Art For Nature... Etsy Treasury

Well, I just had to add one more post today (to make up for nothing at all last week!).  This time, I made up a treasury over on Etsy that has more to do with gardening than jewelry but, as I say in my list, even Nature loves art!





       

Glass insulator Tea Light
with Wire Garden Holder

    

Mini Patio Mix Kit For Miniature Gardens,
Fairy or Gnome Gardens, Create Paths
or Patios That Won't Wash Away

Cute, huh?  Go here to see the whole treasury! :)

Pics After A Delay

Oh, my gracious!  I had no idea how hard it would be to re-take all the pics of the things I had in my Etsy store as well as get new pics of all the things I'd made to add to the store! Then, on top of that, I got sick last weekend and wasn't even able to take the pics until Monday night.  At which point I learned about photo editing.
Fun.
Right.
I love my new camera and my new table top studio, but I do NOT want to get either of them out again any time soon (which is a really ridiculous thing to say since I'm not going to stop creating!)
Anyway, here's a few previews of what's going to be in the shop by this weekend! (I hope! I plan!!)
Enjoy :)

I went SO nuts on the earrings! You don't even know! This isn't a 1/4 of what I have to put in the store (phew!) and I plan to have it all done over the weekend? Stay tuned, folks, and see if she escapes from Ward B! (hahahahaaa)

Com-Mission Complete

Yes, I have managed to finish the other two commissioned lanyards. You saw the purple, hot pink & black one in the previous post, here; these two were requested as black & silver and black & gray, respectively. 

 BLACK AND GRAY LANYARD


the tag has a couple of dragonflies on it and
reads "Handcrafted For You By:
The Crazy Creative Corner"



the "tan" in the bead is a lot more gray looking
in normal light (stoopid iPhones)

again, the color is more black and a creamy white than
the lighting in the pic shows.

BLACK AND SILVER LANYARD

the focal stone is a pyrite.. again, the colors
aren't quite how they look in life. It's much
more gray/silver in look.



MUCH more gray and silver in real life!!!

   I'm taking this Friday off work and plan to do a lot of bracelet and lanyard making (I've got a LOT of earrings right now... SO easy to make!)  I also plan to use the three day weekend (have Friday off, remember? Keep up, here... or do you need more coffee?) to take and post pics on here and on Etsy. AND on Facebook... Keep an eye peeled!

Etsy Treasuries, Pinterest and My Birthday

Well, I'm getting a little more "internet social savvy" than I was before... which is hard to do when you consider I'm at work for most of the day.  Still, it's happening.  My product is slowly getting out there and I'm networking.  Hopefully, my store will begin to make the rounds, too. 

The Etsy Treasuries were first.  I did one for all purples, then all reds, and then gray (yes, gray is a great color) and today, I did one that's for garnet.  That's because January is my birth month and I absolutely LOVE garnets.  I love them red, orange, green... whatever color they come in (and they come in a lot!).  So here's a link to the Garnet/January Etsy Treasury.  There are some seriously talented people out there!

Now, I have to admit, while I liked everthing I put in my Treasury, there were a few things I liked a bit more than the others.  They just caught my attention and kept drawing me back.  So, for your enjoyment (if you're too lazy to follow the link to Etsy!) here are a few of the treasures I found:



by Izovella ~ isn't it a beaut?




I love tea and this teacup by Sheilasart is terriffic



by FebraRose. Love her use of various beads.



meredithdillman  draws these herself
before turning them into fun pendents

 So, that's it for today.  I also pinned a few of my items over at Pinterest if you'd care to go see what's up there.  I'm sure some of these artists wouldn't mind the extra exposure, either.

CONFESSIONS OF A BEAD-AHOLIC

Yes, I am coming out. It's time to let others know that it's okay to confess to this particular addiction.  I'm afraid there's no real cure for it, though. It's the kind of addiction you simply need to continue feeding because, unless you really OD on it, it's never going to go away.

Bead-aholicism.

Yes! I've done it! I've confessed! I am a bead-aholic!!

(whew, what a relief!)

As I said, this isn't anything that can be (or needs to be) "cured."  The problem with bead-aholicism is the bead-aholics' inability to pay attention to anything else while beading.  This can include (but not be limited to); passage of time, phones ringing, children, spouses, visiting family and/or friends, anything outside of a three foot radius.  Sometimes anything within the three foot radius if it's not a bead.  Many's the night when I've been beading away and looked up to realize the only light in the house was coming from my lamps on my work table.  I hadn't heard the t.v. stop blaring it's show.  I hadn't heard anyone heading down the hall to bed.  I hadn't even noticed the lights go off.  I was in my own little world (but, that's okay, they know me well there!).  The other problem is the bead-aholics need for pretty, shiny, all-shapes-and-sizes of beads. If you take a bead-aholic into Michael's or Hobby Lobby be prepared to, a) mop up the drool that will roll down the chin and, b) see them spend an outrageous amount of money on strings of beads and packets of findings that will go perfectly with what they already have.

A  bead-aholics sense of humor can even revolve around all things bead.  I have a co-worker who uses old pill and medicine bottles to store her beads, findings, etc. and, in spite of her telling him he didn't need to, her husband keeps saving them for her.  We joked about maybe they needed to be filled.  After all, we wouldn't want these poor bottles to become depressed because the lack of beads and findings made them feel unneeded.  At this time of year they could end up in a severe down-ward spiral of depression that could only be reversed by the application of rich-toned seed beads or luscious glass and gemstone beads.

Why am I confessing to bead-aholicism?  Because, I have a regular, 8 to 5 job that takes up the greatest part of my time.  I have a 30 minute commute to work and home again (another hour out of my day!)  It's 5:30 by the time I get home; that is, if I don't have to stop for fuel or some other errand... or my family doesn't decide we need to eat out instead of cooking.  If that happens I don't get home until well after 7pm.  And, knowing how I am about beading (disappearing into the art of creating something pretty) I don't like to bead too late in the evening during the week because I won't go to bed early enough to get enough sleep for the next day.  I know, I know, there are weekends to work at my craft.  Except that's when all the chores and things you weren't able to get done during the week are done.  Now what? Huh? Huh? Now?  Now you whine and pout and give everyone the "Bambi Eyes" in hopes you'll get (at least) a few hours to sit at your table.

The state of which is another indication of your bead-aholicism.  At MY table, I pull out several things at once when I start creating; mixing and matching colors, accents, wire or chain, findings, headpins.  And they rarely go back to the boxes and containers they came from so there's a serious mix-mash of all these items strewn about at any given time.  I recently read an article over on Art Bead Scene by Erin Prais-Hintz of Treasures Found about making bracelets (or earrings) out of the "left-overs" on your table!  How fun! (not to mention a great way to clean up your mes... ahh... table!)

Another indication of bead-aholicism is how many times a day you either blog about, or read other blogs about, your passion.  It's hard to sit at my desk and not bring up my blog to see what all the blogs I've got on my "I stalk these people" list have been doing. What can they say or show me to inspire my creativity? The next clue is whether you email yourself the link to the picture they've posted so you can be inspired again later (tutorials only, folks! NO stealing someone's hard-earned designs!!!) or if you just print a copy of the picture then and there to add to your growing collection of "I have to try this!" pages that are shoved messily onto a shelf near your table or pinned to a board above it. 

Yes, bead-aholics are an interesting, if misunderstood breed.  We're (mostly) harmless (unless there's a major sale at Michael's or Hobby Lobby then, LOOK OUT!), and we really don't mean to ignore you.  Just understand we're on an entirely different planet than you when creating.  But, that's okay.  In fact, we won't mind at all if you want to come visit us there!