The ART and Musings of ShellyRaeWood

ARTful Salvage.....Moving Sale

2011-08-29T01:12:00.000-04:00

And then some days.....you think that sound you hear off in the distance might be the locust.......or zombies.......trust me....you don't really want to know! LOL
Anywho....the short version of our chaos is we are relocating.....by October 1st.....yes, in 31 days......really, don't ask! :::sigh::: But the good news is I have decided to host a Moving Sale so you get to have the fun and I get less to pack! :::Smiles::::

So, now is your change to own an original one of a kind piece of repurposed glass ART for your home. They also make excellent wedding, housewarming or birthdays gifts. Don't forget Christmas is coming......in like 115 days.....you can probably faintly hear sleigh bells in the distance to.....if the zombies are being quiet. :)

Head on over to our Etsy Shop and get you some loot for 20% off! Woo Hoo! Use code: MOVING20 to get your discount.

Local pick-up is encouraged for FL residents.....convo me for an adjusted invoice! Any problems or questions.....give me a holler! Please share!

A few goodies waiting for a new, loving home:

Just listed 7 Glass Plate Flowers.....check them out!

2011-07-12T18:26:00.000-04:00

Please stop by my ARTful Salvage shop and check out the 7 new glass plate flowers I listed today.

New ART wedding journals and more......

2011-07-01T23:15:00.000-04:00

.....actually made some ART recently. We are very excited to have 2 weddings just announced in our family! I figured the brides to be, their mothers and grandmother should have their own wedding planning journals. So I blinged up some composition books for them. Also, I just listed some new 3 tier dessert stands on Etsy for ARTful Salvage. They make great Wedding shower gifts or shower table servers! Please check them out and let me know what you think! :)

Still alive and sharing some new ART...

2011-05-04T17:14:00.000-04:00

....Boy, hard to believe it has been this long since I have updated this blog! Time is going at warp speed these days. Seems I have my head down working on the business most days. Having a blast, but never enough hours in a day. Please stop by a check out ARTfulSalvage when you have a chance and let me know what you think? Here's the blog as well. We're also on Facebook now! :) A couple of the newly listed goodies.....I am LOVING these 3 tier dessert stands!

Here are a few ART pieces I finished up today for some swaps in my groups:

Gothic Arch - Flowers

Postcard - actually mailed out

Shrink Charms - Letters from Paris

Altered Altoid Tin

Thanks for stopping by! ::: Smiles:::

12 More Journals of LOVE.....

2011-03-16T18:48:00.000-04:00

.....been working on these off and on. Still have to finish up the liners and the inscriptions but here they are! :) Must admit to loving my DCWV paper stacks! :) If you want to learn more about Journals of Love you can read about it here. Please do click on the pics to see all the fun details! :) Enjoy!

Estate Sale Jackpot

2011-02-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

Wowzers! Hubs and I hit the Estate Sale Jackpot yesterday! It was a blast. So much of what I scored was actually free and headed for the landfill! :::Sigh::: Don't people understand yet? Geesh! That's why my business ARTful Salvage was born. I cannot fathom how much is thrown away that is still usable. You can see some of my goodies on my other blog here. Someday, and maybe soon, we may find ourselves wishing we weren't so quick to throw so much away. If you want a good read about something that is timely and newsworthy right now check out the 4 part book series by Terri Blackstock, the Restoration Series. Let's just say the solar storms that are happening right now could have quite an effect. :) Anywho......I digress. On to the bargains:

From the FREE piles and headed for the landfill comes piles of vintage linens and the like. Some are perfect, some are flawed. Personally I like the later.....aren't we all a little bit flawed? I like the history of a piece and the fact that is was lovingly used in a family, not stuffed into a drawer! Here are SOME of the pieces I was given!

chenille bedspread for cutting

sheets

Table Runner

hand painted on a Giant piece of canvas part #1

hand painted on a Giant piece of canvas part #2

Embroidery

Crazy Quilt pillow beginnings

Vintage Curtains

Pillowcases

Embroidery

Navy Crying Towel

Silk Shabby Chic Satin Pillow Case

Embroidery

Set of 20 pink embroidered doiles

Embroidery

My in the process bedroom makeover is going to be done in my 2 fave colors black and pink, especially deep hot magenta pink. I am making a quilt for the bed and want to cover it with co-ordinating piles of fun pillows. Ta-Da.....I found 8 pink pillows at this one sale.

Pink Pillows

Pintuck Pink Pillows

Crocheted Pink Pillows

I also bought a pile of some vintage fabrics to play with. I should have bought more but I couldn't carry much more! LOL Besides these were by far my faves.

Beautiful Yards of Silk

Black glittery fabric

Fabric

Then came the vintage sewing notions.....begin salivating now my friends. This girl LOVES ric-rac with a passion, especially vintage ric-rack. Well lookee here.....packages and packages of this delightful notion along with oodles of lace seam tape and a couple of goodies I had never seen before.

Lace Tape

Rick Rack

Loop Braid

Lace Tape

Rick Rack

Oh and this box of wooden spools of sewing thread and piles of vintage snaps, hooks, buckles and closures, along with a nifty button maker and button making parts.

Snaps and Hooks

Wooden Spools of Thread

Notions

One of my faves for $1 was this box of Work Basket mags from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Totally groovy! I love that they sometimes have iron on embroidery patterns. I'll share them at a later date. There is an amazing set of Oriental themed ones! Sweet!

Work Baskets

Can you say FUN, day! I spent $20 total for all these goodies plus a few more that will make their way over to ARTful Salvage today or tomorrow! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

It's finally here! It's my fave holiday! It's such a pink, red, sparkly, fluffy, candy eating, love filled, sqooshy kind of day! Just perfect for a hopeless romantic, princess mentality pirate girl like me! I am so excited! I plan to spend my night with the love of my life at my happiest place on earth - The Magic Kingdom. What could be better than spending time with your guy standing in front of Cinderella's Castle? And I can have a Dole Whip too! Score! :)

So, since I already shared all the easel cards I sent out to family and friends, I thought I would share what I made for my 2 guys for Valentine's this year.

For Wonder Boy I made him a Candy bouquet. I have always thought they were cute but way too expensive. I was pretty sure I could make my own version much cheaper and I did. I bought a Valentine bucket and shoved in 2 pieces of floral foam to fit. I taped the candy bars to the back of wooden skewers and shoved them into the foam at various heights. I did discover that it was tippy while I was working on it so I poured in a few flat glass marbles into the bottom for weight. After the candy was in place I topped it with some manly pink shredded paper and it is finished! Ta-Da. Easy Peasy! :) I'll probably wrap it up with some cellophane and tie on a bow before tonight.

Here is his card using one of my fave stamp sets from Stampin' Up, Unfroggetable. I think it is just corny enough he will like it!

For Hubs I made his card from a scrapbook paper pack I acquired from who knows where. It was all black, red, winged hearts and such.....so perfect for Valentine's Day. I love all the rhinestone sparklies and winged hearts. The envie is actually my fave part.....I think it is awesome with the black paper and swirls.

For his gift I baked his very fave thing.....his Grandmother's Pound cake. He LOVES this. It is amazing.....if pound cake is great on it's own.....this version has a topping made from vanilla wafers & Pecans.....topped with a vanilla glaze and garnished with Maraschino Cherries and pecan halves. And there's not a calorie in it.....honestly! LOL Each batch makes 3 cakes and I made him 2 batches......think he'll be happy for awhile? So that's Valentine's Day here in FL! Wishing you oodles of LOVE today and every day! :)

LOVE is in the air......

