A couple of months ago, I  found two cute tiny chairs at the Salvation Army (which  I sometimes call  The Sally Slermie or, for short: The Slerm. But that is a whole other story.)

 

I am compelled to make tiny cushions for them.

Even though there is actually a chair pose in yoga, I am not going to try to make a clever segue:
I am excited to finally have started taking my yoga teacher training course! We started Tuesday night- it was wonderful. You may remember that in July my best friend Jennifer arranged to have me take this course as a birthday gift . She is the best!

The course is a 200 hour basic certification approved by the National Yoga Alliance. For the next six months, we will meet every Tuesday evening for 3 hours , with monthly weekend intensives . I have been wanting to take a yoga teacher training (YTT from now on, ok?) since 1997 when I went to Kripalu and did a five month volunteer program. More on that another time! I don't know yet whether I really want to teach, for now I am just looking forward to deepening my practice.

I am one of ten women in the class. They are a lovely group- I can't wait to get to know everyone! I had never met the teacher before, but had heard of Diane for years. She is just a doll.

I am so lucky to have this opportunity! I think it will really help me get through the winter. I don't like the cold.
I keep saying that I need to come up with a Winter Survival Plan- the YTT will be a big part of that, as will the sauna at the gym. I need to get back into the habit of drinking tea, especially ginger tea. It's so warming.

Anyone have any  good winter survival tips? You know, besides going on vacation?

 

I really hope I am not boring you, but I just had to show you a few more pictures of my thrifted jewelry/supplies.

 

I have had that little watch piece for a while. I want to build a necklace around it. 

 

I couldn't resist a closeup of those sparkly beads:

 

They kind of look like hematite (or marcasite maybe), but they are glass. 

Is this a lamb? I'm calling it a lamb:

 

My fingers are dirty in this picture because I had been pawing around in all my old jewelry supplies for a while!

 

I love that copper color.

This one has some interesting components: 

 

On the back  of the piece above, it says 'Peruvian Art.'

Some jingly jangley bells: 

 

 

That one above I actually bought new, but it is in this pile to be pulled apart and redesigned.

(Just a few more now. )

I love the simplicity of this one, an eyeglass holder ... or...what is the right term for that? you know, it has little rubber rings on each end? For slipping th eends of glasses into so they can hang around your neck?

 

 And then there is this great necklace that I may just want to keep as is:

 

 

I know, I  know, I go a little crazy with the closeups! I can't help it, I love them!

Some bone beads ( which kinda freak me out, but I am drawn to them):

 

And these little bits o somethin' hanging off the end of chain: 

 

ok, hang in there, almost done.

 

There, all done. That wasn't so bad, was it? 

Stack of journals from Fall/Winter 2000/2001. And Mercury. Murky-Murk.

 

I usually try to keep it pretty around here. I have been thinking lately about some of the blogs I love that  are pure beauty.  Inspiration and creativity and beauty and cheerfulness. And I love them for that. And I think I would probably love them even more if I saw a glimpse of the inevitable bad day, overwhelm, or self-doubt that we all feel!  It's not just me that feels that way sometimes, right? 

These pages are from my journals in 2000/2001. I was going through a very rough period! Sometimes I still feel these things, but in generally i feel much better these days.

I had long hair then. And a question mark for a face.

 

I love the little motion lines.

Eeeek! I feel shy showing you these.

 

>>>sigh<<<

I have been thinking a lot lately about blogging and Keeping It Real vs. Keeping It Pretty. 

And I don't think it needs to be one or the other.

It gets confusing when I think about what I want this blog to be. Is it a way to connect with other people? Is it another vehicle for self-expression? Is it a marketing tool? The answer is yes! It's all of those.

It's the marketing part that gets me, I think. I censor myself  when I think about potential business contacts or the other blogs that seem to only show the beauty. I think I have been subconsciously trying to fit the mold of the enchanted magazine-spread-ready blogs. 

I certainly aspire to have that life , but right now- it's just not that way. I have to keep reminding myself that it probably isn't really that way for them, either!  I had received some really good news a few months ago (which, I promise, I will be sharing soon) and I was kind of in disbelief that I could really have any of the success that I am working for. I was talking with my best friend about it, how it didn't feel like it could be true, how it couldn't really be happening for me. Playing devil's advocate,  she said "why not you?" Allowing myself to just express whatever came up, I rambled, "because, you know, I'm dog fur and crooked teeth and cat litter and I have this stupid cowlick and I didn't go to college and I'm messy..." and on and on! And she leans toward me and goes, "But that's everyone. You know that right? You do know that, right?" See why I love her so much?

If I were to succeed at making this blog only beautiful and cheery, it would simply be an illusion (and I wouldn't be able to keep it up, anyways). Of course I  want it to  be inspiring and certainly yummy to look at. But maybe the hard times can be inspiring, too. The challenges in my life have shaped me, have made art a necessity, have made me seek out the beauty. To discount that would leave the story only half-told.

So, friends. Here I am! Sometimes I am peaceful and sometimes I am crabby. Sometimes I am funny and sometimes I am utterly joyless. Sometimes I feel like I can have a successful design career and sometimes I feel like a total hack. Sometimes I look cute and other times my dark circles make me look like I have a black eye. Sometimes I feel confident and sometimes I feel like an awkward 13 year old!

Don't worry, I am not going to start documenting every nuance of my vacillating moods. I already bore myself half to death with that, I don't want to subject you to it! I just wanted to broach the topic so I can settle into this blog thing more.

So while I am sitting here in my jammies feeling vulnerable for bringing this up, I am  going to try to take my own advice and:

 

Thanks for listening.

xo, melissa 

 Quiet tonight. 

How about some pictures?

Thrifted puppy portrait. The chair was a yard sale find, too.

 

Look at that sweet little expression!

About a month ago, I scored I giant bin of fabric at a school yard sale. I found these unfinished Ragedy Ann and Andy dolls in the pile:

 

There's something kind of heartbreaking about them. Do all Raggedy Anns and Andys have those hearts on them? Or was that the loving touch of whoever stitched these dolls? I wonder who they were intended for.

 

Thanks for being here with me.

 

I have tons  of rubber stamps. The ones I use all the time are my alphabet sets. I have a bunch.

This particular set  was a secondhand find, can you believe it?

Love those woodblock stamps.  Those I bought new.

I haven't carved any stamps in a while. I used to do that a lot in the nineties. It sounds so funny to say that, in the nineties! Back in the day, I  was approached by a rubber stamp company that wanted to use my designs in commercial stamps. Well of course I let them! I'll have to take a picture of those. Unfortunately, Eglentyne Rubber is no more.

Carving stamps sounds much cooler if you refer to it is miniature printmaking.

Which, of course, it is.

This is an old journal page from ... maybe 2000? 20001?

 

The image in the center is one of my little carvings printed on a blank piece of cardstock.  I was visiting Madelyn and we had lunch with her friend Sandy. Now, Sandy is just charming and beautiful and creative like crazy. The kind of girl who you just want to take in everything she is wearing, remember everything she mentions. You just know this girl is special. So as I was taking her all in, I noticed she was wearing this great ring , turns out it has a rubber stamp top! Those little circles all around the border of my page? I stamped them from Sandy's ring! I'll have to see if I can find out where she got it.

I think I just heard a Weepies song on a J.C. Penny commercial. My best friend calls it  Penney's. She says it's an upstate New York thing to call it that. Those loganberry-drinking upstaters.

Painting relaxes me. I love just messing around. I never have a plan.

 

Here, I'm just doodling with some india ink and a brush. And water.

 

And here are some gouache beginnings:

 

My beloved Muppets lunchbox and a painting in progress:

 

menom-anah. 

I made these ceramic beads when I was in high school.

16 years old!

I still love them.

 

Lots of different kinds: terra cotta, stoneware with red iron oxide glazed and unglazed, high fired stoneware, Saggar-fired stoneware and some gray stoneware.

I used to make so many of these!

 

These aren't necklaces, they are strung on leather cord so I can keep them all together and hang them up. It makes me so happy to look at these big chunky strands of my own handmade beads.

 

Some of them are huge:

 

That one in the front, above? It is bigger than a golf ball!

 

yummy, earthy, tribal! 

Do you remember me telling you about my friend Madelyn? She was one of my art teachers in high school! It was in her ceramics class that I made all of these beads!

She was 23 and it was her first teaching job. We connected right away. Unfortunately, she left the school after one year, but for the rest of my time as a student we stayed in touch through letters, phonecalls and occasional visits. We grew closer and closer over the years and I am so lucky to count her as one of my dearest friends.

Dang,  still need to show you all of the photos from my visit with her this summer!

Meanwhile, check out her shop. It might be slim pickins because it is show season, but she'll restock in January! 

 

Been hanging out in my workroom tonight- playing with my jewelry supplies,  still.  I just keep looking through my tons of little boxes and jars of treasures that I have been accumulating for years.

I think these beads are hand-carved nuts or seeds of some kind: 

 

I just  can't bear to clear off my tables and return the goodies to their bookshelf without making a few more pieces. I have so many beads and supplies that I have purchased new over time, but my favorite bits to work with are the secondhand yummies.

Look at this one:

Terra cotta! Edged in a gold glaze. mmmmm.... Slurp.

 

This necklace makes a sweet  wind-chimey sound when the pieces  clink together.

I  love the back:

 

Someday, I will finally cut apart this necklace and use the individual pieces. Or maybe I won't. I kind of feel like wearing this one as is right now! 

But this gaudy little number: 

Costumey gold chain festooned with salmon and wine  beads, this one will be  repurposed.
Of course, thanks to blogging, I now find myself compelled to photograph all of my thrifted supplies- so I can show you the origin of a component and then the result of my tinkering with it.

Take this one, for example:

Does that bell look familiar? 

I love chain ( I love chains just doesn't sound right): 

 

 

 

 

mmmmm.

Must...make....pretty....jewelry....

Some more shots from my neighborhood walk, textures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the little weed shadow on that last one. 

