Here's the big news!................

I am so excited! I just opened up my first internet shop: Honey Girl Studio! It has everything from altered art to jewelry to stitcheries to Halloween and Christmas goodies. Please stop in and let me know what you think. I have been working on inventory for many months and feel that I'm finally ready to unveil the goodies! Everything is made by me so I know they are quality arts and crafts. Here are just a few of the offerings........

Smiles-
Tootie

Spooky Cat Paper Doll

close up of a 8 X 10 Halloween stitchery

soldered 1 X 3 pendant

5 X 7 Best Friends Forever collage

2 X 2 paper pin

Something Big!

Something big is coming......................................................................................are you curious?
Stay tuned, it's almost ready............................

Dancing Pumpkin Girl!

This is the dancing pumpkin girl I made. The body is the size of a standard ATC. The arms and legs are moveable and she is holding a little chipboard sign and double cardstock-backed doll. I used SugarLoaf stamps. The little sign is hand lettered and the sign is secured with multi-colored fibers. Her arms, legs, body, and hat are all edged in a shimmering copper colored ink which is difficult to see in the photo. I'm going to punch a small hole in the top of her hat so she can be hung! Available to purchase at the: Honey Girl Studio Shop

Sunshine, Bees and Black-eyed Susans.....

This is a folding chair I painted for a Chinese auction. It was an old typical brown wooden folding chair so I based it in light ivory then distressed it with sandpaper. I then set to work painting the flowers and vines, bees, sun and ribbon on it. I think it turned out pretty good.....

Mom's Kitchen Wallpaper Story.........

Two weeks ago I finished my mom's kitchen "redo" with the help of my mom, dad and my wonderful husband. Mom had wallpaper on the walls which was about 7 years old and it was the country blue and white. It was time for an update. The wallpaper seven years ago was put over paneling (the 70's answer to poor plaster walls!). At that time mom put caulking into the paneling grooves and make the paneling smooth then she put a coat of Bim over it which is like a white primer which helped the wall paper stick to it. So we stripped off the wall paper from the paneling......now let me tell you, the term "dry strip-able" does not mean that the whole sheet of paper will tear off the wall in one fell swoop! It means that the top part of the paper will come off but not the backing which stuck to the paneling tighter than peanut butter to bread! The answer to getting it off came in a bottle called "Chomp", which you spray on the backing that's left and it comes right off with a putty knife in pretty big sheets.

This is what the paneling looks like with the grooves caulked and a coat of Bim on it.....pretty eh?

Second coat of Bim................Having a little lunch break.............mmmmmmmmmmm......Pepsi and ketchup! LOL!

This is the drop above the cabinets with the old wall paper torn off. The next picture is the drop painted with Bim......

The walls are now papered!!! Mom and I picked a muted yellow paper with lighter and darker areas and thank goodness there was no match to it!

Mom and dad looking a little tired....they had been working on the kitchen since 8:00AM, starting with painting the trim and then the ceiling and it was now around 7:30 PM! Long day!

In the homestretch now...........putting up the border................the border is vintage dish towels, aren't they cute?!?!?
The End of the kitchen wall papering story! It's good for another 7 years!

Ornery Friendship and Rememberance...........

Inspired by these vintage photos I whipped up 2 new ATCs, available for trade. The one is entitled "Remember with a picture of a sweet little Germany boy in a sailor suit from 1910. I like the faded, worn out look of the card.....sort of like how memories fade over time. The other ATC is entitled "Ornery Friendship" and picture of the 2 little girls is from sometime in the 1940s. The one on the left looks so ornery.....we all have friends that can be that way sometimes, don't we???!! But, that's part of their charm and what we love about them....that fiesty side, right? This card reminds me of my mom and her best friend. They have been best friends since 4th grade so that's about 66 years of friendship! They argue all the time over the phone and talk sometimes 5 or 6 times a day!

Fiber Bead Necklace..........