2011-02-04T10:28:00.001-05:00

....and it's taking shape in the form of Valentine Easel cards. 14 of them to be exact. Valentine's Day is my fave holiday. I LOVE everything about it: cards, hearts, flowers, chocolates, romantic gestures...... It's by far my fave ART holiday. This year I have discovered easel cards. Who knew? These are delightfully fun to make and the recipient can display them if they choose. Win Win! :)

So, I wanted them to be similar in design but yet still unique. I made the base cards 5 x 10, so the finished easel panels are 5" square. I pre-cut and scored all the cards in stages. I used German scrap, collage sheet images, BINGO cards, vintage hymnal sheets, vintage dictionary pages, and antique heart doilies, seals and gummed hearts from an estate sale find.

The envelopes are cut from scrapbook paper in various Valentine and sheet music patterns. I used my fave template that when folded up into a square envie opens up into a heart! How seriously cool is that? I placed the finished cards/envies in larger stamped red greeting card envies. My reasons were 2 fold.....one the PO charges more for a square envie (blah blah blah) and 2 an extra layer of protection with no marring of the heart envies. :)

I must admit I am very happy with the results and I hope my friends and family enjoy receiving them!

OWH Operation Write Home - Crafting for a cause

2011-01-26T19:23:00.000-05:00

I just finished my first 14 cards for a wonderful organization I just discovered called Operation Write Home. From their site:

Our Mission:

Supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them. This merry band of thousands of cardmakers is made up of Americans - and citizens of other nations too - who care about our military, and want to support them through creativity and encouragement. Crafters of all ages and levels of experience have participated since 2007...and are on the way to a landmark one MILLION cards!Care packages filled with hundreds of handmade cards are sent to our contacts, restocking every 6-8 weeks, and are sent in time for the long journey back home to loved ones. Each box is packed with great care, alternating styles, colors, and cardmakers from all over the USA, creating "eye candy" for heroes who see only khaki around them. The topper on each box is a plastic bag filled with 20-30 letters from adults and children across the country, letters handed out especially to those in need of a positive word from the homefront.Boxes are shipped through every week of the year, so join us anytime in sending your beautiful creations to help our heroes keep in touch with home!

I plan to make as many cards as I can fit in a flat rate box and then send them off. If you are interested and need any info, plmk. These are just one set of many different kinds I shall be making using all manner of techniques.

On to the cards.....I used 2 different Stampin' Up stamp sets on these cards so they are similar yet each one is still unique. I used Unfrogettable and Crab & Co. Just like the Journals of Love I am so enjoying my "Crafting for a Cause". I love the gift of ART that I have been given. Since we all happen to have just a 'few' :::gasp, cough::: ART supplies hanging around in our studios I think this is an amazing way to use them up. Oh, it appears that I desperately need to clean the scanner! Trust me, the cards are crisp and clean! Ugh! Off to find the cleaner......

2 more journals and some Valentine ART....

2011-01-21T15:50:00.000-05:00

...as you know by now I really enjoy making these journals. These 2 are similar in design (which I rarely do), but I just could "see" both of them. One is for Journals of Love and the other is for a glitter and bling ART lottery in one of my Yahoo groups. I really like the colors in these papers (And they aren't even PINK!!)

My fave Holiday is Valentine's Day so you will be seeing quite a bit of Heartsy ART for a bit! This is my first ever easel card. I really like this concept. It was fina nd much easier than I thought it would be. I have a feeling there will be quite a few recipients of Valentine's Day easel cards in 2011! :) I used my fave envie template that fits a square card that whn sealed on the bottom half open up into a heart. Perfect for my fave holiday!

Finally, I signed up for a make two 4x4's in a Valentine's theme.I really like the addiiton of the vintage BINGO card in the background. And, well, everyone needs a crown, don't you think?

Journals of Love....

2011-01-18T18:39:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to make some "Ars Gratia Artis" or "ART for ART's sake". One of my fave things to make are Journals of Love. These handmade journals are delivered to cancer centers for the use of the patients. A friend of mine was asked to make one for a family member and she took it with her during her treatments, others saw it and wanted one and thus JoL was born. You can see more of my journals here, here, here and here. I make mine from the composition books sold in the school supply aisle. I cover and embellish all 4 covers, sometimes adding a ribbon closure. Each journal is fun to make and completely unique. I use a variety of papers: calendar pages, scrapbook paper, wallpaper, vintage books and dictionaries.....whatever crosses my path on the day. Enjoy!

Here are the journals made with paper from DCWV (Die Cuts WIth a View).

DCWV Rockstar front

DCWV Rockstar back

DCWV Green Stack back

DCWV Mariposa front

DCWV Mariposa back

DCWV Once upon a time front

These journals were all made from wallpaper sample books. My fave place to obtain them is Sherwin Williams. They turn themover on a monthly basis! :) Great recycling and giving back project!

Bloom where you are planted front

Bloom where you are planted back

LightHouse front

LightHouse back

Rooster front

Rooster Back

Grace

Noah's Ark

BirdHouse

Finally I was looking for an economical and unique way to cover the inside covers and came up with using some of my vintage dictionary pages. THey are great whenI do not have co-ordinating papers to use! :)

Vintage dictionary end papers

Vintage dictionary end papers close-up

Our house update (the work in progress)....

2011-01-14T09:15:00.000-05:00

Thought I would share a bit of the work in progress aka our house in Florida. We are slowly but surely getting there. We moved in so close to Christmas that we didn't bother with regular decorating. Now that Christmas has been packed away....the place looks REALLY empty! LOL I'm still struggling with how to decorate 12' ceilings but wouldn't change them for the world. So in no particular order....here we go.

Up first is some new additions to the family room. DH has been wanting to make an Entertainment Center for quite some time now. Finally, we found some inspiration in a Pottery Barn catalog and began drafting out a plan. Here is the finished project (well sans the glass doors that will eventually grace the center section). She is lovingly stained in our fave color: Gunstock. The doodads and nick nacks are in the beginning stages and it will be a work in progress as I find more things to add, but I HAD to start somewhere. We have tons of family pics that are framed that will be coming into the space too at some point....just not sure where.

Entertainment Center

Entertainment Center - Gunstock close-up

This is a shot of one of the 2 lamps we repurposed. The first is the wooden camera tripod carried all over the world by his Great Uncle (He was a photographer for National Geographic). We weren't sure what to do with it, but knew it had to stay in the family. Thus was born the first of our lamps. Isn't it the coolest? Since we had one I knew we needed a second eclectic lamp. So, at a tag sale I fell in love with this fire extinguisher and thus was born the 2nd lamp. The shade is new.....I'm thinking it needs a good dunking in some black RIT dye but am living with it for awhile before I (Or it) takes the plunge.

Tripod Lamp

Fire Extinguisher Lamp

Close-up

Here is the first step on the fireplace mantle.....not sure it is finished yet, but I do like the black iron addition. This fireplace is so weird with the space between the mantle and the hearth. I think it was a nice tie in! Yes, you know I sprayed it flat black!

Mantle close-up

Fireplace

This is my new cool giant clock from Kohl's. I have wanted one for awhile now, but the only sale they ever have is BOGO (Buy one get one free). Now seriously, who really goes to the store to buy TWO giant clocks.....come on! So, finally at Christmas time they were 50% off! YES! Now that makes a wee bit more sense doesn't it? Geesh!

Big Clock

On to my bedroom. You may remember my $1 dresser project. Well, she is now sporting some fun doodads including my Eiffel Tower, my found head and some Valentine ART goodies from various friends. Next to the dresser is Ruth Iola and my newly acquired black Christmas tree. I LOVE it and it will remain out year round. It is decorated with the themes for this room. I call it 3 P's and a D. That stands for Pink, Pirates, Peacocks and Disney. I have some serious wall ART in the works for this room too, but that is for another day. Ruth Iola is sporting a new HOPE hanging ornie too that I think is really awesome.

