Featured Artist Sunday!!

My featured artist today is all the way from Istanbul, Turkey!! Welcome to Acya!! She was very eager to share information about her talent and personal life.

She is 35 years old, has been married nearly 8 years and has an almost 3 year old daughter.

She learned to knit and crochet from my mother when I was 6 or 7 years old.. That's often how the skill is passed down. Therefore, I have nearly 29 years of experience in knit & crochet work.

Professionally, also known as making money, she has been knitting and crocheting the last 2 1/2 years..

Before that I was knitting & crocheting for myself, and my friends as a gifts.

After Oyku, my daughter, was born and to get rid of postpartum depression; I started to search for an online shop and I met with Etsy :)

My first favorite part for knit & crochet "go-off"part because it means my creative design is finished. "When I am working the design is in my mind. I don't use pattern ( usually )."

Therefore when I started my etsy shop, only my dreams, my love, and enthusiasm for knitting helped me become better at my skill.

My second favorite part is "feedback" from customers.

"I design an item with LOVE and care + best quality materials + excellent customer service = HAPPY & returning customer." Well said Ayca!!

In five years, I plan to still be a good mom, to still be a good wife and to still be a healthy female!!

Great Plan! Meanwhile in my store, I will spread my name and designs worldwide--WATCH out world!! Here comes Acya. Now ladies and gentlemen, Help boost Acya's worldwide reach by going to her shop and finding your favorite item!!

Featured Artist Sunday--Crystal Celebration

Today's Featured Artist is CrystalCelebration. Let's read and learn about her fabulous craft!

When did you get started in your craft?

I started a little over a year ago when I left my job to stay home with my two children. I love spending my days reading and playing with my boys. After they went to sleep I would remove the play dough from under my nails ( which is a skill in itself) and enjoy some adult craft time.

I started trying different crafts with different materials. I worked with card stock, vinyl, etching creams, and swarovski crystals. I love them all but there is something about the crystals that just puts a smile on my face. There is nothing more adult than hundreds of glistening Swarovski crystals.

What is your favorite part of your chosen craft?

I love knowing the pieces I create will be part of such an important day for my customer. My sand ceremony sets represent unity in couples and newly combined families. My cake toppers will be present in photos of the bride and groom's first bite of cake. I always hope they will look at the items I made for their wedding years from now and remember how happy they were on that special day.

In five years, what would you like to be doing?

I hope in 5 years to have expanded my company and be able to employ other mothers looking for a way to earn an income while staying home with their children. I am currently holding a giveaway on my facebook fanpage www.facebook.com/CrystalCelebration .

Once I hit 200 fans I will randomly choose a winner who will receive a 5 inch tall metal monogram cake topper covered in Crystal Swarovski crystals.

Wow, what an amazing craft!! It really is a special memento for brides and grooms to have at their special day. Show Jocelyn's shop some love.

Featured Artist Sunday

Welcome to Featured Artist Sunday--and today's winner is Lucy Ingels !!! Round of Applause!!!

Lucy tells me that she have been crafting forever it seems and her style has evolved over the years.

"My favorite part of creating is the brainstorming process that precedes every piece I do. So much thought goes into each piece because I create the art around a saying or proverb that has inspired me."

Words are so important to me because they truly have the power to give hope.

I also love bringing together all of the various elements I use.

There are so many beautiful materials available, both new and vintage, and it gives me great pleasure to figure out how to make them work cohesively.

I work on canvas paper and watercolor paper in a variety of mediums that include acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, watercolor pencil, ink and anything else that intrigues me.

Whimsical embellishments and doo-dads are added to make each one of a kind piece.

In five years, I hope to be a published author/illustrator who continues to live a creative life! And Lucy, you are off to a great start with your fabulous artwork!

Let's give Lucy's shop some love! Post your favorite here and/or choose a saying that has inspired you and tell me about it!

A new Idea

I want to feature etsy stores who heart me but I've had a problem with thinking of how to feature them. So I went to the random number generator and I have the random number

Here is your random number:18
Timestamp: 2010-11-15 01:01:59 UTC

Now I am off to find who I am promoting tonight!!

FlowersforRealJewelr is the winner!!

From her shop announcement:

Pressed Flowers in Resin are my passion, using as great a variety of flowers as possible. Victorian-style pendants and earrings are my specialty, but I design a variety of real flower jewelry.

Custom pendants made of flowers from weddings, funerals and other special occasions are one of my favorite things to make.

I'd love you to contact me about the flowers from your special event.

No dyes or coloring are used on the flowers in my jewelry.

All the colors in my pressed flower jewelry are Mother Nature's. All flowers will fade over time, no matter in what format they are presented.

Keeping the jewelry in a jewelry box or other dark, dry place will greatly delay the natural aging.

Now look at some of her creations!

Carry Art With You!!

As I was looking through my hearts and saw a new-to-me shop named mmsomewhere. As I was looking through the shop I found photo wallets! What a clever idea! marybeth is the owner of this shop and I asked her a few questions to find out more. As I was looking through the store, I found myself drawn to the wallets with pictures of where I had been, but the Seoul series is excellent.

Tell me something about yourself:

Being aware of my immediate surroundings and place in time is captured with a camera constantly. Moving and traveling keep me constantly inspired and seeing the world with fresh eyes. When I am not gathering eye candy, I can be found in my studio.

I don't like the idea of wasted time so I keep busy constantly.

How did you start with your current craft?

The photography market is very difficult for me to crack, so I needed a different way to get it out to the public. I really enjoy public art and because the wallets are utilitarian, people bring them out into the world with them.

Not only do they have art in their pockets, but it is being seen by a larger audience than the possible photo in a private living room.

What do you like about your craft?

