Thursday, February 3, 2011

Relics


Lately I have been using skulls in my designs. I am so inspired by relics, culture, art, and color , and the symbolism that has been associated with skulls throughout the world. I  draw on some of these images and information for my designs.

  Mondo Guerra

This necklace has already been sold but it was inspired by Dia De Los Muertos, the Mexican holiday that honors the dead.This holiday is full of rich imagery, color, make-up and so rich in spirit it is hard not to be inspired.  Some version of this holiday has been celebrated for over 3000 years.                                                                                                                                                

            

                                                                Death and Rebirth

       This is an amazing look! I think that wearing a corset that tight would probably kill me too.

I originally made these for my Men's collection, but many women have bought these too! I find myself wearing one alot lately. The skull is stone and hand carved, and the key is a real vintage key from the turn of the century, which makes each one unique. The chain is stainless steel.


   I love old keys! When they are with skulls their is something cryptic and ancient feeling about them.

This necklace is an agate with a stone skull and a piece of turquoise that hangs on a 36 inch gold tone chain. This is available on my website.       click www.lux.bigcartel.com 


 
The mysterious Mayan crystal skulls. No one really knows how old they are. how they were made. or why many of them have an elongated skulls. It is believed by many Mayan elders that these skulls play an important role in the reawakening of humanity. According to Mayan legend, there will come a time when 13 ancient crystal skulls are reunited that can affect the Earth and the course of humanity. This belief is closely associated with the end of the Mayan calender popularly known as 2012.                     
In October 2010 Mayan elders were invited to speak to the United Nations in New York about 2012 and one elder said :                                                                                                                                
"The year 2012 marks the birth of a Golden Age, and a great transformation for consciousness on Earth. The transformation process always involves death and rebirth: the old must die so that the new may be born. The Mayan calendar, which began five thousand years ago, comes to an end on December 21, 2012, which is the Winter Solstice. This does not mark the end of the world, as some might fear, but perhaps the end of the world as we know it. The year 2012 marks the ushering in of a new dawn, a new era, and a new consciousness for many on Earth."





This is the oldest grill known to man! Seeing this I had to do one for a tribal fusion theme I did for a monthly event called MASSIVE at the Crown Room in Portland. I was really fun the people in the show were Krumpin down the runway with tribal make-up mixed with urban clothing.


Click to see more of this album


Vanitas Still Life by Jacques de Gheyn the Elder (1603).

 Vanitas paintings are a fascinating use of symbolic images in art. They are a reminder of the constant change of life, both the beauty and the ugly, the emptiness of vanity, and the certainty of death. Common symbols in these paintings are bubbles, smoke, cut flowers, watches and hourglasses symbolizing the brevity of life. Some of these symbols are found in this painting along with some Spanish coins that symbolize material wealth.The laughing and weeping philosophers, Democritus and Heraclitus, reflect upon the vanity of human life, which is symbolized further by objects floating in the bubble, such as a wheel of torture, a leper's rattle, a broken glass, and a flaming heart.

Audrey Flack - Marilyn Vanitas
         Vanitas can also be modern with bold colors and traditional symbolism is still used but it is also popular to have images that symbolize very personal events in life.
       
 
I only own the images of my jewelry all other images are used for inspiration.

An Adorable Freebie From Peggy Loves Vintage!



Looky here! Peggy has done it again, offering one of her adorable vintage images ABSOLUTELY FREE on the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog. So why are you not a follower? Not only does Peggy offer wonderful freebies, but it's THE place to go for info about specials on her CD's and Cut Outs. Nobody does vintage like Peggy! Anyway, in the middle of the night I had a bit of insomnia and of course did some blog hopping. I snagged Peggy's adorable image and when I went back to bed, all I could think about was how am I gonna use it? Just before falling back to sleep the idea of an envelope on the front of the card crossed my mind and I fortunately still remembered it when I woke up. I used my Crafter's Companion to make the little 3x4" envie which was the perfect size to fit on this A2 card. I embossed the portion of the card front directly with the Heart Blocks Cuttlebug folder. The Lattice Border is an MS punch embossed with tiny hearts from the Cuttlebug Love Language Card Making Combo. The envie insert is from the Cuttlebug Embossed Tags Emboss Plus folder (trimmed a bit) with a computer generated sentiment.


The sentiment fits into the little front envelope which folds down so the whole card still fits into the regular A2 envie and when you pull out the card, it pops open a bit to reveal the contents. The tiny hearts used both inside and out are a $1 punch from M's.


Inside I repeated the lattice and added the postage stamp cut and emboss folder that I got free with my Cuttlebug. I don't do many A2 size cards, but I love how this one turned out! Now don't you want to go check out the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog? And while your at it, check out the fab CD's and Cut Outs available on her Web, Etsy and Ebay stores. Valentine's Day has never been easier.


Now David and I are on our way to Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur for a little R&R. No tv or internet, but a beautiful place with gorgeous surrounds and YUMBO food. On Saturday morning I'll be back to post the winner of the BBTB2 Blog Candy so be sure to return to see if you've won, and if you haven't already commented, there's still time, so please scroll down.


And announcing DANIEL MICHAEL CALENDA, born (finally) at 2:40 AM EST today. Danny Boy is the 5th grandbaby (4th boy) for my dear friend Margie (Bella Bug). Congrats, Margie! You're working on a baseball team, eh? Now get some sleep, it's been a long 2 days! BTW, I just talked to Margie on the phone and she said it was ok to post this. Didn't want to steal her thunder. LOL

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

BOOKMARKS FOR THE LIME LIGHT


rememeber i am a new designer for The Lime Light--charitable blog.

well, i really haven't had much time to make more projects for them but at least i got my quote in for the month of jan and feb. i already posted the cards here and now i am showing you the bookmarks. they have a vintage feeling to them.

