Vintage Jewelry

Sorry I have been MIA recently, life has been busy. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with about 20 family and friends here at my home for dinner. Busy, busy, busy, but lots of fun with the family.

I am now getting ready for a couple of craft shows, so I am busy designing and making jewelry. In making my jewelry, I like to re-use vintage pieces in my designs. I pulled out one box to look through for inspiration and (while I was playing) I took a few pictures to share with you. 

I love collecting vintage jewelry and I have lots of it (and I mean LOTS.) Here are some clip earrings, pins and a few necklaces in the back.

I love the aurora blue pin and earring set. It really sparkles. Yeah, this set just might have to stay with me. Sigh... I could say that about most of this jewelry, I guess that's why I collect it.

Turquoise is my favorite color so of course I had to buy this flower pin. Enamel flower pins are another weakness of mine. There are only a couple of pins in these photos, but I have lots more in my stash.

I could just sit and play with these all night, like a little kid in a candy store. I get so excited when I am out at a yard sale or flea market and spy some special vintage pieces.

I have something special that I made with a stash of clip earrings. It's really a Christmas decoration, but I leave it up all year round. I will take some pictures to show you some other time.

Until next time, take care.

New Jewelry Designs

This post will be short and sweet with photos of some of my new designs. Take a look and let me know what you think with a comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

 

 



 

 

A Great Craft Show

So, the craft show on Friday was really good. There weren’t a lot of crafters this year or as many customers as in years past, I guess that is a sign of the times, but it was still a great day for me. I also met some really nice, creative people. I took a few pictures of some of the other crafters and I will introduce them to you. 

Michael and Joseph make handcrafted photo greeting cards. The photos are gorgeous; they found a great way to use some of their vacation photos.

 

I bought some of this card, the flowers are beautiful and the colors just jump out at you. You can reach them at www.facebook.com/2kleverkats.

This is Joyce. Some of what she sells are vintage style Christmas ornaments and tied fabric wreaths. Joyce and I are huge “salers” and we drove out to the Longest Yard Sale a couple of years ago. It was fabulous. Here are some of her tied fabric wreaths; they are much more beautiful in person. Doesn’t seem like the pictures do everything justice.

 

These are some of the vintage style ornaments. Joyce collects vintage postcards and uses some of the pictures from them for the ornaments. I have a bunch of these ornaments on my tree – love them. Joyce also takes special orders for personalized ornaments, these are great to attach to a present, and it’s a gift in itself.

 

 

Jamie aka Miranda Chance for Atelier Singe was selling her jewelry designs. Her designs have a bold chunky look to them with lots of beautiful colors.

This is my favorite, I am all about the turquoise.

Jennifer aka Country Woods Candle Company makes candles with a natural soy based wax with no dyes. They smell great and she also uses wood wicks that crackle when lit!

She also makes a fragrant room spray and rings for the candle jars that are just beautiful. You can order from her website www.countrywoodscandleco.com.

 

Mary and her sister Ruthanne displayed crochet items blankets, doilies, and scarves, etc. This blanket is beautiful and again I don’t think the photo does it justice.

Well that's all for today. If you want to get in touch with any of these crafters, just let me know. Next time I will show you some of my new designs that I displayed at the show. See you soon!

 

First Show of the Season

I have my first show of the Fall/Holiday season in a few hours. What am I still doing awake??... finishing up some last minute items for the show. This show is open to the public so anyone that will be in center city Philadelphia on Friday, November 2, 2012 is welcome to stop by for shopping of the handmade variety. The show is open from 11:00am to 2:00pm (ish). It is located in the Atrium in the Mellon Bank Building, 1735 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.

The Atrium is on the level between the first floor and the concourse. For those of you outside of Philly, that is basically an underground city under the center of town. The trains that come into town all go underground and their stations are in the concourse. It has become almost like its own town, with shops, restaurants, post office branch, etc. It is great when the weather outside is not so nice.

I will make sure and take pictures at the show to post next time. I hope to see you there. If you do come, look for Bertha (the dressform in the header), she will be sans pearls and wearing some special new designs tomorrow.

Here is a special offer, everyone that stops by tomorrow and mentions "Bertha" will receive 10% off your total purchase. Pass the word.

A Peek at Some New Necklace Designs

Last week I promised to show you a couple of new jewelry designs for the upcoming holiday season, well here they are. They have a little bit of vintage flair which I love. Take a look...

This is a simple design with shades of green stones. I used glass beads and natural stones on a ball chain.

I love butterflys and this necklace below started with a vintage butterfly pin and some lace which is so soft on your neck. I thought the Life pendant was appropriate with the butterfly, a second chance at a completely new and different life.

This necklace was made with lots of vintage treasures. The pearls are from an old necklace, the starburst is a clip earring and the bottom piece was also part of an earring. I love how it has a vintage glam look.


I really like the look of keys hanging on a necklace. This one says Life and it also has the lock/keyhole along with vintage pearls, buttons, and lace. Hmmmm, I just want to keep everything I make!

The last design is one made with a couple of pendants that I handmade with clay and some swirl stamps.

Well that's all for now. I have lots more to make and I will try to have a few more peeks before the holidays. You can also see these photos and more on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lisamarksdesigns.

Bye for now,

A Thrift Store Trip

I want to show you what I picked up at one of my favorite thrift shops last week. I try to stop there every couple of weeks and I always find a few treasures. I have found that Fridays are the best day to shop there because everything in the store is 50% off, yay! I was able to get there on Wednesday so it wasn't half off, but the total for everything was under $4.00, you can't beat that bargain.

I purchased a milk glass vase (when I got home I found out it has a chip in it, darn), two small turquoise plates, sugar bowl, creamer, small jar, and a group of chicks.

The sugar bowl is a pretty pink color with turquoise flowers on the lid and the creamer is a different pattern, but also with flowers in turquoise, purple, and yellow. 

I think the plates will be saved for a mosaic project, the chicks will be used at Easter and I will probably decorate and make a votive holder out of the small jar. I will post pics when the projects are completed.

Next time I will have pictures of the new jewelry I have been making for the upcoming holiday season.

See you soon.



Making Her Mine

I purchased this dressform from someone on Craigslist about a year ago. I couldn’t believe it was such great price and I was the first person to call. I wanted to give “her” a name, so I picked my great grandmother’s name Bronislawa (aka Bertha.) I think the Polish version sounds much prettier, but the nickname Bertha is easier to say.

 

Bertha is made of hard foam and she wore a cloth cover and has a nice stand. (Of course I don't have any before pics.) I purchased her to display handmade jewelry at shows. 

I was SO excited to get her, but she didn’t have that wow appeal so I went to work making her mine. I used some vintage sewing patterns that I had in my stash, tore them into pieces and mod podged them all over Bertha. 

After she was dry, I applied another coat of mod podge, let that dry, and Bertha was ready. 

She really loves pearls and wears lots of them and I mean LOTS. I really love the way she looks with all of her pearls. 

Do you have a dressform, and what did you do to make it yours?

Lisa