EccentricPastiche ~ Artist & Zinester in Progress

On The Twelfth Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-29T14:42:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the delay on posting the 12th day... it was my own gift to the others in the swap... in other words, this gift is from me!

I'm not going to include a photo of the packaging primarily because I didn't take a photo of the packaging before I sent them out, but if you can picture this in your head: I took an ordinary envelopes (greeting card sized ... either A-2 or A-6), put my gift inside and sealed the envelopes. Then I wrapped the envelopes in Santa Claus-y wrapping paper, put stamps and a mailing label on them and sent them on their way. Nothing really all that spectacular, but, maybe a little more interesting than an average envelope. Right? Right? (make me feel better, would ya?)

Anyway, the ornaments that I made for the swap were made using a paper coaster base, which I then collaged. Each of the ornaments were a little different because I didn't have 12 of the same image to use. I wanted to create something utilizing items that I had on hand, and for the most part, I accomplished that. Here are some photos:

I hope that everyone liked the ornaments I made, I did put a lot of time into them and they were fun to create.

I look forward to next year's swap, and I promise that I shall put more effort and thought into the packaging! I promise!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-24T22:46:00.001-08:00

Well, here we are at day 11, Christmas Eve! I can't believe how quickly time flies. Day 12 was my day, and I didn't wrap a gift for myself (I kind of knew what it was already...) So, I'll just be posting the photos that I have of what I made tomorrow.

But in the meantime, I'd like to share with you the gift I received from Annette! Annette decorated a cute little Kraft envelope and used that as her wrapping...

Nifty, huh? Inside the package was this very cool little ornament ...

It is a small piece of what I think is stampbord (although I could be wrong, Annette, if you're reading, I'd love to hear from you about the base of this ornament). This promptly went onto my tree, and it is full of decorations from this year and several previous years as well.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post a picture of the tree!

Until then, thank you very much Annette for this awesome ornament, I love it as well as all the other gifts I received this year. Thanks everyone for contributing to this swap and making it so awesome... and also thank you to Yooper for hosting the event!

On The Tenth Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-23T23:33:00.000-08:00

*sigh* this exchange is almost over. I really enjoyed it though. I love all the gifts that I've received, not only are they wonderful additions to my holiday decor but they are inspiring me to push myself to do even better next year with my 12 days gifts. I do think my gifts were pretty cool, I put a lot of work into them, but, I wish I would have been more creative with the wrapping. But, woulda-coulda-shoulda ... you know? Can't do anything about that now.

For the tenth day of Christmas, we received a gift from Joanne. As you can see, her wrapping was incredibly clever ...

Yes! She machine stitched all the way around the paper to seal the package, and the tag is also machine stitched. Very clever, indeed. I was almost afraid to cut into the package, but I took extra care to make sure that the gift was on the opposite side of where I was cutting, and this is what I found inside (be prepared to say aww! Because it's really cute!)

The collage image has been printed onto fabric, and just in case you can't tell from the photo, the wire is all curly and beaded!

I think after the holidays, this little angel is going to find a permanent home in my studio. (I think I've just about gotten my hubby talked into moving his "man cave" into the garage, and then we will move the "family" room which is basically a computer room into my oldest daughter's old room (she moved out last week - I'm still very sad about it), and then turn the family room into my studio. This would work out wonderfully for me, because I've pretty much been doing my art work in the family room anyway, because the garage is just TOO DARNED COLD in the winter, and in the summer it's too hot. There are only a couple of weeks out of the year when it's a comfortable climate. And I want to do my artwork more than just a couple weeks out of the year!

Anyways... just one more gift to open (I didn't wrap my own gift to me) in this exchange ... I'll share it with you tomorrow!

Thanks, Joanne, this is a lovely little angel!

On The Ninth Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-23T00:02:00.000-08:00

Running a little behind schedule today, everyone! Sorry about that.

For the ninth day of Christmas, Liane made gifts for us. Here is the festive wrapping

And inside was this cute little altered clipboard. I love it! Such a neat idea!

Thank you Liane for the clever gift, I just love it. I am happy to add it to the rest of my holiday decor.

I'll be back later today (since it's after midnight... I should technically be posting the tenth day of Christmas right now, but, as I said, I'm behind! I'll be back after a good night's sleep and share with you the gift we received for the tenth day of Christmas!)

Thanks, again, Liane!

On The Eighth Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

Wow! Up to day 8 already! Today's gift came from Elaine ... and she too went all out with the packaging. This is an amazing package ...

A beautifully sewn envelope with a velcro closure. Awesome. I love this.

And inside, there was not just one, but TWO gifts! Here's the first, a cute ornament for the tree

Adorable!

And the second gift was a lovely fabric bookmark ...

Elaine, these gifts are fantastic, I love them both! The ornament is already on the tree, and when I have time to read (whenever that might be!) I will definitely be using the bookmark!

Thank you, Elaine!

On The Seventh Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-20T23:02:00.001-08:00

It's 11 pm ... so I made it just under the wire to update my 12 Days of Christmas presentation here... sorry for the delay, but today has been busy, busy, busy!

For the Seventh Day of Christmas, we opened a plump envelope from Claudia! Inside the envelope, and serving as the fancy "wrapping" for the gift was a beautiful card. GORGEOUS card. Words cannot begin to describe just how lovely this card is, and although I will share the photo with you, the photo just doesn't do this card justice.

The background paper is an embossed, gold foil-ish kind of paper. Shiny and mesmerizing. It will be displayed proudly amongst my other holiday cards.

And tucked inside the card was this fantastic little ornament ...

Again, the photo doesn't do it justice. A beautifully sewn stocking for the tree. Love the fabric chosen for this, it is so festive and really, really lovely. It is now on my tree.

Thank you Claudia, I love these gifts!

On the Sixth Day of Christmas ...

2011-12-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are at the halfway mark! This has been a wonderful exchange, and I've been so thrilled with everything I've received thus far. I'm so honored to be among such talent in this group, I find myself feeling a bit insecure and wondering if my gift will be as appreciated as I appreciate each of the gifts I've received. I hope so.

For the sixth day of Christmas, I opened a gift from Teresa. Her gift was especially fun to receive, because it was delivered in beautifully wrapped canister ...

Like I said, fun! It was hard not to open it right away, but I was good and waited. Impatiently waited, but I still waited. Tucked inside the canister was not yet the gift, but another fun wrap!

COOL! I'm loving the wrapping as much as I'm loving the gifts this year. So much fun. (And again, my art friends, I promise to spend more thought and time on the wrapping for the exchange next year! I promise!)

Tucked inside this funky, cool shaped package was this gorgeous pendant ...

Amazing. I know it's supposed to be a pendant, but I really don't wear jewelry much, so I am thinking about hanging it on my tree instead. I just love this, so sparkly and gorgeous ... beautiful.

Thank you so much Teresa. Love the packaging, love the gift. What a wonderful surprise!

On The Fifth Day of Christmas...

2011-12-18T20:33:00.002-08:00

I don't know if any of you know this, but, I am also a tea reviewer... and I am also doing a 12 Day of Christmas Countdown there. My favorite tea company - 52Teas - offered a 12 Days of Christmas sampler last month and I have been writing an article a day about each tea that has been featured. If you're interested in checking that out, just click here --> SororiTea Sisters.

We are nearing the halfway point...

The gift for the 5th Day of Christmas was from Teresa!

Another pretty wrapping (hey ... group 3, I want to apologize for my wrapping... I did not get clever with the wrapping, I was just glad to get the packages out on time!) (for those of you not in group 3, I just wrapped an envelope with wrapping paper. It was pretty unoriginal, and not nearly as cool as these other packages have been)

OK... enough of that.

On with the package!

Cute!

And here is what was inside:

Absolutely precious! I really like this a lot. I have a little tiny easel that I'm going to put this on and display it on my shelf in the living room.

Thank you Teresa!

On The Fourth Day of Christmas...

2011-12-17T13:57:00.001-08:00

Well, it's the fourth day of Christmas (well, I guess technically, the 12 Days of Christmas don't actually start until after Christmas, but, that would have meant waiting EVEN longer to open these gifts, and I'm not so good with waiting when it comes to presents!)

Anyway, today's gift is from Sherri. Another really cute package ...

Here is what the box looks like without the ribbon and tag ...

Really cute, huh?

And tucked inside this adorable box was a really clever ornament! (I love getting ornaments as these gifts!)

It might be a little hard to tell with the picture, but the "frame" of the ornament is done with a metal cookie cutter and it's backed with festive holiday paper (which you can, of course, see). I Love this!

Last night, we put up our tree (a little late, I know, but, this year has been a tough one for me ... but maybe I'll talk about that another time), and my tree now proudly displays this ornament (as well as many others ... almost all of them handmade!)

Thank you Sherri, what a beautiful gift, I love it.

On The Third Day of Christmas...

2011-12-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

Another awesome package for the third day of Christmas ... this time, from Regina!

Today's packaging was a little simpler than a tree shaped box or stitched bag, but, no less intriguing or beautiful ... I love the tag!

And tucked inside was an awesome ornament! I love the colors on this one ... very bold and striking. Here is the "front" ... (or at least, what I've deemed the front) with its modern look ...

And the "back" with it's more vintage-y look. (although, to tell the truth, on my tree, the back would probably be more in keeping with the overall look of the tree!) ...

I absolutely love the ornament ... very cool! It will make my tree look all the better this year and for years to come.

Thank you Regina!

I just love this swap!

On The Second Day of Christmas...

2011-12-15T10:23:00.001-08:00

Even though it's really early into the 12 Days of Christmas Swap, I must say how honored I am to be amongst such talented artists.

For the Second Day of Christmas, we opened a box from Barbara, and inside was the neatest little gift box! Check this out:

Clever, right? And yes, that is a spider adorning the box... it is a bit of foreshadowing of what is inside.

Tucked inside a beautiful bit of Joss paper, I found this beaded beauty:

Wow! OK, I'm not generally fond of spiders or other creepy crawling, scampering, or slithering bugs/insects ... but, this is one spider that is welcome in my house anytime. It's absolutely gorgeous!

A story accompanied this beautiful spider, telling the German legend of the Christmas Spider.

Thank you, Barbara, for such a wonderful surprise. This spider has found a new home, perched on the corner of my computer screen!

Thanks for reading!

On The First Day of Christmas...

2011-12-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

As some of you know (if anyone actually still reads this blog, I know I've been MIA for quite some time and appear only now and then... certainly wouldn't blame anyone for moving on to other pastures, but, hopefully, I still have someone reading every once in a while!) Anyway... as some of you know, last year, I participated in a 12 days of Christmas swap with an art group with which I'm involved. It was so much fun that I decided to join it again this year.

Yesterday, we started opening packages... and for Day one, here is what I received ...

First, check out the incredible wrapping job!

I know, stunning, right? The package is a gift in itself! Love it!

Finally, after staring, totally amazed and mesmerized by the beautiful package for what seemed a good half an hour, I finally pulled the string on the bow to find out what was inside...

Another Stunner! Gwynn absolutely outdid herself. This will make a fantastic addition to my altered art Christmas tree, and I am so happy to have it. What a joyous gift it is!

Thank you Gwynn!

Mental Note to myself: Next Year, also come up with clever packaging for 12 days gifts!

Well, that's all for now, but tune in tomorrow to see what Day 2 has brought. Yes, I already opened that one, (since today, the 14th, is technically the 2nd day of this swap - we started it on the 13th, but, I wanted to do each blog post a day later so that the 12th day ends up on Christmas, plus it would give me ample time to actually compose the post!)

Thanks for reading!

An Altered Ballet Dress

2011-10-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Well, this year for Halloween, we needed to economize a bit, so we couldn't go out and get a costume for our youngest the way we usually do. Instead, we looked to her closet, in which she has several "old" ballet recital costumes - these were worn only twice: once for her photo, once for the recital. And it seemed like such a waste! (Especially if you saw what we had to spend on them) I suppose I could have sold them on Craigslist but I doubt I would have gotten anywhere near what we paid for them.

Now, fortunately, for the ballet recital, they have a rental system where we rent out the costumes. It doesn't cost as much and we don't have a ballet recital outfit that she'll never wear again.

Anyway, this year, Lilith wanted to be a zombie. So she had her eye on several zombie costumes from Party City, but, we really couldn't afford to spend money on a costume (another outfit that would be worn once). So, my mind started thinking... why spend money on a zombie costume... when really what makes a zombie a zombie is their make-up ... there are no hard-core rules as to what a zombie wears.

So, I told her, either choose an outfit from her wardrobe that she wouldn't mind scuffing up (she has a dress that still fits but is a little worn), or choose one of her ballet recital outfits and we'll alter that and make it zombie-fied.

She chose the latter.

Here are some photos of her as a zombie before we altered the dress:

Cute... but, the dress looked a little too pristine to be a zombie outfit.

So... I altered it:

I guess I could have done more to it than just torn and discolored the tulle, I guess I could have scuffed up the velvet part as well, but, it was hard enough for me to cut, tear and discolor the tulle. The "conservative" parent voice inside my head kept reminding me how much I paid for this dress.

But... when all is said and done, she is REALLY happy with the result. This is the best Halloween costume she's had yet, and it is something that nobody else out there will have. There may be zombies, but none quite as cute! And, we saved about 40 bucks (which is what we probably would have paid for a new costume) in the process, and we probably wouldn't have gotten 40 bucks back from re-selling the costume on Craigslist. In my opinion, it's a win-win!

Hope your Halloween is a fun and frightening one!

Yeah, It's been a while...

2011-10-30T01:00:00.001-07:00

But, I've been blogging, just not here. I've been keeping busy doing tea reviews. And ... coincidentally, drinking a lot of tea in the process.

I've not done a lot of art this year, but I am getting back into the swing of things. Lately, I've been working on fatbook pages with a travel theme. We're to do 32 pages for this swap. Each one of mine is a little different from the others... although they are pretty similar in the techniques and colors that I've used. The images is what makes most of them different.

Here's one of them ...

I'm pretty happy with them... I've invested a whole lot more time than I thought I would when I embarked upon this project... each page has a lot of different layers, and since I'm no jewelry artist, the chain embellishment work isn't a piece of cake.

But, it has been fun to be working on art again.

~Anne

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas ...

2010-12-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it... but just barely! haha!

For the twelfth day of Christmas, the artist was Sue Foster. And this is SO awesome!

How fantastic is this? It's so cute, and it looks great on my tree! Thank you so much Sue! I just love this little mitten!

Well, that's it for this year's 12 Days of Christmas swap. I had fun with it! What I enjoyed most was making my altered light bulb ornaments. It was so awesome though, the anticipation for each day's gift.

Thank you to Sue Foster and to all the other artists who participated in this swap. I had fun, and I hope that you enjoy the ornament that I made as much as I've enjoyed the gifts you've sent to me.

Happy holiday to everyone!

~Anne

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas ...

2010-12-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Well, I didn't do the second post yesterday like I had planned - yesterday was NUTS! I spent the morning doing the last minute shopping I needed to do for today. The afternoon was spent wrapping gifts, cleaning house and other last minute preparations for today.
So, I just didn't have the energy or the time to update my blog like I would have liked.

But what I do like, is the 11th day of Christmas artwork that I received from Shelly Rae Wood! It's beautiful! Check it out!

This is actually a brooch (or pin) because it has a pin back on it, but, I plan on making a simple little wreath - nothing fancy - but something that can nicely showcase this work because I want it to be on show next year! I love it! It's a little heavy to put on the tree, but I'm thinking either a wreath or perhaps as the centerpiece for a garland. Either would be really nice.

Thank you Shelly Rae! I like this a whole lot!

~Anne

PS: Since I don't have to worry about holiday dinner tonight (we will have our holiday dinner tomorrow night since hubby had to work today), I will (or at least I should) have the time to post the 12th day of Christmas post. Let's hope that I will do just that!

On the Tenth Day of Christmas ...

2010-12-24T16:01:00.001-08:00

Happy Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas Eve? OK... how does one say "Hope your Christmas Eve is Jolly?" I guess... just like that?

Anyways... the 10th Day of Christmas Artist is: Regina Zyry!

And Regina made an incredible paper ornament, check it out -

Isn't it cool? I love it. It is now adorning my tree. And also impressive about this gift was the packaging. It was wrapped in a burgundy paper bag, banded and closed with a big, beautiful brad. Very creative! (I'm keeping the brad for some future project!)

Regina, I love this ornament! Thank you so much!

~Anne

PS: I will be posting the 11th day later today (I hope!) so that I can post the 12th day on Christmas day!

On the Ninth Day of Christmas...

2010-12-23T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yay! Time to get caught up just a little!

For the ninth day of Christmas, the artist was Laurie Richardson!
Laurie made the packaging as much a gift as what was inside. Check out this tiny but very cool paint can in which the gift was packaged ...

Not the greatest of photos to be sure, but, I just love this little paint can! So cute, and the gift fit perfectly inside, and with the added cushion of crinkle paper, it was a perfect vessel for this beautiful ornament...

