Thursday, May 9, 2013

Vintage Necklace from a Buckle & Button & Beads

I LOVE jewelry.
Nothing expresses one's personality the way that jewelry does.  
Don't you agree?  
Have you ever looked at a pair of earrings and thought, 
"Those are me"
or
"Those look just like (fill in the blank)?"

From time to time I get a bee in my bonnet, and I just have to make a new piece of jewelry.
I had these pieces just waiting in my treasure box:

I took a little inspiration from this book, Rejuvenated Jewels,
 New Designs from Vintage Treasures, by Amy Hanna:
 

I had a few false starts, including this charm style necklace with crowns and 
a vintage rhinestone watch piece. I wore it once, and it just didn't feel quite right.

So I remade it, and yes, it felt very, very right:

I wire wrapped sterling beads with sterling wire and linked them with some sterling and 
marcasite pieces that I salvaged from an old necklace. I glued a garnet piece to a mother-of-pearl-button, and glued that onto the rhinestone buckle.  I wire wrapped a pearl and attached it to a vintage rhinestone piece that got attached to the buckle. I also added a sterling toggle to the buckle to 
attach it to the beaded section.

Here's a view on a lace background:

Another view:

 I HAD to have earrings to go with it, so I came up with these:
Garnet pieces on MOP buttons, sterling ear wires, and freshwater pearls, sterling bead caps, and garnet beads wire-wrapped and dangling from the buttons.


I even let my new friend wear it!  (Looks SO Victorian here.)

And a bit more modern here:

Yes, she has a name.  I had a hard time choosing between so many wonderful suggestions, Sephora, Rosalie, Lacey...  Everyone seemed to agree that a French name suited her best.
And guess who had the winning name?
My dear husband!
When he suggested, "Cosette," (from Les Miserables), how could I refuse?
Any man who indulges such girlish silliness in his wife of almost thirty years
deserves to be heard.   :-)
Yep, he's a keeper.

 So there you have it.

And I have another little group of goodies just waiting for a new idea!

See the transformation of Cosette from store-bought dress form to vintage dress form diva!



Linking up with




Posted by at 15 comments:
Labels:

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Instant Vintage Dress Form



I've loved dress forms since I was a girl.  
They're so in style right now, I decided to buy one.
I didn't have a lot of time to distress it, 
but I wanted it to look old.  
So I dug through my scrap vintage linens and lace:


and came up with something I really love!
Here's the step-by-step:








I also added a ribbon around the waist:






Oops!  Misspelled "millinery."  You caught that, right?  :-)  

Finished bodice.


 There she is--all done!  
Now, I just have to figure out what to name her.  
Posted by at 28 comments:
Labels: ,

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Spring Thank You Cards

Such a busy and crazy time of the year.
Does it seem so in your corner of the world?

I managed to make a few springtime thank you cards 
with some of my favorite color combos and embossing folders:



Turquoise and coral are my favorite colors this year.  I can't
wait to play around more with this combo:


Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The People Who Love You and Vintage View Link Party

Often unfair.
Filled with unpleasant surprises of things you never thought would happen.
I'm not speaking of tragedy, but difficulty.
I think most of us don't experience tragedy--like those that have occurred recently,
but I know we all have difficulties--sometimes every day.

Some are self-imposed  from injudicious decisions, and
 some brought on in the process of living with and loving people. 
People who make mistakes, get sick, grow old, have hurts... 
Or people who are just downright hateful, vengeful, or manipulative.

I had a particularly stressful week this week, and someone who is becoming dear to me said 

"go and be with the people who love you."

And it made me think long and hard about who those people really are...
And who those people have been and are becoming.

There's my sweet mother, who taught me to sew with excellence.  
I found these vintage 50's napkins which so reminded me of the ones she
taught me to make. (We never used paper.):

(These will go to 
my heart sister, Christel
who just started wanting cloth napkins and has dining room walls this color.)

There was my mother's mother, my Mamaw, 
who was a poor, Appalachian farm wife, mother of 11,
with a crooked stoop in her back but always a soft voice and a smile for me.
Who wore aprons full of wood clothespins like this one:

And this one:

The fabrics repurposed from feed sacks:


And my Grandmother Gwen, my "city" grandma
who wore elegant beaded jewelry like this:

And my dear, sweet, brilliant son, 
who loves caps like this one in black and white wool herringbone:


Can't you just see how this hat fits him?  :-)

And a special 12-year old 
who loves all things vintage and is my thrifting buddy.
She found these bottles of glitter for me. For fifty cents each, I had to have them:



I kept finding these items in my thrifting yesterday, and I wondered--
Am I buying memories?
I think it was just God's way of reminding me through everyday things
that I have been and am loved.

As I reflect, there are so many others--my mother-in-law, my cousins,
my sisters-in-law, so many friends--
too many to name..
what a blessing!

