stacie's jewelry

And the Winner is...

2012-02-14T06:52:00.000-05:00

Congratulations Lesley Ann! If you can email me your mailing address I can pop your new Valentines earrings in the mail for you. My email is staciejewelry@yahoo.com

Thanks so much to everyone for entering the giveaway. The stories of good deeds are incredible! You guys are awesome. Happy Valentines Day!

"Love is everywhere." by Madi

Grow your heart & win a pair of vintage red heart bead earrings!

2012-02-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

Would you like to win these new Valentines heart earrings? Well, here are the ways to win...

Grow your heart by doing something nice for someone else. Leave me a comment and let me know how you grew your heart.
Follow this blog & leave a comment. If you already follow, just leave a comment saying you do!
Like Stacie Jewelry on Facebook. Leave me a comment letting me know you did!
Follow Stacie Jewelry on Twitter. Leave me a comment letting me know you did!
Share the love! Share the link to this giveaway blog post & let me know you did!
Visit Stacie Jewelry on Etsy and Favorite the shop. Again, leave a comment!

You will be entered into the drawing to win the Vintage Heart bead earrings for each action you take. I will select the winner using the comments and Random.org true random number generator.

I just love these Vintage dark red heart beads. I bought them at Chrissy Gemmill's Beads and Baubles Trunk show. If you missed the last one, she is having another Trunk show on February 25th. I also made another pair of Valentines Earrings using these awesome beads for The Muse.

Of course I had to make myself a pair too! I made ones similar to the giveaway pair, just a bit longer. I love to wear really long earrings in my second earring hole with big hoops in the front. Almost looks like a window!

Good luck to everyone! I will announce the lucky winner next week February 14th Valentines Day!

"Do an act of love every day." by Madi

Artist of the Month - Cia Williford

2012-02-01T06:00:00.008-05:00

"Conversation with a Bee" by Cia Williford

I met Cia in the Life Book class that I am taking online with Tamara Laporte. I was immediately attracted to her soft, positive images that she creates. After talking with her (in the online world!) I see that her beautiful images match her lovely personality.

Cia lives in Northwestern Pennsylvania in Greensburg, close to where I grew up in Pittsburgh. Cia has quite a colorful palette of talents. She's a children’s writer, a web designer (specializing in small, affordable sites for other creative people), a miniaturist, and a mixed media artist.

"My Yin My Yang" by Cia Williford

When I asked Cia to share a little about each of her talents and how she got into them, here's what she had to say:

"I've been writing since I was in third grade. I wrote a limerick in class ("There once was a mouse named Lee, who happened to drink some tea..."), and the teacher praised it quite enthusiastically. I was hooked, lol. I won a couple of poetry awards while in college (including a statewide competition), and interned for a regional magazine during my senior year. From there, I segued into doing marketing, public relations, and business communications as a career. So yeah, I've been writing all my life.

The art...well, that's another story. I never played around much with art or crafting of any kind until I was well into adulthood. And then, three or four years ago, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. (This was just after we lost my mother, who had herself been suffering from vascular dementia for the last eight years of her life.) So, of course, my sister and I were reeling. We brought Dad out to live near us in an assisted living facility. At the time, his Alzheimer's wasn't too bad, so we wracked our brains trying to come up with a project we could do with him that he would enjoy. Someone mentioned building a dollhouse, which sounded perfect to us (Dad was a retired Master Carpenter and Master Locksmith). So, we did. We built a dollhouse with my father. And then we donated it to the assisted living facility to be auctioned off and the proceeds to go to the resident's activity fund. Dad was quite proud of that.

Long story short, making the dollhouse unleashed a whole new world of creativity to me. I went from making dollhouses to making miniatures (which I still do), to making mixed media art. It's a passion. And with my father's illness, it's also my stress-reliever therapy."

Dad working on our dollhouse project.

One of mine: a fairy dwelling. (I even made the stained-glass window!)

You can see more of Cia's miniatures at her Etsy shop Briarwood Studio. She even creates mini books and cards.


"A Witch's Grimorie - Raven" by Cia Williford

Cia loves to write children's stories and is a big fan of fantasy. She has had short stories as well as poems published in well-known children's magazines such as Highlights for Children, Hopscotch for Girls, Boys Life, and Fun for Kids. Her dream one day is to both write and illustrate a children's book. I think her soft and beautiful artwork would be perfect!

Cia is a self taught web designer and specializes in developing web sites for creative people. You can find out more information about her web design, view her portfolio and pricing on her website Briarwood Studio. Cia's marketing background and sense of creativity give her a special edge over other web designers that may just have the technical expertise.

"Not all web designers are created equal, and if you're into art or some other creative endeavor, a web designer focused on creating a business web site is going to totally miss the mark for you. You need someone who understands how important it is to build your personality and your art into the site, as well. That's what I do, with both web sites and blogs."

"My Blue Angel" by Cia Williford


"Blossom" by Cia Williford

I really enjoy looking at and admiring Cia's artwork. She has that special talent of creating eyes that seem full of kindness. Cia uses watercolors, pencils and crayons more than any other types of media. She does supplement with acrylics, markers and various embellishments.

I asked Cia what inspires her to create and what her most favorite and least favorite parts of creating are.

"I have a need to put "good things" out into the universe. That may sound silly to some, but I see so much negativity in the world that I try to combat it in my own small way. My work is predominantly happy and hopeful, which isn't really trendy right now, I'm afraid, lol. But it's what my heart tells me to do."

Most favorite:

"The act of creating something, whether it's a poem or a painting, is such a joyful experience. There's nothing like it. And then to be able to share that with others...it's like giving and receiving the best gifts in the world."

Least favorite:

"The cost of supplies, lol. Art supplies are not cheap."

I think we can all empathize with Cia about the cost of art supplies. And they are so addicting!

Because Cia isn't busy enough, she has also started a Mixed Media Art Directory. The Mixed Media Art Directory is an all-encompassing directory for links related to mixed media: art and artists, shops and supplies, methods and mediums, blogs and web sites. What a great idea! I asked Cia how she came up with this great idea:

"Besides enjoying making art, I'm enthralled with seeing what other artists do. I just love creative people! I found myself collecting hundreds of links for web sites, blogs, and groups that I wanted to remember and revisit from time to time, but with no real way to catalogue them for easy retrieval.

I had run a directory once before for children's writers and I thought this might be the perfect way to handle all of those web sites. So, first I did it for purely selfish reasons, lol. But I think, if we can grow it properly, it can be a huge resource for all of us in the mixed media arena. I'm excited about it. It's new, but I think it has great potential!

I would just like to encourage people to add their web site and blog links. I'm adding links all the time, but I can only do so much in a day. It would be a huge help if people would add their own. It only takes a minute and is easy to do. Plus, there is absolutely no charge to list your site(s)!"

I already added my site to the directory and explored a few of the other amazing sites. Make sure to pop over to the Mixed Media Art Directory and add your site today!

"Listen" by Cia Williford

So where is Cia going in the future?

"Ideally, I would like to find a way to marry my writing and art into one complete package. If that turned out to be a book for children that would be icing on the cake.

I'm also contemplating doing some workshops on online promotion for artists. I know a lot of people who have blogs and web sites, but have absolutely no idea what to do with them, or how to get them noticed. Page rankings? Reciprocal links? SEO? They haven't a clue. With my background, I think I can provide a good class."

What are your dreams for the future?

"I'm a Pollyanna, an eternal optimist. I'd like to grow old gracefully, but never grow up. I have a childlike wonder about the universe and its inhabitants . . . and I'd like to keep it that way."

If you'd like to learn more about Cia and her many talents here are her links:

Briarwood Studio

Briarwood Studio Etsy Shop

Mixed Media Art Directory

Spoonwood Gallery

Thank you so much for joining me for this month's artist of the month post. I hoped you enjoyed getting to know Cia.

"Grow everyday." by Madi

More Valentine Goodies!

2012-01-31T14:30:00.000-05:00

Now it's time to start creating my new Spring line of jewelry. I am really excited and have so many new ideas floating around in my head. I am also planning on taking a few days to catch up on Life Book. I have a few lessons to enjoy.

"Make each moment sparkle." by Madi

Chrissy Gemmill: Beads and Baubles Trunk Show

2012-01-26T12:41:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share an awesome chance to find some real "gems" this Sunday. If you live in the area, Chrissy Gemmill will be holding a Beads and Baubles Trunk Show in Frederick. Here's the details:

Sunday, January 29th from 3 to 5 p.m.

This event is located at the Hluch's studio (where The Muse classes are held) located at 113 West All Saints Street in historic downtown Frederick.

Shop from a variety of competitively priced gemstone and pearls, pewter beads, pendants and clasps along with special short strand deals. This selection has been hand picked by Chrissy and is brought to you by Talisman Associates. All are welcome and wholesale prices are available to designers with a sales & use number. Quantity discounts are offered on certain items. :)

Please feel free to contact Chrissy for more details or questions at chrissygemmill@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Chrissy

"Make each moment sparkle with excitement." by Madi

Valentines Jewelry to the shops today!

2012-01-24T17:28:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pieces of the new Valentines Day Jewelry that I just mailed and dropped off to The Muse and The Waygoose Redux. I will be photographing my new pieces for my Etsy shop and posting them over the next few days. So love Valentines Day Jewelry!

"Love your World." by Madi

New Valentines Day Jewelry!

2012-01-17T14:42:00.000-05:00

The first piece of new Valentines Day jewelry listed today! I love this time of year in the jewelry world. Hearts are one of my favorite creations to include in my jewelry. I have a bunch more Valentines Day jewelry to finish, send off to the shops and list in my Etsy shop. I'll post a few more photos later this week when I finish designing them.

"Love is everywhere." by Madi

Handmadeology Weekend Handmade Challenge

2012-01-15T11:51:00.002-05:00

Handmadeology is having a great weekend challenge that can win you free advertising! Here are a few details: Pop over to this article for more details on how to enter.

"In 2011 Handmadeology saw over 2.5 million pages views. Hundreds of articles were published and thousands of handmade and vintage items were featured from Etsy. Here is your chance to get your Etsy shop in front of thousands of readers!
Here is the challenge:
Who can drive the most traffic back to Handmadeology in one week. Jan 14 – Jan 22
What is up for grabs:
The top 15 refers during the next week will get featured right here on the blog.
The top 5 refers will receive a 125×125 ad for 3 months worth $125"

Timothy Adam does a great job of sharing great sales and marketing ideas over at Handmadeology. If you haven't signed up for his email list, take a minute, visit his website and sign up. His ideas always seem to be innovative as well as practical.

"Shine your star." by Madi

Life Book 2012

2012-01-12T09:01:00.000-05:00

My First Page of my Life Book 2012

Madi's First page of Life Book 2012

What a great class! We started Life Book 2012 with Tamara Laporte and I'm already having so much fun. Tamara is a great teacher. Our first lesson was creating a Goddess page and listing our good qualities. We drew and painted a 3/4 face portrait and played with paints, inks and watercolor crayons. I am really happy with my page and so proud of Madi and her beautiful Goddess.

