jewelry

Remember my beautiful swap gift from the May Day basket giveaway?  It just got even better!  Karin http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/ sent me MORE!   I got these two tags in the mail and promptly put them up on a shelf in my office.  Thanks, Karin!

Which made me think about taking photos of the rest of my office instead of finishing the housecleaning that I have been putting off. It takes me days to clean because I get so sidetracked.

My office is a corner of my art studio and the walls of it are made up of old doors hinged together.

Here is a view of the outside, peeking in through a French door.  I try not to block the light by hanging anything solid on the doors, so my sparkly K and an embellished frame are a perfect fit.

French doors (from a garage sale for $15) are the best, they keep the room from feeling too closed in.  The gazebo thing is something my son and I made out of porch columns from a junk store for $6 each, some corner brackets and 2x4s. 

The painting is a watercolor I did of the front of my studio.  Did I mention that I adore my studio and spend all the time that I can out here?  After years of using the kitchen table, or  a card table in the guest room, or the garage- I am thrilled to have this space to work in.

The floors are cement that I have stained to give them some color.  The rug is a vinyl floor cover remnant ($5) that I painted like stones, originally for an article I wrote for Romantic Country? Small Room Decorating? Can’t remember which one it was right now.

Having a computer right in the studio is way too convenient for goofing off and surfing blogs too.  The room also has  all of our home office needs, so I’ve tried to use attractive hiding places for all the necessities.  Old suitcases, vintage paper covered boxes, parts of old dressers, etc. 

For furnishings,I mosaiced the top of a narrow white cabinet I found at a garage sale for $2, used a $45 walnut drop leaf table for a desk, and the black hutch is another garage sailing find for $50- lots of space in it.

The shelf on the wall is an old chippy paint planter box I bought from Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ and I like it so much, I don’t put much in it, I hate to cover it up. It has photos of Sugar Wings and of my Dad who passed away last year. (If you notice in the photo, I am in it- with ANOTHER hair color- and no paint on my clothes!!) the sign above the box "comfort & joy" is one that I painted, and it used to be the name of my shop.

The file cabinet is a new oak one that I painted white and distressed. As much as I like to use only vintage and used furniture, sometimes I have to be practical and a filing cabinet the right size was just not turning up for me, so I got a new one and made it look old.

One more thing I love about my office- I found this calender at Sentimental Journey (an antique shop full of bargains) with the month and day torn off to my birthday 5-5-58!  Had to buy it, and it has a great pocket for stashing things.

An office isn’t that interesting, all the tech stuff and paperwork around, but I  just don’t want to go and clean my house for the Boss’s Dinner Party Feast I have coming up tomorrow night. I was bored and avoiding work and I just happened to be in the office and started to take photos. It doesn’t take much to entertain or sidetrack me. 

I do run on, don’t I?  Well, I’ll keep going, the more I play around with this the less cleaning I have to face. No, wait, it will still be there, won’t it???

Two of my blogger friends asked about the shard jewelry I didn’t sell because of the art show raining out.  so here are photos to shop from for them, if you are interested also, let me know. They are usually $28 each, but that is considering show fees, percentages paid to the fair, etc.  So, blogging price to you guys?  $20, what a steal!! The bails these hang from are sterling silver and the solder is all lead free.

Okay, here is my ROSE A DAY FOR 10 DAYS IN MAY– rose # 7, in honor of Caring Bloggers Rose Day on May 10th sponsored by: http://brittarnhildshouseinthewoods.typepad.com/brittarnhilds_house_in_th/

Twinkle in a rose patterned hankie sitting in a rose needle work chair.  Happy May 7th!!!

Today I have been making jewelry for the art show on Sunday. It has been so long since I "played jewelry" -thats what my sister and I call it, when we make things- that I spent more time looking through my stash and admiring the bits and pieces than actually piecing things together.

I collect vintage jewelry to take apart and remake, and over the years have gathered up a few containers like these. 

It takes a bit of admiring and enjoying for a while before I get down to business and start making new pieces from all the old ones.

Yesterday was painting day, I did a dozen or so mini paintings to make into more charms. Here are a few finished ones as well as a couple pair of earrings I put together from my vintage goodies stash.

The teacup mini is the one I made for myself.  My sis, who likes to ‘play jewelry’ too, gave me the very old blue topaz stone I put on it.

There was a casualty yesterday.  I didn’t plan to be painting, thought I was going to be making cards. But,I got sidetracked, and picked up a paint brush. Next thing you know, I forgot I am wearing my favorite shirt. I have a bad habit of wiping my brush on myself as I work.

