Laugh, Love and Be thankful.

There are still three items on sale in my etsy shop.  Two of those items were posted in a previous blog post a few days ago.  Today's NEW sale item in my etsy shop is this beautiful reminder....

original price $25.00  ON SALE today for $15.00

https://www.etsy.com/listing/175056319/on-sale-laugh-love-be-thankful-painted

Blessings and love to you!

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 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...

Happy SPRING!

I have been creating a lot over the last few weeks. Spring always gets my creative juices flowing! I love the scents in the air, the new growth on the trees and ground, all of the flowers and flowering trees, the birds singing....what can I say I LOVE SPRING! I was recently in an Easter Festival and wanted to share some of the new pieces of jewelry I created that sold in the festival. Over the next few weeks I will be listing some new items in my ETSY store (http://www.whimsicaljewels.etsy.com/)

If you would like a custom order, want to book a house party, have a girls night out making jewelry or have a beaded birthday party for your child please contact me at whimsicaljewels@rocketmail.com

ENJOY~

Necklace and Earring Set:

Aqua Millifiorie glass with coral chips and blue seed beads

Purple glass earrings

MOP Black Shell Earrings with cubed dark pink glass

Tribal Leaf Bone bead with black and white bone beads on leather

Hurricane Wired Earrings with Rosaline faceted bead inside

Wired Star Earrings

Light Green Foiled glass with grey glass pearls and aventurine stone chips

If you have been inspired by someone else's work or have an artist you would like to recommend to be featured on my blog please email me at: whimsicaljewels@rocketmail.com

Featuring Sea Glass Artist: Amy McDonald!!!!

I am very excited to introduce, Amy McDonald, a talented Sea Glass Jewelry artist. Along with enjoying my own personal piece of jewelry made by Amy, I had the opportunity to interview Amy regarding her life and art to find out a little more about what inspires her.

Amy lives in Maine where there is a lot of snow and plenty of availability for inspiration. Besides being a jewelry artist, Amy is a full time mother of 3 and a hair stylist. Her husband is a BIG hunter and total outdoors man and her kids are 16, 12, and 1.

Amy's beautiful work can be found on Etsy, which features handcrafted artists around the globe. Her Etsy shop called, Sea Treasures by Amylee, can be found @ http://www.amylee34.etsy.com. Amy's pieces are made of Sea Glass found from the beaches in Maine. She absolutely loves making Sea Glass Jewelry and has spent a lot of time locating each piece of glass for her jewelry.

In Amy's words, "Up here in Maine we have lots of beaches, so my whole life I have beach combed and collected sea glass. My fondest memories are of being with my grandparents as a little girl and walking the beaches every weekend picking up sea glass. Well, I'm 34 now with LOTS of SEA GLASS. Being a stay at home mom I have found my creative outlet. I wanted to have a lot of jewelry but didn't want to pay their prices. Everywhere I went I found pieces I didn't care for and they were expensive, so I started my own line! I think I have always had a passion for this, in high school I took a pottery class and instead of making bowls and cups, etc. I made a beaded necklace. I think I get inspired easily, there are a lot of things that are so beautiful it gets me thinking, weather it's my catchy names for my pieces, or wonderful colors on a bird. My favorite color is purple and I love browns and aquas together. I have a work shop down in our finished basement with a drill press, (it's my husbands that I took over) but my creating happens in our dining room, it has much better light. My absolute favorite thing to work with is the glass. Holding it up to the light and finding just the right beads. It's a great thing. I was very nervous to have a shop on Etsy, I thought what if I don't sell anything or what if people don't like my items, but the experience has been wonderful, everyone has been so nice, and supportive of one another. Lots of helpful tips to be shared. The thing that I find to have helped me a lot are my pictures of the items, you really need to use props that really make your item stand out. When I did that I started to get more views and hearts and even SALES. "

Amy feels it is very important to buy handmade to support other artists and their talents, knowing every item is made with love and that the artist is sharing this with everyone. Amy says, "I hope everyone who purchases an item from me loves it as much as I did making it."

Besides being found on Etsy, Amy can be found at one of the largest craft fairs in Augusta Maine, located at the Augusta Civic Center November 28-29, 2009. If you live close by please stop by and see her beautiful work. If not please be sure to check out her lovely Etsy shop, I know you won't be sorry.

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..

