East Meets West- A Melting Pot of Pop Culture

Meet Yaslani; a Mixed Media Artist from NJ whose materials of choice are paper, acrylic, gouache, colored pencil, found images & objects, vintage photographs, her own photography, and just about anything else she can get my hands on. “It's fun for me to look at an object in a hardware store or around the house and figure out how I can transform it into art” says, Yaslani, whose bamboo tile pendants read like an historical diorama. Pictures of movie stars, geishas, musical greats like Billie Holiday, Tarot Cards, even Amelia Earhart is fodder for her creative process.

Her work is a mix of American and Eastern Indian influence, with paintings of giraffes and elephants, and a consistent color palette in red, gold, sepia, black, beige, and yellowed, antiqued, bone.

Moonlight, a 4x4 mixed media canvas is made with a hand painted wooden elephant and layers of paint, paper and modeling paste. The artist sprayed it with a non-yellowing varnish so it will be beautiful for many, many years!

Citywalk shows a giraffe and a lion roaming through the streets of what appears to be an urban area after dark. The choice of colors and motif are distinctly East Indian, showing architecture in the background that has the characteristic red and gold colors and ornamentation found in that region. The stars are depicted by rhinestones, scattered in an indigo sky behind the buildings.

See or purchase more of this artist’s work at: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=63187
and check out her blog at: http://yaslanisgroovespot.blogspot.com/
This seller offers free US shipping!

Gifts From the Heart

The artist behind SparklyStrandz lives in Friendswood, Texas and has a day job as an occupational therapist , but her real passion lies in creating jewelry, crocheted children’s clothing, tiny picture frames, and a mix of other handmade things, mostly ranging in price between $5.00 and $40.00. Most can be easily customized and made to order.

These Baby Cowboy Booties are just adorable in dark brown and fuchsia, but they can be made in any color, and at a very affordable $12.00 a pair!

Her Swirly wire-wrapped rings incorporate buttons as the focal, and retail for $8.00 each.

Circles and circular chain links have been in style for at least the past 8 months and still holding strong. This necklace ($30.00) and pair of earrings ($15.00) combine hammered silver-plated links that are flattened and textured, with Serpentine, pearls and pressed glass beads. With these two matching pieces you can have an ensemble that will go with just about any earthtone color.

You can find her jewelry, crochet, and other gift items at http://SparklyStrandz.etsy.com , and her own website, http://www.sparklystrandz.com/ also carries beaded pet collars, and rosaries in addition to the type of items she sells on Etsy. She is currently offering free shipping to the US and Canada between now and Christmas. To join her mailing list or read more about her collections you can also go to her blog at http://www.sparklystrandz.blogspot.com

Alilsumptinsumptin In Your Stocking This Season

Blue Rondo La Turk

Double Strand Turquoise and Lampwork Heart Bracelet; includes artisan lampwork heart focal by Janet Crosby, top quality Grade A Blue Chinese Turquoise wheels, and an assortment of all sterling silver components.

Over the past 9 months Eva Espiritu has raised a total $1085.00 through her Paws For A Good Cause campaign with 100% of proceeds of selected pieces donated to the Humane Society of the United States. The artist offers the added benefit of free US shipping to all who purchase these items. While you give a gift to someone you love, you also give a gift to needy and homeless animals with your purchase.

Her jewelry is made from high-quality, kiln annealed lampwork beads created by glass artists Janet Crosby, Kathrin Kneidl-Levi, Julia Lund, Dawn White, Becky Mason, (and Etsy’s own) Marcy Lamberson combined with sterling and Hill Tribes Silver (which is at least 97% pure), and sometimes also genuine gemstones. Her color choices and scale are usually big and bold; showing vitality and decisiveness that like her last name suggests spirit and spunk.

Eva’s designs range from the whimsical and funny, with names such as K-9 Cubed, Give The Dog A Bone, B-B-B-Bad To The Bone, and Bow 2 The Wow Wow, to the more serious cornucopia-like Cha-Cha style charm bracelets bursting with abundance, like the Southern California orange groves of her home. My personal favorites are the bracelets bursting with beads. Her layering of color and texture, often incorporating lampwork from several different artists in the same piece, creates exquisite and visually fulfilling designs. These are pieces you could look at for hours, and like a Where is Waldo picture, see something new among the numerous dangles every time.

Alilsumptinsumptin is a member of the following jewelry-trade-related groups:
ART JEWELRY COLLECTIVE (AJC)

etsyBEAD

ETSY FOR ANIMALS (EFA)

She is SRAJD #0983 (Self Representing Jewelry Artist), a mark of reliability in the trade. You can be assured you will be dealing directly with the artist herself; not merely an agent.

If you love animals, flowers, charm bracelets, silver, or lovely artisan lampwork with bright colors, be sure to put Alilsumptinsumptin on your list of places to buy your Holiday gifts this year!

