Holy cow. September! The year's gone by really quickly, and I honestly think it's speeding up. Despite the fact that most of this week was spent looking for kitchen cabinets, lights, bathroom vanities, sinks, faucets, flooring, counter tops, and all the other things we'll need to build our house, I did manage to find a few Fabulous Friday Finds that AREN'T building materials.
My first Fabulous Friday Find is a great sale, from now through September 6, being offered by my friend and fellow Bead Art Originals teammate, Darcy Horn (aka TheJadeDog).
I was cruising around on Facebook earlier today and saw Darcy's post advertising the sale: 50% off all supplies on her website! Woo hoo! And there are LOTS of supplies from which to choose, including handmade cabs and toggles, vintage beads, vintage brass, sequins, and all sorts of other goodies. (Even though the sale is for supplies, I thought you should see one of Darcy's incredible embroidered pieces - you can see more of her artisan jewelry on her website and in her Etsy shop.)
Darcy's original post: In observance of the long weekend, making some big decisions, hitting my 9 year work anniversary at International Bead Market, 4 year anniversary on Etsy (art-to-wear), 3 year anniversary on Etsy (supplies), the big 4-0 birthday, etcetcetc....From right NOW until midnight Monday September 6th, all supplies at thejadedog.com are 50% off. If you are in RO, you will get the same discount, just make an appointment.
Fill up your shopping cart, check out, and Darcy will email you the revised amount plus shipping charge.
My next Fabulous Friday Find also came about as the result of my cruising around on Facebook. One of my friends posted a link to an incredible polymer clay creation by Jon Anderson.
I've actually seen some of his pieces in person, and they're amazing. Intricately patterned creatures covered with hundreds and hundreds of polymer clay cane slices. The slices are laid out in such wonderful detail that the animals almost come to life.
There are loads of them to look at on the FimoCreations website, but these horses are my favorites.
I mentioned earlier that we're shopping for materials to build a new house, so we've been looking at lots of wood. My husband and I both like the look of wood, so we'll have cabinets, doors, trim, flooring, and even a ceiling all made from wood.
When I go poking around on Etsy, I'm always on the lookout for unique wooden pieces; and this little table, called Fufluns, is great. It's one of those things you just like but have no idea where it would be used.
Maybe a plant stand? But that would hide the top of it. Maybe it should just sit there in the room and be art. Yep. That's it. It doesn't need to "do" anything other than reside. :-)
The table is the creation of an artist from Hungary, and you can find this and more in her Etsy shop, designlipe.
Without intending to do so, I guess my mind is on building materials this week... the next Fabulous Friday Find is made from concrete!
Can you believe that such a gorgeous red heart is made from one of the staples of the building industry? It also has some recycled glass in it to add some shine, and the whole piece is framed in stainless steel.
This piece, as well as lots of other unique pieces -- all sorts of shapes and colors -- can be found in the Etsy shop called DrCraze.
The artist's name is Jeramiah Clark, and other than his having a sense of humor (evidenced by his avatar, which is of an adult male wearing flip flops and riding a tricycle), I don't know anything about him. I just love these concrete pieces. And I might have to have one some day. :-)
My final Fabulous Friday Find for this week is in another language...
I took two years of French when I was in high school. Despite the fact that I received straight As in the classes, I barely remember anything about the language (of course, that was MANY years ago). Now I have to rely on online translators.
Even without being able to read or translate French, though, this tutorial on turning polymer clay into artisan pieces that resemble leather is great. You can follow along with the pictures to see how this artist (Martine) takes polymer clay and transforms it into a gorgeous necklace that looks nothing like polymer clay in the end!
The piece you see to the left is another creation by Martine -- be sure to look through her gallery when you visit her blog.
That's it for this week's finds! More shopping next week, as we haven't made final decisions on hardly anything for the house. I may have to do a Fabulous Friday Find post that features lights, sinks, counter tops, cabinets... :-)
Friday again. Another week that went by in a flash. As you can tell from my other posts this week, I was busy working on some bead crochet pieces. I'm not sure it's completely out of my system yet, so you may see more pieces over the next week or so.
I did find a few goodies for today's Fabulous Friday Finds post.
The first Fabulous Friday Find is the creation of a ceramist named Madeleine Hall-Arber.
This adorable jester pot is in Madeleine's Etsy shop, madmud. I have a particular affinity for jesters and mimes. I'm not sure why, but I seem to be drawn to them; and this guy has such a wonderful personality. Can't you just see it in his little face? I think what cracks me up most about this piece is the way he's perched on the edge of the pot.