This weekend we are going to work on a dream board and a storage box for the book. I'll post what we create after the weekend. On the jewelry front, I'm having a great time creating Heart pieces for Valentines Day. I love to make Heart jewelry. I'll post photos when I have some completed pieces.

Wishing you a creative and wonderful day.

"Joy is a present you get when you do art." by Madi

Growth

2012-01-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

My word for 2012 is growth. I'm looking to grow artistically, spiritually and find new ways to stretch myself. What is your word for the new year?

"Grow everyday." by Madi

2012 Quotes by Madi & more Sketchbook pages

2012-01-04T11:22:00.000-05:00

Christmas break was great. Madi and I spent lots of time in the studio creating and making a wonderful mess. Here are a few pages from my Sketchbook and the new 2012 Quotes by Madi. Enjoy!

We also spent time finishing up some of the lessons from 21 Secrets. One of my favorites was Child Play by Alma Stoller. The idea was to turn old magazine pages into awesome collage pages. Here are a few I made:

I enjoyed the class so much I signed up for the new 21 Secrets that starts this April! Here's the link if you'd like to join us. 21 Secrets: An Art Journal Playground

I also started the spectacular Life Book class this week that I was lucky enough to win over at Dirty Footprints Studio. We started working on a 3/4 portrait "Goddess" page. Madi is working on it with me too. I'll post the photos when we finish our pages.

Wishing you a creative day!

Artist of the Month - Cathy Kirwan

2012-01-01T06:00:00.003-05:00

"Bloom" by Cathy Kirwan

When I was looking for an artist to feature for January's Artist of the Month post I was searching for artwork that inspired me. When I came across Cathy Kirwan's work I knew I found the artist to feature for the New Year. I find Cathy's work inspiring, joyful, wonderfully colorful and full of life. I was very excited to get to know her better and learn about her creative process.

"Hope in my heart" by Cathy Kirwan

"Courage" by Cathy Kirwan

"Where dreams grow" by Cathy Kirwan


"Laughter is the best medicine" by Cathy Kirwan

Cathy currently lives in the inner north of Melbourne, Australia with her partner Ms L and two fur children, Big Cat and Little Cat. She has lived in Melbourne for most of her life. Cathy was born in South Africa, but returned to Australia just before she was 2 years old. Cathy has also spent a considerable amount of time living and working in the United States at summer camps and environmental education centers. She lived in Colorado, Missouri, Michigan and Florida. Cathy has also had the opportunity to visit 20 other states. As much as she enjoys travel, Melbourne is her favorite place to live.

"Acts of love" by Cathy Kirwan

"Dream sweetly" by Cathy Kirwan

Cathy just recently left her full time job to concentrate more on her art. Cathy is a self-taught artist. She's always been creative and over the years has completed workshops and courses but never studied art in a formal setting. For a little while, she considered applying to art school but has decided at the moment she is really happy to play, explore and find her own way.

Cathy was fortunate over the last couple of years to attend some amazing art retreats. One with Kelly Rae Roberts and Mati McDonough, and the other with Flora Bowley. Both of these workshops had a major impact on her creative work and how Cathy sees herself as an artist. She found both to be very affirming and encouraging.

"Rainmaker" by Cathy Kirwan

I really enjoy the bright colors and the dimension that Cathy presents in her artwork. I asked Cathy how she discovered her style of creating and here is what she had to say:

"I've always been drawn to strong, bold colours and for as long as I can remember I've painted, drawn or created flowers. My style has evolved over time through experimentation and play, but essentially working with strong colours, bold shapes and design and inspirational messages has always been at the heart of my work. I can go right back to things I created in school and find these characteristics in my creations. Interestingly it's taken me a long time to realize this is the case. To really understand that I do have a style and that it's really present in everything I create."

"In the forest of the mind" by Cathy Kirwan

I am always interested in the creative process of artists. Each seems to have a different way to find their Muse. Here is Cathy's creative process:

"Abundance" by Cathy Kirwan

"For the most part I work in a very spontaneous and organic way. I paint when I feel like painting and when I don't feel like it I don't force myself. I don't plan what my paintings will look like. I usually start with a bunch of colours that are really inspiring me and I'll start working a number of canvases all at once. Then I just sort of see where the process takes me and what starts to take shape. I use a wide range of techniques to achieve different effects, but some of my favorites are printing with bubble wrap, mark making with various objects and stenciling.

With the exhibition I have coming up in February my process has been a little different. I know I've got a deadline to meet and a particular theme that I'm working to so I'm probably being a little more planned than I usually would. Having said that, even though I've always known it will be a landscape exhibition I've played with lots of different ideas and concepts and only recently reached a really solid idea about what the focus for the landscapes will be. I also don't have any clear picture of what each painting will look like. Each piece will evolve and take shape as I paint it."

When I asked Cathy what her most favorite and least favorite part of her creative process, here is what she had to say:

"There is so much I enjoy about making art. It makes me really happy and I feel grateful everyday that I've found this passion and that I'm doing something I absolutely love. My favourite part of the process is when a painting starts to come together, when I get a sense of what it's going to become and I'm able to bring that to life. I also love it when I'm just playing without any sense of expectation or fear. Amazing things always happen when I get into that space.

My least favourite part is when I get creatively blocked. It happens to everyone and it is just part of the process, but I really struggle to accept it. I always feel like I'll never paint again when it happens, even though I always do. It usually means I'm tired or uninspired and I need to do some things to inspire or nurture myself."

"Remember where you are" by Cathy Kirwan

"Remember where you're going" by Cathy Kirwan

So, where is Cathy going next with her beautiful artwork? She has her first gallery solo exhibition coming up in February 2012 which will focus on her landscape work. She is very excited about it and feels that it is a major achievement to have a solo gallery show. I couldn't agree more! Wish I could hop a plane and attend the showing in Australia.

"Ring collection in a box" by Cathy Kirwan

Cathy also has a line of jewelry designs. In 2012, she is looking to expand her art into other jewelry designs, textiles and stationery. Cathy said that she will be a bit more focused than she has before. She really wants to make a successful career from her creativity and feels ready to make that happen. I am excited to see what she comes up with! Cathy said that 2012 is going to be a big year of trying new things, putting herself out into the world far and wide, and seeing what comes from stretching herself in new directions. She is also wanting to teach, either online or face to face in 2012.


"Journey" by Cathy Kirwan

I hope that you enjoyed getting to know Cathy and her incredible artwork. If you would like to see more of her work, check out her Etsy shop Tinniegirl. I love the story behind her shop name. The word "Tinnie" is an Australian colloquial term for someone who is considered to be lucky. Her Mum gave her the name years ago and when she thinks about becoming an artist that's exactly how she feels. If you'd like to follow more of Cathy's artistic journey, check out her Tinniegirl blog and her Flickr site.

Cathy wrote a great blog post called "Making plans" that has some wonderful resources for the New Year. One worksheet that really caught my eye is from Susannah Conway. She has a free 16 page downloadable workbook to help "unravel your year ahead and say farewell to the year behind", you can find it here. I am so happy to start off 2012 with Cathy's inspirational work.

Best wishes for an amazing 2012 to you and yours.

"A new year is a new life." by Madi

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family. I thought I would share with you photos of our town New Market, Maryland decorated for the holidays.

Doesn't this one look like it's from the movie Scrooge?

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

"Light up your world." by Madi

A Time For Giving Back

2011-12-22T16:43:00.000-05:00

Madi and I worked on a project together for the holidays. I knitted 6 scarves for a small group of homeless people that my yoga class has kind of adopted. Madi did a wonderful job decorating gift bags to put the scarves in. I dropped them off with my yoga instructor this morning that is gracious enough to deliver them for us. It feels good to know that we can make a small difference in someone's life. Hope you find your own way of doing something extra for someone during this holiday season. If you would like to share, please do in the comments.

"Being nice is a joy to others and to you." by Madi

New Journal Pages!

2011-12-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

I finally had some time to work on my journal for The Sketchbook project. The first page I used a credit card to paint with acrylics. I was inspired to create this page after doing sun salutations at my yoga class this week. The next page is of course full of Zentangle! I had to include a Zentangle page. The silver page was created with acrylic paint and Pitt marker. The birds are made from a fabric paper that I made a while back.

Looking forward to working on more pages over the holiday break. Hope you are enjoying the season!

"The only treat that is healthy is Art." by Madi

The Muse Craft Open House...A Success!

2011-12-16T08:37:00.000-05:00

The Teachers...Me, Liz Matheney & Chrissy Gemmill

What a fun event! We had a great turnout and everyone really enjoyed creating all the crafts, sipping wine and snacking on delicious cheeses and cookies. And the best news, we raised nearly $300 for Lily's Hope!

Margaret Hluch & Whitney with the Lily's Hope display.

Margaret was kind enough to let us use her amazing studio space. Margaret is a fiber artist and her husband Kevin is a ceramic artist. You can take a peek at their wonderful work by visiting their website Hluch Arts.

The Christmas tags went over very well. Love how everyone puts their own unique touch to a craft. Someone got creative and combined the stamped ornament and the tag:

Liz had everyone in a festive mood creating Pom Poms.

Liz crochets and sells her work through The Muse. If you look at Whitney's button cowl that she is wearing, you can see a sample of Liz's work.

You already had a chance to see some of Chrissy Gemmill's work on my December Artist of the Month post. Chrissy also sells her work at The Muse and at her Etsy shop.

Hope you are surviving the hectic holiday preparation time. Try to find a minute to relax and just enjoy the season.

"An open mind is an open thought." by Madi

Wishes for 2012 Treasury

2011-12-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

"Open up your Art. Open up your World." by Madi

The 12 days of Christmas!

2011-12-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

In celebration of the 12 days of Christmas, I will be listing a new piece of jewelry each day! Make sure to stop by and see what's new every day!

"Branch out to Art." by Madi

The Muse Holiday Open House

2011-12-12T10:01:00.000-05:00

This week I am participating in The Muse Holiday Open House. I will be teaching how to create these fun Holiday gift tags.

The event is this Wednesday, December 14th from 7 to 9 pm. Here is a little info about the event:

"Please come and enjoy refreshments at The Muse while you make and take crafts taught by the teachers. In the past some of the items have been wine charms, felted jewelry, metal stamped charms, etc. No charge for this event, however a donation is requested. All donations for the evening's events will go to Lily's Hope."

