Time for Holiday Bracelets as Gifts

I gathered some of my past and present bracelet creations for inspiration as I start to make new ones to sell and to give as gifts. And what would be better than a yummy, full charm bracelet? A yummy, full charm bracelet with a full, yummy bottle of wine!
The top three bracelets are my own. The first one is my Blythe Bracelet. This one has been through a few iterations. It first started as the result of a charm swap a few years ago in the Arte-du-Blythe group, hosted by Miss Vicky of Cut-It-Up fame. Then I added a few kitschy things to it. But in preparation for Blythecon 2012 in Dallas I sent it to Natascha of Insanely Sweet Jewelry on Etsy to bling-it-up another notch.
Next is my All Pink bracelet with a favorite handmade ceramic goth girl charm by Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. I love to look at it but often forget to wear it! Plus, as much as I do love pink, I hardly ever wear the color with the exception of fuschia now and then.
All of these bracelets contain many elements by the talented Amy Labbe of Art-i-Cake. I especially love the playful bracelet I flung on a wine bottle to photograph, and then realized what a great gift idea. This bracelet has a lot of my favorite things: Mini Lalaloopsy, a tuxedo cat, a Blythe maryjane shoe, vintage enamel flowers, soldered charms, pearls, rhinestones, multiple chains and BLING!.
Time to get busy and make jewelry to sell in my little display at Feja's Salon and Day Spa.

More, more, more in my Etsy shop, including handmade items by me

I added a couple of my Marie Antoinette figures to my Etsy shop, and lots more vintage goodness! Check it out.

Head 'em up and Move 'em out and Let's get some New Inspiration!

After nearly 18 months of struggling with an absent muse, an ailing body, a mixed-up mind, a stressed heart, a busy job, the combination of Too Much Stuff and The Tax Man Cometh made me finally sort through my vintage goodness and start listing some items in my Etsy shop again.
The above pictures are just a sampling, and to the right is a live link to my Etsy shop and a preview of some other things. I finally decided if these items weren't inspiring me to create, it's time to move them on and possibly find some new inspiration. I hardly ever keep anything very long, unless it has personal meaning. These are all vintage finds I had been saving for my next great mixed media or altered art project which, sadly, hasn't been forthcoming.
You may remember I blogged about lack of inspiration here. Well, a lot of that STUFF you see will soon be available in my little shoppe. My frustration is your Aha Moment perhaps. Even my Etsy shop has been neglected, with the same sad four handmade items sitting there for a year. Sheesh.
I've also gotten busy and sorted through my vintage Barbie stash and listed nearly three dozen items on Ebay here. Maybe it is "out with the old, in with the older." Or perhaps less clutter (can an OCD person even have clutter?) will inspire me. What do you think? Is it hard to part with treasures you "might" use or might "need" some day?

In the pink, and do we see a pattern here?

I wish I could claim any of this artwork as mine. Oh, I own it all right, but ah, to be the creator. I love the Parisienne, a print from Lulu on Etsy and the chunky face canvas is an original by Catherine Olvier Pluchino. Love it, too! Then we have my Blythe, Daisy, in a pink sweater by nani-store on Etsy, a vintage pink throw pillow with brooch, and a beautifully wrapper bar of soap. Yes. I photographed soap. I find all this eye candy so inspiring, and heaven knows, I need some inspiration. I haven't made much art lately, but Santa delivered a Singer Pixie Plus sewing machine, and I hope to make some sock monkeys and critters, some fabric altered art, and to cover my art journal. All pretty lofty, considering I have never used a sewing machine. My little robot collection and my antique carrom board are more inspiration, along with pretty fabrics, to motivate me to learn how to operate this intimidating little machine. I'll keep you posted...or I'll just keep photographing soap.

Some Things Beautiful This Way Come

The exquisite floral and bird wall hanging at top is by the talented Terri Gordon in a recent swap we did that I also posted about here. It is so incredible in person. Can't wait to hang it.

The Poe bottle is from Teresa Yates of Cedar Junction. She blogged about the Poe bottle here as it was featured in an Etsy treasury. We swapped art and ephemera.

The pink Royal is a treasure I found on Etsy and blogged about on my writing blog, Hunt and Peck. I've been searching for a vintage typewriter forever, or at least since I blogged about seeing and coveting this one in Portland last year.

My doll head collection grows with the little black head with white bows (in the middle) from Constanza, during her major de-stash. Check her Etsy for deals like the collectible Bailey's cup (bottom photo).

So much talent out there!