The jester almost didn't make it here because there's another of Madeleine's creations that really wanted to be shown here... Ready for the plunge is a piece that made me laugh out loud.
The second Fabulous Friday Find is another bit of whimsy. This folk art painting by Regan Tausch is just adorable!
My grandfather was a horse trainer, and I inherited a love of horses from him. I think he would have enjoyed this folk art painting of a dappled gray mare and her foal.
You can find more of Regan's art in her Etsy shop, artbyregant. Lots more horses, all of them adorable. The appaloosa is wonderful. And there are houses, boats, angels, and all sorts of other whimsical paintings to be found.
Neigh!
Fabulous Friday Find #3 is another painting, but of a completely different sort.
Spice is the creation of an artist named Anna Olszowka Khosravi (don't ask me how to pronounce that!), and her work can be found on her website, WoodenPottery.
I chose to show Spice here because I really like the combination of oranges and purples together. Although the pieces are made up of horizontal lines, they're not so regular as to be completely geometric, and that makes them fun.
Make sure to check out her watercolor paintings, too. The one called Butterfly is my favorite.
Since I spend a significant amount of my time playing with beads, it should come as no surprise that I spend a significant amount of time LOOKING at beads.
I had gone on one of my fairly regular searches for lampwork beads and found this Sinister bead by Janel Dudley.
I've had Janel's shop, JanelDudleyBeads, in my favorites on Etsy for a long time, but I think this might be my favorite of her beads. I have no idea what I'd do with it. Maybe just put it on a shelf and look at it. It's like a tiny sculpture, don't you think?
The last Fabulous Friday Find for this week is something a little out of the ordinary.
Brooms.
Specifically, a turkey wing broom, made by Samantha Pritchard. Her Etsy shop is aptly named BROOMCHICK.
Now, I'm no fan of cleaning (yuck), but if you have to clean your house anyway, you should have a fun broom to use.
I have a few handmade brooms I've purchased over the years at the Renaissance Faire in Bristol, Wisconsin. But now that I don't live close to Bristol, I'm happy to see that I can add to my broom collection. We're building a new house, and I know I'm going to need more brooms!
That's it for this week's Fabulous Friday Finds. Once again, I hope you enjoy them. Happy Friday, and have a wonderful holiday weekend! Remember our soldiers!!
What a week! It's been a hectic week of working on house plans, shopping for building materials, getting permits, and with a little bit of beading fit into the schedule. Not quite as much beading as I like, and I actually missed my goal to publish a new peyote cuff last week and this week. I have the designs done, but I haven't beaded them yet; so I'm going to try to catch up on my 2010 goal tomorrow. Or Sunday.
I did manage to track down more Fabulous Friday Finds though. So here, without further ado, are this week's goodies.
I'm a self-confessed bibliophile, so I've been in love with this first Fabulous Friday Find for a long time. It combines a love of books with a love of teeny tiny things. Cuz I also love teeny tiny things.
This incredible necklace is the creation of Margaux of TheBlackSpotBooks.
The thing that amazes me about this necklace is that Margaux made each of these little books from a scrap of leather and 30 sheets of paper. And each little book is only 5/8" tall.
There's one necklace with six books (which I've linked here), but you can also purchase a necklace that has just a single book. One teeny tiny book, for all your teeny tiny secrets.
My next Fabulous Friday Find is this beautiful wooden chain I found on Rings & Things.
I wasn't looking for wooden chain. I was looking for beads. But then I found this chain. And I love it. It reminds me of the wooden chains my grandfather (Papaw) used to carve. He'd take a single piece of wood and then carve it into links.
I have no idea what I would do with wooden chain, but I like it.
There are other styles, including some big flat links and even some heart-shaped links, and right now they're all 15% off.
If you've never shopped at Rings & Things, I can recommend them. I haven't purchased from them online, but I've bought several things from them at the Bead and Button Show, and I've always been happy with their prices and quality.
My third Fabulous Friday Find is a ring called Airy Light Clouds, and I gotta tell you that this ring is just as gorgeous in person as it is in the picture.
How do I know that? Well, because I have one.
Airy Light Clouds is the creation of Ande Cruz, a jewelry designer whose works I'm always ogling. I had this ring in my favorites for sooooooooo long, and when she had a one-day sale a few months ago I immediately made it my own.
And now I wear it every day. It's so comfortable and lightweight, and even with all those holes in it it's quite sturdy. A wonderful ring from a wonderful jewelry artist! What could be better?! :-)
Did I mention that I'm a bibliophile? Books books books, everywhere I looks (okay, I had to make it rhyme).
