Road Trip Series Assemblage Necklaces #3

Road Trip

3rd in the series

Flat Tyre 

found object, vintage toy car, rosary style, mille flore, skull, turquoise, glass, ceramic, shell & copper assemblage necklace by Anvil Designs / Barn Swallow Studio

May only your jewelry get a flat tire ~

Road Trip Series Assemblage Necklaces #2

Here we have the second vintage toy car in the Road Trip series.

The Road Trip necklaces are available in Anvil Designs Etsy shop and on anvildesigns.com  

Barn Swallow Studio is a little shed on my property where the swallows build their nests in the eves. One day it may be a proper artists studio and retreat, heck it may even become it's own shop. For now I use it for my vintage assemblage pieces.

2nd in the series

*Highway Star*

Assemblage necklace using a vintage diecast "TOOTSIETOY" (as found) as the focal piece. 
Also features beads of Freshwater Pearl, Lampwork, Swarovski Crystal, Crystal & Glass. 
Handmade findings and vintage rosary sections.
Car is marked TOOTSIETOY - Chicago USA - 2
Car is 2 1/2" long - Total necklace length is 26"
One of a kind~

Available on Etsy

Full Shot

Clasp Detail

$95.00 on Etsy

I love it, I need it, I bleed it ~

Road Trip Series Assemblage Necklaces #1

I'm on a "roll" making these little vintage toy car necklaces. 

Not only are they fun, nostalgic & colorful, but wear one to Home Depot or a car show and expect to get stopped every ten feet! 

Men and kids love these! Occasionally the hot rod or truckin' mama will stop me for ooohs and awwws but it's mostly men. 

The kiddles, they point and always have an "out of the mouths of babes" comment.

1st in the series

  Counting Blue Cars  

Assemblage necklace using a vintage diecast "Midget Toy" car (as found) as the focal piece. 
Also features beads of Turquoise, Mother of Pearl, Pearl, Agate, Crystal & Glass. 
Handmade findings and a vintage rosary sections and medallion.
Total length 24 1/2" - Chain 20" and Car dangle 4 1/2"

sold

Clasp Detail

Full View

Rolling down the highway~

Happy New Year!

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy & do what you love, love what you do year!

Here at Anvil Designs in Southern California we woke up to quite a surprise on New Year's eve morning, 8" of snow! We get a dusting every few years and about once per year we get some hail that passes for snow to the kids. Folks who've lived here 35 years said they have never seen anything like this.

Garage

The wood shed

Neighbor on the Deere off to clear the road

Farm Stand

Raised bed garden 

The sun is shining today and it's already 74 degrees. It took 5 days for all this snow to melt. We had some damage; the pepper trees, herbs and succulents were hit hard. We lost one pepper tree and there's a good chance one of the bottle brush trees will not survive. 

We have been very busy the last few months and have so many new items and projects to share. I'm very excited!

Happy New Year~ 

A Few New Fall / Halloween / Thanksgiving Items

Available now in the Anvil Designs shop~

Halloween Set

~

Harvest ~ Thanksgiving Set

Fall is upon us, happy harvest!

Inspiring Client Follow Up Post

As a follow up to this post Inspiring Client~ 
I wanted to share a couple of shots of all four pieces I did for my most awesome client JR. The original post shows the first piece a created for him as a memorial to his beloved Grandmother who had recently passed away. Her name, Rosemary :)

I was in such a hurry to get them off to him I didn't realize I hadn't taken the best shots possible and I was working with a brand new camera to boot. So apologies for the photo quality!

Happy gardening~

The name "rosemary" derives from the Latin for "dew" (ros) and "sea" (marinus), or "dew of the sea".

Carpe Diem or Etched Bullet Shells~

When the cat’s away the mice will play. So the saying goes.

JD is in Wyoming building a custom garage for his friend who moved there last month. He’ll be gone about 5 weeks. I have wanted to try some new techniques and designs but never seem to have the time…

Carpe Diem! This week I seized a day or two and tried etching some brass bullet shells. I have wanted to do this for so long. Since I was trying it out for the first time and was uncertain of how they may come out I have to say I kind of scribbled on them, threw them in the solution and crossed my fingers.

Surprise to me! They didn't come out too bad for a first batch! 

~Hot off the press ~ Focal beads~

~These will be earrings when finished~

Birthday gift for a friend ~ Happy Birthday Kika!

~Inspired by The Secret Life of Bees~

Happy creating~