Sunday, December 30, 2007

Wicked Lamp

I just bought a fabulously wicked antique lamp from Crystal of Gothic Rose Antiques! I am absolutely thrilled with it! Check out these great pictures Crystal took of it in her haunted garden - wow!
Lately, I have been paring down my collection of antique things. I'm going with a less-is-more approach, so after clearing out a number of things, I ended up with one really amazing thing! Now I just have to find the appropriate parts so I can wire it and then it will be the perfect piano lamp for when I sit down to play my Grandmother's piano :-)




Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Holy Day Request

This week started out quite sad for me. I learned that Dan Fogelberg died.
I have always loved his music and spent a lot of time listening to his songs when I was a teenager. His lyrics really spoke to me, a quiet, lonely girl – kind of an outsider. I had my art and I had the music I listened to and Dan’s music really helped me through those early years. So as I was moping about last week, I received this letter from my wonderful friend Jacquie:

My dear friends, I am writing to you to ask if you would be interested in helping my friend Sheena. I've told most of you about my friend. She is the one I was bringing to the doctor almost a year ago for melanoma. I've also told most of you that the cancer has spread at an alarming rate in the last two months.

We were so hopeful at the beginning of this with the first surgery and the prognosis, even having the doctor tell her that she was cancer free at one point. This past year she bounced back so well that she even fell in love with Brian and they moved in together. Sheena is 38 and is the daughter of my good friend Carole from Seattle whom most of you have met or heard of over the years. Carole was staying with us a few months ago as Sheena went through a second series of surgeries. She is back again now...the doctor has given Sheena 2 weeks to 2 months. Brian stays at her side, an uncommon saint. Carole is living with us and going to Sheena daily to help with the treatments and the devastation of what those bring. They are having old friends come in to say their good-byes before she is too medicated to be able to enjoy them. Sheena has such a fighting spirit and pushes herself to stay alert and active even through the tremendous pain. The cancer is the most painful in her spine at this time.

Carole also can not work while here, obviously so friends have generously lent their car for her daily trek and we are honored to share this time with her in our home. Gas money is appreciated. If you can think of anything or anyone who would love to contribute please pass on the word.

Today we are moving Brian and Sheena into her Grandmother's home. Brian will keep his apartment in Anaheim but will stay with Sheena in Santa Ana Heights with Grandma Haas. Sheena was a waitress and has no savings, Brian is a young man who works hard in construction and as all of us in our younger years were, has no savings...he still goes to work each day, but as the time grows closer he will miss some work I suspect. His family lives back east and are not of means to help, but are supportive of their son and Sheena, even tho their love is young. It seems he comes from a family of saints.

I am asking on their behalf (and they have no idea that I am doing so to this extent) that you send them your prayers and if you are led to, monetary support in these last days, even $10 would be a blessing. The monetary support would go to keeping the apartment open for Brian to return to after her death and to help with the services that will be coming up soon. We are also filling the house with Christmas Spirit, loads of lights and decorations. Grandma Haas is elderly and doesn't do much in that regard anymore.

Please feel free to pass on notes to me and I will pass them on to Mother and Daughter and Brian. Lover and I are privileged beyond words to be able to be a part of this sacred time for them. I know that you all trust us when we say that this is a worthy cause. This is pure love in action and if you have anything, any little thing that you can do or give please please do not hesitate, the time is extremely short. Speaking from our experience of when Lover was in ICU 7 years ago...I tell you that every single little act of love and graciousness that people rained on us at that time still brings us to tears of gratitude, hope and joy.

Our home is open to receiving whatever you would like to drop off for them. We will get them over to Sheena daily. Everyone knows where we live, but if you would like to send something in the mail the address is 126 E. Escalones, San Clemente, Ca. 92672. I should say tho that if you are planning on this please do it soon. She is failing with every day that goes by. And please, please pass on this information. There are so many people out there who are so generous that they are always on the lookout for where they can funnel their love. You all know Lover and I, I promise you from the bottom of my heart, I promise you that this is one of those precious, sacred, holy opportunities to be a part of.

Please, please get back to me if you are interested my email is
nannycrone@cox.net. Tell everyone you can and lets flood Sheena with an outpouring of LOVE in her last days.

I promise you that she will be surprised by joy, she will not expect this at all!

Love and Bless Bless,
Jacquie

The lovely Jacquie

I immediately thought about what I could do to help these lovely friends of Jacquie’s that are so in need of love and some cash at this normally happy time of year. I thought about how I have been lucky lately to make a little extra money by selling my artwork and decided to donate a portion of that money to them. I was thinking about how creativity is a gift and to take the money earned from using this marvelous creative power and transforming it into something really special by giving it to someone that really needs it – what a perfect way to use the creative gift! If any of you reading have also been blessed by the creative gift and have made a little money with it lately, please, if you can, send a check to Jacquie to help Sheena and Carole at this difficult time. I think that even more than the money, the outpouring of love from everyone will be the true gift! Please help if you can. You can send a check to Jacquie that she will cash and give to Carole. Please send it to:

Jacquie DuBois
126 E. Escalones,
San Clemente, Ca. 92672

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Pug Fairies

Just as young girls dream of dressing as fairy princesses

with gossamer gowns
and iridescent wings …

Flowers in their hair

And enchantment in their eyes ...

