Posts Tagged ‘clevergirl’
July 30, 2008
OK…Finally! I am updating my SmashingDarling.com boutique with some new treats…
It’s a pretty addictive site dedicated to indie fashion and up and coming indie brands…
Pretty nifty.
The specific pieces available on SmashingDarling are designs, or designs featuring finishes, that are exclusive to SmashingDarling.com…
To celebrate my new pieces at Smashing Darling, I would like to extend a 10% discount to my faithful readers! Just enter the code: DPWLE3 during checkout…Offer good only at my SmashingDarling.com boutique, on CleverGirl products… Expires 8/8/08 ….
What are you waiting for! Let’s get SMASHING!
Posted in C'est Moi., jewelry | Tagged artisan, artist, beclever, bek, boutique, caruso, clevergirl, code, coupon, direct, discount, exclusive, fashion, independant, independent, indie, jewellery, jewelry, promo, shopping, silver, smashingdarling, smashingdarling.com, sterling, unique | No Comments »
July 2, 2008
Rascal
Originally uploaded by CleverGirlBek
Rascal, the ring…
Very, very old Bakelite (older than vintage, younger than antique, by definition)…
Had some scotties and some ring blanks and went to town….
Available in my little shop on the internet superhighway… or zip me a message for more information…
Always Be Clever…
xo
B
ps. I have that song stuck in my head (You Rascal You)…Boyo is forever on a Louis kick (lots of Armstrong and Prima)…Glad he is more into the tune than the lyrics…Yikes! I have to give this another listen! Not the nicest song in the world…But oh so catchy…Perhaps I’ll swap it out on his song mixes with The Music Goes Round and Round!
Posted in C'est Moi., jewelry | Tagged vintage, red, plastic, clevergirl, bakelite, bek, handmade, modern, whimsical, jewelry, handcrafted, scottie, dog, jewellery, black, fun, scottish highland, terrier, ring, assemblage, industrial, cute, louis, armstrong, prima, phenolic, mold, cocktail, costume jewelry, bridge jewelry | No Comments »
June 26, 2008
The book….
Originally uploaded by CleverGirlBek
222 pages of my work…
222 pages of bright and candy colored macro shots….
I did this as a reminder of how far I have come and also as a gift for my dad to share with him how far I have come in the past year…
I this because on the really hard days when it seems like nobody is making progress anywhere I can look at this and say holy crap, this is where I spent the last year….
Feels good. Off to work on the subjects for volume 2.
Posted in C'est Moi. | Tagged clevergirl, bek, art, jewelry, collection, photography, macro, coffee table book, blurb, blurb.com, litmus test, self-publishing, print on demand, progress | No Comments »
May 7, 2008
Strange morning here… Boy actually got dressed for school with minimal intervention… Drop off went fine- watched the smallest (but very muscular and strong) guy in the class knock boy off his feet… Boy’s response was to stand up and put his face a couple of inches from the perp’s face and stare him down while squeezing his hands and forearms so tight his head was shaking. The teacher broke it up. I talked to Alex who was pretty upset about hitting the floor (especially since he fell down in the men’s room at the park the other day…huge goose-egg on his squash, but he was ok…I think he was more freaked out that his whole body touched the men’s room floor. Baldguy put him right in the shower…)…
Drove to grab the Vice Squad (a couple of 20 fl oz bottles of diet coke…the only thing that gets me through the morning lately)….
On the way to the market a duck of some sort (red bill, speckled black and white feathers) flew an inch from my windshield from a sidestreet. I almost got t-boned by a duck. Nobody was behind me or next to me so I hit the brakes and the duck flew off. Scared the daylights out of me…
Went to the depot for two screws (yes, I had a loose one…actually, due to a tiny leaky faucet incident that caused almost no damage, the door to one of our vanity cabinets ripped right off the other day. I think boyo thinks I’m very, very strong… Anyway, was in depot when the elastic in my underpants just *went*… Thankfullly I was wearing pants so I waddled my way home…
Anyway. Off to fix stuff and rest for a bit…
There are fires burning far away, but they smell and look local from the smoke… Eyes watery and throat dry and itchy… Yuk. But still I love that autumn leaf pile roasting smell….
Posted in C'est Moi. | Tagged behavior, clevergirl, discipline, driving, duck, elastic, fire, home depot, kids, lee county, school, screws, underpants, windshield | No Comments »
May 2, 2008
Argh.
Originally uploaded by CleverGirlBek
In a recent raffle, baldguy won tickets to Pieces of Eight- a fun Pirate ship excursion into the Gulf of Mexico… They are currently repositioning to service the keys…I do recommend it- it’s a freaking awesome pirate ship with modern amenities and a rockin’ band of pirates. Fun was had by all!
It was so nice to be disconnected from the world for a bit, out on the boat… Here’s a picture of boy on the boat. He doesn’t understand that a costume or a painted on mustache are just pretend- he thinks they actually transform him into another person.
I was amazed that he let them draw a mustache on him.
After around 5 minutes he furiously tried to wipe it off and had a running in place moment of freaking out when he declared
“Just me. I want to be just me. No pirate me. Just ME.”
It was huge though- he went on a boat, he tried something new at lunch, he had his face painted, he took pictures, he wore a hat and a pirate hat, and there was a brief moment where he donned an eyepatch.
Awesome.
Posted in C'est Moi., family | Tagged add, ADHD, beach, clevergirl, family, family activities, fort myers, ft. myers, fun, key west, pieces of eight, piecesofeight.com, pirate, sensory integration, theme cruise | No Comments »
April 15, 2008
Scottie…
Originally uploaded by CleverGirlBek
Finally finished this piece….
