The Mustachio Sisters Tale

Marysgranddaughter  piece on Etsy

I have been making treasuries on Etsy and telling a story with the items I pick.  For those of you who are not familiar with an Etsy Treasury...it is the 12 items on the front page of their site.  There are thousands of them made by sellers and buyers.  One always hopes to have theirs land on the front page.  I have had my share there.  I thought I would share with you  the links of the tale that is about 3 sisters who are Italian and have quite a bit of facial hair. :-)  Love, zombies, circus oddities are all part of the story.  Oh, and their talented French Bulldog, Oscar. Sometimes the items have sold, so there are empty squares. It's been fun.

RagDolliesMadhouse on Etsy

1--http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cba5db670c96d910a2ce054/the-mustachio-sisters?index=85
2--http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cc2ee4e2e996d91f041bc53/the-mustachio-sisters-ii?index=108
3--http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ccc33a8cb2a8eef66e60abd/the-mustachio-sisters-iii?index=46
4--http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cd48e7d70a46d910f599b89/mustachio-sisters-iv?index=76
5--http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cdea99f2a8e6d91403e3bc7/mustachio-sisters-v-and-the-cirque-du?index=61
6--http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ce7ecec1cec6d916d73c4d2/the-mustachio-sisters-part-vi?index=19
7--
 http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf1168ced4d6d910727dd49/the-mustachio-sisters-part-vii

Christmas and Hanakkuh are just around the corner.  I have lots of wonderful items filling my shop.  Now I'm out to tackle skulls for orders.

Thanks for reading. Each day is a gift--open now.

xo,
Suz

'Tis the Season

I have not been posting on my blog because I am making new things for my shop and filling orders.
I'll post new items as I photograph them.  I am on a modern, geometric whirlwind that is using the tiniest bits and pieces.

mastodon ivory

anodized titanium birds

 

 

 

 

 

rings

Thanks for reading!  Happy Thanksgiving!!! 

xo

Suz

Each day is a gift...open now.

Winners and Winners

We have a winner!  It's BagLady in Michigan!  Thanks to all who entered.  It was a fun contest.

Cat A is the winner too!

I entered a contest through Etsy.  It is to honor the NASA space program. Our last shuttle will launch soon...weather has caused a reschedule.  I have always been enamored with space, astronauts, and "life out there."  So I made several rockets for this contest.  Using all recycled materials.  The final rocket was solid anodized titanium, with meteorite beads.  I made a V-2 style rocket  with a pearl body from the tin of MOP that Warren Osborne  sent to me from Texas.  Still waiting to hear if it will make the "cut" at Etsy. Here's the link for the contest:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/nasa-etsy-space-craft-contest-to-the-moon-and-beyond-10691/

My bench with carbon fiber and titanium cut outs.

Wet grinding the mother of pearl.

V-2 Model: MOP, carbon fiber, and meteorite beads.

 Warren Osborne (middle) at LaGuardia  with the "Texas Mafia" knife makers.  Thanks Warren!

Contest entry is titanium with meteorite beads.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60654725/retro-rocket-recycled-necklace-with

Somewhere I got the idea to make a video to go with it. As a kid I watched Flash Gordon, and imagine that is what started this whole love of outer space.  So ala Flash we shot a 13 second video with sparkler rocket trails.  Bob, Katja, and I all participated in this monumental production. :-)  We had a blast making it.  I thank them both for their hard work and creativity.   Check it out...it's so bad, it's good.  :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4u-1mTCy38

I am sending off some mustaches to Canada for "Movember" a prostate cancer awareness raising event.  More on that later.  http://ca.movember.com/about/

Faux rattlesnake mustaches

 Thanks for reading.  

Every day is a gift, open now.

xo,

Suz

PS.  I did not get chosen by Etsy.  I was saddened by their choices...most look like they are headed for Regretsy, or are admin favorites.  

Little Cat A, and Little Cat B!

................Drum roll please..........................................................................................................................



    Little Cat A is the winner by about 21% !!

    (take a bow Cat A !!!)