Event Location: 113 West All Saints St. Frederick, Maryland

The charity, Lily's Hope is for a little girl who was in Madi's dance class that is battling a rare form of bone cancer. Here is the information about Lily's Hope:

	Lily is one of 50 children in the nation who will get diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma this year. Lily's Hope is created to build funds and bring the community together in support of Lily and the Weaver family. "Lily has not once given up and knows she has the fight of her life. She is ready and we are too. Lily has and will always twinkle." Amy Weaver To help the family get through this time, please consider donating to the Patty Pollatos Fund http://bit.ly/oeH4Ue and/or a Message of Hope http://www.amessageofhopecf.org/ For more information or questions please email: lilyshope4cure@gmail.com" Lily's Hope Facebook page. There will be two other teachers at the event, so it should be a lot of fun. If you are in the area, stop by. Hope you are enjoying the holiday season. "Helping will help you." by Madi

Lily is one of 50 children in the nation who will get diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma this year. Lily's Hope is created to build funds and bring the community together in support of Lily and the Weaver family.

"Lily has not once given up and knows she has the fight of her life. She is ready and we are too. Lily has and will always twinkle." Amy Weaver

To help the family get through this time, please consider donating to the Patty Pollatos Fund http://bit.ly/oeH4Ue and/or a Message of Hope http://www.amessageofhopecf.org/

For more information or questions please email: lilyshope4cure@gmail.com"

Lily's Hope Facebook page.

There will be two other teachers at the event, so it should be a lot of fun. If you are in the area, stop by. Hope you are enjoying the holiday season.

"Helping will help you." by Madi

Artist of the Month - Chrissy Gemmill

2011-12-01T06:00:00.006-05:00

This month's artist is Chrissy Gemmill, an amazing jewelry designer. I first fell in love with Chrissy's work when I happened upon it at The Muse in Frederick where I also sell my work. I absolutely love Chrissy's work. I enjoy her style, texture and overall design.

Chrissy grew up in Sparks, Maryland which is in Northern Baltimore County and then moved to Baltimore city where she met her husband, Matt. They now live in downtown Frederick with their son Marcus who is now 3 years old.

Her first introduction into jewelry design was a basic beading class that she attended when she was 14 or 15 and loved it! Chrissy actually had her own business in High School after taking that class. After High School, she took an enameling class at Towson State and then transferred to Maryland Institute College of Art to participate in a certificate jewelry program.

Peony by Chrissy Gemmill Jewels

I asked Chrissy to tell me a little about her design process and here is what she had to say:

"To keep track of all my inspirations I try to jot down a lists of my ideas, sometimes I sketch my ideas out and then sometimes I sit down and play around at my workbench and see what happens. At times I do a fair amount of research before I even begin executing. My peony flower collection, which was inspired by my mom and made in honor of her 60 birthday, started by studying the flower itself. After consuming my mind with facts, folklore and beautiful images I then sketched and cut out stencils to figure out how to layer the petals to resemble the intricate, delicate peony flower itself.

Many of my pieces (like my peony flower collection) begin with a piece of sterling silver sheet metal. I draw on the metal with my sharpie and then cut the design out with my jewelers saw. From there I may do light metal forming then solder, oxidize and sand to a finish. Some of my 3 dimensional detailed pieces (like my tree) are cast from molds so they can be reproduced more than once. And then there are the pieces I make from vintage findings and baubles, often these pieces are reworked slightly, like my vintage copper flower necklace which I recreated into a toggle."

I really love the combination of soft floral designs and the more rugged stronger look of the silver metal work. Chrissy's favorite part of creating jewelry is when an idea comes to life. She feels that the finished product is so rewarding. She also enjoys seeing other people wearing her jewelry, especiallly people that she doesn't know. I understand what she means there, I love seeing someone with a piece of my jewelry on. Makes me feel proud. Once I was mailing something at the post office and the woman working there was wearing my earrings! How fun.

Chrissy's least favorite part of her work is sanding and finishing cast pieces. She said there are a lot of loud tools that she uses and metal can go flying. Another not so favorite part for Chrissy are some of the business aspects involved that she has to force herself to do since she creates jewelry for a living.

Chrissy sells her work online through Etsy, if you'd like to look at more of her work check out her website Chrissy Gemmill Jewelry. Besides the Peony and beautiful Tree necklace shown above, here are a few of my other favorites:

Lotus Earrings by Chrissy Gemmill

Lotus Petal and Garnet Triple Strand Necklace by Chrissy Gemmill

Sparrow and Vine Silhouette by Chrissy Gemmill

While Chrissy is not busy being a Mom and a jewelry designer, she teaches classes. Here is what she has to say about her teaching experiences so far:

"I started teaching a little over four years ago at The Muse through their Wine & Cheese Craft Parties. The Muse's owner, my friend Whitney, is actually responsible for getting me into teaching. I also teach at Frederick Community College and recently I began hosting classes in Baltimore with Kaleidoscope. I absolutely love teaching. What I love most is meeting new people and I am always amazed by the full lives some of my students have, yet they still make time to learn something new! They inspire me. It's also really fun seeing someone design for the first time and seeing what bead colors and combinations the students select from the kit I provide."

Whitney also got me into teaching too! If you'd like to take a class from Chrissy or find out what other exciting things she has going on in her life be sure to visit her blog at Chrissy Gemmill Jewelry.

Chrissy also designs some really creative pieces with Owls, look at these:

As for the future, here is where Chrissy sees her business going:

"Although jewelry design will always be the foundation of my business I see myself spending less time at my actual work bench and more time working with students and designers. Recently I began working as a bead rep. I am so excited about this and things are set to really get in gear in 2012. Next year I will have set dates where people can buy beads from me on a once a month schedule either in Baltimore or Frederick. It is so rewarding for me to work with people and help them learn a technique or offer them my selection of beads and then see their designs evolve over time."

"It is also a goal of mine to create a Mommy and Me or Daddy and Me jewelry making workshop for young children. This was a special request from my nieces Cameron and Blythe! I feel it is really important for kids to be exposed to art and craft as early as possible so when they grow up they will already recoginzie the importance of appreciating and supporint arts or maybe even become a crafter themselves!"

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Chrissy this month. Make sure to visit her Etsy shop and blog to learn more about her and her amazing work.

"Find the pattern of life." by Madi

Madi Won!!

2011-11-30T09:46:00.002-05:00

A local Radio Station WFMD 930 had a coloring contest that Madi entered through Artomatic. She was chosen as the winner! WFMD runs an amazing program called Cash for Kids that helps to raise money to purchase toys for children at Christmas. The program is in coordination with the Salvation Army. To find out more about how you can help, visit their website AM 930 WFMD.

They created 100 T shirts using Madi's great coloring design. Here she is modeling it. She was invited to go to the studio to pick up her T shirt and be interviewed on the air! It was a very exciting day. Here are a few photos:

They did a video of the interview which will be posted on the website some time in the future. She did a great job. I was a very proud Mommy!

It was really fun to visit the radio studio and for her to be on the air. We also took a little tour of the station and got to visit the phone center for Cash For Kids collections. You would not believe how many toys there were lined up against all the studio walls.

When the video link comes up, I'll include the link in the post. Thanks for stopping by!

"Exciting things are also exciting for others." by Madi

Celebrating my 200th sale on Etsy!

2011-11-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

I had my 200th sale on Etsy this week! The lucky customer got to select any charm in the shop for free. This is the charm that she picked.

Ryan's Photography Part 2

2011-11-22T17:54:00.000-05:00

I thought since I'm crazy busy making and selling jewelry for the holidays, I would share more of my son Ryan's photography. Enjoy!

As you can see my daughter Madi was more than happy to pose for his portrait collage.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

"Being nice is good karma to you and to them." by Madi

Super busy with jewelry orders!

2011-11-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let you know I'm still alive! I have been super busy with jewelry orders! It's been really fun creating! Here are a few pieces, I will post more when I get a chance.

Charm Bar

2011-11-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share the awesome Charm Bar that my sister made for me. I just used it at a show this week and it worked like a charm! If you'd like to see how she created this cool display, check out her blog post on Where the Grass is Greener. I have lots of Charms listed in my Etsy shop if you are looking for any holiday gift ideas. They make great teacher gifts.

Here are a few new ones I just made:

I spent the afternoon today taking photos of new jewelry pieces for my Etsy shop. I'll be listing new pieces everyday this month, so be sure to hop over for a visit to the shop.

Enjoy your day!

"Reach out to Art." by Madi

Artomatic 2!

2011-11-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

At the request of my daughter Madi, I am posting a few more photos from Artomatic. There were so many amazing pieces of art, that I just kept taking photos. I ran out of time editing and writing on Tuesday for the Artisans of the Month post, so I thought I'd share a few more photos with you.

Madi & Josie

Madi's drawing

Josie's Art

This exhibit was really fun for the kids, they got to draw a picture and put it in the glass box under the displayed art. In the month of November The Blue Elephant Art Center will display their work. We'll have to take a visit there and check it out.


Madi sharing her favorite clothing designer

Here are a few more pieces of art to share with you:

Michael Auger

"Dragon in the Hood" by Wool 'N Quilts

Synesthesia Art & Photography

Joseph Merchlinsky

My son Ryan and I visited Artomatic one last time yesterday. He is taking a digital photography class, so he really enjoyed all of the different photographers work. Sorry to see the exhibit come to an end, but I really did enjoy it. Hope you enjoyed the artwork!

"The only treat that is healthy is art." by Madi

Artisans of the Month

2011-11-01T06:00:00.060-04:00

Artomatic

Jane Pettit

This month I am featuring many different talented artists. I found all of these amazing artists under one roof at the Artomatic art show in Frederick, Maryland. Artomatic is a 6 week event featuring the creative works of over 300 local artists. It is a wonderful experience wondering through the over 70 different rooms of art.

"What is Artomatic@Frederick?
Artomatic@Frederick is an independently organized and licensed Artomatic® event headed by volunteers. The program is designed to create community, generate an audience for the arts and expand economic development. All this is done by transforming available space into an unjuried venue featuring the creative works of hundreds of local artists in an annual 5 week event. This diverse venue includes the visual arts, theater, music, and poetry."

There were so many incredible pieces of artwork that I was going a bit camera crazy. I would like to share with you some of my favorites. I have included links to the artist's websites where they were available.

Hands of Hope by Kids Like Us

I really loved the Hands of Hope artwork created by the Kids Like Us organization. It's a wonderful organization that helps students that are directly impacted by substance abuse in their family.

"Kids Like Us is a substance abuse prevention program offered through the Frederick County Health Department Substance Abuse Division Prevention Services for youth ages 8 and up.
Kids Like Us is funded by the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners Alchohol and Drug Abuse Administration."

Statement: "Hands of Hope features our hands traced in fabric and glued to the mural. The hands are “pockets” holding dreams, hopes and wishes. Some of the pockets are open and viewers may respectfully read our wishes and return them. Viewers may also wish to add their wishes, dreams and hopes along with ours."

Jane Pettit

Linda Agar-Hendrix


Rose DiGregorio Dye

Tom's Tinker Toys Tom Noll

This group of clothing was particularly interesting. Check out the Deer Spine Dress.

The handmade journals below was one of my favorite exhibits. They are all so amazing, detailed and just beautiful! If you'd like to find out more about Bette and her work take a look at her blog called Art Pages Etc..

