Peppy's Dream Crafts Blog

Sunday, November 2, 2008

This is how this mirror looked when I started.  It had a fabric cover, but it had been water stained, so it wasn't looking that great.  By removing the plastic cover and the fabric I was able to decoupage right on the cardboard covering the mirror!  A few coats of varnish and -- voila!

Sometimes I'm completely inspired by someone because of their enthusiasm and appreciation of my work.  When someone loves what you do, you want to create something fabulous for them.  So it was with Marlene. 

She found my website when searching for a replacement for her broken vintage hand mirror.  She loved my jewelry mosaics and commissioned me to make her one with gold and purple, which I did. 

I had another hand mirror and she asked me to decoupage it with butterflies.  I was so inspired by her enthusiasm when she saw the bejeweled mirror that I started working the next day and finished it last night.

I love working with butterflies, as they are a favorite subject matter for me, too.  My mother always loved butterflies and several years ago I made her a butterfly vase. I also made one for my friend, Liz, who also adores butterflies.

Liz's Butterfly Vase

This was such a small surface that I had to pick and choose my butterflies so carefully.  I think it's beautiful and I hope you think so, too!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

After creating the bejeweled hand mirror for Marlene, she commissioned me to make some more pieces, including a hand mirror and tray for her daughter, who owns a yoga studio in California.  I love doing pieces like this, because I am creating something around a theme specifically for someone.  I'm taking something they are passionate about and making it into art!

As you can see, this mirror, made of Ivory Pyralin (an early plastic that looked like ivory), had seen better days -- but who can blame it when it's almost 100 years old!  Remarkably, the mirror itself was in excellent condition. What I love about it is it was made in the early 1900s, and has lasted all these years, but no one wanted it because it was so ugly looking.  I used paper to beautify it and give it a new lease on life!

Same story with this yoga tray (which I photographed after I glued the first picture on!).  It's from the same period -- early 1900s -- and will now look beautiful for a long, long time!

Here's an ad I found for a set that resembles this very closely.  I guess when they were new they looked like ivory and were quite beautiful, but they stain and discolor and don't have the same appeal.

I had a great time with these pieces, partly because I am a huge fan of yoga.  I only wish I lived close enough to her studio to go and take classes there!

Besides the yoga tray and mirror, I had made another hand mirror for Marlene, this one with a butterfly theme, which I have already shown on the last entry of this crafts blog.

Marlene was interested in some other pieces, which I completed months ago and which were on consignment at GILI ANNA'S beautiful shop in La Jolla.  Marlene had seen them on this crafts blog and told me she was interested, so I picked them up from Gili and brought them home.

Last night, Marlene made another trip with her boyfriend, Chris, and visited me to pick up my latest creations, and the pieces she saw which I got from Gili.

She ended up buying two of my absolute favorites -- the bejeweled tissue box and the bejeweled mirrored tray.  I put my heart and soul into those pieces and I'm so glad they went to someone as beautiful, sweet and inspirational as Marlene.

Marlene is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  She always has something positive to say -- whether it's on the phone, in an email, or when she comes to visit.  She brightens the room when she enters.

I also love her, because she's a "glitzy glamour girl" -- just like me.  She loves to sparkle and shine and that she does -- so beautifully!

I am thrilled that she is so happy with all her purchases and I hope her daughter loves the yoga mirror and tray, too!