Shop Update

Just a quick shop update for the Jeweled Elegance Boutique. You may remember what a smash hit our beaded fabric hairpins turned out to be. So ..... we are expanding with a line of romantic floral hair pins! We started offering these at Saturday market a few weeks ago and are really excited to bring some of these super cute red ones to the shop!

And our summer special: select crochet earrings are now on sale at the shop! If you visit us at Saturday Market, this week we are showcasing our new "peacock" ones!

Back from the Renaissance Faire

I'm back! I've just returned from our family vacation to a local Renaissance Faire. It was great fun and the kids had a fantastic time! Although I think they may have been more enthralled with the novelty of the balcony attached to our hotel room than with the faire itself!
Here's a picture of my little "Fairy" at the faire. Isn't he a cutie!! I just love the face painting. My other little guy acquired a great set of medieval armor (i.e. molded plastic from China). And he hasn't taken it off yet! They are such a cute pair, my little fairy and warrior!

In the spirit of our vacation, here is a bit of online fun. These are two fun Renaissance quizzes I found over at Ever Embellished. Enjoy!

1)What Tudor Queen Are You?

2)Which Tarot Card Are You?

Art Potpourri: Bead Journal Project Angels & Buttons

Is this not sublime?? This is the medieval image I am altering and beading for my July page for the 2007 Bead Journal Project. I finished painting and altering the figures today and ...... I love how it turned out!

Technique-wise, the image was copied onto cardstock and lacquered with a water and UV resistant spray like before. I'm going skip the felt backing this time and attach it straight onto Lacy's stiff stuff for stitching. It will make the whole piece harder and less flexible (bent cardstock is no fun!). The bodice of the angel is going to be this beaded embellished cross. You can tell where it goes because I left that whole area untreated (It covers most of her body). Then I need to add quite a bit more additional beading and decide on an edging treatment. I'm thinking swags of "pearls", golden stars and faux brocade. Stay tuned!


And look what was in my mailbox today! These lovely vintage button cards are from my vintage button card swap partners. Are they not divine? I love how unique each one is and how special everyone's vision was. Going clockwise from the left are: Speckled Egg, Jennifer Coniff, Michele Witchell, Doojies, and Patti Bradley. Thank you so much everyone! I will be tracking down each of your blogs, if possible, to thank each one of you personally. This was such a fantastically fun swap and a big thanks to Heather for hosting such a great swap!

I needed to wait for a repairman today so I wasn't able to leave the house or take my little guys back to the lavender farm, but hopefully by the end of this week :)

Heat Wave

This week it has been triple digit HOT! This in a region where if it hits 80 degrees it's considered a heat wave. My unairconditioned studio at the top of the house has been just too hot to work in. I've squeaked in a few things during the wee hours of the morning when the temp. has dropped a bit, but still .. very warm. Above is the mystery creation from the supplies pictured in the previous post -- mini cupcake pincushions! These little guys are only about 1" x 2" and are completely cute handcrafted whimsy!



While waiting for the heat wave to abate, I spent some time surfing online from my cool kitchen and discovered these two amazing French artists. I don't speak any French, but it's jaw dropping eye candy even if you just look. Above is the sublime paper sculpture work of Le Jardin de Miss Clara. I just love this dress and shoes! She has some lovely art prints and downloadable wallpapers too.



And here at Laetitia Mieral these fairy-tale based papier-mâché wonders are created. She has an amazing blog (partially in English) full of creative costumes and custom creations. Given the current craze for Marie Antoinette, I thought this was really cute.

I'm heading back to the lavender farm this week for fresh culinary lavender and I'll publish recipes and lavender goodies next week!

Lavender Summer

With the fresh bounty of summer farms all around us, my family and I picked buckets full of fresh berries and lots of fresh lavender. I'd love to make lavender cookies and lavender iced tea this year, but this first batch was destined for potpourri. Here's a little sampler of a white/purple lavender mix. I have some rose petals drying that I'll toss in too. I love putting some of the plant leaves in my potpourri - it just gives it that special somthing. And around it are these really cool metallic glaze buttons I found this morning. The big ones are 2-3 inches across and just gorgeous!

I've also been hard at work on a new product for market. Here are the raw materials ... anybody want to guess what I'm making? I'll post the completed items next post :)


And my swap package from Tammie Moore's cupcake swap arrived. My swap partner was Tammie herself and look at all the tasty cupcake goodies she sent! Such creative, pretty and festive treats packed in a darling cupcake box. What a joy to open!

The 2007 Bead Journal Project: June Finished & July Begun!

Here is my finished June entry for the 2007 Bead Journal Project! (For those who are interested, here's a link to June: Part I )I was going to do arabesques in seed beads over the whole background to go with the gold background stamping, but decided I liked it in it's minimal form. So I left it with the beads accenting the power of the picture rather than encrusting it. Then I whipstitched the card stock and felt together loosely in a smoky non-competitive shade. I like the curly edge it gave - the perfect portrait "frame".

Later that same day ......... whoops! I accidentally made a pot of English Breakfast tea late at night (instead of relaxing chamomile) so .. decided while I was going to be wired until dawn to get a jump on my July entry. I discovered the most memorizing picture of Mary Magdalene from 1490 C.E. by Perugino and was embroidering this lovely cross as a neckpiece for the card stock image, but things kept expanding and now this will be the bodice of an angel in another Perugino piece. But, fear not! The sublime Mary Magdalene piece will be saved and used for August. I still need to paint and embellish the angel piece, but started with the cross, since it encompassed a lot of firsts for me: Lacy's Stiff Stuff, ultrasuede and picot edging stitch.

Voila! Here is the finished cross element! Now, I'd like to share a few things learned during the long night:

1) Thanks to Mary Timme for the hints on doubling up thread and passing through bead rows a number of times to steady a line. Worked great! Thanks Mary!

2) Lacy's Stiff Stuff and ultrasuede are magical materials that make embroidery painless and dare I say it? .... easy. I do wish the Stiff Stuff came in other colors though.

3) Regarding embroidery books aimed at beginners ..... great for stitches, but not nearly enough detail on finishing edges and backs! Maybe it only applies to jewelry where the back is to be seen. I didn't like how the picot edge added mass to the design ... changed the whole look. How else can edges be neatly finished? Also discovered that the ultrasuede and thread should be similarly colored unless I like looking at ugly colored stitches on the backside and that large knots on the back of the Stiff Stuff makes for a very lumpy backside. I work very hard at practicing and mastering new skills and know these are just steps on the road to what I envision my bead embroidery art to be!