It's a Paper Dress Swap!

I saw some paper dresses a few days ago and, seriously, could not stop thinking about them. I .... NEEDED to make some paper dresses! LOL! Only problem being that as a jewelry artist, I had no pretty papers to cut up, no glitter, no embellishments, nada. My first thought was to use what I had on hand and form dresses from twisted wire. Let's just say those didn't work out so well. I did learn how to make little wire hangers though! So, instead of working on one of the infinite number of things I needed to accomplish this week .... I was making an emergency trip to the craft store and spending the wee hours of the morning creating dresses!


I went with a "garden party" theme and drew freehand some dress shapes and then used those shapes as templates to make a few similar dresses so I try out different decorations/embellishments. And I found a use for that deep rose dimensional metallic paper!



These are so fun, so pretty and so quick to whip up. How about a paper dress swap? I would just love to host one! I'm thinking: each person would create two dresses to swap with a partner. One would need to be an autumn or Halloween dress. The other one is designer's choice - completely up to you! The size of the finished dresses would be no larger that what could fit in a 6x9 envelope so mailing costs would be low and international players could play. Materials and embellishments limited only by the imagination, but paper should be a major component. Signups would close on September 5th with partners assigned the next day. Dresses would need to be mailed out by October 7th.

If you're interested please make sure to include your e-mail address in your post. And if you'd like to help spread the word about the swap, I'd be really grateful! The more participants, the merrier! Here's a banner if you would like one:


9/07 BLOG UPDATE: OK, SWAP IS NOW CLOSED! JOIN US NEXT TIME!

Mail Goodies!!

Let me just start out by saying I am one of those people that the universe has decided should never win anything. Lady luck, good fortune .. whatever name you give it, it does not usually bless my house. But a mysterious thing has happened. Just out of the blue, I won not one, but two blog contests! The first was hosted by the talented Karin at Creative Chaos to celebrate the opening of her Etsy store. Look at this pretty, pretty box she crafted! And she even made the cutest little gift tag to go with it too :)

And then, shortly after, I won this beautiful cupcake stand with cloche in the 100th post giveaway at Vintage Threads! Charity, the creative force at Vintage Threads, also sent all these awesome goody extras! What a sweet gesture -- I love it all! Already have some creative ideas in mind :)

My mailbox has also gone a bit bonkers in the yummy book department. I think all those hours setting heavy concrete pavers has made me long for a stack of soothing reading material, a soft comfy chair, and a cup of tea. In the art/craft department I now have the new Somerset Home & Artful Blogger, French Inspired Jewelry, and Making Metal Jewelry (cold connection metalsmithing).

For outgoing mail goodies, this Red Poppies scarf is ready to be sent off to a friend for her upcoming birthday! I think it's really cool and super cute, but I would since I made it :) Now I just hope she does too! Don't worry, she won't see this. She doesn't blog and doesn't even own a computer, so I think it's safe to post. I am just so happy to have finished it on time and that it turned out so well, I had to share. And yes, that's me modeling it :)

I'm making one more of these. Same black felt base with the fringe cut at the ends, but with hot pink flowers and little green leaves. Here's the first few crocheted pieces and I already have the felt base sized and ready. I think with all the leaves, I'll do a few less flowers?

In other news, the patio is ALMOST done! Yeah! Can't wait to celebrate! This week is going to be insanely busy as I try to finish that patio, get my little guys ready for school (pre-K and 1st grade - how quickly they grow!), do Saturday Market, and create product for the upcoming Art & Antiques show I'm doing in mid-September. I'm also horribly behind on my entries for the 2007 Bead Journal Project. So, it might be a while until my next post, but when things settle down, I'm thinking about doing my first tutorial. What do think about one for either crochet wire earrings (I call them spiderweb earrings)? Or one for fairy/princess hair combs?

Letter Writing in the Yoshiwara

The Yoshiwara was a famous walled and licensed entertainment quarter during the Tokugawa regime in feudal Japan (1600-1868). This beautiful Oiran (high class courtesan) living in the Yoshiwara is composing a letter to a male admirer. Also present in the room is her Kamuro (young assistant/apprentice). Let's eavesdrop on what they are saying!



I couldn't resist doing this! It was just too much fun! These were such beautiful Ukiyo-e pictures and all the women were missing were some jeweled accessories. :)

Stay tuned next post for mail love! My mail box has been delivering the most tasty crafty treats I can't wait to share with you!

Studio Friday: Fave Item

This week's topic for Studio Friday: Fave item in your studio/craft space- why do you love it and how does it inspire you (art or journal+ photo)?

