Bumbershoot Designs and Supplies February 2014 Special for Newsletter Subscribers

Vintage Flower Cabochon Earring Kit, free with purchase – Our treat for February is a new earring kit featuring wonderful vintage resin flower cabochons in sage green and white. The first flowers are beginning to spring up and these festive flower earrings will surely help you celebrate the final weeks of winter. These cabochons are from Sharon’s personal stash, offered to newsletter subscribers first. During February, we will send all necessary components to make the earrings shown in the photo above.

 

Our newsletter subscribers can receive this kit, free with any purchase at Bumbershoot Supplies or Bumbershoot Designs.  See your February 1 and February 15 newsletters for details and the coupon code.

 

Also, don't forget your 1-time free shipping offer that you received when you signed up for our newsletter.

 

And YES, you can combine specials. So you can have the earring kit plus the free shipping code you received upon signing up for the newsletter in the same order!

Not yet a newsletter subscriber? You can read past issues and you can sign up right here and get your free shipping and earring kit at your next purchase!

Using Vintage Flower Cabochons: DIY Embellished Sun (flower) glasses

 

We've been long enamored of Dolce & Gabbana's Autumn/Winter 2012-13 collection. Big accessories with even bigger jewelry makes this collection remarkable.  

With spring vacation just around the corner, and the promise of warm sandy beaches in the near future, we got to thinking about some pairs of stand out sunglasses.

Inspired by Dolce & Gabanna and this and this, we whipped up a couple pairs of our own beflowered sunnies.

 

We pulled out a large box of flower cabochons and used glue dots to temporarily adhere the cabs to the glasses to plan out a design. 

All of the vintage Japanese and vintage West Geman flower cabochons used are available at Bumbershoot Supplies.

 

 

When we were pleased with the arrangement of flowers, we used E6000 glue to permanently adhere the cabochons to the glasses. (Our pointers for working with E6000 glue here!)

Definitely wait a while for each piece to become firm before gluing the next piece on. 

With these bright sunnies everyone at the pool will know that you're no shrinking violet! 

Vintage Design Inspiration Board #15 with Creativity Quote

Life is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?

~Margot Fonteyn

Inspiration Board #15 features:

vintage millinery glitter stamens (West Germany, wrapped with hand dyed twine)

vintage glass mirror button (US Zone Occupied Germany)

vintage coral glass beads, whole and halves (Japan)

vintage glass pearl drop (Japan)

vintage turquoise glass bead links (Japan)

vintage plastic flower cabochon (Japan)

lace, hand crocheted with antique crochet cotton (USA) and vintage orange lustre glass seed beads (Czech)
kanzashi flower made from Tracie Lynn Huskamp Nature Inspired fabric, embellished with vintage glass pearl button (Japan)

vintage paper  button tag (Austria)

vintage rhinestone earring component

vintage ivory flower buttons

additional scraps of Nature Inspired fabric

antique embroidery floss

vintage linen tea towel

mounted on 4x5 inch gallery wrapped canvas base

Featured Artist. Alexa Ritterhoff of The Swallow's Tale on Etsy

When Seattle’s grey days begin to wear on my spirit, and summer seems still far away, I crave sunlight and flowers and open light filled spaces.  What to do?  How fortunate that I discovered Alexa Ritterhoff's Etsy shop, The Swallow’s Tale.

I was recently delighted to learn that Alexa, a regular customer at Bumbershoot Supplies, also had a shop filled with her beautiful creations, and even more happy when she agreed I could share them with you.

Alexa strives : “…to create jewelry that is affordable, classic, but a bit different, something you would want to wear for a long time…”

Some of Alexa’s favorite vintage components include cameos in both resin and glass, rhinestones, brass lockets, and beautiful vintage glass beads, and these beautiful vintage components appear over and over again in her work.

Alexa’s jewelry designs reflect a strong appreciation of the beauty, timelessness and rejuvenating power of nature. Her nature-inspired designs include flowers, bees, butterflies and of course, many, many birds. The colors are feminine and romantic, frequently enhanced by antiqued metal finishes, and are designs that are eminently wearable.

If  summertime still seems distant, or if you are already wearing sundresses and hosting garden parties, I hope you will enjoy a visit to Alexa’s shop, The Swallow’s Tale. You will surely find inspiration and who knows? You may even find the perfect piece for that garden party.

New at Bumbershoot Supplies. Vintage Cabochons Galore

Several new types and styles of vintage cabochons newly available at Bumbershoot Supplies this week.  See if anything here sparks your creativity...

All of these vintage cabochons and cameos are ready and waiting for your creating at Bumbershoot Supplies...

Until next time, wishing you a great weekend!

New at Bumbershoot Designs. New Nature Themed Designs With Vintage Rhinestones, Lockets, Vintage Beads

Here's a look at some of the designs that have made their way into Bumbershoot Designs over the last week.

This vintage rhinestone necklace features 1950's West German cuba glass rhinestones, 2 tone with rose and topaz glass, just a lovely combination. Like roses and honey.

I found these wonderful vintage brass earring posts, a perfect complement to the flowers and leaves in the necklace.

We have had so much rain in Seattle this spring, I was inspired to make this raindrop necklace with vintage bombe style rhinestones from 1960's West Germany. These have high smooth domes and look just like the big drops of rain I have been watching outside my studio window every day for weeks.

