I have a thing for anchors...

There are a few symbols that always catch my attention

while on the hunt for something special to use in my work.

an anchor is one of those...

How about you?  Do you have a special icon that you gravitate

toward when looking for treasures?

A few others for me are ~

red cross pins

religious medals

let's not forget about

photos

buttons

souvenir trinkets

ephemera

all vintage of course,

all giving a specialness to the piece.

happy treasure hunting!

Have a wonderful weekend!

love,

t.xoxo

I have tried to get my items listed as I make them,

but going to the market every week makes that tough.

If ever you see something on the blog or facebook or instagram

and you are interested in it, please contact me so I can make that happen!

(I hope that you will follow me over to fb and instagram

as I have more opportunity to update there more often)

xoxo

last chance to throw your name in the giveaway hat!

I wanted to have a new post this past weekend, but things were pretty busy around here, 

so I am reposting this before I draw the winners name tonight!

t.xoxo

First things first...

I want to show off my gift of spring from a dear friend,

I will say right now that those beautiful hyacinths were put on the dresser

just for this shot and cannot stay there... why, you ask?

Meet Oliver.

Hannah found him on Halloween when he was just a tiny thing,

I will say that we were apprehensive,

we looked for the owner,

we actually ended up finding the owner after having him

for over a week.

(after we all fell in love with the little booger)

by the way,

this is how they make you fall in love with them.

Kittens are so adorable and then to top it off, he is a cuddler with a very loud purr.

So Hannah, Max, Oliver and I went to the home that we were

told he probably came from.

Imagine the scene... 2 very sad and crying 

children who know that, although they are doing the right thing

by taking the kitten to his owner,

are madly, deeply in love and are clutching him so tightly

that he is lucky to be alive today!

I will cut this short...

the sweetest 5th grade boy who Oliver belonged to,

had 4 other kittens in the garage and

gave sobbing Max a hug and told him he could keep

Oliver because he could see how much they loved him.

Now I was crying.

What a generous thing to do.

Jazz took the longest to welcome him to her domain,

and still pretty much pretends he doesn't exist...

but he even managed to weasel his way onto her beloved pillow!

O.k., back to the real reason for this post...

It's giveaway time!!!

(this pendant has a snippet of a doily that my Bushie made many years ago)

I am going to give one of my followers a custom

pendant necklace.

from my new line in the shop called

snippets of life

I will put a snippet of your treasured item between two pieces of thick glass and using lead free solder, I will preserve your families cherished memories for you.

I have different sizes and shapes of glass to choose from with a necklace made from glass seed beads or a key chain.
A piece of fabric, grandmas apron, grandpas tie, a scrap of the napkin from your first date, a button, a photo, a favorite quote, the possibilities are vast... double sided.

(stolen right from my site's description)

so, you can choose a necklace, key fob, or even one of these bracelets 

with a pendant hanging from it!

Hannah and I were at Forever 21 looking for a dress for her big dance, 

when I stumbled on the super cheap belts.

Skinny, cheap perfect for the bracelet that I had wanted to make for a while now!

Cut the belt to size, poke a new hole or two in it

with a nail... yeah I'm super high tech over here...

not.

I added a large jump ring to one of my pendants and

strung it onto the belt ~

Waa Laa!

I did find a really great tutorial with detailed instructions

but I knew I wasn't going to go out and purchase

a rivet maker thingy

so a belt was the easy choice.

edit... I just found the great tutorial and wanted to give credit to

Flamingo Toes

and now you can go and check her step by step pics out!

no hand model available so this is the best I could do for this shot :)

Then a few days later, while I was out running errands,

the car automatically pulled into the thrift store parking lot

and I figured since I was already here I might as well go in :)

Low and Behold, they had even cheaper skinny belts!

So I made one in red, and I have a couple of good 

distressed brown ones waiting in the wings!

So here's where you come in...

let me know in a comment what you would like me to put in your pendant,

Do you have a snippet of your mom's favorite dress,

or maybe a cherished photo,

or a special medal that you won in 4-h

that you want dangling from your neck?

here's your chance!

These can be double sided, so maybe a special photo on the front,

and a quote or scrap of fabric on the back!

Oh wait, one more thing!

I am at 599 followers,

if I reach 600 during this birthday giveaway

I will pick 2 winners!

you know the drill...

1.  this giveaway is for all of my wonderful followers

so if you aren't one yet

jump on board!

2.  let me know in your comment what memory you would

want preserved under glass.

3.  for one more chance,

"like" my facebook page ~ The Old White House

There you go!

easy peasy, right?

I will pick the winner on Monday 3/12/12

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you

who stop by and let me ramble on and on at you,

and leave me the best comments!

Plus, like I said a couple of posts ago,

what's a birthday party without a goody bag or two?

love,

Theresa 

xoxoxoxooxo

linking to:

White Wednesday

Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

Share the Love Wednesday

tulips and necklaces...

We had a 4 day weekend over here and boy has it been nice!

A dear friend stopped by with a 'spring present' of beautiful tulips

for me the other day and I had the perfect spot to 

show them off.

playing with picnik,

I sure am gonna miss it :(

(sold)

I have made some new necklaces to share!

I love the light citron color of these glass beads,

just enough sunshiny yellow...

(sold)

to go with a vintage religious medal hanging from an old chandelier crystal

along with a silver bird and a heart from a vintage bracelet.

I can't even remember where I found this gold wrapped shell but it is fabulous,

perfect for summer!