Again, the photo just doesn't do it justice. It shimmers so beautifully, and the photo also fails to capture the lovely marbling that Laurie was able to achieve with this piece. I was very proud to hang it on the tree!

Thank you, Laurie!

Hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to post about the 10th and 11th days of Christmas, so that then on Christmas day all that will be left is day 12.

Also, for those of you who do not know, I have another 12 days of Christmas activity in which I am involved - 12 TEAS of Christmas from 52Teas. You can check that out here!

~Anne

On The Eighth Day of Christmas...

2010-12-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I had good intentions, but I failed to write up another blog post last night to get myself caught up... perhaps I can do so tonight!

Anyways... the artist for the Eighth Day of Christmas is Kari McKnight-Holbrook. And what a lovely gift she made!

This is a tiny art piece that was created on a 2x2 inch canvas. The snowman is crafted out of polymer clay and gives a delightful dimension to the artwork. I just so happened to have one of those little miniature easels so I immediately propped this onto the easel and am now displaying it proudly on my DVD shelf in the living room. What a lovely addition to my holiday decorations!

I just love this!

~Anne

On the Seventh Day of Christmas...

2010-12-22T16:32:00.001-08:00

The artist for Day 7 was Julie Wicks!

The gift of art for Day 7 was somewhat delayed, but I received it last night - packaged in a very cool cylinder container that had been festively wrapped. Tucked inside was this neat little shadow box from Julie which now sits on the bookshelf (DVD shelf) in the living room. It is really a neat and unique piece of art that I will treasure for years to come!

Isn't it neat?

I know that I'm a little behind on these, but I didn't want to post the days out of order. So, I will probably post the Eighth day later this evening in an effort to get a little caught up!

Thanks again Julie! I really love this!

~Anne

On The Sixth Day of Christmas...

2010-12-19T11:09:00.001-08:00

Greetings!

I know I'm a couple of days late with this one! Things have been crazy for me these last couple of days and they flew by before I knew it!

On Friday, I got to open a beautifully wrapped present from Jean Bennett! I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the wrapped gift before I tore into it!

Anyways... inside, I found these little hand-poured glycerin soaps ...

Aren't they cute? They sparkle really nicely too. All that is needed is something to put them in... like this:

I love this basket (although I'm afraid the photo just doesn't do it justice - or perhaps, I should say my limited photography skills don't do it justice!) - It's so festive and I love that it's reversible. But what I love most is that it really adds a beautiful holiday touch to my bathroom.

Thank you Jean! This is a gorgeous gift! I really love it!

~Anne

On The Fifth Day of Christmas...

2010-12-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

Today, I was able to open a beautifully wrapped gift from Gloria Ketter!

Up until now, each little gift has been an ornament. I love ornaments, however, it is nice to get something a little different today! Check it out!

Isn't it cool? It's a pendant hanging from a ball chain. I suppose I could turn it into an ornament if I wanted by looping a ribbon on to the pendant, but, I think it's quite nice as it is! Really unique and beautiful!

Thank you Gloria! I really love this pendant! What a fun and very cool gift!

~Anne

On The Fourth Day of Christmas...

2010-12-15T08:56:00.001-08:00

Good Morning everyone! I know that it is just about afternoon for some of you out there, but, it is still morning for me, and by my internal clock, it's quite early!

Anyway... for today's 12 Days of Christmas swap gift, I received a present from a "Secret Santa." I don't know who the artist is of this lovely little trinket, but, I love it oh so much! Thank you, Secret Santa!

I love the wire wrapping at the top of the hanging wire, it may sound a little silly to love something like that, but, I just love little details like that. You may not be able to tell from the photo (I've never claimed to be a great photographer), but this is a re-purposed bottle cap! It is so pretty - the photo just doesn't do it justice.

The other side is embellished with perfectly sized mirror and a glittered snowflake. I couldn't capture that side very well at all, so you will just have to use your imagination.

Another lovely addition to my tree!

Thanks again, Secret Santa!
~Anne

On The Third Day of Christmas...

2010-12-14T08:57:00.001-08:00

I am just loving this 12 days art swap!

The artist of the day today is: Claudia Holcombe!

I eagerly opened the envelope to find a beautiful handmade card...

With a beautiful ornament inside that matches the card!

The ornament now adorns my tree. Thank you, again, Claudia. It's really lovely! I didn't take a photo of the other side, but it is double sided - the other side has a pretty snowflake on it! This gift certainly did bring me a lot of JOY!

~Anne

On The Second Day of Christmas...

2010-12-13T08:43:00.001-08:00

Greetings!

Well, today is the second day of gifts in the 12 Days of Christmas gift swap, and today's artist is: Carol Westphal!
I was so excited to finally open a package for this swap! They had been calling to me for weeks now, and since I was the artist of day 1, I didn't wrap a gift for myself. I guess I could have, but, I figured with all the work that I put into those ornaments, that I didn't need to make any unnecessary work for myself.

Anyways... on to the gift of day 2!

On the second day of Christmas, Carol Westphal sent to me.......

This adorable little ornament!

It went straight onto my tree. I really like this! My christmas tree is filled with handmade ornaments - mostly altered art and ATCs and stuff... and this will make a charming addition to my collection!

Thank you Carol Westphal! I love it!

~Anne

On The First Day of Christmas...

2010-12-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

Holiday Greetings, everyone!

This year, I participated in a 12 Days of Christmas art swap. Basically, we each make 12 pieces of art, send them out to the 11 recipients (with me being the 12th), and then the mailman delivers 11 different pieces of art from 11 other participants in the swap.

My artwork was for day 1. I've already posted about it in my previous post... but here's that photo again... just in case you weren't tired of looking at it already!

This is an altered burned-out lightbulb. I had been saving and accumulating burned out light bulbs for years now, because I just couldn't bring myself to throw them away. It just seemed like such a waste, taking up space in the land fill... and I just knew there was something that I could do with them... I just hadn't taken the time to figure out what to do with them until now.

I start by wiring the top of the light bulb (the metal part) with a loop and wrapping the wire around the metal part to secure it. To further secure the wire to the bulb and to disguise the metal part to keep it from looking too much like a light bulb, I used apoxy clay (my new favorite art stuff).

After allowing the clay to air harden and cure for a couple of days (it doesn't really take that long, but, I allowed it extra time because I didn't want to make the mistake of working on it before it was ready... I figure a little more time to cure is always better than not enough), I cleaned the bulb thoroughly with rubbing alcohol and then began to decoupage mulberry paper, sheet music and newspaper onto the light bulb. You can use any paper you like, I happen to like the texture of the mulberry paper. It is important that the paper be thin enough to be able to manipulate it around the curves of the light bulb without having too many air pockets and folds in the paper.

I allowed each layer to dry, and then my final layer of decoupage was a napkin... for this, I cut out a paisley design napkin and decoupaged it onto the light bulb.

Once the bulb was good and dry (I allowed it to dry a full 48 hours), then I started painting with various paints and I used mica powders to give it a good shimmer. By the time I was finished painting, it was difficult to tell that I had decoupaged the design onto the light bulb, because I had painted over the design. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1) I didn't want it to look like a napkin had been decoupaged onto a light bulb; and 2) I wanted to add some shimmer and sparkle to the paisley design.

Once the paint was completely dry, I added the tinsel thread and the rhinestones and ribbon.

It was a lot of work, but I had so much fun making these!

~Anne

Yeah, yeah, I know... you've heard this before!

2010-11-29T19:08:00.000-08:00

But it has been quite a while since my last post!
I've been busy with closing up the tea business. I am nearly finished with that, and the up side to this transition is that I now have more time to focus on my art. I was spending so much time working on the business end of the business, and that took away from time for my art (not to mention time with my family!)
I joined a 12 Days of Christmas swap, and here is what I made (Hey, if you're in the AAWA group, don't peek!)
I don't feel like the photos really do these justice because the camera doesn't pick up the glimmer of these (not to mention the fact that I'm not a great photographer!) I am really happy with how well these ornaments turned out. I am day 1 - and although it wasn't intentional, these turned out looking a bit like a pear... which works for my particular day.

Here's another photo... again, the photo suffers from being taken by a terrible photographer, but, it does show a slightly different view of the ornament...

Not that different... but, like I said, I am not the best photographer, and these really aren't that easy to take a picture of anyway. They're very sparkly and will look nice on a tree though!

That's all for now... I will hopefully update when I finish with my holiday cards, which I better finish soon because they need to be mailed!

Oh! And I almost forgot! Be sure to check out my newest endeavor!

Eight Postcards

2010-03-21T19:46:00.001-07:00

Greetings!

Well, over the last couple of days, I've not only been working on Tanya's Pink Journal, but also a set of eight postcards with a birds theme. These still need to dry (which is why I photographed them rather than scanned them), and I think I'm going to give them at least 48 hours to do so, since there are several layers on them. But here they are... and I don't think they'll look too much different after the curing time...

This first one - the photo ended up coming out a little blurry. Hey... I've never claimed to be a photographer!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. I still need to add a backing to them - I'm going to use a nice handmade paper and stamp the "postcard" marking on it.

These were a lot of fun! I look forward to seeing everyone's work in the finished booklet!

~Anne

Yep... I'm still alive!

2010-03-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hey!
It's been quite a while since my last post. I've not had a lot of time to spend on art lately. For those of you who haven't heard... I am closing my tea business after eight years. It was a difficult decision but I think it's best for me and my family... and my artwork too!

Right now, though, I've been spending a lot of my time trying to sort everything out for the business... so that the transition can go as smoothly as possible. So I haven't had a lot of time for creating.
This is a wreath that I made before Christmas (LOL - I just didn't have a chance to get a photo of it before the holiday, first, we couldn't find the battery recharger for the camera, and when we did, I just didn't take the time to take the photo.) The gorgeous rag yarn that I used came from confections on etsy. This was a lot of fun to make!
I've always wanted to do a piece with rag-yarn. It reminds me of my gramma... she had this great rug that was made out of braided rag yarn so whenever I see rag-yarn, it evokes memories of that rug that I used to sit on and sew little snippets of fabric while gramma would sit at the sewing machine. Beautiful, happy memories!

And... this is the latest of journal spreads for the True Colors journal round robin that I'm in (Yes, it's still going on!) ... this is Tanya's journal spread, her color choice was pink!

These pages are really THICK... because well, the first work that I did - after I had worked it, I had rethought my idea and decided to go a different direction. Rather than just starting over, I worked over what I had started. Then... my first attempt at a spread similar to this one resulted in a very fat looking tree! So... I worked over that one too. The result is a couple of pages that are very, very thick... I'm hoping they will work out ok. I haven't yet adhered them to the journal!

I hope that Tanya likes what I came up with. The photo doesn't really do it justice. It's very sparkly because there is an ample sprinkling of pink German glass glitter over the pages.

Well... hopefully my entries to my blog will be more frequent now! We shall see!

~Anne

Holiday Cards

2009-12-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

Well, I've not been as productive as I'd like to be, but I have managed to finish my holiday cards (yeah, I know I'm late with them, so what else is new? ha!)... I even unpacked the new sewing machine (that I bought last year, but never unpacked until just a couple of weeks ago) and did some stitching on these cards -- with metallic thread, no less! It was actually a lot of fun, and even though it's only a few holiday cards, it felt very liberating.

Here's one of the cards... each one is a little different, because I used a different decorative paper on the top of each one.

I've also been busy, tea-wise... check out my tea journal to see what I've been up to!

~Anne

My Christmas List......

2009-11-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

Not that I think anyone from my family will actually read this... this will be more like my "treasury" of favorite goodies from my three favorite venues: Artfire, Etsy and 1000 Markets.

Now that I've found a favorite produce market (local produce at excellent prices!) I would love to have a few of these bags from QwertyO to make shopping easier on me and the environment. Simple and inexpensive, these would make great stocking stuffers ... and comes in a fabulous set of FIVE bags for one low price!

This mug from Chat's Pots is HUGE! I love the color, and I love the shape of it. Most of all, I love the size. Sure, I already have two nice size mugs for my tea, but I could use another one... hey, I drink a lot of tea!

I'm a bit of a fiber freak. Now that I have my awesome sewing table and my awesome sewing machine... I do plan on exploring fiber art more. I love this "rag yarn" from Confections -- it reminds me of my gramma, who had the coolest rag rug... whenever I see rag yarn like this, it evokes fond memories of her.

I just love this Starry Night Palm Frond from The Palm Frond Artist. A fabulous, earth friendly interpretation of my favorite painting from my favorite artist... AWESOME!

I have been amazed by this artist's work for quite some time now, and truth be told, I love everything inside Jen Maestre's shop, but I think that this pendant is my favorite. She used to have ACEOs (aka ATCs) ... I'm sad that I never purchased one now that there are none in her shop!

I have a serious thing for cupcakes. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I have fallen completely in love with just about anything cupcake. And this cupcake from Bud and Lucy's Kid is no exception... it's absolutely beautiful.

And... speaking of cupcakes... I absolutely adore this cupcake cookie jar from Fruit fly Pie's shop! I already have a cookie jar which doesn't make this the most practical of gifts, but, it will give me more room to put *more* cookies.

I absolutely love this clock. There are several styles and designs available from Pragmatic Effects, this is my favorite size and style from this shop, however, I would prefer the tan crackle color... and since it's made to order......

So, I think I'll stop there for now. Believe me, I'm sure there's lots more I'd like to have.

Whatcha think of my list?

~Anne

Finally getting around to posting some new art...

2009-11-27T14:00:00.001-08:00

Greetings! Wow ... it took me a while to get around to posting this... that this art doesn't even feel new to me anymore! haha!

For the Fall Tea Swap for my Tea Group we had a "destinations" theme. Each person in the swap was to select up to three destinations to where they'd like to travel. These destinations could be real or fantasy.

My partner chose "Art Gallery in Paris," "Fall Festival" and "Outdoors/Camping" -- the Outdoors/Camping one was also specific to the sounds of nature.

For a combination of the Fall Festival and Outdoors/Camping theme, I made her this field journal, where she could sketch or write (or both) ... I imagine with her emphasis on the sounds of nature, she could also use it to write her feelings as she listens to those sounds...

As you can see, I used the box of my favorite cookies from Trader Joe's (these cookies are awesome!) as the cover of the journal, and inside I used blank watercolor paper that I stained and stamped with inks (just to take away the new whiteness of the paper ... I find that intimidating sometimes, don't you? It's much more fun to journal when you have something already on your page!) Finally, I bound the pages with my Rubicoil machine... which I love!

For the "Art Gallery in Paris" destination, I decided to create a "having tea in a Paris Museum" type of route, and included tea and chocolate truffles, and wrapped the box in a cool Paris themed paper. I also made a "scrapbook" type of fatbook for her that includes images of famous paintings that can be found in Paris's Museums. The fatbook ended up being 14 pages thick (I think -- I can't remember!) and is anything but conventional, as I took a cue from one of my favorite artists, Aileen from Outside the Margins and went a bit outside the margins of this book. Several of the images of the paintings were larger than the 4 x 4 size, so I simply ignored that and so some of the pages don't look like they fit!

Neither my hubby nor my oldest daughter liked the fact that this book went beyond it's boundaries, but I really did like it. Sure, when the pages fit nice and neatly inside a book, it's all well and good, but I like my fat books to be chunky and a bit unusual, I think it gives the book more character like that.

~Anne

An Artistic Moment with Meghann from Little Studio Jewels

2009-11-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

Not long ago, I had the unique opportunity to conduct a transaction with Meghann from Little Studio Jewels. This is the ring I received, isn't it a beauty?

I just love it, it is so delicate and it sparkles so beautifully. By the way, if you'd like one for yourself, just click on the photo, and it will take you directly to the listing!

I was so enchanted by her jewelry, that I wanted to get to know Meghann a little better. The following is an interview that I conducted with her. I hope you enjoy it!

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How long have you been an artist and At what point did you decide to start making jewelry?

I’ve always been fascinated by photography, and started when I was a teen. I caught the bug pretty badly and continued on my own until I was hired by a photographer as his assistant. I have always wanted to have my own studio, especially after working in a few portrait studios over the years. I like doing portraits, but I live in a very small area and the business just isn’t there. However, I LOVE doing nature and landscape photography. I feature these in limited prints and in gift cards in my stores.

The jewelry aspect started at about the same time as the photography…I wanted to have nice jewelry that was stylish and high quality, but the only pieces I could find that I liked were WAY out of my price range. The jewelry that I could afford was cheap – in price and quality! I turned my wrist green once from a piece of cheap jewelry and that was it – I started making my own.

