Earring Addiction

Last night I went out into my cold garage (AKA "Ghetto Studio"!!) to make a COUPLE pairs of earrings.  I cranked up the heater (it's freezing here in Kentucky!!) and got going...but once I started, I couldn't seem to stop!!  These were hand-cut and weathered front and back.  Patina was added to the edges...my favorites for the evening!

I never seem to tire of this bright blue pattern....it makes me happy every time!  The bright blue beads are striking!

I recently came upon a beautiful Asian-inspired tin with two pretty geisha girls on it...and I was so taken with the patterns in their kimonos!  I knew when I saw them that I couldn't WAIT to get my shears on that tin!

Ahhh...my little "rebel" earrings of the evening!  These were cut from the bottom boarder of a vintage tea tin and beaten into submission (and this shape!!) with a hammer.  Boy, it felt good after a looonnnng day at work to take a hammer and beat something!!! LOL!  I love the gritty feel of these paired with the soft muted colors.  The dark spots came about when paint chipped off and patina was added.

Sweet earrings with the petite floral tin pieces free floating against brass rectangles.  I love the yellow beads, too!!! VISIT ME AT THEMADCUTTER.ETSY.COM AND ENJOY 20% OFF OF ANYTHING IN THE STORE UNTIL DEC. 3!!  ANY PIECE WILL COME WHIMSICALLY PACKAGED READY TO GIVE...OR SAVOR FOR YOURSELF!!

Cozy Hearts

I have PILES of sweaters in my spare bathroom tub....I'm not kidding!!  It's one of those "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" kind of thing....except there's no wizard and it's a shower curtain!!  I've been playing around with ideas of things I want to do with them....so stay tuned!  I think it's the colors that grab me...so soft and almost ice cream-like!  I'm obsessed with hearts--you all know that--so I just started cutting some out of the sweaters and finding sweet buttons that resembled flowers.  After stitching them and slightly stuffing them, what I have are some pretty pendants waiting on some ball chains.  It's just one more way to cope with the onset of winter!!!  HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!

Sew....EXCITED!!!

Yesterday I grabbed my mail, threw it in my back seat, and headed back to work for a night of team building activities....arrived home around 9:30 and decided to weed through the stack when my eyes fell upon THIS!  I had to read this FOUR TIMES before it sunk in that I was actually IN THIS MAGAZINE!!  About a year ago I had submitted my stitched hearts to Sew Somerset....never thinking I would make it in.  In fact, I had totally forgotten about sending them!!!

Like all of the other Stampington magazines, Sew Somerset is the bomb!  It has always been a dream of mine to be ANY of their fab publications!!

I'm toward the end...back in the "Gallery" section, which is FINE WITH ME!!  To be anywhere in the magazine is an honor--I'm not picky!!  I don't believe this has been released yet (the winter edition), but I'm anxious for it to hit the news stands!  My stitched hearts are 20% off in my store right now, too!  Head over to themadcutter.etsy.com!!

An Angel For Haiti

Last night I participated in our town's Gallery Hop celebration and had the time of my life!!  I'd like to say that I sold a bunch of things, but not so.  No worries...money is not everything.  Sometimes the joy of meeting a fellow artisan and being in their company is worth more than its weight in gold!  Such was the case last night when I was blessed to be stationed right next to Yolantha Pace....a woman I recognized from out and about town, but had never formally met.  I had no idea she is an artist...nor did I know she is an angel here on earth!!  I was so intrigued by her story about her wonderful dolls...of course I had to have one!

It seems that Yolantha was in Haiti before the horrible earthquake in Port-au-Prince and was playing with some local children.  After she left, the earthquake hit and all of those children were killed.  She said she was shattered....couldn't sleep at all.  One night she was having a particularly hard time and got up.  God gave her a vision to create dolls in the images of some of the children and she began sewing.  The dolls spoke clearly to me...I just fell in love!!  The money for the dolls will be for Haiti as she travels there this next week.  She will be in my prayers on her journey.  She truly is "Haiti's Angel" in my humble opinion!  If you, too, are in love with these dolls contact me and I will make sure she gets your contact information!

The doll in the middle with the wild abandon hair and the big heart was the one I chose....who could pass her up???  I hardly ever go for anything predictable and when I got a load of her braids, cute smirk and her Big-As-Texas heart, I had to make her my own!!!

The Feel of An Old Book....

If your eyes are gazing upon this picture and you have let a little "Ahhhh" fall from your lips, then you and I are from the same era!!  What young girl back in the day didn't love Nancy Drew???  Wasn't she the coolest super sleuth EVER???!!!  I can't tell you how many of these I read, but I do know I couldn't put them down!  My cousin had the whole collection and when I went to her house I would sit at her bookcase for what seemed like hours looking at the covers.  We didn't quite have the money for wonderful luxuries...many of mine came from the library.  When I started making vintage book journals I gravitated to Nancy Drew books.  It gives me a chance to relive those wonderfully stretched out summer days with nothing to worry about except whether Nancy would solve the mystery!!

I loved the cover of this one because of two things:  Yep....you guessed it....that cool yellow dress AND the neat dragon fireworks!  My eyes STILL dance around the cover to this day!!

Ooohhhhh.....Nancy has the intense "Am I going to pull this off??" face going on here!!  And who doesn't like the circus performers??  As I look at these covers today I see just how yummy the colors were, too.  I'm headed off to the gallery hop in our tiny town tomorrow night hoping to sell every last one of these book journals to women who loved these books as much as me!  For other book journals, visit me at piecespassed.etsy.com.  I'll be adding lots more over the next few weeks.  By the way...what was YOUR favorite Nancy Drew book????