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 ♥

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 ♥

Ooh la la, here's another fab. Etsy seller....

Oh my, I just received a new and delish soap and LOVE love LOVE the scent, the look, the color and more !

~SugarcandieBeauty~

You've got to check out this shop ! The soapy creations are a delight to the eye and a joy for the heart.
Now of course they pump up the deelish factor by frothing up their soaps for the pictures ( love it ! ), but they're no less deelish when you get them :)

My Cheeky Cherry Kisses Seduction came in a lovely shaped jar and, like they said, it has candy on top ! And oh the smell YUMMY ! --yes, I did lightly touch my tongue to it and there was a sweet return lol !

Included in the wonderful package were 2 wee soap samples 'Pink Champagne & Cupcakes' scrub and 'Pink is Sexy' soap. Again such wonderful tasty scents.

I had a quick shower and decided to first use 'Pink is Sexy'. Well my quick shower took a little longer...the scent was both romantic and hunger inducing, and the feel of the soap was nice and creamy without that awful commercial chemically feel from store bought soaps. The scent is lingering and I'm still getting wonderful whiffs while I type.

You may find it difficult to choose just one soap, it took me awhile, there are so many hunger inducing descriptions. Oh, there's no problem with them sending to Canada, you just have to ask and they're ever so happy to oblige :) So get yourself over there pronto ! If my post has tempted you to buy something from them, then please come on back and tell me what you got :)

Now enough of my writing, here's the pics:

A big THANK-YOU to the gals at Sugarcandie Beauty Bar ♥

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.