If anyone is local and would like to visit Artomatic, this is the last week.

Sept. 28th – Nov. 6th, 2011

Hours:
Wednesdays & Thursdays
11 am - 9 pm
Fridays & Saturdays
11 am - 12 am
Sundays
12 pm - 6 pm

I hope you have the chance to stop by. I am going to go one more time this week. My son and I are going to make an afternoon of it tomorrow.

A Snowy Collection of Beauty

2011-10-29T10:24:00.000-04:00

My treasury was featured on Etsy Treasury Hunter! Believe it or not it's snowing in Maryland today! We are supposed to get 4-6 inches. The kids are having a great time already playing and sledding. I'm happy to be inside and working on jewelry in my studio. Perfect day!

Custom Photo Silver Bracelets!

2011-10-27T14:01:00.000-04:00

I am very excited about my latest personalized jewelry offering! I now offer Custom Photo Silver Bracelets. I create every fine silver custom photo transfer bracelet as a special order. Each 7/8 inch square silver frame is handcrafted, antiqued and polished to a perfect shine.

Pictured above is a special order that I created for a customer who purchased the bracelet as a gift for her mother. She used her own photos to make the gift personal and special.

You can select 6 photos or scanned personal artwork of your choice and I will create your own custom bracelet. This is a great gift idea for Mom's, friends or you! You can also take advantage of the wonderful artwork your children create and use their images to create a one of a kind bracelet. It's amazing how wonderful children's art looks when scanned and transferred to the silver. The photo transfer process permanently adheres the photos and artwork to the silver.

The back side of each frame has a silver heart. A sterling silver toggle clasp finishes off the bracelet. The bracelet length is 7 1/2 inches long. The length can be customized to a different size upon request.

This is a perfect Holiday gift. I need about 10 -14 days for delivery once I receive your photos in a jpeg file format. So, now is the time to start looking through your photos and artwork!

"Art is magic to me." by Madi

A Spark of Motivation

2011-10-26T17:18:00.005-04:00

A motivating day today. I listened to a great podcast on The Creative Coconuts that introduced me to the teachings of Joesph Campbell. Why I've never heard of this amazing man, I'll never know. During the podcast Marisa and Sean discussed a new Film called Finding Joe. Here is the trailer of the movie:

The movie is only being released in select cities right now. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD. I also spent part of my day watching the documentary about Joseph Campbell's life called The Hero's Journey. What a incredibly intelligent and interesting man. As you can see I was feeling quite motivated about all this and it all spilled over into my Sketchbook. I created the background for the pages using my new favorite drawing tool, Derwent Inktense Pencils. I love them! They are amazing water color pencils that when wet create a permanent ink vivid translucent effect. Here are a few more photo's of my pages:

Last week I was really into drawing with charcoal and graphic pencils. Here is a look at the forest I got lost in while I was drawing:

I hope you find a spark of motivation somewhere today.

"Breathing out is emptying your mind. Breathing in is filling your mind with new thoughts." by Madi

I did it!

2011-10-17T15:47:00.000-04:00

I started my sketchbook! Really exciting. Feel lots better after actually taking pen to paper. Hope you are having a creative day!

"Exciting thing are also exciting for others." by Madi

I'm afraid

2011-10-15T16:05:00.000-04:00

The Scream by Edvard Munch

So this is how I feel when I look at my new really white sketchbook. I signed up for The Sketchbook Project 2012 which looks like so much fun,but I'm afraid of this...

My Sketchbook Day 1

Look how white and blank it looks!?!? So how do you get over that fear of starting a new sketchbook? Do you just dive in and start drawing? painting? I'd love to know your ideas. Because for some reason, I'm just keep looking at this blank book and thinking what if I mess it up? What if it looks like something that a really little kid might draw?

I learned about the Sketchbook project from my Creative Coconut friend, Bel Fireman. She just had the opportunity to visit the home of the collection of completed sketchbooks from last year at the Brooklyn Art Library. Take a hop over to her last blog post The Real-Life Sketchbook Project to read about her visit. She created an amazing sketchbook for last years project. You can take a look at the digital version of her sketchbook here. Bel was also my featured artist last year if you'd like to read more about her incredible artwork, check out the post here.

If you'd like to sign up to be a part of the Sketchbook project, visit their website at the Art House Coop to sign up. Then I won't be the only one staring at a blank sketchbook, we can stare together!

I think I need to remember this quote of Madi's when I sit down to draw today. I will be sharing my sketchbook journey with you along the way. So stay tuned for a new Page 1!

"Drawing is still magic." by Madi

I Won! I Won! I Won!

2011-10-10T05:25:00.000-04:00

I am so excited! I won a free Registration to the online Art Class Life Book! Connie from Dirty Footprints Studio blog had a contest last week for the freebie & my comment was picked!!! The class looks like so much fun, pop over to Willowing Arts and take a look at all the details. Registration for this fun class just started this month.

Here's a little information that I found on the website:

"What's Life Book All About?

Life Book is a year long course organized by Tamara Laporte (Willowing Arts) starting on 1st January 2012.

The idea of the course is that participants will be creating one or more mixed media pages each month which by the end of the year they will bind together in one big book (likely to be Japanese stab-bound). The theme of the course, as the title suggests, is a celebration and honouring of self. Each month will have a different self- celebration/ honouring theme which will be worked through in the page(s) with all sorts of mixed media techniques and self-healing/ self-development exercises.

By the end of the year you will have a gorgeous mixed media art journal (or Life Book) which captures your journey, growth and development in 2012!"

I am currently enrolled in another wonderful mixed media class called 21 Secrets. I just spent a few hours on Friday night reviewing a drawing lesson from the fantastic teacher, Jane Davenport. To find out more about Jane read my Artist of the Month post for March.

Here are a few of my sketches from my drawing session with Jane.

I love drawing faces. There is something so magical about them. I am really looking forward to next years new art class Life Book!

"Exciting things are also exciting for others." by Madi

Artist of the Month - Yvonne Malone

2011-10-01T06:00:00.002-04:00

Apron Strings

This month's artist, Yvonne Malone expresses her creativity through beautiful colors and patterns. Yvonne designs quilts, pillows, wall hangings and other textiles in her Chicago based studio where she lives with her family. Yvonne's children are just about the same age as mine; she has a son who is 15 and a girl that is 10. So, I know first hand what it's like trying to find time to create while keeping busy with two active children.

One of the most interesting things that I found about Yvonne's work are the great stories that go along with her amazing work. Each quilt that she designs has it's own story to tell.

Nested Boxes

This quilt has a sweet story;

"Have you ever been the recipient of a small gift that was packaged in many larger boxes, each wrapped to make you think you had finally reached the gift? Many years ago my grandfather gave my grandmother her engagement ring -- 50 years after their marriage -- packaged this way. She was laughing hard by the time she got to the tiny box, but let out a small gasp when she opened that box and saw the ring. As they say, the look on her face was priceless -- as was my grandfather’s delight."

When I asked Yvonne about her wonderful stories that go along with her quilts, she said:

"Sometimes my quilts begin with a story, my own or a client’s. I love talking with people and listening to their stories about their life – family, work, travels, and other experiences. With my quilts, I take something from that story and turn it into something visual. For example, I recently completed three quilts for a family using the beautiful cotton shirts of their late husband and father. The first step was to sit down and ask them to tell me a bit about him. He was a printer and appreciated quality in everything he did; one of the quilts took its cue from the printing presses he worked on. When I look at art, architecture, gardens, I am always interested in the inspiration behind the finished project, so I decided to include those back stories on my website as well."

Line up the boxes

"The inspiration for this quilt came about when I saw a delivery person unloading his truck, searching for the right package. Boxes were scattered about the sidewalk -- I simply organized them into neat rows and colored the boxes red for this quilt!"

Bands of Color

Yvonne's quilts just seem to be the perfect blend of colors and patterns. She somehow manages to find that just right combination. I asked her to explain her creative process and here is what she had to say;

"When I walk and look at buildings, gardens, etc., I appreciate what is before me for what it is, but I also see quilt patterns, color schemes, and quilting lines. I try to sketch every day, even if only for a few minutes so that I can capture some of those patterns, write notes about color combinations and proportions, and jot down ideas about how I might translate the image into a quilt. When I am ready to start a new project, I look back at those sketches – there are always several that I am particularly excited about – and start tweaking the idea. Usually I start with pencil and paper, but may move to the computer – which is why every project seems to have a paper and electronic file, neither of which are complete by themselves!"

"Once I have the idea sketched out in black and white, I start playing with color, again sometimes with colored pencils, sometimes on the computer. Then, I start pulling out fabrics and turning my studio on end! Once I settle on fabrics I believe will work, I lay out and sew a sample block; this allows me to further refine fabrics and block dimensions. Once everything is finalized, I begin making the quilt."

Cross Stitch

I remember when I first started drawing Zentangle, it seemed that patterns were everywhere. I can just imagine how Yvonne views the world. It's apparent in her detailed and creative work that she has a knack for seeing things that the rest of us may be missing. This ability to find the patterns in the world and translate them through her creative process is definitely a gift.

Pillows and Shams

Yvonne designs and creates custom pillows and shams to coordinate with her quilts. She is also beginning to write and publish patterns. In the next few weeks she will be introducing the first in a series of small quilt designs and quilts.

When I asked Yvonne what her most and least favorite part of her creative process is, here is what she had to say:

"The most favorite part of the work process for me is always at the beginning to middle of a project – from the design phase through the point where the quilt is coming together as you hoped it would. It sounds easy here and sometimes it is, but more often than not, there are a lot of hours spent auditioning fabrics, looking at blocks up on the design wall, and playing with the design. My least favorite part is preparing the finished quilt top for quilting – the part where I am trimming any long threads and picking off stray ones so that they don’t show in the finished quilt; a very tedious process."


Look and Find

The Look and Find quilt is a great idea for a baby gift. The quilt will not only provide warmth and comfort for a child but also will provide hours of entertainment playing look and find games. "Can you find the bumblebee on the quilt?" How fun and original!

Yvonne is very excited to be a contributor for a book being released this fall. In late October, early November, the new book, Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers will arrive at quilt shops, bookstores, and online retailers.

If you would like to learn more about Yvonne and her beautiful work, visit her website Yvonne Malone Studios and her blog Playing With Fabric. I hope that you enjoyed the Artist of the Month post!

"Find the pattern of Life." by Madi

Silly 1 Redux

2011-09-30T18:43:00.000-04:00

Silly 1 Redux Registration Info

So excited to be back in Carla Sonheim's Art of Silliness Class! My daughter Madi and I have so much fun with this class. Silly 1 Redux just started this week, so there's still time to join if you'd like to have a little fun.

Here's a look at the type of silly work we've been up to so far:

On the last Cat one, I made a comment on the Flickr stream that I didn't know why my Cats looked so mad when they had such nice shoes on. Well, the Cat people let me know that apparently Cat's don't like shoes. How was I to know? I'm a dog person. How funny that they actually look mad in the drawings!