We are investing ourselves in each other's lives, 
with all the joy, all the pain, and all the difficulty.

 I love them, and they love me.
 That lightens the load.

So if you are having a difficult day or week, write an e-mail, make a phone call,
 drop in and pay a visit, or just reflect on memories:

Go and be with the ones who love you.
Linking up with
Show and  Tell Friday
Dwelllings' Amaze Me Monday
Weekend Showoff Party
Time Travel Thursday

Knick of Time Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sweet and Simple Fridays




Vintage View Sunday Link Party
Posted by at 5 comments:
Labels:

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Making Vintage Jewelry

Such a random kinda week for me.  Got my hair colored for the first time to cover a few grays
sprouting up in the front. I love it!  A demi-glaze (I think that's what it's called)
that makes it look a lot richer and shinier.  And then instead of making cards for friends,
doing laundry, putting away my Easter decorations (or taking down my Christmas tree!!!!!!!
Yikes!!!!! Can't believe I admitted that) I started making jewelry--and a really big mess!



With a vintage pendant and various vintage chains that I picked up at thrift shops and
 a yard sale, I put together this necklace:


I wire wrapped freshwater pearls and linked them with gold chain pieces to 
layer with this and other necklaces.

(Do you like my model?  It's a French guy, so I decided he is Joan of Arc for this shoot!)  :-)

And then I had to have earrings to go with it:


The pair on the right was made with leftover parts of the necklace chain.
The pair on the left was actually two pairs of vintage earrings that I combined.
 I added the pearl and bead cap on the crystal piece, and it looks like I'll have to replace a pearl that somehow came out during my trek from the powder room to the photo area!  :-(

While I was at it, I decided to add some additional charms to my sterling and topaz pendant
to bring it more into fashion with the bigger necklaces we're all wearing.
(Lucky that I had blue topaz and sterling charms in my drawer!)


With a medallion from Michael's, I upcycled an off-the-rack necklace from a local store:


and made earrings to go with it:


I wire-wrapped these Austrian crystal beads and added a heavy sterling clasp to make this bracelet:


I've made and redone quite a few other pieces--
I've probably taken apart half of my jewelry so far, which I do about every 10 years or so
--and I'm just dying to take the wire cutters, Dremel, and jewelry pliers to the rest!
Hubby made me promise to clean up before doing anymore.

So off to vacuum and put things away!


I'm linking up with
Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Metamorphosis Monday
Tweak it Tuesdays at Cozy Little House
Knick of Time Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sweet and Simple Fridays
Open House Party

Weekend Showoff Party
Time Travel Thursday

Laura

Posted by at 21 comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, March 29, 2013

Published in The Stampers' Sampler Spring 2013

Guess what is finally on the shelf?
The Spring 2013 issue of The Stampers' Sampler!

This issue is so impressively packed full of beautiful art and
distinctive techniques that can satisfy a variety of artistic styles--
I'm honored to be a part of it.

First of all, it made me so happy to be mentioned in the letter from the editor. 
(I've never had this honor before!)  And it's special to me to have a Table of Contents entry...


My work begins here and is staged beautifully:
All of the stamps are from Oxford Impressions Vintage Circus and Big Top collections.




All of these are "shaker" cards--I didn't know what else to call them.  They have a frame over a clear transparent sheet, then a foam liner.  Inside is chunky glass glitter, tiny glass balls,
and some also have hearts or stars.  It's a little bit difficult to see that they are 3D. When they are tilted, the "confetti" inside washes over the images--a little burst of excitement and festivity.

Here are the individual photos that I took before sending it in a year ago:

Love the tickets--so many uses, and they're a great size!

Those tickets again, and I LOVE the hat that's part of the banner. So versatile!

Blurry photo :-( but the banner rocks!  You could put any sentiment inside.


This is a wand with heart glitter inside. I'd love to see a little girl waving this around!

These curtains are amazing. Cut them into two panels to make them larger. 

Love the old ad.  Barnum was such a character.  So if he "says so..." it must be true!



So there it is... The culmination of a few weeks of work and a whole year of waiting and wondering.

These Vintage Circus and Big Top stamp collections from Oxford Impressions (here's my little ad)
are so versatile and could be used for quick party decorations
when stamped in one color and  then added to "spice-up" pre-made circus cards,
 crowns, bags, and other circus themed items that are now at Michael's craft shops
and will probably be everywhere soon.

 I just purchased some of these items at Michael's and have a whole new idea for
using these stamps with them for quick decorations with a lot of bang!
I'll either post them on my blog soon or submit to a Stampington publication--
in which case, I'll probably be waiting another year to show anyone!  :-)

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.


I'm linking up with:
Your Gonna Love It Tuesdays
Wow Us Wednesdays
Weekend Showoff Party
Funky Junk
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Time Travel Thursday
Laura



Posted by at 8 comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)