Custom order!

Someone from Twitter approached me about doing a custom order for them today. YAY! I won't divulge too much about it right now, but I'll show you what I bought for it.





Both of these lovely hanks are from the Artfire Studio Beads and Babble

Can't wait to receive this order to start working!

Good moon rising

Monday, November 23, 2009

I miss having a specific topic to write about; something I had when I was a columnist for HMN. So I've been thinking about how I could bring that back into my life. Seeing how much fun many of my blogger peers are having by doing features of other artist and bloggers, I decided to expand the scope of my own blog to do a weekly feature.

Once I'd decided to write features, the second point to consider was what topic to focus on. I wanted to try to develop a bit of a theme, or rhythm. I love discovering new things; that's one of the joys of sharing in the online art community. I find that one of the best ways to discover new things is by doing a search with a random keyword. I've been doing this for years with Google when I've been bored. Lately, Stumbleupon has automated this little hobby of mine. It's surprising, the things that pop up that you normally would never think of looking for otherwise. So I figured, "Why not do the same with my favorite online handmade venues?" I think it's worth a shot and I'm bound to come across some interesting finds. I plan on sharing the best of what I discover with you weekly. This should be fun!

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For my first feature, I chose the search word "moon". Blame New Moon; everyone I know has done nothing but talk about this movie for days now and I guess the word "moon" was the first that popped into my head when I sat down to think over my feature for this week.

Right off the bat, I found two wonderful artists with moon related themes that I thought were worth sharing. The first is a studio aptly named Purple Moon Gifts run by Kirsten Tippett who has been making and designing jewelery for over 17 years. Kirsten runs two types of studio. One displaying finished jewelery pieces and the other supplies for jewelery making. What caught my eye in relation to my search word today were these adorable little moon face beads.

It's wonderful to sit around and admire the finished work of talented artisans, but it's also a bonus to find a great supply shop to feed our own creative drive. What I love about supporting artisan run supply studios is knowing that behind all those beads and findings is a real person, not just some overstock depot. So if you are in the market for really cute jewelry making supplies, PMG Jewelry Supplies is a great place to check out.

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My second choice this evening goes to naokosstoop. A wonderful little studio on Etsy run by a Brooklyn based illustrator named Naoko Stoop. The style is not one that I've encountered before, but I've totally fallen in love with unique and graceful beauty of these illustrations. This particular print is from a collection of illustrations called the Brown Paper Bag Collection. This one is called Moon No6.



This studio offers a lovely collection of prints, original drawings and note cards. A definite worthwhile find. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself returning to this studio the next time I'm looking to find a really cute and original illustration.

So that's it for my first random word search feature. I'm hoping to be able to do one every week, so check back often to see what other fabulous finds I've come across.

Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

A few new pieces

Just wanted to share a few of the new pieces I've put together since I've started working on my crafts again. Looking at these, I can definitely see a difference in style from my previous work. It was not intended as I simply create along the current wind of inspiration, but I think it's neat how these pieces came out.



I can easily see this piece being used as a hair decoration for a beach wedding.



This little flower is so classy. I love it!



It seems as though "classy" is my theme lately. Maybe it's just the colour palette I've chosen for my recent pieces.



Now this little piece is not what I would call classy, but it is definitely cute and fun. I never intended to give it antennae but it certainly looks like that's what happened!



This is another in my "classy" pieces series.



This is a bit of an experimental piece, and I'm not sure what I think of it. I mixed opaque and transparent beads to give a bit of an effect.

Well, that's what's new. I'm hoping to be able to keep up with creating a few new pieces every week.

On the road again....

... that is, the road to success, hopefully. My crafting hiatus seems to have come to a close, (thank goodness - I was starting to go a little bonkers) and I'm ready to start work on my crafting and marketing of said crafts.

I have to say, if it weren't for the crafty people I meet online everyday, my funk might have lasted longer, but seeing what everyone is up to is inspiring and makes me want to jump in and play.

A couple of changes in the direction I want to take have finally become clear to me. First, I'm going to stick to smaller beaded pieces, for now anyways. My plan is to stock up my studio with many more pieces in order to give people more of a choice. I was getting discouraged, working on large flower arrangements and bouquets. I'm keeping the door open for custom orders on for large pieces, but for now, I'm going to put my effort into creating smaller and fun accessories.

The second point which has become clear to me is how bored I get, only doing one type of crafting at once. I need a variety of things to keep me interested and challenged. I've thought a lot about what type of craft I would enjoy doing and would also offer a quicker turnaround than beaded flowers. Polymer clay seems to fit the bill quite nicely. I've been doing a lot of reading on the types of things that can be done with it and the possibilities seems rather endless. I like that. A lot. It's also rather easy to get into, no huge investment needed; financially, for equipment or space. Those are all important points to me.

I know it may seem backwards to approach a crafting business in this manner. Most people fall into doing something they love and afterward they develop a business. In my case, I love too many things and it's just not feasible to over extend myself in that manner. Creating things makes me happy, that's what I love. The medium in which I work is almost secondary. I've never met a craft I didn't like. Combining that creative drive with a marketable product gives me a sense of purpose. That sense of purpose gives me strength. Maybe it's a way to regain control over my life, (which often feels beyond my reach of control) even if only a little bit. I don't know how else to explain it.

So, in an effort to get the ball rolling again, I've done a few things. First, I've set up a Flickr account and I've posted all my crafting pictures there. Through this, I'm hoping to expand my circle of online crafty acquaintances.
If you're on Flickr, or just curious to see my pictures, please visit my photostream,
and add me as a contact!


I've also finished a few beaded pieces that had been laying around, half finished for months. I've also created some totally new pieces, a few of which have already been listed. I'm trying to be more active on Twitter and following a few more crafty blogs.

Specifically with regards to my business, I've taken on a more confident mind set. I did some shopping on Etsy and Artfire for supplies. When the day comes when pieces start selling, I will be ready with return mailing labels, organza gift bags, up-to-date business cards etc. I think I was a little afraid of pushing sales before, because I didn't feel that I would be presenting my work professionally.

So there you have it. That's the whole story, and then some. My aim, going forward is to really get my name out there. Follow more blogs, and be followed in return. Keep this darn blog updated ('cause we all know that would help) and generally make it known to the world that I'm here. Can't be that hard, now can it? ;)

Have a suggestion to get me started again with online visibility and marketing? Leave me a comment!