new earrings

I just finished these the other day and am loving the color combination with the antique brassy/gold color. It's always a fun process to take apart old jewelry and put it together in a new unique way. Hopefully sometime soon I can put together a before and after post of what old pieces I took apart and reassembled to make into something new. 

Happy Wednesday! 

blogging

When I started blogging (can you make that a verb?) a few months ago I wasn't quite sure what to expect or quite sure that I even wanted to do one. My husband (you can find him here and here) had just started his and since I follow him in just about everything he does, I figured I'd get on board. In order to have some relation to anything outside of my own little life, I've tried to check out a variety of blogs and I have been amazed! There are soooo many amazing, interesting, funny & inspiring blogs out there! Way to go everyone! I feel a little outta my league trying to join the artsy, design loving, sewing & cooking crew.
Here are some of my new favorites:

(clockwise from top left: At Home At Home,  On Blue Pool Road, Big Bang Studio, The Brick House)

todos santos inn

Is that not gorgeous?! Designtripper recently profiled this fabulous old hacienda built in the 1800's and has been restored as a historic inn. The aging mural is so cool-I'd love to learn how to create something that looked like that!

Well, enjoy your weekend and maybe one of us will end up seeing this in person someday!

(Photo by Laure Joliet)

i love lamp

Another unfinished project lurking in my beckley office/junk room is this lamp. I saw this forlorn thing at a local thrift store and loved the simple contours of it's base and had to have it. Somewhere down the road I hope to give it a bulb and a lamp shade to round out the new coat of paint. However I sort of hit a road block.

In my focus on getting it all taken apart for the paint job (my favorite part) I snipped the wires. Now I have to rewire it but I don't remember which wires go where. I'm pretty sure which ones are which, however, if I do it and go to plug it in and they are wrong, I think electrocution might be a possiblity.

So in the meantime it just sits with this lovely high gloss black paint job. Looking lovely, although useless. And yes, that's my garage full of stuff-anyone want to buy a surfboard?

Art From Scrap

I think that a lot of my passion for recycled art and design came from my college years in Santa Barbara. On the search for some art supplies I happened upon Art From Scrap. To quote their own website, "Art From Scrap pfovides the community with a Green Schools environmental education program, an Arts Center, and a Reuse retail store." While I'm sure the Art Center and the Green Schools programs are great, I fell in love with the Reuse retail store.
It is a treasure trove of brown bins overflowing with all kinds of crazy things that have been donated by individuals or by local businesses, all amounting to thousands of pounds of materials that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill. They have things like shavings from the construction of skateboard wheels that look exactly like jellyfish tentacles in neon green or a hundred other colors (like the doll's hair here). Or maybe a thousand film canisters or small tiles. Just all kinds of inspiring and unusual materials that otherwise would have been thrown away.

I think ever since the first time I went in that store I have had a desire to do something similar-to not only support creative artistic expression but to do it in a way that will cut down on waste and make the planet a more beautiful place to live. So if you are ever in the Santa Barbara area-go check them out!!

Art From Scrap-302 E Cota Street-Santa Barbara CA
All images from their Facebook page here
Also this is a great list of centers for creative reuse across the country! So cool!

my magnum opus

is going to be this shirt. Not necessarily because it is the best work I will ever do but because it is becoming apparent that it may take my whole life to complete it. I finally put the last hem in and now it's time to just add a couple of details. But for being a pretty simple pattern it has taken exponentially more time than I had anticipated.

peach season

It's peach season at my parents' farm which means I get to reap the benefits of fresh, organic peaches fresh off the trees! Yum! You can check out their blog here.

in my home: jewelry

With hazy morning conditions I decided to take some photos of two necklaces I have made and saved for my personal jewelry stash. Trying to build up an inventory on etsy has made it hard to keep anything for myself but I have held on to these two at least. 

Tribal Bits Necklace 

Concrete Sherbet Necklace

sweet!

Super cute crafty lamp found here.

how time flies

I can't believe another week has flown by and artistically speaking I don't have a whole lot to show for it. My sewing project is inching towards completion but not a whole lot besides that has been accomplished. Below are some images I put together of jewelry pieces for sale in my etsy shop. These are all necklaces made from a mix of new and recycled materials. For the most part the only new parts are the findings (clasps, wire, rings, etc.) So finding beads like those chunky amber concoctions is always a treat!

WARM SUMMER SUN

These ones remind me of orange sherbet, popsicles and sitting in the hot summer sun. If only it would come out here! It's June gloom time :(

COOL BLUE WATER

These pieces remind me of lazy pool days, ocean waves & floating down the river. Check out the full jewelry collection, plus some other home items too at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/beckleydesign

Happy Tuesday! :)

happy weekend!

found here

elephant ceramics

Wouldn't you love to have some of these lovely pieces on your table? I have never really done much work with ceramics, but this week I found elephant ceramics, a collection of gorgeous & unique handmade porcelain and stone ware ceramics by Michele Michael. Michele is based out of Brooklyn and Maine, designing and producing these gorgeous bowls, plates & serving dishes with a painterly approach-using linen texture and brushing or dripping glaze. The collection is just beautiful!!!

brownies

Baked some brownies and this is all I have to show for them!

new candles

Made some yummy smelling candles yesterday: Tropical Citrus and Vanilla Cake

Finished Vanilla Cake candles looking & smelling good!

 Love the teal glass container for the Tropical Citrus candle

The Vanilla Cake candles are already up and Tropical Citrus will be available in my etsy shop soon!

laferrera

In my web travels this week I stumbled upon the work of Jason LaFerrera, an amazing East Coast artist who digitally uses pieces of old maps to recreate field guide illustrations of all kinds of birds and animals. They are wonderful!

 Japanese Crane

 Le pigeon de Paris

Texas Nine Banded Armadillo

freshwater pearls

Work has been eating up all my extra creative time so I don't have much to show for myself for this week. However, I did get to play with some freshwater pearls for a work project. Usually when I think of pearls I picture the perfectly round, uniform ones. But I love that each of these is so individual and unique!

midweek inspiration

A couple of gorgeous photos by raceytay! They make me want to go travel somewhere-can't wait for summer!