Whatcha doin?

It's a really dreary Tuesday, yes? My heart, thoughts and prayers are going out to all the folks that have been affected by this nasty weather.

Since it is so dreary.....outside....I'm planning on making it shine up in here in my art studio!! Have already been through my shell stash (and I really have got to plan some beach walks and SOON) and my fabric stash. (well....some of my fabric...I have a good bit. HEY, a gal can never, EVER have to much fabric). I plan on making some of my shell necklaces as well as some of my fabric flower pins. (might even combine some shells with the fabric)

Hope you're planning on having a terrific Tuesday. If the sun is shining where you are enjoy and if it's raining.....go out and dance!!!

Until next time...........Hugs,
Regi

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is Teacher appreciation week. It is a very important week and one that should be recognized. I do believe that we should tell them all year long how much they mean. Helping our children to open up their minds and absorb all the knowledge that is made available to them in the classroom as well as keeping those minds open to learn outside the classroom. It takes a dedicated, caring and nurturing person with an over abundance of patience. I salute all those that have chosen the path of teaching....keep up the awesome work!!

The Chazman brought home a letter Friday with some suggestions of what we could do to show his teacher  just how much we do appreciate what she does. Chaz has a very good teacher that has really made learning a fun experience for him this year. Here are the suggestions:

Monday=flowers Tuesday=card Wednesday=sweet treat Thursday=Supplies Friday=Donate Book/movie                                      

All of them are good ones and of course they are just suggestions...we can do any of them...all of them...or come up with something completely different. I like the suggestions and I'm using them...with a tiny twist.

This was her gift for yesterday. I followed the Monday suggest of flowers....just not live ones. I wanted to give her something that would last for a long time. Something that when she looked at it, she would think of my Chazman. 

I made her one of my chap stick secret compartment pins. I took the photo before I was actually finished with it though and then forgot to take one after...silly me!! I love making gifts and just get so excited. Yes yes, I'm easily entertained. It's that.....or.......I really am getting very forgetful. Now....what were we talking about?  HAHA  Just teasing.  I added a cute button that I've had for some time, a tiny blue watering can. I attached it to the tiny middle mauve flower. Chaz said that she L O V E D  it and took it around to several classrooms so the other teachers could see it. That made his day and mine!!

Today is card day...so the Chazman and I sat down yesterday afternoon and talked about what he wanted to do. We went through some of my digital photos and he picked out an old Alphabet quilt pattern. The letter R. He said what better for a teacher than a letter for her last name. He has really enjoyed reading this year with her so he wanted me to add one of my bookmarks to the card. Here's what her gift will be when he gets to school.

Inside we put a small appreciation saying just for her.......

Chazman made me feel so good wanting me to make one of my paper corner bookmarks for Mrs. R. They are so easy to make and can be embellished in so many ways. 

I hope she loves her gift today as much as yesterday...LOL!!! While the Chazman is at school I'm going to be working on her gift for tomorrow. It's sweet day so I think perhaps a zero calorie sweet. Like a felt cupcake pin cushion. I have to go check and see if I have all the ingredients ummm I mean supplies.

Until next time.............Hugs,

Regi

Newest fabric corsage with secret compartments.

Taaah Dahhh....here is my newest secret compartments (notice the s on the end) fabric corsage. Did you notice the s on the end of the word compartments? I thought you would. ^_^  I decided that we sometimes might want to carry our chap stick and some money with us and leave that purse at home or locked up in the car.

I'm such a clever gurl!!! Oh yes I am. Hehe!! I made this corsage out of a beautiful hankie that some how had one end torn to pieces. Not sure how it happened....kinda looked......like......cat......claws. OMGOSH..MS PEACHES, I'm going to get you cat. I really shouldn't fuss at her because the end of the hankie was hanging out of the little basket trunk I keep them in. I mean...what self respecting cat would pass up the chance to play with a silk hankie when it moves every time she walks pass. I should thank her because there would have been no way that I would have cut it if it hadn't been damaged.

