Friday:Five Favorites

Yay! It is the end of a looooong, but very fun, week. Here are my five random favorites picked from my Etsy favorites list.


My Black Dress
I love, I mean love, dresses. But they rarely fit me off the rack, and well, I can't sew. Alterations get expensive, and I mentally add them into any dress purchase, making many of them not so good a deal. So, affordable custom dresses that reflect my modern retro sense of style? Squeeeee! Check out this one, I love the neckline and the little flounce of white peeking out.

Green Post
Wow. 100% Recycled. Upcycled. Re-Used. That's a lot of -ed's! Oh, and totally plantable -ed. Add to a gift, and its a bonus surprise! Weddings, baby shower favors, the list is endless, and nobody breaks a tooth on those hard jordan almonds that look so tempting.


RedLightStudio
All I ask is, where were they 11 years ago when I refused to have a cake topper because I didn't like anything traditional? It may be time to order another wedding cake just for the toppers. And the cake....mmmmm, sugar. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, these. Cute penguin couple! Awwwwwwww! Oh, and their Etsy join date? My anniversary. Kismet!

Blueyedgirls' Boutique
I found this shop because this sign made me laugh, case closed.

LaBelle Fairy
Just because....I wish. And my husband wishes even more. These corsets are just so beautiful, having a hard time finding a favorite one to link. This peach one will do. They all just make me speechless.

Wow.Yeah.Okay....on that note I think I am going to head off and have a great weekend. Maybe watch some Tudors ;)

Friday: Five Favorites

Another edition of Friday: Five Favorites! This is where I list five random Etsy shops from my Favorites list, and hopefully you'll add some of yours in the comments!


Cantaloupe Corner
Cute, cute, CUTE baby & toddler clothes. What I love is that she does a dye removal process, instead of adding inks and dyes to the fabric. I think this one would be adorable at a beach or, honestly, any wedding. All the men would be jealous.

Dancing Circle
I have a thing for wreaths. If they are displayed in a store, it is impossible for me to walk past them. I dream of decorating doors for different seasons, propping them on photo ledges, or placing candles in the middles as centerpieces. The other thing I love is flowers, any and every. So, this shop is full of dried flower wreaths, and was one of my first favorites on Etsy. Hydrangeas are tops on my list.

yippiekawaiiyeah
I don't understand sweets that cannot be eaten, but they so adorable who needs to? Maybe wearing little donuts, ice cream sundaes, and cakes would keep me from craving the real thing....nah. The mini popsicles are perfect for summer pendants, but isn't this guy cute (ahem, kawaii...)?

Goat Mountain Arts
Who doesn't love yummy smelling bath stuff? Her soap is hand milled, and love the fact that you can get custom orders or order a trial size sample of her soap. Also, she makes me laugh. Sellers should check out Grumpy Haters. Warning, a sense of humor is required!

KatyDiddy
While her paper and fabric creations are cute, she's on this list because of her extremely helpful e-books for sellers. The Craft Fair e-book is especially cool, and found that sucker listed all over the blogosphere as a resource.

So, did you finish reading the blog, or did you immediately start clicking on links??

Friday's Five Favorites

I'm here! I'm here! Things have been so busy I admit the blog has been neglected, but being busy is a GOOD thing. To keep you distracted, I am going to link you to Friday's Five Favorites Etsy shops. In other words, five random favorite shops from my list! I always mean to go back, but time has a way of...look, oooh pretties!!!!!

knotworkshop
I just love her sense of humor. One day I was browsing the Etsy forums, and this popped up in one of the threads that was taking itself a bit too seriously. I was hooked (heh) ever since.

Jean Pelle
I fell in love with the decor in the film Mr & Mrs Smith with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. When I went to look up a lighting fixture,
specifically the one in the living room scene, I found out I wasn't the only one. Check out the blog Hooked on Houses if you love set decorating! I about fell out of my chair when I recently found the shop by Jean Pelle on Etsy, and immediately bookmarked it into my inspiration folder.

Sunny SideUp Studio
I just love her spoolie dolls, especially the Cosmic Girl. Wait, I might have just found a new favorite! Reminds me of Nightmare Before Christmas. Aren't they freakin' adorable??

igotcooties
This is not me trying to tell you TMI. Go look, I guarantee you'll have a smile on your face by the time you scroll down the first page. Everybody will want your cooties!!

Creative Thursday.
Oooh, one of my favorite Favorites. I have this print hanging on my wall to motivate and remind me of what I am doing. Her blog inspired me to jump into this business with both feet, and do what I love and the rest will follow.

Have you looked at YOUR favorite lists lately? Feel free to post a random favorite or two in the comments section!

So, I have some pics from the ArtWalk I did this past Friday. I'm sure you don't want to see them, so what shall we talk about instead?

