Victoria's Pick...

I asked my Victoria (11 years old) a while back if she would photograph a few things for me as she's wonderful with her camera. She happily agreed but first wanted to take some pictures of a few of her favorite things that I have made for her. Well, it was amazing to watch her set up different displays to showcase what she was shooting. She was having so much fun trying different angles, props, etc. She got a little discouraged because of the lighting - it really is tricky trying to shoot things inside the house - especially at night! ;o) She's used to taking pictures outdoors so this is new to her.

So here are her results! For the most part, I left them unaltered except to brighten them up a bit and crop excess.



I always make 2 of everything when I'm creating for my girls as they have similar tastes. The necklaces were my very first attempt at making jewelry using filigree, I loved how they turned out and the girls were so surprised.










I made them each a bookmark to accompany books I bought them for Christmas. Both my girls are totally enthralled with Paris (me too) so Victoria has the Eiffel Tower. Stephanie's had Marie Antoinette.

They love the designer Juicy Couture, so I made each of them a book with their favorite Juicy things in it. These are a few of the pages from Victoria's book. At the back of it I included a special letter from Mom inside an envelope. Much less expensive than the real thing, don't ya think? A lot of fun to make too. They loved these books!

Yummy Juicy Charms!





Love Notes from Mom <3


Doggy Couture!



As for the things I was wanting her to shoot? Well, she sort of ran out of steam so she's going to do it some time this week. I said not to worry, I would do it. "Nope! It's what I like to do, Mom" she says. I say, "Yay Me!!!".

So, more to come when my little photographer is ready ;o)

Belonging...

A sense of belonging, you know... that feeling you get when you're spending time with your best friend or you visit a place where you can be yourself and the surroundings mirror your thoughts and interests. Sigh, everyone needs that in their lives, even only just for a fleeting moment - just enough to carry us through our busy routines until we can feel it again.

I wanted to write today about how grateful I am to have had many of these moments in my life. Some of mine have included; laughter with my beautiful daughters whom I absolutely adore, dear friends, a coffee shop full of aroma and Paris Chic accessories, spending time with a senior citizen with stories of a time gone by... just to name a few.

I joined a lovely on-line group this weekend, it's the Etsy Cottage Style Community. This is another place where I get that sense of belonging. They are a wonderful group of very talented ladies who provide friendship, support, encouragement and we all have very similar interests in what we like to create.

Where do you get your sense of belonging from? Does it come from family, friends, places, things you do? I'd love to hear them!

I managed to get some creating done this weekend, now I need to photograph them. I've asked my Victoria to do this as she's our prize photographer in our family. She's only 11. I'm amazed at the shots she captures when we're out and about on walks or drives in the country. Anyway, she says she'd be happy to take the pictures for me, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with. I will post as soon as they're done.

I wish you lots of belonging and happy moments today and always!

Dawn

Creating to music today...

My Blog Playlist is turned up and I'm enjoying a lovely day of creating today. I love how music can add such pleasure to what ever it is you're doing.

Looking forward to this weekend, I'm going to continue with creating... this week I received lots of treats that I had ordered from some of my favorite supply shops on Etsy. Charms and beads galore, love it! I never have a set plan on what's going to be made. I set a few things on my desk that I want to work with and print off some of my images to cut out. Then, I just play with assemblage; when I'm happy with the arrangement, I usually take a picture to remind me of what goes where. That's because of course I then have to take it all apart to affix it permanently.

Do you have time to create this weekend? I hope so, maybe you'd like these lovelies to get your creative spirit going... Whatever you're doing, have a wonderful weekend!

Dawn

It's been a crazy week...

Yup, I did manage to do some creating with Stephanie as I mentioned in an earlier post. But didn't get to finish what was started. A nasty cold is running through my house and Stephanie has the worst of it. Poor thing, she has final exams at highschool this week - she's really tired.

I've spent the morning surfing around Etsy and other Blogs; I think I spot a new addiction brewing for me! lol I'm very excited to make new connections and friends and I appreciate it so much when you leave a comment or contact me at Etsy... Thanks so much!

I added a playlist...

I couldn't help myself, I added a play list. I've done so much surfing around of blogs in the last week and I've visited some really lovely blogs. I enjoyed the blogs with play lists, most often the music was a nice experience while I read.

