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The blog banner was made with elements from Lorie Davison. The nail head is Mo Jackson, the white rabbit and the key is Tangie Baxter. The butterflies are from Katie Pertiet.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

I Was Abducted By Aliens

Well, not really.  But Golly Molly it has been ages since I've posted anything.
I've been knee deep in work and my Etsy shoppe.  
In fact, I've neglected many things.
This photo should explain it all.

This -
This is my Christmas wreath.
I felt in honor of Memorial Day I should actually
remove it from the front of the house.
I waited until early this morning.
I was afraid the neighbors might be watching
and
all come out to cheer.
This is how behind I am.
You all should be receiving my Christmas cards
any day now.

Remember these guys?

I was recently contacted by a woman to see if I still had them.
She says a friend of hers that is a Buddhist monk would like to have them.
Apparently, they are used in 
 Buddhism to contemplate on the impermanence of existence.
So, now we know the rest of the story.
If you don't remember the original story

What I've been making for


I've always got some sort of 
Wizard of Oz piece in the making.

This is my hot air balloon meets steampunk.
A little Jules Verne, I like to think.
The cloud bead is the coolest thing.
It's slightly iridescent and was the inspiration for this necklace.


And yet another steampunk oddity:


This piece has a little of everything.
A miniaturization experiment gone wrong.




Alice 2.0.
Millie the rabbit has replaced the White rabbit.
Hmmm...




At last she was home.
Haven't we all felt like this at one time or another?


This went to a girl who wore it to a May wedding.
Very vintage.  I admit, I almost didn't sell it.
I may make another...




Insect Buddies!




I love the aurora borealis look of these.




I love this color combination.




And my favorite.
Bottle Necklaces.
This one's for Snow White.
"Lips as red as blood.
Hair as black as night"
The bottle is filled with "snow."
It sold right away.
I need to make another one.
Because...
THIS is coming soon!


And I can not wait!
(click on the picture to see the trailer)

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.
At the rate I'm going I'll be back again.
Labor Day!!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Curious Week Indeed

Did you try this?
Standing a broom on it's end to see if it would stand unsupported.

(I borrowed this picture but I linked it back to it's site)

I tried it.
Late one night.
I was home alone and trying the broom balancing act.
Hoping my neighbors weren't watching me.
Which they could've.  Everything was lit up like a Christmas tree what with the full moon and all.
But at the local post office?
They swore it worked. 
Upon walking in I was told, 
"I'll do you here in the middle."
I replied to the postal person,
"Wow.  You really ARE a full service post office!"
True story.
We had quite a laugh.
And, then the broom story started.


Snopes says it's not true.
I believe in a lot of weird things, though.
Four leaf clovers and wishing on falling stars.
Standing brooms...just could happen.
That same night I saw a shooting star.
And the aligned planets.
And the full moon.
And...
It was one crazy week.



BTW - That kitchen picture is not my kitchen.
We know this because there is no broken glass, beads, glue or ink on the counter.
This person is probably really not very happy.
That's what I tell myself.

In my glass, bead, glue, ink covered counter I redid a necklace I made a year ago.
I was never very happy with it.
I like it now.
I think.




I'd show you the original picture but I can't find it.
Believe me.
This looks better.
I think.
I doubt myself, frequently.


I soldered some.
A lot, actually.


I found this cool piece of lace.
It looks like a shamrock worked into the lace.

And some lucky necklaces.


And a sort of motivational one.
I liked this saying.




More birds:


I hammered some letters
and made more earrings.


Southwest colors.


Pretty spring colors.

A crazy week calls for doing normal things.
It helps offset all of the nuttiness.
Until,
you find yourself
alone in the kitchen
with a broom.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

No pictures - What I Love

Simple and blatantly stolen from Pioneer Woman.  Here we go:

I love ( in no particular order.)

My family.
Butterflies.
Hippos.
Color
Old keys
Old typewriter keys
Old typewriters
Old typewriter ink ribbon (I'll stop with the typewriter stuff, now)
Award Shows
The Kindness of Strangers
The Kindness of friends
Friends with jumper cables.
Friends with wine.
Friends who listen to me whine.
Kindness
Gentle Rain
Gentle Sunshine
The Magic Hour (right before dusk)
Sunrise
Sunset (cue Fiddler On The Roof)
Musicals
Magicians
Cameras
Good photos
BAD photos that make me laugh
Laughing
Smiles
A good joke
Animals
Sundays
My husbands footsteps
The sound of my daughter's car
True Love
A Full Moon
Friday the 13th (the day not the movie)
Sunday dinner
Lightning Bugs (Fireflies) in a jar
Lightning bugs being released from a jar
Fireworks
Floating Lanterns
A Summer Bonfire
Spices
Fresh Tomatoes
Farm stand vegetables
Farm stand flowers
Tornado Footage
Storm Footage
Fairy tales
My VW Beetle
MUSIC
Movies
Television
The Internet
Rusted, Dented, and Grungy
Creating/ /crafting - anything
Duck Egg Blue   :o)
Vintage Christmas
Memories
Vintage Christmas Memories
Buttons
Old jewelry
Estate sales

Make your own list.  See what you see. It's fun and maybe a little bit enlightening.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Pondering Originality


I love this quote*. 
I'm pretty sure that there are quite a few artists out there who will not agree.
I am not an artist.
I am a rather crafty person but not an artist.
VanGogh, Picasso, and Magritte were artists.
Not me.


