TIME REALLY DOES FLY...

Time really does fly for me. I can't tell you how many times that my mom would tell me "Your minutes turn into hours". She was so right! Sorry for the humongous gap in posts. I'll try harder! Also, have you sent me a picture of your favorite drawers?

Well, here are the contents of my newest drawer! One of my best finds in a long time. These are parts of vintage souvenir bracelets. I got about 25 bracelets that were in various condition. Some from France, Australia, Asia and more. I'm using them to make necklaces. Oh okay, I'll also post a picture of one of the necklaces. Let me know what you think if you get a minute.

CRAFT FAIRS 2009 - COME ON BY!

I made something special for the church fairs I'm doing this year. I used a gospel music book from the late 1800's and picked out words that would "say" something in the space allowed and then added a religious charm. They were very popular at the first church event. Let's hope they will be tomorrow also.

If you are in the area, won't you stop by and say hello! I'll have some freebie magnets featuring Florida wetlands, Butterfly World and various zoo's for those of you who mention that you read this posting.

Nov 14 & 15
Central High School
9450 Ray White Rd
Keller, TX 76248
Sat 9-5
Sun 11-5

Nov 21

North Garland High School
2109 Buckingham Road
Garland, TX 75042
9-5

Dec 1

Texas Womens University
TWU Student Union Office
304 Administration Drive
Denton, Texas 76201
10-4

Dec 2

Hall Office Park
2801 Network Blvd
Frisco, TX 75034
10-2

Dec 5

Denton High School
1007 Fulton
Denton, TX 76201
9-4

RIBBON

Alright everyone...let's say it all together now..."What's in your drawers?"

The first picture is what's in my ribbon drawer. These are the short pieces, leftovers and those from swaps. I love ribbon swaps! I love a little of everything if you haven't noticed by now.

This next drawer belongs to Pat Winters , the most gifted crazy quilter I have ever seen. Please take the time to go to her blog and look at her work. It is fabulous! http://www.patwintergatherings.com/

My friend Rita from makingmagic.etsy.com sent this photo to me of her ribbon drawer and a beautiful vintage purse. Rita makes soap, photo albums, greeting cards and so much more. Stop by her Etsy store and see what she's up to. Her soaps make your hands so soft! http://www.makingmagic.etsy.com/

Alright now, send me some pictures of your drawers! Send them to marysmadness2004@yahoo.com and watch in the future to see "What's in your drawers."

This and that, What's in your drawers?

This first picture of clothing labels is from Juana. She's got a nice stash of labels. Stop by her blog, part spanish, part english.... http://lita-gattochepesca.blogspot.com.

I have a small stash and of course am working on more....I would like to have more of the vintage labels.

So....."What's in your drawers?"

Button, button, who's got the button?

I have a poll on this blog asking "What are you hoarding?" Embellishments came in 1st and buttons came in 2nd.

So "What's in your drawers?" Send me your photos of your buttons and embellishments!

These button balls are my favorite!

Glitters, a little more sparkle!

Valerie B., of www.thesumofallcrafts.blogspot.com, says "Being a total magpie at heart I love everything that glitters. I am automatically drawn to all that is shiny so it's no surprise that I love glitter. Technically there is more then just glitter in this drawer but it all is in the same family so it all lives together for now. There is also mica flakes, cracked ice, and real glass chips as well as very small confetti."

Does anybody have any Stickles? Margaret makes greeting cards and loves to use a little Stickles here and there.

I've started collecting some of the glass glitters. I love the look of glass glitter in and out of the jars! If you have glass glitters what do you store yours in? Something fancy or functional?

So, What's in your drawers? We're all anxious to see what you have!

Sparkle and Shine

My plastic shoebox full of vintage cluster earrings. I'm making some rings with these.

Margaret V. has a drawer of sparklies.

Cory of Artworks, in Glendale, AZ. has these sites to visit: http://art-with-moxie.blogspot.com/, http://createwithmoxie.blogspot.com/ and http://moxiegallery.etsy.com/ has lots of neat trinkets in her jewelry drawer. Cory is a mixed media artist and art jewelry designer. She calls this drawer her "junk for jewelry" drawer and uses these pieces for art jewelry.

This is my favorite drawer of vintage rhinestones.

Skin, Bones, Skulls and Teeth

The top drawer belongs to Cindy Shepard of the Rowdy Grandma blog and also has an Etsy store Cyndali . Here is what she has to say about this drawer. "The first one is my bone drawer, seems I am not so weird after all everyone has a bone drawer these days....cool!! The other items in the drawer are some old, gooey fishing worms (they feel really slimy), and of course one of may favorite art mediums.....snake skins from my Boa, Diana. There are also a few loose teeth in the bottom of the drawer."

Once again, before you know it, you have a collection of something. Who knows where these items will end up....

