Vintage Faerie Studio

Look what the Leprechaun left us...

Only 2 DAYS Left!!!

We're Giving Something Away!!!

Who doesn't like a chance to win something? Well, for OUR FACEBOOKS FANS ONLY, we are giving away a truly handcrafted custom stamped RING OF YOUR CHOICE!!!

And depending on the ring style YOU select, you will win ONE, TWO or THREE rings!!!

Here are the details...

ONE very LUCKY winner
...Will choose from one of the ring options below...

No. 179 [Wide Band], ONE to be given away, OR choose,
No. 180 [True Sentiment]- TWO will be given away, OR choose,
No. 181 [Secret Stacker]- THREE will be given away

Click here to take a peek at our rings.

Give-A-Way will last ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!! WINNER will be announced Saturday, November 13!

How to enter you ask??? EASY!

1. Just go to our Facebook Page

2. Go to our GIVE-A-WAY detailed post, dated Friday November 5.

3. Click LIKE on the post or LEAVE A COMMENT to enter.

That's it!

Get your Friends to LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE/BECOME A FAN and you'll be entered again for EVERY FRIEND! (PLEASE send us a message/email of your friends names. We'll confirm each friend and then let you know how many times you've been entered!)

Our ring Give-A-Way runs from Friday, November 5-Friday, November 12, 2010 and is valid for Facebook fans only this time.

Winner announced Saturday, November 13.

GOOD LUCK!!!!
XOXO

Win a Custom Hand Stamped Ring

We're giving away one of our Old Typewriter Custom Hand Stamped Rings! YAY!!!

Want a chance to win???? Of course you do!

Just go to this FABULOUS blog- Kind Over Matter- and enter now! Contest ends Thursday, Sept 8.

GOOD LUCK!!!

XOXO

Bright Inspiration

I am absolutely adoring all of the Sunflowers... I just can't get enough.
So bright and cheery.
Strong and tall they symbolize hope and happiness; peace,
an end to one season and the beginning of another...
They are rich with symbolism for me this year.

Do you have a favorite flower? Why do you love it so?

Put Them Down Mama, Put Them Down…

 

I need a serious intervention. I am not kidding. Someone please help me… put these damn sticky rolls down. I can’ stop, I don’t know if I really want to stop. They are that good- made fresh, out of croissant dough, all sticky and luscious; sweet… yum. Usually the rolls are covered in candied pecans (my fav) or a little dried fruit but those were sold out this morning- plain sticky rolls it is for today.

What's hysterical is I am not a sweet person- ha ha, family get your laughs in now. Meaning, I normally don’t care for sweet, sugary things. Anything made from dark chocolate, accompanied with some (who are we kidding? LOTS of) red wine- that’s perfect for me. Over sugared and I would normally pass, almost gagging, for sure.

But being 23 weeks pregnant with my third- oh yes, my third (what was I thinking? But that’s another post)- is creating some serious- almost life threatening (for others)- sweet addictions. Some days I feel absolutely no control. I find myself having mad visions of running over a passerby in my big SUV just to get to the bakery in time (those sticky rolls sell out in a hot minute). I fear that I would take out an old lady moving too slow in line as she is eying that last sweet warm sticky roll, the one that is sitting there calling MY name. These thoughts actually run through my mind. It’s times like these I am very happy to live in the Northeast (I adore the South, BTW)- we move so quickly and aggressively, my actions would most likely go unnoticed, unfortunately for most...

And I better devour one of these sweet sticky rolls before my children spot them. Fear and panic will set-in… I don’t want to share! Don’t they get enough? I’ll throw them as much junk candy as I can find- “here, here, take this and this and this- eat it all- just not my sticky roll, pleeeease!”

As I write this, I am devouring another one. I give up. By the end of 9 months, I will be 100lbs heavier for sure- not that I really care deep down, honestly. Whatever. Life is short. I guess if eating these devilish sticky rolls make me happy than I have truly lived a few minutes today... right?

 

So... what is your guilty pleasure and do you give in and “live” for the moment?

Gems Of The Sea

Growing up I spent my summers at the beach. Come Spring, school was absolutely excruciating. If we were lucky to have a warm Spring day my heart would pound, my skin crawl, my mind race to count how many days or hours until Friday. Come High School I would suddenly fall ill and disappear out of the state each Friday and most Mondays (how I accomplished this was a feat of pure deception in itself). With each passing Spring day the awareness that school was coming to a close was ever so apparent, but my anxiety would steadily grow. I would develop a restlessness only walking in the soft sand, swimming in the cool sea, and feeling the sun on my skin would sooth. The beach was my sanctuary. As soon as I could smell the ocean air all my troubles were washed away, I felt whole and happy.

