Jewelry for Dreamers of a Bygone Era - The perfect piece for summer!

I'm excited to introduce a new piece to my Etsy store this week - a miniature collapsible working telescope necklace! This is a part of my Historical Charm collection and my new favorite piece of jewelry! I made one for myself, (another for my mother who instantly wanted her own) and one more to sell!

This piece reminds me of Jane Austen's Anne Elliot, who pined for her Captain Wentworth all those years he was off fighting in the Napoleonic Wars and earning his fortune...of Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin in the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brian.

This picture is on a cookbook for the Master and Commander series - it is open to a recipe for Sea Pie - a very old fashioned recipe...The Age of Sail...

The telescope is pretty open or closed. You can adjust it to the size you like. I like to extend it partially so you can see all of it, but not quite fully extended. It is really well made, not a cheaply made trinket.

I added a wire wrapped pearl for a touch of feminine sophistication. It's strung on a 30" brass chain - easily goes over your head. You can knot it in the back if you wish to make it smaller or you could always restring it on a velvet ribbon or another chain. I love that it really works - it has 2x magnification!

Can you smell the sea air? Hear the sea gulls? Check your telescope - is that a sail on the horizon? Is my true love coming back to me??

Why yes, this piece does make me sentimental. I'm an incurable romantic...that's why I love historical fiction and period movies with lovely costumes, drama and happy endings.

It's a very versatile piece - you can wear it with a dress or skirt and blouse or just a tank top and some shorts. I'll be wearing mine all summer, I think. I'm wearing mine right now and even though I'm getting ready for bed I don't want to take it off!

Isn't it gorgeous? It's up for sale right now. Only one available for now.

And for a bit of Summer Reading List pleasure - check out Jane Austen's Persuasion (free to read online if you don't have a copy) - a lovely tale about loving the Navy and the idea of going off on an adventure with your true love no matter what the dangers.

Or check out Patrick O'Brian's excellent historical fiction novels for wonderful sea adventures, warfare, courting young ladies, dangerous Frenchmen, spies, treachery, and exotic locales.

And if you haven't seen the movies for both - do check those out, too!

Summer Lovin - Crabs, Lobsters and Watermelon

Even though it has been hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk lately, I'm still loving summer... Best way to beat the heat - eat watermelon! Cold, juicy watermelon sure hits the spot right now. I picked a few flowers from my garden and some mint for salads and for it's lovely scent. And I also used my Martha Stewart fruit towels during the summer - bought them at Kmart ages ago - each fruit has all the different ways to say the fruit in other languages. They are my favorite towels and I pretty much forbid other people from using them as they tend to stain them. My precious!!

And speaking of towels we can look at, but not touch...


My favorite towels that I've yet to use and likely never will beyond decoration - the blue crab and red lobster towels!! Got these at the Home Good store a few years ago.

I just realized - I've been admiring pillows for ages that are like this, but far too expensive to buy...I have at least two of each of these - I could make them into pillows and save money - also prevent people from using them to mop up spilled koolaid with them!! ;)

An intruiging idea...I think I might try it - and it's a frugal Friday idea, too, isn't it??

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Just a Note...

...to let you know I'm still alive - only very badly burnt. You see, I decided to go swimming and I wanted a bit of a tan. So I only put a SPF of 4 on - deep tanning sunscreen, you see. And then proceeded to stand in direct sunlight at noon on the hottest, sunniest day we've had so far for about an hour and a half. I fried my shoulders, chest, upper back and scalp. Ouch.

I was so stupid. I could feel the top of my head frying and I didn't get out. I forgot to put any suntan lotion on my face at all and the only reason I spared most of my face from a burn is that I had really big sunglasses on. *sigh* I'm an idiot and I'm paying for it. It's been a lovely hot, sunny weekend and I'm still shut inside with my sizzling hot skin and hair I can't stand to brush. I can't even move my arms above my head to do it even if my scalp didn't hurt so much as my shoulders are too burnt to let me move them. Oh well...I won't make that mistake again this summer, hopefully.

Gratuitous pictures of my pretty red typewriter...

Because I also wanna show off my cute turquoise vintage suitcase I bought for myself this past Christmas...

