Birds and Branches

New Sparkle

2010-01-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

See my latest work at Anne and Friends in the Wayzata Bay Center, Wayzata, MN. Thanks to Anne Davidson and all of her great work this past holiday season.

Before and After

2009-05-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

My mom turned 80 this past April and as part of the celebration we (her five kids) re-enacted her life in a play. There were 8 scenes beginning with her birth...and the birth of her twin sister. Initially they were named Edith and Ethel (ugh!), but luckily their names were changed to June and Joan at the eleventh hour. She grew up, entered the convent (?), studied to be a nun, decided it wasn't for her and moved on to marry my dad and have five kids.

Kristi, Margaret, Katherine, Carole, Matthew

So, here we are. This is the before. My grandfather always lined us up like this at every family holiday or event and took our picture. As part of the play we re-created this picture for my mom, outfits and all. Now I am not willing to do the exact math, but I think there are 40+ years between these two scenes.

My mom had written a christmas letter with short little poems for each one of us in 1969. We each took turns reciting what she had written as we walked on stage in our outfits. She was thrilled and it was so much fun! Thanks Muggsy for all your hard work!

Here is mine:

Little Carole, small of size

Great big voice and great big eyes

Legs are growing all the while

Our little Twiggy is right in style

For the Birds

2009-04-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

My first feature, and coincidentally it's about birds - how perfect!. See my work at HandmadeMN: Fun Friday Finds.

Etsy Up and Running!

2009-03-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

I did it! After lots of tinkering and thinkering, my etsy shop is finally up and running. Take a look and please heart me!

grindesign.etsy.com

Bragging Rights

2009-03-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

I am far down the list of people who get to brag about this new book, including the most talented author, Betz White and my sister and brother-in-law, parents to the darling who graces the cover...but as Auntie to our red-headed Alice, I just have to say, "isn't she adorable!"

Newest Endevor

2008-12-28T09:57:00.001-08:00

This summer I went to Galena, Illinois to see a friend and her amazing artwork in the first ever Galena juried art fair. And of course, she took first place, blue ribbon and all! It is such a great town with so much charm and a very active art community. While I was there I discovered Vintaj natural brass filigree and findings at the Galena Bead store. I had never seen anything like it and was immediately hooked - the aged quality fit perfectly with my already growing collection of antique-store and thrift-shop finds. Here is a collection of pieces that I have made over the past few months.

Vintaj brass findings and chain, antique chandelier crystals, metal stampings, enamel flower button, czech glass beads and ribbon.

Vintaj brass findings, filigree, closure and chain, czech glass beads and amber glass pendant, metal stampings.

Vintaj brass leaf charms and chain, metal stampings, czech glass - all combined with an antique faux pearl bracelet to make a necklace.

Vintaj brass findings, charms and chain with antique cameo's, czech glass beads, metal stampings and ribbon.

Antique brass buttons with inset cameo's, Vintaj findings, pink glass "rose" beads and ribbon.

Vintaj brass findings, chain, charms and filigree wrap around a large chunk of sea-glass, green jade accent beads and ribbon.

Horsing Around With Deter

2008-10-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of a day spent horsing around with my sister Kris (Deter), and her two horses, Scout and Albert. We trailered them from the barn in Hugo to a state park in early October - the fall colors were spectacular and everyone was very well behaved - except for a small incident when Scout was sure that a temporary bright orange fence was going to eat him alive!

Scout (left) and Albert (right)

Gourmet picnic prepared by Kris

Me and my buddy Albert

A good shot showing the truck and trailer - girl power!!!

Everything Bird!

2008-07-30T08:11:00.001-07:00

A gift box painted to look like birch wood, full of sparkle and scraps

collected by the "Dinkey Bird"

Christmas in July! Sorry, this bird-princess is wearing a real mink collar. But doesn't she look fabulous.

Waiting to hatch.

We're off to the Cabin!

2008-07-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

It is what you hear during a Minnesota summer - a three month window where you cram as much outdoor living as you possibly can before another long winter sets in. We don't have a cabin, but are fortunate to have friends that do. We've made two trips so far - Bay lake with friends Mike and Liz, their daughter Ainsley and niece Kia, and the Kettle river with Kate, Greg and their nephews Sam, Ryan and Jack.

