Finds and Friends

Mother Nature has given us a few warm sunny days lately between the bouts of frigid temps, so we've tried to venture out to find a treasure or two.

I love this vintage photo and all the bits of bling.  

Most of these bits were in a big baggie along with quite a few loose rhinestones in several sizes and colors. I have a little jar just for loose stones. The blue and silver choker and matching earrings are made from sequins, and the black and yellow piece at the top is bugle beads and seed beads.

The Parker Brothers Touring card game is from the 1950s. I also have a version from the 1940s. The buttons were glued to a raffia slipper but came off easily. The little wallet is red inside and has a snap-open coin purse. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. The happy Basset cards will be staying with me. I'm trying so hard to not accumulate any more Basset Hound goodies, but I just couldn't resist that face!

I love these little felt flower designs from a nearby estate sale. They were hanging on the wall in a dark bedroom and aren't faded at all.







I probably wouldn't have even noticed the felt flowers a few months ago, but I recently became interested in felt work through one of my Etsy customers-turned-friend. After purchasing some lace from me she sent me a photo of her work and I was blown away by the detail! I absolutely loved her heart-shaped creations, but when she sent me a photo of some sweet little bird pins I just had to have one. Everything is so tiny and perfect. Such talent!

Barbara recently opened an Esty shop of her own called GlosterQueen. You really should check it out. The pins make wonderful gifts, and the recipients will be sure to thank you.
Glosters are a type of canary, by the way. I also learned that from Barbara.




Friends are coming over to craft this weekend, so I've been trying to get things put away. I have so much more space now in my new room than I had before, but I still seem to always have various projects and Etsy items spread out all over. I'd better get back to my cleaning!

Heart Themed Three-Inchie Swap

Laurie at Indulge Your Shelf hosted a heart-themed three-inchie swap which I was pleased to join. If you're not familiar with inchies, they're small pieces of fabric or paper that you embellish. In this case, we used three-inch square pieces of fabric embellished in a heart theme. Laurie divided us into two groups, and these are the three-inchies from my group.

Aren't they wonderful?  Here's a closer look.

Upper:  Beth - all handsewn, with felt, fabric, a button, and a tiny "Blessings" tag
Lower:  Laurie - vintage French ribbon and a heart doily with ruffles, tulle and a button

Upper:  Barb - handstitching with fun colors and pretty French knots
Lower:  Suzanne - A sweet bouquet, rhinestones, lace, button and applique

Upper:  Mercedes - knitted base with a velvet heart, doily, ribbon and handmade flower
Lower - Kristi - woven sari ribbon with a wool heart and a tiny key

Mine were made using vintage lace over fabric. The pink hearts are ultrasuede sewn with silver metallic thread from French General. The vintage heart sequins are also from French General, and the gold color embellishments are from French General's line for Jolee's Boutique. The pink ruffle was a find from last year's Birdsong vendor night. I used tiny vintage green velvet leaves on a couple of mine, including the one I kept, but didn't get them in the photo.

To see the pieces from the other group, check out Laurie's post here and for more detail on my group see her post here.

Pretty in Pink Fabric Book

My first fabric book was made for a Creative Button Swap in 2011. My second was for Laurie's Breakfast at Tiffany's fabric book swap in 2012, where eight of us each created eight pages. Laurie then compiled a page from each of us into books.  I love this medium, and had been wanting to create more books. I can't resist vintage linens and lace but many pieces are too damaged to use in their entirety. These books are a wonderful way to preserve bits and pieces that might not get used otherwise, and a perfect use for buttons and other things in my stash such as the pink tulle corsage on the cover.

I'm not usually a pink person but have really been into it lately. My friend Laurie has been creating in pink recently, too, so this book was made for her. I won't describe each page as there are several. Lot's of photos coming up!

The book was delivered to Laurie just before Valentine's Day along with some pieces for a swap (more on that soon.) Hope you've enjoyed looking. I have a couple of other books in the works and hope to finish them in the next few months.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

I had planned to post for Valentine's Day but had a sick fur baby who took precedence - of course! Henry is feeling better today after a trip to the vet on Friday. He did receive a sweet little bag of treats at the vet, along with two others for his sissy and brother. Our vet is wonderful, and his techs are so sweet and caring.

On February 1 Bobbie of Creative Life Diary and Cindy at Paper Crown held a Valentine Soiree. Bobbie once again came up with a beautiful project for us! This frame is big - 11" x 14". The double-layered heart hangs against a tulle background. A pretty felt and rhinestone flower sits at the side, and in the center a little cone holds several cute adornments. The piece is finished off with ribbon, rhinestones and pearls.

Bobbie and her helpers had decorated the room to the hilt, as they always do for the soirees. This fun canopy showcased the treats and prize bags.

There were M&M and mini-cupcake "cocktails" along with treat bags decorated with a red puffy heart.

