Sunday, March 31, 2013

"Vintage" Me at Easter!

I know these photos won't be of much interest to most of you,
 
but I wanted to post and comment on them for my girls and boys...
 
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~ My first Easter, 1958.
I guess my Dad is taking the picture, as there is my Mom's
hand, getting ready to catch me if I fall!
(Which she would continue to do for a lot of years!) ~
We still have Uncle Harry's little rocking chair that I'm sitting in,
even though it was in the fire...
Restored by daughter Mandy and her boyfriend Jim ~
(Thank you again! ♥)

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Daddy and me, Easter, 1959.

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With Queenie, Daddy's English Setter ~

"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth" ~

at our farm, 1960.


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At Grandma and Grandpa Launius's in Essex, Missouri ~ 1960.

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My favorite Easter picture with my Mom, 1961.

I still have this basket!

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With Daddy at Grandma and Grandpa Launius's, 1961.

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Oops! I don't think anyone said "Say cheese" for this photo!

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At our house in Bloomfield (1961) with my favorite person

in the entire world ~

(my other Grandparents would understand)

 Grandma Collier.

I'm sure the picture was taken by my sweet Mom,

as she was known for "cutting off heads"! :^)

Look at that cool (and I do mean cool, in winter...sticky in summer)

1950s gray vinyl couch!

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 There I am with the Easter Bunny spoils!

I am just now noticing that the basket's handle must have always been wonky...

I thought that had happened with age!

(Thank you for looking at these, even if you are not one of my children!)



Love,

Mom
 
 
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Some Vintage Easter Postcards for you...♥

Oh, I have been such a bad, bad, blogger!

Bad.
 
I hope all of you have had a joyous Easter!
 
I don't know what has happened to me with my posting lately,
 
but it isn't a good thing!
 
I've seen people stop blogging because they weren't getting anything
 
else done, but contrary to that, I don't seem to get anything of note
 
done if I don't post about it anymore...
 
So, I'm not going anywhere!
 
 
Honestly, though, until last weekend I thought we still had about
 
three weeks until Easter...
 
I was in my own little world...
 
I was going to get so many creative things done to share....
 
But, like Grumpy Cat says..."Nope".
 
 
As with Christmas, I seem to be inspired anew by the day itself
 
and then continue the celebration for a few more days!
 
So, I may do that.
 
Bear with me!
 
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In the meantime, here are some more vintage postcards...
 
(For next year, right?)
 
Pretty large files, so you could use them for lots of projects;
 
if you need larger pics of the horizontal ones, let me know ~
 
I'm happy to share them!
 
They're just fun to look at, too!
 
:^)
 
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I love the Easter Bells story!

From Wikipedia...

Church bells are silent as a sign of mourning for one or more days before Easter in The Netherlands, Belgium and France. This has led to an Easter tradition that says the bells fly out of their steeples to go to Rome (explaining their silence), and return on Easter morning bringing both colored eggs and hollow chocolate shaped like eggs or rabbits.
In both The Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium many of more modern traditions exist alongside the Easter Bell story. The bells ("de Paasklokken") leave for Rome on Holy Saturday, called "Stille Zaterdag" (literally "Silent Saturday") in Dutch.
In French-speaking Belgium and France the same story of Easter Bells (« les cloches de Pâques ») bringing eggs from Rome is told, but church bells are silent beginning Maundy Thursday, the first day of the Paschal Triduum.

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Love the Thiele cards!

Such detail! You could make up a story

to go with each one!
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And just when this little tabby kitty had the perfect shade of lilac!

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Look at these bunnies! Mr. B said they looked carnivorous...

Katie said they looked like scary donkeys

and Jonathan said they looked "pig-like", even down to their feet!

I think they kind of look like chubby lambs.

Chubby mean lambs....

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I'm always drawn to the "painting eggs/artist" ones!

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Love the shoes...

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There is a story here, too!

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Not sure about these Egg People...;^)
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Knitting socks...hmmm...

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Ha, ha!

Though I have to say, if a rooster appeared on my bed

bearing colored eggs and pussy-willow branches,

I would probably have the same reaction!

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Jonathan said he thought these were a little "disturbing"! ;^)

Don't they remind you a little of that moon in the Little Caesar's commercials,

saying "Pizza time!!" ~

 (Which creeps me out just a little, yet I have to watch it each time!) ~

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Don't you think this one wins for the oddest Easter postcard ever??