My fourth Fabulous Friday Find is my newest batch of books... all of which showed up on my doorstep today from Amazon. I've only had time to look through them quickly, but I'm very happy with them all and can hardly wait to spend some quality time going through them from cover to cover.
Embellished Beadweaving, the new beady book by Laura McCabe, is the book that started it all. I went to Amazon to order a copy of it, and there were a bunch of other books on my wishlist. I knew this gorgeous book wouldn't want to travel to me alone, so I gave it some company:
- Totally Twisted, by Kerry Bogert
- Beaded Colorways, by Beverly Gilbert
- Seed Bead Fusion, by Rachel-Nelson Smith
- Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio
I can't tell you how much I enjoy all my beady books. All of the ones that showed up today are wonderful, filled with ideas, techniques, and inspiration galore. I've learned all of my beadweaving techniques from my books, and one of these days I'm going to actually get out my stash of polymer clay and make something from it -- and I'll have plenty of books to guide me on my way. :-)
Well, I had a few more things in mind for the Fabulous Friday Finds, but my internet connection is being a bit uncooperative tonight. So I'm going to publish this while I can!
I hope you enjoy my finds! :-)
Another Friday, and another batch of Fabulous Friday Finds. It's been a busy week this week, trying to prepare for the Whole Bloomin' Thing festival tomorrow (!), but I still managed to find a bunch of goodies to share. Hope you like 'em! :-)
My first Fabulous Friday Find this week is this adorable, or adorably ugly (in the nicest way), ceramic pendant by artist Tanya Besedina.
I came across this piece when I was looking through all the art dolls on Etsy. Her name is Clio, and she's a Goddess Butterfly.
There's just something about the shape of her face, that nose, and those giant lips that make me smile.
Tanya has lots of other whimsical goodies in her Etsy shop, and even more in her flickr photostream. Shadowboxes, little jars that look like fairy homes, and even drawings -- cute!
About once a week, I do a search on Etsy for lampwork beads. I'm amazed by lampwork beads, maybe because I know I'd probably burn my fingers off (I think I'd have a hard time NOT touching the bead while it's being made), or burn the house down.
There are some really gorgeous beads to be found... and this incredible focal bead called Perfect Day, by lampworker Susan Jones, is a perfect example of lampwork gorgeousness.
Just look at all those colors! And I love the etched finish. This bead would look completely different if it weren't etched, probably equally beautiful, but different.
After you've finished drooling over all the beads in Susan's Etsy shop, grab a napkin and visit her website. WOW.
Going from the sublime to the sublimely ugly, my third Fabulous Friday Find is this Angler Fish charm necklace by Marty, a jewelry artist who creates silver and gold sculptural pieces using the lost wax process.
This angler fish is my favorite. All those teeth. That strange little dangly thing meant to lure in unsuspecting critters who will become dinner. Eek.
Not all of her creations are so ugly (once again, ugly in a GOOD way)... visit the Marty Magic website to see more of her creations. There are creations of all types, so plan to spend awhile browsing.
Although Lauren Abrams has two Etsy shops (laurenabrams and labeanabags), I frequently check out her flickr photostream and her blog to see what lovelies she's creating in polymer clay.
Some recent additions are these beautiful bangles, made from polymer clay on a brass base.
I love the jewel tones in these bangles!!
My fifth Fabulous Friday Find is this ceramic piece by another talented ceramic artist, Judy. She's the curator of an Etsy shop called Red Crow Arts, and I've long been a fan of her work.
I have some of her pieces from a couple of years ago, but now it looks as if I'm going to have to go shopping again.
I found this piece, called Birds of a Feather, in Judy's flickr photostream. I have to admit that I'm not quite sure what it is... except that it's adorable! It might be a little sign... but you can find a similar pendant in her Etsy shop, along with lots of other adorable pieces.
Yep. Gonna have to do more shopping. :-)
My last Fabulous Friday Find is a little robot named Lee Mayors.
I found this little guy while I was poking around on flickr, and I just love him! I think it's the eyes...
This little guy is the creation of Maria Caicedo Langer, who lives in Bogata and who proclaims himself a junk sculptor and creator of toys, sculptures, props, and accessories made from trash, ordinary stuff, and recycled elements.
Visit his flickr page to see more of his robots. Each one has its own distinct personality - zombies, critters, and even life-size cyborg suits.
But still.
Ya gotta love the pink eyes though. Right?