Dresser

Ruth Iola

Black Tree

Tree close-up

On the other side of the room is my newly repuposed hutch. It was in our dining room in our last house. Since I'm using black in here it was a perfect fit although quite boring. So I had DH cut me some panels and I headed to the studio. Armed with my decoupage glue mix and some vintage papers (Russian dictionary, church hymnal, American dictionary stamped with my fave ART images)and some vintage ladies cut from a vintage sewing book) I began the transformation. After the collages were dry I coated them with 2 coats of Polycrylic. Best stuff ever people....try it if you have not! They were cut to fit precisely so they just sit at the back and are therefore removable if need be. I LOVE this personalized piece of MEness! I have now added in more personalized goodies: my Great Grandma's candy dish, more Valentine ART from friends, my fave Disney pics and more. I really am happy with how it is turning out. Hope you enjoyed your mini tour of the work going on in Florida this week! Enjoy!

Before

During

After

Close-ups

ART

Valentine's Day ART....

2010-12-28T09:14:00.000-05:00

Woot! Woot! My fave ART holiday is on it's way. The new swaps for one of my ART groups were just posted and I have completed 3 of the 5 so far. I still have an easel card and a cupcake recipe card to finish.

First up is a Tag that must feature the word "love" on it. Okay, I have tons of love stamps. So, I grabbed a fave pink paper and a fave image and began to build from there.

LOVE Tag front

LOVE Tag back

LOVE Tag close-up

LOVE Tag front

Next up was an altered Cabinet Card. I really like making these. Back in June I made 3 patriotic ones. I knew that I wanted a wedding pic since it was for Valentine's Day. I placed the image on a BINGO card and replaced the letters with LOVE and a heart. I made a heart background from a vintage hymnal and outlined it with white buttons. I added my 2 fave trims: glitter and baby rick rack. It still needed "something." I was standing there gazing at my embellishment jars when I saw "THE" perfect thing. I have a jar of little gold interlocking wedding rings. I added them with some Diamond Glaze and she is finished. I LOVE how it turned out! :)

Altered Cabinet Card

Finally we were to make 3 "Kissing Dangles". I had never heard of them but that's never stopped me before. I did mine a bit differently (yeah, like that's a surprise). I used copper wire with my beads and made the dangles longer. I used coordinating images for each and layered their papers and added in some glitter (GASP!).I can see where I would change things up next time, but not too bad for a first attempt.

Kissing Dangle

Kissing Dangles

Kissing Dangle

Kissing Dangles - Bad pic I know bu you can "see" all of them! :)

I'm hoping to find some more ART to swap for Valentine's Day! If you're interested....give me a holler! :)

12 Days of Christmas Ornie and Book

2010-12-23T15:28:00.000-05:00

Once again I was fortunate to participate in a 12 Days of Christmas giftie swap and also new this year a 12 Days of Christmas book mingle. Here are my contributions:

The ornie I made was created from repurposed Pageant Numbers I found at a yard sale. I thought the lovely shade of green was perfect fro Christmas! I distressed them down with brown ink and brushed on some diluted glue and glitter for a bit of sparkle. The Santa images were repurposed from old Christmas Cards. The centers were vintage dictionary pages with a satin red ribbon for trim! I was happy with how they turned out. I may make more for next years tree! :)

Don't they look cool on DH's hanging poinsettia baskets out by the pool??

For the mingle we were to make a tall skinny book with our interpretation of the song the 12 Days of Christmas. I took the traditional approach to the song. I made black sillhouettes of each days icons and used co-ordinating papers, snoflakes and some bling for mine.

New Repurposed ART to share....

2010-12-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

......over on my ARTful Salvage Blog. We are doing a big show this weekend. Hop over and take a peek! :)

Some new ART and Christmas goodies......

2010-12-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

So, DH needed a B'day card for one of his Co-workers. I needed to make it in a hurry. So, I grabbed my DCWV Mariposa stack and whipped up this puppy. I actually like how it turned out. The flower was white so I fixed that up with a few swipes of an ink pad and covered up the bright yellow center with a nice button. I was happy, he was happy and she was happy. Done! :)

So, next up on his list was 15 Christmas Cards and gifties for his co-workers. I think it is always nice to give a small gift that says, "Hey, we were thinking of you.... Merry Christmas!" For the cards I used half sheets of white or blue cardstock and contrasting trim pieces. I ran 2/3 or so of the card stock through the Cuttlebug with a snowflake embossing folder and added the embellishments. Easy Peasy. For the envies I took several acrylic snowflakes and placed them on one large block. I used a multi blues ink pad and randomly stamped on them. Simple, but effective me thinks. Again, he was happy and I was finished!

For the gifties I bought the jumbo size Hershey Bars and wrapped them up Santa Style. I think these are simply adorable. Besides, who doesn't smile when you get a big ole hunk of Chocolate....sure beats a hunk of coal. This time I am happy too.....and I "mistakenly" bought an extra Hershey Bar......hmmmm....what to do....what to do......

It's beginning to look (and FEEL) a lot like Christmas here in Florida.....

2010-12-06T10:58:00.000-05:00

Well, decorating now that I live in the South after 45 years in Illinois is still weird. The last 2 years in Georgia I really didn't do much......this year in FL with the new house I decided I really should give it a whirl. So, I planned to keep it simple....just the tree and my nutcrackers. Ha! I say again Ha! It's like rabbits......you just can't stop 'em. Geesh! I have now OFFICIALLY quit.............'prolly.

So, here is the mantle with the glitter cones and the rest of the sparklies. I decided the 2 short ones were getting lost so I put them up on candlesticks. That decision led to more candle sticks and the matching glass balls. I am thrilled! I LOVE how it looks....of course way more sparkly in person but you get the idea. It's killing Hubs that I wouldn't let him "hang" the mirror. I really like it just propped up there. Whatcha think? Propped or hung? The stockings are heirlooms. My Aunt had them made for her family and ours by a little old lady who hand knit them. Aren't they amazing? And now, for the first time....they can hang on a mantle....who knew?? :)

So, after putting the 9 foot tree up in the formal living room (funny how it looks so small now with 12' ceilings) I felt that the fireplace looked lonely. So, up went the 6 foot tree (I simply LOVE that I, yes short little me, can put the topper on while standing on the ground). Hey, it's the little things people!! :) Since the pressies will be going under the big tree I decided to put some of my snowman collection under this tree. Can you say first year the kitties have access to the tree? Yeah, that is what this tree is decorated with only silver balls and my hand-cut snowflakes. I am so happy to see these are holding up so well. They are cut from regular copy paper and then ironed on both sides with wax paper to keep them clean and flat. I made them at least 6 years ago...pretty nifty, right?

After that, well I knew I had to have my fave silver tinsel tree with the hand blown ornies....so to the shrine it went. Yes, we have this weird lit shrine like alcove outside one of the master bedrooms. Never really knew what to put there.....but my little tree looks perfect! Good idea award goes out to Hubs. I LOVE the vintage felt tree skirt I found at a tag sale!

My nutcrackers are my fave collection.....not crazy about their location this year, but it will have to do. They are hard to enjoy way up there on top of the cupboards.....but I like the few that are down on Gpa Frank's cabinet. This little gem is one of my treasured possessions. It was hand made by my Great Great Grandfather. Isn't is gorgeous?

The rest of the pics are just little vignettes that are here and there around the main living areas. :) Enjoy!

Some of my fave snow guys

More of my fave snow guys and my big Georgia pine cones

My Raikes Santa Bear

Elf on the shelf and my beeswax Santas

Front entry table

Fave stitching ever that I rescued from the thrift store

Hubs says this is a SCARY Santa....guess he'd better be good!! LOL

Bird cage and Bad Santa

Piano with the Nativity made by my Mom

Nativity close-up

The 9' tree

The 9' tree details

On the coffee table are no melt mosaic snowballs and the skinny "CHRISTMAS" Santa book I made.

I am again participating in a 12 days of Christmas swap and this is where I am keeping my goodies until the 12th!

So, that's what's happening at my house.......Merry Christmas!!

New Christmas ART to share....

2010-11-21T12:13:00.000-05:00

I have been working on finishing up some Christmas ART for our home and for some swaps. I have 2 that I can share today.

