The Adventures of Cutie Bear (named by my 5 year old) and the Christmas Tree

This year, it has taken me quite awhile to decorate the tree. I just finished wiring on the last vintage chandelier crystal last night...and debating on whether to make paper chain this year.... We have two new kittens in the house, which bring us so much joy, but they also bring us exercises in patience! I have had to actually wire the ornaments on to the tree.....as you can see in the video, I've done a nice job so far. And only two glass icicle casualties so far this year.
I've been told to squirt the kittens with a squirt gun to train them to stay out of the tree, but I just don't have the heart to do it....so alas, every now and again I hear the tree tinkling loudly in the other room and smile to myself for a job very well done.

In other news, the sale in my Etsy shop is still in full swing until December 1st. I have everything marked at 5% off, then you get another 20% off with coupon code: THANKSGIVING2010
See you soon!
Love and Light,
Jennifer

Cutie at Rest. (Thank God.)

Unique Display Idea, Cat Eye Glasses and Antique Letters

I bought several ancient, (as in late 1800's) blue shutters from an antique shop quite some time ago for 5 bucks a piece...they still have the original hardware on them and they are all this amazing pale blue color. I didn't have to do a thing to them but clean them up a little. This one, I use for a display piece in my living room...on which, I hang a vintage lingerie/pants hanger with amazing red clips that really add a little punch to the display.....and on said lingerie/pants hanger I have clipped a beloved antique green satin purse in which I display some of our favorite antique letters, postcards, and a pair of our favorite vintage cat eye glasses. More glasses from our collection are just inserted in the slats.

This is by far, my most favorite display. I hope it inspires you to be more playful in your home too.

Let me know what you're favorites are and maybe I can do a post about it? I'd love to see!

Winners of the Giveaway!

Today was a very busy kind of day...and I wasn't able to include photos of what the winners will receive...but I can promise they are very "perty".
The new name for my sweet old dress form is.....

Miss Fern Tatterly

So, Carissa and Irma, you are the winners!

Thank you all for all of the amazing name suggestions!
Can the winners contact me with an address?

Another giveaway coming soon....so visit again soon...I'm really liking this giveaway thing!

I hope everyone has a joyful Thanksgiving!

Sale in the Etsy Shop! (lots of new things!)

Just a quick note to let you all know that Etsy now has a coupon code option! It is about time! So, to celebrate "black Friday", "cyber Monday" and Thanksgiving, I am offering 20% off of EVERYTHING in the shop! Woohoo! This is on top of FREE shipping on almost everything! It doesn't seem like a lot, but it is once you do the math.
Use this code (be sure to use all caps) until December 1st:
THANKSGIVING2010
to get your discount. So come see me at http://www.Sacredcake.etsy.com, or just click on the section at the bottom of this post to get there.
I'll be announcing the winner of the beautiful Mudluscious pottery giveaway tomorrow morning. I can't decide on a name (they were all sooooo good!) so I am going to draw names from my hat.
Thanks to all of my sweet readers for taking the time out if your day to spend it here. I am so grateful...see you tomorrow!
Love and Light,
Jennifer

I Found Her...Now to Whom Do I Owe My Kingdom? and a very Beautiful Giveaway!

A while ago, I spoke here of needing an "old dummy" to use to photograph my work. While browsing in an antique store I found her. She was hiding behind a large oak cabinet. I didn't see her until I was actually on my way out of the shop. I asked the owner, "How much for this old sewing bust?" (then I held my breath, waiting for for him to quote a larger amount than my wallet could bear)and he said, "Oh, how about fifteen dollars?" I acted like that is the amount I expected, though inside I was screaming, "YES! YES! YES!"

Now, she isn't the greatest, but she'll do ok. I'm thinkin' maybe she needs a cover of some sort...but I do like her aged appearance...
Here she is dressed in a vintage slip, Victorian mesh vest undergarment and thrifted lace top, and my necklaces.

I'd like to name her! Any suggestions? The best name (first and last names) wins something very special and quite beautiful from my most favorite pottery artist, Michelle Stambaugh at Mud-Luscious Pottery.

I am quite smitten with her work and she just opened her etsy shop. I love her posey pockets and her pressed mud earrings are so divine! And I think her bird puddles are the most amazing and stunningly beautiful idea...just perfect for a shallow pool the garden or a platter for the table...I have several of her pieces and I can tell you, you really do want to win something! I'll choose the name Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Stop by her new etsy shop and show her some love, ok?

Pressed Mud Earrings

Posey Pocket

Bird Puddle

Tin Toy Ornament Ideas

I have a fondness for old toys. The more beat up, the better! I like to think of the many lives they have had and the little hands that played with them and loved them....
Though I bought them with assemblage in mind, I decided to make ornaments with them this year, using vintage crystals and some wire....pretty simple to do. And fast. That's a real plus when life goes by at the speed of light as mine does! I know now why some folks (like me this year), put their trees up in November. I want to make Christmas last as long as humanly possible. Having an amazing artificial tree (thanks mom) that we've had for many years makes that possible! I love white lights, glass icicles, vintage chandelier crystals and old toys on the tree. I'd love to have antique and vintage photographs on the tree, but we are having trouble keeping the kittens out of it. I don't worry about the glass ornaments because I actually wire them onto the branches! Ah, well....we really get such joy from our animals!

