Artistic Flair, EtsyHacks, and Lots of Blue

New stuff... blue stuff... and stuff to do! Catchy, eh? :-) So what's all that about? Well, here goes:

First the NEW stuff.

Recognize that avatar? It's Deb DiSalvo, an artist who creates incredible pieces using fused glass (which she showcases in her blog, Artistic Flair, and sells in her Etsy shop, also called ArtisticFlair). I have to say that before I saw Deb's work I wasn't all that impressed with fused glass. Most of it just looked like blobs to me. But Deb gave me a whole new appreciation of the art form with the intricate and clever creations she makes.

Anyway! Deb's been doing posts related to the Twelve Days of Christmas on her blog, and today (day eleven) she featured ELEVEN of my beadwoven cuffs!!! I was so excited to see which ones she chose, and they're some of my own personal favorites. Deb actually owns one of my other favorites, Evolutionary - I'm glad it's gone to a good home! :-)

There's even more NEW stuff.

What's that thing? What's etsyhacks? No, it's not Etsy with the flu. It's one of the cooooooolest things ever! I only "discovered" this yesterday, but it's already saved me some time; and I know it's going to continue to save me even more time.

etsyhacks is a bunch of tools written by the super-nice husband of an Etsy seller to help with some of those tasks we do every day in the course of running our shops. The tools require that you be using the Firefox web browser. If that's the browser you use, it's just a few steps to upload the tools you want and start using them.

My favorite so far is the buyer info tool, which makes it oh-so-much easier to send a convo to a buyer (which I do for each and every sale, to let the buyer know I appreciate them and that I've shipped their package) and to see past convos with the buyer. There are a bunch more. I (sadly) had to cancel a transaction today for non-payment, and I was able to use one of the tools to make the cancellation easier.

Go check 'em out! Save yourself some serious time! And if you love them, make sure to show your appreciation by donating or buying ad space.

***

And now for some BLUE stuff.

First is this treasury I created a couple of days ago. It's been so hectic here that I didn't get a chance to post about it when the treasury was active, but I think it was really pretty. I chose pieces by some of my Bead Art Originals friends, all incredible and all beautiful (and any one of which I would be thrilled to find in my Christmas stocking).

Apparently, this is a blue week for me. Not because it's sad, but because I had to pull out the blue beads for some special requests.

The first blue creations this week were these two blue hearts. One of these will be going to the winner of the Day 3 drawing (Grace) in the Twelve Days of Bead Art Originals Holiday Giveaway (there's still time to enter the drawings for days 11 and 12). Grace requested a blue heart: "I've gone back a few times and looked at those hearts, I love them all, but I think I would really like to have a solid one - like the red one in your shop but with a blue heart. I'm a jeans wearing kinda gal so if you could do that I would be ever so grateful!" So here are the two I created:

The other BLUE creation this week is this bracelet, which my husband's aunt ordered for one of her jeans-wearing daughters:

And finally, the STUFF TO DO... lots of printing, lots more beadweaving, presents to wrap... Note there's no mention of cooking or cleaning.
:-)