Vintage Art brooches

For several years now I have been gathering lots of vintage lace, buttons, milinery flowers, photos, and whatever else strikes my fancy at the market. Although I have started incorporating some of it into my knitting work, I have wanted to do something akin to mixed media but, on a wearable. My entomology capelet was certainly the first successful piece(trust me, it took several failed attempts to get it right) and in my mind, as we hone our craft the pieces just get better and better. I think I have mentioned in the past that I am, aside from 6 knitting lessons, completely self taught. Through much trial and error. Because, it always seems to take me a few tries to get things right. So I have been working on these brooches. I *love* the way the two came out. I have already sold my first one at the Cranberry Festival this past weekend. I *love* this image. Absolutely stunning woman. And I had a fantastic time playing with all my vintage goodies to find the perfect combination for both of these brooches!

xoxo

Time off

Just a quick hello dear friends. I have been taking some time off for reflection, fun, mischief, and much needed selfishness. I think sometimes when we concentrate most of our lives on taking care of everyone around us, we lose the ability to see who we are. Take some time off for you. Go have fun. Check out some fun I had.......

It is my first tattoo. It is of 3 of my favorite vintage buttons from my collection. I have had all 3 for a very long time. My tattoo was done by Matt, who I have known since he was about 13. I always knew if I was going to get a tattoo I would want him to be the one to do it. I love it :)

Be well friends

xoxo

A Trip to The City

Last week I went into the city with my dear friend Donna and her intern Nicki. Now, you may be asking what city? Being that I live in NJ both cities are readily accessible, but to me there is only one that I refer to as "the city" and that is New York. It truly is magnificent. We spent our day in the garment district. Where fashion comes to life :) I had a fantastic time and bought tons of goodies to use in my creations. We started at a fabric shop and then worked our way through lots of shops with trims galore... This fabric shop rocks because they will swatch most fabrics for you, and trust me there is alot to chose from! I bought a couple of yards of fabric and got a few swatches that I thought would be fun to do some needle-felting with, but I was saving up my money for Tinsel.... I almost bought some of this thermal fabric, but I stopped myself...lol..look at the price per yard! The next shop was feathers...all kinds of feathers...I *love* them :) Had alot of fun in this store! Bought lots of different colors and I cannot wait to use them! I should have bought one of these boas too..maybe next time :) Our main stop was Tinsel Trading which Donna has been telling me about for along time. It is filled with vintage trims, ribbons, millinery flowers, etc.. It is a dream for a girl like me. Trust me I had a great time, and spent most of my budget here. The staff was *so* helpful. Mostly I bought vintage ribbon. It was all so beautiful and kept so well. Tinsel has a huge collection of vintage and when the vintage sells they produce replicants. But friends, this girl bought only the original. This lovely cabinet was filled with original vintage ribbons, still on the spools, wrapped in paper. *sigh* all so beautiful. They also have such fun little trinkets to place around the house, all handmade. Too much fun for one store if you ask me!

And for a girl with a camera, I was not at a loss for pictures!

The last stop was at another trim shop that had walls and walls of ribbons, tassels and trims!

Just a few more goodies that I bought at Tinsel Trading, this FAB all vintage thread, that will be beautiful with some needle felted flowers, can't wait to play with it!

This gorgeous black ribbon is vintage military, the nice saleswoman ran down into the basement(what I wouldn't give to see that stockroom!) and came back up with it :)

Some of the vintage ribbons from that glass cabinet, they are all vintage, still on the original paper, and oh so worth the price I paid per yard!

Another stunning vintage ribbon *squeal* I cannot wait to create something fantastic with this!

And, last but certainly not least. This silver ribbon is my absolute FAVORITE find of the entire day. Not sure if I can bear to even part with it at all. *sigh* If I could only get myself to France and the Paris flea market, I am sure ribbon like this is aplenty. But for now, I am thrilled to have found this and there was about 1.5 yards of it left, so the saleswoman just gave me the spool! Hope you enjoyed all my finds! I cannot wait to start creating with them!

xoxo~

Back to School knit cowl Giveaway

Congrats to Sue114 for winning this lovely cowl and all of you sweet people who entered the drawing, stay tuned for the next one
xoxo
Becca
I Love Autumn. It is without a doubt my favorite season. Living in the northeast we are blessed with 4 glorious seasons! It's something about the snap in the air early in the morning, and the smell of the fireplaces being lit in the evening. I also always loved the "back to school" vibe. I think it was one of the biggest motivators for me to go to college so late in life. I just never got over the first day of school excitement. So I am offering a cowl up for a giveaway. The colors are fantastically fall. A funky green shade, adorned with some vintage ribbon and hanah silk. You will be looking smart and funky whether going back to school or just out for some coffee with the girls!
Rules are simple, just leave me a comment for the first entry, give me a blog follow for the second entry, a follow on facebook for a third entry and finally if you would like a fourth entry a follow at twitter
Drawing will be done via a random number generator on Monday, August 30th. Good luck!
xoxo

Asbury Park Love

This past Saturday I spent the evening in Asbury Park with Michele. I have always loved it there. My association with Asbury is not the same as most New Jerseans, or probably most Bruce fans. I can remember be a young girl and my mom taking me shopping and out to lunch in one of the department stores on Cookman Ave. I also remember taking swimming lessons at the Y. When I was in my twenties, it became the place for those of us who were into the alternative music scene. I saw countless big name bands at the Fast Lane with Michele. Michele who has always been the shutterbug. I never understood it until I started blogging and opened the Etsy shop. Once I began to learn more about taking the photos, got a little better at it, I must confess to falling in love with it. And since I got the small camera, well I love this new camera and I take it with me all the time. I had so much fun just taking random shots. I wanted to try and show how far Asbury has come. Quite a few years ago, the lanes closed, really all that was left was the Stone Pony, and I don't think too many people ventured into AP. It wasn't the safest place to be, and despite many efforts to build, there was always failure. I did keep hearing about a resurgence and really didn't believe it until Michele and I went to Roller Derby at Convention Hall. To my amazement there were people everywhere. All kinds of people, but what was evident was that they were in a neighbourhood that I would not have expected them to be in. There seems to be something for everyone in AP now. The main street is lined with high end boutiques, cozy little cafes and galleries. So crowded there was no place to park. Michele and I are still drawn to the hip, alternative crowd. No better place to be than the Asbury Lanes. We went for Burlesque-Apades, which was disappointing. Big crowd, but the show was pricey, short and not as good as what we have seen in the past. A night out with Michele is always fun and adventurous!