Bookmarks
hope you like them and get your juices flowing. 
great for school.

remember i have a the "action wobbles" package to give away. you know they are super cool ;p

hugs to all
*_*

Bah! Humbug! An Oldie but a Goldie Challenge



Phew! Okay, that's a much better background. All that pink was a bit obnoxious and made me a bit nauseous. Looks a bit better with this week's Bah!Humbug! challenge too, which is An Oldie but a Goldie, you know, use some old neglected bits from your stash (and I have TONS!) I knew immediately I wanted to use my K&Co Christmas Cheer paper AND embellies which I loved so much in 2008 that I bought at least 3 sets of EVERYTHING. (and today I STILL have almost 3 full sets of everything). I'm a bit of a hoarder of things I'm particularly fond of... I decided upon the gold holly DP (get it? oldie but goldie, LOL) and cut 3 small squares across the top mat with my Nesties. I added 3 of the gorgeous dimensional medallions, some ribbon, and WOOHOO! simple but I REALLY love it! So much so, that I didn't even think it needed an additional sentiment. (the middle medallion says "Peace" after all.)
All I did was pop the frame and manage to tie that loopy bow AROUND the ribbon strip with the help of my Bow Easy. (Didn't even look at the instructions!) I'm finally getting the hang of that sucker, eh Marlene? So I'm wondering where all my buddies who said they would start participating in the Bah! Humbug! challenges are hiding. You KNOW who you ARE. Get moving! You'll thank me come Dec.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011



KEVIN LYONS at Colette!

Pick up an Issue 003 of Champ, then check out Kevin Lyons exhibition. Currently on ++

Where // 213 rue Saint Honore, Paris
When // Jan 31- Feb 26

Bodega x Kevin Lyons Wall Vinyl will be available to buy too, and pop down to the Water Bar,
fresh paint!

Keep both eyes on it via Colette's blog...

The Cuttlebug Spot Tri-Fold Card


This is my second post of the day, so please scroll down for my Tiddly Inks card, and don't forget the BBTB2 blog hop (in case you missed it yesterday. There's candy involved.)


All month at The Cuttlebug Spot we'll be focusing on card folds. This week it's tri-folds and because it's fast approaching, we're to make one with a Valentine's theme. When Googling tri-fold cards I came upon a number of different styles but I finally settled on a "Swing" tri-fold. I've made several of these before and followed the video HERE to do it with my Cuttlebug and my Nesties Scalloped heart.


I wanted an unabashedly romantic, vintage style Valentine and needed a larger folder to emboss the inside mat and found these gorgeous roses and birds in the Cricut Companion Rock Princess Cuttlebug set. The center of the folder has the word "Rebel" on it (which may be appropriate, but wasn't exactly what I had in mind for the card) so I made sure when I placed the mats in the folder that the hearts would cover that part. A little note on the front mat. If you choose to have one, you should use removable tape to tape it in place on the front of the card before cutting it with your Nestie for a perfect fit. the Nestie easily cuts through the two layers. Then you can remove the colored mat for embossing and permanently adhere it later. (Hope that makes sense)
All sentiments are computer generated and the pink hearts (also Nesties) within the scalloped ones are popped for dimension. The label is cut and embossed in one step using the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Fanciful Labels folder (LOVE it!) and adhered half way to the left of the front of the card only, so it will swing when the card is opened as well. The little dove on the front is a MS punch. As you can see, when the card is opened, the heart swings over. Don't you just love a card with a little movement?
Fully opened, the rest of the sentiment is revealed. All it needed were a few adhesive pearls. Yikes! It certainly is PINK, isn't it? and so's my background! May have to change that, but for the moment, I wanted to get the message out. Well anyway, you'll be amazed at the variety of tri-fold cards the DT has made for this week's challenge so be sure to check them out HERE and we'd love you to play along to win a $20.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops. (You need to make Valentine's anyway, don't you?) xxD

Tiddly Inks Kiss Me You Fool Challenge


This week our challenge at Tiddly Inks is Kiss Me You Fool. Our designs must include an image kissing or the word kiss in the sentiment. There are many adorable Tiddly Inks images I thought about using for this challenge, but I finally decided on Froggy Thoughts (a super bargain at only $1.00) which not only has a cute frog prince, but many fun froggy sentiments as well. I'd just been creating a card with my Cricut using the Love Struck cartridge and I noticed the "Kiss" cut and thought it would be perfect as a base for this challenge. I think many crafters who use the Cricut never think to combine them with digi stamp images, but I think it's a fun way to expand one's crafting horizons and make a truly unique card. I created the shaped card using Cricut Design Studio.
I printed the frog prince 3 times on designer paper and because it was paper, not card stock, I glued the images to card stock for strength before cutting them out. I printed it out one more time on plain white card stock so I could color and fussy cut the crown. Paper piecing is an easy way to add color to the image without the use of markers or pencils. I popped the front feet and and then the head to give a him a 3D look and added lidded google eyes (made by Darice and found in the kid's craft area at J's). The cute sentiment was cut with my Nesties labels 11.

Here you can see the dimension of the whole card. Isn't it cute? I used fun Spring colors because I thought it could work for occasions other than Valentine's Day as well. For more inspiration be sure to visit the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog and check out the Tiddly Inks Store to see the fun new images for Valentine's Day and more.