Some New Directions

Sometimes I feel like my Etsy shop is getting "stale", so I've been thinking of doing some new things.  I just just love vintage jewelry--and probably always will--and looking for it is such a pleasant quest.  My shop has some really pretty pieces in it, but since many have not "moved", I'm going through it....taking pieces out...and repurposing them more.  Here are some examples of what I've come up with lately:
A brooch made of vintage bits:

A sunny yellow bracelet:

You'll see jewelry disappear from my shop and see them again repurposed into other pretties as I go along.
*******
I tried my hand at some paper work and have enjoyed doing that.  I made these little Valentine boxes out of match boxes with mini Valentines in them.

They were great fun to make--though time consuming, I'll confess--and I would love to have received one of them myself.  I plan on making other things, though making more of these Valentine's Day ones will have to wait until next year.  I'll try to remember to start making them earlier.
*******
I'll still be doing felt things simply because my bag of felt and thread and needles can go with me to so many different places--to town, to violin lessons, to piano lessons, to home school group mornings, etc., etc.  I can't stand just sitting around doing nothing, so felt projects keep my hands busy and my sanity intact.  There are so many people out there who are much more talented than I when it comes to designing and making felt things, and it's easy to get discouraged.  However, I really enjoy stitching and will keep on making things.  I'm trying my hand at some magnets lately.

So, that is what I've been up to lately.  There is never a dull moment.  I have other ideas I'd like to try too...just finding the time to do them is always a challenge.

Vintage Jewelry Embellished Perfume Bottle Necklace

Well, I had had this perfume bottle on my craft table for quite awhile now.  It was completely intact except for the embellishment that was on the very front.  It dawned on me to PUT an embellishment on the front that would complement the bottle (plus some extra pearls and rhinestones).  After seeing my mother's Stampington magazine, I then decided to make it into a necklace. 

 

The bail and chain can be taken off without any problem if someone just wanted the pretty little bottle for their boudoir table.  I personally prefer it as just the bottle, but it's nice that this piece is versatile enough to be used as a necklace as well. 

Vintage Jewelry Embellished Button Card Ornaments

I really love vintage button cards and enjoy looking at them on Pinterest.  Some are just exquisite.  I remember an estate sale that I went to that had many...wish I had purchased more of them.  Anyway, while these button cards aren't over the top exquisite, they ARE pretty.  Of course, you know I like to embellish things with vintage jewelry...so these were a natural combination. 

I bought some pretty paper and worked these up.  I tried to make them look pretty on the front and back. 

They are in my Etsy shop and can be hung around the home as home décor all year round. 

Hope you like them too. 

Time to Blog

To be honest with you...I'm finding it difficult to find time to blog!  I'm sure many others are having the same problem.  There is my Etsy shop to constantly work on including networking there, Pinterest to peek at, emails to catch up with...then of course, housework, kids, homeschooling, and creating for my shop.  Ugh!  It seems like I set there at the end of a day all the time and wonder just where exactly time went. 

I have been putting on the screws as far as creating goes.  I have been working on some new ideas...some things are done and others are still in the works.  Mom and I had a "craft day" last Saturday while Hubby worked.  It was fun, and we got a lot done.  We are actually going to be in a craft show this year.  She has been in them for years...and years.  This will be my first, so I'm glad we will be in this one together.  I'm going to put some of my bigger and hard to ship things to see if they go.  It is the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so at least I have a little bit of time to work some more things up. 

One thing I've started doing is embellishing beautiful keys.  The key first of all has to have design and be pretty.  They have been fun to do.  Of course, you know me and embellishing--can't help myself.  A few have sold (the one above is one of my favorites but hasn't sold yet). 

Also, Mom found at a thrift shop out West a box full of these tiny pink plastic figures--figures from cereal promos in the 1950's.  There are some that I won't use, but the pretty ladies/dancers inspired me to make little shadowbox ornaments.  I tried to make little embellished--true to size, the hard part--scenes.  I made them in colors of ornaments that can be used year round as home décor.  Of course they have lots of glitter.  They are pretty small since they are made out of small cardboard jewelry boxes. 

I had some other little vintage bits that I made into shadowboxes/dioramas...this little winter scene dog is probably my favorite. 
I'll blog about the other "new things" I'm working on, but those probably won't be done until the end of the week or so. 

