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

New on Pinterest: Rain

Living in Seattle, it helps if you can come to an accomodation with rain.

We celebrate the beauty and creativity inherent in rain on Pinterest in our "Rain" board.

Check it out! And take your bumbershoot...

Source: lorilangille.blogspot.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

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

Source: hikarinote.tumblr.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Pink Camellias

pink camellias, our garden at Greenlake, Seattle

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

~Hans Christian Andersen

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Violets First Bloom

first bloom of our violets just beginning, our garden at Greenlake, Seattle, Feb 7, 2011

I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words,

half in signs, a question which meant

"Is love the sweetness of flowers?"

~Helen Keller

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Rainy Fall Color Inspiration

rainy day fall color inspiration, the alley behind our house at Greenlake, Seattle

The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain.  This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency.

~Susan Allen Toth

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Colorful Vintage Glass Teardrop Jewels

vintage 1960's West German transparent glass rainbow teardrop jewels on watercolor paper

Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty.

There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.

~Robert Motherwell

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Windswept Pines on the Pacific Coast

...windswept pines on the Pacific coast...

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Studio Snapshot. Packaging Tips, Use a Big Needle

Nestled in with the nature collection, hand crocheted flowers, bits of beautiful glass, is a very, very big needle. Easy to locate, I use this needle every day to package up jewelry for customers at Bumbershoot Designs.

I love to wrap packages and Bumbershoot Designs, being a boutique with unique and limited edition jewelry pieces, offers wrapping as special as the jewelry.  I use this very big needle to "sew" the tags, paper flowers, and vintage bead onto each package. Usually the bead is a vintage teardrop bead, or as I think of it, a Seattle raindrop.

Reduced Shipping Rates at Bumbershoot Supplies

I am THRILLED to announce new reduced shipping rates at Bumbershoot Supplies.  We've now completed our transition to an online postage system and that means lower shipping costs for all our customers, both US domestic and international.   Same great customer service, just lower costs - does it get any better than that?
Enjoy!

And since you can't have a blog post without a photo :) here is a picture of what the weather has looked like in Seattle for the last several days.  What to do on a rainy day(s)? Make art!

Crystal Clear

I love crystals.

I love how they reflect light on even the grayest Seattle days.

Tempest

"All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for an instant from the routine of life and recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage." ~ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I do think that a gale is a good time to create. Cosy up in your studio with a cup of tea and all of your lovely supplies and creative ideas and just make art.  Let the sound of the rain beating against the house inspire you.

Made it to the Front Page of Etsy!

Two items from Bumbershoot Designs made it to the front page of Etsy!

Rainier Raindrops. Vintage Aqua Rhinestone Earrings in Silver

Seattle Rain. Blue Rain Necklace with 1960s Faux Lapis Beads, Sterling Silver

Tell me how many beads there are

In a silver chain

Of evening rain,

Unravelled from the tumbling main...

~Thomas Lovell Beddoes

Lots of new and beautiful beads at Bumbershoot Supplies these days. We're now offering several choices of vintage 1950's West German beads. I'm showing the raindrop shaped ones in this post, but there are more, come on over and check it out!

Quote the rain

I've located a fair number of quotes about rain, mentioning rain, or otherwise to do with rain. I'm going to post them at the top of the Bumbershoot Designs Etsy shop, and occasionally here. Let me know what you think. If you have any quotes you'd like to share, leave a comment.

Here's number 1:

Come on let it rain, let it rain down on me.
Let the rain touch my hands, let the rain set me free. ~Melissa Etheridge

And below: Natural Rain. It'll be posted in the shop Monday. And by the way, it's raining here in Seattle today....

Mercy in the rain

Wondering where the quote in the banner comes from? We plan to offer various rain-themed inspirational quotes in our Bumbershoot banner over time. Jim gets credit for recommending this as our original banner quote.

A gift from the Bard to all of us, from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy...

Seattle Rain

It's raining today, first time if a few days that it has really poured. Rain comes in many forms here. Today, it looks like this:




and like this:

and like this:


and like this: