I subscribe to Birds and Blooms magazine, and was pleased to see a photo of this birdhouse on one of the website pages. It made me smile, as those of you who know me understand that I like to have my wine. Over the years, I probably could have contributed to a large colony of these wine cork birdhouses!
This is the quote from the designer of the birdhouse and the photo. Love it!
"With all of the wine corks I've collected throughout the years, it was easy to create this unique birdhouse," writes Bruce Bohnsack of Fargo, North Dakota. "This quaint cabin required 130 recycled corks!"
I am very fortunate to work with a very talented guy named David Winitt. His attention to detail on not only his business work, but his artistic side too, is refreshing. David loves to travel to Italy. He and his lovely girlfriend jet set over every once in a while. The last few trips have contributed to his love of Italian handmade papier-mache masks. Not only did he purchase a few through the last visits, but has fallen in love with the process of making them. He read books, did research over the internet and even tried to email the shops in Italy, but no one ever replied.....so sorry. He was so enamored with this craft that he made the decision to make some for himself. Through much research, he gathered top of the line materials and set out to start his first mask. He sculpts his own casting with clay. I was absolutely amazed at the finished product! He now has finished approximately 6 or 7 wonderful masks. Now, these are not your typical "mardi-gras" type masks, but a wonderful likeness to the Italian style masks. Not only has he become an accomplished mask artist, but he is a fantastic canvas artist. He has now established his website and I wanted to feature it here on my blog for all you other crafty/artistic bloggers to get a look-see....you can find him at
You can find much more information about him, his craft and the whole process on his website.
If you like what you see, leave him a note on his website. I am sure it will please him immensely!
Yeah, men have "the man cave"....I have my "blog cave". A safe place to let loose and mull over past events or think about future events. I have not posted in a while as I have been really busy getting my Etsy shop up to snuff....a lot happening there! I got my first Etsy sale just last week and was elated! Champagne was uncorked! I also produced my first Treasury on the Etsy site....which is a personal selection of items from all the Etsy shops, usually following a theme. Mine was "Less Whine, More Wine.....those things that have something to do with wine, or the color of...." It was fun, and a great way to feature other sellers as well as one item from my shop. This is the item from my shop that I featured....
I am weary from too many hours on the computer....(eye strain sucks) and the pull of house work needing to be done and meals to be cooked versus trying to get new designs completed. I probably need to post more often in order to release some tension, but I feel I need to spend that time at the design work bench instead...ok, help me see the light here and beat me into blog submission.....I promise to post on at least a weekly rate and as things get more sane...(huh? did I say sane? with the holidays fast approaching? Argh!) I would hope to post more often to keep everyone up to date on the newest designs or sales or happenings in the life of one determined designer.
I am off to spend some time this weekend with two of my granddaughters in order to help with halloween costumes and decorating their house for the bewitching hour. It should be fun and a great time to let go of my stress for at least a little while. Maybe I will post some photos of what we accomplish while there. Also, I am planning to get my gorgeous daughter to model some of my designs so I can get some better photos of my designs in "real time".....So, stay tuned!
Never a dull moment with me....not only am I designing and entering inventory into my new jewelry software 24-7, but Jeff and I are going to Boston this weekend to celebrate his sister's BIG 60 birthday at Fenway Park on Saturday....Go Redsox! Anyway, we have been planning this for a year since she let us know (in no uncertain terms) that all she wanted for her birthday was to be in Fenway Park at a Redsox game.....Jeff pulled some strings with an announcer friend of his that does the Redsox games, and...voila! Four of the best seats in the house, delivered to our front door. I thought his sister was going to pass out when we told her. Some fan this woman is. Glad we could be part of making her dream come true. How in the world do I pack for a three day trip in a 45" case for a carry on? Ugh....I have too many shoes....and jewelry. Which reminds me, speaking of jewelry, check out this set I made for Jeff's sister as our gift to her. I think it turned out rather nice. It has four Korean jade pieces. I think I may have to make one for myself, too....
Have a great evening, and a better Thursday!
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