Inspiration Wednesday

Design-Seeds

Here is the color palette I was working with this week. I love Fall colors. I was working with a Life Coach a few months ago and she told me I am most myself when I am grounded and in touch with the earth. She couldn't be more right. I find that I am most confident about my work when it has these colors in it, that when I have been spending too much time indoors I am cranky and when I get out and go for a walk I come back energized and inspired. 

I made a ton of pieces this weekend inspired by this palette but I am only going to share a couple here today.

etched copper butterfly

porcelain flowers

etched copper leaf

handmade lampwork glass beads

etched copper leaf 

handmade porcelain circle

wood beads and silk

The necklace in the middle is unfinished as you can see, I ran out of wire at the cabin so I had to stop there but I have gotten more wire and will be finishing it this week.

Here is the palette for next week:

Design-Seeds

Bet you thought I was going to pick another fall palette :-) 

Here are some HVNY Team items for inspiration:

betsybdesign

JSWMetalWorks

Make and item or choose materials inspired by the palette and write a blog post about it, post the item for sale, or post the item on your website. Add the link to your blog post, shop or website in the comments next week.

The only rule is that if you use the Design-Seeds palette you must link directly to Design-Seeds.com.

Have fun and I can't wait to see what you make!

Have an Inspired Wednesday!

~Shannon
ForMySweetDaughter.com

Treasury Tuesday : September 4

Treasuries are a great way to check many of our items at once. Visit them to check out more items and leave comments.

'September is here - the flowers are fading - but these neutrals are gorgeous!' by CharmsofFaith

A beautiful collection of fall neutrals.........

Vintage Graduated Beade... YesterdaysSil... $14.00	Eco Spring Fashion - Or... TickledPinkKn... $76.00	Brown Yum Yum Yellow C... NewProspectPo... $45.00	Fossilized Shark Tooth,... DumbBunnyDesi... $7.00
Earthy lime green daisy... MollysPurl $30.00	Caramel Pearl Multi-Str... pulpsushi $45.00	the mister's jacket... meerwiibli $238.00	fishy fish square bowl ... MilestoneDeca... $38.00
silver zigag silk scarf owenart $45.00	Grey & Brown Hand Croch... mimiandlu $30.00	Golden Waves Dichroic F... GetGlassy $25.00	Maple Brown Sugar Pecan... catskillcandy... $16.00
Satin Cord Wrap - Choco... anjalicreatio... $24.00	Earth Tone Beaded Hoop ... TinksTreasure $22.00	SPECIAL PRICE Brandy an... merryalchemy $16.00	hand knit brown wool an... beaconknits $34.00

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

'AROUND the Hudson Valley :)' by GetGlassy

Fun in the round in the Hudson Valley!

Godmother/Godchild Neck... CharmsofFaith $38.00	Pleated Wristlet Teal ... handjstarcrea... $17.00	Citrus & Sandalwood - N... Mundus $7.95	Pink and Grey Hand Croc... mimiandlu $30.00
Green & Blue Julyanna N... UnnamedRoad $20.00	girls organic cotton sk... betsybdesign $34.00	White tray with circles... Ceruleanblue $30.00	Infinity Scarf Knitting... AtelierTPK $6.50
sage green and white wo... beaconknits $33.00	Small Porcelain Bell LandMstudio $40.00	Judaic Greeting Card - ... anjalicreatio... $6.00	Garden Ornament - Broke... NellsBelles $99.00
Silver plated Mosaic di... ReclaimedDesi... $25.00	meerwiibli little gray ... meerwiibli $68.00	Dainty Rose Quartz Hoop... merryalchemy $24.00	Newborn Flower Hat - In... MyStitchInTim... $8.00

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Good Pickin's

If you are reading this there is a good chance that you are a collector of something, admire antiques and/or enjoy a good flea market.  For me, all of these things are a part of NellsBelles' work.  Junk R Me and a good collectible find is a new possibility for a project. 

It's no secret that once you get out of NYC, prices get lower and many times people that are selling something or other are not interested in what the "market" at large can demand for it.  I travel regularly to two places where I make a point of stopping at any garage and yard sales I see and I also have dealer destinations in each place.  Every August I travel with my family to Maine to visit with our great friends who have a second home there.  My hostess and I make a point of visiting the Searsport Antique Mall. 

In the process of my recent studio renovation, I culled my stock so I knew exactly what I had in the studio.  Plates are in abundance so for once, I was not looking for dishes.  I am also trying to move in some new directions and so my modus operandi was to try to look with a fresh eye and stay open to objects that  I may not have seen potential in before.  Searsport is a "mall" with stalls operated by individuals so there are many viewpoints and collections available.  I enjoy this more than a shop that is curated by a single taste.  The down side is that there is so much merchandise screaming for your attention that I find I have to stay calm, slow down and take each stall, one at a time and focus on that merchandise as if it is the only store there.  Once I have surveyed that particular space I move on to the next stall and so on, staying very methodical in how I shop.  Also, I am rarely looking for large pieces of furniture or anything very big for that matter.  Larger things are my canvas and I often come by them in different ways.  I am looking for the odd item tucked away in the corner of a cabinet or in a basket full of miscellaneous "junk". 

 There are about 30 booths at Searsport and the whole visit took me about 2 hours.  As usual, I was attracted to the usual pre-WWII miniature figurines that I often use on my Memory Jars, the Lipton Tea ceramic miniatures that when I started using them I could get  for as little as 5 cents apiece (wow!  I just noticed that there is no longer a "cent" key!) but now are priced as high as $8.  You can see the 2 that I bought in the photo college - the kitty and Humpty Dumpty. 

Also note the 2 pre-war figurines.  You see that big dish of wooden fruit?  I walked away from it 3 times and I kept going back.  I got it all, including the dish for $15 dollars.  I have a roadside find piece of furniture in the garage that I was thinking of transforming into a baker's table.  Knobs and trimmings?  I'll see where that wooden fruit takes me.  Also of note are the plastic shoes with the red hearts.  I love shoes anyway and this pair is somewhere between Dorothy and Betty Paige.

I'll be in my next pickin' spot in upstate New York this Labor Day weekend and I'll introduce you to the Mabeys, a wonderful couple I have been dealing with since I started my business.

Wave Goodby!





Life's Teachers

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Learn from the mistakes of others.  You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."
Reading books, papers, and blogs about business, parenting, cooking, loving, whatever it is that interests us, gives us models for working, relationships, and being in the world.  We read about mistakes people have made and how they resolved them, sometimes recognizing situations that feel familiar.
A friend, Leah, just wrote a blog about Emma Goldman and other books she was reading.  She said that she was especially impressed with the fact that Emma changed her life dramatically, twice, when she realized that she'd made mistakes.  Our lives are not written in stone.  We can adjust them, should adjust them as we go along, gain new information and experience.  My sister in law's boss has said "I reserve the right to get smarter later."  I love that attitude.

Mistakes are great teachers.  We learn what doesn't work.  When we're young we tend to want to do everything our own way; we don't like to follow advice from parents or those in authority.  Sometimes we really screw up.  But eventually we learn that we can benefit from the experience of others, avoiding pitfalls, choosing other paths.

Putting ourselves in community increases the opportunities we have to learn from each other.  The exchange of ideas, of hearing what has turned out well for someone, what has led to disaster or disappointment, gives us some advantage as we struggle to figure out the lives we live.  Our shared stories of joy and failure strengthen us all.