Art Trades and More Beads!

This past weekend I was a vendor at a small arts festival in Bellevue, IA called the "Fishtival". Bellevue is a lovely little town nicely situated on the Mississippi River - the weather couldn't have been more perfect, the view more delightful or the crowds more appreciative! I also met some great artists/makers while there... one was Jill, a gal who, among other talents, made really cool fishing lures using her beautiful polymer clay beads. While talking to her about how I wanted to buy a couple of her lures and use the beads in one of my woven pieces, we struck a deal... I mentioned that I enjoy doing art trades and she instantly picked out a cuff she liked...

Grey Poupon Fabric Cuff Bracelet

In exchange I got this wonderful collection of her handmade polymer beads! What fabulous colors - it will be fun to use these in some new projects - I'm especially in love with the red and turquoise ones!

Thank you, Jill! I hope you enjoy your cuff :)

Right Place, Right Time

Tuesday is my "run-around day" - the day I visit my favorite coffee shop, the library, the local thrift shops and do some needed grocery shopping. Some weeks I add Friday as an extra "run-around day" just so I can hit some garage sales, too. Sometimes during those "run-around days" I just feel like I'm in the right place at the right time and that was me yesterday.

Late in the afternoon I stopped at one of my regular thrift shops and found a treasure trove of African trade beads among other things! Some were hanging up with the necklaces and other jewelry and some were in a big bag of "junk" - a gallon zip lock baggie stuffed full of bits and bobs, tangled jewelry, odd earrings, etc - you just never know what you might find in it.

Well, here's a peek at the lovely beads I picked up for a proverbial "song"...

In photos you will see some big-and-beautiful bone beads from Kenya, small glass trade beads, Kofi beads (the red plastic disc beads), silver metal Ethiopian prayer beads, some nice hammered brass beads and some very old Venitian millefiori trade beads. Ooooh, you can probably guess that I was dancing all the way to the car - so happy that they didn't know what they had!! (Geez, I hope they don't read my blog!)

Such pretty beads! I have no idea what I'm going to use them for. For now, I'm just happy looking at them :)

Goodies in the mail!!

Well, this wonderful shipment of jewelry to upcycle and remix should get me back on the right track... so many wonderful bits and bobs! I got all of these lots from pocket-full-of-rye on *that other auction site* - find her stuff by clicking here.

Packages in the mail! Yay!

I truly love Etsy and I try to spend as little time on *that other auction site* as possible but the other day, I saw some stuff I simply couldn't pass up! The first to arrive was this offering of vintage jewelry...

Like, WOW! Right? There's no way you can blame me for being weak! Lovely bits and bobs - some in perfect condition, vintage and salable - they may go in my vintage shop. Everything in such a perfect color palette for me - browns, golds, touches of peach and copper... yum. I know I'll regret sending others but if you want to get one of these great jewelry lots for yourself - check out "barzone" on eBay.

Another eBay find was a lot of old wooden knobs - roughly 100 in all. I had been thinking of using wood knobs as "feet" for my assemblage boxes but they're expensive and I'm a cheapskate and I want to re-use and upcycle and buying them new at the store just doesn't count! *whew* So, this wonderful trove came along right when I needed it...

The box as I opened it

I just can't wait to get started using my new additions!

Got some new goodies!

Oooh! I love it when a box appears on the porch for me! Today it was from Fire Mountain Gems. I really have a hard time not ordering when they have those big sales (Wait... aren't they always having a big sale?). I took the opportunity to nab some bargain finds and get a little discount on some seed bead colors I needed. So, here's what I got in my bead box...

Of course, the sweet "Thank You" they always include along with some catalog supplements...

All the goodies still packed in their little baggies...

And everything unpacked...

The only disappointing piece was this strand of golden olive mother-of-pearl disc beads...

...very lackluster and not great quality... but they were all of 56 cents - so no biggie!

Here are a couple more shots of my new pretties - Enjoy! I know I will :)

 

Gifts! Yay!

