Published! Plus Some Button-y Goodness.

Welcome Somerset Studio readers! I was thrilled to see that my altered Halloween picture frame is publilshed in Somerset Studio's Vintage Halloween Issue (September/October 2010). I did a blog post about it last year. Click here to go to  the instructions. You can click the button in my sidebar to go to Somerset Studio.

 Last Friday, my friend Elizabeth and I managed to find a few hours to do some sun printing. I'd been wanting to learn for a long time and we never seemed to be able to fit it in. We finally got a chance to do it, and I can't wait to do it again. It is such a fun process! Elizabeth has photos on her blog.

Before we started, we even managed to sneak in a quick trip to an estate sale. Elizabeth got an amazing assortment of antique doilies, and I got a nice tin full of old buttons. When I got home, I decided to go outside to sort them. Miss Bordeaux was happy to come outside and "help".

Here is a closer view of the button-y goodness. There were two beaded initials in the box - an "S" and an "R". I need to think of something wonderful to do with them.

If you click on the photo below you can also see the big coat button that is right in the center and some wooden buttons at the bottom. The bright green ones and the bright blue ones with the gold border are pressed glass.

Off to the left are some rhinestone encrusted buttons. I think they would make beautiful centers for some of Elizabeth's sweater flowers. Do you think I should share some of my new toys?

Cleaning and Tossing and Sorting - Oh My!

I've been busy cleaning out my studio. I started by cleaning out my downstairs office, and realized I had to sort through fabric. Some of my fabric was upstairs in my studio. After I went through the studio looking for fabric, I decided to go through all the beads, papers and rusty things that were all over the table. Once I cleared the table off, I realized that I needed to sort through my bins in order to put everything away and...you know the rest. I ended up spending three days on my office and studio.Some may be shocked to know that this is the "after" picture. I'll leave the "before" nightmare up to your imagination! You can click on the photo for a closer view of all my stuff.

 The studio looks pretty good, although I've already started playing again, so I have some little messes started that will no doubt grow into a great big mess within a few weeks' time. I guess I have a rusty thumb!

 This little guy was the first thing I made after the big cleanup. LibertyTown is having an art show called 6x6x6. All the art submitted must be no larger than six inches in any direction. This guy is about 5 1/2 inches tall, so he made the cut.

His pal will have to stay home because he is too tall for the upcoming show. They are posing in front of an antique doll piano that I got at an auction recently. The guy on the right reminds me of a piano player in a saloon. Both of them need some adjusting and final attaching. I'll get right on that as soon as I go through the stack of papers on my desk.