Ooodles of Gumball Charms!

Wow, summer's ending, school's starting, time to get back to work! I had a lot of fun looking for treasures to sell/play with, and I came across a CRAZY amount of vintage gumball charms. It was at an antique show, and the woman was selling them by the scoop. I asked her how much for the entire box, and she asked me if I was serious. My husband just rolled his eyes and walked away... guess he didn't want to encourage the loopy lady who wanted to by at least 1,000 old plastic littles.

(these whistles really work!)

I assured the woman that I was indeed serious, and we agreed on a price. I very happily carted away the heavy bags and couldn't wait to go back to the cottage and play.

That was 4th of July weekend. When I had that happy adrenaline buzz you get when you find a treasure, I didn't think of how long it would take me to sort through those 1,000+ charms and toys... I would start out very motivated, then start to go cross-eyed after about an hour and have to stop. Did that over and over and over, etc, and finally it was finished.

I have them listed in both my MLouIsPink shop and my PinkyLouLou shop, as some weren't charms but would make fabulous cupcake toppers.

Here are some, but you'll need to visit my shops to see them all. Have a charming week!

(I know I am a pacifist, but I LOVE these!)

Party Favors

I have been busy since E's party. I had so much fun making the goodies for her party that I just kept going!

These are what I call Party Blooms, and they are layers and layers of crepe paper with treasures and trinkets, mylar confetti, and a fortune. There is a little bottle of bubbles in the center.

All are handmade by me, and they are finished with a crepe-paper and vintage sheet music bloom embellished with German glass glitter and funky beads.

I have made them in quantities for parties, but I have also sold them individually for unique little hostess gifts and other thoughtful presents.

There are different themes, such as bridal and baby, as well as some for any fun occasion. There is a piece of the mylar confetti that shows where to begin unwrapping. I am happy to make any specific colors, themes, amounts, etc.


Here is an image of some of the goodies you may find in the Party Blooms.

Beat The Winter Blues With A Fairy Party

My daughter is turning 5 next weekend, and it's her first girls-only birthday party. We decided to make it really girly and have it here at the house. I know the thing these days is to have birthday parties somewhere else, with built-in entertainment. I remember having birthday parties at home when I was young, and I think it's so cozy. Nothing against party places of course, as we've utilized those things, from Build A Bear to Pump It Up.
Close-up of fairy crown.

My son had lots of at-home parties, but his birthday is in June, where we can do our best to keep
all the kids outside. It's a bit more challenging in a Michigan January!

Another close-up of fairy crown.
Anyway, it started as a tea-party and has morphed into a fairy theme. Being me, not one to keep things easy for myself, I decided that I could make the tutus and wings myself. I also added fairy crowns to the to-do list.

Detail on tutu.
Here are pics of the tutu and crown I made for my E. I will post pics of the wings when I finish them.

Spread-out tutu of tulle, ribbon, velvet leaves, & faux floral beauties.
Of course E gets the fanciest, so the ones for the other little fairies will not be quite so labor intensive. Besides, now I sort of know what I am doing!

Close-up of an invitation.
I made the invites on Photoshop, which I wrapped around pretty faux flowers and secured with a lenth of hot-pink tulle.

Invitations.
OK, gotta go, I have a lot of wings to make in the next week! Enjoy the photos.

Fabulous Vintage Hats For Sale!

I am a collector. That means I have too much stuff.

OK, I don't collect little ceramic animals, or large mixing bowls, or real animals, or tvs, but even though they are all vintage treasures (to me, used stuff to my MIL), it is still stuff. I always have a plan to use the things when I buy or find them, but we all know that our ideas are better than what we actually get around to doing.

What brought this on? OK, don't laugh, but I was at an estate sale this weekend, and I started worrying that I would be one of those women who couldn't get rid of anything and ended-up living like the former occupant of this house. I go to LOTS of estate sales, but this was just stunning.

I literally walked into the house and stopped in my tracks with my mouth hanging open. I could not imagine how all this stuff fit in this house, which was 4,000 square feet!

I asked where the basement was, as I find most of my goodies digging thru boxes down there, and I was told to come back in 2 weeks. They hadn't gotten down there to unpack yet, as there were close to 1,000 boxes down there. What?!?!

There were multiple large styrofoam coolers in the garage full of vintage kids' clothes. 2 rooms upstairs were FULL of fabric. 1 room had almost exclusively yarn and tacky needlepoint kits and cheap crochet forms. A drawer in the family room had over 58 (stopped counting) pillar candles, all used. 8 boxes of inexpensive china teasets in the boxes. 7 sets of chipped china. Hundreds of forks. A drawer of rulers. Hundreds of packages of seam-binding. Boxes of mostly used gift-wrap. More paperbacks than you could ever count. 7 or 8 boxes full of picture frames.

