Studio Snapshot. The Chocolate Bowl

the studio chocolate bowl...

Three Muses. You Are What You Eat

This is my response to this week's Three Muses challenge, "you are what you eat".  And I eat a lot, A LOT, of chocolate. I have a studio chocolate bowl... I love just about everything that is chocolate, including the chocolate wrappers...

This is an ATC made of fabric paper - where I have collaged layers of paper chocolate wrappers onto muslin, added metallic threads, put on an overlay of netting, then burned, stamped paint circles, stitched, and used some vintage embellishments: ribbon, beads, and a mother of pearl button turned to show the mottled shell on the back. Like a little white chocolate, with drizzles.

Luckily, Seattle is home to a number of great chocolate companies, such as Seattle Chocolates, Fran's Chocolates, and my favorite local company, Theo Chocolate.

If you visited my post for last week's Three Muses challenge, you know I also love tea.  With tea and chocolate together - oh my, life is fine indeed!

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week.

(spectacular bird, Woodland Park Zoo)

Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her,

still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.

~Victor Hugo

Starring... Vintage Classic Pearls Necklace

One of my designs has made it onto a Seattle theatre stage! 

My vintage Perfect Classic Pearls are worn by Mandy Eldredge, playing Matilda Deering, in the UPAC Theatre Group Production of The Red Lamp.

Even more exciting is that our daughter Emma plays the role of Alice Deering in the same show!  You can see Emma, Mandy, 4 more wonderful actors... AND Perfect Classic Pearls performing today, Sat March 27 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm, and tomorrow, Sunday March 28 at 2 pm.

The Thrill of Touching History

This is is one of my button bracelets, in clear spring shades of pink, white and green. It has lots of really beautiful and special vintage beads, buttons and bits, but for me, the most exciting part of this bracelet are the 5 glorious Miriam Haskell white bell flowers.  

For Christmas, I received a long-coveted book, Miriam Haskell Jewelry by Cathy Gordon and Sheila Pamfiloff.  I have spent hours drooling my way though this book.  Imagine my excitement, when there, on page 137, were my beads!  I've photo'd the photo from the book, quality is poor, but I must share!  Oh, how I would love to have this many of these glorious beads to work with!

This bracelet is dated to the period between 1926 and WWII.  It is such a thrill for me to touch a bit of history in this way.  I am privileged to be able to create with materials that are themselves works of art.  Does it get any better? 

Three Muses. A Nice Cup of Tea

This is my first ever posting for the challenge blog Three Muses. I absolutely had to create for this theme since tea is so very, very important to me.  We live in Seattle, home of Starbucks, and there is no coffee in our house. None. Nada. Zip. Only tea.  And only the good stuff...

For this 6x6 inch art quilt, I've used tea stained fabric, overstamped with a beautiful teacup stamp from Stampington, a strip of my hand dyed fabric, used tea tags, ribbon that I trimmed to mimic tea leaves, teacup and teapot buttons.  And one bit of vintage: the celluloid carved roses with vintage brass headpins in their centres.

Greenlake Daisies Adjustable Ring Featured in Spring Collection

A big thank you to the folks at ShinyGoLucky, an Etsy shop selling vintage items, for featuring my Greenlake Daisies ring in their first: We Want It Wednesday! - Collection 1, Spring Cheer!

Head on over for some Spring Cheer!

My Greenlake Daisies ring is available here, at Bumbershoot Designs.

Spring. Wednesday Stamper

These tags are my offering for the Wednesday Stamper challenge blog, where the theme this week is "Spring".  Luckily for me, I had been playing with some vintage French seed packet labels and stamps and last Sunday I made a few tags that fit the theme!  I also used these seed packet labels in a Spring-y tag for Art Creations Friday, and you can see that tag on my blog here.

These are tea stained tags, stamped with script and flower stamps. Copies of the seed packet labels were stitched on top, then the cards were stitched and embellished with vintage goodies: lace, mother of pearl, enamel flowers, and some of my hand dyed fabric.

Studio Snapshot

Completed wedding order...

Vintage Children. Mixed Media Monday

There must be some strange synergy going on.  Some time ago, I chose a Monday in Seattle photo featuring vintage children (who happen to be all "in a row", the theme for this week's Think Monday - Think ATC). Last Friday's Art Creations Friday challenge featured an image with 2 vintage children, I invite you to see my piece here.  And the theme for Mixed Media Monday this week - you guessed it - "vintage children". 

For this ATC, I've used molding paste to obtain the background texture and movement, with painting and foiling over top. The figures, vintage woman and girl, are a sticker of a Mary Cassatt painting that I trimmed. 

Vintage Children. Art Creations Friday

This is the first time I've participated in Art Creations Friday.  I could not resist these two beautiful children, especially as the image is French and I have been working with some recently purchased antique French seed package labels. 

This is a tea stained tag, with stamps and rubons, over which are laid a copy of one of my French seed packet labels, trimmed around the flowers.  Also stitched, and embellished with vintage French ribbon (from 1943) and vintage flower cabochons.

All in a Row. Think Monday - Think ATC

Here's my entry for "All in a Row" this week's challenge at Think Monday - Think ATC.  This is an ATC made in memory of the row house I lived in for many years in downtown Toronto while I was attending the University of Toronto.  Smack in the middle of downtown, just 2 little old rowhouses, connected, in the midst of skyscrapers, theatres, pubs, shops, warehouses.  It was wonderful!  I had a studio apartment on the top floor, with a deck out the back, on the roof.  I could sit on my roof and watch the fireworks at the CN Tower.