Three years ago, I had just started my photography business part time (I was working full time and going to school part time) when I got sick with fibromyalgia. After 2 years I was so sick that I couldn’t work and I knew I needed to find a source of income that I could make from my home. I rediscovered my jewelry making after a few years of it being put on the back burner and found that I could do it anywhere in my house: at my workbench, on my couch, even in bed – it was perfect! I took photographs when I was well enough to travel and then found that I had a stack of photos and a box full of jewelry…with no one to buy it. Enter the world of online selling! I found Etsy, ArtFire and iCraft and haven’t looked back. Although I don’t make a full time income yet, I have found a fabulous community of online sellers just like me – people who are interested in producing quality handmade items.

How long does it generally take you to create each piece?

Pieces can range from half an hour to weeks, depending on the complexity. Some simple wire earrings can be made fairly quickly, while a few of my newer, bead woven pieces are taking days at a time to complete due to their intricate structure. Still, no matter how long it takes to make a piece, I love every second of it and put that love into all of my pieces.

I've noticed that you seem to be active in helping charity with your sales. Would you like to tell me about some of the causes, and why this is important to you?

Each month I give 10% of my total sales before tax and shipping to a different charity. Sometimes it is an animal charity, sometimes it is a charity for people, but always they are dear to my heart. I give to the National Wildlife Federation, Epic Farms, The Canadian Cancer Society, The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and many more. I have been helped by so many people in my life time that I want to be able to help others in my turn. I can’t describe how good I feel to be able to donate even $10 to a cause I believe in and know that it is going to help in some small way – whether to symbolically adopt an animal through the National Wildlife Federation, or help fund research for Fibromyalgia. Every little bit helps, especially when the causes are dear to your heart like these are to mine!

What is your favorite piece that you've created, and why?

I always get asked what my favorite pieces are and I always have such a hard time answering! I love all of my pieces, as each reflects my personality, mood or thought process on a given day. Each piece has special meaning, as I love what I do and feel so incredibly blessed to be able to do this full time! Right now I am loving my NeoAmour Collections, specifically these: NeoAmour Marie Antoinette Rainfall Earrings:

Marie Antoinette Rainfall Earrings

NeoAmour Victoria’s Bangle Bracelet:

Victoria's Bangle Bracelet

NeoAmour Boudicca’s Celtic Silver Ring in Sapphire (it’s my birthstone!)

Boudicca’s Celtic Silver Ring in Sapphire

Any sales going on?

If people reading this bio wish to purchase from my shops, they’ll get 20% off an order of $25 or more by entering “I Love Tea” during checkout. Thank you!

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So there you have it! Thank you, Meghann, for your time in answering these questions... and if you've been enticed by any of these beautiful pieces, you should make your way to Meghann's Etsy Shop and take advantage of her 20% off sale! Just in time for the holidays, and take it from me... these pieces would make a beautiful gift!

~Anne

Check out this Etsy Artist!

2009-11-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

I was just browsing some Etsy shops (yeah, I do that on occasion), and I found this amazing polymer clay artist! Check out this totally awesome, miniature food jewelry!

Salty Pretzels with Spicy Cheese Dip Earrings

The Etsy store is called The Mouse Market and I find the detail in these pieces to be absolutely mesmerizing!

Custom Made Party Cake Pendant

How cool are these? Imagine getting a customized slice of cake, made to look just like your own birthday cake!

Lemon Cupcake Charm

I think that the cupcakes are my favorite... I do LOVE cupcakes!

If you're looking for something truly unique and special for someone for the upcoming holiday season... shop Etsy or Artfire or 1000Markets for something handmade.

~Anne

Hey... check out this contest!

2009-10-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I was just checking out a few of my favorite blogs, and I happened to come across this one... I've not visited it before, but, I will definitely be visiting more often now!

Check this out!

These are some of the goodies that are being given away this month in the "Happy October Grand Giveaway!" Oh... I want, I want!

Just click on the above link for details on how you could win this awesome package. But... don't win it, because I want it! :) Yes... it will be mine! It will be mine!

~Anne

Some New Art - Finally!

2009-09-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

For those of you who know me, you know that I've been having issues with my creativity lately. It's been difficult to find the inspiration to work on my artwork, and when I feel uninspired, whatever I might create comes out quite disappointing.

Fortunately, my trip to Tohono Chul Park had a very positive effect on me, and I have been more inspired to work!

It really is a great feeling after such a long period of feeling so uncreative.

I finally got around to completing my entry in Bonnie's True Color Journal!

As you might have guessed from looking at the picture, Bonnie's chosen color palette is all shades of blue.

When I think of blue, I am reminded fondly of my gramma, as it was her favorite color. One of my most cherished memories of my gramma is that she would have tea parties with me. I had quite a few toy tea sets, and she would lay out her best lace table cloth and I would choose some of my favorite tea set dishes to use. She'd mix coffee and milk together and this would be our "tea" (gramma never really did care much for tea). We'd share cookies and "tea."

Thank you to Bonnie for allowing that memory to come alive in my artwork. I hope that you like the spread I created for your journal as much as I enjoyed creating it.

~Anne

PS: Be sure to check out my "Fall Is Coming" sale on my teas in tins... only in my artfire shop!

Got Tea?

2009-08-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I just wanted to write up a quick post to announce my tea sale! You can learn more about this sale on my Tea Journal blog!

Earl Grey Creme

25% off on all full-sized tea in tins in my Artfire shop! It's a great time to stock up on your teas for Fall... my favorite time of year!

Be sure to stop in my shop and take advantage of my love for Autumn!

~Anne

Exquisitely Beautiful!

2009-07-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks (at least!) since I've created a spotlight, and this time, I've created one featuring some of the gorgeous work that is available at Exquisite Studios at Artfire!

Stop by Exquisite Studios soon and check out all they have to offer... you won't be disappointed!

I Love Purple!

2009-06-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

Time to visit another fabulous artfire studio: Haffina Creations!

For this spotlight, I chose some of this artist's fabulous purple pieces... but you can find stunning work in many other colors Haffina Creations as well... it's well worth the visit to artfire to check out this artisan's beautiful wearable art! You deserve it!

True Colors -- FINALLY!

2009-06-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, this post is long overdue -- and even longer overdue is the artwork of this post. I am in a round robin swap with a yahoo group, and we are working on a True Colors round robin (and have been for many months now!). If you've read the True Colors book by Kathryn Bold you are most likely familiar with what this round robin entails.

The palate chosen by Candace was comprised of the following colors: turquoise, orange, red, yellow, purple and lime. A retro rainbow! (Hey... if I had thought of the "Retro Rainbow" before I started working on this journal entry, I would have come up with an entirely different layout!)

Here is what I did come up with...

I had a lot of fun with this layout, especially with the word/letter placement, because I wanted it to complete the quotes that I utilized, but I also wanted to make it appear random and interesting at the same time.

I hope that Candace likes what I came up with... and hopefully she'll like it enough not to be too terribly upset with me about how long it took me to complete it!

~Anne

Gott Beads?

2009-06-10T19:44:00.001-07:00

No, it's not a typo... that's the name of the Artisan Studio that I'd like to share with you this evening! Gott Beads!

I love beads. I have a rather large stash of them, as I tend to horde them. I don't use them as often as I should in my altered artwork... mostly because I seem to be rather enchanted by just keeping jars full of beads on my shelves in my studio... and leaving them untouched!

Just a sampling of some of the treasures you'll find at Gott Beads!

Check Out Rocky Creek Gems!

2009-06-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I'd like to share another artfire studio with you! Check out Rocky Creek Gems! If you like jewelry (and who doesn't?) you can find some really unique pieces at this artfire studio!

I really love the color and the unique beauty of each of these pieces... stop by this artist's studio on Artfire today for some quality finds!

~Anne

It's been a while!

2009-05-28T20:10:00.001-07:00

Greetings!

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog! I've been dealing with some pretty stressful stuff, and haven't really had much time to focus on other things outside of my personal realm.

But, I'm back, and hopefully, I'll be able to get back to posting more often.

I'd like to start with a spotlight featuring some of the artists that I've missed on the crazy train promotion over the course of the last four weeks or so... I'll call this one "Shades of Green"

And here is a list of the artfire shops featured in this spotlight... please take a moment and visit them... you won't be disappointed in what you find there!

Creative Cove Designs

CatFluff Studio
Bijoux Designs Studio
Wooley Creek Studios
LaDeDa Creations
Janelson Arts Studio
Jewelry by Janzia
Suzbax Studio
Absolutely Amy Studio

Thanks for checking out these studios... and thanks for reading along!

~Anne

I'm a Mommaprenuer!

2009-04-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone...

I know that some of you also read my Tea Journal, and already know that I'm the Mommaprenuer at Cafe Handmade... but, just in case you missed it... well... I'm the Mommaprenuer at Cafe Handmade! You can check out my interview and story by clicking here!

And that is all for now!

Hope everyone is having an exceptionally creative day!

~Anne

Shine Your Hiney!

2009-04-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

I really had fun selecting items from this shop to share with you... Shine Your Hiney's Artfire Studio is filled with bathtime items that are fun, whimsical, and all about ... well, Shining your Hiney!

Sugar Scrub from Shine Your Hiney!

I have been using handmade soaps exclusively now for about 3 years (possibly more?), and I can say that there is a significant difference between handmade soap and commercially manufactured soaps. Handmade soap pampers your skin, and most (like the soaps found at Shine Your Hiney) are made with only the highest quality ingredients... no fillers!

And Shine your Hiney makes bathtime fun with whimsical shapes and other handmade items, all available at Shine Your Hiney's Artfire Studio.... isn't it time you gave your hiney a good shining?

Shop handmade!
~Anne

An Easy Way to add some Spice!

2009-04-15T23:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings!

I'd like to share with you a new decorating secret that I've recently "discovered" -- well, I didn't actually discover it, but I've put it into use, and found how effective it really is!

What I'm talking about is changing up your Light Switch Plates! Yes, it may seem like it's too simple an idea... and certainly too simple to actually make an impact, but, trust me, it does create a lot of impact and add a lot of WOW to any room.

Photo from 3zArt Studio at Artfire

The above photo is the first light switch plate that I purchased from 3zArt's studio a couple of months ago, for my youngest daughter's room. She selected it herself, and it's really a perfect representation of her -- pink is her favorite color, and she is very girly... loves flowers!

This simple addition to her wall really added a lot of extra life to the room. I mean, think about it, ordinary light switch plates are very dull and drab... but when you *switch* (pun... ha ha!) them up for one of these spectacular covers from 3zArt, you're adding some punch and pizazz to something that is otherwise very ordinary and mundane... and you can revitalize your entire room with this very inexpensive update!

photo from 3zArt's studio on Artfire

Here is another one that I recently purchased from 3zArt for my family room. One of my favorites! It just adds the right amount of color and punch to the family room, it's really eye catching and vibrant!

And that's not all that is available from 3zArt! You can also find outlet covers (another great way to add some punch to your room!), mouse pads (spruce up your desk!), coasters (protect your furniture in style!) and beautiful lamp shades (another great way to change the whole look of any room!)

She has a huge selection of light switch plates & outlet covers to choose from, so whatever look you're going for, funky, abstract, sleek, sophisticated, a touch of wild, or a touch of simple beauty... you can find it at 3zArt's studio at Artfire!

~Anne

Some Pretties from Alisuns!

2009-04-12T13:28:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Today, I'd like to share with you some of the gorgeous handcrafted jewelry that can be found at Alisuns on Artfire. Check this out!

photo from Alisun's Studio on Artfire

I love it! Makes me wish I still had pierced ears! What I love most about Alisun's jewelry is that Ali is not afraid of color, as evidenced in my latest spotlight that I call "Rainbow of Colors"...

Perfect Spring Colors! Visit Alisun's studio today, and pick yourself up something to celebrate Spring!

Meet Shadow of Felt Fusion!

2009-04-11T00:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings Everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying these interviews as much as I am. I find it so interesting to learn about what drives other artisans and their process.

Especially true with this next artist... a FELT artist! For those of you who have known me a while, you probably remember how much I enjoy needle felting. However, I'm quite the novice... I really am happy to have this opportunity to get to know an artist who creates beautiful felted pieces such as this...

Photo from Felt Fusion on Etsy

Beautiful! The detail that goes into these needle felted pieces is amazing. What follows is my interview with Shadow, the artist of this amazing piece!

How long have you been creating your art?

Just over a year, I started around Christmas 2007, very slow until I built up confidence and explored new techniques.

Where do you sell your art?

On Etsy [http://feltfusion.etsy.com], Hyenacart [http://hyenacart.com/feltfusion/], Misi, and Folksy (latter two are are UK sites), also by word of mouth on a UK forum.

How do you market/advertise your store?

By chatting on forums, posting on Flickr, and also by word of mouth although to a lesser extent. I can't cope with cold selling, nor do I understand sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

I started selling officially in October 2008, but sold a little here and there previously. As I got more confident and having sent little items out to online friends and receiving their feedback I decided to go for it! Being flooded with orders in the run up to the holidays gave me a huge boost in confidence to keep at it.

Photo from Felt Fusion on Hyenacart

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

Network. Find forums of people indulging in the same craft as you, look up tutorials, ask questions. Not only will you learn so much more, you'll meet a great bunch of people with at least one similar interest!

What inspires you?

Myths and legends, nature, the ideal of peace on earth and general ecology, my children. Sometimes just the fibre in front of me tells me what it wants to be.

Every artist experiences "creative block" -- a creative dry spell -- how do you deal with creative block?

I put my work down and mull things over subconsciously for however long it takes. Ideas will form over time and when intuition says go for it, I'll get a strong urge to pick it up again.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I'd been considering felt for a while having tried many crafts and found I was pretty useless at them. Chatting on a forum and seeing a fibre artist there whose work was amazing, she gave me the courage to have a go. Intially I thought I'd wait until my children were all at school particularly with wet felting as it can get messy and hard to leave in the middle of it, but once my youngest started playschool I was ready to get on with something. My older two boys have both had a go with me!

photo from Felt Fusion on Etsy

How do you wish to be remembered?

I've never thought about it! I guess I'd like my children to grow up being good, honest people and to be remembered through them. Otherwise, once I'm gone, I'm gone -- get on with your lives!

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to artists. I guess Dali was a favourite as a teen and having visited his home town in Spain his work is pretty awe inspiring, but I wouldn't say there's any influence from artists in my work as such.

What blogs do you visit on a regular basis?

My absolute favourite is http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com and I regularly dip into blogs of several people I've met through a forum for people with Cystic Fibrosis, and their carers. My youngest son has CF and I find it helpful and inspiring to read about the experiences of adults with CF although it can be tough to read at times.

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

For fibre shops I'd say my favourites are all on Etsy - Probably FeltStudioUK, followed more recently by LimeGreenJelly and WonderfulWool. I also like Shunklies and Vampy and more I use less simply because they are abroad. Otherwise I usually buy a lot of handmade items for my family, clothes, eco-friendly household items, toys, etc. from www.Hyenacart.com many, many fabulous vendors who are far too numerous to mention and a lovely community vibe there too.

Any final thoughts?

Peace.

Thank you, Shadow, for your time... it was great getting to know you!!!

Check out Picard Creative!

2009-04-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, today I'm taking a little break from my standard artisan interview, to show off a really COOL artfire shop!

Picard Creative Studio

This is a magnet that has been made out of tin can lid! How clever! And the "wicked fun" expressions on these tins never fail to bring a smile to my face. How much fun would it be to have one of these on your fridge?

These would make a great gift, and because of their size, they would fit well in a gift card... send a smile to a friend with one of these!

OK... back to our regularly scheduled program!

Meet Jennifer of Jennuine Candles!

2009-04-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings Everyone!

This past week has been crazy for me, as I've already mentioned, I was sick toward the end of last week, and I'm still trying to get caught up! I'll be posting pics of my latest artwork soon, fatbook pages for the Sweet Treats fatbook! woot!

In the meantime, I'd like to share a new interview with you... this time, I got the opportunity to interview Jennifer from Jennuine Candles!

photo from Jennuine Candles at Artfire

Beautiful! I love the crystallized appearance of Jennifer's candles! Let's learn a little bit more about Jennifer, and her beautiful candles!

How long have you been creating your art?

I've only been creating my candles for about 6 months now, and the first couple of months were spent solely on learning the process so I could make the best candles possible. However, I think that I've had the creative "bug" for a long time and just recently opened myself up to that creative side. I've always had an interest in the arts, dating back to my elementary and high school days, when I belonged to the "Art Club." But I really didn't pursue anything in the arts, per se, until I had a realization just recently that my job requires me to be creative every day. As an occupational therapist over the past 13 years I have worked with older adults and pediatrics, but my "mission" has always remained the same... improve the quality of life for each person/patient/resident that I have the opportunity of serving. In order to acheive that mission, creativity is my number one "friend." Although I may have not always been a true artisan, I can say I have been a "creator" for quite a long time now.

Where do you sell your art?

I currently sell my candles on Artfire, Etsy and 1000Markets.

How do you advertise/market your store?

