Happy Fourth of July

Well Happy Birthday to those of you in that little corner of Bloglandia call the United States!!! This is not a holiday in Mexico so there won't be any fire works to scare the girls and the little kids half to death. But that won't stop us from wishing you guys a Happy Celebration :)

Maybe you started the day with a bit of a parade??

I love this one is the little girl dressed to be Lady Liberty or is she dressed to be a French revolutionist??

How about a huge community picnic ?? Or maybe just a picnic in the park??

Maybe it's a huge family picnic in the back of Grandma's back yard. With crazy Aunt Venita who brought her famous pineapple upside down cake. And lets not forget Cousin Nel's green jello mold with julian carrots!!! EEUuuu oops I mean Yuuuum :)

Or maybe it's a picnic for the young folks??? Just home from the city where they are going to college?? Then a walk, a bit of poetry, good conversation, well you get the idea :)

Or did you decide a whole weekend out in nature was the perfect way to celebrate??

Nothing like hitching up the camp trailer and heading for the hills, or lake, or the mountains.

So few decision have to be made. There's no one you have to impress No top hat and tails required for dinner. One can really dress down, say only Black tie required !! :)

In fact it's a chance to let your exuberant Bohemian nature out to dance the holiday night away!! :)

Whatever you choose to do for today's celebration do exercise some caution on who you ...

This evening LW and I wish for you to have clear skies, and a most amazing pyrotechnic show!!

As for us, we are off for our "Saturday Night Date" Have a most audacious today or tonight depending on where in the world you are ;)

Of Cameras & Slides & Pink Point Shoes

Oh my gosh someone let her get close enough to the camera to play with all the buttons. Actually the truth is I have graduated to using my Kodak Easyshare software. Yes I know it's no photo shop. But then even after Nancy spent hours one afternoon tutoring me by the time I got home I had no clue how to get my picture into photo shop much less do anything with it. :( So for me right now Kodak is something I can work with and come away with all my screws intact and tight. :) I think it's way cool that when you want a B/W or sepia photo these days all you have to do is press a button. Remember when 35mm Black&White film was the only print film you could afford to buy?? Color film was so expensive the only time you used it was for weddings, christenings and 25th/50th wedding anniversary parties. Boy developing color film was also enough to force a family to eat beanie weenies for the rest of the week! :)

So what was the solution to the horrendously expensive color 35mm film?? Why slides of course. With slides you could have all the color pictures you could ever wish for. Because slides required special equipment (mechanical you know) to store them and show them the official family keeper of all things photo was the Dad. He had a special place in the hall closet where he had all the slides organized by year, event, and family vacations. Each slide sat in it's correct box in order, facing the right direction and of course right side up :)

As technology and our disposable income increased slide projectors became more hi tech. And then the screens gads they went from the white bedsheets taped to the wall to those cool portable folding roll down screens. Oh and then there was the invention of the amazing time saving slide carrousel's. No more taking a slide out of the box, holding it over the projector light to check for correct positioning, placing it into the little slide gizmo that pushed it into the projector.... "Well Holly Hell I'll be a God Da... Shhhh Papa the kids are listening, and the Reverend's hearing aids are turned up"....

Oh my gosh remember how your parents always invited all the neighbors and family over for a huge BBQ in the back yard so that they could show off the vacation pictures. Or when your grandparents came for a visit and the Christmas slides where hauled out, you know the ones where you are sitting on Santa's lap screaming bloody murder in total confusion because were you not told just this morning "Not to talk to Strangers"??

But nothing could compare nor prepare you for the most embarrassing night of your life... when the slides are dragged out with desert the night your first boyfriend comes for dinner!! :( OH MY GOD if I live through this night I'll have to run away with the circus or join a convent :)...

Jeez look at the time, I seem to really have wandered off track, or maybe I was just getting in a bit of practice for my golden years ;) It's rather sad how the advent of digital cameras were the nails that sealed the demise of all things slides. Then again I suppose it has also prevented all kinds of emotional scarring to any more generations.

