CraftyHope: September 2011

Thrifty Thursday (the first in a while)

I made it out shopping again yesterday and was much more successful!!

Spotted amongst the piles of miscellaneous junk in one 'antique' shop were two 4-foot tall stacks of these babies!

I ended up only buying two, but I can't wait to figure out how to work them into the craft room!!

The owner lady was a bit odd when I brought up this little handful of goodies I found in my digging, but I still think she gave me a good deal.

In addition, a trip to the bead store was in order!

I fell a little more fulfilled now that I have a few more items to fill my space!

BTW: Too Busy

BEAD SOUP REVEAL <-------click there

After all my thrifting yesterday and lunch plans with a friend today, there's not really much on my desk.

These are some beads from Vintage Beads from Europe that I want to play with and then blog some more about. There'll be a giveaway to go along with it, keep your eyes peeled!

While blog hopping the long list, I spied lots of beautiful inspiration. I even had a few original ideas come to me. This odd mix of beads, paint, and ink is part of an experiment following one such stroke of inspiration.

We'll see how it goes.

Bead Table Wednesday

See more Bead Table Wednesday goodies in the Flickr Group.

Blooms and Branches

The above is just something new in the shop I thought I'd share.
I'm outie! Later y'all!!

Adventures in Thrifting

click here -----> for my BEAD SOUP REVEAL!

I haven't been thrifting in WEEKS and though today's trip was a bust, it was super entertaining. . .
(be warned there are a lot of pictures and they were all taken with my camera phone)

I started at an antique mall that I've never been to before. It definitely had some interesting items.

Yes! That's a SIGNED Wayne Newton photo. It was only 30 bucks. . . a steal really! I left it there for a more serious fan than the likes of me.
Also there was a Dukes of Hazard lunchbox (with thermos)! Unfortunately, it was WAY out of my price range. I also spotted a ceramic piece that was shaped like an old phone and glazed all one color so it looked like the phone had boobs on the front instead of bells...but maybe that was just me. I'm sorry that I don't have pictures of those, but I'm having trouble getting all my pictures to upload. :(

After a few other stops, I landed at one of my favorite (and largest) thrift stores. From time to time they have some really interesting items. Like this one

Oh yes. . .that, dear hearts, is a Health Builder.

I have no idea what anyone would do with one of these nowadays, but it definitely had me chuckling. I've only ever seen those in OLD movies. Very cool!

As I headed up the road toward a few more store, I spotted this guy (I apologize for the windshield grime)

I couldn't zoom in or get any closer, but THAT is a man riding a motorcycle with a 24 pack of Angel Soft toilet paper strapped onto the back. . .I mean, Hell's Angel Soft. . .bahahahahaha!!
Really, you should live in my head. Crazy stuff like that flies through it all the time. sigh.

One of my last stops of the day was The Plunderosa in Loxley, AL. I've been visiting this place for YEARS. Although, my last visit was many, many moons ago. Not much has changed. After so much disappointment at my other stops, I think I was feeling a little punchy. Come with me on my walk through the Plunderosa.

There were all kinds of unusual tools and neat textures. Like this pile of sickles

This beautiful armoire caught my eye. But, then I realized there was something weird about it. Can you guess what that is?

That's right, it's actually a CONFESSIONAL!! Check out the inside!

They have rows and rows of old wardrobes there.

I wondered which one lead to Narnia!

As well, there's all kinds of architectural pieces. The carved door caught my eye, but I really adore the mustard yellow one behind it. . . with the lacy curtain still in the window!!

I finally meandered home to upload the pictures and share this experience with you. Getting the pictures transferred over took me FOREVER for some reason. Please tell me it was worth it!

Oh, and though I didn't find any treasures out thrift hunting, I discovered that not one but TWO pairs of my earrings were featured in this vibrant treasury.

Circle Square

Though I came home empty handed, at least I had plenty of stories to share! I hope you enjoyed it!

The Aftermath

Looking for my Bead Soup Reveal? <-----Click there

I finally did it! I made it through all of the 360-someodd blogs in the Bead Soup Blog Party! There are still a few who haven't posted their reveals yet, and I'll check back for them later. In addition to checking out reveals; I liked facebook pages, followed blogs, became friends on Flickr, tweet followed some people, and found a few more boards to follow on Pintrest. It was definitely a process. I saw some amazing designs and lots of inspiration.