I used felt for the biggest flower and added one of my vintage beaded buttons. (thank you Liz...I so love all my old buttons you sent to me) Also attached to the felt flower is a pretty black goose feather. The small blue flower is from an old tattered silk hankie with another one of my vintage buttons sew in the middle.  I love repurposing items and the older the better.

Now...on to the next corsage...perhaps a secret compartment for that charge card you never want to leave home without. ^_^

Until next time...........Hugs, Regi

OMGOSH..I forgot how much fun Barbies were!!!

Yes...I admit it...openly!!! I played with a Barbie this weekend. What memories came pouring back to me. The Saturday night sleep overs with one of my best friends...completely taking over the living room for the weekend with all of Barbie's things. Believe me that was an honor too because Momma NEVER let anyone go into the living room unless they were special company. Getting off on a small tangent here about Momma and the "Living Room".  I remember when I was about 7 and had been really sick and Dr. Hall (our preacher) came to visit. I walked in the room...took his hand and took him to the breakfast nook and had him sit down at the table. Momma looked at me and asked what I was doing. I patted Dr. Hall on the knee and told him I was sorry but the living room was only for special company. Can you hear the "GASP" from Momma? From that day on Lee and I could play Barbie in there anytime. (as long as she wasn't expecting any special visitors mind you) Now back to the present!!  Man oh man....did we ever have Barbie things. I'm probably going to tell my age here (well heck and dang it all...I'm sure most of you know I'm one of the ancient ones already) Do ya'll remember the big heavy cardboard fold out Barbie house from the 60's? I HAD ONE and was so proud of it. My Daddy even made me some furniture to go with it. Ohhhhhh...to be young again...just for a little while so I could play with my Barbie. Oh wait...I did play with one this weekend. I almost forgot..hehe!!!

I know ya'll must be sitting there wondering just how far off the deep in I have stepped. Knowing that I have a boy and no girls....(Noooo...Chaz will not play Barbie...well..he will with his young girl cousins if they ask nicely and they have a Ken or GI Joe man. Shhhhhh..don't tell him I told you that. He is just such a sweet Li'l guy) I must have had a nervous breakdown......ri iight?? Nope..I'm just as sane as always. Well..as sane as I can be. The Chazman was invited to one of his classmates birthday party...which is this afternoon. When I called to RSVP I asked her mom what L liked. She said that I probably only needed to know one thing that would help. L is a big time "girly girl". Now to a mom with a son..what in the world does that mean? She told me the L really loves Barbie. That was all she needed to tell me. The gift just "POPPED" into my head. I had to find me a Barbie.

Saturday morning I woke up with a mission. To find that Barbie. I know I could have gone to Wal-mart to buy one but that wasn't an option. I wanted to make an outfit for one of the Barbie dolls that L already has. I can't believe it but the first yard sale we came to...the woman had a box full of naked Barbies. Thankfully, she sold me one and back home we came. I had a blast designing a faery costume. Nothing fancy but it really turned out so pretty. I even made her some attachable wings.

Notice the top of her head? She had the craziest hair....well....if you don't count my crazy hair. She had the craziest hair for a doll. I made a little scrunchy to match the outfit thinking that maybe L's dolls hair might have some bad hair days itself. I couldn't stop at just the scrunchy though. I mean what self concerning faery with her finery on doesn't wear her crown too. Yep...I made her a crown.

Isn't she purty??

Once I finished the outfit I decided that it wasn't enough to give L for h er birthday. I mean I wasn't giving her my Barbie....she was old and used. Besides,  I might want to make more clothes and will need a model for them.....ri iight...that's the reason...not that I might want to relive my childhood and sit down for an afternoon and play with her again. Nahhhhhh)  Since I have been on a roll making the fabric flower hair clips, I thought since L is a girlie girl that she might like one or two. 

Now that I had the gifts made I realized that I needed something to put them in. Can you guess what I did? It seems once I get on a roll...I keep on rolling...LOL!!! I painted a box to hold all the goodies L will be receiving from the Chazman. Even made a sweet little tag to go with it. 

I hope that L has a wonderful birthday today and enjoys all the gifts she will be getting. I do hope that (fingers crossed) the Chazman's is one that will always be special to her. 

