Gilded Life Studio Tour

Would you like this to be YOUR STUDIO? Who wouldn’t? I wish it were mine but, alas it is the little piece of HEAVEN that Shea & Debbie create in. In my previous post I shared with you the amazing Art Event I went to at A GILDED LIFE which was held in Shea & Debbie’s home which just happens to be a renovated Church. Well, this USED to be the choir loft. Makes your heart sing doesn’t it? Remember, you can click on any photo to enlarge it.

And how long could you sit at this desk/computer? Me…….. forever! And out the windows on the right looks out a tree lined street towards downtown Dallas.

Have a seat!

Turn on a light.

And let’s look at some of the things you would see in this amazing studio.

This RED Velvet coat was made by Debbie for Shea to wear over her wedding dress during her December Wedding a few magical years ago. Don’t you ADORE the red roses on the train? I DO! This mannequin looks out one of the MANY windows which let light stream into this MAGICAL STUDIO.

SUPPLIES FOR CREATING MAGIC!

I told you they have LOTS of toys to play & create with. Create What???????

MAGIC!!!!!!

Oh I want to be a GILDED GIRL EVERYDAY!!!!!!!! And now I’m off to dream of a new studio… Thanks for sharing your world Debbie & Shea. If you missed the previous post about the event… be sure & go check it out.

HUGS! Charlene

I LOVE Living THE GILDED LIFE!

Last weekend I was VERY BLESSED to again live large with Debbie Murray & her beautiful daughter Shea Fragoso. These two gals are amazingly talented & so much fun. Where did this Art Event take place? In their home which USED TO BE a church.

Yes, a real church that Shea, her husband Robert & Debbie all worked together to make into their home & studio. I have been to 3 Art Events there this year & it is truly a blessing to be in this inspiring magical place. Below is Debbie & Shea (thank you Jessi for letting me borrow this photo because I never caught them together for a photo shoot) holding our first project which was a beautiful CROWN!

The attention to detail these gals put into one of these events is amazing. Below is one of the 5 tables set for us. BEAUTIFUL doesn’t begin to describe.

And a close up of one of the table arrangements shows the beauty.

And you didn’t go hungry I can assure you.

There’s Heather putting the finishing touches to this amazing Brunch they served.

And remember I told you my Precious SANDY was coming to town for the event? Well here she is getting a cup of coffee & there’s Susie (one of our tablemates) as well as SWEET Tisha (from California too) talking to Debbie (behind that coffee pot).

And I had to share one of my favorite photos of the weekend. Sandy darlin I LOVE YOU!

Speaking of our table… I borrowed this shot from Jessi too. Thanks Jessi

At our table on Friday was Sandy & I with our NEW friend Cindy Cane. This was Cindy’s first Art Event like this but, I think she’s HOOKED! And then there is Susie, Gail & Valetta Now onto the projects… Day One was the crown being held by Debbie & Shea in the photo above. Day Two was the Crowndalier shown below. Mine is not finished but, I am going to get it done this week & will post a finished photo. The crowndalier is much larger than the first crown & is meant to hang with LOTS of goodies hanging from it. There was a LOT of construction in both crowns.

Day Three was a soldered necklace. I have soldered for almost 3 years now & this class even made me say a few bad words(My sweet friend Charlotte said the same thing & she too is a very experienced solder artist). I LOVE the way the piece turned out but, using THREE layers of glass made things TRICKY! Below is the class sample. Shea had this on display for us during the entire event & on Saturday night the sample went MISSING. We were searching high & low. I had remembered seeing her son Nico running around with his “Treasure Bag” (as well as seeing his toy gun laying on the table where they had been selling some extra supplies)& suggested she ask him if he knew where the necklace was. Sure enough… in his “Treasure Bag” was the necklace, some yards of crystal trim & $50. Yepppppppppp I know little boys!

And let’s look at a few of the Crowndalier’s made in class. Here is a table full of crowns (The one with the feathers is Sandy’s) & then there are some of Day One’s class projects waiting to be claimed as well as another Crowndalier .

Lisa & her ADORABLE Christmas Crowndalier! If anyone reading this knows Lisa’s Blog… please send me the link!

And Rita with her gorgeous finished piece with that amazing gold beaded fringe on the bottom. LOVE IT!!!! Each one was so different & unique.

