Yummy Cupcakes & Inspiration to Drool Over

Look at these huge, tasty fresh cherries! Next to me at Saturday market this week they were selling these yummy gems from the famous Hood River region -- delicious!

And in front of them ..... my craft experiment of the moment, scented cupcakes! I was inspired to design some of these by Tammie Moore's Cupcake Swap. These little whimsies are a work in progress concerning incorporating the scent, so hopefully the smell stays put. By the afternoon, the whole house smelled of honey and vanilla! Mmmmm .... maybe I'll make chocolate and coffee ones next :) These were crocheted, stuffed, embellished with beads (of course!) and then scented. Here are the finished ones wrapped up as the treats they are. Check out the finishing touch ... the delightful cupcake and sprinkle ribbons!

I really need to finish my June piece for the Bead Journal Project, so hopefully I can get caught up on that this week. But, in the meantime ....... I found this! Sherry Serafini creates the most jaw dropping bead embroidery pieces and I am SO pre-ordering this! I'm truly enjoying bead embroidery and think this will be the perfect eye candy inspiration book. I can't wait to learn some of these dazzling techniques and make something queenly!

Birthday Time!

This week, my best friend gave me a fabulous birthday present. She colluded secretly with my husband to abduct me from my family and treat me to a girl's day out in downtown Portland. Now, I love my children dearly, but I had SO MUCH FUN!

We went to the very interesting, controversial anatomy exhibit Body Worlds 3, window shopped in all those delightful little shops on and near 21st, and sampled unique artisan teas in this really cute tea shop. We stopped in the Lush store, home of divine handmade cosmetics/soaps. I couldn't bring myself to pay $24 for a bar of soap, no matter what it was made of, but we both enjoyed smelling all the innovative concoctions. We also looked at Turkish colored-glass chandeliers with amazing iron fretwork, vintage jewelry, antique bits and bobs, and .... she bought me these awesome vintage chandelier crystals!!
But, the best part of the evening was yet to come. She took me to Marrekesh, an authentic Moroccan restaurante for dinner!! Now, I have been trying to eat here for 10 years....yes, that's right ....10 years. It's only open for dinner in a different city, I didn't own a car, my husband dislikes ethnic food....there were reasons.......but I finally got to go!! It lived up to every expectation. Eating with your hands on the floor was ........bliss. Sheer bliss!


My two little muchkins gave me the sweetest hugs and kisses and sang the most beautiful Happy Birthday song. Their little voices are just SO angelic! And what did Hubby do for this festive day? And no, I'm not telling how old I am. Let's just say, it's old enough you stop counting :) He surprised me with a decadent towering carrot cake from a local gourmet pastry shop and this:
A gift subscription to one of my favorite magazines, Belle Armoire!


This week was filled with happy things, but I was especially pleased to discover at Dare to Dream this amazing YouTube video called Women in Art featuring a really beautiful, creative treatment of 500 years of female portraits in Western art. I've been doing so much with historical portraits lately, this really resonated with me. And I got a special thrill from identifying as many of the portraits as I could:)

Bird Nest Necklacles & The 2007 Bead Journal Project: June

OK, I've finally started rolling along on my June entry for The 2007 Bead Journal Project!! Once upon a time (otherwise know as last Spring) I obsessed endlessly about a magazine full of Renaissance wedding dresses. A year later, I started making my Queen & Courtesan vintage button cards. So.... I've decided to theme my bead journal around living out my dreams of being a medieval fashion and accessory designer. I'm looking forward to developing my bead embroidery skills - which right now border on about zero - and developing this passion of mine as an artist which has clearly been trying to express itself for at least the past year.
I have ordered several books to teach me how to do bead embroidery, but as they haven't arrived yet, I decided to jump right in and start. I'm going with a small 3" x 4" format to keep it manageable. I bought some lovely fabric to paint before beading, and have some wonderful ideas for stitched cross medallions, but those button cards were still fresh in my mind. So, here we have beading on card stock (heavy with a UV and water resistant spray), backed with felt, based on "The Girl With A Pearl Earring". Above is the image after gilding, painting & stamping.....hmmm... should have had one without the paint too.....
.....And here it is beaded so far!! From my point of view, my vision far exceeds my skill, but for a first try, I'm OK with it. I have a bit more to do yet and haven't started to think about how to finish the edges ... and then how to bind it into a book. How to get *12* thick pages into a book?? Pretty thick book :)

Other bead journal thoughts: it's amazing what a great way this is to use up all those extra beads from other projects and looks to be a fantastic way to showcase special handmade beads! And it is SO adaptable... I was looking at ribbon and fabric bits around the house and thinking .. "oh, these would look good with it too!" :) Not even finished with June yet and already looking forward to July!!

And some more exciting news... the Bird Nest Necklaces are finally at the shop! I have both the pink and blue delicate nest charms on some wonderfully slinky sterling snake chain. Also, one each of the charms with polymer clay eggs.

Thank you to everybody for your well wishes while I was sick. I finally have my voice back ... Yeah!!... and am almost back to 100%. Just in time to enjoy the returning sunny weather!

China From the Couch

This week has blessed me with a double dose of laryngitis and hay fever. Monday I was reduced to communicating by the written word, because I lost even the ability to whisper. Writing notes to your children is not effective when neither one can read yet, so I became an instant mime and we pantomimed our way through activities and dinner. In hindsight, it was very cute :) Today I get to rest for a while on the couch - ah, bliss!

Ok, so how many of you knew that I love contemporary Asian art? Today, from the couch, I'm sharing two Chinese modern painters with you. This is an artist I recently discovered whose style I really love! Jia Juan Li was born in Hangzhou in 1960 and is currently based in Paris, France. She uses oil paints to create beautiful, dreamy scenes inspired by Chinese history and culture.


And this is one of my favorite painting by Zeng Shanqing. Born in Beijing in 1932, his paintings of wild horses radiate energy. So much energy they seem barely contained by the borders of the page.

That's it for Chinese painters! Moving on ... Saturday Market customers, this is a sneak peek of my new handmade beads for the "Asia Sherbet" line of earrings and pendants to be offered in two weeks. I love the yummy Summer colors and patterns!

For the Jeweled Elegance boutique, I'll post here as soon as I get the new products, including the bird nest necklaces, uploaded. The supplies finally came in and I'm going to be weaving nests all tomorrow. Have a great week!