Etsy Store:http://alilsumptinsumptin.etsy.com/
Blog:http://www.alilsumptinsumptin.com/

The Elements of Style

Dawn Brandt of ElementsbyDawn has been selling her jewelry on Etsy since August 7, 2006, and loves geometric shapes with texture and pattern in them. Looking at her work one can tell that she incorporates circles into a lot of what she does, from Chainmaille to hammered textured cuffs and sterling, copper, and fine silver disks, to using round beads and chain. Experts have said that the round form is a shape humans are naturally drawn to, so if this is any indicator Dawn’s future will be bright.

When asked what techniques she would like to learn she said, “I’d like to be able to add more color, and thus some more dimension to my designs. Enameling, resin, and Prismacolor colored pencil are a few of the materials I’d like to incorporate into my designs. I’ve dabbled with Prismacolor, but haven’t perfected the technique yet.” Dawn describes it as a technique that blends the traditional methods of painting on canvas and coloring/drawing on metal. There are two ways to accomplish the results. One involves sandblasting the metal to give it "tooth" (which is not the method she does), and the other uses gesso; the method she uses. Then to prevent the surface from weathering over time and the color from coming off she uses an acrylic sealer.

Dawn is currently working on a collection due for release in the Summer of 2008. It will feature colorful vintage glass, vintage Swarovski crystal, and vintage Lucite.

Among the trade magazines she subscribes to are The Crafts Report, Art Jewelry, and Art Calendar. The Crafts Report has many useful articles on the business of crafting, Art Jewelry Magazine helps keep her abreast on new techniques and emerging artists, and Art Calendar keeps informed on national and local arts and craft shows.

For anyone just starting out in the jewelry crafting business or even just thinking about transforming a hobby into a bona fide business, she recommends the book Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry by Viki Lareau. This easy to read book covers many of the basic aspects of starting out in the crafting business.

If metalsmithing is your interest, The Complete Metalsmith – Pro Version by Tim McCreight is invaluable!

The book Dawn is currently reading is, How to Photograph Absolutely Everything by Tom Ang. “I am hoping to improve my photography skills, as product photography can really help or hinder your success in an online environment.”

Dawn belongs to The Art Jewelry Collective, WIST (a local Wisconsin street team), and will be exhibiting at the ART vs CRAFT show on December 8th in Milwaukee.

This artist accepts Checks, Money Orders, and accepts credit cards through both PayPal and ProPay. She also sends out a quarterly newsletter for those customers who would like to be notified when new pieces are available for sale.

Be sure to check out her whole collection at http://elementsbydawn.etsy.com/

Memories Along The Road Of Life
There is a nostalgic quality in Tiffany Teske’s photo images as though looking through an old-fashioned camera. Themes of tastefully nude women, pregnant mothers-to-be, and domestic life make up the majority of the work seen in her Etsy online shop.

Tiffany makes and sells a number of different items, including Polaroid Transfers, Polaroid Emulsion Lifts, Black and White Prints, Hand-colored Prints, Color Prints, Sepia Prints, Cards, and Jewelry. She also has Gift Certificates available if you don’t see something you want right away but you like her style.

“Pink Poppies” is a 4X 6 photo in an 8 X 10 Archival Mat which
shows a group of soft, fluffy pink blossoms coming up out of a dark background. It looks as though the picture was taken at dawn or dusk, with light directly on the petals.

“Love Grows” is an original Polaroid Image Transfer, an interesting process that
begins with the image on slide film. The slide is then projected onto Polaroid pack film which is peeled prematurely. The “waste” side of the film pack, which contains processing chemicals, is then placed face down onto wet watercolor paper and brayed (rolled over with a print making brayer). The result is a one-of-a-kind hand-pulled photographic transfer of the original slide image. The original image can be transferred an unlimited number of times but the resulting transfer will always vary from the last. Each transfer is approximately 3 ½” by 4” in size and is hand signed (both on the image and the mat). This transfer comes with a hand cut, acid free, museum quality archival mat, which has outer dimensions of 8x10.

I particularly like this one, “Merlot, the Winemaker’s Dog” taken in the Hunter Valley region of Australia. She was traveling the East Coast and Australian outback at this time. The photo is a true black and white print flush mounted onto 8x10 4 ply archival mat board. The dog has almost a feral look to it, but may be a Jack Russel or mixed with Smooth Fox Terrier.

The arrtist was first introduced to photography when she received a camera as a child with which to take pictures on a family trip. She became enamored of this medium almost immediately; then went on to continue learning to use the darkroom after school from her high school science teacher.

Tiffany received a Bachelor of Arts Joint BA in Art and Photography (Magna cum Laude) in 2002 from the University of Maine at Augusta.

She has traveled around the country taking pictures; to Arizona, Florida, Connecticut, & New York, and then to Ontario, Canada where she met her husband.

The family now lives in Banff, Alberta, Canada and has a little girl.

