Wednesday, December 2, 2009

You've Got Style Award

The wonderfully talented Sanda of Sanda's Hobby Blog has just bestowed this fabulous new award on my blog and I'm honored and thrilled! Thank you so much Sanda!! I love visiting her blog, she's so artistic, makes the most creative paper art creations and now she's even dabbling in candles, wow! I love the extra eye candy she presents through her detailed up close slide shows too, very cool added bonus to a delightful blog!

I have the honor of passing this award onto some of the other bloggers I love visiting and they are:

1. Lisa of The Wright Stuff
2. LuLu of Coastal Sisters
3. Angie of Artangel
4. Margie of Margie's Crafts
5. Michelle of Michelle Lynch Art
6. Bunny of I'm Just Sayin'
7. Marilyn of Our Vintage Cottage
8. Maggie of The Magpie's Nest

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Double Shout Out

I just have to give a shout out to not one but two brand new Etsy shops that just opened their doors for business!! I have the honor of calling both of these shop owners friends and I'm absolutely overjoyed they're now offering their beautiful creations to the world.

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The first is The Wright Stuff by the immensely talented Lisa. Lisa is an amazingly impressive writer and just recently picked up a paint brush after a long break away from the canvas.Lisa delves into painting and gorgeous collaging techniques but also brings a world of depth and texture to images through Photoshop.I had the pleasure of recently purchasing this ACEO set and I can tell you it's G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S! All hand painted on small cards with intricate details... exquisitely beautiful and a very welcome addition to my ACEO collection.

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The second shop is Chris Finck Fine Art Photography by the incredibly talented Chris. Chris is a wonderful photographer who captures the beauty and magic of the world around her through the eye of the lens.
Her photographs are captivating and often include a gorgeous array of natural beauty in flowers and the tropical coastline of her native Floridian surroundings. From temperate pools of cool blue to warm floral tones of pinks and oranges Chris works wonders with her camera and now shares all her gorgeous findings with the public through her new Etsy shop.

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Both of these artists are exceptional in their mediums and I would honestly snatch up everything in their shops given the chance, so be sure to stop by and have a nice browse, you won't be disappointed!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

A Small Token

I've adored this image of a tiny mouse for such a long time now, probably well over a year and finally found a reason to use him. He's always felt so humble to me as though he was offering up this tiny berry, perhaps the only one he had, as a small gift of the heart. Well, he's here to apologize on my behalf...

I've been terribly neglectful of my blog and visiting my blog friends. Of course I have loads of excuses but I've never been one for excuses and I truly miss visiting all the blogs I love so much.

I didn't even get a Thanksgiving post written which is so unlike me. We did enjoy a nice quiet day, visiting relatives with far less cooking than in years past and that fit perfectly with the hectic schedules we've kept over the past few weeks so it was a welcome break.

I plan on making my way around blogland this weekend and am looking forward to catching up on all I've missed. In the meantime enjoy your tiny berry as it's meant for each of you (I know, that small berry just became alot smaller if you're all to share, yikes!) and I do hope you all enjoyed a week filled with gratitude and wonderfully creative weekend ahead!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

All That Glitters...

I'd like to say a special thanks to Stephanie of Stephanie Mealor Corder for including my work in her gorgeous Treasury! Stephanie is an amazing painter who sells through Etsy and also apparently has quite a knack for creating gorgeous Treasuries, wow! Thanks so much Stephanie!

I'd also like to thank Rita of Red Banana for including one of our collaboration creations in her blog feature. I love it when D and I can work on making creaitons together and this was a fun piece to work on together. Thanks Rita!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Holiday Colors

The holidays are always so colorful and never more so than this year with our newest selection of luscious woven fiber scarves. I always laugh when I think back to the the last time we had these scarves for sale, we sold out during an art festival in August when it was 80 degrees, too funny! But it does speak volumes about how these unique and yummy scarves just about sell themselves.

