Perfect for Mother's Day

A customer recently gave me a broken china plate that I thought would make perfect Mother's Day pendants. The plate was from A Childhood Almanac Plate Collection "Giving Thanks" by Sandra Kuck. The plate depicted a lovely scene of two small girls worshiping in church.



















I've designed four pendants from the plate, which are now available on my website. I'm sure there isn't a mother out there who could resist these angelic faces and hands.




























Also new on my website and lovely for a Mother's Day gift or just because you love it is a new pendant designed from antique hand painted Nippon china. The gold decoration outlining the rose and on the border is really gorgeous.





There are lots more broken china, broken Waterford crystal and sea glass jewelry pieces available that would make lovely Mother's Day gifts on my website. So stop by and see what's available!

My latest endeavor

A few weeks ago, I had a customer contact me asking if I could wrap some pendants for her. She shows Boston terriers and she had painted some Boston terriers on small pieces of stained glass. And she admired my wire wrapping. She wasn't sure if these pieces could be wire wrapped or not because of their odd shapes. Since she also lives in New Jersey, she came over with her pieces to show me. And I agreed to wrap them for her.



At that time, she had made four pieces, the ones shown in this blog. While she was here and looking at my jewelry, she fell in love with my wire crochet necklaces and asked that I create a necklace for her using one of her pieces. She would give the other three pendants to her friends.



She was so pleased with the results that she ordered 8 more pendants to sell at dog shows. She will be off to her first show tomorrow and she said she would call me to let me know how she makes out. She is so excited about this and so am I! She's very talented and it's unbelievable to me how she can paint so beautifully on such a small area. Aren't they lovely? She paints them on the textured side of the glass and then bakes them. It looks like the dog is right inside of the glass. The last two pieces she brought to me were puppies and so sweet. If she does well at this show, she'll be making other breeds and will hire me to do more wrappings. So please wish us well!

New Orleans - what a fabulous place!

I'm finally getting a chance to blog about my recent trip to New Orleans. My daughter and I were only there two full days and two half days but I feel I really got to know the areas we were in. We crammed so much into that short time! And it truly seemed that time slowed down while we were there. What a wonderful time we had.

Not long after we had checked into the hotel, we were cruising down the Mississippi in the Creole Queen paddlewheeler. What a lovely, relaxing trip down the river. We were a bit disappointed that for whatever reason we didn't get the promised narration by the Captain. But it was still a very pleasant way to get our first glimpse of this unique city.









Then on to the French District. Decatur Street, Freedom Park, musicians and artists on every corner, Cafe Du Monde, with their delicious cafe au lait and beignets, candy stores and pralines on every corner - what a fabulous, exciting section of the city!







































Of course, we had to take the haunted buildings tour the very first night! Our tour guide, Sheldon, did such a great job of weaving those fabulous ghostly tales as we walked through the dark, narrow streets of the French Quarter. We didn't see any ghosts but we learned so much of the history of this section and heard fascinating stories of the old days.


























I have never had a more unique Easter in my life. Parades on every corner, people dressed up in their finest, beautiful churches with Easter services - just lovely.























Our last day we spent taking the St. Charles streetcar uptown through the Garden District. Then we walked through Audobon Park to Magazine Street and browsed all those little boutiques and antique stores there. We had the best snow cone we've ever had! We took a walk through an old cemetery with mausoleums.






















We ended the day with a visit to Bourbon Street and listened to some wonderful jazz musicians at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Road.

What a wonderful trip, giving me and my daughter delightful memories for many years to come. Here we are in our Mardi Gras masks!

The making of an artist - Mem's Pocket Palette

One of the talented merchants in the Reclaimed to Fame Market is Mem of Mem's Pocket Palette. Hers is a unique, fascinating and inspiring story and she kindly shared it with us. Stop by her shop at http://www.1000markets.com/users/memspocketpalette to see her one-of-a-kind creations!


"My name is Memory McDermott and I was born and raised in Colorado. My love for found objects and collecting started at an early age. My mom said that I would stuff my diapers with rocks, rolly Pollys and anything else I could find that was not attached to something. (As a child I had to empty my pockets before I was allowed through the door.)




"We were raised in a small town and the dump was down a dirt road along the river about ½ mile out. I started walking that dirt road on a daily basis by the time I was seven. In the summer time the other girls would play with their Barbie Dolls and I would be at the dump filling my bucket and pockets with treasures.

"While other kids were making mud pies, I was making little bowls and animals. (I’m not really sure if they actually looked like bowls or animals but that’s what I was making)

"I remember at eight years old this old man in town was watching us one day and he offered me 50 cents for my mud bowl. My very first sale and I was hooked! After that I would go from door to door in our little town with my “famous art” on a cookie sheet and sale to the locals! Everyone thought it was cute so I did make a little bit of money until my mom and dad found out what I was doing. They were not amused and did not see “the cuteness” in my salesmanship or art. (They obviously had no eye for talent)



"I was never your typical kid nor did I care! I was completely happy sitting in a tree high above the ground watching other kids go crazy at an outdoor birthday party. I say this because several years ago one of our neighbors died and their kids came across a picture of me sitting in a tree at a birthday party and sent it to my parents. I was six at the time. I remember those times well and I also remember that my mind would go crazy. I would watch, listen and think of how many things I could make from the napkin that had just blown off the table or the silly hats all the kids were wearing and this has never changed about me. I still watch, listen and observe while my mind goes crazy creating things that sometimes come about and other things that get shuffled to a corner in my mind that only seems to be a distant memory of things once thought of.

