Misty Ridge Designs

Aspiring Metalsmiths Project Blogroll - So many techniques so little time

2010-12-10T18:04:00.000-05:00

Each month my Etsy team, The Aspiring Metalsmiths, does a blogging project where we choose a specific topic and then everyone writes a blog post addressing the chosen topic. This month's topic is "The technique I want to learn next". Oh my goodness, I could probably write a novel on the is topic. Being completely self taught and having only recently began my adventures in metal work, there's an endless list of techniques that I desperately want to learn. So after alot of going back and forth I have decided that there are actually two techniques that are a tie for the technique that I would most like to learn next. I can't really put one higher on the list than the other so I'll just share some examples of each technique.

The techniques I want to learn next are known as flush setting and foldforming. Flush setting involves taking a small faceted stone and setting it in metal in such a way that the top of the stone rests flush with the surrounding metal. For example notice how the stones in this ring by myheartmonster are set directly into the metal of the rings band.

In order to do this technique successfully, one must have a few special tools. I have asked Santa to bring me these tools for Christmas so perhaps I will get to try this technique in the new year. Keeping my fingers crossed.

The other technique that I would love to learn is known as foldforming. This is a technique in which sheet metal is folded, hammered and manipulated in various ways to give the resulting piece three dimensionality and shape. Here are just a few awesome examples of this technique.

This technique doesn't require any specialized tools. All that you really need is a hammer and a vise and a good pair of earplugs probably wouldn't be a bad thing. So I might tackle this one first. I will try to keep you all posted on my successes and failures as I embark on teaching myself yet another new way to manipulate metal and make pretty little trinkets. Wish me luck.

Now take a few minutes to see what my teammates want to learn in the new year. I'm sure it will be an interesting mix of techniques and you might just find a new favorite artist. Thanks.

Pennee - http://allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Gayle - http://thisartistsjourney.blogspot.com
Jessica @ Abella Blue - www.abellablue.com/blog
Sylvia Anderson - http://www.sylviaanderson.blogspot.com/
Autumn Bradley - www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Scrollwork Designs - www.thesquarepegnation.blogspot.com
Claire - http://brightstar109.blogspot.com/
Carole - http://www.caroleaxiumdesigns.com/journal/
Heather - http://mistyridgedesigns.blogspot.com
Brandy - http://thefrogspond.wordpress.com
Esmeralda (SilverBlueberry) - http://jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com/
Stacy http://formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/
Steph Stargell Designs - http://stephstargell.com

New Items Listed

2010-12-07T18:15:00.001-05:00

Have you checked out www.mistyridge.etsy.com lately? If not stop by and take a quick look. I have added a few new items just in time for Christmas shopping and will be adding more all week. Here's just a quick sampling

New items due to be added all week this week stop by and check us out.

All I Want For Christmas Is.....This and This and That oh and Maybe That Too

2010-12-02T20:56:00.002-05:00

Dear Santa,
I have tried to be a very good girl this year and I have several things that I would love to have for Christmas. Please put the following things under my name on your list. Remember you should find me on the nice list by the way. Thanks Santa. Take care and fly safe. Can't wait to see what ends up under my tree.

Heather's List of Big Girl Toys

1.This lovely little rolling mill

2. This little PMC and Enameling Kiln

3. These stone setting Burs

4. This gravers set

5. This great little texture wheel

This is just the top 5 on a really large list of toys, oops I mean tools, yeah tools of course, that I would love to give a happy home to. Of course silver wire and sheet are always welcome as well. Please oh please oh please Santa don't forget me and don't skip my house.

Updated info on the Etsy NASA Space Craft Contest

2010-11-23T15:39:00.001-05:00

Well wonders never cease. LOL. Hi all I just found out that I am getting another chance at the NASA Etsy space craft contest. Apparently there were some technical issues with the previous judging and voting process. You can see what Etsy has to say about what happened at this link if you're interested

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6694098

I would really appreciate it if you all could possibly take a minute to go vote for my rocket nite lite. It is very important that you be a registered member of Etsy.com in order to vote. You can get info on voting and a link to register an account here
http:/.../www.etsy.com/nasa

Once you have a registered etsy account, please visit this page to vote for my entry
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=117

Thanks for all your help. Also it is important that you only vote once otherwise Etsy reserves the right to disqualify an entry that they feel is trying to stack the deck with multiple votes from one person. Please help me pass this along and get as many votes as possible by sharing with your friends and families. Thanks in advance. You guys rock.

Adventures in Metal

2010-11-19T02:28:00.001-05:00

Recently Etsy co-hosted a contest with NASA. The contest called for handmade art designed and produced to commemorate the end of the NASA space shuttle program which is scheduled to be terminated in 2011. Now it just so happens that my etsy team, The Aspiring Metalsmiths, also does a monthly design challenge and this months theme required that we step outside our comfort zone and make a non jewelry metals piece. I took this opportunity to design and build a mixed metals collage/sculpture which I submitted to the Etsy contest and will also submit to the AMT monthly challenge as well.
For my entry I designed a nite-lite that features a couple of set stones and an "orbiting" space shuttle and planet. I hand punched the back drop and set a red sea sediment jasper in the upper left hand corner representing a planet, perhaps THE red planet i.e Mars, and a white mother of pearl shell on the lower right to represent the moon. I then etched a small space shuttle and a ringed planet and attached them to opposite ends of a clock hand. By inserting the battery into the clock mechanism, the space shuttle and the planet "orbit" around the etched earth foreground piece. As the shuttle descends behind the earth the planet is just rising and beginning its journey across the sky. Lastly, I attached a small light fixture to the back of the piece that takes a typical 7 watt nite lite bulb. When the light is turned on the light shines through the punched "stars" and casts a myriad of constellations onto the wall.
I had alot of fun making this piece and will probably try to make more non jewelry items in the future. Until then take a look at these pics and let me know what you think.

Take a look at a video of the rocket and planet in motion at this link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32112936@N02/5193630953/

Show and Tell - The Aspiring Metalsmiths Monthly Blogroll Project

2010-11-10T01:28:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned the other day, I am a member of a wonderful team of jewelry and metals artists called The Aspiring Metalsmiths. This is a great group of metal artists of varying skill levels and years of experience in the craft of handmade jewelry and metals art. The group gets together daily on the Etsy forums to share ideas and inspiration with one another in all aspects of jewelry design and small business marketing. In addition to the daily doses of camaraderie in the Etsy forums, the team shares a blog and flickr pool on which we share pictures of our recent designs and hold monthly design challenges etc. Recently the team decided to begin a monthly blogging project. The way it works is, team members will blog on the 10th of every month on a predetermined topic. At the end of each post the author will include a list of links to team members who have chosen to participate in that months topic so readers can get a variety of unique points of view from a group of like minded individuals. This being the very first installment of the Blogroll Project, the chosen topic is sort of a meet and great with the challenge being to show our workspace. So ready or not, here we go.

I know some of the chatter in the forum the past couple of days has been about teamies cleaning their work-spaces in preparation for this blog challenge. Well be forewarned, I am totally keeping it real and to borrow a phrase from my teammate Clarity, you're getting to see my chaotic workspace in all of its "ghetto-fabulous" glory. LOL But seriously, this is what the work room looks like currently because 1) I have been extremely busy trying to get ready for a show during the last few weeks and 2) I have been having a flare with my MCTD so every bit of energy that I have had over the last month has gone into actually making new items and working on preparing listings for my etsy shop. So without further ado....

I'm really quite lucky because I have an entire spare room that I have been able to dedicate to my work area. Within the room I have set up three basic stations/areas. The first station is my design layout and etching area

The second area is my beading table with all of my many beads and baubles, my hammers, pliers, and other miscellaneous items that always seem to land there.

The third station is where I play with Fire! If you look in the lower left corner you'll see my handy plumbers torch. If you look really close you'll see my two small butane micro torches setting on the table on the right. In the back corner is a bunch of long neglected glass rods for making glass beads.(Note to self: Make some beads already!!! LOL)

Well that's basically it. The only thing missing is the computer station with my desktop computer and my bookcase which is full of magazines and books on jewelry making. So now you've had a glimpse into my chaotic little corner of the universe. I know from the looks of it it's probably hard to believe I ever get anything done at all but I promise it's organized chaos honestly it is.

Now take a few minutes to take a look around the studio spaces of some of my esteemed teammates. Just don't rub it in if theirs is all nice and tidy. LOL

All Wired Up Jewelry Designs - http://allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Brandy, The Frogs Pond - http://thefrogspond.wordpress.com/
Carole Axium - http://www.caroleaxiumdesigns.com/journal/
Clarity, Scrollwork Designs - http://www.thesquarepegnation.blogspot.com
Esmeralda, SilverBlueberry - http://jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com/
Golden Water Creations - http://www.goldenwatercreations.blogspot.com
Jessica Lopour - http://www.abellablue.com/blog
Joy - http://joypeckjoy.blogspot.com/
Nancy Creations - http://nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Stacy (Form and Funktion) - http://formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/
Steph Stargell Designs - http://stephstargell.com
Sylvia Anderson - http://www.SylviaAnderson.blogspot.com
Lisa, SandyToesJewelry - http://sandytoesjewelry.blogspot.com

Back to Blogging

2010-11-08T23:35:00.001-05:00

Well I've really neglected the old blog this year. I noticed my last post was way back in March. With the year almost at its end I have vowed to revisit the blog-o-sphere. I'm gonna try to get things back on track here and begin to post again on a regular basis.

So why the long hiatus? Well, it's been a crazy year around here. I am very happy to say that my dad is still recovering very well. This month is the one year anniversary of his laryngectomy surgery. This time last year we were so busy with his nursing care and recovery my mom and I barely had time to breath much less do anything else. He was a very sick fellow but he is improving everyday and is cancer free as far as we know. He is eating now and hopefully the feeding tube will be removed next month. We have been very blessed.

As for me, things are about the same. I have been trying to learn more advanced metal smith techniques to apply to my jewelry. I've been learning to make bezels and set cabochons which has been a lot of fun. I found this wonderful group of artists on Etsy called the Aspiring Metalsmiths. They are a wonderful group of exceptionally talented artisans and have been integral to my learning new jewelry and metal skills. They are so very friendly and forthcoming with wonderful advice and encouragement. Please take a few minutes to check out their beautiful work in there Etsy shops. You can find a list of members and links to each one's shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/5627/aspiring-metalsmiths
Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

So bear with me and we'll see how this works out. I have some new pieces that I'll be sharing on occasion. I want to try to share some of the neat techniques that I'm learning as well so hopefully there will be some techniques posts coming. I'll try to keep things as interesting as I can and not bore you all to much. I would like to introduce you all to some of the great folks in the AMT and do some feature posts to showcase their amazing work. So hang in there and hopefully we will have a fun and informative blogging year.

Till next time.........

Getting Centered and Reoriented: I Need Your Help

2010-03-03T01:02:00.001-05:00

I just checked in on my blog for the first time since my last post which was oh so long ago. I noticed right away that unfortunately I have lost a few followers during my unfortunate hiatus. I have been taking some time during the last couple of months to try to rest and re-center myself. As you know, if you have read any of my last 4 or 5 posts, my family has been dealing with some health issues involving my father. I am so glad to report that he is doing quite well now. His surgical site has healed very well so he is not currently requiring the extensive dressing changes and wound packings. They finally removed his temporary feeding tube that was in his nose and replaced it with a more permanent peg tube which has helped him to be more comfortable. He is slowly regaining strength and is trying to participate more in his own care and feeding. Now that he and my mom are both feeling more comfortable with his care, I have been able to return home. Now, I can provide my nursing services via telephone, which I do on average about once a day ;). (You know I love you mom and dad).

So now I am slowly trying to get back into my routine. I want to get the blog going again and I have been reading up on all of the Etsy storque and forum posts about blogging and improving blog content. So I am posting this evening to ask for your help. Just prior to my forced hiatus, I had developed a blog plan which I was attempting to incorporate. What I would like from you guys is suggestions.

What do you look for in the blogs you follow?
Why did you choose to follow MY blog?
Please help me out here guys. Help me to get my flow going again. I am open to all suggestions so let them rip.

Thanks so very much.

New Photography Shop

2010-01-29T21:39:00.002-05:00

Hi all,
Hope all are doing well. Still trying to get back on track here. Trying to get my strength back after helping with dad. He is doing pretty well. He finally got rid of the feeding tube in his nose and they put a permanent feeding tube directly into his stomach. It was an outpatient surgery and everything seems to be going well so far. I think he feels much better not having that constant irritation in his nose and throat. I think now he will be able to do better with his swallowing exercises and hopefully learn to eat again, in time.

In the meantime, I would really appreciate it if you all would take a look at my friends new Photography and Art shop on etsy. She takes some really great photos and alters some of them into some awesome artistic representations of her original photos. I would really love your feedback on the shop and any ideas or suggestions that you may have. She is considering using her photos on other items that could be multi-functional, but isn't really sure as to what others would find most useful. What would you all suggest? Thanks for your input and for taking a look.

As for my shop, things are still sort of on pause until I can regain enough strength to start producing again. Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks a bunch. Have a wonderful day.

2010-01-08T15:08:00.000-05:00

Wow! Its been over a month since my last post. First of all Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday. The holiday celebrations were postponed around here because it was just too crazy trying to help take care of dad and everything to do the traveling, cooking, baking, etc. Besides, its sort of hard to cook a big celebration dinner and such when you know how bad dad wants to eat but can't. So we have decided that we will have a big get together and celebrate when he can eat and enjoy everything with us.
I am finally at home for the time being. He and mom are doing pretty good with his care now that all of the surgery sites have healed and the trach is gone. The only thing left now is the feeding tube which is about to drive him nuts. I know that he can't wait to get rid of that thing. Unfortunately, the speech therapist said it would have to stay until he can safely swallow enough to maintain his weight and nutritional needs. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.
I am trying to get motivated enough to get back to the shop and get some jewelry pieces made. The stress and physical demands of caring for dad and being away from home for over a month has really got me down physically. I am really exhausted and my arthritis and colitis are both flaring up really bad. Maybe I will be able to get back on schedule soon. In the meantime I appreciate everyone's kind wishes and prayers. Hope to talk to you all again soon.

Wonderful News

2009-12-01T08:41:00.000-05:00

Well we made yet another trip to Winston Salem yesterday for a follow up appointment for dad. The surgeons feel that he is progressing very well. They gave him instructions to begin plugging his trach 24 hours a day and to try to melt ice chips in his mouth and swallow them. If he does well this week with having the trach plugged at all times and can swallow the ice chips without aspirating they plan to remove his trach next week when we go back on Monday. That will be such a wonderful thing for him to get rid of the trach. Then the next step will be to learn to swallow foods safely without aspirating anything and then he can finally eat again. I must say that God is Great. He has blessed us so much throughout this whole experience and I must give Him all the praise and glory.
I am so proud of my dad as well. He has done so well and is working so very hard to get well. I just pray that he will be able to continue to progress. I just wanted to give a quick update. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully I will be able to get back to doing the featured shop posts and blog giveaways soon. Have a great day.

Just Enough Time for a Quick Update

2009-11-25T04:03:00.000-05:00

It seems like it has been forever since I have been able to post. They discharged dad from the hospital this past Wednesday so I have been staying with my parents since then to help mom take care of him. He is really doing very well considering the type of surgery that he had and all of his pathology reports came back clear. As of right now he is cancer free and we found out Monday that he will not need any radiation or chemo follow-up. We have been so very blessed through out this whole experience and have had so many answered prayers. I want to thank all of you who have sent your well wishes and who have kept him and my mom in your prayers, you don't know how much that means to me. I pray that he will continue to recover without any further complications.
Unfortunately, mom and pops aren't very computer savvy and I have no internet access while I am staying with them. I came home last night so that I could take care of some things that I just couldn't postpone or reschedule but will be going back later this evening. My friend has been keeping an eye on the shop and will be letting me know if and when any orders are placed. So we are technically still open for business but new item listings have been postponed until I can get a little more free time. Looks like I will be missing out on another Christmas shopping season but that's ok. Family always comes first. Hope that all is well with you and yours. Have a great Thanksgiving. I will post again as soon as I get a chance.

