Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Wishing loads of happiness to you and your family this Christmas season, and all the best in 2011. Take care, Martha

Off to Palm Springs

Thanks to all your comments about attitude, it was really interesting, and I see the contagious one won! Wanted to let you know I'll be starting the Palm Springs Villagefest tomorrow, Dec. 9th from 6-10. It's a great show, and the vendors who participate all make their own goodies. If you've been to street fairs, you understand this is rare. :) So if you're in the area come on out, and say hi. My booth has the old dress form with the angel wings on it.

Take care, Martha

A Positive Attitude

OK, I'll be the first to admit it, sometimes I have a bad attitude. I mean a really bad one, you can ask my family, they'd be the first to agree. Those negative conversations you have in your head can really affect your emotions, and attitude. "Boy you're looking old and tired today" "Why can't you be as successful as them?" "Wow, have you gained weight!" and on and on the list goes. It also leads to complaining. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "Stop Global Whining" That one made me laugh.

Don't you admire people who can keep positive attitudes, especially in the middle of tragedy? I've met many on blogs who blow me away with what they face, and still remain happy. Maybe you're one of those who do have a positive attitude, or maybe you struggle like me. So much of attitude is really a choice, you can choose to be angry, mean, or sorry for yourself, (and these are things I struggle with) or you can be kind, grateful and think of others, bringing happiness to those around you.

With attitude in mind, I'd love it if you'd vote for the saying you like best. You can vote over in the upper right hand corner. I'm making the winner into an ornament so it can remind me through the day how important an attitude is. Thanks for your help!

Take care,

Martha

Thankful

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm truly thankful for so many things, including the health of my kids, love of family, and the ability to create. It's also a bittersweet time, because it's the first Thanksgiving without my mom. But I'm truly thankful to be able to celebrate all the blessings God has poured out in spite of the difficult times.

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Martha

Carlsbad Street Faire

It's that time of year again, so kick off your holiday shopping and head over to Carlsbad this Sunday! It's the biggest 1 day craft show in the country ( I believe it by the crowds) and you're invited. It's Sunday Nov. 7th from 8-5, and don't forget to change your clock back and gain an hour. I'll be at the corner of Carlsbad Blvd. and Grand, near the Witch Creek Winery if you get thirsty. :) It should be a beautiful day weather wise, so come on out and enjoy a fun day. I'll be bringing loads of goodies like the ones above.

Hope to see you there!

Martha

Happy Halloween

This is a favorite photo of my son in a mask that didn't fit. Poor child ended up tripping his way though the neighborhood Halloween night :)

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Halloween!

~Martha

New Glitter *Star*

Hi! Just wanted to share with you what I've been working on. I founds this star shaped beveled glass, and knew I wanted to make a glittery creation out of it.
So I added German Glitter glass to it, and soldered the edges. I love the way it sparkles.
Did you know German glitter glass really is made of shards of glass? It's unlike the plastic glitter found in most stores, because the glass it's made out of has an amazing brilliance to it, and creates a beautiful diamond-like appearance to your piece, especially in low light.
I also love the texture the glitter glass gives to the star.

I've been making Christmas ornaments too since I need to get cracking for the Holiday season, and my next show is coming up in a couple of weeks in Carlsbad. I hope you enjoyed the little sneak peek to what I've been up to. We've had loads of rain and even strong thunderstorms here in sunny CA. It makes for a cozy time to create. I hope you're doing well in your neck of the woods.

Take care,

Martha

Betsey Johnson Inspiration

Welcome! I love Betsey Johnson, the famous N.Y. designer. Here she is at her 68th birthday party over the summer. She just exudes fun to me, and I love her quirky, uniqueness. She still does cartwheels at the end of her runway shows! In addition to clothing she makes cool jewelry and uses a lot of animal prints like leopard and zebra.
Inspired by Betsey, I decided to come up with a bauble of my own. One side is the leopard...
and the other a zebra. My daughter already ran off with this one, so I'll have to make some more.
You can find them on my website here. It looks nice as a choker,
or long. I think is would be pretty on a charm bracelet too. I'm working on a new design for a bracelet that stretches with beads, and attaches to a chain.
I hope you're having a happy start to your week. Do you have a favorite designer you get inspiration from?

Take care,

Martha

Glitterfest Fun

Welcome! I wanted to thank all of you who came out to Glitterfest. It was such a great show, and loads of you showed up early, lined up at the door. Thanks so much! I know it wasn't the best day to be out with all our humidity, but thanks all the same. Sheryl and Diane did another amazing job putting it all together. The next one is already being planned, and will be in March.
Here is a view of my table. The window display worked great and held up a lot of ornaments. The only problem was because of the glass I couldn't hear what anyone was saying unless I stood up. I kind of felt like a drive through teller behind a window!
I was right by the front door, and was able to see everyone when they first came in.
My daughter was a huge help. It got so hectic sometimes we were madly passing ornaments back and forth to each other. I loved hanging out with her, and we kept each other going.
Here is a view of Stacey's booth. It was great to see her again, and I wanted to steal her fan! She had loads of great items as usual.
Here's Gina's booth. She has so many goodies to choose from and I love them all.
And here's Karin's booth. She had loads of sparkly pretties to choose from. Next time I want to shop!
This is my lovely neighbor Iva. She is a sweetheart, and she has so many beautiful works of art to enjoy. And Iva won an award for the prettiest booth. You can see why!
The pumpkin balloon was one of my favorites that she had made, that and a witches shoe that sold right away.
Well that's all I was able to take. I wanted to get around the whole room and get more shots, but it was just too busy which is a good thing. Thanks for popping in. Were you able to make it to Glitterfest? If so, what were some of your favorite goodies?

