“Chiromancie” is palmistry in French….why does EVERYTHING sound so much prettier in French?

This vintage slip needed some repair, so i fixed all it’s little time-worn wounds. i dyed it twice with tea, once with Chai, once with Earl Grey, to give it a really mottled and antique coloring.

I stitched on many many layers of various lace trims at the hem. The embellishments are a hand-embroidered palmistry chart worked onto 1940’s era doily, rosettes of gathered lace, vintage rhinestone buttons, and a satin rose and vine applique to which i added a few tiny rhinestones recycled from a vintage dress.

At the hip, i stitched on another very old doily and some lace with little pearls, also recovered from a vintage dress. Pretty lace trim under the bust and YET ANOTHER old doily and lace rosette at the bodice.

I do so  love a doily……

The New Year has come and gone with nary a peep or a post on this poor unloved blog. As usual, it’s hard to balance LIVING life, staying creative, taking interesting photos of said creativity, and sharing it here. I miss it.

2009 flew past so fast, and there were many many changes. Some good, some sad, but all a part of my growth. I did so much lasy year it’s dizzying to think over it all. I made so many things that i never got photos of! I had the honor of participating in an incredibly wonderful indie craft fair “Crafty Feast” in my community, i had a fun run with Columbia Alternacirque, went on hiatus from circuslife, quit bellydancing, played with fire,  couldn’t stand to stay away from bellydance afterall and joined a new dance troupe, adapted to my Mister going back to school, and on and on.

I miss my daily babbling, but sometimes it’s hard to go on and on about “me me me” without feeling kinda self-centered. I am not really interesting in the grand scheme of things, and it sometimes feels awkward. My life is not one magical adventure after another, and who wants to read all my rambling run-on sentences anyway!

That said, i have this yearning to return to my habit of sharing my creative processes, my misadventures, and my occasional triumphs. So for 2010, i would really really like to get back to blogging more often. I am going to try…..really i am! No, i mean it!

So, here we go!

Just so we don’t have an utterly photo-less post, i’ll share one my favorite Button Box designs  of the winter….”Nostalgia Scarves”!

I actaully made five of these, but i was unable to get photos of all of them. I REALLY love them! They are a mash-up of eyelet lace vintage “dresser scarves that i pieced togehter, all kinds of laces, layered up, made into rosettes and whathaveyou, old doilies and vintage buttons. All dyed with tea, of course (it’s what i do! it’s my thing!) They were so fun to make….collaging all that old stuff that would normal laungish in someone’s boxes of “crap that used to belong to my granny”. Really proud of them, and i get all giddy when i see them adorning my friends who scooped ‘em up. There is only one left….finding the matching sets of eyelet dresser scarves that i need to create them is a bit of a treasure-hunt, so i doubt i’ll make any more unless i get lucky again! Spring is just around the corner anyway, so i need to turn my creative eye on more spring-y things anyway! I can always tell….pink is catching my eye and i’m dreaming of flowers and gnomes and faerie-ish whimsy!

Hoping that spring dreams are filling your days, too!

xoxoxo

It’s been a mad week….friday night i have an Alternacirque performance and we’ve been rehearsing our bums off….i am totally feeling the Cirque spirit! I’ve been sewing and creating and workinglike a happy bee in preparation to set up my vending table at a wonderful Bellydance/Sideshow arts workshop on saturday to boot! The days are flying by, but i had to stop for a moment to say hello and let you know what i’ve been up to!

I made this fun scrap fabric cuff , “The Ringmistress”…..

i love the vintage buttons so much!

Also, my immersion in cirque has inspired the creation of a new dollie…..

Meet Elle and Nannette, Belles of the Side Show!

Their parents were ever so protective of their special girls,  never wanting them to be seen in public, and kept them safely locked up away from prying eyes. But Elle and Nannette knew they were special in a way that they wanted to share with everyone, and longed to travel the world and live a life of wonderment. Putting their heads together, they devised a plan..to run away and join the Circus!

The girls had a marvelous time,  meeting all kinds of people and seeing the world. They were such sweethearts, everyone loved them and they enjoyed themselves immensely, never taking a single magical moment for granted. Unfortunately, while making it’s way across the the French countryside, the Circus train derailed and all were lost in the terrible crash, but rumor has it that the young ladies were joyful drinking champagne and laughing with the clowns and fire eaters right up to the very end.

Hoping you are all having a marvelous day!

xoxox

Fabric cuffs are one of my favorite things to make….i love to stitch them, i love to wear them…..i love that they only take small scraps and pieces of this and that to make something lovely and unique……

“Treasure Hiding” cuff(also the title of one of the most beautiful Cocteau Twins songs…swoon)….

Treasures can be hiding in lost and forgotten textiles….Maroon velvet recycled from a thrifted small girls dress, lace rescued from old torn up vintage slips that are too far gone to use for anything but scraps, black frog loop closures from an old blouse, and  embellished with hand stitched pearls and buttons. Who imagined those old useless leftovers could come together and have a new life of adornment.