Until next time.....Hugs, Regi

I made my own gift box..hehe

I hope that you read about how to make your own box in my last post. I also hope that they were easy to follow directions so that you could make some of your own. I enjoyed making the "How to" post so much for everyone that I made some more boxes...ten to be exact....LOL!!!  These were made for a purpose. Do you remember the flower garden I have been cultivating here of late? You know the one....don't you? The one that took up a weekend plus. Need a reminder? Just Click Here.   I made the boxes to hold these precious flowers plus I made three more flowers to add to the bunch.

I do hope that the little girls that receive them Christmas morning will love them just as much as I loved growing making them. I just love the fact that so many people are coming together to make Christmas a special time for the families that need the extra help. I'm very excited to be one that is able to use my whimsical talents to help out. Paying it forward is a motto that all of us should take to heart. I know that I certainly do. Let's take a walk and see the newest flowers clipped from the garden.

I love using fabric and ribbon. This little beauty of a rose was made from a wired satin ribbon and has cotton fabric leaves. Not only do I love using fabric and ribbon but I really love buttons. The prettier the better!!! On this one I was able to use two buttons. The white one looked like the center of a flower. How perfect...ri iight??  I just couldn't resist using this little butterfly button to go along with it. It's attached to a large clip barrette.

Here is another rose from the same bush. No thorns either...that makes it nice. We don't want any ouchies from our sweet little ladies.....now do we? I used one of my flower buttons for the center of this one and instead of a hair clip...I attached it to an elastic headband. Can't you just see a sweet baby girl wearing this?
Sit and imagine....now let's all say...........Awwwwww!!!

This little beauty is from the whimsical side of the garden. I had these fantastic, colorful fabric scraps that a friend gave to me in a big bag of.......scraps!! HAHA  They were just the perfect size to make these with. So important tip here.....never throw out those scraps you might think are to small to be keeping. I just adore all the colors in this one too. What do you think of when you see the colors? I think of ice cream..... Neapolitan ice cream and a scoop or two of sherbet thrown in with perhaps some peppermint. YUM!! I suddenly am in the mood for ice cream. ^_^   Hmmmmm...wonder why? Instead of raiding my button stash for these...I raided my vintage bead stash. Tiny, pretty pink pearls. The leaves surrounding the flowers are made from a ribbon. This one has a hair clip attached to it.

Now I have ten beautiful flowers in all to give away but I just couldn't hand them over to Ms Sue and say "Here ya go". I wanted them to be extra special so that's why I made the boxes. The box liked we talked about at the beginning of this post....the box that this post is suppose to be about. Sorry...I just had to wonder in the garden BUT at least I took you with me and you got to smell see the pretty flowers. For the boxes, I used white card stock......because I know that the box probably won't survive the opening process. I mean if they were big boxes...then they would be "priceless" but these are small boxes. I hope they do survive though because they are really cute and could actually be another gift in itself. For the top of the box, I found this cute vintage page from a children's book with rabbits....I love rabbits....don't you? Rabbits looking out the window at Santa and his reindeer flying over the snowy sky. I printed it off in black and white and then water colored it in to give it that vintage look for real. I applied a tiny bit of sparkle flakes to the rabbit tail....some red glitter by some of the holly leaves and even a teeny tiny piece of red glitter on the nose of the first reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh. RUDOLPH!!! Well....either Rudolph or the reindeer had one heck of a party the night before....but....that's....another......whole post entirely!!

Until next time.............HUGS, Regi

Weekend Projects

The weekend officially starts on Friday afternoon...or at least around this old Southern Ooaks it does. I always look forward to the Chazman getting off the bus and as he is dancing walking up the front walk and singing "It's Friday...it's Friday, chachacha", I know the weekend has begun!! Silly goose...I know...but ya gotta luv him. Well, you don't have to but believe me...if you met him you would. Anyways, this Friday I was given a surprise by my sweet Li'l man. This AWESOME chalk painting!!! I do believe the artistic genes have been passed down. Isn't it awesome? He calls it day into night. I have it hanging right over my art desk. What better item to look at and have my muse sing a complete symphony.

