New on Pinterest: Beautiful Bumbershoots

You know how much we love umbrellas, bumbershoots, brollies and parasols, right? We're in the midst of April showers here in Seattle, and enjoying them with a new Pinterest board, "Beautiful Bumbershoots".

Check out these and then head over to the Pinterest board for many more...

Source: silvia-ghirard.tumblr.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: picasaweb.google.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Spring Fun: Hand Carved Bumbershoot Rubber Stamps

 

Here at Bumbershoot we love rubber stamps. We use them in our mixed media art all the time. So we thought it would be fun to make our own stamps based on our logo, the little green bumbershoot.

 

 

We hand carved our stamps out of a block of carving rubber, but you can even use an ordinary eraser as a base. You can find a really excellent tutorial on how to do that here. Geninne's Art Blog did a whole series of interesting posts on stamp carving too! We used Speedball's block printing cutting tool for cutting and gouging the block, and ordinary scissors for trimming the completed stamp.

 

 

We experimented with different sizes and even freehanded this little stylized bell-shaped bumbershoot. 

 

 

In the end we liked best the results we got from tracing the bumbershoot logo and transferring it to the rubber. We used ordinary waxed paper to trace and transfer.

 

 

Jim made this stamp! It is our favorite, with the really crisp lines and perfect size. 

 

We had a lot of fun going through our stamp pad collection and trying out colors. Those test sheets are now a work of art as well. They would make great wrapping paper.

We had so much fun carving out little bumbershoots, and we're looking forward to sharing them with you. Watch your invoices - you never know when a colorful little bumbershoot may appear!

Spring Babies and Cupcakes

I am getting ready to celebrate a very important day for me, the anniversary of the day I became a mother.  My darling daughter Emma turns 17 tomorrow. We knew Emma was special right from the beginning, there were all kinds of unusual events associated with her coming into this world. On top of everything, she was a breech baby that could not be turned (oh yes, they tried, they really tried!) and was born by C-section on the date of our choice, a date we thought was entirely suitable to all the rarities we had experienced with her, Friday May 13, 1994.  Needless to say, 13 is a favorite number for us :)

With Eric, camping out. Yes, her hair is still that curly.

Emma is spending most of her birthday in tech rehearsal for a play in which she is performing,  so Jim made dozens of cupcakes today for Emma's cast and crew. I had fun sprinkling all kinds of candies on top.  I love the colors against the vanilla buttercream frosting, so joyful and fresh, the essence of spring and of children and of many happy memories. I will make her favorite cheesecake this afternoon, and we will be busy wrappng and decorating later today. During all these preparations, I hold in my awareness an appreciation of just how blessed I am.

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!

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, At the Edge of a Petal

Al's plum blossoms, across the street from our house at Greenlake, Seattle

It is at the edge of a petal that love waits.
~William Carlos Williams

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Spring Tulips

tulips at the Pike Place Market, Seattle

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

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

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, First Signs of Spring at Discovery Park

very first blossoms appearing at Discovery Park, Seattle, Jan 31, 2011

Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees,

Rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze.

~William Cowper

Studio Snapshot. Vintage Postcard Inspiration

Early 1900's antique post card...

Although I regularly sell vintage and antique post cards at Bumbershoot Supplies, there are a few that I keep for myself because they inspire or touch me in some way. This card sits on a shelf in my studio, by the ribbons I use to wrap up jewelry purchases, so I see it all the time. I love this card because it reminds us that amidst winter, the memory and the reality of spring is still present. It also reminds me of my snowy Canadian childhood - we don't get much snow here in Seattle. Plus the back of the card is very sweet, it was written by a mother on behalf of her young daughter, clearly too young to write herself: "Here is a card Miss Olga McMillan sends to Marie. I would like to ask you what do you want Santa Claus to bring you for Xmas. I remain your friend." The address is merely a name, city and state.  Imagine that... 

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? 

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...

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

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:

Not Just Black and White. Mixed Media Monday

This ATC was made for the Mixed Media Monday theme of "not just black and white".  It celebrates the return of spring to the Pacific Northwest, where the black limbs of the trees are now covered in blossoms. Painted, foiled, stamped, with vintage dictionary paper (definition: spring) and some tiny ruby vintage glass flower cabochons.

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week.

(tidepooling, minus tide, Carkeek Park)

...it's always ourselves we find in the sea.

~ee cummings

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week

(Al's Plum Trees, N 68th St)

Plum blossom bursts in the south wind

why do I feel so full of joy?

~Song Sunam

Early Spring in Seattle's Japanese Garden

Two days ago, Emma, Eric and I visited Seattle's Japanese Garden. It is one of my favorite places in Seattle. I always come away feeling rested, relaxed, rejuvenated. Beauty, calm, serenity, quiet, enough. Those are my synonyms for this garden.

It was a little early for the full flower show, so we will have to return in a few weeks. But here is some of what we saw a couple of days ago.

This camelia below.....

Inspired the creation of these earrings...

Shop update and we are now on Artfire

Well, it's been busy since I posted last week.

1. Six new designs are in the Etsy shop, a total of 62 items currently, and remember to check the sold items too, since many of these are available, just not yet relisted.

2. I've photographed and written descriptions for over 100 items for the supply store, bumbershootsupplies.etsy.com. I expect it will open this weekend. There really are some lovely items - I am so thrilled to be a channel for these gorgeous vintage materials. I have learned it takes some time to get items loaded into an online shop, so keep watching over time, there's lots of neat stuff!

3. I scored a Spring Showcase spot on Etsy on April 3, so Bumbershoot Designs will be featured that day, have a look! Look for the "Showcases" at the top of the Etsy main page.

4. We've just opened our second storefront on Artfire.com, http://www.bumbershootdesigns.artfire.com/, and I'm slowly loading items into that store. We will be hosting designs and supplies shops in both places, Etsy and Artfire. Artfire is an up-and-coming handcrafted, vintage and supply marketplace and we're glad to be a part of it. The one big advantage to Artfire that I can see for our customers is that you don't have to open an account or register to purchase. As all the shops open, you'll see them as direct links on the side of the blog. Also, Artfire will link selected items from the store directly to the blog, so I will be able to feature items directly here. Nifty!

Spring serendipity

We use tins of beads to prop up the cards we use to display our necklaces and earrings in the shop. Very high tech! Emma saw and took these pictures during the process...