hope everyone is having a nice holiday weekend. it is sunny and warm here in NJ. No dark skies, cold winds or rain - thank goodness! jeff and i did the flea market again this morning and then went to breakfast at a new place that a friend of his opened. it is a retro joint, sort of 50's/malt shop flair. it was cute. great family place and the young teens will probably really like it. a couple of weeks ago, i posted a picture of the pigeon nesting on my MIL's porch. well, here are the 2 babies! they were getting flying lessons today. how cute are they? they really weren't very afraid of us. they just stayed on the porch while their parents were off doing who knows what! we had stopped by in our jeff's caddy and picked up janet, (MIL) and took a ride down to the beach to get a slice of GeeGee's pizza. yum! summer time is here when you can get a slice of pie from GeeGee's. I rode in the back of the caddy with Tucker who was all bundled up against the wind! he loves going for rides and enjoys the sunshine on his face. it is the first time he's really been outside (beside getting on and off the school bus) in a few months due to the bad allergy season here. he has a tough time with them, but i think we are just about done with them!

oh p.s. i found the charms. as soon as i stopped looking for them and sat down to work on another project, i got into these little drawers where i keep small charms and there they were. i think i had pulled the drawer out onto my table and was looking through it. then i came by later and tossed the charms on the table/in the drawer and then later came by and clean up and put the drawer back forgetting they were in there (or if i even realized i had tossed them in there).

lost items

please send the patron saint of lost items my way as i have lost 2 charms i made last night. i showed them to my girlfriend this morning and then put them on my steps going upstairs and that's the last i've seen of them. i've torn the house apart and can't find them and i am tired of looking for them! i went to the flea market yesterday and found some fun stuff. i'll do a post again later of my found treasures.

new hair cut, darker base color with highlights - needed a change!

finally finished my "girls got goth" necklace that i started in Sally Jean's class in Hampton. it's pretty cool. that is a mini harmonica hanging at the bottom and it actually works.

this is a pendant that i made for a nice woman i met at the bagel shop. she saw a piece i was wearing and asked for my card and then contacted me to make her one like it. it's on a metal base (more of the baling wire found in the back field). i drilled holes in it and added a vintage light bulb, some wire work with beading. she's stopping by to pick it up today.

Power tools!

yesterday at Lowe's i picked up a drill press for $99 (brand name is "Task Force"). jeff put it together today and then we had shop class on learning how to use it. pretty easy to use and it drills holes in seconds! going to save so much work by not having to drill things by hand. Now i just have to find some way to make it a little more girlie looking!

listed on etsy - sTEAMpUNK,grunge, found objects necklace

i spent the day adding things to my etsy shoppe (with more to be added tomorrow too), so take a peek. here is a necklace i finished last night. i love working with metal and wire, but drilling through some of the metal is tough; especially the stainless steel watch backs! time for a drill press.

Sundays goings on

Yesterday afternoon around 5 or 6pm, Jeff and i went for a little walk to the back field so i could pick up some more of the baling hay metal that i found back there. Jeff cut off little squares for me and that is what i use for my base of my grunge charms. i don't know what the metal is that they used (or how old it is), but it is hard to drill through and does not accept solder (darn it!). it is also really hard to cut! so a lot of work went into those charms. i do believe though, that after creating all these charms, i will be looking into getting a drill press.


anyway, on our way back to our yard, we saw that the baby bunny was out by tucker's window and i wanted to go tell my friend, Michele, who was here helping with Tucker. I had just told her before my walk to keep an eye out for the baby. so as i went up the stairs i saw one of the little eggs from the wrens nest. it was empty and on the ground. so i told jeff i found it and then i saw the baby from the egg on the ground. so i yelled, here's the baby - AND he's still alive! so jeff scooped up the baby bird and went into the house. i went to investigate the nest (this was the nest that had 6 eggs in it). well, i found another egg near the nest, but it was cracked with a bird still inside (but not alive and moving like the one out of the egg) and the rest of the eggs were gone. I think that momma wren moved her eggs out of the nest because that morning when she flew off they were all in there, unhatched. my guess is that that area was too busy for her - right next to the door with the dogs, kids and us coming and going. so i think she was moving her eggs and she dropped that little guy.





so we wrapped the little guy up in a towel to warm him up and then jeff got on the internet to find out what we could do for this "nestling". usually we would call our humane society but i knew they were closed at that point. jeff found a website on emergency care for a brand new nestling. feed it every 1/2 hour ( a little receipe was given) and keep it warm and in a dark spot. so we put it inside a cigar box still in the towel. then jeff fed him every 1/2 hour. i took some video of him feeding the birdie and the little guy eating. we think he had an injury, so we really weren't sure how it would go. jeff kept him in his room last night and feed him through out the night (i was finishing up my steampunk/grunge stuff). that little bird was a trooper and really tried hard, but he didn't make it. jeff said after the last feeding around 4:30am, he felt like he was going to go and by the next feeding, he was gone. not a happy ending, but we did what we could and at least he was warm and loved before he left.