This has been my most difficult task thus far, realizing that marketing is really the key component to succeed in being "found" by buyers. I have created a blog on Blogger (http://jennuinecandles09.blogspot.com/), a business page on facebook, a profile on byhand.me, and I try to make sure that I regularly visit and post in the forums on ByHand, Etsy, and Artfire. I also have a twitter account and a plurk account. It can be quite time consuming, but I believe that the time, effort and research will pay off in the end.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

When I first started out making my candles, I only intended on making them for friends and family, and of course for my house as well. :) That is until my husband took a few of my candles to work to burn at his desk while he was working and then my "business" kind of bloomed from there. His co-workers started asking if I could make candles for them and then my co-workers got wind of my hobby and they started ordering the candles and the orders just kept coming, thus the creation of jennuinecandles.

photo from Jennuine Candles at Artfire

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

I would tell them that marketing, item photos, shop organization and forum presentation are the keys to not only surviving, but thriving in these types of venues. There are hundreds of artisans that do the exact same or very similar thing that they do and making themselves unique and stand out to buyers is the biggest barrier standing between them and success. I am still learning these rules myself!

What inspires you?

Honestly, it depends on the day. I know that sounds vague, but when I make a new candle it's solely based on how I am feeling that particular day and what scent will meet that need for me. Now, obviously, I do custom orders as well so I won't wait for the "feeling" to overcome me to make an ordered candle. :)

Every artist experiences "creative block" - a creative dry spell - how do you deal with creative block?

I have yet to experience a true "creative block," but I guess it could be those days when I don't pull out my supplies and a new and beautiful creation.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I was actually introduced to palm wax by a good friend. Prior to this exposure, I only knew of paraffin, soy and beeswax candles, but the intrigue and beauty of the palm wax really inspired me to learn more about it. And, the added benefits of it being a sustainable product that is good for the environment, unlike some of the other waxes, was definitely the final decision in the candle path that I chose.

photo from Jennuine Candles on Artfire

How do you wish to be remembered?

Smart, funny, honest and trustworthy.

What blogs do you visit on a regular basis?

Hmmm.... I have so many these days. Since I've been involved in ByHand, Artfire, Etsy and Plurk, the blogs I follow has grown and I try to visit them at least once a week to see what is new and exciting with everyone.

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

I would actually recommend following the link to my ByHand.ME spotlights because that's where I "store" my favorite items/shops:

http://www.byhand.me/jennuinecandles

Note: You can find her spotlights if you scroll down and click on her "my spotlights" tab

Any final thoughts?

Thanks for doing this... it's been fun! :)

Entrecard...

2009-04-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Greetings...

I wanted to offer a quick note of apology to any and all of the entrecard members who might have purchased ad space on this blog. I removed the widget today, because I randomly visited my blog and found an ad on the widget that I DID NOT approve, and entrecard assured us that this would not happen... but it did.

So, again, my apologies to anyone that did not get their full ad time on my widget.

I don't know if I'll be back to entrecard... I really did like the additional exposure entrecard provided but I'm not willing to sacrifice the integrity of my blog for that exposure.

~Anne

Meet Teri from The Beaded Branch

2009-04-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

It's been a pretty eventful week for me, I came down with a pretty nasty cold! At first, I thought it was just my allergies kicked into overdrive, but, when the Allergi-TEA wasn't as effective as it usually is, and when resorting to OTC options didn't help, I realized that I had a cold virus. Fortunately, I was able to knock it out pretty quickly with a secret weapon (I'll share the secret weapon with you on my other blog).

But on to more interesting topics... such as the artwork of one Teri Landow of The Beaded Branch.

Photo from The Beaded Branch on Etsy

Recently, I was able to interview Teri about her amazing jewelry, as well as her thoughts on art and selling online. I hope that you'll find her interview as enlightening as I did! Enjoy!

How long have you been creating your art?

I've been crafting and creating pretty much one way or another for my entire life. With a mother who sews and crafts, and a father who does woodwork and basket weaving, I've always been surrounded by people who were creative and creating, so it was natural that I took up crafting too. It was about 10 years ago after taking one or two classes in beading that I really caught the jewelry bug, and feel as if I truly found my niche in the art world.

Where do you sell your art?

I started off at one local craft show which I still do, Fluvanna County Old Farm Day. I also do one or two other very small local craft shows, as time permits. After starting to sell at craft shows, I started selling online, at http://www.thebeadedbranch.com. Over the last year, I finally decided to start slowly moving all my stock over to my store on Etsy: http://TheBeadedBranch.etsy.com I also sell on consignment at a small local store, the Palmyra Country Store.

How do you market/advertise your store?

Marketing and advertising is something I'm still learning a lot about. Right now, I concentrate only on free advertising. I have pages on http://byhand.me, http://www.indiepublic.com, http://www.merchantcircle.com, http://www.talentdatabase.com and facebook. I also participate in IndieSpotting, where I can submit one piece a week to be on their spotlight page. Plurk and Twitter have also been helpful, along with the old standby, business cards. Right now my business cards have only my main web address on them, but when I order more, I will also include my etsy shop address. I leave them on any community bulletin board I can and my husband hands them out when he's at work, to coworkers and other people who might be interested.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

It was around eight years ago that I decided to start selling my jewelry. I had been making jewelry on my breaks at work, and people kept asking me, "How much is that one worth?" After my jewelry stash started to fill up several plastic shoeboxes, I decided I was never going to be able to wear it all, and so I had better get my business license and start selling. If for no other reason, than to recap some of the losses I had from trying to buy every bead I could get my hands on.

Photo from The Beaded Branch on Etsy

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

I have several pieces of advice:

Learn time management skills. They will be invaluable to you as your business grows.
Figure out how big you want your business to grow. How much time do you have to put in to this?
Figure out what you want to sell. If you are only in it to make money, then don't do it. If you truly love your art, and want others to be able to enjoy it, then by all means, sell.
Stay organized. Organize your finished stock by where you want to sell it. Keep your supplies organized. Keep your paper work up to date and organized. Do whatever it takes. Disorganization takes time away from creating, listing, and promoting.

[Good advice. I definitely can learn from the disorganization tip... I so badly need to get organized!]

What inspires you?

Everything. Books I read, nature, architecture, photography, art, friends, family, magazines, and movies. I try to glean inspiration from wherever I can get it. People inspire me the most. I'll pick a person I know, and create a bunch of jewelry that I believe they would like. I think about the colors they wear, or should wear, what styles they like to wear, how they carry themselves, everything. I believe that if one person in the world likes it, then there's a pretty good chance that there is one other person in the world who will like it.

Every artist experiences "creative block" -- a creative dry spell -- how do you deal with creative block?

Walk away. I get away from it for a while. I try working in a new or different medium. I color with my kids; I cook a new dish that I have never tried before. I listen to new music. I just see if I can experience something new and different, or re-experience something I haven't done in a while. And most importantly, I don't let it bother me.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I have to admit, I kind of giggled at this question. Yes, I work in jewelry, and yes, I basically work with beads. But there are so many other mediums I use at this point that I start to lose count. But it all ends up as jewelry. I love the versatility of jewelry. There are a million different mediums that can be used to make it, and it seems like more are coming out every day. I love to try different things, experiment and play with my supplies with only a basic knowledge of how they work and what they are supposed to do. I'm less afraid to to try something new if I haven't taken a class in it, because then I don't have a bunch of "can't do's" or "won't works" hanging over my head. ("You can't do that." "Well, you can try it, but it probably won't work.") More or less the actual medium I use pretty much choose me. I get an idea, and then have to figure out what medium will be best to create the pendant, earrings, necklace, or whatever it is I'm trying to envision.

Photo from The Beaded Branch at Etsy

How do you wish to be remembered?

First off, as a good mommy and wife. Of course, that goes without saying, probably. Second, as a jewelry artist who might not have pushed everything to its very limit, but did step enough outside the box once in awhile to create something beautiful and unique.

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

Salvador Dali, MC Escher, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rene Jules Lalique, and my mom and dad.

What blogs do you visit on a regular basis?

http://3zArt.blogspot.com

http://dropofsunshinedesign.blogspot.com

http://hairtiesgaloreandmore.blogspot.com

http://handmadeshopaholic.blogspot.com

http://juliadarling.blogspot.com

http://rainwolf.blogspot.com

http://timothyadamdesigns.blogspot.com

and

http://bishopmadison.blogspot.com (which is my brother's very conservative blog, but he's my brother and I love him anyway!)

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

http://andreabaker.etsy.com

http://juliadarling.etsy.com and http://juliadarling.artfire.com

http://rainwolf.artfire.com

http://3zart.artfire.com

http://dropofsunshine.etsy.com

and of course:

http://liberteas.artfire.com (Thanks Anne!)

Any final thoughts?

Go ahead and play. Get your hands dirty. Color in a coloring book, but color outside the lines. When life gives you lemons, make grape juice and make people wonder how you did it? ;-)

Thanks for the great interview, Teri! Very informative!

Meet Orin Drake from Wicked Orin!

2009-04-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

photo from Wicked Orin's Artfire Studio

Stunning!

Orin Drake is the artist behind Wicked Orin, a shop that can be found on both Etsy and Artfire. Much of the artwork are objects of fantasy: dragons ~ including some rather remarkable beaded dragon jewelry pieces; large, beaded spiders, and fabulous jewelry such as the piece shown above -- so enchanting that it looks as though it should be adorning the neck of the fairy queen herself!

Recently, Orin took some time away from creating fantastical art to answer a few of my questions... I hope you'll enjoy this opportunity to get to know Orin Drake a little bit better...

How long have you been creating your art?

"Seriously" (meaning I've consciously been creating, producing and improving whatever I've been interested in) for about six years. Apparently I've been working on it since I could hold a crayon, though. If it wasn't sketching or discovering water color it was crochet, sculpting whenever I could get my hands on clay, painting--I was just out to make stuff!

Where do you sell your art?

Right now I'm sort of going between ArtFire ( http://wickedorin.artfire.com/ ) and Etsy ( http://wickedorin.etsy.com/ ). It's a bit of a difficult situation; Etsy is far better known and I have a good deal of positive feedback and sales there, but ArtFire is more "comfortable" from my own artist's standpoint.

How do you market/advertise your store?

A lot of my creations have a definitively geeky slant, so hanging around gaming communities helps quite a bit. Otherwise, I have a DeviantArt account and a SheezyArt account, both of which get a pretty good number of people interested, and the DIYScene forums ( http://www.diyscene.com/forum ). There's also my own blog, I suppose, but... very few people see anything in my blog.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

I'd like to say it was at the point where I realized people might actually buy what I make. But really it was when I realized that I could not get, let alone keep, a steady job unless I employed myself. I'm afraid the "triple threat" of being an artist, musician and writer don't really matter when you don't have any interest in customer service or three degrees in... anything, really. The curse of a college town.

photo from Wicked Orin's Artfire Studio

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

Do what you love, and do it your way. Sure we can all learn and take friendly advice (when we ask for it), but there comes a point when you know what you want to do and you should never let anything get in your way. Most importantly, though, don't lose heart. There are probably going to be people who don't like what you do, and that's fine--but there WILL be someone who absolutely LOVES your work. Focus on what you love and what makes you happy, and that absolutely will carry through.

What inspires you?

Anything, everything! Sometimes it's actually a joke or a not so serious challenge ("Bet you can't do ____."). Other times I'll see something that I think is way too expensive for the work that seems to be involved (or the materials used strike me as ridiculously overpriced), so I'll try to make it myself. But most of the time... I don't really know. I like to default to the answer "video games and music", because that seems to hold true to just about everything. I have fun with what I create, and that seems the most important self-fulfilling inspiration of all.

Every artist experiences “creative block” – a creative dry spell – how do you deal with creative block?

Honestly, I usually drop in front of a console and play video games for a few hours, turn up some music or go watch one of my geeky favorites like a handful of Beast Wars episodes. Then I have to admit, I'm usually good to go after that. My dry spells don't usually last more than a day. I think I'm much too focused on doing SOMETHING, anything. Boredom is not acceptable.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I have too many mediums! And the list is always growing. But I think it comes down to what looks fun. Jump rings looked fun, I've become quite good at some chainmaile patterns. Sculpting looked fun, and I still love making masks and dragons. Fabric looked fun, and I'm currently making more patterns after my little plush dragon turned out so well. Next up, leather and needle felting!

photo from Wicked Orin's Artfire Studio

How do you wish to be remembered?

Just as someone who loved what they did, and loved to share that with people who had a similar connection with the creations. People always ask if it's hard to let go of a piece I've spent days or weeks or even months on... and no, it's not. I have confidence that the person buying it caught a similar "spark" when they saw it that I had when I created it, plus I get the funding to buy more materials and make more fun things. That seems like the way it ought to be.

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

I'm utterly uncultured when it comes to art. I have way, way too many artists that I follow and am lucky enough to be friend with quite a few of them. Some day I'll have to make a list! I'll really have to admit to my horrifying geekdom by listing Yoshitaka Amano and Tetsuya Nomura specifically, though. They're both character designers for Final Fantasy games, but they both have distinctive art styles that I adore. Amano's work is some beautiful combination of colorful, soft, and amazingly sharp and harsh--it's too hard to describe without really seeing it for yourself. Nomura's work has become cliche in the RPG genre--but he established the cliche because his work is just that distinctive. I'm certain that there are countless other artists whose work I've seen and admired and get little to no credit, sadly. Concept art for nearly anything makes me very happy.

What blogs to do you visit on a regular basis?

Mostly ones that have to do with video games and absolutely nothing to do with art, actually. I do like to take a look at Etsy's and ArtFire's blogs from time ot time, but the only really art-related ones I follow are Cute Plush ( http://community.livejournal.com/cute_plush/profile ) for all kinds of plushie/stuffed animal ideas, and Craftastrophe ( http://craftastrophe.net/ ), because... well, I have a sick sense of humor.

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

I absolutely have to recommend my incredibly talented friends--most of which unfortunately don't have shops open at this time. I'm afraid I might just have to recommend my links page ( http://www.reignofangels.com/jewelry/links.html ) to be updated whenever everyone gets all set up. In the meantime, if you're into geeky cross stitch, definitely go visit Schala-Kitty at Crafted With Zeal ( http://www.schala-kitty.net/zeal/ ).

Any final thoughts?

There's nothing wrong with admitting that you started to make jewelry because you love shiny objects.

Thank you, Orin, for your time... I enjoyed your art, and getting to know you a bit better!

Meet Kristen from Kristen's Custom Creations!

2009-03-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Today, we have a unique opportunity to get to know Kristen from Kristen's Custom Creations! Kristen creates beautiful silver jewelry ... and if you have a something special that you'd like to express, Kristen can help you and create a custom piece for you that's just for you... and you alone! Here is an example of what you'll find at Kristen's Etsy shop:

This is probably my favorite piece in Kristen's shop, because it makes me smile! My youngest daughter and I often "argue" about who loves who more! Such a sweet little piece... I just might have to get this for her upcoming birthday! I recently interviewed Kristen... please read on to learn a little bit more about this artist!

How long have you been creating your art?

I have been making jewelry for 12 years but metalwork for just over 2 years.

Where do you sell your art?

http://klacustomcreations.etsy.com - Kristen's Custom Creations

How do you market/advertise your store?

Most of my business is from referrals but I do market my business on my two blogs http://kristenandrewsonline.blogspot.com and http://ladulcevitaandfriends.blogspot.com I really do not spend much on advertising and don't feel you need to.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

I started giving my handstamped jewelry as gifts and then by word of mouth had people contact me to purchase items and when I kept being asked if I had a website I decided it was time to open up a shop on Etsy.

What advice would you give someone who is just starting out?

Don't expect the business to just come to you, you have to market your business and even if you only blog that is enough to get you started. Don't under price your items, I see many artists really under price their items. Regardless of what your competition is doing price your items so that you feel you are making a fair amount. Always under promise but over deliver to your customers and they will come back.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by so much around me but my biggest inspiration is my son, many of my pieces are sayings that we say to each other or from books we love. I like to create pieces that hold special meaning.

Every artist experiences "creative block" -- a creative dry spell -- how do you deal with creative block?

Here's how I handle this, I keep a sketch book of designs, so when it pops in my head I draw it and save it for a time when I'm ready to create. So when I get in a dry spell I just pull out my sketch book and I'm refreshed, some days I have 3 - 4 ideas for new pieces and I am just too busy to create new items.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I really prefer to work with sterling silver since I love sterling but I am starting to work with some other metals. At heart, I am a Silver Girl!

How do you wish to be remembered?

The best part about creating custom pieces is the keepsake pieces that hold special meaning and when a customer tells me that the piece I created touched someone, that is how I want to be remembered, as an artist that made an impact through a piece of jewelry.

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

I love Monet and many of the artists in the impressionist period.

What blogs do you visit on a regular basis?

I actually have a few favorites and they aren't fellow artists, http://www.jiggetyjigg.com/ and http://a-nut-in-a-nutshell.blogspot.com/ they both make me laugh and are so real.

