The Great Costume Caper

Previously on IstanbulDesigns.com/blog...

Time was lost track of, days of the week mixed up.

Fabric stores were sold out of inexpensive Halloween materials.

One crafty Mama with limited, self-taught sewing skills had ambitions of being Martha Stewart-ish.

 Procrastination ruled the day.

And deadlines were fast approaching.

then...

The Singer was pulled out of its box.

Bobbins were wound. Needles were threaded.

Fabric was unfurled and pinned and cut.

Patterns and instructions were puzzled over. ("What do these words even mean?!")

Problems were troubleshooted, and mistakes averted.

Seams were basted, trims were top-stitched, and
interfacing was put into place.

Measurements were taken, fingers pricked by needles.

Miracles happened.

Sighs of relief were breathed that the final result
didn't end up looking like a starry potato sac (as had been feared).

...and...

One most exceptionally adorable girl's Halloween wish

of being a "wittle witch" came true.

Work in Progress Wednesday - Workus Interruptus

I worked on a few things today. Metalwork, housework, Mamawork (that means I did puzzles with my daughter).   Metalworkwise, I knocked out a bunch of  pendants that will be part of a holiday giveaway promotion (more on that later).  

 Ok, I'll give you a sneak peek

Working away...

All that good work was interrupted when I had the sudden realization that today is Wednesday (I never know what day it is. With my self-employed schedule, every day seems like it could be a Monday or a Friday).  I came to the rude realization that the preschool Halloween party is in 2 short days. Uhhh, wasn't I intending to be Martha Stewartish and sew a costume? 2 days, right? No worries!  I am Superwoman (Superprocrastinatorwoman).  A quick jaunt to the fabric store and my problems will be solved.  Except that at 60% off all the Halloween fabrics were gone. Long story short: I was there for an hour, I scoured the store, I found some starry fabric in the the quilting section (good enough), and I was off.

Ready. Set. Sew!

To be continued ...

A day of treats

Treat number one

I got a little gift yesterday. A present from me to me.  A reward for all my hard work with the fall festival circuit, which is happily behind me (let me tell you, the festivals this fall were not easy).  I treated myself to a long-awaited, much needed, well deserved digital SLR.  I saved up for it, putting aside my pennies one at a time until I had a mountain of them that reached high enough into the sky that I could buy a Nikon D5000.  Which is exactly what I did.

My new camera. Taking a picture of me taking a picture.

"How do you even work this thing?" I'm going to need a class.

Treat numero deux

I got my eyebrows threaded.  This is an every-two-weeks treat that makes me feel like a beautiful princess each and every time. If you happen to have a proclivity, as I do, for tidy eyebrows, and like me you're not averse to little bit of pain, I highly recommend threading over waxing or tweezing.  Find a threader who knows what they're doing and ye shall have perfectly perfect brows every single time.

A perfectly threaded brow.

Treat 3

It was just me and my little girl tonight, so I took her to my favorite sushi restaurant.  But ya know, I didn't even attempt to take pictures of the sushi, because I left the camera at home and knew my iphone would take a picture not worth posting.  Besides, you all know what miso soup, soft shell crab,  spicy tuna rolls, and unagi sushi look like anyway, right? *wink*

Pumpkins abound

Some fun was had with large orange gourds and sharp cutting implements this weekend. It was our Annual Neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Spectacular down in the cul-de-sac yesterday, and here are some pictures for you:

My Little SweetPea tells me where to put the eyes and nose.

Carving out an Old School Jack-o-Lantern.

Pumpkins abound, as do sharp tools and slimy pumpkin guts.

Ready for the front porch

How does a 2.5  year old busy herself on a fall Monday morning?

By carting around tricycle trunk loads of oak leaves from one end of the driveway to the other.

In case you didn't know:

The secret to making your jack-o-lanterns last until Halloween is petroleum jellying the insides.

Spooky and Sprocket, and friends.

But this preschool-made one is my favorite jack-o-lantern of all.

Have a great start to the week, everyone!