These have nothing to do with anything, I just got them and think they're pretty!

Now, I'm looking forward to getting back to my regular schedule. My house is in disarray, my regular blog reading has fallen behind, and hardly anything has been made and/or listed. I think I'm suffering from a Bead Soup Party hangover!

Before I get too comfortable in my regular routine let me THANK YOU for all of your kind words, comments, and encouragement on MY REVEAL. I appreciate all of it. If you are interested in joining up for the next party, Lori has announced the sign up dates. In addition, only 200 blogs (or less) will be selected by lottery to participate in the next blog party.

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Ohhhh. . .I have so much more to get to.
Since it's Monday and I'm trying to stay on schedule, here's my meal plan.

Breakfasts: Bagels, waffles, nutella turnovers, cereal/grits, omelets w/toast, pecan pie muffins

Lunches: Turkey sandwiches, bagel pizzas, tuna noodle, quesidillas, leftovers, soup w/grilled cheese, PB&J

Dinners:

Portobella mushroom alfredo w/salad

Crispy lemon tilapia w/cauliflower and yellow rice

Chili w/rice

Ham steaks w/corn and Mac-n-cheese

Crockpot chicken w/potatoes and carrots

For more menu ideas, head over to Meal Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

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Two more items were added to the ON SALE section of the shop.

Destinations Unknown Necklace

Around the Globe Necklace

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Got time for ONE more thing?
The Gossiping Goddess just added these super cute enameled earrings to her shop

AND she's giving away a pair! Head over to The Gossiping Goddess blog for the Giveaway details.

Stick a fork in me. . .I'm done!

Bead Table Wednesday: So Much Soup

If you're here for BEAD SOUP click here <-----

It's another edition of Bead Table Wednesday. However, I'm still hopping around to all the bead soup participants, so my craft desk looks mostly like this:

I was hoping to get to a few projects today. . .mainly these

But, I'm not sure that's going to happen. Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

Check out what else is going on in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.

I can't say I haven't gotten ANYTHING accomplished.
An item was re-listed in the shop (with its own haiku)

Summer Comes Earrings

And several beauties were placed on sale.

Dainty Lady Bracelet

Copper Calla Lily Earrings

Happy Wish Bracelet

Here's hoping your hump day has been more productive than mine!

Resuming Life (and a meal plan)

If you're looking for my BEAD SOUP, click here <------

I figured it was about time I start to try to get back on a regular schedule. My words may fail be a bit because I've used a lot of them commenting on other blogs as part of the bead soup blog hop. There's a LOT of blogs. A LOT!

However, I have a few things I wanted to share with y'all. First, yesterday was my grandmother's 85th birthday so I went to Mobile to celebrate with the rest of the family. While there, we watched the steady stream on hummingbirds feeding in the yard.

Also entertaining (and in the yard) was my youngest niece. She was out there 'collecting' lizards. She had two of those bug boxes (that each held at least 3 lizards already) ~~strapped into~~ tied to her babydoll stroller. I'm not really sure how many she had captured before I left, but she had plenty of them. I wish I had snapped a picture of her with a lizard in each hand standing next to her rigged up stroller. It was really funny. No worries, I'm sure my mom had her let the lizards go before she went to bed.

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I worked real hard this morning to balance some chores and the bead soup blogs. Eventually, my menu for the week emerged. While it's still Menu Plan Monday, let me go ahead and share it with you.

Breakfasts: Cereal/grits, waffles, nutella turnovers, bagels, eggs w/bacon & toast, pecan pie muffins

Lunches: PB&J, tuna noodles, bagel pizzas, soup w/grilled cheese, turkey sandwiches, leftovers

Dinners:

Beef Stroganoff w/green beans

Crockpot lime chicken soft tacos, rice mix

Pork chops, broccoli, mac-n-cheese

Crockpot chicken, red potatoes, carrots

Check out some more meal plan ideas this Meal Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

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Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised last week to find that my White Trash JUNK necklace was featured in another treasury. This one is entitled "One of those days" and is just lovely!

Now to scoop up another spoonful or two of the Bead Soup!

Bead Soup, Get Your Piping Hot Bead Soup! (and a giveaway)

WELCOME to my Bead Soup reveal!
Let me get to it.
My partner Andrea Morici sent a fabulous mix of colors and materials with which to work.