And let’s not forget Jessi & her wonder. Jessi is a HUGE FAN of Barbie & she made hers Barbie Bling to the MAX! Isn’t that cute of her showing Charlotte her prize? And the other photo is of it finished hanging in her studio (another photo loan)

As promised below is my finished crown from Day One’s Class. The first photo is a close up of it sitting on a lamp on top of my piano in my entryway. I chose a black & gold paper as opposed to Sandy’s choice of light paper. It really changed the whole look & feel of the crown.

And a few close up details.

I hope you enjoyed today's glimpse of A GILDED LIFE! It’s GOOD to be a GILDED GIRL! I hope you’ll come back to see a tour of Debbie & Shea’s amazing studio coming soon in another post. Have a great week.

HUGS! Charlene

Heavenly Glow at THE CHURCH

Any time you have a chance to go see Debbie & Shea GO!!!!!!!!!!!! They put on the most amazing Art Events (all events go under the name A GILDED LIFE) in their home (go HERE for a a post about this special place & another event)which is a beautifully restored Church. This is what this heavenly place looks like at night when the lights from within GLOW. The table where we sit to craft sits directly behind those amazing window that Debbie redid herself. The balcony you see through the window on the far left is the same balcony you will see in photos on the inside of The Church. That balcony is actually where they have their amazing studio. Can you imagine being so BLESSED to live & work in this beautiful place? HEAVEN ON EARTH I'M SURE!

This event was a very spur of the moment, special invitation surprise. Kaari Meng of The French General was coming to town to work with MODA FABRICS (she designs for them) & Kaari had called Shea & said "Do you want to do a class" which of course Shea said "YES" There was less than two weeks notice & all was put together. Kaari taught one class & Shea another. Below you see both of these cuties as Kaari is discussing the different tools. See the balcony about their heads? That's the studio.

I had seen Kaari's blog & a number of articles on her in different magazines. But, I didn't know much about her or The French General Store. The store is located in Hollywood. It is only open on Mondays. On one side of the store are all of the fabrics that she has designed or bought in France & sells out of the store. On the other side of the store are containers of all sorts of goodies form making jewelry. Many of these items are vintage. I asked Kaari about buying things from her online & she said she really doesn't sell anything but her kits online. She said she really doesn't want to be a supply house. She LOVES designing necklaces & putting the kits together & she will stick to her true LOVE. She urges us to all come shop with her on a Monday while visiting Los Angeles if we want to purchase different items. She says it is a LOT of fun to see all the goodies she has on hand. Kaari has just written a new book called Treasured Notions.

This is what a Kaari Meng Kit would look like. I had just dumped mine out on my cutting matt. All the little bits & pieces complete with hardware to put it together.

A close up of Kaari. She was so sweet. Very kind & patient as a teacher. We were a lucky group of 12 girls all laughing & creating together with her kind guidance to see us through.

Here is my friend Dana's necklace with the center part put together.

And this is a close up shot of an apron made of some of Kaari's MODA Fabrics that one of the girls made. And the amazing CROWN PILLOW that Stacey made for Shea. Look at the hand work that went into this beauty.

This is a shot of my French General Necklace on my mannequin although it is not finished because I ran out of jump rings. Can you see the two tiny pink pearls on the bottom chain? Well there are about 20 more that need to be added. And there are many more bobbles to hang on the middle chain. In the photo below you can see close up of the top chain that was all put together learning the rosary bead method. Each section had a teal bead, a square pink bead & another teal colored bead all wrapped together & then the next section was assembled & linked to the first. Until we had 7 different sections of 3 separate set of the three beads. In between each set of 3 was a vintage Green Glass Ring. A bit time consuming.

I will try to get to the bead store & pick up some more brass jump rings to complete this next week.

And now for the class that Shea taught... I LOVED THIS CLASS! It is difficult to photograph because it is small, & it is beveled so the light wants to reflect off of it in a crazy glare. But the pendant is a one by one done on beautiful paper by Graphic 45 I had not seen this paper before & I fell in LOVE with it. Click on the name & go to their site. AMAZING STUFF! Anyway, they gave each of us an entire 8 x 8 pad to keep as a gift for the evening. Thank you Shea, Debbie, & Graphic 45!!!!

