Gem swap.....

Last January I read about a pendant(charm) swap in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, I've thought about participating in a "swap" before but just hasn't come together.....it was January....what else did I have to do?  So, I designed a put together my pendant (charm).

I flattened the bowl of a silver spoon and antiqued it a bit with ink.  I glued on a piece of used dryer sheet dyed blue, a coral/pink ribbon, some tatting and a small flower made from tiny shells with a rhinestone center.  The oval pieces it the back of a vintage watch with a brass heart that is held in place with Crystal Effects with some glitter added.

I carefully wrapped it up and mailed it off to the folks at CPS and I waited.............!

Until, today........HAPPINESS!  In the mail, I received this beautifully crafted pendant from Stacey Merrill at Art Snark.

This gorgeous piece is so professionally and beautifully done with the picture of a Victorian woman framed in a metal pendant to which Stacey added butterfly wings.

Fabulous!  Thank you so much Stacey, I will wear it with pride.

Sea shell souvenirs, I would never sell!

Over time, certain pieces make their way into your heart and before you know it....another collection!

I've bought and sold antiques and collectibles for many years, still do.  Over the years, getting up at 6 A.M to be the first in line at an estate sale, can pay off in some special finds.  On this White Wednesday at Faded Charm I'd like to share some "special finds", in my small shell collection.

You all know about the shell pieces made by sailors for their wives and sweethearts in the 1800s, none of mine are that old or high-dollar, but each one makes my heart sing!

  This is my FAVORITE piece, I just love this little baby. All of 4 inches tall, most likely from the 1950s, the flowers are made entirely of tiny, delicate shells glued to a larger shell with a wire handle added to hang it, definitely a souvenir piece.  She makes me smile every time I look at her!

This box, another souvenir pieces, is about the size of a cigar box and I'd guess from the 50s or 60s, pretty common but I love it.  The little purse on the left, found at an estate sale, is special........

    This sweet little purse was hand crafted from cardboard, covered with paper and then, shells. The handle is silk cord.  I'm thinking it was made by a young woman in the 1930s or 40s.  Photo below shows off the inside.

I bought the little book below from the daughter-in-law of the woman who made it, in her teens at summer camp, probably 1930s or 40s.

Look at what is inside!

  Pages, cut to fit, with seaweed specimens pressed, dried and glued to the paper.  She cut pieces of tissue paper and used them to separate each page.....how precious is that?  Holes were drilled and the book is held together with  a thin leather lace.

 

Last, but not least, this lovely comes with a special story........

Last September, I went to Camas to a street sale....in the pouring rain!  There they were, the dedicated, rain soaked dealers standing under their awnings, shivering but making the best of it!  In one booth, I spied the little beauty above, very reasonably priced... she was going home with me!

When the dealer and I started talking, I discovered she was from Bellingham, WA.  I asked her if she knew my friend, who was a dealer and shop owner in Bellingham for years....turns out, she not only knew her but she had worked for her.  I love "small world" stories, don't you?

That lovely lady was Debi from Ormolulu.

The rewards from antiquing are so much more than financial, it's the wonderful friends you make, the experiences you have and, once in a while, you score another precious piece for your collection!

These are definitely not white...but yet another small collection, I love, and they look so good with the shells!

 

A little out of focus....but who can resist old, worn velvet!

Enjoy your White Wednesday....I hope the sun is shining on you today!

Sweet tweets.......

This little birdie has been "hanging" on several blogs, I've noticed.  I started thinking I NEEDED one, too.

In the meantime, I noticed that one talented blogger had shined him up a bit!  Sorry, I do not know who's blog,  but if you do, please let me know....I want to give her credit......cause I just out right copied her.

First, go to the dollar store and buy one, or two.........then come home and paint him black..Then the fun begins.......you cover him/her with silver leaf!

Mine were made special by the fact that the silver leaf was a gift from a friend.  This very high quality silver leaf is close to eighty years old and stamped Made in Germany, it had belonged to my friend's father.

The brown lines, on the bird on the left, are because the edges of the leaf are starting to tarnish.  These birds will tarnish, like any silver, over time.

