More Silver Bella projects

With the rush of hosting family for Thanksgiving giving way to my December funk and the craziness of preparing for Christmas, my unfinished Silver Bella projects got summarily shoved to the side of my desk and and forgotten about. Now that I'm in the 'digging out' phase and enamored of the idea of having more than two square feet of workspace on my desk, I figured it was time to get them done. Hey, it's only been two months since I got back from Silver Bella, so I'm already ahead of my usual schedule--I still have unfinished projects from when I went to CKU back in 2004!

The two projects I finished were from my classes with Jenny & Aaron of Everyday is a Holiday. The first class was "Dreaming of a White Christmas" and we made this cute plaque with decoupaged images of candy-colored houses, hand-drawn by Jenny & Aaron. I think my favorite part is the icicles we made by cutting photocopied sheet music into random drippy shapes, then covering them with clear glass glitter. You can't tell by the photo but this piece is 10"x16".



The next class was called "Let Them Eat Cake" and features a plaque with this great cake image. We made a background using hand-painted wallpaper sheets and then decoupaged on the cake. We antiqued the whole thing using a paint wash and then added clear glass glitter to accent the cake. We had the option of adding fabric flowers and a feather for the bird's tail but I decided to forgo those in favor of this cute crepe paper pinwheel from a different class. I think I may use this to decorate for Maren's birthday each year. Maybe I can figure out a way to attach a number somewhere. This piece is 11"x15".


I loved the suggestions some of you had for the Coke bottle carrier I posted yesterday! If you have any more ideas, please share them

A finished Bella class project & a post-Bella giveaway

I promise, one of these days I'm finally going to SHUT UP ALREADY about Silver Bella...but it ain't gonna be today! :) Last night I finally finished my class projects from Rebecca Sower's "Christmas Vignettes" class. We made six 3" x 5" collages using all kinds of fun embellishments and vintage images. The class was so easy--Rebecca gave very thorough instructions and I glued and punched happily until I ended up with these:

Click to enlarge the photo so you can see all the pretty details up close. Each collage is made to hang so I'm going to have to come up with a way to display them all. They were such fun, so creatively satisfying and something that I think I can definitely replicate. I'm so glad I got to take the class! Rebecca is a lovely person and a pro at teaching. One down, four more unfinished Bella projects to go...

To spread the gospel of Bella, I have a little package to give away! It includes a class kit from the lovely Carolyn Peeler for her "Look at Frosty Go" class (these were selling for $40 but Carolyn graciously gave a few away as we were heading for the airport) that makes a cute little stuffed snowman, a pair of fancy Melissa Frances flip-flops (size 7/8, a gift in our Bella goodie bag), a December back issue of Country Living (since the CL editors were our guests for the weekend), a few of the tags I made for the Bella tag swap, and some chocolate, because all good mail includes chocolate. :) If you'd like to enter, just leave a comment on this post and I'll bring out the ol' Goblet of Fire for a drawing on Thursday!

Silver Bella--what I bought

I'm not going to lie--the shopping part of Silver Bella was every bit as fun as the classes and meeting everyone! Heck, that's why Teresa arranged a special shopping night just for us Bellas at Second Chance, which I talked about a few posts ago. Second Chance was just amazing--a one of a kind type of place, and it was so fun to shop there and across the street at Fairmont Antiques. There was also some good vintage stuff to be had during our own Vendor Night! Here are photos of the goodies I brought home:

I didn't set out to buy so much pink stuff, it just happened that way. It's funny because the main areas of my home are done in reds and blues, so all the pink and aqua stuff that I am attracted to does not match at all and I have nowhere to put it. Does that stop me from buying it? Not apparently! The Moderntone sherbet cup and Ripple tea cup came from Fairmont and the Moderntone salt shaker and Ripple saucer came from Second Chance. I have one aqua Ripple saucer that I thrifted long ago and it is a dream of mine to someday have a whole set of that stuff, but I never see it. In Second Chance I found a whole stack of saucers ($1.50 each) and luncheon plates ($3 each I think) but I could only bring myself to buy one little saucer to match the pink cup I'd just bought. Someday I'm going to regret not buying the whole stack, but I just couldn't justify buying more at that point. The sparkly earrings were a splurge for me at $12, also from the magical basement at Second Chance. They are particularly enormous to be worn as earrings but the way they are made, they'll make great buckles when I get around to figuring out what to do with them! Here's a close-up:


