in which we discuss your wild and earthy nature

I know I'm not the only one.  Tell me you don't sing to yourself when you're walking alone outside.  You have a tambourine (and you love to sing and dance with it, but only when no one is looking).  Tell me you don't thrill deliciously when the sky turns black during the daytime and a ferocious rain pours from the sky (complete with lightning and thunder).  You prefer vinyl records to cds.  You may have experienced the wild abandon of riding a horse bareback, running freely in fields of green and gold.  (If you haven't, then its most definitely on your wish list.)  You are a free spirit.  You are an artist.  You have a garden, of course.  You might wear your Mother's old hippie clothes, if you are lucky enough that she saved them for all these years.  You have been described as 'sassy'.  You may have considered running away to join the circus as a viable career opportunity at some point in your life, (or maybe the gypsies would take you in?).  You wear sassy boots with skirts, people may have described you as 'colorful' - take it as a compliment, trust me.  You, my friend, are just the sassy miss (or Mrs.) who I've made these earrings for.  They are new and in today's shop update!


               

In which I confess my inability to finish one task before starting another...

I have approximately half a billion projects started right now...  uhhhmmm, and I keep getting NEW ideas and starting more!  What is wrong with me?  Sometimes the thought of finishing things just fills me with dread.  Now that I've publicly confessed that personal fault, I am going to make a concerted effort to choose some long-unfinished projects and get them wrapped up!  Maybe I'll post my progress for accountability purposes.  Ooohh, that makes me feel squeamish.  :)  I think that means its a great idea.  First 'to be completed' project will be posted this week.  There, I've made a commitment.  This is going to be good for me!  I can already envision the finished sewing projects and organizing tasks...  Aaaahhh, the wonderful feeling of a task freshly completed. 


I have 8 (yes, eight) new pairs of earrings to post in the shop!  I just need to photograph them.  So, look out for a shop update (or a couple of them) over the next few days.


My new green hair clip has been featured in two very beautiful treasuries, "Mossy Green" and "Discovering Spring"!  Green is my favorite color and these are just so springy!  Here they are, (you can click on the treasury title to browse the treasury or a specific image to view the item details):

Hurry up, Spring!

First, I want to share a little teaser with you.  I have been painting.  I'm working on a series of collages that will be featured in the shop very soon!  I am very excited about this and I look forward to sharing more!  I will be offering prints and notecards (and perhaps originals too).  More details and PHOTOS coming soon!

Check out the shop for some new items!  This cute green and yellow hair clip is the perfect accessory for your Spring wardrobe.

Perhaps this green flower says "Spring" to you.  Find them both in the shop today.  There you can find all the details regarding the measurements of each piece, as well as notes detailing the thoughtful touches that went into the creation of each item. 

Yesterday Jeff and I visited a local greenhouse in search of potted bulb gardens.  They told us we would have to come back tomorrow to find bulbs in bloom, but we HAD to look around any way.  As soon as I walked inside and that warm, humid air surrounded me and there was green EVERYWHERE, I felt like I was in paradise.  Well, maybe it was the monkey.  Yep, that's right.  They have a monkey.  (I'll take the camera when I go back today).  Jeff loves monkeys, so we had to feed her, of course.  She is so funny and cute!  She put on a little performance, smiling and 'making eyes' at us.  Its fascinating to see her little face and her hands, she's so expressive.  At times she looks funny and then very thoughtful.  So, after feeding Mingo a bit of trail mix we marveled at all the fabulous plants.  One thing that caught my eye was a large planter featuring an array of succulents.  It was too pricey for us BUT I remembered that we have a beautiful container at home, hens & chicks in the garden, a succulent in a 3" ugly plastic grower's pot on the kitchen window sill and all the necessary rocks and soil stuff.  We decided to purchase one 4" succulent to be the focal point of our planter.  As soon as we got home, I went right to work.  Here is the finished planter!  If you look closely, you can see some tiny little 'babies' I put in the soil to root.  I think its going to take a long time for the little guys to get big, we'll see...

I can't wait to plant things in the garden but for now I'll feast my eyes on this little oasis of green and try to wait patiently for the soil outside to warm up.  How about you?  Are your green thumbs itching to get to work?

So Treasured...

  Treasury is an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery comprised of lists of items. Lists contain 16 items. Members can feature their favorite items, items selected on a theme or whatever they like. Any Etsy member can create a Treasury list, and there is no limit to the number of lists you can create. You can edit your lists as often as you desire, and post comments to other members' lists.


