Artful Thursday on Saturday (ughhh!!)

Okay, so the trying to post something on Thursday night for Artful Thursday didn't happen. But I will not give up so here is my Artful Thursday project (which was done on Thursday, thank-you very much, just not posted until Saturday.) I saw something similar to this project on another blog and it just spoke to me. It brings together so many things I love, wreaths, vintage "stuff", birds and Christmas. So here it is:

I thought that it turned out really cute. It's not really hard, just takes some time, (especially wrapping the yarn around the straw wreath) and collecting the vintage items and putting it all together.

Closeup of the wreath
So I loved making the wreath, and decided to make another Christmas Bird decoration. This time I used an old bobbin I picked up at the antique mall. (Thanks Rosie for the great deal on them!) I am going to add a little Joyeux Noel banner to it.
The closeup:

Pretty cute huh? So I'm going to be selling these beauties at the Beehive Bazaar. Mark you calendar for the first weekend in December. It is the best craft show in Utah and I love being a vendor there.

These projects have definitely got me in the holiday spirit and I'm looking forward to Christmas decorating. Hope you are having a creative week!

***Come back next week and see Bronwyn's darling sock monkey Halloween costume our costume designer friend Kelsey made.

Artful Thursday....even in Kansas City

I am attending a theatre conference in Kansas City, Missouri. I've been many places and have even been to Missouri a few times but never Kansas City. It is a really fun town, full of great artistic people. Aside from being an awesome theatre town my students and I have been able to get away for some exploring. Today we came upon a wonderful shop called Bon Bon Atelier. It was really one of the most unique and inspiring stores I've seen in lately. The shop owner was so cute and delightful, we had a great time talking with her and looking at all her cool stuff. So...since I really wasn't able to create anything for today, I thought I would post these pictures of the shop.

We also visited this wonderful kitchen store called Pryde's . It was amazing and I loved the mushroom table and chairs.



I'll probably do a few more posts about my adventures in KC. I think one will be the "amazing BBQ" to be had there. Also have loved the time with my wonderful SM students. One has an interview with Cirque de Soleil tomorrow, I am so excited for her. My other wonderful student has an internship at Tuacahn this summer. Next week I am off to LA for Spring Break with the kids. I might have to post more Artful Thursday Travel pictures next week.

Hope you have all had a wonderful creative week!

Artful Thursday-Little Notebooks

Do you carry around a little notebook in your purse to jot down ideas, phone numbers or whatever strikes your fancy? I do, I can't live without one. Recently I have been carrying around a little Ed Hardy one (you know the designer with the skulls, lots of bright colors, gypsies, etc) that I bought at Walmart. Okay, not so much my style. When I was sitting in a meeting with my bishop at my church and pulled it out to write some notes, it felt a little funny, this was not ME, this little notebook did not represent who I was and for some reason in that moment , that was important. I bought a few plain ones right after that (the recycled kind), but decided to add my style sense to it. I pulled some vintage fabric, some new paper doll fabric I had purchased recently and a few other vintage embellishments. I think they are pretty cute, and much more ME! Goodbye Ed Hardy!

Happy Creating! Have a great weekend.

The blank notebooks

Artful Thursday

I've felt especially creative this week and productive. Nice to have both go hand in hand. I was really inspired by some blogs that I've been visiting these last few weeks. It's interesting how you go to one blog, then go to a blog on that person's list and then another and another. Sometimes you've traveled so far away from your original destination, you don't know how to get back. But the journey has been wonderful. It reminded me of when my husband and I went backpacking through Europe for 2 1/2 months. We had no itinerary, we just had our Eu rail pass and a backpack. We met many wonderful and interesting people along that journey as well. I'm always excited to see what my Artful Thursday friends have been up to.


This week I gravitated to things I love, first: jewelry and second: journals. I pulled out all of my jewelry stash, even some vintage jewelry I had torn apart and of course my beloved vintage buttons. I just started playing with color and ideas and came up with this:

Sorry, I don't have great tutorials like Julie, but most of these pieces are from vintage jewelry I've taken apart, vintage buttons, charms I've made (like the "pink" one), old chandelier pieces and some new things I've bought and had laying around. Dotter #1 said to me, "Mom these are so beautiful." It made my day. (I also love that they appreciate vintage too!)

