I’ve been thinking a lot about Christmas lately. Trying so hard to get caught up so I can start making some lovely Christmas things for my site. By the way…. We’re completely revamping the website and it’s going to be amazing! I’m making new Doodle Packs as we speak and will be giving one away to celebrate the grand re-opening of the website. I’ll give more info on that in a day or two.
Here is my latest crown, a snowy, wintery, Christmasy fantasy! I love this one. Doesn’t it look icy and sweet? I love the little snow dove and the crepe paper snowflakes on the silver stars. My favorite part is the soft blue vintage forget me nots and the icy sequins made into little winter roses. I really love this one. I think it’s my favorite so far, but then again, I think that about every one I work on. I guess it’s just the joy of creating something new and different.
Do you remember that song from the early 1990’s, I think? It was by Blind Melon, called “No Rain”. In the video, there’s this cute little girl all dressed up in a yellow and black bumble bee costume. Through the whole video she keeps trying to spread her little bumble bee joy to all these regular people who keep rejecting her. It’s sort of sad. But, then at the end of the video, she finds this whole group of other people ALL dressed in black and yellow bumble bee costumes. They’re all happy, dancing, and bouncing around. She’s thrilled because she found her people! She fits right in.
I feel like that little girl. You are the bee people. I’ve found my peeps.
Now, just TRY to get that song out of your head.
“…I just want someone to say to me… oh oh oh oh…I’ll always be there when you wake….”
This weekend I was blessed to have a small visit from my friend Kasse and her beautiful family. They were in town to take their two water babies to the crazy water park we have in Oklahoma City. Kasse is a total babe, so she looked like a supermodel in her bathing suit, but she still fretted over it. Genuinely. Isn’t it awful what we do to ourselves? Our own worst critic, I guess. But, that’s neither here nor there! My point is, looky what she brought me!
This is the SWEETEST little necklace! It’s a little silver nest with two tiny freshwater pearl “eggs” to represent my two little babies. Oh, I love it so so much. She sells them at her online glitter extravaganza, Miss Duffy’s. There are also one and three-egg nests, but she said the three eggers are sold out. Is this the sweetest little charm ever? I’m very sentimental and love things that have meaning, especially where my children are concerned. I know you understand!
Here is another shot of it:
And the back. See how intricate it is? Love this.
Here is another fabulous thing I got at our local flea market. Do you remember these sweet little slips as a kid?
My sister and I always had these. I distinctly remember wearing one for halloween one year to be a princess. My mom made me wear a turtleneck under it, since it was cold. Now I understand that. It was just a slip, afterall, but then I really felt like she was ruining my princess vibe! ha ha ha….
But, I never had one when I was THIS little. This thing is TINY! For perspective, here is a picture of it next to the crown that Jenny made me. They’re about the same height!
I love this so much, because, again I’m so sentimental. I think of my sister when I see it. I remember singing with her in front of the mirror or playing dress-up. I have the best sisters in the world, I’m so blessed.
Yeah, that’s right. Two posts in one day! Boy, it’s feast or famine around here, lately, isn’t it? Sorry. I’ll try to be more consistent! ha ha.
So many of you have asked if I’m still making the ballerina boxes. Yes, but they sell so quickly that I haven’t put them up on my site. Here are pictures of the one I made for the sweetest thing to come out of Italy since…..well, since something really sweet. Rosanna is going to give this to her sweet little girl for her birthday. Oh, I love it! I really wanted to keep this one, so I am promising myself to make sure I keep one for ME! LOL…. I also have to make one for each of my 2 (soon to be THREE! YAY) little neices, so that leaves one or two that I’ll put up for sale as soon as I finish several other orders I have. I haven’t made them yet, but I will. Anyway, here are more pics of my dancing queen. By the way, these ballerinas are vintage gals and are about 5 1/2 inches tall! I bought them from a lady who was selling off all the great old stuff from a bakery. They had been in business in a small Oklahoma town for 80 years or something, and it was time to move on in life. I was SO lucky to snag these little gals for my art boxes!
