Broken China Jewelry With Lace!

I wanted to show you some pictures of a couple of new jewelry designs I am working with! I just love the lace charms so much that I am now adding them to my broken china bracelets.

I think they complement each other so well. Dishes and lace!!! It’s almost like wearing your grandmother’s table around your wrist! I think the addition of the lace charms, makes the jewelry a little bit more romantic too!

This bracelet is made with vintage French Limoges china in the Bridal Rose pattern. I love the fluffy pink and soft yellow roses on this china.

The lace charms are also “bridal” since they came from vintage bridal hankies! You don’t have to be a bride to wear this pretty and romantic design!

I’ve also added a bracelet made only with lace charms and the bracelet is also adorned with pretty pearls and crystals to enhance the lace.

I think this is a romantic look too.

And I think lace jewelry practically goes with anything you could wear!

Each charm on the bracelet is made with a different piece of vintage lace.

Thank you for allowing me to share my newest creations. If you would like to see more pictures, click HERE for the china bracelet. And if you'd like to see the lace bracelet, click HERE.

I hope you liked my newest additions and that your day is filled with a little beauty and romance too! xoxo ~ Joy

Finding Your Bliss

The dictionary defines Bliss as the following: 1: complete happiness 2: paradise, heaven. That pretty well defines the place I was at today.

We awoke to thunderstorms this morning which rather than moving through quickly, like they typically do here in Florida, the rain showers stayed put for most of the day. I LOVE days like this! The air temperature cools and the rain seems to clean and freshen the air.

As I sat at my workbench this morning, one of those lovely moments of pure bliss and contentment came to visit. I had my “fancy” lights on (a pretty little crystal chandelier that my parents gave me for a birthday gift last year and also the strands of twinkle lights that rim my ceiling), Barkley was curled up in his basket, beautiful, relaxing music was on the stereo and I had a big cup of coffee in my favorite mug, to enjoy as I worked.

But my favorite part was the sound of rain on the roof. My studio is located at the back of our 1924 bungalow and it used to be the old sleeping porch. We have a covered patio directly outside my studio that has those old corrugated tin panels for a roof, like what you’d see on an old southern cottage or barn. I love the sound of rain on an old tin roof!!! To me, that’s one of those simple pleasures in life that makes you go aaahhhh…..

After I finished my work I stepped outside and snapped a few pictures of raindrops on flowers around the patio. I think even the flowers would say they had a “Blissful” day too!

I would love to read what makes a day or moment “Blissful” for you too, so please share your comments here with us!.…..xoxo Joy

Personalized Charms Added to the Shop!

I’ve been wanting to do this FOREVER! I was in the studio this afternoon working on the first installment of a new collection of jewelry for my website. I’ve finally added some sweet personalized charms to my collection that can add a bit of personalized romantic charm to your jewelry collection.

I’ve seen a number of soldered initial charms out there on the World Wide Web, but everything I saw seemed so plain to me. Just a plain initial on a plain background. I hate to duplicate and really strive to be as ORIGINAL as I can be with my design work. So being a girl who is all about MORE is MORE, especially in regards to romance and bling, I just knew that my charm designs had to have a little extra sumptin’ sumptin’ style to them. So here we go with the first few designs.

COTTAGE ROSES

These designs started as vintage images that I further embellished by hand-tinting the images so the colors popped a bit more.

LE JARDIN

MADEMOISELLE VERSAILLES

Each image can be personalized with your choice of 3 different font styles.

ORNATE CHERUBS

VICTORIAN GARDEN

And the back of each charm includes an original snippet from a vintage French love poem book which has been hand printed with a Tiara stamp. We are all Queens after all!!!

The larger personalized charms include pearls taken from a vintage wedding necklace. I’ve been saving these pearls for something special and I think these charms fit the bill. I hope you like these newest additions and will stop by my website for a visit :) ~ hugs ~ Joy

Guardian Angels

Do you believe in Guardian Angels? I’ve been re-reading this beautiful book that one of my sisters gave me some time ago.

In 2000, one of my younger sisters passed away and she loved and collected Angels for most of her too-short life. Her passing was so hard and my family now has taken up her love for Angels.

One of the most poignant moments in my life occurred the first Christmas after Carols passing. She was in the middle of working on a very large Angel cross-stitch picture and had only completed about half of the pattern. She had worked so hard on this project the whole time she was ill and really wanted to complete it but was unable to do so. After she passed away, and without our devastated parents knowing, myself and my other 2 sisters, took her needle work project and each sister took a turn at completing a different section of her Angel picture project. It took a number of months, with the canvas and thread being mailed back and forth across the country since we each lived in a different state. Each sister helped to finish her picture for her and we had it framed for our parents, just in time for our emotional first Christmas without her. Needless to say, this is one of their most cherished possessions now.

