Back to work...and 5 winners...

The start of the new year signifies the end of the holidays...earlier this week, I took down the festive decorations...and my "tree" for this year, the Lady of the Forest, returned to her post in my office, 
where she works as my muse...

She proudly wears one of my mother's aprons...
and is adorned with other embellishments of inspiration...

I decided to keep the clock medallion 
I made for her holiday attire...

a compass for direction, a tape measure to indicate progress, a set of keys to unlock potential...

the Southern Man's leather Leica camera case and a sentimental rose bud...

oh...I wish...if I truly had a double, there'd be no end to the amount of work I could accomplish!















Without further adieu, let me announce the 5 winners of my recycled stationery giveaway...

- Sue Marrazzo
- john
- Mindy Hardwick
- P. Cruickshank-Schott
- Roxi - Coppercurls Design

Congrats!  pop me an email at amy_duncan@yahoo.com with your snail mail address and I'll get those packages sent out ASAP...

And for the rest of you...you are all winners in my book...I can't tell you how much it means to me that you spend a moment of your day reading about a moment of mine...thank you

Just for the fun of it

Since the beginning of the year, I've been having these art parties...a time for friends to get together and create...just for the fun of it!  Last Friday was one such party...though there were only three of us (the end of school, work schedules and summer visitors keep others away) it did not diminish the amount of creativity, inspiration or enthusiasm...

It started with many large containers of assorted metal pieces...

lots of wire...

and other odds and ends...
the rough idea was to make some sort of mobile/windchime/garden art with found metal pieces...










The construction process began...it was the first day of summer, so we worked outside...under the canopy on the patio (this is the Pacific NW...it might rain...)  As you can see, Calvin the golden retriever wanted to create too...

After a couple of hours of snipping, bending, eating, gabbing and drilling, beautiful creations emerged...

I needed a little more time to finish mine up...too much gabbing with friends...
but hung my completed mobile in the front yard the next day...

If the truth be told...to create without a purpose in mind...but to go where inspiration leads...

that's what feeds my artistic soul...and to be able to share that experience with friends...
makes for the best afternoon ever...

Linking up to Kim Klassen's Friday Finds...to  find possibilities.....unique treasures...... special moments..... life's lessons......little things.....big things too...... nature's beauty..... heart shaped stones, a special cup.....a pretty flower....wise words....whatever special thing made your week...

stillness

There is something about the stillness of January...after all the hubbub of December,
it seems as if the world wants to quiet down...

The mornings have been silent...and chilly...a moment frozen in time...

the spider web seems to mimic the rusty springs of my garden art...

Inside the house, the christmas decorations are put away...but the skeleton keys that were hanging on my grapevine tree are still around...and the amber bottles now hold dried seed pods instead of cedar branches and tiny glass ornaments...

 

Nothing too bright, bold or brash...time to reflect and plan...

 

And gear up for the next project...

The simple & the natural

A little more than a week until Christmas...the decorations are done...the cards have been mailed...the menu is planned...time to enjoy the season...

I wanted to keep things simple and natural this year...using what I had at hand...I focused on my collections and how I could infuse them with a holiday spirit.












My tree this year...a twisted tangle of grapevines wrapped around an inverted tomato cage...decorated with a few lights, a smattering of vintage silver shiny brite balls and my collection of skeleton keys, hung with handmade copper wire hooks.  The wire star on top is from last year's stair banister decoration...

A combination of metal, ironstone and books comprise the table vignette...

Birds are a constant favorite...other animals as well...this vintage mini-deer resides inside a metal trouble light cage...a junk version of a glass cloche...

This book with its missing cover and folded pages displays holiday cards...all of the greenery I used throughout the house I got for free...either clipped from my yard, the neighbor's yard...or picked from the pile of trimmings at Lowe's fresh christmas tree lot.

My amber bottles each display a vintage shiny brite ornament...and though the celestial design is missing its top, it is still my favorite...vintage metal stencils stuck in an old wire brush express the sentiment of the season...

