I've been crafting… now it's time to get fancy!

I've been busy making things for the Craft and Fancy Show… 

It will be this Saturday, December 7, from 10 until 5 at Home ec., 

which is on Linn Street in Iowa City. 

I'll post some beauty shots here over the next few days. 

Here are some new earrings… 

from old industrial brass tacks, 

to buttons, 

charms,

 and pieces of history.

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones! 

Enjoy the season, and thank you for supporting local vendors and independent artists!

Oh, and don't take any of those in the above picture…

A Very, Merry Christmas!

Merry,

Merry

Christmas!

&

A

Happy,

Happy

New

Year!

xo

The Green Queen

This necklace has a seductively sinister-ness to it. 

It seems a little like something a Disney villainess would wear.

Not much sunlight here this morning, so I went close, close, close to the window.

A little bit of bad, is good, right?

The Green Queen, at Age Before Beauty.

The Happiest Wishes

 My mother sent me this glorious old pin. So I set aside a few moments in all the chaos to make myself a little Holiday cheer. 

 It makes me think of her, and all things important this time of year.

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season--- enjoy!

A Little Ho Ho Ho-ing

 I promised you, in an earlier post, that I'd give you a sneak peek at what's on my art board. I'm hoping to have some fabric made for a holiday project that I'm working on. How cool is it that you can make your own fabric? Check out Spoonflower for amazing ideas and inspiration.

 

I have some big plans for gift wrap sheets and (hopefully) some gift tags which will be available at www.JBReinhardt.etsy.com, but not tooooooo soon!

I don't like it that stores start to sneak holiday sparkle in so early. Back-to-School immediately morphs into Halloween and Christmas Season nips at Halloween's heels--- basically snubbing its nose at poor, overlooked Thanksgiving. Usually by mid-November I am forced into a brain-washed-panic that I don't have all my shopping completed, wrapped, and shipped. Catalogs are delivered to my door over a month before Christmas, trying to consol me by stating that, "It's not too late to still recieve your order in time!". 

I guess I'm really not much better, am I? Well, I can promise you that none of this will be in my shop that soon!

New Beginnings

I planted my vegetable garden yesterday. 

Last year it served mostly as salad for a persistent deer, a fence-climbing rabbit, and an army of moles. 

But I put seeds and baby plants into the ground again. At least creating the opportunity for growth and harvest. 

Placing a large trellis over a tiny tomato plant gives me a sense of optimism.

I love the potential in a new beginning.

Springy Stripes

Loooooove these unusual, old, glass, striped buttons.

Re-invented with vintage rhinestone rings.

Old, tarnished brass beads. Silver wire wrapped and dangling from oxidized sterling ear wires.

Reconstructed, re-purposed, re-imagined... cool earrings.

at Age Before Beauty