girlfriends reliquary and a charming wish

i did not get to spend the time in my studio today like i wanted.  the peri-menopausal pms insisted we stayed curled up in bed whining about feeling crappy. 

so i made a deal with the pms...we go downstairs to the studio and if i did not feel better we could come back upstairs and curl back up in a ball for the rest of the day.  neener neener i did not feel all that much better but i stayed put and played anyway.

yesterday i had cut the paper linings to the 5 future reliquary boxes, today i secured them, and i made sure it was corner to corner this time, with double sided tape.  believe it or not that took a bit of time and was sooooo boring, even with something good to watch on my ancient tiny tv that i am so thankful for.


once they were done i realized i had no idea what i was going to put in them.  yipes!  i wandered the studio searching for ideas and things to put in these little boxes of happiness.  i put wee little farm animals in them, the little yellow pipe cleaner easter chicks....have you ever noticed that only 1 out of an entire box of those chicks has their face on straight and not all smooshed and off to the side? 

i then remembered i had a ton of vintage plastic baby dolls.  for a bit i played with them trying to figure out how i wanted them positioned.  i decided on this.....

don't they have the sweetest faces?!   makes me think of that special person a girl has in her life that she can confide in and know their secret was safe.

i also used 2 vintage postage stamps in the box for a bit of color.

  the hardest part is waiting.  i had to e6000 the dolls together, wait for them to dry enough to then glue to the bottom of the box.  if i solder it too soon then the glue may not be set enough or the condensation that builds up inside during soldering sometimes could cause some real messy problems.

  patience, patience, patience.

   i am a patient person when it comes to many things, but not in the studio.  today's project is not just art, but a test in patience and i am gonna pass.  it is now 11:45 p.m. and i have not run back down to my studio to begin soldering.  i am being a big girl and waiting until tomorrow to give the e6000 plenty of time to dry. 

after gluing the girls in the box i cut some glass to solder a separate stamp charm for the reliquary necklace. 

i have also been in the backyard collecting some of these.......

probably should have cropped this photo, but the pms said ppppbbbbbtttt to that.  it is a clear cup with dandelion blowy things in it,  up against my belly.

i used them to make a couple of these.......

it still needs to be soldered.  i figured i would just make tomorrow a soldering day.  i am also going to put a few more of these together....i figured my baby girl would love it, and she did.  i would love to make several to keep on hand.   everyone needs to make a wish now and then. 

the 'little' dog that i posted about last night is back safe with her owners.  we found out she is a shiba inu.  the photo i took of her last night being loved on by the hubby

was a very slimming and flattering photo.  i bet she weighed at least 60 pounds....and those 60 pounds were stuffed in a fur made for half that.  kind of makes me sad.....the reason her eyes looked so tiny is because she is mostly blind.

 she is also going deaf....maybe that is why she and i communicated so well? !

her owner told me she gets out all the time, but she makes her way home.....the dog was in the middle of the road late at night and she is nearly blind and deaf......i think it is time to fence in the yard buddy.  my son's friends say that their dogs get out all the time and we should not ever bother picking her up again. 

i better run, i just realized i have a load of laundry i need to do before tomorrow morning. 

hope something wonderful happened to you today.

lots of love....mwah!

a box of curiosity and a pinterest diy win

i am so happy that this weekend has ended better than it started, and for that i am so grateful.

at the end of my last post i predicted the pms would most likely leaving me sobbing in a corner for no real reason, saturday i was a doing just that, but mostly because the beast (meniere's) was really, really being naughty in a bad way.  just an hour in to my day i was not able to walk by myself, it messed with my ability to swallow and read and hold things, reading a book or text on the computer was not happening. 

most days we joke and make fun of the beast and how sometimes, when i get spinny i can look like a bobble head, according to my youngest.  when i lose my balance i tend to throw my arms in some goofy direction trying to catch myself and who ever might be in the room does it too.  we are a bunch of goof balls....probably funnier to be here.  

the only days the beast can bully me to tears is on days like saturday...and that was not even what one of my more challenging days can be like....without my guest, pms, i can usually shut the bathroom door so no one has to see my give in and cry....but the pms enhanced the boo-hoo process and i fell apart in the kitchen in front of everyone.....i hate that. 

