Eggstravaganza!

Hi all,
Hope you are having a good week so far. I hope everyone in the East is OK with the flooding. My friend Jean in Rhode Island had a flooded basement. Not fun!! Here in Southern California we are having unseasonably cool, cloudy and soon to be rainy weather.
I have been eggstremely busy making eggs for the shop in Agoura, Sticks N Stones!
I will be delivering them tomorrow, so hopefully they will find homes before Easter.
I made a couple of them before, and was asked if I could get anymore done before Easter. I worked my little you know what off to finish them. They did turn out really cute. I put them in an egg carton which helps the cuteness factor. As in the previous post, I was very inspired to make these after reading the Jeanne d' Arc Living magazine. My friend Martha also inspired me to make these too. Martha as you know is my friend and charm maker eggstrordinare!! (How many times can I make words with egg)? (I can see my daughter rolling her eyes) She thinks my jokes are pretty corny!! If you go to Amanda's blog though you will see and hear baby Jake laughing. Only I have this knack for making him laugh. Check it out!!
So I am very eggcited for Jake's first Easter!! We are having an egg hunt even if the weather isn't the best, no yolk!! (I'm sure my spell check is going crazy by now)!!!
Well, after all of this, I am egghausted!!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Easter's On It's Way!

Hi all,
Hope you had a nice weekend. Busy as usual here!
Trying to get ready for Easter. I'm hosting brunch.
My husband and I have been in the yard trying to pretty it up for summer. It was put off until yesterday, because on Saturday it was just too windy to be out in the yard.
Things were flying!!
It's starting to shape up, just need to plant a few more flowers.
As you can see from the photos, I have been making some interesting Easter eggs.
I was inspired by Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine. I won a copy from Laura's blog giveaway. It is a wonderful magazine! More like a book! The photos will blow you away!
If I don't get a chance to visit your blogs this week, I wanted to say Happy Easter!
I have a lot of things going on in my studio as well as Easter.
Have a wonderful week!!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Spring Cleaning and More!

Hi all!
Well, I have been fighting a cold and sinus infection for 2 weeks now, and I'm trying to get some Spring cleaning and gardening done before Easter.
I have missed visiting you the last few days.
I am going to try to get caught up on my blog surfing, while cleaning, gardening, creating, helping with a wedding, planning Easter brunch, watching the new Dancing With the Stars, watching American Idol, playing with baby Jake etc.
Hope you are having a good start to your week.
The weather here is very Springy!! Perfect for all of the things I want to accomplish.
Sounds good doesn't it?
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Jake's First St. Patrick's Day!

Hi all, hope you had a nice St. Pat's Day.
We all went out to our local restaurant. They do up St. Pat's Day in a big way. Lot's of food, Irish music etc. It was Jake's first one, and my friend Jean said don't forget to take a picture of Jake in his green shirt. Well he was still in the stroller waiting for our table. People were lined up outside. Jake was a trooper, and we all had a fun time.
See his little toy giraffe. This is Sophie the giraffe, from France. It's a teething toy that my daughter read about. You can't get it too many places, although you can get in on line, and at Nordstrom. She just got it last week, and the minute Jake got it, it was like magic. He loves this thing. It's soft enough for babies to chew on, easy to hold, and it squeaks. It's really cute too. Leave it to the French!! So it's been baby tested and mother, and gran (that's what I'm called) approved!!
I just got back from my walk, and it must be Spring. I saw 8 new baby ducks following their mother. So cute!!
It's almost the weekend again, and this weekend will be spent in the backyard, getting it ready for Spring, Easter and planting the flower garden.
Enjoy your weekend.
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary, and Jake too!
PS, I forgot to mention, Jake will be 6 months old on Sunday!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Hi all!
Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day.
I'm not Irish, but it's a fun day to wear green, look for rainbows and pots of gold.
Maybe look for fairies and leprechauns.
Enjoy your day!
Chat again soon,
Love,
Rosemary

Spring Is Near

Hi all. Hope you are planning a fabulous weekend!
Getting ready for daylight savings time and Spring.
I made this banner using graphics from Karen the Graphics Fairy!! I drew, cut and glittered the letters with some German glass glitter. I used some pretty seam binding to string it on. I couldn't resist the pretty colors in the graphics. She has many bird and egg graphics on her blog.
Enjoy your weekend!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary
PS, be sure to click on photo to enlarge!