It’s soft and lovely, and seems full of stories to me. Who wore that little velvet party dress. Was she a little girl that hated scratchy uncomfortable dresses with those slippery patent leather mary janes and frilly socks? Or was she less of a tom boy, loving that fancy dress, spinning and dancing around the party like a living doll….

“Sweet Tea and Skeleton Key”….again, small scraps transform when you put them all together. A piece of a vintage drapery, some little bits of lace that i dyed in tea….

Stitched all together with buttons, ribbons, pearls and an antique key…i try to envision what door that key once unlocked and what might have gone on in that imaginary room i have conjured in my head.  A mad belle? A spinster with a cobwebbed wedding cakes? A medium holding seances? A closet full of skeletons?

I wish i lived in a house that had doors that could only be opened with skeleton keys!

What adornments are you adoring today?

xoxo

They say you never forget how to ride a bike once you learn…maybe that is true. The same CANNOT be said of blogging, however! I was reading back over past post and marveling at how once upon a time i had so much to write about each and every day!  After my blog-break, i just never could get back into the swing of it…and that makes me sad! I know i always say i will do better this time, but THIS time, i really mean it!

It’s not as tho’ i don’t have plenty of things going on…i am still making stuff and having a fantastic time working with the Columbia Alternacirque…still bellydancing and  having wonderful little adventures like attending TribalCon and taking a fabulous workshop with Zoe Jakes, still having the occasional catastrophe (Buying our house! Termites! Shingles! Life-Changes Galore! Wheeee!) I guess i just closed myself up in my little bubble and stopped communicating. Will try harder.  I swear! So here we go…today is the first post of the rest of my life. Har.

First of all, the Alternacirque opening performance was awesome and we persevered in spite of bad weather, a nasty case of Shingles and Scarlet Fever. I so wish i had photos to share, but i went alone,  so i did not have anyone to be my photography bitch for the evening. Next show i promise to have photos, because the costumes are amazing and it’s SUCH a cool act. We went with a steampunk theme, very creepy and amazing. I play a dollmaker that teams up with a mad scientist to create life-sized living, dancing dolls. So fun! My character has to carry around a basket of dollies that i am trying, constantly and with NO success, to sell to my castmates. So, i had to make some little dead girls for the show, of course!

This is Miss Scarlette Fever….so named when we discovered that our director did indeed have a case of scarlet fever, and i just had to do it.  My sick sense of humor remains intact. Everyone keeps asking me if i’ll make one to commemorate my super-awesome bout with shingles, but frankly i’d like to forget all about that unpleasant experience, thankyouverymuch!

And here is little Molly Malaria…so many mosquitoes  tend to bite a girl when one hangs around in the swamp too long, and you certainly can be sucked nearly completely dry……  and eventually Molly succumbed to the terrible fever and massive bloodloss. RIP, Molly!

There are a few others, but i am saving them another post

I am also still in love with slips….

Fun with freezer paper stencils again, using that wonderful bird woman image! It is killing me that i am not sure who the original artist of the papercut is…i thought it came from Ulla, but it turns out that it’s not…. I want to credit the proper person but my attempts to find out who it is have been unsuccessful. I do so love it, tho’!

I sewed on tons of extra lace trims and embellished it with an antique skeleton key and a  faux pearl from a vintage necklace…fancy!

Of course, i am still crankin’ out the old standards, too….soaps and candles make me happy!

So there you have it…..my first wobbling attempt to get back on the old bike, ummm, i mean BLOG.  I did miss it, and i hope everyone in blog-land is well and wonderful, as always!

xoxoxo

Have you ever visited the beautiful Ullabenulla blog? It’s truly a place of wonders and inspiration galore! A while back, i found an amazing silhouette that i could not resist…it called to me and sang a song of stenciling…

I am going away on an adventure soon and i needed something comfy to wear, so i delved into my teeshirt drawer and pulled out an old one. It was worn and soft, but completely lacking any cuteness. The birdlady  knew she belonged there, to accompany me on my little journey.

An old old shirt becomes new and and wonderful! Freezer paper is magical stuff! It’s so easy to work with, and i am really enjoying getting back to simpler crafts in between the big, elaborate long-term projects i have going on. Freezer paper stencilling fits the bill perfectly.

So does Mod Podge!

Some pretty, cheeky new icon candles  for Valentine’s Day!  Another long-forgotten craft that filled my day with low-maintenance joy.

I hope your day is filled with low-maintenance joy too!

xoxo

Oh dear…is it REALLY February already? Time does fly!

All is well in the buttonbox….i’ve been busy doing this that and the other, but i have been very lax in photographing it and sharing it. In my efforts to get back in the habit of blogging, i will share my progress on a vintage slip that i’ve been playing with for a while now…

It’s still not finished…i am still trying to decide where to put the various embellishment pieces…alot of pinning, un-pinning, moving, and re-pinning going on. Hoping to have it all done by Valentine’s day, and to have it properly photographed on a real live model! It’s all very exciting, but alittle nerve-wracking as well!

As you can see, it’s craziness as usual around here!

