Just when I thought I was in over my head…Things starting looking better!!! I have a lot on my plate, but I think I can handle it! The cards are so much fun! They are evolving and changing so much from last year and the year before that…It is interesting to see them change. I just start drawing, never knowing what type of character will emerge…
It is not just cards I am busy with. There are little ceramic pieces, paintings, and jewelry. I think I am going to be a couple of days behind with the Etsy shop, but just a couple. Not a week or even a month. Just a few days, which is fantastic. I am just putting the finishing touches on things…Which, can be very long tedious steps…Still, I am on my way…I will post the opening a few days before. Thank you for all of your support. It really means alot when you are not sure if you are doing the right thing??? These characters are very special to me…And, sharing them on a larger scale is huge for me…As silly as that may seem. I do have my cards at Bon and my own little gallery space is full of my creations, but this feels different.
On a none work front, I have to share a wonderful article in the Martha Stuart "Living" Magazine, March 2007 issue.
And, yes, as you expected, it does come with a personal story. My memory became alive with these photos of Nancy Heckler's collection of enchanted bug jewels (following two pictures are from said article).
You see, that huge hand bag that I use, the one you girlies asked about…Was once home to the most loveliest bee pin…
I must admit, I do have an obscene amount of jewels, which includes, but is not limited to, pins and brooches. And, I should be ashamed, but being of fanciful mind and psychotic soul, I am quite delighted with the collection I have amassed….I mean, I have been collecting since I was 4 1/2. I am proud! Here are a few of the pins, sorry for the blurry-ness….
Anyhow, I made a splurge purchase on a Jade bellied bee, a few years ago, with ruby eyes and a pearl…It sat on that favorite bag, happily. Until, one day on an Irish outing with my dear Irish frrriend, Me pin went a'missin. I freaked out. I made him drive to every location we had been at…I searched in restaurants, in cars, in parking lots. Then I remembered we had stopped at a department store to buy his father a jacket to send back to him in County Cork, Ireland…I was sure I had lost my beauty there. I had wandered to another part of the store while he was shopping. Actually, I had wandered to the undies and pajamies section. So, I went back, looking under rounders, on the carpet, asking the sales attendant. Nothing.
But, being Yvonne's daughter, I refuse to give up. I went back, hear this, 6 times. I spoke to managers, cashiers, Brazziere fitters, and anyone who I could get my hands on. They said they had no "Lost and Found" and that I was pretty much out of luck.
The 6th time there, I found a lovely young girl at the sales desk in the undies section. Oh, and by the way, this was on a completely opposite side of town, so trust me, the fact I went there 6 times was huge determination. So, there is this lovely girl at the checkout, and I ask her. She pulls out a basket and says, "This is kind of our lost and found." What?? I thought you didn't have a "lost and found" What??? And sitting on the top of the pile in this basket was my pin. YAY!!!!!!!!!! I was howling in the store!! I was a happy girl!!!!
Have you ever lost something and found it after not giving up? Or found it in the strangest place? My Momm-bee and I are so determined to find lost things, we do not sleep until the item is found! I don't even use my Bee pin anymore. I am too afraid to lose it. But, I can say that I am happy I have a bug pin and that reading that article made me happy. I could have been a sad bug pin loser…Not a loser, but a bug pin loser, oh you know what I mean…. Hee hee
Tell me your stories!!!! I love hearing them!!!!See you in a couple of days!!xxo, Vanessa
What a great story Vanessa.What a determination I love it!I lost one of my dearest childhoodbooks when we moved from our home to an appartement.After years of searching my dear dear father placed an add and drove 150 km to get it for me.A wonderful lady gave it to me just because I loved it so much..and dad came and gave it to me.Believe me I still cry when I think of him showing up at my door.xoxo Desirée
Goodness me what determination, that pin was obviously meant to be yours. My brother in law has this theory that if you lose something and are unable to find it it is destined to belong to someone else. We also have a friend who regularly asks St Antony to help her find anything she has lost, he is the patron saint of lost things, and apparently it works.
Wow, I am amazed at your determination. I would have given up after checking once, maybe twice. I feel bad for the bee pin though, I think you should use it again – maybe just start with a small outing to the store? I get determined to fix things. The glove compartment in my sister’s car was broken so it would just hang open. She had given up on it and accepted it. I took one ride in that truck and said no I will not accept this defeat. While she drove, I was hunched over, feeling very car-sick, but still determined to fix it. And I did, before we even got to our destination too! Yea, it felt real good.
