Change of Pace

The end of September is just not that far away.  I have two fall craft shows back to back coming up.  The first is Cider Days,  the last weekend in September and the next is Pumpkin Patch, the first weekend in October.  It will be virtually impossible to replace inventory between the two shows (and I do hope that will be a necessity!), so I'm working furiously to get enough made up to cover four days.  My beadweaving and jewelry designs are something I work on all year around, but my floral designs are much more seasonal.

I absolutely love creating fall florals.  It has to be my favorite season.  Fall colors are so rich, so glorious.  There's nothing timid about the brilliant rusts, golds, crimsons and purples.  Here's a few of my favorite designs I've gotten made up so far.

I think this is one of the best antler wreaths I've ever made.

Found this sunflower vase at a yard sale.

Isn't this pumpkin vase great?!  Another yard sale find.

I love to work with grapes and this old wine gift box said "Take me home"!

My favorite!  This used to be a two-tiered plate holder.

Unexpected Inspiration

Goodness, I don't know where the month of July went!  I didn't realize it had been a month since I'd posted here.  But, I just had to share today.

Just about every Saturday morning from May until September, my SO and I have a routine.  Early risers during the week, weekends are usually not exceptions for us.  We get the Friday night paper which lists the area yard sales, check the on-line version of the paper and Craigslist and head out on Saturday mornings in search of treasure.  Quite frequently I find things I can reuse in my jewelry and floral designs so I can easily justify my penchant for collecting other people's castaways.  After checking out yard sales, we head to the local farmers' market before finishing the morning at the grocery store.

It was at the farmers' market this morning that I found my unexcepted inspiration.  We always stop to chat briefly with a friend who runs a stall and while there I glanced down and saw the most wonderful mix of colors.  It was a box with four peppers - one dark green, one yellow green, one orangey red and one purple.  It was a feast for the eyes!  And being a beadweaver, my first thought was, "Ooh, I should make up a necklace in these colors!".  My friend assured me that as well as being pretty, they also tasted good, because my second thought was that they would really be good in a stir fry.  So they came home with me and I decided to capture their beauty in a more fitting vessel than their cardboard produce box before we slice and dice them into the skillet.

Now I also have something to refer back to when I go through my bead stash.  And I think copper will be the right accent for this trio of secondary colors after seeing how lovely they look on my leaf tray (which, btw, was a yard sale find).

So I guess moral of the story is even when you're just doing your normal, routine activities, keep your eyes open.  You never know when you will see that spark of inspiration that will lead to your next creation.