Okay, that's it for this week's Fabulous Friday Finds. Now it's time for me to do more preparations for tomorrow's festival! If you're in the Waynesville area, stop by. :-)
Wow. It's the end of April already. That sure went fast. One third of 2010 has passed!
I'm a little late in posting my Fabulous Friday Finds for this week, but it's still Friday, so here goes:
Fabulous Friday Find #1 is a website I can't read! Maria Wojtiuk has such a sense of humor that I don't need to read Polish to have a good time looking at all her creations.
Click here to visit her gallery. It's easy to navigate once you're there, and it's well worth your time to click on the images and view them larger so you can see more of the detail. And what detail! Just look at those faces in the picture to the left! Don't they just make you want to hop in your car and go on vacation with them? (Well, okay, maybe not - but they are fun!)
Maria also has an Etsy shop, where you can see some of her oil paintings and more of her ceramics.
I did notice one thing as I was looking at all her art... I think all of her cats are happy!
:-)
The second Fabulous Friday Find are the art dolls known as Mrs. T. Bagg, the creations of Rose Farnsworth Davis.
Rose creates these little dolls (well, parts of dolls, since they don't really have bodies) to fit into teacups. I don't think it matters that they don't have arms and legs to get around... their little faces are so adorable!
I swear I've seen little old ladies like this walking down the street, sitting in restaurants (sipping their tea, of course). The years of wisdom show up as lines in their little faces, and they all have the slightest hint of a smile.
The one pictured here is Lucile. In a red hat. I love that she's in a red hat. :-)
You can see more of Rose's Mrs. T. Bagg dolls in her Etsy shop and on her blog.
My husband will tell you that I'm notorious for "finding" things. Stones, sticks, bits of wood, oddly shaped and deformed pieces of metal... I have a whole collection of them, knowing that someday I'll do something with them. I don't know quite what. But something.
My third Fabulous Friday Find is an artist named Cathy Rose, an artist who has used a whole collection of "found" objects, combining them with porcelain, wood, and metal to create works of art that draw you in and make you feel what the subjects are feeling.
The picture here is a sculpture called Wind. Can't you just feel the wind blowing through your hair as you look at this? The horses' faces, even though they don't have much detail, are perfect in their own right.
You can see her other works on her website, Cathy Rose. I'd love to be able to see these in person. From every angle. Alas, I checked the show schedule, and there's nothing close to me. Maybe someday she'll visit North Carolina. :-)
I'm drawn to little teeny tiny things, and that's what made me immediately add this Little Blue Butterfly Cottage to my favorites on Etsy.
This little cottage, and all the other wonderful little miniature habitats, houses, and terrariums, was made by Jessica from little bits of moss, stones, twigs and tendrils, and a bit of polymer clay. And a LOT of whimsy.
Jessica's Etsy shop is called BettysFanstasy, named after her Grandmother, who is her inspiration for all things good.
Her profile says it all:
Betty's Fantasy is a place where fairies fly and innocence rules over all. A place where you can be yourself and embrace your imagination.
Another piece which immediately made it into my favorites list is the last Fabulous Friday Find for this last day in April.
It's the Mad Hatter.
Specifically, a wonderfully sculpted Mad Hatter ala Tim Burton / Johnny Depp. The outlandish outfit, the red hair, and of course, the HAT.
Of all the Alice characters, the Hatter is my favorite. I know he's crazy. Maybe that's why he appeals.
This doll, the creation of William Bezek, is amazing. You can see more of William's work in his Etsy shop, WormwoodHollow.
And even more on his blog. Where he appears to be freaked out by the blooming azaleas.
:-)
And now it's time for me to do a little beading. I have two bead crochet ropes to finish, a peyote cuff to finish, a new square stitch bracelet to photograph and list on Etsy, and beads to track down for a special order.
Hoe you enjoy my Fabulous Friday Finds. :-)
It's been a busy week here. We've spent several hours traipsing around on our property looking for the survey stakes that were placed there years ago. With the help of a neighbor and a weed whacker, we finally managed to find them. It seems a small thing, but we're finally able to begin the process of building our house! Hooray!!!
I still managed to spend some time tracking down some more Fabulous Friday Finds, though. Once again, these are from all over the place, so have fun checking them out for yourself. I hope you enjoy them.
The first Fabulous Friday Find for this week is one of the coolest things I've seen, a circular walking bookshelf! I'm a bit of a bibliophile, so I tend to like all things books.
And I really really like this.
In fact, I'd love to have one of these and just be able to walk around a giant room on it. It'd be good exercise, right? Of course, I'd need a bunch of them to house the 3000+ books I have...