Why, beads of course! :) Their beauty, their shining ... their infinite variety. My current favorites are these heavy Tibetan silver beads accented with oversize pearls and gemstone chunks seen atop this gemstone potpourri. They are solid silver, crafted by hand in Tibet and just fabulous! Very inspiring to an artisan jewelry designer :)

Another constant source of inspiration is my collection of art books. Filled with global design, museum pieces and the work of talented artists throughout history, browsing through them never fails to jump start my creative process. I do admit to a bit of a bent for Art Nouveau, Medieval, turn of the century, and Asian books. But just look at this beautiful plique-a-jour butterfly girl brooch (c. 1900)! Can you believe this piece is only about 1 1/2 inches tall? I just love this style of art! I can even visualize the dress it would go with ... rustling green silk with gold beaded fringe ... yum!

And no post about what studio item inspires me to create would be complete without this. This was presented to me by my little preschooler who announced in his high squeaky voice, "It's a wittle duckling, mommy. Isn't he cuuuuuuute! He's such a cuuuute wittle duckling!" Now if this was a real baby duck, it probably wouldn't win any beauty contests, but I love it! This little guy sits on my work table and inspires me to work by reminding me of my wonderful family who supports me in all my creative efforts. Thank you guys!

It's a Half Done Party!

Some projects are progressing and need celebrating around here! First, after more than a year of blogger's standard two column blog, I have finally upgraded to a new three column format. With lots more room, and a header I can finally add a banner too (yeah!), expect lots of tinkering in the weeks to come leading to a new, richer blog!And, it's a half-done party for getting our patio half way finished! After some engineering setbacks, we are done with all the steps and have just the upper terrace to go. Let's have our party on this fabulous Moroccan terrace, complete with traditional mint tea and almond cookies!

Moroccan Mint Tea
2 tsp Chinese gunpowder tea (a Chinese green tea)
14 springs fresh mint (for boiling)
6 springs fresh mint (for decoration)
1/2 c sugar
6 cups boiling water

Fill teapot with all the above, stir, cover, and steep about 5 minutes. Place 1 spring of mint in each tea glass, pour hot tea over the mint, and serve.


One change here.... substituting lavender cookies for almond cookies, since I was supposed to post this back when we went to the lavender farm! This one is from All Recipes.

Lavender Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the lavender, mint and lemon zest. Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt; mix into the batter until well blended. Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten to about 1inch thick. Refrigerate until firm, about 1hour. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Cookie stamps will work well on these too. Place on cookie sheets. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, just until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

*This makes a shortbread like cookie. Great with a strong cup of your favorite tea!*

Back to the garden to finish that patio! If you are wondering where the fabulous Moroccan pictures and tea recipe came from, they are out of stunning book on Moroccan style and cooking called New Moroccan Style. If you get a chance to look through it, do! It's a visual and culinary treat!

August in the Garden

Life in the backyard is good! Tall iced teas and chocolate rum balls in the evening. Butterflies, hummingbirds and droning bees flitting amongst the scented herbs during the day. But this week, we are forgoing the usual garden pleasures in favor of stone pavers, mud and gravel! That's right ... we're laying a patio! And not just any patio..... a two tiered wonder, with a seating area at the bottom and an area for a potted culinary garden at the top. We're doing all the work ourselves, so for most of this week, I'll be out of blogland and building paradise! The butterflies are watching us work, each as beautiful as this carved bone one:

I did take a quick break today and picked up these gorgeous new papers! Most have impregnated glitter or satiny bits. I was looking for some fun papers to photograph my jewelry on. For example, the butterfly was photographed on the paper at the far right. The deep rose sheet at the very bottom is three dimensional and looks like flocked, embossed metallic paper. Reminds me of those old ceilings in saloons or gold rush hotels. Too busy for a background, but so interesting, I needed to take it home too :)

Studio Friday: Storage/Containers

This weeks challenge from Studio Friday: How do you store your arts and crafts supplies in your studio? Where do you store them? Do you have enough space for it? Maybe some of them are even unusual??! And how about that space under the bed...?!



These pastel beauties are "This" (the pink bird) and "That" (the green bird). Their nest is a crytal goblet known as bead purgatory. It's where broken, damaged, or just plain too ugly to use beads go to live forever. Or at least until the goblet gets full and I bequeath them to children for kids' craft projects :)

The goblet is low since I just emptied it recently, but this is so pretty to look at in my studio, especially when the morning sunlight refracts through the crystal. I love how things that were once discolored and broken are transformed into such a pretty studio accent just by being stored prettily.