This morning we buried him on the back porch in this big planter i have that is located near where his nest was. i sprinkled some flower seeds on top of the spot and then we planted a purple clematis in the planter with him.

i think this little guy lives under our deck. we spent a long time watching him today from Tucker's window. he is so cute! tomorrow i am going to leave out some carrots, hay and some of lilo's bunny food for him.

this pigeon made a nest on my mother in law's porch. she was having a tough time having enough room for her nest; so when she was off getting more sticks, my husband added a shelf where she was building and viola! when she got back she had a major renovation. from this picture it looks like she has one egg - but when i went back early this week, i see there is indeed two babies!

here is one of my most favorite flowers, a purple Clematis.

this week i have been busy finishing up grungy/steampunk charms that were intended for a swap. but i've gotten so great feedback on them (especially when i've worn them out) that i think i will be listing them on my etsy site and then making different charms for the swap. here are a few of the steampunk charms.

Happy Mother's Day!

this is a handmade vase of flowers and poem that i got from Tucker. it is so precious.

So how was your Mother's Day? mine was really nice. Jeff ran to his mother's house to pick up something and then he called me on his way back and said he had just found a garage sale and this guy has all that rusty junky stuff you just love. so he hurried home so that he could switch and take Tucker and i would go to the garage sale. he gave me some money and dillon and i left. it was great. it was an old guy, John, selling his worldly possessions. he was sitting in a wheelchair in front on his house, smiling and waving and talking to people. i dug through bowls of rusty stuff. dillon and i were picking through things. it was fun. then we went into the house and i bought this cool box of drawers. she told me i could have the box for $30 and everything inside. inside the box was an old dremel with a bunch of accessories. then there was a drawer full of tools that he used to do "scrimshaw" work, where he carved into ? I don't know if the surface he carved on was called scrimshaw or the hobby itself was called scrimshaw. anyone know? anyway, there were 2 drawers full of this material that he craved on. then there was another drawer full of exacto knives of all shapes and sizes. i didn't realize that there were so many different types of blades for an exacto knife. my guess is that they were all used for his craving as well. quite cool. after the garage sale, Dillon and I went to see "Iron Man" with Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwenth Paltrow. I really enjoyed this movie. i highly recommend it. it wasn't hokie hollywood as i like to call most movies. i felt it was done really well and i was surprised at how much i liked it. then when we got home, i worked on some of my grunge charms, using my new dremel on the background rusty part. jeff was outside doing some yard work and he came in and told me he just found another nest with 6 eggs in it. another house wren has built a nest on our back porch inside a wrought iron flower basket i have hanging on an old screen door (i'll post pic of it tomorrow). there are still some small flower pots in it (no flowers yet) and there is a ceramic plaque that says "sage" leaning against the pots. well she built her nest behind the plaque. the rest of the evening i spent getting dillon and then hanging in tucker's room. from tucker's bed, i was watching all the birds (finches, chickadees, nuthatches, titmouse, sparrows, cardinals and a bluejay) come to the feeders and birdbath. we also saw 2 tiny baby bunnies eating grass. i think they live under our shed. we also saw a little chipmunk. i finished up the day by watching "Forrest Gump" and having a bowl of icecream.

what goes on in my yard

this guy always smells my lunch when my window is open and stops by for a bite.

my front porch railing

house wren babies

this little guy will sneak up on my porch and eat tidbits i leave for him

this little guy lives under the old clawfoot bathtub in my front yard. i leave snacks and bird seed for him to munch on. could be the same guy who sneaks up on the front porch.

i just love these flowers

these two bunnies (look under left side of wheelbarrow) live across the street and love to come into the yard and munch.

this robin is building a nest in my arbor across my gate in the front yard.

