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!

Where Bloggers Create 2013 - Part One

once again I am taking part in the lovely

Karen Valentine's

Where Bloggers Create

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

Where Bloggers Create 2012

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

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

Vintage Cowgirl Jewelry

and 

Cuffs

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

visit lola's etsy shoppe to see these and more