Love those Browns...

A bit of this, a dash of that..... That's what this post is about. I have some "pretty pictures" for you to see. This is from a recent "antiquing" day with Heather. She has already posted her pretties, so, I guess I am playing catch up :)

It is no secret, I "Love" Ironstone, and all those shades of white, cream, and brown. Love, love, love it!  Speaking of "Those luscious Browns", a little later in the post, I'll show you my "rose making" inspired by the sweet "Ann", of The Tin Rabbit. If you haven't been over,  you must see her blog.  Gorgeous!  But, here are a few more pictures of the shopping trip.

Couldn't pass up the old ironstone sugar bowl.  No lid, but who cares?  Love all those luscious shades.  The brown transferware dish was a great find.  It is now one of my favorites.

I know, don't you just love this simple white jewelry box with the sweet pink velvet and satin lining?   HMMMM?  I was lucky enough to purchase all the jewelry inside, as well.  3 rosaries, a few chains (for creating vintage jewelry), a few pair of earrings, and a gorgeous blue stone chain.  Ah yes, and one sweet Christmas tree pin wich needs a stone replacement.  But, it is an oldey and so very sweet.

Oh, and the lovely millinery, we couldn't believe the luck!

So, as a continuation of "the browns", I popped over to Ann's blog and saw her tutorial on making coffee filter roses (thanks Ann, I love it!).  So, I thought, why not?  I dyed my coffee filters in coffee, cut them up, as per her instructions.  Cut some hymnal petals, and then started on my first rose.  It turned out so-so, not tight enough, not enough petals,  needed more glue.  You know how it goes ~ you have to do a few before you get the "hang" of it.  But alas, I persevered, and was very happy with the last few I did. 

I did decide to add one thing.  I thought wouldn't it be great to hide a few petals of pictures inside the roses?  How fun to walk by the roses and look and know you can have a peak anytime you want...:)  I have a few other ideas that I am going to try.  More on this at a later date :) :) :)

So, off to the printer I flew, printed out a few pictures of the grandkids (in sepia), inked the back side a bit, and tucked a picture petal or two inside the rose. Here's a sneaky peak of the one petal.

I just love the fullness of these roses.  The lusciousness of "ALL THOSE PETALS".  And you can have as many as you want ~ from something so inexpensive as a "coffee filter". 

I plan on making more roses tonight.  It is an easy thing to do while watching TV.  I DVR'ed a movie from Hallmark to watch tonight, so that, with my roses, and a "cuppa" something warm sounds just right....

Hope you all have a wonderful week.  The snow is just about gone now, the tulips and daffodills are starting to pop up, the birds are all pairing up and building their nests.  I can't wait to add some other flowers to these rose beauties.....

Thanks for stopping by, and Blessings to all,

Kitty

xox

Wonderland ~ Wake Up Alice!

I was lucky enough to be asked to be in a tag swap by the gracious Karla of Karla's Cottage.  This is my very first tag book swap and I was a bit intimidated.  All I have to say after this experience, is "Go For It", if you are at all a bit hesitant, like I was.  This was so much fun.  Not only did I have a reason to create these fun tags, but I was able to read a story that I somehow had "skipped" in childhood.  Needless to say, I now cannot wait to see the new movie that is out of Alice In Wonderland.

The tags above are actually the backs of the first set.  I did double-sided tags.  Just to have the fun of doing 12 different scenes.  So, as you can see, Alice is falling down the hole, She is  having tea, and asking for a "clean cup" and of course, the big question, "Who Stole The Tarts?".  :)

 On the tags above, we have "An Invitation to Play Croquet", A tag indicating a good many of the symbols of the story with a little tiny dangle that says, "Wake Up Alice"; and of course, the infamous "Off With Her Head" from the Queen of Hearts.

Again, the backs of the tags, with a cottage scene, White Rabbit in the Court, and the Cheshire Cat talking to Alice about being "MAD"! (Not angry, you know, mad like "insane"!)  LOL!  This little spot in the story really made me chuckle, as he tells her if she goes one way, she'll go to the "Mad Hatter", and the other way to the "Mad Hare", and then he told Alice she must be "Mad" because she is in Wonderland!  I think I've been to Wonderland a few times, myself! :) :) :)

Here's a few closeups.  I won't bore you with a bunch.  :)





Well, I hope you all enjoyed a very quick trip through Wonderland.  Wouldn't it be nice to take a little trip down the rabbit hole just to spice things up a bit now and again?

I can't wait to pop over to Flickr and see the rest of the tags as they are posted.  And I am anxiously awaiting the tag book from Karla. 