In case you were wondering what's up with these ever so cool pictures that I have taken. Since I was a little girl I have always wanted a pair of point shoes. Oh not because I wanted to be a dancer, I just thought they would be so way cool to decorate my room with. Well I never managed to convince any one back then to give me a pair for Christmas. Then when Mette was little, her "I love all things ballet" phase was so short I still didn't get point shoes. A few months ago I was killing time with a walk through eBay. And guess what there was 3 pairs of well used pink point shoes listed. They looked like they had lead a long memory filled life. The opening bid was $1.99 and no one was bidding. Now how can that be, surely they deserve a bit of respect and care for all the support they provided!! SO I made that opening $1.99 bid, and 4 days later I was the new care taker of 3 pairs of well lived pink point shoes :)

One pair is now hanging on the wall in my Little Art Corner. I fill them with things I love, they make me smile when I look at them and they are great to practice my photography with and of course they do provide me with hours of play time with my Kodak Easyshare :)

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)

The Garter

I'm sure I'm not the only one in Bloglandia that keeps a blog for more then one reason. I admit that when I decided to create a blog, the main reason was to connect with that small group of artists, junk-meisters, keepers of the flame of all things vintage. That merry band of folks that get it, who think it's quite normal to bend down pick up a rusty piece of ???, stick it in your pocket, and add it to your stash, just because it's cool, and it will look great... I also tend to use my blog to keep my family and friends who are miles and miles away up in the Northern Lands caught up with our "going ons". It works swell, When there is something I want them to see I can post a picture and like magic they can see it. This is perfect these days as Mette and Joe's wedding keeps hurdling forward. She calls and says "Mom can you....." or I call and say take a look at this and let me know. In case you didn't figure it out that's what I did with the dress I bought for the wedding :) So tonight's little show and tell project is the bride's garter.

Before we go any further I'm going to warn you that I'm more then a bit nervous about this. Like me, Mette has rather strong feelings about what she likes and doesn't. She is also 27 years old and 27 or so years younger then I am. I will confess that I have a fairly good idea of what she likes and doesn't. But where I'm the junk...treasure hunter in the family she is not. Soooooooooo here is the Bride's garter (how does that song go She's a little bit___ and She's (He's) a little bit rock and roll)

I started with 1&1/2 inch white silk ribbon sewn at both the top and bottom. I added 1/4 inch silk light blue ribbon a half inch from the top, which made the casing for the elastic. Then along the bottom I added a thin piece of vintage cotton embroidered edging.

There is a small fabric store that carries the beaded, silk, embroidered materials used for Quinceanera and wedding dresses. When they mark down their bolt ends I like to buy a quarter of a meter of different pieces. Then I can use the embroidered/beaded decorations as appliques in projects. That's what the center flower is. I cut 3 of the flowers out of the lace netting holding them Stacked then together and stitched a tiny pearl bead on the edge of each petal.

In the center of the flower I created a fabric wire wrapped bead. Mette had sent me a couple of small scraps of the fabrics being used in her gown. It's those scraps that are the fabric, I used sterling silver wire and small seed pearls to wrap with. In the center of the bead is a tiny blue glass heart.

On each end of the wrapped bead I attached cream colored freshwater pearls and small blue crystals.

At the bottom edge just under the flower I hung 2 links of seed pearls and blue crystals on one I attached a heart and key milagros On the other is a small pearl and gold pendent. This was my Christmas present from my Mother the year she died.

Around the sides and back I stitched embroidered flowers and leaves that were also part of the material that the flower was from.

When I finished, I had a bride's garter without frilly lace, bows or sequins. We, Mother and Daughter are in perfect agreement in our distaste of wearing those. I did manage to use something old , something new, something blue. All that is missing is something borrowed. The pearl is hers now and maybe there will be another young woman who will incorporate a final gift of love given by her great grandmother into her wedding :)

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)

A Give Away & A Chair in Need of a Haircut ??