So I wanted to make a necklace to go with the bracelet I made but had trouble finding the antique copper colored chain so I two 2 bracelets and connected them together with the toggles and made this companion necklace to go with the bracelet. I even made a pair of earrings to go with it!

Sorry about the color in this pic. I had to hold my arms out in order to take a picture of it on me!

Fiber Bead Charm Bracelet

I made this fiber bead bracelet today. First I made the beads out of blue/yellow batik fabric. To make the beads cut strips of fabric 1 inch wide by 6 inches long and wrap each strip around a bamboo skewer. Secure the end with gel medium. After the gel medium dries wrap a small piece of fibers (I use that crazy yarn they make scarves out of) and glue it around the fabric bead with the gel medium. Next mix the fiber beads with glass beads and colored shell beads on head pins to create charms. I used a patina copper bracelet and head pins for something a little different. I like the look and plan to make a necklace in the future using the patina copper findings.

Sweet Baby Boy..........

Oh yah! Who doesn't just love candy????? This is another pennant that I made for Halloween. I experimented with the metal plumbers tape and I have to tell you......I don't even like it.......I love it! You can easily emboss your own free form designs in it with just a pencil. You can find the foil tape at Home Depot or Lowe's but it's the cheapest at Home Depot ($3.00 a roll). The little boy is a copy of a vintage photo from around the 1930s. Isn't he sweet? Again, this pennant will be soldered b/twn 2 pieces of glass and chooched up with Halloween charms and such. It's been so stinking hot here in PA that I just can't bring myself to fire up the old soldering iron! Holy melting Hershey's chocolate!!!!! It's supposed to be 97 degrees today with high humidity! Not the best conditions to solder in.
If you've used foil tape on your collages I'd love to see pics of it!


Sweet Baby Boy close up.......... he's all glittered up!
This is the back of the pennant........
I used the foil tape at the top. I cut it with decorative scissors to get the scalloped edge then using a semi-dull pencil embossed the curly design and lastly wiped on black paint to go into the grooves and give it some dimension. I also used the foil behind the word love and punched out tiny circles and embossed them to look like screws.
I've been into the color combo of orange, blue and black..............
Melting chocolate smiles-
Tootie

Happy Henry in Paris

This pennant is entitled, "Happy Henry in Paris"......... doesn't he look like he's just full of joy? It will be soldered between 2 sheets of glass with a few charms attached. It's two sided so the birdies in the trees are on the back.

Percy and Percilla

I realize that it is the middle of summer but I got this urge to make a few Halloweenie things......

These pennants are 8 X 6 X 6 and will be soldered in between 2 sheets of glass. I'm going to patina the silver solder black and add a ribbon hanger with a few charms hanging off of it.

I've made 4 pennants over the past week and will share them over the next few days. The pennants are 2 sided. This is the first one I made, I call it "Percy and Percilla". The little boy is Percy the pumpkin on the back of the pennant is Percilla.

The little boy is a copy of a vintage photo. I cut a bat out of black card stock and painted on the eyes. The boy's wings and hat are wallpaper as well as the paisley on the left. Background paper is called "rustic ornate" from The Paper Studio company. I used paper punches (circles and flower) to chooch it up a bit. Don't you just love that intense/placid expression on the kid's face?!?!?!This is the back of the pennant. Everything is hand cut with scissors. I painted the eyes on and cut out tiny stars with the Sissix machine. I like the aqua and orange color combo. I'm thinking about using it in another collage pennant.

Back Porch + Summer = Love

About 5 years ago my husband and I decided to have a roof put on our back patio. It was probably the best decision we ever made. Both my husband and I are in the education field so we are so very fortunate to have the summers off, therefore, we spend a huge amount of time on the back porch. I "chooch" it up with pots of flowers and last year added a Clemitis vine which has climbed to the top of the roof this year on the one porch post. There is always a breeze and I have a great view of the garden! I get the morning sun and that's where I have my coffee in the AM. In the late afternoon it's a great place to escape the heat and have dinner. At night it's a magical place to watch the lightening bugs zoom about. Tell me about your porch!