A BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

I have been having major problems with our internet... I am really going through some tough 

blogging withdrawals...

it's not pretty people, not pretty!

Seriously, someone needs to mend this quickly so I can do all of the things I want to do on the blog.

I have so many ideas to share,

posts that I NEED to post.

I have been thinking of ways that I would change up things over here.

Post more, tutorials coming your way, lots of fun things on the horizon...

now I just need our router to cooperate!

As soon as it does, I want to show you some of the fun I have been having over here!

(Right now I am sitting in the public library in the young adult room, 

acting like a young adult,

 and whining because I miss all of my friends!)

Until this gets worked out these librarians can expect to see much more of me around here!

I don't let myself whine for too long though

sooooooo

on to happier things...

This was one of our presents from Hannah... 

another reason why her and I love/stalk

Pinterest!

She saw this idea on there and then proceeded to make three of them to give as presents!

I think it turned out beautifully, I love the little girl that Hannah painted, blowing bubbles

under a rainstorm of green and yellow.

Also, before Christmas I won a giveaway from Jeanine over at 

Okio B Designs

I received a box stuffed with crafting supplies and oh my gosh,

I cannot wait to show you some of the creations that come from

Jeanine's generosity!

She is not only generous in her giveaway but she give us doses of  inspiration on a daily basis... 

go and check her out,

 you will be so glad that you did!

Hannah, Max and I were all digging through the box, coming up with ideas for all of the goodies!

(Jeanine's picture, we tore the box open like wild animals-

I think we are lucky the mail lady will still deliver to our home!)

For instance Jeanine put a paper mache' dress form in the box

and I snagged it before the kids did, because a couple of years ago 

I made this silver platter assemblage and it sold on etsy,

 and I have been wanting one of my own for a while now

so THANK YOU Jeanine for contributing to our crafting habits!

I think my new one will be wearing some of the hand stamped ribbon that was in the prize box!

THANK YOU JEANINE!!! XOXO

You see, I have so much to share with you...

but the girls just flickered the lights over here and I think that must mean last call

or something, so I gotta say good by for now.

Please know that I'm thinking about you and wondering what you have been up to!

You can bet there will be a great game of catch-up the next time I can link up,

whether here at the library or hopefully in the comfort of my own home, where people

won't look at me weird when I laugh out loud or ooooh and ahhhh while

oogling all of your beautiful creations!

I hope you have a fabulous 2012, full of love, laughter and many blessings...

in other words...

may your cup spilleth over!

and when it does, may you have a super sized

 SHAMWOW 

to mop up the excess!!!

:)

love,

Theresa xoxoxoxoxoox 

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can't. stop. soldering....

really. truly.

I have more ideas in my head than I can keep up with.

really. truly.

I think this time I will just fill you up with pictures and save you from the rattle that is going on inside my noggin...

old blue bottle, hello dolly china doll head, rhinestones... uh yeah.

 you know this girls deserves that and more!  Look at how sweet she is with her demure little smile. I think she looks remarkably like the doll head. 

The french postmark tag is where she always wanted to go.

I hope she got there.

oh yeah, it's my story... she got there and filled herself on croissants, wine and cheese!

and wore rhinestones ofcourse!

 

 on to my gypsy girl...

 swimming in pearls...

 

 bringing her bling...

cuz you know she's got some bling!

 

The back of the photo says '28

love that! 

I know you do too, we are made of the same cloth.

it's one of my favorite things about you.

 

 Her photo is actually inside of the bottle so the pearls can shake around her like a gypsy snow globe!

 you know I love my birds...

 unless they're pooping on my windshield.

 this one would never do that, certainly not after I gave him some rhinestones and a soldered charm.

a charm with his daily duties... his ta~da list so to speak!

 He is a plastic light from a vintage strand I think, I have a red one too, but they didn't come with a set or anything, so they. must. be. soldered.

 : O

 here you can see the jewels inside his bottle.

this is why the soldered bird sings!

 I love them all but I have saved my favorite for last...

