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/

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 :-)

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!

Holiday Ornaments!

I just listed some fun holiday ornaments on Ebay. I created some whimsical Marie Antoinette ornaments and added her favorite pug!

I also listed some antique style chipboard ornaments with Victorian pug images. I love those antique photos of children and their pugs!

Pug Pendants and Old House Stuff

I finally got a few minutes in my studio and soldered some more of my pug pendants for sale on Ebay and Etsy. I made several of my most popular design, Believe in Magic, featuring a pug fairy with a tiara!

I also made a custom pendant for Jo Anderson of Old Flowers 4 Me of her dear departed pug China.

What an adorable sweetie China was – and now she can wear his picture around her neck whenever she wants. I’ll be getting that in the mail to Australia next week.

From art to old houses - I need to switch gears because my husband and I will be doing a restoration of our old house. When we first moved here 7 years ago, we built a carriage house that was in keeping with the 1915 look of the old house.

It included a garage, an art studio/workshop and a studio apartment over the garage. More square footage than in our tiny cottage! That took us 5 years because we did almost all the work ourselves. I salvaged old doors and windows and searched out wonderful old hardware and created colored glass windows. I did faux finishes on the walls, from hand-painted roses that were sanded back a bit to look old, to gold stencils in a Victorian pattern. I even found three bi-folding doors from a 1918 insane asylum that we used for our garage doors. What a wonderful project – but oh so tiring!!

So now that we have rested up a bit, we are going to tackle the house. I have fabulous old doors and windows to put in it, gorgeous old hardware and old lighting, from chandeliers to wall sconces. I’m really excited! But it means little to no studio time for awhile. So if you are into old houses and restorations, you’ll want to keep checking out my blog because that’s what my world is going to be all about for awhile!!

Mosaic Musings

Lately I've been thinking I need to get out and finish my mosaic walkway. I'm about halfway done and the mailman is always teasing me and asking me when I'm going to get it done! Time to get out the mastic and get back to work!

It is a winding path that leads from the base of my driveway up to my front door. It looks like a little river of color!


Here's a picture of an antique chandelier that I added some mosaic bits to. It came out rather fun and pretty.

And here is a garden sphere I did for my mom. It wasn't grouted at this point ... I call it my Mad Tea Party ball :-) There are little porcelain teapots and plates with deserts on them, and LOTS of porcelain flowers - very whimsical!

Dia de los Nancy

My little sister Nancy’s birthday is on the Day of the Dead! How cool is that? So Tink decided that we should call today Dia de los Nancy instead! Nancy is celebrating her birthday in style with her hubby down at the Crystal Pier in San Diego this weekend. No, that is not her husband Jeff ...

I get to celebrate with her next Friday night though. We are taking Lisa Guerin’s Gypsy Junk Jewelry class at the Art Bar! That will be a fun girl’s night for sure : - )

Happy Birthday sis!