There will be a few tweaks...   I'll keep you updated. 

Cat A on Left

We will announce the winner this week of the pendant!  

I've been busy in the shop with the NASA contest on Etsy.  We worked hard, but really had fun today.
Bob and Katja Marie, and I made a silly video to go with my entry.  Here's the listing and the 13 second video.   http://www.etsy.com/listing/60654725/retro-rocket-recycled-necklace-with

Anodized titanium and meteorite

That's all for now!  I'll post more pictures of other rockets I made and the process.


Each day is a gift...open now.

xo,
Suz

Happy Halloween!

This is an old photo, but still my favorite of Bob and I one Halloween.
It's my favorite holiday: eat candy, dress up, and no expectations! 
May you have a wonderful fun filled day!

2 witches sitting on the porch

A story about this photo.  We were sitting on the front porch of my house waiting for trick and treaters to come.  Some kids were walking up the driveway and as kids do...we could hear them talking to each other.  "Hey that witch is a guy, and he's smoking a pipe!"   They meant Bob, and he does smoke a pipe.  I always felt I should have given out checks for therapy to the kids who were scandalized by Bob's costume!  We had fun. :-D

Every day is a gift....open now.

xo

Suz

Cat Contest Pendant Giveaway

Columbo on the Columbo mat.

Ernie

I finally made a cat...well two cats.  One is my signature shape and looks a bit like a Cat-Owl!  The other is the silhouette of a substantial feline.  Our Columbus/Columbo who passed this year was a "wide bodied" cat.  Both styles of cat I designed could be him.  Recently my Daughter and Grandson adopted Ernie...a Maine Coon like Columbo...but a gray and white tuxedo.

The pendant faces were stamped out with alphabet stamps to make the eyes, nose and whiskers.  They will be much better than pictured.  I tried a myriad of "v"s for the nose.  Funny, they look a bit like beaks!  These are just the prototypes.  I'll have them in sterling, copper, vermeil, and solid gold.  I am having my first complex die made that will have the faces stamped in, and some other nuances.  But before I go to the huge expense of having the die made, I would like your help.  This is where the contest comes in.

Win a Cat Pendant !!!!!!!

1. Be a follower of this blog (you will need to sign in and have a user name or Gmail address.)
2. You must leave a comment as to which cat you like best: A or B, and why.  Only one entry.
3. Contest starts 9am, Tuesday October 26th ends Midnight Mountain Time Sunday, October 31st.
4. We will use a computer generated "picker".  You will be contacted via email, and I will post  the winner on this blog.

Left is CAT  A          Right is CAT B

Left is CAT A                  Right is CAT B

Good luck.  Thanks for helping me decide which cat shape to make. May the best kitty win!

Both Cat A, I made one for myself and my daughter. Shhh...don't tell her.

xo,
Suz
Each day is a gift...open now.

A Birth Day

 The Denver Art Museum
Hamilton Building
Designed by Daniel Libeskind
All Titanium panels.

Kelley (my daughter) and I had a perfect day of art. My choice was to go to both the Contemporary Museum and the Denver Art Museum.  I must say my Kell has inherited the aesthetic gene and couldn't wait to show me the new building.  She was spot on about it's amazing architecture, and design.
This new building is incredible.  My uncle Harry Weese tried to design buildings like this.  But in his day we didn't have the materials to support such design.  Inside the beauty continued with an amazing stairway and lighted numbers that randomly flashed on all the walls.

Claes Oldenberg's "Big Sweep

The stairway was it's own work of art. You can see the round numbers lighting up on the stairway wall.

Forgive me for not getting all the artist's names below.  The new addition had a King Tut show... which I still feel belongs at the Natural History Museum.  Most of the pieces I had seen many times at the Field Museum in Chicago.  But we did learn something new.  The workers were required to grow mustaches back in the Egypt day.  So one could tell them from the patrons.  Kell was wearing a cape buffalo mustache necklace I made just for her.  She got lots of compliments in the museum on it.

Egyptian workers were required to grow mustaches! So Kelley fit right in wearing her mustache necklace.

