Ideas and doings ...

Well, we are certainly getting to the pointy end of the Uni semester - just 3 studio weeks left to go and still several projects to get off the drawing board and printed up! Yikes. Despite all that though I have been having fun with my friend Audrey Harnett organising a 'pop-up shop' that we plan to have in December. It is funny how ideas are born you know - sometimes they come as a great crash and sometimes as a gentle melding of experiences and circumstances. Audrey spent some time in Paris earlier this year and was just smitten with all the vintage gorgeousness she found there. Then she discovered an old postcard in a second-hand store, that "Girty" had written to "Ethel", wishing her a very Merry Christmas. An idea was taking shape - we could be Ethel and Girty and have a Christmas sale featuring not just our jewellery but other vintagy handcrafted wares we have both been longing to make! Of course we plan to have Bubbles in tea cups and cup cakes too - a tea party of sorts really! First step has been to make an invite - and here it is ...

So if you happen to be around our way on the 10th Dec. do drop in! Now to get making ...

Spring is in the air ...

It all started with the purchase of just one more piece of vintage fabric from the oppie. A harmless enough activity you might think but it led to a full scale tip-everything-out-of-the-cupboard-and-start-over session. My poor fabric cupboard had gotten so untidy that bits fell out when I opened it and everything was either hiding or MIA because I could never find what I wanted. The time had come for a full-on attack and I have to admit folks, I was ruthless! I kept only the materials that I really loved and sorted and folded for a couple of hours!

Can you see my dog in the background? He didn't seem all that impressed with my efforts but I am sure all you fabric hounds appreciate the effort and trauma involved in this kind of overhaul!

Piles stacked up, awaiting classification ..

... I tried hard to only keep the really nice pieces!

Here is the result of the final sorting - labelled crates that stack into my cupboard. I have to admit that it is not as much fun as looking at stacks of fabric piled up on the shelves but at least it isn't all falling out of the cupboard to greet me every time I open the door!

... and the folded fabrics still look pretty nestled in their crates - and a whole lot more managable!

Has Spring Clean Fever hit your household this year?

First pieces for 2011

So I have gotten the New Year off to a flying start! Could be that I know I am going to be away from my workspace for a week ... whatever the motivation, I have made 2 new pieces of jewellery on the very first day of the year.

This piece I have decided to keep for ME! I can't seem to get a decent photo of it though so you will just have to imagine that when I put it on I go from regular scraggy-Sue neck to giselle-like Uma Thurman neck. At least that is how it makes me feel when I wear it which is what really counts huh?!

It is made from a pewter tankard, a brass planter and sterling silver.

I polished the pewter and the brass using emery paper then my trusty Dremel and then 2 grades of steel-wool. In real life this accentuates the contrast between the pewter and the brass.

I cut a weeny disc out of some pewter and stamped it with date and name so that it would be a bit commemorative. The second piece I made is completely different - it has a gorgeous vintage feel.

I made the central component by sandwiching a piece of lace doiley between a glass pebble and a piece of copper. The key is an old one I found in my father-in-laws workshop.

Other bits include some stacked mother-of-pearl buttons, a large crystal and some chandelier crystals. Oh and some freshwater pearls for scrumminess. The chain is courtesy of a recent trip to Spotlight - yikes they had a lot of stuff on special and I couldn't resist. So that is me started for the year - can I keep it up I wonder? Probably not once the realities of family life, Uni and so forth sets in, so I shall bask in my productive warmth whilst I can!

Decor 101 ( not! )

Ever have those days when you need to revamp a room TODAY - no matter what - it just can't wait? Yes, yes of course you do, so you will have no problem understanding that the revamp bug bit me today and well, there is just no going back once you start is there? My real dilemma was that I needed a lampshade. There is nowhere near me that sells lampshades that I can afford or like enough to put in my home so naturally I turned to the oppie. Always a good alternative I think but it was soooo cold today - I really wasn't keen to go out - but you know the bug had bit and I had an itch to scratch so off I went. I jumped in the trusty vehicle, cranked the heater and set forth. When I got to the store, the wind was obviously blowing in from the Arctic as my teeth nearly fell out of my head when I breathed in - truly - I am not exaggerating here! (maybe a little). So the only lampshade available was for a kids room but I was undeterred - I just couldn't face going on a hunt so I quickly parted with my two bucks and scurried home before I froze. I figured I would just work a little lampshade alchemy - how hard can it be I thought? Well, it is trickier than it looks so I thought I would share my adventure with you ...

Cute as Winnie is, this wasn't quite the look I was going for.

A quick coat of white paint (I only had some ceiling white so we will see how that goes!)

Big tip - wait for the paint to dry before you wrap the baking paper around the shade to make a pattern - so impatient! It took more than one go to get the right shape - and I had to join the baking paper which does in fact REPEL sticky tape - it got a little messy.

The fabric I chose out of the cupboard still had its label - love the idea of "no iron" but I ironed anyway - it had a 25 year old crease in it - boy it was stubborn!

A proper sewer might even have pinned the pattern to the fabric when they were cutting it out - meh!

Ok, so if I had pinned and cut accurately the edges would have been neater ... I fired up the hot-glue gun and stuck the fabric to the shade around the edges and hoped for the best.

Next, a bit of a rummage in the ribbon/braid department .

Hot glue again - braid and ric-rac covering up the unsewn, dodgy edges. Y'know hot-glue guns are great tools but what is the deal with all that stringy crap that seems to get on everything?

 Ta-Da!! Here 'tis on its rather dull base ( maybe I should paint it red?) - looking quite spiffy.

And in situ. It doesn't sit as snugly over the shade as it should and sadly Winnie is still a visible silhouette when the lamp is on but I satisfied the urge to redecorate, it cost me $2 and no doubt I will be better at it next time! Fortunately I have acres of that fabric if I want to make a better one but for the time being I am pretty satisfied - besides, I have run out of glue sticks!