Every person attending received a door prize. Mine was a bright pink canvas tote from Bobbie stuffed with two Stampington magazines and a beautiful piece of Anna Maria Horner ribbon from Cindy.

Here's my table group - me, Michele (I think - so sorry, can't remember for sure!), Lisa and Shelly.

 Teresa and me with our finished projects.

Hope your Valentine was good to you, and that you're having a wonderful weekend! I'll have more sweet things to share soon.

Starting the New Year Right

January started in a grand manner with the notification that I had won the darling Jessica Rodarte's 31 Favorite Things giveaway. Click the link to go to Jessica's blog and read more about the giveaway and see a complete list of the items included. We apparently share many likes as I was totally pleased with everything. As I told Jessica, it's such a clever idea and getting the package was like opening a Christmas stocking!

She and I have participated in a tiny book swap in the past, and have swapped one for one. Her tiny books are adorable. You can see a few in her Etsy shop here.

Last weekend the DH and I celebrated a break in the cold by taking a little road trip to western Oklahoma.  We stopped in Hydro at the Mema's Momma's and Mine Antique Store on old Route 66, where I found these treasures. 

I love the gray hat with all it's leaves and petals, but bought the other just for the black velvet rose appliques - one on each side. 

This vintage tablecloth in my favorites of aqua and chartreuse was also a great find. It's a bit faded but that's fine with me.

We stopped in Clinton at The Mulberry Bush Antique & Vintage Market on Frisco Avenue where I found this lovely lace. As best I can tell, it's rather old, and appears to be beautifully tea-dyed. There were several other bags of vintage lace and it was tough to leave them, but I managed to limit myself to just the one bag. 

We went as far south as Hobart, then took a different route home. I found these items in a thrift store in Fort Cobb. I have plans for them.

Can't wait for a few estate sales this weekend, and maybe a bit of thrifting, too!

A Look Back at 2013

I'm embarrassingly late posting my 2013 review, but here goes! Last year seemed fairly uneventful compared to 2012, but there were definitely some great creative opportunities. This post includes a few photos that haven't appeared before on my blog. You may also click on any month to see to see all the posts for that month.

JANUARY was a bit slow, probably due to Blogger giving me fits, but I did exchange fun gifts with Laurie

FEBRUARY included quite a few great classes, including this darling Valentine banner and crown.

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MARCH was a very full month with lots of wonderful swaps and estate sale finds. These sweet baskets were made for the Creative Wings Spring Has Sprung swap.

For Tabitha

For Lisa

In APRIL  I worked on cards for the Paper Cowgirl Rolodex Art Card swap and found a few good buys at a nearby estate sale, including these sweet appliques, buttons, buckles and brooches..

MAY  was all about finishing up Rolodex cards and creating swap items for the upcoming Birdsong event in June. Here are just a few of the Rolodex cards I made.

JUNE brought the highly anticipated Birdsong 3 event at Karla Nathan's wonderful home and studio in Kansas. It was such a fun and friendly event where I saw several creative buddies and met quite a few new ones. Just click on the June link to see all the swaps.

Photo from Karla Nathan

JULY included junqueing

and a pic of the DH's old car that garnered lots of interest.

Click on the July link to see lots of pics of Birdsong 3, including classes and more swaps.

AUGUST  and SEPTEMBER were single-post months due to problems with Blogger, but I did manage to post about all the fabulous Rolodex cards I received from the Paper Cowgirl Rolodex Art Card Swap. Here are a few. If you'd like to see more, just click on the August link.

Debbie Schuh was in Oklahoma City in September and I was able to take two great classes, but no photos unfortunately. You can find links to other blog posts about the event here.

OCTOBER included classes as well as exhibiting at a local weekend antiques show. The show wasn't a great success, but I did enjoy spending time with friends. I also finally found a mannequin that wasn't too large for my space or too rich for my budget. She's plain, but in this lovely pale aqua brocade and her bling, she's perfect! The dress is for sale in my Etsy shop, but I've already found a potential replacement should Ms. Mannequin (still thinking about a name for her) have to give it up. 

Another October event/class that I never showed photos of was the Halloween Soiree at Paper Crown. Here's the room prior to class. I didn't capture all the cuteness, but it was such fun. There was a lovely treat table at the front of the room as well.

Bobbie led us in making these wonderful - and large - Pumpkin King creations! Love him!

She also included sweet little kits to make a bingo card door hanger.

Some of us made headgear for the occasion. My crown turned out well, I thought.

It was such an enjoyable day!

NOVEMBER  included a couple of classes and another Paper Cowgirl swap - a altered tin this time. Here's the one I made. You can see more pics by clicking on November, and see the amazing tin I received under the December heading.

One of my favorite classes this year was Jackie Peters' Christmas Santos class. Mine will be on display year round.

DECEMBER seemed to be a month for tags. I made tags for family

and tags for a swap

one for a friend and one for me

and one more for ME!

Whew! Now, ON TO 2014!  Hope you're having a good year so far!