  It all began on July 22, 2010.  The first of many Etsy treasuries I was lucky to be featured in.  Do you see my fabric flower corsage in the top row?  (You can click on the treasury title or the individual items in the images below to check out the treasuries!)   
 




  Since then, I have been featured in 83 treasuries!  Can you believe it?  I can't!  Well, I would like to share a few of the most recent treasury lists with you.  It is such a fun way to shop and explore Etsy to find new artists and amazing vintage stuff.  Some of the themes and collections are so AMAZING.  You'll see.



  My friend (and a fellow artist) Jenny of ReturnStudio created the above list.  (The jewelry she makes is so cool, please take a  moment to check out her shop.)  My cards are featured in the top row of her treasury list!  Suuuuuch goooood stuff!  Clever theme and I adore the color scheme!




  I absolutely love this treasury.  Great stuff again!  Can you find my necklace?  Its in the third row, on the left.




  Two by two, oh my gosh!  Is that cute, or what?  I have a pair of sweetheart earrings featured here.




  I.  Love.  This.  Theme.  Pretty much love everything in this list.  Great collection.  They featured my sweet and sassy headband with flower and feathers (and a bunch of other neat stuff). 




  Finally, this is the most recent treasury.  Nice shopping guide for Easter or Mother's Day.  My hair clip is in the last row, on the left.


Thanks for taking some time out of your day to take a peek at the treasuries!  I would love it if you would leave a comment here or on the treasury pages! 
Thank you to everyone who has featured one of my items in their treasury lists!  It is so exciting each and every time I get a new treasury notice.

Spring Fever - Shop Update

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

This is one of my favorite pieces.  Its so pretty I can't even stand it.  For the love of all things pastel, vintage-inspired and girly!  Among the fabulous details are four handmade flowers, a vintage button, czech glass beads, a budding branch, ribbons, and a pair of embroidered eco-felt leaves on an elastic headband.  If I can bear to part with it, you will be able to find it in the shop later today.

Shop Update - coming soon!

This ADORABLE dotted tulle mini veil is just one of the new pieces you can find in the shop very soon!  I hope to photograph it in a model in the next few days and then it will be posted in the shop.  This is my first exploration working with a blusher-type veil.  It can be worn in the front/side like a traditional blusher, or perched upon your updo.

I am feeling very springy, in spite of the winter storm we are experiencing.  I am also working on a headband in pastel colors (no photos yet, you'll have to check back later to see that cutie-pie).  I also have a few pairs of earrings I completed over the weekend.  Perhaps I'll photographs them this afternoon...  if the light is good.  Meanwhile, scoot over to the shop and see the cute new headbands I posted last week!

Its a wrap!

When I ship something, I love to make the packaging (you know, boxes, bubble mailers, etc...). I always try to challenge myself to see what I can come up with using recycled/repurposed materials.   I made these bubble mailers out of brown paper grocery bags, an old lighting catalog and some bits of a beautiful sheet of art paper.  I also added some ink and rubber stamping, as well as using contrasting thread to sew them up.  The bubble wrap I used for the inside was 'trash' my Mom and I saved from the landfill.  She works in industrial food services and great big pieces of it were used for lining boxes... used just once and then chucked in the trash!  Well, we fixed that!

This stack of twelve mailers was a custom order for a girl who wanted to send out her graduation announcements with a CD of pictures.  She was looking for a cool, unique way to package/present the CD and the envelope.  I chose the paper from the lighting catalog because she had a background in theater.  I provided the manila shipping tags for addressing the envelopes.

Wouldn't you just be so excited to find one of these in your mailbox?  It could happen, skip on over to the shop and pick out something pretty for yourself.  I guarantee it will arrive wrapped in eco-conscious style!  In fact, I have as much fun packaging items and I do making them!

Subject: Feedback

I like getting feedback from my Etsy customers.  Its especially fun to hear if they have done something cool with my stuff.  A while back, (okay it was last June, I KNOW I have been a wretched blogger, puh-leeze forgive me?)... so ahem, last June a customer purchased a set of my handmade cards and this is what she said about them.  "Loved them! So pretty- I'm actually using them to decorate my room and they work perfectly- thanks!"  I think this is a perfectly lovely idea.  These are the cards she was speaking of:

I wish I had a picture of her room!  I'm imagining an adorable cottage style with lots lots of vintage things.  Cards as framed art - LOVE it!

For the love of patchwork

What does one do with a pile of teensy tiny fabric scraps?  Why, make patchwork, of course!  I LOVE working with colors...