OK, I'm not there yet. I probably never will be either. I did start thinking about how, if I died tomorrow, would my husband and kids have to go through all that stuff in my studio (that I can barely use bc of everything in there)? Why hold onto so much?!

I admit, if it were the middle of the summer, this wouldn't even be an issue, but it is the middle of this truely awful Michigan winter, and I spend a lot of time cooped-up in my house. Time for some early spring cleaning.

I used to be a milliner, and probably will be again, and I have collected some amazing and beautiful vintage designer hats. I went through them, and I am keeping a few, but I have just listed 10 of them on eBay. Click here if you'd like to see all of the auctions.

I will be listing packs of ephemera, vintage photos, vintage jewelry, vintage game boards, and lots more, in my Etsy and Lollishop shops. After all, I will need more room for the goodies I will find in that basement in 2 weeks!

Happy Holidays!!!

Here are some wreaths I made with some of those boxes of vintage ornaments I can't seem to resist when I find them.

LOLLISHOPS

I haven't blogged in so long I feel this great pressure to write about the "right" thing! What if I forget about something?!

OK, let's just get up to date. I have been very busy getting my new Lollishop store up and running, not to mention trying a bunch of on-line marketing thingies to get ready for the holidays. I am actually relieved that it is a week to Christmas, as I can relax a bit! (Until my family arrives that is....)

Lollishops is the delightfully charming new marketplace created by SadieLouWho. Precious little shops with everything cute and vintage and pink and glittery. Really wonderful selection. It's only been open a couple of weeks, it's still in beta, and I have had a ton of traffic and some sales, and I am really happy to have gotten in at the beginning.

I have obviously been lurking around other shops in Lolliland, and I have found some TREASURES! My absolute favorite so far is La Donna Papercuts. I am in awe and just envious of these amazing pieces. I love them all, but these are my faves:

I am so amazed and inspired. She has WAY more patience than I do. I have always wanted to do this, but I doubt I will ever take the time to try. I've been talking about pop-up books for 2 years now... OK, I digress.

"The majority of La Donna's artwork combines the arts of scherenschnitte, papercutting, and paper sculpture. Each piece is hand cut from fine artist’s paper. “Scherenschnitte” literally means “scissors snipping,” and refers to the papercutting aspect of the art. Scherenschnitte is cut using tiny scissors and craft knives, and sometimes pins are used to prick designs into the cutting." This is from her explanation of her work. I sure hope it's ok to quote her, as I couldn't explain it as clearly!

Anyway, check out La Donna's beautiful work, then sit back and take some time to explore the other fabulous shops on Lollishops.

Don't forget mine! ;)

Reorganizing, or Trying to Maximize the Net

Sorry I haven't been around much- I did a fun etsy at the market in Ann Arbor last Sunday, and I am frantically getting ready for by far my biggest event of the year. It's Giftorama at Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills a few days after the election. It is 2 1/2 days, and last year was just crazy. I almost ran-out of goods, plus I was still using my walker bc of my foot. I am determined to have 3 or 4 times more merchandise this year. It is so much fun, inside, and a definate money-maker. Can't wait!


I am always fiddling with the computer, seeing what's out there, changing things around, and I have yet another new plan!

I have done ok with PinkyLouLou.com, but I have done really well with Etsy, especially for supplies. So, I am going to just have PinkyLouLou.com be an ad with links to my selling stores. I feel that being a part of a marketplace is best right now for me. I feel like when I put handmade items in my Etsy shop they get lost. So, I am dividing my things into 2 different names, one for supplies and one for my handmades, with the same names wherever you go on the world-wide net.

PinkyLouLou is for handmades. PinkyLouLou etsy. PinkyLouLou at ShopHandmade. And PinkyLouLou at LolliShops (not open until late November). Oh, I've also put some things up on Cafepress.

MLouIsPink is for supplies. MLouIsPink on etsy. I'll also have a vintage supply store on Lollishops.

I feel like I am forgetting something....

I have gone back a little bit to my millinery roots in the past couple of weeks and made some fancies for your hair. I am using feathers, millinery leaves and flowers, different kinds of French netting, vintage shiny baubles, and more. It is so much fun! Hope you like them!