To buy a card or gift from her store and to see the full range of what she has in stock check out http://tiffanyteske.etsy.com/

Bead-On-A-Stick
You can tell by looking at Marcy Lamberson’s work that she has a healthy sense of humor! Living in Atlanta, GA. she gets many of her ideas while watching plants and animals native to the area, then with torch in hand, she captures the impish characters inside.

Some are sort of mischievous as if they’ve got a devious plan up their sleeves, and others, almost woefully innocent, seemingly oblivious to what has happened to bring them into existence, as if born fully grown, yet somehow eternally young.

Reinforced by the smiles, laughter (and custom orders) these creatures evoke in others, she has continued to follow the thread, watching to see where it will lead, shaping her as much as she shaped the glass. That raises an interesting question. Does life influence style, or does the artist impact life? Most likely the answer to that falls somewhere in the middle. How much does one’s experience determine what we make, what medium we choose, even the colors and textures we bring into being in that which we create?

Marcy actually started out as a watercolor painter and enjoyed the process of mixing and blending colors in that medium so much that naturally glasswork was a logical next step, both providing her the comfort in familiarity she’d previously known, and the promise of new and exciting challenges ahead, and the satisfaction of being able to render her ideas 3-dimensionally.

Most of her days are spent making more beads and sculptures, and teaching classes out of her home.
There is this place where artists go in which there is no sense of time, where there is no right or wrong, where candy is everlasting, and flowers never die, and a child can live forever.

Perhaps this is what the world is missing now with busy schedules, global warming, war in the middle east, and life in a culture in which people are drowning in expectations they can never measure up to, work fast enough, make enough money, spend enough time with friends and family, consumed with guilt, and anger, and fear for the future. In a society in which people are slaves to their cell phones, and the American worker is as expendable as a McDonald’s hamburger carton, and the President has told us that art is unnecessary in the classroom, crayons are put away in the closet, dismissed as frivolous and irrelevant to the “really serious” work at hand, where the adage “no pain, no gain” rules the day, humor and whimsy are precious commodities. Like an endangered species threatened with extinction these qualities must be nurtured and protected with all we’ve got.

Art is what brings us back to what really matters, to that little slice of heaven we dream about, yet far too often just let slip through our fingers. Here is your chance to get a little bit of what you’ve been missing. Put it in a necklace, or on your desk to remind you of that child within. She isn’t gone, just hard to locate sometimes. To buy your little piece of whimsy, go to http://studiomarcy.etsy.com/
These make great gifts!

Are You Oh So Over the Rainbow Bright?
The mother of 3 young children, Hyla can appreciate the importance of clothing that is both comfortable and pleasing to the eye, and the need for interesting stuffed toys that are refreshingly different from the same-old-same-old found at all the local department stores. The artist’s Etsy online store MyFairyBabies, has a great mix of things for the mother-to-be, special gifts for children, cleverly designed inventions that make life a little easier and more fun.

Shown below is the Pacifier Buddy; an innovative combination burpcloth and pacifier-keeper that prevents a baby’s pacifier from getting lost. A ribbon loops around the pacifier and keeps it from falling on the floor. These can be customized and made in a variety of choices in textiles. At only $5.50 apiece to $9.00 for 3, you really can’t go wrong. These come in different sizes for young babies and toddlers.







Cheery colors of pink, blue, purple, and orange engage babies’ eyes and stimulate their senses; much better for healthy development than the often muted and washed out pinks and blues normally available on the commercial market.

This pink “Fairy Waldorf Doll” is one of the signature items FairyBabies is known for. Note the intricate stitching on the back of the fairy’s wings. This is just what every little girl would love for Christmas!








This month FairyBabies is offering free US shipping and 50% off International shipping. Great for Baby Showers, Birthdays, Christmas, or to welcome that new addition to the family, given by that doting relative or friend tht wishes she had 3 or 4 of her own. See her entire selection of children’swear and gift items at http://MyFairyBabies.etsy.com

Reaching for the Stars…One Bead At A Time

Patricia Vener has lived a fascinating life spanning several careers; an accomplished and published writer, and retired ballerina, she also holds a Masters Degree in Astrophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY. She worked as an astronomer and still teaches astronomy as an adjunct professor for University of Maryland University College.)

Her earliest influence was the beadwork and textiles she saw in a Native American exhibit at the local museum on Rochester New York as a young child. Captivated by color and texture, Patricia became interested in Color Theory, inspired by the work of Impressionist painters and such Art Nouveau artists as Alphonse Maria Mucha, Paul Berthon, among others.

Given her background it is not surprising that she chose bead-weaving using tiny glass seed beads as her jewelry specialty, an array of techniques in which mathematical precision is an asset, and patience is a virtue, although her work clearly shows a sense of grace without being overly geometric or constrained.

Using Peyote Stitch, right-angle weave, and a number of netting stitches, the artist typically creates a woven flat base upon which she builds, layering it with various embellishments for texture. Many of her necklaces are elaborate bead-woven collars that celebrities and other VIPs would die for if they only knew about them.