I have wanted to make these glittered cones for awhile now. Since we've moved to this house I now have a fireplace mantle on which to display them! I think I need to get an intermediate sized silver one yet, but it's still early, right? All I did was brush a water/glue mixture on the cones and liberally coat them with Martha's glitter. One piece of advice....don't be impatient and try to do the whole cone at one.....yeah, let's just says fingerprint marks with no glitter left behind....not pretty! Ugh! I found that by doing the bottoms and about 3-4 inches up the base of the cone worked best. I inverted them into plastic drinking glasses to dry. Now you have a firm base to hold while you glitter and glue the tops! :)

The second project was for a make 2 ornies swap. I have been struggling with this one....just wanted something not traditional and not paper. Hmmmm....so when I was rummaging through the Christmas ART supplies box I discovered a few mini lunch boxes I bought on Christmas Clearance. They had this ugly scene from some movie on them......yuck. So, I had to rid myself of the awful graphics and blue paint. I colored them with a Krylon gold and silver leaf pens. I glued some Christmas images to the fronts and backs. Sprinkled on a glittery border and let dry. I added a paper strip and a rick rack embellishment to the outside edges. I glued coordinating sequins to the front and added a sparkly hanger. Now, don't you think they look much more appealing? :::Smiles::: I do!

Living the Disney Dream.....

2010-11-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

....gotta love this Florida Resident Premium Annual Pass concept. I LOVE just bopping over to Disney for the day (or even just a few hours). This is my D-R-E-A-M and I'm living it. How cool is that? Anywho.....I digress. Today we planned to go to Downtown Disney for the Festival of the Masters. Oooh La La....Disney and an ART show? Now how cool is that? Here are a few of my faves:

New Repurposed ART....

2010-11-12T22:21:00.000-05:00

.....on my ARTful Salvage Blog. I have made 12 more plate flowers for tomorrow's ART show. :)

Yippee!! It's the first show for ARTful Salvage in Florida! I am ready to get back to sharing my ART!

You can check them out at ARTful Salvage's Blog.

I'll have more to share after the show and in the coming weeks! Stay tuned!

so....words you like to hear.....90% off clearance.....

2010-11-08T15:55:00.001-05:00

....yep....there I was @ Wally World with the Hubs buying some potting soil and the voice from above announces that all the Halloween stuff is on 90% off clearance. Hmmm....mad house ensues....just the way I like it. I scored me some goodies for next years Halloween and Day of the Dead ARTing. Here's what I got for less than $5.
3 packs of cupcake embellishers that I think look like delightful crowns
2 more packs of different cupcake embellishers that just looked like fun
6 packs of black votives that will look awesome in my chandelier
2 sizes of skull ice molds which will be for sugar skulls next year for Day of the Dead
7 packs of delightful test tubes and holder (complete with sprinkles). I made some fun test tube ART this year but alas Martha did NOT give me holders. Boo Hiss Hiss on her.....now I'm ready for next year! :)
and finally I Found the most beautiful hat......yes it is a feathered, glittery, flowered gorgeous witches hat......'ya know.....if the shoes fit!! LOL I bought is for Ruth Iola (yes I named her) to wear and she is thrilled! Hubs thinks I'm nuts....but after 25 years....he really should know better don't you think? Anywho....just sharing my good timing!

Did I introduce you to Ruth Iola (my Gma's name). She is my wonderful rusty vintagey iron dress form that Hubs bought for me awhile back from Tuesday Morning. Isn't she delightful??

This is a sneak peek at the next repurpose project I have in the works. I'll keep you posted!! :)

Holiday Recipe Cards Swap

2010-11-01T10:46:00.000-04:00

I am participating in a Holiday Cookie Recipe Card Swap. I was to make a recipe card with a fave cookie and send to 3 people. Well, apparently, silly me read make 3 recipe cards and send to 3 people. LOL Better more cookies than less, right? SO here are my 3 recipe cards.

#1 is my Great Grandma's Molasses Cookies.....wouldn't be Christmas without them for our family.

#2 is my always requested White Chocolate Macadamia Temptations Cookies....soooo good.

#3 is a favorite from a friend for Scrumptious Peanut Butter Cookie Pop.....fun AND delicious.

Here is the coordinating envie I made for them! Anywho....enjoy.

Twisted Sister Gift Package

2010-10-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of joining a "Twisted Sister Halloween Secret Package Swap. Here are the goodies I made for my Twisted Sister.

Before and After Resin Tombstone from Dollar Tree

Lenticular pic embellished (scary view)

Lenticular pic embellished (normal view)

Candy Goodies

Candy Label

Test Tube 'Potions'

Maniacal Laughing coffin with 'skelton' key :)

Outside of Coffin

All packaged up in a GITD Pumpkin Treat Bag

Halloween Card for a friend....

2010-10-27T08:22:00.001-04:00

....I sent a care package to a far away friend for Halloween. Here is the simple, but I think effective card I made for her!! :) I LOVE this graphic!! The inside simply says: If the shoe fits....

2 new altered composition book journals for lotteries

2010-10-27T08:22:00.000-04:00

I have 2 ART groups with monthly winner take all lotteries. The themes for this month were "Birds" and "Celebrate Life, Make ART." Here are my entries for the lotteries.

First up is for the Bird Lottery:

Front

Back

And here is the Celebrate Life, Make ART entry:

Front

Back

I really enjoy making these journals.

Dia de los Muertos Shrine

2010-10-26T11:45:00.000-04:00

Here is my entry for a recent Dia de los Muertos ART Shrine swap. I used a cigar box for my base and went crazy from there. :)

Front

Close up

Inside Right

Inside left

Inside

Spine

Back

I LOVE Dollar Tree & Halloween on the worktable....

2010-09-19T17:40:00.000-04:00

Okay......I LOVE Dollar Tree!! But that's not the first time you've heard that, right?? Thought I would share what is on the worktable today and some of the goodies I found at Dollar Tree.

First I found this creepy black cloth that makes great cobwebs and backgrounds.

I can't get enough of these skeleton garland guys....isn't it funny how the one guy is raising his leg.....looks like a Spooky Rockettes Line!! LOL

I think these creepy hands are cool too.....the can be linked together too.....

One of the coolest finds are these resin (?) tombstones....they are uber spooky!! They are about 6 inches tall. I have begun embellishing two of them. :)

But the best are these "glamorously" framed lenticular pics.....totally cool to find @ D.T. Lenticular pics look like a normal portrait until you tilt them or change your line of vision and then the image changes. I was mesmerized and inspired. Best part was went I checked out and I had $13 worth of goodies.....how 'bout that??

Also on the table are last years 90% off clearance goodies like ribbon, spooky eyes napkins and bags of smalls (bats, skellies, spiders, rings.....).

I am working on a mixed media cigar box shrine that you can see in the works. So far I have painted it gray, sprayed it with Walnut Hollow black antiquing spray and sealed it with matte acrylic sealer. The inside has an all over spooky eye napkin Mod Podged into the back and sprinkled with glitter. It was too bright so I antiqued it as well.

I have made 2 hanglie danglies (ART Piece with something that, well, hangs or dangles from it). I am psyched......and having fun with Halloween on the table for today anyway!!

Altered Patriotic Cabinet Cards

2010-06-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd stop by and share my latest foray into the world of ink, glitter and glue. I signed up to create 3 Patriotic Cabinet Cards. It was my first attempt at altering them. I think there is good and bad in the results, but they are finished and ready to go postal tomorrow. Without further fanfare.....here they are:

Playing with Paper.....Woot! Woot!

2010-06-17T13:44:00.000-04:00

Playing with paper?? Who knew!! I have been super busy making goodies for our new business: ARTful Salvage. (I should be updating that blog today or tomorrow too!) I wanted to participate, as I can, in my 2 Yahoo ART groups. So without further ado....here are my latest creations.

