Monthly Archives: October 2006

…journal #2 & #3 and now i’ve decided that they are too pretty to lug around so they will sit on my studio shelf all lonely.
tonight i hung up some pretty wintry william morris inspired curtains and unpacked my lantern to hang as well. warming up the room for the cold windy days ahead and looking forward to the washed-out colors the season brings. welcome november! i am dying to hear the new joanna newsom. for now I listen to the milk-eyed mender.
here it is, fall’s last lament…

handbound book-

made from my fav paper

sir woolly bear. i wanted to take him home but i soon realized it would be mean to keep him in a little jar. the next day i saw him squashed on the path by a bicycle tire. i should of listened to my intuition.

sunshine setting in the woods. it gets dark too early for me to see this anymore:(
i see it on my commute home from work.

robin-egg blue teapots and cups on journal #3

no more fall colors for me ’til next year.

An update! I made a little photo collage to show what I have been up to…

Now that the clocks have been turned back it gets dark SO early…4:00! I think my weekday forest meanderings are over for the season. I have to change my walking route to go through the well-lit town.
And…my first three sketchbook journals are complete. Sneak peek here. I took them into the woods for a photo shoot by the leafy stream the other day.

Click link below for pictures.

I had to take my boots off to get a picture of my tights before they get destroyed (my tights always seem to have a short lifespan):(

Presenting…sketchbook journal #1! Made from scratch and bound by me…

The cover…

I doodled a girl on sketchbook #1’s cover.

Last weekend I went into the city searching far and wide for gigantic heart lockets. Found them! I need to put some sketches inside, don’t you think?

Lost lockets and holes in trees…

The sunlight was amazing, especially the way it radiated through the leaves. I’m going to miss fall:(

Shelf Mushrooms. I had fun.

Will post closeups of my other sketchbooks very soon.

I have so many things to update, my head is spinning. Hopefully tomorrow I can sift through the photos and format.
Handmade books, giant lockets, art.
I need to shift my focus now. Less crafts, more painting… sketching, the clay sculptural figures and shadow boxes I have been meaning to create, daily work in my new sketch books….
I wish I had more time. For now, I leave you with this..
Nothings better than walking through the fallen leaves in my patchwork tights!

…and fallen leaves! Just took a much needed walk through the woods..and to my surprise the trees are mostly bare! Puts me in a sort of sad mood as I have been thinking a lot lately of my heart flip flops, yellow and iced tea. I changed my clothesline inspiration catchall to accommodate a clipping of a girl in a beautiful eyelet scarlet colored dress….red mary janes and the unicorn tapestry I will soon visit in a few weeks…

On my shelf, my ribbon pile grows. The ribbons will be used to bind my handmade journals.

Its about time! Journal # 1 almost complete (not bound and it still has the clips affixed) . I will use it to record all the little pictures in my head. Handmade by me from my papers. On the cover the blank white space with the faint sketch is where I will doodle a girl with keys and bunnies to grace the cover.

A inspiring clipping from Blueprint magazine. Who knew I would be inspired to even add suede to my little sketchbooks because of this magazine.

Anthropologie was having a killer sale! No wonder I am thinking about summer, as I am stocked! I am so inspired by yellow, green , black and white right now. I was thrilled to finally own the Sundrop Skirt! Yellow is the best. My “finds”…

Yellow ! An awesome find from the thrift shop last weekend. A cute vintage button up blouse from the 50’s (I think) with a scalloped bottom. Detail….
Now I really miss summer. I packed it away in a box with my other new found threads.

Changed the alter again. Added little pumpkins and some antique black lace.

From afar…

For giggles…me thrift shopping. I did not know that this picture was taken! I am a true madwoman in the thrift store.
Besides the yellow flowery blouse I found a beautiful Free People silk dress with petite pink flowers scattered about. It will go into my sunshine clothes box as well.

Book progress pics coming soon.

Last Thursday was our wedding anniversary…three years already! I was reminiscing about the long months before the wedding I spent making all sorts of decorations and goodies. The photos show just a teeny tidbit of what I made for our day…

My favorite- mossy faerie cottage centerpieces for all 12 tables! The “cottages” even have a small yard enclosed with a vine fence and blooming rooftops of sunflower and berries, all sprinkled with shimmer dust.

The tables-white for the wedding with bursts of fall goodness. I sprinkled little leaves on all the settings. The house centerpiece has a pumpkin on the roof!

I made 150 of these guys for favors and to sit in every faerie cottage centerpiece “yard”. This one is chilling out in the moss.

I constructed a giant faerie mansion to welcome the guests as they approached the doorway to the inn. The cottage sat at the end of a wraparound porch lined with rockers all in a row.

We were married outside surrounded by rolling hills and fall foliage. I made tall leafy topiaries to line the aisle, one row shown here. At the end of the aisle is our metal archway for the ceremony. The inn has such beautiful scenery!

Bubble jars for everyone attending!

Pixie from Pixie Vision Productions, our “faerieographer”, wearing wings I made.

What a beautiful, crisp autumn day we had! The location was breathtaking! This is where it was held:
http://www.cliffparkinn.com/

This weekend I picked these lovey little autumn daisies on one of my walks…

They are the color of the lightest lavender and so tiny!
And I wore my new key necklace to the Faire…

Two more decorated papers I constructed to cover my handmade books. Acrylic on Reeves Lightweight paper. The swans are cut out of paper. Yes, this task drove me absolutely crazy! Two more covers to go to fulfil my goal of 6 books.