She needed a flower arch, I thought, so I made one using only vintage millinery flowers and ribbon on a wire frame. Isn’t it so sweet? She looks like a flower garden fairy, doesn’t she?
I think she turned out so lovely. I love this vintage pink floral wallpaper. I put some of it in my last Doodle-packs. I’m working on new doodle-packs with all candy colored papers, aquas, blues, pinks, greens…yummy colors. I’m including a couple of pieces of this one. It’s one of my favorite. I love the shade of pink. So pretty.
OK, enough for tonight. I have so many orders to do! I’m doing some lovely crowns for a lovely lady and I’ll show you when I’m all done. Then doing some other fun stuff. PLUS my website is getting a complet OVERHAUL by my endlessly smart and clever husband. I’m doing a special Doodle-pack give-away to celebrate my new and improved website. Should be some time next week (but don’t hold me to that date!). I’ll keep you posted. I’ll be selling the Doodle packs there. hmmm….. maybe I’ll give you a sneak peek at them tomorrow. If I can get the pictures taken!
OK. ok ok OOOOO KAAYYY! I finally FINALLY am doing the post I KEEP promising about all my swap goodies! Oh, I feel like such a loser for taking so long on this. Now, I’m a free woman! Free from guilt. At least momentarily. I AM a mother, so guilt will surely riddle me again soon. Anyhoo, buckle up. Here we go.
The matchbox swap
Natasha held the sweetest, most clever swap. Our assignment was to cover and fill a tiny matchbox with as much crafty goodness as we could. I was a lucky girl, for my partner was Kathy. Just LOOK at this amazing box! She stitched a quilted fabric SLIPCOVER for the thing! Are you kidding me? A slipcover? Oh my. I think I’ll use this to store my sweet babies’ first lockes of hair. Love it.
The Fairy Swap
Speaking of Natasha, that little girlie is so busy! She also arranged a four-way swap with me, Heather, Karla, and herself. We each made 3 things, so each of us got the same thing from everyone. What a fun idea! The assignment was anything fairy. It was supposed to be rather small or flat. I posted about my contribution here. Here are the wonderful beauties from my partners:
Natasha made me the most beautiful, large wallhanging. I love the sweet fairy, taken from one of her paintings, and the beautiful crepe paper ruffles! The sheetmusic is so perfect also. Natasha is so multi-talented!
Sweet Karla, another amazing painter, hand painted fairy tags for all of us! She also included 2 charms, one of them with beads, the other another hand painted fairy! She used lots of glitter, which I love.
Heather made the sweetest little fairy cone! This is so gorgeous. Heather has the best trims and she sells them in little parcels. I SOOO want one of her vintage linen rolls. Maybe on payday! She had such a great response on these that she made some to sell!
The Tiara Swap
I was so happy with our tiara swap. Wasn’t it FUN?! I did hear of a few gals who’s partners never sent them a crown. That makes me really sad. Please don’t join a swap if you’re not going to really do it! It’s just so sad to not get anything! But, this is a fun post so moving on…. I had two partners, Jenny and Dede. Boy, they did not disappoint!
Jenny HAND PAINTED THE ENTIRE CROWN with her famous, trademark sweet colors and beautiful YUMMY cake and floral art! I am not kidding, the whole thing is hand painted with beautiful foil, ribbon, and glitter trim. The inside is lined in, what else, vintage cookbook pages! So SWEET.
Dede made me SUCH a beautiful crown! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the wonderful sheet music, which is so perfect with it’s royal reference! I adore the stamping she did on it, and the sweet pink paper roses. My favorite part is the vintage pink velvet ribbon. SOOO me!
Bits & Pieces Swap
Miss Jenny was also my partner in her fabulous and fun Bits & Pieces swap. Just look at the masterpiece she made for me. I love this so much. Really really L-O-V-E love it. I smile every time I walk by it! The colors are so Jenny, but also so ME! She really paid attention to the little things on my list of things I like. I collect shells, for example, so she included the tiniest little starfish ever. Can you see it in the pink round keepsake holder-thingy? Love that, by the way! Everything is happy and beautiful, just like Jenny.
Thank you so much to all the swap partners I’ve been so blessed to have! I love everything and enjoy it every day. thank you so so much.
