Do A Lot of Work

Dwyn from Beadfx posted something similar to what you see below on Facebook earlier today and I love what it says:

In making jewellery this past week, I had been looking at some of things I made two or three years ago and realizing that some of them I still really love and other pieces make me wonder, "what was I thinking???!"  Of course, my skills have improved over time (although they're a little rusty these days, I've been noticing) and your tastes and style preferences change over time, so that is part of the evolution process but also, as this writer suggests, you gotta do a lot of work.

So thank you, Ira Glass (whomever you are) for these inspirational words, reminding me to keep going, keep creating, no matter what.

Stay In This Lane

This photo showed up on Facebook today and I just had to share it.  Lord knows there are people who need signs like this on the highway!

Photo courtesy of San Diego Reader

Making Necklaces

Less than a week to go until our jewellery sale at the cottage this coming weekend so I am busy, busy, busy making jewellery.

Here are some of the necklaces I have made in the past few days:

Flower Power Red

As you can see, I'm into long necklaces with chain features at the moment.  Alas, these pictures aren't really doing them justice, I blame the photographer (yours truly) and the Kittens Caboodle, who like the long, dangly bits, isn't it fun to take a swipe at them while our human tries to take a photo?

The Sound of Cicadas

Having just returned from the cottage, I am reminded that I wanted to share this picture of a cicada (from the Latin for "tree cricket") that I took a couple of weeks ago.  For no particular reason except that I am fascinated by the pattern on its head and the see through wings.

It was resting on one of our wooden Muskoka chairs down by the lake while we were taking a dip in the water.  It wasn't making that distinctive sound that cicadas usually do when it's hot, even though it was that hot at the time. 

My grandmother always used to call them tree frogs,  Now that I am older, I wonder why and wish she was here for me to ask her.  Although when I Google "tree frog", they apparently do exist and are known as the grey tree frog here in Ontario.  According to this website, the sound they make is "a short trill" but I don't know how that compares to the sound of a cicada.

You can read a little bit about cicadas here if you are so inclined.

Vintage Kids Photos

Here are a few more photos from the photo album I bought last week at the auction.

There is a photo of a girl with a very large bow in her hair:

a somber looking boy with a dog:

a darling little girl with both a bow and a dog:

this studious looking young lady (are those earmuffs on her head?):

and of course, the quintessential baby on a bearskin rug shot!

More Auction Treasures

Still going through the treasures I bought at the auction last week.  The bidding started with a very small collection of jewellery and Karen quickly snagged some lovely pieces at quite reasonable prices. My first purchase was a box of little charms. There were 13 of them, including a teapot, some decorated shoes, a Santa Claus, a pair that might be athletes and a little black cat. They all seem to have been painted originally but most of the paint has come off of several of them.

There is even a Peter Pan and Tinker Bell pair!  Not sure why they are chained together, it seems a little kinky for Disney, am I right?

I made a little bracelet and attached Pete and TB to it, I'm thinking somebody's grandma might want to buy it for them next weekend at the jewellery sale we're having at our cottage.

I've also been making some charms of my own using acrylic pieces I bought from Retro Cafe Art. (I can't say enough positive things about them, by the way - excellent selection of products (especially the stencils), very reasonable prices, super speedy delivery and rock bottom delivery charges. Plus Kristin replies very quickly to Facebook and email queries and super helpful.  Not to mention the fact that I got the tutorial on how to make the charms directly from their website - here)  I've been using some of the old photos I've been collecting over the past year or so as well as scrapbook paper for the charms, here's a sampling:

I've made one bracelet with the charms so far, also utilizing my growing collection of buttons:

I can't quite decide if I should leave this one as is or add a few more embellishments - perhaps some dangly beads in complimentary colours?  Your thoughts?

Paper Dolls

I also bought a pile of children's story and colouring books at the auction last week, which included several books of paper dolls. Some of the books are quite old, dating back to the 1940's but the paper doll collections are all less than than 40 years old.

There are two books from 1972 of cutsie dolls named Josie and Mary with various outfits and a little story book inside each one.

There is one based on the book "Little Women", with a doll for each of the sisters and the handsome neighbour Laurie as well.

And then we get to the more unusual books of paper dolls:  one is a Joan Crawford collection from 1983, featuring costumes from several of her MGM movies.

There is also a Princess Diana Book of Fashion from 1982, featuring a scantily clad Chuck and Di and lots of outfits that will look very familiar to anyone familiar with photos of the happy couple from the early days of their marriage.

However, I was most delighted to discover the Monster paper doll book, also from 1983.   There's Frankenstein and a woman who appears to be his bride, as well as a vampire and a werewolf.

They have lots of outfits to choose, appropriate for themes such as "The Sporting Life", "Unholy Matrimony", "Happy Holidays" (complete with a giant sized Easter Bunny outfit!) and a rock bank known as the Transylvanians.  My personal favourite is "Work Clothes", especially Frank's outfit with the unconscious woman in his arms: