Time To Put The Old Girl Out Of Her Misery!!

Remember, last month that LW brought home a new ever so beautiful Dell laptop

to replace the old one I was using???

Well that was the game plan but that's not exactly what happened. When LW got home with my new red laptop, was at the same time the big old desk top

 decided it was her time to go to Computer Heaven ;(  Luckily my Litl' Sparky always has the computers backed up and saves all the CDs for programs he has installed. So after he had my laptop moved over to the new one he deinstalled my info, and installed the bulging at the seams info from the desk top.

 

Then for the second time in one month we ordered a new Dell laptop, to be delivered to my son's address. So I guess you know what I will be bringing home. Ah but the good news in all this (if there could be some) is that we ordered this one with enough lead time, that I was able to have the most beautimous artzy fartzy top you have ever laid eyes on!!!!! I promise to post pictures as soon as I get it!! :)

All that was left was to baby the old lap top along for the rest of the month so she didn't have an early demise. I think it worked because today is the day I (that's Rubi&I) will be leaving on a jetplane for the great Northlands. And I have to tell you I'm more then excited to be seeing all my kids in the same place at the same time. Best of all I will have a whole week to play and spoil my beautiful grandson!!! YEAH!!!!!Ahhhh but on the other hand I'm a very sad girl. LW and I have only been apart once before in the 5years we have been soulmates. :( Neither one of us are handling this seperation all that well.

We truly have become:Two souls with but a single thought. Two hearts that beat as one.

Since I will be without a pooter and have limited access to the internet, I can't promise I will be able to post. But know that I will keep all my bloglandian kindred spirits in my thoughts, and look forward to a long visit when I get home!! :) Until then, please have a most audacious art filled day no matter where you are in the

world   p;)

A Vestita for Doc K.C.

I decided it might be fun to enter a vestita in a challenge. We were to reconstruct a new article of clothing from a secondhand one. At one time or another we inherited an old brown Pendleton wool shirt. I thought it might be perfect to use for a vestita.

The first thing I did was wash and dry on hi heat this 100% wool shirt until it shrunk down to a sm woman's size. Now mind you a wool shirt of any kind is more then likely never going to be worn here. Much less one that has been "boiled". Soooo I knew I wasn't making it for myself.  I don't know about you guys but when I make something for myself or for someone else I sorta have in mind the kind of person, likes dislikes, you know those little nuances that help make a perfect match so you get the 'Oh it's perfect!! I love it!!! response. Sometimes when I'm just making something with no specific person in mind,  I'll make up the person, inventing their story as I work. For me it's a way to inject personality into a lump of materials.

It was the year of 1889 at the town of Dawson in the middle of the  Klondike gold fields. Dr. Katherine Clementine the resent young widow of D.H. Clementine has come to the realization that she is going to have to spend the winter in Dawson City as the passes are already closing with snow. Now as Katherine saw it she was faced with the fact that she now had no income, no training in the domestic, culinary,or entertainment arts, all of which make her prospects of finding work rather poor.

BUT Dr Katherine Clementine was a one heck of a good medical Dr. in fact she graduated first in her medical class. So as she saw it she would open an office in town, hang out her shingle and set up the first medical clinic of Greater Dawson City, the Klondike, Alaska. But being a very practical woman she also knew that many of the miners would rather take their chances with the town barber then go to see a female doctor. Her solution was to shorten the name on her shingle to read Doc.K.C.  (that would be Klondike Clem by the way) 

As it was getting a bit nippy Doc KC was faced with having to modify her city clothes to work up in the wilds of the Klondike. She knew she wasn't about to start wearing all men's clothes after all she still had her standards.

 

She also was pretty sure she wasn't about to wear the impractical outfits the entertainment crowd did.

What to do you may ask?? Easy she said, "I'll just reconstruct (she probably didn't use that word exactly) some of D.H.'s (those initials aren't for Darn Handsome by the way) wool clothes and add a bit of a feminine touch from my clothes." With those words the Doc K.C. vestita came to life :)

I cut the sleeves off and the collar leaving the collar band which I covered with a bit of cotton tea dyed chintz. Changed the boy buttons  to girly rhinestone ones.

A bit of a decorative stitch on the collar along with two very sparkly very blue rhinestone earrings turned buttons. I mean for heaven sakes it doesn't take that much to add a bit of a feminine feeling to a dirty grey miserable place!

Around the armholes is a bit of chintz and tea stained vintage crochet lace.

 

The bottom ruffles are tea stained muslin, chintz and a bit more vintage lace.