"Art is magic to me." by Madi

New Jewelry to The Muse

2011-09-28T09:59:00.002-04:00

Taking 40 new pieces of jewelry to The Muse today. Here's a sneak peek at a few pieces...

"It's not for the money, it's for the fun." by Madi

Love this quote!

2011-09-26T09:53:00.000-04:00

"The way we choose to see the world creates the world we see." -Barry Neil Kaufman

I just had to share this quote today. I read it on Twitter yesterday and a light bulb kind of went off in my head. How true this is! I hope that you choose to see the world as a beautiful place today.

Fair Week

2011-09-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

This week is Fair week in Frederick County, Maryland. If you live in the area, you know what a big deal fair week is here. The kids even get a day off from school just to go to the fair.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to spend the day with my daughter and her 3 lovely friends chaperoning a field trip to the fair. We spent the day looking at the animals and working on a scavenger hunt that the fair puts together to teach the kids a little bit about agriculture and animals. We visited the textile tent, and it differently got me in the knitting mood. I pulled out the yarn last night after a long summer break.

We had the chance to watch a Mommy Cow lick her new calf clean just minutes after being born.

The girls loved seeing all the baby animals, like these adorable fuzzy chicks

Today was the day to go back to the fair and ride the carnival rides. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. We had about an hour of riding time in the drizzling rain, the it poured. We hid out in a wonderful Just Desserts tent and ate hot apple dumpling which seemed to help improve our moods. Oh well, there's always next year.

As far as jewelry news, I just finished up a new group of jewelry to take to The Muse in Frederick. I will take a few photos of the pieces to share with you before I drop them off next week.

"Rainy days can be made into sunny days if you give them a chance." by Madi

Photography

2011-09-16T19:46:00.000-04:00

There is just something so magical about photography. Today, I'd like to share my son Ryan's photography with you. He just started taking a digital photography class in High School this year and I think he's doing an amazing job.

His photography inspired me to create the following Etsy treasury.


Look what I found outside my window - Etsy Treasury

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at all the captured beauty in today's photography album.

"An open mind is an open thought." by Madi

Zentangle Class

2011-09-14T14:46:00.000-04:00

My Zentangle Class was great on Sunday! As you can see, everyone was busy and did a wonderful job. I really enjoyed teaching and am looking forward to doing it again. Zentangle 2 anyone?

"Find the pattern of Life." by Madi

Planning for a new school year

2011-09-02T15:36:00.007-04:00

Here is my new school year planner that I made this week at Craft day. The back of the Planner is created from a great little mailing that I received this week from Etsy. We had a great day creating and talking. Nothing like spending a day with friends, crafts and mimosas!

"An open mind is an open thought." by Madi

Artist of the Month - Anne Weil

2011-09-01T06:00:00.011-04:00

Beach Photo from Anne's blog Flax & Twine

When I sat down at my desk to write this post about my fellow Creative Coconut artist, Anne Weil, I was unsure how to begin. You see Anne wears many hats. Not only is she a Mother of three children, works two jobs, she has time to be very creative.

Anne lives with her family in Boulder, Colorado. Her children are 6, 7, and 8. The youngest a girl and the other two boys. She works in commercial real estate and writes curriculum for elementary children. So, you think that's enough to keep anyone busy? Well, just hop over to her blog Flax and Twine and you will be amazed!

Sidewalk Quilt

Anne's blog is full of creative projects for young and old. Above is a great and inexpensive project for kids. They created a sidewalk quilt with chalk. Anne not only has beautiful photos on her blog about her projects, but she also has step by step tutorials.

Rainbow Jars

Anne enjoys a plethora of crafts. When I asked her what types of projects that she enjoys working on she said;

"I pretty much adore making anything with my hands: knitting, sewing, embroidery, crochet, paper-craft and on and on. I have an impossible time narrowing it down to any one hand craft. I think each skill has something unique to offer. One of my favorite parts of it all is the design aspect. I love to make something that really pleases me aesthetically. I love making something that really “hums.” When I say that, I mean that place in all of us that gets warm and giddy because something is viscerally a pleasure to look at and experience. I also love making things that carry meaning and spark the imagination–material with which to weave a story. Photography has become more and more important to me through along my path as well. I love it as a medium to capture that feeling that I describe above."

Here are a few of her projects:

Bunny and Poppies Fabric Papercut with Frame - Available on Etsy

Hand Embroidered Note Cards

Paperboard Mystery Message

Baby Vest

Market Bag

Knit Pom-pom Beret - Available on Etsy

While I was researching my post about Anne, I happened upon a wonderful post that she wrote called "I want to blog". My favorite part is about her wanting to give herself space to explore her creativity.

"Now, I want to give myself the gift of more space, real space, space that is protected, to explore these creative desires. But, I find myself faced with other problems. Do I trust my creative instinct? That is to say, even found, how do I own my creative being? How do I explore it without any preconceived expectations. How do I value that love of making things? How do I pursue my ideas with confidence?"

I asked Anne where she would like to see her art go in the future. Here is what she shared with me;

"I think the most critical thing about my creative work is that it continues to be an expression of me and the things I love. I want it to always inspire me and others as well. I most importantly want to continue following my creative instincts and see where that leads me. It has been vital to me to find my own design aesthetic and strengthen my creative voice. The blogging experience and others’ appreciation of my work has been thrilling to me."

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Anne and her many creative talents. If you'd like to visit more with her stop by her blog Flax and Twine or visit her Etsy shop.

Thank you for stopping by for this month's Artist of the Month post. Yesterday was Craft Day with the girls. We had a wonderful productive and relaxing day. I made a planner for the new school year and it really turned out great! I'll be sure to post some photos of the results when I get a chance.

"Being creative is an adventure of joy." by Madi

Getting into the swing of things

2011-08-25T20:20:00.000-04:00


Swing Treasury on Etsy

So, it's just about the end of the summer and time to get back into the swing of things for the fall. We had back to school night at the Elementary School this evening. Everything was exciting and new for the kids. Back to school night for the High School was cancelled due to the Earthquake! School has not even begun and there are already cancellations!

This summer has seemed to fly by in some ways and has felt long in others. I started a new job about 6 weeks ago, so I have been feeling a bit frazzled. I am working from home as a Search Engine Evaluator for a company called Leapforce. It's a lot of reading guidelines and then applying what I've learned to evaluating search engine results. The company seems great so far. They have an online chat with other agents which has been really nice. The other agents have been welcoming and very helpful. I have been away from this type of technical reading for so long that it's been an adjustment getting my brain to work in a manner that can comprehend what I'm reading. The best part of the job is that I can work from home in my PJs, work around my kids schedules and still create jewelry. I think I just need to get into the swing of things....how about you?

Gotta love those Cows!

2011-08-13T17:44:00.000-04:00


Moo!

Etsy Treasury Hunter

2011-08-02T09:18:00.000-04:00

My treasury was featured on this great blog, Etsy Treasury Hunter. They feature Etsy Treasury's on their blog and have weekly contest for members of their Etsy Team. Check out the site.

Close Knit Friends Treasury

Opps!

2011-08-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that it's already August today! I completely got caught up in summer and forgot all about the Artist of the Month post for this month. Oh well, such is life.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful summer. I am making charms and anklets which seem to be the big sellers this summer. Here are two anklets that I just finished and listed on Etsy. I'll post some of the new charms this week.

Silver Fish Blue Beaded Anklet

Silver Oh Happy Day Purple Beaded Anklet

Enjoy your summer day & I promise I'll return with The Artist of The Month post for September.

"Find the pattern of Life." by Madi

Wire Earrings Jewelry Class

2011-07-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

Here are the two sample earrings that I made last week for the class I will be teaching in September. I am excited for the class. If you live in the area and are interested in taking the class, it is scheduled for Wednesday, September 14th from 6:30 to 8:30 at Firehouse Pottery & Arts in Mt. Airy, Maryland.

Thinking of maybe adding a few wire earring styles to my Etsy shop, what do you think?

Photo Shop Class

2011-07-16T09:07:00.006-04:00

I just finished my Photo Shop class this week. We had fun putting together a slide show with music, so I thought I'd share it with you. Let me know what you think.

I decided to use one of my favorite songs "Motherland" by Natalie Merchant as background music.
I was surprised at how easy the process really is using Photo Shop. What a cool program!

Today it's a bit of jewelry creating in the morning, a bike ride with my daughter and then off to the pool for the afternoon.

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

"Use your mind. It is a very useful tool." by Madi

Back from the beach

2011-07-13T07:46:00.000-04:00

Nothing like a week at the beach to put everything in perspective. It was great to have the family time together without the pressures of work, car pools and other day to days. The kids had a wonderful time with Daddy, playing in the pool, body surfing and playing mini golf.

This week I'm catching up with the bills, filling jewelry orders and getting back to healthy eating (after a bit of candy and junk overload at the beach!) I am working on a few Wire Earring samples for a class that I will be teaching in the fall. I'll post photos later this week.

Have a great day!

"The Earth is a glowing marble. Enjoy it. " by Madi

Artist of the Month - Niki Jackson

2011-07-01T06:00:00.001-04:00


Niki and Ellie

Niki Jackson has a style all her own. Her paintings are both soft and comforting. I really enjoy her use of soft pastel colors and her gentle kind style.


Winter Sunset

Niki has a way of capturing feelings and emotions that is truly unique. Niki lives in Suffolk, United Kingdom with her husband Mark and her dalmatian Ellie. Suffolk is about a 2 hour drive from London, located in East Anglia with is on the east side of England. Niki was born in Essex and moved to Suffolk when she was 9 years old. She loves it in the country which is where her heart is.

Niki loves to sketch out ideas of paintings but sometimes just gets an image in her mind of what she should paint next and goes straight to her desk to paint it out. She recently started a great new project on Flikr called The Journal Project. She started this project to encourage other artists to make drawing a regular part of their life. Niki herself struggles with fitting drawing in to her day to day life. The Journal project has helped her to draw more and hopes that it is inspiring other artists too. Take a look at the site and see if you'd like to join us for a bit more creative time. I joined a few weeks ago and have enjoyed taking more time to draw.

When I asked Niki what her favorite part of creating her paintings and mixed media pieces was, she said;

"I love bringing things from my imagination to life in a painting or drawing. It's fun to take everyday things and paint my impression of them using my whimsical style, I just love that. I think the thing that brings me the most joy is painting something special for someone and knowing that it means so much. Being a part of that is wonderful."

My Friend


My Sweet Heart

Niki mainly uses acrylics to paint and either adds in pencil or charcoal pencil, glitter or collage papers. Over time she has developed a colour palette that really defines what she loves; vintage shades which are fairly soft and inspired by the country and vintage lifestyle.