The pendant then had a TINY pair of wings we cut out followed by many other steps to make is a pearlized beauty. We took a strip of medal & punched our WORD in 2 mm letters. DO YOU KNOW HOW TINY 2mm really is??????? TINY!!!!!! So tiny that the shards of the fine German Glass Glitter stuck in my word. My word was GRACE. When finished it was all set & surrounded by the amazing rhinestone & pearl trim & the beautiful Swavorski Crystal smokey colored drop that Shea had set for each of us. STUNNING don't you think? NOW, THIS is my style of BLING! LOVE IT!

Remember the Twisted Sista necklace I have been working on from ADORN ME? Well, I wasn't happy with the bezel I had for it, I think it is too casual & also it is finished in silver (& nothing else in the necklace is silver) so, I put my new Gilded Life drop on the necklace. What do you think? Hubby doesn't like it. I kind of do & kind of don't. Click on the photo to enlarge it & give me your opinion.

What a fun time we had & a huge THANK YOU to Shea & Debbie for inviting me. Also, for Kaari giving us the opportunity to get to meet her. Check out her book & her site to see more of her goodies. Have a great week.

Beautiful Gifts In The Mail & the Beautiful GIFT of Friendship

BEAUTY COMES IN SMALL PACKAGES! And can be found in some of the simplest things! Chandelier crystals in a vintage family treasure & a flower made out of pattern tissue paper with glitter & MOP buttons. Simple.... Beautiful!!!!!

These luscious crystals were sent to me by my new friend SANDY that I met at Heart & Communion Art Event(click on her name to visit her her cute blog). We sat together the second day for our chandelier class. We had sooooooo much fun together. Sandy lives out in California & had flown in for the event. Why is is I have so very many friends in California???? I sure could live there I tell you!!!! That is a dream of mine to live there during the summer to escape the Texas heat & to enjoy all my friends, art events & classes, shops, California coast & seafood, all the beauty... anyway I got off track sorry. After the class Sandy & I thought we needed more crystals for our chandi's. She got back home & found a mother load & we split it. I got my goody package in the mail. After much cleaning I put the crystals pouring out of my Grandmothers beautiful tea cup & thought it made a pretty vignette. THANKS for sharing sweet Sandy!

Here's a photo of Sandy. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside!

Here we are together on day one. Sorry the camera is in the photo. I borrowed these photos from my next friend I want to introduce you to.... Cheryl (hope it's OK I borrowed them Cheryl because it's hard to take photos of yourself & I didn't have one of you & I so I had to borrow the one of you & Lonnie). Cheryl, on the right in the photo below is also from California & came our with Sandy. She was soooooo much fun too. She has a cute Blog called Inside the Bubble (click on the name to visit) What talented & fun gals. Hope we can keep up with each other all through the year until we see each other at another event.

Mail LOVE!!!!!!! Everyone is on the ALICE IN WONDERLAND kick with swaps going (LISA was making some at Art Group the other night) & movie trailers & talk talk talk about the movie(personally I think the movie looks kind of DARK to me). My wonderful friend Julie made this adorable (not dark at all) ALICE card & I told her I loved it when I saw it on her blog. She sent me a note that she wanted to send it to me as a gift. WHAT A SWEETHEART!!!! THANK YOU JULIE!

A close up of my adorable card(click the photo to enlarge it if you want a closer look). Don't you love her? Be sure & go see other pieces of Julies amazing work. Just click on her name above & it will take you to her blog for a very enjoyable stroll through wonderful photos & art.

Below are THREE of my friend Vicki's new die cuts that she sent to me again as a gift! Vicki is a super creative designer! She always has amazing pieces on her blog (she is a designer for Crafty Secerets & so is Julie) so be sure to click on her name above to drool over her wonders. I know I have shared the story before but, for those new to my site... Vicki & I met in Arlington, TX at the Scrapbook convention 3 years ago. I was soooooooooo impressed with her talent & she was so very humble, sweet, & encouraging when we visited. I didn't have a blog but, she gave me her blog & email address. Many correspondences later & a LOT of encouragement I had my blog up & running. She was a frequent visitor & we kept in touch. Every time she comes to town we get to see each other. Last year we went to dinner after the show & laughed so hard. Go HERE & HERE to see the new die cut she has designed & a few of her wonderful examples. THANK YOU VICKI FOR SENDING ME NOT ONE BUT, THREE OF THESE BEAUTIES TO PLAY WITH.

Hope I have given you some fun things to look at & some new people & places to visit. If you visit please leave them a comment & tell them Charlene sent you. Blogland is an amazing place. HUGS TO ALL OF YOU!