Blessings to all,

Kitty

Update:  I've added some new items to Etsy.  Get your Easter Trees!   :) 

"Find The Seed At The Bottom Of Your Heart and Bring Forth A Flower" ~ Shigenori Kameoka

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!  May you ALL find a seed from our own heart that will sow something wonderful for you....

Rebecca Sower has been having a wonderful time making hearts, and at the same time, showing other artist's creations on her blog.  I thought I might play along and show you my own creation.  So, for Heart Session {no. 06}, this is my creation.

I would be delighted to tell you how I created this sweet pink and creme heart. 

I began going to the thrift store.  Yes, that is a spot to find all kinds of "affordable" supplies.  I bought 3 pure wool sweaters (one being pink).  Of course the pink is what I used for this project.  I bought all 3 for $9.  Bring the sweater home, put it in the washer with a little detergent and wash on HOT water!  The water must be HOT.  I did not use fabric softener.  Run it through a normal wash cycle.  Next, put it in the dryer and dry it on a normal temperature untl dried.  It will shrink up.  A lady's sweater will now look like it will fit on a 6 year old! LOL! LOL!  I'm not sure, but I believe they call this "wool felting".  Maybe someone out there in blogland can confirm the name of this process, and any extra tips would be very much appreciated.

Next, take a heart template (I used a heart paper doily) and fold it in half.  Cut enough fabric from the sweater for an entire heart.  Fold the fabric in half and place the heart template on top, pin down, and cut out the heart.  Un-pin,and un-fold the fabric heart ~ Wa-la, a nicely, perfectly shaped heart.

Find some lace that you would like to use. I used some vintage eyelet cut from an old curtain and some very fine, thin lace that has some discoloration (which I love).  The different shades in the lace bring the piece a bit of definition, I think.  Cut it to length across the heart.  Get your fabric glue and glue down the eyelet first and then finish the top and bottom with the fine lace.  After drying a bit, I carefully strung 5 seed beads together in a row on a knotted thread and sewed in the middle of each eyelet flower.  They dangle a bit.  I then sewed 4 silver beads, scattering across the top, on the fine lace and 4 more along the bottom.

I had purchased the seam binding and crepe paper ruffle from Karen at Second Hand Rose.  I'm sure she would love to sell you some, and besides, she has various colors, if that is your preference.  But, someone who sews could make their own ruffled length ~ enough to go around the heart.  I hot glued this onto the circumfrence of the heart. 

Once that was completed, I used clear tacky glue to glue on additional silver beads to the crepe paper, here and there.

I hot-glued a length of pink seam binding (for hanging) onto the back of the heart and covered with one bone button and one shell button.

After allowing it to completely dry (probably over night), I added a 4 loop bow, and a vintage rhinestone pin.

Now you have your own pink and creme heart.  

Thanks for stopping by.  I love seeing all of you and will be around to pop in soon....

Blessings,
Kitty

xox

UPDATE:  I have listed a few new things on Etsy.  Please pop over and check them out... 

A Beautiful Life Art Journal ~ Done!

I am so excited to do this post. It's taken, well, let's see, Heather, Pretty Petals, posted the workshop in September of last year? (gasp!) As they say, better late, than never. And, OH AM I GLAD I FINISHED THIS! This "labor of love" was frustrating, at times, but taught me so much about collaging, and layering, and stretching your mind/imagination. I highly recommend it to those of you who were a bit intimidated. It also taught me to part with "my pretties" for a bigger purpose! You know, they are not all piled up or stored away in boxes. We all have a bit of the "hoarding instinct" when it comes to pretties. :) :) :)  The very best part for those of you who missed it back in September, Heather has decided to offer this on-line class, once again.  So all you, who missed it, come join the fun.

I messed up my page order, from the beginning :) :), but, alas, it is MY journal, so I guess that is just fine. Freedom of expression, as they say. The picture above is the cover, and I used all of my best laces for this, girls, as well as gorgeous millinery flowers. I wanted something to treasure, and using really "good stuff" makes your heart pitter-patter!

Below is a picture of the thickness of the book, after binding! Scrumptious, isn't it? For those of you who have completed the class, you know what I'm talking about! (~sigh~)

Now here is where "I messed up". For some crazy reason, I put one of the "Beautiful Ladies" on the back cover, which left the first page open. I decided to do somewhat of an index page. It lists the categories found in the journal, topped off with ribbon roses. A vintage lace sleeve is stretched over the vintage wallpaper to create a pocket. Inside the pocket, I have a copy of my favorite postcard,"Love's Messenger", and a little author paper (Me!). This pocket will allow me to store future "treasures", as I find them. Of course, old millinery glittered up with old German glass glitter tops off the page.

