Just Be Yourself

A reminder to just be yourself! Be free to laugh, enjoy life, and don't take things too seriously. :)

Take care,

Martha

Dress Form take 2!

In my last post, I showed you this dress form I made from an old french book. The graphic came from Karen at Graphics Fairy blog.

The burlap I used to hang it wasn't right to me, because it has this shiny nylon mesh behind it that didn't look right. Plus, I know burlap is really popular right now, but if you've ever smelled it, it kind of stinks. :) So I changed the ribbon, and used darker seam binding, and tied it on the top with a vintage button. Usually I like creams and whites, but for this one I like the darker ribbon. And yes, I over think things, but that makes creating fun.Do you have a thing for buttons like I seem to? I used to dump out my mom's jars of buttons as a child, and go through them thinking it was the greatest thing to do.
Th dress form was printed directly over the french text.
Finally I'm happy with it. What do you think?

Take care,

Martha

Bling & Burlap

As I listen to the Mourning Doves softly coo outside, I wanted to share with you some goodies I've been working on. The chandelier is from an old illustration, and I added some bling to the front from Swarovski rhinestones. They look really pretty in low light, but my camera can't handle that light, and my pics always come out blurry. (or maybe it's all the caffeine I have pumped into my blood stream, I'm really not sure.)

The other ornament is from an old french book, printed with a vintage dress form. It's hung with burlap ribbon.

I'm off to the Palm Springs street fair tonight. Need to bundle up because it's starting to get cold here in old CA!

Hope you enjoy your day!

Take care,

Martha

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette is one of my favorite figures to use in art work. She's such a feminine girl, and seems to drip elegance. I usually use a black patina on the solder to darken it, but left it silver for this one.
While rummaging through one of my drawers, I came across some old chandelier prisms I bought, and decided to solder them onto an ornament.
Th photo I used is a painting of Marie when she was only 13. It was meant to show her future husband what she looked like, because he had never seen her.
I'm happy with how it came out. Maybe I should do more of these blingy ones, what do you think?

Here are a few pieces of trivia I came up with about Marie-

~She was only 14 years old when she got married to the future King of France. She was Austrian, and the marriage was meant to improve relations between Austria and France.

~Marie's last words were "Monsieur , I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose." She accidentally stepped on the foot of the executioner while climbing the stairs of the scaffold to the guillotine.

~Marie wore purple mules on the day she was executed

~ She had 4 children

~ Marie was the 15th child of 16

~She often dressed as a peasant to imitate the simple life

~Marie never said "Let them eat cake."

~She was brought to the guillotine on October 16, 1793

Back to work, I hope you enjoyed!

Take care,

Martha