Blue and White Jewelry Embellished Clock

I finished embellishing a clock with vintage jewelry bits--in white and many complimentary shades of blue.  It actually seems like it has a coastal look to it, but I'm sure it would look nice with many different decors.  I've listed it in my Etsy shop.  Hope you like it!

Ready for Flowers

Added a few things to my shop today--a vintage jewelry embellished ornament and a perfume bottle.  They both are full of flowers and birds.  Enjoy!

Vintage Jewelry Embellished Spoons (and a Fork!)

I admit to being inspired by a pin on Pinterest...and have gone with the idea.  I've embellished some very pretty spoons (both demitasse and regular) and even a fork with vintage jewelry bits.  They really look pretty just sitting there, but I've included thin satin ribbon on each so that they may be used as an ornament of some kind to hang somewhere in your house.  The ribbons aren't on these yet in this picture, but when I listed them in my Etsy shop I showed what they would look like with the ribbon on.  What do you think?  I really like them and have listed them all in my SHOP (including a pink one that isn't shown here).  I call them spoonfuls of sparkle!

Thank you, Lee!

I received my altered Altoid tin full of buttons--all with a fall theme--as part of the 2012 Fall in Love with Buttons Swap hosted by Laurie at Button Floozies. 

Lee was my partner, and she sent a beautifully embellished tin full of pretty fall themed buttons. 

I just love the porcelain one on the top and the large shell one inside not to mention the many others she included.  I'm delighted that she was able to find so many with a fall theme. 

Needless to say, I'm delighted!  Thank you, Lee!

Fall Button Swap

Here are pictures of what I made and gave to my partner, Lee, in the Button Floozies fall button swap.  I am assuming Lee has received her package by now, so I decided it was time to post.  We were supposed to decorate a standard-sized Altoid tin and include at least 40 buttons--all with a fall theme of some sort.

It was fun finding the buttons...and it certainly helped discovering a huge bin of buttons at a flea market last month to paw through.  I bought the pretty paper and owl sticker (couldn't resist the sparkle!) at Hobby Lobby and otherwise used bits and pieces of things that I had around the house.

I ended up putting over 50 buttons in the tin and tied the tin together just to make sure it didn't open in transit.  Hope Lee liked it.  Thank you, Laurie, for hostessing this.  It was a great deal of fun.

Slowly Progressing

It's amazing how some things can slow down so much and other things speed up at the same time.  Sales at my shop, flea markets and sales, working on projects....these have slowed down considerably lately.  Homeschooling, sorting, time...these have definitely sped up.  We started school last week.  My husband has next week off (and a busy one it will be!), so I wanted to get a jump start on the kids, work so that we didn't get behind.  That takes up a good deal of time.  My sales have slowed down considerably lately, no doubt because of the time of year.  I had purchased things over the summer but had not gone through everything, so I am taking the time while the kids work on school to sort, organize, and rearrange.  I HAVE worked on a few things like this pretty bottle but not on many.

I've been to only a few sales lately and have tried to go to some flea markets only to find out that they didn't really exist or something else came up unexpectedly so that I was not able to go.  As fall approaches I know that sales and flea markets will be coming to a close pretty soon.  Not looking forward to that! 
I have also been working on a swap--it is for a prize ribbon.  I was to create a prize ribbon in colors to my swap partner's liking.  I finished it yesterday and will be mailing it off today.  Pictures will be in another post once my partner receives her ribbon. 

Matchbox Swap--From my Partner

It was a delight to receive my decorated matchbox from my partner, Oliva (check out her blog), in the Vintage Dragonfly "Partner's Choice" swap on Flicker.  Talk about sugar sweetness!  What a beautiful box filled with such pretty things! 

She did a wonderful job decorating it in colors I love and filling it with beautiful creative bits including some gorgeous beads, a vintage earring, a pretty shimmery doily, and a little crystal drawer pull (I think my favorite thing!)--just to name a few. 

She also included some lovely earrings.  Every thing was wrapped so nicely. 

Don't you just like all the pink?  Thank you SO much, Oliva! 