My friend Gail stopped by one morning with a perfect gift for me - vintage jewelry!! Such a pretty bundle of treasures...

Pretty silver shoe clips

The piece-de-resistance! This incredible beaded necklace!

Thrifting Treasures!

Tuesday is my errand day. Part of that day is devoted to stopping at the local thrift shops to see what treasures I can come up with. Not the largest haul I've every made but a bit of fun, a bit of fashion and some crafty goodness came to my house this week...

I am a magazine addict! I'm pretty good about not buying too many at the bookshop but when they are fairly recent and only $.25 at the thrift store - I'm a happy girl! My soft spot are travel mags and home decor. These issues of House Beautiful and Elle Decor should keep me happy for a little while.


You will also notice in this photo some wonderful upholstery fabric samples and 2 pair of super fantastic earrings! I have no idea what I will do with the fabric but the beaded earrings will go straight to my Cynthia St. Anne shop on Etsy. The enamel earrings will go in my stash for use in a jewelry project sometime down the road...

Speaking of stash... I was really excited to see some beads and a whole baggie of chain remnants in the "craft bin" at my favorite thrift store.

These are great and the beads are VINTAGE, no less!! Woo hoo! My stash just got a little bigger...

...as did my movie collection. Here's something you may not know about me... I'm a movie fanatic. period. Favorite generas: Romantic Comedy, Historical Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Art or History Documentaries. If I like a movie, I can watch it hundreds of times and never get tired of it. My favorite part of any DVD? The extra features - commentaries, "making of" featurettes... yep, I'm a geek. So, how happy was I when I went to the second-hand video/CD shop and saw these boxed sets from "The Lord of the Rings"?? My only disappointment was that they didn't have all three. Oh well, something to keep my eye out for...

I also have a soft spot for hats and snagged this vintage beret...

Finally, I found a loom for making hair pin lace! My friend Kristy has a truly great scarf that her grandmother made. She couldn't figure out how it was done but when I saw it I knew in an instant it was hair pin lace!! It sort of looks like this scarf from a vintage craft book...

Hair pin lace was one of the first crafty things my grandmother ever taught me. Anyway... I found this loom (actually 3 looms) and I think I'll give one to her. Maybe she'll want to give it a try!

Does anyone do hair pin lace anymore??

**post duplicated from my other blog - "Cynthia St. Anne"**

The Goods (aka. What I found last weekend!)

There weren't a lot of sales this past weekend and I could only go out on Thursday. I was happy with the pretty items I found! Here are just a few:

Here's the lot! Some VERY pretty finds here!!

This tissue holder is to die for! Probably not Bakelite but the carved plastic is simply luminous with swirly hints of pearl

Another view... just because!

This pretty tea tin doesn't have a maker's mark but what fabulous graphics!

These sweet framed cameos are already available in my Etsy shop! I hope they find a new home to pretty-up!

Green is my favorite color so I just couldn't pass this little gem by! Is he Vaseline glass?? If I had a black light, I could find out.

Wow! What a fabulous jar of vintage buttons! I can't wait to sort through these babies!

These linens are destined for a tea bath - they will be SOOO pretty when they come out!

I don't think these beautiful crystals are vintage so they're going to be added to my stash of cool stuff to use in my upcycled jewelry creations. Find out more about my jewelry by visiting my website at www.cindycaraway.com

Speaking of jewelry... I found these great shirts at sales, too! They are not vintage and are less-than-perfect for wearing but they have such wonderful details that I bought them for use in some of my wearable fiber art. They'll most likely get thrown into the tea bath as well.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the goods for this week! Please be sure to stop by my vintage shop to see more :)

Look what I won!

With the excitement of going to Chicago, I completely forgot to tell you about a sweet give-away I won! Lilla of JustLilla makes the loveliest of fiber creations - many of which I have been coveting. There have been a few items of hers that she had announced on her blog as being for sale in her Etsy shop and by the time I get there, they're already sold! Oh, how I wanted this sweet Gypsy patch for my very own and, lo and behold, she's mine!!Thank you, Lilla - you made this girl very happy :)