Bye Bye Google Reader

Sadly, Google Reader is going away July 1.  If you use Google Reader to follow blogs, you'll need to switch to another reader before July 1.  I'm using Bloglovin' and found it very simple to transfer my huge list of blogs to that service.  I know people who have switched to Feedly and other readers and found them also simple to navigate.   

I hope you'll take a moment to follow my blog on whatever new reader you choose.  You may use the Bloglovin' button at the top right of this blog to follow Junque Seeker on Bloglovin', or just click this link and then hit the FOLLOW button.

Thanks, and happy reading!

Lovely Birdsong Swaps

Hard to believe it's been almost two weeks since Birdsong III! I have so much to post about, and have enjoyed reading all the posts from the other attendees.  Today I want to show you the wonderful things I received in the swaps.  You can see what I created for my swap partners in my last post here.

Mercedes Scott hosted the rosette swap. We were to create a fabric rosette that included a vintage bird brooch and give it in a pretty package.  Partners weren't assigned, but Mercedes created beautiful paper and fabric tags - one for each rosette. We then picked a corresponding small card from a bag to determine which rosette we received.  I was thrilled to get Mercedes' creation! She covered a box in vintage wallpaper and tied it with vintage insertion eyelet, then topped it with a doily, a bird and a flower - some of my favorite things.  The tag she created coordinated beautifully with the box.

The rosette is gorgeous - peach and coral and cream, with lots of lovely handwork and a pretty brooch on the side.  It's backed by a doily, and I love the streamers.

She also included a cloth bag made from the cutest fabric and filled with lavender. It was decorated with yet another pretty bird brooch! She wrote a lovely note and tucked it in the box, too.

Thank you so much, Mercedes. I love it all!

Here are all the rosette packages on a bench in Karla's courtyard, followed by all the rosettes in a group.  If you'd like to see more photos Mercedes has posted several on her blog here.

Next is the matchbox swap.  The matchbox I created went to Grace, and I also received her matchbox.  Everyone else gave their matchbox to someone and received a matchbox from a different person.  We were the only two who swapped with each other, and I'm glad we did!

Grace worried that her box was too simple, but I love everything about it!  It's already on display in my living room, and the goodies she packed inside are all things I'll enjoy using, if I can bear to part with them.

I'm a big fan of those little velvet leaves and the tiny flowers. She also gave me buckles, buttons and bling that are unlike any I have. I use a lot of the little lace pieces and these, too, were unlike any I have. Thank you so much, Grace. I love everything!

The last swap was the tag book swap. With seven pretty tags and cover, it needs a post of its own, so watch for that soon.

Click on any photo above to see larger versions.

Birdsong III Overview and My Swap Creations

My first - and I certainly hope not my last - Birdsong has come and gone. It was such an enjoyable weekend. Karla Nathan put on an exceptional event and had obviously worked very hard, along with her family, to pull everything together.  Her studio is a wonderland of little vingnettes - journals, tags, an entire buffet filled with flowered vintage hats, and more.  I'll have lots of photos over the next few posts, but here's a group photo provided by Karla.

What wonderful people to share a weekend of creating!  I am in there - you can barely see my head peeking up with a post in front of my face. Being short, everyone always wants me in front in group photos but I hate being in front so I go to the back. Usually only my head or even the top of my head shows, but I know I'm there.

For today I'm going to share the swap items I made.  First up is the tag swap. I used a pretty image from The Graphics Fairy, and used pop dots to layer the bird and basket.  I added some Stickles, pleated satin and velvet trim, millinery flowers and ribbon. The back was covered in a neutral rose print with a row of small organdy roses to cover the bottom edge.

Each person in the swap made seven tags and we received a book of seven.  I'll show the tags I received in a future post. I love them all!

For the matchbox swap, I found a small plastic "birdcage" at a garage sale that I wanted to incorporate.  I added a tiny feathered and sequined bird, placed it inside a silver-plated coaster, and surrounded it with flowers and lace. The box was covered in a taupe polka dot paper and trimmed with pleated trim from a vintage lampshade. I perched the whole thing on top of an ornate metal stand, also found at a garage sale. 

The matchbox was filled with lots of lacy and sparkly things for my swap partner, Grace. She doesn't have a blog, but if she did I know you'd enjoy it!



The last swap was a rosette that incorporated a vintage bird brooch. This sounds easier than it actually was. I scoured antique malls, estate sales and my own collection with no luck. I finally turned to eBay and found a couple that I liked - one that was a bit steampunk and the other in silver with rhinestones. I made the rosette with layers of vintage lace, then decided the steampunk pin looked the best. One of the swap requirements was to package the rosette prettily, so I made a burlap-look linen bag trimmed with lace. Partners weren't assigned in advance. I'll share more details on this swap in a later post. I promise that you're going to want to see all the beautiful rosettes and pins.