In “Complementary “, ruffles around the neck are reminiscent of Victorian coiffure, while the brightly contrasting purple and orange color scheme and circular centerpiece look distinctly African-influenced. I particularly like what she’s done with this one, blending design elements from two so disparate cultures together within the same piece. Materials include; Seed beads, bugles, triangle beads, malachite chips and a vintage rhinestones. This necklace will appear in a print ad in Ornament Magazine during the months of October, December and March.

“Angle Waves” is a lovely pair of earrings in brown and very pale pink with a zigzagging pattern which evokes a feeling of excitement and liveliness, culminating in a spray of fringe at the bottom. They retail for a very reasonable $25.00!

“Red Sky at Night” http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5176357 incorporates exquisite sunset colors in a Russian Peyote Stitch woven in a dramatic V-shape. These epitomize elegance and grace and would make a gorgeous gift for the holidays.

Patricia’s business, Silver Dragon Creations has two web-presences; on on Etsy and the other, a free-standing website. Those of you who have only seen her work on Etsy are really missing out on a treat, as she currently has most of her best work on her other site although she is working more of her elaborate pieces in gradually.

She belongs to the International Jewelry Designers Guild as well as the local Baltimore Bead Society.

Beadwoven jewelry has historically been under-appreciated mostly due to lack of public education about its value. Jewelry like this is worth a lot more than the traditional mark-up normally placed on other styles. It is a skill that takes years to master, so money spent on it is money well-spent. Part of its value is because often this type of jewelry is not mass-produced as you might see in jewelry that is casted, fabricated with a torch, wire-wrapped, or strung.

To see everything and to purchase please check out http://silverdragon.etsy.com/
and see more of her masterpieces here; http://vener-art.com/handmade-beaded-jewelry.html

A wide variety of payment options exist, and she currently offers free shipping inside the US.

Yin and Yang-A Look into the Mirror of Our Existence

Ren Adams of Plastic Pumpkin Designs draws and paints with an intriguing mix of both Eastern and Western influence evident in her work. From bright and bold to impressionistic gesture-type renderings of bamboo and other traditional Chinese images, she has two distinctly different styles. In addition to Chinese Brush Painting she works in watercolor, oil pastel, pen and ink, pencil, marker, and a variety of other mediums, with close attention to detail through each. Each of her paintings is rich with symbolism.

Interestingly, her Chinese Brush Paintings are signed under the name An Rui Ning which is her Chinese name.

Being a Taoist, and practicing Qi Gong, a form of meditation, her art fits this spiritual path. Creating art is essential to her total fulfillment and she would not feel at harmony without it; it comes as naturally as a fish to water.

In her original Chinese Brush Painting on rice paper, “Trio of Sea Nettles” the dualities of danger and delicateness, a recurring theme of yin and the yang, are manifest within the same creatures able to sting, yet at the same time soft, streamlined, and pliable to the touch. This contradiction reflects our own quest to stay connected, man’s oneness with (and possibly his struggle with) the Universe.

In her painting, “It will Be OK” a soothing sky blue background creates an ambiance of comfort rising up from the very earth itself, with the traditional Chinese symbols of strength, uprightness, reliability, and flexibility in the sheltering arms of bamboo branches. A tree speckled with Plum Blossoms seems to be reaching outward like a hand, opening, striving toward light.

In contrast to the previous gentle strength exhibited in “It Will Be OK”, is the exuberant power of the oil pastel original, entitled, “Red Persimmons”, its intensity commanding your attention, rotund, fiery red orbs nearly brimming, as though it might burst out of its skin at any moment.

Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ren is a member of the Duke City Renegades Art Guild, the New Mexico Watercolor Society and the New Mexico Pastel Society.

She accepts custom orders, ships worldwide, and is willing to arrange layaway on purchases of $100 or more.
This vibrant collection is a feast for the eyes, and for the soul.

To see and/or purchase more of this artist's work, go to her Etsy online store at :

http://plasticpumpkin.etsy.com

Make Your Mark With Handcrafted Personalized Greeting Cards!

LOOKING FOR A PERSONALIZED CARD? Sandiego-based Earmark creates handcrafted printed and/or personalized greeting cards, note cards and sets. Most of their individual cards retail for about $3.00 apiece while custom birthday cards can be commissioned for $7.50 per card, using the names, any text, colors or images that you might like! They also can create wedding invitations.

From the Whimsical, to the comical, to the romantic of paisley, Earmark's versatility and artistic talent is evident as soon as you go to their Etsy online store; http://Earmark.etsy.com

Pictured above is a lovely notecard called "Orangy Bird" silkscreened on a double thick charcoal grey column paper. Paper is duplexed, meaning it has a second color, white, smooth paper inside making it easy to write on!

