Hubby's Etsy Store

Hubby has officially retired and it was driving him crazy so he decided to reopen his little etsy store now that he has time. It is a family effort with his vintage finds and artwork from our family. I have never sold my artwork or jewelry before but I have decided to add a few pieces to his store. I thought I would share some of the pieces I am most proud of here to see what you all think :) Do click on his little Etsy badge on the left sidebar and check out his other great finds.

Studio Update Sewing Trunk Free Sewing Printable

I know this studio redo is taking forever! I have so many projects and I keep doing a little on this one and a little on that one... and nothing is getting done! So I decided to just get one completed : )

This is what I started with.

First I darkened the interior metal with jewelry blackening, then painted the inside with a dark cream paint. My thought was to paint sign graphics from an antique sewing store sign on it but then I found this fabric and I was in love. Hubby built a shelf that sat on the metal brackets you can see in the picture to hold my sewing machine. It has a drop down cover so I can pull the machine out to sew. We added some large casters so that it would be the right height to sit at and also so that it would open and close easily. 

This is with the drop down desk closed 

... and this is with it open

Oh yes... and the free printable... what else could I post :))

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Enjoy!

Inka 

Serving Up Silver Platter Paper Dolls

Did you know you can have yourself made into a paper doll? I have not had these listed for some time but just decided I would list them again. These are dolls I did of some of my friends sometime back but I just made some new sheets that you can steampunk any paper dolls with so I used them. This is such a fun idea... Just because I used my paper dolls you really can use any paper dolls.

I just love tarnished silver and I have been looking for ways to merge my art with my decor! Anyway... every time I see a piece of old silver plate in one of the local resale stores... I just have to buy it! Since I don't have a lot of storage in my little house, I have started to just put it on the walls.

Recently I discovered that magnets will stick to some of them. You do have to be careful though, not all silver plate platters will accept magnets. It depends on what base metal they were made with so test them before you buy them. Here are a few ideas I have come up with to give them a little more pizzazz. I have use the magnets to attach old photos and papers, I have added magnetic hooks to hold my jewelry

Or how about hanging scarfs on those hooks!

 

 and now of course... I am dressing them up with paper dolls.

 

 

I just added some magnetic strips to the back of my dolls and instant steampunk decor! These are kinda a grown up version however this would be such a fun way to decorate a little girls room too.

I colored them with watercolor crayons and then added some printed graphics from some of my other collage sheets to steampunk them out. I also added some real gears, feathers and chain to give them an additional layer of interest.

DIY Vintage Bohemian Chic

I hate to keep repeating myself but just for any new followers I will... lol. I lived in a Victorian home in California for 20 years. At that time I love Shabby Chic, but as I aged so did my love of color. When we moved here several years back, I decided for the first time in my life that I wanted new things. We had a house built and I bought the main furniture new. I still had a few old pieces that I just could not give up but I thought I could mix them with the new and come up with my "style". I just felt like I was living in a hotel, so I looked at my art (since that is what I love) and noticed that I just love things that are earth tones, old, rusted, tattered and worn. Looking around the net I discovered what I really wanted was something between Steampunk (Victorian with a futuristic twist) and Vintage Bohemian... I think I am leaning more toward the Vintage Bohemian.

 

 I had a ton of those vintage pink rose shabby chic sheets in storage... just not my style anymore. So I got out my bottle of brown dye and went to work. They came out more of a mauve than they did brown but I still loved them. I think they totally look great on my bed and I really feel I have captured that Gypsy feel with the mix of textures and colors. I also had not realized how much I missed the feel of those vintage cotton sheets... there is just nothing like them :)

Steampunk ATC

I made this little ATC with my new steam punkers collage sheet, if you click on the picture it will take you to a close up. I made the little holder at Christmas time. I had planned on sharing it then but the pictures went missing with my camera. I used a little antique candy mold and turned it upside down, then I glued a the piece that holds the candle from a candle holder to that. Hubby bent me the rusty wire and then I tied some vintage fabric and trims around the bottom.

All things old are sometimes new!