I love this lady, I don't know who she is but I just love her gentle nature that shows up in this photo.

 Oh my gosh, I want to be her when I am old.

I might even wear that fabulous dress with the ruffle going down to the bottom.

did you hear me?

a ruffle all the way to the floor!!!

She has our style girls!

She had to have the crown. and this fabulous finial.

 

 She is standing in front of what I am assuming is her prize plant in her garden.

So I put dried rose petals in her bottle and hung a monopoly wheelbarrow game piece from a jump ring that I soldered to it, and a religious medal and her soldered charm that says garden queen.

 I left plenty of room so that you could see the writing on the back of the photo.

WHEW!!!!

o.k. so much for saving you from the rattle...

I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF!!!!!!!

So with all of this soldering you can probably imagine that I have a bit of house~tending to do!

I better get to folding some laundry because this morning Max went to school with mismatched socks.

just keeping it real people.

Thanks for the visit!

love, 

Theresa xoxo

I'm linking up to a few parties right now because I'm not sure how long this house~tending is going to take! Because these are all listed in my etsy... The Old White House
I'm linking up first to the Bloggers Bodega

White Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Link Love, Running With Glitter Tuesday Party,

Transformation Thursday, Vintage Inspiration Friday
oh la la link party

WHEW!!!

that's a whole lotta partying going on at 612!

playing with my silver stash...

     The story goes something like this...

I cleaned the workroom...

 and as I was looking for something to play with,

(I can't remember right now what it was, and probably forgot while I was looking!)

;O

I spotted some silver trays that I have been saving for a collage or two.

It has been a wonderful couple of creating days for me.

I had so much fun making these!
In fact, Duane came home from a meeting and asked what we had to eat and I looked up from the piece I was soldering and actually uttered the words...
"I can't think about it right now, I'm in the zone"
Never fear people, I did manage to help him make a nice salmon dinner!
It being warm enough outside and him being the chief griller here @ 612 will make my job list a but shorter! yay spring!

No innocent children went hungry
 but I was in the ZONE  ~ ya know?

Every Good Will has these siver trays, and for a song too!

They really make wonderful backgrounds. 

They can go from whimisical ~

peep! peep!

to a bit more serious ~

I think these men look like they are beginning a new business venture together and that their photo was taken after the ribbon cutting.

~ just a little story I'm giving them!

I even had the soldering iron on today and added soldered rings on the back for hanging crystals and the number 3.  There is also a twisted key ring soldered to the back for hanging.

Back to the Easter theme I put this rabbit on top of some ledger paper and used a rub on R at the top.  I aged some seam binding by soaking it in tea and scrunching it up and baking it in a ball.  When you take it out of the oven it has the coolest aged appearance.

Try it... you'll like it!

(oh man, how old am I?)

I just put a seam of glue along the edge and ruffle the ribbon into the glue as you go... easy peasy.

Then I made a rosette with some of it and glued it in the center.

 I glittered the flowers with clear glass glitter and his hat has black glass glitter on it, I'm disappointed that it doesn't show up very well in the photos but I promise it's all sparkly!

So then Max had a good idea for this umbrella, so I stoled borrowed his idea and put it in this birds nest.

He is resting under his umbrella in his cushy nest in the 'penthouse' of the croquet ball :)

I always bring a craft or two when we go away, and this past week I brought some clay with us to play with.  The kids each picked out a couple of colors and I brought white.

go figure. :)

I wrapped a rhinestone strand around the bottom of the nest and strung a bell, a jewel and the tag on it.

Thanks Max! xoxo

Wow, I didn't realize how tired I was until I sat down to write this...

Now that I am proofing it I realize how tired it even sounds!

sorry :(

Tomorrow I will show you some of the soldering I finished and maybe interject a bit of the fun I had into the post!

Happy Sunday!

love,

Theresa xoxo



I'm linking up to Beth's Silver Sunday over at Gypsy Fish.
and Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

vintage inspiration...