The habit got started when I was up on 20 foot high scaffolding or on a ladder painting murals.  It was easier to use my shirt instead of a rag.  Now, I just can’t help it, its automatic.  And sometimes I forget what I am wearing. Sadly, I have more clothes that look like this, than look normal. 

Here is #2 in my Rose for a Day for 10 Days- another little canvas I painted yesterday. It was a gift in my May basket swap from Karin http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/. 

Hopefully, tomorrow’s Rose for day #3 will be something from my annual Sparks and White Cloud flea market trip!!  But the weather looks yucky, hope I don’t get too soaked there to find a pretty rose to show you.

Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ has tagged me to list 7 weird things about myself.  I emailed family and friends to get their opinion, I’ll see what they have to say about me and post it Saturday for my birthday.

On Saturday, for my birthday, I will also draw a name from the pretty hat.  This will be a BONUS PRIZE!!!

  Do you remember I told you, that if I had enough entries for the May Bucket FULL OF GOODIES, I’d add a second and maybe a third prize?  Well, I certainly have had lots of entries!  So I will draw a name for a birthday present on May 5 and send it to the winner so they can help me celebrate.  But the winner has to promise to eat a piece of cake and think of me.

You can stil enter the Maybucket giveaway and this bonus prize too.  Just leave a comment.

Tomorrow I get to babysit all day for Sugar Wings again. So, to make up for lost work time, here I am after midnight, making jewelry.  Well, I guess it already is tomorrow?   

I painted a few one inch pictures, cut clear glass to fit them added a copper back and tape, then soldered and added jump rings.

Here are a few that are finished, cleaned up and beads added.  I used vintage crystals  with genuine pearls. I only got 14 made, but might make more tomorrow while I have the mess spread out.

For now, I am off to bed. Tomorrow, I mean later this morning, I will be chasing after my fairy grand baby and she is a pretty fast little crawler.

Today was a blustery day in Kansas, a good day for the "virtual pot luck."   I ‘m glad I got to visit with everyone and not actually have to go outside!

I spent the morning listing some things on Ebay and checking out the various party hostesses.  Then, my house guests came early and I hadn’t swept the floors yet or done the dishes!

It is so much more fun to do the pretty part of getting ready for company, setting up a new guest room and setting a table.

So, while I made  cups of tea and we talked, I got out the broom.  At my house, it is always casual.  As much as I love it to have sumptuous decor, it is always comfy and my guests are treated like family. Heck, they were lucky I didn’t hand them a broom!

Here are a couple of things I listed today on Ebay. I am still struggling with the best way to list, which key words, categories, etc.  Wish me luck.  So far, I am spending more on fees than I am actually making back.  But it is a learning curve…….?

In case you tried to look at my "Downey" album, I want to apologize, because I have lost it somewhere in blogworld.  It is still there, lurking and I can find it from my end, (under an accidental new title) but it doesn’t show up on my site.  Well, I am learning a bit more every day with this. Sometimes, I think I am just learning how inept I am at cyber-stuff.

Well, one thing I know I am good at is- shopping!  I found some wonderful things yesterday at the Topeka antique mall, and that mall tends to be over priced and not the best place for things of beauty.  I used my skills to their fullest and scrounged till I found these treasures.  The rug is in perfect condition and will go in my kitchen to replace one very similar that I have just washed to death over the years. The lovely little water color of roses was hidden in a hideous frame, and I am sure I will be able to find one better suited to it.  The little dolly is missing most of one leg, but with a bit of stuffing, she’ll be just fine.  Of course, I am not into needle and thread activities unless forced, so she might remain lame and still cute as a bug.

I am also skilled at crashing into things and breaking them.  On my studio redo last week, I broke a few dishes. I like to scavenge what good I can from a bad situation, so here is what I do with broken china.  I grind the edges down from the shards and solder on chains to make jewelry.  This is a photo of a few of them.

Oh, by the way, I noticed at the grocery store magazine rack today (because who can go to the store without looking through all the pictures in the magazines??) the issue of Country Victorian with my bedroom on page 16 is still out.  The photo was taken for an article I wrote about my house, but it has not been published yet.  The pictures from that story have been used in 3 other stories so far, so it has been interesting to see them pop up in other articles. 

My bedroom looks completely different by now, heck that photo was taken almost a year ago!  Here is a picture of what it looks like now. Well, not quite, this picture was taken in Nov. and I have changed a lot since then too.  But it is closer than the one in the article.