Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Custom Lub, etc.

I guess I should explain the title of this post. My toddler pronounces his v's like b's, so he says lub instead of love. He also does not recognize the shape below as a heart, he recognizes it as "a lub". Not sure if anyone would have been able to guess that one.

I've been working on lots of custom lub lately, including this blue heart featuring an antique tin toy watch. This one is for Jane's husband. Jane is a classical musician and a customer at Stuff and she is giving this gift to her husband as a paperweight. I wanted to give it kind of a masculine feel. The blue jewel piece came from a cool bag of stuff I purchased last weekend from the Mission Road Antique Mall.

This heart says Je T'aime, or I love you in French. I know this because I had to ask Brendan's French teacher to be sure I got it right. I have never been to France, but when I picture it, I don't think of bright, glossy pink; I think tarnished, antiqued, chipped, cracked, rusty, been-around-forever. I think of Henri Toulouse Lautrec hanging out at the Moulin Rouge with the cool people; the underbelly of society. Needless to say, I had a great time making this heart for a work friend's son's girlfriend. I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Big, chunky porcelain heart.

This Frenchie-esque earring came from the same cool bag of stuff as the blue jewel on the first custom lub.

And of course I had to get my chalk board fix. I am crazy about this chalkholder!!!

He's a chalk alligator I found while on my adventures with Dawn at the Jessie James Antique Mall in St. Joe, MO. Dawn and I are headed on more antique mall adventures in a couple of weeks. Yeah!!!!!

And while I'm on a French kick, this chalkboard contains some of the same dusty pink and cream antiqued elements as the French heart. The vase is made of tiny shells and looks kind of broken and banged up -- ahhhhhh . . . perfect.

A close-up of the funky vase.

That is a super cool button on the top left -- yep, part of that Jessie James stash. I am in love with buttons. I finished gluing another custom lub last night and will post it along with some others when my husband, Jason Aaron, Wizard Magazine's top comic book writer of 2008, returns from his trip to the New York comic convention. Jason, PLEASE leave your laptop!

5 comments:

andrea said...

I didn't know your husband wrote comics, congratulations to him. That's so cool!! There are just so many talented people live here in KC.

Gretchen said...

I just found your blog, and wanted to let you know that your custom hearts you shared on your blog are wonderful. So filled and rich with that vintage detail that I love. Beautiful!

Gretchen
www.mimitoriasdesigns.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hey there Kelly.... Just wanted to let you know that the gift of the Paris heart was a huge success... Josh loved it and was proud to give it to her (in fact couln't wait until tomorrow- she already has it) Emily adores it... She read the copy of the blog we printed for her and told Josh that you hit on exactly how she feels about Paris too... Way to go! And Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for doing this wonderful heartfelt piece for my family.---Deena
Gilbert, AZ

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelly :) This is Emily, Deena's son's girlfriend and I just wanted to let you know how much I LOVE my Custom Lub. It completely embodies my feelings about Paris and France altogether. When I saw it, I immediately thought of Marie Antionette and a vintage Paris. I thought it was funny that you mentioned Lautrec in your blog as he is my favorite painter and actually has a city named after him (called Toulouse) which is called the pink city :) Thanks again! I'll be keeping my eye on your blog! Such creative mosaics with indescribable character!

Eccentricities said...

Emily -- thank you so much for the compliments on your custom heart. I am so glad we have the same vision of Paris. I cannot wait to go someday! Hope you and Josh had a great Valentine's and thanks again!!!