I signed up for another round of corner bookmarks. They are fun and quick to make. These were created from a text print handmade envie and embellsiehd with Miss Mona, photo corners, postage stamps, dymo labels and sequins. You can find the directions here and view my other bookmarks in my previous post.

Each of my 2 groups have a monthly lottery with a chosen theme by the past month's winner. Lottery #1 was themed "Nature". I took a composition book and made a journal using some of my gorgeous stash of Mariposa paper. It is embellished with ric-rac, acrylic stamps and my always present glitter. :)

Journal #2 was for the theme "Patriotic". I used an amazing wallpaper border for collage pieces and pen stitched them. Again, ric-rac and glitter finish it off.

Both journals are tied up with ribbon clousres and have coordinating liner pages. Hope you enjoyed a peek at my latests ART. Now, I am back to making stained glass windows, etched mirrors and bowling gazing balls for ARTful Salvage. See 'ya!!

Are you sitting down??

2010-05-16T20:43:00.001-04:00

Yep....it's me updating my poor neglected blog. I have been C-R-A-Z-Y busy with my new business. YOU can check it out here: ARTFul Salvage. We are been having a great time, building glass and doing shows.

I have managed to join a few swaps and actually played with paper today. :) I KNOW...who knew!! LOL

Anywho.....I was to make 2 corner bookmarks, 2 ATC's and 1 card/envie. The themes were to be from a list we were given that had all of the holidays (big ones and unheard of holidays) for the Month of May. I chose "May 7th - the 1st Stamp Collection was Started on this day" for both my bookmarks and my ATC's.

The corner Bookmarks are uber easy. You simply cut the corner off of an envie and decorate it to you heart's content. Here are the directions. I used some old postage stamps and some new rubber stamps and created these bookmarks.

Here is the envie after I cut off the corner.

The ATC's are pretty self explanatory, using the leftovers from my stamp paper envies and corner bookmarks.

I also had a card/envie to make. I used my DCWV Green Stack and made this cutie patootie little OWL card. I just did some simple embellishments using my glaze and glitter pens.

Wonder Boy's 1-up Mushroom Birthday Cake

2010-04-27T10:54:00.000-04:00

As promised, here is the Mario 1-up mushroom cake I made yesterday for Wonder Boy's 22nd Birthday. I went through many versions of just how to make this in my head. Finally I decided to bake one round and one square cake and carve them and put them together. After baking them I printed out a pic to use as a reference for decorating. And that my friends is when inspiration nearly knocked me over like a speeding train. This image was perfect.....nearly round. Don't you just love those aha moments?

So, I baked another round of cakes (1 round, 1 square). While they were cooling I traced said nearly round image into my SCAL, sized it to the exact size of my round cake pans and cut it out. It was perfect. I frosted the 2 rounds together and laid my cricut template on top and carved that puppy like a food network pro!! :) Next up was a crumb coat and refrigerating for a bit to firm up. I tinted most of my frosting green with Wilton food coloring paste and frosted the little guy. Meanwhile I melted some Wilton candy melts in my candy melts squeeze bottle and made white chocolate "spots" on waxed paper. I melted some chocolate chips in a small freezer bag in the micro, snipped off a corner and piped out some eyes (adding white chocolate dots). Off to the freezer for a bit of firming and ta-da.....instant mushroom decorations. I did discover that the now extremely rigid spots were too flat to "mold" to the shape of the cake so I nuked them little puppies for a few seconds and it worked like a charm. I am so proud of this cake and the Birthday Boy was thrilled!! Any questions, let me know?? Enjoy!!

I think this picture is definitely worth a thousand words.....maybe more. Happy Birthday Wonder Boy!!

Remember the Crepe Paper Birthday Surprise Ball.....it's a good place for kittens to hide.....notice the tail sticking out on the left?? Silly Jinxy girl.

Yes I am still alive....

2010-04-26T01:48:00.000-04:00

.....sometimes life just takes over and refuses to let you breathe 'ya know?? Some good, some bad.....but we'll focus on the good!! I have been working feverishly on the new business, "ARTful Salvage." I have posted a few more of the 60+ totems and bird feeders I have been making on my Salvage blog. Please check it out if you have time!!

Today is Wonder Boy's 22nd birthday. Wow!! How did that happen?? Geesh!! Wasn't he just going for his first day of preschool? :::sigh::: We will have his party later on tonight (you know....after normal people have slept and gone about their day). But I wanted to share one of his gifts. He asked for a WOW card (World of Warcraft).....but that seemed to easy for me and definitely not any fun. I like to make gifts special (and time consuming).....LOL So, I made him a crepe paper gift ball. Basically you buy some crepe paper streamers and choose what you wish to add. You have to work backwards if you have an order or words to include. You need to wrap the last giftie to open first.

Here is the stash and the supplies. :::smiles:::

I use half of a roll of streamers at a time.....and then switch colors. I finished up with the really cool "Happy Birthday" print streamers I found at Dollar Tree. I decided to give him the $$ in dollar bills just to be cheeky!! I interspersed them with some candy.

Here is the finished ball (Mt. Dew can is to give you an idea of the size). This ball is heavy!! LOL I cannot wait to give this to him. :::smiles:::

So, I'll share more on his B'day later. Don't forget to check out ARTful Salvage! I'd LOVE to hear what you think.

Repurposed garage sale mirror into garden ART....

2010-04-07T20:48:00.000-04:00

....if want to see how this lowly garage sale mirror turns into a garden Beauty Queen check out my repurposing blog: ARTfulSalvage

New ART - actually played with paper today....

2010-04-05T10:20:00.000-04:00

Every year I make Birthday Cards for my Mom to give to my cousin's 2 kiddos. This year's offerings were to be Hannah Montanna and Buzz Lightyear!! So, I knew immediately what I wanted for Buzz, but Hannah?? Ugh!! No clue. I knew there was a Cricut Cart. for her, but I didn't know anyone with one close enough. So, while out shopping I started looking for a coloring book, wrapping paper.....anything HM. Well, hubs found this awesome HM book that you were supposed to fill out and paste your pics into. Yep.....you guessed it.....have scissors will make cards!! I cut everything you see on the cards from the book (excluding the printed cardstock for the actual card and the paper for the envie). I am happy with the finished product.

Hannah Card

Hannah Inside

Hannah Envie

Now Buzz was a wild ride. I had never attempted such an elaborate cut file before. Holy cow.....it was like 30 some pieces. But I persevered and was thrilled with my finished Buzz. But, what to do for his card?? I found the 'perfect' paper in my DCWV Rockstar stack. Isn't it great? The envie.....well, let's just say it is perfect too!! An interesting design note. The larger green stars have these random swirls and lines on them that I think really enhance them. Here's the great part.....they were totally by accident. When I grabbed the green paper from the scrap box and punched them, little did I know that lurking on the back side was a note I had written to Wonder Boy (#1 son). I couldn't have made more random and appropriate squiggles if I had tried!! :) It was a happy accident. I then inked and smudged the edges a bit more. Pretty nifty. :)

Introducing [ARTful] Salvage.....my new blog

2010-04-03T17:08:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to introduce you to my newest blog: [ARTful] Salvage. She was born of my love for repurposing, creating and salvaging. Please stop by and check her out and say hi!! :) I have shared many of my newest pieces of glass Garden ART, we are calling "A Touch of Glass.' Tomorrow I will be sharing our experiences of our first Farmer's Market show!! Hope to see you there!! :::smiles::: This is my repurposed and salvaged sign. I took an old cabinet door, turned it on it's side and cut letters from black vinyl with the Cricut. The backing is an old, time-worn quilt and some vintage ivory buttons. I can't tell you how thrilled I am with how it turned out. I especially like that isn't perfect and that the glass is cracked!! :)

Everything's coming up Totems this Spring....

2010-03-25T18:30:00.004-04:00

....I think I have "Totem Fever"!! LOL
I have finished up a few more Totems to share!! Enjoy!!

Glass Garden Totems and more....