This spirited little guy took awhile- I made the setting (which was a bit more challenging than simple round settings, I admit) and then let him run about my computer for a bit (he has been resting against the screen)… Finally, eureka!
Vintage bakelite/catalin in a sterling silver setting (bezel and solid backing)….
Two types of chain (one for the collar, one for the leash/chain for your neck)….
Every few pieces I wind up with one that I don’t finish and share right away…. Usually, to someone else’s eye, the piece appears done and usually just needs some sort of length of chain to finish it….But not for me. When pieces are truly complete I get this amazing feeling inside- this sparkle… I feel like I’m sitting on one of those carnival attractions- where the person (or teacher-sometimes they are rented to schools) is sitting above a vat of water and the participants throw baseballs at a target-when they hit it just right the person plunges into the water….But in my version the water is a slightly cool temperature, and it’s seltzer water.
That’s how I feel when I piece is reaching completion and then ready to really share with the world.
There’s a little nervous anticipation, a little bit of a panic, and I feel so joyful- like I’m surrounded by millions of tiny little bubbles and laughter.
Ok. Now I sound a little more nuts than usual.
But that really is the only way I can describe it….
Hugs all around,
B
Posted in C'est Moi., art, etsy, jewelry | Tagged creativity, vintage, work, clevergirl, bakelite, catalin, green, bek, etsy.com, sterling, silver, gift, jewelry, necklace, pendant, scottie, scottish terrier, schnauzer, dog, chain, leash, jewellery, fanatic, finishing, art done | No Comments »
April 4, 2008
I’m having a little sale…
I usually don’t discount except for very large orders, so this is a rarity… All of the pieces are wonderful and fabulous, I’m just trying to make some room to help me focus… I need a nice fresh canvas!
(Sale pieces do not ship giftwrapped- that is the only difference… They are also not weird seasonal pieces, they are year round lovely pieces… Take a peek!)
Trying to make some room for some new pieces….
You can find the goodies here:
SALE into SPRING
Happy Friday!
B
Posted in C'est Moi. | Tagged glass, lucite, vintage, clevergirl, bek, etsy.com, sterling, silver, modern, jewelry, spring, antique, cleaning, sale, discount | No Comments »
April 3, 2008
Yay! My gnome costume is in a gnome treasury!
Gnome goodness!
(thanks monkeygrassstains.etsy.com!)
Posted in C'est Moi. | Tagged clevergirl, costume, etsy.com, gnome, gnomes, hat, treasury | No Comments »
March 31, 2008
That is my distressed/battle cry when I can’t get a plastic bag open- with grocery bags it’s pretty easy…Just keep rolling them between fingers and eventually they will separate.
I have yet to reach that breaking point with Contractor Bags.
And lately, I’m using a ton of them… Don’t fret, my friends. I’m not stocking up the landfills of the south lands. But I do have a little kid and a GE refrigerator that roasts things once a year- so an occasional bag does actually contain trash but I have also found them to be a great container of transport, a holding device of sorts, for things heading to our local goodwill.
The problem is I can’t open the darn things. They are thick and sturdy and melty-welded together on one end, and un- breachable on the other.
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Makes me nuts.
I was watching a movie a long while ago and watched as a robber cut a circle in a plate glass window and removed the (really freakishly perfect) circle with one of those doohickey handles with the suction cups and I thought “Eureka! Contractor Bags will no longer stymie this gal from donating (and occasionally throwing out large amounts of turned dairy)!”
The solution was simple.
DUCT TAPE.
I know! I feel ever so clever that is took me this long to figure *that* out… Good gravy!
So I put a little length of duct tape right on the box to keep it handy… Simply stick the duct tape on one side of the (supposed) opening of the bag and pull…
I have my piece of duct tape a little different than in the picture- I have it mostly folded over so only a little adhesive is showing and it doesn’t just perma-adhere to the bag (and then render the gigantic bag useless as a bag, and pretty useless except as a small tarpaulin).
Also- clear packing tape works… Pretty girly decorated packing tape works (but I can’t find mine now that I switched to the reinforced paper tape stuff)…. Blue painter’s masking tape doesn’t work so well, but that is more for masking than for adhesive prowess.
But Duct Tape rocks…..
I may have to keep a stash in my glove box for the produce bags at the natural foods market- those are taunting my arthritic hands these days….
Wondering if they make a “green” duct tape…. (off to find out….)
Posted in tricks | Tagged arthritis, bags, clever, clevergirl, contractor, duck, duct, opening, plastic, tape, tips, trash, tricks | No Comments »
March 18, 2008
Sunset
Originally uploaded by CleverGirlBek
In another lifetime I worked with film and I am still obsessive about the glow of magic hour…
I try to bring that sort of light to my metalwork, at every opportunity. I love contrast. I love making, by hand and with only a couple of tools, thrones for vintage plastic bits… Glass is lovely as well, and occasionally I do work with glass, but I’m forever in love with the jewels of our grandmothers and bringing them back into the light…
I love dark metal and vintage Lucite in various degrees of translucence… This piece is a matte finish deep tangerine. In this setting, with this contrast, it actually reflects light and appears to be lit, just a bit, from behind…
It glows.
Just like the earth during the warm flirtation of the sun’s angle at magic hour….
Magic Hour will arrive shortly, in my shop.…
Posted in C'est Moi., jewelry | Tagged lucite, vintage, plastic, clevergirl, bek, etsy.com, sterling, silver, silversmith, bezel, orange, magic hour, light, translucence, setting | No Comments »