I am so excited for your etsy shop to be open, I can’t wait to browse in there for hours and fall into your world!!
xoxoxo
What a wonderful story as usual Vanessa, you inspire with your great determination. I really love the Martha Stewart ‘Living’ images, I wish we can get the magazines here. About things being lost and found, I once left a denim jacket on the shelf of a train and decided that it was gone forever, maybe calling the train station when I got back. On the journey back, I got into a carriage and was just looking up, alas, that’s my jacket on the shelf!!! It was still there after being away for several hours, and luckily it was the same train!
There’s a lesson here in perseverence. Never give up. I wore my great-uncle’s wedding band on my right hand. It is a lovely old gold, maybe 3/4 inch wide and the mellowness of it appealed to me. I’d lost a little weight and realized that it was a little loose, but didn’t take it off. Then one day it was gone. I looked everywhere in the house. The logical places. Then, in a moment of domesticity a week or two later, I decided to clean out the refrigerator. There was the ring, in the vegetable drawer under a head of lettuce. I could have wept for joy at finding it.
Vanessa, your collection is gorgeous! How fun! I can’t wait for my Martha to come so that I can read that article. Your pictures are so fun and I can’t wait for your new shop to open! Much excitement!!! 🙂
Oooh! What gorgeousness! Nothing I like better than pretties as my daughter used to call them. I have a coupe of bugs, a butterfly and a dragonfly although they are more of the Target variety. But they are sparkly and still make me happy! I am so excited for your etsy shop, I missed Emily’s yesterday so I am going to set my kitchen timer on the day of yours. I predict the same flurry of activiy that she experiences for you because we all love you so!
Well, I’ll tell you about a lady who is about to pick me up for a day of shopping and eating who wears a bug or bee pin on her shoulder…sometimes several of them, every day!
My grandma has a veritable hive of different bug pins. She always wears one on her shoulder. Billions of them.
Stop it with the Magazines…I am buying the ones you tell us about, including the ones I usually buy…$$$$$… LOL To tell the truth I am a slave to magazines.
I your determination great…your bee pin is wonderful.
I will keep my eyes on your blog, for the announcement of your Esty opening 🙂
Ooooooohh…lovely mag images and lots of lovely green!!! Looking forward to yuor shop launch 🙂
Oh, i’ve lost a few precious items before, and it usually happens while away on a trip… in NYC a few years ago i went to Brooklyn for the day and once back in Manhattan i realized i’d left my purse in an ice cream shop….this was after 10 at night, and LUCKILY i had the biz card of the shop in my pocket so we called and they found it in the ladies restroom! So we had to go back to Brooklyn that night to retrieve it, and it was my favorite kookyhandbag too!
i also pray to St. Anthony for missing items, like someone else mentioned….got that from my Mama D….and it usually works for me!
can’t wait to see your Etsy shop!
I can’t believe you still won’t let go of the fact that your rhinestone hollywood pin got lost. I can find ine for you now! Haha. I don’t want to borrow your stuff anyway!
KSV- I vaguely remembered something being loat like in 1989-1990 and that I had freaked out completely!! But, I could not even remember what it was, your old-ish sis has not memory, rememeber???You don’t want to borrow my stuff?? How sad!!!! I had the perfect red fur vest and teal metallic heals for you to wear on your birthday! I won’t even mind if you lose them!!!
My vote is STILL for you to add childrens writer and illustrator to your resume’!
Okay,so heres the poetry ,the kismet ,if you will.We have never met in person,but isn’t it just amazing to find that needle in the haystack bud that that is you even share the lost flying bug brooch story!
http://jungledreampagoda.blogspot.com/2006/10/my-own-vintage-clothing-fashion.html
Okay that second image of yours is just utterly gorgeous. I can barely stand it!!!
And I lost my engagement ring, searched and sobbed for weeks and never found it. Even witch doctors were consulted who told me to dig under a certain tree in my garden and there I found another ring but it wasn’t mine!!!
PS and yes, I routinely wear my crown while gardening:-)
What a jewelry collection, and what a great story of lost being found! And about your etsy shop… I think it’s a great idea. I know that your creations are special to you (I love, by the way, seeing them in color today), so it seems like etsy is the perfect outlet for them. It’s a pretty supportive community, and you can form little on-line relationships with your customers, which can end up being a more personal than the anonymous sales (unless you work behind the counter) at a brick and mortar shop. I think it will be a perfect fit for you!
I am glad for the happy ending. It is such a lovely bee.
and i see you’re a very determined gal…good on ya! Never lose that!
forgot to mention that i love your delightful jewellery collection and i’m so very glad you were reunited with your fave pin!
