Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Okay.  So I'm not working with diamonds.  And I don't really know what Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds has to do with this post.  I was searching for songs about jewelry.  I get a lot of inspiration from music.  I just couldn't think of a thing for the title of this post.

 I went to an art fair this weekend and saw lots of really amazing jewelry art.  So there I am, all inspired and everything.  I came home and drug out all of my jewelry bits and bobs, findings and beads, pliers, scissors, well, you know.  EVERYTHING!

I don't know if you've ever made any jewelry but let me tell you.  

You can't just pull out a few things.  

Oh no, no, no.  

You gotta drag out the entire kit and kaboodle!  You just do!!

Tons of beads.  I should never have to go purchase beads for as long as I live.  Well, that being said, these are smallish beads and I'd really like some nice chunky beads. BUT - I will remain strong and be thankful that Michaels is about 20 minutes away!

First I made some bracelets strung on elastic.  Don't ask me what these bizarre hanging down bits are.  It was a moment of "artistic license."  Humor me.  It looks like some sort of bead disease that has wrongly gone amuck.  Amuck beads are not something to be proud of.

Another bracelet strung on elastic.  This is the quickest and easiest way to slam together a bracelet.  

Bracelet number three.

Put them all together

and 

you 

have

This!

They look pretty spiffy all together on my arm.

Except for those bizarro

malignant bits hanging down.

Tonight, I'm tearing that baby apart and getting rid of those pieces.

Sometimes my inspiration gets the best of me.

Next, I wanted to make a bracelet to go with some very cool

shell earrings that I own.

I made this one.  

It's kind of beachy and shelly if you get my drift.

I soldiered on with this bit of inspiration.

In retrospect it sort of looks like bowling balls 

and the eyes 

from that weird Geico commercial.

Ummm...maybe not some of my best work.

Not to be stopped it was full steam ahead to this beauty:

Not to be deterred I had descended into madness and created this.

If you take every weird bit of junk you have 

and fasten it together

to form a piece of art jewelry

you get this lovely!

It's odd isn't it?

It reminds me of a Rita Rudner piece.

She's a comedian.

She says, "The salesgirl says this would look better on."

"On what?"

"Fire?"

Next, I made these.

They're a little better.

Lastly, I stepped down off of the Crazy Train O'jewelry

 and

simplified.

Simplification is key.

All in all it was a fun afternoon.  Half of this jewelry I'll take apart and come up with something else.

That's the nice thing about jewelry.  

If you don't like it, take it apart and make something entirely different.

It's About Time!

So, I'm looking around the house and I realize that this clock/watch (clock watcher?) obsession

 I have going on is  everywhere.  I thought I'd share it with you.  

This is a really cool old/new clock that comes in a travel case.  Goodwill for $1.99.  

I love it.  It actually works and keeps time!.

Another Goodwill find for peanuts.

I love that it has a steampunk look to it.

Yuppers.  Goodwill.  Yes, it keeps time.

And yet another Goodwill find.  

I used to haunt the Goodwill like the ghosts in a Dicken's novel!

When I realized that I knew most of "the regulars" there

I decided I should cut back on my habit.

Just a little bit.

Here they are all on the wall.

Speaking of ghosts,

these all look sort of spooky like this

don't you think?

You've probably seen this elsewhere on my blog.

Easy way to show off an old pocket watch.

Here's my mantle over the fireplace.

Lots o'clocks.

None of them work.

This drives my husband bonkers!

He's one of those that sets his clock

10 minutes faster so that he's never late.

My secret is out.

I'm married to the White Rabbit

 from Alice in Wonderland.

Time flies!

Especially, when the clocks

are set 10 minutes fast.

Yeah.  I know.

Clocks are everywhere!

Can you say obsessive-compulsive?

Can you say none of them have the same time?

Can you say the fact that I get ANYWHERE

on time is a miracle?!

Consider what a great girl you are.

Consider what a long way you've come today.

Consider what O'CLOCK it is.

Consider anything, 

only don't cry!

I've gotta run.  Susan is picking me up for work

in either 40 minutes, 10 minutes, or I'm already late!

Ta-ta!

It Was A Beautiful Day

You gotta love Tom Petty.  Well, actually, you don't gotta love Tom Petty, but I do.  His song, "Runnin' Down A Dream" was a perfect theme song for our day on Tuesday.  My daughter and I drove to the dunes along Lake Michigan to enjoy the beach.  My soul needs sand, water, and a little beach to keep going.  It had been a very long time and this was a quick fix.  No palm trees but lots of sand and water.

The day started out grey and rainy.  

BUT, we persevered.  

Sometimes you just have to buck the popular opinion 

and..

go with 

your gut.  

We did.  

The day turned out ...

GLORIOUS!

We sat on this.

Watched this.

Just like this.  All day.  It was great.

Time stopped for a while and I could breathe again.

I went home and Photoshopped this picture of 

my daughter in the water.

It says it all.

Peace.

I Am Not Lost

Compasses.  Plural.  

From the sale last week.

