What’s Up? Steampunk and France!

It’s been a while, boys and girls.  My creative mojo has been on hiatus.  I took a French class.  I stressed out at work.  I visited friends and family in the Boston area.  I ate way too much. I read a lot.

Sometimes I feel like I stepped back from my inner life and my physical life.  I retreated.  Don’t know why.  These things sneak up and hide themselves in your head,  so you don’t realize you’re not doing anything--creating, exercising, thinking.  

But lately I’ve been getting creative again, making some jewelry and working on a Steampunk character.  For those of you who don’t know what Steampunk is, it’s basically a Victorian vision of science fiction--think  H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.  More recently, read the Leviathan series by Scott Westfield or Gail Carrigers’ Alexia Tarabotti books (which mix Steampunk with vampires and werewolves).  Steampunk is anything goes--from corsets to tricked out weaponry, top hats to gears as embellishments.  Characters range from scientists and royalty to adventurers and ladies of the evening.  We already have our reservations for the HRH Steampunk Symposium on the Queen Mary in January, so I’m gathering materials and making my costumes and accessories.

Cats are a big part of my character, Felina Reid’s, life, so they will figure in parts of my costume.  Like my hats--yes, those are cat ears!  

 
And the embellishment also features a cat pin.

Here some great shoes I scored at Goodwill yesterday:

I’ll be making a drawstring bag (and probably my skirt/bustle) out of velveteen fabric I used to use on my tables at craft shows.  The fabulous trim I found on Etsy.

We’re also planning a trip to France next year.  The Mom recently gave me a monetary gift to start a Paris fund.  I wanted to go next year for our 35th anniversary and this money gave that dream a big boost!  The Husband is a military history buff, so naturally wants to see the D-Day beaches in Normandy.  I’m a museum rat and flea market shopper, so that’s what I’m looking forward to in Paris.  You’d think the Louvre would be #1 on my list but it’s actually the Musee D’Orsay, since I love the Impressionists.  We also love to walk, so seeing Paris on foot is going to be exciting.  I remember walking in San Francisco--a walking pace at ground level allows you to see so many tiny, amazing details!  
 

I love the planning of a trip as much as the actual travel, so lately I’m either elbows deep in beads or French tour books.

I’ll keep you up to date on what I’m making and planning!

C’est La Vie! Do What You Love!

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Nose Art and Paintings and Sculpture, Oh My!

The Husband enjoys the heck out of the Palm Springs Air Museum. I admit, usually I zip through a few exhibits and go read in the café. But since we hadn’t been there in quite a while, I was a little more engaged because the set up had changed a bit and there were some new things. We ended up together in the café for lunch. Aside from the 105 degrees we braved to see the planes outside, it was a good visit.

Here’s some of the fun nose art on display:







This is a painting on tiles that local school children contributed their skills to. It’s a beautiful piece and I saw the image on t-shirts in the gift shop.

Doesn’t this sculpture make you want to go outside and leap around barefoot in the grass??

And here is the Tuskegee Airmen mural by artist Stan Stokes. I didn’t think I’d be able to get it all in the photo!

Here’s his blog, detailing the unveiling of the mural, attended by 7 of the Airmen themselves: http://stanstokesredtails.blogspot.com/

 

You can see a passel of Stokes’ murals and painting at the Palm Springs Air Museum, as well as the Ronald Reagan Library and the George HW Bush Library. Military art is his specialty but he also paints sailing ships and cool cityscapes with cats.

Do What You Love!

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Sunday is Going too Fast!

Today:

I woke up in an Etsy mood! I posted one handmade pair of Valentine inspired earrings and a few vintage finds:

Heart Beads bought at a bead society meeting, from the estate of one of our members. So pretty!

Two JJ pins, probably from the 70's. JJ's are some of the more comical jewelry you'll find.