The things I received in return are all lovely.  I'll share those in a few days, along with photos of our class projects and Karla's amazing home and studio.

Thanks for stopping by!

Working on Birdsong Swaps

I've joined three swaps as part of Karla Nathan's Birdsong event next month. I'm happy to say that I've completed my items for the tag swap. For most, having done that a month out is probably no big deal, but for a confirmed procrastinator like me it's kind of amazing. If I had all three swaps completed, now that would be something to really celebrate, but I'm happy with this for now. I do have ideas for my other swaps - a rosette swap and a matchbox swap - and will be starting on those this week. A couple of gift items are complete but I have a few more to make. I also started on some little sponsor packets which I hope to get in the mail to Karla this week so she can add them to the goodie bags.

Here are a few sneak peaks at my tags. The tags include a bird (of course), vintage millinary, yummy trim and a bit of color and glitter. 

I'll try to have a few more sneak peaks before I go, and will have lots to show after the event.

The Last of the Rolodex Art Cards

The last of the Rolodex art cards are complete and everything is in the mail to Cindy of Paper Cowgirl. The next time, I believe I'd come up with one great design and make them all the same but as I've said before, I did have fun making them. I've provided a bit of description under each photo.

The larger card is for Cindy, who uses 3x5 Rolodex cards. The floral and butterfly graphics are from GalleryCat on Etsy.  The vintage photos on the two lower cards came from a garage sale last year.

More GalleryCat butterflies and vintage photos, plus a cute floral/butterfly embellishment strip from Tabitha at Creative Wings Boutique, part of the goodies she sent for the Spring Has Sprung basket swap.

The face stamp on the middle left card is one of my favorites.

The woman with the big hat is from The Graphics Fairy. The circus themed graphic is from GalleryCat. The striped card is Washi tape with a tiny plastic frame. Click on any photo to see a larger view.

Now I'm excited to see all the great cards I'll be getting in the mail soon!

Blogger is messing with my formatting today, so please excuse the centered type and odd line endings.

Estate Sale Finds

Most estate sales in this area are more than ten miles away - not far to drive, but close is always better in my opinion.  Last Saturday there was an estate sale less than a mile from our house. The DH is always up early so he went first. He brought me a bag of vintage seam binding and two cute pairs of gloves. His take was that there wasn't much left that I'd want, but I couldn't resist going a bit later in the morning (OK, almost noon.)  Yes, there were still some treasures to be had.

I bought this little vintage '50s case. With a little foufing, it will be perfect to carry a few art supplies for classes. I usually lug my big tote, but sometimes it's just overkill when I only need glue and scissors and a few embellishments.

The little case held more seam binding, along with some lace, buttons, buckles and other fun things.

These are just a few of the many packages of seam binding. There were more button cards and loose buttons. Not sure what I'll do with the numbers, but they'll go on something.

This was my favorite find. I got them to come down on the already-reasonable price because they didn't have batteries and weren't sure if it worked. No sound so far, but that doesn't really bother me. If we get it to work, I'll probably sell it and for now I think it's cute just sitting on a shelf. I especially love the little crown emblem.

There are about a dozen sales this weekend, so hopefully I'll have more items for my Etsy shop soon. I'm also hoping to finish up my Rolodex art cards this weekend. The deadline was extended a week, but I need to finish up and start creating for the three Birdsong swaps I've joined.

Have a wonderful weekend!

More Rolodex Swap Cards

Here are a few more Rolodex cards I've made for the Paper Cowgirl's swap.  They're actually cuter "in person" than they look here because I photgraphed them at night, but still I'm not loving these as much as the first six.  I only have a week to finish 13 more, so I've got to get busy!

I do like the "live Art" card. The letters are strung on baker's twine with pop dots on the back.

The top card has Stickles embellishments and a pop dot for the butterfly.

The graphics are from GalleryCat on Etsy.

The "SHE" card is just bits that were laying on my table.

The dark spot under the bird is a rose. Hard to tell, I know.

These two use bits of leftover lace and ribbon. Festive!

There will be more cards to show in a few days, along with some estate sale finds - including a vintage Rolodex to hold the cards I'll receive from the swap. We've been to a couple of car shows recently, including the National Street Rod Association's Southwest Street Rod Nationals last weekend in Oklahoma City and a small show today, but we've still had plenty of time for estate sales.

Thanks for stopping by!

An Easter Project

Wishing everyone a blessed and happy Easter, and hope you are able to share this day with your friends and family.

A few weeks ago Bobbie taught this cute bunny basket class at Paper Crown. Please excuse the iPhone photo. I meant to take a better one yesterday but the light was gone by the time I thought about it. Also please excuse the fact that you can only see the ears on bunny #3.  You may see a much better photo on Bobbie's blog here. 