90 Features in 90 Days-Press Release

Get your art or fine craft featured 90 times in 90 days! Want to know how? Here’s the deal; post on Etsy’s messageboard on this thread; http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5276160&page=1 (if you don’t have an account you can easily open a free buyer or seller account at http://etsy.com in order to post there), and agree to swap features with me and however many others also post on that thread there as you want. If you have either a blog or a website that you can use to post pictures and 1-2 paragraphs complete with link to that person’s online store on each feature you swap, you can do this! If not, and you would like to participate, you can easily start a simple and user-friendly blog by going to; https://www.blogger.com/start and set one up in a matter of just a few minutes. I was well into my 40’s before I ever knew what a blog was and I picked it up very quickly.

For those readers who don’t know me, my name is Pippit Carlington, owner and jewelry artist of Giftbearer, and Street Team Leader of The Art Jewelry Collective, a group of jewelry artists from Etsy who collaborate in our marketing efforts with the goal of educating the public about the value of art jewelry, supporting a living wage for jewelry artists, and upholding standards of high quality and innovation in the jewelry industry.

The 90 Features in 90 Days Challenge came about as a way to increase sales in my own business, but it occurred to me that the group and even others outside the AJC could utilize the same method to increase their number of sales, based on the law of averages. Just imagine being front page news every day until Christmas, the biggest gift-buying time of the year!

I figured if I could swap features with 90 people and do one feature per day between the time I get 90 participants and Christmas, that should create a large enough internet splash to have a noticeable impact on number of sales. The results of many blogs reciprocating, when combined, would be like advertising in a much bigger venue. The impact of such a marketing challenge will make whichever sellers do this extremely visible all over the web; the more people you swap with, the more visible both you and they are. You can also increase this exposure two-fold by linking to your feature stories.

The end result should eventually be increased sales because you have reached a larger number of potential buyers of your work, and because not all the participants are working in the same medium, there is great potential for cross-promotion, such as handbags with jewelry, or clothing with jewelry, and with only about 10 minutes a day invested in posting your features. So this holiday season not only raise a glass, why not raise your odds, and maybe even… your income!

Let Me Hook You Up!
Is it an earring or am earwire? It's both! These are hot off my workbench from a wild inspiration that came to me in the middle of the night. I have been wracking my brain for quite some time to come up with a repeatable design that is both elegant and doesn't take days or weeks (as many of my other designs often do), and voila! Here it is! These are made of one continuous piece of Argentium Sterling Silver wire that is shaped into an earring hook at the top. Their cutting-edge design provides a special safety feature to prevent them from falling off, as they are work-hardened springy so that the ends touch the bead in the back, creating a clamping tension that allows the wearer to slip them on and keep them on until they voluntarily take them off. These earrings eliminate the hassle often associated with most earrings that have several parts which can come loose. Since these only have the one piece of wire and the bead, there is less that can potentially go wrong or become disconnected. Their compact construction makes them easy and comfortable to wear, and because they are made of wire they have the added benefit of being light-weight relative to their size.
Saturn Spiral earrings are easily customizable and their shorter turnaround time makes them great to sell in larger quantity to stores and galleries as well, while maintaining their handmade charm.

If you would like a pair (or would like this pair) please contact me. I can use many kinds of stone beads for the center, and they need not be round. Order a few for gifts for your friends and family over the holidays. At $30.00 using a 9-10mm center bead, these are a really good value. Let me know if you have something special in mind, and I can "hook you up". This particular pair is available now in my Etsy online store.

(All Giftbearer designs are copyrighted)

Hemlock Wreath Reflecting Mountain Stream-Bracelet

This new piece is now available for purchase in my Etsy store. Buy that special gift well before the Christmas rush. This bracelet is one=of-a-kind, has a sterling silver box clasp on it with three leaves carved in it, fits a 6 1/2" wrist. Fine, water-clear quartz briolettes seem to drip from the ends of branched fringe which shimmers with a matte blue-green irridescence.

You Are Cordially Invited To The Art Jewelry Collective's Earring Madness Promotion! During the months of August and September the group Etsy shop is featuring all kinds of earrings for your shopping pleasure! Go To http://artjewelrycollective.etsy.com,/ GO MAD and BUY NOW! Lots of exciting styles to choose from!

Featured Items In My Etsy Store
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Featured Artist- Kelliope NYC

I just bought the most beautiful custom-made Dupioni Silk handbag for a friend of mine, so decided to make its creator the first featured artist in Art Life Newsblog.

Kelli Denise Coaxum of Kelliope Handmade NYC is a designer I met on Etsy who makes handbags, apparel, and jewelry. Her style is influenced by Coco Chanel, her love of travel, art, and the history of dress. A tiny New York apartment in the Bronx serves as studio from which Kelli conceptualizes, designs, sews, assembles, and ships all of her original work.