Young pugs dream of being lighter than air

and flitting around the garden

Magically transformed into pug fairies!

And as one who likes to imagine that fairies dance in my garden at midnight ...

Hmmm – isn’t it possible that there really are such things as pug fairies?

I think we just need to BELIEVE.


Saturday, December 8, 2007

Tagged!

Here are some fun blasts from the past. That's Grandpa and my cousins and all of Grandpa's pugs! Somewhere in there is Ringo - he ended up being our puggie.
Here is a picture of Ringo and me at our house in Laguna Beach - circa 1960s.

And hey, I've been tagged! Michelle of Faerie Dust Dreams has tagged me to tell you five random things about myself. So here they are!
1. I have dreams of tidal waves
2. I bought my car for $1,600
3. I make really great cheddar cheese and pine nut tamales
4. I love old, creepy looking houses
5. My husband makes me laugh A LOT
Now I'm supposed to tag seven other people, so tag - you're it! Tink of Tinker's Witch Crafts, Donna of The Ribboned Crown, Goodboy Norman Featherstone the pug, Susan - mom of Truman Capote Monster pug, Michelle the Mosaic Queen, Dede of Dream Create Share, and Constance Rochambeau.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Remembrance Pendants

Well, it all started with Jo Anderson of OldFlowers4Me and the remembrance pendant I did of her darling departed pug China. Then I got an order from Kimberlee of Edgar and Edgar for two pendants for of her beloved dog Buda, and since Kimberlee is the queen of dark design, she knew just what she wanted with stripes and harlequin backgrounds. I love how bold and striking they came out.


To round out my week of making remembrance pendants, I made one for Crystal of Gothic Rose Antiques of her cherished cat Taboo. And since Taboo embodies the dark and mysterious look Crystal loves, she decided to have me make special pendants with Taboo’s face on the front to sell in her shop!
She also had me do a second design with her trademark Art Nouveau-style bat-girl and the words Bewitched on the back. Crystal will sell these special Gothic Rose pendants at her store and they will come on a black ribbon and be wonderful mementos of anyone’s visit to her amazing shop!

If anyone else is interested in immortalizing their beloved pets with a remembrance pendant, just email me a favorite picture and I will work up a custom design that you will love. I’m giving all my blogland buddies the special price of $25 a pendant!

Friday, November 30, 2007

A Wicked Christmas

If you are dreaming of a DARK and WICKED Christmas, then you will love these photos Crystal sent me of her shop, Gothic Rose Antiques, all decked out for the holidays! Crystal gives all the holidays her special fun and sinister twist and she really has a good time when it comes to the dark winter solstice! Just look at all the wonderful things she has displayed in her brand new shop – from a taxidermied reindeer head to a dark and twisted Christmas tree.
Gorgeous window displays at night!

A must for every festive door!



Old statuary dressed up in tinsel garlands ...


And the spooky Manfish - part man, part fish!
A ghostly cat ...
Crystal's fab dressing room
Everyone needs a bat for Christmas! (well, I do!)
And a present for the difficult people on your list!!

Crystal welcomes everyone to stop by and share in the magic. She is at 484 Main Street, Placerville, CA (530) 295-0703, or you can see her online at http://www.gothicroseantiques.com/

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

All I Want for Christmas

Hey have you guys seen this cool new magazine called "Blueprint"? It says it's a Martha Stewart magazine, so that would explain the great sense of style that's in there. And looks what's on the cover of the holiday issue!!

That's right! A pug for Christmas!! Or perhaps just a pug "helping" with the present wrapping - LOL In addition to this adorable pug, there are some great articles with very pretty holiday decor - glittery and PINK! I really like it!

If you happen to see this on your newstand you might want to pick it up :-)



Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Cookies for Santa

Santa can't possibly eat all these cookies.
Whilst looking around on Etsy for other pug art, I came across a wonderful pug artist – Maxwell Jones of Hollywood Pug fame! Maxwell makes greeting cards and art prints of her witty and whimsical photographs of her Hollywood pug.

I absolutely loved her Christmas design and had to buy a box of the Xmas Cookies design. And her Vintage series inspired by old sepia daguerreotypes are beautifully done and of course, humorous too. I had to get a couple of the Faery cards because I love the idea of pug faeries!! Just the thought of those little wings trying to lift that heavy little body – I just don’t think the physics of it would work - LOL

Be sure to check out her website, not only to buy these wonderful cards and prints, but to see the section called Fun Stuff/Outtakes. I loved seeing the behind-the-scenes antics of what goes on in taking these pictures – soooo funny!

Maxwell is having a fabulous deal on her X-mas Cookies cards on etsy – so don’t miss out!