I can't say enough about how gracious our hosts were. Liz and Mike treated us to a fantastic dinner and put us up in the sweetest little sleeping cabin equipped with all the necessities including a fireplace.

It was all about "the boys" on our annual trip with Kate and Greg; campfires, fireworks, bb guns, fishing and expeditions up the river to collect prize winning agates. We got to meet their new puppy, Zigmund Hellmutt (clever - huh?), he is a very handsome black and gray german wire-hair - I think, he was missing most of the time. "Has anyone seen Ziggy?"

Liz, hard at work in the kitchen. Why isn't that girl wearing a vintage apron?

How to stay young - make brownies with 5- and 6-year old little girls, lick the batter bowl clean, best done on the floor with a little sand and dog hair.

Nice fashion statement Sam. Did I mention that this year I shaved his head and carved lines right above his ear on one side of his head? Wonder how that went over with mom and dad when he got home? Next year we are all getting tattoos - handmade of course!

Katie communing with nature. Actually, she is sulking because I beat her butt in another round of phase ten. Happy to say that this year Sam was the victorious winner in the final cut-throat competition, not too far behind was first time player Ryan who gets the "good-sport" award.

The Artist's Survival Kit

2008-06-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the feeling of walking around with lots of big ideas in your head, but your not really sure how to execute any of them? You have a fresh stash of vintage ephemera sitting on your desk, taunting you, whispering, "come play with me". And then...it all comes together. You sit down and spread everything out in front of you and spend two days in a creative frenzy, neglecting all else; children, laundry, dinner, husband. I love it when this happens.

Let me start at the beginning. My dear friend Karla was kind enough to gift me with a sack full of paper goods from her mother, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a school teacher - the bag was full of old Highlights for Children magazines, report cards, little class pictures of unknown children, lessons on animals, volcanos, and constellations - you name it. I am guessing that all of this was from the late 1950s. Hence the stash of vintage ephemera that was calling out my name.

Step two. I had ordered some new books from Amazon.com and just because it looked so interesting, I added Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith to my cart. I was doing my usual show and tell routine with my friends Marly and Noel, when Noel decided to jump on the computer and google the author. Keri Smith is an amazing artist. Her work is whimsical and silly - really fun line drawings combined with collage backgrounds. She has all these great pdf downloads to play with on her website. Hence the artist's survival kit. It is a collection of printable cards that offer hilarious tips, tricks and advice on how to get through those days when you are feeling uninspired, full of self-doubt and wonder if you should have gone to school for accounting rather than try anything artistic.

So it all came together. The cards became a bound book that I made for my uber talented artist friend, Kelli. I used all of Elizabeth's goodies to create a collage on the back of each card. The Highlights magazines were especially good. There was a column about personal hygiene - how you should be respectful of the children sitting next to you in class by making sure you go to school smelling clean - had to use this one for sure!

2008-06-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Bird reference - hmmm, wonder where that came from?

A New Home for Glitter Goods

2008-05-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let all of my faithful blogger friends (three of you?) know that Glitter Goods will now be an offspring of my new site, Birds and Branches. I hadn't blogged in months, I had nothing glittery to say. Glitter Goods was born during the holiday season when I was making vintage inspired Christmas ornaments. Needless to say my crafty endeavors have lead me down several different paths and (gasp) I hadn't used glitter in any of them.

What is Birds and Branches? I don't really know. I am totally enamored with anything bird and anything vintage, as always. I think it started when I fell in love with some Amy Butler fabric that I found at Crafty Planet. Just about the time that I started incorporating feathers, nests and eggs into my artwork, a new little tweeter came to make his home in the lilac bushes just along our driveway. His song was like nothing I had ever heard before - a mixture of notes, highs and lows, sometimes piercing, sometimes quite irritating. After some research, we found out that it was a cat bird. A cat bird mimics the sound of other birds. The other day I heard him copying the sound of our squeaky garage door.

So, my conclusion is...Birds and Branches was meant to be.

I will most likely leave Glitter Goods up for a while. I can't bring myself to delete it entirely. And what about those yummy recipes that I never wrote down.