Teacup paper. The teapots and cups are actually a pretty baby blue on brown and copper stamping. Colors did not show up as well as I hoped.

10 minutes before leaving for the faire I took this picture. I like how my crow looks in the background!

I braided my hair and adorned it leather flowers with wooden sticks. The night before I conditioned it with a mixture of honey and chamomile, which left a wonderful aroma all day long!

There are beautiful arches and ivy near The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan. I went exploring with my friends son.

A pretty embroidered flag that one of the food vendors was displaying.

Pretty green face.

Me atop a wall of ivy. If you look closely you can see my head popping out! A short woodsy walk beyond the wall are heather gardens.

I like to think of this white bird as a dove. He was perched at the entrace to the heather garden.

The Cloisters Museum.

I had a great day, mainly because I was in the company of a good friend and her son, and the views of the Hudson were gorgeous. The gardens were pretty too. We sat in the heather garden and ate our lunch. The faire was so crowded (estimated 40 thousand) and I could not see a thing. I was more excited about the Cloisters than the Faire, but the line to get in the museum was so long. For those that do not know… The Cloisters is part on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and it houses medieval art…the most famous being this:

I will be going back very soon to see the tapestries and walk in the medieval gardens. I think it would be very pretty to visit there in the winter.

Went for a woodsy walk and spotted some elderberries (I think), thanks to my little “Flower Fairies of the Autumn” book. So I took a little snippet from the berry bush. While rummaging through a box of hippie clothes to a yard sale this morning I found this fabulous emeraldy green/ deep turquoise sparkly sari…perfect backdrop for my elderberries! I’m going to put it away in a box ’til spring.

And…and….today I got the most magical package from

The moonstone elven star was not a surprise, but the rest was! Just look at the key necklace! I love it all so much, thanks Jenn! The picture does not do the sterling silver jewelry justice, I will post better snapshots later.
I am going to wear the key tomorrow to the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryton Park, 190 street NYC. Then I’m going to hop on over to the Cloisters to view some of the tapestries, which always inspire me to no end. I am so psyched. Hopefully I will be able to take some pics of my Medieval adventure tomorrow and post very soon.
http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/department.asp?dep=7
AND….to see the bag, which was a trade for the jewelry…

Yes, my faerie bag series is over. My last commission/ trade went out to Jenn. I love the way she came out, take a look:

Detail, with the flash

I have been growing, evolving, expanding and art has become an even larger part of my life. I will be moving on to different mediums and subjects.
I have a few bags left, will post on my LJ very soon. Most on the site are sold.
Right now I am working on a series of 6 handbound books to be used as daily sketchbooks. Next post will be the rest of the decorative papers…stay tuned!

Rose hips I picked along the trail today. Pulled out my “Flower Fairies of the Autumn” book to find the corresponding poem.
They matched the ‘hips in the illustration perfectly. Satisfies my craving for MORE vivid red, can you believe it.

Also bought some fancy ribbon to tie my birdies around my neck, choker style. The other is on a golden chain.

More pics below, clicky link…

Cardinal necklace, sculpted simply…

I have been making decorative papers to be used as book covers on my handbound artist journals. I am making a series of six Eastern Style books to record my art ideas. Each will be 7″ by 10″. Here’s Journal cover #1. Reeves lightweight paper, acrylic paints

Journal cover #2

Still organizing the studio. Made these to pin onto all my pretty art supply baskets and bins…vivid apple green. Love.

I love mason jars. Paint brushes, under the easel.

A bit spring-oriented but I just LOVE little skimmer/ ballet flats. They are so light, bright and pixie-ish. I usually don’t post pictures that aren’t my own, but I made a photo collage of my shoe desires for fun and just HAD to post. I especially adore the canary yellow ones. Second favorite is the black and white dots with the pink floral inside. I love wearing bright color on my feet as it keeps my toes happy.
Shoes taken from:
http://www.zappos.com/n/es/d/722000258/show_all/1/page/1.html
They have HUNDREDS of flats!
I smell a sale with winters blustery boot weather upon us.

I love bright, vivid red! One of my most favorite colors. I recently took some quick inspirational pics of “portals” -skeleton keys and doorways and holes in trees and such. All red!

First drink some of this. Aren’t these bottle so adorable? I don’t even know what it is, but they were for sale Whole Foods. I resisted the temptation to buy for the bottle just for the knomies!

And eat one of these, take your pick…from last weekend up in the country. You could image the smell radiating from the crate.

I went for a walk with my skeleton key in pocket. I hung it on a hollow tree trunk. Passerby’s must of thought I was mad.

Red doorway to my house growing up. Taken last weekend. Theres a wonderful 100 year old crank bell on the door that makes the most eerie ring.

I know I already posted this teeny painting but it just goes so well with my red theme.

And who could forget the rabbit. I bought this repro as a gift.

Sit down, have a cup of tea from my mums cabbage teapot! handpainted pretty pansy antique tray.

Time to go! This clock is a repro from Victorian Trading Company, a lovely company that has wonderful Victorian themed goods!
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/3c.html

I will post a new bag soon, my last!