I had this old earring holder but it had been designed for the old clip on earrings and it was very unstable. It had just a wire tripod for the bottom. So hubby used the cutting blade on my dremel to cut slots in it to accommodate my pierced style earrings. Then I used the base of an old candle holder to give it some stability.
 

and all those old parts.............

Well they became my new bracelet holder.

We drilled a hole in the little silver coaster to hold rings and the bracelets that did not hang well and then used old parts from a candle holder and some dead clocks we took apart.... very steampunk kewl!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Children 4 Theme Thursday Challenge

I used my new "Steam punks" sheet for this little ATC for Theme Thursday Challenge The Stamp that I used for "London" is from Scrolls Work Stamps ... by the way she is having an awesome sale right now... and the background is my free printable that I promised yesterday :)

Feel free to pin the thumb below but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

 

 

 

 

I have been wanting to .... Post about Time Traveler

Remember this post Steampunk Ladies Free Printable ?... and that little teaser picture of the project I made with it? I have so been wanting to post about my project but I had submitted it to a magazine. So I had to wait until I found out if it would be published. Well the preview of Haute Handbags for Autumn has been posted and my little clutch is in the preview! .... I am published!!!

I thought it was perfect timing that this weeks theme at Mixed Media Monday is "I have been wanting to..."
 

The Artistic Souls of Eagle Idaho submitted several little bags that we altered... I called my little Steampunk bag "Time Traveler" My hubby and I glued old gears and bent wire to a matt board then I used my friends spellbinder to emboss the metal. Then I attached it to the little wooden purse and antiqued it.

 

 

I printed the fabric for the lining and added the little photo of the Steampunk ladies.

 

 

 

The hinge was hand made using links from an antique necklace.

Steampunk Heaven

Yes ... I have died and gone to Steampunk Heaven! This is the first two ATC's I have made with my new stamps from Scroll Works When my daughter in law called me and told me that her new plate of steam punk stamps came in, I jumped in the car and headed right over. I think I am the first to get to stamp with them too! I had specially requested the new gear stamps and the men. I am so excited that she chose Jules Verne because he is one of my favorite authors! Of course my favorite ATC of the two features him. I call it... can you guess... "Collaborators"...lol. I made it so that it opens too and one of the little gears works as a latch to hold it closed. Below is both opened. Do click on it so you can also get a larger view of the stamps I used on the inside!

Detail Note:
I also wanted to point out the difference you can get with different papers. The ATC on the left is stamped on card stock so I got a really crisp image where as the one on the right is stamped on a page from a very old book. Same ink but it bled into the paper and created a more photographic look.

Saving Grace .... from a garden chill maybe

Sorry I am so late this week, my mom fell again and it kinda distracted me : / anyway... the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday is "Cool it down" . I am not much on blue so this teal is about as cool blue as I get... I do think this is really kewl though :)) and in real life the teal looks much lighter.

I am also entering this int Alter It Monthly for the September "Rust" theme.

I thought that I could use in in my bathroom. I have an old smashed shaving case that I am working on for in there too. The chain on the purse hangs from the back side of the purse so I intend to hang it on the wall open. Then I can use it to hold things I use everyday like my brush, comb and hair clips.

I rusted the frame and chain then used an image from my new "nicely nudes" collage sheet and printed it on fabric. She is nude in a garden so she must be cool :)) I covered it with cracked mica and used an old belt buckle for the frame. Then some antique lace and vintage brass and rusted metal findings finished it off.

Photo Update 9-25:
I have said this before... I just kept looking at it and feeling it was not quite done. I am honorable at taking things apart and redoing them.

Playing With ATC's

Doesn't this little guy look like an undertaker! ... I thought he would be perfect for a little Halloween ATC ...or I guess it could just be a spooky steampunk ATC... either way at the heart of this little undertaker is the cross :)) He is on my new "Graveyard Party" collage sheet available in my little etsy store
 

 I don't usually do religious art but I must have been in a "high spirited" mood today :)) This is for a door swap I am in and it just went in the mail so I hope the recipient isn't lookin :D

 

I just loved the little image I used 

Oh you beautiful dolls!