And of course I need to highlight a few of my vintage clocks...letting you know...its time to celebrate!

Hop over to Funky Junk Interiors Salvaged Junk Christmas Trees...
its time to be inspired...                                                                        

 

Here and now

My last art piece is ready for Fresh Paint..what started as an old typeset drawer...

has become one of the largest multi-media collages I have ever tackled...

I removed some of the wooden dividers so there would be a greater variety of size...which gave me 77 compartments...I left some compartments empty...because all art needs negative space...right?!

The piece took me about a month...a little bit here, a little bit there...it evolved as I worked on it...
and the theme of a passage of time emerged...

the past...

the present...

and the future...

I enjoyed tinkering with it...figuring what worked where...and how to attach/secure everything soundly...
it really is imbued with...

It will be the pearl of my booth at Fresh Paint...I hope you'll stop by to see it...

a day in the country

I've been visiting my sister this weekend...and we're been on a couple of junking adventures...today we went to a barn-barn-barn sale (yes, that's three barns on one property).  Since I've been paring down, my eye was going more for quality junk...rather than quantity.  This sale was out in the country...and obviously at the end of the road...










A few of my finds from today's barn sale and yesterday's yard/thrift store sales...

Always love rusted metal...these locks and the metal box are sitting on a metal desk that I picked up for $2.00...
































ironstone and silverplate is dear to my heart...the english ironstone tureen was only $1.00...

A bit of color is good...I picked up quite a few keys...good for art projects

and the rusted locker baskets and the green painted wood screen...perfect display items for art shows this summer...

I have one more day before I head home...let's see what else I can find...

Happy Easter

The Weekly Fluff

While at Faded Elegance, fluffing my space late last week, letters & numbers caught my eye...I'm always drawn to that graphic quality!

And in my space, you will find my recently completed silverware lamp as well as a lamp with a shade made of keys and silk ribbon...

If you are in the neighborhood, stop in at Faded Elegance.  And online, stop over at Little Red House to see all the other Monday Mosaics.

UPDATE - April 7

My silverware lamp sold but the key lamp is still available...

Mosaic Monday

I'm participating in Mosaic Monday again, hosted by Little Red House.  Last week I used Picnik and BigHugeLabs to make my mosaics; this week I used Picasa.  As opposed to the other two programs, Picasa is downloaded onto your computer, giving you more options in your collage mosaic design  - you can get all the info at www.picasa.com

"Metal Madness" shows my obsession with all things of old metal.

"Pearly Whites" profiles soft hues and gentle curves.




Be sure to check out all the other Monday Mosaics at Little Red House - you'll be inspired!

Metal madness returns!

It all started with this collection of keys and ball chain that I picked up at an estate sale last summer...the gears began turning...

I'm not much of a jewelry person - the only jewelry I wear constantly is a pair of sterling hoop earrings I purchased on Portabella Road in London 12 years ago - but the occasional funky/vintage pin is not uncommon.  Something about this metal spoke "necklaces" to me.

As is the case, this idea ruminated for a while...and in the meantime, I unearthed quite a collection of metal fishing lures...now here was some well-loved metal...all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors - with very interesting connectors - aka - spinners.

With my new worktable in place, it was easy to gather all the interesting pieces together - old keys, fishing lures, spinners, metal clock hands, ball chain, discarded costume jewels...

I picked up these embossed washers - thought they would be a perfect accent...

I got out some wire and my needle-nose pliers and went to work...

The end results...

Now these aren't any great jewels...just a fun/funky piece to wear...I love the different textures and finishes.  Believe me, My Brown Wren (a favorite jewelry artist!) you have nothing to fear from me treading on your territory!                 

I had a couple of stray silver chains; I paired up the more delicate chain with the clock hands.

You'll be able to find these charming adornments at my space at Faded Elegance...now back to creating...what else I can find around here to throw into the mix...