Take care,

Martha

Glitterfest

Hi! Tomorrow's the big day, and I'll be up bright and early bringing my wares to Glitterfest! It's a great show filled with artists selling their handmade goodies. Join the fun tomorrow in Santa Ana, CA from 10-4. The address is 212 S. Elk Lane. Hope to see you there!

Take care,

Martha

Recipe for Happiness

Hi! I found this recipe for happiness, and had to share it with you. I took an old recipe card and letter by letter created the text. It took all day yesterday, but I thought this was so cute I had to do it. My kids thought it was soooo corny but I don't care. ;)
It's made under beveled glass so that's why is looks a little distorted here. But when you look at it straight on, it's fine.
I finally figured out how to add silver glitter too. The trick was to use a certain kind of paper, that's the texture of water color paper, and it worked.
I started making Christmas goodies too, and I'll have them on my website soon.
Well, back to soldering! Summer decided to finally make an appearance here in So. Cal, and it's hot today! My dinky fan is just not cutting it, but back to work I go, trying to prepare for Glitterfest this Saturday.

Take care, Martha

Roger's Gardens Halloween

Boo! I wanted to share with you a video from a recent trip I took to Roger's Gardens. They go all out for Halloween, and the theme was "Fun and Games." There were all kinds of dolls, even with rotating heads. If you remember last year I shared with you a grouping of spooky old dolls spray painted white, and this year they were painted black. There were loads of folks there making it pretty difficult to film, but hope you have fun watching what I was able to capture for you. :) Thanks for stopping by!

Take care, Martha

Old Window Display

Hi and thanks for popping in. I wanted to share with you an idea for displaying goodies. I bought 2 old windows, hinges, and even some rusty screws, at our local architectural salvage store. Hinged the windows together and added some screws to hang ornaments.
The next show I'm doing is Glitterfest, and I'll have one table so I need to take advantage of all the space I have. It's Oct. 2nd, and try to come because it's a really fun show, and there will be loads of talented artists there.
I got some great old attachments for the windows, and replaces the newer ones with these...

The glass is left in the windows and I think this will work out great. Hope you're having a great week, and guess what it's almost Friday, yea! Take care, Martha

Halloween Fun

Welcome! I thought it was appropriate to post a few Halloween treats since it's the 31st and Halloween is just a couple of months away. I'm getting ready for Glitterfest which is Oct. 2nd so I'm working on Halloween goodies along with Christmas of course too.
I like to use old anatomy illustrations combined with vintage ledger papers.

The Halloween Queen ornament has black rhinestones on it that really sparkle under low light.
I thought he looked nicer waving to you. ;)
And he is much friendlier with a top hat and glittery black band around it.
I went to a local nursery in San Diego over the weekend called Walter Andersen Nursery. It's so pretty, and has many unique flowers to choose from. I've never seen so many herbs in my life, and I chose a few like the one above called Wormwood, to dry for future Halloween ornaments. I also bought Transylvanian Sage, and Mugwort. I noticed that some came from an herb farm much closer to me called Pearson's Gardens. I need to go check them out.

Can you think of any other "Halloween" plants or herbs I should search for?
Here's a closer look at the wormwood. It's really a beautiful leaf, and I already dried and pressed a few of them. I'm addicted to finding, pressing and drying flowers right now. I even pulled off the road on a bike ride and picked some pretty flowers I had to try drying. Some work out, and some don't. I find the flowers with an open face work better, and ones with just leaves like herbs work out great.

I'm going to go to the grand opening of Roger's Garden's Halloween extravaganza on Thursday night. I'll be sure to bring my camera to share the fun with you!

Take care, Martha

Feeling Pressed

Hi there! I'm feeling pressed to make some pretty pressed flowers! I just got a microwave flower presser, and have been having fun with it. It's called Microfleur and works really well. You only have to wait about a minute for pressed flowers that would have normally taken a week to dry. Here's an ornament I just made with real pressed flowers inside.
I tried to make it look like a page from a vintage herbarium, so I took letters from an old plant book, and created the name of the plant. It's called Gypsophia, and it looks like baby's breath, but with pink flowers.

Here's a beautiful cone with a fairy on it, my friend Rosemary made.
I put some dried white hydrangea inside, and love the look. Do you like flowers and fairies too?

Take care,

Martha