Recently, I've joined the masses on Pinterest.
I hadn't done it because I had to join Facebook to get on.
I didn't want to join Facebook.
No reason.  Just a choice.
Does anyone really want to know
 that I went to the hardware store
 to purchase new tips for my soldering iron? 
I think not.



I jotted down the above quote a while back.
I love Pinterest.
Great ideas.
-BUT-
People/Artists
worry about being copied.
They post little signs about this worry.
I get it.  I do, really.
Please don't write and explain it to me.
I understand copyright issues.
That being said, now I worry
 that I might accidentally copy someone else.
All of Pinterest is on my desktop and in my brain.
So...
When I make this:


or this:


or this:


How do I know I'm original?
I get a lot of inspiration from many, many places.
I'm sure everyone else does too.
I understand not copying something
piece by piece
or 
word by word.
But, with the Internet and everything downloadable
it is inevitable.  Hopefully, these folks are copying and
making it their own.  Making it a little bit different.
I think that tends to happen anyway.
If you can copy it exactly then you are probably copying
Monet, or Rembrandt, or Van Gogh
and making HUGE illegal bucks.
This opinion of mine may irritate some people.
And you may not know this about me
but,
my goal is 
to make everyone in the entire world happy!!
And this thought is probably not going to help me achieve my goal.


I've seen my bow tutorial reproduced.
And you know what?
I don't care.
I took apart a bow to figure it out.
It's a fun project.
You can do it too.
You can even blog about it.
You can write another tutorial.
I.
Don't.
Care.


I did this one too.
Make your own glitter out of
broken Christmas Balls.
I KNOW I saw that somewhere else.
Gosh, I wish I knew where.

You know,
every day
the only 3 things I have to remember to take with  me are:

my asthma inhaler
my reading glasses ('specially since I work at a library)
my car keys.

Every day, I will leave the house without one of them.
Because, I can't remember ...
I'm too busy remembering the million and one other things
that I have to remember.  As we all do.

How in the world, I ask you,
(Tiny hedgehogs.  Aren't they cute?)

am I expected to remember
where 
on the
WORLD WIDE INTERNET
I saw something?!


I think I made up these designs.
But- if I didn't,  I apologize.
I wasn't stealing.
I just have a very bad memory.


And as Forrest Gump said,
"That's all I have to say about that."

Off the soapbox now.
Thank you for your support.
(and if you can remember where THAT quote came from you have a very good memory)

This was a little tongue in cheek.
I understand that they (the artists) want their
work linked back to their website.
But, I do worry...
A lot.

*I threw this little quote together in Photoshop.  Feel free to steal, copy or use

Sunday, February 12, 2012

King Midas Of The Buttons

I saw an estate sale listed as having fabrics and notions.  A LOT of fabrics and notions.
So off we went.
There was a slight chance of snow.
Lake effect near the lake
We are not near the lake.
We got to the sale and there were people standing outside.
Normal.
Once we got inside I scooped up some laces and odds and ends.
Then I headed upstairs where the fabrics where.
There, I found buttons.
TONS of buttons!!

Bottles, bags, and envelopes of buttons.
They were very inexpensive.
There were also old antique buttons.
I didn't buy too many of them.
But then I went back the next day.
Half price the half price they were already marked.
Some are truly amazing!

These are some of them.

I love the large middle one.  It's stunning.

We drove further north and east to a few more sales.
The snow started to come down.
We stopped at one and I found this cool pocket watch.
I paid .50 for it.
FIFTY CENTS!!!!!!
I was thrilled beyond words.
Also this sweater closure thingy.
Pretty isn't it?
They had some newer jewelry that had huge price tags on it.
By the time we left it had snowed several inches.
Lake effect snow comes down fast and is huge flakes.
By the time we got home to our town
there was nary a flake to be seen.
I've lived in the Chicago area for 20 years
and I still am not used to the weird weather fluctuations.

I made jewelry this weekend, too.

And this is the back side:


The best part of this is the back.
I found this teeny tiny Marshall Field's tags on Ebay.
Marshall Field's was a HUGE department store in Chicago.
It was taken over by Macy's a few years ago.
Macy's in the same building.
But
It's not the same.
I loved this on the back of the gun.


What little girls are made of.
Gunpowder, Lead and Marshall Field's!!


More steampunk
This time I added octopuses.
I thought the plural of octopus was octopi.
It's not.
I looked it up.
You know.
In case you need it for
Words With Friends
I'm here to help...



And another Oz necklace.


A colorful pair of hippie/ gypsy earrings.


The sun has been shining a bit more.
Color looks really good to me right now.

Have a colorful week!!