The basket is made from a lampshade, and decorated with lots of gathered crepe paper, coffee filters, and ribbon.  The basket is rather large at almost two feet tall. I'm not sure where I'll store it after today, but I do love it!

I also wanted to share this sunset photo taken as we were walking to our car after dinner one evening last week.  It had been a lovely spring-like day, and the beautiful sunset provided the perfect close.


Enjoy your day!

Finds Come and Finds Go

A couple of weeks ago I found an antique corset at a local estate sale, along with some other vintage clothing and lace bits.  I listed the corset the next day and it sold almost immediately. It was in good condition and I had priced it reasonably in the hope that it would sell quickly.

I always include a little something extra with my Esty packages. Usually it's a fun tag that I've stamped and tied with some seam binding, but when I was preparing the corset to mail, I decided I wanted to do something more specific to this special piece.  I looked on The Graphics Fairy and found a great vintage photo, then added some lace and a button. I think it turned out nicely, and hope the purchaser will enjoy it, along with her new (old) corset!

Rolodex Art

Cindy at Paper Cowgirl organized a Rolodex art card swap for past Paper Cowgirl attendees, so I had to "jump into the saddle" for that.  We're to make twenty-five cards, either all alike or different - our choice. They'll all go to Cindy, who will regroup them and we'll receive twenty-five cards back.  There are amazing artists in this group so I look forward to seeing what everyone else creates.

I'm in a use-it-up mode in preparation for clearing out my little space for new flooring and paint, so I decided to use my paper stash to cover all my cards.  Now I'm just letting the background paper on each card speak to me to see where it goes. I'm having a great time with it so far. Here are the first six.

I'll show more as I complete them, and the ones I receive when the exchange is over in May.

Spring Has Sprung Swap - Part Deux

I've been in tax time hell but finally got everything delivered to the CPA, so now I can do - and post about - artsy craftsy things.  You're going to love these little baskets from my Spring Has Sprung Swap partners. 

First up is my basket from Lisa.  We were able to swap in person, so that was fun.  We're both going to Karla Nathan's Birdsong III event in June, so there will be several more swaps in our immediate future.

Lisa packaged the little basket so nicely, but I opened it at class before I could take a photo so I've re-staged it here.  She distressed and gathered cream crepe paper, wrapped it with rick rack, and added a pink velvet bow and pearls.  Inside was a matching match box, two bouquets of the tiny little vintage posies I love so much, the cutest little bird on a spool - adorable - and a sweet fuzzy bunny face with a rhinestone crown pinned to one ear.

Of course, the matchbox was filled with more lovely things. I'm planning to make a charm bracelet using the ruler and tiny bottle charms she sent, plus a few others I've been collecting. 

My other basket is from Tabitha, who organized the swap.  She sent this lovely aqua creation.

Don't you love that tiny "nest" banner and that little glittered bird?  She included all of these little things to "feather the nest."

Thank you so much, ladies!  This was such an enjoyable swap, and just what I needed to tide me over until it actually feels like spring.

Note:  Click on any photo to see a larger version. You can see what I sent Lisa and Tabitha in my previous post here.

Spring Has Sprung Swap - Part I

The very imaginative Tabitha at Creative Wings Boutique recently hosted yet another fun swap. This was the "Spring Has Sprung Basket Swap" and each participant made and received two small decorated baskets filled with little gifts. I'll be showing the baskets I received soon, but since both of my swap partners have their baskets, today I'll show you what I created.  I used my newfound talent (learned in a recent class - see end of post) to make crepe paper festooning for both baskets, then filled them with fuzzy chicks, bits of lace, and other little surprises.  Oh my gosh, I had SO much fun making these! 
One partner was Lisa. We had a class together this week so we swapped baskets there (more on the class later.)  I used a mix of springy colors for her basket.

Lisa is a fellow dog lover, so I thought the child's hankie with the cute yellow and blue dogs was a perfect addition.

My other partner for this swap was Tabitha, who loves pink and aqua.  It looks a bit pink and baby blue here, but actually looked more aqua "in person."

In both baskets I included a little packet with pretty playing cards, letter cards, and some vintage Easter scrap.

Hope they liked their little bits of spring fun! Check back soon to see the lovelies Lisa and Tabitha made for me.

Note: For festooning, sew eight layers of crepe paper streamers together down the center. I used about five feet and it was relatively easy to work with. After sewing, clip along both edges every 1/8" to 1/4" inch, being careful to not cut the center thread.  Martha Stewart five-blade scissors are great for this project and make it much easier.  After making the cuts, fold along the center thread line and glue the festooning along the fold to your project, then fluff.  It's really fun and easy!  I learned this technique from Bobbie in her Valentine banner class.