I hope everyone is well and wonderful….and i hope i can keep on posting here l bit more consistently! Spring is coming, Cirque season is quickly approaching and  will have all kinds of fun tales to share. Think steampunk, little dead dollies, fire tricks and bellydancing ! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Life is grand!

xoxoxo

Oooh, my! It’s true! I am rattling my undead bones here on the keyboards after a long dark nasty time on my couch. Stricken down by a hideous virulent flu-ishness, i’d been wondering if i was ever going to feel well again. Missing out on all the fun of the Fanciful Twist Halloween Party and feeling mighty bitter about it. But, i am feeling much better now…i promise not to share any nasty zombie-flu cooties. I *will* share my cookies, tho’…..

Yummy. Watch out for the small bones tho’, they do tend to get stuck in your throat. Wash them down with some spider cider?

Speaking of spiders….the only positive thing about being a couch-lump is that one does not have the energy to do much of anything beyond watch wonderful old movies, and do lots and lots of stitching. Thus, a new little dead dollie is born…

Meet Miss Sabrina Spiderbite. This little girl was never a cowardly little shrieker like Little Miss Muffet….in fact, she adored spiders so much that she embarked upon a lifelong (however short) of the study of arachnids…

She kept jars and jars of ever kind of weaver she could catch, she spied on them with her magnifying glass in hopes they might teach her to knit and spin. She even carried some in her pockets and let them crawl over her skirts.

One day she discovered a lovely eight legged lady that she had never seen before….all glossy and black with the most beautiful red hourglass marking on her tummy. Sabrina was enchanted and went to gently catch her her up in her hands….OUCH! Sabrina, alas, did not know that one should never ever touch a black widow spider. By the time she’d learned her lesson, it was too late.

Apparently being ill doens nothing to quell my morbid muse!

I also finished up a new vintage slip project…..handstitching lace and feeling the Tim Burton spirit.

Black and white dead all over…..

Halloween is creeping closer and i am as busy as a bee trying to makes the best out of what’s left of this October. there are tons of great old horror movies on the TIVO to be watched (Oh my gosh, has anyone else noticed how much awesomeness they’ve had going on over on Turner Classic Movies???Wowza!), gross and ghoulie treats to create. I hope everyone is having a great spooky time too! What’s new??

LOVELOVELOVE!

xoxox

I am in NO way a “fine” artist”…i have never been able to paint or draw well. But for some reason, i envisioned this painting and really wanted to do it. It’s been a work in progress for over a year!!! I painted over a hideous 70’s piece of “art” that i’d gotten at the thriftstore (a reproduction from the Book Of Kells printed on linen in the most ungodly dreadful shades of goldyellow and fuchsia that *literally* wounded the eye to look upon it), and the skeleton was easy enough for me to get…i was very happy with how simple, ghostly and somehow “folk-arty” it seemed, and that was great. But then the wings…oh, those evil wings. I’d work on them then throw the brush down in disgust and ignore the painting for several months until the urge hit me again. It’s been a love/hate relationship. But, i REALLY wanted it done to hang for the Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos season this year, so i committed myself to making it work.

I finally gave up on there being any hope of matching each wing exactly, and with help from my amazing son (who is getting REALLY good with watercolor and comic style art!), we finished our “Masterpiece” at last! I will probably never paint again, but i really do love how our Mariposa Calavera turned out.

Happy Saturday, all!

xoxo

More days fly by and i find myself in the thick of October already! It seems like there is always something going on that distracts me from bloglandia. Since my last visit, we have continued to rehearse with the Columbia Alternacirque. Alas, we got rained out for the September show, but we look forward to the October 24th performance with much excitement. My mister has been a really quick study, learning fire tricks…it’s been nonstop entertainment! i am still working hard with bellydance. I just took and amazing two-day ” tribal bootcamp” workshop with with the beautiful Moria Chappell.
I have never worked so hard at dance and it was fantasitc, even tho’ it nearly killed me

Meanwhile, i have been REALLY busy, stitching and making and working working working away at various projects. I’m vending at the Belladonna’s Halloween Festival in a few weeks and so i have been trying to make up a few simple things for that…..here are a few….

As well as a few not-so-simple…

I double-dyed a vintage half-slip with chai tea, and it  is very mottled and “Ancient” looking.  I added some black lace to the hem…

Then i embroidered on a couple of simple “juggling” skeletons….this took ages of course, and kept me entertained in the car while traveling to “boot camp”, and while sitting around waiting for the wee beastie to get out of school every afternoon.

I gave them button eyes, and  stitched on some lace roses and pearls for the skellies to “juggle” with. It’s silly, creepy and fun. I am extremely pleased with it.

Unbelievably, i have not gotten my Halloween decorations up!!!!  I might have to turn in my Ghoulie card! Planning to work on that over the weekend, as well as heaps more sewing that i’ve got going on! Head spinning…..not enough hours in the day to do everything i want to do! Eeeek!

Hoping everyone is having a lovely Autumn so far! I’ll be back soon!

xoxoxo