up, Up, UP and aWay.

This magical sculpture is on sale today in my etsy shop.  Today only.

Today's SALE - 2 items!

Today's etsy sale features not one item but TWO!  Click on the word sale to be taken to the sale section of my etsy shop.  Click on the words etsy shop to see all the items in my shop that are handcrafted by me.  

Please contact me for custom orders, parties, creative gatherings, healing art activities, girls night out, etc at whimsicaljewels@rocketmail.com

ENJOY!

Black and pink button wire ring.  Size 6.75 

Today's price $8.00

 Black and Red falling star dangling earrings.

Today's price $18.00

I've been treasured...

Blue.  Circles.  Handmade.  Art.  It's a great feeling to be treasured.

My etsy team member, Tina Cauthorn, placed my blue window flower in this lovely treasury.  When you have a chance check out these amazing shops on Etsy.

Please be sure to stop in to her shop too.  She creates wonderful frames out of buttons along with other fabulous button creations.  Here's the link to her etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/allbuttonedupbytina

Celebrating Spring

I love spring!  The items I chose for my treasury today are in celebration of spring and growth.  I love these items and these shops,  I hope you do too.  ♥ENJOY♥

Celebrating purple and green...

I am involved in a few teams on Etsy and I have found them to be quite wonderful.  I have met some really great people and found some awesome shops by being part of the teams on etsy.  I love that etsy is such a supportive community and that there is such a variety of art forms.

Today a member of one of my teams featured my "Mountains" necklace that has fluorite, aventurine and amethyst in it.  Please take a look at this lovely collection...

Introducing LINDA BLATCHFORD, Jewelry Designer Chic!

Linda resides in Illinois and tells us she is addicted to beading. She also loves making cards (stamping and gluing) and reading. She is a proud member of EtsyBead Team and EtsyChai Team.

Linda's beautiful creations can be found at the following web addresses:

http://www.lindab142.etsy.com/
http://linorstore.com/
http://myspace.com/lindab142
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/LinorStorecom-creations-by-Linda-B/32359586098?ref=ts
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24930325@N03/

She also has a blog that displays her beautiful work and other handmade artists that she enjoys. Please visit her blog at: http://linorstorecom.blogspot.com/

As a child Linda recalls her first experience making a handcrafted item as "stringing pony beads on plastic wire. I remember pink beads. I made it in a class, I think, or in brownies craft event." A love for beading started and she has found her favorite creative past time is beading.

Linda's source of Inspiration comes from the "colors and textures of gemstone beads and their healing characteristics. Her ideas begin from looking at beads and laying out the colors, beginning a pattern. I also subscribe to bead magazines and make my own designs from some of their examples, an adaptable, never a copy." Linda's favorite materials to work with are "Jasper and other gemstones, sterling spacers and bold beautiful colors. I like weird color combinations." Her favorite color combinations are turquoise and green.

Linda shared with us that she has learned some valuable lessons from other artists. She has learned tips on taking good photographs of her jewelry designs and states she is still learning. She has also learned tips on marketing and sharing with others.

Linda has recently read some good books that she would like to pass on:

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman

The Gate House by Nelson DeMille

Linda supports buying handmade items and feels "individuals are designing quality materials and invested time and money into their passion. I consider it an honor for someone to be wearing one of my designs. Buying handmade helps the small business owner." Linda hopes that in ten years she will be working part-time, an expert blogger and a full-time etsy seller.


We appreciate her sharing her source of creativity and inspiration and hope all of you enjoyed it as well.

Featuring POTTERY BY AMY!!

Introducing Amy Loggains...

I was born in Greensboro, NC and have lived here in the Triad all of my life.
I like calling North Carolina home! My husband and I currently live in High Point and have one daughter who still lives at home. Our son lives in British Columbia with his lovely Canadian bride, and our other daughter and her husband are currently teaching English in South Korea.

What are the web addresses people can find you at? (website, etsy, blog, flickr)
You can view some of my pottery at this address.
http://picasaweb.google.com/POTTERYBYAMY/2008PotteryByAmy

Amy's pottery can be purchased at:

C J's Boutique - a Handcrafted Gallery

6000 Meadowbrook Mall Suite 7A

Clemmons, NC 27012

Boutique hours: Tues - Fri 10 - 6 and Sat 10 - 3

AND

http://picasaweb.google.com/POTTERYBYAMY/2008PotteryByAmy

What is your favorite color combination?
I kind of go through cycles. Right now, I love the brown & teal glazes together.

What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? How and why did you make it?
I remember making pot holders out of those stretchy loops of material.
I think I must have been about 8 or 10 years old. What a cool feeling to make something with my own hands - selecting each strand of color - and then my mother actually kept them and used it for many years!

What inspires you?
Ideas mostly.

Where do your ideas come from?
I see everyday things that have interesting textures or shapes that I think, "I wonder what that would look like if I......" So I just try it. Sometimes, I just try to make things out of pottery that I've never seen or heard of anyone doing before. I made a North Carolina map puzzle which has all 100 counties of NC. Weird I know.

Does the atmosphere affect your creativity?
It does to some extent but my frame of mind has more of an effect I think.

Where do you create, in a workroom/ studio or in a park?
I use the studio at the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center.

What are your favorite materials?
Clay is not very exciting, but I like to use different items to imprint or shape it, that are unique.

What is your favorite thing to do with your creativity?
I enjoy finding a different technique or imprint or shape, that is pleasing to me, but that maybe no one else has thought of using or doing that way before. Making business card holders is one example. I had never seen a pottery business card holder but I thought - why not give it a try... and it worked.

Why should people buy handmade?
I think it's cool to look at a piece and know it wasn't stamped out of some machine with 10,000 other ones just like it. Every piece of pottery I make is "one of a kind". For me pottery is an opportunity to break free of the constraints of precision and sameness and just try what ever idea is in my head that day and see what happens!

Any tips of wisdom on selling handmade stuff?
I really have no experience in this, but it does seem to me that a place like CJ's with a collection of many kinds of handmade goods - could be a good thing. I'm hoping so!

Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I draw buildings.

What have been the most valuable lessons learned from other artists?
Don't be afraid to try something new.

Read any good books lately?
Yes, my husband and I have been married 29 years, but our daughter just got married last month, so we've been reading books on marriage lately. "The most important year in a woman's life/the most important year in a man's life" is a great book for newlyweds or soon to weds.

Do you have any current projects that you want to describe, techniques to share, give picture of?

I've attached a picture & description of a french butter keeper and how it works.
One of the things that made me want to take a turn at pottery, was the french butter keeper.

What a clever little things these are - I loved the concept of not having to refrigerate butter to keep it from spoiling - but to have soft yummy spreadable butter right there on the countertop ready to spread on toast or what ever. I had seen a very few of these "french butter keepers" in a shop in Seagrove, but there was not much selection and although I loved the concept and design - none of the colors or styles appealed to me. So I set out to make a french butter keeper for myself and friends & family who also loved the idea of keeping fresh soft spreadable butter.

***In ten years I'd like to be...
Living outside the city limits in a more rural setting with enough land to romp around through the woods with my future grandchildren and teaching them to enjoy the simple joys that so often are never noticed in a more fast paced complicated lifestyle..