Before I sign off for the evening (midnight!) I want YOU, the sweet person reading my blog right now to know how very much I appreciate YOU. Yes, you….the one in your pajamas drinking coffee. The one reading this in the precious few moments while the kids are napping, or at the pool, or wherever. The one who is letting her laundry pile up so she can steal a moment to recharge in this wonderful inspirational blogging community! I am talking to YOU! And everyone else who is reading my little posts. Thank you so much for reading, leaving comments, and in general giving me affirmation that I am not the only one of my kind! I feel like I’ve found my PeePs! This little world is such a blessing in my tiny little big life! Thank you, God, for giving me such a wonderful place to grow, explore, and learn.
Tomorrow I’ll try to post about some of the fabulous stuff I’ve been picking up at the antique and flea markets!
Or at least it seems so lately! I started making crowns on a whim for my niece, then had the tiara swap just for fun, and I’ve had a snow storm of orders ever since! Here is my latest:
A sweetie pie client asked me to commission a crown inspired by the movie Marie Antoinette, using sherbet toned pinks, aquas, and greens. She asked me to make it “over the top”, using feathers, flowers, a bird and lots of glitter, sparkle, and rhinestones. This was SO much fun to make. I wish I was keeping it! I’ll have to make another for me. Aren’t the colors so yummy? Like candy! I used dozens and dozens of vintage flocked and velvet forget-me-not millinery flowers. The aqua ones were white but I hand dyed them with a permanent ink to get just the right soft color. I hope she’s pleased!
This sweet gal is planning to wear this to Silver Bella, the fabulous paper arts event in November. I’m so bummed I don’t get to go this year. Maybe next year! She is making a corsage to accompany her royal headress. I can’t wait to see pictures!
In other news I have a huge post in the works about ALL my swaps. I’m planning to post on that tomorrow night, so check back, chickadees!
So, my stud-of-a-husband made me a coffee table this week! Yay! He’s so talented. He’s made me several pieces of furniture. Usually, though, he makes them from scratch. This one was a trash-to-treasure project. Here is the “before”:
yuck.
and look how gross the top was.
My mother was literally throwing this table away. She asked me if I wanted it and I said “no!” but my visionary husband said “yeah….I can make a coffee table with that”. So, we drug it home. Here is what he did with it:
My guy had to cut the base down to the proper height, then cut the top into a circle, and used it as a base for a new top that he cut. He added an apron along the bottom and some fabulous beaded trim we got here. Isn’t it fantastic?!
Love it.
***edit: P.S. I’ve had some questions about the paint color…it’s white enamel (I’ll have to ask if it was semigloss or eggshell) with Ralph Lauren Tobacco glaze over the top. The glazing is tricky. I hate things that look really obviously faux finished. I chose to do a glaze to pop the beaded and routered detail, so I let it be stronger there, where dirt would naturally accumulate (I have a good example of this natural phenomena on my kitchen cabinets, but I digress….), and I just washed it over top, blending, blending, BLENDING so it’s not just screaming “glazed”. Hope this helps!***
I’m sorry I’ve been going so long between posts! My husband was on vacation the last 2 weeks and, although we didn’t travel anywhere, we have had something going on every day! I’m LOOOONG overdue for a post on all the swap goodness I’ve received of late. I plan on doing that post as soon as I get one more thing in the mail that I’m expecting. I should have it in a couple of days, so look for a huge post of swappy good fun this week.
For now, here are a few pictures of the matchbox swap goodies I made for my sweet partner, Kathy, and a thank-you for Natasha who hosted the swap.
I used the little matchbox and could barely fit anything in them, so I decided to make a little nut cup basket and fill that up too!
I hope the gals like them.
I can’t wait to show you the box Kathy made for me. WOW. She stitched a quilted cover for it! Amazing. I think I’m going to use it to store my kid’s lockes of hair from their baby days. So sweet. I’ll show you pics on the swap post I’m doing.
My husband spent part of his vacation making me a beautiful coffee table. I’m going to try to snap some pics of it today and maybe do an extra post about it tonight.