Sandy Skoglund "Fox Games" installation piece was so fun.

Above two paintings by Jonas Burgert from Berlin.

 I didn't get this sculptor's name. If you know it...tell me!

Shirin Neshat's "Women of Allah" photo

Kelley dressed up, as I did.  Donning her mustache with a giant cowboy hat. 

We both played dress up in the kids corner.

Lots of skull art!

Giant Bulls outside.

From DAM's website...spectacular!

 When we went to the Contemporary Art Museum, it was so contemporary...we couldn't find the door.  Finally, we walked up to a large black square and it's sensor slid the door into the wall.  We had a good laugh about that.  Sadly, the Cristo exhibit wasn't open yet.  I just walked right in to where they were curating the exhibit, as I'm a big fan.  His and Jean Claude's Arkansas River project in Colorado in the photo below.  His renderings have always drawn me in, no pun intended.

A Cristo drawing of this project.

Outside the museum was better than the inside!

When Ethan was done with school we went to a driving range.  None of the three of us will be invited on the PGA tour.  But that didn't stop us from having fun.  Ethan did his best "Happy Gilmore" and we hit our balls as far as we could.

Happy Gilmore and his Mom

Grandma and Happy Gilmore

Ernie has them well trained to put a chair by the front door so he can get a little "kitty TV."He is too wide for a windowsill. :-)

 We went out to dinner in the LODO part of Denver.  Ended up at a fancy burger joint.  Ethan is at the burger age.  When we walked by I saw someone eating grilled asparagus, and sweet potato fries.  That pretty much did it for me.  Handmade peach sorbet from "Cloud 9" down the street from Kell's for desert.  Grandma was in bed by 10:15...pooped!   Thanks Kell and Ethan for a great 55th birthday day.
Tonight we have a group coming to Kell's for dinner.  Can't wait. 
Tomorrow I will videotape Ernie fetching his toys. 

Every day is a gift...open now.  (I did!)
Thanks for reading!
xo
Suz

  

Double Nickles

Suz at 5

Yep, today is my birthday.  I have a plan to go to art museums in Denver with my daughter. She's taken off the day from work for us to spend this time together.  It's promised to be 80 and sunny in Denver.  We are planning our day.

I have just met "Ernie" my grand cat for the first time.  He's a gray and white Maine Coon they adopted from a shelter this year.  His girth is spectacular at 20 pounds.  He plays "fetch" with his fuzzy pipe cleaners. I am told he brings his toys to my grandson and daughter when he wants to play.  He opened the bathroom door to see what I was doing. In true cat manner, when I let him in and shut the door...he immediately wanted out. :-)   Right now he is spread out almost completely covering their coffee table!  In a grandmotherly fashion, I would say this cat is exceptional.  He reminds me of our cat "Columbus" that passed this year.  Ernie is always where he can see everyone.  He just brought his toy over (like a dog) and dropped it on our feet.

Ernie with his pipe cleaner toy

I'll post more later, as today looks like it will be one big photo op!  

 Thanks for all your love and wishes on my b-day!

Okay...I will. :-)

Thanks for reading!

xo

Suz

Each Day is a Gift!

Colette of Rawartletterpress made my request. 

What a week!  The garden is slowing down from it's last summer blush.  I am planting fall seeds.  Green chilis are in the freezer.  I am FedExing my annual ritual to those in other states who are green chili addicted.  We've had Bob's 2 sons and girlfriend at our house.  I am preparing to take 5 days in Denver with my daughter and grandson.  A TIA last Wednesday has left me with a slight gimpy left leg. However, life is not slowing down...I won't allow it.

I had Colette of RawArtLetterPress:  make this poster for me as a daily reminder to live in the present.
(http://www.etsy.com/shop/rawartletterpress?ga_search_query=raw&ga_search_type=seller_usernames).  I am grateful to wake up every day with a new chance to run like I always do.  This hangs in my studio.  I also had one made for a friend in Chicago who had sudden kidney failure at 40.   I'm off!

That's all...have a great week.
Thanks for reading.
xo
Suz