ATC made with layered hand dyed papers, stamped with paint, drawn, and embellished. The base paper is a house blueprint.

My Toronto row house was not painted in these vibrant spring colors, but it was painted with a beautiful mural on the street side wall.  The artist, Bill Wrigley, lived on the second floor of our building - those are his windows incorporated into the streetcar, and in the lower right corner of the mural you see our landlord, Leon Katz.  I lived in the house before, during and after Bill painted the mural.  How cool is that!

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week

("For Children Only", Woodland Park)

The world is a playground and life is pushing my swing.

~Natalie Kocsis

Featured Artist. Anne Toprak of PlumCreek22 on Etsy

I'm happy to share with you the work of Anne Toprak of PlumCreek22 on Etsy.

Anne creates unique hairpins out of vintage glass and lucite cabochons.

I like what Anne is doing with the vintage cabochons, since it is a wonderful blend of vintage materials with a contemporary spin. Her designs really highlight the beauty of the old glass and the vintage lucite. They are both playful and romantic.

I learned of Anne's work after she purchased some of my vintage glass cabochons from Bumbershoot Supplies, and then introduced herself and her shop to me. It is worth a trip to PlumCreek22 just to see Anne's shop banner, which features a stunning photograph of plum blossoms.  

Plus, as a customer and as a seller, Anne is unfailing pleasant and friendly.  It's always a pleasure to have her visit my shop, and to visit hers.

Studio Snapshot

For wrapping things up pretty...

Women. Wednesday Stamper

This is a creation for the Wednesday Stamper challenge blog, where the theme this week is "women" in honor of Women's History Month in the United States.  This is an artist trading card (ATC) created in memory of my maternal grandmother.  She is the one in the center, in the lovely flapper dress. You probably can't see it, but her outfit is complete with a long strand of pearls and rolled down stocking.  Her family was British and her father served in WWI.  His pet name for her was Poppy (after the Flanders Fields poem). I have a couple of beautiful fabric post cards of his correspondence to her during WWI (see below).  I am so inspired by women I see around me, creating inspiration and history every day, whether or not we hear of them.

The background of this card was a photo of poppies from our garden that I digitally altered.  The photo of her family is placed over the background and I've used stamps in 2 places: for the words and along the side, where I stamped into modeling paste with a swirling stamp, then inked over the top.  Embellished with vintage beads.

Below are two of my great grandfather's post cards to my grandmother from WWI. My mother had these framed some years ago, so there is reflection from the glass over the card, but their beauty can still be seen.

Irish Blessing. Happy St Patrick's Day!

As say the Irish:

May joy and peace surround you,

Contentment latch your door,

And happiness be with you now,

And bless you ever more.

St. Patrick's Day Collection

It's easy to be green on St. Patty's day! Here are our picks.

1.Peridot Oval Cabochons,  2. Vintage Emerald Green Beads,  3.Emerald Green Clovers 4.Scrolled Bar Brass Stamping 5.  Jade Carved Flower Cabochons, 6.Green and White Tatting Thread,  7. Emerald Chaton Roses

For more check out our supplies shop.

Party Animals. Mixed Media Monday

This 6x6 inch quilt square is for the Mixed Media Monday theme "party animals".  I live in Seattle, on the Puget Sound and quite near the San Juan Islands, around which reside well studied pods of orcas. They migrate every year, returning to the Puget Sound and it is a cause for celebrating this life rhythm. I took a holiday with my daughter to try to see them return.  We did not see them, I guess they were on holiday for the day too.  We did, however, see otters and porpoises within a dozen feet of us at our whale watching spot.  And at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, we saw video of the orcas playing and splashing, surely looking like they were having a party, celebrating their return home.

This quilt square is made of silk, embellished with silk ribbon, vintage sequins and vintage seed beads.  It is stamped with letter stamps and stamped orcas were fused to the surface. The  beautiful orca stamp is a design by the Haida artist Paul White.

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week. Market Tulips

(tulips, Pike Place Market)

By the pixies' magic power

do my tulips always flower...

~Maud Keary

Featured Artist: Olivia Suero Velasco

It is my pleasure to share with you the work of Olivia Suero Velasco.  I learned of Olivia's work after she purchased vintage glass cabochons and vintage ivory roses from Bumbershoot Supplies, then sent me a link to her blog where she is posting and selling her creations.

Given my mixed media perspective, I find the mix of metal, glass and fiber really appealing.

Olivia is Spanish, and so is her shop blog, but don't let that stop you from heading over for a look.  Her presentation is creative and artistic - many of her designs are photographed on backgrounds of beautifully sketched female nudes, drawn by Olivia. 

Her photography is beautiful and her designs highlight the vintage glass cabochons, and they just glow.  Enjoy!

Doodling. Wednesday Stamper

My first ever posting for the Wednesday Stamper challenge blog, where the theme this week is "doodling".  For this ATC, I stained some water color paper, stamped with paint and ink, embellished with flowers and vintage topaz rhinestones.  And of course, I doodled - outlining the flowers with a white pen and doodling with a glue pen over the script, then applying gold foil.

It's hard to see the foiling, you can get a sense of it in the photo below:

Studio Snapshot

My portable studio, in the Jade Room at Seattle Children's Theatre, while Eric is rehearsing Getting Near to Baby.

A little blogging...

A little light reading...

Tools for projects....