What's Up

2009-11-13T14:49:00.000-05:00

Well we got some good news. Dad's pathology report came back totally clear which means they were able to get all of the cancer during the surgery. The lymph nodes and everything were negative. God is good. As for the shop and blog and all of that I am trying to work on new pieces for a show at the end of the month. I will be going to stay with my mom and dad for a few days so I will be away from the shop without any internet access until I get back home so I plan to put the shop in vacation mode. I will be able to take some of my jewelry making supplies and tools and work on some wire wrapped pieces. Hopefully when I return home I will have a few new pieces ready to post in the shop. I have been working on some new etched designs and playing around with some enamels so I am pretty excited to share those. So just bear with me for the next couple of days until I can get mom and dad settled at home and make sure that they are comfortable enough to be alone. Please continue to send your good thoughts and lots of prayers their way. He still has a lot of healing and rehab to do yet. Thanks for all of the well wishes and for keeping us in your thoughts. Talk to you all soon.

I Have Gotten a Little Bit Off Track

2009-11-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Good Morning Everyone,
Just wanted to make a quick post to apologize for not being able to keep up with the giveaways and featured artists segments. I have gotten a little off track with the blog posts recently. They moved my dad's surgery up by almost a week so I have been at the hospital almost all day every day with the exception of yesterday and today. I haven't had the time or the access to the web to keep things going on schedule and I apologize. Hopefully things will return to "normal" soon. Dad is doing really well with his recovery so we are hoping he will get to go home soon. Thanks to everyone for all of their well wishes and prayers. They truly do mean a lot to me. Well gotta run. Have a great day.

The Winner of the Little Girls Reversible Red Pinafor Dress from ArtsyCrafty

2009-11-03T20:39:00.001-05:00

Thank you so much to all who entered in the giveaway for the adorable little girls pinafore dress from Artsycrafty.I really appreciate all of your support and participation. If wecontinue to have good participation then we can continue to havegreat items donated for giveaways so keep it up guys you all are thegreatest.

So without further ado, the winner is.......

Bombtastic Belle !!!!

Congratulations. Judy the owner of Artsy Crafty will be in touch with you soon via the contact info that youprovided in order to get your ship to information. I hope that you willbe pleased with the dress. Thank you so much for your participation.Congratulations once again.

***Asalways the winner was determined using the list randomizer atRandom.org. I will be more than happy to provide a copy of therandomized list to anyone who wishes to see it. Just let me know and Ican send it to you via an email attachment. Thanks***

Meandering Mondays: How to Make Your Purchases on Etsy --Step-by-Step Instructions

2009-11-02T09:00:00.002-05:00

Check out step by step
If you have recently made a purchase from a merchant on Etsy and you received a reminder email stating that you haven't paid for the purchase please do not be offended. Often new members to the Etsy community (and sometimes even us Etsy veterans) don't realize that their transaction is not complete until they reach the Etsy screen with a large green check mark beside the caption ' Paid using Paypal' for items from each merchant they have chosen to purchase from. (You can see an example of this screen at the link in step 5 below).

STEP 1)
You can go back to the check out for youritem when logged in to Etsy, click on the grey 'your Etsy' tab at the top of the screen when you log into to your Etsy account andclick on 'purchases', in blue, at the top left corner.

STEP 2)
Afteryou filled in your address you see an option with 'pay now with Paypal'That's the button you should click for both credit card or Paypal account payments (even if you don't have a Paypal account you still have to click on the 'pay now with Paypal' button because Paypal is also the company who processes all credit card transactions for the Etsy site). Seeit here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/385498824/in/set-72157594527812262/

STEP 3)
This takes you to Paypal. You'll see a screen where you can choose yourpayment method. If there's currently no money in your Paypal account, or you do not have a Paypal account, youcan also choose to use your credit card in the bottom part of thescreen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/365363424/in/set-72157594527812262/

STEP 4)
If you have a Paypal account, you click 'login' on the right hand of the screen as seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/365363424/in/set-72157594527812262/
when you click on 'Login' you will go to this screen,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/385502008/in/set-72157594527812262/
Now click on the orange button that says 'Pay $XX Now' and the amount of your transaction will be deducted from your Paypal account.

If you don not have a Paypal account then you should have clicked on the 'continue' option (in blue) on the left hand of the screen seen in Step 3:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/365363424/in/set-72157594527812262/
That will take you to this screen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/365363426/in/set-72157594527812262/
Here you will enter all of your credit card and ship to information then click on the orange button at the bottom that says 'Review order and Continue'.

STEP 5)
After you click on either the orange 'Pay $XX Now' button when using a Paypal account OR the orange 'Review order and Continue' button when using a Credit Card, you should be redirected back to Etsy to this screen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydesigns/385502011/in/set-72157594527812262/
Here you should see a large green check mark beside the caption 'Paid using Paypal' if you see the check mark and caption then your transaction has been completed successfully and payment has been sent to the seller. If you do not see the green check and the caption then no money has been sent to the seller and your items are not paid for yet. If you are still having trouble contact the shop owner that you are trying to purchase from for additional help in finalizing your payment. I am sure they would be more than glad to assist you.

A version of this was recently posted in the forums on Etsy in response to the number of non-paying buyers. (I did take the liberty of making a few changes to make certain points a little easier to understand) In the majority of cases, the buyers aren't intentionally not paying for their purchases but rather they are unsure of how to follow through with the Etsy checkout system to completion and payment finalization, particularly in the case of customers who are brand new to the Etsy community. I want to thank Kinchi for posting this for us in the forums as well as Starrydesigns for the great screen shots. I hope this will help others to get a working knowledge of how the Etsy process works. I know that it is a lot of steps but after you have successfully completed a couple of transactions you will have it down pat.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it is of some help to someone. If you are a shop owner who knows people who are interested in your items but they are uncomfortable with the Etsy procedures please feel free to share this with them.

Wordless Wednesday: EJ meets the Geese

2009-10-28T09:00:00.001-04:00

EJ is my little 20lb terrier/chihuahua mix who thinks he is Rottweiler; these geese totally messed with his self image

Bless him. This was his first camping trip. He wasn't sure what to do with himself.

This is much more his style:

(yes he has to take his toy's to bed)

Anyone else seeing a common theme here?

LOL

CLOSEDMeandering Mondays: Handmade Reversible Little Girls Pinafore Giveaway

2009-10-26T09:06:00.005-04:00

Thank you for your interest. The giveaway is now closed as of Nov. 3rd, 2009 at 8 P.M. EST

Good Morning,

In her etsy shop at www.ArtsyCrafty.etsy.com, Judy S. has many really cute handmade garments for both boys and girls in preemie, infant and toddler sizes. She was nice enough to donate an adorable handmade little girls pinafore for this weeks blog giveaway. In case you aren't familiar with this term, a pinafore is what is commonly referred to as a jumper. It is a sleeveless, collarless dress intended to be worn over a blouse, shirt or sweater. The pinafore, that Judy has so graciously donated, is a toddler's size 2 and is reversible which means you are essentially getting two outfits in one.

One side is solid red with an adorable applique of a reindeer wrapped up in Christmas lights and the reverse side is a red and cream stripe fabric with an embroidered definition of girl, which reads "girl, n.: curls with giggles". Both fabrics are 100% cotton. The red solid side is baby wale corduroy. The pinafore has button closures on both the straps and the sides. You could pair this with a solid white or solid green long sleeve onesie to make an excellent holiday gift or keep it for your own little one as a perfect holiday outfit.

So now I know you want to know how to win this adorable handmade garment. Well here are the giveaway entry rules:

HOW TO ENTER. (MANDATORY)
To enter visit Judy's shop, ArtsyCrafty, and leave me a comment on this post telling me which item in her shop is your favorite and leave me a link to the item in your comment.

Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you if you win!

EXTRA ENTRIES- Each of these must be left as a separate comment

1 - Follow my blog (if you are already following me leave a comment letting me know).
1 - Follow Judy' on Twitter
1 - Follow me on Twitter AND leave your twitter name in your comment
1 - Tweet this giveaway
1 - Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to the post here.
1 - Place my button on your blog.
1 - Post about this give away on facebook then leave me a comment with a link to the post.
1 – Become a fan of Misty Ridge Designs on facebook AND leave your facebook name inyour comment
1- Sign up for my email newsletter for news once a month about new items in my shop,special promotions for subscribers only and other great bonuses.
1- Agree to donate an item and sponsor a future giveaway on my blog.
Please use the email me link in the left sidebar under Giveaway Stats. If you agree tosponsor a future giveaway you MUST accept the terms as listed at the end of this postunder the heading For Potential Sponsors

***Special Bonus Worth 5 Additional Entries***
If you make a purchase from Judy's shop between Oct. 26th and Nov. 4th you will receive 5 additional entries WHEN your payment clears. Leave me a comment letting me know that you purchased an item from ArtsyCrafty and once I verify with Judy that the payment has cleared then I will add your name to the "hat" 5 more times.

That allows each entrant up to 16 total chances at snagging this great prize!

Leave a SEPARATE comment for EACHentry you qualify for. You must have completed the first entryaccording to the instructions to be eligible for any bonus entries.

*****NOTICE*****.
This giveaway is open to US andInternational participants. This giveaway begins today and will end on Teusday November 3rd, 2009 at 7pm EST. The winner will be determinedusing the free random list generator at www.random.org. Your name will be added to the list one time for each eligible entry that you submit. I will post the winner here on my blog on Thurs. Nov. 5th.

Only comments containing all of the requested information will be eligible for entry. Thewinner must contact me to confirm they wish to receive the prize, andto provide me with the mailing address to which you wish the item to bemailed, within two days of my email notifying you that you have won. Ifyou fail to contact me within two days of being notified of winning youwill forfeit the prize and it will be awarded to the next person on therandomly generated list of entrants.
The winner will receive the itemdirectly from the giveaway sponsor (Judy). I will forward your mailinginformation to her and she will ship the item to you.

For Potential Sponsors
I never ask that a giveawaysponsor send me any merchandise personally. It is the responsibility ofthe sponsor to pay shipping charges and to ensure that the item isshipped in a timely manner. For this reason each sponsor determines ifa giveaway will or will not be open to international participants.

Good luck to everyone!

***Note on the JaneasJewels Giveaway***
In my opinion, the last giveawaywas a great success. We had 190 entries from a total of 73 uniqueparticipants. That means that the etsy shop owner who sponsored thegiveaway and donated the free item received at least 73 unique visitsto her shop. I will have more specific stats about the amount oftraffic that the giveaway generated for last weeks sponsorin the next few days and I will post them in the left side bar. Pleasecheck back to see what effect the giveaway had on Janaes etsy shop. Ihope others will consider sponsoring a giveaway as well.

Fridays Featured Artist: Kiki from Kikisthings.etsy.com

2009-10-23T09:00:00.002-04:00

Todays featured etsy artist Kiki from Kikisthings. Kiki makes awesome children's dress up clothes and costumes. As she says in the interview "They're not just for Halloween anymore", they are great for themed birthday parties, school plays and functions, or just for longs days of pretend and play. So take a moment to relax and meet Kiki as she describes her shop, her wonderful items, and how she got started in the Etsy community. Make sure you take a moment to check out her great shop too. Thanks and have a great day.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. (Please include your location)

Well, I'm currently living back at home, just outside of Philadelphia PA with my dad and my dog, Hemi. Right now I spend most of my time in the spare bedroom-turned studio. When I'm not sewing I love gardening and just being outside doing just about anything. I'm one of those "can't sit still" people.

Tell us about your art/craft. What is it that you create

I make handmade children's dress up clothing and cstumes. Notice that I say dress up clothing--They're not just for Halloween anymore!

How long have you been doing this? What led you to start creating your art/craft?

I've been running Kiki's Things since 2006. I started with winter hats. Stocking caps, character hats, just crazy pompom hats. But I really began making the costumes years ago. It was the summer after High School with nothing to do and my mom suggested I make up some costumes and sell them at the local community day. They were an instant hit! So I did that for a while but it was only at Halloween (pre internet) so I really couldn't make a living at it. Eventually I drifted away from that business and did other things. I came back to sewing in 2006. I was in a not so good marriage and needed something to do so I started Kiki's things. If you want to know how long I have been sewing... I don't ever remember not sewing...

Are you the only artist/crafter in your family or does it run in the genes?

NO WAY! Everyone in my family does something... One grand mom does hook rugs and is excellent at crocheting, the other grand mom does embroidery and ceramics, and mom is always coming up with some little crafty thing...

Is your art/craft your full time job? If not, what else do you do for a living?

As of June of this year Kiki's Things has been my full time job. I lost my day job and decided to give this a go. It's been so much better than I could have imagined! Its long hours but I LOVE it!

Who or what inspires or influences your work?

Well, I'm always looking to see what kids are in to. (I have none of my own) I look at the toy sections of the stores and also I just listen to what people are asking for. For example, my Mermaid Tail Towels, Last year was my first year on Etsy and I can't tell you how many times I heard "I'm so happy to have a Mermaid Costume- now I don't have to tie a towel around her to pretend" or something like that. That gave me the idea of the mermaid towel. Things like that influence me a lot

Is there anyone you would like to thank for being your biggest fan/supporter/cheerleader?

Well, that's an easy one.... My Family! Mom for giving me the idea, Dad for putting up with Kiki's Things being in his house, Aunts, Uncles cousins who help spread the word!

How did you learn your art/craft?

I learned from my mom at the beginning. When I was little she made a lot of my clothes and I was always "helping"

Do you have any formal training or education in fashion design?

I do. In High School we still had sewing class which I just about lived in. Then I went to The Craft Fashion Institute (a trade school) to learn Tailoring. I also attended the University of The Arts, here in Philadelphia where I majored in Photography. I'm much more of a Fine Art Photographer than a studio photographer. I think the study of Photography gives me the eye for detail that I use in creating these costumes. My art background, I think, gives me the ability to look at a cartoon and pick out the necessary elements to make the costume on sight.

You make and sell several different types/lines of children's costumes. Which do you find yourself most drawn to and why?

I'm really proud of all of my works. I'm most proud of the things that are totally "mine" like the mermaid tails, the binkie-pahnts simply because they are my own ideas that people happen to like enough to purchase. That's an awesome feeling!

What is your favorite material or medium to work with?

Plain old simple cotton. It's so easy to work and you can make it do just about anything, it can be plain or fancy. It's my fav.

What advice would you give to someone who would like to try to learn your craft? Are there any hazards or dangers associated with your art/craft, for example working with certain materials or tools, etc.?

I would say that you just have to try it and start simple. Make a pillow first don't try to make a wedding dress your first time out. Sewing is pretty safe. I mean I do have cuts from not being careful with the scissors and I stab myself with pins (not on purpose, of course) a lot but I'm not the most graceful so that's just me.

On average how long would you say it takes you to complete a piece?
Most of my pieces take about 1.5 -2 hours from start to finish.

What is your favorite item from your shop? Why?
I Love my Mermaids, both the costumes and the Towels. I think I love the costumes because they were one of the first things I made way back when... and like I said, the tails are totally designed by me.