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

http://www.bebesniklefritz.com/ has fab headbands, I personally own 6 custom headbands and I love http://mudhutt.etsy.com for really adorable little pottery pieces that are stamped, love them! I also love your tea, it is my daily afternoon treat when I am working on orders.

Thank you Kristen, for this opportunity to get to know you a little better!

My Last Tip-In

2009-03-22T00:11:00.000-07:00

Jeri chose Vintage Ladies with Umbrellas as her theme for the tip-in swap. This is the tip in I created for her...

The scan doesn't really show it very well, but there are quite a few layers to this piece. And of course, the scan doesn't show the sparkle of the rhinestones in the center of the silk flowers either... I am really happy with the way this tip-in turned out, although for some reason, I was a bit intimidated by the theme (which I don't really understand why, as much of my artwork tends to be more vintage-y, so this should have been right up my alley!)

Anyway, I hope that Jeri likes the tip-in. I had so much fun with this swap, although it's a bit uncomfortable to step outside of your comfort zone -- and tip-ins were a step outside that comfort zone since I've never made one before! -- it's also a lot of fun to challenge oneself to create something with which they're unfamiliar.

Thanks for reading!
~Anne

Meet Brandy from Broken Hallelujah!

2009-03-21T22:32:00.001-07:00

Greetings! Today we are going to explore the art of Brandy from Broken Hallelujah, who creates unique crocheted accessories such as this beautiful "Time for Tea" hat ...

Photo from Brandy's Artfire Studio

I wish I could crochet like that! Brandy's work is fabulous, and inspiring, and I'm so thrilled that she gave me this opportunity to get to know her better... so, everyone, please take a moment and meet my new friend, Brandy!

How long have you been creating your art?

I have been crocheting and selling my products online for almost 4 years. It'll be 4 years in July.

Where do you sell your art?

Artfire and Etsy

How do you market/advertise your stores?

I have a blog that I try to keep relatively up to date with new items. I also spend time on the Artfire forums, on Plurk (brokenhallelujah), twitter (bhallelujah), flickr, and kaboodle.

Photo from Brandy's Artfire Studio

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

When I couldn't afford to go out and buy yarn because I was spending too much and my crafts were starting to pile up after I'd already made something for everyone I knew.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

It's hard; it takes a lot of time; and you probably won't see an immediate return on your efforts. The hardest part is having the patience to wait for customers to find you. Take great pictures, get your name out there, network, and keep to it and you'll finally get there.

What inspires you?

Creativity. When I see great new designs that I admire, it pushes me to another level.

Every artist experiences "creative block" - a creative dry spell - how do you deal with creative block?

Take a break. If you try to push it you'll just get even more frustrated with yourself. Just chill out and let it come to you.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I crocheted when I was young, and so it when I was looking for a hobby to fill some time I had, I felt it would be easier for me to pick up since I had previous knowledge of it.

Photo from Brandy's Artfire Studio

How do you wish to be remembered?

Creative, fun, whimsical.

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

I'm really not a big art buff. I don't think I could name a favorite artist really. I enjoy old Renaissance paintings, but I'm much more in to movies and tv.

What blogs do you visit on a regular basis?

This is when having your RSS feed emailed to you bits you in the bum because I don't know any of the blogs URLs! I love Tracy at Pink Purl and a Year from Oak Cottage provides great recipes every day. Those are two I love that I remember off the top of my head.

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

http://pegasussoaps.etsy.com, http://3zArt.artfire.com, http://soapylove.etsy.com, http://auntifranni.artfire.com

Any final thoughts?

Thanks so much for this opportunity!

And... thank you Brandy!!!

Fairy House Tip In!

2009-03-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, I sent these off the other day, but, I didn't get around to formatting the photos until this afternoon... so I thought I'd share with you one the final two tip-ins that I made for the swap... this one is Carole's "House" tip in...

Carole wanted "Houses" to be her theme for her tip ins... at first, I thought I'd make a 'tea house' but my oldest daughter told me "everything you do is tea... do something different" and she is right, it is my most common theme! What can I say... I love tea!

So I decided instead I'd create a fairy house layout for Carole. The door opens to reveal a little baby fairy. This piece is very dimensional, as all of the leaves and many of the flowers are silk...

I hope Carole likes it!

~Anne

Meet Elizabeth at ElizaArt!

2009-03-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I guess it's no real secret that I love art. It's one of my greatest passions in life. And that passion extends from my own canvas to the work of others... I find great inspiration from other artists, their process, their journey. My soul comes to life when I see the artwork of another. There is a restless stirring within me that needs to capture that exhilaration that I feel when I am experiencing another person's art... as well as my own.

To that end, I have decided that I'd use this blog to not only chronicle my own artistic journey, but also to learn about other artists by interviewing them, and publishing that interview, along with some of my favorites of their work, right here... I hope you enjoy this new feature as well!

My first interview is with Elizabeth from ElizaArt. Elizabeth is a painter, and creates stunning works of art such as this.......

Photo from ElizaArt.com

Amazing, huh? Well, that's just a sample of what you'll find in the gallery of her website. Please, read on, and learn a little more about Elizabeth!

How long have you been creating your art?

I have been creating art ever since I was little and could draw with a crayon. I actually remember using nailpolish and painting in a coloring book when I was around 4 years old. It wasn't until I became a florist at 16 years old, and that is when I became more passionate about creating art. I was raised with a creative family where my brothers sang opera and my Mom was always into crafts, so it fascinated me to want to venture into art. Working as a florist for over 8 years taught me the importance of line, color, texture and the passion to create even more. I had always painted and drawn on the side, but it wasn’t until I grew in my paintings throughout the years, that I knew I could do something really great with my gift. I started letting people know that I could do commissioned paintings and that is when my art began to sell. I created my website last summer in the hopes that viewers could see what I could do and then commission me to paint something unique for them.

Photo from ElizaArt.com

Where do you sell your art?

I sell my art through a few online websites: Or should I say promote my art. I am new at promoting. I guess you could say I am not the pushing type to make people buy my art, so it has been hard to try and promote myself, but it is a good experience. I definitely would love for more people to see what I can do and purchase my art and prints!

www.ElizaArt.com Is my official website where a lot of my art can be viewed and you can learn more about me. www.ElizaArt.Etsy.com is where I just created my “ElizaArtshop” almost a month ago. I don’t have any sales, bu t I am hopeful!! Right now I am selling my art, prints of my art and my mini art pendants. www.handmade.me is a place where I can also market some of my work.

I also sell my art through word of mouth and at my hometown Veterinarian Clinic where I offer to create custom Pet Portraits.

How do you market/advertise your store?

Well, lately I have been trying to visit forums throughout Etsy and Handmade.me, because that is how you gain more exposure, and I have been adding new items to my store every week.

I also created a “mini art video” on “Youtube” where some of my art is shown. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsT6CcRfe70

I just started a blogging website where I have some of my art listed on www.ElizaArt.Blogspot.com
I am fairly new to the blogging world, so if you visit my blog, be one of the first to follow me! I would love to make new friends and learn more about all the artisans out there!

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

I actually decided to start selling my work, when I couldn’t possibly cover any more of my walls at home with my art….lol. It was last year that I really took my art to a new level and felt driven to create even more and to give people art that they can have in their homes or as gifts. I have worked for Fleer Corporation and designed game playing cards, but I knew that my style was more about landscapes, pet portraits and home décor art. I think finding out what my speciality was, made it easier for me to focus on the types of paintings I was best at. From then on, my paintings had a certain theme and that is when I began staying true to that theme and selling my art.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

I would tell them never to give up on something they love to do. I was always and still am a dreamer with big dreams. Everyday I keep motivated and pushing myself to do more. I would tell someone starting out to continually strive to do better. I still have a lot more to learn and can’t wait to see how I’ve progressed when I look back in 60 years!

What inspires you?

Really good music inspires me! I love to paint to all sorts of great music. I also have to wake up and have that creative feeling for the day. Some days I have it and some days I don’t, but when I do, that is when I turn up the music and paint away!

Photo from ElizaArt.com

Every artist experiences “creative block” – a creative dry spell – how do you deal with creative block?

I tend to step away from what I am creating for a couple of days until I feel motivated to come back to it again. It doesn’t do any good to work on something if you are not “feeling it.” The creativity will flow, but there has to be breaks in between where you spend time doing something else and rejuvenating your soul. I often take a look at my work and after hours of working on it, I don’t see it with fresh eyes anymore, so I have to walk away from it and come back to it with a new mind.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I actually work with oils, acrylics, watercolors, oil pastels and just about any type of medium you can think of. I like to say the medium chooses me, but sometimes I go back and forth with the mediums I use. I will use oil for a couple days on a painting and then use acrylics on a new painting. I think I am one of those artist that likes to mix it up a bit….no pun intended ;)

How do you wish to be remembered?

I wish to be remembered as someone that was super creative, talented, warm, passionate about my work, loving, persistent and was a hard worker!

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

Monet, is one of my all-time favorites, for the way he captured light so well in his paintings. One of my other favorites is an artist named Marty Stanley who captured the California Delta sunsets and landscapes so beautifully through his paintings. I love his work not only for the way he mastered water colors, but also because he was a local artist.

What blogs to do you visit on a regular basis?

Blogging is new to me, but the blogs I have been following are:

Etsy Supply Street Team

Nesting Place

Original Artists on Etsy

Soap Deli News
pursesbagsandsewmuchmore

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

I love browsing the shops that offer delicious looking soaps, like the shop www.Adorationsoap.Etsy.com. The other shop I enjoy looking at is www.Hodakapottery.Etsy.com. Everyday I discover a great place!

Oh and make sure you add them to your favorite list! It’s nice to see who likes your shop if you are an Etsy member.

Any final thoughts?

Persistence, following your passion and getting yourself out there, whether you are a person like me who is not so keen to being noticed….sometimes you have to make yourself be! Oh, and don't forget to have fun during your creative journey!

You can learn more about Elizabeth at her website: http://www.ElizaArt.com

Another Tip-In...

2009-03-07T00:29:00.000-08:00

Hello Again everyone!

Well, I finished everyone's tip-ins for this swap last weekend, and I got them all scanned, I just haven't finished editing the scans (this is my least favorite thing to do). I hopefully will finish editing the scans and post all the pics to my flickr within the next day or two, and then I'll post them to my blog as I have time to sit down and write a bit about them.

This is Patti's Tip-In page...

Patti's chosen theme is Victorian Women. There is a lot of layering on this page, layers of papers, gesso, gel medium, images, and more gesso... I finished the page with a couple of vintage buttons, and some crocheted lace, which makes the span of the page a bit larger than the 10" it's supposed to be.

I hope Patti likes it!

~Anne

Postcard Art

2009-03-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I have been working hard on several swaps... I finished most of this stuff last week, but I didn't sit down and sort through my scanned material until now... so, I thought I'd share with you a few of the postcards I made for the Spring Postcard Swap.

In all, I made 7 postcards. Yeah, I made the postcards, rather than altering existing postcards. The way I saw it, I could either alter some of the vintage and antique postcards I have in my stash, or I could go out and buy some new postcards, or, I could use some of my card stock and some of the piles of patterned paper I have in my stash... so I chose to go with what I already had on hand.

The theme of the swap was to be "Spring" and since Spring is a pretty broad theme that can be interpreted a number of ways, I decided to go with my own interpretation... and what I think about when I think about Spring... and that would be the Cherry Blossoms of Washington DC. Yeah, other things come to mind too, not just Cherry Blossoms... however, I've visited Washington DC twice, and both times were amazing... but one thing that I missed both times was the showy display of the cherry blossom trees along the Tidal Basin.

So these postcards are a celebration of the beauty of Cherry Blossoms. Only the first 2 postcards are Asian inspired. The one connective link between the seven cards in this series is the set of 3 cherry blossoms with rhinestone center...

Here's one more with a more vintage look...

I'll post the final four cards tomorrow!

~Anne

Hotlist Hotties!

2009-03-04T03:24:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, I do have some new artwork to show off, I finished my postcards last week, and I also have a couple more tip-ins to show, but it has occurred to me that it's been a while since the last time I shared some of my Artfire Hotlist items with you... so I thought I'd post that before I posted new artwork... perhaps tomorrow (if I remember!) I will post!

Now that byhand.me has their spotlight feature, I decided to share my hotlist hotties in that format! It makes it a lot easier!

I know... awesome right? You can click directly onto the photos to be taken to the listing.

Some truly amazing artists and their artwork can be found at artfire... have you shopped artfire lately? What are you waiting for? Support the arts and buy handmade ... direct from the artist!

~Anne

Tip In #2

2009-02-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

Hello Again!

Well, as promised (and this is a momentous occasion, because even though I do promise -- and strive to keep those promises -- I rarely remember to go and post to the blog when I say I'm going to!) here is Tip-In #2 for the swap that I'm participating in.

This one is for Cathy, who stated that she'd like to have an "open theme" in other words, our choice! Now, usually I like these, but since I'm pretty new to Tip-Ins, I wanted to get a gentle nudge in the right direction, so I asked her what kind of themes were her favorites, and among the favorites she mentioned, she included one of my favorite themes (and my theme for this Tip-In swap!) Asian!

I am really quite pleased with this piece... another layered piece, and dimensional as well, the flowers at the corner left and the little Geisha in front of the bridge overlooking the irises "stand out" courtesy of pop-up glue dots. These two pieces are bits from an antique store find some time ago, they are "stand up" place cards. I trimmed the excess card stock away from the flower place card. I think they add just the right touch to this piece.

I hope Cathy likes it too!

Thanks for checking in with me!

~Anne

PS: don't forget my sale! It ends Sunday night at midnight!

Tip Ins!

2009-02-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I've been working on some swap art lately, specifically, for a tip-in swap that I'm participating in. I have five tip-ins total that I need to complete... and I'm nearing the finish line with them... yay!

Here's the first tip-in that I completed...

As you can see, it's a Marie Antoinette layout. The scan doesn't show the layering in this piece very well due to the dimensions in the crystal embellishments, but I'm pretty happy with the way the piece looks in person. I hope that Stacy is happy with it as well...

Anyways, it's late... thanks for checking in with me.

~Anne

PS: I'm having a HUGE end-of-month sale! Please check my tea journal for details!

Have you joined byhand.me yet?

2009-02-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I am having a lot of fun on the newest hotspot for all artists and lovers of handmade... byhand.me! It's absolutely free to join, it's a great place to hang out with other artists, and if you're an artist eager to sell your wares, it's a great place to promote yourself!

One of the newest features that have been added to byhand.me is the Spotlight feature, here's the most recent spotlight I created:

For those of you familiar with Etsy, as you can see, it looks a lot like an etsy treasury... and just as addictive to create... and you can use products from etsy, as well as Artfire, Made it Myself, Dawanda, 1000Markets and more. (Yeah, try that on etsy's treasuries! ha!) And here's the best part of all, you can make more than one! You don't have to wait until the treasury drops down to below 333 before you can make a treasury. You don't have to hope that you'll actually get a treasury (yeah, you and 600 other people racing to get a spot in the treasury!)...

In other words... SPOTLIGHTS ROCK!

And... perhaps even cooler is the Window Shopping feature! Here's an example:

This feature takes items that have been listed on previous spotlights, and randomly selects them. Hey... keep clicking on the "another" link above ... and check it out... what a fun way to shop!

Yeah... I'm having wayyyyy too much fun at byhand.me... why not join me?

~Anne

PS: Check out my blog for a great end of the month sale!

What I've been up to lately...

2009-02-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well, besides tea (I'm working on a new herbal blend!) ... I've been working on Teresa's True Color Journal!

This is the spread that I created for Teresa's Green, Orange and Red journal.

It's been hard to get myself out into the studio to work, because, frankly it's very cold out there! I do have a small space heater, and I do have a heated slipper thing (it's not really a pair of slippers, more like a cushion that I slip both feet into, and it heats and massages), and both of these things are terrific, however, it's still cold out there!

At first, I found Teresa's color choices to be somewhat intimidating, because I guess I find it difficult to use the three colors together... but, I am really happy with the way my spread came out. And I think I have a new appreciation for the color green!

I hope that Teresa likes it!

~Anne

Artfire Finds!

2009-02-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everyone!

Wow, it's 10:41 am on a Saturday... Usually, I'm still asleep!

Before I get to this edition of my Artfire Finds, I want to mention a few things... first of all, I closed my yahoo group, EccentricPastiche, last night. It was a very painful thing to do, but, also, I felt it was a necessary thing to do. I didn't feel as though I was (No... I KNEW I wasn't) giving as much to that group as I once was. And that was incredibly unfair to the rest of the group, so I chose to close it.

However, for those who are interested in keeping up on the lastest concerning my 'zine, please feel free to join my newsletter. Sign up to the right of this post! Don't worry, I won't be spamming you with newsletters, I will only post a newsletter when there is news to post concerning my 'zine.