So it should be of no surprise that I have walked the beach endless times in my life to date. I have always been very excited, and considered myself lucky, to find some of the sea's treasures. Seashells- such a gift- were always a coveted prize. Some days we would find other items that had washed up on the beach- from jewelry to miscellaneous debris. Occasionally, we would find polished shards of old glass. Glass from broken bottles and the like, mainly. Some pieces we collected, for no reason, honestly, except the shape may have been neat, or a word could be read in the glass, or maybe the color was that of the sea. And sadly, some glass we picked up and tossed in the trash for fear that a future beach goer would be cut.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I stumbled upon the world of Sea glass. I had absolutely no idea that those sea polished shards we collected were actually considered gems, gems from the Sea herself. How stupid I was, I first thought. My sea, my beach, had always been my sanctuary- given me such great gifts, and here I was- for years- picking up frosted glass shards here and there without so much as a thought or great appreciation. With a newly ignited passion, I immediately ran off searching my collection of sea treasures to discover what I had in sea glass gems. Would I find a coveted Turquoise? Did I have a red all these years and not know it? After which I went out in search for more. Now, I love looking for sea glass and compare it to a treasure hunt. Any lover of shabby, vintage or antique will relate, I am sure.

There is a magic to Sea glass... the thought of taking someone's trash, something once simply discarded without a care, and turning it into a timeless personal treasure... this is pure magic and why we adore it so. The Sea has always healed me, and it obviously heals much more.

You may be interested in learning more about Sea glass. Here's some additional information and links... let me know if you find a piece on your beach travels! Happy Hunting!

*****What is Sea Glass?*****

Throughout history, our trash was thrown into the sea or buried in the sands of beaches worldwide. It’s hard to imagine in a world of plastic just how many items were once made of glass. Bottles, jars, glasses, plates, containers, ink wells, jugs, insulators, marbles, souvenirs, decorative accents- you name it, at one time was most likely made out of glass. Once these items became undervalued- common trash- they were discarded and tossed into the sea.

Eventually these glass items wore down and broke apart. Storms, ocean currents, reefs, sand and salt all wear down the glass, ultimately changing the glasses’ composition. Rough and sharp edges slowly become smooth, the glass becomes frosted. In fact, the ions found in the original glass item have undergone years of alteration. By the sea changing and extraction ions- extracting the lime and soda of the glass, each piece of glass slowly becomes sea glass. A small, if not almost microscopic, “C” like pattern is now forever etched into each piece of lovely sea glass- something fake or machine tumbled glass cannot possess.

It is very possible to find amazing shapes and styles of sea glass- patterns from decorative tableware, bottle lips, words and company names pressed into the original glass all yield gorgeous one-of-a-kind sea glass treasures. Bubbles may signify that the piece is very old. Certain colors are rare and can be over 100 years old. Bonfire glass is a term given to sea glass that has been melted. Commonly found in areas where trash dumps were located on beaches, these dump were burned in effort to control mass. It is not uncommon to find pieces of debris trapped inside bonfire glass, such as seaweed or sand.

Did you know it is possible to date your sea glass by color? Could your piece be 100 years old or more? Some colors of sea glass are very rare, some much more common. Whites, browns, greens are common. Just think of today’s beer bottles, rum bottles and so forth. Seafoam- old coke bottles, Cobalt blue- old Milk of Magnesia bottles. Colors that collectors search years to find would be Orange and Red, then Turquoise, Yellow and Black. Some Amethyst sea glass is actually very old clear (@ 100 years old) glass that has changed color due to the manganese oxide in the glass being exposed to sunlight.

Sea glass Colors:

Extremely Rare: Orange, Red, Turquoise, Yellow, Black, Teal, Gray

Rare: Pink, Aqua, Cornflower Blue, Cobalt Blue, Opaque White, Citron, Purple/Amethyst

Uncommon: Soft Green, Soft Blue, Forest Green, Lime Green, Golden Amber, Amber, Jade

Common: Kelly Green, Brown, White

A Must-have Sea glass Book: Pure Sea Glass

More Info:

Seaglasslovers

North American Sea Glass Association

Sea Glass Festival

Here We Go...

It's another sweltering day here... the heat is strong, the sun bright, and even though it's humid, everything is dried out. I'm even dried out. My poor garden, or what was once my mess of a completely overgrown lush sanctuary has now been reduced to a dried out, weak, humiliating thistle (where are those suckers coming from????) showcase. I need a little inspiration to keep going- being away for almost a month with this heat and neglect has just about killed everything outside. I don't want to feel defeated but my gosh...

While grabbing a late lunch and taking a break in the comfort of cooler air, praying for a nice big thunderstorm to water everything and looking through gorgeous garden blogs, I thought let's get that Studio blog going- the one that I have been thinking about beginning for two years now? Yeah, that one. Let's just do it. So I am doing it... beginning a Studio blog. Here we go...