First let me tell you about a little give away. There is a remarkable young Bloglandian sister who lives in Puerta Vallarta (Mexico) which is about 7 hours from us on the coast of the state of Jalisco. Let me introduce you to Sara. She is a young Mexican single mom, who works full time to support herself and her daughter. Sara's mom also lives with them, so there is 3 generations of women caring, loving and supporting each other. Along with working full time Sara tries to feed her artistic soul with any free moments she can steal (sound familiar??) She also is working in her spare time (??) establishing her own translating / interpretation business.(Psst she speaks better English then I do). No small feat for any young woman up north. Here it's even harder. As I've mentioned a couple of times women here are a long way away from getting to the "glass ceiling" What that means for her is no bank is going to lend her start up money, nor is her employer going to cut her any slack in order for her to establish a foot hold. For every interpretation job she gets she has had to bust her bottom, without any referrals to get!! :)

Hmmmm you might ask just when does she have time to post on her blog Locuasia??? Well she squeezes a little time from here and there, but that's understandably sporadic. Be that as it may Sara is celebrating her 50th post with a bit of a give away!!!!!! I would like to invite you all to bop over to her blog (maybe when you finish reading mine??), leave her a huge atta boy, and sign up for her give away. When you get there take a look around her little corner of Bloglandia.

Okay now about the chair needing a hair cut. As any professional junker..er..treasure hunter knows, you never say no to an offer of free jun....treasures. A friend is having a new chair made for her living room and needed a home for the old wicker one she had. It would be the one pictured above. Of course I said yes even as I could feel LW eye roll behind me :) Gads that man has earned his wings and halo living with me!! The thing is the chair has been used a bit as a scratching toy for 3 siamese cats. There is a spot on one arm and on the top of the back that have been given a bit of "character". But it's just perfect for my girly girl room :)

That's little miss Rubi Ru checking out a bit of the wicker from the hair cut to the chair.

As you can see some places are rather narly

My plan is to give both places a nice close shearing and the use a bit of shoe dye to add back the color to the raw places. Then whip our my super secret, antiquing medium (Kiwi shoe wax) and buff a nice hand rubbed finish on it. I thought about painting it white but I really like the honey color of this wicker. I guess I I always paint it white if the shoe dye-shoe wax trick doesn't work. :)

Of course if all else really fails I can drape one of my Mum's hand made antique antimacassars on the back to cover it.

Huh have you been smelling home made Bolognese sauce while you have been here visiting??? Well your nose hasn't failed ya. Since it's still a bit cool, the clouds have the sun covered, and the humidity is still livable I threw together a big pot of sauce. LW will help me get it filled into dinner size portions that we'll freeze. Anything that keep us far away from the hot stove is a way good thing!!!

Yum a bit of pasta, fresh grated Romano and life is GOOD!

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)

I'm Hopelessly Addicted!! & A Tag

I had this all ready to post last night but Blogger had other ideas :( Every time I hit the publish post it went straight to draft. Now if you don't think that was frustrating, especially since it's still taking me twice as long to do a post. I still can't get the *%^#@ thing to scroll and drag my pictures. SO I end up posting my pictures first and last to first order before I add any text :(




It really was only a few months ago that I succumb to the siren call to putter around making jewelry. It's not that I had never, I mean I've restrung or deconstructed/reconstructed old pieces of jewelry. It's always been enjoyable but not something that could hold my interest for very long. I have a huge amount of admiration, and awe for artists that can sit down with a pile of beads, findings, and semi-precious stones to design an incredible piece of jewelry. My "Little Sis" Lulu of Coastal Sisters is so gifted and creates beautiful pieces. She is also such a wonderful friend, always encouraging and supportive when ever I post a piece I have been working on. Holly of Penniwigs is another dear Bloglandian Sister with an ETSY shop where she sells her earring designs.