Second, I wanted to remind you to join byHand.me!

Now... let's move on to the Artfire Finds! This week, we have a couple of jewelry finds, as well as an amazing photograph!

First, let's kick this off with a gorgeous fused glass pendant from AAE-artglass Studio...

Now, let me start by warning you, when visiting this Artfire studio, be prepared to want EVERYTHING you see! All of her pieces are simply stunning. Choosing a favorite was a difficult thing, but something about this particular piece - which she calls "Blue Canyon" - really spoke to me. I love the colors, and the swirls... it's a spectacular show!

What a great addition to any wardrobe, what a great conversation piece!

The photograph I'm going to share with you today comes from Spice of Life Designs Studio...

I found this photograph from Rainwolf (another Artfire Artisan), who Plurks with me, and posts a "photo of the day" on Plurk. This was one of the photos of the day last week and I just fell in love with the colors! So bold! The Glass Ceiling II is part of a series of photographs that were taken at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

Spectacular... and can you imagine what a burst of color this photograph would provide for your home? Wow!

My final Artfire find comes from Sunny Skies Studio...

It's been a long time since I've worn any ear jewelry (I allowed my ear holes to close up when I had my second child as I didn't want to go through the pain of having another tug on the earrings by the baby!) and it's been almost 2 decades since I've worn ear cuffs, but this work of art makes me think about wearing them again! And all of the jewelry found at Sunny Skies Studio is not only beautiful, but also affordably priced!

"Secret Garden" is a gorgeous earcuff, handcrafted out of sterling silver wire. Amazing!

So, that's my Artfire hotlist for today... I hope you enjoy what you see, and maybe it will inspire you to do a little shopping and support an artist or two!

And while you're shopping, don't forget my Weekend Rebate Special... this weekend only!!!

Thanks for reading along!

A New Online Playground for Artists!

2009-02-04T16:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I am writing today to share with you some information about a whole new website that has been created for artists.

It's called ByHand.Me and you can access it with this url: http://www.byhand.me

It has been designed to be a social community to help promote handmade wares. It's a place for the artists who sell their wares on places like Etsy or Artfire. It's also a place where artists can find support, and learn more about how to better promote yourself as an artist. At ByHand.Me, you'll find:

An Artisan Directory - for artists with a business. You can add your business, along with where you sell online, and how you can be contacted. A great way to help build your business online!
Forums - a message board where members can post about handmade wares, ask for advice, promote your business, or just socialize!
Member Blogs - Each member gets their own blog. Also, and this is really cool... your blog entry can be on the front page of the site! Kind of like flashing, only you probably won't get arrested for it. woo hoo!
Social Networking - the social networking feature allows you to connect with other artisans.
Chat - A place to communicate in real time with other members. It's also a great place to facilitate your own procratination issues. If you're an artist, you probably know what I'm talking about.
Private Messaging - A safe way to talk in private. Maybe play a game of telephone with other members. Remember that game?
RSS Feeds - OK... so I don't know what RSS feeds are. But maybe you do... If you do, well, you can do that here. If you don't, well, then, you can continue in your blissful ignorance of them here. Or maybe, you can get into a private message or chat with Adam (the creator) and he can tell you what it's all about. Because artists support each other like that.
More! - just the way it sounds... more... not less. And more is more.

And it's all free! That's the best price. Unless you could find someone to pay you to join a site, and that, honestly, might feel a bit weird... sort of like paying someone to be your friend, or giving the bully on the playground your lunch money so they don't beat you up after school.

You can learn more by visiting Rebecca's Soap Deli News Blog.

Join today, and then find me on there and add me to your connections ... my user name is Liberteas... you know... like my tea shop? Speaking of which, it's really nice to brew a cup of tea before you sit back and socialize at ByHand.Me. It's sort of like having tea with friends... only you don't have to get dressed up and wear a hat. Unless you want to.

So, that's all for now. Hope to see you at ByHand.Me soon!

I actually got in on time to make a treasury!

2009-01-30T21:40:00.000-08:00

It doesn't happen often, that's for sure!

I enjoy making treasuries on Etsy, I guess because it gives me a chance to look at all the amazing works of art that fall into my chosen theme.

This time I chose -- can anyone guess? -- TEA TIME! haha!

The link will only work for as long as the treasury exists, and it's supposed to expire in the wee hours on Sunday...

~ ARTFIRE FINDS! ~

And now, how about some of my more recent additions to my Artfire hotlist!

I fell in love with this Boro Art Glass Lampwork Pendant instantly, the moment I saw it on the homepage. It evoked thoughts of my favorite painting, Starry Night, from Vincent Van Gogh. This is so beautiful. The listing also states that this can be purchased as a cabochon as well as a pendant. GORGEOUS!

The next item will beautify any room in your home, from Shades of Splendor Studio...

I know, stunning, right? This is the Spring Bouquet Table Lamp. There are many colorful, whimsical, and gorgeous lamps/shades in the Shades of Splendor Studio, however, this particular one caught my eye because these are my youngest daughter's favorite colors, and this would be a perfect match for her bedroom! LOVELY!

Today's final item comes from StarSeedCharms Studio...

,
This handcrafted charm - Tree Soul - created out of Precious Metal Clay is breathtaking! The rainbow moonstone is what first caught my eye... the colors are beautiful. And the little tiny trasvorite stones (the little green stones in the branches) bring the tree to life!

There are so many beautiful, fun, whimsical, and amazing works of art to be found at Artfire... stop in today and see what catches your eye!

~Anne

Win a Sweets Basket worth over $50!

2009-01-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love sweets? OK, so maybe our hips, thighs and waistline don't particularly care for the sweets, but, sometimes we have to think with our tastebuds and not our thighs.

Double Dipped Sweets (check out her Etsy Store!) is hosting a contest on her blog. It's really easy to enter... well, there is the part about choosing which sweets you'd like in your gift basket, and that's pretty difficult to choose from all of her delectable treats... but, other than that, it's really easy to enter! Just visit her blog, and follow the simple directions... and I've even given you a direct link! Woo hoo!

I mean, check this out... you could win these in your basket...

Quit licking the screen! LOL!

~Anne

Neutrals Journal

2009-01-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, I finally finished Nancy's journal, and it's all dry. I chose to scan this journal instead of taking a pic because while it was a bit larger than the scanner, the colors are light and I thought that the photo would lose much of the more subtle details.

I am really enjoying the "true colors" journal round robin... I find it a lot more liberating than a set theme.

Nancy chose neutrals for her color palette. Her journal cover is so incredibly beautiful... and it evoked a feel of "vintage" for me, so I chose to go with vintage "time" as a theme for my composition.

I had a lot of fun with this piece. I hope that Nancy enjoys it too.

~Anne

PS: Don't forget to visit my tea journal and enter to win the contest. There's only a few days left!!!

Artfire Hot List #3!

2009-01-24T20:29:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

It's about time to do another feature from my Artfire Hotlist. There really are so many different, awesome artists on Artfire, and so many fantastic works of art to choose from, so, you might wonder how I choose what to feature on my Hotlist... well, really, it's what catches my eye for whatever reason, I might just be chillin' on the homepage, and see something that was just listed that makes me say "ohhh I want that!" -- it's really just that simple.

Other times, I'll be browsing through Artfire and find something so cool that I really MUST have it.

Anyways... here are four more items from my Hotlist...

First up, a spectacular bead from the Transitions in Glass Studio...

There are several really amazing beads available from Transitions in Glass, but I really like this one, titled Evening on the Lake. This bead reminds me of an abstract southwestern landscape by Georgia O'Keefe, one of my favorite artists.

Stunning!

Next up is an amazing painting from Jordanka's studio...

I feel a great connection with trees, even painted ones, and this Twisted Red Tree with Green Dots is no exeption. Again, there were several amazing tree paintings from which to choose in Jordanka's studio, however, I ultimately chose this one because I love the colors of this piece... bold, yet subdued. The line and shape of the tree is very free and uninhibited... it's just amazing!

The next item I'd like to share with you is from Elephant Dreams Studio...

There are some amazing photographs that can be found in Elephant Dream's Studio... but I was immediately drawn to this one, right off the front page, after it was listed the other day, because it reminded me of the cover artwork from Chinese Democr acy (Guns N' Roses' latest album). For Christmas, my family bought me the vinyl issue of Chinese Democracy so that I could frame it and hang it on the wall (we don't have a record player!) and while the two bicycles are quite different in the two pieces, A Bicycle and Yellow Door reminded me immediately of the album cover of the album for which I have waited so many years, that I fell in love with the photograph immediately, and I must have it!

My last item from my hotlist that I will share with you today is a sculpture from The Studio at Crow Haven Farm...

I love this sculpture crafted out of polymer clay. It reminds me of something that might come from Tim Burton. Nostalgia - 1938 "He" is 7 inches tall... and rather than going in to detail, I thought I'd share another photo of it... and allow it to do the talking for me.

I love, love, love it!!!

Well, that's it for now... I hope that you enjoy this eye candy sent to you from my Hotlist on Artfire!

And, if you've been thinking about joining Artfire, please consider doing so under my referral! Register on ArtFire.com

I've been tagged!

2009-01-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

OK... so my tea journal was tagged, however, because the photo that I'm to tell you about happens to be art related, I thought I would carry out the tasks set forth in the tag on my Art Blog instead.

So... here goes!

Rosemary, from Rosemary's Sampler, has tagged me! This is a 6th Picture Meme Tag, and here's how it works...

The tagged individuals are to go to their picture file on their computer, and select the 6th folder, and then select the 6th picture from that folder, post it on their blog, and then tell the story behind the photo. And then, of course, you must tag 6 other bloggers...

While this should be fun for most people... well... the photo that happened to be the 6th photo in the 6th folder was... err... um... rather... surprising, and not really in a good way.

But, who am I to break the rules? So, I shall share with you the 6th photo in the 6th folder of my picture file....

Brace yourself. This isn't going to be pretty.

*sigh*

eeeeeep! Yeah... so for any one out there that might not know what this is... (I have a feeling that at least some of the artists out there know what this is... at least I HOPE so) this... is a picture of my art studio.

The Story Behind the Photo

So where does one begin when they are going to attempt to explain the mess that is their art studio? Do I defend the mess? Do I dismiss it? Do I admit proudly that yep, that's my studio, and it's all mine? Or perhaps, take the opposite approach and say, this isn't mine... it's a friend's art studio? haha

Anyway... yep, it's my art studio. And actually, this is kind of a mid-way point photo. It DID look worse. Way worse... but the truth is, when it looked worse, it also was completely unpacked... you see, we just moved back in August, and up until about 2 months ago, everything that you see in this mess of a photo was packed in boxes which were stacked on top of each other in some sort of intimidating, oversized wall of packed boxes.

It was very overwhelming, to tell the truth, and my hubby went out there and helped me start to unpack and organize.

Right now, it still looks a bit like this, but there have been bits of improvement, for example the first, circular table was cleared off, and the empty boxes have been broken down and recycled. There are still several boxes to unpack, but things are looking better. It's just so darned cold right now and hey, it is a garage... so as you can imagine, it's as cold as the outside (I contend that it's actually colder because it's an enclosed space), so it's not really inspiring to go out and organize while feeling your fingers become numb from the cold.

So, yeah, that's my art studio... (don't worry, I don't blend my tea in there!!!) And that's my story behind the picture!

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Now, for the tagging part:

Let's see, how about I tag some artists as well as tea fans?

1. Valerie at Tea and Trinkets
2. Rebecca at SoapDeliNews
3. Amber Dawn at Inventive Soul
4. Jeri at Artful Gathering
5. Sherry at Hair Ties Galore N More
6. Patti at Shine Your Hiney Soap Co.

So... ladies, I'm tagging ya... now, you need to show us your 6th picture meme!!! And don't forget to tag 6 others!!

~Anne

PS: Please check out my Tea Journal for a chance to win a print from Infivision's Artfire Studio!!!

I'm hosting a contest!

2009-01-21T23:23:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that on my other blog, the Tea Journal, you can enter to win a *FREE* 8x10 print from Infivision's Artfire Stud io!

This is a really awesome offer... and a great way to add some cool art to your wall!

It's really easy to enter!

Just... visit my blog >> click here!

Then, visit Infivision's Artfire Studio, and select your favorite 8x10 print... you can choose from this...

or this...

or even this...

and there's many others to choose from too!

As you can see, Infivision's photographs are amazing!

Once you've selected your favorite 8x10 print you just comment on my blog, and tell me which one you like. I will randomly select the winner next Wednesday.

So hurry! Enter NOW!

~Anne

More from my Artfire Hotlist...

2009-01-21T02:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I had hoped that I'd be posting some of my art this time -- specifically, Nancy's True Colors Journal -- but I'm not yet finished with it. Hopefully I'll get it finished tomorrow, so that I can post about it and share the photos on Thursday. In the meantime, I thought I might share with you some more really cool works of art from Artfire Artisans! These are a few of my favorite things that I've "stashed" on my hotlist!

Hotlist item #1, from Tatsuko's Studio...

The Square Sushi Platter Necklace... I don't really like sushi. I've tried a few vegetarian varieties (sorry, but I just can't knowingly eat raw fish, I just can't) -- none which have really impressed me. This pendant, on the other hand really does impress me. Entirely handcrafted out of polymer clay, the detail in this piece is amazing. Having worked with polymer clay a bit (certainly I'm no expert, but, I'm at least familiar with the stuff!) I just can't imagine getting this detailed with it.

So, while I might not be interested in eating the stuff... I certainly wouldn't mind wearing it...

Next on my hotlist, from Wovenlight's studio...

These GORGEOUS hand knitted angora/wool blend mittens! I love the color of these mittens! And, if you'll visit Wovenlight's studio, you'll see the cute little bunny (named Rosie) that donated the angora fiber to craft these beautiful mittens. And did you know that wearing angora can help with arthritis, and other joint or muscular pain? That's something I didn't know until I read the listing for this item... perhaps I might try to have Rosie donate some fiber to have a pair of socks to help me with my feet...

These mittens are definitely at the top of my "I WANT" list... yeah... visiting Artfire on a regular basis can be hazardous to your pocketbook!

This next item definitely appeals to the abstract artist in me... from Gwendoline's Studio...

These one of a kind, abstract lampwork beads are stunning! Gwendoline calls them "A Nice Morning" ... and I guess I can see that... the colors are joyful and celebratory... then again, the one on the bottom, center kind of looks like one of those things from last night's episode of Fringe! Each one of these beads are playful and fun!

These would be a stunning addition to any charm bracelet... or as the focal point to a necklace!

Speaking of charm bracelets, my final hotlist item that I'll share with you today comes from Radical Recycks Studio
This charm bracelet is titled "Whales Ashore" and I implore you to click on the link or the photo for a better look at this bracelet! The charms are crafted out of up-cycled plastic bottles! The bracelet is simply stunning, and being eco-friendly is a bonus!

Amazing!

I hope you enjoyed window shopping at Artfire with me!

Support the arts!

~Anne

My Artfire Hotlist...

2009-01-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone:

Well, it's no secret now that I love Artfire, is it? I have 2 shops (or studios) on Artfire, one for my teas, and one for my altered art (and eventually, my 'zines). This is something that I had wanted to do on etsy, but, because I had already established tea sales as well as 'zine sales on the same account, I didn't want to confuse my existing customers.

But I like having the two stores, it makes things seem a lot cleaner, at least from a consumer perspective, and from a vendor perspective, it's just a little easier for me to manage.

Anyways... on to my current Artfire Hotlist... These are items that I want, want, want on Artfire, and I thought I'd share them with you! Just be warned, I will not be held responsible if you find yourself spontaneously spending on some of these amazing things!

First item is from SoapDeli, one of my favorite vendors!

I have such a tHiNg for handmade soap. I just love the way it treats my skin, I love the way it lathers, and I love, love, love the way it smells. You simply cannot buy commercially processed soaps that smell as amazing as SoapDeli's soap. The biggest challenge for me when I visit her studio is not whether to buy, but which soaps to choose, because she has such a huge array of tempting soaps from which to choose, and each one sounds so deliciously yummy.

This is her Grapefruit Twist Salt Bar. I chose this one because she recently sent me a sample of one of her salt bars, and I really enjoyed it, so I'd like to try another!

As a long-time customer of SoapDeli, you can trust me when I say to you that you can't go wrong with a purchase from her studio... stop by, and choose a bar or two! They make great gifts too!

Up next is this amazing little needle felting tool...

Now, I must tell you that it is with great hesitation that I even share this photo with you, as I really, really, REALLY want this tool. As some of you know, I love to needle felt... and is this not the most fantastic needle felting tool you've ever seen?

It's found in the studio of Flights of Whimzy, and it's called a Whimsical Needle Felting Tool. In addition to a couple of these really amazing little tools, made of upcycled porcelain cabinet knobs that have been repurposed into the handle of three 38 star felting needles, Flights of Whimzy also features every color of the rainbow of merino wool roving. GORGEOUS!

