wishing you all a wonderful holiday and a fantastic new year ahead !

to tickle your fancy

some fun and festive  favorites...
top to bottom  1. winter warmer garland at anthropologie  2. vintage shiny brite bulb from 5gardenias   3. still life photos by Johnny Miller 4.  Red Poppy, by Nathalie Lite   

5gardenias holidays

sepia and gold, early celluloid and victorian tinsel to warm the holidays with.... new listings in 5gardenias vintage for those of you who love time worn objects... i've been enjoying visiting with all of these fabulous holiday decorations, but they're anxious to be given as gifts or to be kept and cared for by a loving soul....

clockwise from top
1.  gold mercury glass pick ornaments ( listing today )
2.  antique engraved christmas card from 1864
3.  celluloid santa and reindeer from the 40s-50s
4.  victorian tinsel ornament

holiday

getting in the holiday spirit with a few decorations and a new addition to my bell flower jewelry series -- a simple sterling snow bell flower pendant necklace, hanging on fine chain with my signature twig toggle clasp. 

the spun cotton birds and garland are part of my vintage collection of ornaments. i'm keeping it simple this year --taking just a few things out of storage-- then all that's left is to collect some fresh evergreens and pine boughs and drape them about-- and of course a tree.. .. and candles.
.. then all that will be needed is some snow...

5gardenias Vintage holiday weekend sale

 a little treat for my favorite customers-- here's a coupon code for 10% off any item in 5gardenias Vintage shop. good starting today Nov 25 ( the day before black friday ) through Monday Nov 29 ( cyber monday).  enter 5garV at checkout. enjoy-- and happy holiday!

winter vintage

 

some new finds in 5gardenias vintage shop,  in honor of winter and the holiday season. the shop has lots of holiday goodies --ornaments, home decor, kitchen items, jewelry, accessories, all ready to be sent out into the world. great gifts for you or someone who shares your love for well worn objects with character.

clockwise from top 

1.  1940s-50s aqua blue ornament with snow ( mica) covered farm and santa and reindeer flying through the night.  listing soon.

2. sweet bisque dutch couple with faded aqua blue paint, made in japan. listing soon.

3. silver mercury glass whimsical ball picks.

4. pair of johnson brothers "old english countryside" transfer ware mugs

arcade fire-- we used to wait (the wilderness downtown full experiment)

long week

a few snapshots of my sweet hearts--my sons dancing... and my dearest cat maria on our deck-- and resting with henry. maria sleeps on my chest or curls next to my head every night. her purring helps me fall to sleep. i have to say maria or "emmie" as i like to call her is one of the most loving and wonderful cats that i've ever had the pleasure of living with.
as everyone knows first hand, some week's are so much better than others--- this past week was just plain lousy. filled with negative and saddening things--but that happens.  nothing works better to pull me out of a funk than looking around me and finding the beauty in my family and friends.  so in honor of love, home, and joy-- i bring you this post ... have a wonderful weekend...  and remember to dance as often as possible....

GreenPost

i'm such a happy girl--my special order for hand paper made by kendra of Green Post  on etsy arrived this past week.  such beautiful texture, weight and hues, with free form deckeled edges. i chose nimbus ( a lovely warm pale grey ) and rice ( a soft bright white)-- some for myself, and some for my husband for christmas ..ssshhhhh...
the package arrived with my favorite wrapping of brown craft paper ( now sing... brown paper packages tied up with strings....) -- and it echos Green Post's commitment in using recycled goods, wrapped simply and honestly with a holistic approach. the paper sheets are bundled in recycled cardboard, stamped with GreenPost's recycle logo, -- even kendra's business card is up-cycled.  a warm friendly package-- so much like kendra-- who genuinely cares about her hand crafted recycled paper goods. as an artist committed to quality-she puts care into each sheet--she sells plant-able gift tags with seeds embedded int the paper fibers. i've noticed that she has even more tags available in her shop now- inspired by nature, and in a wonderful array of colors -- mixes of wild flower with varieties like corn poppy,  pimpernell, chinese houses , and spurred snapdragon...

if you want to treat yourself, or someone special to some fine recycled paper goods, take a stroll over to GreenPost -- you'll find something wonderful, original,  made by hand, with an enormous amount of heart.

salt

have some salt?  another wonderful vintage item recently listed at 5gardenias vintage - a turn of the century porcelain salt canister with a wooden lid--made in germany.

bulldozer man

this just listed in 5gardenias vintage-- a wonderful tin toy from the 50s-- a farmer driving a bulldozer-- so many great details in this piece-- from the cuffs of his jeans, side seam stitching-- to his cap, plaid shirt and blue eyes-- his arms are articulated, capable of bending and moving--he holds on to the gear shifts...

pop gibberish

love this italian pop parody sung entirely in gibberish--i feel like i'm watching a fellini movie... -or a scene from the move "Nine" -- only with a slight twist....