I beaded it with multi colored natural glass beads with a few 

larger tiger eye beads encased in bling... I love me some bling!

pretty in pink...

The bee is soldered and then I gave it a copper patina,

and that drew me to the pink beads on the table.

pinks and golds and copper and pale browns...

yum.

a pink rose with a copper heart and a brownish bead for the dangle effect :)

I'm going to leave you with the tulips...

they have really brought a bit of spring into the dining room 

and into my heart!

Thanks Julie! xoxo

I have more beading to do, ideas to play with and well, you know,

laundry to put away.

(thank goodness Hannah volunteered to make dinner!)

back to work...

Thanks so much for stopping by,

I really appreciate all of you for following my little blog,

those that have been here since the beginning

and the newbies I see on the sidebar...

welcome aboard!

love,

Theresa 

xoxoxoxo

linking to:

 White Wednesday

Primp your stuff Wednesday

Pin It

reflecting...

I am so enjoying the process of beading these necklaces!

I started  going through my soldered pendants that have been hanging around the studio,

this one is my first attempt at a double strand necklace.

The two crystal balls on either side of the pendant are from a vintage necklace,

and the pendant is double sided.  The enclosed button with a circle of glass glitter that you see here,

and a fleur de lis on the other side.

I think this one is my new favorite :)

I applied a copper patina to the soldered Eiffel Tower pendant for a more vintage look,

and then beaded with vintage and new creamy ivory beads.

Super romantic!

Our weekend did not go as planned, it was turned upside down

when we found out that one of our best friends passed away Friday night.

Very suddenly, without warning, and much too young.

He was only 49.

One of the nicest, kindest people I have ever met.

Married his highschool sweetheart, also wonderfully kind,

and raised 3 incredible children.

I know that it is almost cliche to say that a death like this,

makes you evaluate your own life.

but it does.

It's too short, not enough time to make sure that you are living to your full potential.

By that I don't mean becoming some huge success

by the standards that the financial world sets for us.

Nor by being famous,

I mean, did I recognize the sadness in someones eyes as we spoke,

and did I do something to help make it go away?

Have I shown a kindness, big or small to those around me?

Have I stopped to appreciate this big beautiful world and have

I made a conscious effort to keep it that way?

Am I the kind of person that I would want to meet?

All simple things really,

but they all require a promise...

a promise to myself that I will stop long enough to give more of myself.

The good parts...the parts that come from a place of love.

Source: ruelala.com via Theresa on Pinterest

nuff said.

Have a wonderful week!  Ours started with a snow day, so Hannah and Max are still sleeping. 

 I'm thinking fruit smoothies for breakfast and some good snuggles are in order.

love,

Theresa xoxoxoxo

Pin It

honored...

It is always such an honor to have your work recognized by another artist and

 today I am being featured by Cindy Adkins at her online magazine

Whimsical Musings Magazine

She highlights many wonderful artists there and I am thrilled to be among them!!!

This was a special order but I know I will be making more... I love how it turned out!

Thank you Cindy!

If you have a moment stop in to say hello and check out the other artist being featured...

Daniella Hayes

Her style is vibrant and colorful and full of happiness!

I have had a sick little boy here for the last week.  Max got the flu on Mon. and today is the first day that he woke up and asked for something to eat.  So for breakfast he wanted homemade chicken noodle soup with bread and butter.  Oh happy day!!! (he tried to have it for dinner last night but after 2 bites he said his stomach hurt.)  I can count on my hands with fingers to spare how many things he has eaten.  So if he wants chicken soup for breakfast I am beyond happy!  I think he is on the mend. :)

love,

Theresa xoxo

the sweet smell of solder in the morning...

sorry I couldn't help myself!

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so I have been soldering pendants-charms like a crazy person, a happy crazy person!

I love the process, it fills so many of my artistic needs... using vintage goods, collage, letting the creative muse go wild, glue, glitter, old photos, and that new love of melting metal!  it's a bit scary and fun at the same time... kinda like life!

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vintage button under glass surrounded by silver glass glitter... swoon.

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for the french in all of us :O

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I'm even soldering marbles people!  Nothing is safe!

but I just love how they dangle from this button pendant!

They will all come lovingly packaged in the gift pouches that I made for them using upholstery webbing,

all tied up with seam binding.

and free shipping to boot!

I'm listing these in The Old White House as fast as I can,  and I have so many more to share with you...

til next time...

love,

Theresa xoxo

linking up to...

Running with Glitter

White Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

French Inspiration Thursday

whew! new listings...

 I made it a mission of mine to get my etsy up to 75 items this weekend and by golly I did it!

Here are a few of the newest listings in

The Old White House

 first up...

an anthro inspired necklace with a piece of vintage crocheted cotton doily that I have stiffened so that it will hold its shap under the rosette and also so that it would be able to be hung from jump rings and hold a soldered pendant that will be personalized for the buyer.

 here's another version...

 some new soldered pendants...

(front)

(back)

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barkcloth encased in glass...
(all of the backs are the leaf pattern)



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vintage embroidered granny hanky encased in glass.

plus some vintage finds....

instant collection of wind up clocks.

the cutest little wooden folding chair ~ petite childs chair, soooo cute!

O.k. I gotta go now, my family thinks I am permanently attached to the computer now so I have to prove them wrong!  I just wanted to share what I have been up to lately!

Thanks for stopping by,

I'll be back soon with even more goodies to show you!

love,

Theresa xoxo