One-of-a-Kind Ornaments!

For that one special ornament that you purchase for a family member or yourself, it doesn’t get better than this.  

An heirloom~quality, one-of-a-kind Christmas ornament made just for you!

Custom ornaments $25.

it’s not too late

Loving the charmed life…

Boho ~ DayTwo

On day two of our Bσhσ adventure we learned the basics of soldering and then we crafted these two soldered projects.

These gals really picked it up fast and went with it.  I don’t have any pictures of the finished charms that were made but if some come my way then I’ll share them.

I just noticed when I looked at this picture that the sign high up on the wall is crooked so I just fixed it…that might make you feel better, I know I do. 

I appreciate what Beka had to say about her day of soldering: 

“I can see why the gals love your classes and come back. Thanks for all your time & patience in sharing both what you know and your time & materials so the rest of us could get a taste of what it’s like to be creative.   It’s nice when folks like you aren’t afraid to share what they know for the love of craft. “

Thanks, Beka…it was fun to have you and all the other gals join in!

All pictures in this post were taken by Amber of Tres Birds Photography and here are a few more that I’m adding…

One must always have one’s boots on and be ready to go.

                                                                                                                                ~Michel de Montaigne

This  piece, with original collage work ,has been topped with a 3″ by 5″ bevel glass (w/the top corners cut off) then encased with a soldered edge.  It’s hanging in a genuine stirrup that I think may still have a tad bit of manure still on it.   {oops!}

Future sugar snap peas!

I have used this completely adorable picture of my cousins in the collage work shown @ the top.  I wanted to show you a close-up of it here.

Barn wood racks~

I made these racks for my last show and sold them for $35.

As I finished them up I packed them away and I neglected to do a post on them so today I took pictures of the ones that I have left.

The frames were made from re-reclaimed barn wood.  My friend/neighbor makes garden gates from old barn wood (w/our tough winter we had a few barns in our community collapse).  I took his leftovers and made these frames (w/the help of my friend, Diane).

Each frame includes  a piece of original collage art that has been topped with a 2″x8″ bevel glass and then enclosed with a soldered frame.

~.Θ.~

It was fun to see one of my aprons in this post yesterday.   Joy bought two aprons from me @ the Farm Chicks show.  Sweet, sweet gal.  I have been looking for my post where I originally wrote about it but when I couldn’t find it, it dawned on me that I never wrote one because I didn’t finish the apron.  This was one of the items that I put finishing touches on the night before the show.

The {ugly} woman!

I’ve been working on a very interesting and functional piece of…uh, er, mmmm ~artwork!?!?????

…and having a great deal of fun transforming an old schoolhouse chair.

I’m not even sure what to say for it, or myself, except that it makes me giggle!

I bought this very old photo at an estate sale last weekend.  I somehow left it there because all of the other items fit into one bag and the gal had set this off to the side.  I went back for it later and as I was leaving the Mr that was there said, “that is sure an ugly woman!”

Blog Badge Challenge!

At Camp Whimsy, Kim is encouraging all of the vendors at the Farm Chicks show, who are also bloggers, to wear a badge that tells the world that we  blog!  I’ve been giving it a lot of thought as to how I want my badge to look.

This is my ‘idea’ in three dimensions.

I could end up making something different but I think this says what I want it to…and it’s fun!

Since I’m asking them to ‘ask me about…’ I would like to have some of these fun little MOO cards to hand out that have been designed with my blog in mind.

plātz w/patina~

I have had this black patina for several months but just haven’t had any interest in trying it.  This morning I decided that the license plate charms might be the best way to experiment with this.  I think that it’s a perfect combination.  Compared to the variety that I work with in my soldering, these are in a class all their own.  Each one in their own way shows a bit of rustic patina {keeping in mind that their life has been spent hanging off of the end of a vehicle} and the sleek silver edge doesn’t necessarily compliment them, whereas I think the addition of the black patina looks nice.   – You can see the contrast between the ‘J’ and the ’5′.

The copper tape I use is ‘copper backed’, so you can see it peaking through the glass – ‘black backed’ would be a better choice but this is where experimenting can come in handy!

platz

These are made with little snippets from {mostly} vintage license plates.

they are so challenging for me to work with ~ a completely different bird when it comes to soldering ~ but they are bunches of fun.

I have a friend who gave me a stack of license plates a while back and I’ve been wanting to make something for his wife, so here it is.  He restores vintage cars and she does all of the reupholstering for him.   She can use this on her key ring or as a necklace.  The car he is working on right now literally takes my breath away.  Someday I’ll slip in a photo.

a little look into my day…

Here is a true artist at work!  I actually have a hard time calling myself an artist but I remember what a relief I felt last year when I finally admitted to myself that ‘I am an artist‘.  It seemed as though it helped put another definition to the “who am I?’ question.  My crazy mind works like that of an artist.  I’ve often felt that if I had known that 30 years ago, I would have loved and flourished at an art school.  So, as it is, I am completely self-taught in most of what I do.   …sigh!      {this would be a great place to insert that I wouldn’t change anything in my life!}

I got this great new respirator mask this week to help save a few brain cells.  I completely despise it – except for the ‘saving brain cells’ part.

I really shouldn’t complain though – I mean, I know it looks hot!   …along with my new magnifying reading glasses!

and, it not only curbs my addiction to hot beverages and alleviates any desire to chew gum (2 $ savers here), it also helps me with my average-0f-one-pound-weight-loss-per-week diet plan.  By causing a slight state of suffocation, it removes any and all appetite.

I’m sorry if I’ve dashed your thoughts that soldering is a glamorous job with promises of a real future.

I’m afraid that breathing too many of those fumes would promise no real future at all.  We have, however,  some acceptable options in my area for suitable assisted living homes – after this post Mr T is going to be on the hunt for one.

Oh,my aching back!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a lighter note (actually, there isn’t anything light about it – it’s made up of the kind of stuff that’s made me heavy!), I am completely in love with the King Arthur Flour blog.  Their last two posts fascinate me.

p.s. since I’m on the sensitive subject of ‘heavy’, I’m really not as heavy as those pics make me look – at least I don’t think I am.