I can personally attest to the impeccable workmanship put into her handbags, as the one I purchased shows smooth, perfect seams, holds its shape well, all the zippers match the color perfectly, and the zipper at the top is nicely concealed when closed, giving it a highly professional and polished look. Inside are a number of different pockets to hold keys, notepad, cellphone, checkbook, wallet, and other items, and the purse is lined in bright cheerful yellow chintz. The Silk Dupioni fabric on the outside is a shimmery two-toned blue-green with one thread color for the warp, and the other for the weft.

The friend who will be getting this bag for Christmas is a nurse in a corporate position who often works 14 hours a day and enjoys the finer things in life but doesn't have much time to shop. She was once married to a millionaire and although she makes a good salary now she is not living as luxury a lifestly as she once did, and misses the time when money was no object. I know she will be thrilled when she receives this handbag! It's luxurious and highly functional at the same time; perfect for the professional woman always on the go.

Working with Kelli throughout the design process was a joy; she sent me drawings of the design, made to my specifications, helped locate the fabrics I wanted, and was as excited as I was through each phase of this project.

The finished product cost $75.00 (shipping included), and it was well worth it. When I opened the box the other day and pulled it out I wished I had ordered one for myself. I have been carrying around this brown backpack for about 5 or 6 years and have rarely carried a purse in my lifetime, but I love this one!
See more upscale designs of Kelliope Handmade NYC at:
- http://BlossomBoutiqueOnline.com
- http://www.indiecollective.net/
- http://Kelliope.etsy.com

Message-In-A-Tube (TM)(Exciting New Line)

Above is Entry # 2 of mine for the EtsyCraft Contest. It is the prototype for a whole line of customizable jewelry. I will be putting one each on necklaces with chain or cord and some accent beads surrounding. I can write anything you want on one line and put it into the tube, but each tube will only accommodate a sentence of 4 or 5 words. (If I make the bead longer than about 2 3/4" the paper tube won't slide into it all the way.) Many of these may be people's names (which would be made into even shorter tube beads). I will be making earrings and necklaces as well. If you would like to put in a custom order, please go to my Etsy store at www.Giftbearer.etsy.com

Note: I'm not selling these beads as components at this time; only in finished jewelry, as they're highly unique. I reserve all rights to the design.

Crafter's Buzz- A Great New Mode of Advertising for Craft/Artists

While I was on the Etsy messageboard a few weeks ago I saw a post about a new site for artists to post their wares. Some people were quibbling about how they got notification of it, whether or not it was proper, etc. when I decided to take a closer look for myself, as I'm never one to just dismiss things out of hand. An opportunity is an opportunity, I say, so what did I have to lose? We artists cannot afford to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially in this economy. Times have been lean over the past month and a half, and there seemed to be a sense of heaviness on the forum which descended like a cloud.

Given the current mood of the posters on that particular Etsy thread that night, it seemed as though they'd missed the forest for the trees, and cynicism had overshadowed the prospect that this might be a real opportunity; not merely some shaky deal which was too good to be true. Whether or not there was an agenda I figured it was worth seriously considering because that's not always a bad thing. Sometimes in business the other party's agenda can line up nicely with yours, and when that happens, well then it's cake and ice cream for everybody.

Two of us on that thread went off to investigate what this new site was about and we both saw nothing that could do us any harm, in fact, on the contrary, it seemed as though there really was no down side. As it turned out the listing software was similar to Etsy's in many ways, the thumbnails were even bigger (something that Etsy has maintained would be too much of a hassle to change on their site), and we could link directly so that traffic could go from there to our Etsy sites in order for customers to buy. All this was completely free! But there was still more good stuff in addition to those great features.

As I continued to read their tutorials and operations, I found out that they had a great rewards program as a means to build up the site. This is how it works;

* You get 5 Points every time somebody new clicks on your website or an outside forum.

* 10 Points for any minimum 50-word post in their forum.

* 20 Points to submit each new craft show not already listed on their show calendar.

* 100 Points for adding the first 20 items to your gallery on their site.

* 100 Points for writing a how-to article or craft show review. This article must have at least 2 images and be over 500 words.

* 1000 Points for referring a new website hosting customer. (By the way, their full e-commerce package price is very good; just $9.95)!

What you can redeem those points for are things like;

* Gas cards
* Home Depot, Lowes, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Barnes and Noble gift cards
* An Ipod
* Camera
* Toaster
* Craft supplies
* TV
* Roaster
*Coffee-maker
*VCR/DVD
These are redeemable at their bumbleBee online stores. They are continuing to add new items and are open to suggestions.
http://bumblebeestores.com/

Pretty Cool, huh!

To the right on my sidebar is a link where you can sign up if you're interested. All in all it's a pretty sweet deal for everyone.

The staff person I spoke with initially was Tania; very nice and helpful, and customer service oriented.

If you'd like to see what my set-up there looks like click here; http://craftersbuzz.com/gallery.cgi?GIFTBEARER&cbrewards=GIFTBEARER

If you'd like to check into the $9.95 e-commerce webhosting they provide, then click here; http://pagebuzz.com/account.cgi?&cbrewards=GIFTBEARER

Happy 4th!