With all this dabbling, I have discovered a few things about myself. I love to work with "found" pieces, and even more I love the whole process of incorporating wire wrapping. I think it's because they're such imaginative ways of telling a story. But the most awesome part is that it's not the same story for everyone. Each person that sees the story through their own perspectives, therefore it's not me telling a certain story, instead it's the observer telling it. Now when I find a broken watch, heart shaped rock, bent tarnished salt shaker, glass typewriter keys, my imagination kicks in and off I fly and can't wait make art :)




Ahhhhh but like all newbies, apprentices, and students, there are methods and concepts that my little grey cells must absorb and my hands must practice practice practice in order to bring my inspirations to life. Mixed media, repurposed, and wire wrapping as art is still a very new concept here. There is really no place I can go to ask questions or learn a concept. In fact most artists here, don't make any of their own findings much less do wire wrapping. I have set myself the task of learning to make my own ear wires, wire closures, and links. By accomplishing that my inspirations are not limited to what I can find here. :)




Months ago when I first started playing around putting pieces together I stumbled into Deryn Mentock's blog Something Sublime. She has fanned the flame of passion through her art work, support, and encouragement!! I'm afraid I'm hopelessly addicted so now all my friends and family will end up with their jewelry boxes full of my practice, practice, practice :). Her wonderful tutorials and pictures of her art pieces that have been my substitutes for classes. It has also been through her blog that I have been able to meet some extremely gifted, and helpful artists. People like Sharon of Livewire Jewelry She is so gifted at cohering wire to do the most awesome things, and so patient and supportive to me :) Oh and then there is Lynn of LLYYNN who make incredible focals of smelted pewter, along with charms and focals she calls fauxtiques!!





I can also thank these Bloglandian sisters for my addiction to Somerset's Belle Armoire Jewelry!! Along with a huge amount of new abilities to learn and hone. All LW can do is shake his head and smile whenever I've ordered 5 different gages of wire,or bought off of eBay, typewriter keys, frozen Charlotte's, and.... :) Not to mention the list of tools I've added to my birthday, Christmas wants/needs. :)





A couple of weeks ago Objects and Elements (cool cool stuff) added torn lengths of vintage saris to their website. After seeing the awesome pieces Deryn, Sharon and Lynn have make with the scraps, I really wanted to see what I could do. I don't have access to the sari pieces here. But I did have one of those import market kinda wall hangings that's made up of scrapes of sari type, middle eastern materials I picked it up at an expats yard sale. It's almost to the garbage stage of decomposing, but I was able to salvage some of the nicer silk squares.





Hmmmm maybe I can do something with the scraps and practice my wire wrapping. These earrings and bracelet is what I made. Remember when I said I was determined to learn to make my own findings?? Well no time like the present to start. I pulled up Deryn's tutorial on making ear wires, and managed to get these made, and miracle of miracles they are the same size and look alike!! :). Look down at the very bottom, see where I made a tiny curly cue??

I made 3 wrapped beads, for the bracelet, with the middle one being a bite longer. I also wrapped green glass seed beads with the wire. On the two end beads I used a coppery color bead.

Ehhmmm, now this part I'm rather proud of making.... the hook is a PW original along with all the jump rings, and the??? what do you call the wire with the eye holes that runs through the bead so that you can string them?? :) And it took only one try for the hook!! As far as the eye thingies they are needing many more practice sessions!!

So there it is my first sari/wire wrapped bead pieces. What fun they were to make and oh how they have managed to add to the craving to make more!!

My friend Sharon of Livewire Jewelry tagged me for a meme. I'm not really into the whole blog award, tag thing, but I would like to thank her for including me as one of her bloglandian sisters. Please take a minute or 5 to slip over for a visit. Oh and be sure you check out her jewelry creations. She has an ETSY shop where she sells them go have a look see :)





Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)



P.S. Cross your fingers, maybe Blogger will look kindly on me tonight.