I've had these journals in my mind for some time and just needed to pull out all the materials to put them together. Some things I used:

1. For the background, I used old curtain lining, that was already aged. No tea dying required!
2. I just randomly chose some old lace, dollies and trim and sewed that all on. I use clear thread so you don't see the stitches.
3.I used paper elements like the dove made from old sheet music and words cut from a old child's dictionary. These I glued on with tacky glue.
4. I used some vintage buttons, that I glued.
5. I made a flower corsage to put on each one. I ripped the vintage fabric (in this case, drapes) so that the threads hung off. I sewed a running stitch through the length of fabric and pulled to gather. I fashioned it into a flower and hand sewed it. I added a vintage button for the center. I then glued it on the journal.
6. I lastly added some tabs and cute file clips I've collected.

(okay, this is my attempt at at tutorial with no pictures :))

Happy Artful Thursday. What did you create today?


P.S. A fun idea I want to share. The dotter's loved it. I wanted to do something for them for Valentine's Day, but not candy, something heartfelt. I decided to give them heart attacks! They loved it. They asked if they could keep them up. Of course I said! I would recommend this fun idea. It doesn't have to be for Valentine's Day either. You could do it for a birthday.

Artful Thursday-A week of gifts

I've been busy this week working on my little book for Julie's swap. I have never made anything this small and was a little nervous that it would look awful. Her instructions are fabulous and I had a really fun time making it. I will definitely make more. I plan on getting them in the mail on Friday, to be to her next week. Are you ever nervous about this? It's like when you first meet people, and you feel slightly anxious, you hope they think you are fun, interesting, dare I say cool? You want to be liked. I feel that way about my little books I'm sending off. :) Hopefully, my swap friends will find them fun, interesting and cool. Here is a pic of my supplies for the little book. I think you might be able to guess my theme. I couldn't help it, I'm a romantic.

I titled this post, a week of gifts because I needed to make gifts for those special people in my life. First off, another crown. My sweet niece Madeline turned 5 and Aunt Jen had to make a crown for her. I meant to get a pic of her in it, but forgot the camera. Here's a pic for you to see:

Secondly, tonight Dotter #2 (who is in the first grade) informed me that her teacher's birthday is tomorrow and can we make a gift for her? Now her first grade teacher is an angel. We love her but thanks for the notice honey! I put my craft cap on and came up with this. It was serendipity! We think it turned out cute and Dotter #2 is very happy to take it to school tomorrow.
I just happened to have a pickle jar that I was going to wash and fill with something. It had a fun interesting shape. I also just happened to buy some chocolate covered pretzels at Costco today. I just happened to have a vinyl label that said Pretzels lying around. Like I said SERENDIPITY!

We decided the pretzels needed to a little oomph and got out the pink chocolate.
We cut out a top out of some fun vintage looking paper. It also had a little girl on it which we liked. We adhered the vinyl label and glued ric rack around the lid.

Lastly, we decided it needed what I call a "junk bow". We just take scraps of fabric, ribbon, lace, pom poms whatever scraps we have lying around. We tie them together and add a cute vintage rhinestone button. We also attach elastic so the bow can slip off easily when you open the jar.
The finished product ready to be given with smiles and hugs to her beloved teacher. And the best thing? She wanted to make something handmade for her. She knows the value of handmade...

even in the first grade.

p.s. Make sure you stop by my OWOH giveaway. Fun fairy items to be had.

Artful Thursday-Birthday Crowns

I love making crowns for friends, family and I've recently started selling them and taking orders. I was thinking.....does a crown have to have points or look like something a princess should wear? I went into my craft room, and my eyes went to a stack of vintage hats that I recently purchased. I thought....let's give it a try. I chose a pink hat with feathers, a perfect base. I looked further in my room and came up with sequins, birds, vintage hat flowers, vintage buttons, old sheet music curled and some Christmas picks I had bought on clearance. I added a Birthday Queen slogan and my crown was complete. I thought it turned out pretty cute.


I was in such a "artful" mood I decided to go for a second crown. This one I took a beaded bridal veil base I had bought at a thrift store. I built up the crown with chicken wire and added sparkly embellishments. I included crocheted flowers from a vintage doily I had pulled apart, vintage buttons, (have I told you how much I love vintage buttons?) birds (have I told you how much I love birds?) and some vintage Christmas balls I aquired some time ago. I added glitter leaves around the chicken wire for more glam. I am really pleased with the results and had a lot of fun creating.

Some of my supplies

Have I told you how much I love vintage buttons?

Happy Creating!