Can you describe for us your creative process and or what a typical day is like in your studio.
Right now my day starts around 7:30 am; I answer emails, do some online marketing and pull out items to be packed for shipping. Then I just sew, sew, and sew. Walk Hemi (my dog) at lunch time, then more sewing. I usually take a couple of hours off around dinner and just chill out. I'll answer more emails and do more marketing in the evening. I also get myself ready for the next day by cutting out and lining up items to be made for the next day.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat.....

What motivates you to create?
I have no idea. It's just something I feel I need to do. Like breathing for me...

Do you do custom requests for your art?

I do most of my work this way. I've made ghosts, candy costumes, dogs, cats, video game characters, you name it...

What is the most unusual custom request you have gotten?
Last year I was asked to make a Hurricane for a 6 month old baby. I pulled it off and it actually came out really cute.

How did you discover etsy?
Last year my mom gave me an article from, I think, the Wall Street Journal talking about etsy and a few other online venues for crafters (I told you this was all her idea). I read the article and checked it out. .The rest is history...

How do you promote your business?
Anywhere I see an opportunity to promote I do. On line (if it's free it's me) I'm on Facebook, Craig's list, Twitter. I post to the Etsy forums almost daily, I do craft shows where I make sure everyone who comes to my booth leaves with something with my web site on it. I even put up flyers on community bulletin boards.

Knowing what you know now about online selling and running your own business, if you could start all over from scratch would you do anything differently?
I would never have stopped like I did in the beginning. I wish I was a little more organized but that's just how I am. (I know where everything is!)

Do you have any advice for other artists?
No matter what other people say, just keep doing what you feel you need to do to express yourself. And never stop trying...

Where else can we find you online and/or locally (i.e galleries, boutiques, etc.)?
In addition to Etsy, I'm on Artfire. www.kikisthings.artfire.com
I have my own site www.kikisthings.com as well as several consignment shops on line.
I'm always looking for new places and boutiques!!

Who are some of your favorite Etsy sellers or indie artists?
PEEKO apparel & vintage I love her clothes!
Carolhanna- She's on Project Runway- what's not to love!
HollywoodSpotlight- has great vintage jewellery!
There's just too many on Etsy to mention!

Kiki's Things
www.kikisthings.com
www.kikisthings.etsy.com
www.kikisthings.artfire.com
kiki@kikisthings.com

And The Winner Is...........(drumroll)

2009-10-23T00:40:00.001-04:00

Thank you so much to all who entered in the giveaway for the gorgeous Pink Tourmaline ring from JanaesJewels. I really appreciate all of your support and participation. If we continue to have participation like that then we can continue to have great items donated for giveaways so keep it up guys you all are the greatest.

So without further ado, the winner is.......

Deb - Two Cheeky Monkeys

Congratulations Deb. I will be in touch very soon via the contact info that you provided in order to get your ship to information. I hope that you will be so happy with this ring. Thank you so much for your participation. You are one lucky girl, you ended up having a 1 in 190 chance of winning so I think you did pretty well.

***As always the winner was determined using the list randomizer at Random.org. I will be more than happy to provide a copy of the randomized list to anyone who wishes to see it. Just let me know and I can send it to you via an email attachment. Thanks***

Wordless Wednesday: Education is the Path to Understanding and Tolerance

2009-10-21T07:00:00.005-04:00

One of the great bloggers that I follow is Waterstone Jewelry. She also maintains a separate blog dedicated to Living with Chronic Illness. I found this on her site and borrowed it in order to help educate others about these debilitating and all too real, yet "invisible" chronic illnesses. Please take a few minutes to watch the video and then share it with others. Thanks

Meandering Monday: Quick Update on Whats Going On In the Shop

2009-10-19T08:59:00.002-04:00

Good Monday Morning Everyone,
I hope this Monday finds you all well. Today's post is just a quick update on whats going on around here in the shop, studio, and some personal things. First of all as always I want to thank everyone of you for your continued interest in my blog and etsy shop. I appreciate each and everyone of the followers and the wonderful interest that you all have shown for the blog giveaways. By the way there is still time to enter to win the Pink Tourmaline and Sterling Silver ring from
Janaesjewels. You can click here for a direct link to the giveaway with the description and entry rules. Also I have another great donation for a giveaway from Judy at ArtsyCrafty.etsy.com which I plan to start on November 2nd so check back for that one as well. Remember too, that each Friday I will be featuring an Etsy shop so take a few moments to get to know the wonderful artists that run these great shops. Ok, I think that is all of the blog related news.

As far as the studio and shop go, I have several new design ideas a brewing. I plan to add some new copper items soon which I think you all will like. For now I am keeping them a secret. LOL I know the suspense is just killing you all. However, I have added a couple of new pink items for the Think Pink campaign that I am running for the month of October to help support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. I have other pink items on the way and will continue to add them throughout the month of October.

You can see all of the pink items currently available by using the search term Pink in the search box at the top of my shop homepage. I will be donating 15% of my total sales of all pink items during the month of October to the Susan G. Komen foundation so please help support this great cause.

This month is also my one year Etsy anniversary so I will be offering 15% off the purchase price of any one made to order item purchase in my shop beginning today October 19th and ending on Saturday October 24th. Just enter the promo code "happy birthday" in the message to seller box during the checkout process. I will refund your 15% savings to the card you use via paypal or directly to your paypal account. To see all of the made to order items that are currently available simply use the search terms made to order in the search box at the top of my etsy shop homepage. I will be adding additional made to order items throughout the month so if you don't find something you like right now check back often for a greater selection.

Ok enough with the business mumbo jumbo right. LOL. So we took a little vacation last week to sort of get away and recharge the old batteries so to speak. We had a pretty good time. The weather was a bit yucky on Wednesday but otherwise is was very nice and sunny and warm. Things have been so crazy around here lately with my dad's cancer diagnosis and my grandmother developing congestive heart failure that we REALLY needed to take a break and get away for a while. Things are going to get hectic again in early November. They finally set a date for my dad's surgery for the 6th so I would greatly appreciate all of your prayers for him. I pray that he will have an uneventful, successful surgery and a very speedy recovery. He also needs your prayers for strength and courage to face this trial. He is very nervous and scared, as anyone would be, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I really appreciate it. Remember my mom as well. She is an exceptionally strong woman, but I know that she is worried and anxious as well.
Well I guess that's all for now. Thanks again for all of your support and interest. Catch ya later.

Fridays Featured Artist: Jack and Deb of Jack’s WoodArt

2009-10-16T08:00:00.005-04:00

It still amazes me sometimes the quality of people that you can meet in the Etsy community. I have always known that artist/craftsmen (at least in my experience) typically have very pleasant, warm, friendly personalities, and the folks that I have met on Etsy just prove that more and more every day. Jack and Deb, a husband and wife business team, from Jack's WoodArt are a perfect example of what I am talking about.

Jack takes beautiful pieces of wood and creates the most amazing pieces of Wood Art. He specializes in wood inlay designs which he incorporates into awesome small treasure chests. Deb, Jack's wife is one of the friendliest and most personable people I have ever had the pleasure to talk with. She assists Jack with the computer and book keeping portion of running their small business. They are still pretty new to Etsy having just opened their shop in June of 2009. Please take a few moments to read their interview and be sure to stop by their shop and see what treasures they have available. I am positive that you will find something there that you would love to have for yourself or to give as a gift for that special person in your life.

- Tell us a little bit about yourself:
58 y/o WM, extremely happily married (third time's a charm!), living in Largo, Florida.

- Tell us about your art/craft. What is it that you create?
I work with wood, both domestic and exotic, fabricating inlayed treasure chests, bowls, vases, etc.

- How long have you been doing this? What led you to start creating your art/craft?
Been working with wood since age 13, taught by my father, a Master Craftsman. Due to disability from construction work, started working with wood as an art form.

- Are you the only artist/crafter in your family or does it run in the genes?
My grandfather was a carpenter, my uncle was a carpenter, my father was a carpenter, and I am a carpenter (or was); but, I am the only one to apply woodworking in this manner.

- Is your art/craft your full-time job? If not, what else do you do for a living?
This is full time but way more than 40 hrs/week!

- Do the two jobs impact each other?

My only other job is to take care of my darling wife and we impact each other immensely (and as often as possible!).

- Who or what inspires or influences your work?
I try to utilize the natural forms and curves of nature in my work.

- Is there anyone you would like to thank for being your biggest fan/supporter/cheerleader?
There is only one answer to this question, for without her (my darling wife) there would be no "Jack's WoodArt," there would be no "Art" at all, and, certainly, no reason to continue.

- Do you have any formal training or education in your craft?
No.

- If not, in what field was your formal education/college major and how do you think it has influenced your art/craft if at all?
I majored in the medical field, Cardio-Pulmonary Technology and Plastic Surgery, to be specific. Some intricate techniques may have helped, but I doubt it.

- What is your favorite wood to work with?

I love all woods, but one of my favorites is Cocobolo.

- You make and sell several different types/lines of your work. Which do you find yourself most drawn to and why?
Inlays are the most fulfilling. I am always astonished at the reaction some people have when first viewing them. It is extremely gratifying. Also, there are so many avenues yet to follow.

- Explain to us a little bit about the wood inlay process that you use in many of your pieces.
A design must be chosen which will fit within the restrictions of my tools. Once that is done, grain and type of wood that accepts the inlay are considerations that will tell a story if done correctly.

- What advice would you give to someone who would like to try to learn your craft? Are there any hazards or dangers associated with your art/craft, for example, working with certain materials or tools, etc.?
There are a multitude of hazards inherent with this type of work. Most people, in my experience, have to learn the hard way, but a piece of advice? Educate yourself and go easy!!

- On average, how long would you say it takes you to complete a piece?
Two weeks.

- What is your favorite item from your shop? Why?
It's called "Mates for Life." It depicts two swans forming a heart with their necks and breasts: the grain of the wood flows from one breast to another and the background tells the story.

- What motivates you to create?
To leave a legacy? To be remembered? I'm not sure, but I know part of it is to try to make my wife, Deb, as happy as she can possibly be (or, "as happy as possible." Never end a sentence with a preposition!).

- Do you do custom requests for your art?
Yes. Jack is presently, among other projects, working on a very romantic customized treasure box requested by a customer for Christmas. He always welcomes requests for specialized orders.

- What is the most unusual custom request you have gotten?
Can you make this out of acrylic? I hate wood."

- How did you discover etsy?
Jack read about it in the newspaper, "The St. Petersburg Times," and then I checked it out.

- Prior to opening your etsy shop, did you have any knowledge of running a small business? If not, what were your most helpful resources in learning to manage a small business?
We knew very little about running a business. Deb checked out several resources and is learning more every day, when she is not working at her job as a cashier at Publix GroceryStores. Helpful to her have been: Steve@thethrivingartist.com; the online Virtual Seminar University (free to members) from Sam's Club; Etsy, of course (especially including the wonderful forums, The Storque articles, newsletters, and the newbie chats on the Virtual Labs); many publications, to name a few: "The Crafts Report," "Where the Shows Are," "Fine Woodworking," and "Woodturning"; tool and wood supply catalogs; eBay; and others too numerous to mention, but those are the primary ones.

- How do you promote your business?
We have had our business for less than a year, so we are still learning ways to promote Jack's WoodArt. Etsy is wonderful. Before we discovered it, our primary way of promotion was by going to art/craft shows. Jack's art is best appreciated in person - it presents very well to the naked eye, up close. We held a raffle for a free handturned wooden pen set at our last art show (Gulfport, FL) and obtained many email addresses to which we plan to send brief messages and pics of newly crafted woodart. When Deb finally gets around to it, we will be blogging on Facebook and possibly Twitter and/or other.

- Knowing what you know now about online selling and running your own business, if you could start all over from scratch, would you do anything differently?
Yes, start sooner.

- Do you have any advice for other artists?
If you've found what you love to do, find a way to do it.

- Who are some of your favorite etsy sellers or indie artists?
Owen at OwensArtworks, Heather at MistyRidgeDesign, Dionne of StudioChicDesign as previously mentioned, and many others. We have been meeting the most wonderful people since beginning our business - it has been great!

- Is there anything else that you would like for people to know about you or your shop that has not been covered in these questions?
I am still evolving. I have only scratched the surface of what I want to accomplish. My mind is going constantly, but my hands have limits. I truly believe, inside my head, something is waiting to be released which, I hope, is extraordinary.

Thanks for asking these great questions; Jack had a blast answering them while I was at work last night! You are very thoughtful, and we wish you the best of success with your business.
God bless you and yours always.
Hugs,
Deb

Jack & Deb Lewis
Jack's WoodArt
JacksWoodArt.etsy.com
Largo, Florida

Thanks so much Deb and Jack. I really enjoyed your interview and appreciate you all taking the time to fill out all of my questions. I wish you the best of luck with your business.

Wordless Wednesday: Totally cute kitty pics

2009-10-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

Meandering Mondays: Getting Out of Town

2009-10-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

Good Monday Morning,
Hope that you all are well and are having a great start to your week so far. I would like to first say that I am just blown away by the response that we have had for the most recent giveaway. So far there have been 128 individual comments/entries left. I really appreciate everyone's interest and I know that Janae is very excited to see such a level of participation. I also know that she really appreciates everyone's feedback on their favorite items in her shop. That information can be so useful to a shop owner and I thank each and every one of you for really taking the time to browse through her shop and leave your comments. Please remember that the giveaway doesn't end until Oct. 22nd so if you are still eligible for a few more entries get them in there. Also, if you know someone who might be interested in joining the giveaway please forward them the blog address. Good luck to each of the participants.

I would also like to encourage each of you to please take a look at the featured artists interviews that I have posted on Fridays. I think that you will meet some really great shop owners and maybe find some awesome items at the same time. You can quickly access all of the featured artist interviews as well as blog giveaways and tutorials easily by clicking on their respective titles in the top left hand sidebar.

I have some good news. Any of you with pre-teens and Disney Channel should totally get the reference to the left. ;) A friend of the family owns her own small coffee shop and she has asked if she can display some of my jewelry for a while. She has been a customer in the past and she said that she gets so many comments about the ring that she purchased from me that she finally has started telling everyone that she is going to try to get my items into her shop for sale before the holidays. So I agreed and I delivered the pieces to them today. It sort of put a real dent in my etsy shop inventory but I figure it is a good opportunity and jewelry always sells better in person so I really couldn't pass it up. So please keep your fingers crossed that maybe I will get some sells or custom orders. That would really help out around here right at the holidays.

Some other quick shop news. I am going to be out of town all of this week so any purchases made this week will not be shipped until the 19th-21st if it is a ready to ship item or on or after the 23rd for made to order items. Plans to go out of town were just finalized sort of last minute so I am frantically trying to get things in order so I can leave without having to worry too much about the shop. If you try to contact me for any reason please be aware that I will have very limited access to the net if any at all so I may not get back to you until next Saturday. I am trying to go ahead and get this weeks blog posts finished and scheduled to post on their usual days so that there won't be a big lull. So I guess that is all for now. Have a great week. Catch ya on the flip side.

Friday Featured Artist: Pat O'Neill from www.onawhimsey.etsy.com

2009-10-09T11:45:00.002-04:00

Like most of you Ilove to browse around on Etsy and look with amazement at all of the incredibletalent that the community has to offer. One of my favorite categories toexplore is Art. I am often so very jealous of the way some people can rendersuch beautiful representations of the world around us. One of the things that Ilove about the Art category is the way so many of the pieces I come across canevoke a particular feeling or emotion. It was this ability to evoke feelingthat drew me to the work of Pat O’Neill and her shop at www.onawhimsey.etsy.com.