I like having the final say in my designs and that people buy my work because they like how I interpret the world around me.

Do you have a full time job? If yes, what is it?

This is my full time job at the moment.

I will be doing the renegade fairs throughout this spring and summer. The first one is in Austin, May 15th, followed by Brooklyn in June and so on.

I also do some design work on the side for cd's, websites, etc.

Thanks for talking with me marybeth!! I enjoy your philosophy of having art to carry around with you. She has passport covers, checkbook covers, bike wallets and card wallets!

I'll be coming back to buy my favorite item, soon.

Check out mmsomewhere to find your favorite item!!

I enjoy finding new shops in the big etsy world, and one easy way to find new shops is to look through the shops who heart you. PrairieStarJewels is one of those shops. When you visit her shop, you see a variety of stones, techniques, groupings and word pendant necklaces.

Tell me something about yourself.
I was born and raised in a small town in Iowa. I was introduced to crafting at a young age. Dad did fantastic woodworking and Mom did many crafts during the years, going back to her love of sewing and quilting. I myself have tole painted, macramé , painted on wood, and made and antiqued picture frames for years. After so many years with successful craft shows with the frames, I had to turn to something a little more creative and it became jewelry. My husband and I love to travel and I am always bringing rocks, shells, crystals, and all kinds of things home in the hope that I might be able to make something someday from it!

How did you start with your current craft?
Back in the good old 70’s, my best friend and I made and sold earring with colorful little feathers on them. They were fun and easy. After a 30 year hiatus from jewelry and all the other crafting I had done, my love of jewelry and being creative was awakened in me again. I went on a trip to Arizona and bought way to much in supplies, took some classes and started creating. My first show was a Mystical show in Des Moines. I learned more about the meaning of stones than I ever thought I would. People were buying my semi precious stone necklaces by feel instead of by looks!

What do you like about your craft?
What I like about jewelry making is that I can make a piece that says something or depicts a mood. I love metals and stones and the message you can give in each piece. I have always been a creative person and jewelry making fulfills me. Plus, I can take projects anywhere I go.

Do you have a full time job?
If yes, what is it?I have been laid off since July. I worked for an insurance company for 11 years before my job was eliminated. I worked in a training department, helping to create and monitor training. I am still looking for a job but am hoping it is a little less than full time.

Would you like to be full time at crafting?
Yes, yes, yes!!! I would love to craft full time. My mind is so full of ideas there seems to be no room for much else. My Etsy business is just getting started and I need to find some other avenues of marketing. The thing with jewelry is that the sky is the limit. I love mixing metals and stones. I also want to take some more metal smithing classes.

Please visit her store, come back and list your favorite item in her shop. I will giveaway a FREE business card holder similar to this one:

Learning Photography!!

I will be learning to make my product photography better this afternoon with my good friend, Bruce. He's going to help me using my camera, tripod, light box and my desk lamps. I'm excited to learn THE tricks of the trade. I'll share with my blog friends later in the week.

In the meantime, check out my featured artist--DiamondIsis. She has wonderful photographs of nature and wildlife. The two above photos are samples of her work.

Featured Artist--DiamondIsis

I am pleased to feature a brand new artist/photographer on etsy. Lena of DiamondIsis is a fabulous photographer with a humorous take on life with shore birds, tender moments with horses and classic black and white photography. She has full color prints as well.

When I was chatting with her, she gave me interesting information.

Tell me something about yourself.
I am excited to be a part of the Etsy community and plan to keep adding onto my storefront! I live in a town outside of Richmond, VA with my Fiancee' and our four legged daughter, Isis Diamond (my store name is her name backwards).

How did you start with your current craft?
Photography is my passion and what started as a hobby when I was a teenager became a staple in my life! I would visit wildlife refuges with my parents and I got to where I would always take my camera. Then I went to school at the Academy of Art to study photography for two years; it was nice to learn formally as I had been self taught up to that point.

Do you have a full time job? If yes, what is it? Would you like to be full time at crafting?

I would love to be able to pursue photography full time; but for now I work full time as an Accounts Receivable Specialist for a local company in Richmond, VA. But I keep up with my photography in all the spare time I can spare, lol.

What do you like about your craft?
What I love about photography is being able to capture a moment that is beautiful; and being able to share that for everyone to enjoy! My hope is that people will enjoy my work as much as I enjoy going out and finding those moments to share! :)

Let's welcome Lena to the world of online sales and encourage her. Check out her etsy store, DiamondIsis. PS I also hyperlinked my favorite photos from her store.

Great Papermaking Weekend

I have had a great papermaking weekend!! It really is the last weekend before I start teaching school again. I'm not ready or excited about it because I have loved making paper so much this summer. I feel like I have made more than I ever have!! I finished some paper for a client that has their business logo on the front. I'm totally psyched that I accomplished it. When I have permission, I will post pictures of it here.

Then I made paper out of oriental bittersweet leaves as a freebie for the Western North Carolina Alliance. The staff works to pull, cut, and kill this invasive plant from our National Forests. It has been a big hit!! I didn't take any photos of these :-(

Lastly, I am thinking about featuring another artist on my blog. I'm not sure how many times per week I could do this, while returning to teaching again. Let me know if you'd be interested in collaborating.

Thanks for reading~!

Congratulations to Treecycle also. I was moved by Andy's work because my dad used to make all kinds of things out of wood. He works in all kinds of wood by turning into gorgeous bowls, vases and hollow forms. He even has some mailable cards. He says "the beauty of wood is never knowing what lies beneath the bark of a tree". He allows the texture of the wood to guide his creative process and coloring. Visit his etsy site at www.treecycle.etsy.com. Enjoy the slide show of my favorite works.