The fourth of July has inspired me to make another elaborate beadwoven necklace. This one has 8 strands of genuine Spinel chips and lots of beautiful bright red coral beads on the centerpiece fringe. It took me many hours of work to complete. The piece reminds me of fireworks. The silver and white necklace I sold on Etsy with a similar look was called Happy New Year; with cascading fringe bursting out of the main core.

This one, called Raspberry Explosion Independance Day Necklace reminds one of jolly rancher candy or raspberry ice; gleaming and luminous, with the look of royalty. Spinel is in the same family as Ruby, and they are not always easy to distinguish even by lapidary experts, but generally Spinel has more pink tones to it and is punchier. It is one of my favorite stones.

Let me know what you think about this piece, and please take a look at my etsy store. For more information about the necklace or to purchase, the listing is at http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=277912
and here is the picture below;

More on Day Lilly Earrings

Yesterday I sold another pair of Day Lilly earrings. It was one of the ones I didn't post here, but I'd listed it on Bead & Button Community messageboard; reddish pink, a little like the reddish one below, but more pinkish and less red. As always happens just as I had begun to think they weren't going to move just last night before I was about to turn in for the night I checked my computer and was pleasantly surprised.

Three more pair are available now and I would like to sell them out and then start on some other types of flowers. I hope someone is reading this blog and will take these little beauties home with them. The right person is out there, someone who loves Day Lillies and loves color. I just know they are.

To purchase the above blue pair , go to this link; http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=265910

I can do most any flower, but this material lends itself to wide petals and roundish flowers better than long skinny ones. To do a daisey or something of that sort I would have to leave more of the background and not cut out quite so much around each petal. Sunflowers would work pretty well, morning glories, panseys, roses, etc...So if you would like to see certain kinds of flowers here's your chance to let your voice be heard. Maybe your mother loves roses, or your sister is just crazy about sunflowers. This could be the next hot thing!!! You never know.

More Day Lilly Earrings

These are available at my Etsy store;
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=263594
Lovely purple with jeweltone colored glass beads.
Thanks for looking. Even more coming soon!

Day Lilly Earrings

I just recently sold several pairs of Day Lilly earrings, and when they were gone a customer requested that I make more, so I came out with a new and improved version; this time including beads on them and using sterling silver hooks instead of surgical steele. The results are quite striking!

Over the next few days I will be listing several on my Etsy store site; Reddish-orange, Bright Red with Yellow and Black Edges, Purple with Yellow Centers and White Streaks, and Cornflower Blue with Green Edges. These new earrings sell for $10.00/pair with a shipping fee of $1.00 if you are buying from the U.S., and $2.00 international shipping. Below is an example of one pair;

See these earrings at http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=261893

Many Muses

~I carry your hearts with me always~

This contemporary Tribal style necklace symbolizes the many muses we take with us on our path each day, the hearts of those who love us and inspire us tucked away for safe-keeping as amulets for good luck.These people who add something to our lives, believe in us, give us the incentive and the confidence to know that we can conquer all of life's challenges, provide us comfort when times are hard, and rejoice with us during our windfalls.Packed with brightly colored gemstones; 16 supremely facetted smokey quartz hearts dangling fron sterling drawn cable chain, are combined with carnelian roller beads, bronze-greenish pearls,light orange pearls.White quartz, bone tubes and rhondelles, grey moonstone, facetted carnelian briolettes, light orange pearls, bronze-greenish pearls, and bali sterling silver beads adorn the strand, strung on .019 soft-flex beading wire.The hook is a sterling lobsterclaw and the sterling chain extender has one silver pearl atop another matching smokey quartz heart, providing a broad size adjustability.Measures 17 1/4", and extends to 20 3/4".Truly one of a kind!

$120.00 plus $4.50 Shipping

***Shipping includes insurance.***

To purchase and/or see other pieces I have available please see my etsy store;

http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=251975

...And thanks to all who have inspired me!

www.Giftbearer.etsy.com

Come See Me...and all sorts of neat stuff!

I just realized that because my ETSY store address was my very first post it was hidden from view unless one happened to look at my list of articles very carefully on the sidebar.

I recently linked to a blog ring for Etsy sellers in case anyone would like to check that out in either direction.

The ring link is located on the sidebar on the right, just below the links which say editme. There's a box with an X inside. You still can click on it and it will work, but I just couldn't figure out how to get that nice button to show up.

Living LaVita Loca (Living The Crazy Life)

Staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning for the past week, I've been preparing a cute but time-consuming creature for the upcoming Co-production Contest being held on ETSY on May 22nd, and making new jewelry for the Georgia Microenterprise Network show, held last night.