Pat produces wonderful Encausticpaintings. If you are like me, the first thing that comes to mind when you hearpainting is probably your favorite piece done in the traditional mediums ofacrylics or oil based paints. After reading Pat’s profile and seeing herbeautiful pieces I was very intrigued and decided to invite her to share moreabout her work with us during the Friday Featured Artist segment. So pleasetake a moment to read more about Pat and the interesting technique that she usesto produce her beautiful art. She was gracious enough to answer my questionsand provide an excellent explanation and introduction into the medium ofEncaustics. So please take a moment to learn a bit more about the artist anddefinitely stop by her shop and check out the great work that she has there.

Enoy!

Tell us a little bit about yourself. (Please include your location)
My name is Pat and I live in the south east of England. I have always dabbled, being the operative word, in various crafts, mainly quilting and crochet.

Tell us about your art/craft. What is it that you create?
Last year I came across the word encaustic. Didn't have a clue what it meant but felt drawn to finding out the meaning.

What is it?

The name encaustic derives from the Greek for" burnt in".

It is claimed that the art of encaustic wax painting is at least over 2000 years old and that it was practiced by the Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Since it has lasted, in some cases, over 2000 years it is considered a very durable form of Art. Around the world there are ancient examples of portraits which have been painted on wood often depicting iconic images from the Church.

Examples of encaustic tomb portraits from Roman Egypt bear witness to the durability of the medium, which is thought to have been widely used in ancient times. Pliny describes the process in which hot liquid colors were applied to the wall by means of heated irons. It is believed that the waxes used to be heated in containers over a charcoal fire until molten and then applied to the wood with brushes or perhaps heated spatulas.

Nowadays, artists have the use of modern technology and thus are able to produce beautiful works of art with electric tools.

True encaustic painting is produced through a process in which the coloured wax is permanently 'burned' into an absorbent backing such as plaster, canvas or some woods. However, today, the technique of laying wax on a non absorbent support is generally regarded as encaustic art.

The amazing attribute of using the molten wax is that whenever the hot implement such as a hot iron touches it, the wax will melt and thus can be re-worked. So, you can alter the image until you are satisfied.

The waxes can be of many types. However, they are usually specially formulated to provide art quality colours in a safe non toxic form which is designed to be used when melted. This wax melts at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or just over 60 degrees Centigrade. The most popular for the beginner is wax made into manageable blocks or sticks. Otherwise, wax can be melted, different pigments added according to requirements etc.

The main tool is the painting or encaustic iron. The base plate is used to smooth and texture the wax whilst the edge can be used to scrape or to slide through the medium. Again, the tip of the iron can be used to draw in details. Encaustic art painting card is specially impregnated and enables the wax to slide around the surface without allowing too much absorption. The card resists heat damage and is tough and flexible.

How long have you been doing this? What led you to start creating your art/craft?
I have only been using encaustics for just over a year. I had heard the word and really didn't know that it meant. On doing some research I discovered a fascinating world! From then on, I was hooked.

Are you the only artist/crafter in your family or does it run in the genes?
As far as I know, there are no other painting artists in the family although both my parents were involved in the world of music. They used to sing in German operettas whilst my father did a lot of music compositions. They did try to teach me to learn to play the piano but it was just not meant to be!

Who or what inspires or influences your work?
I belong to a wonderfully talented group on Etsy.com called Boomer and Beyond Etsy Street Team or BBEST for short. These members have become firm friends and given me so much encouragement. Talking to other artists and likeminded folk gives me great inspiration. If you look at my work you will note water plays an enormous part. Maybe because I spent much of my childhood by the sea?

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I should say, paint with waxes! However, I love going to walks with my husband in our local parks where, again, I draw inspiration from nature itself.

Is there anyone you would like to thank for being your biggest fan/supporter/cheerleader?
My husband and family!

Art/Craft Info
How did you learn your art/craft?
I am completely self taught.

On average how long would you say it takes you to complete a piece?
This so depends on the size of the painting. I create anything from ACEOs (3.5" x 2.5") to paintings that are 24" or bigger. Once I start, I really just go with the flow and find I can 'lose' myself for hours at a time.

What is your favorite item from your shop? Why?
'Cascades of Water' http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=9452

This is for sale in my Artfire shop. I love the way the waxes flow to give the impression of cool flowing water!

Can you describe for us your creative process and or what a typical day is like in your studio.
No day is typical. I have creative droughts like other artists but then once the mood takes me, there is not stopping me! I prefer to paint in the morning because the light is better and less harsh. The sun shines directly into my room in the afternoon.

My waxes are always ready for action so when the mood takes me, off I go! I simply plug in my trusty iron, stylus or whatever tool I require, collect the colours of waxes I feel I would like to work with and voila, another encaustic is created, hopefully!

What motivates you to create?
When I am at peace with myself and can hear myself think. Life does have a habit of intruding and making chaos that we have to sort. So, when there is a quiet moment for me.... then I am motivated to create.

What craft or art form do you wish you could do or learn?
At the moment I would like to concentrate more on learning extra techniques in the use of tools and waxes.

Etsy related questions
How did you discover etsy?
A few years ago by browsing the internet.

Prior to opening your etsy shop did you have any knowledge of running a small business? If not what were your most helpful resources in learning to manage a small business?
I sold items on Ebay but really had no particular knowledge about running a small business. Again, I have to say there is not a lot you can't find on the internet!

How do you promote your business?
Promoting through forums on Etsy, Twitter, Facebook, taking part in interviews :)

Do you have any advice for other artists?
Somewhere along the lines that I have already mentioned. Be original, go with YOUR ideas, don't copy, by all means be inspired but stick to your own style and let your imagination work for you!

Where else can we find you online and/or locally (i.e galleries, boutiques, etc.)?
Etsy, Artfire

Who are some of your favorite Etsy sellers or indie artists?
I love these artists on Etsy

Yankee Girl http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5453185

Heron Kate http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5508394

A Journey Below

Many thanks
Pat

Thank you very much Pat for taking the time to answer my questions. I really enjoyed learning about the process of Encaustic painting as I am sure the readers will as well. Best of luck to you and I wish you much success with all of your artistic endeavors.

Wordless Wednesday: Be Proactive not Reactive

2009-10-07T10:06:00.001-04:00

2005 Human Pink Ribbon

Dwilcox on etsy

ERia designs on etsy

monaco on etsy

Her Courage by Shellieartist on etsy

Please respect these artists. Enjoy their work but please don't copy or steal it. Thanks.

CLOSEDMeandering Monday -- Another Amazing Giveaway. You Really Don't Want to Miss Out On This One!!!

2009-10-05T14:38:00.008-04:00

****Thanks so much for your amazing interest in this giveaway. The giveaway is now officially closed. The winner will be announced tomorrow Friday 10/23 so check back to see if you won.****

Thanks to Janae at JanaesJewels,I have another fabulous giveaway to present to you all. Janae is one ofmany wonderful jewelry artists that can be found in our etsy community.In her shop you will find a wide variety of pieces from classic stylishbeaded pieces to set gemstone jewelry in nearly any type of metal youcould want including gold. She is a very talented artist and I am surethat you will be able to find a wonderful piece of jewelry that youjust can't do without in her lovely shop.

Janae has beengracious enough to donate a gorgeous genuine pink tourmaline ring forour giveaway. The ring has a 6x5mm oval Deep Pink Tourmaline centerstone flanked on either side by small 1mm White Sapphires. The overallgram weight is 1.5 grams. The stones have been hand set by Janae, in asterling silver band. The ring is a US size 7.

I couldn't have asked for a more appropriate donation to kickoff the giveaway for the month of October. Thegemstone Pink Tourmaline is one of the official birthstones for Octoberas adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912(opal is also a traditional October birthstone). It is also the stonefor the Zodiac sign of Leo, and the accepted gem for the 8th weddinganniversary. In addition, October is national Breast Cancer Awarenessmonth and as we all know pink is the adopted color for the breastcancer awareness campaign. So in addition to the fact that this ring isabsolutely beautiful there are many other reasons to consider enteringthis giveaway. It would make a wonderful gift for the October birthdaygirl or breast cancer survivor in your life. Just imagine how delightedthey would be to get this as a gift.

Here are the rules and specifics:

HOW TO ENTER. (MANDATORY)
To enter visit JanaesJewels, and leave me a comment on this post telling me which item in her shop is your favorite and leave me a link to the item in your comment.
Don't forget to leave a way to contact you if you win!

EXTRA ENTRIES- Each of these must be left as a separate comment

1 - Follow my blog (if you are already following me leave a comment letting me know).
1- Visit Janae's Blog and leave a comment on her most recent post letting her know that you have entered the drawing for her beautiful ring AND leave me a comment letting me knowthat you visited Janae's blog
1 - Follow me on Twitter AND leave your twitter name in your comment
1 - Tweet this giveaway and leave @mistyridgedesig in the tweet
1 - Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to the post here.
1 - Place my button on your blog.
1 - Post about this give away on facebook then leave me a comment with a link to the post.
1 – Become a fan of Misty Ridge Designs on facebook AND leave your facebook name inyour comment
1- Sign up for my email newsletter for news once a month about new items in my shop,special promotions for subscribers only and other great bonuses.
1- Agree to donate an item and sponsor a future giveaway on my blog.
Please use the email me link in the left sidebar under Giveaway Stats. If you agree tosponsor a future giveaway you MUST accept the terms as listed at the end of this postunder the heading For Potential Sponsors

That allows each entrant up to 11 total chances at snagging this great prize!

Leave a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry you qualify for. You must have completed the first entry according to the instructions to be eligible for any bonus entries.

*****NOTICE*****.
This giveaway is open to US and International participants. This giveaway begins today and will end on Thursday October 22nd, 2009 at 11pm EST. The winner will be determined using the free random list generator at www.random.org. Your name will be added to the list one time for each eligible entry that you submit.

Only comments containing all of the requested information will be eligible for entry. The winner must contact me to confirm they wish to receive the prize, and to provide me with the mailing address to which you wish the item to be mailed, within two days of my email notifying you that you have won. If you fail to contact me within two days of being notified of winning you will forfeit the prize and it will be awarded to the next person on the randomly generated list of entrants.
The winner will receive the item directly from the giveaway sponsor (Janae). I will forward your mailing information to her and she will ship the item to you.

For Potential Sponsors
I never ask that a giveaway sponsor send me any merchandise personally. It is the responsibility of the sponsor to pay shipping charges and to ensure that the item is shipped in a timely manner. For this reason each sponsor determines if a giveaway will or will not be open to international participants.

Good luck to everyone!

Fridays Featured Artist: CrystalPearl

2009-10-02T06:00:00.219-04:00

Good Morning,

Welcome to the first installment of the Featured Artist Friday portion of my blog. I will be introducing you to one Etsy artist and their shop every Friday for as long as I can continue to get shop owner's who are willing to participate. I hope that you will enjoy this new segment of my blog and will return to meet more amazing artists each week. Please show these artists some kindness and check out their shops. Who knows, maybe you will find something that you just can't live without ;)

So grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee, or your beverage of choice; sit back, relax, and let me introduce you to Pearl, the proprietor of Crystal Pearl . Pearl is one of our Etsy neighbors from across the great pond. She and her husband live in Sussex, UK. Pearl describes her shop as offering " high quality vintage jewelry and unique one-off upcycled and hand embellished items of clothing using a variety of materials, such as faux jet, amberite, metallic buttons, acrylic buttons, ribbon, synthetic fur and 80 year old glass Chinese trade beads specially imported from Thailand. CRYSTAL PEARL does not use real animal fur in any of its creations. We previously owned an Ebay store and attained 100% positive feedback, i.e. 334 satisfied customers. Negative feedback was nil, so clients can genuinely buy from CRYSTAL PEARL with confidence. Our aim is to make shopping at CRYSTAL PEARL an enjoyable experience and your satisfaction is of paramount importance to us."

General/Background

Tell us about your art/craft. What is it that you create?I offer unique one-off upcycled and hand embellished t-shirts, dresses, skirts and lingerie using a variety of materials, although I do not use real animal fur in any of my creations. Each piece is hand stitched and every garment is of a different design, hence you will never find another one exactly the same
How long have you been doing this? What led you to start creating your art/craft?I have been making my own clothes for over 30 years, but only opened my Etsy shop in June 2009. Being between jobs, I suddenly had more time to spend honing my creative skills and that is how my Etsy shop was born.
Are you the only artist/crafter in your family or does it run in the genes?As the proprietor of CRYSTAL PEARL, I come from a family well versed in the art of needlecraft. As a child, my mother made a lot of my clothes herself, my aunt was a seamstress who worked in the centre of London (the Singer tailor's dummy used in some of my Etsy photos was given to me by her and was modeled on her exact physical dimensions.) Also, from a very young age, I made dolls clothes to my own design, tablecloths, etc., As I grew older, I studied needlework at secondary school and continue to make clothing for myself to this very day.
Is your art/craft your full time job? If not, what else do you do for a living?As I am currently between jobs, I can work on my Etsy shop fulltime. However, I am normally employed as a Medical Secretary and am actively seeking part-time work to fit in with my Etsy work.
What do you like to do in your spare time?In my spare time, I enjoy mushroom hunting, forest/beach walking, reading and all things French.
Is there anyone you would like to thank for being your biggest fan/supporter/cheerleader?I would like to thank all those who have featured me in their blogs, all those who have hearted my Etsy shop and also my long suffering husband who puts up with my crafting obsession.

Art/Craft Info
You make and sell several different types/lines of your work. Which do you find yourself most drawn to and why?Whilst I enjoy the beading work I do, I find the upcycling side more creative, as I can use my artistic nature to produce a completely new garment from an existing piece. (See Juicy Olive T Shirt as an example of Pearl's upcycling)
On average how long would you say it takes you to complete a piece?The length of time taken to complete an individual piece varies greatly depending on whether it is an embellished piece, e.g. beaded, or an upcycled piece. As a general rule, the upcycled pieces take longer, as I am having to design, measure, cut, pin, tack, then machine stitch the pieces into place. However, some of the more intricately beaded items can take a substantial amount of time also, depending on the number of beads/adornments being added.
What is your favorite item from your shop? Why?My favourite piece is my Juicy Olive T-Shirt which is an upcycled creation. I love the colour combination of olive green and turquoise, plus the beading on the bottom.
Can you describe for us your creative process and or what a typical day is like in your studio.A typical creative day will start around 8.30 a.m. when I check my Etsy shop's statistics whilst drinking my first cup of tea. Then it is on to the creative part. Depending on whether I am upcycling or embellishing, I will either get out my sewing box, beads, buttons and any other adornments, plus the item of clothing I am going to embellish and work out what pattern I will produce by placing the adornments in different ways on the clothing until I am happy with a particular design. If I am upcycling, then I adjust my sewing machine and get to work designing, measuring, cutting, pinning, tacking and machining. I will take a quick lunch break and, then start photographing, editing and listing any completed items for my Etsy store. Once this is done, I will start on the promotional side of things by commenting on the Etsy forums, Twittering, Facebooking, Flickring and updating the many other craft and fashion sites where my work is displayed. A couple of glasses of chilled white wine later and I am ready to fall into bed.
What motivates you to create?I find creating to be a very therapeutic pastime. It's something which totally absorbs me and leaves no room for outside worries or concerns. It allows me to become totally immersed and is a natural outlet for my artistic nature. I get a great buzz out of being able to share my creations with my fellow Etsians and also the rest of the world in general.

Do you do custom requests for your art?I would be happy to do custom requests if someone liked a particular piece, but wanted it in a different size, colour or bead/pattern combination.

Etsy related questions
How did you discover etsy?I discovered Etsy by accident whilst surfing the net.
How do you promote your business?I spend a lot of time promoting my business through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, blogs, Burdastyle, USTrendy, Etsy forums and treasuries, business cards and a lot of other craft and fashion websites. It is very time consuming, but it has to be done if you want your shop to be seen in the marketplace.
How much of your time would you say you spend on average doing etsy related business?My average working day has been about 11 hours and I would say that about a quarter of that is spent doing Etsy related business and a quarter spent on outside promotion, the other half on creating and producing new items for my shop.

