New Thrifting Finds

I went thrifting this weekend and found quite a few items, which I will post pictures of and write about in a future post. The one item I am really excited about is a HOBO International cognac leather purse, which is in pristine condition. The purse model is Hobo Lola in cognac leather. It retails for $158 and I found it for $2, yes, 2 dollars!!! It is exactly what I was looking for, because it is really plain, without any embellishments and it perfectly matches the color of my pair of Pappagallo woven oxford shoes. The reason I am so very excited about this is that I have a horrible time finding a purse I like, because most of them are too ornate. They have too much gold or silver, or too many tassels, etc. on them for my liking. I prefer classic, or as my daughters call it, a boring plain style, which seems very hard to find. So now I can finally retire my worn out black plain and boring Coach purse, which I have been using for years, whether it matched my outfit or not. I think the fashion police, aka my daughters, will be happy :)

Brooch Bridal Bouquet

This beautiful bouquet is handmade with silk and satin flowers and highlighted with rhinestone, glass pearl and aurora borealis glass beads. It is made by my youngest daughter, who has decided to make bridal items and sell them, so she can support herself during her last year of undergraduate architecture studies, and hopefully save enough money to pay for graduate school. Here is her Etsy Shop link: www.floweredsplendor.etsy.com
Please take the time and look at it. She will be adding more related bridal items soon.

New Soap!! Honey Mint soap made with Honey from Uppsala, Sweden.

Here are a couple of pictures of the soap I made today. It is honey mint soap, made with honey from the linden tree blooms of linden trees, that are growing in the backyard of a family friend in Uppsala, Sweden. The honey tastes sooo good, and I am sure it will be equally wonderful (just not tasty :) )in the soap. The soap will be unmolded tomorrow evening and cut into bars and then needs to cure for 3 to 4 weeks. It will be available for sale in my Etsy store in about a month, so check it out.

What's new?

Things are moving right along. I am able to use my right arm again. And even though it does not fully straighten and I am only allowed to lift very light things, I am happy to be able to type and and write and do other small things. In the meantime, while I was bored to death, I went thrifting. I found a bunch of stuff and will post pictures asap. I was also given a dining room table and chairs by a dear friend who moved away. It needs a remake and I found an example online of what I want it to look like. I also planned overhauls of the office area and the kitchen in my studio. Yep, lots of ideas and plans. That's what happens when one can't do anything and has too much time to plot. I will post pictures of my recent thrift store finds soon, and I will also document the new projects, once I start working on them. Can't wait to get started!!

Back in Business! New Pink Soaps.

Today it has been 2 weeks exactly since my surgery. Everything went well and I am on the road to recovery, even though it will be another 3 to 4 months until I am even allowed to lift even the lightest thing. My biggest problem, as anticipated, is extreme boredom. There is only so much one can do with the left hand only. I am sick and tired of taking it easy and reading and watching tv etc.,so today I decided to drive myself to a couple of nearby thrift stores. I also put my Etsy store back online. I made enough soap before my surgery, so I don't have to worry about running out. All I need is help with the packaging. I made several kinds of soap. Besides for the regular Prickly Pear, Tea Tree Oil & Shea Butter shaving soap, I also made a pink Pomegranate, Vanilla, Lavender shaving soap and a pink 100% Castile soap. Both are made with Pink French clay. The great thing about pink clay is that it is very mild and does not dry out the skin, so even people with dry skin will be able to use it. The pink clay makes the castile soap not only a pretty color, it gives it purifying properties for people (and babies) with even the most sensitive skin. I reformulated the pomegranate shaving soap and according to everyone I have given it to test, it has a more luxurious and silky long lasting lather than its predecessor. And let's not forget, it smells oh so good! Well, if you have read this, check out my Etsy store (even though the new soaps are not listed yet) www.xclusivedesigns.etsy.com

What to do with my time.