The bottom 2 are mine. I got the teeth from grandparents and estate sales. Can you believe, estate sales? Most of the bottom ones were found on a railroad track. By the way, railroad tracks are a great source for bones.

Mixed media and altered art artists do collect and use some of the oddest things. Don't you agree?

Dolls

Well it appears that we all still like to play with dolls. The dolls in the photo at the top belong to the drawers of Margaret V. Estate sales are a great find for litlle bits of treasures.

The drawer below belongs to me. I once found a jar full of Barbie heads. Bonus...

Punches

Valerie B. of http://www.thesumofallcrafts.blogspot.com/ Since I am known for doing punchart I thought it only appropriate to include one of my many punch drawers. (I own over 1700 punches and still counting.) This is the drawer I use most next to the one with all the circles. (It is all my funky hearts and stars.) The drawer is extra deep so it is hard to keep organized like the other drawers that house my punches. I am constantly shoving the ones on top aside to get to the ones underneath.

Wow over 1700 punches! Valerie is a very talented artist so make sure you go by her blog and see her work!

Choice containers

So...Do you have a container of choice? My favorite containers are the embroidery floss containers. You know the flat one with divided sections. OH, OH. Great poll question.

How many do you have.... I love it. See new poll. Okay, I'm in the over 100 category. My room is crazy organized. Key word....crazy.

Cultural Curiosities

These of course were staged. They are from one of my own drawers. Some in the "too special to use" category. A lot of these are made from real bones!

The first pic is fibers, shells, beads, bells, metal thingies. They are probably made in Mexico. The others are made from bones and some wood and leather. The longest piece is about 5".

I actually picked these up from an estate sale. The woman did some amazing textile work and traveled all over the world. If I would have had an extra $1,000. to blow that day, I would have been in heaven.

Bottlecaps

Carolyn, aka "vintagepix" of vintagepix42.blogspot.com, sent over this picture. "Because I live in Wisconsin my bottle cap collecting has outpaced my bottle cap usage at this point. I don't drink beer, but last year my husband did a documentary on Wisconsin craft breweries (http://www.99bottlesdocumentary.com/) and almost any party we go to, I'll end up with a bottle cap or two stashed in my pockets. (I've got separate storage for unused/uncrimped bottle caps.)"

What drawer do you want to open?

Let me know and I'll try to find it!

Come one, come all!

Come on you guys! You don't have to do a lot of preparation to take your pictures! HaHa! That is funny isn't it? But really. I know I would spend 45 minutes getting one little cigar box ready for a picture. In the meantime we are all waiting! Take a couple of pics for now and then when you have 45 minutes, then do the staging and photo op.

Thanks to all of you who are submitting pictures! Be on the lookout for yours! We might even learn some cool storage tips! We'll also see that some of us are crazy hoarders. Not me...

Dead things...bones, bones, chicken and bones...

Lisa Vollrath of Ten Two Studios has been kind enough to share some photos of her drawers with us! Now she isn't one of the little people by far, but I'm not complaining!

I'll have to share my favorite drawer first! Dead things, skulls and bones! Here is what Lisa has to say about this drawer...

"I call this my Dead Things Drawer. Inside, you'll find plastic skull beads in all different sizes, a couple of small plastic skeletons, bones that have been cleaned and dried, some snake skins, and assorted plastic bugs and snakes. Any time I'm working on a piece that's dark and creepy, this drawer is open."

Thanks for sharing Lisa!

So, What's in your drawers?

Some of my favorite drawers...

This drawer is called "faces and hats". Who ever knew I would have categories of such. In future posts, you will see that it gets worse....

I love all of the sparkles in this one!

So, What's in your drawers?

BUTTERFLIES

I have a box of dead butterflies. My grandma had a huge collection of framed butterflies. I salvaged all of the ones that were falling apart and ones that had been collected from outdoors. I also have a nice little stack of butterflies in cellophane packages. COOL. I'm going to make some resin pendants with some and put some others in a collage.

So, What's in your drawers?

Studs...Earrings that is...

Believe it or not these are stud earrings. I have a cigar box that has about an inch deep of stud earrings. I never planned on having all of these. When you buy junk jewelry lots there are always lots of studs, so of course I had them seperated and before I knew it, I had a huge collection. One of the ideas that I had for these it to use to decorate something by using them as push pins. Maybe garland or something.

So, what's in your drawers?

Welcome one and all! Time for show and tell!

Everyone is publishing books about our studios, well, maybe not ours. Theirs. The elite artists. I want to see what is in the studios of the little people. You and me. Me and you. What I find missing in most of these articles is content. I want to know "What's in your drawers?" Looking at the studios is just a teaser. Show me what you have in your drawers.

So, show me what's in your drawers! Email me your pics and blurb to What's in your Drawers?

So take my polls, please leave some comments send me some pics... I'll post pics of some of my collections and hope you will send some of yours also.