                                         some fresh listings in my vintage shop 5gardenias from left to right top row.

                                         i'm definitely getting in the spirit of autumn with brisk air and grey skies 

                                         descending on the region... it has a certain romance about it.
                                         1.  metal scalloped oval bowl,  2. autumn leaves 1040s celluloid necklace,
                                         3.  antique porcelain lidded jar,  4. celluloid comb with silver plate border

Farm Fresh Egg.... or the story of Humpty Dumpty..

 i had fun this morning.. and posted this little rhyme along with this etsy treasury collection...

Humpty was off for a sightseeing visit.  

He scaled an arch for the view was exquisite. 

When out of the blue along came an adder ( HISS) who carelessly knocked Humpty off from his ladder!

He toppled and rolled and proceeded to fall and everyone round could hear our poor Humpty Ball.  

Then along came a girl in  blue top and hat with a net--- she asked " Are you hurt? Why are you  wet?" " I'll call handy Andy--he has some great tools"... but he showed up with string--what was he--a fool?! Humpty asked Andy to please phone the king-- to quick send his horses-- or anything!

So along came a horse but he was too small to help pick up Humpty from his unfortunate fall...

Big forks came in handy and fried eggs were delicious--for that handy man andy was  just a tiny bit vicious...(..but to Humpty's credit he was very nutritious!)

floating bell flower

another addition to my ongoing theme of floating flowers --- organic and earthy--  made with enamel and sterling silver... this necklace will be listed this weekend in my etsy shop

sneak preview..

i've had this bell flower necklace sitting in pieces in my "to do" box for months-- waiting, and waiting-- patiently-- and finally not so patiently-- for me to steal some time to put this altogether.. i love making this chain--although it's a task... i use it frequently because of it's lightness -- and it reminds me of the long legs of mosquito hawks ( crane flies) or daddy long legs... i know i know--insects!...but they have their peculiar beauty...  i decided to give this a deep gun metal patina-- a more moody and poetic group of flowers for the autumn and winter season..
so... here are a few photos from different angles... i really enjoyed photographing this necklace--it cooperated nicely with me--- happy to be finally finished.  this will be listed soon in my etsy shop-- with some other new pieces to follow...

more cobalt and white

i photographed one of my favorite thrown porcelain bowls from my pottery making days-- more cobalt  blue and white.  i wanted to post it with the last bunch of blue and white faves but i didn't have the photo of it ready....and i found this shot from my old studio with some of my blue and white polka dot series...

blue and white

the very first image above is one of peter's paintings --a new one which i love quite a lot ...and having spent many years making pottery and sculpture made of clay, i have a passion for the sweet soft stuff--both before and after it's fired. for a while i worked with cobalt blue and white glazes and porcelain-- i loved its simplicity and freshness. here is a ceramics piece --a tromp'loeil made of clay and glaze by marianne hallberg and a few inspiring lovelies for you... two images by the dittybops,  and a lovely light filled room that belongs to maria skeppstrom via finelittleday . the mussel shell assemblage is made by carolyn saxby via flickr

some dogs can dance.. and some old dogs even learn new tricks...

my husband was watching this link on face book. i just couldn't help but find this incredibly ... i don't know-- fantastic!-- yes that 's the word i'm thinking of!  i think the dog is the more graceful dancer-- what do you think? perhaps the dog taught the man to dance...  i do think the sweet pooch deserves a skirt that's a bit more festive --maybe with some flair capability for those turns... i hope this leaves you with a smile and an urge to go learn some new dance steps...

work

a few shots of work on the bench-- an order for a customer.... now finished and shipped out.. these are disks that have had 23kt gold leaf fused to their surfaces. also a photo of the plastic box that i melted by accident on my burner-- looks like a galaxy of stars with a black hole....

these are the disks after hammering.. ready to be soldered to the bangles...

here are the finished bangles with their disks and a pair of my golden pod earrings-- final step is some clean up, polishing and then some patina

finished--- now of these will go in the mail --

an interview and an illustrator

today i've been featured on megan marie eckman's blog- studio m.m.e.  i just want to thank megan for her thoughtful feature and clue you in to her work as well. she's an illustrator of fairy tale visions and captures the sense of wonder and fantasy that makes the child in us light up... here's a sample of one of her wonderful versions of a classic tale...