I found both of these in the wood shop.

Tucked away amongst wood shop tools.

Funny, isn't it?

Why he'd have two compasses in his wood shop?

This one is from 1917

It has cracked glass on the inside.

I like that.

Especially, since I seem to have a penchant for 

cracking glass things myself.

The other thing I found tucked away?

Glitter.

Lots and lots of old glitter.

It's not glass glitter but it appears rather tinny.

It's definitely not plastic glitter.

Some of it was kept in old medicine bottles.

Recycling in 1954.

There were also some bits and bobs of holiday knick-knacks

A pack of black and white chenille stems.  

All just asking me, "So.  What are you going to do with this?"

Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair

"For those who come to San Francisco

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"

(Scott McKenzie)

Look at these gorgeous hats I found at an estate sale last weekend.

The prices were ever so cheap, too.  That doesn't happen much anymore.

I love this nifty-roo cardboard box.  It has little drawers that I can pack with all of the treasures I've been accumulating.  The only problem is then I forget what I have.  Although the joy of that is 

it's such a complete surprise when I rediscover them 

when opening the adorable little drawers!

This briefcase is just pretty darn cool.  

My husband said, "How many suitcases do you need?" 

after I showed it to him.

Silly, silly man.  That question is totally meaningless and irrelevant.

Gorgeous winter white ribbon.  Some of it was velvet, and some of it was a heavy satin. 

 I also found a nice bit of Tiffany blue double sided satin ribbon.

I adore old ribbon.  The texture now-a-days is not as lush and dense.

Eeeps....my grandmother's voice just crept up through my throat

and escaped out of my mouth before I could snatch it back!!

This is an old copper clock face.  I also adore old clocks.  Clocks and watches are my  obsession.  I think it's because I feel a sense of time closing in as the years tick-tock quickly by.

Time is too slow for those who wait...  

Oh dear, now I'm channeling "It's A Beautiful Day." 

 Does anyone but me even remember that musical group?? 

 I did love that album cover art though.

Click on this link if you want to hear their song White Bird.

This is a bad resolution but it is the album cover.

Funny story about this album.  

My husband loves Elvis. Songs with meaning.  You know.

 I loved this album and songs with odd lyrics!

I had it on the s-t-e-r-e-o (remember those) playing one night 

when he was over at my apartment.  

I was listening to "The Girl With No Eyes."

With the blankest look on his face he said,

"Are they saying the girl with no eyes?"

Yes.  Yes they were.  

I'm telling you, they don't make ribbon like that now-a-days 

and they don't write music like that either.

The ribbon I miss.  Some of the lyrics....are highly suspect!

One last bit of 70's memorabilia for you.

I got this for free at the estate sale!

Yup.  It's going inside of my bug.

Stay away from girls with no eyes

and be sure that you wear

some flowers in your hair!

A Whiter Shade of Pale

We skipped the light fantastic, turned cartwheels on the floor  (Procol Harem)

I have skipped the light fantastic.  But honestly, I've never been able to do cartwheels.
Besides, I'm pretty sure this song was more about doing drugs than cartwheels.
 Another one of those songs that I understand a lot less now that I'm older.
 Beautiful tune - weird lyrics. But a great song.

I'm newly inspired by it and this new white kit by Holliewood Studios.

I've been playing with this new digi-kit  Stark.
Everything is white and it's been a lot of fun as well as challenging to create with.

As always, click on the picture if you want to see more detail.

Water Landing

The Great White

Heart Ache

Can I Keep It?

It's Because Uranus Is In Retrograde

I have no clue what that means.  I do know that if you walk up to someone who's complaining about something or having a bad day and say it with the utmost sincerity you will receive the most stunned reaction you've ever seen.

Works everytime!  AND at least for a while it's true.  Uranus IS in retrograde.  That being said I thought I'd make some tags 

with stuff I have laying around the house.

This is called Molly Sue and the Crystal Ball

If you look closely you will see a man's face hovering inside the crystal ball.  This is the man the psychic said would be entering Molly Sue's life.  Soon.  Very soon.  Molly Sue hopes so.  She's tired of surfing on Hot Singles.com.

This is titled Sea.

It really doesn't make a lot of sense.  This is what comes of me doing art too early in the a.m.

Without coffee.

It's my take on an ATC.  I made it on the back of an old playing card.  

I hope I don't forget that I did that.  

Otherwise my chances of winning at a game of  solitaire 

with this deck are really reduced.

It's pretty strange and I sort of went nuts with the gesso.

These are better.  This is a series of three I did.

I call it The Alphabet Tree.

I rather like the way these turned out.

Here are closeups of the three tags.

I actually liberally "borrowed" the idea for these tags from Tim Holtz.

He used Ranger ink to color the tags and then stamped images

 with his new line of rubber stamps.

I painted water color paper with paint.  

Cut out the tags, and drew on my own tree.  

The little birds are cut out of an old children's dictionary.  

Inspiration in it's finest form.

Have a great day.

And remember the retrograde thing.  ;o)