For Strange Women

A couple weeks ago, I discovered a most awesome store on Etsy. It was featured on the front page that day and while I'm not one to make impetuous purchases (I like to shop around), this seller just spoke to the inner whimsical me and sucked me right in. The shop's name says it all: For Strange Women (Did somebody say Strange Woman?  I believe that's me she's talking to).

Everything looked so tempting, I had the hardest time choosing.  But in the end I settled on a small sampler set of mix-and-match meditation/perfume oils, and a who-could-resist tube of Absinthe Lips lip balm.

My package arrived and this seller does not disappoint.  Great quality, great packaging, fast shipping - you know I'll be going back for more goodies... some for me and some holiday treats for the fellow Strange Women in my life, too (you know who you are).

Really thoughtful and pretty packaging. 

A little sprinkling of dried flowers in the envelope, too.

Sample set of oils and all natural lip balm:

Vision Quest, Cleopatra, and Astral Projection

Just divine.

This Absinthe Lips is a new favorite.

Something about it takes me to another place and time (must be the Absinthe).

Check out her shop.  If you appreciate natural, handmade products that bring you a connection to nature and the past, you're going to love what she's got.

(You can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Work in Progress Wednesday - Dragonfly necklace

I've got something cool to show you.

Remember this from last month?

The dragonfly specimen, and my hand drawing of it

for the wax seal stamp I made.

Here's what I did with it today....

Etched on a big ol' sheet of sterling silver.

Encircled by my own Art Nouveau doodles.

Design in progress.

Tweaking as I go along.

Ta da!  Dragonfly necklace.

Hand drawn, etched in sterling silver, hand cut.

Flanked by sapphires on the left and prehnite on the right.

It feels so nice on, I think I may just keep it for myself.

New - the Awen ring

Some say that inspiration is like a breeze that blows from the mouth of the gods to the heart of the artist. The ancient Welsh gave this phenomenon a name: Awen

Awen is the Welsh word for poetic inspiration or the inspiration of truth, and this ring bears its symbol. Often applied to bards, musicians, poets, or soothsayers, Awen has many interpretations. The three dots may represent the triple deity or the solstices and equinoxes. The three circles around the perimeter stand for the three circles of creation. The three rays may represent earth, sea, and air; or mind, body, and spirit; or love, wisdom, and truth.

But all agree that the foundations of Awen are the understanding of truth, the love of truth, and the maintaining of truth. This ring was inspired by the inspired, cut and etched by hand in sterling silver for the bards among us who feel the breeze of truth.


Awen  ring and pendant are available in my Etsy shop now.

Cold weekend, warm hearts

This weekend was the Brookhaven Arts Festival, which marked my last outdoor artist festival of 2009. And my goodness, could it have gotten any colder in Atlanta? It was positively freezy for Octobrrrr. On Saturday I was ridiculously underdressed for the 10+ hours I spent in the elements.  Sunday was better because the sun shone down on us, and I came armed with layers, and scarves, and boots, and a wool beret. 

But weather, shmeather - the people came out in full force, as Brookhaven is known to be a "walking neighborhood".  And it was a good show all in all. So as always, a huge heartfelt thanks to everyone who came out this weekend.  I met a few more people who knew me from Etsy before meeting me in person this weekend. Yay for that!  I love meeting you guys!

Here are a few pictures for you:

The sun shines down to warm the masses on a very cold festival

Bundled up. Any excuse to wear boots.

Somebody enjoyed riding around on the hand truck at the end of the show.

Have a great start to the week, everyone.

(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Maple and copper

Oh, Trader Joe's, you make my Northern heart sing! You make my Canadian soul love you to bits and bits! Thank you for surprising me with these brand new cookies of yours.

Squeeee! Maple syrup 

My most favorite tree by-product to delight in.

What's this I see? 

"No artificial colors or flavors. No preservatives"?

Now I know it's true love.

These are the kind of cookies I grew up with my whole childhood in Canada. In my almost 8 years living in the US, I have never come across maple cream cookies.  I kind of forgot about them even.


Oh, but that Trader Joe's never ceases to amaze.  When I saw the floor-to-ceiling display of them today, I felt 5 years old again.


