Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Inspiration....

can i just say i LOVE pinterest
all that visual inspiration from so many photos

it feeds my soul...

it fuels my creating...

it's just plain inspiration at one click...

once i saw this photo of a vintage ziegfeld follies gal
i just knew she was going to be a future piece of lola jewelry

i love her feather headress
and her pretty face


venturing outside the box of my usual necklaces and cuffs
i decided i wanted her to grace a new addition to the lola line of jewelry
belt jewelry that is
yes, she ended up in a belt buckle surrounded by turquoise nuggets
i love the way she turned out
ice resin will be poured inside the bezel to finish this piece


another example of where i took my inspiration
i'm loving playing with the turquoise color
it adds to the new cowgirl collection i have been doing
for this necklace i used some vintage silver ball beads i had saved for something special


and then inspiration just took off with all of these....


thank you pinterest
for my daily dose of inspiration
and mindless hours spent wasting time
but so worth it!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Where Bloggers Create 2013 - Part One

once again I am taking part in the lovely

you may recall me saying last year
that I would be moving my studio to a "much larger" space in my home
as you can see from last year's post
I was in a teeny tiny room
10' X 10"
every time I turned my chair around
I felt like I was going to run into something behind me

it...just...wasn't...working...anymore...

here is a little snippet of one of the corners in the "previous" space


and here is a photo of the space
all...cleared...out...


and this is a picture of the room on the main level of my home
that I claimed as my "new" studio space


after painting the new room a wonderful shade of aqua
I then went about the task of sorting through everything from the other room
and finding a spot for all the items

it...was...not...easy...


this is more like it
i call this the "creative" corner of the room

this is where I spend most of my time
coming up with new jewelry creations
and soldering until the wee hours of the morning
(this is when I'm most productive)


I had an extra globe that I made into a pendant light above my work area


and to say I went a little map crazy
would be putting it mildly
let's just say I had a wonderful vintage atlas book
with all these maps in wonderful colors

they lined the back of this huge bookshelf...


and the ends of these magazine file covers...


and the top of this cool desktop caddy...


I must always remember that when I am in my studio
to always leave time to play...

  
another pretty corner of the room...


here is the massive bookshelf
which holds many jars full of my jewelry bits and bobs
and yes, I did spray paint every single jar lid the lovely shade of aqua...


I love that the ceilings in this room are 10 feet high
this allows me to fill the room to the brim


love this sweet pooch


and some of my doll collection...


another sweet doll I found at the irvine flea market

  
there is a curtain closing off that doorway for a reason
to hide the "not so pretty" closet that I haven't painted yet
luckily I had lots of the aqua chenille fabric to use for three curtain panels!


another corner
I love the aqua lockers that a friend wanted to get rid of
didn't take me long to say "I'll take them!"


and then there is this gorgeous prom dress that I just love
thank you kathy for thinking of me and my aqua obsession
when you wanted to sell her


I have a bit of a lantern obsession too
they make me happy


yep...my studio is my "happy place"


I told you I have a lantern obsession...


I couldn't pass these sweet vintage lanterns by
when I happened to spot them on etsy


you might have noticed that all the photos have a certain "filtered" look
these photos were all taken on my iphone with instagram
I am a fan of the "earlybird" filter

thanks for coming by and
stay tuned for Part Two on Saturday...

and if you have a few hours to kill
you might want to head over to check out all the other blogs
who are participating in the party

Where Bloggers Create 2013

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Vintage Cowgirls

i came across some images of some vintage western cowgirls
and just knew i wanted to create some pieces with them

i also found a listing on ebay for hair on hide cowhide pieces
when i received them in the mail there was not only cow hides
but also some zebra ones

these are some of the collaborations of the two together
i love the way they turned out









and these next few are not the vintage cowgirls
but these images suited the hides i sewed them onto


this is one of the zebra hides i was talking about


and another 


love this lady on the moon


and this cirque du soliel inspired one


these are some boot pendant necklaces which have the images in them as well


this image is one of my favorite with the hearts on the horses harness


if you love any of these
head on over to my etsy shoppe and click on
and 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Playing with Ice Resin

lately i have been working with ice resin
i love being able to incorporate the resin into bezels for cuffs and necklaces

recently i had etched a lot of metal
and wanted to make some cuffs and focal pieces for necklaces

first i cut the metal up for these cuffs
and whatever metal was left over i used for the necklaces

vintage sheet music covers became the background to these cuffs and
some vintage metal bits and bobs as well as religious medals
became the centerpieces for these beauties

ice resin was poured over them to seal everything in to last for years to come
a little bit of random soldering on the cuff band and around the bezel
created this "vintage" look







some handmade copper links were used to create these necklaces





i love the endless capabilities when using ice resin
can't wait to come up with some new designs with this awesome product