today started off better.  i am not back to my normal less spinny self, but i am better and was bound and determined to make art....the soldering bug has bit me something awful this past week and that is what i did.

it has been a couple of years since i have done a reliquary and i started playing around with ideas last week using a match box, some very old watch maker vials, vintage beads, fish bone, coyote toe bones, and peridot chips....oh and vintage german book text in the background. 


i used double sided tape to secure the vintage book text down, but later you will will not enough. 

you can also see  that i have a wire running through the box....i have wanted to do this for a long time.....and

it was a good excuse to play with this....squeeeeeeeee!

at first i was going for the abacus look with some vintage trade beads....nah.....not how i pictured it.

like a dork i double stick taped the vials to the inside of the box....the beast causes me a little air headed at times, not like i don't already have that problem anyway!  i had to yank the bottles out and that caused the paper to be ripped to shreds so i had to cut a new lining out.

now that is more like it.

uh boy.  i got this all taped up and if you look at the left hand corner....part of the vintage book text is haning down.  i did not tape it corner to corner, just a bit in the middle and somewhere in the process of putting the foil/tape down for soldering i jarred the corner loose. 

so, i can just leave it...who will notice...does not matter.  i will know. 

i took just the top bit off and adjusted the paper the best i could with an exacto knife and sealed it back up. 

it was a pain in the butt, but worth it.

i use a bone folder to make sure the edges are smooth and all sealed up.

wah-laa.  ready to solder.  here is where i realize i did not plug in the soldering iron and decide to take a potty break upstairs and check in on all the peeps to kill time to let it heat up.

notice the vial on the left of the screen, the little one.  see how the cork is in nice and tight....just wait.

here it is all soldered up. 

i have mentioned in previous posts that i have decided i might just not be one of those pretty, super smooth solderererers....that i have decided to call this my 'style'

this evening i decided why not give it a bit more of that ancient dig site, or antique look and make it look as though it has been sealed or nailed or screwed shut.

it took a good hour experimenting, and inhaling lots of steamy stinky flux, not sure if that is a good thing, and found that if you make a dot and really really really quickly move the soldering iron and shove a bamboo skewer in the center and push down you get that sealed, nailed, screwed shut look! 

did i mention the beast was still being naughty....and that my sense of aim was a bit off?!?!  so this was pretty darn good.  not that i got it 'right' on the first try for each one, but i did it!

i am so happy!  squeeeeeee!

here is the back.  i experimented with another process for large areas like this and i almost have it figured out and when i do i will play show and tell.

when i told my hubby that i made this from a match box he was blown away.  he thought i used one of my vintage metal boxes.  he is my biggest supporter and without him i would have never gone as far or done as much as i have.   i am a lucky girl.  he thinks i am a genius....

remember a bit earlier i said to look at the bottle on the left of the screen....see what happened to the cork....it is no longer snug as a bug on the tiny vial.  during the soldering process condensation built up on the inside and it must have loosened it.   note to self:  secure the corks in the next on i do.

i was hoping that once it dried out a bit the cork would stay stuck, but no such luck.  thankfully the bar of beads are keeping the cork from coming all the way out and the contents of the tiny vial from spilling all over. 


on a different note....PINTEREST....my addiction.  there are so many neat ideas, arty, household, cleaning, holiday....the list goes on and on and on and i have become, like so many others a pin hoarder.  i decided i was going to try some of the diy/tutorials i was pinning.  i have tried a ton of them and figured i would share my personal experiences on posts here and there.

the first one i will share with you, but not the first i have done, is the milk jug watering can.


i have several vintage ones that i don't use, and i also always seem to have at least one empty milk jug a day.  

on the pin it showed the watering can with holes in the LID.   when i first saw this i thought what total genius, and then realized at some point you would need to turn the jug almost completely upside down to get the water out.  so......................

i pokes them here, and it works great.  now i just need some plants that need to be gently watered. 

it is only midnight and i am a bit pooped, thanks to the beast, so i am going to say nighty-night for now and see if i can settle down. 

hope you had a beautiful weekend.  smooches to you.