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Just a quick note as I finish packing for my trip to Phoenix tomorrow.
Had some great luck last week at 2 different antique stores last week. Beautiful millinery, mother of pearl buckles, an old journal and an itty bitty baby doll.
Looking forward to being with Diane tomorrow and meeting new faces at the class (there is still room if you'd like to join us!).
I'll be back on Monday! Have a fun weekend.
Magical things happen when friends gather, challenge and inspire each other. Many of you may remember that I spent a wonderful time with Teresa, Pam, Charlotte,Rebecca, and Amy in California after CHA. We spent much time laughing, sharing and simply enjoying each other. Something magical has been born out of our trip and we are this close to telling you about it. So, so excited.
One of the things that I love about this blog world of ours is how it connects people and brings artists together. I am absolutely delighted to introduce you to my newest friend, Tammy Fischer.
Over the past 2 years (starting with my first purchase from my friend Kelly Jacobs) I have become a huge fan of jewelry made from vintage bits and bobs. As soon as I saw Tammy's offerings in her etsy shop French Kiss I knew that she was someone whose work I could get behind and support - not to mention enjoy immensely. After a flurry of emails, we quickly decided to engage in an art swap. No sooner had we agreed to said swap, then Tammy had a houseful of guests, followed quickly by the unfortunate passing of her beloved cat...so as would be expected, our swap took a little longer than we thought to complete. Poor Tammy is still beating herself up about it (see her post)...silly girl! I think I've finally convinced her that it's OK :-)
This week I received my package from her, and I want to tell you, if you're looking for a wonderful gift with PERFECT presentation and packaging, indeed Tammy's shop is the one to visit! The care and detail that goes into the presentation is unlike anything I've ever seen. Absolutely top notch! Tammy has done an excellent job in showing lots of photos on her blog. So considering that my lighting wasn't very good today, I'll let you visit her blog to see it all. Seriously, I'm now so embarrassed for her to open my box. I begged her to just imagine as she opens the box I sent to her that bubble wrap is a highly covitable vintage accessory - ha!
Without further ado, here is the necklace Tammy made for me. I know you'll love it as much as I do. In the photo, the stones that look slightly orange-ish are actually a fuchsia color...It's so beautiful. Tammy did an excellent job of taking my list of what I liked in a necklace and what I didn't and translating it into a necklace that didn't need one single edit. Be sure to stop by her blog and tell her that I sent you over!
Here is the 'official' description from Tammy for those of you who love jewelry design:
Four different styles of old-ish chain are layered together. A vintage religious medal serves as the pendant. The medal is attached to a vintage pink glass connector piece. The connector is then attached to the first style of chain. On one side a rhinestone rondelle is sandwiched between two faceted sapphires. These sapphires connect to a vintage rhinestone chain which leads back to the clasp. On the other side another rhinestone rondelle is sandwiched between a faceted ruby quartz and an organic shaped champagne freshwater pearl. The quartz and pearl are connected to more chain which also leads to the clasp. The second style of chain is a silvertone color and is broken up by a large faceted blue agate on one side and a vintage rhinestone bead ball on the other side. The third and fourth style of chain are connected by lengths of vintage mother of pearl rosary on each side. A vintage rhinestone clasp (it looks like marcasite in the photo but it really is rhinestone) is connected to all of these pieces by champagne freshwater pearl and tiny faceted iolite. The shortest layer measures about 25" long and the other two waterfall down from there.
Tammy also sent some of her popular 'Loop-d-Hoop' earrings which I'll photograph and post sometime next week.
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I look forward to teaching at the Precious Memories scrap booking event in Langley tomorrow. (BTW, if you're local, you will want to check out their new store. I went in for a moment today. It's so bright, airy and beautiful. Well done!) If you're coming to the weekend, I'll see you in class!
Do you ever download photos from you camera and feel your breath hitch because you captured a moment so precious that it takes your breath away?
This past weekend my side of the family celebrated Rick's birthday combined with my nephew Daniel's birthday. Rick's celebration was a few months late (poor guy! trying to get the whole family together with everyone's schedule is crazy hard), and Daniel's was a week early. As you can imagine with Rick being a police officer, he is the hero of our nephews. They mimic him, ask him for police stories and are pretty much always pretending that they're police just like Uncle Rick. At one point during the evening Daniel asked to pose for birthday photos (he loves to see himself on the screen of the digital camera) after I did a few with him, I asked him if he wanted a special photo with anyone else...well surprise, surprise, he wanted a photo with Uncle Rick. The two of them fooled around a bit as I was snapping away, and I discovered as I downloaded the imaged today, this gem. It's horribly out of focus, it's in no way a good photo, but I feel it - it really speaks to me of the relationship Rick has with Daniel.
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If you'll remember a few posts back, I talked about inspiration and how I've been feeling so inspired lately, so I thought I'd share a purchase I made which has been inspiring me.
Laurie Meseroll is an artist who specializes in folk art pieces. I first discovered her work in the home of my friend Sally, and I was instantly enamored. It became a goal of mine to purchase a piece or two for my own home. A few weeks ago the site that sells Laurie's pieces, Earth Angel Toys, had a sale, so I finally began my collection. I plan to hang the painting in my studio at some point. For now it's in my kitchen.