Matching earrings for this necklace too, making a demi parure. Both the rhinestones and settings are available at Bumbershoot Supplies.

For this necklace I antiqued a petite brass locket from Bumbershoot Supplies, and adorned it with a vintage glass decal flower cabochon, also from Bumbershoot Supplies. The flower charm features a 1930's vintage glass pearl stamen within a shabby enameled metal flower.

And finally in celebration of the Spring that has finally arrived in Seattle, I have put together this ivory- sage-peridot-milky jade, shades of spring green vintage charm bracelet. Some of my favorite colors and floral themes, all in one place, with 2 different earring designs available to match.

Until next time, wishing you a happy and creative weekend!

Surprise! Hairpins With Vintage Flower Cabochons

Aren't these beautiful!?!

I received this surprise box of treats in the mail a few days ago from my friend and fellow Etsy seller, Anne Toprak of PlumCreek22.  Wow, how exciting to receive an unexpected present!

Anne makes beautiful hair pins using vintage cabochons. These particular pins feature vintage glass and mother of pearl cabochons she purchased from Bumbershoot Supplies.  I just love seeing what happens to our supplies, and it is an extra treat to see the finished product in person. We were thinking of Anne - on the day they arrived Emma was wearing a flower hair pin that I had purchased as a Christmas gift for a niece, and that never made it out of our house :)

Beautifully presented on decorated cards and wrapped with some kimono silk that she knows I love, Anne infuses her work and presentation with her kind and generous spirit.

Namaste, Anne!

Look What I Found. Vintage Flower Pins, Klutch-ettes

At Bumbershoot Supplies, we offer a lot of hand painted vintage celluloid flower cabochons and charms.  Our celluloid flowers were made in Japan in the 1940's to 1950's. I have often wondered how they were used back at that time.  Many would be perfect for mixed media and embellishing paper arts, indeed I once heard a rumor that some of these flowers were used for embellishing Valentine's cards.  Today, designers frequently use these vintage celluloid flowers in vintage-inspired jewelry designs. I regularly do research to learn how our vintage supplies were originally used, but in my travels, I have found very few examples of vintage jewelry using these celluloid flower cabochons. A few months ago, I was lucky enough to find a child's set in a Seattle antique store, I posted about it here.

Happy day, I found another! These are Klutch-ettes, three vintage celluloid flower cabochons, embellished with rhinestones, on the original card. They have pin backs for wearing on your lapel, sweater, scarf, perhaps even a hat? These are dusty, as you would expect, but the rhinestones are just as clear and sparkly as can be. One of the flowers was originally hand painted on the edges of the petals with blue which is fading in the most charming way.

Perfect for Spring!

Miriam Haskell Flower Cameo Cabochons at Bumbershoot Supplies

At Bumbershoot Supplies, we are very interested in the provenance and history of the vintage supplies we offer. For this reason, I am constantly researching our supplies to learn as much about them as I can. On the weekend, I was again reviewing one of my resources, this book...

And what did I find on page 353?

This signed Miriam Haskell pendant and earrings set. The pendant features a gorgeous vintage glass flower cameo cabochon. And guess what! We now carry these cabochons at Bumbershoot Supplies!

These are exquisite flower cabochons. They have a decal transfer expertly applied to white glass, and then white accents were hand painted on top of the decal. These truly beautiful pieces are in mint condition, and the delicate hand painting really elevates them to something special.

Many of the items we sell at Bumbershoot Supplies were sold to me as Miriam Haskell stock, especially our vintage glass pearls. But I hesitate to label them as Haskell unless I have further verification. So I'm really excited to be able to say that these flower cabochons are the same ones that the Miriam Haskell Company used in some of their designs.

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, To A Snow-Drop

snowdrops, Discovery Park, Seattle

Lone flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they

But hardier far, once more I see thee bend

Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,

Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,

Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay

The rising sun, and on the plains descend;

Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend...

~ from To A Snow-Drop by William Wordsworth

Featured Artist. Janice Swain of Strands on Etsy

These amazing wearable art pieces are by Janice Swain of Strands on Etsy.

Janice left feedback after a purchase at Bumbershoot Supplies and she also attached some photos to her feedback. I was delighted to see what she had done with the vintage cabochons and vintage rhinestones she had purchased, and beyond that, I was amazed.

Janice uses vintage cabochons and rhinestones, as well as gemstones, as focal pieces around which she beads fabulous swirls of color and sparkle, each piece unique, each piece a story.

For example, this bulldog cuff…

And this glacier cuff…

 

And this one inspired by Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings…

If you love beads and sparkly things, you are probably someone who is captivated by light and color and the special magic of how they both come together in glass. I love how Janice has used the characteristics of the vintage glass cabochons and vintage rhinestones so effectively in her designs. I am truly in awe of the vision and skill required to take diverse bits of glass and turns them into gorgeous wearable art. Not to mention the amount of time I imagine must be involved in bringing the vision to tangible form...

It is for these reasons I am delighted to have found Janice and Strands. Plus, she is from Bumbershoot Supplies’ home town of Seattle, and it’s always nice to meet a neighbor.

Janice’s shop is a recent addition to Etsy – Strands opened at the end of 2010. I’m featuring the cuff bracelets here because they are so spectacular, but there are many other lovely jewelry designs available at Strands, so I hope you will head on over for a visit and a dose of inspiration and color, especially if you are in a part of the world that is still awaiting spring :)