Boo the Black Bird

I just finished this one of a kind Halloween , Fall, Autumn, Thanksgiving pincushion. I think this turned out sooo cute. I had this little spray of vintage flowers with fuzzy berries in my stash, the colors are perfect to go with the 60's "Fire King" cup. I glittered the pin heads and made different tags to take this little guy from Sept. thru Nov. I gave him a spritz of gimmer mist so it has a little sparkle to it. I just added this to my ebay today.

Roses painted on Vintage metal holder

I picked up this black metal "page" holder. I wonder if it was used back in the day of the typewriter to hold your paper that you were going to type from. Being metal. It would be a great place to attach a memo with a cute magnet, or to hold that scrapbooking page that you might be working on. I put this on my Ebay starting at a very low price. I painted roses all over it. If you can think of some more uses for this I would love to hear your comments.

Sweet Teacup with Vintage Lace & Pink Birdie

Here is another sweet tea cup that I'm putting ebay today. I was attaching the piece of lace and it was laying over the side of the cup...hummm, looked nice, so I left it. I'm working on a really neat cup for fall...cant wait to show you all!

Sparkly Pink Bird, Tea cup

WoW!! Thank you all for all your support!! Everyone that I have met through this blogging is what keeps me going!! Thank you Thank you!! I had this tea cup and the roses are a darker pink, I already had the birdie dyed a lighter pink...so I got out my sparkly pink fabric paint and washed it all over this bird. It turned out so sweet and glittery. I just put it on Ebay. I will be putting on another one tomorrow.

Cloud 9!

I'm walk'in on clouds!! Jenny from Somerset said my birds would be published in the April 2008 issue of "Somerset Life". Doesn't 2008 sound soooo far away? Thank you everyone for all your sweet comments!

Cup of Sugar!

I just put this little pink birdie pincushion on my Ebay. This teacup is soooo gorgous! It is French Limoge. The pink roses are so sweet and the leaves are minty green. It has 3 pins that were dipped in glitter. I love the handle. This teacup was one I found in the charming little town of Sisters, Oregon. I also put on ebay this sweet ice cream scoop with a little wool black bird.

After and Before

I found this wall sconce and I didnt think it was very attractive so I hung it up and looked at it for a few days. There was a funny dip on the top, it wasnt flat. So I painted it, pink, glazed it, I then gave it a spritz of Glimmer Mist, washed on a little pearl paint, when I got it to the point that I liked, I had to dye some wool to match, for the bird. I added the pin cushion and vintage flowers on both sides then for a hint of sparkle I stuck on some austrian crystals. I placed a piece of vintage velvet ribbon around its neck. I made the leaves out of vintage green velvet ribbon.

Family Photo

Well, my babies are leaving their nest, it is an exciting time for me and them. I thought I would take a couple of family portraits before they fly off to California. Thanks to all of you that have left such kind comments and encourgement!! I love you all!!

Great News for my Birdie Pincushions

Wow. Last week Jenny from Somerset Studios emailed me and asked me to send in a grouping of my birds to be considered for an upcoming issue of their "Live" magazine. She gave me a deadline as to when I need to get them to her, so I have been working like crazy to get them done. So here is what I have finished and ready to go, I have 4 more to finish tonight. I am going to get them in the mail tomorrow...then the worrying begins...will they like them?? Will they REALLY publish them?? Please let me know what you think...

metal things

Here are a few things Stacey found for her apartment. She loves this old metal and has quite a few pieces now. She has painted them aqua. When I remember, I will get an after picture. It's a nice way to remember what a great time we had in California. Is there a name for this metal?

Goodies from my trip

Here are some of the goodies I got on my recent trip. I have already started putting them to good use. I found a great piece of lace and wonderful black and white trim. Look at this beautiful pink wool coat...it is just perfect for making my pink birds. I found a few old spoons, glitter and a beautiful cup. I love the old bottle, I bought some bath salts at a wonderful shop in San Fransisco that I have put it it, now it needs embellishing. See the beautiful black glass knob, I don't know what to do with it, but sometimes you just have to have it!

Back from our trip

I thought this sign was approprate for the trip my daughter and I took to San Fransisco. We had a ball. We had good things to eat, a friends house to stay at, no bad traffic and we didn't get lost!! Thought I would share a few photos with you. We went through Nappa Valley, San Fransisco, Half Moon Bay on the coast, San Jose and the reason we went....The Garlic Festival in Gilroy!! We did a little antiquing which I will share with you tomorrow.

This was the greatest olive oil store. You could taste every kind you can imagine. All of the bottles were displayed on vintage cabnets and tables. I wanted to take this cabnet home with me.

