Push pins done the fun way

I needed to make myself some pushpins to dress up my new office at work. I have wanted to try copying some of my favorite artists' work and used this as an opportunity to try to emulate some of their styles. I didn't come close to doing them justice, but it was a fun try. I really want to be as creative as joojoo and create such simple beauty as Eva Thissen. The peacock turned out the best, and was based on this tutorial. 

Happy things.

Kittens in boxes,

and kittens on couches.

Surprises of flowers

and the boy that gave them.

My vanilla vine,

my teddy,

and a nice glass of wine.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes me happy. Also a fair amount about follow-through, so I decided to do a quick exercise tonight to practice both of these things. I took a few minutes, and photographed a few of my favorite things, things that bring a smile to my face.

Ginkgo and Sunflower Box

I've come up with a pretty successful method of making boxes, and made this ginkgo and sunflower box for my parents for christmas. I used dried ginkgo leaves as stamps and layered them over a mokume gane box leaving the mokume gane texture visible on the inside. I wanted the leaves to look like they had fallen from the tree, so I brushed powdered pastels on top to dirty them up. Each petal of the sunflower used a skinner blend to add interest. 

Salt and Pepper Shakers

I started my new job, and my brain is working on catching up with the changes in my life. I'm hoping that my more "normal" schedule will allow me to have more time to work on clay. I've been really busy with swing stuff (btw, check out our new blog!), but maybe I'll have more down time as things even out. In the mean time, I'll get around to a series of posts of Christmas gifts I made. These were an experiment to see what BotanyBoeh salt and pepper shakers would look like. Henry's step-mom collects salt and pepper shakers, so I made them for her for Christmas. I'd love to do more of these down the road, any takers?

Shadowbox Landscape Scene

I made this shadow box last summer, and finished modge-podging the frame a month or so ago. Enjoy.

Wow, what a long over due post! I'll try to get caught up soon. I haven't made a ton of things this fall, and I get so hung up on taking pictures. Not even so much taking the pictures, but actually taking the time to put them on my computer and sort through them! Enough excuses I suppose.

Back in September I made myself a new keychain. When I first saw Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie children's books, I thought that Elephant looks just what Henry would look like if you drew him as a children's book character. I mean that in the most loving way, in that Henry is the most adorable nerd you'll ever get to meet. I decided to pay homage, and make myself a keychain of Elephant. We took this picture after using the keychain for a while, so its a little beat up. But its still pretty cute right? I made the head out of sculpey, added the glasses out of wire and sanded it as smooth as I could get it after baking it. 

For Henry's birthday, I thought I'd make a keychain for him as well (this shows how late I am in making this post!) I wanted something to make him smile so I made a walrus. We've had an inside joke about walruses since high school, and have collected them ever since. Again, the picture was taken after a few months of use. Maybe I should add a layer of glaze to these so that they would be a little harder and scratch resistant. 

 

Antique Ladder repurposed as a plant rack

My kitchen was boring. White walls, and no counter space. This summer, Henry and I've been trying to fix up our apartment, make it more us, and more comfortable -while trying to spend as little as possible. We painted the walls a sunny yellow, and added the freezer and microwave shelf. I'd wanted an antique ladder to use as a plant rack above my precious south facing kitchen window for a while, and finally got it up last month. Now I'm actually getting around to sharing it! I found the idea on the blogosphere somewhere, and as a plant nut with no window space in my apartment, I'm always looking for creative ways to take advantage of my limited light. After unsuccessfully hunting at thrift stores, garage sales, and antique stores, I found this website: A Rustic Garden offers garden  accents and fencing, and they sell antique wooden ladders by the rung! Maybe it cost a bit more than I should have spent, but it was too good an idea to pass up, and it was such an easy way to get exactly what I was looking for! Isn't the interwebs great?

The ladder was hung with ceiling hooks and chain, very easy-peasy, and I like the mix of wood and metal, just wish I could have found white or silver hooks. 

I wanted to add some more color, and even though in these pictures all the accents look black, they are actually a pretty navy blue. The baskets I found at Stein's Garden and Gifts for a couple of bucks a piece, and I glued a navy ribbon around each to make them match the window swag. I hung the baskets on a bit of chain wrapped around the rungs of the ladder.

 I also attempted to make some candles, with the thought that the would make a really cool atmosphere for nice dinners. The mason jars were great, but since they are so big, I thought I would fill them partway with coffee beans so I wouldn't need so much wax. I didn't count on half the beans floating. I also ran out of wax, so I couldn't do multiple pours as the wax shrunk, so I wound up with essentially hollow candles. The coffee beans also smoke a lot when they catch fire, so I think I'll need to remake these before using them for a romantic dinner! At least they look cool unlit, right?

Over all I'm super happy with how this turned out, and I love looking at it in my much prettier kitchen! Plants shown by the way are Vanilla, Peperomia (Rugby Football Plant), Kaffir Lilly, Rose Geranium, and Tillandsia.