All of these were from Second Chance. From the left, a vintage plastic tree-topper that was $2. I bought an identical blue one from a thrift right before I left. The bag of green mercury glass bead picks was $4, and I wish I could have found more. They're one of the things I'm always on the lookout for but this is the first time I've ever found any. The aqua and silver tree topper was in the box but I do not believe it is original to the box, although it is vintage and still has its West Germany label. The box is in perfect condition and may just be my favorite purchase of the weekend! It's Shiny Brite and I've never seen another like it, though I have many Shiny Brite ornament boxes. The box & tree topper were $6, which I think is a steal.

This box of Shiny Brites was $4 at Fairmont. I saw it early, before most of the Bellas had gotten there and I know it would have been snapped up by someone else if I hadn't gotten to it first! That's a great price for a whole box of glittered vintage ornaments--I'd be awful lucky to find them around here. The atomic design isn't my absolute favorite but there are a few with snowflakes and I couldn't pass them up at that price. They'll go on my tree this year. The Santa box was $3.50 and has great vintage graphics. Did anyone see the article in the newest Home Companion about collecting vintage wrapping paper and Christmas boxes? I read my mom's copy on the airplane ride to Omaha, so it was fresh in my head when I spotted this!

From left, a vintage cardboard and net stocking, $5 from Manto Fev on Vendor Night. The magazine is from Second Chance; it was also $5 and is the December 1950 issue. It has the greatest ads and graphics inside! My grand plan is to scan them so I can post them here on my blog for your enjoyment as well as using them in my artwork. The sheet of vintage metallic Christmas wrap was $2, as were the gold medallion thingies--both from Manto Fev.


From left: a November 1948 issue of Household magazine, $2 from Second Chance. I have the same plans for this as the other magazine. Let's hope I actually get that far! I do not have a great relationship with my scanner right now. The vintage flash cards were $1 each from Manto Fev. Not sure what I want to do with them but I had to have them! The old photos were from Second Chance and were less than $1 each--they show scenes of snowy houses that I think I can make into something interesting for Christmas. The little round dark thing ($5 at Second Chance) is a very old, very tarnished copper dish (ashtray?) with an image of this, which just happens to be where I got married. I'm hoping I can clean it up with a little lemon juice and kosher salt; it will go in my travel-themed guest room when I'm done. The vintage buttons are also from Second Chance and cost anywhere from 10¢ to $1 per card.

Vintage wallpaper samples from the 1950s, $1 each from Manto Fev. I may have mentioned before that I want to wallpaper the panel on the old-door-turned-headboard in my guest room. I bought these papers for that project, but this is just a start--I'm going to need much more!

Love the sparklies! The snowflake pin and the flower bouquet were both from Fairmont and I bought them specifically to hold on my sash at Bella Gypsy night--I had forgotten to pack any of my vintage brooches, so I had to go buy some, not that I minded! LOL They were inexpensive at $7 each, which is much less than my local thrifts would have charged, and I will definitely wear them again. The other pieces are old single earrings. Second Chance had boxes full of them for us to choose from--they had advanced notice that Bellas are much like magpies in their love of anything shiny. :) These were from the $1 box but they are great! Again, my local thrifts would have charged far more, even for earrings with no mates. If they see even one rhinestone in a piece of jewelry, they automatically mark it up to $9.95, with no regard to the quality--many times the pieces are missing stones or are just plain ugly. It was such a treat to be able to choose from so much, so reasonably priced at Second Chance--the jewelry selection was definitely one of the highlights of the store!

