Some Things Beautiful This Way Come

The exquisite floral and bird wall hanging at top is by the talented Terri Gordon in a recent swap we did that I also posted about here. It is so incredible in person. Can't wait to hang it.

The Poe bottle is from Teresa Yates of Cedar Junction. She blogged about the Poe bottle here as it was featured in an Etsy treasury. We swapped art and ephemera.

The pink Royal is a treasure I found on Etsy and blogged about on my writing blog, Hunt and Peck. I've been searching for a vintage typewriter forever, or at least since I blogged about seeing and coveting this one in Portland last year.

My doll head collection grows with the little black head with white bows (in the middle) from Constanza, during her major de-stash. Check her Etsy for deals like the collectible Bailey's cup (bottom photo).

Up Close: Finished Nest

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Still Nesting

I finished a couple more projects into the wee hours of Saturday night, or I guess that would actually be the wee hours this morning. I had been saving this last nest, a nice nosegay shape, for quite some time, along with the pearl clusters, which had been part of a ponytail holder. Together with the vintage millinery leaves, old button and piece of a doily, it just seemed to say "wedding." I still have a few more finishing touches to add.

The baby shoe is another one of my pin cushions. I love finding baby shoes at an antique mall, so I can alter them up in some way. It seems nice to preserve something so significant. I always feel sad when I see them for sale, instead of handed down generation to generation. And since I have no plans to alter my children's baby shoes, or my own, it's fun to dress up these vintage finds.

I also made a wire-wrapped primary color bracelet just for fun, with beads I found on a recent trip to Pittsburgh. Not sure if the bracelet will be for me or will go to my Etsy shop, but that moment of reflection seems to be required for everything I make. I always want to keep everything, but that just isn't sensible, considering the amount of stuff I make, as evidenced by this post and the one immediately below.

Lastly, I added some new charms to my most recent "artsy" charm bracelet. The original charms were ones I received at Art and Soul, Portland, in 2008. The newest charms (the ones on the top row), were received in the recent Cloth Paper Scissors magazine charm swap (the geisha, the nicho, the brown clay with turquoise string and the wrapped sheet music). The "Blue Willow"-like teacup is from my art friend Constanza, who is downsizing for an apartment and has tons of cool stuff for sale in her Etsy shop. The leaf and the Art in Ashland charm are from a swap with another art friend, Michelle Geller of Hold Dear. I love my charm bracelets! Every one of them, and every charm, has a story.

I feel a little guilty spending so much time inside--in the basement no less-- making art on beautiful summer days. But, weekends are my only art time, and at 90+ degrees and humid, I don't necessarily think of that as a beautiful summer day--especially when I can see my next-door neighbors enjoying their in-ground swimming pool--while my pool-sized back yard looks like a pool-less football field full of dead or dying grass, shriveling in the heat.

So off to the basement I go. Time to pick up where I left off at midnight. Oh, but if you think I went to bed when the clock struck twelve, silly you. From midnight to 3 a.m. I worked on my novel. I'm 16,000+ words in and feeling good. Please stop by my writing blog. It could use some visitors! Sneak peek of chapter one is way down the road, but it will be there. Sometime.

Got birds? Got nests? Got stuff?

Someone asked me recently how I decide what I am going to make on any given day (read: my weekends). I don't have a very scientific answer. Sometimes, I just know what I'm going to do because of a swap or contest with a deadline looming. I always like to get those out of the way as soon as possible, because I find I create better when I'm not working on something I have to do. I also like to get them in the mail in plenty of time, to avoid last-minute deadline panic. That's no fun nor any good for the creative bone.

Other than that, I do keep an up-to-date list of projects I have to do and want to do. Believe it or not, sometimes I can actually forget an idea I had even with the pieces and parts staring me in the face.

So usually the first thing I do Friday night or Saturday morning is to set up my work table in my studio. I do have a desk as well as a workbench and a "mess room" (cement floor for painting, sink for washing brushes, etc.,). But, what I really like to work on is an old card table covered with a thick old blanket, that I can wipe my hands on if I really feel like it. I pull up my big trash can, task light/floor lamp and my high-back executive (ha-ha, art executive, I guess) chair. I find if I set this up on Friday night, I am a lot more motivated on Saturday morning. I just don't like to keep it set up all the time, because I like my open spaces, and I've been known to crash into things in the dark of the night.

This morning I looked at my list and decided I wanted to make some sweet little bird nests because it had been a long time since I have made any, and the ones I made were sold on my Etsy site. So, time for more.

I got out all my possible bird and nest combinations along with vintage millinery flowers, beads and baubles, sheet music, glitter (lots), tickets, ribbons, wire, old jewelry, glue, twigs/sticks, rhinestones, mushrooms, tulle, and anything else that looked like a possibility.

This resulted in not only lack of space to work but also sensory overload, and I probably wasted and hour or more just admiring my treasures and trying unsuccessfully to put something together.

I decided to spray paint one of the nests blue and silver and sprinkle on white glitter while it was still wet. This allowed me to move a few things to the other room. Slowly I was creating a work space. I glittered up the birds, eggs and tickets and set everything aside to dry. More room to work. Finally, I knew if I just picked a color and started working, things would probably fall into place. And they did, five nests laters.

Now, on to the next project.