Isn't it pretty? Goes so well with the red typewriter and my white picture frame. I love it. I went to see a movie at the mall and there was this seasonal shop open with the CUTEST stuff. It was like one of the best Etsy stores open in the mall and I just HAD to have this suitcase. And of course I can't remember the name of the shop and it is gone with the season. Oh well. They had put lovely vintage paper all over the walls and had cute stuffed fox pillows and so many wonderful items. Perhaps they'll come back to the mall next Christmas. I'll have to keep my eye out.

Hope you all had a better weekend than I. Don't forget your sunscreen!!!

Coming Soon...

It's nearly that time again - time for the MAD TEA PARTY!! If you are new or unfamiliar with A Fanciful Twist's Mad Tea Party you should definitely visit her blog to check out the past years. It's a blog party anyone can join and there are lots of pretty pictures, crafts, recipes and Giveaways on all the participants' blogs! A great way to share ideas, art, projects, etc. and find new friends and revisit old ones.

I will be participating as I have the past two years. You can check out my party posts on the right side of my blog. I will have a party and a giveaway or two. Be sure to visit!!

All Keyed Up (again)

I've posted about my crazy love for antique keys before (just check out that beautiful fabric in this older post of mine if you haven't seen it already!)


And this love carries into jewelry. I have key necklaces (as seen in previous blog post link above), but until now I've yet to see key earrings that I like in the stores - they tend to bling them out and make them fake looking. so I decided to make my own. And then I decided to sell a few while I'm at it in case anyone else wants some.



The antique silver colored ones are my favorite. I kept them simple on purpose - I love these tiny keys...

And I also bought them in oxidized copper, but I thought I'd add some of the smaller gold keys with them...

SOLD

Just thought I'd share them. All up at the shop right now along with those green balloon animal earrings.

I've been hearing a great deal about the people of Joplin, MO, who suffered terribly from the tornado yesterday. My thoughts are with them. It was a horrible huge tornado and there were lots of casualties (last count was 120 and still counting) - we've been hit with lots of extreme weather lately and more scheduled. *sigh* I hope it calms down soon!

Almost Summer - Treats, Peeks and a Bit of Circus Charm...

Boy was this a hot weekend! Made all the worse by some necessary late spring cleaning. I just had to make a fresh pitcher of lemonade today to beat the heat!!


And boy do I love these new summer glasses we bought at the dollar store of all places. So cute and cheap! My favorite combination in this economy. ;) The lemon and lime bowls were unearthed in the spring cleaning so I thought they'd look nice out for a bit of summer charm.

And look - just look!! My cherry tree has finally given fruit!! After years of nothing - finally this!!Yep, ONE cherry. But I'm told there are a whopping two more on the tree. I guess I'm lucky the squirrels allow me to have these. They are already eating my peaches and they have a long long way to go. Last two years I got NONE of them even though the tree was full of fruit. But isn't this cherry precious!! So cute and tiny!

And a few random pics of my too wild front gardens. This is right in front of my porch - my two lovely rose bushes that make the cutest Tudor Roses you ever saw. My pots aren't doing too well as those darn squirrel keep digging up my flowers, getting soil everywhere and uprooting the flowers so they die on me. *grumbles more about squirrels...*

And the other side of the front of my house... Note the dirt all around the pots. *sigh*

And this pic is just to show you how my front lawn slopes off on a steep hill down to the driveway and the tiny house beside us. It shows off our pretty handmade and hand-designed picket fence. I'm super proud of that fence. Tons of hard work!!

And sorry if I'm boring you with more pic spam of my Etsy items, but I did want to show off my two new pendants I put up over the weekend. If you're sick of the French Poodles, not to worry - these are different!

It's a very cute balloon animal clown! My dad is a magician and twists balloons for kids and often does this very same shape for those that like clowns!

The Clown...

How cute is that? :)

And this one...okay, I confess - not quite possible with real balloons (at least I don't think so...my dad is awfully good at them he might be able to, but anyway - I present to you, The Juggler!!

I love the touch of whimsy and fun these new pieces of jewelry give to my Etsy shop! They are also very pretty to wear - a surprising mix of fun and childhood memories along with a bit of elegance from the pretty glass pearls.

Oh, and before I forget, I will also be adding another pair of French Poodle balloon animal earrings in another color - a light green as an alternative to the blue ones I posted about earlier.

Here they are with the other light green poodle pendant. All these items are up at the shop and I hope you'll swing by to take a look.

Hope you all had a great weekend - can't wait for next weekend as the pool will finally open and I plan to have a nice BBQ.