when i got home from Pennsylvania the other day, (after dropping off Jean and spending the night) i took a minute when i got home to sit in my front yard and enjoy what was going on. i like to watch and see all the activity. i like knowing what is happening in my yard. like, i know a robin is building a nest in my arbor over my front yard gate. i moved some chairs in front and behind the gate to block the use of the gate while she is nesting. and i know that a squirrel has moved into a bird house that is by my front door. he scampers away quickly whenever i open the front door. i think he is the same guy who comes up on the roof and solicits snacks when he smells my lunch. i also know the 2 bunnies who live across the street like to sneak over and eat in our yard. i'll have to start leaving carrots by the wheelbarrow for them. i love watching the chipmunk who lives under the bathtub in the front yard. the westies know he lives there and they are obsessed with him. he loves to sun himself on a birdhouse i have that hangs off the tree. he's quite spoiled 'cuz of all the goodies i leave in a special spot for him. i know a sparrow has moved into one of my taller birdhouses in a corner by the fence. i 've seen them cleaning it out from last year and getting ready for their new crew. and then there is the house wren that sits on hanging plant stand that i inserted in the bathtub. she sings every morning and i know it is almost time to get up.

more artnsoul pics

the start of my necklace for Stephanie Lee's Junk Drawer Metalsmithing

Leighanna doing some soldering

my finished necklace, "Junk drawer metalsmithing"

Stephanie doing some demo's on soldering with a butane torch - very cool!

me and sally jean after "Girls got gothic" i need to work more on my piece when i get home.

finished soldering, now starting to assemble

my main focal point on "Girls got goth" necklace

Zhulia does show and tell from vendor night

here's Michael deMeng discussing my piece (he does all the students pieces)

listening to Michael deMeng

Christine shows off her piece from Michael's class "transparency and collage"

my piece from Michael de Meng's class

oh poor yo-yo had too much to drink

***So today was the last day of classes for Artnsoul. you could tell that everyone was kind of tired- we were all feeling it! my last class today was Stephanie Lee's "Junk Drawer Metalsmithing". we learned various techniques from her new book, "Semiprecious Salvage: Creating Found Art Jewelry. great class. we made bezels out of metal and did soldering with a butane torch. i was really tired, so i decided to concentrate on making one piece. yesterday's class was with Sally Jean and we worked on a necklace. a few people finished theirs, but a lot of us didn't. i know one girl said she stayed up til 2:00am finishing hers. Not me! i'll work on it at home. i need my rest! the day before that i took "Tranparency and collage" with Michael deMeng. Basially that was a class where we learned his special painting techniques to create layers of paint. It was definitely out of my element, but i enjoyed it alot. he's very interesting and the techniques and colors we used were pretty cool.

I'm taking Zhulia to the airport early and then coming back to load up. Jean and i will head to Pennsylvania, where i will stay the night before heading back to Jersey on wed. while i was gone, Jeff found a nest of 4 baby bunnies. he found them because one of them was screaming and when he went to investigate, a mole was attacking one of the babies. so he removed them since the mom was AWOL. The humane society came and got them today.

random art and soul pictures

my friend, Joanne

my studio in a box

happy art n soul gals

Sweet Maria from "Collage"

me on vendor night

day two of classes, Stephanie Rubanio, "bedazzled butterfly box"

Stephanie Rubanio. Leighanna Light and me


Mr. Sally Jean (Brad)

Leighanna and her cute laugh. me and leighanna.

Glenny gets a dual massage.

my finished piece. me and table mate Diane (who i know from Tinsel Trading Co.)


Joyce Vance shows her piece (thanks for the image!) these are the saw blades i broke.

me using the jeweler's saw and my image mounted and cutting process.

today's class was with Stephanie Rubanio. i just love this girl. so down to earth, sweet, generous and a great teacher. i am so glad i got to take this class! i bought a piece from her last year in Portland. Then i got to see her at Artfest and she actually remembered the piece i bought (impressive enough, since i can't remember anything!). then on vendor night at Arfest, she came over while i was giving chair massage and asked for a few minutes since she wasn't feeling well. it was a pleasure to have her as a teacher. i just thoroughly enjoyed this class. everyone left that class with a beautiful piece. i mean really, see from the piece i made - just incredible.

