Bulldog's look lol ! The card just seems to work with my Charmblies, adding that extra bit of silliness :)

More of my favorite things....

Somerset Studio, Victorian Papers and Victoria are 3 of my favorite magazines. Victoria magazine stopped publishing a couple of years ago but then they brought it back, yay ! But I have yet to buy any new copies yet, perhaps after our move.

Victoria Magazine

Victorian Papers came from the Victorian Trading Co. that sells all things Victorian. Lovely romantic bits, bobs, trinkets, papers and clothing...ooh la la. Here's the link to check out their treasures and you can order a free magazine too ! ( and yes, I do use some of the images in my art ):

Victoria Trading Co.

And of course there's Somerset Studio. I splurged and also got their Somerset Life, such delights to delight everyone's eyes. Lots of wonderful altered art treasures and they even include free art papers for you to try in your own creations.

Somerset Studio

I couldn't resist showing off my collection of crystal perfume bottles my dear husband brought back from his navy excursion to the Gulf a few years ago. He went to many ports so I can't remember exactly where he got them from (!) --I'll ask him when he gets home from work. I'm going to guess that they came from Dubai where he visited several 'Souks' ( arabic markets ). One souk sold only gold, gold everywhere ! Shops and their windows lined with gold jewelry, from rings right up to exotic jewelry for elephants. He said the shine from the gold was very brilliant. Then he visited a silver souk and a spice souk ( brought home bags of wonderful rich spices --cinnamon, clove, tea masala (what would be used in chai tea, my fav.) ).
The shop where he got the perfume bottles was a place to buy scented oils, and then they would supply you with the bottles if you wanted them. Not seen in the photo are 6 other much smaller and plainer bottles with simple golden caps, each with a faux colored jewel embedded in the lid.
My most favored bottles are the pink ones and the blue one. The silver bottle had a minaret on top with a little crescent moon, but alas it broke off :( I still consider it another favorite bottle.
The oils inside each bottle are really lovely, from fruity to famous scents ( one smells like Chanel No.5 ). There's also one with a soft vanilla scent.

I love these treasures from afar. For now the bottles are kept in a dark place so the oil won't spoil. Once empty I plan to line them up in a sunny window.

The big bottle behind belonged to my mom. I believe she had it before I was born, don't you love that vintage label ? And yes the soaps are original but their scents have long gone. I could empty it and replace with something prettier...not ready to do that just yet.

My favorite things and a recent Etsy purchase...

Now that the weather over here is finally getting warm and suuny, I felt that my blog posts needed to be a bit more interesting. So far all I've been posting is stuff about my weightloss and my Etsy creations. So every few days I am going to make an effort to post about my favorite things around our home.

If you like to do the same on your blog then leave a comment and I'll pop over to have a lookey-loo.

Okay, I'm posting 2 pics. of my fav. things: the first is my well used tart warmer. Now I will admit it is not something I love, it's actually kinda gaudy and too 'thick' for my liking BUT I do love bees, it was on sale and warms my tarts beautifully ! LOL ! It's a Partylite melter and I think I bought it for $15 a couple years back, pretty good considering their prices. I use it 3-5 times a week.

Next is a pic. showing one of my 'smelly' drawers :) I have two drawers in a bureau in my living room dedicated strictly to candles, incense and tarts. My melter really came into play when I discovered Ficklefaerie on Etsy last year. She makes FANTASTIC TARTS !!! The smells are wonderful !!! My most recent fav. tars have been the Artisan Tea Tarts. Please go and check out her goodies if you're into soy wax tarts and body lotions:

http://ficklefaerie.etsy.com

You may also see some of the incense I have, on the right, my most fav. is Violet by the Sandesh Agarbathi Co. And you may have also made out some Partylite boxes in the back ? I do like to light several candles every now and again, especially during dinner or when we're watching a show. But lately I've gone off of Partylite because they can be rather expensive and I've found a wonderful store nearby who sells similar candles for a bit less ( Colonial Candle of Cape Cod ) and I'm saving on shipping costs too.