Jennifer, honey, look away if you want to be surprised.

.............     ................          .................          ................           .........

Remember last week when I pulled out my supplies and made that necklace for my best friend ?
Well, I haven't given it to her yet, but I can't help showing you.

See the detail on the links of chain? I love it. The chain and the bell came from a thrifted piece.

Here, you can see the bell better in this shot:

 

The stones are  carnelian, sodalite, and turquoise.
This is how it looks when worn:

 

I have been wearing it to give it some love and make sure it's comfy. I do feel a bit like a puppy with the jingle-jangle.

Woof!

I am so happy that Pushing Daisies and Project Runway are on tonight!

 I love Maira Kalman's illustrations, but who would have known she does lovely embroidery, too?

From her new book, The Principles of Uncertainty:

 

 

So charming and imperfect.

 

 

Love the lettering.

 

 

 

 

 

A little photographic tour of Melissaville.

I couldn't resist this little wooden box at a yard sale last year. Those aluminum (I think) horseshoes were from the same sale.

Love those vintage bingo cards and photo corners. I have such a hard time actually using them in anything!
I use pieces of cardboard as a surface to mix paints on. Sometimes the palettes themselves end up being beautiful:

 

mmmmmm.

 

And now my other workspace, my little computer desk:

 

That awesome lamp is one of a pair I scored at a yard sale for 30 bucks.  Some of my collection of thrifted religious statues. I couldn't resist pulling these off the windowsill and setting up a little photoshoot.

 

The camera I use is borrowed, so I don't know it very well. I am hoping to get a  new one soon - my very own camera to have and to hold and get to know. I am so glad that I started blogging. It has gotten me back into photography, which I have always really enjoyed and wanted to explore more.

 

 

I am so happy with how these came out. Warm and kind of moody. Haha, just like me! 

 

 

Thanks for coming along on this little tour. More to come.  

My best friend asked me to make a necklace for her, so I pulled out all of my supplies. I love it when I get a chance to play with all of the stuff I have been collecting since I was in my teens. Beads, old hardware, thrifted jewelry, found objects.

 

From one of my jars of goodies: old keys and keyplates, drawer pulls and random metal bits.

 

 

For J's piece, I ended up using some old chain , a little bell  and semiprecious gem beads. Photos to come once I have given it to her!

 

Once my table is covered with the stuff, I just have to keep playing.

 

Photos of finished pieces to come!

Hey,  remember way back when I told you about my designs in the Victoria's Secret catalog? I couldn't find any locally, so my honey ordered them for me online. I have had them for a few months and finally decided to photograph them.  I don't have pics of the froggies yet, but here are the other ones!

That chest they are draped over is one of my yard sale finds. We use it as a linen closet.

 

Isn't it funny how they put their lettering in there? 

 

That was such a treat to see them in the catalog and on the website.
I can't help but wonder who else has these!  

Got this one a while back for five cents! 

 

I'll have to photograph the rest of my collection to show you.
I love show and tell!
Well, I guess I'm not really telling much, but I am showing. 

 I love tins.
Here is one of my most recent acquisitions:

Isn't it awesome? I am crazy for the playing card motif with the Rocky and Bullwinkle-esque royalty. And the perfection of the colors! Creamy light ivory with reddish chocolate brown, avocado and pale pink. Yum.

Check out that detail on the garments!

 

And they're sharing! Awww.

I love spending a couple of hours at Borders just looking around. It's one of my favorite things to do to relax. Plus, it's market research.

 

Tonight I finally got a chance to flip through Apples For Jam. As you know, everyone in blogland is positively gushing about it - and for good reason.  After thumbing through its pages, I know it's one I'll want to own. For now, though, I'll have to content myself with drooling over  it at the bookstore.
I have been dropping a little much coin on books lately. Not that it stopped me from shelling out fifteen bucks for magazines. And that's after I put back the 8 dollar  Living Etc.  It was a business expense.

Here are some of the things I enjoyed tonight:

-The Family at Home: Love. Life. Style by Anita Kaushal. I am surprised that I picked it up, as the cover is not really that appealing to me. The inside was really lovely, though.

-Cool new title on the shelf in the craft section:  How To Make Books. 

-Absolutely adorable little mending kit by Cath Kidston.

-cd by St. Vincent

Done with browsing ( and spending ), I came home all excited to watch my favorite new show: Pushing Daisies . I am so disappointed it's not on tonight! Boo, Hiss!

 Glass hand dish. Thrifted.

Stones from the inappropriately named Sandy Neck Beach on Cape Cod.
Most often overheard phrase on Sandy Neck in the summer:

"Oooh, ow! Shoulda brought my shoes!"

Sandy Neck is not sandy. It's rocky. 

 

Pretty rocks, but still. Bring your flip flops. 

 

Just finishedmy project! Woooo!
Not the most flattering photo of me, but it's  10:45 p.m. ( would normally be 11:45, but for the daylight savings change ) and I  have been working since this morning!
That is Zeus on the right and Riley on the left.

Yes, I am wearing a winter hat inside. I am a coldie.