Odd Shots on Monday-Doggie Stairs

If my Dad had seen this, he certainly would have shook his head. It is not ours, but another pet owner's.

A weekend visit from my daughter, was highlighted by a visit to Katy's great dog park. Jake had the best time swimming in the man-made pond, and running with a new-found friend, whose name of all names was ~Josie! She was a beautiful 9 month old black lab.
Melanie and Jake after the swim and frolicking.

He was tired. Note the tongue! LOL!

*****

And, btw, Jake would laugh if we thought he would ever use doggie stairs!

Don't forget to visit Katney for details about Odd Shots~

Vintage Findings

" Mexican Calendar Girl"

"Straight Shooter"

You wouldn't know it, but this Mexican calendar girl is holding a rifle. The sound, when she pulls the trigger, is music to her ears. She is strong and sure; and a straight shooter! She is a Mexican calendar girl (artist of the MCG postcards-Angela Villalba).

*****

I added a "d" for fun. But any or no initial would be fine. It measures 22-1/2".

I used yellow agate, a sprinkle of faceted carnelian, a couple of 10 mm dark smokey grey Czech crystals, one beautiful vintage key (I had found in Warrenton); and THEN~vintage findings (which include some nice turquoise) from a necklace given to me by my dear daughter's friend, Justine. Sweet!

Texas Girls

After an RV trip to Winnie (more later) for the most of the weekend, I came home and finished the Texas Girls. This is the first necklace using one of the pieces I made last weekend.

Pulling out the green highlights I had used in the pendant was easy. I chose 8 mm Green Gossermer Czech fire-polished crystal beads; adding a beautiful faceted crystal Swarvoski heart, green cubed glass and clear glass beads.

Also a first for me was using Deryn's "secret" choice of wire. You must see her jewelry, as it is absolutely beautiful! In this case, I used the dark annealed 19 gauge. It was a blast!

Newest Charms

I have collaged, glued, painted, stamped, glittered and taped all weekend. Just this afternoon, I soldered. I started with the gently glittered Texas girls; and then on to the d pendant (left) that includes a cut-out of a beautiful Mexican calendar girl (AngelaVillalba is the artist). Last, I soldered the D bubble (in back).

I cleaned off the solder, applied black patina, then gently sanded each with fine sandpaper to create a rustic gunmetal look.

(Thanks, Stephanie Lee , for your blog motto "revelling in the perfection of imperfection").
I am pleased with the results.

As you can see, I have many more in the works. But, for now, I am tired.
This was my soldering set-up in the garage. The vintage (LOL) sal ammoniac block in the middle of my cookie sheet set-up; was given to me on Saturday by a very sweet stained glass shop owner in Sealy. She didn't like it, so never used it~much. It will bring a soldering iron back to a beautiful silver with just a little effort. It is all in knowing how to use it. Thanks to sally jean.

Odd Shots Monday ~ Ben-Hur?

This larger than life metal sculpture showed up at a neighborhood antique shop about a year ago. I must say, it stood out like a sore thumb. Every time I passed by, it made me think of Charlton Heston in the 1959 Oscar winning movie of Ben-Hur. I loved that movie.

Then, about 2 months ago, it disappeared. I actually was a little sad. Where did it go? About 20 miles down the road to another antique stop.

*****

Be sure and visit Katney for more odd shots. Want to join? Details are there as well.

*****

Have a blessed Memorial Day. And, please pray for our brave men & women who serve and have served in our great nation's armed forces.

See you in the Funny Papers

My dh thought this was pretty funny this morning.

I must agree.

******

This is the life....

and...this is what love is made of this Saturday morning at our house~

*home-made belgian waffles, eggs over easy, and bacon*

My dh has been cooking alot since he retired in January. He IS an excellent cook, and I know I am truly blessed~

If you have need of a chef, but don't want to pay the big bucks.....i know of someone who wouldn't disappoint. A retreat perhaps?

Did I say retire? O, yes, I remember dh, retire means retire.

(But just in case you are, contact me~we could work something out! And, out of state is okay too~LOL!)

He's gonna get me for this.....

Earrings for Susan

Last night I made a promised pair of turquoise earrings for Susan. She is my new friend from Art & Soul. She so graciously carried a large box of my supplies to Hampton. Not only that, she took the box back home and shipped it to me. One generous soul, who I had never met before then; only thru our Art & Soul Yahoo Group. When I say artists are kind and giving, I have proof~see her blog for more pictures of her Art & Soul experience. (w/pics of us). We had two classes together, and it was two of my best classes! Thanks again Susan~you are the best soul sister!

I have been working on a choker, using some of my new metal skills. A beginning piece, added to a string of Czech Crystals (of course!). These are a deep bronze color. The pendant can be worn both ways~ Trying to use all the findings I still have, I made these earrings as well. I love these new czech beads. I will continue to work towards building my inventory for the show I will be a part of in Katy in July.

