IO Stamps Happy Haunting!

About a week ago, I sat down in the craft room and just stared at all the c**p on (and around) my work desk. Beads, brass, glue, clay sculpting tools, scissors and a Mexican Fire Opal. 

Yeah...I know....I don't know how the devil it got there either. 

Suddenly, I felt the urge..no...make it a compulsion...to make a card. Specifically, to do some sponging and make a card. 

There were two reasons for this: The first was that I was a little burnt out on jewelry, beading, etc. The second is that I MISSED ink. I missed the exact thing that I swore months ago was the reason I left cards and went to 3D art then beading...that reason was the limitation of paper and ink. That's right...I MISSED having to work harder with fewer materials and with significant imagination. Both of which apply in cardmaking. 

Believe it or not, it's easier for me to create an impressive looking 3D creation or bit of jewelry than it is to sit down and make a card like this. 

Because there's a finite amount of material, you have to really tap into your creativity and make everything count. That's why I have the utmost respect for you full time card creators...ESPECIALLY you clean and simple people. I mean it...you are pretty amazing people. 

One of my fave companies is Impression Obsession. So, I decided to enter their challenge (you have til the 29th to enter!!!) called "Happy Haunting" Using a 2.5 inch punch, I punched a circle from a sheet of masking paper. I placed it off center on a 3.5 x 3.5 panel of white PTI cardstock. I sponged the panel in soft sky, then used Pacific Point about 2/3 of the way down, then night of navy for the top. I randomly sponged black at the bottom and along the sides and upper corners. Laying the masking paper over the moon (effectively masking everything but the moon) I sponged yellow, red, rust and orange for the Harvest moon. 

Using IO Bare Tree Die and glue dots, I added the tree silhouette and just cut the trunk off. A square orange panel and mounting tape finished the scene and after tying a sparkly orange ribbon, I used a ghost from IO's Halloween Die set and cut one in copper. Heating the copper to oranges, reds and pinks (which, of course, doesn't show to full advantage in the photo) I glued it to the ribbon to finish it off. 

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed getting back to basics. Does that mean no more gigantic creations? HAH! Never. But, for now, I'm having fun getting my hands dirty again! And that's just enough for now :)



Impression Obsession Halloween Die Set DIE114-O
Impression Obsession Bare Tree Die DIE006-V

Flights of Fancy, Saying Thank You and Hellfire. The BEST of my Non-Sequitur's to Date.

Okay...let's start at the beginning.

Not at the 'beginning' beginning...I wouldn't have enough time just to cover all the time-outs and paddling (yes...PADDLING) during my elementary school years, much less work my way up to my current age! 

Which is 30.

And holding. 

And holding. 

And...well, you get my drift.

Let's just start at the beginning of this past Spring. Which just happened to coincide with a huge decrease in whatever it is I do here on this blog. Face it...we all have a name for it, but I won't put you on the spot.

Anyhoo....this past April.

What is the FIRST thing you'd think to do if unemployed (with no jobs in sight) and a propensity for impulsive action and disregard of current job and financial state?

That's right!!! You'd buy a horse.

Which I did. A beautiful, quarter-horse mare named Coco, whom I adore. Even after she's chomped on me a time or two and stomped on me. Yes, she's a little on the high-maintenance side, but she's a love and she makes me get out of the house on a daily basis. Which is what the doctors say to do. Even thought they MIGHT not have specifically recommended that I buy a horse, that's the way I heard it.

So, knowing that I cannot possible do two things at once (no adhd med is THAT good), I've been playing around with the horse since April. Now that it's hot enough to convert even the most heinous of sinners (seriously...the threat of hellfire is scary after suffering through the nastiness of an NC summer...THIS summer, in particular) I find myself back in the relative cool of the ol' craft room. 

I'm sure I've mentioned my 'brass source' before...his auctions can be found HERE 

I've been buying for quite awhile. I started with buying assorted charms by the pound and worked up to having to buy a large toolbox to keep all the brass I've bought. Because now, my new love is assemblage art and, next, actual wearable assemblage art jewelry. 

Chatelaines have been an attraction for awhile. And to thank my 'dealer' for his generosity (every time I order, he includes extras he thinks I'll like), I decided to make him and his wife a piece of shadowbox art. 

