Button, Button Who's Got The Button??? ME!!!

Who has the Button or should I say Buttons?? I decided to decorate a jacket for the next Somerset Altered Couture. I got out all my Big Buttons and more. I hand sewed Buttons into a heart Shape on the back of a Burgundy Velvet Jacket. On the front of the jacket I just edged the collar and lapels. In the mid 1980's I fell in Love with then Dress Designer Patrick Kelly. Patrick is no longer with us and his life can be googled!! When I fell in Love with his Button Heart Dresses I had boxes and boxes of Vintage Buttons. I had been showing and making Button Jewelry for dept. stores. I had to make a Button Dress after a salesgirl insulted me when one of my daughter's Jenny who was about 6 at the time said: "Mommy why don't you make you a Button Dress like this one? This dress is $2000.00 and you could make one for you. I won't go into the story, but I did just that. I decorated a sweater and then backs of jean jackets and sweat shirts!! I t was fun and they sold the minute they were put on a hanger and on the boutique floor. Word got and the newspaper tracked me down and did a featured article on all Artistic Clothing!!

Here is what I made for Stampington!!

I had so much fun making this jacet and looking a some of my forgotten Buttons!!

Madonna, Madonna!!!!

I am so excited to have the front of my Madonna Jacket in the next Somerset's Altered Couture!! The back won't be featured!! Wah, wah!! Madonna's niece Yale saw my Madonna Jacket and invited me to post photos on her Madonna invitational flickr!! Yale's flickr is photos of Madonna, family, friends and fans. a place to post Madonna photos!! Flickr is such a Fun place to share ones ART and other photos!!! I am quite addicted to looking at others flickrs and i have oddles of favorites~~

So here are my Madonna jacket Photos!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

One of my Favorite Holidays!!! I Love Romantic Movies, Novels, Photos, any thing to do with Romance!! Once I belonged to our local chapter of Romance Writer's of Utah!! I wrote and wrote, became another person. I became the book, its was so fun!! My writing always had a twist of leaving the reader in limbo at the end of the book!! I wanted to write a sequel, editors did not agree with me. For me a mother of 4 and a husband who was a workaholic, Romance writing was the next best thing!! Nothing was ever published. I have and had a unique imagination, just do not have the command of the English Language, when it comes to writing a novel!!

These days I can do collages around Romance and the Past!! With a pair of scissors, pretty photos, lovely papers and old text I can escape into a Wonderful Romantic Trance and create a life for some unknown person who most likely has passed on to the other side!! I make up a story in my head a breath new life into the photo.

I Love making Valentine's with all the cutting,gluing down the fancy papers and German Dresden. When I was a little girl we moved a lot and Valentines Day was spent at a new school. Wanting everyone to like me. I made elaborate handmade Valentine's!! My big decorated Heart on the front of the envelope was a symbol of my artistry and a plea for please be nice to the new kid. A gift to the other kids eyes, now called eye candy!! It was a ritual for me. I spent a lot of time worrying about what I would find at the end of the day when all the kids took home their envelope of Valentines and Treats. As a new comer to each school the class bully sought me out and I was a target for name calling, being beat up and just plain tortured. I had it in my head I was the ugly duckling. Actually I was very pretty and shy. Some how I muddled through the new schools, bullies and Valentine's Day!! Each year I created pretty Valentine Envelopes for the little Valentine cards to be dropped into. Yes, even the class bully would give me one.

Hope your Valentines Day is filled with pretty little Love Notes and Hearts from Friends and Family, plus just maybe some Romance!! I received high speed Internet for Valentine's Day!! I am a little lost because I just discovered 4 years of favorites are not there any more!!! Oh well, starting over is some thing I am used to, XO, XO, XO!!!!

A Little Bird!!

Wow, I am the worst blogger ever!! Just maybe I don't have a lot to say?? I'm always busy with the babies and making some thing every day!! Birds have taken over my mind!! I spent months and months looking at bird pictures, buying images of bird, bird related papers, bird scrapbook papers and making bird art!! Crazy!! Here are my latest Bird Jewelry!! I hope someone else likes them besides me!!

Trying To Blog Again

Wow!! It has almost been a year ago that I blogged. Like a broken clock my body quit ticking, a trip to the emergency, lots and lots of Dr. visits. I am a medical mystery!! The holidays came and went!! More things happened to our family that would take forever to talk about!!