These, if you can believe it (I know I couldn't), are better than any maple cream  cookies I've ever known.  Mirth and elation.

Let's see, what else do I have to share with you?

Oh, I made these earrings today. 

The copper looks very fallish, don't you think? They'll be in my Etsy shop on Monday.

Hmmm, what else?

Oh yes. I'll be at the Brookhaven Arts Festival all weekend. This will be my last outdoor artist market of the year. If you're in the Atlanta area (perhaps you'd like first dibs on the new copper earrings), come by and see me in booth #21. I'll have maple cream cookies for you.

Have a great weekend.  I'll meet you back here on Monday.

(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Work in Progress Wednesday - Quick and Dirty

Hi all. Hope your day was wonderful.  I have been working tirelessly since 8 this morning (it's 9:15pm now) and am quite ready for a break.  Not one to disappoint, I threw together a quick and dirty "work in progress Wednesday" blog post for your enjoyment.  Here's what I made today (this, while I simultaneously worked on 3 custom orders).

Bracelet in carnelian and sterling silver. 

The little embellishments in the corners are my own hand drawn Art Nouveau doodles.

You know how much I adore that Art Nouveau.

Step one, pierce with a jeweler's saw.

Soldering on the bezel wall.

Post-patina, pre-polish.

Setting the stones.

Finished!

Feels great on the wrist. It jingles a little and has a nice weight to it.

Now to go spend time with my much neglected husband.  Have a great evening :)

(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

A tasty little bird, and some new jewelry, too

In honor (or honour, as we spell it in Canada) of Canadian Thanksgiving, we did the roasted bird thing for dinner last night. It was all kind of last minute - at 3pm I still hadn't made a grocery list.  In the interest of time I decided to forgo the 15 pound turkey, and opted for a couple 1.5 pound Cornish hens instead.  (Funny how I went from the biggest bird you could cook, to the smallest).

Allow me to say that for someone who loves to cook as much as I do, I can't believe I've never made Cornish hens before.  Sooo easy to make. So fancy to look at.  So yum in the tum.

Canadian Thanksgiving in Atlanta - organic cornish game hen, cornbread stuffing, French beans, candied sweet potato spears, and roasted potatoes (oh and wine, of course)

Make a wish (on the wee-est wish bone I've ever seen)

And for dessert - putting some of those fresh-picked pommes to good use

French apple tart

In other news, I've got some new designs to show you.  People have been asking (and keep asking)  for me to make jewelry with symbols of faith.  Here are  a few new ones that I'm adding to my Lucky Charms series. They'll be available in my Etsy shop tonight. 

Ichthys, Star of David, Hamsa 

Soon to come will also be a Lotus Flower and Spiral Goddess.  If there's a symbol that you'd like that I haven't mentioned, just contact me. If I can draw it, I can make it.

P.S. - Thanks to Justine's Originals for featuring my Spooky Cat earrings in her Halloween inspired blog post today.

(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Ripe for the Pickin'

We took a wee road trip up to farm country yesterday in the great state of Georgia.  Just 1.5 hours north of Atlanta is Ellijay - "home of the Georgia Apple Festival"... and orchards galore. October is apple picking time in these parts, and that's exactly what we spent the day doing.

Harvest time. These 2 are coming home with me.

She mutters to herself: "reach, rrrreach, rrrrrrrrreach" as she wills that apple into her hand. So darn cute.

Ahh, much easier from this height.

Sorting through our bag of goods.

Voulez-vous des pommes?

Pies to come.

P.S. - Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians today.  Have a little turkey and gravy for me, k?

P.P.S. - The Oakhurst Festival on Saturday was grrrrreat!  We thought we were supposed to have scattered thunderstorms all day, but we dodged the bad weather, and had nothing but sun and fun.  So many friends stopped by to say hello, which I love, so thank you so much (Jamie, Vyviane, Amy, Merrill, Sonia, Delias, Cat, et al. - hope I didn't forget anyone)

My little Pixie in her fairy wings

My daughter wasn't the only one in fairy wings on Saturday.  He's showing me the rhinstones on his fishnets. I love it!  :)

(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Getting ready for another one

Busy, busy, busy.  That's what I've been.  Getting ready for another great artist market this weekend.  