I've decided to whip up a batch of patchwork baby bibs from sweet booties! (its actually called the 'too too fun bib' in the book).  I meant to make one for my niece, but once I started playing with the fabric scraps, I was having WAY too much fun and I couldn't decide which color combination I liked best.  So, I am making a little stash of them.  After all, you never know when you'll need to give an (adorable) baby gift.

subject: I've been naughty this year

  Okay, lets just take a moment to address the glaring fact that I have not posted a single thing on this blog for a whopping 139 days.  What have I been doing for the last 4 months and 16 days?  Well, I can assure you, dear readers, that I have been making lots of art and that I have photographed many things which I intended to post about.  Doesn't that count for something?  I'm not going to make excuses, people.  I'm going to blog.  Mark my words.  Do it.  Yeah.

  Moving on, please don't hold it against me that I've neglected you for approximately 3,336 hours.  I'll make it up to you.  I have a funny little Thanksgiving story to share.

  Have you met my cat?  Readers, its about time for you to meet Charley.  He and I spend a lot of time together.  I work here at home, so we are best pals.  Lets try to pretend that I don't talk to him all day long because I don't want you to think I'm a crazy cat lady.  But I do and I am.  He's just so lovable, you'll see.  Whatever. 

This is a story involving pumpkins: 

  Jarrahdale, (Ghirardelli)  -  Sort of a flattened shape and deeply ribbed, this one is a light blue/grey kind of slate color and a beautiful smooth skin.  This pumpkin is an Australian heirloom variety.  The flesh is golden yellow with a mild, only slightly sweet, flavor.  This variety has a very dense rind - you may need an axe to cut it in half!  But that thick skin pays off, you can store this pumpkin for up to two years!  Some say this is the best pumpkin for pumpkin pies.

  Galeux d’Eysines  -  A French heirloom with salmon-peach skin covered in tan peanut-looking warts.  The longer these fruits mature, the wartier they become.  This corking results from expanded fractures in the skin that occur because of the fruit’s high sugar content and thin skin.  The flesh is very creamy and smooth and is a favorite for pies and soups.  Its name means “embroidered with warts from Eysines” - the small city in France from which it hails.



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This is the first pumpkin Brian gave me (last year).  Notice, it has fewer sugar deposits compared to the Galeux d’Eysines that were harvested this season, it was still very sweet though.



  My friend Brian brought me five (YES 5) pumpkins this year.  Aren't they beautiful?  It all began last year when he brought me one of the Galeux d’Eysines from the farm of a family friend.  I made my first pumpkin pie from scratch and oh, my, my.  Actually, that one pumpkin made two pies, dozens of muffins and a batch of pumpkin-apple butter.  So when he asked me if I wanted some more pumpkins this year, I said "YES please!"  So in the midst of Thanksgiving preparations, I was photographing the pumpkins before roasting and pie-making.  Then I put the first pumpkin in the oven to roast.  I love the smell of vegetables roasting!  I noticed Charley hanging out in the kitchen doorway.  Its one of his favorite spots to survey the action.  Then I noticed something funny in the background.  Apparently Charley was feeling thankful and wanted to get in on the celebratory action too.  He was 'roasting' his birdie over the floor vent.  (He chooses not to participate in our vegetarian lifestyle but we're okay with that.)  

All right, now that I've entertained you with a story, beautiful photographs of luscious pumpkins and introduced you to my snoozie-woozle cat, can we please agree to just forget about my 200,160 minute lapse in blogging?  I'm so embarassed!  We must never mention this again!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about all the lovely new things I have been making for my Etsy shop!  Check it out right away if you want to get something in time for Christmas!

http://www.pair.etsy.com/

We are delighted to be included in another Etsy Treasury!

  About Treasury:

Treasury is Etsy's ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery. Create and share lists of items.
Beautiful, diverse lists may be featured on Etsy's home page.  (This potential is why its exciting to be featured in a treasury.)

You'll always discover gems when you hunt for treasure in Etsy's community-curated treasury lists  — you can find your favorite themes or create your own collection and share it with friends. These amazing Etsy Finds come from bouncing around Treasury and exploring associated tags, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's something for everyone, so dive in!

This morning I have awakened to a lovely surprise.  I fed the kitty and sat down at the computer with my morning coffee, only to discover that my 'citrus and melon - handmade fabric flower corsage' (pictured above) has been chosen for ellabelleboutique's treasury called 'cool summer melon'.  See it here!  I just posted this corsage in the shop yesterday, its one of my favorite new pieces.  Find it in the shop here.

Handmade Cards on SALE this week!