However, this weekend will be totally dedicated to my new charm soldering project. Keep me in your prayers~

The Beginning of a Series

After returning from Art & Soul, my head has been spinning with ideas. All of the lessons learned from the talented teachers, I must say, have certainly stirred the heart of this artistic soul. I have SO many new jewerly designs waiting in the wings of my mind.

However, the weekend of Mother's Day, my daughter and I met my mother and step-father for lunch in Bellville. While there, we stopped in a wonderful antique shop, Nothing Ordinary-Antiques & Oddities, for a look around. Mind you, Melanie and I had been in one time before, and LOVED it. It is packed full of booths, holding a wide array of found antiques~objects, dishes, clothing, furnishings, books, kitchen wares, ART, and more. Upon paying, I started chatting with the beautiful Carol, who happened to be working that day. She overheard me talking about taking a Sally Jean class while in Virginia, just that weekend before. Seems that Nancy Lawrence, the owner, just might be interested in seeing my work!

Since then I have spoken to Nancy about perhaps selling my newest soldered pieces in the store. I started this week on a small cathedral charm. Needless to say, I have been searching for a theme for the first series of pieces. This morning 2 were presented to me (thank you Lord for blessing me two-fold) on my morning commute into downtown.

My first will be "Sisters". All those beautiful family pictures (starting with the sisters pictures I previously posted) will be encased in a beautiful charm. All will be original, and not reproduced (at this point). I also have plans for the necklace/chain piece to sell along side as well.

The second...stay tuned for details.

This is just a peek, and a *wink*. God is surely good.

Odd Shots on Monday

Babies in a Row

****

These little darlings were found at an estate sale on Saturday. I had only bought one at first, but had to go back and buy the other two. At first I didn't notice I had lined them up all in a row on my dresser. I have the quirky (or odd) tendency to straighten things~to the max!

My odd shot for today ~ Monday, May 19th, 2008. Visit Katney to learn more about Odd Shots~

Anne Grgich

My last class on Monday, at Art & Soul, was with the talented Anne Grgich. Her art fascinates me. The class, Painterly Portraits, was described as such:

Spend a day with Anne Grgich, and take home a new approach to painting and seeing. Get inspired to work more freely and have your art passion awakened by the constant creative energy of the class. Learn how to paint with coffee, beeswax, acrylics, and get the various painting surfaces of Anne Grgich’s richly painted books, you will leave with one book well on its way to being complete.

My portrait book is not finished, but this class did give me the courgage to work on a piece once I returned home. Frida has long been an artist I find quite interesting. Her self portrait pictures and her use of vibrant colors, have always have caught my attention. I found myself using her as the subject of my first attempt at a collage on canvas.

Frida

(c) 8x10 x 2"deep original mixed media on canvas

***

This was fun.

Jake & Melanie

Guess who came to visit this weekend? It was glorious having her with Allen & I~if only for a day or two. Two weekends in a row is quite a treat. When I look at how beautiful of a person she has become, I thank God for showing Allen & I such favor. Her heart is surely made of gold. Not one for boastfulness or showiness, but one of compassion and love. She is surely the best daughter I could have ever been given. Thank you Lord for showering your love on us this way~

~and~

Jake...what a great granddog. He is the best!

Sally Jean on Sunday

The Girls Got Gothic class was another Sold Out class I attended at Art & Soul. I had signed up for this class, hoping to learn all I could about soldering (in one day) from the great Sally Jean Alexander. Like she says in her book, Pretty Little Things, if she can solder a plastic doll, she can solder anything. Yes, I decided to skip registering for the class, Soldering for Virgins, offered on Thursday because I wanted to go home with a completed piece of jewelry. Nevermind, that I had not soldered but once before using Stephanie Lee's book for instruction-whose soldering by the way, is completely different from Sally Jean's! But, via an e-mail beforehand, Sally was so encouraging and assured me on what I should do while in class. Thankfully, I did. And, I absolutely loved it.

The morning was our time to collage the pieces before soldering in the afternoon. She gave tips on how she collages-using beautiful ephemera consisting of vintage wallpaper, German die cuts, maps, words from special old books, vintage journal pages, sheet music, tissue, tickets, foil pieces, old photos, lace, ribbon, buttons, crystals, and just about anything you can put between 2 pieces of glass. She used paint next-cerulean blue, yellow ochre, raw umber and Golden Soft Gel medium, to enchance and mesh the collage together. Finally, she showed how she uses soft charcoal pencil to give it an aged look.

Her husband Brad is her assistant. He is great, and can solder as professionally as Sally. He cuts all the glass she uses, and showed us how to do so as well. Loved it!

