Shift

You may notice some changes going on. Really all I changed was my header and I changed it to match my newly renamed Etsy shop DearMollyAnne.

I've been thinking about the Etsy change for quite a while but I wasn't ready to let go of my "mollythepirate" nickname I've had so long. When I got a full-time job and my shop and blog went neglected I kinda forgot about it. Lately I've had the bug to get back into that creativity and I thought a push in the right direction was a name change that reflected my life and style a little better. I've spent this last weekend doing inventory, updating the shop, renewing listings and filling up the shop which was down to about a quarter of the items I used to have.

I've spent the past couple of weeks ordering supplies for some new goodies that should be in the shop in time for the holidays and. Feel free to stop by the shop and see the changes. You can also find me on twitter and instagram as well where I frequently talk (and show) about what I'm working on.
So I'm back in the saddle, so to speak, and it feels quite good to be back.

Casual steampunk mantel

There's steampunk and then there's I want to be slightly more subtle steampunk. I happen to be a fan of both. I love to think how fast I would trick out my living room in nature/scientific Victorian splendor if I had the stuff; but in reality I'm a little more casual. When some friends gave me an old microscope in a wooden box I knew I wanted to make a steampunk-inspired display.

The box the microscope is stored in made a great stand to get different levels.

A jar (I think it once held fruit preserves and then I removed the label and spray painted the lid) full of old keys sits in a candle stand.

The other side is a necessary lamp, an old glass insulator and a metal tray and metal bowl with a glass "lid."

The "lid" is actually a light fixture cover I bought at a thrift shop and I spent months thrifting and antiquing to find a bowl it would fit inside. I'm using it to keep dust out of a bird nest I found when I trimmed the pampas grass and a little half eggshell I found elsewhere in the yard. Wrong egg for the nest but you work with what you find, right?

A look at the whole: casual steampunk-inspired style.

Really casual.