My husband's a carpenter. Maybe I can talk him into building me one. Ha. He's going to be very busy with that house, though, so this would have to be a way-in-the-future project.
I wasn't able to find where this one could be purchased, or even if it's for sale. If anyone finds it and can share a link, please do!
If you've seen any other of my Fabulous Friday Finds posts, you know that I love silly stuff. Whimsical stuff. Especially stuff with funny feet and legs. I'm not sure why. But I do.
So when I came across the ceramic art of Mary Judy, I fell in love.
And how could you NOT fall in love with this serving dish!?! Polka dots. Wiggly skinny legs. With STRIPES?!?!
I need one of these.
Or several.
Visit her Etsy or her Artfire shop to see more. There's even a clock with silly legs. How cool is that?!
I spend a lot of time on Facebook, and one of my favorite places to visit is the Daily Art Muse. There are always interesting pieces posted on there, things I might not otherwise see or find on my own.
That was the case with my third Fabulous Friday Find: seeds.
These are the creations of a sculptural fiber artist named Jodi Colella, and they're wonderful! The seeds are my favorites, although there are lots of other beautiful pieces on her website.
Continuing in the whimsical vein, there's an artist on Etsy whose work I've admired for some time: Jessica Doyle.
There's something about the linework here... wiggy and free, but at the same time with so much detail that it brings these pieces to life.
One of my favorite pieces is this Whimsical Windmill.
It looks like a structure and a flower all at the same time.
I've done lots of drawing, but I never managed to do anything this "free". I also love her use of watercolors, something else I never quite mastered.
If you'd like to see more of her work and her process, visit her blog. You can get a glimpse of some of her works in progress for an upcoming show. And even though the works in progress are small (ACEO sized, which is 2.5" x 3.5"), it's a LOT of work!
Too bad this windmill isn't real... I'd like to have one of these in my yard. :-)
You'd think that with as many beads as I have (containers and containers full), I wouldn't need more. Well, I don't NEED more. But I really like the look of these recycled glass beads. The etched finish, that brilliant shade of cobalt blue. I might just have to order these...
So my last Fabulous Friday Find for this week is the source for these luscious bits of glass: Rings & Things
Rings & Things has all sorts of beady goodness on their site: beads, findings, Swarovski crystals, and even books to show you how to put it all together. They do have a minimum order requirement of $25, but I think their prices are good. Just don't order the last of these blue beads! I think I need them. :-)
Okay, that's it for this week's finds! I hope you enjoy them.
Did you finish? Your taxes, I mean. All done? Mailed by midnight last night? Hooray! Now you can sit back and relax and look through this week's Fabulous Friday Finds. :-)
Since you've finished your taxes and (probably) feel like dancing, Fabulous Friday Find #1 is one of Keri Colestock's Wall Dancers. I love these figures!!!
One of my friends gave me one as a gift, and I could see having a whole wall full of them. You just couldn't be sad in a room filled with these wonders.
Keri's been making her polymer clay dolls since 2003, and she's made thousands of them. I remember seeing them on eBay a few years ago. You can find them in her Etsy shop or on her website. Or just look through her flickr photostream. Read about them on her blog.
I am blown away by how many of them there are and how each doll has her own personality. Fairies, holiday dolls, mermaids... there's just no end to Keri's creativity.
Fabulous Friday Find #2 is a site filled with all sorts of jewelry components and findings -- Ornamentea.
Not your everyday ordinary findings, but some extraordinary pieces that will add personality to your jewelry creations.
I've been on a search for some new closures and findings for some of my pieces, and when I was searching for bead caps I happened upon these ceramic bead caps that are available on the site.
Come to find out, there's a whole array of Elaine Ray ceramic components available, everything from bead caps to beads to toggles.
I'm thinking of ordering some of these caps to finish off a few UFOs (you have UFOs, right? UnFinished Objects?). I have several bead crochet ropes that need a finishing touch, and I think these caps might be just the thing.
Of course, I probably won't stop with just ceramic bead caps... not from a site that offers free shipping for orders over $50.
My next Fabulous Friday Find is a giveaway by a fellow member of the Full Time Etsy Crafters team, Jean-Marie.
She's the curator of Daisycakes Soap, and she's doing a giveaway on her blog for a four-month subscription. That's $25 worth of olive oil soap, the perfect thing to pamper your skin... or the skin of whomever you choose to be the recipient of such a great gift.
Check out Jean-Marie's blog for details on the giveaway.
