My not-so-Christmas-looking Christmas decorations

Somehow in the midst of my midterms and finals for college, I've found time to bring a bit of Christmas cheer to my life, and more importantly at 'Found on Fremont!' However, I've found an extreme distaste in green and red together, because I think Christmas is filled with so many more colors than our typical ensemble. So... when I made this Christmas decoration, it looks quite generally holiday-ish, due to the glitter and shiny things my magpie-like self picked out, but it doesn't look the slightest Christmas. I think this could hang all year long, and maybe that has a lot to do with everyone in my house wanting it to be the holiday season all year long! Just two weeks left and I'll be on winter break between college semesters for a month! :) I'm definitely looking forward to the holiday season.

'Educate' Box Assemblage

I haven't had as much time to work on any new box assemblages, but last weekend I had time to finish the box I've been working on for the last few months. This is the first box I've made using a recycled drawer, and one of the biggest ones I've made. I found the drawer for one dollar at 'Scrap' (again, one of the best art supply stores ever -- everything is recycled!) along with all of the old pencils. The social issue I decided to focus on is education and its struggled ties to black America. I'm not going to get too political and express what I intended for this pieces - I'm done with IB art. Art is in the eyes of the beholder, so I'll leave it open to interpretation.

Bottle Cap Art for Thought

I'm not sure if anyone else collects bottle caps like my family does, but... we have about 8 mason jars filled with the various milk, juice, creamer, and soda caps. They've been collected over several years, so it's not too surprising. However, it's a very shocking realization of how much we actually consume. As a family of four, we do consume a lot of food. Recycling caps, bottles, bread tabs, etc. we're usually able to confront this fact anytime we go in the studio to make art. I like to use them to make art, usually with the kids I teach in after school classes. They really do make the best mosaic pieces, because the range of colors the caps come in are simply fabulous. Bright oranges, greens, blues, and sometimes gold and silver! They're also great for making collaged pendants, pins, and even earrings. In addition to what I like to use them for, I found these great lighting fixtures made using bottle caps!

The Wonders of Hanging Jewelry

It has been so long since I've had time to write here. As my mom likes to say, "This blog is weak." I think it might have been her comment that got me to blog again... :( But, I'm back and am going to have some more free time coming up pretty soon since this semester of college is almost over! Hello, winter break! Hopefully, I'll have some wonderful Christmas pictures up too, since mom and I have been decorating our space at 'Found on Fremont' for the holidays. I also bought a pack of glitter glue... meaning this Christmas will be sparkly, sparkly, sparkly.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a bit of my own jewelry collection. I always wonder what people who make jewelry actually wear themselves. You'll be quite surprised that I hardly wear very much of what I actually make - or the jewelry I make for myself is different than the jewelry I sell. Hence, the barbie arm earrings, refashioned plastic heart earrings, and the various feathers. I recently cleaned out my jewelry from the 3 jewelry boxes full, which is a bit ridiculous. And, I found myself being too lazy to dig in them and figure out what I'd wear for the day. So, I found a wonderful hanging accordion type thing (to be honest, I don't know what its actual purpose is) and painted it a glossy black to match the black/pink retro theme I have in my room. And, voila! A beautiful display and a better way to pick jewelry out for the day.

My earring hanger is actually functioned as an earring holder, no nifty recycling there. An awesome wood crafter at our local Saturday Market makes perfect earring displays, which mom and I have bought many of. I just painted mine glossy black and it makes all of bedazzle stand out even more. :D

My Refinished Chair

Okay, so before I explain about refinishing old furniture being my favorite thing to do now, I have to explain the story behind the chair... Because mom and I shop so much at little thrift stores, usually the same ones too, I tend to pick items and wait for them to go on sale. At our favorite thrift store, I had been eyeing this chair for the past 3 months. Also, my mom really could not see what I saw in the chair, as it definitely had a... "patina" of sorts. :) Some paint, gorgeous recycled fabric, and 2 hours later, I finished my first refinished furniture piece! I'm really stoked and can't wait to make some more when I find some more pieces to work on. I feel a little guilty about fixing this chair though, because once I ripped off the old seat fabric, turns out it was from the 1920's!

Found on Fremont!

I've been so busy this last few weeks because of midterms! It's been pretty hard to focus with so much going on too. I've been waiting all week to blog and start working in the studio... Well, without further ado, here's the big news: Mom and I signed a contract to have a space at 'Found on Fremont', where we've started selling our handmade jewelry and vintage collectibles! We're so excited! It's really the most perfect spot to be, because our jewelry fits in so well.  As avid thrifty shoppers we are constantly collecting. It's been a lot of fun shopping at estate sales and flea markets for things to fill up the space. We didn't even realize how much space we had until later. Turns out we need to start looking for more shelves. Everyone at Found has such beautiful booths and they really know how to present and fill up all of their space. This weekend is our first weekend in the shop, and we have our fingers crossed that everyone will be out shopping on Fremont! :)

Check out their website and facebook links here:

http://foundonfremont.typepad.com/

http://www.facebook.com/FoundOnFremont

Jewelry for thought

Seems like I'm always posting about jewelry made from doll parts of some sort on here, but I just couldn't pass this website up. I promise I don't think about making jewelry made to look like body parts all the time!

I'm actually pretty impressed with the whole site. General Valentine is a jewelry blog/site, and they post really fantastic jewelry of all styles. Of course I was just drawn to the slightly bizarre... :)

Check out this great post on metal work and old barbie parts:
http://generalvalentine.com/shocking-jewelry-pieces-in-barbie-style-by-margaux-lange/