Back In The Swing of Things

Ok, I 'm back on track, creating as well as finding lots of fun goodies for all of you to play with. I have been stern with myself and haven't bought anything new this past week because I HAVE to get all of the things I already have listed. You know it is so much more fun to hunt for treasures than to actually photograph and edit and list, etc, but I don't have much room to create in my studio because all these vintage supplies have taken over.

Here are some of my favorites that are on MLouIsPink.etsy as well as PinkyLouLou. There is a lot more, so go shopping!

Happily Back In My Studio

Ah, I am feeling more relaxed and happy now. Now that I am off the steroids for my hearing I am feeling much more like myself. Yeah! I have gotten my creative energy back, too. I still can't hear of my left ear, but I'm getting used to it. Sorry for being so crabby last time.
Yesterday morning I made a little pillow with one of my collages printed on fabric, and I was so happy with how it turned-out that I stayed up half the night making a bunch more. The first one is a present for a dear friend, so I am not showing that one yet. They are all around 5"x4", plus the hanging parts.
Anyway, a few months ago I went to an estate sale and walked away with 4 storage units of little plastic drawers FILLED with mainly vintage plastic beads. Who doesn't need thousands of those in every color of the rainbow?! I just couldn't leave them... Some of the other drawers had newer jewerly/craft supplies that I will someday get around to listing for sale.

So, most of these small hanging quote pillows are trimmed with the fun beads. The one above has glass leaf and flower beads that I bought and just love, too. I used vintage barkcloth and a vintage tablecloth for the fabrics. I have ideas for incorporating vintage hankies, too, especially for baby ones.
I also went through my ginourmous stash of fabrics, and I can't wait to start plowing through it. I used to be a milliner, hat designer, until I got really burned-out, so I put my fabrics and sewing stuff away for a while. OK, years. Now it feels like I have all this new stuff to play with, so that's good. I'd forgotten how relaxing and sort of meditative (is that a word?) sewing is for me. I am even thinking of making some more hats. I'll post some pics soon of some of the hats I made when I had my millinery store.

So, I'm going to list these in my etsy store and see what happens. I wish my pics didn't turn-out sort of washed-out. I use Photoshop, but I'm afraid to tweak them too much bc they start to look too messed-with. Any suggestions?
I hope you are having a creative and relaxing day!

Ears Don't Fail Me Now

I have been having a hard time keeping up lately, and I would like to explain why. I started this blog for my business, and I have been trying to keep it from being too personal. That has been difficult. I don't want it to be about me and my life but about my art, but I suppose there's no way of drawing a line between the two. I also didn't want it to be boring!

The past couple of months have been really challenging for me, so I have had a hard time keeping up with my on-line life. I tripped and fell the first week of June (days before the Castle in the Meadow ZNE event) on a step in my house and cracked a rib. I was taking strong painkillers that just made me sleepy, plus I couldn't move (or breathe) too easily, so creating and marathon training were off the table for a while, except for the Castle in the Meadow, of course. Then, once I felt somewhat mobile once again, I woke-up three weeks later with most of my hearing gone in my left ear.

I didn't worry too much about it until that evening, when I learned that it is considered a medical emergency. Off to the emergency room again. They couldn't see anything that was causing it, so an appointment with an ENT was made for 3 days later. 2 days later I was back in the ER with a stunning headache and vertigo. They said it was not related to my ear, so more painkillers and anti-vertigo meds.

The next day I had a hearing test and then saw the ENT. I had lost all low-tone hearing in my left ear, which means no speech recognition. I could still hear high-pitched sounds, which included running water and my shrieking 4 year-old. It was so strange. You don't think about how sounds are combinations of lots of different tones until you can only hear the piercing ones! Anyway, the ENT couldn't find anything either, so she gave me steroids and a vasodialator and set me up with an MRI 2 weeks later.

We had planned a trip up to my parents' fabulous lake house for the Fourth of July, so my brother (who was visiting us during all this and definately helped save my sanity by helping with the kids, etc) drove me and the munchkins up so I could stumble around (trying not to fall on my ribs again) and try to sleep through the piles of pills I was taking. Let me tell you, I HATE to rely on others and play invalid, but I was really grateful to be able to sleep and rest so much. In the meantime, I learned that it can be a great benefit in a Victorian cottage with little noise insulation to be able to sleep on one side and not hear a sound! I also remembered some subtler hearing/balance problems I'd been having even before I fell, I just didn't put it together right away. We figure that that is what caused my fall in the first place.

OK, so I had the MRI last Thursday, and I was desperately hoping that the results would be available quickly, as my hubby and I were leaving early Sat with another couple to surprise a high school friend for her 40th in DC. The ENT suspected a growth/lesion/tumor, so of course I wanted to know ASAP if brain surgery would be in my future! Luckily, early Fri a.m. she called with the news that the MRI was all clear. I did ask for a copy of some of the images after the MRI, so I wasn't surprised, as I knew what she was looking for looked like.