I think I mentioned that recently I had been doing a little private tutoring. When Janice and her granddaughter Michelle decided to start a little enterprise creating art together, they approached me and asked if I could give them a little private tutoring. I was so honored that they felt a few lessons from me would give them that edge to be successful. So I brainstormed for a few days writing down my most used and favorite techniques. For the past few weeks they have been over several times. We have had so much fun creating some wonderful projects. They will be available soon in there little etsy store.

So here is a sneak peek at Michelle and one of her projects
 

...and Janice with one of her projects.

I know these pictures really don't do them justice but I will post more of them and there projects when they get there little store open.

Free Printable Steampunk Ladies Vintage Cab Card

I wish I could show you what I have been working on but is being submitted to a magazine so I can only show you this little teaser. I will blog it later when I find out if it gets published or not. ... and yes it is a steampunk ...uhhhh..... thingie

However I can offer you this fun little image I used on it! I just love these two and they fit the theme perfectly!

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Download Steampunk Ladies Here 

Doll Tin ...yep ...Steampunk again : /

Monday was out local art club meeting and two of our fabulous members teamed up to bring us this great project. We all used wallpaper books as our first layer then embellished to the finish :)) I was drawn of course to the the adventure of the world, using vintage maps and a moon to create a little doll type tin. I wrapped eyelash yarn around the edges of the lid. Then to steam punk it out I added some gears and watch springs to the front. I then made a little hat from cardboard and an old map and added a tiny compass that I glued inside a spiral paper clip, a brass finding and some specks made from vintage tidily winks were my finishing touches. I just love it! Renee and Jill even brought us some of there beautiful hand made soaps to put in our tins. We always have so much fun and I count myself so fortunate to be in such a fun artistic group!

 

Stuck on Steampunk : /

Ok ... I admit it...I am stuck on Steampunk

My entry for the Created Byhand Challenge this week "You Go Girl"

Update: March 11

What is Steampunk? I have had several inquiries. The best way I can think of explaining it is, if you were able to travel back in time to the Victorian industrial age....when so much inventing was going on, and tried to create items from our era with the materials available then. You would end up with strange flying machines, computers that had the look and feel of an old typewriter, maybe a dishwasher made of an old ice box and so on.

I felt this card fit the theme because in those days most of the inventors were men. While the women stayed at home taking care of the children and house hold chores. But my lady is not content with sitting in the parlor watching the men have all the creative fun. I punched stars in the lens of the goggels to dipict the stars in her eyes as she sits with goggles in hand at the ready to meet the sky.

One if by land...

Two if by sea

...but no body mentioned this! What to do??? :))

 

It has been a long time since I entered any challenges but this week was things that fly over at Created Byhand Challenge so I decided to play :)

I used that new one step crackle paint for the background, the newspaper is from a real old newspaper and the stamps are from Scroll Works

Steampunk ATC's

Last night my DIL brought me the two new sheets she just got in over at Scrolls Work Stamps so while she was working away trying to get all the orders out I got to play :)) The backgrounds are from my collage sheets you can find them at my etsy store and the stamps are all Scrolls Works

 

Steampunk Bird Workshop!

The amazingly talented Lynn Stevens from Trash To Treasures Art hosted a steampunk bird workshop at her studio yesterday for some of her friends. I can't tell you how fortunate I feel to have been on the list. We had so much fun punking out the wooden bird blanks that she spend hours carving for us! Her hubby spoiled us rotten too! He had mocha lattes waiting for us when we arrived and then when lunch time rolled around he had made us the most awesome soup I have had in a long time! Some wonderful birds were created by all! but I am just going to blog mine because I am sure each one will want to blog about there birds too :)) If you click on the picture it will take you to a larger all sides view.

This little shrine of mine :)

I got my junk on! and created this altered light bulb shrine the other day. I am not sure if hubby is gonna like it much because I used the dies from his sausage grinder for the base but he has not made sausage in years! And they had become rusty anyway :)) I have it hid away in my studio so he has not noticed it yet .. and I am not pointing it out to him :D

I have had so many emails asking how I did that I put together a little online workshop My inspiration was the steampunk look. Inside the bulb is rusty chicken wire, the image is one of my front/back transparencys (instructions for front/back images are on my website). The top is a old perfume funnel and the spiral is a watch spring. I should have put the mini fairy lights inside and I might just take it apart and do that :)