I received all of these wonderful things recently in swaps with fellow artists, all found on Etsy. The "nurse robot" is by the talented Mike of youneekusername on Etsy. He also sent me another old tin bandaid can filled with the wonderful nuts, bolts, widgets and whatchamacallits you see above. We've been swapping ephemera now for awhile and find we both like old tins, Alice in Wonderland, a little bit of goth/skeletons, etc. Mike sent me a great You Tube video recently that I can totally relate to about freelancing. Check out Mike's robots on Etsy.

The dress on canvas is called Flavia's Dress by the talented Constanza of peregrineblue on Etsy and Flickr. And she's having a fabulous de-stash sale on Etsy in her Boubelina2 shop. Love, love, love her stuff. And love Constanza--met her in person at ZNE Convenzione in 2008. We were in ZNE Artists and Poets together. I absolutely love the dress and wish you could see all the textures and patterns in person. It is outstanding, along with the other goodies I got from Constanza here.

The canvas "Soar" at top is by Julie King also on Etsy. I happened on to her work and asked her if she might be willing to consider a trade. She liked one of my bracelets, and I received this wonderful original. Note the close-up of the neat texture with tissue paper. And such a great message, too! Check out her originals and prints in her shop.

I've also completely updated my own Etsy shop. All of my jewelry can now be found in a brick and mortar store in Ellicott City, Maryland called The Vintage Shoppes. And some of my various handmade creations in crochet, paper clay, papercrafts and altered art/mixed media are in my on-line shop. Check it out at the link in this paragraph and see a mini version at right.

Still Nesting

I finished a couple more projects into the wee hours of Saturday night, or I guess that would actually be the wee hours this morning. I had been saving this last nest, a nice nosegay shape, for quite some time, along with the pearl clusters, which had been part of a ponytail holder. Together with the vintage millinery leaves, old button and piece of a doily, it just seemed to say "wedding." I still have a few more finishing touches to add.

The baby shoe is another one of my pin cushions. I love finding baby shoes at an antique mall, so I can alter them up in some way. It seems nice to preserve something so significant. I always feel sad when I see them for sale, instead of handed down generation to generation. And since I have no plans to alter my children's baby shoes, or my own, it's fun to dress up these vintage finds.

I also made a wire-wrapped primary color bracelet just for fun, with beads I found on a recent trip to Pittsburgh. Not sure if the bracelet will be for me or will go to my Etsy shop, but that moment of reflection seems to be required for everything I make. I always want to keep everything, but that just isn't sensible, considering the amount of stuff I make, as evidenced by this post and the one immediately below.

Lastly, I added some new charms to my most recent "artsy" charm bracelet. The original charms were ones I received at Art and Soul, Portland, in 2008. The newest charms (the ones on the top row), were received in the recent Cloth Paper Scissors magazine charm swap (the geisha, the nicho, the brown clay with turquoise string and the wrapped sheet music). The "Blue Willow"-like teacup is from my art friend Constanza, who is downsizing for an apartment and has tons of cool stuff for sale in her Etsy shop. The leaf and the Art in Ashland charm are from a swap with another art friend, Michelle Geller of Hold Dear. I love my charm bracelets! Every one of them, and every charm, has a story.

I feel a little guilty spending so much time inside--in the basement no less-- making art on beautiful summer days. But, weekends are my only art time, and at 90+ degrees and humid, I don't necessarily think of that as a beautiful summer day--especially when I can see my next-door neighbors enjoying their in-ground swimming pool--while my pool-sized back yard looks like a pool-less football field full of dead or dying grass, shriveling in the heat.

So off to the basement I go. Time to pick up where I left off at midnight. Oh, but if you think I went to bed when the clock struck twelve, silly you. From midnight to 3 a.m. I worked on my novel. I'm 16,000+ words in and feeling good. Please stop by my writing blog. It could use some visitors! Sneak peek of chapter one is way down the road, but it will be there. Sometime.

Yay Me! (again) and Thanks to Shonna of Twisted Figures

The above goodies are winging their way to me, courtesy of Shonna Bucaroff of Twisted Figures. I entered a drawing on her blog for her '100th Follower' celebration, and somehow her cutie son drew my name out of a jar.

You might recognize another piece of Shonna's art, "Busy Bee," which I bought from her Etsy shop and blogged about here. Shonna also turned me on to Suzi Blu's Web site and art classes. Love this style! Thanks, Shonna.

Finally! My Prince Cometh.