For me, nothing strikes the inspiration nerve like an old photo.   My blog header photo of my mom's family is a good example, I love that photo, it's so full of happiness and you can just feel the love they share for eachother.  That is the love I grew up with.  I am blessed.
So when I find a photo that depicts that kind of love I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame and I just want to give it a new life.

This one spoke to me, I think they look like they share a promise of a new life with one another.

A bond. sometimes sparkly, sometimes somewhat tarnished, but a bond none the less.

where you promise your heart, as it sometimes dangles carelessly for all to see.

together, gathering the scraps, baubles and treasures that life throws your way...

with the hope of music always in your ears so that when the dance is over you still hear the violin.

I hope you dance...

I am linking this up to Vintage Inspiration Friday over @  Debra's!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Theresa xoxo

p.s. I get a bit melancholy when I'm tired... sweet dreams xoxo

blame it on the glue...

I was in the mood for a little assemblage work.  I find it very freeing, Hannah says I channeled my inner Sid! (the kid from Toy Story who dismantelled and destroyed toys)  I think I kinda freaked her out a little :)  but I am of the thought that it's good to keep your kids wondering...

I had a broken frozen charlotte body and so I put a birds head on it (cmon you know you would do the same thing!)  dolled him up with an old monopoly hat and little scrap of wool scarf and bingo button.  But I didn't stop there people...

He is sitting in a rhinestone bedazzled vintage finial nest full of glittered music paper.  This was easy peasy, I ran the paper through the shredder and then I poured some modpodge into my hand (think hand cream)  and then crumpled it all up and placed the ball, now formed into a nest, on a piece of paper and sprinkled it with silver glass glitter.
but it didn't stop there...

The nest is "perched" (sorry couldn't resist)  on a piece of a chippy rusty light fixture with the name Junk Bird stamped on some seam binding and glued to old ledger paper.

Add an old store price tag and waalaah!  So you see why Hannah was a little concerned ;)

O.k. truth be told, this one wasn't the one that  frightened her...

This one was!  I ask you... what's a girl to do (after using strong whiffy glue all day)  with a lone broken doll head?  How many times have you wished that you could fly like a bird?

Once I started playing with the rusty crusty goodness that has taken over the my workspace, well I just couldn't stop myself...  (really, we had pancakes for dinner)

besides her fabulous salt shaker hat she is bejeweled from front to back!

So there you have it... glue fumes, rusty treasures piling up, broken dolls and birds just laying around. do you agree with Hannah or are you flying over to the creative paradise with me?  ;O

Hope to see you soon!  Today I will be cleaning up my mess, stocking up for the big storm and maybe I'll treat them to soup instead of pancakes!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and link up to Suzan's Project Genesis.  One of my main contributions to our planet is saving things from our landfills.  What better way than to turn it into art!  It is a wonderful project that Suzan has created... one drop of water in the well at a time will fill the well.

I am also linking up to Tutorial Tuesday, White Wednesday and Link Love

On a side note... on Sunday when I visited Hope Studios for her Sunday Funny, I may have taken the video too seriously!  If you didn't see it, you really should, it is a great laugh!!!


Thanks  for stopping by!  Theresa xoxo

the wheels are still turning...

No time to chat really, I tore up the workroom, which consequently means I tore up the entire downstairs... and I haven't even begun to decorate!  Can you feel the craziness?  I just thought I'd leave you with some pictures and a quick hello...

(sold)

look at that fabulous label!

 some vintage bottles that I decorated...

 Some big (o.k. I'll be honest, almost obnoxious)  poofy flowers to wear and feel all girly!  I love to feel girly and I swear these do the trick, I love to wear them and always feel a little special when I do! scouts honor!!

 So there you have it, the craziness ensues... I will be getting this house in order TODAY and then on to more creative endeavors!  I stopped at a friends house today and she was decorating for Christmas, and man oh man did I just want to stay there and play instead of coming home to work!  But alas here I am... I will play soon enough for now I really gotta roll up my sleeves and make some sense of this place!

All of these things will be added to my etsy soon, probably as I fall asleep tonight, so excuse any typos!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are having a fabulous day!  Theresa xoxo