I'd wish you luck in the giveaway, but I think I want to win this one for myself...
:-)
This next find is just for fun. A friend of mine sent me the link to this ad for HEMA, a Dutch department store. The first HEMA store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands.
Take a look at HEMA's product page... just wait until it loads and watch what happens. DON'T click any of the items in the pictures. Just wait.
This company has a great sense of humor and a computer programmer with a lot of time on his hands.
What a hoot.
I've found more dolls this week... I'm not even looking for dolls, but sometimes I see them as I'm poking around on the internet, and that's what happened here.
These are the dolls made by a Russian artist named Anna Zueva. Visit her Facebook fan page to see more of her wonderful art. (Click the "Extended Info" link to read her story.)
The detail on these is incredible, and I love their little faces. My favorite thing about the one I posted here is that tiny little bird perched up there on her head. This one is called City Trip.
What's funny about my finding all these dolls for my Fabulous Friday Finds posts is that I really didn't play with dolls when I was little. Maybe that's why I'm so attracted to them now. :-)
From dolls to weirdly wonderful, this next Fabulous Friday Find is the work of artist Marie E.v.B. Gibbons, a wildly creative clay sculptress located in North West Denver.
Visit her personal site, MarieGibbons.com, where her past works are shown. Or visit her Studio site, where you can see more of her work as well as sign up for classes.
I'd love to live closer to Denver so I could sign up! Or at least so I could see some of her work in person.
That's it for this week's Fabulous Friday Finds. Time for me to put away the piles of paper that have surrounded me for the past few days while I worked on taxes.
Welcome to this week's edition of my Fabulous Friday Finds! I have another varied batch of finds for you, so I hope you'll enjoy them. :-)
Fabulous Friday Find #1 is some of the most amazing art I've seen, by an artist named Charles Clary. He takes paper cutting to a whole new level with his Percusive Art.
His recent blog posts have been showcasing pieces for his solo show, Double Diddle Escapades.
Be sure to check out his older blog posts to see more of his work. This Terr-a-Diddle Formation is incredible!
Just imagine the hours of planning, cutting, and assembling that goes into each of these pieces. Many layers, perfectly planned, letting you peek down through to the bottom.
Wow.
Fabulous Friday Find #2 is a contest. A beading contest, to be exact, and it's all about color.
The contest details are on Zoya Gutina's website, My Lovely Beads. You have from now until June 15 to enter, so there's still plenty of time for you to create a piece for the Fashion Colorworks 2010 Beading Contest.
What can you win? There are prizes from Artbeads.com, Softflex Company, and Beads Direct UKWhat are you waiting for?! Get out those beads and get to work!
It should be no surprise that some of my Fabulous Friday Finds come from Etsy. I spend a lot of time on there, both tending to my shops (time2cre8, where I have all my beadwoven creations; and time2split, where I have art supplies, vintage items, and assorted other goodies) and looking at all the wonderful things my fellow Etsians create.
This week I added a few new favorites to my extensive list.
Fabulous Friday Find #3 is this piece by an artist whose work I've admired for awhile, Liz Hall. Liz' Etsy shop is called LizardsJewelry. I'm almost envious that she can take her name and turn it into her shop name. :-)
Liz uses precious metals, polymer clay, stones, plastics, glass, and (according to her) whatever else catches her eye to create her pieces.
This piece, called See How My Garden Grows, is probably my favorite. I love those little squiggles of black and white, the detail of the teeth along the edge, and best of all those three little circles at the bottom. Or is it the top? This piece can be worn as a necklace or as a pin, so you can choose which way is up.
Dr. Seuss would love this, I think.
I'm not sure if Dr. Seuss would like this next Fabulous Friday Find, but I think he might. I know I do.
Check out this cool Robotic Teapot by Richard Symons.
Who even knew robots drank tea? You'd think it would short out their circuits or something.
:-)
Fabulous Friday Find #5 is a blog of faces. Well, faces and other stuff. Cool stuff. Weird stuff. Fun stuff. The blog is called Hidden Missives, and it's filled with faces that are the creation of Jay King.
I first happened across his work on his flickr page. I'm fascinated by what he does with all these faces (made from polymer clay). And fascinated by the little snippets of stories he includes with them.
I'm not sure if this is my favorite of his faces, but I had to choose Edgar Poe to show here because he's one of my favorite authors.
According to his flickr profile, Jay does these faces for fun. His "real" job is making and repairing stained glass windows. I saw some pictures of those too. They're amazing.
Poor Edgar, though. He looks a little... er... squished.
