my dream house has.....

a huge studio on the third floor.  it has lots of large windows and a balcony with french doors.  it has brick walls and wood floors from an old barn.  the ceilings are ridiculously tall. my pinterest boards have tons of photos of oh-so-awesome antique and vintage pieces of furniture for storage of all kinds of this-es and thats that will fill my studio.   on beautiful days i will fling open my french doors and breathe in the fresh air while the sun shines in just perfectly to illuminate what i am creating. and i can hear the birds singing during the day, or the frogs and crickets chirping at night. 

i don't know when i will be creating in my new studio, but for now my studio is in the icky basement.  teeny windows.  the only way i am going to hear any birds, frogs or crickets is to turn my little tiny ancient tv on a science channel. 

i found every excuse to avoid going down there....even though i was so anxious to get to work play.

once i made it down there i was quite irked at myself for avoiding it for so long. 

i took this piece down to my studio and decided after i put a few puncture wounds in my fingers i would file down the points on it.....

during the process of filing the lethal tips to a less damaging dull point on  these prickly boogers i found a few that decided to take a flying leap off the piece and had to re-solder some replacements.


i knew last night that i wanted to use some green sari silk for the necklace, and i have to say it looks just how i imagined....i am a happy girl....squeeeee!

i was so wanting to do some spikes on a reliquary and began searching the studio for just the perfect thingy-ma-bob to put in such a reliquary and could not find anything....and then i realized that sneaky arty-a.d.d. had tricked me and so i put that future project on hold.  i have 4 necklaces to complete first.


i gathered my bits and pieces to quickly assemble these two.  i had enough of everything to make one for me and one to sell. 

if you know me, you know i love asymmetry, and ummmmm....unique design.  i am just not a girl that can be happy stringing pretties in a perfect little symmetrical cutsie pattern.  i just can not do it. 

this time though i was going to.  i pictured using the vintage plastic beads and fresh water pearls and dainty little swarovskis to make a necklace suitable for wearing to a tea and finger sandwich gathering.  uber girly.  

 one word went screaming through my mind and then my soul.....ugh-my-gawd-that-is-so-not-me-what-was-i-thinking-shoot-me-now-just-end-the-misery-i-just-can't-do-it.  *sigh*

i had the beads all in a perfectly pretty pattern and i ripped them off as quickly as i could and then.....

.....did this

i am a girly girl when it comes to make up and hair and nails and accessories...but i just look at this and think this is not me...this is not meeeeeee.  it is me because of the asymmetry and the unique tid bit i added with the tear drop bead....but it is not me me, if you know what i mean.  even my daughter looked at it and said  'it is so not you'.   but i will probably, maybe,  keep one for me in the off chance that i am invited to such a soiree that would require a dainty girlie accessory. 

here is a close up of the vintage pink plastic beads. 

at this point i had to stop for the day as the beast reared up its ugly head and i about fell off my chair.  this was the bad, bad version of the beast and it hit so quick it scared the bajeebers out of me.  thankfully my brain is finally settling down. 


and finally here are some pictures of the little glass vase that i soldered up last week.  the roses are from my garden....so pretty and so full of little pricklies....just like my thorny necklace above.

i think i have 8 or 9 of these left and next week i am hoping to solder them as well and maybe keep a couple of them for us and offer the others for sale on the nest feathers and twine etsy shop that currently is not open due to the fact that i need to stock the 'shelves' with goodies. 

it has been a kind of vanilla day here....the boys are having a really rough time of it with allergies and we have been having some pretty chilly weather compared to what we have gotten use to during this weird winter and spring this year.    as usual though mike provided us with 'flavor' for our bland  day

my hubby's dog ate something that had an undesirable outcome and was butt bombing us out of the room for most of the evening.  he could have made a skunk gag.   it could be the splat he licked up from the back step....a splat that looked like a huge drip of ice cream that had begun to melt...and then i realized we did not have ice cream.  guh-ross.  this dog can drive me nuts, but i have to admit he is a huge source of entertainment around here. 

i guess i need to check the washer...i can't remember if i have anything left in there or not.  maybe i will work up the guts to use the voice recorder on my phone and see if anyone will answer my inquiry as to who seems to want to  communicate with us. 

i hope you had a beautiful and blessed day.

g'night.  mwah!

elmers glue crackle eggs are finished and looking quite easter-y

oh boy was today a lazy day.  the hubby and i spent a good part of the day with each other in bed watching tv and talking, taking turns on the computer.   i would start to feel guilty for doing nothing when there was so much to be done...but there is always so much to be done, it will be there tomorrow and we needed some serious togetherness and there is no guarantee that either of us will be here tomorrow.

finally the bed worked its' magic on the hubby and he was snoring and so off to the studio to finish the crackle eggs i started yesterday.

i knew what ribbon i wanted and that i wanted some type of charm for each egg.  i have not soldered in over a year.  soldering and decorative painting are the two things that i have to get my groove back if i don't do it for awhile, but i was pretty surprised at how quickly i started to....well get my groove back. 

i don't do perfect pretty soldering.  maybe someday.  i hope to be able to take a sally  jean online class....if she still has them by the time the hubby is employed employed and we have the extra funds to spare for the class and a new soldering iron.

yea...i should have left the dots off this one.  doing dots on a piece like this is not easy when you don't have the right clippy dohicky to hold the bottle in one place.  mine broke last year  and i did not realize what a wonderful 3rd hand it made...... but i tried anyway. 

this little charm has a vintage applique under glass.  

this one has vintage book text.

after i soldered the charms i gave them a vintage-y look with patina.    the child proof cap that was originally on this new bottle of instant aging magic about drove me insane!   i knew if i could only find a small child the cap would come right off.....but my oldest son came to the rescue.   he left me with words of wisdom....mom, now make sure you are really done with this stuff before you put the cap back on.   i did one better, i found a bottle of nasty solution i rarely use and i traded caps! 

wah-laaaaa and ta-daaaa.....here they are.

i still need to easter-up the last egg.....i am thinking i need to break out the glitter for that one?!  whaddaya think?

thought i would leave you with this.  found it while going through some stuff today.  i think this is one of the best fortune cookie fortunes i have ever had.....except for the one that told me i would be rich beyond my wildest dreams.  

this arty girl is actually feeling tired already and it is only 1:04 a.m.  i am about 3 hours ahead of schedule. 


sleep tight.  mwah!