I enjoy working on them so much, weaving the extra soft fibers and rich color combinations is a wonderful creative process that I thoroughly enjoy.

Once again my lovely "daughter-in-law" offered up some help with modeling a few of the many ways these scarves can be worn. She's so darling!

We also have a sampling of some new woven wire bracelets and necklaces featuring gorgeous Zuda Gay flower focals. I adore working with Zuda's beautiful flowers too, each one truly is a work of art. I love the little details she adds too like the textured centers in each flower.

We're continuing to work feverishly to get as much completed and out to the gallery before the approaching Black Friday shopping event coming up this Friday. I've made a slew of key holders too so these and other new creations will be available through our website, Etsy shop and in stores soon.

I'm honestly not sure which I enjoyed more though, creating all these new treasures for our business or compiling the final images in these multi-view shots - they really were fun to put together and again, I can't thank my darling model-in-law enough - just the angel this busy business owner needed!!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

En Vogue - Weekly Challenge - "Romance"

I kind of stumbled upon this week's challenge submission as I made this necklace and really didn't consider it for the challenge until some friends and teammates recommended it - so thanks ladies! ;-)

This necklace is comprised of an ornate antiqued brass stamping which I fell in love with the moment I saw. I matched it up with a rather traditional cream and gold choker style ribbon and added loads of dangling faceted Garnets. Dangling from the center is a chunky glass piece in cranberry and the delicate chain suspended from the center adds a bit of character as well. This piece is now listed in our Etsy shop.

I'd also like to thank our new model-in-law, lol! D always says the reason our creations sell so much better in stores and at shows vs. online is because people can try the pieces on. We've felt for a long time having a model to show off our work would be an added benefit. With Lisha posing as our model we hope to perhaps overcome the online shyness of customer purchases by seeing some of our pieces "in action" so to speak. So thanks a million Lisha, you're a natural! ;-)

Remember these weekly challenges are open to anyone with a blog who feels a desire to be inspired. So just visit the Inspiration Avenue blog for more info and don't forget to enter the monthly giveaway while you're there.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Rustique - Weekly Challenge - "Rust"

Sliding in at the last minute this week I created these little dangle earrings for Inspiration Avenue's Weekly Challenge theme, Rust.
The beads were hand made using a traditional wet felting technique then tiny Miyuki seed beads were hand sewn for texture. I suspended them from hand forged copper ear wires by wrapping copper wire loosely around the tops. Their light and darling and now available in our Etsy shop.

These weekly challenges are open to anyone with a blog and an imagination, simply visit the Inspiration Avenue team blog for more info.

Friday, November 13, 2009

New Flavor

It seems like forever since I last posted any new creations as so much lately has been about family or personal health. Although I'm still battling with feeling better I have had a little creative time between naps and so I have a sampling of some new key holders to show. I really love these as they're a bit heavier with an Indian flavor which I find quite charming.I just love the heavier charms and whimsical touches in these and hope to have more ready in time for the holiday season.
A sampling of these key holders are now listed in our Etsy shop and on our website - happy browsing!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

In Love

I have a confession to make... I'm in love! While recently visiting a new favorite blog destination, Got Art? I read her delightful posting on totes! As the comment I left on her post mentioned, what girl doesn't like a lovely tote hanging off her shoulder?? I perused the delightful eye candy my new blog friend had included when all of sudden my heart took a leap as my eyes landed on Papaya Art, ahhhhh!! It was love at first site!

Now there if a chance that all of you may have heard of Papaya and I'm just out of the loop, it's certainly happened before but no matter what the case I'm just delighted to have found these delicious creations! And as if the totes weren't bad enough in all those adorable designs and colors, they also offer journals, decor, calenders, and SO much more! Ahhhhhh!! Suffice to say my holiday list just jumped a few pages, gulp!! So a big huge thank you to Got Art? for introducing me to my newest love, I'm sure my hubby will be appropriate perplexed. *winks*