Featuring Shirley MacNulty!!!

Shirley MacNulty.......

Shirley and her husband divide their time between Wilmington and Sugar Mountain, NC.
Below she tells us a little about her self and her various handcrafted talents~

My main crafts are Knitting, Preserved Flowers and Sewing

- I design knitwear for South West Trading Company http://www.soysilk.com/ and One Planet Yarn and Fiber and have designed for Coats and Clark, Blue Sky Alpacas and Alchemy Yarns of Transformation.
- Technical Edit knitting patterns for One Planet Yarn and Fiber and also individual knitwear designers
- Designed a petit point needlepoint ornament for the Blue Room of the White House in 1997
- Chosen as the representative from Maryland to work the Maryland square in a piece for the United Way and Hallmark in the mid 1980's
- Author of Knitting for Fun and Profit, knitting book published by Prima Publishing
- Articles in Threads, Cast On and INKnitters Magazines
- Knitting Designs published in Cast On and INKnitters magazines and pending in Knit 'N Style and Creative Knitting

Affiliations
- Charter Member of the Association of Knitwear Designers (certified as a Designer, Author, Tech Editor, Gallery Designer, Teacher, Publisher and Retailer)
- Designer Member and also a Retail Member of the National Needle arts Association
- Member of The Knitting Guild Association where I helped write and served as first Chairman of the Master Knitting Committee for 4 years
- Member of the Blue Ridge Fiber Guild

Personal - married for 50 years to Bradford S. MacNulty - 2 adult sons, 2 adult grandsons, 4 adult step grandchildren and 4 step great-grandchildren
BS Nursing form Columbia University
Owner Bay Country Boutique, small retail needlework and gift shop since 1982 (now sell through the Great Train Robbery Emporium in Banner Elk and at CJ's Boutique in Clemmons, NC and The Prissy Hen (antique shop) in Cameron, NC (opening April 1,2008)

What are the web addresses people can find you at?
e-mail only - baycountry@bellsouth.net and baycountry@skybest.com
Shirley has a blog address but doesn't use it very much.....
http://www.baycountry.blogspot.com/

What is your favorite color combination?
No special favorites - do not like orange

What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? How and why did you make it?
I did a lot of knitting as a small child. I also did sewing and embroidery. The thing I remember most, and it was written up in an on-line newsletter in 2006, I knitted my father a pair of argyle socks for Christmas when I was in 7th grade and this was in 1946

What inspires you?
My inspiration comes from nature and also from reading magazines and catalogues.

Where do your ideas come from?
My ideas come from nature, magazines, knit designs come from reading fashion magazines and following fashion trends. I normally try to stay with more classic designs that will last a lifetime, not as much by the way out trends.

Does the atmosphere affect your creativity?
I would say I work better on cooler days, not on the hot 100% humidity days

Where do you create, in a workroom/ studio or in a park?
All over. My knitting is portable - and I do the pressed flower designs on the dining room table usually. I do nto have a separate studio - my things are spread out all over the house and under the beds and in closets, even in extra bathtubs.

What are your favorite materials?
Natural yarns - soy, bamboo, corn, wool, alpaca for knitting and flowers from my garden for my Preserved Floral Designs

Any tips of wisdom on selling handmade stuff?
I have been doing this for years. When I was younger I used to do a lot of shows, back before the days of having individual tents for the purpose. We really had to fight the elements. For multiple day shows, the worst part was having to dismantle everything and pack up each night and often have to walk a distance to the car. I have not done any shows for the past two years - the last one was so bad as had to shut down one whole afternoon due to severe thunderstorm watch.
As for advice, check out the show before doing it. Some may sound great, but turn out to be duds. I have done shows and sold nothing, other times have had great shows. The best shows I did were in the 1980's in Southern Maryland where we used to live. Nothing has been as good since we moved to North Carolina in 1990.
I also find that there is great discrepancy in the cost of shows - from free to several hundred dollars, even for outside space.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?
Cooking, gardening, socializing, work on the Computer

What have been the most valuable lessons learned from other artists?
Everything that you think will sell doesn't, but be patient.


Do you have any current projects that you want to describe, techniques to share, give picture of?
I am always working on new knitting designs for yarn companies - I have more ideas for garments and household items that I have time to knit. I also love to garden.

In ten years I'd like to be...
I hope I will still be alive and still creating