And a few pieces I haven't finished yet:
You can serve as my test demographic. Am I nuts? Is it too much? Are you getting sick of seeing dozens of green and blue-green pieces?
And I think I mentioned the dollhouse window boxes -- they're on their way to my house! Now, for lots of measuring, rulering, and wiring, tedious work with the X-acto knife, and more pink spray paint than should be allowed, I'm sure.
I'm pretty sure I could never pull them off, but feathers are a big deal recently in fashion and design, the very sagacious Etsy tells me. So here's my amateur attempt at incorporating them into my jewelry. Frankly, I think I need a little more practice.
I patinated this vintage raw brass ring base, affixed a vintage acrylic rose cabochon as the centerpiece, and I think it turned out pretty nicely, but then I'm partial to the patinas, as you've probably noticed.
And these were so much fun.
I found these vintage ring blanks, and then the loose vintage foil-backed glass crystals, and wanted to try my hand at setting them myself. They turned out so beautifully! The tragedy is that I can't wear them myself, because the ring blanks are size eight, a full size too big for any of my fingers. But I'm sure there's someone out there who can, and who'll love them and give them a good home. {Sigh.}
Let me know if you have any interesting ideas for more feather pieces!
Angelaliguori's shop on Etsy, Carta, Inc. is filled with beautiful letterpress, paper products, and book-binding supplies. I don't need any of these things, but I was captivated by the incredibly beautiful way in which all of her items are phtographed -- fit for a Martha Stewart layout. Have a look for yourself.
(All images by angelaliguoiri.)
Peach parrot tulips are my favorites. Except the pink ones. And the red ones. Aren't they gorgeous?
And blueberry muffins. And not having to cook lunch. And Masterpiece Theatre. And sunshine.
My old set was square and vintage metal. I liked them a lot, but it was so difficult to get them clean, and I had to line them with foil before putting anything in. The new set looks vintage, but is pretty and new and fully functional without artificial assistance. Yay!
I'll let you know when the shop will be up and open for sale, and you can let me know if you're interested in purchasing a custom piece similar to either of these!
(Images by Anna Maria Horner and fabricworm.etsy.com; images are linked to their sources.)
Red Otter is a paper goods shop I found not long after I became hooked on Etsy. I love her pink and aqua-toned products (surprise), and I love how she also sells folders and other organizational items.
Not only is her shop charming, but so is her blog, full of beautiful things and encouraging thoughts. Go visit!
(All images found here, and linked to their source.)
Can you guess? I'm going to cut cityscape silhouettes out of the foamboard to make them look like buildings; see how the pattern looks a bit like brick up close?
I'm going to cut window holes too, and if I can find them, I'm going to spray paint a lot of minature window boxes (for dollhouses) pink, and will hang them in the windows. I'm going to string the brown wire from window to window like clotheslines, so that my necklaces will hang from them with mini clothespins. Then, I'm going to run the pink paper underneath the whole setup, and stripe it with dotted white lines, to make a literal pink street. If everything comes out like I hope it will, Pink Street will be erected in Fort Worth this spring! More photos when that happens.
And the jewelry. Oh, dear me.
I posted pics yesterday of some of my own recent pieces into which I've begun to incorporate ribbon. Next phase, lace? Yes, please.
I made the flower piece on this necklace a whole year ago when I took a jewelry class with a local jeweler called Lyn Stoll. She taught us how to cut a shape out of a solid sheet of copper. I drew this flower, traced it onto a manila folder for a thicker pattern, then traced that onto the copper with a stylus. I used a little baby hand-saw and really, really tiny saw blades to cut this out. It took a long time. Then, Lyn gave us each bags of cedar wood chips, to which we added ammonia at home, kept our copper pieces in a sunny windowsill for a week, and voila! when I took it out, it was this lovely shade of green. After that, I was hooked on patinas, but not having a lot of extra cedar wood chips laying around, I decided to just order the patinas I mentioned in Monday's post and let someone else do the chemical mixing for me. Anyway, I hadn't gotten around to sealing this piece until recently, and this is what I came up with. I added a delicate raw brass chain and some faceted garnets. I'm not sure if I'm quite happy with it yet, though. I think it still needs tweaking.The centerpiece of this one is a silver-plated and rhinestone piece my friend Dani gave me when we did our girls' day and clothes swap not long ago; SCORE!
I found these beautiful Martha Stewart silk ribbons at Michael's not long ago, and I've been incorporating them into some of my pieces to soften them up lately. I really like the way they've turned out. The one on this necklace is a lovely light beige, like tea and cream.
I've also been loving very large cameo pieces lately. I call this one "French Countryside."
Most of these are destined for either Art Trail in April or the Funky Finds Spring Fling. I've got to find some time to make some dedicated pieces for my Etsy shop!