Lets get the new year off to a good start, how about a SALE!  Handmade cards (just the singles, not the sets) no longer $5, NOW $3.00!  Sale ends this Friday, January 8th at midnight.  Just head over to my Etsy shop to check it out.  http://www.pair.etsy.com/

Weekend Deal

I'm participating in another of Etsy's Weekend Deals:

FREE Worldwide Shipping 9/11 - 9/13 on all items in my Etsy shop!

Please enter code: "Weekend Deals" in the Notes to Seller and I will promptly refund the shipping cost into Buyer's PayPal account. (If you prefer to have the price adjusted prior to purchase, please send me a convo and I will reduce the price for you.)
http://www.pair.etsy.com/

Find these earrings in my shop.  Follow this link:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=30601342

 I have recently listed two sets of handmade notecards featuring the butterfly girls on gorgeous patterned background papers.  They look so cute all wrapped up with my labels!  A set of these notecards would make a great gift.  See the listings here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30597996

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=30599472

This is one reason why I love Etsy...

There are so many people I can connect with and learn from, who have the same kind of (sometimes wacky) interests as I do!  FINALLY, I've found my peeps!  Check out this video about Mimi Kirchner, she makes dolls.   I've always wanted to learn all the 'Little House on the Prairie' home crafts.  Sewing, embroidery, knitting, weaving, etc...   Last week, my mom and I spent a few days canning green & yellow beans and salsa.  I felt very satisfied after "putting up the harvest" in my pantry and looking at all the cans.  I loved learning the whole process with my Mom.

  Anyway, back to dolls and back to Etsy.  In the spirit of doll-sharings, I'd like to share my first doll project.  This is Dolly Madison.  I made her for my neice (her name is Madison -- ha, get it?) on the occasion of her first birthday.  The basic pattern is from one of my favorite Etsians, http://www.theblackapple.etsy.com/  Find the pattern here:  go to her blog http://www.theblackapple.typepad.com/
click on "Watch Emily & Martha Make Dolls" scroll down a bit its on the left.  Or just go to the Martha Stewart website and search for 'Black Apple Doll'.  I embellished the basic pattern with lots of tiny treasures from my stash (and som specially purchsed new items).  I used the lovely tan color leather (furniture swatches, originally meant to be thrown away but I rescued them), cut the edges with pinking shears, to make the scaloped collar on her dress.  I used some beautiful and soft espresso color sueded leather to make her hair.  I wanted her to look like baby Madison.  I made her little leather mary jane shoes out of more beautiful leather from my stash.  I used new materials for the body, the stuffing, the dress, the striped stockings and the glittery pink button.  This project was a such a hoot.  Dolly Madison just cracks me up!  After watching Mimi Kirchner's video, I'm feeling inspired to dig into the stash once more and see who emerges this time...

Labor Day Weekend SALE - check out my Etsy shop!

I've posted some new items in the shop (see above).  I've been participating in the regular schedule of sales/promotions that Etsy offers.  There is always a different theme, such as 'Free Shipping', 'BOGO', 10% off accessories, etc...  I also host my own sales and promotions, so the sweet deals are abundant at http://www.pair.etsy.com/ (I suggest you check in now & then to see what's hot!)

Here is the scoop:
15% off entire order!  Enter code "Weekend Deals" in the Notes to Seller when prompted at checkout. Discount will be applied (pre-shipping) to the buyer's PayPal account.  If you prefer to have the price adjusted prior to purchase, please send me a convo and I will reduce the price for you.  Sale ends Monday, September 7th at midnight.

SALE gift sets - jewelry & handmade cards

So I've been noticing lately that many of my jewelry items match my cards (probably because I'm naturally drawn to colors I like, so I use similar colors and color combinations a lot). I thought it would be cool to offer the earrings with your choice of a matching card. I would also like to offer sets with a necklace, matching earrings and a card. Free gift wrapping if its for someone special. (Although my 'regular' packaging isn't too shabby either). So, here it is:

SALE!!!

Choose 1 pair of earrings plus 1 handmade card = $10.00 the perfect small gift!

Or, choose 1 necklace, (get a FREE pair of matching earrings)

plus choose 1 handmade card = $30.00

This offer is perfect for gifts or keep the jewelry and give the cards away. You will find that many of my cards 'match' the jewelry, so you can likely achieve a matching set. The cards are frameable. Enter code "Sale gift sets" in Notes To Seller. The discount will be refunded into the buyer's PayPal account. Offer expires Friday Sept. 4th at midnight. http://www.pair.etsy.com/