I know that feeling! When you lose something so special to you, but you just cannot shake the feeling that you will find it if you keep trying. Whenever I lose things (more often than I would like to admit), I find that if I just sit down and be quiet and still I will remember exactly where it is. Works everytime!
Oh…my mother collected insect jewelry for years, and really jewelry in general. She had tons…it was so fun to wear all the vintage pieces to school in the 80’s! I actually was so very thin then, I wore tons of vintage things to school (yay for Cyndi Lauper)
Anyway…I went to MetroCenter once and set my entire purse down, and got up and left it there. I remember not feeling too sad about it (I’d spent everything but $4) just a little teary about all of the pictures of my friends. Then some salesperson that worked there spied it, and returned it to me. Weird. I always thought it was because I’d really let go of the outcome (Oh…that may be important in my life now huh? With SH anyway) I also lost my purse (a different one) in my bedroom for a week once. But, that’s just because it was a very dirty mess…
xoxoxo lovey…anxiously awaiting the shop update!
lovely blog entry miss fanciful, as always such a treat. sweetness, beauty and bright- thats how i view your beautiful pictures!!.
i found a book i had in my childhood over the internet on a puffin book site…oh’ it was my favourite had dreams about it as a child- i loved it…but my gave a lot of my books away to charity afer i moved out.
Now, in my 20’s i kept thinking about that special book that was so much all about my childhood and dreams i had- i found it over the web and cos it was an old book i got it for a few pounds- when mr posty delivered it i was so happy and still am.
i know i didnt loose the book but it felt just the same when my mum had given it away.
now i cherish this book and all its memories.
The insect jems are just enchanting and so beautiful…
my grandmother had lots of play jewelry when i was a child and me and my twin sister would dress eachother up like princesses in heaps of sparkling jems an pearl necklaces- so much fun- we felt like royalty.
x x x kazzy xx x
my mom brought me that issue of MS and i too loved that article. that one and the ribbon embroidery. love! did i ever tell you that i lost my wedding ring on our honeymoon? we were sitting on a beach in san sebastian (spain) when i noticed it was missing. the beach is probably THE worst place ever to lost small jewelry. we looked all over the place where we ate breakfast. looked in the sand. looked in our hotel room. but we never found it. i was totally totally bummed but now we look at it romantically…it’s like we now have a psecial connection to san sebastian and when we visit again in the future we will thing that my ring might still be there somewhere…
also when i was a teenager i used to leave my wallet everywhere. you’d be amazed how many times i would get a call that someone found it. (luckily our home number was listed.)
kisses!
Glad to hear your not stressed out from being behind. I know it’s not a nice feeling.
Thanks for sharing your pin collection. Bugs how interesting. I didn’t realize they were so many cute ones out there! The bee one you have it darling.
Buzzzzzzzzzzzz you late….
Yaaaay for perserverance!!!! Gosh I cannot imagine how completely over the moon you must have felt when you found the ‘not in the lost property box’ bee pin – and how special it is too – even more so because of the trauma of losing it I suspect!! I am so excited for your store opening Vanessa – I cannot wait to peruse your lovely pieces and maybe even own one or two too!!! Have a lovely few days! (and relax and enjoy life when you can amongst the busy’ness)
I loved those pins in MS too! What a great story and such LUCK to have it waiting for you after the struggle of the search 🙂
So umm… etsy etsy etsy? (said in that whiney 5 yr old voice that sounds like “are we there yet?”)
I want that second girl’s hairdoo…
Hello Vanessa! Ive missed you and your lovely illustrations! the half head in hair rollers is so cute – your girls have such dreamy eyes….
beautiful bug jewels and your own collection of trinkets and bijoux looks so wonderful! Im so glad you found your jade pin – what a beauty! I lost a pearl ring a few years ago and searched the whole house to no avail…months later I spotted a similar one in an antique stall so I bought it and a couple of days later I found my first ring in one of my drawers – very weird…
Hello dear,
I too am very excited for your Etsy store to be open for business! I can’t wait to get my hands on some of your delightful creations!
Love love love the story of your pin. That is great! I’m SO SO SO happy that you found it! What a devastation that would have been to have lost it forever.
Good for you on not giving up!
Have a day as lovely as you are!
xo,
Karen Beth 🙂
i lost my wedding ring TWICE when i was married the first time…i think it was a sign! get out! ;] you have a great deal of jewelry like i do…what is your way to organize and/or display it? i don’t want to put it away, it gets forgotten about! i want to wear it! the spider jewelry is very cool!