I'm Late, I'm Late for a Very Important Date!!!

I am late posting for the Outside the box party! For some reason I had it in my head it was Tuesday ... sometimes I even surprise myself with my flightiness. I have been working on these boxes for weeks now and I have had so much fun with them, I was so looking forward to this event and then I almost missed it! So better late than missing it all together! And with that here are my ideas for the cute little soap boxes that Lisa at Tattered and Tarnished found and hosted this fun party.

Here is the box, it is pressed paper and has a little hole in it so you could see the soap.

I embellished four different boxes - I just had fun and kept on going till I used them all. 

First box

Second Box 
Lace and encaustic wax

Third Box

Button Box with soldered window

Fourth Box

I am sorry Lisa... I am coming to the party late. Thank you for having this fun challenge... it was fun!

Thank you so much! Please go over to Tarnished and Tattered and see the list of all the other blogs that are making these wonderful boxes. 
Many Blessings
Rebecca

It's Been One Year...and a give back!

It's been one year since I started blogging.

It is hard for me to imagine what I did before I started blogging. This has had so many wonderful surprises. I officially started blogging one year ago but I did do a little journaling on my website before, which I doubt anyone read... maybe some of my faithful customers at the shop. But it wasn't set up for journaling and eventually all the pictures just froze up - I am sure it was frustrating for anyone that tried to read a post. I had purchased a blog on typepad but just didn't have the time to sit down and figure it out... if you didn't know what a gadget or widget was, well... So one day a year ago - someone was in the shop and mentioned that their was a blog that was featuring pictures of my shop! I said your kidding, so of course I ran to my computer and looked her up. It was such a nice post and pictures! Angie at I'm Going Back to the Start came in the shop took pictures (without me knowing... sneaky) and gave my shop such wonderful reviews - how could I not be thrilled and to see it on the web was so fun - it started me looking at the blogs she had on her sidebar. I found people I knew there! So I started blog hopping, I stopped on Judy's at Tapestries of Nature and wanted to leave a comment so I signed up for Blogger and it said "do you want to blog"? ...the rest is one year of 98 posts... and the joy of getting to know such wonderful women that have the most nurturing hearts and giving spirits I have ever been privileged to know. What a Blessing and such a fantastic surprise! My main objective was to network for the business but also give a personal side of me and to journal that, who would have known the friendships that would have come out of the web of all places! And all over the world! What a lovely surprise! And then to have the opportunity to meet some of these lovely souls this past year was such a highlight and a joy.
And so I am saying thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who have encouraged, followed, read and left comments this past year. I am grateful that anyone would care what I said, made or did, so as a small token I am giving back a piece of my jewelry. Just leave a comment... that's it. If you would like to put my button on your sidebar I would appreciate that also but not necessary to win. Giveback ends July 6th and I will announce the winner the following day.

I am leaving you with some pictures of the past year from my blog...

To all my old friends this past year thank you so much for staying with me and supporting me and to all my new found friends thank you and I look forward to another year of fun!
Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the jewelry giveaway.
Many many blessings to you,
Rebecca

Welcome Bloggers to Where I Create...

Welcome to my studio... I know many of you have already been here, thanks to the great job Jo Packham and her team from Where Women Create did in this issue. I was thrilled to have a feature article and to get to know such fabulous people from this very special magazine.

Today I hope to show you some shots that didn't make it into the magazine and a little insight on how I organize my studio.
I want to give a big Thank You to Karen at My Desert Cottage for hosting Where Blogger's Create, such a fun event! And for being such a wonderful friend.  Karen's studio also featured in this issue of Where Women Create is fantastic and if you haven't gotten the magazine you are missing out on a wonderful treasure.


My studio is in the backyard facing the house, so I go out my back door across the patio, down the flagstone path to the left, past the fountain, through the French doors and into my little piece of heaven.

Welcome!  Come on in...

Now that you have the lay of the land, it is not a real large space. I have a lot of little wallpaper drawers and suitcases that I keep laces and trims in. I have a thing about storage, no plastic! Just me... I like to find cool vintage storage items. I love the old mercantile feel so I try to have that in the studio. I make displays out of my different treasures that I create with. That way I can see it, which gives me inspiration while making my art.

I love old pictures and have lots of them which I use in my art. Most all the pictures you see in my studio however are of my family.

One of my favorite things to do is combine display with function. A habit from the shop I suppose... A good example is the jar of metal Christmas garland - I love the way it looks through the glass and I have added an old picture of my sister and I opening Christmas gifts. Art and Function!

Another example with the dress form

My grandmother, mother and I fishing.

Of course my studio is clean right now... but I create in a kind of  organized chaos. I like to see lace, trims, buttons, bobbles when I am making something, so I have it around me but pretty. 

 

Are you getting tired yet? If not I would like to show you some of my favorite things...

This old mirror is shaped like an artists pallet so I hung a picture of my dad when he was in art school, he is drawing.

I also love old hardware so I use it whenever I can.

Here are some bracelets I made from old hardware.

Old advertising reverse painted mirror for dress linings.

Wax doll heads and perfume bottles

Linen doll head

Old Christ child head with glass eyes and old tarnished silver.

These are châtelaine purses with silver beading and leather on the backs, if they have a name - I do not know what it is.

Would you care for a cup of coffee... I don't know how that got in there!

Here are just some random images, this post is getting long and I could go on and on and lull you to sleep here. Hey, maybe that's why the coffee is here!

At this point I am going to give you a detour... I know this is long but I don't feel at all right about posting where I create if I do not include the place I spend most of my time creating. It isn't pretty... so brace yourselves we are entering the shop studio.

Ok... that was totally off the cuff, I don't know what made me do that! Obviously I didn't plan that or I would have cleaned it up a little! I have been working on a dozen different projects getting ready for The Creative Connection in September. Which by the way you won't want to miss! And the French Flea Market that Donna at dreyne's is having in July. So anyway it is a mess!

We are back home now and before I go.

I want to say just a little about the creative spirit that lives in me. I believe that we are all creative in some manner, it is a gift from our creator. We were made in the image of God himself and He is the author of all creation. He is a creative God. I am close to Him when I create and all that I am comes from Him. So when I create, it is an expression of the very spirit that dwells in me. Everything that comes from that place is a praise offering to my Heavenly Father and in return I pray the blessings overflow to you. I am so thankful for all that I have and all that is given to me.

I want to thank our lovely host again... Thank you Karen, many blessings to all of you. I hope you enjoyed your visit and I will be looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful creative spaces.

Thanks Jo!

Blessings

Rebecca