More posts coming...

Love,
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Sharing these at Beverly's Pink Saturday, as well!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Wild Rose & Nest Brooch Tutorial....

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Hi, All!
 
I apologize for the delay on this post...
 
"Life" got in the way...;^) ~ but it was totally worth it!
 
College orientation for Jonathan, a quest for a new car for daughter Katie ~
 
(A super cute Salsa Red VW Beetle convertible...
 
named "Das Otto" after her Grandpa Pratt...)
 
She found him (her car, not Grandpa) in Saint Louis, and "Otto" is perfect ~
 
She'd been looking for him for a long time!

My girls name their cars...

Mandy's last one was "Dot", a blue convertible PT Cruiser;

  her newest one is "Fae"(the Ford)...

and Jonathan drives a silver "first-owned-by-Mandy" PT named Peg!
 
 
This brooch was a fun one!
 
I'm calling them "Flora~Luna" pins/brooches...we had the sweetest book when

Jonathan was small..."Stella Luna" ~ about a little fruit bat.

That kept popping into my head!

So, anyway...here is the tutorial. If I've left anything out, please feel free to ask me!

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Here are all the "ingredients"...Premo Polymer Clay ~

 ( my main color here is Spanish Olive) ~

the other greens have a little gold or brown added ~ just experiment; as long as you

have the same base color, they'll all play nicely together!

I also have basic White and Burnt Umber; the pink was just a small

 amount of dark pink mixed with white.

Please disregard the light yellow clay and the beads...I changed my mind after I

set up this photo! :^) ...I also have Liquid Sculpey, various PearlEx Powders,

a heavy-duty pin back (from Fire Mountain), and of course, Grandma's biscuit cutter.

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First, I conditioned the Spanish Olive (a ball about the size of a hard-boiled egg yolk)

by running it through my pasta machine about a dozen times...you can do the same

thing by just kneading it, though. If it's well-conditioned ~ soft ~

it won't crack on the edges when you cut it out and smooth it.

I set my pasta machine to the widest setting,

or you can use a roller to make it about 1/8 of an inch thick.

I used the biscuit cutter to cut a circle, then moved the cutter over about an inch

from the circle's edge inside edge and cut again to make a crescent shape.

Run your fingers over the edge to smooth the "cut out" look.

I like for my moons to face "inward" when worn on the left lapel ~

this is just a personal preference, it doesn't really matter ~

so I flipped the crescent over ~ this will be the back ~ and placed the pin back

close to the top, inside edge. Press down on it to make an indention.

Set the pin-back aside for now.

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Leaves!

They are the "background" for all my floral pins... and very easy.

Roll out little pea-sized balls of conditioned clay (some a little smaller, some a little larger) ~

Flatten them, making one end pointy. Make the edges thinner, and a bit wavy is good.

I used a needle tool (often used for ceramics; cheap and VERY useful) to make lines on the leaves.

Make several ~ it's more fun to add them here and there when they're already made!

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Here I've added some leaves to the ends of the crescent,

and I got the idea that instead of the line of pearls, I wanted to add a little bird's nest.

I know, the scale isn't right, considering the size of the rose ~

 so I'm saying that I'm employing Artistic License...

That, or it's a Fairy Bird's nest...either is good!

I didn't take photos of the entire process, but it was pretty simple...

I used a little Rhino Gray Premo, a ball about the size of a marble, conditioning it

really well. I used about half of that, rolling it into a ball again, then flattening it and

using a round-ended clay tool to indent the center. Then I added tiny little "snakes"

of clay randomly over the surface of the nest.

For the eggs, I added a tiny bit of turquoise and green to a small ball of white...

(if you use comparable tiny amounts of a color ~ say half-and-half ~ when experimenting

with color mixing, you can save yourself a lot of time and clay) ~

When you're happy with your bird-egg color, make tiny round balls first,

then roll them to elongate them just a little. Not too much!

Use the needle tool to place them in the nest...you'll be surprised at how well

the warmed, conditioned clay will stick to the "needle"!

Decide where you want to place the nest on your pin, then

add a dab of the Liquid Sculpey like glue, for a little added hold.

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Ta-Da!