Knowing what you know now about online selling and running your own business, if you could start all over from scratch would you do anything differently?Knowing what I know about online selling, I would probably think more carefully about what is already being successfully sold in the marketplace and tailor my talents towards that. I would also be stricter about taking breaks from my work and promoting the store, as it is all too easy to become totally absorbed to the exclusion of all else.
Do you have any advice for other artists?Whatever your particular artistic skill, I would say give an online store a go. Persevere and give it your best shot, but make sure you have fun whilst doing so. If you don't try, you never know what you might achieve. Make the most of the free advice given by fellow Etsyans in the forums, as others have ways around potential pitfalls which can save you a lot of time, money and heartache. Above all, enjoy what you do.
Where else can we find you online and/or locally (i.e galleries, boutiques, etc.)?Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/CRYSTAL-PEARL/105801815097
Twitter: http://twitter.com/crystalperle
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16535372@N05
Burdastyle: http://www.burdastyle.com/member/CrystalPearl
USTrendy: http://www.ustrendy.com/crystal-pearl/portfolio/8246/crystal-pearl/
Blog: http://menopauseandmayhem.blogspot.com

Who are some of your favorite Etsy sellers or indie artists?Mistyridge, MysticWynd, Flairforfashion, Honeycombveils, YaffaDreams
Is there anything else that you would like for people to know about you or your shop that has not been covered in these questions?

As well as upcycled and hand embellished clothing, I also sell quality vintage jewelry, with prices to suit all pockets.

Thank you very much Pearl for answering all my questions. I wish you the best of luck here at Etsy.
Thanks also to all my readers for taking a little bit of time out of their busy day to meet a new seller. Lets all give Crystal Pearl some love. Stop by the shop, look around, and welcome her to the neighborhood.
Don't forget to check back next Friday to meet another great shop owner.

And The Winner Is.....

2009-10-02T00:39:00.002-04:00

Thank you to all who participated in my giveaway. I ended up with a total of 41 entries which is pretty good for my very first one. The winner was chosen using the free list randomizer on www.random.org. (If anyone would like to see the results of the randomly generated list please contact me and I will forward you the link)

So without further ado, the winner is.........WindyCindy !

Congratulations Cindi. Please contact me within the next 24 hours with your mailing information and your choice of gift bags with a link to the listing so that I may pass it along to Sarah @ Minnie Millery. Let's all give Sarah a very big Thank You for donating her wonderful handmade gift bags. Thank you so much Sarah for helping to make this giveaway a great success.

I have already been in touch with a couple of other great artists who are willing to donate items for future giveaways so if you haven't already, please follow my blog for info on upcoming chances to win wonderful prizes.

Again, thank you to all those who took the time to enter and who took the time to follow my blog. I have an additional surprise for those who became new followers due to this giveaway. Please watch for additional information to be delivered to the contact address that you supplied for this drawing.
Thanks again and I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Wordless Wednesday -- Very Inspiring

2009-09-30T04:37:00.002-04:00

Bent But Not Broken

Source: FunnyPics4All.com

CLOSED Meandering Monday -- Kicking off the New Blog Schedule with an Awesome Giveaway

2009-09-28T02:24:00.013-04:00

***This drawing closed at 10pm EST on 10/1/09. Thank you for your interest. Please check the main blog for information and updates on future giveaways.***

Good Monday Morning,
This post officially starts my latest round of improvements to my blog. In order to post more consistently, I have developed a recurrent schedule that I will use each week. The schedule is as follows:

Meandering Mondays: I chose to call this feature Meandering Mondays because the topics covered will vary from post to post and week to week. These posts will include general info about what is going on here at the studio, things that are coming to the shop, general editorials, occasional tutorials, and blog giveaways.

Wordless Wednesdays: Each Wednesday I will post a photograph or piece of artwork either from my personal collection or from someone's etsy shop with a link and reference made to the shop I chose the photo from, a cartoon strip, etc.

Featured Artist Fridays: On Friday of each week I will spotlight a different etsy shop with a full length meet the artist article.

I hope you all will enjoy the new changes and will be sure to visit all the great artists that you will be meeting.

So to get the ball rolling we are going to start things off with a great giveaway.

Please meet Sarah the wonderful artist/proprietor of Minnie Millery at www.MinnieMiller.etsy.com
Sarah is from Austin, Tx and enjoys making and sharing her hand made needle felted animals. Although the primary focus of her shop is her needle felted items, she also offers a variety of handmade items such as gift bags, original art/prints, and pillows.

This weeks winner gets to choose one (1) of the following:

Set of "Nesting Bags": Adorable set of three handmade 100% cotton fabric bags in three different sizes. The bags are sized such that they can fit one inside of the other. Each bag is hand stamped with a beautiful birds nest motif and has a ribbon drawstring closure. Great idea for gift bags or for storing small valuables.

Set of "Pumpkin" bags: Perfect for the upcoming Halloween holidays this adorable set of five (5) hand made 100% cotton bags measure 3"W x 5"H and have a bright orange ribbon drawstring closure. Each bag is hand stamped with a great pumpkin design. These small bags would be great for use as goody bags for your upcoming Halloween parties.

Set of "Tree" bags: These pretty little bags are made of 100% cotten muslin fabric and have a ribbon drawstring closure. The set comes with four (4) bags each hand stamped with a different Tree design. The bags measure 4"W x 7"H. These would add that extra special touch to your handmade gift giving this year if used as gift bags.

How it Works

The giveaway rules are really simple.
All you have to do to enter is visit Sarah's shop and choose your favorite item from her currently listed selections. Then return here to this post and leave me a comment telling me which item you like best and a link to the item.
It's that simple. Also make sure you leave me some means of contacting you (email address or link to your etsy shop) in case you are the lucky winner

Earn extra entries:

You can earn extra entries by doing the following:

* 1 extra entry: promoting this giveaway on your blog then leave me a comment with a link to the blog post.

* 1 extra entry: tweet about this giveaway and leave me a comment with a link to the tweet **please do this only once per entrant. I don't want anyone to spam others with this giveaway**

* 1 extra entry: post about this give away on facebook then leave me a comment with a link to the post. **please do this only once per entrant. I don't want anyone to spam others with this giveaway**

* 1 extra entry: Leave a comment with your contact info and follow my blog

**That's a total of 5 possible entries per person.**

The giveaway will run from today Monday September 28th until 10 pm (EST) Thurs October 1st. I will announce the winner on Friday Oct. 2nd.

The winner will be chosen by me using random.org

I will contact the winner using the contact information that they provide and get their mailing address and ship to information. I will forward this information to directly to Sarah and she will send you your wonderful prize.

Thank you to Sarah for her wonderful donation. Thanks to all of you for your participation.

GOOD LUCK!

Thank you

2009-09-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

I am so excited by the wonderful response I have gotten from all of my fellow etsians. You all are just wonderful. So far everyone that I have contacted has been willing to participate in my weekly artist feature. I have lined up some great shops for you all to look at and wonderful artisans for you all to meet. I have sent out several questionnaires and will be beginning the features as soon as I get some of them back. I will be sure to post here and let you all know ahead of time when the features will officially begin.

I have also decided to host some blog giveaways and have had a great response to that as well. So make sure you check back often to get the latest information on the giveaways and to enter to win some really nice free stuff. As of right now the giveaways will be included in the Meandering Mondays posts. I am not sure about the frequency yet it all just depends on how many more shops show interest. I hope that the interest in this feature will really take off and I will have enough contributors to do at least one a month. Ideally I would like to do two per month but that may just be a dream. If you are a shop owner and would like to participate in the giveaway by donating an item please contact me and I will forward you all of the information. I am not asking that you send anything to me for the giveaway, rather I will notify you of the winner and it will be your responsibility to mail the item to the recipient. I think that the way I am planning to conduct the giveaways will be a great promotional opportunity for your shop. So please consider it and let me know if you are interested. The best way to contact me is via etsy convo.

Guess that is all for now. Catch ya later.

My Type A Personality Hard at Work

2009-09-23T13:04:00.001-04:00

Yes I admit it. I am guilty as charged. I have been a type A personality all my life. I need to be in control and have a plan at all times. I am the textbook over achiever, perfectionist, by the book type of person. I have always worried about everything and if by chance I had nothing to worry about then I worried that I was forgetting something. I have never been comfortable just getting by or flying by the seat of my pants. At least not until about 4 years ago when I first developed an onslaught of health issues following gallbladder surgery. Since then I have had to learn to adjust quite a bit. I can no longer plan everything down to the minute because I don't know how I will feel physically from one hour to the next.

That being said, I must admit old habits are very hard to break. I still need to feel in control. I have learned that making lists helps me quite a bit because if nothing else it gives me a sense of control over my time etc. Lists also seem to help stay on track better now because it I have written it down and I get exhausted or I have an exceptionally bad bout of pain and need to lie down then I can always come back to my list later and pick up where I left off. So I have decided to make a "list" for my blog to help me keep organized and hopefully post more regularly. Knowing what I am going to write about (sort of) ahead of time should allow me to make several posts when I feel well and save them as drafts. That way if I am having a bad day one day I should be able to still post with minimal effort by just publishing a previously written draft. I know, I know, I'm a genius (just kidding).

So here is the plan/schedule:
Meandering Mondays: Mondays will be a free day to pretty much talk about anything that I want to. I will probably post things such as tutorials, editorials like my post on Why Buy Handmade, things that are going on with my personal etsy shop and whatever else I feel needs to be said. LOL. See the definition and synonyms for meander below.

Main Entry:	meander
Part of Speech:	verb
Definition:	wander, zigzag
Synonyms:	be all over the map, change, drift, extravagate, gallivant, get sidetracked, peregrinate, ramble, range, recoil, roam, rove, snake, stray, stroll, traipse, turn, twine, twist, vagabond, wind

Wordless Wednesdays: Wednesdays will be a photograph post. Just something pretty, interesting, scary, humorous, who knows the sky is the limit right?

Feature Fridays: Every Friday I will be featuring a fellow Etsy artist and their items.

I first considered posting every day but decided that may be more than I am able to do. So we shall start here and see how it goes. By the way I would like to thank all of the great folks who responded to my forum thread and posted comments to my previous blog entry helping me to brainstorm this new schedule. I appreciate all of you input. Hopefully, I will be able to get the new posting schedule up and running smoothly at least within the next couple of weeks. So thanks for listening. Catch ya later.

My goals for this blog

2009-09-22T18:10:00.002-04:00

I have been thinking lately on how I can improve my blog and perhaps gain a greater fan base. I really want to give something back to the etsy community as well. As you all know I want to do some tutorials and have actually gotten one posted so far. The problem here is that I am afraid that tutorials would not be a sustainable topic, meaning I don't know if I could come up with enough of them to make it a weekly feature. So I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with ideas and I would really love your input and help. So far I have thought of maybe this type of schedule:

My Life Mondays: Short posts about whats going on on the homefront. Glimpses into my home studio etc.

Tutorial Tuesdays?: This is still undecided if anyone has any other suggestions PLEASE leave me a comment. I'm begging.

_______ Wednesdays: This one is still open for suggestions.

________ Thursdays: Need suggestions help please

Feature Fridays: Feature an etsy shop.

The weekends tend to be family time so I probably won't post at all on Sat. or Sun.
So please take a moment to leave me a comment with some suggestions. I'm begging. Thanks

Why Buy Handmade? It's Way Too Expensive!

2009-09-17T23:01:00.031-04:00

I have seen many forum posts on etsy with questions about PRICES. Yep, Oh yes I did! I said the P word. LOL. Now before you grimace and immediately jump to another page just hear me out. If you visit the etsy forums at all you have seen these same posts. You know the ones I am talking about. The ever popular ones asking how to determine prices for your items and then the ones that discuss comments like " I can get that same thing at xxx for half that price" or the terribly uncomfortable debates between shop x who is upset because shop y is "underselling real artists who are trying to run a business" (someone elses' words not mine). Well, for some reason this topic has been stuck in my head lately. I'm not sure why, maybe its the low views or non-existent sales but something about them has been kinda bothering me. So I decided to blog about it.

Now, don't change the channel just yet. This isn't going to be a big poor me pity rant or anything like it. Rather, I decided to do a little compare and contrast, completely unscientific, research. I am not even going to address the how do I price my items question because I can't tell you how to do that. You have to figure that out for yourself. And I won't go near the shop x and shop y debate with a ten foot pole. Nope, no way. What I do want to talk to you about is the " I can get the same thing at xxx for half the price" kind of comments.

As a handmade artist (I use that term very loosely in my case), comments like these really hurt my feelings. First of all, they are completely false. You may be able to find a similar item but I guarantee you it is not the same thing. The items that you see at xxx are made by a large company with many employees who are often working in substandard conditions. Also, they are often made in a cookie cutter way meaning every one is exactly alike without any personalization or unique character. Whereas with my items and with many of the artists items on etsy each item is made with a great deal of thought and design time invested. Each one is unique in some way simply because the human body cannot reproduce the same exact item over and over again, it just isn't possible. I can make 100 bead links and will never make a single one that is exactly like another no matter how hard I try IF I am truly doing everything by hand.

Secondly, the majority of the items that you will see offered on etsy are made with the highest quality materials possible. I know that in my category, jewelry, most artists like myself choose to use precious metals, precious stones, or semi-precious stones. These materials are not inexpensive to acquire for us as designers so please keep that in mind before you make split second judgments about our prices. And remember also that by using these materials we as the artists are ensuring that you as the consumer are getting a better quality product that will last longer and give you a lifetime of enjoyment if treated and cared for properly. Also consider the craftsmanship that goes into the majority of the handmade items that you find on etsy. As independent artists, most of us put a great deal of effort into our work to make sure that it is of the best craftsmanship possible. We are proud of our pieces and want quality associated with our business name. It doesn't benefit us in the least if our items fall apart the second you take them out of the package. Rather, if this happens it reflects very poorly on us, however, the items that you can get for half the price at xxx may not be made to the same quality control standards because no one's name is directly associated with them. I hope that made sense.

So hopefully you've read this far and I ask that you stick with me for just a little longer. Here comes the compare and contrast portion of our show. I did some searches of big box, big name retailers and looked specifically at their jewelry offers. Now I want to show you what I found out there and some of the similar items that I found on etsy.

Let's start with these. They really kill me cause folks will buy them up without thinking twice about it. I found these online at a site for a big retail chain store that everyone knows but I won't mention here. Notice two things: 1) they are advertised as silvertone which means they may or may not be silver plated over a base metal or they may just be a silver colored metal i.e. aluminum, tin, etc. 2) they are selling for $18!

Now check out these examples that I found on etsy. They are all Sterling silver handmade.

Sterling Silver Teardrops
By Lazydayz $15

Sterling Silver Textured Teardrops
by Silverchic $21

Sterling Silver Double Leaf
by SandraPenn $17

I don't know about you but I really don't see the great savings. To me its better quality at a relatively comparable price.

Here are just a few more examples:

Chain store double strand fresh water pearl bracelet $40

Double strand freshwater pearl bracelet by nevermorecreations $20

Double Strand Freshwater Pearl bracelet in Olive by LauraMia $19

These are only a very few of the many many examples of equivalent pricing on etsy as compared to big box chain stores. So please before you automatically associate handmade with super expensive/overpriced, take a moment to look around etsy. Do like I did and check the prices of the items you want by going to the chain store website then use keywords from their item description to do a search in the same category on etsy. I think in most cases you will find that you are pleasantly surprised.

Well thanks for listening. I really appreciate it. Thanks to all of the wonderful etsy artists out there. Keep your chins up and keep on keeping on. Good Luck To You All!