Sweet Blessings

Love is in the Air

Niki's artwork is inspired by nature and the joy that she feels when she hears the birds singing and the sun shining. When I asked her how ideas come to her, she said;

"People always ask me how I come up with my ideas and really it's a case of God speaking to me through everyday life and experiences, things I enjoy etc and I take that and paint it!"

Poppies by the Sea

When I asked Niki what her least favorite part of her work was, she said;

"Blank canvas syndrome is the only one I can think of for the creative part and definitely the marketing and business side of it all. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with it all, some days enjoying the change of pace and others just wanting to spend the whole day painting or drawing. I also wish I could 'see' people, it gets hard sometimes not being able to connect face to face with my online customers."

Niki also is an amazing photographer. Niki started exploring photography a few years ago.

"I am so inspired by the sky and the different sunsets every evening, so I created a series based on those and also other things in nature that really inspire me. I dip in and out of photography and I expect I will always be like that, it's fun to take the camera out and really look at nature closely. I offer prints of my photography in my shop also."

Amazed

I asked Niki where she sees her work going in the future.

"I think I will continue to explore my love of vintage and the country, I don't think I could ever run out of ideas. I hope that I can offer more online classes in the future. I loved creating Mixed Media Basics, sharing all that I'd learnt was fun and very insightful. I love to encourage and support others. I leave the rest up to God to direct me :)"

Niki just moved her artwork from her Etsy shop to a more community style store where she can offer all of her creations in one place. If you'd like to purchase a piece of Niki's artwork or just get to know her better, stop by her new website: The Vintage Artist

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Niki and her artwork. Thanks so much for joining me for the Artist of the Month post.

I will be taking a little blogging break, returning the week of July 11th. See you then!

"Friends are a smile from God." by Madi

Going in Circles

2011-06-23T13:03:00.000-04:00

Anyone else feel like they are going in circles this summer? Here are a few pieces of my Silver Circle Jewelry to help you keep pace!


Silver Circle and Daisy Chain Necklace

Textured Silver Circle Bracelet

Silver Textured Double Silver Earrings

Silver Textured Triple Earrings

Photo Fun!

2011-06-21T16:29:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to pop in and share a few of my photo's from the photography classes that I am taking.

I am really enjoying learning about my camera and just playing with the photos. It's keeping me busy that's for sure! Hope everyone has a wonderful first day of summer.

"The only treat that is healthy is art" by Madi

Summer Reading List

2011-06-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

Summer's here at the Spencer house! Today was the last day of school so we welcomed the kids with silly string and ice pops. They were very happy.

With summer comes the "Spencer Summer Reading Contest". Every year for the past 6 years we have held this awesome reading contest. The rules are a bit crazy, but I'll share them with you anyway in case you'd like to try it or your own version of the contest. First off there are two different sets of rules for my kids, one for my 9 yr old and one for the 14 yr old. Basically it's Mom against each kid. For each 50 pages (100 for my 14 yr old) my 9 yr old reads, $1 goes in the book contest fund. For each 50 pages (100 pages) Mom reads $1 goes in the book contest fund. At the end of the summer whoever reads more pages between Mom and each kid, they win 75% of the money. With their 75% winnings they can spend half on whatever they want and half on books. We then go out to dinner to celebrate and spend the evening at the book store. The loser (a.k.a. Mom) gets 25% of the winnings and can only spend it on books. It's a great motivator for the kids to read. My son read 8,500 pages last summer!

If you're looking for a few good summer reads, here is a list of some of my favorites.

The Girls: A Novel
A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club)
Olive Kitteridge

Shantaram: A Novel
To Dance With the White Dog
Breakfast with Buddha

Nobody's Fool
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Bridge of Sighs
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
The 19th Wife: A Novel
In the Woods
Sing Them Home: A Novel
The Forgotten Garden: A Novel

I also have a bunch of books on my book shelf that I haven't had the chance to read yet. Has anyone read any of these? I need a bit of motivation, especially on a few of the classics.
The House of the Spirits: A Novel
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.)
New York: The Novel
The Lacuna: A Novel
The Brothers Karamazov (Bantam Classics)
Anna Karenina

Just finishing up a good, but disturbing book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. The next book in line for me is Bossypants. I figured I'd need the laugh!

What are some of your favorite books? Let me know. I'm always looking for new ideas.

Photo Silly Class

2011-06-13T11:30:00.000-04:00

Just started my Photo Silly Class today. I'm already having fun and learning a bit about light and photography. Our Number Zero assignment before the class even started was to take photos of your lunch as you ate it.

Next we had to find a spot that appealed to us, study the area for 5 minutes, then close your eyes and take 20 photos! It was actually pretty cool. My neighbor and friend Rene has this amazing patio with a gorgeous garden. Since they are out of town and I'm in charge of watering the garden, I decided it would be a perfect spot to take photos! (I did text her first!) After we took the photo's, we were to study them and select only one to post on Flikr. Here's my favorite:

I like the lighting and shadows. And of course love the garden and patio! Hope you have a wonderful day!

End of the year frazzles

2011-06-09T08:01:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else feel that end of the year frazzled feeling? It seems as the school year comes to an end the kids get wound up and over emotional. I think this and the fact that they seem to have end of the year celebrations for each and every activity leaves us parents feeling a bit overwhelmed and just pain old tired. Or just old!

I was reading through all the blog posts and just catching up, when I stumbled upon this great post by Kim Klassen. She shares this great list of choosing happiness. I thought I would share it with you just in case you are feeling that same frazzled feeling.

Ten ways to live a happier life by Kim Klassen

If you have time stop by Kim's blog, she teaches awesome Photo Shop classes and shares great free textures. Speaking of Photo Shop, I'm starting a new class tonight at the local college called The Digital Darkroom. Very excited. I started my other digital photography class at the college too this week. I am also signed up for Kim's new class called Photo Shop The Essentials that starts later this month. I should be an expert soon!

And since I'm actually a bit crazy, I signed up for Photo Silly by Steve Sonheim. Ok, so maybe my kids crazy schedules have nothing to do with my frazzled feeling!! Well, off to yoga to relax and shake this frazzled feeling. Hope you have a relaxing day!

"Your body is a flower, it needs food and love to grow" by Madi

Toe Rings?

2011-06-03T18:35:00.000-04:00

With summer just around the corner I've been thinking of creating something different...toe rings. I was taking a yoga class the other day and while holding a pose, I glanced at my teacher's toes and saw several pretty silver toe rings. So, I thought why not?

I hopped around Etsy for a bit to check out toe rings and other summer rings. I was unable to contain myself, I just had to do a summer ring treasury!


Ringing in the summer

I am hoping to steal away some time in the next few days to see what I can come up with for a toe ring design. I'll post a photo or two when something comes together in the studio. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

"Rainy days in your mind can be made into sunny days if you give them a chance" by Madi

Artist of the Month - Belinda Fireman

2011-06-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

I think that this first painting by Belinda says it all! She has an incredible passion that is very evident in her artwork. Bel is an artist and a mother of almost 10 year old twin girls and a 5 year old son. She lives with her family in Calgary, the largest city in the Province of Alberta, Canada.


Bel with her recycled sock arm warmers

The first thing I noticed about Bel's artwork are the vibrant colors that she creates with. I love the positive messages and the overall brightness of her work. A love of art started early for Bel, in high school she was heavily into art and music. She went to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for three summers in the late 80's where she studied drawing. Bel's talents were recognized and she won a scholarship to go back. She even had the opportunity to do a solo art show there.

Bel then went on to study chemistry at the University of Western Ontario (London, ON) because she felt like this is what she "should" be doing. Well, her love of art won out again. After she got her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, she studied an unclassified year of arts courses at U.B.C. in Vancouver, B.C. then went on to get her Master's in Art Conservation at Queen's University in Kingston, ON. She thought that working as an Arts Conservator was perfect for her since it combined her love for art and her ability in science. But, after working for a few years in the field she found that it just wasn't her passion.

Bel said that she knew in her heart and soul that she was on her way back to creating art. Once she figured that out, her twin baby girls came along leaving her little time to create. She did a few projects here and there when the kids were young, but anyone with small children knows how challenging that can be. Late in 2008, she had some troubles with her back. Drawing in her sketchbook became her way to help distract her from her physical discomfort and help her to heal and deal with things.

Bel participated in the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project in 2011. Here are a few of her pages, to view her entire sketchbook follow the link above. Take a minute to get yourself a cup of coffee before you go to the link, you are going to want to spend a little time there. Really amazing!

I really enjoy admiring Bel's artwork as well as reading her honest words. It motivates me to get back into my art journal. If only there were more hours in everyday! Bel's work is also going to be featured in a book about Art Journaling. Stay tuned, I'll let you know when it is published.

I asked Bel what type of medium she prefers for her artwork, and here is what she said:

"I paint with acrylics and watercolors, and write and draw on my paintings with black artist pens, like PITT, or Prismacolor pens. I used to love using oil pastels - I'll have to give those a try again! I would also love to take a course in oil painting, because I only tried it in high school, which doesn't count, because I can't remember it!"

When asked about her most favorite thing about creating her art, Bel replied:

"I love experimenting with how different colors will blend together and then seeing the final result - especially if it's unexpectedly pleasing! I also love the crunchy feeling of paint on paper.

My least favorite thing is when materials aren't doing what I want them to do, and I can't figure out how to fix it! Mostly, I don't like when I start to worry about what other people will think of my work. Yep, that's probably the worst thing. I think a lot of people suffer from this! That's why I put a lot of affirmations in my work - to help others (and myself) deal with those inner critics!"


Stream of Positivity


Turtle Shell

I am Safe

All of her work is unique and motivational. Bel has an Etsy shop called Firemanbell where she sells her paintings, as well as magnets and greeting cards. Stop by for a visit, you'll enjoy her shop. I think that Bel's colorful artwork would be perfect for T shirts. I could see myself really enjoying wearing her work! When I asked Bel about that idea and what other ideas she has rolling around in her creative mind, here is what she had to say:

"Funny that you say that! I've had several people say they could see my work on T shirts! I purchased a lazy susan from a friend last year, then painted and collaged it, then he bought it back!! I have an interest in painting objects to give them some color and new life! Other plans? Hmm... I think I am on to some bigger and better paintings. The ones I have been working on are very small. I was trying to keep art affordable for people, but I think my paintings want to grow! I have also recently starting teaching intuitive painting. I jumped into this after being dared to do it. I can see doing more of this in the future!! I felt I grew a lot, and learned a lot just from the 3 classes I taught."

Here are a few samples of her magnets and greeting cards:

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Bel and her incredible colorful artwork. If you'd like to learn more about Bel, visit her blog Drawn From the Fire. Or take a tour through her Flickr Photostream Belknits'.
If you feel like you would like to own a piece of Bel's artwork, magnets or greeting cards, visit her shop on Etsy Firemanbell.

Thank you again for joining me for the Artist of the Month post. In closing, I will share one of my daughter Madi's quotes...

"Being creative is an adventure of joy."

