Inspiration

I am always looking for fresh inspiration for my work and most times I find it's from color.  I love finding new and interesting color combinations then figuring out how it will work as a bracelet or a brooch.   Pinterest has been a veritable font of inspiration lately, for instance.....  

This colorful blouse:

Inspired this bracelet:

This room:

Inspired this bracelet:

I have a whole Pinterest board waiting to be translated into embroidery pieces.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Filling The Shop

I have been working hard to get things listed in my Etsy shop for the holiday season.

  Like this:

And this:

And Some bracelets too:

 

Every year I tell myself that I'm going to have all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving and without fail I get a few presents early and get everything else at the last minute.   Are you one of those fabulously organized people that have everything done early or are you a horrible procrastinator like me?

Pile of Bracelets

I have a pile of bracelets ready to be photographed and listed in my shop for the busy holiday season.

So far I have listed.....one

Dark Vine Bracelet

I love making these things and am perfectly happy watching Netflix, drinking chai tea and stitching all day long.

Pink Dusk Treasury

I was especially pleased with how this treasury came together so I thought I would share

'Pink Dusk' by Sidereal

Primrose Peignoir Set silkwormvintag... $62	Clouds Paint the Sky : Photo... BlueAlgaeCreat... $35	Lucky Day Necklace Garden Qu... PoleStar $68	CIJ Moth Brooch Neutrals Bro... MySelvagedLife $9
Vintage Floral Tablecloth, F... LittleKittenVi... $25	Tiny Silver Disc Earrings / ... burnish $25	Butterfly Terrarium Kit, Gla... TheAmateurNatu... $42	Antique Glass Bottle Collect... 86home $40
s a m p l e - perfume serum ... MarbleandMilkw... $4	Natural Lip Scrub SET of 3 w... WinsomeGreen $12	Spinel Array Bracelet Premiu... ShopClementine $98	Spring Raindrops Macro Photo... MySweetReverie... $25
3 Vintage Heart Shaped Silve... therhubarbstud... $25	Seeds - Rustic Winter Poppy... BelAtelier $12	Vintage India Stamp - Hand C... smilemercantil... $17.5	Aurora Natural Solid Perfume... IlluminatedPer... $28

Sponsored by send bulk email from excel.

Thinking of Autumn

Here we are in the middle of summer, so far the weather has been kind of odd, we have had some summer days but also quite a few days thrown in that make it feel like Autumn is almost here.   I was complaining about the late start to the warm weather, but after watching most of the rest of the US suffer through heat waves, fires and now drought, I have quit complaining.
All the fallish weather has put me in the mood to make some fallish embroidery,  today I listed a couple of burnt orange embroidery pieces.

                                        Also, my sweet sweet little boy picked a bouquet for me.

I think it may be time to mow the lawn

Work

Some work in progress

I just need to finish painting the hoop

A few pins, bracelets and a poppy

I just need to add some clasps and take some photos.

Bracelets

I'm taking a break for the rest of the day (after this post)!  I have been sitting at my desk stitching away for the past 4 days, I'm in dire need of a shower and my eyes are getting blurry.

This is some of what I have been working on:

The black linen one

Pink ribbon flowers

Sweet peach n grey

So far only a luke warm reception in my shop for these, but I am having fun and plan to make more once my eyes don't feel squeezed anymore.

It's time to go make some popcorn and watch a movie with the family.  

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

Stitching Away

I'm still working on re-stocking my Etsy shop.  My family has been keeping me pretty busy but I've managed to eek out a few things.

Like this:

red poppies

and this:

Pink Bloomers

and this one:

Yellow (with a bit of orange) poppies

One more:

Tattered Garden

I plan on re-making some of the one's that have sold, although they never come out quite the same.  I also have some ideas for new things, so I had better get back to work.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Encaustic Goodness!

Way back in December I received this gorgeous little encaustic ornament that I won in a giveaway from Susan Najarian.

 

I was thrilled to get it as I have been coveting her work for a while.  It arrived with a sweet little red bow at the top but I replaced it with a little black velvet and white cotton, that way it's not so much a Christmas ornament but something I can hang over my desk and enjoy year round.  You can find Susan's work on Etsy, where she sells beautiful encaustic painting, and mixed media art.

Yep, it's 2012

And it has been for a whole month already!

I can't believe a whole month of the new year has already passed.  

Last year I jumped  on the new year like a crazy lady, I've decided this year that I would just sneak up on it.

This is how my work space looks right now.  Actually that's only part of it but I assure you the rest of it looks the same.  I'm working on getting my shop stocked back up after taking a long break from stitching over the holidays (and most of January).