The last Fabulous Friday Find I have for this week is for my beady friends. Specifically my beady friends who like teeny tiny beads.
You think 15s are small? How about 16s? 18s? Smaller?
How about 22s?
Now that's tiny! And Empyrean Beads has them.
Lots and lots of teeny tiny beads. I'm intrigued by the size 22 beads. I have no idea what I'd do with them, but can you imagine working with something that small???
There's lots of other cool beady stuff, too: Czech glass buttons, vintage beads, silk thread, needles (my favorite, John James).
And now I think it's time for me to do some beading myself. Happy Friday!
As I've been doing these Fabulous Friday Finds posts, I've noticed that I'm finding things earlier and earlier in the week that I want to include. In fact, I've begun "cheating" a little... creating this blog post as soon as I find something I know I want to include and scheduling it to post on Friday. Thank goodness for scheduling!
The first Fabulous Friday Find for this week was actually supposed to be in last week's finds, but I somehow forgot to include it. It's a site called Voila, and it's filled to the brim with polymer clay goodness!
I don't know how I could forget, because this site is awe inspiring. It showcases some of the most wonderful polymer clay creations you can imagine.
There's also a section on the site for Tutorials (some free and some you can purchase). Just in case you have a stash of polymer clay and have been wondering what you can do with it. (Doesn't everyone have one of those stashes? Or is it just me?)
Fabulous Friday Find #2 is all about Tiny Plastic People. Specifically, the tiny plastic people who live in worlds created by Vincent Bousserez.
One of my Etsy friends was talking about these little people and just how cool they are. They're teeny tiny little people, adults and children, in all sorts of poses and outfits. And they're a hoot!
My friend shared a link that ultimately took me to the flickr page where Vincent Bousserez has created his Plastic Life world. He's placed these tiny plastic people in all sorts of settings and photographed them. I thought I'd share this one since Easter's coming up, but you'll find lots more on flickr.
And in case you're looking for bunches of tiny plastic people for yourself, you can find them on eBay (well, of course). Look for o scale people. I gotta get me some of these. :-)
This next Fabulous Friday Find was sent to me by one of my Facebook friends, who told me she was wearing her "distracted by beads" t-shirt.
I definitely need one of these.
In fact, with as much time as I spend playing with beads, I should probably have one for every day of the week.
This shirt, and a whole bunch of other items with the phrase "I'm Not Easily Distracted. I... Hey, look. BEADS!" is available in the cafepress shop called Spare Time Design.
My kind of shirt.
:-)
Fabulous Friday Find #4 is all about spring cleaning. Actually it's all about cleaning anything and everything. One of my Full Time Etsy Crafters teamies sent a link to this site: How to Clean Anything.
There's a lot of information on the site, so it's one of those sites you might want to bookmark for future reference.
There are even hints and timesavers. That's what I need. Now if I could just figure out where all that saved time goes...
Do you like oddball free stuff?
This next Fabulous Friday Find was posted on Make. It's an offer for a free promotional plastic resin sampler puzzle. And it's kind of cool.
Of course, it's nothing you need. But when does that ever stop you?
It looks like fun. Like a 3D version of Tetris.
Last, but by no means least, is Fabulous Friday Find #6. It's an awesome Etsy shop by another of my Full Time Etsy Crafters teammates, nicholasandfelice. Well, okay. It's TWO of my teammates, since Nicholas and Felice run the shop together.
See, I had planned to include this gorgeous pair of earrings from their shop in one of my Fabulous Friday Finds posts. I saw them and immediately fell in love with them (black and white are my favorite colors, and I really LOVE the etched finish on these). I actually planned to purchase them, but first I had to run an errand. My gnat-like attention span took over, however, and by the time I went back to get them they were GONE! SOLD! And not to me!! *sob*
Shortly after that happened, our team had a "team chat," and I told Felice what had happened. She told me she had another pair that were just slightly different than these (the shape of the glass pieces), but she hadn't photographed them. So while we were still chatting away in the team forum, she took a picture, listed them just for me, and I bought them. And they arrived yesterday. AND I LOVE THEM!!! She even sent me a special treat, and it's equally wonderful. I am a happy camper.
And on that note, my Fabulous Friday Finds post for this week is done. I hope you enjoy my finds.
Welcome to this week's Fabulous Friday Finds post! I have a whole bunch of new goodies to share with you this week, so here goes:
Fabulous Friday Find #1 is kind of a continuation of last week's goodies. More dolls.
