Treasures don't come in chests, they come in the mail!

I love a good package! There is nothing better than walking down to the mailbox and finding a package with craft supplies waiting for me. Two days in a row; my Mom would call that a "Lucky Strike Extra"! I am going to spend part of this weekend making some of those popular glass tile pedants that have papers glued on from the back, and silver pendant bails. They are sooo cute and I want several for me! Plus my studio table is pretty clean and organized for once. I have been thinking maybe some with vintage dictionary text, some with art glitter, and some with old photos I have been wanting to use. I hope to also finally construct my lightbox (what a procrastinator I have been). There may also be a few garage sales in my future if I get out of bed early enough. I would love to restock my supplies of scrabble tiles, watches, buttons, etc.
I love stuff!

Time management has gone awry!

Well, It's been a long time since I've posted. How the times gets by me so fast, I will never understand. Maybe when the kids are on their own I will have all the time in the world (doubtful, I am a world class procrastinator!)
I have finished the custom soldered collages; and the pictures are coming soon! I was pleased with the results; and so was the recipient! I enjoyed the process of putting someone's memories behind glass for safekeeping, and thanks go out to my friend Peggy for putting her trust in me to do her family memories justice!
The charm exchange. Well, the charms have been exchanged, and they are SO cute! I would love to do another just so I can have some more; I am going to put them on a bracelet so they can make lots of noise and attract all sorts of attention!!! I thank the Displaced Design Team (Lauren, Lynn, and Christine) for all their effort and creativity. Speaking of that, they were away this weekend at the Inspired Art event this weekend. They had a wonderful time, and said they would share what they learned. I am going next year, no matter what. I need to be Inspired!
Now I am moving forward. I have one show left for the spring season, this Sunday. I will be running my booth at the Bluegrass Festival in Cary; I guess I will discover if I like Bluegrass haha. Then I am on to preparing for Lazy Daze and working in earnest on my Etsy site. I took the photography class, and I am itching to use what I learned.

Custom Work~The Upside

I am in the midst of making 3 custom soldered glass collage frames for a friend of mine. There is a combination of scrapbooking and collage behind soldered glass. When they are done, each will hang by a silver chain with ribbons/fibers hanging from the chain. These are so pretty, and having someone share the personal story behind the content is humbling. I always hope when I make a custom piece that it's what the person has envisioned. I appreciate how people put their trust in me to do their item justice.
I never know how something is going to turn out when I start; I just start pulling papers, stamps, etc. out from drawers and boxes. As I begin, things always just seem to fall into place, and then I remember "just the right" paper or embellishment to add.
There will be a picture to follow when I finish; I'll see if my friend minds her frames on public display.
It is time to buy a new tiny-point tip for the soldering iron, I dropped mine and it's now in the shape of a fishing hook! OOps.s

Designer's Downtown Market~Chilly, but successful!

My show today was pretty darn good; cold in the morning (why is it this cold on the second day of spring in NC?) but a great show. Coffe and crepes had free refills on delicious coffee, yay!
This was my first time at this show, and it was enjoyable seeing vendors and their goods that I've never seen before.
I even had a little time to practice photographing my work inside the tent, since the light was right. Too bad I'm too tired to download the pictures tonight! Need to take all those Etsy pictures.
As long as my trusty assistant manager came to help today (my sister Lauren), I felt as though I should do my part for the economy and do a little shopping. I found a few cute photos at Stacey's trunk show inside Ornamentea, some tiny glass bevels, and a beautiful heart pendant from Isabels Rose that I needed.
Now to take a few days off before I think about the next show. I'm sure I'll be feverishly working up until the night before, as always.

So the Designer's Downtown Market has been postponed until next weekend due to the cold and rain (an excellent choice!) Come out on the 21st; it's sure to be a nice weekend!
Meanwhile, there's plenty on my (craft) table to keep my busy. This gives me time to complete some recycled CD clocks I've been working on, and to try a few new finishes on some old tins.
Working on the charm swap entry; they will have some OLD postage stamps on them, as well as some glitter. I thought I'd make some extra, maybe for a gift bracelet.
Next Friday is the next meeting of the displaced design team! We'll see how everyone is coming along with their charms.

Last night was an awesome background night; I spent a couple of hours in the studio making handpainted backgrounds for some new cards! Working with alcohol inks is one of my fave techniques; on watercolor paper. Then, twinkling h20-like paint, and then sprinkled with some kosher salt actually ended up looking like leather! This was definitely an unexpected surprise, but looks pretty good.

I am starting to prep for the first of my spring shows; the Designer's Downtown Market in downtown Raleigh is March 14th in the parking lot of Ornamentea. Never done this show before...I need to repair the ripped tent panel I was going to fix last year. I will be at the Cary Spring Daze on April 25th, the Apex Peakfest on May 2nd, and the Carolina Bluegrass Festival at Regency in Cary on May 17th. Looking forward to the Spring!

I hope the snow and cold temperatures are long gone by then, this is crazy NC weather

Craft Goings On

This is almost better than opening up a brand new journal and writing in it for the first time! Even though my laptop doesn't have that wonderful smell of new PAPER, writing in my new blog is too exciting!!
There is so much going on in my crafty little world right now, it's an exciting place for me to be. Almost done with my website, and getting ready for the spring season of craft shows is keeping me busy.
A special craft project I am getting involved in is the Cloth,Paper, Scissors mixed media Charm Swap. My craft buddies and I are getting together to create our own charms (nothing encourages creativity like working alongside other likeminded individuals). These girls are great, and inspire me to stretch my imagination.
I just have to squeeze in all those other menial chores, like errands, housework, laundry. Yuk!
Someone's got to do it, though! And a recent reorganization in my Studio has me liking going in there...