December sunset

 Hi guys! Just a couple pics. The Christmas season finds me busy. I have let some things go by the wayside and actually accomplished some things off my mental "things to do" list.

Last night I took a minute and grabbed a couple shots of the sunset..so pretty! So here I go sliding into Christmas and I am looking forward to the new year! Merry Christmas to all! Julia

New Projects Upcycled metal Santos crowns

Hi guys!  have finally moved on to some new projects. I have had these crowns rattling around in my brain for EVER. I try to sleep at night and my brain goes into crown design mode. I FINALLY got a few made..and many more to get out of my head and into reality!

 I make these with old and new metal, old and new rhinestone bits and pearly beads and German glass glitter.

Some also have vintage chandelier prism bits as the back of this one does.

 I am inspired by vintage and antique Santos crowns. Santos crowns are the ones that were worn by the saint statues or "santos" in older Catholic churches. I think this one is my fav of the 3.

 Mine are worn by one of my vintage doll heads. By the way I went vintage hunting this week and got a boxful of old creepy composition dolls that are going to be making their way into my Etsy vintage shop. My kids would say "creepy" but I think they are pretty cool...ok..a couple are a bit creepy! LOL. They are all tragically damaged in some way and I plan to.. erm..behead them. If they were in good shape I certainly would NOT do that! Some are missing an arm or leg..there is crackled paint and a couple cracked noggins..time for them to be upcycled into wonderfulness! (What are you doing today Julia? Ohh..beheading dolls and amputating limbs!) Never a dull moment in my life...I hope the dolly Criminals Minds crew doesn't show up!

 This was the first one I made..It took me days to figure out how to make those little metal flowers on top!

I love bling. This is why I am tired in the morning..I toss and turn at night designing things in my head! More to come..but first I need to get my tree up and Christmas baking done! 'Til next time! Julia

Bottle brush trees and upcycled vintage jewelry

 Hi guys! Just a few pix..I am still knee deep in bottle brush trees..making, selling and relisting. This last batch had a few aqua blue ones..pretty!

 I made a bunch to fill in what sold and also to take some uptown to my booth...a lady came in a few days ago and bought every one I had in there!

Mini sugarplum forest! I was up til midnight working on these so the lighting is not the best!

 I also made a few necklaces for my booth. These are made from vintage tin doll spoons or ice cream parlor spoons..I think they were used before the disposable wooden ones?? I ran across a bunch this summer and thought they would be great for upcycling.

I also love the old patina on these. I took these to my booth..I am a bit cautious about listing them on Etsy...there is just SO MUCH JEWELRY on there..I used vintage chandelier buttons, rusty mini keys, new charms and rhinestones..I love the bling! I priced them $20 so if you see one you want, message me in my Etsy shop and I will go fetch it if it is still available and list it for you! There is Queen Bee, Junk Diva(key), Go Big, Sing (bird charm), Bless Your (heart charm) Roar (I was having a Katy Perry moment..better to roar than dream!) and one that says Loved with a heart charm. I am clearing the decks a bit from the Christmas things and moving into stuff I had had on the back burner for awhile. Stop back and see what I have been up to! Til next time! Julia

Upcycled tart tin ornaments, bottle brush trees and vintage goodies

 Hi guys! I'm sharing what I have been working on lately.

 I made these for a custom order for a store.

 (but if she decides she has enough already they will be available shortly)

 I make these with vintage tart tins..

 Vintage lighting bits..

and vintage chandelier prisms.

 They have antique prayer card images..

 and German glass glitter..

 Some have additional pearls or beads..

 Each is a bit different!

 I also add text "tiles" to most ..I leave a few plain as not everyone is into text as much as I am!

 LOL..my camera skills are lacking..I swear they are in focus when I take them!

 Mostly these are Madonna and child images, a few just Jesus.

 The "icon" style images work well with the ornate look of the metals.

 I also have been hip deep in bristle brush trees! I made a slew of them. (Note the gold frame and the ornaments are finds from last weekend that are now a photo prop! LOVE that frame!)

 I generally do them in pinks, aqua greens and cream..

There is glitter and mica EVERYWHERE. It gets on the floor in my studio and then on my socks and then throughout the house! I see it crop up on the pups and my husband and son...I don't want to know how much I have drank in my coffee! lol

 I also got these last weekend..vintage hand cut tincan Christmas trees, stars/snowflakes and an angel..I may have squealed with delight a bit!