2010-03-22T09:14:00.006-04:00

I have been working all weekend on making some new Glass Garden Totems and Garden ART. I have 13 totems finished, or nearly finished and I made 2 bird feeders and 2 mushrooms. Thought I would share a few of them here today and the rest later. All totems are made from glass purchased at yard sales and thrift stores or given to me. Hope you enjoy them!! :)

Close up of one of my faves.....love the gold rimmed bowl!!

Mushrooms

Bird Feeder - I made 2 of these.

Signs of Spring in the Deep South

2010-03-17T10:00:00.001-04:00

Last year, our neighborhood lost all of our Magnolia blossoms due to a freeze. It was awful....the whole tree turned black!! Ugh!! This year, we have been rewarded with an above average showing.....it is just spectacular, really. Here are a few pics of 2 of my fave trees.

Alice in Wonderland charm swap

2010-03-15T14:53:00.006-04:00

I was so excited to find this wonderful Alice in Wonderland charm swap. I was the lucky last participant to get signed up. So, I played with a few ideas in my rambling mind and decided on my plan. I had these awesome Alice graphics from one of my fave Etsy suppliers. Because I do not have a Laser Printer (yet!!) I needed a way to print them so that they were stable. I found some printable shrink plastic and went to town. The first graphics I chose are great Alice images in brown jug/bottles. Yep, printed them, cut them out, punched the holes and shrunk them. They were darker than I would have liked but otherwise looked awesome. Well, not so much really. The little handles kept breaking off. The glaze I put on top made them blurry. They were a total bust!! Ugh!! Okay, try #2. Printed some different Alice graphics on the shrink plastic. These were lighter from the beginning. I used a Paper Shapers Oval punch for them. I added some beads and a wire wrapped loop to finished them off. These I am happy with. To package them up in a fun way I used mini playing cards and tiny blue bows. I cannot wait to see the 24 charms I will be getting back. I will definitely be making myself a unique piece of jewelery with these!! Anywho....just sharing!!

Easter Egg and Bunny Garland

2010-03-15T13:54:00.009-04:00

So, I just rec'd back my part of an Easter Rabbit swap. We each made 6 bunnies that spelled out "EASTER" and they were swapped back out to us. I was debating on how to best make them into a banner/garland. I loved the bunnies, but they needed "something." So, I set them aside for awhile. I was searching through the studio and found my Easter Eggs from last year's banner swap. They didn't come in time to use for Easter then, but I figured they should see the light of day this year. So I grabbed 3 skeins of soft, floofy feathery yarn in lavender, pink and multi-pastels. I crocheted a simple rope with the three. I used mini clothes pins and strung the eggs AND the bunnies together to make one cool Easter Garland. Ta-Da......it's fun and lovely all at the same time!! :::smiles:::

A shopping we will go....

2010-03-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

A shopping we will go. High-Ho the Derrio.....a shopping we will go. LOOKIE what I found the last few days. Aren't these blue birds and gold finches the cutest. I have 2 different bird cages I will be putting them in, along with 2 nests I found at a yard sale and hopefully some eggs and maybe plants.

Okay, NOW that you think they are sooo cute....betcha can't guess where I found them?? Well, did you guess Dollar Tree?? Nope....didn't think so. Gosh I LOVE that store!!

These little lovlies will be used as toppers for my Garden Totems.....and yes, they too were from Dollar Tree. I can only get them once a year so I have to stock up!! :)

One of my 2 fave purchases from Michael's: black velvet jewelry stands. I bought both the necklace and bracelet version. I think it will really help with displaying, photographing and selling my jewelry.

This is what happens when Shelly goes glass shopping.....holy cow. we went to the flea market, a funky antique/junk store, a thrift store (Which had half price glass today), 2 yard sales, an estate sale, and another junk store. Yes, I bought glass at ALL of them. I needed to resupply so I could make more totems. Well, let's just say I should be able to make a "few" more now. The pics are from today only. It took me 20 minutes to unwrap them all. I still have to de-label them and wash them LOL Good thing we seldom use our dining room table. But, we guesstimate we spent less than $50 dollars and we acquired approximately 90 pieces of glass. I was thrilled!!

The cool news is DH had met a lady who owns a nifty boutique/junk store in a town not too far from here. She was interested in us making some ART for her shop on consignment. :::smiles::: We are making Totems and garden ART but she also REALLY wants funky and repurposed jewelry (like my bamboo tiles and scrabble tiles). So, you know what I'll be doing now! I am excited!!

Yes, I am a Yo-Yo....

2010-03-13T00:40:00.001-05:00

....well yo-yo maker that is. If you have never seen the wonderful yo-yo makers made by Clover you simply MUST check them out. They come in circles, hearts, flowers, butterflies, shamrocks and my new fave that I intend to add to my collection: an oval. They make creating yo-yo's easy peasy!!

Anywho.....I have found some new patterns to make. I found this one online that makes the cutest monkey ever? Is he not adorable? I bought this awesome purple fabric for him for an friend's upcoming baby.

The second one, ironically has a monkey but no where near as cute as my other one. But the lion and hippo and super cute, don't you think?? I especially LOVE the hippo.

The 3rd pattern is a very cool collection of brooch, belt, necklace, headband, scarf and bags. Pretty funky!! Oh, and by the way....WHEN did sewing patterns become $15.95?? Holy Cow Batman!! I nearly passed out!! Good thing one was on sale for $1.99 and I had a coupon for the other. I nearly needed oxygen....geesh!!

I have one other pattern on my wish list by Indygo Junction for these pincushions......just LOVE them. I think they might be great for Mother's Day gifts.

I LOVE making yo-yo's because it is portable and quick. It is very travel and "waiting" friendly.

On my bucket list is making a yo-yo quilt.....but hey.....that's not starting today.

That's my yo-yo story and I'm sticking to it!! :)

GDA (Good Deal Alert)

2010-03-12T17:34:00.013-05:00

I have been watching these combo packs at our local Walmart. I don't usually buy them if they are strictly scrapbook, but these has potential. :) They have been $15 for the longest time, but I was waiting for them to go on Clearance. Well, yesterday....woo-hoo.....they were $10 so I snagged myself one. Here's a before pic (yes, I had already opened it when I realized I forgot to take a pic so forgive the "not quite together" look, ok.) What was in this little box of wonders, you ask?? Well, let me enlighten you my friends....

50 12x12 sheets of cardstock
1 scrapbook album
1 scrapbooking page kit (gorgeous colors)
1 Designing with Vellum book
1 pack of page accents
2 packs of clear stamps
1 clear stamps ink pad
1 glue stick
1 pack brads
3 small packs embellishments
2 large packs embellishments
1 pack of 132 beachy die cuts
2 packs adhesive rhinestones
1 sampler pack cards, envies, tags and bookmarks
1 pack of stickers

So, just sharing and enabling......

Postcard ART for the birds....

2010-03-09T01:00:00.001-05:00

.....thought I would play with paper today so I made my 8 postcards for a swap. We were to make 4x6 postcards with birds as the theme on the front. The flip side was to have the words "Postcard" along with some writing and my name. I debated for quite awhile where to start. I began looking through my newest paper stack and found these awesome birds in the DCWV Ciao Bella stack.

They were embellished with some clear flourish stamps, flowers, words and bird stamps. I must say I really like how they turned out. At first they seemed to stark for my tastes but I aged them with some Stazon Saddle Brown Ink and ta-da....they look much more vintage now. The 8 postcards I receive back will be bound into a mini ART book. Sounds divine to me!! :)

There are 2 of each front side

and 3 different back sides.

I used 3 bird quotes for the "text" and my name, group and date as the "address".

Been hooking....

2010-03-08T08:28:00.012-05:00

....okay now, raise your hands....whose first thought was NOT about crocheting?? Naughty. LOL

Since joining a local knit & crochet group I have been having fun starting AND finishing several projects. Right now I have a thing for bags.....hoping to branch out to a garment soon.