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Before I leave, I need to let you know whose name I drew for the stamp giveaway. KIM HARTER you're the lucky winner! I'll be sending you an email for your address as soon as I've finished this post.
Have a great day everyone!
I am beyond thrilled to announce that I will be celebrating National Scrapbooking Day with a class at MELROSE VINTAGE in Phoenix, AZ Phone: (602) 636-0300 on May 3rd. Diane the lovely owner of Melrose Vintage and I have talked for three years about having me come do a class. Three years people!! The stars have finally aligned and we've done it. My ticket's booked, the sample's made and we're set to go. All that's needed is some of you delightful people to come spend the evening with us.
If you've never been to Melrose Vintage you're in for a treat. I can honestly say that I have never been in a store like it before. It's inspiration on hyper drive. Imagine the home you'd like to have, full of Shabby Chic furniture, beautiful crystal chandeliers and vignettes that inspire you to accessorize and style your own home. But wait, then you round a corner and behold, a carefully selected assortment of scrapbooking products is also available. Specializing in shabby chic and vintage products, Melrose Vintage's scrapbooking department is a hidden jewel for those who adore romantic, vintage style. Can you tell that I love this store?!! I'm sure you'll find it as wonderful as I do.
I invite you to join me on Saturday May 3rd from 6:30 - 9:30PM. We will have the store to ourselves and Diane will host us in perfect style. Our class? Designed specifically for those who love vintage shabby,the 'Glittery Memory Board' class is a delight. We'll be working with gesso, acrylic paint, scrapbooking papers, a charcoal pencil, luscious ribbons, German glass glitter, vintage ledger and book pages, a set of classic brocade acrylic stamps and crepe paper. You will learn background collage techniques in addition to 2 different ways to create those popular rosettes that are used frequently in shabby chic projects. Each student will have the choice between completing the project in two different color schemes; soft and pastel, or bold and vintage. Your finished project will be a home decor piece that will look beautiful hung on a wall or door. For those of you who are local, Diane has the class sample in the store if you'd like to check it out!
To register please call Melrose Vintage at (602) 636.0300. Class cost is $65
I can't tell you how excited I am about this. Let me know if you're coming...I can't wait to see you!
To close out the week in grand style, here is a wee giveaway from me to one of you! Leave a comment to be entered in a draw for these two rubber stamps. As I will pay for shipping, giveaway is open to those in Canada or the USA (thanks for your understanding). Giveaway will be open until 10AM on Tuesday morning. (April 22) Good Luck!
Every time I post, I must apologize for the break between this post and the last. I don't mean to ignore blogging, and I so appreciate being able to connect with each of you, things just happen, life happens and I fall behind. Today I spent a bit of time thinking about my goals and dreams and decided that if I'm going to blog, I need to be consistent. Both for you, my friends, and for myself. Thanks to those of you who keep checking in to see if I've updated and for those who've touched base via email.
So what have I been up to since I last wrote to you? The end of March saw me in Boston for a trade show. The day before I left my sweet friend Amy Goldstein called me and upon hearing that I would be in Boston promptly told me to hang up and try to get my return ticket changed so that I could drive to New York to visit her. Long story short, I was able to change my ticket when I checked in for my departing flight the next day.
While in Boston I had the opportunity to teach a class at Right at Home scrapbooking. What a fabulous store with such lovely owners. I really enjoyed getting to know each student - you were each so sweet. I hope everyone had fun and I look forward to coming again.
One of the highlights for the show for me was rooming with Kah Mei the delightful owner of Fontwerks. We live somewhat locally to each other, but rarely meet outside of trade events in other cities. Once we realized that we'd both be going to the trade show, we decided to cut costs by rooming together. It was nice to have the opportunity to spend time together and grow our friendship.
After Boston it was off to New York to visit Amy and her family. While we've been online friends for a few years and I've met her at industry functions, I'd never been to her house. Amy was beyond gracious as a hostess and the visit was wonderful. While we talked some scrapbooking, the focus of the trip was on photography. I seem to have a tradition of buying Amy's old cameras from her, and I just recently bought a 20D canon camera from her (updating from the 10D that I've had for a few years). Amy walked me through the camera and settings and challenged me to become less dependant on auto settings and more confident in exploring manual settings. On my last day, Amy and I went into New York city for the day. What a blast! I'd never been so it was an absolute treat. At the beginning of the day we stopped at J&R camera's and I bought a new lens, then we set out to see the sights. Ground Zero, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Tinsel Trading Co...There is no way to see it all in one day, but I was thrilled to see any of it as New York was a last minute thing for me. HUGE thank you to Amy, her family (who let me play with her for a few days), and my colleagues who gave me a few extra days to get some work done so that I could enjoy being a tourist.
Upon my return home, life has been a mix of work, artistic challenges and fun. Lots of stuff going on with designing classes and new products....we also recently added five new girls to the Melissa Frances Design Team. They are each so gifted and we're excited to see what they'll do with our line. Check it out here. For fun, Rick and I have enjoyed some rollicking game nights with our friends and we also went to see 'Mama Mia' last weekend with my parents. As for artistic challenges, you'll have to sit tight to get more details. All I can say is that I have amazing friends and they are each SO inspiring.
I think that will close out my novella for tonight. Be sure to check back in tomorrow as I will be posting a blog giveaway over the weekend!
Have a great night, and thanks for sticking with me throughout the dry posting spell :-)