I love making reproductions of Art Nouveau and French pieces. For my patrons (I use that word in it's original sense...but it's also because their last name is 'Friend'. So it sounds weird to say 'To my friends, the Friend's.' So, 'patrons' it is.) I found this chatelaine, recreated it and mounted in a shadowbox for them. Since they are artists in their own right (painters) they assured me they loved it. Which delighted me and re energized me to get back to the table and create. Here's the piece I found that I wanted to recreate:

It's described as a Antique Austro-Hungarian Figural Jeweled Gemstone Chatelaine Bird Putti Cherubs

And here is mine...

Needless to say, I had a BLAST making this. Especially for the people who have been so incredibly generous and supportive.

My next project is to make actual wearable art recreations. I'm working on a piece now that may actually put my soul in jeopardy, regardless of the heat this summer. Perhaps it's due to the fact I have never learned how to make jewelry, and E6000 can only help out so much. Framing is easy...THIS is driving me nuts. But if ANYONE can make it work, you know that yours truly is the one to do it. 

Even if I HAVE to use an entire tube of E6000 to do it.

Owl Be There for Yew.....

Attendez!

I would like to present my latest attempt at...well...whatever it is you'd call what I've been doing. Which is copying vintage and antique pieces of jewelry. Mostly because it's as close as I will EVER get to seeing any of these pieces in person...much less having a chance to own one of the dang things.

This gorgeous piece is currently held at the Walters Art Museum.

It's described as follows: 19th Century Owl Pendant. This pendant was formerly thought to be from the 16th century because of its late Renaissance-style enameled gold strapwork, baroque pearls, and the square-cut gems in box settings.

Now, before I share my creation with you, I'll give you a peek into my creative process. I know, I know...it is DEFINITELY your lucky day. 

Many of you ask just how it is that I choose which pieces to emulate. Is there a specific period I love? Favorite gemstone or metal? Shape? Amount of lust it inspires in me? 

Oh...you didn't ask that last part? Ahem. Sorry. I misheard you, apparently. 

The answer is 'none of the above'. 

You see, I'm a pinterest fan. I find myself pinning vast numbers of jewelry that I love. Every once in awhile, a piece with jump out at me. I'd like to say that this is some type of instinct or just plain artistic inspiration! But, the truth is, that I happen to see the main structure is similar to some brass junk in my stash. 

Sigh.

I had purchased 2 lots of vintage, broken rhinestone jewelry. Using Liquid Frisket (or you can use rubber cement) I took a chain with stars in it and put the mask over the stones and spray painted the rest gold. I'd found the owl piece at Hobby Lobby. It's actually a magnetic clasp and was originally silver. Everything else was just pieced together using basic matching shapes. Finally, I used black velvet paper with a bit of bright, gold brushed paper peeking out, and matted it in a shadowbox. Where is was promptly abducted by my mother, and taken to Georgia to reside with the Teterger Chaterlaine from an earlier post.

The reflection on the glass is killing me. You'd think I would've had enough sense to pop it out the back and get a really good picture. But that would've required me to use common sense that I was apparently denied at birth.

Oh well.

Thanks for stopping by...I'm slowly sanding my rusty writing skills as I type...more on the way!

On Outlander and Equines and ADHD

Let me begin by saying that I have absolutely NO idea where the past 90 days went. I mean, I do...much like Claire in, what is one of my new passions-the show 'Outlander'...but when I stepped through the stones in April, I forgot the world here. So, coming back, I'm thinking DANG! I know I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger, but it seems time stopped in this area of my life!!! 

NOTE: For the record, if the side I'm just returning from had anyone resembling Sam Heughen (Jaime), who was hot for me and my body, I can assure you that you would've NEVER seen me again. EVER. That is all.

It seems like only yesterday I finished my stint in the SCS Dirty Dozen and then had my dreams crushed by Graphic 45, as I was roundly rejected for their design team. 

Okay, okay...that's a little over the top. 

It was actually a good thing. I needed a break. I really did. So, I took one and took up an old passion that I hadn't participated in since High School! 

NOTE  DOS: Said 'passion' was NOT my first High School bf, Tim. Last I heard, he was playing in some rock band by the name of Witches Offspring or some ridiculous name like that. located in the big city of Graham, NC,  Sorry, but after 50, you may 'rock' all you like, but be careful about the 'roll'...especially when the word takes on the meaning of what I'm doing as I'm laughing so hard I fall to the floor. 

Nope, this passion wasn't a person. 

Think a second...what activity makes the most sense when you're 47, unemployed, and have all sorts of back and hand issues?

That's right!

Horses.

More specifically, owning and training them.

I grew up with horses. My great-grandpa-Pa Marley-was a horse lover. He was a farmer and owned draft horses to help him plow the fields. He was also a superb horseman. 

