Relics and Art Journal Classes

Earlier this month Jackie taught a class at Paper Crown using Sandra Evertson's Relics and Artifacts line. As is always the case with Jackie's classes, it was a lot of fun. We made some lovely pieces and learned techniques to use on other elements from the line. I think most every one of us had either already purchased some for future projects or did that night.

In class we embellished this reverse canvas to hold a beautiful velvet-covered sacred heart. 

We also made a smaller sacred heart to use as we wish - on a journal cover, in a frame, to hang on the wall, or however. Mine came home like this...

with a tiny rose at the top. I've been playing with it and trying out some of my vintage embellishments. I think it's going to end up as pictured below.

Jackie always features class pics on her blog, but as an added bonus, Sandra featured  Jackie's class on her blog here. You can also see Sandra's gallery on her site and get more inspiration for using the Relics and Artifacts line in your creations. I love her painted hearts here.

Last Saturday my friend Chris and I took a class called "Art Journaling with Birds" at Paper Arts in Edmond. Each participant received a hand made fabric journal cover with several pages inserted. More pages can be added.

During class we mainly prepared our backgrounds using water colors, and used the Tim Holtz Crazy Birds stamps and other bird stamps. None of my pages are completely finished, but if I wait to blog about them when they're finished it could be years! So...here are a few of the pages that I actually got paint/stamps/cutouts onto.

This one will have painted birds added over the stamps, words, borders, etc.

The page above is almost done, but still needs a few little flourishes. My stamping skills are far from professional!

I've not really used water colors since I was a child. The set I took to class included lovely glittery colors, but they were very pale and probably not the best for this particular project. 

This last page is probably my favorite, although it's barely begun. You can sort of see the glow of the background paint. I love dots - even messy ones - especially in green and aqua.

This journal will be fun to play in on a winter day!

Saturday Finds and Upcoming Etsy Listings

Last Saturday I had a art journal class at 10am but there was an estate sale in another part of town that had a few interesting items. I decided to get up early so I could drop some orders at the post office, hit the sale, and still make it to class. I rarely go to sleep before 3 am, so getting up at 7:00 is quite a feat!

The purse and glasses were the main things I was after at the sale so I was pleased to get both. I love the purse - chartreuse is a favorite color - but the 1950s cat-eye glasses are amazing and certainly the most ornate I've ever come across.

The J. Hasday frames are gold and all the faux pearls and rhinestones are in place. These would be so cute as sunglasses. They're too small for me, so they'll be going to my Etsy shop.

The hosiery may seem like an odd purchase, but I've sold several pair on Etsy so I buy them when I find them in the original packaging.

Postal scales are also popular - more as a display item than a useful piece of equipment - so I was happy to find this larger-than-usual one from 1956. It's over six inches high. Others that I've sold were around 4-1/2 inches high.

I'll be listing a bit more lace this week, too, including this lot.

I have a couple of class projects to show in my next post. Hope you'll check back!

Oops - almost forgot! I also found some cute tiny trees and glass ornament picks. It's not too early for Christmas crafts!

Vintage Lace Lots

If you've read my blog for a while you know that I love vintage lace. I do use it occasionally for crafting and sewing, but mostly I just love having it and looking at it. 

Recently I was honored that the amazingly talented Suzy of Suziqusthreadworks found my Etsy shop and made a purchase. Today I was even more honored that she used some of that lace along with others she had on hand to make another beautiful creation, and included a link to my shop in her blog post. 

Most of my readers are familiar with Suzy. In fact, I found her via another blog that I follow. If you haven't read her most recent post, click here to see her latest work - just gorgeous!

Her blog followers have been quick to view my shop, but unfortunately I was unprepared (as I usually am!) and my lace listings are minimal. 

I'll be adding new listings to my shop beginning Friday. The photos in this post are a sneak peak at a few of the lace lots and shabby lace lots I'll have on offer, along with an inspiration kit or two.

Thank you for stopping by!

Friday Finds - Trim, Quilt Pieces and More

What's not to love about a big pile of plush vintage pom pom trim? I just wish I could have accurately captured the beautiful shades. The blue is a bit darker and richer, the green is a wonderful mossy shade, and the purple is deep and dark. The orchid is the closest to its actual color.

The green pom pom trim came from a sale this past Friday. The purples and blue are from a sale put on by the drama department of a local university last month. Thanks to Cindy at Paper Crown for giving me a heads up about this one. It was less than a block from where I work part time, but I hadn't seen any listings and would have missed it. 

This fun trim came from the same sale.

It coordinates perfectly with this trim that's in my Etsy shop now. Both would look great on any aquatic or mermaid themed project.

I also bought a few hats at the drama department sale - mainly for the flowers. I haven't been able to make myself disassemble this one yet. It's a bright (really bright!) spot of color in my craft room.

There were two batches of quilt pieces that I couldn't leave behind at last Friday's sale. The first set has a few pieces in various stages of completion, plus hundreds of little hexagons cut from old feed sacks and ready to sew.

I love how the original owner used a pickle jar label as her pattern.

The other quilt pieces are for a variation of the Sunbonnet Sue pattern. This one has an unusually-shaped bonnet with a flat crown. It also appears to be one of the simpler versions, with no apron. 

The hat, shoe and arm pieces are cut from solids, but I love all the feed sack fabrics she used for the dress pieces.

All of these items - except the hat - will be listed soon in my Etsy shop. 

I took one of Jackie's fun classes last week, and will be showing what we made in my next post.