So ever since then, we give each other gifts of Angels. I recently made Guardian Angel necklaces for my mom, sisters and two little nieces.

I loved creating this special jewelry so much that I decided to add them to my collection. I really enjoy making the jewelry that I do, especially with thoughts of recycling unloved vintage materials into something new to be loved in a new way. But I think these Angels are a little more special because of what they represent. A gentle reminder that there is an Angel by your side to love, protect and guide you through good times or bad. And my wish today is that you will take a moment to hug someone you love a little closer and I also hope your day will be blessed with many Angels by your side to watch over you too.

Musical Inspiration and a Trip to France!

When I am in the “creation zone” I really find it inspirational to listen to beautiful music. It helps to set a “mood” for my work and it also seems to get my creative juices flowing. I enjoy many different types of music, but when I create, it’s always to what I’d call “romantic music”. Calming music that feeds your soul, music that is classic and timeless. I want to share a surprising source that I recently discovered for beautiful music….The Dollar Store! Hard to believe, but there is a section in these stores with movies, tapes and CDs. Each CD was only $1 so I thought, what the heck, let’s give it a try. To my surprise, the music is gorgeous! Here are a few of my favorite CDs that I purchased at the Dollar Store.

Now, here is my dream CD collection - I enjoy light classical music, especially from the French Baroque period and through my research on Marie Antoinette, I discovered this wonderful collection of music.

This 20 CD box set is being offered by Versailles and is the complete 200 year history of music at Versailles from the years 1600 to 1800. Yes, this is actual music that Marie Antoinette would have listened too! The CDs include music that was played in the Salons, court music, music from concerts & symphonies played for the kings, chapel and mass music, music from French Operas that were performed there and music for the Theatre des Petits. The cost of this set is around $79 American dollars, which is not too bad for 20 CDs. I’ve added this music collection to my inspiration board and hopefully, no I mean, it WILL be coming my way soon! The Versailles website offers a page where you can listen to samples of the music. Click HERE to be transported to Versailles, France and back in time to the French Court.

Through the magic of the Internet, I hope you’ll enjoy your trip to France and I also hope your day includes beautiful music that inspires you!

Who Me? - Awards, Love & A Party Invite!

I thought today would be a good day to catch-up on some lovin’ that's been going around! I was recently contacted by Dawn at Inspirational Craft Blogs. She wanted to feature me on their site! I was so honored by her kind email and the posting they did on several of my craft projects.

Another one of my craft projects was featured on the website GlueGunCrafts.com I did not send a submission to them, so it was a pleasant surprise to come across this site and find my Jeweled Candles project as a Featured Craft. Thank you to whoever submitted me :)

I’ve received a couple of blog awards recently and wanted to acknowledge these sweet bloggers for their kindness. The first award was sent over by Jenni from JenniB Originals. She passed along the Many Shades of Shabby award to me.

The second award came from Barbara at Southern Lady’s Vintage. She kindly sent me the Brillante Weblog award.

Now for some fun! Here is a party invite to join Tiffany at ShabbyScraps for a “Show Me Your Dress Form” party on Friday, August 1. Mark your blog calendar so you don’t miss this fun event. Gertrude and I will be attending and if you love old (or new) dress forms, I am sure you will see some lovely party photos to inspire you.

Once again, a BIG heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful bloggers and shops out there for sharing some love with me!

FUN with Dick and Jane!

I just added a new charm bracelet design to my website using vintage images from my collection of Dick and Jane books! How much fun is this???

I feel just like a schoolgirl when I wear this fun charm bracelet. I remember learning to read from the classic Dick and Jane books and many of you probably do too. They’ve been around forever…like me, I guess : )

I created this charm bracelet using vintage images from very worn and well-loved readers that I’ve collected for a while now.

The whole family is here…Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot the dog and Puff the cat. Remember all the adventures they got into?

All the charms are double-sided and there are a total of 16 sweet images.

It JINGLES and SPARKLES when you wear it too!

Sometimes I think it would be soooo great to go back and visit those simple days of childhood. But since I can’t do that, the next best thing is to wear this fun charm bracelet.

I hope this charm bracelet brought back sweet memories for you too!

A BIG Thank You and a Winner Too!

What wonderful comments I received! Thank you so much for your input. Many of you had really great ideas and I wish I could scoop you up and have you come work with me in my studio. There are so many creative souls out there in blog-land. Thank you to each and every one of you who left a comment. I used the random number thing-a-mah-jig and here is what it said:

The number 2 came up, which belongs to.....drum roll please.......