On a lighter note!! My grandson's are all growing up and up!! Ben the handsome 9 year old rebel artist, skater,biker, guitar kid. Ben making new friends at his new home!!! Little brother handsome Cole and I have to add is the number genius. Cole will be 5 in November!!! Cole can write a million on the chalkboard and knows its a million of something!! He is a wizz with numbers!! Oliver is now 3 and thinks hes the boss of me!! Little brother Owen is learning how to walk and talk, he just turned one. I watch Oliver and Owen 5 days a week and they run circles around me!! Oliver is a budding artist!!

It has been a busy year for me. I have had several things published!! I need to take the time and list every thing and show off all the photos!! Here are my Prima and Postage Stamp shoes. they are in Somerset's newest Altered Couture. Also in that issue I have an article on my Black Velvet Safty Pin Dress and Jacket!!

Guess What I Saw At Joann's Fabrics?

I seem to live at Joann's Fabrics. I was working on a handbag to send in on a Somerset Haute Handbag call, when I looked at their magazine rack and I counted 4 of the Stampintons magazines that my art is in!!! I stood there and felt that dizzie feeling for a minute. You know that feeling when time stands still and you have an outer body experience??? Wow ME!!! I know it will never happen again, so I have to talk about it.

The magazines are Weddings 3, Newest Belle Armoire, Somersets Holiday & Celebrations and last is the new Altered Couture!!! I only have 2 art items to be published in the future. I keep missing dead lines because life gets in the way. I never sit still, yet I always feel I'm running behind. I dropped all my art trades as they took up so much time. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to alter for the next issue of Altered Couture??? Plus I want to be in at least one of their Sew issues. I did send off 2 of the most Wonderful Darling Handbags to them yesterday. One of them I made all by myself from scratch. My daughters thought it looked very "Hippie Sixties". I Loved it, and will use it when it comes back home to me!! I said a prayer as I shipped them off. There was a new guy at the "Help You Mail" store and I didn,t think he taped the package good enough. I kept asking for more tape and he just told me "Don't Worry", famous lasts words I heard when a huge shipment of my jewelry got lost. I also had under insured the package of Beautiful Jewelry and it took a year to squeeze the monoey from the shipping co. I will be on pins and needles until I get the arrival postcard!!!

Heres my newest addiction!!! Paperwhinsy Collage Sheets!! I sat up half the night making 4x4's and listing them on my etsy for SALE!!! They are so cute!!! I Hope they are a hit on my etsy site. I always need money to make more things to send in to magazines. Lets face it, my house looks like a craft store!!!

Great News!!!!! I'll Have An Article In Somerset's Weddings 4

Amanda Nolan editor of Weddings 4 Loved my new Wedding creation!!!! I had a Beautiful spread in the last issue!!! How could I top that???? I made a curtain for my daughter-in-law Christine's Craft Room. My son David and his wife have been married now for 9 years. There Wedding was very small and Christine wore her favorite color??? I'm not going to tell what color it was, but not a triditional color!!!! Now I have to re write the article for the Wedding Curtain that has their wedding photos on it. My daughter any now calls me the Art Cloth Collage Wedding Expert!!!

This weekend Amy and I went to the" Walter Larsen Antique" show. Of course we found lots of pretty and fun treasures we had to have!!!! I was on the hunt for inexpensive Cabnet Photos of Babies and Pretty Childeren!!! I found a lot of photos and not all were inexpensive!!! I found lots of Keys!!! One can not have enough keys!!! I plan to put them in necklaces for my etsy shop. Also bought a lot of beautiful fabric trims as did Amy. We had so much fun!!! Amy has a great eye for finding deals and great treasures!! She spotted a hat box from an exclusive, expensive huge boutique called Makoff's. Wyoming oil Barrons wives shopped there for the finest furs, couture clothing, hats, shoes and jewels!!! The box only cost $2.00, it probably cost that to make it in 1965. They sold the most wonderful shoes in all the world!! Can hardly wait until next year when the Antique show comes back.

I recieced my jewelry back from Somerset that didn't make the next Jewelry call!! I was sad of course. Every time I wear the pieces I'm pawed at by women who want to know where did i get them??? I just sent in another batch of jewels for the next call. I think I'm not creative enough for their jewelry magazine, but I will keep trying until they like some thing!!! My Motto is "Never Give Up"!!!! Hugs!!!!