In our class packet, we received a large and smaller gothic arch, several sizes of rectanges, and bubbles. We received 2 sizes of copper foil tape. She explained and demonstrated the set-up/workstation, cleaning the glass pieces before soldering, wrapping, burnishing and finally the soldering of the charm itself. She taught us how to clean our irons with the sal ammoniac bloc. Her tips on adding the jump rings was priceless. She is a great teacher. I believe she could solder in her sleep.

We cleaned our pieces with flux cleaner, and then polished them with Blue Magic metal polish.

Last, she had a roll of nickel silver wire which she used to show how to make our own necklace chain. I hammered, soldered and made about 8 rings before I left.

I soldered 4 various rectangles, 1 gothic arch and a bubble in class that day. The bubble, which I loved making the most, is now in a custom designed necklace made last Satuday. I added it to a 20" nickel chain; hung a small yellow agate rondell below it, and finished it with a dragonfly. It is now hanging on my massage therapist's neck! She adores it, and we decided to call it "The Melissa"~shown at the bottom.

I did leave without a completed piece of jewely that day, but left with much more. A new passion for soldering.

The Melissa

*Picture taken with my phone! I forgot my camera?

Finding Creative License at Art & Soul

It was a perfect day for flying into Hampton.
Room 504 is where I fell out each night!
A shot with Susan Lenart Kazmer before our class on Saturday. What a great teacher. Her book Making Connections is both beautiful and a great "go-to" for me. Her class gave me two new eyes for designing my jewelry. Her book will be used as a reminder of what she taught us that day! I took Jane Wynn's class on Friday. She too, a great teacher. Her newly written book Altered Curiosities: Assemblage Techniques and Projects, is a good addition to my library. It will help with the assemblages I will have in the Sami Show in Katy in July.

My very first class on Thursday was with the great Albie Smith. (Look she is holding my soul sister, Susan's book). I do not have enough words of praise for Albie (and her daughter Christine). The class was Opulent Patterns and Cross Structure Book . I wanted to experience color and washes, and make my very own journal. I was so pleased with what she taught, and she IS an excellent teacher. We all LOVED it. I only wish the pictures below would justify the beauty this book beholds. Lush colors...too beautiful of pages to even write on. I may just display it and thumb thru its pages occasionally and remember the fun I had making it~

And, one more photo.
This was such a fun class with Stephanie Lee. No pressure, just pure pleasure. We used Rigid Wrap to design pages (or banners) or whatever. The class Plaster Pages. This is how we dried them. Stephanie had strung wire between the table legs. How clever! I also made several plaster pieces~which was fun. They will also be used in my assemblages.
************

This is just a very small peek at some of the things I did at Art & Soul.
I took 8 classes in 5 days. It was GREAT.
The hotel was perfect, the classes were amazing; but my new friends are priceless.
Amy, Susan and Marcia~you are the best!
xoxoxo

Gone to Art & Soul

I ironed this on a black apron I am taking to wear in Hampton. I think it turned out really nice.

I will miss you my friends and especially you Melanie. But, we will be together when I return (in one week); and for that I am so very thankful. I love you~

new cards

"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm."~ Willa Cather

****

I would much rather work in the calm, but lately I have been in a storm. Of my own doing I must admit; but Lord help me thru, as you are my rock. If you are for me, who can be against me?

Have a great week. God willing, I will too.

Odd Shots on Monday

Go see Katney for more Odd Shots.
I must say.....I love having an *Odd Perspective*.

It makes me who I am.
*******
"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."

~Mark Twain

yesterday and today

i am busy preparing to go to Art & Soul. i will be looking but not posting. printing pictures and gathering ephmera to use in my classes.

here is one more family picture with no name. i love this photo. the iron carriage, and the little blonde-haired baby on an old wooden floor. look closely at the wonderful iron bed covered with a thick cotton matelasse coverlet. yesterday has come to my rescue today. funny how that happens.

family photos

Before my uncle Eldie died, he and I went thru the box of family photos that had been left in my grandparent's house. He was able to identify some, but not all. I put yellow stickies on the back of the pictures with possible names. These are a few I scanned to take to Hampton to use in my projects. They are priceless to me. So often I step into an antique store and see boxes and boxes of old photos for sale. I saw hundreds in Warrenton as well. Many look just like these. I pick them up and wonder who's are these? Who are these mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers? No one will ever know. I wish I could have gotten better names on mine before Eldie had gone into the nursing home. By this time his memory was not as sharp as it had been for so many years. He was the family historian. He knew and remembered way more than my Dad. This due mainly to the fact that my Dad was born 13 years after my uncle Eldie.

The only picture I can definately identify in the mosaic, is the top left, because it is my dad's sister and brothers: Aunt Lorena, Uncle Eldie and Uncle Edmund. The handsome fellow in the bottom picture is my dad, Cleo. He has the clearest blue eyes you have ever seen.