"I loved the late 60’s and early 70’s! Going to college in Southern L.A. was one of my favorite times! I felt happy, free and political. That time in my life fit with my personality more so then any time since. I function the best when I have a cause and everything was changing and the world was exciting and I wanted to be a part of it. I loved the freedom those times offered to create and be yourself and I took advantage of it, creating, experimenting and becoming a mother! Life was grand and I was a part of it.

"I could not tell you everything about my life without writing a book so I will skip all the details and tell you that getting a divorce, raising a child on your own with very little child support changes your thinking and your way of living. I soon found that I could make a better living as a construction worker then I could a “therapist”. (Not to mention I don’t do well with whining) First of all I am petite. I am only 5’ and weigh 103 lbs. but growing up with two brothers I became tough. This is leading to the rest of my life. I became Union Carbides “First Woman” underground miner. I was a driller and I loved it! Six years after my son was born I had my daughter and continued with construction work. When one job ended I moved on to another so our lives were spent on the road a lot. I worked for Brown & Root, Gary Refinery, Sturgeon Electric and on and on….



"In 1987 I had a brain hemorrhage that changed my life forever. . My son was 13 and my daughter was 7 at the time. They told my family to bring my kids in to say goodbye, that I would not make it through the night, obviously I did (we think, that’s still on the table) but I was in a coma for fourteen days in intensive care and after that a little over a month in the hospital. When I went home my parents came to take care of me for about 2 months, my son quit school to take care of me and my daughter went to live with my brother and is wife some time after where she remained until she graduated. It took me a long time to learn again and to be half way normal again and I was full of anger. I did not see the miracle that everyone was talking about. I spent hours, days and months in a dark room where I could only have two visitors a day and only for 10 minutes at a time. I was full of depression and despair!

"At some point I began to dream again of making things. I would spend hours creating in my mind, making something from an old object or painting a beautiful picture. It was those things from my childhood that kept me going. It was the creative side that softened the anger and gave me a reason to get well so that I could use this time to create.




"During this healing period in my life, which was a good eight years I made things, became a drug an alcohol counselor, opened my own shop and learned a new way of living. I always had a house full of homeless people, which actually started long before all of this and I soon was on a mission to make hats and scarves to pass out to homeless people every winter. (I still do that)

"In a six-year period before I came to Texas I was asked to manage a non-profit organization that was going under because of previous management. They only had 63 paid up members, rented their building and were losing money fast, forcing them to eventually close the doors. I told the board of directors that I would do it; only if they stayed out of my way and let me do what I felt was best. I told them that the first thing I was going to do was use a donation (a lot in the city that was donated) as a payment on a building. I sold the lot and bought a huge, huge building for $150,000. They were horrified. I promised them that we would have it paid off within one year. We DID, one year to the date! We put on plays and dinner shows at the Hilton and eventually in our own building, we raised money through various activities at the club, had a monthly Las Vegas night that always brought in a lot of money and by the time I quit 6 yrs later to move to Texas they had plenty of money in the bank, 10 well paid employees and 892 paid up members. I tell you all of this because I believe after all of these years that a creative mind will take you a long ways if you let it.




"During these years I also got back into herbs, which I studied as a child with my grandparents. I sold my own line of tea for years then wrote a book with all the recipes. The only one I did not include was the Hair Growth Tea as I still have plans of marketing that.

"As I mentioned earlier, to tell my entire story would be a book, which this has become so I will quit with this last entry.

"Today I have two fantastic kids that are amazing adults and one beautiful granddaughter and they all live in Austin! I am also married to a man I met after moving to Texas. We have been together for 8 years now and live 70 miles Northwest of Austin so I am able to see my kids and my granddaughter often.

"I spend most of my days now just enjoying and taking care of our crippled deer and any other animal God sends our way. I still dumpster dive (hubby is over the shock now) and I still have my days but all in all…. my joy comes from being able to create and the hope that every day I have made a difference for someone else in this lifetime."

Reader of the Week at Wickedly Chic!

I've been chosen as Reader of the Week over at Wickedly Chic, one of the best websites out there for Indie shopping. As reader of the week, they asked me to suggest some of my favorite Indie merchants. This gave me a great opportunity to plug the merchants in my Reclaimed to Fame Market. Unfortunately I was limited and couldn't choose them all but put in as many as I could. I wrote glowing reviews for each of the merchants. Though each review was only a sentence long, Wickedly Chic apparently decided not to include them and just added the links to the shops. It must have been too long for their page. But it's still very nice to see our Reclaimed to Fame merchants given front page on that site!

http://www.wickedlychic.com/

The lovely sound of Dinner Time Chimes

One of the inspiring merchants in the Reclaimed to Fame Market at 1000 Markets is Dinner Time Chimes. The owner of Dinner Time Chimes is Erin of North Carolina. Her theme for her shop is "Making fun creations from another man's trash!" And fun creations they are.

