Wishing you all a happy and safe Independence Day!
This fun project was one of Holly's kits, Small Town Pride. I love it! I adjusted a few details, as I always try and do with kits, to make them my own. Isn't it adorable? I never have red, white and blue decorations when I want them, and now I do! I love kits...it's all there for you, and you know you're going to end up with a cute project (and someone else has already worked out all the kinks for you!)
Happy 4th everyone!!!
I decided to stay up later than usual last night, poured myself a big glass of iced tea, and did some crafting. Remember when I showed you the new Wendy Addison collection in my shop and mentioned in this post that I wanted to embellish the star crown? Well, 2 months later, I finally did!
Here's the crown in it's pure form, before I gave it the Vegas makeover. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, but I decided to use only vintage materials and figure it out as I went along.
I started by wrapping the black metal form with torn strips of basic muslin fabric. (The fabric was the only non-vintage bit.) Then, around the bottom, I attached an old white floral headpiece I have had sitting around for a few years. Happy to finally give it a proper home!
Next, I fired up my trusty glue gun and began adding old pearl earrings, velvet posies and delicate lace. Nothing too time-consuming. If you can squeeze a glue gun, you can do this too.
The center star had to be different, but I was stumped. Then I spotted this old pearl thing. I say thing because I don't know what it was used for, but it's been collecting dust around here for a long time. I made a pink velvet ribbon rosette to place behind the pearl thing. Next, I added some crystals to it and glued the center part of a chipped beaded earring in the middle. I glued a rhinestone earring to the top tip of the star and added the fluffy tissue paper pom pom flower (thanks Holly!) as the final touch.
Finally, I threaded a length of old beige lace through the holes in the back. This was such a quick and easy little project. The subtle colors are comfort colors for me, and I think I'll wear this for a little pick-me-up when I'm feeling blue. How could you not smile with a pretty crown on your head?
Happy Weekend Wishes!
Goodness, I didn't mean to be away from here for an entire week! It's been a week of playing catch-up from being gone last weekend at the Art & Soul Retreat. It's amazing how only 2 days away can set me back a whole week.
The retreat was awesome and Lisa and I got in some much needed time for ourselves. Time to chat and create and relax and have fun. We decided we need to do this more often and have already started thinking about another art retreat. We took Sally Jean's class, "The Girl's Got Gothic", and here we are proudly modeling the necklaces we made. Try to ignore the bags under our eyes.....we had been in class for over 8 hours by this point and were just so darn happy to have finished the project! After this, we headed to dinner and then wound up in the lounge where we met up with Dede, had some vino and relaxed!
It was fun to piece together random elements that I love into one necklace. I've been making new jewelry from old jewelry for years, but this was different. Adding the photo charms made it very personal and meaningful.
I used pictures of Mario and Sam and a picture of George and I on our wedding day.
This rose cabochon necklace has been in my stash for a while, and I was happy to give it a home here. Pink and green, my old faithfuls. No matter what color trends come and go, those 2 colors remain my favorites.
Some bits of jewelry, worn out pearls, a Lucite button and some old lace were put to good use.
The main Gothic-shaped piece is a collage I made using my Little Andrea picture, some wallpaper scraps and a snippet of old ledger I found that says "Mrs. S". It's hard to see, but there is a tiny flocked flower under the glass too.
Then, I used a scrap of an old cloth measuring tape and some more bits of old jewelry.
And a little velvet strawberry to finish it off.
What a fun class this was! Sally is just delightful and seems to radiate positive energy and creativity. And, man, can she solder like no one I have ever seen. She makes it all look so effortless. It got me in the mood to solder again.....you know, in my spare time.
A fun time was had by all, and I can't wait to do it again!
Happy Weekend everyone!
Surprises are always nice. Someone apparently entered my name in a secret drawing on Terri's website, and I won! This beautiful necklace is my prize. It's a soldered charm incorporating a vintage glass letter from 1930's era Germany on an antique paper background. You know I've got a thing for "A" charms and have a collection of them on a charm bracelet. I think I might keep this one on the fabulous chain though. It's a unique ball chain, don't you think? Thank you to whoever entered me in the contest! If you're interested, you can get a necklace with the initial of your choice right here.