Anywho.....I made myself this purse in my 2 fave colors, pink & black. I am very happy with the results!!

My Ripple Purse comes in both kit & crochet and is from Coats & Clark. I also have another of this pattern nearly finished in 2 shades of blue that will be up for sale.....thought it would go nice with a pair of jeans.

I was insanely thrilled when I found the "perfect" lining fabric for me. It is pink, piratey and has glitter.....now what more could a girl ask for, seriously??

My second bag is green, both for the environment and literally. I Adore this new Sugar & Cream Stripes yarn and hope they keep making more colors.

The market bag pattern was from Joanns. Since Michaels is good enough to have a Sugar and Cream yarn sale going on right now, I plan to stock up this week (4 for $5).

I will probably make another market bag since it is good for the earth, quick and fun to make and really.....I just think it looks cool!! Enjoy!!

Garage Sale goodies from today....

2010-03-06T17:13:00.010-05:00

....well, garage sale season is getting back in swing here in the Deep South.

Today brought us a few mixed goodies. We spent a grand total of $15 and got all these nifty new additions to "Our Work in Progress" aka our house.

First up Hubs snagged this cool gate for $5. It will either be in the garden or used for jewelry display for sales.

He also found this great folding black iron garden chair, for $3. I like that it has palm trees and pirate ships on it. We wished there had been a pair!! :::Sigh:::

Next I found this awesome beveled glass window, for $4. We are dismantling it and re-framing it in a wooden frame.

I really liked this gorgeous $2 frame which will make it's way to the Ancestors Display Shelf above my computer desk.

Rounding out our haul was a 3 tier metal rack for the studio worktable for .75 and a set of fancy bottle stoppers, for a quarter, that will go for my glass totems. You can see 2 of my faves here and here.

Grandmother's-Mother's Bracelet

2010-03-05T11:00:00.001-05:00

I made this for an order. It is a Mother's/Grandmother's bracelet. It definitely gave me a chance to practice my wire wrapping skills (Which I needed). LOL The crystal beads are their birthstones and there are charms for the 2 grandkids and also 1 for the granddog!! :)

More from Charleston - Crazy Quilts Exhibit

2010-03-04T13:09:00.016-05:00

I mentioned in my last post about Charleston that I visited a wonderful crazy quilt exhibit at the Charleston Museum. I thought others would enjoy seeing some of my pics from there. I just LOVE them....and hope to make one some day.....you know....in all that spare time I have squirreled away.....in my bottom drawer. Anywho....enjoy!!

This was by far my fave quilt on display

Here are many closeups......I find them amazing. I LOVE the spider webs!! :)

I found this cigarette silks quilt to be totally amazing. I was hoping to find some on Ebay, but no real luck so far. I think they would be so great to use in ART too!!

I hope you enjoyed "our" visit to the Crazy Quilt Exhibit!! :::Smiles:::

We have returned.....

2010-03-03T17:44:00.009-05:00

So, I'm finally feeling like I can sit down for a few minutes and tell you about my trip to Charleston. Whew!! It took me several hours yesterday to sort through the pics and make all the slideshows. Wonderboy was able to put the videos together and get them edited and copied. I still have some things to sort (travel brochures) and things to put away (ART projects that went along to keep me company).

We were in Charleston, SC for a week (DH had business) and I went for fun and to keep him company. Charleston is such a lovely old city.....just beyond gorgeous. We were fortunate to be staying in the heart of Historic Downtown in the old Citadel, turned Embassy Suites. Not every day a girl gets to stay in a castle!!

Day #1 - We picked up our rental car and headed out Monday morning about 8 am. Hubs and I have fun together and he enjoys driving so that works well for us. We don't believe in stopping either....we stop every 3-4 hours for gas and that is it....we like to just "get there". Our biggest problem is I can talk and babble non-stop and Hubs, well, let's just say in the morning, listening to me is not high on his list!! LOL So, we always get a couple books on tape to listen to when we travel figuring we had 12+ hours (6 coming and 6 going). So we got Michael Crighton's Pirate Latitudes.....sounded like a good compromise. Ugh!! It was awful.....and brutal....let's just say Women didn't fair too well. The guy reading it had a monotone voice that drones on and on and on......but hey....I survived it!! LOL I spent the first hours programming my new cell phone and the rest crocheting on a bag. Our drive was uneventful and we arrived in Charleston about 2 and went to check in to the hotel. Guess what, they don't have our reservation. Yep....they have EVERYONE else in our group but us!! Argh!! After some tense moments with the front desk staff and about an hour later, we finally got a room. Now we have stayed a lot of places with hiss company and at a lot of Embassy Suites, but this one was unique. It had been the old Citadel, military fortress and school. It did have character. http://tiny.cc/citadelES So we unpacked and headed down King Street for a bit of shopping and some dinner. We opted for something quick and simple and went to Five Guys for a burger. http://tiny.cc/5guys Met up with our group for drinks and snacks in the lobby.

Day #2 - Hubs and company leave @ 8 and I returned to the room for some beading on a bracelet order. Back story.....Shelly is NOT sure about taking off on her own in a strange city. She is a sissy. She and her hubby go EVERYWHERE TOGETHER!! So, I said I would be in the hotel, waiting. Well Hubs and company were all trying to get me to go out and about....not happening. So, I'm beading away and think it should be around 11 or so and it is 9:15!! Argh!! I am in trouble......I'm going to go crazy if I have to do this for 3 days, So, what to do?? Well, I put on big girls pants, grabbed my camera, my purse and my phone and walked out the front door of the hotel. Yep....sure did. I was terrified but I wanted my guys to be shocked and proud of me. So, where to go? Well, the only destination to really get me out of the hotel was the Aquarium which is located at the harbor. It was about a mile away....so off I went. I was pretty freaked out on the walk there but was so thrilled once I got there. I stood on the deck on the aquarium for the longest time watching a group of 80 dolphins that live in the harbor. :) The aquarium was great.....not too big but enough to be enjoyable! Well, now I have walked TO the aquarium, and around the aquarium and am thinking about the mile walk home!! Ugh!! Well, along comes one of the cute little trolleys that peruse the city. Mr. Trolley man says for $1.50 he can take me within a block of my hotel. I am now secretly in love with the Trolley Man!! :) Dinner out at a seafood place with our group that is right on the harbor....would have been nice if it wasn't so freaking cold.

Day #3 - Armed with my new confidence I vowed to leave the hotel again and told DH I would generously be relieving him of some of his money and going shopping. So, I headed out in search of some fun shops. First up was a knitting yarn shop. http://www.knitk.com/ Holy cow. I have never been to a yarn shop. It is amazing and overwhelming and EXPENSIVE. I don't know how anyone can pay those prices for yarn. You couldn't possibly make things to sell.....maybe special things for yourself or family. I did buy a crochet book and some totally awesome pirate buttons. I also went to Williams Sonoma.....now we're talking. I may not be able to buy yarn, but I can buy funky cooking toys. I bought this: http://tiny.cc/pocketpies to make funky sweet or savory pies....mine is the star. I also bought this: http://tiny.cc/pizzasticks a pizza stick pan. I would have liked to buy MORE but keep in mind I was walking and carrying. This brings up a point.....I never realized one BIG reason I like shopping WITH my guy. He carries things.....LOL Really cramps your style to be schlepping your purse, phone, camera, 2 lenses, water bottle and then anything you buy!! Geesh!! I also went to this little divine French Chocolatier.....yummo. When he got back (early yippee) he took me to the bead store I was dying to go to. It was in walking distance, but I was told it wasn't safe to walk there alone.....yes....they were right. Glad I had my sweetie and our car. I did manage to bring home a bag of beads to play with!! Poor Hubs always gets a little green when he sees how small the bag is that he just paid $60 for!! Poor baby! This was my reward for agreeing to go to Fort Sumter with him. Dinner out with our group at a glorified sports bar.....atmosphere was nice....food was so-so. It's very alarming to eat in the Low Country and be allergic to Cayenne Pepper. :::Sigh:::