Suitcase Redo

Hi all. Hope you have been having a nice week. The weekend is near, yay for that.
I did this little project using an old overnight suitcase. Last time we went to the flea market my husband purchased something, and it was stored in this case. They gave us the case for free, so of course I decided it was mine. I tore out the old lining, besides being ruined, it was quite an ugly color. I relined the bottom and sides with my new favorite, burlap. I lined the lid with French dictionary pages and bits and pieces of old travel related things that I printed on the computer. I also stamped in a few places.
Now I just need to figure out where this will go and what it will hold.
I got a few requests from my last post about stamping on silverware. I am just learning myself, but I said I would give the list of supplies and the basics.
You can purchase metal stamps on Etsy like I did, but then I found out you could get the same stamps at Harbor Freight for 3 times less. If you don't have a Harbor Freight store, go to the hardware store. I was a little ticked about that, but it is what it is. I got 2 sets, but I like the 1/8" the best. You need a very strong hammer, at least 16lbs or more. You need a steel bench block to hammer on. I bought mine at a bead store, but you can get them on line too. You then need some old silverware. I have been using butter knives, forks and spoons. Once you know what you want it to say, hold the stamp super steady, and pound it 7-10 times without letting it move. Then you color the word in with a sharpie, and buff out the excess with a very fine piece of steel wool. You can also use this other blackening stuff called Liver of Sulphur, but it smells bad, and is messy. I like the good old black sharpie.
I watched a tutorial on line but they only hammered once really hard, and that didn't work for me, so you do need to experiment. Watch out for your fingers, don't smash them.
Have fun!! Have a great weekend!
Chat again soon,
Love,
Rosemary

Neutral Fun

Hi all, and happy Tuesday.
I have been having a lot of fun lately with neutrals. Blacks, whites, creams and silver. Thought I would snap a few photos of what I call having fun.
Making up little vignettes using these neutrals. The picture of the Madonna and child is a candle that I made using this wonderful graphic.
In the photo of the silver dish with the butter knife, well let me tell you what fun that was. I got some new metal stamps so I could stamp on silverware. It takes some practice, and you sometimes get your fingers smashed by the hammer, but the outcome is pretty cool. I am just learning, and it's kind of tricky, but fun!!
I used to be into more reds, greens, yellows, but now I'm changing a bit. I love old and rusty, tarnished and worn.
This week I'm working on an old train case that I got from a flea market. I will show it to you when it's finished.
Hope you are all having some fun too!
Have a great week.
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Party Weekend!

Hi all, hope you are having a fun weekend so far.
It's the opening of Alice In Wonderland this weekend. I won't have a chance to see it this weekend, but if any of you do, please let me know how it is. Maybe there are some Alice In Wonderland parties. I'm sure that will be a theme this year, as well as some great Halloween costumes come Fall.
My daughter's friends are celebrating their twins first birthday today, so I made them each a party hat. It was fun to make one pink and one blue, for Dylan and Kyra.
Happy first birthday to them! I guess this means that it's baby Jake's first birthday party. Jake is now 5 months old, and so much fun! He has the perfect personality. Smiles for everything!! (See photos on Baby Balice Blog)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Going to a concert tonight at Pepperdine University.
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary
PS, and don't forget the biggest party in Hollywood tomorrow night!

Creating For Friends

Hi all!
Hope you had a great week so far. It's getting close to the weekend, yay for that.
Just want to show you some things I have been working on for 2 of my friends. The cones are for my friend Martha. She is a wonderful artist, and makes amazing vintage charms, and has a lovely blog. If you haven't checked her blog please do.
MJ Ornaments. I just mailed these today Martha, hope you like them. Martha and I did a little trade, charms for cones. She wanted something in the cream and white family. She says she is obsessed with the white right now. Hope these work.
Now for my friend Jean, you know my friend that lives in Rhode Island. She asked me if I had ever decorated flower pots. I said I hadn't, but I was willing to give it a try.
She wants them for her Palm Sunday/Easter table. Two matching pots in Easter colors, with chicks. I happened to find these two buttery yellow pots at a recent garage sale, brand new with the price tags still on for, drum roll..... $1 for both.
How could you go wrong, and it kept me from running around looking for the right pots. I used old Easter postcard images, glitter, sheet music, and Easter grass. They were shipped and arrived in one piece. Jean loved them, and they were just what she was thinking. Which is always good for me, I love to try out my psychic abilities.
These two projects were quite fun, and I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted.
Well, you all have a wonderful weekend!!
We are suppose to get more rain, which is great for the Spring flowers that are starting to bloom.
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Flea Marketing!

Hi all, and happy Tuesday.
I'm just about ready to go and get my hair done. Gotta get that color once a month.
I thought you might like to see some photos of my flea market day last Sunday.
I got that really pretty and heavy silver plate tray for $10. The sideways picture of the clock (Didn't have time to fix picture sorry) I got for $5, I know a clock that doesn't work for $5, but I like the way it looks. I got it from one of the nice ladies you see in the photo. Now the Ginger tin, I love it. It came out of an old store. I guess people used to buy their spices and teas loose from tins. Anyway, not a bargain at $75, but my husband got the guy down to $50. It's going somewhere in my kitchen.
I had to take the photo of the bat and bugs. I thought it was a little creepy, but cool. The rest were just some random shots, you see I always get so involved in looking that I forget to take the pictures for you guys!!
It was a fun day, and the weather was perfect, considering the day before we had thunderstorms.
Have a great week!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary