Pink Saturday ~ Swap Sneaky Peeky

I'm going to have to keep this post short & sweet. I've got a bit of a headache & need to put the computer down & walk away.

I joined Heidi's Very Vintage Valentine Swap. Oooh what fun I had!! I was paired with Molly of Fleur de Bee. Here are some sneak peeks of what I did for Molly. I made a collaged wall hanging, some cards, & ornaments among other things. I don't want to spoil all the goodies, so I'll wait to tell you about all the things I made & full pictures of everything.

Thank you to Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday. Go check out her blog to see a list of other participants. There have been over 100 of us showing our pink.

PS If you haven't already, go visit the One World One Heart blog. I'm giving away a bracelet below. I've made some wonderful friends & found some great inspiration the last 2 years. I've had an incredible 315 visitors enter my contest. I'm so excited to make new friends :)

One World One Heart ~ Year 3

It is year 3 of the One World One Heart giveaway. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of it since the beginning (here & here). It has been such a wonderful experience to meet so many bloggers from around the world. I'm so inspired looking at other artists & their work. I could read blogs everyday, well, I do! I was even a lucky winner of some beautiful pictures last year.

If you are new to my blog, WELCOME. Take a look around! I'm a little goofy (hopefully you'll find a few laughs) but oh so passionate about art & my life (love that crazy little family of mine!). You can click here to check out the rest of my blog.
If you would like some background information about this giveaway take a look here. Lisa Swifka from A Whimsical Bohemian has been the wonderful hostess for this event. She is the brain behind all this. Last year, the party was featured on Artful Blogging. I was also privileged to be featured in this article. It was this little push that gave me the confidence to consider sending my work for publication.

This year, I am giving away a favorite bracelet of mine, Fruit Salad. It is a triple strand bracelet made with Czech seedbeads, teardrop beads & fire polished beads. The middle pendant is a slider component with crystals & enamel. To be eligible for the drawing, you need to comment on this post & leave a link to your blog or email so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner. You don't need to be a blogger to win. I will announce a winner on Thursday, February 12th, so please make sure you comment by 11:59PM on Wednesday February 11th.

I encourage you to visit as many of the blogs listed on the One World One Heart Blog. I can't tell you how many blog friends I made & was inspired by. I plan on participating every year as long as I'm able. I'd like to leave you with some of Lisa's own words about this event:

"The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way...This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the art community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together...We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging."

EDITED: Feb 12 Comments have been disabled. Thank you for participating & visiting my blog. I'll post a winner later today & contact you :)

Tokens of Love ~ Lollishop Update

I've started adding my new collection ♥ Tokens of Love ♥ to my shop. I can't even describe how excited I am over my new work. I've had such a renewed creative energy since the new year. To celebrate my new collection & the upcoming Valentine holiday, I'm offering free shipping including insurance. Make your purchase & I'll refund the shipping charge.

♥ Tokens of Love♥
A collection of jewelry handmade with love in time for Valentine's Day. Trinkets that have weathered the test of time dangle from simple chains or beads. This collection features charms made from vintage elements that have been revamped to tell a new story.

If you see something you like, make sure you snap it up. I work with vintage goodies & my work is all One Of A Kind. I can probably count on 1 hand how many designs I've replicated. The joy of designing for me is making something new everytime. I also love the thrill of finding a vintage gem in the rough. I'm excited about where my art is going. I have more jewelry & mixed media projects I'm working on. I can't wait to show them!

Jackpot!

I hit the vintage jackpot! I went alone, so I had no one to hold me back. It was tough, but I left without breaking the bank. I often visit (stalk) a local estate sale company. It's so bad that I have their link on my phone & by Tuesday I'm checking out the website for the weekend sale. This week there was an antique & collectibles sale. Vintage heaven! I could have walked away with a ton more, but I realized I needed to buy groceries this coming week :)

The Mendelssohn song book is in pretty bad shape; cover falling apart, pages stained, but that is what makes it such a great piece to use in artwork. In the top picture, I got a baggie of assorted buttons, 2 great pieces of costume jewelry, & the cutest little shaker (although it was missing its mate)

My splurge was the box of antique lace trims above. I walked by it one time & went back for it just in the nick of time. I got the whole box for a set price. They truely are pretty. I almost got back into my "hoarding how can I use this mode" but they really are too pretty to not be used.

I had to laugh, when I spoke to my sister & cousin to tell them about my finds, I was pretty excited. I told my cousin I have to contain my excitement so I don't make a fool of myself when I go to these things!

Pink Saturday ~ Tokens of Love

It's Pink Saturday. Visit our hostess Beverly to see who else is inspired by Pink.

EDITED: Here's the new picture. I've been working with pink dyed coral & the vintage coral beaded chain. And there is the smallest dainty ring with a rose cabochon in the middle.

I'm so darn excited about this collection of jewelry. First off, I've never really done a collection. I've been way too scattered artistically to make a unified collection. Secondly, I don't really follow trends or the calendar. For this Valentines season, something in my mind clicked & I had to make a collection. Granted, no trends have been abused in this collection. I just made what I wanted. The collection is based on trinkets that have been created using vintage or vintage inspired pieces. I've been working with lockets, filigrees, rhinestones, cameos & vintage jewelry. I love the layered look. I can't just hang a locket on a necklace; it has to have a pretty cabochon & some rhinestones layered on top. One design element that is different, for me, is that the trinkets hang from simple vintage chains or beaded chains. It's a little bit of a departure for me. I sometimes believe in the more is better or unbalanced is balanced theory. I hope to get everything listed by this Monday to my Lollishop. I've neglected my little shop for too long & it's time to get some new pretties up. I attribute my collection to the wonderful Sadie. She's such a savvy business woman. Even though I was on vacation, I still continued to read the lolli blog. Right after the holidays she was getting us inspired for Valentines day. There will be an extra special Valentines Day Blog Party, All Dolled Up, & I know there will be lots of Valentines day Pink for us to look at, so make sure you join in the party.

And if you're here early, my apologies for the crappy picture. I need to take one during the day. My little rigged light box didn't work like I wanted it to. I'll post some new pictures in the AM.

Pink Saturday ~ Leesburg, VA

Ohh, I went shopping! We arrived back from Tampa safe & sound on Monday & the next day I ventured off to downtown Leesburg, VA. I originally went to visit Four Shabby Chicks & the Leesburg Antique Emporium. The sad thing is while I went shopping there, I didn't take any pictures of these 2 stores. I posted above the picture of the items I bought; skeleton keys, escutcheons, a beautiful steel cut buckle & 2 bisque doll legs. I was in heaven. I didn't want to leave the store, but I couldn't abandon my boys at home. I also had to remember where I parked my car!

Here are the pictures of the places I did take. Of course, pink included!

Persnickety Palm Rats, they were CLOSED!

The Cottage: Love Love Love this place. So chippy & vintage & shabby. Did I mention I LOVE this place. They had everything here, furniture, decorating items, craft supplies, jewelry...

The Pink Shop: And yes, there was a Pink Shop. There was some pink there but it was more of gag gifts & imported jewelry. Not the pink I was expecting.

Make sure to visit Beverly & take a look at all the participants. There's normally a huge number of us blogging about pink.