Now here is the first of the "Beautiful Ladies". She is the "Corset Girl", and I had fun glittering her up! I used a bit of ribbon I purchased from Andrea at Everyday Beauty and old millinery. In the bottom right corner, I added two little cherubs and corsets that were copied from an old advertising card. I thought it was just the right "surprise" for this page. (Please excuse the shadows, I tried to photograph on a sunny day.)  Underlying papers are vintage wallpaper and pages from an old victorian magazine.

Here is the second "Beautiful Lady". She has the most beautiful smile, and her face just glows with excitement! It gives you such a warm feeling to look at her.  She's topped off with (what else?) more millinery.  Layers of pages, journal, wallpaper, etc., lie underneath.  Gorgeous old lace edges the page.

The next 2 pages are "Oh How I Love".  These are the pages you put "your pretties" on.  It was hard deciding, not only what to put on them, but placement of the items.  This is where the task of collaging comes in.  How do you place them and make it all look like it works together?  I started with vintage wallpaper.  The silhouettes I received from Lili at LiliM in a swap.  Heather made me the "You are Treasured" that I used on the corner of the picture, quite awhile ago.  Old buttons,  jewelry, and velvet strawberries add to the page.  One of my Inspiration pins (in green) happily joins the grouping.

Page 2 is the other side of the page above that had the victorian lace sleeve stretched over it.  This, once again, allowed me to use it as "a pocket".  I have a letter that Heather wrote me as a little girl, in the pocket.  I also added to the pocket a page from "The Secret Garden" (one of my very favorite children's stories).  I received this in a swap from my dear friend, Madai of Wren Cottage. 

The next 2 pages are "Sweet Friendshp".  Heather gave us all of the images and copies of sheet music and wallpaper.  Everything you need to finish this beautiful journal.  I adore this sheet music used here.  Layered, once again, wallpaper, sheet music, and a title page from "Let Us Be Friends".  How appropriate is that? 

I didn't stray very far from her instructions on these pages.  Adding just the right amount of ribbon, millinery, and lace does the trick.  The image of these 2 girls is just beautiful and says it all.  Friendship is such a valuable commodity in today's world.  I treasure all of you, my dear friends.  It's been wonderful getting to  know you in the last few years.  What commonalities we have, in spite of our backgrounds, distance, careers, families.  I treasure you all.

"Blessed Family".  Two small words with such a big big meaning.  A page from an old Victorian magazine entitled "The Happy Home" starts it off right, don't you think?  The beautiful poem about standing together.  Yes, that is how I feel about my dear family.

And antoher gorgeous image of a mother pushing a baby carriage, with her two little ones playing happily.  I glittered up the page a bit and added a few millinery flowers.  Added the sweet calling card that Heather supplied in her images.   Wa-la!  A gorgeous page.  Simplicity at its best.

So, now, here was the test.  A page of my very own.  No instructions, no images to use.  Just my own mind and creativity.  Birds are one of God's creatures that I am in total amazement of.  These sweet little bundles bring such joy by not only their song, but just of their sweet appearance.  You'll remember this postcard from my first page.  It is entitled "Love's Messenger".  The background page is an image from Karen at The Graphics Fairy.  I immediately loved it when I saw it and knew I would be using it for something very soon.  It is actually an album cover. A few feathers, a jewelry dangle with a heart, and some nice old buttons.  That did the trick for me.

So, that is the end of the journal post.  I still have the "Keepsake Box" to make to store it in.  That is a post for another day, as I have yet to begin making it! LOL! 

I derived much satisfaction from making this journal.  So you ladies that are holding back, go for it.  You'll be so happy you created your very own "A Beautiful Life" Art Journal....

Blessings,
Kitty

"Just As The Bird Sings or The Butterfly Soars, Because It Is His Natural Characteristic, So The Artist Works...

I've noticed in recent weeks, there seems to be a lingering of frustration, restlessness, maybe. One might say a feeling of "being held down", if you will. I've noticed this a great deal since the earthquake in Haiti, and the feeling of frustration over what the average person is able to do to help beyond monetary donations. This is not to say that money is not significant. It absolutely is; and without it, work cannot be done or rebuilding accomplished.

This "feeling" I am speaking of, seems to be cast over bloggers that I frequent, and even family. Maybe it is the "winter doldrums", or just a lack of inspiration. Lack of enough sunlight, maybe, you know Vitamin D?

I have had the pleasure of seeing deer in my yard (or should I say woods, as I live in the country). These sweet masterpieces of nature just amaze me at their beauty and their resilience. A little nibble of some fallen corn, a few nips of hemlock, a lick or two of green moss. Their quest is to get enough food, enough sustenance, to get them through the day and the long night. It is their "natural characteristic".