From there, it passed down to my Aunt Sharon and on to me. I spent a lot of time in the saddle until my late teens, when I got a job in radio and spent 25 years dealing with another type of animal. Needless to say, I prefer the former.

Growing up on horses, especially when you're a bit of a daredevil, means that you probably spend a good deal of time learning how to fall. And heal. And how miserable it feels to have an itch under your cast...so miserable that you break down and finally use a coat hanger to scratch and then you're terrified that you've messed the bone set up (they warn you that can happen) and then you figure 'well, harm's already done' and then you spend the rest of the time scratching those itches and being a happier person and, at the end of it, you find doctor's don't always know everything. 

Ooops. Sorry. No need to wonder about the efficacy of my ADHD meds.

Horses gave me joy. Along with a shattered elbow, fractured ankle, sowed the seeds for (I believe) the arthritis I have in my back, as well as my Dercum's Syndrome. Despite all this, I never fell out of love with them. 

So, in April, it chanced to happen that my Aunt and her friend, Jana, both had horses they wanted someone to work with. So, I began ground training both. Ground training is much easier than riding. If you can avoid being kicked, bitten or killed, you're doing well. Knock on wood, I only had to deal with the first 2. One of the horses I worked with, Coco (who belonged to Jana) is a gorgeous, bay, quarter horse mare. It took about 2 weeks for us to fall in love with each other, and a month for me to buy her. She was green (untrained-not the color-work with me, people!) and I was a green trainer. But within a month, I had her free lunging in the round pen (I'm sorry for using jargon and not defining it but it's pretty much what it sounds like and then there's google) at a walk, trot and lope. I also taught her to pivot on front and back legs, to back clear across the ring, and to execute a side pass. Then came the day I climbed into the saddle and had her execute all of the above, which she did, beautifully.

I can't ride much. Maybe 5-10 minutes every couple of days, and only at a walk or a few seconds at a trot. Fortunately, there are hordes of young girls  (who will bounce if they fall off-unlike me) who are willing to ride her as I continue to work with her, so I feel I've got the best of both worlds. Here are a couple of ground work videos from 3-4 weeks ago.

So, while I'm still playing with my horse, I've come to realize that I miss my crafting, too! Therefore, I'm going to try something that is quite rare for me...it's called 'multi-tasking'.  Being ADHD, it's quite the foreign word. 

Happy Fourth!

It all started like this...

One day, as I was wasting the usual hour or three on Pinterest, I stumbled upon THIS.

I love chatelaines. Chatelaines were a decorative piece, worn by women, from which lots of household items were hung. They were SUCH a delicate and ladylike way of carrying those things we forever need close at hand. Pencils, paper, scissors...just to name a few. 

This is actually a ladies watch but also classified as a chatelaine. It's home is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Made of gold, platinum and diamonds by Watchmaker Hippolyte Téterger of France, about 1880. The moment I saw this piece I fell HARD.

So hard, in fact, that I actually sat down and altered my zombie apocalypse plan. 

That's right, turns out I'm NOT heading down to the secret rendezvous point in SC to meet up with the rest of my family. I'm headed to the Met. I fully intend to liberate this piece and THEN I'll worry about meeting up with the rest. We all have our priorities. Even during the end of the world. 

Anyway, as I stared at this piece, I felt like there was something really familiar about it. Something that just kept niggling at me, and for the longest time, I couldn't figure out why.

I'm not sure why inspiration...or general 'crazy'...tends to hit during the wee hours of the morning, but it was around 3am when I woke up suddenly and got out of bed. Down to the craft room to my huge tool box filled with my beloved brass and, after a half hour of digging around, I had it. 

May I present my 'Ode to Téterger'

This pieces measures just under 7 inches tall and 3 inches at the widest part-the bottom Cherubim's outstretched arms.

I'm not sure if having all this brass and broken rhinestone jewelry is necessarily a 'plus', but I CAN say I was THRILLED with the way this turned out! I pieced everything together and used 18k gold spray paint to turn everything the same color gold. The cherubs at the bottom were originally silver and came with 2 arms...I had to amputate the inside ones to make it fit, but hey...they're CHERUBS! Aren't they, like, magic or something? So they can grow another!! Get over it!! 

Next, I took some broken rhinestone chains, a pin and a couple of links from a bracelet to use as the 'blingy' part. The large middle piece was actually this ugly finding/connector I came across that was really cheap and I snagged it ONLY because it was cheap. I just knew I'd never use it. Guess I was wrong, huh?

