Cock-a-Doodle-Do and a swap, too

I would never have known this 5" wooden rooster that my mother got in the early 1960s was anything particular if I hadn't asked a friend to explain one of her on-line names. Turns out wooden animals, especially horses, painted in this style are well-known and loved in Sweden and are called Dalahäst or Dala for short. So, I have a 50-year-old Dala rooster. The American term for these is 'Dalecarlian,' and they are said to have been, among other things, carved as toys in the Dalarna region of Sweden.

My mother kept all sorts of trinkets on display, especially blue ones, in our lake cottage, and now that I think more about it, Swedish items and the familiar blue and white Delft tins, patterns, windmills, and even a ceramic wall clock informed a lot of her decorating.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of sneak peeks of a charm bracelet I made for a swap with the fun and lovely Bryanna of The Canary's Cupcake. She's received everything now, so hopefully she will post some pictures next week, since I didn't get too many good ones taken. I think we had a great swap! In fact, she even made something exquisite for my Blythe dolls as mentioned below, and I will post a pic over at my Blythe blog, Blythe-O-Mania Untamed.

Finally! My Prince Cometh.

Along with some great swaps of a darling painted canvas from Kelly of Little Pink Trailer and an altered tin from Heather of Creative Solace, my prince arrived in the mail Thursday. And he even brought my favorite pie. Okay, so he's still a frog. But, I'm working on that. And he's, well, metal. But I've always had a thing for heavy metal and big hair. And so he didn't bring a pie, big deal. The fact remains: he's here. And he's mine.

Actually, Mr. Squibb/Boric Acid (you know those heavy metal types) comes from Mike in Wisconsin from Etsy. I first posted about Mike's work on Vintage Indie in my review of the American Visionary Museum. Mike and I then decided to do an art swap and we're happy as clams, er frogs.

And besides, my prince doesn't hog the strawberry/blueberry pie I made.

Here's what I sent Heather: a nicho. And here's what I sent Kelly: a bracelet with vintage beads; and here's part of what I sent Mike: ephemera. I have more listed on Etsy. That pack is marked reserved- for yet another trade, with Fishstikks. But there's always more ephemera.

So Much Goodness All in One Day!

Lots to share here! Larry the Cat is home from the hospital after a week. He ate something very bad that nearly killed him. After many xrays, enemas, fluids, anesthesia, four different medicines and much more (on a loooong, detailed bill), he is home! Lester has been missing him, and so have we! Larry is the brown-nose(r), and Lester is pink. Larry says, "why did I have to get sick, mom?"

The adorable ornament with intricate sequins I posted about before arrived in the flesh (fabric?) today from the sweet Sadie Lou. More to come! Sadie Lou and I both hope to go to Silver Bella next year. Too many lucky artistas will be having fun this weekend in Omaha without us!

Besides the beautiful Blythe Style book I got on Amazon with amazing photos by Gina Garan, I finally took the plunge after weeks of study and ordered my Blythe from ebay, and she is en route from Tokyo. Blythe dolls were originally manufactured by Kenner for one year, in 1972. Hasbro later bought Kenner. In any event, both the Ashton Drake Galleries and Takara Tomy Japan reintroduced Blythe in about 2000, and they have been a cult phenomenon. There are about 700 Flickr groups devoted to Blythe as well as countless ebay and etsy shops. The most popular websites appear to be http://www.thisisblythe.com/ and http://www.blythedoll.com/. An adorable blog is http://adventuresofmolli.blogspot.com/. I can't get enough! Anyway, I chose the model "Star Dancer" (shown here), and she is soon to be renamed Lilly. People actually spend hundreds of dollars customizing and clothing their Blythe dolls with false eyelashes, mink and more.

The mermaid ATC shown was just for fun, but I have a couple of ATC swaps coming up as well as a Mermaid theme swap, so who knows where it will go? The yellow pear ATC is a swap I received from the talented Deb Lockard, tnangel on ebay and Stars*Go*Blue on Flickr. I think it is Zetti-licious!

Newest Flickr Faves-Such Talent!

Love, love, love all the artists from my various groups, and my latest obsession, Blythe (more on that later). Go here for more info on these photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12448123@N07/favorites/

On My Vacation Part 1, Curly Birds

Doesn't everyone make glittery bird thingies on vacation? I saw this curly-feathered bird at Michael's and couldn't resist making a bird princess like I saw by Cerri at http://littlepinkstudio.typepad.com/. She sells these at Glitter and Grunge and on Etsy. While reading her blog and looking at her Flickr photos, I was also inspired to join the "Pink Ornament Swap," which should come in handy since my white tree will be fuschia and silver this year, after a couple of years as turquoise and brown.

With a bunch of glitter, porcelain roses, ribbon, pearls on eyepins, moss, rhinestones and a crown as well as netting and a grapevine nest, I whipped this up last night. Not to worry, I've been on the beach today (in case anyone thinks I am a 'nerd,' I do plan to have some real vacation). But, it is such a treat to have all day to do whatever I want, and what I want to do is make stuff. In fact, I'm headed out later for more curly birdies.

Speaking of last year's tree, here it is on a particularly bad day. Yes, some people are already thinking of Christmas. I don't like to shop early, but I like to think about my decorating.