One other thing I bought but didn't photograph is a vintage feathered headband. It is various shades of bright pink & fuschia and it is slightly ridiculous, but I love it so much! I have NO idea what I'll do with it or where on earth I could possibly wear such an over-the-top thing, but I knew that if I didn't buy it, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it and I would regret it terribly. I'll have to fix my hair in a 40's chignon and model it for you--it's a hoot! Looks like it was made from some poor, unfortunate flamingo. It's awesome.

Even with all that I bought, I've still had a few pangs of wishing that I had bought more--more jewelry and old photos at Second Chance, more stuff at Vendor Night. I'm not sure that even if I had bought more I'd be satisfied though--I always want more! So I'm just going to be happy with the treasures I did find; I think I got some pretty neat stuff!

Silver Bella day 2

Yikes, I didn't think it would take me a full week to post my Silver Bella review, but here we are. Friday morning began bright and early. My alarm rang at 6:30 am but I was awake long before that, due to the alarm clock in the room going off at the unholy hour of 5:15 am. I never really got back to sleep, and combined with the late hour at which I finally drifted off the night before, waking up was pretty painful. However, my grogginess was mitigated by my excitement for my the day.

My first class was entitled "Christmas Vignettes," taught by the talented (and tall!) Rebecca Sower. We made a series of six "Christmas Vignettes" using vintage images, silver glass glitter, and various trims and mirrors and bells and other fun little things to embellish them. I didn't finish my vignettes (actually, I didn't finish a single project the whole weekend!) so I don't have a photo to show you right now, but hope to soon. Another highlight for that class for me was meeting the darling Amy Powers of Inspire Co. Amy's blog was one of the first I started reading and I've loved it ever since. Amy is charming and delightful, (which you know if you read her blog) and it was such a treat to meet her! Her happiness is infectious!

After Rebecca's whirlwind class, my next stop was Teresa McFayden's "Bella's Bracelet." In this class we learned how to make a bracelet out of beautiful vintage velvet ribbon, tulle, buttons, and beaded chain. Now, I don't really sew, nor do I embroider, so I don't have a lot of experience with a needle & thread beyond sewing lost buttons back onto my pants. However, I do have experience with beading and working with my hands in general, so I thought I'd be able to make my bracelet with no problem. Wrong! I don't know what happened, but I was all thumbs and while everyone else at my table was confidently sewing their pleated ribbons, I was fumbling along, just trying to get started. I think my awkwardness was partly that I had just broken several fingernails all the way down to the quick, and without my nails my fingers feel like stubs and they just don't function right. Silly, but it's true! Also, the room was cold and I was nervous so my hands were alternately cold and clammy, further rendering them useless appendages. Everyone at my table finished their bracelets, and I...well, I didn't even come close. I need remedial Bella Bracelet-making class or something! You can see a photo of what the finished product was supposed to look like here. I've since found an easier way to make the flower ruffle so I'm just going to unpick all of my stitches and start again from scratch. Maybe I'll wait for my fingernails to grow in again, just to be sure! Here's a photo of the ladies at my table and Miss Foof (Teresa) in the middle. Notice that everyone else is modeling their bracelets, and I'm holding mine together. Ha! I will finish it and it will be fabulous, you'll see.

After class we hightailed it to the ballroom for our Bella luncheon. We had a lovely lunch (I was starving!) and we were able to hear more from the two Country Living editors who had been hanging out in our classes that morning. They were really great and answered questions from all of us about the magazine, how they spot trends, where they go to do stories, etc. It was really interesting, and it seemed like they had a really good time all weekend! They told us that the Silver Bella story will be published sometime next fall, maybe October or November. I can't wait to see it! Another fun thing at the luncheon--I won a door prize! I never win anything, so I was thrilled, and when I saw my prize I was even more excited! I won this daddy-o, which I saw at Michael's the other day priced at $59.99! I have been wanting a large paper cutter for a while, so I am just tickled. Now I just have to find a place to put it where Maren can't use it to cut her fingers off.