Charmed I'm sure

2011-05-24T14:37:00.000-04:00

So many charms! I seem to have found a love of making little silver charms. One of the local shops that sells my jewelry set up a "Charm Bar". Whitney, the owner of The Muse, set out bowls of brightly colored rice filled with charms. She also has a board with different types of chains available. It's really a fun idea, because you can mix and match the charms you like with a chain. Here is my bowl of Stacie Jewelry charms at The Muse.

I had a great time last week creating silver charms from precious metal clay. Here are a few that I have finished.

I had a few fun charm requests at the last trunk show I did. I had several requests for turtles, an elephant, and a bumble bee. I made the silver for those charms, just have to finish up with the antiquing and polishing. I'll share the finished charming animals when they are done.

The charms are great for necklaces, to add to bracelets or for anklets. They make a great end of the year teacher gift or a graduation gift. If you would like to see more charms and anklets, take a peek at my Etsy shop. I will be adding more charms over the next few weeks to get stocked up for the summer season.

Sharing Treasury's

2011-05-14T09:47:00.000-04:00

This week I have been catching up on paperwork, cleaning my studio among other exciting chores. So to reward myself, I sat down with my cup of coffee and created a few treasury's.

Magical Creatures

Wish upon a star

My silver bird charm was even featured in this sweet treasury.

Sweet, sweet songbird

Hope you enjoyed the treasury's today. Have a wonderful weekend.

Artist Playtime

2011-05-10T16:26:00.000-04:00

Today was a great day. It started off with my daughter and I working (playing) on the Art of Silliness Class that I am taking with Carla Sonheim. She is the author of the wonderful book I mentioned in an earlier post. Well, the class is even more fun! There is a new worksheet to complete each day. The class is all about being silly in your artwork and I have to say we are being silly.

One worksheet the I found particularly entertaining involved drawing creatures from random squiggle lines. Here is the blank worksheet:

Here is my interpretation of the meaning behind these squiggle lines:

Here is my daughter's interpretation:

And here is my son's interpretation:

What a fun class! I highly recommend it just for the shear joy of laughing out loud. It's also really fun to check out what all of the other students in the class are creating by looking at the Flicker group photos.

So on to more fun and creativity today. I spent the day with my friend Allison painting, cutting, pasting, drawing and more! We decided to create journal pages using a Somerset Workshop called "Fruits of The Spirit: Lively Layers" from the May/June 2011 issue of Somerset Studio magazine.

It was really fun to do. I have to say it's one of the first projects that involved layering that actually looked layered when the page was complete. Here is my page:

In this last photo you can see one of the really cool techniques of using dye to color a paper towel, accordion folding it, and then sewing it to the page. Here is Allison's page:

I love how the colors Allison used are bold, but at the same time soft and muted. We used an old vintage French text book for the collage portion of the page.

Since I am an on line Ecourse junkie, I thought I'd show you my latest creation from 21 Secrets. My daughter Madi and I spent mother's day together working on this class called Urban Layer Cake. The instructor's name is Tammy Garcia. Tammy has a great blog called Daisy Yellow a Vivid life with Kids.

The class explained a process of painting over Fiber Paste using acrylic paints and a credit card. Here is my page:

I love the metallic acrylic paints. I used a embossing heat tool to create the bubbled up look.
Here is Madi's page:

You can really see the metallic paints on her page. She hasn't had the chance to write her words yet. Wonder what she will write? Maybe one of her quotes.

I hope that you enjoyed all of our Art playtime. Hope you find some of your own time to play!

Inspirational Art Quotes by Madi

2011-05-05T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've always thought that my 9 year old daughter lived in a past life as an African Queen ruling the jungle and fighting off wild animals. She is definitely an old soul with a fighting passion in her. Here are the quotes that she wrote, hope you find them inspirational.

Don't worry if you can't absorb all of this inspirational thinking at once...I'm going to include one of her quotes at the end of each of my blog posts. Enjoy! and feel free to share her words!

Artist of the Month - Denice Barlow Brown

2011-05-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

I just had to start today's post with this great Mixed Media collage by Denice. Once you get to know her, you'll know why. Before I begin to share Denice's amazing artwork, writing, and sewing talents with you, I must share her incredible family with you. I honestly can't believe Denice has time to get dressed everyday, let alone accomplish all she does. So without further ado here is her beautiful family...

Family photo by Jennifer Grigg

When I asked Denice, how she gets everything accomplished in her busy life here is what she said;

"I have nine kids who range in age from 22 years to 14 months, plus three awesome older step kids. We have so much fun together! There are so many days that I don't get through my To-Do list, that a thousand things get pushed to the back burner, but I think that's true for everybody. I try not to let perfectionism reign on the things that don't matter and focus on the things that do. Creativity is a huge part of our daily life. I home school my six youngest children, and we try to be pretty relaxed about it while also looking for learning in everything that we do. We try to keep it fun and appreciate the strengths of each member of the team, and it is very much a team thing. My older son is a history buff so it's easy for him to teach that to the younger kids. My daughter loves to cook so she often takes a turn in that role. Somehow it works out. As busy as it is -- and some days it really is! -- it is an awesome ride."

Denice and her lovely family live in Utah where she grew up. Here is what she said about living in Utah;

"I grew up in Utah, and it is a beautiful place to live! The geology is incredibly diverse here so we can go exploring for petroglyphs in red-rock country or spend an afternoon crawling through lava tubes from an ancient volcano or snowshoeing in the mountains and still be home in time for dinner. We are lucky enough live right near a beautiful canyon, so we are literally ten minutes from back country -- yet we still get to enjoy good bookstores and Starbucks! ;)"
A place after my own heart, beautiful scenery, bookstores and Starbucks! So now that you know a bit about Denice's family life, let's move on to her other creative side. A big first for Denice is the publishing of her very first children's book.

Denice not only wrote the story in the book, but also illustrated the book. The illustrations in the book are done in pen and ink, then colored digitally. Denice said she really enjoyed working on the book and learned a great deal, especially about the intense amount of work that goes into a project of this size. Since her youngest is still 14 months old, she hasn't moved on to the next book yet. She does have ideas running around in her head and is anxious to get working on them.

Moonlight Message is a story about two young girls who really did exist, is historically accurate and is a great book for teaching personal responsibility to children. Denice was interviewed by Better Children's Books if you'd like to read more about her book and writing process.

If you'd like to purchase her book for your children or as a gift for someone else, you can find it on Amazon.

In addition to writing books, Denice is also a avid journaler. Here is what she has to say about her journaling:

"I am a dedicated journaler and I find I get pretty cranky without daily writing. I am also an avid filler-of-sketchbooks. My favorite medium is probably a good black pen (favorite: Micron Pigma .03) but I am also drawn to really bright color. Recently I have been moving through several series in different mediums, stretching myself to try new things. So the past few weeks I have done studies with design markers, watercolor, and Prismacolor pencils. My sketchbook is a place to experiment. I try to use it as a place to open up and try new ideas, and even more importantly, a place to practice the discipline of daily active creativity -- I have to keep myself creating in small doses or I will quite easily find that a busy week has slipped by without any time for my creative fix!"

Here is a glimpse at some of her journal pages.

I love the combination of soft and sharp lines that can be found in Denice's sketches. She seems to have a way of capturing the softness of an image or design and also the ability to bring in interesting details. Some of her drawings also have a Zentangle feel to them.

Another passion of Denice's is her sewing. Here is a photo of a beautiful quilt that she made for her son.

Denice made this quilt for her son a few years ago. It now resides in her son's college dorm room at the other end of the state. She said that creating the quilt was pure joy, loving every minute of it, from choosing the rich blues and greens with her son in mind, to piecing together each individually sized strip and then fitting squares in, one against another like a puzzle. She said that it came together organically without any kind of pattern. Denice said, "I rarely (if ever) work from a pattern and I love the process of taking bits of fabric and collecting them into a whole. I find it very much like painting and it is a joyful experience."

To learn more about Denice and her incredible journey as a mom, writer, seamstress and artist visit her blog Inkstitch. I hope that you have enjoyed getting to know Denice and her remarkable artwork. Thanks again for stopping by.

Great giveaway to share!

2011-04-29T17:57:00.000-04:00

Paper Cakes Finds

A fun website that advertises so many amazing creatives is giving away advertising spots! I thought I'd share this for two reasons, well actually three. The first is for all those shoppers looking for goodies, it's a great place to fine wonderful artists and creators to buy from. The second is for all those creatives that are looking for a spot to advertise their websites. And of course third, it counts as another entry if I blog about this great contest! Can't miss another chance to win! Here are the details...Just click on the link below the banner be redirected to Paper Cakes blog to enter.

Keeping my fingers crossed for anyone who enters! Let me know what you think of the site

and if you enter! Good luck!

Off to the Beach!

2011-04-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

Well, at least my jewelry is off to the beach! The Mystic Jewel in the Outer Banks, North Carolina has two amazing shops that carry Stacie Jewelry. Here are few pieces that I sent off to the shops:

If you ever get the chance to spend a little time in the beautiful Outer Banks area, check out The Mystic Jewel shops. One is located in Duck and the other in Corolla.

Off to create more jewelry! Enjoy your day.

Happy Earth Day!

2011-04-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

"Bob" Madi's tree she planted for Earth Day

Welcome to Earth Day! My daughter Madi planted a tree for Earth Day and promptly named Bob. So, welcome Bob!

Last weekend I attended a Recycle Reuse Earth Day Exhibit at The Muse. It was a crazy weather day, with high winds and thunderstorms. I actually read in the paper this week that three tornadoes did touch down that evening in New Market. But, I couldn't miss it! Here are some of the exhibits that were displayed that evening:


"Truth" by Courtney Prahl

Courtney created this amazing sculpture using roots, vintage pieces, and found objects. Courtney is a mixed media artist with a great shop on Etsy.

"Buttons & Chains bracelet" by Stacie Spencer

I used vintage jewelry from three different necklaces and old buttons. Read more about this piece in my Earth Day Art Challenge post.

"When Pigs Fly" by Heidi Rosencrantz

Heidi used a music box, dishware, toy figurine, vase and paper mache to create her fun sculpture.


"Bench & Chair" by John Cummings

John is a homeless man that lives in Frederick. He used clothespins to create these intricate wooden designs.

"The Dancer" by John Holly

John created his dancer using a coat hanger, aluminum and fabric scrap.

"Hope" by Laurel Manthey Silvio

Laurel used wood, scrap metal, photos, chicken wire, jar, sticks and newspaper to create her beautiful artwork.

"We all live downstream" by Hillary Banachowski

Hillary used wood, glass, metal flashing, sheet rock, and acrylic paint to create her water themed artwork.

"Earth Goddess" by Karen Peacock

Karen Peacock created her sculpture using Costco bathing suit display torsos, discarded materials, and leftover paint.

"Pink Lady" by Ellen Byrne

This is one of my favorites, I think the Pink Lady is beautiful and serene. Ellen used an old frame and canvas, "opps" paints which are colors from rejected house paint.

