New Earrings! (Plus a discount coupon code!)

The lovely folks at Artbeads.com dropped by my blog a while back and noticed some of the jewelry design work I have posted in the sidebar. They offered me the opportunity to choose some of their inventory that they’d send me for free if I’d blog about it and them. I can always use $35 worth of crystals so of course I agreed. I looked through the Swarovski crystals (check out this selection!) and chose these drops first:

It's the Swarovski 6100 24x12mm faceted teardrop pendant in "crystal volcano" and they are SO cool! When the package came in the mail it looked like this, all pretty in purple!
I opened it up to check out my loot! Yay!
I also picked up some of these lovely lil buggas, a small oval crystal in the same "crystal volcano" color. These are little delicate thinga-ma-bobs!
So I went searching through my stash of Swarovski crystals to find something to go with them and found some fuchsia bicones.
I looped a fine wire through the crystal and back up into the bicone and put a loop on the top and trimmed the edges.
I made some small "S" shaped curls and folded them over the ovals and dangled some bicones from them and then put them all together.
I added the ear wires and that was it. A very easy and quick pair of earrings that are really fun to wear!

I went to a costume party on October 31st. I went as a character from a black and white movie trying to break into the world of full color. I wore full black and white makeup, even my shoulders and back were white (which could be a post all itself) these colorful sparkling earrings, a crimson scarf and matching crimson lipstick (sadly this photo was taken before I put on the bright lipstick.) I enjoyed wearing the earrings a great deal and got lots of compliments!
I got a little card in the mail from the folks at Artbeads.com today, they've given me a little treat to pass along to you. If you go there and make a purchase before 12/31/09, you can use this coupon code and get 10% off your order. Feel free to pass this along to your beading friends! The coupon code is: "SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424" At holiday time a pair of earrings is a lovely gift, even nicer when you can pick up the beads at discount prices. Thanks to Artbeads.com for the lovely beads!

Happy creating my lovely readers, keep up the good work!

With Gratitude, my 200th Blog Post! (And a Give-Away!!)

It’s hard to believe I’ve written 200 posts on this blog but I have. I’m grateful for those of you who pop by and leave your comments, thanks for being out there and interested in whatever is coming out of Studio B at the moment. No doubt that it’s always going to be something different.

I’ve put together a little package as my way of saying thanks for being out there, thanks for reading and thanks for leaving comments.
First, a small vase. I call these “rose vases” because they are perfect for a little bouquet of whatever is in bloom. I’m not a big gardener but I like picking up a bouquet of flowers at the supermarket sometimes and bringing them home. This is the kind of vase I always reach for when I do that, add a few marbles in the bottom and trim all the stems on the flowers and pop them in one at a time. Before long you’ve got a lovely little bouquet for the kitchen counter, the office or the bathroom. It’s a great way to brighten up the place or greet guests, and of course a small vase with some lovely fresh blooms is always a lovely gift.

This is a painted vase that has been fired to thermo harden the glaze resulting in a dishwasher resistant finish. In other words, you can run it through the dishwasher but if you do it too often you’ll start to lose the texture on the vase. But really, I think most of us can hand wash a small vase with no trouble.
Secondly, a small dichroic glass pendant with a little millefiori flower at the lower edge. Add a simple chain or tie with the satin cord I’ll include and it will be a lovely and delicate accent for whatever you’ve chosen to wear.
Finally, three olive oil guest soaps complete the package. First, Lapis Clove is inspired by the stone Lapis and has gold leaf in it to mimic the gold flecks in the stone. The fragrance is a fresh crisp men’s spice combination of clove and eucalyptus (I created it as a men’s combination but I love it and would certainly use it myself!) Tangerine Splash has some orange rind in it to exfoliate your skin. The fragrance includes Tangerine, Orange, Bergamot, Nutmeg, Rosemary and lemongrass essential oils. The final bar is Jasmine Clementine with calendula petals in it. The fragrance includes Orange, tangerine, Mandarin Orange, Jasmine and Amber, a blend of essential and fragrance oils.
So thanks for dropping by and checking out the things I make and the words I write. I can tell you that there is no other life that I’d rather live than the life of an artist!

In order to qualify for the giveaway, please become a “follower” of my blog using the link at the right. Then leave a comment below and I’ll draw someone at random on November the 14th and announce the winner that day. Make sure I have a way to email you, so either have your email address in your profile info, provide a link to your address or (in a pinch) post it in your comment. Thanks so much for dropping by. Happy creating!
-Carmen Rose

Makeup Artist

I'm one of the makeup artists for the local production of Tuesday Mourning. An article about the show is in our local paper and a little blurb on our local tv. It's written by a local playwright and the music is by a local musician.
They are in WW2 costumes...
Singing and having fun...
Throw in a little jitterbug dancing...
A big smile here and there...
And a very sad tale of the Bedford Boys. Thirty young men from Bedford, Virginia went off to fight in the war, 19 of them lost their lives at Omaha Beach on D-Day. It was the worst loss of any community of the country. The story is wretched, the music is excellent and the visuals are stark and somber. The cast is fun (one VERY ticklish!!) and I enjoy doing vintage hair and theater makeup.


BTW, this is blog post #199... and to celebrate my 200th post I will do a give away. All those who are "followers" of my blog will qualify. See the link to the right to become a follower. Thanks!

It's that time of year!