The rest was brass that I've been accumulating for quite awhile from my 'brass guy'. Who happens to be so ridiculously reasonable that I hate to share him...because what am I going to do when he sells out???? DANG. I hate doing this. But I've been asked so many times about the brass I use, and so in the spirit of sharing-as well as a 'ty' to Michael, my brass guy-I'll share it with you. 

Sigh.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/didl/m.html?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEFSXS%3AMESOI&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2654

If you're just starting out, buy the auctions where you buy 1/8 or 1/4 and get the same free. That's how I quickly built a collection and kept it inexpensive. Michael is also very generous and especially so to repeat customers. Truly a great guy.

Enough for tonight...there's wine to drink and this thing called 'dinner' my kids keep yelling for. Let me go see what THAT'S all about. Why can't they just eat Easter candy like the REST of the kids? Why this sudden demand for 'nutrition'???? 

Ingrates.

UPDATE: To answer my friend and muse Lee Ann's question of what I do with these pieces, most reside with unsuspecting innocents who made the mistake of admiring my work. I figure it's good to remind people of the danger of saying they really like something. So be careful! Don't just admire things liberally, practice reserve...or you, too, could end up with some of my junk on your doorstep. You have been warned. ;)

I'M DYING FOR A SMOKE IN HERE!!!

In October of 2005, I was pregnant with Minion #3. 

Laid up with morning sickness, and the general misery of my accompanying ailments, I realized that I was running out of time.

I was 38 and STILL smoking. 

Now, before y'all get all 'het' up, let me just say this: smoking, for the most part, wasn't a big deal. Most women smoked during pregnancy to keep their weight down. While all that might have stopped in the late 60's in the REST of the 46 states (GA, TN, NC, SC excluded) it didn't here. So, please allow me to explain a bit of our way of life here in North 'by God' Carolina.

I began smoking at 12. So did most of my friends. Being products of a great tobacco state, this wasn't really considered a problem. In fact, in between our Baptist Church's Sunday School and Worship Service, you'd find all the Church Deacons AND the Pastor out puffing away outside the back door.

Most everyone here grew up pulling tobacco. My mother pulled at her grandparents tobacco farm. I ended up pulling at a family friend's farm. For those of you who have never pulled tobacco, well, let me tell you just a bit about it. 

Take a series of 90 plus degree days, and start each one at 7 am by priming (pulling the bottom leaves) tobacco. My mother had to do it by hand...I was lucky to have a machine do it, but you were constantly running across the back of the machine, scooping up armfuls of leaves and stacking them i the back. STILL no easy job, I tell you. 

You keep working up the stalk-about week intervals, if I remember correctly, and that's week after week of work in the broiling sun. Then you stack the leaves and hang them in the barn (it was an actual barn in mama's time...in mine, it was a large trailer-like apparatus that was a type of kiln that took a week to cure the tobacco) then pile into burlap and haul them to market.. 

These were 10 hour days, with an hour for lunch. I bet I ate thousands of calories each day and STILL lost weight. The best was when they'd take a huge watermelon, refrigerate it, and bring it out at the hottest part of the day to eat. There are no words to describe the cold, the sweet and the sense of relief it brought. Up until that point, you felt like you might die and you were perfectly okay with it. After 15 minutes at the watermelon baptismal (as I still irreverently refer to it) you knew you could make it a few more hours.

While working tobacco, you would find yourself-daily-coated with a thick, tar-like substance. This was nicotine that we absorbed through our skin. Thus, for those of us who DID smoke while pulling tobacco, we were never worried about running out of smokes. We'd just stand around and lick each others arms. 

Sorry...back to 2005.

My point with all of this is to show how smoking was a part of our culture. Drinking? Oh HADES no...you'd best be careful to never let the demon alcohol taint your lips...but you can puff on that smoke all day long. 

I'd been told by several doctors that smokers who quit by 40 stood a good chance of having their lungs revert to the same as a non-smoker's. So, at 38 and pregnant, I bid a sad good-bye to my sidekicks Winston and Marlboro Lights 100's (whichever was on sale, that week) and chewed so much Nicorette gum that I was blowing bubbles with it. 

To date, I never smoked another. 

Today, I'm one of those HORRIBLE people who choke up at the smell and can't stand to be around it. I don't know what happened...I swear it's like I can't breathe if I'm around smoke. Not that this makes me not crave a smoke now and then...I absolutely do. Not often, but there are times when I know that a smoke will bring about a calm I've been missing these past 9 plus years. Like during the construction of this miniature bed. I'm telling you, THIS was one of the most challenging things-for ME-that I've ever tried. 