So the songs I've added are some of my favorites to listen to while I create, I will add more as time permits. Music for me can evoke so many moods; I have varying tastes in what I chose to listen to, it depends of course on what I'm doing at the time. I love everything from Classical to Pop, the only thing I'm not really fond of is Country Music - some is ok, but it just doesn't do much for me. My daughters Stephanie (17 years old) and Victoria (11 years old) love that Mom loves the latest and greatest in their genre of music. We love to 'silly dance' to loud music while we're cleaning house! It makes the task much more pleasant - as if cleaning can be pleasant ;o)

I know music is a matter of personal taste, so if you don't care for what's playing here, you can scroll to the bottom of my blog (the play list is there) and press the pause button or turn down the volume on your computer. I do hope you enjoy it though, but don't fall asleep - it's purely dreamy and it inspires my creativity!

I'm off to pick up Stephanie from work - she works at Starbucks! I'm really happy about that - free coffee for us - she gets to bring home a 1 pound bag every week! Yay us! She wants to create with me today, so I will hopefully have some pictures to post. My Victoria likes to create too, but she's 'not in the crafting mood today'; she always changes her mind when she sees us having fun!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Undecided...

I can't seem to make up my mind today. I'm doing Collage Sheets for Valentines Day and I can't seem to focus on a clear direction. I keep wavering between a selection using; color, theme or size. Wait a minute, I go through this for EVERY sheet I make, lol. I wish today had been a little more productive!

I spent too much time searching the internet about blogs this morning. So the one thing I did decide is to keep my blog appearance as is until I get more experienced with the whole thing. As I said in yesterday's post, there are so many things you can do with it, but I'm going to step completely out of character and just let things be for now! I tend to tweak and change things a little too often sometimes! ;o)

I plan to post a project idea using my images within the next couple of days, so do come back for a visit!

Take care...

I had no idea!

Seriously, I am so impressed with all the amazing things one can do with their blogs! I spent the morning surfing around and found so many beautiful blogs! I even found ones that offer instructions how to add and change things; even links to sites that have great backgrounds, buttons, borders, etc. Wow, it must be really obvious now that I'm completely new to blogging! lol

I learned lots today and perhaps tomorrow I'll find some more time to add some 'pretties' to my blog. Wish me luck, because I'm like a fish out of water here! ;o)

Until tomorrow...

I Love to alter Butterflies...

They are one of my favorite things to collage! I put together a collage sheet of 'Charmed Butterflies' for my Etsy shop today. I wanted to share a couple of them with you! Save them to your computer and use them as you wish... but they are not for resale; however, you may incorporate them into your own hand crafted items to sell.

Hope you and your 'altered fairies' like your new wings! ;o)

My Quiet House Today

Well, my girls are back to school today after a 2 week Christmas break. I miss them being around the house during the day! It's very quiet.

I've had fun this morning perusing lots of different Blogs and have started to follow a few. I'm going to make that part of my morning routine for an hour or so because I think I'm really going to love blogging!

Now, time for me to get busy and create! I'm making new collage sheets for my Etsy shop with some of my altered butterfly wings - so pretty for fairies! Perhaps I'll share 1 or 2 for you to adorn your fairies with - I'll try to post them tomorrow.

Have a lovely day!

New Beginnings and All Things Pretty

Each new year brings fresh beginnings and thoughtful intentions - What a perfect time to start a new journey!

I am completely new to blogging, so this is one of my new paths to wonder on this year.

If you've read my profile, you know why I chose to call my blog Harmony Quest. This is a forum where I'd love to meet people with similar interests and perhaps help one another in our quest to create art.

'Art' for me represents a vast range of mediums; Altered, Collage, Assemblage, Mixed Media, Photography, Sewing and Needlecrafts, Jewelry Designing, etc., etc. The list is endless, really.

My passion is for 'All Things Pretty'. What does that mean? lol Well, for me it is:

Victorian
Shabby Chic
Paris Chic
Cottage Style
Whimsical
Celestial

I could go on... ;o) Do you like these things too? How about:

Roses and anything Floral
Sparkly, Glittery things
The yummy color Pink
Vintage photos, buttons, jewelry, lace - sigh

Ok, you guessed it. I'm a true girly girl at heart! ;o)

I have a shop on Etsy - I absolutely LOVE Etsy. If you've never been, you must check it out. There are soooo many wonderfully talented people there... There you can sell your own hand made creations, vintage items 20+ years old, or supplies to make crafts. I love to shop there too.

So in the spirit of sharing and new beginnings, I offer you a 2009 Calendar that I created. Save it to your computer and print it out for you to enjoy! As with all images that I or others will post here, please be kind and respect the 'Angel Policy' - that is to only use the image for yourself, not for re-sale purposes.

I will check this blog often, daily if I can. I would love to hear from you, so please do leave your comments and come back again soon!

Many blessings and best wishes to you for 2009!