Vintage Blue Willow Child's Tea Pot Ornament

Simple directions for the ornaments:

Drill small holes in the top and bottom of the plate and add wire and crystal as desired....for the tea pot, just insert a small dowel into the spout and drill a small hole to insert the wire and crystal.

I have more ideas for ornaments, so check back again soon!

Oh, yes, I also tie vintage toy guns, from my husband's collection,onto the tree with antique lace. I guess because a many decades ago, they would put presents on the tree...reminds me of simpler times, you know?

Vintage toy Derringer

Vintage Tin Toy Ornaments

New Old Things...

I've got some new things in the Etsy shop...I'm wishing I could stay at my little old shabby desk all day and create...want to make more of these assemblage mirror pieces too...I have a little show of sorts coming up. A meet and greet at a new shop in Coloma and I am very excited! Pictures will describe what I can not, so come back again soon, ok?

Delicate Dormancy

Branches that braille the morning sky, or the evening sky, have always been a favorite of mine. I love the skeletal branches that end in the tiniest wisps....
So too, this pattern is repeated over and over elsewhere...in the veins of leaves...the veins and capillaries in our bodies....in rivers and streams....
when in Chapter Four of my sister Kelly Rae's book I spoke of finding the fall leaf and the wonder of it; and asked how something that was so simple, yet so complex could be an accident....it was my subtle nod to the existence of a great creator....my subtle mention of God.
As I turn in for the night, exhausted from a day well spent, I am reminded with this photograph of how fortunate I am that one of my most favorite things has become something as simple as an empty tree against the sky...even when entirely void of its colorful leaves, there is still something so exquisitely beautiful to me about its delicate dormancy...On it's surface, it seems lifeless in its frozen reach for sky...but inside, hope lives on quietly through the winter ...saving itself until the next burst of spring.

Scenes from My Life, a very brief photographic and imperfect history of this week

Man, I love the photo filters on Picasa. That way I can just over soften the crap out of my face and make it look like I did it on purpose, but really it is because I am trying to cover up adult acne, no makeup and greasy hair. Did I type that out loud just now? My youngest doesn't mind the greasy hair and adult acne though, as long as we can have some camera fun. 

Alice likes to help fold the white sheets. Only, they aren't dry yet....

Baby Cutie likes to shred my favorite dried hydrangeas.

view from less than clean huge picture window in front of the house...but how I do love watching that huge tree change with the seasons. BLISS.

I live in a bright purple and dark gray house with cheap brown carpet throughout, but it is home and it is easy to vacuum. We have 8 cats (7 of whom are of Tabby persuasion )... kind of like Jennifer's home for boringly colored cats that no one else wants. Soon I will get several color coded cat collars so I can tell them apart without seeing their faces...and I'll also take out a small loan to feed them all every day. I have 5 children (three of which are older teens)(one of which is 23) (one of which is 5) I'm 41. Do the math and then take a photograph of your face when you realize how old I was when I had my first and how old I was when I had my last and how many years between the youngest teen and the youngest and send it to me. I haven't seen that look in awhile and it always entertains.

I work at a kind and colorful Hippie Shop on Tuesdays where I often get amazing free organic soap and rarely sell my jewelry or anything else.

I don't own a flat screen TV. Everything I wear comes from Goodwill, except for my jewelry. If I am not wearing something I made, then I am almost always wearing something that wonderful fanciful she made.

I love Yoplait yogurt. I could eat several a day if I could get away with it. Sometimes I do get away with it. I have healthy intestines. I also have a healthy appetite for anything sweet and creamy.

My sink is overflowing with dirty dishes, because I chose to blog and post jewelry instead, but my counters are very clean.... at least the last time I checked.

This morning, my youngest fed me a mini Butterfinger from his Halloween stash for breakfast as I lay in bed. The best breakfast I've had in ages.
I don't rake my leaves because I like the way they look bunched up around the yard.

Just basic little pieces of a most amazing life...because I choose to see it that way. Because it is. It is amazing in the simplest of ways....as I seek the sacred in the ordinary each day. I love my life more now than I have ever loved it before. It is all in the way it is perceived. It isn't perfect and therein lies the beauty of it. The perfection in the imperfection.

The perfection

in the

imperfection.

Weekend Creating and Gratitude

Health is slowly returning to me and I am ever so grateful. I had a productive weekend creating what I think are some of my prettiest things ever.

Citrus Earrings

Blue Blue Dream of You Earrings

Emerald Dreams Necklace

 I have to resist the urge to stay up into the small hours of the morning working to catch up on all the work I've missed this past month that I've been so ill. I guess in a way I feel like if I am not constantly working and creating and photographing and posting that I'll fade away....that I'll be buried in the history of the internet...that I'll loose customers and momentum and my little business that I've worked so hard to establish will die away. I know in my heart it isn't so.
I've realized the value of time. The feel good time. Family time. Reading time. Dreaming time. Time to just be still (which is something I am just not used to at all). I've learned to slow down much more and savor the process of the jewelry I create. I've learned that my heart's work will always be waiting for me. Maybe that is what this whole thing about being sick was about.  I do know this; I value the good days so much more than I ever have! That is what I am taking away from this experience.
Many many thanks to all of my dear friends who have sent kind words, cards and care packages during this rough time. I feel the love and the light....and I hope that you can feel it coming right back.