New Items For the Shop

2009-09-16T08:16:00.010-04:00

Good Morning,
It seems as though it has been forever since I last posted anything. Things have been really busy around here with all the family stuff going on. My grandmother is still in the hospital unfortunately. She is doing a little bit better though and I am thankful for that. We also got really great news concerning my dad's tests. Thank God it seems that the cancer is only on his vocal cords, both his chest x-ray and his neck CT were clear. I am very happy about that as well. We should hear something this week about what to do next. So anyway, in between running to the hospital and doctors appointments with my family, I have been trying to work on getting some new items made.

I finally finished a piece using the etching that I made in my tutorial on electrolytic etching (see the August 31, 2009 post). If you remember the final etched copper piece looked like this:

Well I decided to try etching other materials using this method so I tried a piece of nickel silver. I used the exact same technique as described in my blog tutorial EXCEPT I replaced the copper covered bolts that are attached to the negative terminal of the battery charger with a piece of scrap nickel silver sheet. I was very happy with the results.

My first piece, the copper etching, turned out a little too thin to work with by itself. I assume this is because the copper sheet I was working with was a 22 gauge so I would suggest to anyone who wants to try this technique that you start with at least a 20 gauge sheet or thicker of the metal that you want to etch. The nickel silver sheet was 20 gauge and remained quite sturdy after etching. So I decided to combine the two to make a single piece that would stand up to daily wear. Here is what I ended up with:

I hope to have this piece listed soon in my etsy shop. I have a few other new pieces completed as well. I will post pics as soon as I can get them. Well that's all for now. Hope you all have a great day. Catch ya later.

Thank You

2009-09-11T08:10:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to make a quick post to thank all of you for your kind words or encouragement and for your well wishes and prayers. Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. Things are still a bit crazy around here. We are still waiting to hear the results of my dad's scans so everyone is still on edge there, and unfortunately we ended up taking my grandmother back to the hospital. They admitted her again so I have been going to and from the hospital all week. If all went well through the night last night she is supposed to get to come home today. I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone this am yet.

Anyway, I really appreciate your support and your willingness to stick with the blog during this slow period. I still have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head about where I want to go with this blog and I think it will be pretty good when I have a chance to really work at it. Please bear with me. Things will get better soon. In the meantime, please take a moment to check out all the awesome shops that are featured as etsy minis in my sidebars. You will find some really great artisans there. Also, I am working on new items, when time allows, and hope to have some of them listed in the shop this weekend so stop by and see what's new. I plan to post the piece that I made using the etching that I made in the tutorial a few posts ago. I finally got it completed and I think it turned out great. Depending on how things work out today I may post it later this evening.

Hope everyone has a great day. Thank you again.

I Am So Distracted

2009-09-02T11:22:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone,

If you have been keeping up with any of my posts you may know that last Thursday I had some bad news concerning health issues with my grandmother and my dad. Well, I am very happy to report that my grandmother got to come home after spending 3 days in the hospital. So far she is doing a little better. However, the news concerning my dad was not as good.

Unfortunately, we found out Thursday that he has cancer. They found a tumor on his vocal cords and another in his neck. We are going to Winston Salem this Friday to see an oncology surgeon. I am so worried about him that I can't concentrate on anything it seems. I have never had ADD but I can imagine this is what it must feel like.

I am desperately trying to get new items made and listed in my etsy shop but I can't seem to get anything done. I also had a few more tutorials in mind but those will have to wait for a bit as well. I would like to thank all of my new followers and apologize for this slow period. I would also like to ask that you all keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers. Send as many prayers, good vibes, well wishes etc. his way that you can. We welcome them all. Please bear with me for a little while, hopefully I will be able to start posting some interesting things again soon. Thanks again and God Bless.

Check out my sidebars

2009-09-01T21:30:00.002-04:00

After looking at some of my posts I realized that I tend to be what some may call "long winded", however I prefer to think of it as being thorough. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that some of my posts are quite long especially the tutorials. I noticed while looking over my blog earlier today that after a certain point the sidebars were completely empty and I thought to myself "that just won't do". It is a shame to waste all of that space so I put the word out that I was willing to post some other etsians etsy minis in my sidebars and I got a great response. Now you all have some beautiful things to look at while reading through my posts. So please take a little time to check out some of these wonderful shops while you peruse through my blog. These are some really great ETSY artists. Thanks a bunch.

P.S. If you would be interested in having your mini on my blog just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.

Eureka I Figured it out. Tutorial For Electrolytic Etching on Copper (Finally)

2009-08-31T00:37:00.037-04:00

This is how my first successful attempt at etching copper using a saltwater solution and battery charger turned out. I don't think it's that bad and I learned alot in the process. If you read my first post about this process you will see that my initial attempt turned out to be a total failure. Since then I have finally tweaked the process and found what works. The following is a step-by-step tutorial on what I did this time to get the above result.

Items you will need:

You will need a container preferably with a screw on lid capable of holding one (1) liter of DISTILLED water. I emphasize distilled because in my first attempt I used tap water and then my alter ego, the biologist with the very expensive biology degree that I obtained years ago, kicked me in the pants and reminded me that tap water contains additives i.e chlorine, flouride, etc. that may interfere with the reaction in ways that we don't want.

You want to use Kosher Salt which is basically just natural salt without any added iodine. (Remember, normal table salt has iodine added as a nutritional supplement to prevent iodine deficiency which causes thyroid problems. You don't want the Iodine in your salt solution so get KOSHER) The salt in the photo is a pretty large container that I got at Wal-Mart for $0.38. You will be using quite a lot of salt per liter so for $0.38 a container go ahead and stock up.

Now if you read my previous post about my first attempt at this method you know that I was using 2 tbsp. of salt per liter. Hello! My biologist (haha) told me that this was obviously not enough, I don't know what I was thinking at the time. Probably, just nervous about playing with electricity and water. LOL. Sorry I digress sometimes.

So what you want to do is to actually get a saturated solution meaning absolutely no more salt will dissolve into solution. You will know when your solution is saturated when some of the salt crystals collect on the bottom of your 1 liter container no matter how much you shake it and try to get it to dissolve. I found that it took 1.5 cups of salt to reach this point.

To mix the solution this is the steps that I followed:
1. Place a liter of distilled water into your container.

2. Heat the water in the microwave for about a minute. (make sure you leave the lid off the
container while heating)

3. Pour 1 cup of the Kosher salt into the warm water. Screw on lid and shake vigorously. Let the
solution stand for a little while and make sure all of the salt is dissolved.

4. Remove the lid and repeat steps 1-3 adding only 1/2 cup of salt at a time until the salt is no
longer dissolving and crystals can be seen at the bottom of your container.

Now set your solution aside and get your power source ready.

You will need:
A plastic or glass container about 4 inches deep to hold your salt water bath. As you will see I used the bottom portion of an old milk jug. If you use the milk jug just make sure you rinse it out really well first. Other options would be those disposable lidded containers by Glad or any pyrex container that meet the depth requirements. Just know that whatever container you use you cannot use if for food storage ever again. (DO NOT USE A METAL CONTAINER EVER!)

A power supply. I chose to use a 12V batter charger that you

plug into an A/C outlet. Some sources state that you can also use a car battery the same as you would the battery charger. I can't see why you couldn't if you would feel more comfortable with that. I like the battery charger because it already has the color coded terminal cables attached. Remember Red is always the positive terminal and Black is always the negative terminal.

Essentially with this process of etching you are making a cathode, a negatively charged electrode, and an anode, a positively charged electrode. The way the system works is the piece to be etched is attached to the positive (red cable) terminal making it your anode(+). Then you attach the negative (black cable) terminal to a piece of metal making it your cathode (-). The salt water solution is a great conductor of electricity and therefore allows the negatively charged ions of the cathode to PULL AWAY the now positively charged copper ions which produces an etch mark anywhere that the metal attached to the positive terminal is bare.

Ok sorry to go all Bill Nye on you guys, but it helps to have a very basic idea of what is actually happening here and I needed to introduce this to you in order to explain the following steps.

Prepare the Cathode (-): It is best to use a like metal for the cathode as the metal that is being etched. In my first attempt I used a piece of scrap copper about the same size as the piece of copper that I was attempting to etch. Since I wasn't at all happy with those results, I decided to build a super cathode. So I took two bolts that you can purchase from any hardware store and thin gauge copper wire also purchased from the hardware store. I wrapped the copper wire very tightly around each bolt then I layed the bolts side by side and wrapped the copper wire around the pair binding them together. I then used 14 ga heavy copper wire to fashion a hanger for the cathode. You will attach the negative terminal of your power source to the hanger. Never allow the terminal cable to become directly submerged in the saltwater bath.

I forgot to get a pic of this before using it.
This is what it looks like after being in the salt water.

Prepare the Anode (+): Remember your anode is essentially the piece of copper that you want to etch simply attached to the positive terminal of your power source. Cut a piece of copper sheet slightly larger than you want your finished piece to be. Clean your copper really well. I use a green scotch brite scrubber and running water. Once it is clean handle it only by the edges. If you touch the clean face of the copper the oils in your fingers will leave a fingerprint that will be etched into your piece. Now transfer your image onto your copper. Other sources site several ways of doing this:

1. draw the design onto the copper using a permanent ink pen (sharpie marker)

2. stamp a design on using Staz-on permanent ink stamp pad

3. photocopy a design using a toner based copier or LASER printer (Inkjet printers won't work).
then use a hot iron to transfer the toner from the paper onto the metal. It you want to etch
words using this method make sure you reverse the type on the paper or else your type on
metal will be backwards.

4. photocopy an image onto PnP blue film and use an iron to transfer that to the metal.

For the example piece at the beginning of this post I first tried the stamping method with staz-on ink. It allowed for a very faint etch and then the ink was dissolved. To finish the piece and get the etch that you see in the picture I removed it from the bath and disconnected it from the power source. Then I traced over the light etch with a sharpie marker and returned the piece to the bath. The sharpie held up quite well but I believe having to retrace the design halfway through the process caused the etching to look somewhat distressed as you can see in the photo. I have also used the method of transferring a toner based photocopy using a hot iron with quite a bit of success. I haven't used PnP blue paper because it is crazy expensive. Remember that the dark areas of your image will be raised areas after etching. The areas that are bare metal will be etched away leaving a recessed area, so adjust your images accordingly. If you have an image that you want to change simply use photo editing software to invert the colors. Also it is best if you change color images to black and white.

Don't forget to cover the back of your piece with some type of resist, you don't want to etch both sides or else you will get holes eaten into your piece. You can cover the back with tape but make sure you have some Goo Gone to remove the adhesive residue afterward. You could also try using masking fluid like water color artists use to mask out areas on their paintings or you can coat the back of the piece with nail polish and remove it when you are finished with nail polish remover.

Now punch a whole into the extra copper at the top of your piece. Run a piece of wire through the whole making a hook by which to hold your piece int o the bath. Attach the positive terminal to the piece of wire. You never want to submerge the terminal cables directly into the bath.

The completed set-up with terminal cables attached:

Notice that the black handled cable is attached to the wire leading to the submerged copper wrapped bolts.
The red handled cable is attached to the wire leading to the piece of copper to be etched.
Neither cable clamp is touching the water.

If you have your clamps set up correctly you should immediately see bubbles coming from the bolts. This is normal and exactly what you want it means it is working. If the bubbles are coming from the piece that you want etched then switch your cables around.

After about 10 to 15 minutes your water will look like this:

The mucky brown color is the copper particles being pulled away from the copper piece. Start to check on the progress of your etch regularly from this point on, about every 15 minutes or so. When you are happy with the depth of the etch remove the power source from the piece and remove the piece from the bath. Use the scotch brite pad and clean running water to clean the piece. Now you can patina the piece or whatever you would like and make it into a beautiful piece of art to wear.

I know that this is a really long post but I wanted to be as clear and concise in my instructions as possible so that you all could have great results when you try this method yourselves. I hope that everything made sense. If you have any questions please leave me a comment and I will try my best to answer them.

I have enjoyed learning how to do this new technique along with you all. I hope to do it again soon. If there is a technique that you would like to try but you feel uncomfortable with the procedure or components, let me know and I will consider it and maybe we can learn it together. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions for future tutorials. Thanks for your patience and for taking a look. Have a great day.

Quick Update on Etching Experiment

2009-08-27T15:22:00.004-04:00

Ok all I have been working really hard on getting the electrolytic etching to work and I finally had a breakthrough. I have photos of my setup and the etched piece as well as detailed instructions for you all. Unfortunately, I can't post them right now because I have had a really bad day. I got some bad news two fold this am. My grandmother has been hospitalized so I am going to see her as soon as I am finished with this post. Secondly, my dad had a doctors appt. today and we got some pretty bad news. I wish I could say that it was totally unexpected but it really wasn't. We won't know anything for sure until after they run more tests next Friday. So we would really appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers for both my dad and my grandmother.

Hopefully, things will calm down and I will be able to post the tutorial late tonite or tomorrow am. Thanks everyone. Have a great evening.

Are You Ready?

2009-08-25T11:45:00.002-04:00

I had originally posted this together with a previous post but with the holiday shopping season fast approaching I decided it needed its very own post. So here it is:

So I can't believe we are already into the second week of August. Wow! Christmas will be here before you know it. It's time to start thinking about gift giving, fighting the holiday shopping crowds, eating until you think you will be sick, etc. etc. And if you have an ETSY shop you should probably be thinking about getting prepared for the holiday shoppers. I hope that this will be a great year for all of us. Just some quick things to consider when getting prepared for the holiday "rush" (let's all keep our fingers crossed)

1. Get organized. If you don't already have a packing and shipping station set up consider getting one put together. One centralized area where you can keep all of your envelopes/boxes, mailing labels, tape, scissors, ribbon, thank you cards, business cards, and whatever else you like to include with your shipments.

2. Stock up on supplies. Take a quick inventory and make sure you have plenty of the above listed items. The last thing that you want to do is be running to one of the office supply stores everyday to get mailers or labels. And of course don't forget your crafting supplies. Start looking for good deals on the supplies you need to make your product i.e beads, wire, yarn, glycerin whatever applies, and buy in bulk. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

3. If you can try to bulk up your inventory. If you know that you have one or a couple of popular items that you sell alot of go ahead and make extras. That way you might be able to save yourself the stress and anxiety of too many all niters to finish a product and get it shipped on time.

4. Speaking of time...start thinking about shipping deadlines. It's a good idea to check with the postal service once it gets closer to the holidays and see what their suggestions are for the latest date that an item can be shipped and be "guaranteed" to arrive in time for gift giving. Then amend your shop announcement to let customers know that items must be ordered before such and such date in order to arrive in time. Oh, it's also a good idea to start thinking about a cut off date for custom orders. Go ahead and let your customers know that you will only accept custom orders for Christmas gifts up until a certain date. Otherwise you will inevitably have someone want a custom order that would take at least 4 days to produce but they will order it 2 days before Christmas and expect it to be ready for them to give on Christmas morning.

5. Now may be a good time to start considering your promotional/advertising strategies. There are several options from paid ads to social networking and of course the blogosphere, just do what works for you. The important thing is that you get your name circulating so that it is fresh on potential customers minds. And of course start pushing those business cards, give one to anyone that you can.

6. Shop appearance. I can't stress this one enough. Take a good critical look at your shop. Try to see it from the buyers perspective. Tweak your photos and descriptions. Do your very best to give the shopper a good representation of just how great your items are.