Day #4 - Was by far the coldest so far so I saved the museum that was only a block away as my destination. It was again smallish, but nice. There was a crazy quilt display that was heavenly. Making one is definitely on my bucket list. And they had a very interesting Mourning Jewelry display. Much of it was made from the deceased's hair. Sounds sort of odd, but it was gorgeous. After the museum.....I had time on my hands still so I did more shopping.....took off down another street and hit the jackpot of great stores and vendors. I really enjoyed watching the ladies making the grass baskets and really wanted one, but they are so over the top in price. A tiny little 6 inch basket was $45. Ummm no, I can think of way more things I need for $45. I did find a great ARTsy store filled with handmade treasures. And THEN I found a candy store http://www.riverstreetsweets.com/ making my very favorite thing in the whole wide world.....Pralines. Uh-oh.....Shelly bought a pound of those puppies and ate one for lunch!! LOL Headed back to meet DH & Co. and say goodbye to most of our group. Ah.....no more meetings. It was just us now. We went on a tour of a Historical Home near the hotel that John enjoyed a lot. We were going to go out for a special dinner, but just couldn't do it. We were both so tired, wanted to watch the Olympics so we ordered in some pizza. DH, bless his heart, fell asleep at 8 and slept all night long....guess the romance is over!! ROTFLOL. But I LOVE him anyway.

Day #5 - Hubs day to choose. He wants to go to Fort Sumter. Oky dokey then. Ft. Sumter you understand is WAY out in Charleston Harbor......30 minutes by boat. It is 37 degrees before the 20 mph winds are factored in. It is the coldest I have been since leaving Illinois 2 years ago....but did I mention I LOVE this man? So, off we go......we and about 10 other couples are waiting to board the boat when the captain says.....Just so you folks know...we have another trip @ 2 if you would rather. We are taking 200 third graders with us on this cruise. LOL Yep.....that's right 200 8 year-olds. Personally, I LOVED it....because I am happiest surrounded by kids.....many of the other couples...well, not so much. SO, being the good wife I videotape his trip to Ft. Sumter.....my finger was literally frozen to the camera!! But, he is happy. So, we hit a few of the fun shops I had found the day before (including the candy store where I bought 2 more pounds of candy!! By 4 we were on our way home. Now, the mistake I made on the trip home was not realizing that it would be dark fro MOST of it. I cannot stand to just "sit" and ride. I am always crocheting or reading. Finally when I was literally trying to crochet by the dashboard and GPS light, I had to succumb to the darkness and the madness of the monotone droning pirate man. This was 7 o'clock and we didn't arrive home until 10:30. I was going loony.....I did manage to watch the hour footage I had video taped but the rest of the time I sat in the dark with the pirate man. But we arrived home safe and sound, albeit a bit road weary. And hey, we are going back in the fall....hopefully it will be warmer......but either way I get more pralines.....The End!!

Inspiration Mingle....

2010-02-18T10:40:00.008-05:00

....on one of my Yahoo groups, we have a monthly Inspiration Mingle. We are given a pic to use for our "Inspiration".....anything goes. I LOVED this month's offering. Here is the pic:

Couldn't you just eat a couple dozen of those puppies?? I could!! LOL

I chose to make a Hanglie Danglie. I had a package of really jazzy red holorgraphic chipboard hearts I bought in the Valentine's day aisle. While I LOVED Their sparkle.....they weren't going to work for this mingle. ....see what I mean?

I decided on 4 coordinating papers and went to work. I knew I wanted a "Crazy Quilt" look for my pieces. I layered on the 4 papers with some new and old trims and buttons. I had Hubs drill some vertical holes in my scrabble tiles. I grabbed some 28 gauge copper wire and some more beads and made the danglie and attached it to the heart with a brad. My inspiration for this danglie came from the button fairies we have been making lately!!

After adding the ribbon hanger it still needed "Something".....so I grabbed one of my very fave stamps and added the 'heartfelt'. I am very happy with the results!! :) Oh, the back is similar to the front in papers and trims sans the button.....didn't take a pic of that!! Anywho....enjoy!!

One World One Heart Winners....

2010-02-15T00:31:00.003-05:00

...have been drawn. Congrats to all the winners. I can't wait to get to know so many new friends I met on the Gypsy Caravan. :)

Winner #1 of my ART Journal is: http://redopalart.blogspot.com/

Winner #2 of my DREAM Banner is: http://trashtotreasureart.blogspot.com/

Winner #3 of my Starry Night necklace is: http://mrsmoen.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy your goodies!! They will go postal this week!!

OWOH - The Magic Carpet Ride.....

2010-02-14T10:50:00.002-05:00

Winners have been drawn and will be notified on the 15th!! Thank you all for stopping by and to Lisa for bringing us all together again!!

Welcome aboard the Gypsy Caravan. I am so happy you stopped by. Isn't it lovely to be here? It's a beautiful day....the sun is shining....there is a gentle breeze.....the birds are singing ....and we are all together. What more could we desire?? Look around you...there are friends, sharing not only their ART, but their very souls.

My fave ART quote from Master da Vinci says:

Where the SPIRIT does not work with the HAND....there is no ART...

Isn't that true for you as well? My ART comes from within......I treasure the gift I was given and thank God every day for the ARTful journey he is allowing me to take. So, what are you waiting for?? The Magic Carpet stand is right over there?? See it?? Go, choose your carpet and climb aboard......the magical journey has begun. Yes, you might get lucky and win a prize or two....but that my friends is merely the icing on your cake. I think Lisa said it best:

"This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits."

Ready.......let's fly........

I sat on my front porch, in my favorite rocking chair, under the shadow of my mighty oaks.....daydreaming of my contribution to OWOH this year. As I let my mind wander with thoughts of far away lands, magic carpets and treasure to be found......I kept coming back to the same themes, over and over. I saw "DREAMS" and "BEADS" and "ART Journal." So, I turned my ART muse loose and this is what she created.......

This altered composition book is the perfect place to record your secret Dreams, your Magic ARTistic travels, your ART to try ideas.....whatever makes you smile when you put ink to paper.

Now, no self-respecting ARTist is going to go off flying around the world on her Magic Carpet without some bling!! Here is a bead crochet necklace spilling over with all the colors of the Heavens, with stars and moons to be your guide.

And finally, a D-R-E-A-M banner to inspire your ART in your studio or maybe your dreams hanging above your bed. Wherever it hangs, let it serve to remind you to follow your heart and let your dreams take flight.....

I am so thrilled you chose to share this journey with me. Please leave a comment on this post to play along and be entered to win one of these three ART offerings from the Heart. Please make sure to leave your email address or blog contact information. You have until February 14th to enter......winners will be drawn on the 15th!! Good Luck!!

Thank you for stopping by.....see you on Caravan.....I'll be the one wearing the pink sparkly crown.

Been doings some beading....

2010-02-12T16:46:00.007-05:00

I have been having fun playing with my beads. I'm making some goodies for a donation to my Aunt's Church for the Sunday School Kids Mother's Day store. I've also been making some pieces for sale.

Here are 7 of the Book Thongs (which we renamed Bible Buddies for the kids LOL). Hard to get a good scan of them......but you get the idea!! You may need to click the pics to enjoy their details!!

Theses are 3 new necklaces and a pair of earrings that will be for sale. I am sharing different views of each piece so hopefully you can see them well.

First up is a gemstone chips and moon and sun beads necklace. I think it would be great to wear with a nice pair of jeans!!

This set is made from brown and green glass beads, silver squares and vintage beaded dangles.

My personal fave. This necklace is just gorgeous in person. It is made from a mix of gorgeous, faceted, AB finish crystal beads. It has a nice weight to it and has such sparkle.

Just sharing a few of my latest creations. Off to eat some Pizza, watch the Opening Ceremonies and do some more beading!! Enjoy!!