And speaking of soldering, I'm getting excited for an upcoming retreat. My friend Lisa and I are heading to Art and Soul in Hampton, VA to take a class with Sally Jean in May. I took one of Sally's classes a couple of years ago and learned how to make her amazing Vintage Vessels. I've made a few more since then. This is one of my favorites.
Lisa and I can't wait for this getaway. We both have a toddler and a baby and wonderful husbands who can handle the kids for the weekend (we hope). We're heading south and, Honey, we may just keep on driving! It wouldn't be the first time. Years ago we (mostly she) drove from Ohio to southern Florida (no short jaunt) to see some guy named George.......who turned out to be my husband! Oh, the things we do for love!
Lisa was the person who taught me how to solder. The girl can solder anything to anything. If you sit still long enough, she may just solder you to your chair. She's got a new etsy shop filled with all of her whimsical glass creations. There are mermaids and party hats and wands, all with an incredible amount of detail. I cannot even begin to imagine how to solder all of these mermaid components together!
Here's one of her fancy party hats. Isn't it sweet? This one already sold, but there are several more to choose from. Wouldn't this be cute for a little girl's birthday gift? These hats are 2 dimensional, meant to be hung on the wall, not worn, of course.
She makes it all look so effortless, but trust me, it's not! I still fumble with trying to solder jump rings onto charms every single time I do it. I finally ordered one of these "extra hands". It should make it a bit easier. Extra hands. Now wouldn't that be something.
Well, I'm off to pack up some more orders and clean up the studio. Tomorrow my friend Hope is coming over to play! Yippee! And speaking of Hope......check back this week for a new surprise at One Hundred Wishes.
Last fall, the the folks at Stampington contacted me wanting to feature my Bon Bon Cups in the Spring '08 issue of Somerset Life magazine. I was due to give birth to Sam in a week, but happily waddled into my studio and produced a dozen little baskets to submit for publication.
Well, the Spring issue comes out April 1st and it's a beauty! It is chalk full of wonderful articles by Rebecca Sower, Corey Amaro, Kaari Meng, Delila Jemaiel, Jenny Holiday and many other creative and talented women.
I made my first Bon Bon Cups after seeing a vintage one that inspired me a couple of years ago. (I can't believe it's been that long!) Who would've guessed that these little ditties would make their way into a magazine? You just never know who's watching and what may come to be. If you have an original, creative idea, consider submitting it to one of Stampington's wonderful publications. You never know until you try, and they are always seeking fresh and creative artwork for upcoming issues.
This is the second page of the article, featuring Cari Kraft's abundant creativity. She took an ordinary peat pot and made it extraordinary. Aren't these baskets precious?
Speaking of Springs treats, now that the kiddies are sleeping, it's time to get back to filling more plastic eggs for the big hunt this weekend........I'll be back on Sunday with Easter wishes!
Yes, I know, I know, I know. I've been a bad blogger! I've just been busy getting ready to reopen the shop (more details soon) and doing a bit of long-overdue crafting. I'll try to be a better blog girl from now on.....but I can't make any promises. Oh, and thanks for pouring on the love for Sam. I'm glad I'm not the only one with the urge to eat cute chubby babies!
So, anyway.......I've been loving tulle forever. It's undeniably vintage girly yet somehow there's a modern flair to it. It's just fun! A year or so ago, I made this hanger (above) after seeing one in Rachel Ashwell's book, The Gift of Giving. (page 71 for those of you who are going to go check it out.) I simply cut lengths of tulle from a 6" wide spool and tied each piece in a double knot on a wire hanger. This part seemed to take forever. Once the entire hanger was covered, I trimmed the tulle so all of the pieces were somewhat uniform in length. Then I added a velvet bow and some flowers to the top. It doesn't get much simpler than this. I wouldn't make a closet full of these, but one standing alone looks special. I have an old light blue lacey slip hanging on it on the back of our closet door at the moment.
Still on the tulle kick, I thought to make a heart-shaped wreath for Valentine's Day. If any holiday can handle tulle, it's most definitely this one! Same idea here except I started with a Styrofoam heart wreath form that I wrapped in 1" wide ivory satin ribbon.
Then I began tying on the tulle strips and trimming the edges.
After that, it's just about embellishing in whatever fashion you choose.
This is the fun part! I used mostly old millinery flowers and hung some lace streamers and a pearl necklace from the bottom.