So tomorrow is the big day. I am finally having surgery on my right arm, which has been hurting furiously since May of 2011. After many doctor and specialist visits, many, many tests, physical therapy and cortisone injections, the medical community(and more importantly, my insurance company), have finally come to the same conclusion I did over 6 months ago: my arm is not getting better without surgery. Since I have multiple problems in that arm (torn tendons, bone spurs, ulnar nerve compression), I opted for having 2 surgeries at once, so I don't have to go "under the knife" twice. That way I have a scar on each side of my arm I can brag about. Of course this will prolong recovery time to at least 3 months before I can lift even something light :(
And unfortunately it is my right arm. By trying to prepare myself and using primarily my left arm, I have come to the realization that I might as well have a foot on my left wrist, because that's how bad my dexterity is with that left hand. Just trying to use the mouse on my pc with the left hand, makes me want to scream.
This means all project will have to come to a screeching halt, and let me tell you there are many! My Etsy store is in vacation mode and even though I made plenty of soap beforehand, I will need to wait until my youngest daughter comes home from college for the summer to do all the packaging and shipping for me.
So what am I going to do with myself? I cannot stand to stay in bed for longer than a day, and that is even when I am quite sick, so what am I going to do for 3 months without being able to work on my projects?
I guess I will dream up new ones, watch lots of home improvement shows and read a lot of books?! That will get old after about a week!
I started making a list of things to do while laid up, but could not come up with a whole lot of stuff that sounded even remotely interesting.
I also have been practicing to drive with my left hand only, which went fine, as long as I don't attempt to parallel park. Yeah, that did not go so well. I guess I could always just drive forward :)
Well, anyways the soap is made, and I now have all the time in the world to go thrifting.
So wish me luck, because the surgery is on a Friday the 13th, and even though I am not in the least superstitious, it is amazing how many other people are and have told me I would be wise to reschedule. There is a bright side to this: if many people feel like that, surgery volume for that day should be low and my surgeon will have all the time in the world to concentrate on getting things done right with my arm.
From now on posts will be shorter and fewer, because I am an impatient person and have no desire to have to type my ramblings with one finger.
But maybe I could get a secretary? :)
So if you read this and have suggestions and or comments, please leave them, because I am sure I will be bored out of my mind.

new soap supplies

I am going to make new soap this weekend. I finally received my orders in the mail this week. I bought Fench green clay from Portugal, and I also bought French pink clay, which is supposed to be the mildest clay.
The green clay I will use for the prickly pear soap, and the pink clay for the pomegranate shaving soap. I hope it will color the soap accordingly. That would look very nice. I am still debating if I should get the yellow clay for the dandelion root soap!?
I will have to make lots of soap before April 13th, so I have a lot in stock. I am going to have major surgery on my right arm, and will basically be out of commission for a few months. The doctor gave me a recovery time of 3-4 months, with NO use of my arm during that entire time. Not good!! That means no new jewelry, no mosaics, no painting. That is going to drive me crazy. What am I going to do with myself for that time period? I guess I will have to do a lot of thrifting, that is if I can drive myself. Looks like I better start making a list of activities I can do while laid up.
I am also trying to decide if I should close my Etsy shop for a while, but I think with the help of my family and friends, I can still run it and just have them package the orders for me. We shall see how that works out!
Oh, and I messed up one of the circuit board pendants shown in the previous post. As usual the resin ended up with a big air bubble in one of them, even though I followed directions to the t. I HAVE to find another resin besides the Magic-Glos. I tried to use the torch as suggested to get the bubble out, and all it did was mess up the pendant even further.
Well, nothing I can do about it now. On to making soap! Pictures will follow.

New jewelry

I made 4 new pendants out of circuit board. The green circuit board is from my old laptop, the purple board I found at a thrift store. I added Swarovski crystals and polymer clay to the circuit board to make the pendant less boring. The two square small pendants still need to be covered with UV resin, but it has not been sunny enough and too windy to finish them. The resin dome will enhance the single Swarovski crystal on it and make it sparkle even more. Once all the pendants are finished and I have had a chance to take pictures, they will be listed in my Etsy store

Past Artist in Residence Project

So I decided it is time to post someting other than soap stuff again.
A few years ago, when I was artist in residence at a local elementary school, I did some paintings on the walls in the media center. The paintings are in the shape of books. The books are curiculum based themes, as in "the rainforest, fractured fairy tales and the desert". To make them more interesting for the students, the books are "I Spy- books" with objects hidden in them for the students to find. I wrote a poem for each book which listed the things to find.
So how about it, can you find everything?

New Shampoo Bars

I made new shampoo bars today. This time, I made a bigger 4+ pound batch, because I spent yesterday morning building a mold out of leftover wood we had laying around the house. I adapted the recipe to fit the new mold perfectly.
The soap is a Pomegranate, Vanilla, Lavender shampoo bar and it smells so good.
It should be ready in about 3 to 4 weeks.
I am going to make Honey Mint soap tomorrow, as soon as I have unmolded this batch, so I can use the new mold again.