Are we content with just the right amount of sustenance or inspiration? Do we have to have the big rush of adrenaline, that huge influx of food for our souls? Is this in our nature as artists, creators, crafters, or whatever name one might be called? Can we not be happy with a "little inspiration"? What level is "Natural"?

These are the questions that have come up in my mind recently. Trying so hard to see the glass as half full, so to speak.

Are we like caged birds this time of year? Do we feel our creative wings are clipped? Do we have no purpose for creating, experiencing that rush, that joy, that "making one's heart beat faster" feeling? What makes us lose inspiration?

I feel, as I get older, that time is flying. I know alot of you probably feel the same. But I am determined to find inspiration in every day life. I am trying to be "content", "sustained" with what I find in my path.

I love my life. Am I rich ~ no, not monetarily. Do I have fame ~ no, only to those that love me. But I find richness all around me. A God who takes care of my needs, the love of my family, a job, a home; what else do I need?

As for inspiration? Just look around. Yes, even in the "winter doldrums", we can find inspiration. Beauty does abound ~ and so, the artist must work.

Blessings to all,

Kitty

Title Quote by Alma Gluck.

Images from The Graphics Fairy

Bits and Bobs......

This post is a bit of a "mish-mush" (if that is a word??). A little Valentine's Day decorating, a little over due Christmas and a few miscellaneous pictures I wanted to share. This sweet little kissing couple I found a few years ago at a sale and just love it for Valentine's Day. The perfect sentiment, I think... Below is my dry sink. If I do not decorate anything for a holiday, I always decorate this. It's right as you come in my front door, and is the center of my home, visually.

On the sink are vintage heart candy boxes, a feather tree decorated with, of course, hearts, a Bethany Lowe sweetheart box, a candle, and lots of lace. Tucked in the background is a vintage floral hat, that complemented the color scheme. I looked around for more vintage valentine boxes this year, but did not see any. Always on the hunt for these beauties....

This was my recent find at the thrift store last week. A sweet little teddy, all fuzzy and cute, was just waiting for a good home, a new red bow and of course, her pearls!

The next picture is for Stephanie at Angelic Accents. She and I both collect Pin Money purses, and I mentioned I had a Penny Jar that seemed to blend well with the color scheme. Sort of the same decorating style, don't ya think? Just love these Pin Money Purse Banks. I don't find many of them. Of course, my collection is just beginning....

And this sweetheart of a doll is another find. I've been wanting a half doll pin cushion, but have found many in just so-so shape. This one is chalk and I just L-O-V-E-D her muted colors! She is a keeper, that's for sure.

Now, this was supposed to be my last picture, and I can't seem to move it to the bottom (I'm having Blogger fits!), so it will stay where it is. This is a sample of a page out of my Art Journal from Heather's "A Beautiful Life" Art Journal Class (which, by the way is open and on Pretty Petals Boutique).

I will be doing a post on this, very soon. I have had the best time creating this beautiful journal. Using all my pretties that I normally would just stare at! I know you all know what I mean. We collect all this beautiful stuff, and then what do we do with it?

I know, I know, it has taken me a while to get this done, but, life has just gotten in the way, big time! I am so happy to be just about done and was so thrilled to see everyone's journals when they were doing their posts. It truly is a very fulfilling task.

And, last, but definitely not least, are some pictures of some things Heather gave me for Christmas. She knows I love children's books so, she gave me the most delightful Children's Story Book with stories inside like, "Little Knitters", "The Dream Fairy", and "Baby Bumbles and Dottie Dimple". How cute is that?

Then she gave me this magnificent vintage Christmas card. It truly is an amazing thing of beauty with a velvet bell with silver sparkles. I adore it. Just look at this wonderful rhinestone belt buckle. What was I saying above, something about collecting all these pretties?? :)

I've been admiring pearl handled knives for quite a while. Well, Heather started me on a new collection. Aren't they gorgeous?

And this sweet vintage crepe paper bell with delicious gold glitter on the bottom. It's hanging in my bedroom/studio. Utter sweetness!

I just wanted to give you all a bit of happiness in the devestation of the Haiti earthquake. 53 orphaned children were brought to Pittsburgh, PA today to Children's Hospital. They will be kept overnight there. 47 of the 53 have already been adopted. I understand that the children were all very excited to have an airplane ride. I also understand the dear woman that brought these children here lived in a Haitian driveway of a house for a week with over 100 children. I know we are all trying to do our part financially, but please keep these people, and especially the children, in your prayers.

Well, that's the end of it for today. Glad you all stopped by for a peak, and a chat. I'll be stopping by to see you very soon. Have a good week,

Blessings

Kitty

xox