More Etsy Items

I love charms and charm bracelets so I couldn't resist adding a little French Poodle Balloon Animal charm to my shop.

Tres chic, non?

Stands next to the Eiffel Tower...

And since money is really tight right now I'm selling a bit of music paper. It's so gorgeous I'd love to paper my whole room with it. I'm offering four excellent pages of it at the shop right now.

They are in great condition and perfect for crafting with or to frame and use in decorating a room.

Happy Monday - Etsy Update with lots of Fun Items!

I finally got around to putting some items up in Etsy I've been meaning to do for ages. First up, a very pretty pale green balloon animal necklace...

I think the proper name for the color is a pale celery.

It's hard to see the delicate green coloring in these pictures, the group picture shows it a little bit better, but the best part of this necklace is that instead of using round pearls, we changed it up with some oblong pearls, giving it a more authentic balloon animal look...
Here's a group photo that shows how different it looks compared to the others, it's much longer. All the pendants can stand, which adds to their charm.

Here they are all standing. Kind of looks like a dog show displaying the different sizes poodles can come in - standard, toy, etc. LOL

But if you like the traditional round pearl look, there is this really cute blue poodle here...

Such a pretty cobalt blue. It's much smaller than the green one.

But my favorite (outside of the very pretty turqoise one in the shop already) is this really special blue-gray one here:

SOLD

I have to tell you, this one is kinda freaky how much it looks like a miniaturized balloon animal. The shading and the slightly oblong shape just look so cool. I love how it isn't one color all over, but shades of blue, gray, purple, etc.

SOLD

And, also important - I know that some people like wearing interesting earrings even more than necklaces, so I'm excited to announce the first pair of balloon animal earrings are finally here!!

These are small and perfect. I love wearing earrings that catch people's eyes and these are sure to do it. They are sky blue and perfect. I think I'm in love with these...they are so whimsical!

As with all my items it is best to view them at my shop for more pictures and details. If you would like one of these in a particular color, convo me at etsy or comment here and I'll be happy to try and find and make it for you. I've got more pendants and earrings to put up over the next few days, too, so keep your eye out for more!!

Also, I reshot a pair of ornaments that needed better pictures - the pretty music paper and better lighting shows these off a bit better, I think...

Also available at my shop.

I've been busy, busy, busy. It's quite a Monday so far. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Peony Love

I love peonies. My three bushes are blooming and heavy with the huge blossoms. I cut a few and put them in my kitchen. They smell heavenly...

Such luscious flowers. I wish they were around all year.

Happy Friday!

Spring Flowers

April Showers bring May Flowers...(and more showers):

A long view down the side garden. This little strip of land between our driveway and fence is full of irises, lilacs, rose bushes, a crepe myrtle and a hydrangea bush.

The little purple irises are miniature ones - Russian, I think. Very pretty and doing so well with all this rain we've been having. They smell great, but not half as good as the lilac smells!

The two together are so pretty!!

They really show off our handmade picket fence, too. At the time we made it all I could do was groan at all the work (and it was a ton of work in red hot sun), but now? Totally worth it...

And do I spy tiny peaches on Anna? (Yes, I named the tree - don't judge me - it's named after my Yiayia, of which many of my fond childhood memories are being dragged out of bed early in the morning to sleep on the bench outside while she picked fresh peaches and figs and then woke me up to eat them for breakfast...)

And a little peek at the front yard on the right. A few of the Azalea bushes seem to not have made the transplantation we did last year. Oh well, there are still a few - mostly purple, blooming. I love how the flowers really show off our pretty stone house.

And a look at my wild stump garden before I started weeding. The Russian sage is doing quite well. In the summer the branches will be white and the flowers blue.

And since I couldn't leave the garden outside without taking some with me...

Some miniature irises, a few regular sized white ones, some mint, some lilac...

And then I went back outside to cut some Lily of the Valley for my mother.

After all that my house smelled LOVELY. Like Spring!! I am so glad we are getting a few peeks of sun again because all this rain had me a bit down, but now I'm able to enjoy the garden a bit and I'm so so happy. Today is my father's birthday and then on Sunday is Mother's Day so we're busy. I also hope to plant the few tomato plants I have so far as well as a bell pepper plant. Can't wait to eat the fresh veggies from my garden again this year.

Hope you all have a Great Weekend!!