Nappa Valley. Had to stop and get a photo, grapes are so beautiful

Isn't this just gorgous. The morning sun just made these morning glory's pop open.

This was a flower booth at the Ferry Market in San Fransisco. Beautiful!! If anyone watches the foodnetwork, all these places we visited we have seen on TV so that is kinda neat.

Loved this Ice Cream! Who would have thought, it was really good! We actually went back for seconds...and thirds...did I say we really liked it!! Well, I hope you all had fun seeing my photos!

roses in oil

Thought I would leave you with this oil painting of roses that I painted awhile ago. I will be gone until next Monday. My daughter Stacey brought the kitties over to our house for my husband to babysit. We have our snacks packed up. The two of us are leaving for San Fransisco, San Jose, Gilroy, Los Gatos and Napa Valley tomorrow morning. Yahoo. Can't wait. Its a 10 hour drive. The weather is just perfect. I plan on taking a lot of pictures and finding a few treasures. I will share all, when I get home. Thank you to everyone that has been so kind and visiting my blog and giving me wonderful comments. This blogging has opened up the world to me and I love visiting everyones blog that I come across.

oops

I just learned I better view my post before posting is complete.LOL. Well, it will be a puzzle to see if anyone can read what I wrote!!

Red peonies

This is a still life I set up, I put a black cloth behind it so all the item would show up

Oil Painting

I haven't painted with oil paints for quite awhile, I had a whim and decided to go for it. I had a little (I mean a little) time, so I quickly squeezed out some paints and went to town. I need to go back and make the bottom of the pitcher sit down better, I feel like it is floating

Pearls of Wisdom

How charming did this turn out? I really struggled to get the right ribbon. If the tails were to long, you couldnt see the pearls so I made it so the tails went up. First I had a solid double sided satin pink ribbon, but it covered everything up. This is a special order from Stephanie, for her daughters wedding. Her wedding colors are Pink and Brown. Hope she likes it. Have you heard of Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels? I bought a bottle of Iridescent Gold, Pearl, Pink Bubblegum. I gave this little bird a spritz of the Pearl and it gives it hint of sparkle, not like glitter but more like a shimmer. I think I'll be buying more colors!

Vintage Ice Cream Scoop pincushion and bird

I think this turned out sooo cute. My little yellow bird is sitting on top of a scoop of vintage lace "ice cream" I thought I better hurry up and get this scoop done, I have a couple more to do.. If I dont get them done by this summer they will have to be sold as "Snowball scoops" Dont you think this would be great sitting out on your desert table for your next get together. I have one sitting on my kitchen shelf next to a ice cream bowl. I'll get a picture taken of that. I just listed this on my ebay today.

Pink and Blue birds

This is for a special order I am doing for Stephanie, the pink bird on the glass container is holding pearls. It will have a tag that says "Pearls of wisdom" I am working on getting just the right ribbon. I have plans to make a glamor bird with a necklace made from this bracelet.

Blue Bird on Teacup Pincushion

I just finished this woolie blue bird for Faye. I hope she likes it. I added some velvet vintage trim that matches the roses in the vintage cup. The pincushion is covered in vintage lace with old shell buttons and glittered pins. The blue bird brings out the blue in the flower motif.

Pink Roses on vintage china

I found these sweet pieces recently. They will be made into pincushions with birdies on them.

Pink, Mint Green Birds on spoon

I finally got this finished for Wendy over in Australia. I painted her a new paint can with a blue bird, roses and hydrangias, she wanted mint green and pink birdies on the "spoonful of sugar" pincushion which was made using vintage lace and old shell buttons. The postcard was made with white fabric that I stamped with a music stamp. I handpainted the little blue bird which is holding a sparkly thread to the heart. It also has vintage lace and buttons. I finished it off by doing a blanket stitch

Antique store finds

These are the spoons I got at an antique store this weekend. I'll take pictures of the tea cups tomorrow.

Matchbox swap

Here is what I received in the mail from Heather http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/. She sent me this beautiful LARGE matchbox filled with all these goodies. Thank you sooo much Heather! I love everything in it!. Love the wallpaper wrapping and vintage lace and flower!

Oregon Beach

My husband Dean and I took off Sat. morning and headed to the beach. Our beaches are a little different then most...the water is freezing, it is usually cloudy but to even get to the sand and water you have to make your way around soooo much drift wood. I took a couple of pics, to let you see, we had a cloudless fairly warm day. We live about 2 hours away and you have to travel over the Coastal Mountain Range to get there. On a day like this was, it is worth it. On the way home we went to a couple of antique shops. I found some silver spoons and a couple of tea cups. I did get a couple of my wool birdies made up...so they will be showing up on the goodies I got.