Bumbershoot Designs and Supplies October 2013 Special for Newsletter Subscribers

Autumn leaves OR jack-o-lanterns and Halloween bats, free with purchase!
 

This October we couldn't decide which vintage cabochons to give our newsletter subscribers, so we're giving them their choice! If you can't wait for Halloween, then you might choose the vintage foil backed smilin' jack-o-lanterns and fanged bats. Or perhaps you love how autumn turns the leaves into shades like our vintage ruby and topaz cabochons.

Our newsletter subscribers can choose one of these samplers, free with any purchase at Bumbershoot Supplies or Bumbershoot Designs.  See your October 1 and October 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 vintage cabochons of your choice, 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 vintage cabochon sampler at your next purchase!

Vintage Design Inspiration Board #16 with Creativity Quote

Life is a great big canvas

and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

~Danny Kaye

Inspiration Board #16 features:

vintage straw millinery leaves (Paris, France,

wrapped with embroidery floss and vintage Czech button)

vintage mother of pearl buttons (USA)

vintage pearl leaf bead drops (Japan)

vintage glass mirror leaf cabochon (Western Germany)

vintage plastic leaf charms

vintage red glass leaf cabochon

paper wrapper from vintage sequins

twine from original boxes of vintage buttons

embroidery floss

vintage linen tea towel

stamped with Thicket Birds stamp by Memory Box, black StazOn ink

and embellished with French knots

mounted on 4x5 inch gallery wrapped canvas base

 

 

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Giving Thanks for Trees and More

Sun through maple leaves at the Japanese Garden, Seattle



i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth

day of life and love and wings:and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any--lifted from the no

of all nothing--human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

~e e cummings

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week. Yellow Leaves, Greenlake, Seattle

yellow maple leaves, Greenlake, Seattle

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

~William Shakespeare

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

A very happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all!

May you find your true north, your native land, your glorious glowing hearts!



Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week. Autumn Leaves

...reading amidst the autumn leaves, Japanese Garden, Seattle...

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~George Eliot

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Autumn Leaves Discovery Park

autumn leaves, Discovery Park, Seattle

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

~Albert Camus

Autumn in the Pacific Northwest. A Sensory Treat

It's officially still summer, but it already feels like autumn here in the Pacific Northwest. I'm originally from southern Ontario, and fall in Seattle is quite a different experience. I find it starts sooner - I already see lots of yellow and falling leaves in my walks around Discovery Park.

Fall here is a bit softer, visually and in terms of temperatures, not the abundant blazing colors of my Canadian past, but still beautiful, and continuing along its mild path, right through late November's American Thanksgiving. And fall is delicious, with the harvest coming in from both Western and Eastern Wasington and the best apples all year round available right now.

Not to mention the flowers...

On Etsy, MrKittysSoapShop curated this lovely treasury celebrating the magic that is autumn in the Pacific Northwest.

I'm thrilled my "Seattle's Bluest Skies" bracelet from Bumbershoot Designs was included.  This is a truly Seattle-inspired design, for more about this jewelry design, see this blog post. And the sky in Seattle today is just exactly this shade of blue...

Featured Artist: Lori Morse of BeJeweledNH on Etsy

I'm very happy to share with you the work of Lori Morse of BeJeweledNH on Etsy.  Just look at this ring! I love how Lori has layered the tiny light sapphire moonstone-like glass leaves in this design, and how her photograph captures the light that is in this glass.  

As you may know, my roots are in mixed media, and therefore Bumbershoot Supplies stocks a lot of really small vintage glass cabochons and rhinestones that can be used for all kinds of art applications.  The wee bits, like these vintage jade glass leaves, are some of my favorites and I am always interested in seeing the diverse uses to which they are put.

Lori often uses filigree, lucite or metal, to beautifully enhance and complement these tiny vintage glass treasures.  Lori's pieces are one-of-a-kind, so you have the thrill of knowing you are wearing a unique work of art. 

Lori's work is diverse, she also enjoys working with larger vintage glass, such as the incredible vitrail rainbow starburst vintage glass cabochon featured in this cuff bracelet.

I know from my conversations with Lori that she is committed to quality in her pieces and also to providing her customers with a great shopping experience.  I hope you will consider a visit to BeJeweledNH, for inspiration and more.  Tell Lori that Sharon at Bumbershoot sent you :)

New at Bumbershoot Supplies. New Vintage Glass: Cabochons, Rhinestones, Crystal

New at Bumbershoot Supplies this week, lots and lots of vintage glass.  There are certainly some truly lovely vintage plastics, and we do offer many at Bumbershoot.  But I must admit to a particular fondness for vintage glass.  It has something to do with the way it captures and holds the light, and the substantial feel in your hands, how it can look so fiery and feel so cool at the same time, how it is solid but can seem to have movement...  Yes, I love the old glass :)

There are several new vintage glass cabochons, two featured here are fleur de lis shaped, with topaz glass (top) and above, a color of glass called cuban, which is a mix of topaz, jonquil and siam red. 

Technically not glass, but crystal, are the stones in these vintage rhinestone bead balls.  These are 1950's by Swarovski from Austria, and so they have that trademark sparkle you would expect. We have them in gold metal (above)....

....silver metal...

...and these peridot stones prong set in a white enamelled metal.  These are really striking.

Finally, we are starting to expand our pointed back rhinestone offerings and we have two stunning additions to offer, new this week:

Both emerald green and both with lustrous finishes on the surface of the glass, these navette shaped rhinestones are a wonderful find.

I love to work with nature themes in my art, so I was delighted to find these gorgeous leaf rhinestones, and in pristine condition too! 

Come and visit Bumbershoot Supplies, see what else is new. Window shoppers welcome!

Song. Three Muses. O Canada!

This is my piece for the challenge at Three Muses this week, which is "song".  The song I picked is the Canadian National Anthem, or Hymne National.  Two national languages, you know :) Scroll down for the words.  This is a 6x6 inch art quilt, once again using some of my hand dyed fabric, one of my maple leaf photographs transferred to fabric, stamped, stitched and foiled. 

I love the Canadian National Anthem. It is filled with incredible words and phrases like: glorious, free, true north, strong, home, love, glowing hearts. It is a powerful and moving piece.

I have lived in the United States for many years now.  It is truly a privilege to live here, and I deeply appreciate many things that living in the United States has brought to me.  It's interesting, one thing it has shown me about myself is this: you can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take Canada out of the girl. I am so grateful to be Canadian.  Thank goodness for Canada.

And yes, I can sing the national anthem in both national languages :)

National Anthem

O Canada!

Our home and native land!

True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,

The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Hymne National

Ô Canada!

Terre de nos aïeux,

Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!

Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,

Il sait porter la croix!

Ton histoire est une épopée

Des plus brillants exploits.

Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,

Protégera nos foyers et nos droits

Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

Three Muses. Music.

The challenge this week at the Three Muses is "music".  This is an artist trading card (ATC) featuring a vintage sheet music background, distressed and painted. A pressed Japanese maple leaf from my collection is adhered on top, with a bit of stamping and a transparency sheet covers the entire card, and is held in place with brads.

Sometimes in the autumn, the leaf colors are so intense, they seem to me to vibrate and I think maybe the leaves are singing - a leaf song.