Odd Shots on Monday

See Katney for details on:

Odd Shots on Monday!

"Scout" misses his friend who recently relocated to NYC!

soldering for dummies

today i tried my hand at soldering, as i will soon be doing alot of it in sally jean's class in hampton. however, even before sally jean, i had pre-ordered stephanie lee's semiprecious salvage [creating found-art jewelry]. it is a how to book packed full of neat projects. i really like the rustic look of her jewelry designs. i decided to start small, so i began by soldering two sizes of copper jump rings. i used 20 gauge wire, wrapping the wire around a glue stick (as a guide) to make the larger ones. the smaller ones were wrapped around a beadalon jump ring maker. at first the solder was like working with mercury (out of a broken thermometer).

so far was so good; on to my next project ~ make a sea shell pendant. i wrapped the top of one of my stashed sea shells, burnished it with 1/2 " copper tape, and soldered it onto the top of the shell. i then attached one of the small copper jump rings on top. i was actually surprised at myself for being so patient. even though my jump ring fell off many times, i finally got it to stay and i like the way it turned out.

my final project was my most challenging. i soldered a bezel using a narrow piece of copper pipe i had the friendly guy down at the hardware store cut for me. (this way i didn't have to use a hacksaw or pipe cutter~thanks Chris for the warning). i cut a piece of copper sheet for the base; then put the copper pipe on top. i then soldered them together, making sure to always use my flux so the metals would stick together. it was an interesting time, to say the least! thanks to natalie at wired designs, in san antonio, for giving me hints on how to use large paper clamps as holders for my work while i soldered.

now, all i have to do it blacken my pieces tomorrow with liver of sulfur, sand and seal. then i plan on adding a great picture of audrey hepburn into the bezel, using resin as the well filler. i have never worked with resin. i will let you see how it all turns out tomorrow.

Jesus is Free

a couple of weeks ago i actually took some time to check out a local estate sale. after just getting back from warrenton antique festival, and seeing the prices vendors were charging there; i decided i needed to start going direct instead of thru the middle man for getting some pieces to use in my art. so, here is what i found~2 great very old stamps. click on pic to see the gunk way down deep in the crevices. i love to see old, oily, dusty gunk like this. (this really makes allen laugh).

and, then the lady had a whole box of old patterns that were her and his mother's. i dug and dug, & pulled out just this one. i liked it best~an old butterick pattern. can you believe 35 cents? funnier yet, is i paid $1 for it!

but~the most coolest part of the conversation between the family and i went like this:

(first, you must know i collect manger scenes).

"so how much is the little wooden manger scene?" the dad said, " one dollar". I said, "one dollar?" hummm, "Jesus is a dollar?", so i put it back; and then gently laid all of my items down to pay. naturally I said, "so what kind of deal can you make for this?" the mother added it all up, and said, "well, it looks like $13 (because I also had 2 very old, sorta rusted wire cooling racks). i turned and said, "well, can I have Jesus; yes, can I have Jesus; because you know Jesus is Free!" they looked at each other, shook their heads, and said, "yes, yes, you can have Jesus ~ for Free!" we laughed for at least 10 minutes.

so, I still have the little manger scene sitting on the dresser in my spare bedroom. it should go up in the attic in my christmas decorations box.
but, i was thinking; you know, Jesus doesn't belong up there either. He needs to be right here with me.

*******

2 fabric stamps ~ $5 each

2 semi-rusty cooling racks ~ $2

1 vintage butterick pattern ~ $1

and

1 baby Jesus ~ FREE!

stack of rugs

this is evidence that jake, my daughter's chocolate lab, had come to visit. yes, a stack of india rugs left at my back door. i know they should be washed and put away for next time. but, for some reason they haven't. maybe tomorrow. i miss jake.and, i miss mel.

ya-ya & tj

did i tell you about the two sisters we met in warrenton? these were two of the sweetiest girls melanie & i met the friday we braved the north wind & rain at the antique festival. we didn't get to look much thru their tent because of the rain, but they had some of the most coolest & unusual stuff. ya-ya (on the right) had just received a bale of hay to help soak up the mud, when my days of living on the ranch kicked in. i helped her spread it like i knew what i was doing. guess all those times i watched dad throw it off the back of the truck for the cattle; and all the times we spread it in our 4-H lamb pens, did not get lost in the wide space between my ears.

so, back to their store. their motto is, "Get Gypsy Fryed With Kool Funk & Junk". They have "Unusual Finds Everytime". i must say, it was the first time i had seen a curtain valance made out of at least 4 pairs of cowboy boots! it was so cool.

so, if you get close to vidor, texas, stop by and see the sisters (and their mother). you can find them at:

vidor flea market, building #5

i-h10 vidor, texas

409.656.5940