Along with some great swaps of a darling painted canvas from Kelly of Little Pink Trailer and an altered tin from Heather of Creative Solace, my prince arrived in the mail Thursday. And he even brought my favorite pie. Okay, so he's still a frog. But, I'm working on that. And he's, well, metal. But I've always had a thing for heavy metal and big hair. And so he didn't bring a pie, big deal. The fact remains: he's here. And he's mine.

Actually, Mr. Squibb/Boric Acid (you know those heavy metal types) comes from Mike in Wisconsin from Etsy. I first posted about Mike's work on Vintage Indie in my review of the American Visionary Museum. Mike and I then decided to do an art swap and we're happy as clams, er frogs.

And besides, my prince doesn't hog the strawberry/blueberry pie I made.

Here's what I sent Heather: a nicho. And here's what I sent Kelly: a bracelet with vintage beads; and here's part of what I sent Mike: ephemera. I have more listed on Etsy. That pack is marked reserved- for yet another trade, with Fishstikks. But there's always more ephemera.

What I've Still Been Up To

I've been making jewelry- frantically it seems- until 2 a.m. Friday, 3:3o a.m. Saturday and for eight hours straight on Sunday- 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. without a lunch break. I'll even accept the title frantic or manic, because it does seem when I get "on a roll" as they say, time just flies, to use even more euphemisms, and I don't even want to stop.

It's almost therapeutic, I think, to express myself this way. It bewilders even me sometimes. Some of these beads I bought more than a year ago, and just simply have stared at them ever since, unable to make anything happen. I'd string some up and then cut them back apart because I didn't like what I had created. And now, all of a sudden, everything looks good to me, makes sense, matches, falls into place. My wire-wrapping and bead-crimping skills seem to have returned.

The only thing on my mind when I am spending so much time making jewelry is that I'd also like to be painting, drawing, writing, making collages and altered art assemblages. In fact, I even keep an art 'to-do' list. I don't like to have "works in progress" as I mentioned some time ago. It's just not my style to have several things (or even two) going at once. It bugs me. I like to finish one thing at a time, although I will admit to having another afghan about half done. But, I really have to take breaks from crocheting or my golfer's elbow comes back. It happened once before- lower than tennis elbow and aggravated from repetitive motion- like crocheting.

So, what's on my to-do list? I have two 10 x 10 canvasses and some paint and colors in mind for some impressionistic painting, a la Ceza'nne for a Somerset challenge. I have some weird parts gathered up for an Alice in Wonderland challenge. I want to make a little robot out of scrap parts. I have a couple doll heads waiting for bodies out of bird cages or bottles. I have an Americana canvas I want to paint. I have a project on "colors" that I want to do. I have some rusty numbers I want to use. I want to do some more rubber-stamping and card-making to submit. I have a nicho I want to fill. I have at least one more charm bracelet in mind, and I just accepted an invitation to a Marie Antoinette charm swap and maybe a fabric journal page swap. I have a poem about escalators in my head and a short story about waking up at Teesha Moore's fun house in my pajamas. I have a novel started (okay, so that's a major WIP). I have five short stories that need edited and sent out. I want to make some more sugar skull ATCs. And I do want to finish that afghan. Nevermind about a full-time job and sending a child to college. Weeds to pull? What weeds? Girls just wanna have fun and do art.

I attended a nice little wedding this weekend in Michigan in the midst of all this creating. Congratulations to my co-workers Amy & Brian who are on their way to an Alaskan cruise now, via Vancouver.

Where's all this jewelry going? Not sure, but definitely for sale soon. Happy creating. How great to live in a free America where we can be as creative as we want, whenever, however we want.

Body of Evidence or Mad Scientist at Work

I've had so much fun stuff on my art to-do/wish list, and tonight I finally got to make a dent in it. Actually, my list of things I want to do includes both art and writing. With work (a lot) and sleep (a little), it's hard to get very far on my 'what I'd really rather be doing' list.

But thanks to a burst of inspiration last night, I got some writing out of the way that is due July 3. I've been lucky enough to receive the Rylan Harris Memorial Scholarship to the Midwest Writers Workshop July 23-25 in Muncie, IN. Not only am I excited that the cost of the workshop is covered, but I am thrilled beyond words that the fiction and poetry I sent in were apparently good enough to earn this award.