After lunch I had one more class, this time with Jenny & Aaron of Everyday is a Holiday fame. I absolutely adore their work, so I was so excited to be in their classes! They designed the cutest project for us with hand-painted snowy cottages and trees, all in their signature pastel colors. I didn't finish mine but if you click on Jenny's blog and scroll down you can see what it will look like. I didn't finish mainly because I wanted to do a little more customization, but didn't have the tools I needed with me.

By the time class was over it was 4:00 pm and I'd been going non-stop since 8:00 am, so I was beat! I had just enough time for a quick rest and then my mom and I had to get dressed for the big Bella ball that evening. I've already shown you what we looked like, but here's a link to one more shot taken by cute Hope of Paper Relics. Vendor night was just amazing and it was such a treat to see everyone all dressed up. What fun!

After the vendors packed up we all met back in the ballroom to exchange our swap items. I participated in two swaps: Aquabella (Christmas ornaments made in a silver & aqua theme) and the Christmas tag swap. For the Aquabella swap our hostess, Tammy Gilley, provided the prettiest Tiffany-blue paper bags for us to divide out our swaps. Don't they look inviting, all stuffed with ribbon and cellophane? There are some amazing creations in that bag, let me tell you! The tag swap was a little chaotic, and I'm not 100% sure that I ended up with one from everybody, but the creations are really wonderful and now I have 20 little individual works of art from some of my fellow Bellas.

After the swap we went up and went to bed--it was at least 11:00 pm at that point and we'd had a busy but exhausting day. I slept like a baby!

Back later with day 3 and photos of all the goodies I bought!

Silver Bella day 1

My Bella adventure began Thursday morning, when my DH and Miss Maren dropped me off at the airport. We met my mother, who had just flown in for Salt Lake so she could get a quick Maren 'fix' to hold her over until Thanksgiving. Together, we flew the 59 minutes to Omaha--who knew it was that close? My US Geography gets kind of muddy there in the middle of the country. I knew there was at least one other Bella from my area and I kept my eyes peeled to see if she was on the same flight. Once we got to the airport and were waiting for our luggage, I looked out the window and saw two woman waiting outside with piles of suitcases. My Bella radar kicked in, and somehow I just knew those ladies were going to the same place we were! We collected our bags and walked down to where the hotel shuttle was to collect us, and lo and behold but who came walking up behind us? It was those ladies, plus a few more! We met Sharon, Janey, Natalea, Hope, and Sarah, and then Michelle hopped on at the last second. It was so funny--we started to giggle and laugh like old friends from the minute we realized we were all Bellas! I think the guys sharing the shuttle with us were a little scared. ;)

When we got to the hotel to check in we met even more Bellas! Our first official event was a 6:00 pm private shopping event at a local antique store in the Old Market part of town. Some of us decided to catch the shuttle over there early to beat the rush, and I got to meet a few more Bellas--Linda and Kimla. Our first stop was Fairmont Antiques, which turned out to be the most enormous antique mall I've ever seen! No kidding, it seemed that every time I turned the corner a huge new room opened up in front of me, and every booth was simply packed to the gills with great stuff. I knew I needed a brooch for my outfit on Friday night so that is what I set to finding. One of the neatest things I saw was a case full of these amazing, gorgeous vintage Czech Christmas tree pins. Wow! The sparkles and colors were eye-popping.

It didn't take me long to find some treasures! Prices were very reasonable compared to similar items here in Denver. After Fairmont, we walked across the street to Second Chance Antiques for our special Bella event. We arrived at 5:00 pm, an hour before the official event's start and already it was packed with Bellas scooping up bargains!