I used a little Antique Bronze PearlEx powder on the nest,

and PearlEx Duo Blue-Green on the eggs.

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Making more leaves...(I'm working on an index card, by the way ~ it can go

right into the oven on my cookie sheet) ~

There's that handy needle-tool!

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Here is the whole shape covered with leaves, and a few tiny little "snakes" of

Burnt Umber ~ for branches ~ here and there...I also used some of the leftover egg-color

in between the leaves ~ I thought it would tie things together nicely ~but it ended up

being covered by flowers and buds and more leaves!

To start the rose, I used a pea-sized ball of metallic gold; first rolled into a ball

then elongated into a teardrop. I rolled seven pea-sized balls of the very lightest pink

(beginning with a marble-sized ball of white and adding minuscule amounts of dark

pink until I had just the barest pink tint) ~

"Smush" each petal between your fingertips, making them thinner on the edges...

irregular shapes are good!

Then, holding the gold center by its "tail", I placed the flattened petals

around the center, staggering them and curling the top edge back just a bit.

Very Wild-Rose-ish!

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I used one of my clay tools with a little rounded point to texture the center.

You could used a dull pencil to do the same thing ~

 (brush a little clear nail polish or some sort of sealer on the

tip first, so the graphite doesn't dirty your clay).

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By the time I had placed all the petals around the center, the little rose had quite

a "tail"! You can use a polymer blade to slice it off (making the back flat, which is good)

or just pinch it off.  Put a dab of Liquid Sculpey where you want the rose, and gently

press it on. If you've accidentally mashed any of the petals, you can fix them now.

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To make a bud, take another pea-sized ball of light pink clay and make a little roll...

it will have a "tail" as well, but don't pinch it off this time ~ use it to secure it to the brooch

around the rose, wherever you think a bud should be

 (just use a tool to press it into the background clay)...

I put one right by the rose, and one on each end of the crescent.

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Make some little "filler" leaves to hide the tails on the buds, and to place here and there

around the nest, etc. They are fun and kind of addictive!

Roll out little rice-sized bits of very well-conditioned clay ~ knead it with your hands to

warm it first ~ then cut those in half and roll them out again so they are pointy

on the ends. (Of course, if you got them small enough in the first place, you could eliminate

this second step...but I always want them just a little more delicate!)

Now you can use the needle tool to pick them up (if they're soft and warm

they'll just stick to it) and you can then use it to place them, secure them, and press in

a center line all in one fell swoop!



At this point I used a soft watercolor brush to brush in some darker pink (Flamingo Pink

PearlEx) around the base of the petals, and some Antique Bronze and Spring Green

on the leaves.

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I decided to use some pretty Chrysocolla beads to tuck in around the leaves;

I thought the color would compliment the little eggs!

First I wired them with some thin copper wire; thread the wire through

the bead and hold the ends with needle-nosed pliers, then twist the bead.

Leave a little tail ~ trim it and make a hook in the end of the wire;

  this will make the bead really secure when it's pushed into the clay.

Place the beads randomly around the leaves or blossoms

 and cover the wires (if they show) with some more of the little "filler" leaves.

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Now it's ready to bake!

I put mine in the oven at 275 degrees for 45 minutes.

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After it's baked and cooled, put a little bit of Liquid Sculpey into the indention
 
for the pin-back (it may not be quite as "indented" after you've worked on the
 
front, but that's okay) and put it in place.
 
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Then take a very thin rectangle of clay and place it over the pin...smooth it into the
 
already-baked clay. I textured it and used alphabet and number stamps on this pin,
 
but I think on future ones, I'll just use a stylus to sign and date it ~ :^)
 
Put it back in the oven for 45 minutes at 275 degrees.
 
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If you like the "matte" look, your "Flora Luna Brooch" is finished!
 
If you want a little shine, use a water-based sealer (I used Diamond Varathane) and
 
give it a little extra bake-time, 20 minutes at 200 degrees, to set the finish.
 
Now you can say "Ta-Da!!"
 
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Lastly, here is my little "Mini" Fairy House...finally finished!
 
It was such fun! (Lots and lots of texture!)
 
Thank you for your patience and for all your sweet comments!
 
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
 
Love,
 
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Adding this post to Savvy Southern Style's "Wow-Us Wednesday",
The Dedicated House's Make it Pretty Monday
and
Beverly's Pink Saturday!