 Some I listed, some I saved for patterns and further "upcycling".

I also got a bag of old tutus..this is my fav. Not all were pink..some were more "jazzy". This one is in my Etsy shop, the rest went to my local booth. I have one more pink one with what appears to be a Coca-Cola stain down the front that I am going to attempt to either remove (or just tea stain the whole shebang). I survived Thanksgiving..just the 5 of us as our 2 older kids are out of state..on the up side, I didn't have to "company clean"..just cook! Hope you had a great turkey day. Count your blessings! Til next time, Julia

Views around the studio and rolled roses

 Hi guys! Just a couple pix from the studio. These are some antique bisque dolls and doll heads I have been fiddling with lately. More to come on that later..

 This is some of my storage. I use these vintage suitcases to hold mostly vintage papers. I hoisted one more white one full of maps on top after these pics!

 I used my Target $1 stickers! These pics are not the best, I was taking them at night.

 This is the cabinet Ed and I wrestled in last week. It is 5 1/2 foot tall. The front doors are glass and someone dabbed taupe paint on the inside..not my taste, but I am pretty lazy so I may just add some vintage wallpaper behind to peek through the haze! This may also get painted at some point..

 ..not the inside though as that would be a nightmare! I hate getting paint all over my knuckles and the only way this would get painted inside would be a spray painter..and as I am not planning on moving it again..this is how it is going to be! (I might paint the edges..after it gets filled with my vintage cigar boxes, that is all you'll see anyways!The fab cubbies run all the way to the floor!

On of my vintage cigar boxes. I was going to make a purse out of this at one time and glued the graphics on sideways in relation to the clasp..so now it is a storage box!

 I got volunteered to do a "craft project" at our church ladies group tonight. "But nothing too hard". Yikes. I figured I'd show them rolled roses as they are pretty easy and have infinite variations and uses. Here are some spirals I cut from book pages, map paper, card stock, magazines pages..I also used sheet music. Instructions for these are all over the internet. I did a warm and natural version here in  Sept. of 2013 if you want to see a tutorial. (I don't know how to link old posts!)

 You can also scallop the edges for a more "petaled" look.

 I wanted to just give the ladies the basic idea and let them run with it.

 The solid ones look great with patterned leaves. I am showing 3 options here. These would make a cute magnet singly, or massed on a wreath form for a fab wreath. Or if you don't have that much of an attention span, cut a cardboard ring about the size of a CD and an inch or 2 wide, wrap with yarn (lace, paper strips, GLITTER, whatever) and add only a couple blooms for a mini wreath. It doesn't even have to be round..a square or oval would be cool too. Add a photo behind and it is a mini frame!

 This is dyed coffee filters..same technique, I just used 2 spirals..one for the center and added another and kept going to make it a bigger bloom (use hot glue) I scalloped the edges before rolling to make it more "petal-ly".

You can also use felt. This is warm and natural, but I think a felted shrunken wool sweater would make a fab large one for a pillow front (I'd tack with thread instead of glue-ing there) So many options! Old Christmas cards is another great thing to use. I prefer to use double sided paper, but you could color or watercolor tint the back of the card front (or not) The side you roll to the inside of the roll shows up the most. So look around and get rolling! Ed and I went vintage hunting this weekend and got some goodies I'll be sharing next..so much fun! Stop back! 'Til then! Julia

Fall colors Fall sunset

 Hi guys! The fall colors are peaking here in East TN.

 Some tree varieties have already peaked. Today was the oaks turn.

 I love standing under a tree in its peak colors in the bright sun and looking up.

 The sun filters through the leaves and it is just breath taking.

 Plus it is a different perspective..sort of like laying on your back and looking up a lighted Christmas tree!

 These are in my drive way..easy just to drive right past every day, but some days you really need to just take a minute and take a closer look! I have seen some spectacular trees around town that if they were in my yard, I would have a lawn chair camped out under them and just be sitting there staring upward.

 They really are gone in the blink of an eye, I'm glad I got out there to take a closer look.

 My son pointed this sunset out to me  last night. Tennessee is very hilly were we live so we don't usually have the consistent spectacular sunsets that I grew up with in SD, but there are some good ones.

 South Dakota is pretty flat where I grew up so the sunsets are huge..here the sun sort of slips behind a hill and then it still takes awhile before sunset.

But today was a day to take a minute and appreciate  what was right in front of my face. Hope you do the same...have a great day! Til next time! Julia