This was the first time I've tried a silver leafing project. My only advice would be: you should buy a spray can of metal leaf adhesive, rather than try to use regular glue.  Michael's sells silver leaf and the adhesive...........  OR.........you could, just buy a can of silver paint, spray and distress.  There is always a way!   Aside from the cost, the leafing was easy and quick.

These little guys are really darn cute without the silver, too, but the shine classes them up a bit, I think. 

Connecting with my relatives in Norway!

Recently, I connected with two of my relatives in Norway through our cousin in Sweden and Facebook.

Can you imagine what our mother's would have thought?  Earlier today I was chatting on Facebook with our mutual relative, Ann, in Sweden.  I was finishing lunch and she was getting ready for bed, but thanks to modern technology, she was telling me about her daughter and I was telling her I was pulling weeds in the garden.

I had, also, e-mailed Marit in Norway earlier today, after reading her blog, and telling her about the collages I do.

I thought I would like to share with Marit and Veronika, my recently found cousins, two collages I made for our cousin Ann and her sister.

 

The background of this collage is a book cover, covered with a page from an old book, lace, Norwegian postal stamp, fabric and a flowers made of tiny shells.

 

 

I used a old, deep red velvet photo album cover for the background of this piece, with fabric and lace stitched together and the family photos added.

It's the people in these photos that demonstrate how we are related. 

The round photos are sister and brother, Hans and Ingeborg Ansnes. Their half-sisters, Inga, on the left, and Anna Berg are in the other photo.  They all had the same mother but Hans and Ingeborg's father died when they were young and their mother remarried, Peter Berg.

Inga Berg, from Peter and Anna's union, was my grandmother, who married, Ole Holden.  Their only daughter, Jennie, was my mother.  My Mother was born in Hitra, Norway in 1904 and came, with her parents, to the U.S. in 1909 and settled in South Dakota.

If, I understand correctly Marit is from Hans side of the family and I'm not sure about Veronika, hopefully, she tell me after she reads this.

I think the pictures help us understand our relationship a little better and gives me a chance to show off my art work.

I'm sure that this post will be of little interest to those outside of our family but it is important, I think, for us to remember where we came from.  I believe the core of who we are comes from our forebears and we are their link to immortality.

Sure sign of spring....

 

When I bring this little lady out of her winter storage, wash off the dust  and put her in her proper place, it means.....I believe spring is REALLY here.  In Oregon, spring is such a tease, last Sunday it was 70 degrees and sunny, today wet and 56 degrees.

It maybe difficult to tell, but she is an artist!  Right now she is a little handicapped by the lack of a brush but I'll find one and put it in her hand....soon!  Every year it gets misplaced.

So, here she sits.........

 

 

 

 

 

 

under the birdbath with the Candytuft, blue oat grass and the faded daffodils.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, finally, a tribute to "Socks" our slightly crazy, but tried so hard to be loveable, cat who died last Friday.

                    Rest In Peace old friend.

Please join me and all the other White Wednesday participants at Kathleen's Faded Charm Cottage at.....   

http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/

Hurry up, baby girl, tomorrow is the 20th!

This little girl, our Granddaughter Staci and her husband, Ed are expecting any day now....so last weekend her friends hosted a "Casserole" baby shower for her. 

They have a three year old daughter, Emma, and are expecting another girl.  Emma was the best dressed baby in town and has lots of  to die for cute "hand me downs" in great shape that she can share with sister.  Sister might as well get use to it, huh?

Anyway, Stac and Ed were pretty well prepared for new baby, so their friends came up with the idea to stock their freezer with prepared dinners.  Nice.......now for most of the first month after baby is born all they will have to do is remember to get dinner out of the freezer, so it can thaw.  She received 20 dinners, two desserts, three bottles of wine, a loaf of Eva's good bread and several restaurant gift cards.

Great idea for a baby shower!

Can't leave without sharing some photos of new baby's room......

Yes, the walls are yummy orange!  In the photo above, you can see where Staci removed the closet doors and added the white drapes and made the valance to finish it off.  Cute room for baby girl to come home to!

She is due tomorrow, the 20th, too bad baby can't read our calendar!  She has her own time table, always will.

You've been there.....a fabulous piece of fabric you can't bring yourself to cut!