I also spent quite a while at online traffic school. Yes, I made a right at a red light, not noticing the NO TURN ON RED signs… They were big red signs, no foliage blocking them, no big trucks in the way. If this has taught me anything, it’s that I have to pay more attention and that’s a good thing. Maybe we should all be required to take a traffic school course every 10 years or so as a refresher…

The Husband will be home from work soon. We’ll have a Hawaiian pizza, in anticipation of the healthy eating we’re starting tomorrow. I fell off the healthy eating wagon in December and got hit by every wheel! Now, I’m soooo ready to eat better and for the health of it, not only to lose some weight. For a while we’d been doing a Jack LaLanne DVD and we’re going back to that as well. I tell ya, getting’ old is not for sissies. Just like driving, you really have to be paying attention and taking care of yourself. This isn’t a New Year’s resolution, it’s just a desire to live as long and as well as I can.

Have a good week, everybody!

Do What You Love!

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12 Questions

I found these questions a while ago and finally decided to answer them. I know, I haven’t been blogging consistently. My Muse seems to be on vacation…

1. What is one really fast, know-by-heart "go-to" meal to fix in a pinch? English muffin pizza’s with sauce, cheese and whatever meat is in the house

2. What is one item you won't leave home without. (Purse and license do not count.) My cell phone

3. Where is one place you never tire of visiting? The library

4. Share one factoid of your family's history. My father drove a tank in Korea

5. Complete this sentence: "Once upon a time I ...." dreamed of being an actress

6. If you could win a one year's supply of anything, what would it be? Cat food--highly recommended by all the wildlife we feed around our house (raccoons, skunks and possums, not to mention three outside neighborhood cats, plus our own two inside cats)

7. "One quirky thing you may not know about me is ...." I put less-than-fresh licorice in the microwave

8. You have one dollar in your pocket. What will you buy? A tiny notebook

9. "One thing that always makes me laugh is ...." The Husband, sometimes even when he means to

10. What is one thing you could do today to help yourself reach a personal goal? Not eat the trail mix that’s calling to me from the cupboard

11. What is one thing you could do today to bless someone else? Compliment them.

12. What is one thing you're looking forward to soon? Meeting up with my cousin in Palm Springs in August. Haven’t seen him in 25 years!

Do What You Love!

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Favorite Etsy Shop Tuesday

Today I’m featuring cat stuff. It’s what I heart a lot on Etsy and I know there’s a lot of cat lovers out there. If you’re interested in the item or artist, click on the pic.

Nostalgia by Shanna Trumbly

Cat and Books print, Alice in Paris

Purple Kitty Scarf by Rosaleendhu

Ginger Tabby Cat by Marjji

Best Friends by Alison Stein

Naturally, all rights to these photo’s belong to the craftperson/artist!

Do What You Love!

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Saturday Book Review (A Day Late)

Yesterday I did a jewelry show by myself (The Husband had to work) and I was pretty wiped out. So here’s the scoop on a book I read this week:

Fatal Fixer Upper by Jennie Bentley

Avery Baker inherits a rundown Victorian house from her Aunt Inga, a relative she barely remembers. The house is in Waterfield, Maine, a far cry from her life as a fabric designer in New York City. Originally intending to sell the house, she discovers that she could get twice as much for it if she does some renovations. After the unexpected break up of a love affair with her boss, Avery decides to spend the summer in Maine, renovating with the help of Derek Ellis, a hunky home repair man. That decision leads to a mystery involving a missing college professor, Marie Antoinette’s furniture and a robbery committed in 1934.

This book reads like a romance in some sections and I have to wonder if Jennie Bentley started with Harlequin. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just that it makes Avery sound a little girlish and gives the book itself a fluffy feel. The mystery part of the book I thought was written well and the complications presented an array of would be killers/thieves that kept you guessing. The climax shows Avery as a resourceful and strong woman who holds her own.

As usual with books that I’m drawn to, this series has a likable cast, starting with Avery and Derek. Avery’s first friend in town, B&B owner Kate McGillicutty, has an outgoing personality and sparkling humor. Her boyfriend is the town sheriff, Wayne Rasmussen, a calm personality who’s no small town hick. The character you love to hate is local realtor Melissa James. Don’t want to tell too much about her--she has too many connections that would be giving away parts of the plot. And then there’s Jemmy and Inky, Aunt Inga’s self-reliant cats, who occasionally appear for their dinners.