There was so much I could do with these beads that I set to work right away!
The first decision I made was to use the clasp and focal in separate pieces as I had a hard time envisioning the copper clasp in the same piece with the Golem pendant. (Click on the pictures to make them larger)

Copper Set
Since I had decided to use the clasp in a piece of its own, I needed to come up with what beads would work with it.

The copper clasp seemed to naturally fit with the small copper beads Andrea sent. In addition, I used the carved rose cinnabar, the topaz glass beads, and the small black wood beads from the soup. To give the bracelet a POP of color, I covered some wood beads with bright peacock blue tissue paper. Copper wire with a simple loop rosary chain connects the larger beads and black beads for the base of the bracelet. With the same wire, I made headpins to form the fringe of copper beads. With the extra headpins, I went made a pair of matching earrings.

**I'll be GIVING THIS SET AWAY to one lucky commenter. Just leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway. Make sure I have some way to reach you when you win! I'll leave this giveaway open through the rest of the month.**

Golem Necklace
Coming up with a design for the fabulous Golem pendant gave me absolute FITS. The pendant itself is just amazing and I could totally see it simply hanging from a basic cord. But, the bead soup party is all about thinking out of the box. I played around with ideas for almost a week before I began to feel absolutely overwhelmed by it. So, I put the pendant aside for a few weeks while I thought on it. Finally, this is what emerged.

I wanted to make the design simple enough to highlight the lovely pendant, but I also really wanted to play with the design. I 'framed' the pendant with a wood flower that I painted cream and yellow (like some of the flowers on the pendant.) From this layered focal spans two chains of beads. One is a wire wrapped chain of the red, orange, and yellow beads stacked together. The other chain consists of the green magnesite beads and black wood beads alternating on a rosary chain. I used a bit of lightweight metal to shape and dye some accent flowers. These are simply attached along the chain. A brass flower hook clasp closes the necklace.
While I'm really liking the necklace, I almost think that the dyed metal flowers may be a bit much. It's possible that they may disappear from this design before too long. . .

Circus Steampunk Earrings
I really loved the ceramic red and yellow beads. After recognizing that I didn't want to work them into the other two designs and there were two of them, it was obvious to me that they would become earrings.

Something about the color and stripe on these two beads makes me see them as the balls that seals (at a circus) would balance on their noses. With the addition of a few cogs, it has a steampunk circus feel to me. I really dig them!

Passion bracelet
After those first three pieces were completed, I thought I was DONE with my bead soup (at least for a little while.) However, I started playing with some of my mixed media/collage materials and some chain.

The passion charm (made from a Tim Holtz fragments tag and a vintage dictionary page) and the wood heart charm (coated with red metallic paint and Tim Holtz distress stickles) matched up perfectly with the frosted red beads in the soup. Paired with some acrylic faux pearls, I just adore the vintage-y femininity of this bracelet.

So those are my contributions to the Bead Soup Blog Hop. I still have a ton of beads (and the silk ribbon) to play with later. [Andrea supplied me with beads-a-plenty!! Thank you, Andrea.] If you haven't done so yet, please visit my generous partner Andrea Morici's blog to see what beauty she created (you can even pop over to her shop) and then hop along to the rest of the Party participants.

Before you do that, a super big, huge, ginormous THANK YOU goes to the bead soup coordinator and originator Lori Anderson. I know this massive of a participant list has probably been a real pain in the. . . head. If we all close our eyes and wish real hard perhaps Lori will receive the blessing of plenty of pie for her efforts!! Seriously though, thank you Lori for everything you've done over the past month to facilitate this Blog Party. I appreciate it more than you know!

Don't forget to leave a comment to enter my giveaway!
Now, get to hopping!!

Click on each name to go to their blogs.

These are the partner pairs.

The Hostess, Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke

1. Aimee Wheaton and Barbara York

2. Alice Craddick and Sandra Richardson

3. Alison Sachs and Amy Severino

4. Allison Scott and Cynthia Abner

5. Amanda Cargill Austin and Charlene Sevier

6. Amanda Davie and Patsy Evins

7. Amber Dawn and Kim Ballor

8. Ambra Gostoli and Christine Hansen

9. Amy Freeland and Christine Altmiller