New Adventures.....

 

 

As Denise makes her move to the East Coast & my girls and I travel to the Mexican Coast, we're excited to see where our next chapters take us & look forward to finding & creating fun pieces along the way.........

 

 



It's Our Final Month at Antiques on Cedros in Solana Beach, Ca!

 

 

As we focus on our move to the east coast & new adventures, we unfortunately have to say a Sweet Goodbye to our booth at Antiques on Cedros in Solana Beach. We've loved every minute of being vendors in this eclectic & beautiful store! A Special Thanks to owners Tony & Wanda, and previous  owners Eldon & Anisa, for all of their positive energy & support for our artwork & fun finds. We've really enjoyed the opportunity to meet & work with this wonderful group of people! Best wishes & continued success to everyone at AOC!

 

WHR booth at AOC, May 2014

Vintage Sacred Heart Madonna with Blue Glass Bead Rosary & Vintage Prayer Book

 

 

 

Assembled Child's Dress Form with Vintage Doll Head and Santos Crown from Mexico,
Vintage Yellow Glass Bead Rosary from France. Watch & Key parts from my Sweet Grandpa's building.

 

 

Our final week is June 23rd-27th.

If you're in the area, stop in and look for many of our items on sale starting the first week of June!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Daughter Nature

Sophia's Creative Design project for April 2014, 

she titled Daughter Nature

 She enjoys this class this semester, the students have a lot of freedom

in choosing the medium and concepts for projects

 

 

 

 Many of these pieces she found in her Grandmother's studio,

others she found at our favorite thrift store

The ears and fur head piece she made from a fur collar she found at the thrift

 

 

The hair, also from the thrift, are long clip-in extensions

She cut bangs, added feathers and braided strands

 

 

 

 

Black feather eyelashes

And I now know what snake bite piercings are

 

 

She built the shoulders and thigh bowls in order to plant live plants

 

 

At 15, there's a confidence in her that I admire, a trust

 in being open to the creative process, a belief in herself and her vision, all reflecting in her work

 She's fun and inspiring and a Naturally Lovely Daughter

 

 

 

 

 



Playing with Dolls, Creating In & Outside of the Box

Love the idea of taking something someone once collected, cuddled, loved or cherished, and re-creating it into something we love. So many mixed media artists are doing amazing assemblages with vintage dolls, parts & pieces. The possibilities are fun to play with & the creative process inspiring. Sometimes it only takes that doll in the bottom of the box, with the missing body & crack running down her forehead, to whisper something to you & before she knows it, she's been crowned! We've 'assembled' some of our favorites.....

A Sweet Memory

Denise made this mixed media doll, titled "My Amazing Grace", in 2013. It's made with items given to her by her dad, old keys and watch parts, and also she included things that reminded her of him, a very sweet and special project. She played around with the idea of painting a face on her, but came to love the idea of the magnifying glass head magnifying the cross.



  

Amazing Grace by Denise Chafin. Made from new and vintage pieces in remembrance of  her dad.
Includes coal tags, old watch parts, lamp parts, doll arms from a doll he had given her,
earrings,  magnifying glass & more



Amazing Grace by Denise Chafin- SOLD Jan 2014-

 

A Sweet Lullaby

 

Recently, fellow artist & dear friend Carol Rea, gave us a box & a bright smile, and we gladly accepted both! Inside the box, vintage dolls & parts she had been collecting. With the smile, motivation to see what we could come up with ...

 



Playing around with angel wings & an antique birdcage I painted pink.
This was a fairly easy assemblage,
the legs & arms have wire hooks that easily hooked onto the wires of the cage.
 



After just a couple of hours of 'playing' we're tickled pink on how she evolved.
That's a vintage baby's cup holding the nest inside.
You never know what you may end up using and that's why Denise loves
 to save Everything!- SOLD Feb 2014-



Sweet Dreams

Another girl from our box. I got the inspiration for her from my daughter, Sophia. From the time she was little, she's experienced vivid dreams, scary nightmares & wild adventures in her sleep. So, often times before bed we would talk about where she wanted to go in her dreams. One of her favorite spots to visit & play was the forest.

 

This cutie had a sweet wig of pigtails, we wanted her eyes to stay closed but every once and awhile,
when you'd least expect it, they'd pop open!

 

Denise created the final crown & nest touches with vintage porcelain flowers in her vine &
a plump little bird friend to keep her company- SOLD Feb 2014-

 

Sweet Souls

More sweet faces from our box found their way on top of old tin toys & containers. I especially like the tiny red one, with the vintage natural remedy tin & vintage milagros arms.

 

Assembled Sweeties- AOC Feb 2014-

 



 

 

 



This Angel Prince has a vintage Magician's Magic Trick tin toy torso 

Denise liked this cutie bald, but I liked a piece sheep's wool that we hand dyed for a hair-do.
She has a special something inside of her box & I intentionally glued the lid closed, it's a secret between the two of us

 

She has a bit of a little red head rascal look to her. She has a candy tin body and a headband made from
an old metal frame, bottle cap & lamp finial

 

You see these souvenir dolls often at thrift stores and yard sales.
This one with his little bald spot & gold sequined suit just called out to me.
I added a large vintage tin heart from Mexico, newer stampings (the heart & flower) and an old sterling
silver rosary I got on my last trip to Mexico City.

My little Jose Raul

 

A Steampunk Inspired Sweetie

 We added a bit of whimsy to this vintage glass eyed, wooden, Infant of Prague. He was missing his globe and I created one out of Sculpey, but it wasn't quite perfect, so I decided to turn it into a flying earth and gave the Infant some aviator goggles made from vintage clock gears, clear plastic and wire.

 

A little Steampunk inspired Infant of Prague- SOLD Oct 2013-

 

 Thrift Sweeties

Sometimes you find those special thrift store sweeties, where you can see potential past the broken legs & hair stubble. One afternoon, a china doll with broken legs, made her way to our garage. There  she happened to meet a lovely floral teapot with a dented lid. The love poured & now they will forever be 'tea mates'. We added vintage pale pink trim, old paper flowers and a crown we pieced together out of metal bits. Her arms are loosely tied on with pale pink ribbon. She ended up traveling half way around the globe to a buyer in South Africa.

 

Assembled Vintage Teapot Girl- SOLD 2014-



One of my favorite Denise creations! She created this custom vintage crochet, floral and ribbon hat to cover
her strawberry blonde stubble hair. She added ribbon to her sweet dress & placed her riding this gorgeous swan that
she painted and crowned. A really beautiful custom piece- SOLD 2013-

 

I enjoyed making these boxes, again with vintage souvenir dolls, old postcards, stamps & mixed media

She's an old Spanish sleepy eyed souvenir doll assembled in an old cigar box.

This prince found a home inside a vintage pickle castor- SOLD 2013-

This locked altar box features an old Spanish souvenir doll inside a bird's nest atop a broken metal base



Her crown is off a Christmas ornament & her necklace a newer cross stamping we rusted

 

We have a few more heads & limbs in our box from Carol & look forward to creating more sweeties...