I would like to share with this week's White Wednesday participants and readers, two of my favorite whites!

One, of course, relates to the piece of fabric I just could not bring myself to cut.  A few years back I found this huge piece of white fabric at a garage sale for a couple dollars.  I bought it, washed it, took a look and what I saw was this beautiful 136 inch long and about 60 inch wide piece of soft, sheer linen.  It had a small tear on one end, the ends were hemstitched, so it was a finished piece intended for what, I had no idea!  A very long tablecloth, maybe.

It sat in the cupboard, every once in a while I would look at it and think about making pillows or something with this beauty but I could not bring myself to cut it up.  You know, I was saving it for something SPECIAL! 

When we painted and redecorated our bedroom I had an "ah-ha" moment, I would make a curtain.  But, wait, that would require cutting.......no not if I did this....

since the piece was so long, I just folded it over a curtain rod and used my collection of old rhinestone pins to hold it
in place.

I did have to add a strip of a similar white fabric to the sides to make it wide enough to cover this sliding glass door.  Still feeling the "need" to preserve this piece of fabric, I stitched the side pieces on by hand.

 Then I added a drapery rod on top and a pair of white drapes.  Because there is a public park on the other side of our backyard, at times, a little privacy is needed but the curtain allows the natural light into the room.

Captain Jack can nap while keeping an eye out for neighbors walking their dogs!  He fancy's himself the "Greeter" of park users.

My second favorite white is this lamp which hangs beside the bed.  I bought it at Stars in Portland and I Love, Love, Love it.  It has hung in other room but I like it best HERE

Some day I may overcome my irrational reservations about cutting up the piece of linen but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the beauty and softness of the fabric as it hangs at the window and I love the wall sconce, no matter where it is. 

Thanks for stopping, I hope you leave a comment and then go on to visit the other White Wednesday blogs at Kathleen's Faded Charm.

Tiny Garden Gem!

Tulipa Hageri "Little Beauty"

Cherry star petals with a blue center, needs full sun and good drainage, like other tulips.  Unlike other tulips, this one is only six inches tall and produces two to five flower on each bulb.  It is easily naturalized and blooms in April.

Tulipa growing among the sedum "Angelica".

Mix in some "Georgia Blue" Creeping Speedwell to truly spice up the mix.  Ahhh, spring!

Work........not a walk in the park!

Yesterday, we had a group of teenage volunteers from Salem area spend their Saturday working in our nature park/trailhead.  These kids really worked, they had to dig up the Canary grass roots that surround our newly planted (last fall) trees.  They laid down cardboard and covered it with mulch.

 

 

This part of the park is low land, next to the pond, and very wet.

 

 

 

Lots of digging to remove grass and weed roots from around the trees.

In the photo above you are looking down the hill to this area,on the right, where you can see the trees with new side dressing of bark.

 

One of the roses we planted last month, leafing out.

 

 

 

We planted 50 Sword Fern among the fir trees last month, as well, they are unfurling their fronds and lookin' good.

 

Last, but not least, we can always count on Captain Jack to work hard, run through the creek and roll in the mud!  He is our hero, after all!

 

 

 

 

 

Jack says "Goodbye" and "Thanks for the help" to our new friends and volunteer helpers.

" I don't know about you but I sure had a good time" were Jack's final words before he was hosed off in the backyard AND given a bath.

Playing with paper

I had the good fortune to attend a collage class, last night, taught by Wilsonville artist, Susan Schenk.

Here is some of Susan's work.

These waterlilies are all done with magazine pages torn into small pieces, then arranged into the design and glued to a heavy paper backing.

Another of Susan's works, a dragonfly again "painted" with pieces of paper.

Starting with this..........students created these!

After lots of looking for the right colors, tearing the pieces and glueing them down.....in the "just right" position, some very pleasant pieces of art were created.  While the skill levels of these artists varied widely, they were each able to relax and enjoy the process.

Collage is a very messy but fun way to express yourself.....and the supplies are cheap and readily available.

Hen and chicks on hen and chicks

Spring may be slow in arriving but this Mama hen couldn't wait to lead her baby chicks to the feeder full of "hen and chicks"!

Hope you chicks are enjoying your White Wednesday visits at Faded Charm!