"Z" had an evening class and Jean went out to dinner with her roommate, so i was on my own tonight. i had intentions of going back to the room and making another shadow box, but that all changed when i sat down at a table with Leighanna Light and Christine Hendry (no blog that i know of)- but she's Albie Smith's daughter! she is also a fellow Charmster. Pretty soon, Mr. Sally Jean Alexander stopped by the table for a drink with us, soon to be followed by Sally Jean and then Stephanie Rubanio and Glenny. what a time we had! our bartender, Eddie, was pouring heavy handed so everyone was feeling pretty content. Leighanna has the greatest giggle and she always brings her fingers to her lips when she laughs, which is quite cute. She is also a massage therapist, so the both of us were giving out some shoulder rubs to our little party. (especially to Glenny, who looked exhausted). Glenny is also going to Bali for the retreat with Anahata, so that will be fun to spend some time with her there. i bartered with Stephanie for some more "nuts and bolts" used in her boxes for some massage on her shoulder, which is still bothering her. it was a fun evening, which you will gather from the photos.

***i am having some mail issues with AOL, so please bear with me, if you are trying to email me and the email is getting "bounced". i'm not sure what is going on. i'll look into it when i return home. you might try leaving a message for me on my blog just in case.

first class today with traci bunkers "uber portraits"

here's Denise (charmsters group) and Dede (from Artnest) being goofy with my muse, Yoyo. me with Yo-yo.

me, modeling my Uber portrait and Zhulia ("Z")

Yeah, it's happy hour! the drink line. not as long as Portland's line!

Traci Bunker showing us how to mount our pieces together. that's Darya Smith, from Georgia showing her way uber cool portrait of her dog, Allie.


my piece is starting to come together.

working on my quadrants.

my BTK (basic tool kit) and Traci helping out Darya.

Traci made these cute buttons for us.

my birthday buddy, Joanne who i met at Artiscape last year. i just love her!



this is Doris Arnt and Susan Lenart-Kazmer, instructors. i took this cute photo at breakfast.

on the road again

i'm feeling much better today i am happy to report. yesterday i could hardly speak as my voice just left. also i found it hard to speak, like someone was standing on my chest. the night before i had a terrible night of coughing, coughing, coughing. now i know how poor tucker felt when he had it. so i put a call into my sweet neighbor who is a doctor and told him i was leaving for Va. today and that i was sick and could he give me a script for a cough medicine to knock me out! i could just see me coughing all night in the hotel room. my roommates would shoot me! he also decided to put me on an antibotic, especially since my ears hurt so much and i am prone to ear infections. i was wondering though how would the driving part to Pennsylvania go (my first stop to pick up Jean. we are spending the night at her house and then doing the 5 hours to Va tomorrow) since i was still feeling a little coedine out! but it was fine.

i left NJ around noon after a visit to my dermatologist for my annual skin cancer screening appt. i 've had several episodes of skin cancer (not melanoma's but the very common basal cell kind), so i kind of know what to watch out for. if they are precancerous sites, then they can just freeze them off. i had a spot on my lip, nose and scalp froze today. the big spot on my arm that i had removed last fall was a spot that i had him look at. it was biopsied and when the results came back, i was told it had to be surgically removed, which i had done. So, it's important to be screened!

anyway, after i just gotten on the road, i realized i had forgotten some pictures at home for my class with Traci Bunkers, so i turned around and got them. then i made my way over to Jean's, which is about 3 hours from my house. we decided to meet up at our favorite antique store and see what bargains we could find. i got some great things.

cute little yo-yo doll

vintage glassware with caddy

little doll

vintage suitcase

cool Asian shirt from Goodwill. has wonderful bird motif on it.

tin types

tiny vintage harmonica - really cool!

another little doll

sterling silver sweater grabber. clip one on each side of sweater to keep sweater from opening

day 3, artfest, Funky Wallpaper People

well, i just love Anahata. she is such a sweet and warm person. she's a wonderful teacher and gives so much to her students. i i've taken classes before where i felt the teacher was holding back a little bit on things (you know like sharing a receipe, but withholding the secret ingredient). i've never feel that she holds back when teaching. she really wants to see her students succeed and get the most out of her class. when she is done with a class, she always reserves time at the end to discuss each piece created. she gives great input and sweetly finds a nice thing to say about everyone's work. she is the geniune article and that's why i am excited to share that i will be going to Bali, Indonesia in March 2009 to take more classes with Anahata. it's 4 days of workshops and 3 days of extra curricular activities like

1.a day trip to a local textile weaving factory with excursion to Ubud, the culture arts center of Bali- with lunch included.

2. Group snorkeling, beach excursion

3. A private one 1 hour massage

4. An evening of Traditional Balinese Dance Performance

5. Bali temple excursion

6. Hiking through Balinese Rice Patties

i'd like to go a day earlier and stay one day later, but we'll have to see about that!