Tuesday I had another hearing test scheduled, and a follow-up with the ENT the next day. The hearing test was administered by another wonderful Audiologist who spent a lot of time explaining everything to me about the first test and then this one, as I had been too overwhelmed the first time to even ask questions. It was the same tests as previously, and before I was finished I was fighting tears and panic, as it seemed to me to even worse to me. The audiologist was on the other side of a tinted window, and I saw her leave the room and then return with a man and show him the results.

She came back in the room and said that the tests showed a sharp decline from 3 weeks previously and the head of Neurotologic division wanted me to stick around they'd squeeze me in instead of coming back the next day. Of course I was sobbing at this point. I realize that losing hearing in one ear is not the worst thing that can happen to me, but any change like that is a shock. Plus, of course it freaked me out also that this doctor wanted to see me immediately.

It really was almost immediately, and the nurse, Physician's Assistant and Doctor couldn't have been nicer, more patient, and explained everything to me and answered all the questions I could come-up with at the time. They believe that it is mostly caused by a virus or an autoimmune disease. The chances of recovering my hearing in the left ear aren't great, but I was sent home with a form for lots of lab work and another prescription for a course of steroids- much longer and much stronger than previously.

I had the blood drawn yesterday morning and started the steroids, and I have been a bundle of energy since. Nervous energy, not giddy energy, but at least I can try to begin catching-up from the beginning of June. I figured I might not need Benedryl to sleep on the first night, but I should have taken it. At 1:00 this morning I had a panic attack about the possibility of losing the hearing in my right ear, too. The tests show it pretty much in the normal range, but there was a small decrease in that ear, too. I didn't want to wake my husband up to watch me cry and try not to hyperventilate, so I went in the guest room and tried to read and calm down. I finally fell asleep and was back up 4 hours later.

So, here I am. I am a bit uncomfortable sharing all this as I don't want to sound like a whiner. I am just really distracted and overwhelmed. I am off to take my morning prednisone and use the energy it gives me to clean my studio and try to get back into the creative groove after more than 6 weeks off. Hopefully I have some things to photograph and show.

The above picture is of a bathroom cabinet that my mom and I altered a number of years ago. I can't take much credit, as it was all her idea and I just did some of the painting of the cabinet. It is in my parents' summer house. It really just occurred to me during this last visit that it was a piece of altered art.

Thanks for "listening" and have a great day.

ZNE at Castle in the Meadow Event

Wow! I know this was a few weeks ago, but I went to the funnest altered art event at Meadowbrook Castle, organized by the absolute QUEEN of altered art fun, Chel from ZNE. That's her tattoo over to the left by the way.

We started with a tour of the Dodge Mansion (the castle), which was really amazing. I'd have pics, but we weren't allowed to take any, and I was a bit afraid of our tour guide (we think she was a former nun/teacher), so I didn't sneak any.

Then we had a yummy cocktail hour and got to know one another before getting down to creating. We each received a large bag full of goodies donated by ZNE vendors and other members, which included vintage glass glitter, papers, charms, fibers, and more. I'll give detailed credit to those who filled the bag soon, as I don't have the info in front of me right now. I provided some sheet music, fibers, tiny vintage images, & a couple of vintage plastic charms &/or milagros.

Here is pic of Chel and myself at the end of the day. I wish she lived here in Michigan, she is so much fun!
This is me with my finished product, and the pics below are of some other projects I really liked. I know the pics aren't the best, but I brought the wrong flash, and it was a bit dark in the room because of the storm raging outside.

This is my new friend,
Cookie Sunshine, who is originally from Alabama and who had me in stitches for most of the afternoon. She really reminds me of some of the fun and eccentric Southern women in my family. Good thing laughter is the best medicine, because it hurt to laugh!
Oh, I had fallen and cracked a rib 4 or 5 days before, but no way was I going to miss this day. I left my pain-killers at home (had to drive), but it was well worth it. I was also a memorable day because we were so busy creating that we didn't realize that there was a bad storm.

It had been sunny when we arrived, but when we tried to leave we were told that there was a tornado warning and the police would let us know when it was safe to leave! The ballroom where we were was on the lowest level, and we didn't notice the other people coming down seeking shelter... It was pretty funny.

What a fabulous day, and I treasured meeting more creative souls and making new friends, including Chel, who I wish would give me some of her boundless energy!