That handmade bracelet I wrote about in an earlier post has reached its intended recipient, so I can finally show it off here. I received a lovely note from the person who requested it (the mother of the recipient), and she told me that her daughter loved the bracelet and plans to wear it when she wins her first Oscar. The bracelet, in case you don't figure it out from reading it, was made to commemorate her film's acceptance into the International Film Festival in Egypt. How exciting that must be!!!
So here it is... 50 rows of square stitch, using size 15 delicas in shiny black with matte cream lettering and matte 24k gold leaves.
Today's been a nice, relaxing day. No snow shoveling. No driving anywhere. Just hanging out at home. Yep. This is what we do on our 21st wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 21 years already. We're not big on celebrations, though, so it doesn't surprise me that we decided to just treat this day pretty much like any other. My husband suggested that we go out to dinner, but he had completely forgotten that (1) it's the day after Christmas, (2) stores will be jam packed with people looking for post-Christmas bargains, (3) restaurants will be crowded, (4) it's Friday, meaning lots of people are out on dates and such. So we'll wait till next week to have our anniversary outing.
I found a couple of exciting things on Etsy today. I logged in this morning to see what was new, and right there on the FRONT PAGE was my Mercurial necklace!!! It was in a treasury curated by Sarah, of thebeadedlily. Woo hoo!!! Sarah puts together some of the best treasuries you've ever seen. They always have something unusual in them, and they always have a theme, and I love them even when I'm not in them! Here's the front page that had me so excited this morning (and this was before I even had my first latte). I got to share the spotlight with some of my other Bead Art Originals friends... Smadar (aka SmadarsTreasure) and Lisa (aka tqbdesigns).
You know what's funny? I went to Sarah's shop to try to choose a favorite thing of hers to show off here. Who knew it would take me 10 minutes to choose!?!!?! She has so many gorgeous things in there that I had to look at each and every one of them. (Actually, I waited too long and my favorite thing sold recently.) Anyway, I finally settled on this "i am a rock" necklace as my favorite, at least for now. I love all the cubes, especially those lava rock ones.
Second, I came across some of my Captioned Critters in a Storque article! The Storque article itself is pretty exciting, as Etsy will finally be providing us with seller stats. It's apparently in beta testing now, with a select group of Etsy users, but it looks like it'll be coming in the near future. Right there in the middle of the collection of Etsy items relating to analytics is my Analytical Anteater! Yay!
I'm so proud of this new peyote cuff! Not that I'm not proud of my other creations (why else would I post about them on here all the time?), but I'm so happy with this one. I was trying to figure out a way to get squares that were actually square, using peyote stitch. If you've ever done peyote, you know just how tricky that can be; but I finally figured it out. As happy as I was to have figured out the way to get square squares, I was just as happy being able to design the perfect toggle for this new cuff, Crossword Puzzle.
So I posted some pictures to my flickr photostream, and some of my flickr buddies said nice things about it. Then I received a convo from Ann (aka FrancescasFancy) saying that she had featured it in a new Treasury. Ann's pretty new to Etsy (just a few months) and very new to the Etsy BeadWeavers group, but she's already building treasuries to feature members' creations.
Check out her Clue is Simply Black and White treasury!
Be sure to check out Ann's Etsy shop. She has some beautiful pieces listed, including this gorgeous
So while I was poking around on the internet, I decided to check out the Heart-O-Tron to see if I had any new hearts for my Etsy shop or for any of my listings. I love being able to check on hearts so easily, and I frequently use this tool to determine which pieces I might want to renew so they get some more attention. Particularly with jewelry, since there are so many pieces on Etsy (almost 680,000 of them right now), listings move down pretty quickly. Renewing them is a good way to move them back to the top of the list, and the $.20 is well worth the extra attention, I think.
Anyway, there I was looking at the Heart-O-Tron, and I noticed that my Smilin' Jack cuff had a bunch of new hearts today. Now even though he's my Bead Art Originals Item of the Week, that doesn't usually result in so many new hearts all in one day; so off I went to investigate. And just look where I found him!
There was a Storque article about pumpkin carving, and my cuff is in the little showcase at the end of the article. Yay!!!
Last but not least, I received a convo today from Ruthie (aka RoseWorksJewelry) letting me know that she had featured my Bebe Bois cuff in her blog. She's also a beadweaver and wrote a feature all about beadwoven bracelets. She has all sorts of goodies in her Etsy shop, and she's having a BOGO sale right now. Just look at these funky Punk Rocker Earrings!
That's it for today. A pretty cool day for me overall. Besides all that beadweaving goodness, I managed to get the yard mowed for what will probably be the last time this season. Now if only the elves would come and move the rest of the mulch pile from the driveway...
:-)
It's Etsy Friday in mid-December, and there seems to be a good amount of Christmas shopping underway. I was busy this week doing quite a few custom orders for cards, tags, and stickers. It appears that a lot of people are going to be getting Captioned Critters in their stockings.
Wendy, who runs several Etsy shops (WandRDesign, WandRWeddings, and beadsupplies), created this vintage-style ring in ivory and pale blue on an antiqued copper setting. Such a pretty little garden! I found this in her Design shop, but there are other wonderful goodies in the other two shops as well.
Mindy (aka TimsSally) has an art style that can only be described as cute and quirky. There are so many paintings, prints, and other goodies in her shop that it was hard to choose; but I settled on this 3" magnet, called Candycane Dreams, as a favorite. Maybe I'll have a dream like that sometime...
Another artist of absolutely adorable little people and creatures is Laurie (aka OUOU). Laurie's creations are such fun, with the bold colors and very stylized artwork! I love this little Jingle Bells notecard set!
Maria (aka Morrgan) is probably busy staying warm, as she lives in Finland. Somehow Finland in December just sounds cold! Maria creates critters from yarn, though, so maybe that helps her stay warm. Francis the Raven looks quite toasty, doesn't he?
Riley (aka artofSophistry) has a shop filled with intriguing images, some made with cameras and some made with pencils, pens, and charcoal. As much as I was drawn to the cyanotypes, this lightbulb green just about jumped off the screen at me! What amazing color!!
Isabella (aka RavensCuriosities) visited me again for some raven notecards (go figure) -- I love raven images, so I have lots of them in my shop. Isabella's shop is full of beautiful lampwork beads, and she's even offering free shipping on everything in her shop for the month of December! This piece, called Angie's Dream, truly is a dream, don't you think?
Alyson (aka TheYoYo) is another wonderful repeat customer. I'm so happy when these talented Etsyians enjoy my creations so much that they come back for more! Alyson's wishing for more hours in the day so she can get more spinning done (and I'm sure her customers would love for her to find those hours, too!). She has just one skein of beautiful See Foam Art Yarn in her shop, but you might be able to talk her into creating some more for you if you're really nice.
Christa (aka Luvsya) creates banners! Apparently she comes from an artistic family, because she came to my shop for glass marble magnets to hold up her childrens' artwork. Need a banner for your shop? Check this out!
Harmony is another ambitious Etsyian with two shops -- HarmonyMetals, where she lists her beautiful metalwork jewelry; and FigurativeHarmony, where she lists her colorful artwork. Wow! She's also offering a 10% discount! Use it to buy this beautiful watercast ring.
Hanna (aka aworldinvented) creates with glue, paint, and fabric (at least that's what she says in her shop announcement). Obviously she uses more than just those three things to create these whimsical treasure boxes. I don't think you'd even need to put treasure IN the box because there's so much on the outside!
I'm sooooo jealous of Jess (aka libellus) because she lives in Cincinnati and gets to eat Skyline Chili whenever she wants! I'd just about kill for a 3-way right now. I might just have to order some for myself... Anyway, Jess creates books (libellus means 'little book'). She only has couple left in her shop, but the description on this football player one is a hoot. Go read it! And then buy the book.
Helen (aka SecretLentil) has one of the best shop introductions I've seen in a long while. The titles she gives her clothes are worth the read, and the clothes live up to her descriptions. She only has two items left in her shop right now... I chose this Lush Life reconstructed skirt because I like black!
Crystal (aka polyartgirl) has wonderfully fun yarns in her shop. While I always look carefully at the shops of my customers to choose my favorite, this chocolate silk yarn is so luscious looking I can hardly believe it's yarn - it looks good enough to eat! Crystal is offering $.99 shipping and free gift wrap this holiday season, too. That's a great deal!
Sabella (aka bravegrrl) creates "upcycled/recycled/deconstructed enviornmentally minded creations." What could be better than that?! Need a big hobo bag to carry all your goodies home from the store? Put down those plastic and paper bags and grab this one!
And last but not least is Leigh (aka viviantaggert). She just ordered from me today, and I haven't even thanked her yet! Well, I guess this is part of the thanks. Anyway, Leigh takes vintage buttons and adds some beads and other components and turns out unique jewelry creations. I love that they're so unusual, like this Super Cool Blue Necklace. She gives those buttons a whole new life!
And the last thing I have to say on Etsy Friday (and yes, it's still Friday, even though it seems like I've been typing this post forever) is that one of my Captioned Critters is featured in the Storque!!! Woo hoo!!! Of course, it's not quite the same as being featured because I have such an awesome, super neato cool creation, but it was nice that Vanessa though enough of my Pondering Purple Platypus to have him be the spokes-critter about billing.
I have lots of other critters in my shop, so if you're looking for that last-minute stocking stuffer, check 'em out. I love making these little guys.
Happy Etsy Friday, and thanks again to all my wonderful customers!!!