So there you have it Doc. KC's answer to winter clothes for the frigid northlands. And just in case you are wondering how her bedding medical career went?? Well, by all accounts. But it wasn't what won her fame and fortune. No, that came about when women all over the world starting clamoring for Doc KC to create a most adorable and ever so becoming vestita just for them!! :)

And if you believe that story, have I got a deal on a big tower and clock! Have a most audacious day filled with art no matter where you are in the world   p;)

"A Little Help From My Sisters" Vestita

It's my turn to head to the "Northlands" this month. In fact my little plane will be leaving in 2 YIKES weeks!!! I got a tell ya LW and I decided that these separate vacations are just not for us!! :( But at the time it was the only solution we could come up with in order to care for Tali. When we lost Tali last month it was just to late to try to change plans. Sooooo here we are taking separate trips for the first and hopefully the last time.

The jean jacket up there is one I brought down with me. Ha besides being way on the big side these days, we don't have enough cold days to wear them. Therefore it became fair game to upcycled,downcycle,deconstruct,reconstruct,recycle,reuse,remake,alter, heck who knows these days what the current buzz word is?? I had already pirated most of the buttons. Actually I used one of the front plackards and sleeves to make Deryn's Altered Egos vestita.

After I sold another vestita right out of my closet, I thought I'd make myself a denim and lace vestita.

Instead of using one of the plackards this time I used the waist band. and strips of denim. Now my thought is that if I used some very precious,one of a kind pieces in the construction, I wouldn't be able to to sell it "right off my back" :) One of the things Deryn sent in her little box of stash was a bag of vintage rhinestone earrings. Perfect I'd use them on the front because what's a vestita without a bit of shiny sparkles, I ask ya??

These are perfect, nice and chunky and the blue is the perfect shade of denim. I also used some of the tiny and ever so beautiful beautiful hand tatted lace that Renate sent me from Germany. 

 

Pretty smart don't ya think??? I mean there is just no way I'm going to let go of this vestita. Not with the awesome kindred sisters' gifts on it. This has now become one of my most prized possessions!!!On the back I placed a kinda tie back like vests have.

 Then secured it with a quirky nicely vintage rhinestone pin. Also in the bag of rhinestones Deryn sent.

Now I'm looking forward to a nice long relationship with this little piece!!

Yikes only two weeks before I leave!!!! I better get a move on I have more irons in the fire then a 12 legged octopus!!

Have a most audacious art filled today, no matter where in the world you are    p;)

A Few New Amber Ear Bobs

Now you might be asking yourself just how the picture of Renate's mended heart has anything to do with amber ear bobs. Yes?? Well it does in a some what logical although rather convoluted way. I have this most precious gift sitting on my desk as I wait for the creative divine vision to strike. Also on top of my desk under the protective glass is this great print by Story People artist Brian Andreas The title is "No Words". LW and I  bought it on one of our first trips together. I was taking pictures of the earrings with the print as the back ground when one of those serendipity moments hit. I thought to myself "you know Rennie's heart says it all without uttering a word!" So I had to take a picture to share :) In fact I think I might put it over on the right column along with The Velveteen Rabbit.

Okay moving on to a few finished pieces shall we? First pair is amber with small faceted green tourmaline rondelles. I used copper and sterling wire to wrap and fabricate the hooks.

The second set of amber earrings is made with small amber heishi beads and garnets. I love the way amber and garnets complement each other. Besides they both whisper all things romantic and feminine (without any pink ruffle fru fru!)!! I used sterling wire on these

 

The third pair I had a bit of fun playing with some copper wire. :) I finished them of with little aquamarine,iolite,carnelian,&citrine heishi beads.

The last pair I did a bit more wire bending with copper & silver wire. Finished with turquoise and coral, two stones that always scream summer time fun to me.

I thought I'd try a few bracelets at the store. I know when it gets stinkin hot and humid here, I can't talk myself into wearing anything around my neck. But a cute light weight bracelet is different. So I used only wire and a few stones to keep things light and cool. Nothing heavy or overbearing. The first one is some more copper wire, since I hadn't done enough wire bending. You know once you start bending wire you sorta get into a zen type zone and it hard to stop. Know what I mean??  Amber and garnets are the stones

The second bracelet is copper and silver wire with turquoise and amber stones.

The last bracelet I actually made for my little girl :) With her so far away I can't really send her many "just because" gifts. So I tend to set little pieces aside to give her when we do see each other. I wanted to give her something made with the amber. Like her mum she isn't much for girly girl fru fru, but she has a very feminine, romantic soul! I used 20gage sterling wire a central piece of amber with a tiny unfaceted emerald heishi on each side. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I sure hope she likes it too.

And so kids that's all I have for now. I'm a couple of snaps away from a vestita with a bit of attitude. I'll show you the finished piece next time. Until then please have an audacious art filled day no matter where in the world you are   p;)

 

Big Day, Big Doings, Big Thank You!!!