As I stated in my last post, I worked on several designs and projects at once on Friday and continued with them throughout the weekend. You know that I'm making things for the Angel program and this weekend it was spent making for the little girls. I hope that they will like some of these. I mean..who doesn't like to smell fresh flowers. Of course these you can't smell but you can wear them. Some are clipped to barrettes...some to pins and some to hair clips. The hair clip ones you can slide the clip off and slide them onto a headband or even a ribbon and wear as a necklace. So let's take a walk through the garden.

 

 

 

 

  

 

   
Ohhhh, I almost forgot. I was working on some more painted shells on Friday. Another mermaid (a good friend was given the first mermaid one) a snowman and a penguin (look close at this one....you will see where the snowballs come from for the penguin's snow cones..hehe) and one that the Chazman requested (one with a snow scene and Ms Peaches, our cat) I think these will look pretty attached to a wreath. If anyone is interest in them, please feel free to email me or leave a comment here. I have several more that are just sitting here, staring at me, waiting for me to paint.

I have been thinking about painting some of the bigger ones that I have. I have to find a really strong glue that will hold against a shell so I can make a pretty hanger for them. Any suggestions on what type of glue? All suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance...I know I will get one or two...ri iight??

I also spent some of this weekend working on a medallion mold. I had designed one with a mermaid that will have natural shells attached. I finally after working the clay and "SQUISHING" the clay (several times mind you) got one that I liked. It's hard making molds.....everything is inside out. Did ya know that? Or perhaps I just make it harder than I should. But HEY...it worked out for me. Yea!! Here is the first baked piece using the mold.

So...that was my busy weekend. What creative thing did you do this weekend? I'm off now to start on some wrist cuffs and hemp bracelets...can't forget the fella's in the program. Hope you have a wonderful Monday.

Until next time..........Hugs, Regi

LOVE my Custom Jewelry tags!!

I love designing my ooaks (one of a kind scultps) and my needle felt characters and even my ornies BUT my biggest enjoyment comes from letting my gypsy soul dance around free. One of the ways I do that is in making my fabric flower corsages. So many uses for them...really...there is!! I would never, ever fib to you. They can be attached to a cloth purse....I mean who doesn't like the Bohemian/gypsy look sometimes. They can be worn on a dress to give it a romantic look or even worn on a tshirt to just make you stand out as unique. One way that I love to wear them is when I wear one of my light wool shawls. I love shawls. They can dress up even the simplest outfit. I like to wrap them where one side is crossed over up high on my shoulder and then pin the corsage to keep the shawl in place. Here is my latest corsage with a matching pair of earrings.

**Notice the silver tag hanging from the leaves**

Well...we are going to talk about that now!!

I always get so many compliments when I wear one of my corsages and let's admit it...there is no greater way to promote oneself that to wear your own designs. I think mine as a bit different than some that you see but I like making sure that everyone knows which ones are mine. The way I do that is with a small silver tag.

If you come and sit under the old Southern ooaks from time to time then you know of the amazing company that I'm about to tell you about. It has some of the best charms, beads and tags. So many different ones to choose from that I can spend an entire afternoon just drooling looking at them. They are the place to go if you are a jewelry designer/maker or even one that just loves jewelry. The place I'm speaking of is the Charm Factory. The folks at the factory offer quality pewter as well as sterling silver charms and findings at probably the best prices around. *HINT HINT* FREE shipping in the U.S. for orders over $25. Some of the items you will find with them are, of course, the sterling findings, charms and tags along with alphabet beads, bracelets, Twilight inspired jewelry, Pave', and custom jewelry tags (my favorite) and some lovely European Lampwork beads. Now with already having said that the custom jewelry tags  are my favorite, let me tell you why. They are a great way to distinguish your work....put your own unique mark on it. Can we say, advertise..advertise..advertise? What better way to get you out there than to have someone that loves your work be wearing it and showing it off to others and your name or logo be right there. Also, the Charm Factory makes ordering them so easy and they will always make sure that you love what you order. No waiting for long periods of time to receive your order either. They are FAST!!! So fast.

What are you waiting for....go and check them out. Just have that drool cloth ready....you are so going to need it!!

Until next time.....HUGS, Regi