I can't think of anymore tips right at the moment but I am sure that there are things that I have left out. Check the forums. There are many great Etsy vets out there who are willing to share really good, helpful advice. I am considering this my first holiday shopping season on Etsy because I just opened my shop last October, so last Christmas didn't really count because I had no idea what I was doing. The things I have listed here are just some of my own personal goals for this year. I am still working on getting a good organized packaging and shipping station set up. I think I am pretty good so far on my supplies. I think the biggest goals for me right now are getting my inventory built up, I would like to have at least 100 items in my shop before the holidays, and promoting. I have also started listing some made to order items which is new for me so I'm not sure how that will go. I may be digging myself a great big hole. I guess we will find out huh.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Sorry about the long post. Please if you have anything to add leave a comment and share with us. Ok, have a great day and I guess I'll catch ya on the flip side.

Update on Saturdays Post about Tutorials

2009-08-24T22:26:00.003-04:00

In my last post I mentioned that I would love to try my hand at writing some tutorials. I really want to post tutorials on things that I have tried to get information about myself. Seeing as how I am a completely self taught artisan, I spend a lot of time doing research into new techniques that I want to learn. In my constant search for new info I often use the internet so I thought why not post some of the information myself on techniques that I learn as I am learning them and then after I have them all figured out. (If I can get them figured out that is LOL).

So I sat down and made a list of techniques that I want to learn. I will be posting about my adventures here as I attempt them so tune in this should be very interesting. (blushes and smirks) For my first technique I chose etching metal. I have read a few articles in particular about electrolytic etching which really interested me because I would prefer not to use harsh chemicals if I can. I read up on the few articles that I could find online and decided to give it a go.

First of all if you aren't familiar with electrolytic etching here are a couple of articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etching#Non-toxic_etching

http://steampunkworkshop.com/electroetch.shtml

http://www.everythingaltered.com/lauren_ferguson/2008/01/non-toxic-etchi.html

There are several more out there just google: Etching copper with salt water and a battery, or Electrolytic Etching Copper. Also try doing an ETSY forums search for etching metals.

I don't have any pictures for this technique with this post primarily because they wouldn't take. Let me explain.

First attempt:

First I cut out a 1.5" square of copper sheet. I cleaned the copper really well and transferred my image onto it. I transferred the image using a hot iron and an image printed out on a photocopier. This is important. Images printed out on an inkjet printer will not transfer. Where the toner ink adhered to the metal that acted as my resist.

Next I mixed up my salt solution as described in the articles I read. I mixed 2 tablespoons of kosher salt with 1 liter of tap water. I used tap water because at the time none of the articles that I had read about this process specified if you needed to use distilled water or tap.

I cut out a scrap sheet of copper to use as the anode. Then I took a 12 volt battery charger that you can plug into an A/C power supply. I attached the negative terminal to the scrap copper. I attached the positive terminal to the piece that I wanted to etch.

I poured the salt water solution into a plastic container and submerged my two pieces of copper with them about 4 inches apart, being careful not to let the clamps become submerged. I immediately saw tons of small bubbles emanating from the scrap copper plate and was so excited because this meant it was working. So I left the piece and waited. After 30 minutes I checked the progress and there was no change. I checked again in 1 hour, no change. Again one hour later still no change. I was totally baffled because the salt solution had turned a murky brown color and there were obvious precipitates in the bottom of the contianer but the surface of the piece that I wanted etched was still smooth. This went on for another 3 hours for a total of 5 hours in the solution at which point I disconnected the electricity and removed the piece. The resist held up really well. But the surface seemed completely smooth so I cleaned the piece with a green scotch brite pad and found that there was a "ghost image" there but no true etching had occurred.

For my second attempt I repeated all of the processes already explained above but this time I made the following changes:

For my salt water solution I mixed 2 tablespoons of kosher salt, 1 tablespoon of iodized salt, and 1 liter of water.

I placed the copper pieces closer together so that there was only about 2 inches of distance between them.

I left the pieces for the same amount of time as in the first attempt, checking the progress at the same time intervals. Again the solution bubbled at the negative anode piece of copper, the solution turned a murky brown color and precipitates formed in the bottom of the container. This time however, after five hours in the bath I removed the piece to be etched and cleaned it in the same manner as before and found that a very, very subtle etch had taken place. It was barely perceptible by sight and only slightly noticeable by touch but it was there. I tried to get some photographs of the two test pieces but you could not see any change in the photographs at all.

So I am going back to the drawing board. I am going to try a couple more attempts with some alterations to the salt solution. I will photograph my set-up and post some pics next time of that as well. Today I ordered some etching chemicals that I will also be trying later on and I will let you all know how that goes.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows what I may have done wrong please feel free to leave me a comment. Until then wish me luck.

Considering Posting My First Tutorial

2009-08-22T14:40:00.003-04:00

Okay so I have decided that I want to try etching some metal. I have done some online reading about the subject and also gained alot of advice from the ETSY forums and I think I am ready to give it a go. However, I have never written a tutorial before so I would really appreciate it if you all could help me out. What information do you expect to get in a blog tutorial? I know I should include materials and method of course but is there anything else that I am not thinking of? Do you prefer to see tutorials written out step-by-step like in a numbered list with a few accompanying pictures or would you prefer pictures with descriptive captions in short paragraph form? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. If this goes well I want to do a few others to share with you all like torch enameling and maybe beginning soldering. Things that I would have liked to have available when I was doing my searches for info.

Also feel free to let me know what type of things you would like to see me attempt and then tutorialize for you guys. Thanks. Have a great Saturday.

"It's Just a Scary Story"

2009-08-14T23:19:00.002-04:00

If you are not a fan of scary movies you may want to just keep on browsing. I love scary movies, horror novels, and of course those "it happened to a friend of a friend's brother's girlfriend's uncle" true stories. Don't laugh you know exactly what I'm talking about, we've all heard them at some point. Lately though it seems like I have been really disappointed in the "scary" movies that have been released. It's like you see the preview and think finally a good creep fest and then when you watch the movie your left thinking what the heck? I finally stopped going to the theatre all together and now I just wait for them to come out On Demand. So I just finished watching The Unborn and it wasn't half bad. Some of the special effects were pretty good. The story line was pretty predictable though. Seems like that is the case more often than not anymore. Do you like horror movies? If so and you know of any pretty good ones leave me a comment and share with me.

My List of Top Five Horror Movies:

1. The Exorcist (of course)
2. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
3. Mirrors
4. The Haunting of Molly Hartley
5. The Shining

So what would you add?

Fall Trends for Designers

2009-08-12T12:14:00.005-04:00

Are you a trend follower or a trend setter when it comes to designing your art? I guess some would say that I am a trend follower, but I think that my jewelry designs are more along the classic side. I like to design things that are typically simple, elegant, and classic. Items that won't fall out of fashion next season or ten years from now. I want my jewelry to be timeless. How about you?

The reason I ask is because I subscribe to a couple of email newsletters from beading magazines like Beadstyle and one from Fire Mountain Gems. I always scan through them just to see what is going on in my field. I found this in the one from Beadstyle yesterday and thought I would share it with you all.

http://www.beadstylemag.com/bds/default.as px?c=a&id=1909

It's a pretty nice color forecast from Swarovski for this fall season that you can download. Its only like 3 pages long but it has some nice pics of the actual Swarovski components in the forecasted color trends for fall.

And then yesterday in my newsletter from Fire Mountain I read an article that said yellow was going to be the hot color for fall. Oh no, no offense to all you yellow lovers out there but I have to admit it is my least favorite color :( . But I thought it was kind of a weird coincidence when I saw this on the front page of Etsy today:

I guess I wasn't the only one who got that particular newletter. Anyway, it just got me to thinking about how I design and the articles where pretty good so I thought I would share them with all of you. Hope you enjoy.

Epiphany

2009-08-10T14:55:00.010-04:00

Yeah I know two posts in the same day, Crazy right? Anyway, so its no secret that I'm a Twilight fan and I think Rob Pattinson/Edward Cullen is just.... well you know. I won't even go there cause I'm gonna try to keep this one nice and short with a little eye candy garnish. So moving on, if any of you are Twilight fans then surely you have at one point or another Googled Twilight. If you aren't a fan then let me tell you I am not the only 30-something who is smitten. You can try it and you will find sites like Twimoms and a whole slew of others written and hosted by multigenerational fans. It seems the popularity spans from tweens to infinity. And some of these sites are seriously fanatical and definitely not PG-13.

So during one of my many "mind journeys" (snicker) I was contemplating this phenomenon and was wondering why there are so many "mature" fans. I mean come on its pretty obvious where the attraction comes from with the tweens, we are talking about fantasy novels with teenage main characters and if the story line isn't enough then just LOOK at the cast of the movie. Seriously!!! But what's the draw for the rest of us? Well in the case of Edward Cullen specifically, I think its just that he is so devoted to Bella for one thing. We all want someone to want us with that kind of sincerity right? Then there's the fact that every time he opens his mouth he says just the right things. And let's not forget the danger factor for some reason the bad boys are always the ones we want. And lastly, the choice to cast Rob Pattinson as EC for the movie was the move that sealed the deal. C'mon just look at him.

So ok yes he is a total cutie but he's still a baby right? So what is it about him that has moms and housewives all over the place claiming temporary insanity? Well, I think maybe its nostalgia and a little bit of familiarity. I followed this train of thought and found a few pics of some other classic bad boy heartthrobs. Take a look and tell me if you see the similarities or have I just totally fallen off my axis. **Warning eye candy garnish follows*

Rob Pattinson, James Dean, Elvis Presley

EP , JD , RP

Still On The Mend

2009-08-10T09:01:00.007-04:00

Good Morning,
I hope you all had a very pleasant weekend. We had some really great weather. I think it was the first weekend in over a month that we didn't get any rain. Of course, it was just my dumb luck that my foot was all swollen and hurtin. I still went to the Craft Fair which in hind site was probably not a very good idea. Oh well, I really wanted to scout it out though. I just wrapped her up good and popped a few extra Ibuprofen and went for it.

(not my actual foot but you get the idea)

I should post a pic of my poor little foot but its not for the sqeemish so I will spare you all. I will tell you its still pretty swollen and it has this big lump right on the top of my foot where a lump should definitely not be. It looks pretty deformed. Ew! Ok that's enough of that.

We didn't stay long, just long enough to do a quick walk through. Of course I was really interested in the jewelry. Since I started making my jewelry I have had many friends and family members tell me that I should try to get a booth for the fair. I just don't know if it would be worth it. I spoke with a friend of my dad's who was selling (she also makes jewelry) and she said that there were 40 vendors in the jewelry category this year! That is really alot when you consider that the entire fair is probably only 150-175 vendors max. Well at any rate it is something to think about for next year.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Ok, have a great day and I guess I'll catch ya on the flip side.

HaHa Bad News! I Promise I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up If I Tried

2009-08-03T15:15:00.002-04:00

Oh my goodness. You all are not going to believe this. I am soooo embarrassed. So if anyone read my earlier post from this morning you know that I sort of said maybe I would have a more interesting post later. Well I was just being sort of tongue in cheek, but my day definitely got more exciting. Shortly after posting this am I had a slight accident. Somehow, I fell here at home and hurt my foot really bad. I'm not really even sure what happened and why I fell. (blushes) Anyway, to make a long story short I went to the urgent care fully expecting to leave there with a cast on my foot. Thankfully though I did not break any bones. It is only a really bad sprain and dislocation of the 4th and 5th metatarsals. I know it sounds horrible doesn't it, and really painful. Well let me tell you it is really painful. Thank goodness for the man or woman who developed pain killers haha. I guess I must have gotten too excited with my sale happy dance. LOL I will have to remember to be more careful next time. (Just kidding, I promise I wasn't dancing).

Well I guess that is all for now. Gonna go ice and elevate the foot. Catch ya on the flip side. Have a good one.

Good News

2009-08-03T08:15:00.002-04:00

Good Morning,

I am so excited that I just had to share. I woke up this am to a sale in my etsy shop. Yes I am doing the happy dance. I have also sold a few pieces locally and have had some local custom orders. It feels great to have people show an interest in my work. I also wanted to thank you all for following my blog and visiting my shop from time to time. I really do appreciate it. You guys are great.

Ok enough business talk. What other good news do I have? Well...... oh, I have heard that the New Moon movie will be premiering in Knoxville, TN sometime in November. That is really exciting for me since I am only about 2 hours away from Knoxville. I would love to get tickets AND feel well enough to go. Who knows maybe I would actually get to see some of the stars from the movie. (I know, I know, I'm hopeless :) ).

What else? Oh for anyone who is interested and who might be close to Asheville, NC, there are going to be a couple of bead and gem shows coming our way. One is a two day event at the end of this month at the Doubletree Hotel in Biltmore on the 29th and 30th of August. The other will be at the Asheville Civic center in September. I don't know about you but that is pretty exciting to me.

Ok, thats all that I can think of right now. Maybe I'll post something more exciting later. LOL.
Have a great day.

My Latest Creations

2009-07-25T07:15:00.003-04:00

Please forgive me but this is a completely business related post. As a follow up to a previous post in which I sheepishly admitted to you all that I am now a complete and total Twilight fan, and of course am totally infatuated with Edward Cullen (both the character and Rob Pattinson) ;) haha, I thought that I would share with you all some of the newest items that I have created as a result. Each of these new items are inspired by passages from the book. If you are curious there are detailed descriptions of what inspired each one in my shop descriptions for each item.

First we have my New Moon ring!

Then the Renesmee ring

And of course I have to give a little credit to the wolves. So this is my Wolfpack ring, each stone represents the coat color of a member of the original pack that is introduced to us in New Moon.

(I haven't listed this one yet in my shop)

This one isn't listed yet either but I really like it so I thought I might as well share. This one is called Edward in the Meadow and was inspired by Bella's description of Edward's skin the first time she saw him in the sunlight.

I have also added several other items that are totally non-Twilight related so if you want to take a look feel free. I hope you like these newest creations. Please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know if you give them a thumbs up or a big ol' thumbs down.

Have a great Saturday!

Finally!

2009-07-20T11:01:00.002-04:00

Ok. Finally, I have posted a few new items. I know, I know it took forever. But remember I'm still not feeling one hundred percent and I'm going as fast as I can. That is one of the worst things about this health issues thing. My mind still races with new designs and ideas but my body doesn't always want to cooperate and let me make those ideas tangible. Anyway, they are there and believe it or not there are some more waiting to be listed. Yeah, wow I can't believe it either. LOL.

I also want to share with you all a new internet radio that I found. Most of you may already know about this but for those who don't you might like it. I have my computer in my design studio and I really like to tune in to it while I'm making things. It helps pass the time. So its called Jango and its totally free. You have to register of course but then you can sort of design your own station with all the artists that you like or add particular songs. It also nice cause you can have more than one station so if you are like me and have an eclectic taste in music you can have a rock station and an easy listening oldies station and of course a country station for those days when you just have to hear about someone elses horrible life circumstance.... ;) (snickers) just kidding i really do like country music some days. So anyway here is the link:

http://www.jango.com/music

I really hope you all enjoy it. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I know I got a visit from my mom and aunts and they brought my neices to see me. The youngest one is about 18 months old and she really loved it. She just bounced and danced then of course she had to "play" my roommates guitar and my keyboard and of course then she moved to the drum set. Needless to say we had a great jam session. They are so much fun at that age. My older neice who's 12 also thinks it cools but she is much more into it ya know.

Well I guess thats all for now. Catch ya on the flip side.