I love black and white movies with the beautiful clothing and women with curves and eyelashes. What a dramatic pose with Cyd Charisse.Hats with little veils are very cool also, and also feathers. I like the almost bare looking makeup with lovely lashes.
And this Agnes Morehead photo is the reason I love black and white so much, the lighting is perfect and her eyes are incredible. The hint of a smile and ever so slightly raised eyebrow gives the look some personality, maybe a hit of challenge.
This is Louis Brooks with the boxy cut, smokey eyes and little doll baby lips. She looks sad to me, I think it's the eyebrows and the vantage point of the camera.
This isn't an especially vintage shot, but I found it very striking in pure black and white. Her cut is extremely blunt but that adds to this ultra precise look. Of course this look could be created in photo shop where all the stray details could be edited out.

I was invited to a costume party and with these images in mind, I decided that I wanted to go as a character from a black and white movie desperately trying to make it into the world of color. That was mainly because I had some great accessories in a beautiful shade of crimson, a scarf, earrings, and matching nail polish and lipstick... all of that was stuff I had on hand. I dyed the scarf and made the earrings recently (there will be a post on those earrings coming soon - promise.) Hubby was nice enough to snap my photo before I left (and before I put on the crimson lip color.) Now that's pale!
I had to take one shot inspired by the woman with the hand over her eye. I thought the vintage glove with the ice rink was a nice touch. You can see that the white from my skin has worn off on the dress at the neckline.

I started out with mineral makeup ingredients, mostly titanium dioxide which is much nicer to the skin than clown white. It stayed put pretty well actually, I didn't notice the color sifting or rubbing off, I was pleased.

I used spray color to take my hair black but didn't do a great job covering my skin and didn't get great coverage but that spray color is nasty stuff so I didn't mind much. I ended up needing to take off some of the white and patch the blotches from over spray... note to self: do the black hair first... THEN the white skin.
Glad to see October come to a close and it's time to see what November has to offer.

I spent part of the day at double tech for a local stage production of "Tuesday Mourning." I'm one of the makeup crew for a very small cast, nothing challenging but I'll enjoy getting out and about each evening this week.

BTW, this is post #198. To celebrate my 200th post I'll put a few things together to give away in my 200th. "Followers" of my blog are eligible to win, just click the link at the right and you'll be entered in the drawing.

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my blog. You never can tell what I'll be creating tomorrow. Peace and Creativity to you all, and goodnight.

Makeup Artist

Over the last year I’ve done makeup for a number of theatrical productions locally.

This gentlemen was playing Heinzy in The Pajama Game.
She was also in The Pajama Game, and what a cutie!
How do you like her hair? That was fun and she loved it!I did makeup for Annie, I did the bald cap for Daddy Warbucks.
And this guy was a riot, I can't remember which character this was though. Every night of the production his look got a little stranger.
Daddy Warbucks had started to melt that evening, but I was enjoying play with the spare bald cap.

I've done my own makeup from time to time, this was a fun photo shoot ages ago.

And I think that blue thing on my head is actually a skirt or something, that was funky.I won a costume contest with this vintage 1950's style look. We had a lovely dinner and entertainment that evening, and a guy rode through the dining room on a motorcycle!
This one is the creepiest one I've ever done: I don't use clown white, I used pure titanium dioxide and lots and lots of it. It wasn't easy to get off but still better than that clown white stuff. I call it "white girl in purple." This photo is kind of a fluke, it turned out overexposed and I decided that I liked it. These days I don't use regular makeup on myself, I make all my own mineral makeup from the foundations to shadows that I blend myself. It's easy and I enjoy playing with the colors!
These photos of me in pink are still some of my favorites that came together by accident. I took one look at my hair in the mirror one morning and clamped that hat on my head and left for work. I opened the gallery and looked in the mirror and decided that the hat needed the pink scarf and rose from one of the displays in the shop. A little later on I made the pink necklace to match. And by the time I made it home it was kind of a fun look so I had my hubby snap some photos out back. The house that we lived in at the time had been built by a crazy artist witch and she'd splashed that pink paint in various places on the outside walls (it was mainly glass, metal and concrete!) so of course I had to stand right in front of one of her big splashes. I loved that house.
This one almost looks like a 1920's flapper style look. Almost.
There wasn't anything on my to-do list that I felt like doing this afternoon, so I pulled out this Picasso painting and decided I was going to play around with this bizarre look. When I was finished my husband couldn't even stand to look at me, so I deduced that Picasso didn't like women very much. I suppose this is the strangest look I've ever done. It was fun though!
Now to decide who to be for the costume party Saturday evening! I have the mineral makeup, pigments and mica to mix just about any color, but which one? If you have some suggestions, leave a comment.
~~~~~~~~
PS... This is blog post number 197 and my 200th post will be a giveaway. To be eligible, just become a "follower" of my blog, link in the sidebar to the right.

Evening at Studio B

We have a 50% full moon here tonight at Studio B and the sky has turned lovely colors. It's a tiny bit chilly and all is still. A perfect night a walk with a camera.

Moon in the crook of the tree.
Love this cloud formation!
P.S. This is post number 196, I'll celebrate my 200th post with a give away. To be eligible to win, you'll need to be a "follower" of my blog, so click to become a follower today. Thanks!

I love the view from here

This is post number 195! I'll celebrate my 200th post with a giveaway, so stay tuned!

This was the view from my back deck at Studio B one evening this week. I love this place!