What Hurricane??? This Hurricane!!!

This morning we woke up to the lovely sound of rain The first real rain of the season. Ahhhhhhhh a wee bit early but who's going to argue. That was to suppose to be the start of my post yesterday......

Now mind you the weather gods had predicted that we could expect to get some rain from the tropical storm moving up the coast. LW left early to head to the resort end of town. I grabbed the camera to take some pictures to post with a little tid bit about the rainy season looked to be early this year. I took pictures of lovely rain drops on my patio plants

I took a picture of our "Patio Water Feature" I thought I'd tell you how we bought a clear storage bin and a small fountain pump. Stuck it in the corner and placed the plants in front of it, in order to hide it. So that for oh less then $20.00 you can have the lovely sound of water splashing . Hmmm can you see the rain is picking up a bit it's starting to bubble in the rubberma...expensive OOAK water feature???

Oh look at that, the water is puddling up. This is going to be one nice first day rain :)

Though things were beginning to get a bit wild in a hurry especially along the sea wall

But then the wind started to pick up and the rain was really coming down in sheets. No thunder and lightening but we can get those momentary loss of powers that when it comes back on it'll curl the wires of your computer and them fry them like a BAD perm :( The four legged kids and I started around the house unplugging the desk top, and other electronic items. Just as we all squeezed into the 3 square feet around my desk, and I started to upload my patio pictures (PS the lap top was on it's battery) there was a HUGE I mean HUGE enough for everyone to try to jump in my lap BOOM!!!!!! Along with a flash of electrical light. Yikes that didn't sound good We checked around upstairs nope every thing's okay up here. Better make sure everything is where it should be downstairs. Walked into the kitchen looked out the window through the garage and "By God" the 60 ft pine tree that belongs vertically in the front yard of the house across the street is now laying horizontally across the street with it's tip pushed up against the edge of our garage gate. The tree demolished the gate across the street. Oh and see those black lines hanging ??

Those are the phone and power lines That could have been the cause of the flash of light. Ya think??

Remember how our houses are attached one to another??? See the top of the tree is not only up against our gate but also the neighbor's. Only that's not the worst of it. Look carefully that's the front grill of the neighbor's van peeking out from under the tree!!! :(

Thankfully no one was hurt, and surprisingly there wasn't horrendous damage to the van :)

Except for a bit of water that blew in under the doors, a bit of debris and sludge we came out unscathed.

LW ended up taking shelter at one of the coffee shops and then picked his way home around downed trees. portable lawn furniture and puddles that resembled the fjords of Scandinavia. He was even glad the "yellow submarine" had 4/4 :) We ended up being without power for 12 hours. But the power company worked until they got it hooked back up at 12:30 am

Some buildings did have some major damage. The first picture is a dance club right on the sea wall. What you are looking at is the fake front that was put up to cover the old building. Guess they forgot to get the hurricane rating on that stuff?? A number of the new condo/ towers built up in the resort area, didn't do well. Windows where ripped out, along with other pieces that need to stay attached to a building to be safe. I'm not sure where some of these owners were when brains were handed out, but it seems to me that if you are going to buy a condo on the beach one might wonder why there were no hurricane shutters installed. But then that's just me :)

As always Bloglandians, have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)

PS. If you are wondering why there are no pictures from our walk today, it's because there was nothing to take pictures of. This city is amazing!! Literally minutes after a big storm the city mobilizes and within 36 hours it's hard to tell there was a hurricane at all. As for the tree in the street. Because it fell in the street and virtually closed it off to traffic the city was here this morning to cut it up and open up the road. Now don't ask me when the truck will be by to pick up all the tree debris, but they'll get here.....

Hurricane What Hurricane?????

Just a fast drop and run. Yesterday's nice light morning rain blew in as a tropical 3 hurricane!!! :(

LW and I will head down to the beach with the camera. Pictures and story at the 8pm news.

Until, then have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)