Ok I Admit It I'm A Closet Twilighter

2009-07-09T07:35:00.005-04:00

So in yesterdays post I mentioned that I had been doing some reading during my recuperation time. Well today I am going to let you in on my embarrassing secret....I am a total Twilight junkie. Honestly, I have no idea how it happened. I watched the movie on my cable On Demand channel one afternoon because let's face it it is summer and their is absolutely nothing to watch right now. Of course after seeing the movie I was a little smitten with the "beatiful" Cullen clan (blushes), but the story between Bella and Edward really got my curiosity stirred up so I had to find out more. So I hit the internet and was totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of Twilight related sites. I eventually stumbled upon Stephenie Meyer's site and after reading the back story about how the books came about I decided to at least read the first one. I mean let's face it, the book is always better than the movie right? So my friend picked me up a copy of Twilight and thus was my rapid decent into Twilight Saga madness born. Within a week I had read all four of the books and had started re-reading Twilight again.

I sheepishly admit that the books have inspired me to come up with many jewelry design ideas. I must give Stephenie kudos for her ability to paint a picture with words. Her descriptions of the colors related to certain scenes in the book have been a great inspiration in particular. So look for some Twilight inspired pieces coming soon. And here is an inside scoop for those of you who are reading this, because I haven't completely come to terms with my Twilight obsession yet (because let's face it, I am not a hormonally driven adolesent and therefore it is a bit embarrassing to admit) I will not have a separate Twilight section in my shop. So if you are interested in seeing my inspired creations the best way to do so will be to go to my ETSY shop and in the search bar at the top of the shop type in the word Twilight. This will return a page of all of my listings containing this tag. As of this post I don't have anything listed but I hope to have a few things up over the weekend.

Ok so thats enough embarrassing confessions for now. Let me just leave you with a couple of cool links.

Stephenie's site: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com

Rob Pattinson sings too: http://www.robert-pattinson.co.uk/music

And of course some pics:

Trying to Make a Comeback

2009-07-08T07:20:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone. Surprise, I didn't drop off the face of the earth or kick the bucket...yet. I didn't even realize it had been so long since I last posted anything. It has been a crazy few months but I am slowly and steadily trying to get back into the swing of things after a long forced hiatus from my ETSY shop and pretty much anything else related to the virtual world. Health wise things are slowly (I'm talking disabled snail type of slow) steadying out. I still don't have any "real" answers as to what caused this flare up. I guess "it is what it is". Anyway, I was surprised to see that I gained some followers during my time out....hmmm.....I wonder if that is a subtle way for the universe to tell me to keep quiet. LOL.

Well, here I am regardless. I would like to thank all of you who have continued to follow my pitiful attempt at a little blog and all of the newcomers. I really do appreciate it. For those of you who have also been checking on my ETSY shop from time to time, thank you. I apologize for the stagnant appearance and lack of new items. On the bright side though being unable to physically create any new items does give one ALOT of time to think. As a result of my months of thinking and pondering, my design journal has thickened so new items are on the way. I have decided to try my hand at some new techniques including soldering and soldered art pendants so we will see what happens. I also have been doing some reading which has helped inspire me so stay tuned. Hopefully I won't dissapoint. Well that's all for now. Have a Great Day. Talk to you soon.

Meet EJ

2009-02-12T11:52:00.006-05:00

Good Morning All
My inspiration for posting today happens to be my little man EJ. I thought I would introduce him to you all. He is a three year old chihauhau/jack russell mix. He has huge brown eyes and the most adorable face markings I have ever seen. He has sort of grown into his ears finally but when I first got him as a pup my friends suggested that I name him Radar cuz his ears were soooo big. Well anyway here he is. See if you can find a recurrent theme here.

Don't you just love that face and those ears?

He's such a little Romeo!

Here he is with my roommate just chillin.

First thing in the a.m. "Come on just five more minutes"

"I ain't coming out and you can't make me"

The caption reads: "Can't get no rest"
I think that about sums it up.

I hope you all enjoyed meeting EJ. He really isn't a lazy dog. He just plays hard and then he rests hard. LOL

Some Questions Finally Answered

2009-02-07T12:52:00.002-05:00

Well it appears that I may have spoken too soon in my last post in regards to my health improving. I have been to see 4 different doctors for a total of 5 visits since my last post. I did have some blood work done and finally got some answers that I have been waiting on for over 3 years now. I have had really odd symptoms for 3+ years and was never given a definitive answer as to why I have so much fatigue, pain, swelling, stiffness, etc, etc, etc. Well they finally did an EBV (epstein barr virus) test which was positive which now seems to suggest CFIDS (chronic fatigue syndrome). I don't know what to think exactly. With my nursing background I know enough physiology to know that this makes sense when I compare it to my symptomology. It totally explains the cyclical nature of my symptoms as well as the intense often dibilitating fatigue. So now I guess I just have to take it one day at a time. We will just have to see where things go from here. I don't know why I am even posting this. Sometimes you just have to get things out of your head and down on paper or computer whatever the case may be. Anyway if anyone reads this please feel free to leave comments or share stories. God Bless and have a great day.

A Little Note On Things To Come

2009-01-21T09:11:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been busy since I started getting a little strength and stamina back. I have been working on my workspace and coming up with a supplies list. I have decided to try my hand at a few new jewelry techniques this year including learning to solder, working with sterling silver and copper sheet, making some rings and who knows what else I will experiment with. As soon as I get my supplies and get started I will try to post a bit more often and let you all know how things are going. Maybe we can all learn and adventure into new areas together. So stay tuned and we will see what happens.

Help Getting the Creative Juices Flowing

2009-01-16T10:11:00.007-05:00

I was just getting my ETSY forums fix and I saw this post

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5998397

by Doodlestar. She has started a blog where different themes will be posted every Friday then artists are encouraged to create an item based on that theme. I think this is a great idea because:

1) It gives you a goal and a destination for when your not feeling so creative

2) Creating a piece in order to reach this particular outcome can lead to additional ideas and
concepts thereby getting you out of your creative slump

3) If you submit a finished piece it is great free advertising for you shop

It is really a win-win idea. Great job Doodlestar and thanks for all of your hardwork.

My Grandmother Used to Say......

2009-01-13T11:32:00.002-05:00

When I was younger my grandmother used to tell me that whatever you were doing when the new year rolls around you will end up doing that same thing for the rest of the year. I never really put much stock in it. I always thought that was her way of saying "you better be good and stay out of trouble". In other words no heavy new year's partying that you might regret later. You know keep your nose clean and stay out of mischief. But this year I have been thinking about what she said and wondering........hmmmm?

If any of you have read my hum drum little blog you know that I haven't been feeling well. Thus at 12:01 am Jan. 1, 2009, I was sick and in bed. And here it is 2 weeks into the new year and I'm still not feeling 100%. Maybe Grandma was right. This is one instance where I kinda hope she wasn't. Anyway, just remember what my grandmother used to say. If we are all fortunate enough to see another New Year try to choose your celebrations wisely. Surround yourself with people you love and who love you, be safe, be smart, and try to keep the mischief to a minimum lol.

ETSY cartoon on You Tube

2009-01-07T01:15:00.004-05:00

Hi all I was just doing some surfing and I found this little cartoon on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2g31xjdfhQ&feature=related

I thought it was cute so I decided to share it here with all of you

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T23:56:00.002-05:00

Ok I know that technically I'm a bit late. Its almost Jan 4th here already. I do apologize. I have been dealing with some health issues that have really gotten me down. This is the first time that I have felt remotely strong enough to sit and type. Anyhow, I just wanted to say Happy New Year and I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas.

My dearest friend in the whole world has had the last two weeks off from work and she has rearranged my studio area and given me another 6 ft. worktable. I am so happy. I plan to use this extra workspace to try some new jewelry making techniques. She has also agreed to teach me how to solder as soon as I get to feeling better. So hopefully I will get to feeling better soon and I will be able to share my newest endeavor with all of you. Until then I wish you all the best in 2009.

Just Wanted To Share

2008-12-10T16:20:00.002-05:00

I have finally gotten back to updating my etsy shop. I spent alot of time getting ready for a craft show that was last week. Just thought I would share my latest listings. Any comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Purple Sugilite and Sterling Silver Filigree cuff

Purple Sugilite and Sterling Silver "YingYang" Necklace

Red Aventurine and Sterling Silver Necklace

Red Sterling Silver Christmas Tree Necklace

Thanks for taking a look.

I Didn't Realize That "Craft Show" Was Such A Literal Phrase

2008-12-07T20:30:00.008-05:00

Ok so it is finally Sunday night and I am home. Its been a busy weekend. I had my first craft show on Saturday and today I went to visit my dear little grandmother. Anyway, about the show, I didn't realize how literal that phrasing is. That is exactly what I did. I worked very hard on my table and my presentation. I made two Christmasy table decorations out of ornaments and vases and candle rings, my friend built me some very nice wooden risers to give my items varied elevations, i even bought some candy canes to give to the kids. I arranged my little table and sat everything out for all to see. And.......they saw. Ha ha.

I really dont know how others do these things all the time. It was soooo much work trying to get prepared. Dont get me wrong I had a total of 6 sales so it wasn't a complete bust. I made back my table fee plus a smidge. But for me it was way more work put in than return. People just didnt turn out. Very low traffic. It was a small show. All of the table fees went to the school hosting the show so my money went to a good cause. And we got to keep all of our profits which was good. But if I could make some suggestions to the organizers for future shows it would be:

1. If they are going to have the same amount of space in the future then they should increase the entry fee and accept fewer artists. It was really too crowded. I couldn't even get far enough from my table to take a good picture that showed the entire layout in one frame.

As you can see this is even taken at an angle and not straight on.

These show the items a little better.

2. I would pay more attention to the types of artists that are being represented and limit the number in each category. There were only 20 vendors there total and 8 of them were jewelry.

So all in all it was a good experience in that I learned alot and I can say that my first one is behind me. I would like to do it again but I couldn't rely on doing only shows to exhibit my pieces.

Now, because I have been spending the last 2 weeks trying to get prepped for this show, I have neglected my etsy shop. So tomorrow I get to take a ton of pics, list new items, renew current listings, and so on, and so on, and so on. Well here's to tomorrow.

OH! NO!

2008-12-01T12:53:00.002-05:00

Yes it happened. I have the worst cold! :( And it couldn't have happened at a worse time! As I stated in an earlier post I am frantically trying to get ready for a holiday craft show on the the 6th. UUUuuuuggghhh! I feel like I need to be making some more items to take but when I try to work I just can't. I feel exhausted. And of course just a minor bug sets my arthritis into overdrive so it feels more like the flu than a cold. Even my skin hurts.

If anyone reading this has any sure fire remedies for getting over a cold very quickly please leave a comment. I will read every one of them. Also let me know your opinions on how much inventory is required for a first show. I currently have as of today:

Earrings -- 21 pair
Necklaces -- 15
Bracelets/Bangles -- 9

I really feel that I need more than this. This is my very first show so I am already nervous cause I dont know what to expect. Be honest please. I am hoping that I can get my roommate to make up some simple inexepensive earrings. I have a 6ft table and I am afraid it will look too sparse.

Well that is all for now. I'm going to lie back down. Please send me prayers and good wishes. God Bless.

~heather~

I Survived Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T09:48:00.003-05:00

Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all had a glorious holiday. I know for me the holidays are always way crazy. I have so many dinners to attend that it is hard to get them all packed into one day. But I was thinking about this and complaining about being so busy running from house to house when it dawned on me that I should stop. I realized how truly blessed I am. I am fortunate enough to have a family that loves one another and wants to spend time with one another.

So I quit my whining and I gave thanks this year for being so busy. For having the opportunity to spend another Thanksgiving with my parents, brothers, nieces, my precious grandmother, and friends. Three of my four grandparents are not with us this holiday season and I miss them terribly. I wonder many times did I let them know just how much they meant to me when they were here. So the moral to this story is: slow down, breathe, look around you and see the people that you have in your life. Take the time to enjoy their company and make sure before you depart to go back home, to your everyday routine, that you tell them just how much you love them.

Slacker

2008-11-26T11:29:00.002-05:00

I am frantically trying to get inventory built up for a show next weekend. Thus I have let my blogging slide. I just wanted to thank those of you who take the time to check in on my site from time to time. Hopefully after this show I will be able to get more involved with my blog.....so stay tuned. Thanks again

~heather~

Tuesday

2008-11-18T15:02:00.008-05:00

Boy that title is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to my creative talents! Hahaha. Its been quite a while since I last posted. Whats new here you ask? Well I have made a couple of new pieces of jewelry but I have yet to post them to my etsy shop.

This is one of my favorites:

Im still working on some of the pictures. They aren't quite right yet.

Oh yeah and I joined an etsy team. Check it out : http://www.ashevilleetsy.etsy.com/ Its the local etsy street team for my area. Thanks to them I got some info on an upcoming show. I am trying to get a table. Hopefully Ill no something in the next couple of days. If I get a spot it will be my very first show ever so Im a little nervous.

Lets see...what else...um I guess thats all for now folks. Thanks for listening.

Creative block defeated

2008-11-13T14:13:00.003-05:00

Yay! I want to thank all those who were kind enough to talk my creative muse into giving me a second chance. I started a new necklace and did some brainstorming yesterday. i came up with a few ideas that i put in my design journal. Like I said yesterday i am thinking about running a promo on here so please check back. while your at it check out these etsy artists

http://liciapots.blogspot.com/

http://www.dkjewels.blogspot.com

http://www.digitaldoodles.etsy.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6281538

Complete Creative Block

2008-11-12T09:47:00.001-05:00

Well I am in a complete creative block. I just can't seem to get inspired. UUUgggghhh! It has been 9 days since I made anything new. What is going on? I think it this time of year. I really have mood issues during the fall. I have had so many personal tragedies happen to me during the fall of the year. It brings back a lot of painful memories and associations. You know, it might be SADD too (seasonal affective disorder). Maybe I just need a sunlamp?! Oh well, anyhoo I am going to go sit down at my work table now and pray that my creative muse will return. Keep your fingers crossed. :(

Check These guys out

2008-11-08T22:47:00.001-05:00

Hi all
I recently found some amazing artists on esty and just want to share them with you all.

I just found this one tonight. Check out their shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5924751&section_id=5685411

these are wood burnt can you believe it

These are original paintings by Jehangalleria take a look at her etsy shop below:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6338742

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

2008-11-08T05:02:00.000-05:00

Okay this is my very first post on my brand new blog. In case you are wondering what took me so long to get here to blogger land well refer to title. I will submit the aforementioned "title" as exhibit one for my argument. I have heard really great things about blogging so I am here to give it a go. I really can't imagine that I have anything to say that anyone would be interested in reading but I guess I'll find out huh? So anyone that's interested go ahead and buckle up cause this is probably going to be a bumpy ride. Just bear with me and remember I am just learning to "drive" this blog machine.

Welcome

2008-11-01T01:00:00.004-04:00

Hi I'm Heather.

I'm glad you took a minute to check out my blog. Here is a little info about me. I am a native of North Carolina, a born and bred mountain girl. I love animals especially my little puppy EJ.

I love spending time with my family and my nieces. I am a non-practicing Registered Nurse. I enjoy crafting of all sorts and diy projects. My most recent love is making jewelry. I have recently opened an etsy shop and I'm gonna see if others like my work.

I am a self taught jewelry artist. I think being self taught is an advantage because it allows you to be more liberal in your designs and techniques. You can ignore all the rules when you don't really know them. I really enjoy making beautiful, well crafted, affordable jewelry. I use high quality materials and love the look of sterling silver and natural stones. I believe everyone needs to feel beautiful and I hope that my jewelry can bring a little beauty into others lives. So check out my esty shop as well.

By the way Etsy is an awesome venue for artists and crafters of all kinds. Some of the talent that you will find there is just amazing. There are somewhere in the range of 700,00 jewelry items available also in all styles and price ranges; so if you don't find something you like in my shop check out some of the other artisans and buy handmade. There is a certain uniqueness and character about hand made items that you just can't get from mass production so help us spread the word and support the Handmade movement.

Have a great day! God Bless

Heather