By Special Request

You go through life and meet people who you wish you really had never met.  Then you meet people who, when you look back, you are just so glad that you got to know them.   One such person was a delightful lady who purchased a perfume bottle from me last spring.  She was so kind.  Then she wrote back saying that she had some of her mother's jewelry that she would never wear...and could I put some of the pieces on perfume bottles for her and some of her relatives?  I admit to being nervous breaking apart these precious memories of her mother, but then again, she and I were working together trying to repurpose these pieces into a new way for her and her family members to remember her mother.  Much time (and prayer!) went into these bottles.  I included this lady in every decision with plenty of pictures and emails back and forth.  The bottles were finished and last week arrived at their destination.  I shall miss our emailing back and forth but am truly glad for the chance I had to get to know her.  Such fun it all was!  It is a great honor to help carry on these precious memories in the lives of this lady and her family.  I don't know if you will ever read this, but thank you so much, Mary.  You are a kind and generous person, and I'm sure your family members will appreciate your creativity and thoughtfulness.  I'm so glad to have gotten to know you. 

I had these gorgeous rich, deep pink pieces that I knew belonged on a romantic, heart-shaped ornament.  Actually, I think this would be nice hung on a corner of one of the mirrors in our bedroom , but it has been listed in my Etsy shop instead.  

New Perfume Bottle

I love green and pink together.  When I found this bottle, I knew it had to be embellished with some special pieces of jewelry to enhance both the jewelry and the bottle.  This was fun to create.  I listed it this morning in my Etsy shop.  Hope you like it!

Heart Shaped Vintage Jewelry Ornament

Here is a picture of the pink mirrored heart ornament embellished with vintage and antique jewelry pieces.  I finally finished it, added it to my Etsy shop, and just love the mother-of-pearl and light pink pieces (not to mention all of those rhinestones).  Hope you like it too!

Vintage Jewelry Embellished Ornaments

I had such a fun time making these ornaments!  I can picture them being hung in a home all year round--on a knob, a shelf peg, on the corner of a boudoir mirror, anywhere really where a spot of color and sparkle is needed.  They are mirrored ornaments covered with vintage jewelry pieces.  They have been listed in my Etsy shop.  I'm working on a pink heart-shaped one which should be done later in the week (it is becoming my favorite one so far!).  Perhaps I'll post it on here for you to see.  Hope you like them! ; ) 

New Vintage Jewelry Embellished Perfume Bottles

I've added a few new embellished perfume bottles to my shop.  These two came out well, and I really do like them.  One has a black on gray cameo complete with a very old glass beaded spray at the top.

The other has two guilloche pink rose pieces with plenty of rhinestones.  I love guilloche rose jewelry as well as pink and green together, so this one is one of my favorites. They may be found in my Etsy shop at http://www.glassbeadtreasures.etsy.com/

500th Post Giveaway

Well, it's my 500th post.  Hard to believe.  Here I thought when I first began blogging that I wouldn't have anything to say and that no one would be interested enough to read whatever it was that I said!  Many, many thanks to my followers and those of you who come by to see what I've been up to and for all of you who take the time to leave a comment.  I so appreciate it!  So....

....as a "thank you", I've decided to give everyone who enters below a chance to win this sweet little perfume bottle embellished with an ever-so-light-pink blossom vintage jewelry piece.   

International friends are welcome to participate.  I will randomly choose a winner sometime in the evening on July 2, so comments must be made before 6:00 p.m. CST July 2.  1) You must leave one comment below telling me what type of item you like best from my shop (i.e.vintage jewelry, perfume bottle, thumbtacks, beaded brooch, vintage image things, etc.)  Please visit my Etsy shop--Glassbeadtreasures--to help you decide. If someone does not tell me what type of item they like best, unfortunately that person will be disqualified. 2) If you would like a second entry chance, you may blog (feel free to use one of the two pictures above) about it then come back and leave a comment with the link to your blog post.  That's it! Thank you again to everyone!

Mother's Day Vintage Brooch Swap from Jan

Linda at A Swap for All Seasons hosted a wonderful swap, the Mother's Day Vintage Brooch Swap. We were to swap a vintage brooch wrapped in a beautiful package. My partner was Jan of Jan's Arty Journey. Jan certainly renewed my faith in swappers! Not only did she hold up her end of the swap but did so amazingly and beautifully. She is kind and wonderful in every way...and very talented. She wrapped everything in pretty paper tied with lovely ribbon and included a pretty card.
The brooch she chose is absolutely perfect. It is exactly as I would choose and like--you know how I like flowers and rhinestones. I shall wear it an enjoy it.She put the brooch in this amazingly beautiful book box that she embellished with all sorts of pretties--inside and out! I love the Parisian theme.
Many thanks to Jan for this wonderful brooch and box and to Linda for hosting such a fabulous swap.