See the skinny little newspaper in the top right corner of the photo?  That's our tiny local paper and on the cover of the last edition was a photo of a bunch of people sledding.  The city closes this one steep street in town every time we get a good amount of snow for "safety reasons" but really it's just so we can all go sledding.  Anyhoo, my husband, son and I are in the group, my son thought it was really cool that we were on the front page. 

I hope you are all having a great beginning to 2012!

Raffle Fundraiser for Sparrow Salvage

One of my favorite Etsy artists, Penny of Sparrow Salvage, was in a horrible car accident about 3 weeks ago and  is still on the mend in the hospital.  Kindly, Fanciful Devices is raffling off this fabulous necklace to help raise money for Penny.  

Click HERE for more information.

Thank you!

Old Stock

The other day while reorganizing my art supplies I found a small pile of bases for barrettes and a few pins. 

I'm just finishing up the one with the vines, and hope to get it listed tomorrow.

They are made out of cereal boxes, it's a painstaking process that includes: cutting out the shapes, gluing the layers together, shaping, sanding, sanding some more, then the fun part - painting.  They turned out to be way too labor intensive for the price I can expect to get for them so I'm not planning on making any more when I'm done with these.  Hopefully I will get them all finished and listed in the shop over the next few days (probably longer) 

See, cereal boxes.

Oh, and I've been working on some more embroidered brooches, like this one:

This weekend will be all about getting some of those decorations up and doing some crafts with the kiddo.  I have been finding all sorts of fun crafts on Pinterest, like this one: Cinnamon ornaments

Do you have any fun weekend plans? Do you have a fun holiday craft idea?

Aaaaaaargh!

Aaaaaaargh!
I'm warning you now that this is me venting.....

All the little things are adding up. 

I had 2 new embroidery pieces to list today.  I got some ok photos of one of them but with the second one I can't get any that aren't blurry.  The screen on my digital camera is broken so I have to push buttons and just hope that it's on the right setting (it's been that way for about 2 years)  so, I turn the thing on wait a few seconds, push the arrow 2 times to the left, take a bunch of photos, load them into the computer and then try again if they are all blurry. So far I've deleted and re-taken about 4 times.  Add too that the dark grey day and the fact that my house tilts so my embroidery keeps rolling away, oh, and my back hurts...... I'm just about ready to throw my hands up get a glass of wine and take a bubble bath. 

Instead I will power on, get the photos taken, make more stuff, start dinner, then maybe wine and bath.

Hey, I warned ya.

Just Working

There are simply not enough hours in the day.

I have been working my little butt off....more accurately my butt is probably growing from all the hours I'm spending sitting on the couch watching shows while I stitch.  

On the plus side I have been getting a few new items listed in my shop.

Blue

Orange

Look what I received in the mail a couple days ago

I made a couple of custom embroidery pieces for a customer up in Canada and she sent me these lovely cards she made because they reminded her of them. How nice is that!

Well, back to work.

Woot!

Yesterday my shop views were WAY above what they normally are, I was confused.  

I found out today that one of my items was included in the Etsy Finds e-mail.  I'm thrilled thrilled thrilled to be included!

This is the item they included,  and it sold! Yay!

Click HERE to see the Etsy Finds list.

Etsy Teams

I joined an Etsy team! It's the Treasury Challenge Non Team.....so I guess it's not really a team....but it is a team...whatever.   Each week the winner of the previous week gets to pick one of their own items as the inspiration item.  

This week it's these cute little hand knitted baby socks.

This week is my first week to participate, I made This treasury:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NzUyMTY3M3w2Mjc2NzgxNjU/autumn-nesting

It's nice but I'm showing the one below, because I think theirs is better. =)

If you are interested in participating, you can find out how here:

http://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/

'GoldiSocks and the Three Bears' by tylerja

This team is "just right"....join the fun!treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/

Nesting Bowls - Creamy Milk ... sheilasart $70.00	Sweet Souls Sister Bears - s... weelittlepigs $319.00	Hand knitted baby socks /Aut... eljuks $10.00	Flame Cherry Wooden Spoon burlchaser $40.00
Little Mustard Tank with Lin... joretta $48.00	Wool Acorns, 6 Handmade Neel... Fairyfolk $12.00	California King Toddler/Baby... MustardSeedPro... $75.00	Vintage Rustic Yellow Child&... Thebeezkneezvi... $15.00
Miniature Terrarium Farmhous... iktomi $20.00	Vintage 1960s Wooded Legs Mu... kanomtuay $34.00	v i n t a g e mohair teddy b... buffalowinter $345.00	Antique Vintage wooden Baby ... Yesterdayand2d... $46.00
Primitive Doll Bed for Barbi... QuarterCreek $39.99	Golden Yellow Felt Bow Barre... KamiMono $6.00	Bear Roley Poley Animal ArksAndAnimals $4.95	fall foliage - fuzzy tan fel... thefuzzymonkey $18.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.