King me!

I have always been fascinated with anything having to do with royalty - lately it has been crowns. I have seen French replicas for sale, but they are quite expensive. After looking at hundreds of pictures in books and on line, I came up with my own design. Here is a very simplified tutorial:


~the prototype

I made a paper crown first....

took it apart for pattern pieces....

I used galvanized tin ("flashing") and good tin snips...

the black patina is to "age"the galvanized tin and the chandelier crystals are to give it some bling...

ta - da!!!!!

Now I know my creation is far more primitive than the prototype, but I really like its rustic simplicity. Believe me, there was a fair amount of blood (wear gloves!), sweat (use SHARP tin snips!), and tears (make sure you have plenty of ventilation when using the patina/acid).

I don't think this is something I would make to sell...but the process was a lot of fun, and I finally have that royal crown I was searching for!

Thanks for stopping by....

Pammy

remember these????

The older I get, the more I love soft lightening. I think these old fashioned pierced lampshades are an interesting way to create that romantic and flattering glow, don't you? But what if I don't have an outlet where I want to place a lamp - like on a dinner table for instance? How about turning a wine glass into a sweet little lamp at each place setting? We all have stemware odds and ends, so I have a way to use those orphaned glasses, and also create a lovely ambiance without the use of a cord or plug....

first you need to make a pattern from a mini lamp shade and trace it out onto some heavy paper or cardstock....

select a bold graphic...
highlight interesting curves...
trace this onto the back of your paper - I used white carbon paper, since I chose black paper...
cut along these lines with a sharp knife...
I decided I needed more flourishes....
using a pushpin, pierce directly through both pattern and paper...
cut out the shade - I love these fancy edges...
tape ends together with double-sided tape, place votive candle in the wine glass...
sweet!!!

Thanks for visiting...

Pammy

patience...

We have been watching this mama robin for a few weeks. We couldn't believe when she started building it right outside our front door on top of a post - she has been very patient with us as we come and go. She gives us the stink eye when we open the door, but doesn't budge. Yesterday I noticed she wasn't there, so I asked Dennis to climb up to see what she was sitting on.....

they don't call it Robin's Egg Blue for nothing.....

I'll keep you posted on the new arrivals....should be any day now!

Pammy

p.s.: you can now subscribe to my blog! Check out the links at the top (to the right) of this post - now you can be automatically notified when mama's eggs hatch!

anatomy - part deux

After showing Jennifer the designs for Sweetpea, and tweaking some of the colors a bit, she placed an order - happiness!




The colors in the shop will be pink and green, so she asked if I could tone down the purple a bit...

and I changed the back of the pea pod to match....

That's all for now - thanks for checking back with me! Now make sure you run right down to Sweetpea and say hi to Jennifer (and Olivia, her own little 10-month-old sweetpea pod!)

Pammy

anatomy of a custom design

A couple of weeks ago, I bumped into Jennifer, the new owner of Sweetpea Home Interiors in downtown Coeur d'Alene. She asked if I could come up with a new design idea for a custom, only-for-Sweetpea, necklace. She showed me their new logo, which features a purple-ish pink fairy and lime green peas, and she thought a cute pea pod might fit the bill. Here is what I came up with, as well as the entire process, from conception to the actual pendant.....

first a little doodling....

then a little color is added....

then image is scanned and text is added....

then scanned again and re-sized...

But wait, I wanted Jennifer to have a choice - so I decided to design a second necklace. Since the new logo features a fairy, I found some royalty free clip art....

I colorized it....

then added some "peas" and some text....
scanned it again and re-sized it....
I found some pretty paper for the backs, and some pea green beads and.....voila!!!!
This was fun! Now I hope Jennifer thinks they're as cute as I do....

Thanks for working with me,
Pammy

Vinage Barn baby...

We had a fabulous time at the Vintage Barn Antique Show yesterday - loads of fun and lots and lots of goodies! The day started with vendor badges and goodie bags being passed out, (nice touch Rolane!) and then a time of prayer and blessing before the cowbell rang - let the games begin!!! There was a line of customers as far as the eye could see, and they just kept a comin' all day! Here is a taste of the fun we had....

my little corner of the Vintage Barn world...

the queue to enter....

loads of treasures....

One of my all time faves - meet Virginia of The Rusty Bird. Virginia's booth is all about birds and nests and eggs - nothing else. She makes all the nests! As my friend Arlene says, "Virginia makes nests as good as a bird"....

here's Virginia...

and speaking of Arlene....

Here she is in her booth - she makes the most wonderful totes and aprons from flour sacks, as well as altered book journals - she writes one of my all time favorite blogs...

Pam from Homestead Mercantile was there with her fabulously whimsical crowns...
more... fun...

This is a great booth - notice the huge columns on either side - they were only $100 each - did I forget to mention how reasonable the prices were throughout the show???

"Queen of her Nest" - cute stuff...
I wish I had taken more pictures, but I think you can see here that the day was a great one, and we now can look forward to the next show in September.

Thanks for stopping by....
Pammy