Up next is another item that I hesitate to share, from CraftySteph's studio...

This curious little item is called a Tea Stir Stick. It's made with a cinnamon stick, with beautiful beads and a cute little teacup charm strung up and attached with a wire to the cinnamon stick. This is a fabulous (and tasteful!) alternative to the teaspoon!

I really love this idea, and at $2.75 it's quite the bargain too!

At CraftySteph's studio, you'll not only find several of these cool Tea Stir Sticks to choose from, but also some tempting hand dipped incense sticks, and some tea bag wallets too -- great for when you're on the go!

Now we come to the final piece for today's hotlist... and it comes from MNHPhotography...

I LOVE this photograph! I have such a fascination with bare trees and the grey skies of winter. Sometimes, when we're out driving, I'll see a tree with bare branches, such as this one, and behind it the beautiful Pacific Northwestern winter-y sky, I'll ask my husband to pull over so that I can snap a quick picture of it, but nothing that I capture even remotely comes out this beautiful.

The title of this photograph is "Out of the Fog" and it truly is lovely.

In MNHPhotography's studio, you will find an amazing assortment of photographs, each one skillfully capturing nature. Among her collection you'll find birds, trees, streams, and sun "shows" (that is, some beautiful sunsets or sunrises).

As you can see, Artfire artists... are on FIRE! Stop by and see what strikes your fancy!

~Anne

Setting Up Shop!

2009-01-10T01:12:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Have you heard about Artfire? I have only just learned about it over the past week or so. It's a new website that is dedicated to artists and their wares.

It's free to set up a shop with 10 items or less. No listing fees, no percentage of the sales fee. This is a site that understands what it is to be a starving artist!

I currently have two studios at artfire... one for my tea: Liberteas

And one for my mixed media art and my 'zines (if I ever finish another one!): EccentricPastiche

And yes, I do still have my etsy store open. However, as items drop get close to expiration on etsy, rather than renewing them there, I plan to put them up at Artfire.

So... please stop by and check out artfire.

~Anne

PS: also... try this tumblr blog... it will show you some items listed on artfire at random... it's cool!

Ho Ho Ho! I'm Santa!

2008-12-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm a secret Santa in 2 swaps (well, actually, 3 swaps, but one is a tea swap, the other 2 are art goody swaps). And for the two art goody swaps, in addition to the various art goodies that I purchased and/or gleened from my stash, I was to make a bit of art for my art friend.

Before I embarked upon what I ultimately made for these two, I had originally planned to create something much different, but, I got the felting bug, and I decided that I HAD to needle felt something for these two gifts.

So, I decided I'd needle felt a couple of ornaments for them... here's the first ornament I made, using a sunset-ish varigated dyed wool, with jet black spirals.

Here's another view...

The second ornament, I changed my color palette, and went with blue, and began adding odd bits of color to the ornament as I felted for some visual interest.

Here's another view of the same ornament...

These were a lot of fun. I'm really happy with the way they turned out... I just hope my secret santa recipients like them too.

~Anne

Starry Night

2008-12-02T23:26:00.001-08:00

It's no big secret that my favorite painting of all time is by the Master Vincent Van Gogh -- Starry Night. This painting moves me like no other painting, the brush strokes speak to me of the pain and the anguish that affected the life of Van Gogh, and yet the bits of light throughout the painting demonstrate a sense of hope to me, hope that maybe there is light even when life is at it's darkest. It's the most powerful work I've ever encountered.

So, when I joined a "masterpiece" charm swap, where we were to showcase a masterpiece by an art master, it only made sense to me to use Starry Night as the featured artwork for my charms.

Now, the scan is not great, because of the dimension of the Swarovski crystal. But I think that the scan provides enough detail so that you can see what I've done. Rather than using the crystal to highlight the moon, which is the brightest light in the sky of starry night, I used it to accentuate the star that sits just right of the cypress tree, with the intent to draw one's eye to my favorite part of the painting, the tree itself.

My studio is finally taking shape! Believe it or not! And... I can't even take credit for it, it's the work of my husband, who finally got tired of waiting for me to start working on it that he went out there and did it. It's not all done, I still have quite a bit of organization to do, but, at least it looks like a studio now, and I can actually sit out there and do some work!

Which was a nice change from finding some space in the house to work on something and getting it all scattered about, which is what I usually do! So, thank you, my dear husband, Mat, for your hard work, it's greatly appreciated.

~Anne

How Charming!

2008-11-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite artforms is art charms. I love to alter little tiny things, and charms... by necessity, are tiny.

However, because of my crazy schedule this year, I've hardly had much time to create any art at all... the move took a lot of my time, and now since everything is *still* packed in the garage (although, it's slowly... slowly... ever so slowly taking shape), it makes it difficult to get to anything to work on anything.

Anyway... I joined a couple of charm swaps recently as a member of Amber Dawn's charm group. The first one was an Alice in Wonderland themed swap.

Each of the 10 charms I made for this swap have a different image, but, the basic idea behind each was the same. Each charm is on a scrabble tile, with a tiny, pale blue Swarovski crystal bead on top, and the bottom is adorned with a heart shaped bead and a little blue bead. (These details are a bit difficult to make out because the scan is a bit blurry -- hey, it's a very teensy, tiny bit of art!)

My original plan was to have a rose bead on the bottom (painting the roses red!) but, unfortunately, the red rose beads that I had ordered for these charms never arrived. So, instead, I made a mad dash to the bead store and found these little heart shaped beads, thinking that the queen of hearts would approve.

I made this bit of digital art to serve as the tag attachment for the charm...

I also made another set of charms, and I'll post tomorrow about those!

~Anne

Inchie Quilts...

2008-10-17T20:36:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone...

Inchie Quilts... well, that's what I'm calling them, anyways... A while ago, one of the members of my yahoo group suggested that the group host a paper quilt swap. I was very intrigued, because, well, I love paper, and I loved the various eye candy samples she sent my way. Not long after that, another member suggested that the group host an inchies swap. That got me thinking (this can be dangerous sometimes) and I thought about combining the two -- paper quilts and inchies.
You may remember my previous inchies post, these are the inchies that I submitted, along with 16 1 inch squares of patterned paper, for this swap. After I got my package of swapped out inchies and squares of paper, I started working on my quilts...

I made two 4x4 quilts... here's the first...

and the second...

these were incredibly fun to make... and has definitely piqued my interest in creating more inchies... and more quilts!

~Anne

True Colors Journal

2008-10-12T19:36:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone:

Last year, I purchased the book "True Colors" by Kathryn Bold. I purchased this book primarily because I was involved in a swap that was inspired by the book, and since I hadn't heard of it before this, I wanted to know what I was supposed to do for this swap. Well, I so enjoyed the swap, and the artwork I created during that time, as well as the artwork I got back from the swap, that I decided that I would host a similar round robin.

My colors for this swap are chocolate brown, lime green, and teal/peacock blue. I found this really gorgeous paisley paper, so I decided to keep my cover very simple and allow the paper be the primary focus of it...

The first journal I've received in this round robin belonged to Liisa... and she chose light, icy tones of blue with one feature color (of my choosing) for her color palette. Her journal is quite large, 10x10, and since my scanner bed is only about 8 1/2 x 11, I wasn't able to capture the entire page... so you only get a glimpse of what I've created for her... this is a portion of the left side of the spread...

And here is a portion of the right side of the spread...

When I first received her journal, I wasn't sure which feature color I was going to select... but, when I went shopping, I found these amazing papers with the icy blue, and brown featured prominently, so I decided to go with that. Strangely enough, and as I reported in the journal entry... brown has been a very popular color with me lately... it seems that I'm always choosing it! I'm not sure why. It's not even a favorite color of mine, and a few years ago, I would have told you that I didn't really care for it much... but in the past year or so, I've noticed that I've really grown a fondness for it.

I'm really happy with my spread, I hope that Liisa is too... the brown presence in her book is a bit more than a splash, I hope that's ok...

~Anne

Another Altered Book Spread!

2008-10-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:

I've been a bit behind on getting art work that I owe out to those I owe it to... but I think I'm finally caught up and I feel like I can finally start committing to some new projects. (Shh... I can't say that too loud in case my hubby is listening. He will say "You're never going to work on that garage, are you??? LOL)

Anyways... I had Cheryl's altered book for quite some time, I actually received it just before the move, and unfortunately I didn't have time to work on it then because I was in the process of packing and organizing the move with movers, etc... so I just didn't have the time to be able to even think about art... much less the energy (or even the art supplies as I needed to pack them up!) So I've had this book for quite some time, and I actually started working on it shortly after we got moved in and settled, but, I just was never satisfied with the direction I was taking the artwork.

So I would start over. If Cheryl looks at the spine of the book, she will see that I went through quite a few pages to not only stabilize the surface to work on, but, also because when I wasn't happy with what I had done, some of the pages were sacrificed... sorry about that, Cheryl!!! I do hope she isn't upset with me about that.

Anyway, after working and reworking, I finally developed something I could be happy with... and if you look closely at the spread, you can see all the many layers within... and that inspired me to sketch the rose that I then cut out and added to the spread... because roses are also multi-layered, I figured that the multiple layers of the spread just seemed to fit in with the idea of a rose.

This is the first spread:

And this is the second spread...

I hand stitched the beading on the edge of the paper. I just felt like it needed a little sparkle and these little beads were so pretty.

Anyways... I hope that Cheryl likes the work I put in to her book...

~Anne

More Decos...

2008-10-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, just one more deco, actually. . .

This is one of the pages that I created for Betsey's "Owl" deco.

I wasn't really sure what I'd create for this deco, the theme, however simple, seemed to confound me. I didn't have any readily available owl images, and I'd never attempted drawing an owl freehand. However, A few weeks ago, I was simply doodling and among my doodles was a paisley shape, and as I started to doodle into the shape, it occurred to me that it is a basic shape of an earless/hornless owl. So, my original idea was to create a paper-pieced "Paisley Owl" but none of the owls I was piecing together really spoke to me, they were all just a bit too cutesy for my liking.

In the meantime, at a local stamp store sale (sadly, they've gone out of business!) I found a really cool owl stamp, so I decided that I'd use that in my layout for Betsey's deco. Then, as I sat, contemplating how I'd create the layout (I had a bit of a challenge, because my two pages for the deco were separated by a 2-sided, open-faced layout... so I actually created "two" layouts as opposed to 1 2-page layout) so that the two pages would look somewhat cohesive and yet would be able to stand alone. As I sat there thinking about how I was going to work it all out, I "saw" an owl out of this piece of felt on my work table. It was just a plain, small rectangular piece of felt, but, I could see an owl in it... so I started cutting... and the above spread was born. It's really a very simple page, yet it's complete. I am really happy with how it turned out, and I hope that Betsey is too.

The second page was a poem about a wise old owl that I found by an unknown author, written on a similar background with white gel ink. I am pretty satisfied with it.

Now... I'm deco-less again...

~Anne

Back in the Deco Saddle!

2008-09-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

Oh how I've missed doing decos! It seems like ages since I've finished my last, although I know it really hasn't been that long. They really are one of my very favorite round robin type artforms!

So, this deco spread that I created for Julie Anne was really quite simple... she made it simple for all of us! She simply wanted a rubbing... and she set the deco pages to serve as frames for the rubbings... so all we really had to do is to get a piece of rice paper (or Mulberry paper would have worked nicely too, I imagine) that was the right size, and find something of interest to create a rubbed image.

Therein lies the challenge. Not everything you think might make an interesting rubbed image does... I tried quite a few things before I finally found just the right thing... a teapot template. (Hey, I did say it was JUST the RIGHT thing... can you think of anything more "me" than tea?)

So here's a photo...

It was a lot of fun!

~Anne

Inchies!

2008-09-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

OK... if any of you also visit my flickr account, you already know this story, so bear with me.

I've been hesitant to try inchies, because well, to be quite honest, I didn't really want to get obsessed with yet another artform. I've been bitten by the ATC bug, as well as the 'zine bug, the charm-making bug, the altered book bug, the fatbook/chunkybook bug, the puzzle altering bug... you get the picture, right? Nearly every artform I attempt, I end up falling in love with... and well, I just didn't need to become obsessed with something else.

So, I thought, as long as I don't try inchies, I won't become obsessed.

Makes sense, right?

However, one of my best friends chose to host an inchies swap with my yahoo group, so I felt obligated to join in the fun. I mean, it is my group. Shouldn't I partake of the swaps they participate in, if for no other reason than to promote good will within the group itself?

Yeah, I'm full of them... excuses, that is.

So, I finally got out my paper cutter and started cutting out 1 inch squares. One thing that is really nice about inchies is that they are quite small, so you can use your left-over papers for them.

The requirements of the swap are 8 inchies per set, and I've decided to make 2 sets. Here's my first one...

and my second...

I fear that perhaps the second is too similar to the first, since I used similar images and the same embellishment. The backgrounds are quite obviously different, but, I don't know if that's enough to consider them two individually separate sets.

Anyways, I hope that the swap hostess likes them.

~Anne

I love Altered Books!

2008-09-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

For the couple of months that I've dedicated to my move, I've not had a lot of time to do any artwork... it was particularly frustrating for me because I had a couple of commitments to my art group to work on a couple of altered books as well as the decos I recently received in the mail, and I really hate making others wait on me.

It happens way too often too... sometimes, I just don't feel creative or artistic, and it's hard to sit down and work on something when it's just not there for you. Perhaps that's a cop out, although it's not a cognitive cop out, that is, it's not something that I'm aware that I'm copping out on... if that makes sense? I just quite honestly do not feel like my best work comes out of me when I'm forcing myself to do something that I'm not feeling.

But... that wasn't even the case this time, it wasn't that I wasn't feeling creative or artistic, it was that I didn't have the time, space, or energy to devote to artwork because of the move. And even though the move has been over and done with now for a couple of months, I've still a great deal of work to do before I can say that I'm all moved in... but most of the work that I've left to do involves my art studio/garage, and that is something that will take a while...

Anyways... I did manage to finally finish my layout for Laura's Ocean book...

There were some pretty amazing layouts in this book by other artists, I felt rather intimidated by them... but I am happy about how the layout came out... I hope Laura likes it as well.

Well, hopefully later this week, I'll have time to post my true colors journal photos! Until then, thanks for stopping by and catching up with me!

~Anne

New Stuff!

2008-09-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I've been somewhat silent here on my blog lately, I guess that's nothing new... it seems like weeks and weeks can go by and I don't post... but, it really doesn't seem like it's that long for me.

Anyways, I've been busy with various art projects, the one that's been consuming most of my time has been a fatbook with my yahoo tea group. I've been wanting a rubicoil machine for a while, and I used this fatbook project as an excuse to finally break down and get myself one. Yippee!

So, my tea group and I put together a tea-time indulgence recipe book -- fatbook style! Here is my page that I made for the book...

and the back of the page........

I really like the way these turned out.

~Anne

Wow! It's been a while!

2008-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, what can I say? I've been in the process of moving!

We're still not quite finished with it all... there are still a good number of boxes that need to be unpacked. Most of them are filled with various bits and pieces of my art stash. I can't believe how much STUFF I've acquired over the past few years since getting back into art. Honestly, I have only been involved with art again for about 5 years (I've been an artist all my life, but, life's different ups and downs has made me more or less unable to give in to the artistic yearnings for a very long time)... and during that time, I've amassed enough stuff to nearly fill a 1 car garage.

Which is why the new house has a two car garage! haha!

Perhaps I will need to consider destashing in the next few months.

Anyway, over the past week, I've actually made some time to create in the midst of all the unpacking. I've been working to finish a swap commitment that I was unable to fulfill before the move (I tried to though!) I'm really glad to have these finished and mailed out now!

Artist's Trading Attire (ATA) -- Well, that's what I'm calling it anyway... ATD (artist's trading dresses) wouldn't work because they already use ATD for Artist's Trading Dolls... so I hope that ATA isn't used! These measure approximately 5 inches.

They were a lot of fun, if not a bit intimidating at first, because they forced me to step outside of my comfort zone just a little. I hope that the 3 ladies who will be receiving my dresses enjoy them.

~Anne

Owl inspiration...

2008-06-13T00:41:00.001-07:00

For most of the people who will read this entry, you probably are well aware of some of the "standard" discussion questions asked in yahoo groups to keep the conversation flowing. One such question seems to be: "How do you get inspired to create something?" We've all seen that question, right?

For me, my process usually begins with searching for ideas. I don't usually just go blindly into a project... although, I must say, that it is the times when I DO enter into a project "blindly" -- or without a specific vision -- that I end up being the most pleased with my results. The reason for this, I'm sure, is because I entered into the project without expectations, so I did not have to attempt to exceed them nor did I fail to meet those same expectations.