I've long been a fan of Miss Millificent's Mesdamoiselles, ever since I first saw them on the weblog of Athena Workman. I was even lucky enough to win a print of one of Athena's drawings on a blog giveaway. As soon as we build our house, it's going to have a special place so everyone who visits can enjoy it.
But today, I want to show you one of Athena's dolls. It was tough for me to pick a favorite to show here, but I finally settled on A Murder of Crows. Just look at the expression on that face!
If any of you are close to Nashville, Tennessee, you can visit some of her dolls in person. I just read in Athena's Etsy shop announcement that some of her dolls are leaving her shop for a month to go with her to her gallery show. I have a feeling some (or all!) of them may find new homes.
You can see more dolls, ornies, and artwork at MissMillificent.com.
My second Fabulous Friday Find is by an Etsy artist named Natalya Sots. Natalya has some of the most whimsical, fun, cute, and creative bits of pottery I've ever encountered. I love everything in her shop!!
My favorite things, though, are her Alice in Wonderland inspired pieces. I love love love this Mad Hatter cup!
Just look at all those swirls and spots and stripes and COLORS! You just couldn't be sad drinking a latte from that cup. (I know, I know -- it's supposed to be a tea cup, in honor of the Hatter, but I drink a lot of latte.)
This next Fabulous Friday Find takes me back to when I was making all kinds of tags. And even though I'm not making them any more, I'm still just flat out tempted to buy a big spool of this baker's string! I don't know why. I just like it.
I never actually tried to find it, but apparently there are lots of people who like it. It would look great for tying up packages or for making tags.
This ginormous spool of 9072 feet can be had for only $18 from Black Ink Boston and Cambridge.
There's some other stuff on that site, too.
You can have all the string.
I don't need it. Really. But only $18?!?! :-)
Next on the Fabulous Friday Finds list is a website suggested to me by a Facebook friend. I've been searching for containers to hold my massive collection of delica beads, and although I have a "system," it could use some improvement.
This site, called FDJ On Time, has everything imaginable in terms of storage containers, displays, and tools -- just about anything you could want if you're a jewelry maker.
I haven't finished browsing, but these Dot Box containers are what intrigue me. At 3.3" tall x 1.7" wide x 1.7" deep, they seem like a good size for bead storage. And 16 of them are only $3.99, which isn't bad either. They also offer volume discounts, so I could get 16 of these for as little as $2.89 if I bought a lot of them.
I just have to decide whether I want to invest in ~500 of them to store my delicas... decisions, decisions.
Okay, back to cool, artsy Fabulous Friday Finds. This next find is from one of my favorite Etsy shops, uniquebuttons.
You know I like playing around with cabs and beads made by artisans, and LeAnn's buttons look great! I have a couple of them (including that one you see to the left) in my favorites list, and I pretty regularly check out her shop for more goodies.
This face pendant is so cool, and it's on sale right now for only $3.50. Wow.
I think I might have to add it to my cart before someone else snags it. :-) She has more, though. Never fear.
Another one of my favorite shops for cabs, pendants, and beads is JoanMillerPorcelain. I get to see new things from Joan all the time as she posts them on Facebook, and this dragonfly lentil bead recently flew past me.
Just look at those big red eyes and the veining on his (her?) wings!
One of the things I like most is the variety of goodies in Joan's shop. Just looking at her banner makes me want to go exploring.
You know how sometimes you see something you like and you're not exactly sure why you like it? Yes, I know that sounds like a strange way to compliment someone's work, but that's how it is with the neckpieces I found in an Etsy shop called giia.
I could never carry this look off, but there's something about it that I just like.
Texture. Color. Boldness.
Couldn't you see one of these on a fashion runway?
The piece pictured here is called ARMIE. The first one of these I saw was done in shades of red, but I like this gray and black one.
Cool.
My last Fabulous Friday Find is offered up by one of my Full Time Etsy Crafters teammates, Ralph of UnkamenSupplies.
Ralph makes jumprings. Millions and millions of jumprings. In all kinds of colors. And even though I don't do chainmaille, I'm intrigued by all these little rings in all their bright colors. And he has sample packs of all different sizes, just tempting me to try them.
Wonder what I could do with these.
You think I could somehow work them into my beadweaving? Hmmmm.
If you want to see what can be done with these, check out Ralph's (and family's) other Etsy shop, UnkamenGifts.
Now if these jumprings were SQUARE, I know I could use them. :-)
Okay, that's enough for me for this week. I have a pretty endless list of favorites, so I hope you'll come back next week to see more of my Fabulous Friday Finds.
My final Fabulous Friday Find for this week is in another language...