Home renovation and design tips are included at the end of each book (Spackled and Spooked and the most recent, Plaster and Poison). I took a cursory look but I don’t usually take a lot of time with recipes and things like this, except when they’re written into the book, like the Domestic Bliss articles in the Leslie Caine series.

I see that my library has the next two in this series, so when I finish a few books I have at home (right now I’m reading No Sleep Till Wonderland, which is turning out to be just as good as last weeks review, The Little Sleep), I’m hoping to pick those up.

Do What You Love!

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Sunday Wishful Thinking

I wish my cats could talk.

Watson could tell me why he runs around the house at top speed in the evening...

Raina could say why she sometimes eats wet food and sometimes doesn't...

They could tell me when they have tummy trouble or wish that bright red spot would come out to play...

Do What You Love!

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Eight Things Thursday

...I want to do when I retire

1 Teach adults to read

2 Finally learn Tai Chi

3 Read three hours a day, minimum

Dogs for the Deaf parade

4 Have a dog or two (shhhh, don't tell the cats)

5 Piano lessons

6 Learn bead weaving

7 Wear whatever I feel like

8 Stay up late and sleep late

Do What You Love!

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Saling, Saling!

Betcha can guess what I’ve been up to this morning! Yes, went to a few yard sales and a Mercantile Flea Market in uptown Fullerton. AND Tall Mouse’s 43rd anniversary sale (all full price items 43% off!). Quite a busy day. And I must say, KFC’s new grilled chicken is FABulous! Just so ya know…

First, here’s The Husband posing in front of a wicked cool mural on the way into the Mercantile market.


And here’s some of the morning’s loot.

Who can resist cats, especially when all the rhinestones are intact!!


I love big clear lucite beads and these are SQUARE! I can picture the earrings and other cool stuff now!


Aren’t these lampwork beads pretty? I love the colors!


This bagful of $1 colored plastic goodness should not and could not be resisted! A few of the beads are corralled by a string of gorgeous amethyst I got for ~ gasp! ~ 75% off at Tall Mouse, a local arts and crafts store.

These are the pretty things I got today. I also got some connectors for chains and other little, practical jewelry making stuff. And in preparation for a class on glass charm making, I got a soldering iron, copper tape and glass squares. But, really, how photogenic are those?? Well, they will be when they’re part of new, fun jewelry, but right now, not so much :-)

After all that shopping, it’s time for a cool beverage and a few minutes of being a cat lap. Both my kitties love lap time and they both have their distinctive ways of cuddling ~ my boy cat likes to just plop on my right leg and fall asleep with his head under my arm, my girl cat first has to stand on my lap and have her butt rubbed, then she sits and kneads my chest, then flops across my lap and cuddles under my chest. They’re my babies and I love cuddle time, even if it means less reading and jewelry making time.


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A Place to Bark

Just a quicky to promote a very worthy cause and an amazing artist whose blog inspired this post.

Here’s The Blog of Manon Doyle. She’s a Canadian import to Ohio and her artwork is simply bold, beautiful and brilliant. I’m sure her work is copyrighted so you’ll have to click to see it ;-)

Party Animals, a book contributed to by many mixed media artists and the proceeds go to A Place to Bark. What could be better~a great book with wicked cool artwork that helps dogs in need. You can buy it at Lulu, a books on demand kinda place, where they print to order. http://stores.lulu.com/aplacetobark

A Place to Bark, Bernie Berlin’s animal sanctuary in Tennessee, rescues animals (cats, too) from high kill shelters, nurses them to health and facilitates adoptions. Read her success stories, dry your eyes and do what you can to help! http://aplacetobark.com/index.html

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OC Cat Stuff

This is for my friends in the OC and So Cal. If anyone’s looking for a kitten, or two, let me know and I can put you in touch with a friend who has two kittens that need homes. Please pass this on and let me know if anyone’s interested.

