Marvelous Monday

Before I show you some inspirational work, do you remember how I was excited to work with Pappashop?  It's been such a pleasure working with them, that I'd decided to RE-DO my first website   (http://crochetedbracelets.com/) and have them host it.  My goal was to begin the process after Christmas.  Well, I've made the initial email so if you don't see me much this week, you'll know why.  My hope is that it goes as quickly as http://janiceabarbanel.com/ did.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I thought I would show the work of Carolina Sherrill.  I first found Carolina's work on the Bead Artist website BeadMaking.org.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Treasury West

I managed to scoop up a treasury yesterday.  It's live should you wish to view!  Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Marvelous Monday

Jennifer McCurdy is a ceramic artist who lives on Martha's Vineyard.  She works in porcelain and makes vessels that convey movement, volume and strength.  Porcelain is a medium that is known for slumping and cracking, yet she somehow carves it into delicate rising shapes.  She begins by throwing the piece on the wheel.  When it becomes leather hard, she begins to carve the form.  And finally, she glazes the pieces.  Here are a few of my favorites.  To see more, visit her website here.  Have a marvelous Monday!

"Wheat Jar"  (23 x 12 x 12)

"Coral Candle Vase on Stand"  (21 x 6 x 6)

"Butterfly Vessel"  (21 x 11 x 11)

"Haeckel's Jar"  (23 x 18 x 18)

Feeling the Love Friday

This week I had the pleasure of being in Donauluft's beautiful treasury titled "A Present for the Princess". 

Browsing through Donauluft's shop, I couldn't help but notice how her ruby red dropshaped earrings would have looked spectacular in this treasury!

Thanks to this Etsy artist for making my week a little brighter!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Closing in on a Milestone

My sales at Etsy are nearing 600!  As of this moment, they are at 597.  So . . . whoever makes the 600th sale, will get a free pair of absolutely, positvely gorgeous earrings.  These earrings are so fresh, they haven't even made it to my shop yet, so it will be a surprise, whoever opens that box! 

Not Your Average Knotz

Need a sweet pair of boots for a baby this year? HipKnotz might be your answer. I fell in love with this Etsy shop's baby boots. The sizes she offers is 0 - 12 months. It's too late to special order for XMas, but she provides two other options you might like as well. You can read about it on her home page. My favorite boots at the moment are "My Little Snow Boots". They're Ugg inspired and handmade from suede and baby clouds yarn. What a sweet gift they would make!

Marvelous Monday

Today, I thought I would start the week with some orange and green. Maybe I'll find a moment or two to work with these colors. They sure look good together. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Combining Metals

If you like the rich look of oxidized sterling combined with gold and movement, then you'll love the work of Artisanlook. Here are a few of my favorites! They also have a website with much to choose from. It all began at age 14 . . .

Out of the Studio

This week I thought I would show you a couple things that I'd been working on. First, there was a tube bead order I got. The customer had seen a pattern on one of my beads and asked if I could make a tube bead similar to the pattern.

Next was a necklace whose frame I had made a while ago and was waiting to be finished. Here's what evolved.

Judy Kuskin developed this technique of setting polymer clay into handmade sterling silver bead frames. I had seen her work a number of years ago on Gwen Gibson's site and liked the look. I had previously made three bead frame shapes and thought they would look good together. I made the patterns for the frames with alcohol inks and mica peels. The beads were then hung on sterling silver cable wire. Later today I made some more frames to form into leaf shapes. It's something I had done a while ago on a necklace and thought I would update the frames with some of my newer polymer clay work. I'll post future pictures.

Is there Ever Such a Thing as Too Sweet?

Not in my book. I have a friend that when tasting things will every now and then say "this is too sweet". I told her those are 4 words that will never come out of my mouth. Ever. So, with that in mind, I'm sharing an Etsy shop called Lemon Bird Homemade Jams. What caught my eye (and apparently my stomach) were the unusual jams that she makes. Her Orange and Dark Chocolate with Cardamon sounds so, so good. Good on cookies, scones or on a belgian waffle. But her Peach with Lavender jam sounds irresistible! If you're a jam lover, she even has a Jam of the Month Club Membership as well as gift baskets available. What a great gourmet gift!

I'll be continuing my tradition of featuring Etsy shops until Christmas (along with other postings). Hope you enjoy!

Marvelous Monday

Our open house this weekend was a lot of fun and a big success. We held it from 3:00 to 10:00 and were really surprised as to how crowded it got at certain points. Because it was our first open house, we really didn't know what to expect. We used evite.com and two days before the event, evite automatically sends out a "reminder" to everyone. I meant to get pictures of the event but unfortunately, got tied up with last minute stuff and before I knew it, people were arriving. Friends were saying to make this a yearly event so hopefully I'll remember to do that next year!

To get back into the blogging groove, I thought I would just post a few photos from Flickr that you might find inspiring. These were taken from Steffen Tucks' photostream. Hope you have a marvelous Monday!