Let me stop and tell you about Second Chance. Second Chance--Ha! More like Second Home for most of us that weekend! I've never been a store like it and doubt that I ever will again, unless I get to go to Silver Bella 2008! The store is large, but to say that it was packed would be a gross understatement. It was unbelievable--antiques and vintage items piled all over each other, stuffed under furniture, stacked to the ceilings, in every nook and cranny you can imagine. It was actually a little difficult to navigate the narrow, labyrinthine aisles--I was terrified I was going to knock something precious and breakable to the floor with my purse. The basement is filled with vintage clothing, sewing notions, and cases of the most beautiful, sparkly rhinestone jewelry you could ever hope to find in one place. Honestly, I think I walked around with my jaw agape for the first 30 minutes I was in the store, as agog as I was at the sheer amount of STUFF there was. Now, it was dirty and jam-packed and dusty and I know I saw at least 4 cats wandering around, so it is not for the faint of heart or faint of dirt. But it's the kind of place where if you're willing to dig, you'll be rewarded.

It didn't take long for the ambient temperature to get way above the comfortable range, and the noise and crowding got to be a little too much so we paid for our purchases and left, though I was already planning when I'd be back. Before we left I did notice a couple of photographers, and knew that my suspicions about Teresa's hint about "company" coming to Silver Bella were true! A team of two editors and two photographers from Country Living were there taking pictures for a future story on Silver Bella!!

It felt delightfully cool and quiet once we escaped the chaos of Second Chance, and we met up with some of our new friends to go find something to eat. We ended up at Julio's, a teeny-tiny Mexican place, with Linda, Natalea, Sharon, Janey, Jessi and Tiffany, sharing chips and salsa and chatting away like old friends, until it was time to summon the cute shuttle driver to deliver us back to the hotel. We got back fairly early--I don't think it was even 9:00 pm yet, but my mom and I went back to our room to get unpacked and ready for our classes the next morning. I had a hard time getting to sleep that night--visions of rhinestones and vintage Christmas ornaments swam in my head for a long time until I finally drifted off, well past midnight. I knew that if that day had been any indication, it was going to be an awesome weekend!

I'm back, and I'm covered in glitter

I wish that I could say: "Silver Bella was horrible! Don't go! I couldn't wait for it to end so I could just come home and get away from all those crazy ladies. Don't sign up next year, you'll regret it for sure!" if only that would make it so that no one else would want to go next year so I can get in! But you know I'd be telling a fib. :) In reality, it was wonderful, fabulous, magical, and SO MUCH FUN that I can't imagine NOT wanting to go again after hearing all about it. I'm going to be prepared with my quickest fingers next year at registration time, because I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot more competition to get in, once word gets out!

I still haven't unpacked all my projects and treasures because I want to get photos of everything before I put it all safely away and out of reach of a certain 2-year-old, so I will share those later posts. I do have a photo of my mom and me dressed up for our big party on Friday night.


The dress-up theme for the evening was "Junk Gypsies" so all the Bellas wore our cowboy boots and hats along with gobs of jewelry and poofy skirts and crinolines. My mom and I decided we needed to go a little more toward the rodeo queen look and she made us some glittery sashes to wear--mine said "Mrs. Silver Bella Colorado" and hers said "Mrs. Silver Bella Utah" and we got laughs out of them all night long! If you look close you can see that I'm even wearing a corsage--the head Bella, Miss Teresa, picked me as one of the best-dressed and so I received a pretty corsage of pink roses and aqua ribbons, with added rhinestones, of course. :)

That night was Vendor Night, and we were able to shop at 40 tables of the most amazing, talented artists and vendors that etsy has ever seen! It was just eye-popping to see the displays and the wares that people had brought and I think I'm already kicking myself for not buying more. :) I know for sure there are definitely some some etsy shops I'll be visiting again and again! After the vendors had cleaned up, we all went back to exchange our swap items. I don't have photos of those yet either, but I will post them soon! It was like Christmas to get bags stuffed to bursting with beautiful, glittery creations from my fellow Bellas! That was just the capper to the most amazing day--I went to bed that night SO happy I just wanted to burst!

While you're waiting for me to get some more pictures up (hoping to get it done during Maren's naptime today), here are some other Bellas who already have photos posted:
Jennifer Stewart
ArtsyMama Kari Ranstrom
Jana Perenchio
Kim Haynes (official Bella photographer)