How quickly things change.

, originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

Last week, this tree looked like this:

Backyard tree, originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

 

Studio Shot Tuesday: My craft table

Studio Shot Tuesday: My craft table, originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at my crafting. I submitted this to the Studio Shot Tuesdays flickr pool. It’s pretty cluttered and unremarkable at the moment, so I don’t really have anything to say about the space itself. But I’m excited about that card under the needle there–I made several new collage cards, most incorporating those notions to the left of the Singer there. Photos of the cards are forthcoming–and they may even make it to the shop as early as tomorrow. Yay for sewing paper!

Inherited Notions

Notions, originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

OK, I know, I promised illustrated tales of my latest craft fair adventure…soon, my dears, soon. It’s hard to blog lots of photos when you spend 40 hours a week away from the computer that holds said photos and your work computer doesn’t read your jump drive. I know, I know, it’s a hard life I lead. No really, I promise a posting of those photos this weekend…and maybe even a website launch….

Anyway, just wanted to share this bit of eye candy in the form of some vintage sewing notions I recently inherited from my paternal grandmother.

Grogginess.

I blame Daylight Savings Time. Woke up all cozy and zombie-like under my great-grandma’s quilt and still have yet to feel fully awake. All I wanna do is curl up in my hoodie and my quilt and doze the day away. Sigh. Not gonna happen. At least the workday is almost half over.

In other, less groggy news, I had a lovely weekend visiting my folks, dragging them to all my favorite Jacksonville haunts: Fans & Stoves (antique shop), City Rescue Mission (thrift store), Shep’s (tacky, junky, wonderful salvage mart–think Harbor Freight Tools + Big Lots + Army Surplus + Dollar Store + an exceptionally trashy flea market), and White Way Deli. We had fun–they’re such good sports. Dad served as my shopping cart, holding my stack of things to purchase while I pawed through bin after bin of antique silverware at Fans & Stoves…Mom bought me yet another Tupperware container for storing all my crafty odds & ends. And I think they’re gonna come to Mega-Craft-Zilla with me next weekend!

Yesterday I made a lightbox (yay for photo-taking at all hours!) and took a stab at oxidizing metal. I’ll put up some After pics of the oxidized stuff soon–no Befores cause the lightbox wasn’t finished yet! Happy Monday…I’m off to get more coffee and one of the brownies Mom insisted I bring home.

Photos for sale

I’m now offering photo prints in my Etsy shop! I thought I might as well take advantage of the fact that my husband has this fancy professional photo printer and can teach me about digital prints, and add another type of item to my repertoire. I’m certainly no Annie Leibowitz or even half as talented as my husband, but I do enjoy taking photographs, and I think other people would enjoy some of my photos too. Here’s hoping!

Goal-setting whilst my camera is away.

A few weeks ago my hubby, who ever-so-generously lends me use of his fancy 10D camera for all my jewelry-photographing needs, quite generously loaned said camera to one of his photography school buddies (not sure why his photog friend doesn’t have his own digital camera, but that’s another story). Super, huh. Not so much for me. I’ve got oodles of freshly-crafted goodies languishing on my work table, just waiting to be photographed and offered up on Etsy–to fulfill their purpose, really. *Sigh* So it goes. But I just wanted to let ya’ll know that I have not quit creating, I’ve simply been without a camera.

But I’m getting the camera back this weekend, so mark your calendars! Fabulous new Avenue H jewelry, cards, and perhaps even scarves will be available for your viewing and purchasing pleasure this Sunday, Feb. 24! Yay!! I imagine I’ll have at least a few of the new items listed by, oh, let’s say 1 p.m. EST…so keep an eye on my Etsy shop Sunday afternoon or thereabouts and be one of the first to see my latest creations. Yippee!

Oh, and I’ve been fiendishly eBay-ing it up the past week or so, so in a few more weeks I should have another series of new vintage silverware pieces to show off. I get really excited when I get new materials, so you may even have to endure some gushing about my silverware acquisitions…soon as I get my–ahem, my husband’s–camera back, that is.