I asked Erin how and when Dinner Time Chimes first began and to tell us what started her on this unique journey?

"My daddy and I started making the wind chimes when I was in high school as a way for me to have extra spending money. It also gave me something else to search for at flea markets, yard sales and estate auctions when we there as a family. The chimes sold like crazy since they made a unique, inexpensive gift. However, once I went to college and started my career, I didn’t have any way to make the chimes. Shortly after getting married, I convinced my husband to buy a drill press for his shop. He was quickly introduced into the crazy world of silverplate silverware searches and making chimes--and the rest is history!"




















Erin has branched out into so many different areas beside silverware recycling, such as her unique birdhouses and owls. So of course I wanted to know where all of her ideas came from!





"I have to give credit to my daddy for the bird houses. He saw some along a road in Pennsylvania many years ago. Since then, he’d been turning our worn out boots into bird houses. As people stopped by the family farm for goats and sheep, they always commented about the bird houses. A few tried to buy them, and if he had an extra that hadn’t been hung in a tree yet he’d give it to them. When I started making wind chimes again, he suggested that I make some of them to go along with the garden themed items that I would already be selling. He also taught me how to make bird houses from cooking pots and bird feeders from cup/saucer. You’ll see those available for sale too as we are given more of them to recycle.





"Owls seemed to be very popular this past year and I’d seen a few here and there that I adored, but didn’t really have a need for them. My husband and I had decided not to decorate for Christmas this past year, as we were rarely home and needed to be spending our time remodeling the house we’d just bought. However, as the holidays grew near, it was a little blander around the house that I’d thought that it’d be. I actually did miss having a Christmas tree, even though they’re a lot of work. I had an afternoon off from work and I decided to make a few ornaments for our ficus tree to surprise Gavin when he came home from work. Determined not to buy anything, I found fabric scraps and my button box and went crazy making owls. They were a lot of fun to make and we ended up taking a couple to everyone we visited. Since everyone loved them too, I used the rest of scraps to make even more owls."

I asked Erin to tell us what her future plans are for Dinner Time Chimes and where she saw her business 10 years from now?

"I’m sure that life will get even more hectic, especially if we have kids, but I really do hope that I’m still making wind chimes. With that being said, I wish that I’d thought to keep up with the number of pieces of flatware that I’ve used over the years. It is probably rather impressive already, but in 10 years time… WOW!"

Erin's work is such a fabulous way to recycle old pieces of silverware. When I asked her if there were other areas in her life where she applied the same recycling principles, Erin said that she loved to buy "recycled" clothing at thrift stores. She loves the challenge of finding something random at a flea market or someone’s trash pile and finding a way to reuse it.

When asked what the most satisfying thing was about her business, Erin said, "The best part is seeing the look on people faces when they turn around and realize that the beautiful sound that they’ve been hearing is coming from these chimes which were made from recycled forks and spoons! Lately, I’ve not had much time to do craft shows so I rely on emails for feedback from customers, which is also very rewarding."

Erin also assured me that she does take custom orders.

"Usually it is a request to add beads or to change the bead color, which are quick changes. There have been a few times when a customer fell in love with a chime that I’d made in the past and wanted one similar. Typically I have something similar waiting to be polished, but I’m not against having to go shopping either."




Dinner Time Chimes is primarily Erin's business, but she does get some help from her husband when it comes to flattening the silverware.

I also asked Erin what she likes about being a merchant at 1000 Markets.

"I love that it’s ALL handmade items and that it’s juried. As the word spreads about the fabulous marketplace, I am sure that it will be even more of a success. We’re in the process of remodeling and moving, so I’m looking forward to putting more effort to making my 1000 Markets store successful. In addition to 1000 Markets, I have an online presence on Etsy and my own website. I rely heavily on my personal website when it comes to marketing. Unless you’ve seen a wind chime made from silverware in person, it is hard to imagine how it would sound, and through my site I’m able to let potential customers listen to our chimes. I also keep a few stores near Winston-Salem, NC stocked with wind chimes, and I try to participate in a few local craft shows each year as well."

So be sure to visit her 1000 Markets shop to see all of the fabulous ideas she has brought to life there. In addition to the chimes and birdhouses, she also has the most unique fork easels to hold recipes, business cards or photos.

Please rate my jewelry at US Trendy!

I received an email from a lovely lady at US Trendy saying that she wanted to feature my jewelry on their website. It's a fabulous website for both fashion designers and fans of fashion. I uploaded my portfolio and the feature will be appearing there shortly.

Each fashion designer can also be rated and US Trendy promotes and produces the highest rated portfolios. I'd very much appreciate it if you'd take a moment of your time and click on the link below to rate my jewelry. Who knows - my designs may end up in a fashion show! Thanks!

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