Anyway, one of my favorite places to go searching for ideas lately has been Etsy. The more time I spend there, the more time I love the place! And I can find inspiration throughout the site, in even the most unexpected places. One of my favorite ways to waste time is to browse through the Etsy Treasury. Here you will find collections of 12 items available for sale on Etsy. These treasuries can be made by anyone who is registered on Etsy... the real trick with the treasury is being at the right place at the right time. They have a "limit" of 333 treasuries -- although this doesn't mean that there are only 333 treasuries at any given time, there are usually much more than that. But as soon as the treasury count reaches 332... then you have less than a second to type in a title for your treasury. Once you have a title for the treasury successfully entered, you will have a blank canvas on which to create your very own treasury collection.

I've managed to get myself in the right place at the right time, and create a few treasuries over the past few weeks, and it's very addicting!

But, I digress...

On my last visit to Etsy... I came across this little owl... now, I'm not usually the one to succumb to super sweetly cute, and to be honest, I don't know if I'd call this owl super sweetly cute (although one could!) I think I'd call him whimsically adorable, perhaps. Yeah, I think I like that better. What inspired me to sit here and write about this owl, though, is the fact that I know I will be receiving an owl deco within a few weeks to work in, and owls has never been a subject matter that I've ever attempted before... so I guess I was looking for some inspiration and ideas to get me started. Some sort of battle plan before I get that deco and get started...

I like to have some sort of battle plan prepared before I get a deco or altered book (or any other round robin piece) because then, when I'm shopping, I know what I should look for... or I can decide if I have the materials in my stash necessary to work on the piece without shopping for additional goodies. I usually DO have the goodies I need... but that rarely stops me from shopping with the excuse that there is something I need. ha!

So... I don't know that this blog entry is going anywhere... other than allowing me to get a bit drowsy so that I can get to sleep -- a big day of house shopping tomorrow! -- but, thanks for letting me talk you in circles, anyway... I hope you enjoyed it!

~Anne

NATURE Fatbook on Etsy!

2008-06-11T19:19:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, last time, I posted all the photos of the tea fatbook I had, now I guess I'll post the Nature fatbook photos.

The Nature book was one of two fatbooks that my group, EccentricPastiche, created to donate to Robin Whittemore to assist her with her medical expenses. You can learn more about her plight here. Unfortunately, Robin passed away before we could donate the books and other things to help with her medical bills, so I decided to sell these items on Etsy and the proceeds will be donated to the Pickens County Bone Marrow Drive in care of the United Way in Pickens County of SC, in Robin's name, on behalf of the artists who contributed and of course, the lucky person who purchases the book!

NEWS FLASH: The tea fatbook that I published in my last blog entry has already SOLD! YAY!

Let's start with a picture of the front cover of the Nature fatbook:

Here is the front and back outer covers of the book scanned side by side while the book was open and flat on it's covers!

And here is the inside front cover, with the listing of contributing artists:

This is the page from Anne Grappo...

This is the page from Ann Cooper...

This page was contributed by Cindy Ericsson...

This page was contributed by Crystal Calhoun...

This page was contributed by Ellen Quigley...

This page was contributed by Fran Lainhart...

This page was contributed by Janice Lopez...

This page was contributed by Jeri Aaron...

The next two pages were contributed by me...

This page was contributed by Nancy Tasker...

This page was contributed by Susan Tidwell...

And finally, a page from Teresa Stebbins...

There are a couple of other pages that I couldn't scan... but, you get the idea, right? This book is phenomenal! I love it! I know that whomever buys it won't be disappointed!

To purchase the book, click here.

I hope you enjoyed this pictorial of the book!

~Anne

Fatbooks now on Etsy!

2008-06-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, I finally got the two fatbooks we made for Robin (put 4Robin in Etsy's search engine for easy access to all that has been donated to this cause) listed on etsy! I still have an original artwork "true colors" journal to list 4Robin... but that may have to wait a while until we get moved! I'm not sure yet just when the move will take place, many things are up in the air as we wait to see whether we are approved for this house or for that one... you know how it goes!

Anyways, Here are some pictures!

Tea Fatbook Cover ~ Cover was created by Carol DuBois, who also bound the book:

Inside Cover and Front and Back outside of the cover, shown side to side (Open and scanned on it's "spine")...

Here are some of the pages for the fatbook... I don't know how many blogger will allow me to include... so it may be that I'll have to submit another blog entry tomorrow with the rest of the pictures... anyways, enjoy!

Pages from Ann Cooper...

Page from Anne Grappo:

Page from Carol DuBois:

Page by Cindy Ericsson:

Page from Crystal Calhoun:

Page by Ellen Quigley:

Page by Fran Lainhart (who also assisted with the binding of the book):

Page by Janice Lopez:

Page by Jean Bennett:

Page by Jeri Aaron:

Page by Liane Ciglar:

Two Pages by me (Anne Downen):

Page from Nancy Tasker:

Page from Susan Tidwell:

Page by Teresa Stebbins:

Well, what do you know? I managed to get all the photos uploaded! woo hoo! Let's see now if I'm able to publish the post! I hope so!

SO... isn't the book AMAZING? Don't you love it? Want it? To buy it, click here! This is for a great cause... and it's a one of a kind, remarkable collection of art! There's only one of these in the whole world... so you better hurry before someone else grabs it!!!

~Anne

NOW AVAILABLE on Etsy!

2008-06-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

About a year and a half ago, I assembled some mail artists together (via the US Postal Service!) to create a few pieces of art to donate to Robin Whittemore to help with her medical expenses as she battled Myelodysplastic Syndrome. You can learn more about Robin Whittemore's courageous fight here. Unfortunately, most of these various works of art were not completed before Robin passed away, but, we still want to donate these pieces to a charity organization that worked with Robin to help her in her fight.

The first of these works of art that I have listed in my etsy store is this fabulous Travel Destinations Puzzle. This is an altered art puzzle -- it started life as a blank puzzle like this. I divided the 12 pieces into sections of 2 pieces each -- creating 6 blank canvases ready for the artists to alter.

*The frame was altered by Teresa Stebbins. She created an awesome, well-traveled suitcase look for the frame, and it's complete with a handle that can be used to hang the puzzle on the wall.

*The upper left corner section of the puzzle celebrates the destination "Asia/China" and was altered by Crystal Calhoun.

*The upper middle section of the puzzle celebrates the destination "Paris/France" and was altered by me, Anne Downen.

*The upper right corner section of the puzzle celebrates the destination "Italy" and was altered by Carol DuBois.

*The lower left corner section of the puzzle celebrates the destination "London" and was altered by Nancy Tasker.

*The lower middle section of the puzzle celebrates the destination "Hawaii" and was altered by Janice Lopez.

*The lower right corner section of the puzzle celebrates the destination "Ireland" and was altered by Tamara Comerford.

There are many various materials used to alter this puzzle, including (but not limited to) cancelled postage stamps, ephemera, paper, ink, paint, charms, ribbons, and beads. The proceeds of this sale will be donated to a charity that was actively involved with helping Robin, The Pickens County Bone Marrow Drive, in care of the United Way of Pickens County, SC. The funds will be donated in Robin's name, on behalf of the artists who contributed, and of course on behalf of the lucky buyer of the puzzle! Hey, maybe that will be you!

~Anne

My new Gingher Scissors

2008-06-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

I have known for a long time now that I really needed to buy a new pair of scissors that were designated only for my fiber arts -- I have several pairs of scissors that are for paper cutting, my favorite are the short blade Kai scissors, these work fabulously for detailed cutting.

But, as any fabric/fiber artist can tell you, when you use a pair of scissors for cutting paper, it dulls the blade and you really need a separate pair of scissors for fabric/fiber use.

However, I've held out buying a new pair of scissors that would be designated for fiber/fabric, mostly because I know myself well enough to know that unless I bought a pair that was a 'true investment' (read: expensive enough) that I would end up using those scissors for paper eventually, thinking "oh, it will be alright to use them for paper this once." Then, I'd need a new pair of scissors... and I'd continue that cycle until I made that true investiment.

So, last week, I had a 50% coupon for Michaels, and decided it was finally time to make that true investment... mostly because I've been dabbling more in fiber arts, and I was tired of trying to use my Kai scissors for fabric cutting. So, I did it... I invested in a gorgeous pair of Ginger Knife Edge Dressmaker shears. This pair reminded me of Gramma, these are the same kind of shears she used in her sewing nook -- one of my first "safe places" I could remember... one of my most cherished memories would be to have Gramma at work at her sewing machine while I sat next to her and stitched some pictures by hand on some of her scraps. I felt so safe and warm right there next to Gramma.

So, warm, toasty memory aside... these scissors were SO WORTH the investment. They are so amazing. And enough of an investment that I'll keep them safely in their special tin when they're not in use -- on FABRIC only!

~Anne

PS: thank you to GAIL for telling me about Gingher a few years ago -- yeah... it took me this long to finally break down and buy a pair!

Domino Workshop 2

2008-06-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

OK... now let's play with some techniques using the sharpies ink and alcohol ink blending solution.

To Create an "impressionistic" brushstroke effect: This is a very simple way to add interest to your background but it *does* take some practice and a certain willingness to make mistakes.

Remember, if you *do* make a mistake and smudge off too much color, you can always start over again by simply using the alcohol ink blending solution to whisk off all the color off of your domino. The blending solution acts as an "eraser" of sorts by adding a squirt of the solution directly onto the domino and then using a rag to wipe off the ink and solution. Be careful though, as the solution can also dissolve the color on the "back" side of the domino (the side with the dots!) and if you want to keep the back side clean (for a more polished look to your finished domino) you don't want those inks to be lifted off and smudged.

Using a small, inexpensive paintbrush, squirt some of the blending solution onto the bristles. You want the bristles wet with the solution, but not dripping wet. If the brush is too wet, simply run the bristles across a dry rag once or twice. Next, swish the brush lightly over the top of the domino in a soft, circular motion, until you have acheived the desired effect.

To intensify your color, add a little bit more ink from your pen, and continue to swirl the paintbrush over the top of your domino.

Now, you can see some of the varigation of the color, but, it's become more blended and the colors appear to be painted on.

Using just a few simple tools: Sharpie Pens, Alcohol Ink Blending Solution, Q-tips and a paintbrush you can create some really unique and interesting backgrounds on your dominos.

~Anne

Domino Workshop 1

2008-05-15T19:17:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, I am quite late with this, and I'm not really sure how frequently I can update with more workshops since I'm going through (still!) computer hell! We have our OLD computer back up right now, because the new one needed to be taken in to the shop already! So, we're using the old, still malfunctioning computer at the moment until the new one gets back from the shop... then we'll take this one in to get it optimized for the kids to use. At least, that's the plan!!!

Anyways! It's time for Workshop 1. For our first workshop, I'm going to first introduce you to some products that I use to alter dominoes, and then show you how I use the products to alter the dominoes.

First, let's discuss markers. I use Sharpies. I like them because they're permanent, and can mark on just about any surface; on dominoes, they dry quickly and create a (somewhat) permanent mark on the plastic domino surface. I say somewhat permanent, because you CAN remove the mark, if you want to. But I'll explain more about that in a bit.

I've tried other markers such as pitt pens (which I love for other applications, but not dominoes) but they simply do not work on the dominoes.

I prefer using Sharpies on dominoes rather than alcohol inks because you have more control over the colors and how they blend with the Sharpies than you do with alcohol inks, and I think that the colors are more vivid and bright with Sharpies than with alcohol inks.

However, one important supply/product that does come from the alcohol ink family is the blending solution. I love this stuff. Remember how I said that the Sharpie ink is somewhat permanent on the domino? Well, that's because the blending solution can also act as an eraser! Don't like the color combination you create on a domino? Just squirt a few drops of the blending solution onto the domino surface and wipe clean with a rag. Accidentally dribble ink onto the back of the domino? Just whisk away the color with a drop of blending solution and a Q-tip.

Because it's such a powerful "eraser" for your inks, you need to be careful with this stuff, or you'll erase the color you want too..... it requires a little practice to get the hang of it... after a few months of not working on dominoes, I find I have to 'reteach' myself on just how powerful the stuff is, and work with it a bit before I get the hang of it again.

Besides the domino, sharpies pens, and blending solution, I used the following tools to create the final background: Q-Tips, wax paper and an inexpensive paintbrush. (Don't use your expensive paintbrushes for this application)

So... let's get started!

First, lay out a sheet of wax paper -- this is to protect your work surface; the wax paper also serves as a palette onto which you can squirt the blending solution.

Next, choose 2 or 3 sharpie colors that blend together well. For this example I chose red, bright pink and purple. You don't want to select colors that contain all 3 of the primary colors (red, blue, green) because you're likely to end up with a muddy look on your domino when the colors blend. Here, since pink is a hue of red, and purple has red and blue, I need to avoid yellow ink.

Scribble your colors onto your domino randomly, like this...

You'll notice that the ink dries quickly on the surface. Now, squirt a small puddle of blending solution onto the wax paper, and grab a q-tip and absorb the blending solution onto the cotton tip. Working from the red corner of the domino, in a circular motion, begin blending the colors. End with the purple color (or dominate color of your chosen palette).

Here is what the domino looks like after I've blended the colors together.

The blending solution also dries almost instantly when applied with an applicator (the q-tip). You can now add some more color onto the domino, I used a similar pattern to what I started with, this will just enhance the colors already on the domino...

Now, using an inexpensive paintbrush (I have a small round tip brush that I use for this), I dip it into a puddle of blending solution. Working in a similar circular motion, I blended the color a bit more on the domino.

Now, to soften the colors on the surface of the domino, dribble two drops of blending solution directly onto the domino, one on the purple area, and the second on the red/pink area. Blow gently onto the small pool of blending solution to let the colors blend together. Keep blowing gently until the surface is dry (it dries pretty quickly). By blowing gently on the surface, it keeps the colors moving so that they don't pool around the edges of the domino and create dark edges. If you do get some dark edges that are not pleasing, you can soften them with your q-tip dipped in blending solution, and blending gently. (you need a very gentle hand with this, or you will remove all the color)

Here's the finished background. I scanned this, rather than photographed it, so the image looks a bit grainy... in person, it's a lot smoother.

So... I showed you mine... now... you try it and take a picture, post it to the group. Next workshop, we'll add an image to the domino, and add some finishing touches.

~Anne

Domino Workshop Update & More Altered Books!

2008-05-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

Alrighty everyone, I'm nearly ready to get the domino workshop off and running (and only about 5 months LATE!)... we just got a new computer which I will be hooking up within the next couple of days (we have to do some back up disks of information on this computer first), and as soon as I have that up and running, I will dedicate myself to getting the domino workshop going! I'm very excited about this! Woot!

And I've still been working in altered books... This is a pic of an altered book spread I finished last week for Tanya's Angels book...

I really don't think the scan did this one justice, it's really much nicer in person... The gold and silver paints shimmer really nicely. I am very happy with this spread. I hope that Tanya likes it!

Oh... and in case you haven't checked out my tea journal lately... I have a new tea out now! It's Green Apple Tea... if you like flavored green teas, this one may be right up your alley, and for those who are somewhat timid when it comes to green teas (I used to be, so I totally understand it!) you should give this one a try... the flavors are so exquisite! Yum!

Hope your weekend is going well, mine is!
~Anne

EccentricPastiche ~ Artist & Zinester in Progress

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An Altered Ballet Dress

Yeah, It's been a while...

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas ...

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Yeah, yeah, I know... you've heard this before!

Eight Postcards

Yep... I'm still alive!

Holiday Cards

My Christmas List......

Finally getting around to posting some new art...

An Artistic Moment with Meghann from Little Studio Jewels

Check out this Etsy Artist!

Hey... check out this contest!

Some New Art - Finally!

Got Tea?

Exquisitely Beautiful!

I Love Purple!

True Colors -- FINALLY!

Gott Beads?

Check Out Rocky Creek Gems!

It's been a while!

I'm a Mommaprenuer!

Shine Your Hiney!

An Easy Way to add some Spice!

Some Pretties from Alisuns!

Meet Shadow of Felt Fusion!

Check out Picard Creative!

Meet Jennifer of Jennuine Candles!

Entrecard...

Meet Teri from The Beaded Branch

Meet Orin Drake from Wicked Orin!

Meet Kristen from Kristen's Custom Creations!

My Last Tip-In

Meet Brandy from Broken Hallelujah!

Fairy House Tip In!

Meet Elizabeth at ElizaArt!

Another Tip-In...

More Postcards!

Postcard Art

Hotlist Hotties!

Tip In #2

Tip Ins!

Have you joined byhand.me yet?

What I've been up to lately...

Artfire Finds!

A New Online Playground for Artists!

I actually got in on time to make a treasury!

Win a Sweets Basket worth over $50!

Neutrals Journal

Artfire Hot List #3!

I've been tagged!

I'm hosting a contest!

More from my Artfire Hotlist...

My Artfire Hotlist...

Setting Up Shop!

Ho Ho Ho! I'm Santa!

Starry Night