Wait, what? You do?

Let me tell you first that I had a great time. It was the first time I participated, so I had no expectations. The ArtWalk, held by the Cabarrus Arts Council consists of local businesses staying open later and hosting artists' displays, and people walk from place to place to look, mingle, and purchase local art. My only regret is that being an artist, I didn't get to wander to the other buildings and see what they had. I heard there was a tasty NC Wine display.

First, the importance of doing a mock table display at home. I was told the table measurements were 5x30", so we marked out our trusty plywood and set up a display in our garage.



My next post may be on garage organization. Eep. Anyway, pretty sweet looking display, right? It is important to be prepared, because you know what they say about the best laid plans. They turn into tables that are 5X20"....



That may not seem like a huge amount, but it makes a HUGE difference in a display. The tables were free, so I am grateful they were even available! Guy wasn't able to make it, so I had to do some quick thinking on my feet, with a few reassuring texts from Guy. My focus had to be on keeping the most merchandise on the table without cluttering it up.



I think I ended up pretty well. The photographer behind me was Alexandra Pope. It was her first show, and she had photos of the architecture of Barber-Scotia College, and the display was made out of windows they found in the dumpster of said college and refurbished. Pretty darn neat.



Another angle:




Here is the other side of the room, with some new friends that I made. In order, right to left: Nena Wilson Jewelry Designs , Baskets Apropo by Patricia Lindsay , Carolyn Fisher, Artist and Art Educator.



Then reversed:

Ohhh, that's what jewelry should look like

Guy here.

So gal has been hard at work burning and poking her poor fingers as she makes more flowers than an Amsterdam tulip garden. I have been trying to get more bezel cups and such to tag all the creations she has made lately. The display at Nectar is going well, so life is good.

A good friend of mine is a professional photographer here in town and I always love to pick his brain about how to improve the shots that I take. Obviously, buying the new camera helped out tremendously and really improved the quality of pictures I was able to capture. I am never satisfied with what I know, I always want to improve how we display gal's work. He told me that if I wanted to shoot truly professional quality pictures of jewelry, I needed to get black glass or acrylic to shoot on. As a side note, he had told me of shooting full bodied nudes draped with wet sheets clinging to their bodies on black glass and how stunning the results were. Now, I am not going to say that gal's stuff is more interesting than hot near naked models, it must be a close second. Ok, maybe third.

I have a list in my head of things to do for intenyears. and when I can I try and knock items off that list. Crossing another item of that list, we went to a glassworks shop and bought a piece of black glass (nude models sold separately, and on back order, who knew?) I only wish we had done this sooner. Imagine the scene from 2001 where the apes find fire and the timpani's are booming and the trumpets start blaring, this was me about 1 hour ago. Rather than fling some poo or throw some rocks, I decided a blog post was probably more appropriate (and more hygienic). So without further fanfare here is a sample pic of the direction intenyears. photography is going.

Spring Flowers

Once you begin to create things, you find that you just.can't.stop. I have lists of ideas of things I want to try when I have the time. Not just one list, but a whole binder, with sectioned tabs, to try and keep a handle on these ideas. Since I seem to sell things pretty much as I make them, you can see where I am having issues trying to find the time to branch out. Worse things could be happening, right?

One of the ideas I did find time for was fabric flower hair clips, kind of an offshoot of the Felt Flowers that I make and will share as a tutorial for CrownTown Handmade April 29. Since launching intenyears. at Nectar, my focus for that line has been garden, floral, and summery. I made these neat organza flowers for a necklace, and thought they would be cute on clips.



I used organza fabric, flame to sear the edges, added czech glass beads, and attached to a clip. Yes, it is a process to make them, but the end result is worth it. I think Guy was a little worried about me veering of the jewelry path too much, but he really didn't say TOO much about it. And, wouldn't you know, those clips were one of the first things I sold that day, to a lovely family from San Diego who had no idea that they just totally made my day. If you are reading...hi! Hope you had a safe trip back!



They made my day because I think selling the first of something you created is a special kind of sale. I remember the first necklace I sold on Etsy, and the first necklace I sold at a crafts show. They are all reminders to make sure that I take the time to try new ideas, because you never know which will be successful.



Make sure you check out my Etsy shop, I added the clips a little while ago. :)

Working with a new model

I am trying to get some photos together for a Community Craft Night at the end of April for CrownTown Handmade, and I decided to try out a new model. I don't think she's impressed, or I just may not be haute couture enough for her.

Here she is when she first saw who she was working with:






She realized it might not be beneath her:




"Is that brown? Matches my lovely chocolate spots."




"Wait! Is that frame BLACK! Black & Brown??? FAUX PAS!"




Where's my agent? Get him on the cell ASAP! Still waiting on my latte, people!