Nikki wins her choice of one of my Vintage Postcard Necklaces. Congrat’s to Nikki and once again, a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you. P.S. ~ stay tuned for more belt buckles coming to my website : )

Sneak Peek and a Necklace Give-A-Way Too!

To my dearest blog friends, I could use your assistance please! Here is a sneak peek of a new line of glamed-up belt buckles I am creating. These are adorned with tons of sparkle, vintage jewels and even broken china bits. They look fabulous with your favorite jeans and are a lot of fun to wear. I have not seen many of these around and when I do, they are in a high-end boutique and cost a small fortune. What do you think of these? Have you seen them around? Is it something you would wear?

I am going to be super busy in my studio for the rest of the week, so I’ll be back to post more next Monday. Until then, I’d love your opinions, comments, suggestions, whatever. Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered to win one of my Vintage Postcard Necklaces :) You’ll get to choose your hearts desire from my website. I’ll use the random number thing-a-mah-jig to pick a lucky winner on Monday morning. Good luck and thank you dear ones for your assistance! ~ xoxo ~ Joy

Let’s Just Celebrate EVERYTHING!!!

I just added a fun new design to my line of jewelry today. The “HAPPY EVERYTHING” bracelet is made with vintage postcard images from the turn-of-the-century.

Each image celebrates a different holiday.

I’ve had this idea twirling around in my head for a while now, but like most of my ideas, my hands just can’t keep up with what’s going on upstairs!

This sweet charm bracelet will take you through a whole year of holiday celebrations and each charm is double-sided, so it won’t matter which way your charms are showing, there will always be a sweet image for you (and others!) to see.

A sweet tiny cupid brings you heartfelt Valentine wishes for romance and a darling Easter Bunny is bringing you a gift for this favorite springtime holiday!

A "Good Witch" with her loving pet and harvest pumpkin will charm you for Halloween and a very sweet Victorian child with glittered holly in her hair, will celebrate the Holiday season with you all winter!

A sweet reminder to think "Kind Thoughts" is a bonus charm which reverses to 2 Guardian Angels, to bring you love and positive thinking all year long!

Two Guardian Angels to watch over you all year long and a sweet charm to celebrate your special day!

A glittered Tom Turkey will usher in the harvest season and a patriotic flag will show your pride for Presidents Day, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day!

It does not matter if you are Irish or not on St. Patricks Day because this Victorian glittered 4-leaf clover will bring you luck all year long!

All the images are preserved forever between glass and have a Silver, lead-free soldered bezel. I've added a pretty ribbon soldered technique, for extra detail, around both sides of the charms. The bracelet is Sterling Silver Plate and the beaded dangles are made with gorgeous Swarovski Crystals and Pearls. I hope you enjoyed seeing my newest creation. These really are like my little babies and I hope they all find wonderful, joyful homes to go to!

Before and After Project – Jeweled Canisters!

I found a fun project to work on this weekend! I am always looking for extra storage around my studio, and I remembered this wooden canister set I had stored away. They are a great size for my studio shelves and are perfect to hide a multitude of craft items inside. But I wanted to “glam” them up a bit before using them.

I was so excited about this idea that I completely forgot to take a “before” photo! But I was able to find an identical set on eBay this afternoon, so here is a photo of what my canisters looked like…before….

….and here they are after!

I started by adding ornamental wood appliqués that I purchased from Jo-Annes. Then I painted all the canisters a creamy white color and then lightly sanded around the edges.

I then added a rhinestone brooch to the center of each canister for a little sparkle!

I really like how this project turned out!!!

P.S. - The canister set I found on eBay still has a couple of days to go before the auction ends and the whole set was only $9.99. If you like this project, you can purchase the identical set I started with. Happy crafting!

Picnics and Patriotism

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism” – Erma Bombeck

I hope your day is filled with family, love and an over-abundance of patriotism! Happy July 4th!!

Sweet Love Birds

These sweet, vintage broken china bracelets are flying off to California this afternoon. I just finished a custom order for a lovely customer who ordered these two pretty bracelets using this darling vintage china pattern that features two love birds sitting within a heart and surrounded by ribbons and roses. I just love the sweetness of this pattern! It’s a rare pattern and I only have 1 more piece in stock. I get a little sad when my stock gets down to the last few pieces of a pattern, especially if it’s a personal favorite. I never know when I’ll come across another piece. And once the jewelry is made, some pieces are really hard to let go! I love them all, but I know can’t keep everything. So I hope these special bracelets enjoy their new home. Enjoy your flight little birdies, it’s time to leave the nest.