While I'm gabbing about fav. things, I've found another Etsy seller to buy from. Her shop name is Savor and she makes such lovely soaps, and from the one I've purchased I'm guessing all her scents are delightful.

The soap is called Rosie and I bought it for my mom who loves a good rose scent. I was hesitant at first to purchase because I've bought a couple of smelly things online and the scent was barely there. She assured me hers was strong and she was right ! The rose scent is wonderful !! And if you're wondering what the blob beside the soap is..LOL !..it is actually a sample of another of her soaps. It's a chunk of choc. cookie dough and when I let my husband look at it, he tried nibbling it before I told him what it was lol ! Even our son was stumped at first but after several sniffs he concluded it was most definately soap. Hmmm, I wonder what would have happened if I'd put it in my husbands lunch box...now that would have been funny ! ( evil grin )

As much as I would love to use the rose soap I have to wait until I give it to my mom, she'll be thrilled :) So please do go and check out this lovely soap shop, you won't be disappointed:

http://savor.etsy.com

Come back soon to see what other favorite item I'll talk about :)

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 !

Out with the weight and in with the sneakies !

Good day all :)

Just a quicky. I'm down another 1.8 lbs. woohoo ! Now at 185.2 from last weeks 187. It's a slow process and it's happening. If I do just a little more exercise this week then maybe I'll be down 2 lbs ? My progress can be seen in my Flickr photos which are shown on the right of my blog.

And another sneak peek of upcoming Etsy goodies ! There's the start of another brooch and a lovely shabby chunky Scrabble tile bracelet. Plus I'm making some custom earrings for the buyer who bought my Japanese Flowers from Arizona Scrabble pendant. Fun !

Sneak peek at upcoming pendants for Etsy

Ooh I'm quite excited ! I've been working on a line of Scrabble tile pendants and am very happy with the way they're turning out :) They won't be listed until after my sale, sometime by the middle of next week I'm hoping.

So here's a 'sneak peek' at what I've been doing:




You'll just have to check out my ETSY shop to see them as they really are ;)---but not until next week as mentioned.

They're great fun to alter and I really enjoy working with smaller items.

I'll also be listing more Destash goodies too woohoo ! Keep your eyes open for some little brown glass bottles, rusty bedsprings, paper doll house pieces, etc...

Avatar avatar who's got the avatar ?

Finally, an avatar I'm sticking with !

This pretty lady was a photo i took of my 'almost vintage' Pot of Gold chocolate tin. Trying to find an image that would give an idea of what I sold had been rather frustrating ! I've had several avatars since beginning Etsy, from image of cemetary angel with crows flying around her, to a pink bird, to roses, to one of my pendants...all never satisfying. But now, FINALLY, the 3rd. avatar is my fav.

The choc. tin image was computer altered. Second pic. is another avatar I like but felt the frame was a bit too 'noisy', so I ended up putting a quiet little heart behind it. You might say it's a subtle way of telling the shopper 'I really LOVE what I create'. Ooooh, I just noticed how the bottom of the heart looks like her dress is hanging over the edge :)

Hope you like it too :)

What I'm doing UPDATED for Aug.11:

Here's another look at her. She's slowly coming together, much more to go but I first have to wait until it all dries before attaching, grrrr. Elements used so far: stars, more stars, tin star bits from a candle holder, watch bits.

I've put myself on holiday from Etsy and I'm making myself work on some new art projects, etc...

So far I've made up a couple of 'destash' packages --so many bits and baubles, I figured it would be nice to share some and put them in some reusable boxes too ( to use as shrines, frames, whatever strikes the buyers fancy ). I've another atc card and a sweet whimsical picture telling us not to be so serious ( ! ). Above is another project I've just started, using a rusty old spring I found off a local beach. The doll is vintage plastic Made in Hong Kong and has the closing eyes. She's going to be adorned with lots of goodies. You'll have to wait for the after photo in a few days. And yes that is my messy desk lol !