Happy Birthday wishes to our native country, and Happy Election Day to our adopted country. In the US Independence Day is always on the same date...July 4th. Here in Mexico Election Day is always on the first Sunday of July. SO it's by coincidence that both share the same day this year. Historically elections in most Latin American countries are held on Sundays. Except for government,banking, and a few big corporations Mexico still has a 6 day work week. The Sabbath is the traditional day of rest. For many it is also the only personal time they have. Sundays were chosen because the workers didn't have to ask for time off to go vote, and the owners couldn't refuse to give them time off to vote. Another interesting piece of trivia is that there is a federal law that alcohol can not be sold from Friday at midnight until midnight Sunday night. This way you can't go into a bar, roundup all the slightly sloshed customers buy them drinks until they are truly sloshed then drive them to the polls to vote with the promise of all you can drink for the right vote. :) 

Moving on to the Big Thank You. Remember way back in March when I posted about being asked to participate in the Monthly art walk and sale?? Well one of our dearest Bloglandian sister's Renate, Put a Little Magic in Your Life asked if she could  donate a "few" beads (if this was a few I can't imagine what a lot is!)  to help shore up my piddling bead supply. Course I said Yes!!! :) She quickly sent a parcel of wonderful treasures to Deryn, Something Sublime to mule down when she came on vacation. But with having to clear two countries custom departments and being on opposite sides of the world, Renate's parcel didn't arrive before Deryn and family left for their vacation. When we knew LW was going to see his mum we had Deryn send the parcel on to Denver and LW muled it down. Soooo after weeks of waiting I finally got to open my box of treasures. Oh my dear Hermanita (little sister) you have so over whelmed me with your generosity and love!!!! I mean look at what I found when I unwrapped the parcel:

There is a beautiful piece of ivory colored hand tatted lace. So delicate and detailed!! One of the beautiful resin focal created this way only by Renate. Small white and latte colored buttons. Lovely huge dark, be still my heart, garnet nuggets!! Aventurine, bone, shell pearls, green turquoise.

The best treasures (those given to me) were still hiding in a small pouch. In that I found an amazingly delicious rusty old wrist watch that Renate said had my name written all over it. Ohhhhh little sister you know me well!! A little bit of rust is all it takes to make my heart palpitate :) But when I pulled the last item out of the pouch I was so touched and humbled, because there in my hand was the incredible copper Mended Heart that Renate had made during the winter. I have been completely smitten with this heart since she posted about it. You know there are certain pieces that just seem to reach out and touch your inner self, your soul. For me it was this little copper heart. We all have mended hearts to some degree especially when you reach those lovely "middle years" The way Renate created this piece you can feel the fragility of our hearts and the difficulty of mending them. The need to be mindful of the care, time and dedication that is needed!! It truly is nothing less then a talisman, that I have be entrusted with. Thank you dearest Hermanita!

  

     Now Miss Deryn decided that since she had to hang on to a couple of things until we found a mule, she would just start throwing little treasures in a box as she cleaned out different areas of her studio. OH MY again if this is a few little treasures I can't imagine how large the cargo plane would have to be for one of her medium size love parcels!! :)

Vintage button cards, pink webbing tape, see the adorable tiny cloth pouch?? Even it wasn't empty, there were these great old silk flower pieces. Look down in the left corner of the box (in the picture above) there is one of the pink blossoms. See the dainty embroidered hanky and a rescued yellow sleeve with embroidery on it?

There were bags of stone beads, wooden beads, charms, lockets, bits of old jewelry and orphaned rhinestone earrings. It sounded like Christmas for a while. "Oh look , oh wait look at this, oh gosh there's some of this, look at that" :)

You know even after almost 2 years of being a part of this most incredible Bloglandian community I am still amazed and overwhelmed with the care, generosity and genuine love we have for each other!! Here we are, just a group of kindred spirit and artist sharing our journey of life with each other. Yet we are as bound together as any "family" can be!! We will most likely never meet most of our family members. But that really doesn't seem to matter, because we share the true essence of ourselves with each other...our souls. To me that is the greatest gift one person can give another. Therefore it is a privilege when you entrust me with this oh so fragile gift of yourself. It is a very humbling experience to be welcomed to be part of this incredible family. You not only challenge me to be a better person, but you support and give me the courage to try. It is these unconditional acts of love like Deryn and Renate have freely shared with me that remind me of this privilege.  So all I can say is thank you from the bottom of my soul, while I strive to share my spirit with you my kindred family!!! 

And on that thought I wish you my bloglandian family an audacious art filled day no matter where you are in the world.  p;)