There's a sweet little pearl heart charm held on with an old velvet hat pin.
I must say, I'm in love with this golden yellow color lately. I have never ever considered myself a yellow person, but this shade is pretty and now it's even popping up in the house decor here and there.
So now I have a wreath for Valentine's Day and it's still January. That's amazing! I'm usually doing things the day of. Hmmm, maybe I should start thinking about Easter now.....
In between feeding the baby and wrapping gifts, I've been doing some simple crafting for the Christmas season. Emphasis on the word simple. Here, I took a wire snowflake form and added beads to transform it into something beautiful. Some of the beads are new and some are old. Adding a few old pearls with that beige-ish chippy patina makes such a difference.
Then, I added a string and, voila, it became an ornament or gift topper extraordinaire! I don't think I can part with this one though.
Below, I simply gathered some humble pinecones (which you can buy at the craft store for a ridiculous amount of money if you, like me, do not have any coniferous trees in your yard) and dabbed them with Elmer's glue and dusted them with my trusty glass glitter. I love the contrast of nature and sparkle. These will get tied to gifts this year for sure.
And, how gorgeous would a whole wreath of these be?? That's a project for next year, I think.
In the 80's, my mom used to make and sell pinecone wreaths. I remember boxes upon boxes of pinecones in our basement and hot glue and floral wire everywhere. I'll have to get the scoop on her technique when I see her next week!
Well, I hear Sam fussing in his little seat. Must go feed the babe.........bye for now, friends.......... xo andrea
I've had this rather plain white star tree topper for several years now and have grown tired of it. So, unable to find what I wanted anywhere, I decided to give this one a makeover.
First, I gave it a coat of Elmer's glue and dusted silver glass glitter on it. Good old Elmer's glue works as well as anything. No need to buy a lot of those fancy glues. I've tried many of them and am just as happy with Elmer's for most projects.
Then, I skewered some old pearls onto a triple pearl corsage pin and poked a pin through each point of the star. I twisted some silver bouillon coils around the pearls for a bit of whimsy. You can sort of see it in the photo above.
Next, I made a bouquet out of vintage millinery flowers, new flowers, rhinestone buttons and velvet leaves. I wrapped the stem in velvet ribbon and hot glued the whole bouquet onto the star.
Then, I tied several lengths of ribbon to the base of the star. I used velvets, some old lace, and cream satin ribbon that has "Joyeux Noel" printed on it.
I think it looks much better now, and it definitely compliments the rest of the tree, which I'll take picture of soon. It twinkles when the white lights hit it in the evening. Love that.
George has been out of town for work for the past 2 weeks. I am soooo eager for him to come home this afternoon. I managed to get the house all decorated while he was gone, so it will be nice and Christmas-y cozy for his homecoming. He's been in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and a few other places. After visiting those countries, he will be especially grateful to be home sweet home. I'm looking forward to this coming week, sitting by the tree in the evening, wrapping presents, and just chatting. I miss the chatting. (although I've had a whole lot of 3-year-old chatting to make up for it!)
Ok, now I'm off to go start addressing some Christmas cards before Sam wakes up from his slumber. I want his life! Sleep, sleep, sleep.....
I just can't believe Sam is a month old already. I finally got all of his birth announcements made and mailed. I was planning to purchase them and then managed to convince myself at the last minute that I needed to make them. I always prefer something handmade, but just didn't know if I was up to it. I did them little by little, whenever I could squeeze in a little crafting time. It felt good to create something, and I'm so glad I did. These are pretty simple, but just perfect for the occasion! After all, I sent out 75 of these babies, so I was not looking for something complicated. My kitchen table has looked like this for 3 weeks. Glad to have it all cleaned up. I will not, however, be making my Christmas cards this year! Mark my words......
Yesterday we went to dinner to celebrate our good friend Dj's birthday. It was so nice to be able to sit outside as the heat wave we've had for months has finally broken....I think. She has been asking me for a bracelet, and I made one for her in her favorite colors with lots of trinkets and charms dangling.
I was on a roll and made 2 other bracelets over the weekend as well. I plan on making at least 2 more, and then they will all be for sale at One Hundred Wishes! I'll keep you posted.
Enjoy Monday! xo andrea