Also, if you need a reliable, reasonably priced cat sitter, I want to recommend Jule Wood. She took care of our cats, Watson and Raina, while we were gone for a week to Vegas. She asked lots of questions before we left, so she’d know exactly what we expected and did a great job for us. Also, if you know any shut ins or folks who have difficulty getting out to the grocery store, she also has a grocery shopping service. She’s such a fun person and very conscientious. Give her a call at 714-533-7549.

This is Watson, watching the neighborhood cat, Luna, outside our front window.

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You Are My Rock by Cidtalk

I wanted to show you all the print I bought from this talented and friendly Etsy artist, Cidtalk. She posted the original black and white drawing on a weekly challenge blog called Thursday Sweet Treat. Being the cat lover I am, I really connected with it and immediately sent her an Etsy convo, asking if she was planning to create prints of her design. She let me know that she probably would and thanked me for the compliment. So every once in a while, I'd check back to see if "my" print was there. Sure enough, one day there were actually two versions~the original black and white, but also a version she had colored. Because the one in color had caught my eye as soon as I logged onto her shop (I'm Fearlessly Colorful, remember!), that was the one I decided on.

She also had a stylized lily of the valley. Turns out both of our grandmother's loved lily of the valley. We convo'd about trying to grow them (I have failed miserably~can't find a good balance of sun and shade in my yard~she's just starting her adventure) and shared how much we love their scent.

So, now I need to frame these wonderful prints and put them in a place I can see them daily. Thanks, Cindy, for adding some beauty to my home and heart!

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Please respect Cidtalk's copyright on this artwork :-)

Bio of a Jewelry Fanatic

I'm Bear Chick and I'm a jewelry addict. I love to buy it and I love to create it. Be kind to me!

As if you didn't already know that, if you've been reading my blog for more than an entry or two. But I joined Blogfire, a guild for blogging ArtFire members, and I need to write a little introduction and bio for the latest Blog Carnival. It occurred to me that I probably haven't actually done anything like that on my blog, so here goes.

As long as I can remember, my mother and grandmother were jewelry fanatics. My grandmother's last gift to me was a shirt box full of her old jewerly. So, the adornment obsession comes naturally.

I came to jewelry making late in life, not believing I could craft anything people would like. But I took one adult ed jewelry class and I was hooked. I've always loved pattern-I can pick out a pattern in the most mundane things-a tile roof, shadows, polka dots. When I first started beading, making patterns of colors and shapes and materials fascinated me. I'd stay up late into the night, stringing, stringing, stringing. Now I've branched out into other things, like chain making, which is Pattern Nirvana! But I've also been doing a Charm N Bead series of necklaces and bracelets that are as random as I'll ever get-I admit, I place the charms in somewhat of a design, but the beads are totally random!

I sell my creations on ArtFire (chains and a Charm N Bead or two) and Etsy (beaded jewelry and artwork). This spring I'm planning on upgrading my show booth to go out into the world and do some shows again in the summer/fall. I love to do custom work because it's like a puzzle, especially when someone comes to me with the materials to make something--that's my kind of challenge.

In my life outside of jewelry, I work full time for a Shoppers Guide publisher, where I just celebrated my 20th anniversary. I've been in payroll most of that time, first doing actual payroll checks and now more into the auditing side of the department. 20 years is a long time and I'm happy to say the people I work with have made that time fly by.

I've been married for 28 1/2 years to the nicest guy on the planet. The Husband works at a SoCal amusement park, playing banjo and robbing trains and he's my biggest supporter. We have two crazy cats, who enjoy keeping us up at night. We love to travel and can occasionally agree on what to watch on TV.

Reading is one of my biggest pleasures. Books, magazines, blogs. If it's got words, I'll read 'em, even backwards and upside down!

So, that's my story. I'm looking forward to reading all my fellow BlogFire members' bio's now!

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