There will be sessions with published authors, literary agents, writing contests and manuscript evaluations. To warm up to my writing, I wrote a review of my recent visit to the American Visionary Art Museum for the 'guest reporter on location' spot on Vintage Indie. For the writing workshop I needed to have done the first five pages of my proposed novel, a synopsis and query letter, another five pages of a short story for a contest, and five pages of poetry for the evaluator. Most of that was done at midnight last night, with poetry from midnight to 2 a.m. Then I started reading a book on writing non-fiction memoir and got sucked in until 3:30 a.m.

So tonight I was determined to make a doll out of a fat canvas and porcelain doll parts like Lisa Kaus and Beth Quinn have done. See those here and here. I got this particular doll head from Kris Hubick at Retro Cafe Art, and I've been saving it especially for this project.

I set up my art table and got out the supplies I would need, knowing that some would carry over into what else I wanted to accomplish. I had already painted my 4" x 4" chubby canvas that I got on Ebay (although you can get even fatter ones from Dick Blick).

I cut out some scrapbook paper that I had gotten at Archiver's into the shape of a dress. Then I embellished that with several layers of ribbon and lace, and some scraps of sheet music and a page from a children's book.

Once I assembled the dress, (after tea-dying the biggest piece of lace out in the sun for awhile), I attached everything to the canvas with Golden's gel medium. I used E6000 to attached the head to a bottle cap and then to a fabric covered disc and then to the canvas. I used wire and eyelets to attach the porcelain bisque legs and arms.

I finished my dolly up with some jaunty vintage millinery in her hair and an exquisite passementerie flower and leaf that I had received in a swap. Then I brushed a thin coat of melted beeswax over the entire canvas. I added a sawtooth hook on the back for hanging. Not sure if she will stay or go to my Etsy shop. Lisa's dolly canvasses have been featured in Romantic Homes, Somerset Studio and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines and regularly sell out immediately for $200 or more.

While dolly was drying, I grabbed a couple of smaller old German doll heads and some paper clay. Both of the heads were broken at the neck, and in one case part of the cheek and the end of the nose were gone. So I built them up with paper clay as you can see above, and now they'll be usable in a project.

With the paper clay out, I sculpted an owl and a mushroom by hand, hoping to paint them as cheerfully as Pam Garrison has done here. I can't stop looking at her critters. I love her journaling, too. I only hope my paint job turns out half as cute as hers did. Paper clay takes about 24 hours to dry, and then you smooth any cracks with a little household spackling and water. Dry some more. Then paint. Big fun.

You can see in my pencil doodles I tried to emulate Pam's owl there also. I've been admiring all the talent in Suzi Blu's art group as well and can't seem to stop doodling girly faces. A few pages a night seems to be what the art doctor has ordered. I like doodling best with woodless graphite pencils. Then I spray a little fixative to keep it all from smudging away.
Lastly, my 17 pages for the Marie Antoinette Mail Art fat book collaborative that I blogged about pre-painting here, were ready for me to start painting the faces. I drew the face I wanted in my sketch book first, then I traced it on tissue paper. Next I cut 17 of these faces out of tissue paper and adhered them directly to the book pages with gel medium.

After letting that dry awhile, I painted the faces with Golden's liquid acrylic in titan buff and then I painted the hair with Golden's white, adding some white Pearl Ex pigment for shimmer, some Gesso to thin it all out, and some Golden's molding paste to give the hair texture. So far, so good. I have my ribbons, rivets, filigree findings, gold leaf and fabric at the ready to finish my pages, well before the July 20 deadline. Can't wait to see how they turn out. More importantly, can't wait to get my finished book back. There's so much talent in this upcoming book. It will be fit for a queen.

Although I was kept busy tonight and last and although I always try to stay chirpy on this blog, I am deeply saddened by all the deaths today. It is strange feeling to hear about the icons of one's childhood- icons in some cases one's same age almost-dying much too soon.

I grew up tearing Michael Jackson pictures out of Tiger Beat from about third grade on. I remember my dad driving us past the Jackson's house in Gary back in the late 60s. We lived nowhere near Gary, so I think we made this a side trip in addition to visiting the Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. Such a talented family, those Jacksons- five, six, seven of them-how ever many performed in addition to the core group. One has to wonder what will become of Michael's three (or is it four?) children.

Farrah Fawcett. Who did not want her hair when I was in high school? Or for that matter her job or her bathing suit body. I spent many hours forced to look at her famous poster in a boyfriend's room. I wonder if he is thinking about her tonight.

And Ed McMahon. Didn't we all feel comforted closing the evening with Ed and Johnny, waiting for the television set to go to snow after their show?

Icons of my generation for sure. They will be missed.