Traveling and Shopping

My two favorite things to do, Travel and shop! I have been a bit busy lately, now is the beginning of the "sick" season at my real world job. It is also the busy season in my Happiknits shop. I have been doing alot of custom work, and I sold at a huge Cranberry Festival in Bordentown. It was a great time, and I met quite a few fellow EtsyNJ sellers. I love festivals because I can see my pieces on there new owners! Last weekend I traveled to upstate NY with my mom and sister to visit my youngest sister and niece. We had an awesome time, although it was very COLD!!!! Despite that all 3 of us sisters got up saturday and sunday at the crack of dawn to shop the local market. Saturday is the farmer's and Sunday is the vintage day. It was fun, my toes were frozen, but the finds on Sunday were disappointing. I think I am super spoiled with the local markets here in NJ. Speaking of, because I needed my "fix" I did back to back mornings this week. Wednesday at The Golden Nugget in Lambertville. This was my first wednesday there. It is there busiest day and it was packed! I found some buttons, and went to visit my fav new Millinery flower lady and got some more flowers and a gorgeous lace collar that Bella is wearing. Thursday I did Colombus. That is their busiest day also. Not a successful day for me there, just a few very pretty buttons, and some pretty old bead necklaces, which I guess is a good day :)

I enjoy just walking around and being in the presence of all the old goodies!! Back to work for me now, will post sooner. I am leaving you with the finished Upcycled bag!

xo

A New Shop in My Favorites: Fanciful Devices

Hallucinatory Toxins
In my travels through blog land, I found this awesome shop highlighted on Sparrow Salvage's blog . I adore her blog and all the funky pieces of wearable art she creates and finds! So upon first viewing Fancifuldevice's shop I fell in love.
I asked her how she got started making these gorgeous pieces; "The whole jewelry thing was a fluke. Less than 2 years ago, when I was planning for a trip to see my family in Uruguay, I decided to make all my female cousins necklaces and earrings as gifts. I ended up making enough to adorn a small village. I was hooked. But back then my stuff was horrific, truly. Even when I first opened my shop, last November, my early work was pretty bad. I had much more difficulty with aesthetics, as if I had to try a lot of things before I could figure out what looked good. Fortunately, I feel I've learned fast, and through pure joyful making, blog-surfing, etsy-watching and on-line tutorials."
Pink Phenomology
My second question to Fanci was where she gets her inspiration from; " When we make something, we're evoking an atmosphere, a little world, or a story we're telling. In fact, we're trying to get away from everyday life into that other world of our making. The things that have most inspired me is the other artisans on etsy and in the blog world. I remember what seems like years ago, but was maybe just one year ago, when shops such as opulentoddities.etsy.com and moandmo.etsy.com first opened my eyes to the possibilities of mixing old things in unexpected ways. With each piece it was a bit like: "Oh, pearls! I could use pearls! Oh, a piece of hardware- why didn't I think of that?" Another big moment for me was discovering A Charming Exchange, by Kelly Snelling and Ruth Rae, which taught me, among other things, that a necklace didn't have to only be about the focal, but could be just as interesting along the chain. Adorn Cardcase necklace
And then a huge inspiration was Semiprecious Salvage by Stephanie Lee, which made me see a way to make antique-inspired mixed-up pieces without so much of the frilly/girly-ness that didn't resonate so much with me."

Artistic License

I also asked her, why vintage? what is it about vintage that pulls at your soul?

"I can't imagine NOT using vintage. I have seen some amazing artists, such as polymer clay artists and metal smiths, whose work is dazzling. But it's never made me want to try it- like it's too cold in it's immaculate perfection. At this point in our history, I feel like we're sitting atop a giant mountain of all the stuff we've produced, and this stuff can be so lovely. Using it is a form of collage for me. Also at this point, we've already seen the perfectly set diamond and the shiny new trinket a million times. Battlefield Wounds
It's the crusty bits that grab our attention. Things made differently than what we're used to, as well as that evocativeness I mentioned previously. I probably wouldn't like this style if I lived in the past, in a time when handmade and grungy were the norm. As it is, though, I'm obsessed with it and it hurts me to have to tear myself away to get to my (part-time) day job. "So Fanciful's shop is full of these curios. Including a reliquary to a molar. Yes, a molar. You must go to her shop to see this, it is Fab. Burning Glass
She is remarkably talented, a beautiful soul, and you can see the love and emotion that she works into each piece. Now, my big decision, which one should I buy first??????

Early Morning at the Market

Most of the time I work thursdays, so I always hear about how fantastic the local antique market is on thursdays but never get there. I had a rare Thursday off so my sister and I got up at the crack of dawn and took the trip. Most of the time I wind up at The Golden Nugget in Lambertville, and I have been quite happy with my finds there. I have discovered that there are some days that are lace/doilie days, some are millinery flowers (Oh, more on those for my next post), and some days are vintage button days. Today was a vintage button day. I have this strange impulse to open any tins that I come accross at markets. Most of the time they are empty. But...every once in a great while you hit paydirt. Let me explain here that sometimes, you have to have faith in what looks like a pile of junk. Remember, chances are the person selling these either pulled them out of the trash somewhere or they bought the contents of a house and found this tin in grandmom's attic. It probably has been sitting somewhere untouched for who knows how long. There is rust aplenty, and trust me I get skeeved touching this stuff just as much as the next person. (hint; I carry wet ones in my bag). My sister and I were non stop gigglers about all the dust flying around from the doilies too. Anyway. enough of me blabbing. I will let the photos show you just a small piece of what treasures were hidden in that old tin. It was a GREAT day at the market!