The show went relatively well but admitted vendors late to start set-up, and was cut short by one hour, something many of the vendors were not too happy about. The customer base was really good, but the time-frame between 5 and 7:00 P.M. over the dinner hour and the bar probably was a distraction from the handcrafted items. We all could have made better sales had the show run from say, 9:00 A.M.- 6:00 P.M., and alot of us did express that sentiment to the management on the feedback form provided. Apparently there was a middleman company in charge of booking the hotel space for the show and the time-frame was not made clear in the initial contract, so our show had to break down at 7:00 and be out of there before 8:00. It seemed that the hotel did offer some leeway in the end, as the next party didn't come in until 8:00 to use the room.

The National organization, Association for Enterprise Opportunity was there as well as a co-sponsor. To find out more about them go to http://www.microenterpriseworks.org or contact Katie Igrec Lima at (703) 841-7760 Ext. 38. Her e-mail is kigrec-lima@assoceo.org

One of the highlights of this event was its glossy Microenterprise Fair 2006 Business Directory (in which Giftbearer is listed on page 15), designed and laid out by Jones Creative, LLC. Photos were printed in black and white, but the listings were professional-looking and easy to locate with all contact information on each business included. Each of the vendors in the directory have been through one of the Microenterprise classes offered by their respective County affilliate.

The agency I took my Business Plan Writing course from several years ago was BusinessNOW, the affilliate in Dekalb County. I would recommend this agency to anyone wanting to develop an official business plan or who might like to apply for a small business loan in the future.

To find out which organization offers these and other related business development services in your area you can contact the Association for Enterprise Opportunity listed above or if you're a Georgia resident contact GMEN at http://www.georgiamicroenterprise.org
of which Patricia C. Williams is the Executive Director.

Next Scheduled Art Show

I will be selling my work at the Georgia Microenterprise Network Conference/Show on Wednesday, May 17th from 5:00-8:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, 265 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta, GA. 30303.

Vendors will be located in the Centennial Ballroom III and IV (Ballroom Level).

For more information about attending, please contact:
Deborah Barnett
GMEN Micro Fair Coordinator
(770) 222-3560

This will be a great opportunity to network, get some valuable business information, and come home with a wonderful original piece of wearable art.

Hope to see you there!

Reviews- Atlanta Dogwood Festival

On Sunday, Apil 9,2006 I spent 3 exciting hours at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, held annually in Piedmont Park. Ranked in Sunshine Art Magazine as the 16th top arts festival in the country, this festival features a whole array of different mediums from sculpture, to jewelry, to fiber, ceramic, to woodwork, to all types of painting/drawing/mixed media.

One of my favorites there was Sandy Atkins-Moran (Genesis Designs) of Carrollton, Texas whose hand-sewn one-of-a-kind art jackets set her apart from other clothing designers in that she uses a unique combination of fabrics in quilted freeform style such as silk, ultrasuede, cotton, and heavier patterned cloth. Some of her jackets had wisps of colorful threads dangling from certain sections of cloth like fringe. The colors tended towards purples, greens, and golds, but she is able to do custom work as well using colors chosen by the customer.

I definitely have one of these on my "to buy" list, and after I told a friend of mine about these so does she!

She does not currently have a website but she can be contacted by e-mail at sandyamoran@earthlink.net if you are interested in purchasing or would like to see her at a show and check out her work in-person.

There was lots of beautiful jewelry there including some lovely bone hearts a little bigger than a silver dollar in circumference and about a 1/2 inch thick (I wish I'd gotten the contact info for those but was hard-pressed to see everything in 3 hours) with sterling silver balls set in them and nice bezel settings with tiny, luminous cabachons of ruby, chrome diopside, (and what looked to be fire opal in one of the pendants).

One man who made giclee prints from his watercolor paintings of cats, fish, and other animals in warm, rich colors, stated that this was an excellent show each time he'd gotten accepted and that one year he'd made enough for one year and into the next!

At a ceramics booth whose trademark look was pieces which had bright pinkish purple matt glaze, there were at least 6 people waiting with money in-hand to pay for items priced at least $30.00 apiece.

It was definitely a buying crowd, and I wish I had beed able to come up with the $350.00 entry fee. For those of you who might be interested in doing this show next year, go to http://www.dogwood.org
to get on the mailing list and obtain an application. They're asking that people inquire in August to get an application for the 2007 show.

New Line of Jewelry (Softies)
I alwys enjoy doing crossover pieces and developing new lines of jewelry that combine the features and benefits from more than one medium. This new line is one that combines crochet and beads. On Etsy I noticed that yarn/knitted/crocheted stuff has its own huge following. The jewelry category there is so large that one really has to come up with something new and different to make a mark. This Flaxen Crocheted Cuff is the first one in the line, made with mohair. Stay tuned for more of these in different colors and various embellishments, and let me know what you think.

To purchase or to place a special order, go here; http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=125025

Etsy will be down between Sat, April 1st at 8pm EST to Sun, April 2nd at 8am while the staff works on the servers. If you happen to see my pictures on Flickr and would like to buy something during that time, please e-mail me to inquire; pippit@bellsouth.net

Thanks,

Pippit Carlington
Giftbearer