An Easter surprise on its way

Yesterday I've sent a little Easter package on a 200 miles trip to a dear friend.  Besides this tag

it contains embellished eggs, a birdie and some laces she might like to use in her artwork.

Since the dear friend is a little bit busy right now, she might not read this post. In case she does however, I wouldn't want to have revealed everything already, when the mailman brings my package. Therefore I don't show you the little surprises that are in the large egg and the paper envelope. Besides, I forgot to take pictures anyway, lol.

Yesterday I received this sweet little pillow that Rhonda over at

"A Little Bit French" has sent me as a giveaway prize. Thank you so much! Rhonda loves everything French and makes beautiful fabric books, pouches and a lot more. Please hop over to her blog or her Etsy shop to take a look at her wonderful creations!

The pillow was lovely packed in sheet music paper and came with that sweet Marie tag.

Hugs to you,

A crocheted necklace and some giveaway wins

Last week I had been in the mood to make a piece of jewelry. I remembered that a while ago I had seen a bead necklace that was crocheted using wire. That was something I wanted to try and looked for a tutorial. I found one by Karla Kam on YouTube, watched it and started right away. Fortunately I had everything, that was needed, on hand: A large size crochet hook, thin wire, large beads and a clasp.

This is my finished necklace

This had been a fast and fun project. I think it didn't take me much longer than about half an hour, so this could be a great last minute gift idea. Please click HERE if you like to see the tutorial.

I have to share two more wins from the One World One Heart event that had arrived. The first one is LiLi's beautiful altered book. It was filled with sweet little surprises like tags and German scraps:

I've made a collage to show you some of the pretty inside details as well

Thank you so much, LiLi! I just love it!

The second gift that had come in was from Cat over at Gypsy Nurse. I was lucky to win one of her lovely gypsy bags. She chose to send me this one and I'm very happy with it. Thank you so much, Cat!

 

It finally seems to become spring over here. The sun came out and the first flowers showed up. It's not freezing anymore and it feels so good to leave the house without wearing gloves and a muffler. Spring is my favorite season and after this long winter I'm even more happy to welcome it.

Have a great and sunny weekend!

Hugs,

The Beauty of Imperfection

Before I fell in love with mixed media art I couldn't appreciate items that were broken, stained, frayed etc. A chipped mug, a book that was falling apart, a stained doily - everything would go into the trash. At flea markets I would only watch out for laces, linens and other things in perfect condition. I would have never even considered buying a damaged Charlotte like you see in my assemblage. Only antique furniture was "allowed" to show some signs of wear. This has changed and now I can swoon over things that are not perfect. Even better when they already have flaws, fading and imperfections. Then I don't have to make them look old.

When I bought this Charlotte doll I didn't have a special project in mind. Some weeks later I received a flower pot from a neighbor. When the flowers were faded, the pot went into my studio and all of a sudden I knew what to do with the Charlotte. The pot wouldn't stand upright because of its beveled construction but the base of a wooden box fitted perfectly to hold it. It just had to be painted the grayish color of the flower pot. I let the doll in her original dirty condition but gave her a strand of pearls. To the pot/box construction I added a piece of lace, a couple of buttons, some stamping and a soldered tag. I didn't even have to think about what the tag would say - it had to be "BEAUTY".

When I had glued the flower pot to the box, hubby came by to look what I was doing and came up with an idea. Why not put something into the box? Well, I have to admit that I wasn't too thrilled at first. When he suggested to make the assemblage a music box, I loved the idea though and willingly took it apart to add a music box mechanism. So, now it plays a little tune when it's winded up.

Have a wonderful and sunny weekend! Maybe you will go to a flea market or a goodwill store and find some lovely imperfect treasures for your next project :-).

Hugs,