I want to thank Kris, who is a miniaturist of epic proportions. Her site is here-http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/search/label/no-sew%20mattress

She was also kind enough to answer my questions, as well as share her tutorials-gratis-for people who want to learn. Thank you, Kris. 

This was a bit of a struggle at times, my headboard is canted, my legs and dowels aren't even and their tops are different lengths, there's a wrinkle in the 'wood' of the foot board, but I look at this and think: "Wow. I can't believe I made this."

And I have to tell you, folks. THAT is better than any smoke I ever had. ;)

The 'diamonds' on the foot board and the layers of 'wood' embellishment are all different sizes of layered cardstock. This is made with cardstock, matboard and posterboard. I used 2 brass pieces from my stash, but Kris used a punch and layered her shapes and it's fantastic!!!! PLEASE go to her site...just to look at it!

Measurements: 6-3/4 x 4 x 4 (at highest and widest points)

I don't sew. Period. There is a little bit of needlework involved in making the button indents on the mattress. Suffice it to say that it took me only 2 tries to get it looking as right as I was ever going to make it. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. :)

Once again, thanks to Kris at 1 inch minis by Kris

Finally...Miniature Koi Pond-THE BIG REVEAL!!!

I have ALWAYS wanted to do that!

It's not that I HAVE a really big reveal...heck...you already saw the majority of the Koi pond already, but when I can squeeze TWO blog posts out of  ONE manic effort, you best BELIEVE I'm taking advantage of THAT "crazy', my friends.

Without further ado, here it is:

The actual measurements are something like 1-3/4 x 3/4. I'm not sure if this is truly 1:12 scale, which I'm told is the scale normally used by miniaturists, but to go any smaller would necessitate my losing weight in my fingers, and since I can't do it anywhere else on my body, I doubt I'm going to be successful there. 

Once again, I've got to point you to the girl that provided the tutorial on youtube...she's amazing, and her tutorial is one of the best I've found. I'm not crazy about hearing someone talk on video tutorials. Mostly because I'm one of these fickle people who, if I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, might hear your voice and it could trigger my Misophonia (see THIS post for further edification if you missed it the first time) and things could end up badly for both of us. 

I've made ONE video tutorial and won't do another where I talk. In the sense of fairness, my OWN voice can drive me to mayhem, so don't take it personally.

But THIS artist plays calming music and does a beautiful job of filming what she's doing. No small feat (no pun intended...trust) when you consider how small everything really is.

To get the finish on the fish, her advice was to mix a pearl and translucent clay together. It also makes the fins almost transparent as well. I really love the effect. 

I have two more artistic endeavors I'm working on and hope to have them done midweek. As a teaser, one of them is another miniature, but much more difficult than this. It involves actual paper engineering. The second is an art assemblage copy of an Art Nouveau piece that, if it keeps going the way it is, might just be the most incredible thing I've ever done. Not that my bar is set too high, mind you, but for ME...well...it's fabulous, if I say so myself. ;)

Not to mention my Graphic 45 Secret Garden shadowbox, which now has the 3 completed elements I needed to make it the way I wanted. Bobby, my beloved blog friend, asked if I would be making the flowers. Here's my official answer. 

**Ahem**

Those who know me are well-aware that I have made some pretty decent flowers in the past. But at some point, I believe that outsourcing a few things is a consideration that arises and must be acted upon. Therefore, I will be using flowers from a darling girl in Thailand, who makes the most amazing mulberry flowers...miniatures, mind you...along with the tiniest buds. As this task is boring to me, and due to the exchange rate where 50 bucks translates into 6 months of gorgeous roses, dahlias and buds-even I didn't use them all up in  that time frame!-I have to ask myself a hard question...

Am I going to sweat it out over flowers, after having a blast with these cooler miniature pieces, thus turning this project into drudgery, which will put me in a nasty mood for several days, and cause my children-who, like facing a vampire-will scramble to find, not a Rosary, but a Butterfinger and the number to grandma's to keep me at bay???? 

The answer is NO. Not just No, but HADES NO!

Besides, lovely girl in Thailand, whose name I'm not sure how to pronounce, and I are both happy with this arrangement. If you want to visit her, here's her link.

So, I'm out...off to finish up what I can. And for those of you who have been simply flabbergasted by 3 posts from me in 3 days, I don't want you to worry...I PROMISE to lapse back into my 'underachiever' mode fairly soon. I tell you this because you KNOW how I feel about raising anyone's expectations...that just causes me to work harder. And that never works out for ANY of us. ;)