This Saturday (one day only) is the Oakhurst Festival. If you're in the Atlanta area come by booth 11 (that's where I shall be).  I would love to see you! 

In the meantime, I must excuse myself and get back to work. I have a small mountain of silver charms and pendants, cloaked in dark patina, calling to me from my workbench.  Can you hear what they're saying?

(you can click on the picture to make it bigger)

Work in Progress Wednesday - working in slow-mo

My work flow is moving at a snail's pace while I contend with a busted finger (you can scroll down to yesterday's post to find out why).

Happily, I'm still able to get work done in spite of it. Here are some pics of what went on in the studio today - I continued to work on the much anticipated, soon to be released Zodiac pendants.  

Soldering tags and bails onto the backs of the Zodiac pendants.  My left had is kind of shaky as the splint impedes a good grip on the torch.  Slow and steady.

Trying clean up the edges (even though the splint gets in the way of my file). 

I've also been busy getting inventory made for some upcoming weekend festivals, keeping up with Etsy and custom orders, mothering my 2.5 year-old, and working as quickly as this disabled finger will allow. With all this in mind, the Zodiac's should probably be available in another week or possibly two. 

(You can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Occupational hazard

You never really realize how much you use a given body part until said body part goes out of commission.

Perfect example: typing while keeping your splinted left index finger up in the air. Challenging.  Let's see what happens if I try to type with my damagned fginhger....nope noty workingf vbery well.

The aforementioned appendage is in its present state because it was crushed by one very massive and weighty sledge hammer which missed its intended target.  Thank you, clumsiness. 

One trip to the ER and 3 hand X-rays later, and I am pleased and relieved to report that my finger is not broken (although I would have bet any money that it was). I can't bend it or feel it. The doctor told me to keep it in a splint and ice it often. I am allowed to keep working in the studio (yay!). We can't be sure of the extent of damage to the tendons until it heals, and if it doesn't get better in 4-5 days, I'm supposed to call a hand surgeon whose number she gave me.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

The happy news is that this is not the hand I draw with. The sad news is that this injury is bound to slow me down during my busiest time of the year.

So the lesson of the day?  When you're working with a 5 pound hammer... don't rush. And maybe it's finally time to buy one of these.

Thank you

Thank you so much to everyone who shopped with me this weekend during my online sale.  Your support of my art means so much to me.  I hope you enjoy your new Halloween and Fall goodies as much as I did making them.

Your packages are in the mail!

(you can click on the picture to make it bigger)

This is a good weekend for a Halloween sale

He-hey, look at that. My Halloween goodies are featured in Etsy's blog, the Storque, today.  Thank you for the love, Etsy.

Broomstick Halloween charm

This weekend only (Oct 2-4), all the jewlery in the Halloween and Fall section of my shop is marked down by 20%. 

So, get it while the gettin's good :)

Strange Bedfellows

Apparently some new tenants have made themselves at home in the azalea bushes of our front yard.  When I walked past it this morning, the sound of the crunching leaves beneath my feet disrupted the tranquil repose of no less than a dozen (otherwise perfectly camouflaged) buttery yellow butterflies.  They all sprung up into the air at once and caught me by surprise. It was a bit a sight to see, this bevy of butterflies capering about in the air before me.  I felt like I should find a meadow to start dancing through...

Clouded Yellow Butterfly

And then I noticed her. 

She's back...just as she is every October. With her intimidating wide-legged stance, and impressive zippered web.  And don't be mistaken by the camera's inability to convey scale.  She's huge.

Argiope Spider

It's a pretty spectacular sight. And not one for the faint of heart, let me tell ya. But, I myself am a fan of the arachnid species.  I actually love them because they eat cockroaches, etc, etc. This beautiful monstrosity is about 2.5" long from toe to toe. 

In any case, the butterflies are happily cavorting about out there.  Seemingly unconcerned with the possibility of meeting an untimely demise at the hands of one enormous spider on a web that spans the length of the azalea bush they're prancing through.

 

 Don't you just love nature?

(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)