If you live in the area, you still have time to visit the exhibit at The Muse. The Earth Day exhibit will run through April 30th. I have to say, I'm really happy that I braved the weather! Hope you have a wonderful Earth Day! I'd love to know what you did today to celebrate Earth Day. If you get a chance, leave me a comment and let me know.

21 Secrets Collage, Painting & Soul Class

2011-04-16T10:49:00.002-04:00

I had a great time this Wednesday working on a Collage class from 21 Secrets. What an amazing class this is! I wish I could lock myself in my studio for a week and just play with all the wonderful techniques.

My sister came up for a visit this week for my birthday and a little creative time. We had so much fun with this particular class. The concept included first writing down your thoughts on your journal page, then covering them with fun collage papers. The next task was to find a face in a magazine to alter.

The theme of my journal page was courage and letting go of fears. My thoughts were centered around my art and letting go of all the fears and just soaring. So, I was looking to create something very bold and striking. Here is a photo of the collage before I altered and painted the face:

I choose the Lion to symbolize courage and bravery. We pulled out the paints and transformed the faces, added details to the collage and just kind of played. Here's the result:

The woman is strong and bold, while the Lion is softer and kind. I really love how it turned out. It's funny because I actually picture my journal page at times when I feel I need a little courage.

My sister's collage turned out quite different, much softer and beautiful. Here is her collage before she altered it:

The woman's face is soft and serene. She has two teenage boys, so you can see she is looking for a bit of calm and relaxation! Here is her collage after she added her magic touches of pen and paint:

I really love the soft blues she incorporated into her collage. So excited to find a few hours to start another class!

While I was visiting the forum for the class this morning, I found this link to a blog called Kim Klassen Cafe that had 10 fabulous quotes we can trust. I wanted to share them with you.

10 quotes that you can trust. Kim Klassen Cafe

I hope you enjoy the quotes and find a home for some of them in your own artwork. Enjoy your day.

Blogging For Lila - One special little girl

2011-04-15T06:00:00.011-04:00

Today's story is about a special little artist named Lila. Lila is a remarkable, talented little girl all of 4 years old. Unlike most little four year old artists, Lila struggles with a very challenging disease, Cerebral Palsy. I can only imagine the challenges and struggles that face Lila and her parents on a day to day basis.

Cerebral Palsy is a neuromuscular disease that affects the cerebellum in the brain. Lila's cerebellum has been growing at a slower rate than the rest of her brain. Lila's issues are mainly physical. Her parents have started a blog called, Mommy you know what, to raise awareness of the disease as well as funds for much needed stem cell therapy. Here is a bit of information about Lila that I borrowed from her mother, Maria's blog:

“Lila is a beautiful 4-year-old girl, who lives with cerebral palsy and hasn’t been given a fair chance at life. We, Lila’s parents, are on a quest to give her that fair chance by allowing her to have a stem cell treatment this coming summer.

Since birth, Lila’s cerebellum has been growing at a slower rate than the rest of her brain. The cerebellum controls a multitude of things that we all take for granted (i.e. balance, coordination, emotion, muscle tone, muscle control). The majority of Lila’s issues are physical, as she walks with a walker, has no balance or coordination, and has low muscle tone.

Stem cell treatments with CP have been proven to help the child with speech annunciation, balance, strength, and increased levels of cognitive abilities. In every child, the levels of these changes differ, however they have all been seen time and time again. If these changes are all we see in Lila, this will certainly change her life forever, and you will have helped!

All of that being said, she is a very happy little girl who seems to shine a light on everyone she comes across. There are people in our community that know and love her, whom we don’t even know! I seem to believe it is her smile that captures everyone’s hearts, as she has ours. What a special little girl, one that has taught us how to love unconditionally, to not take the little things for granted, and to know that each little milestone is truly a really big milestone!

We love her so much and just want to give her a chance for a more “normal” life. For Lila that means that she may have the chance to have a college education, career, marriage and a family. Our goal is to raise $20,000 by mid-June, however we hope to surpass that goal give Lila have a second treatment after one year, which is recommended by the doctors and could benefit her tremendously. We hope that you all will join us on our journey, and embrace our little girl just as we have!” (as told by Maria)

Today's post is part of a "blog hop" that my creative friend Sarah Stevenson put together to support her friends Maria and Lila. Sarah started off the blog hop on her blog, What is Design? It's been very inspiring reading all the different blogs that have participated. Our goal of the blog hop is to raise awareness of Lila and her journey and funds for her stem cell therapy.

I'd like to offer a way for you to help out Lila. From today, April 15th, until the end of the month I'd like to donate 25% of all my Stacie Jewelry Etsy sales to Lila and her Stem cell therapy fund. All you need to do is hop over to my Etsy shop and purchase a piece or two of jewelry. I will automatically keep track of the sales and donate the 25% to Lila on May 1st. Please share this fundraising information with your friends and family. I'll keep you posted through twitter and facebook about our progress. After the fundraiser is over, I'll write a post to let you know how much we raised.

You can hop on over to Angie Allen's blog, Snap Shots of the Daily Grind on Monday, April 18th for the next post about Lila. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read about Lila.

An Expert at 100!

2011-04-13T09:52:00.000-04:00

I just had a birthday, my 49th. It was a perfect day. The weather was amazing and I got to spend my day with 3 of my favorite friends. I had a wonderful celebration with my family the night before and just couldn't have wished for anything else.

My son got me a Border's gift card, so yesterday I borrowed him from school and we went to lunch and the bookstore. I found these fun little drawing books and just had to buy them with my gift card!

The first one has great ideas about drawing simple cute people.

I thought, I'm already 49 and I'm really just getting started on this whole drawing thing. Then I thought, hey by the time I'm 100, I'll have over 50 years drawing experience! I immediately felt much better.

Here are a few of my fun drawings from the first book about cute people:

And for the boys...

I had a blast drawing these cute little people. Can't wait to start on the plants and small creatures book!

Earth Day Art Challenge

2011-04-09T17:27:00.000-04:00

Last week I answered a call for art for an Earth Day Art Challenge with the Muse in Frederick. The challenge was to create a piece of art using entirely recycled items. Since I happen to enjoy working with jewelry, I decided to create a piece of jewelry using vintage jewelry and buttons. I am happy to say that the bracelet I created was accepted for the Earth Day Exhibit!

Here are photos of the vintage pieces that I used to create my "new" bracelet.

I enjoyed the challenge of using vintage jewelry pieces and buttons to create something new. I always like the idea that someone else wore the jewelry in another place and in another time. The buttons are from a collection that I inherited from my husband's great Aunt Marguerite. Aunt Marguerite was a talented artist herself and loved anything crafty, so I know that she would enjoy that fact that her buttons are living on in the artistic world. I have used her buttons in mixed media collage and as decorative embellishments on clothing. She had an amazing talent of carving birds from wood. I will have to take photo's of her work and share them with you in a future post.

So, here is the final result of combining all these separate pieces together.

There is an artist reception next week at The Muse from 5-7 on Saturday night the 16th. I will make sure to bring my camera so I can share some of the other recycled art pieces with you.

Branching Out

2011-04-05T09:18:00.000-04:00

When I sat down to my computer this morning to create a treasury I looked outside my office window for inspiration. First, I saw a rainy and dark day. I thought this can't be a good treasury theme. After drinking a bit more coffee I was able to see the beautiful budding trees in our front garden. So, here is the treasury that came from that vision of Spring growth.

Branching Out

Take a minute today to branch out and try something new. If you do, leave a comment and share your new experience with me. Thanks for stopping by.

Artist of the Month - Monica Soeldner

2011-04-01T07:20:00.002-04:00


A New Path

This month's artist, Monica Soeldner's creative endeavors include a combination of jewelry, mixed media, photography and printmaking. Quite a collection of amazing work. I decided to start off our post finding out a little bit more about Monica's jewelry making process. Funny how that one grabbed my attention first!

Monica first creates mini collages and then displays them behind a glass bubble. She is currently focusing on inspirational and encouraging words or reminders. I really like how the glass makes the message and artwork appear more mystical. For the next step, Monica solders the edges and works on the backs of the pendants. The backs are all unique as well, each one is a different vintage paper or washi tape that is then sealed in a resin coating. Sometimes she even puts little words or notes on the back. The best part is each one is truly unique; no two are exactly alike.

Monica studied film photography in college, but didn't really focus on it much until more recently. Her photography, like her jewelry has a unique and truly inspiring look and feel to it.

She combines her love of collage and photography with her photography panels (above) which she will be exhibiting at the Enormous Tiny Art Show in Portsmouth, New Hampshire this fall.

I enjoy the contrast of the sharp and blurred edges that she incorporates in her photography. It gives her work a mysterious and dreamy feel.
I came across several photographic styles and techniques that I am not familiar with while reading about Monica's photography work in her blog. One such concept is called Through the Viewfinder (TTV). I asked Monica to give us a little more information about this interesting type of photography. Here is what she said;

"Through the Viewfinder (TTV) is the process of using a digital SLR camera to shoot an image of the viewfinder of a vintage twin reflex camera. I use a Kodak Duaflex III, which was produced sometime in the mid-1950s. I enjoy this process because I’m still able to get the lovely effects that the dust particles, flaws in the viewfinder, and interesting lighting that the Duaflex produces, without having to use film in it. The film for the Duaflex is no longer made, so in order to use film in this camera, I would need to re-roll it onto a spool that would fit it. With the TTV method, I’m able to forgo film and still get some of the effects of the Duaflex. It produces square images, which are then fun to use in my panels. You have to be prepared to talk to a lot of people if you are working with the TTV method out and about though...everyone is curious about that crazy contraption!"

TTV sounds really interesting and creative. It's nice to know that photography has other styles besides all digital. Another type of photography she mentioned is called lomography. I was curious about this style and asked Monica to explain it to me.

"Lomography is a company, but is sort of described as a type of photography now since it’s become more of an art form. It’s basically a variety of “toy” plastic cameras that produce distortion, blurring, differentiation in colors, and other “happy accidents” that make the photos seem more whimsical and dream-like. The Diana is probably the most popular of the lomography cameras, also the Holga. They are film cameras. I don’t have one yet, I’m still deciding what I want.But I love how dreamy the images turn out. I think they’ll be a perfect next step in my photography panels!"

Journaling is another form of artwork that interests Monica. I asked her what she usually fills her journal with and here is her response:

"Sometimes I doodle or add images to my journaling, but for the most part it’s a lot of writing. I usually go for a stream of consciousness, a free flow of thoughts. Then it will often jump into lists (lists of things I’m worried about, happy about, thankful for, goals, etc.). I journal both on my computer as well as in a number of moleskines I keep in various bags and next to my bed. I always have one I carry with me that often becomes a compilation of to-do lists, random thoughts, ideas for artwork, phone numbers and info I scribble down, etc. This year, one of my goals is to journal daily (more than just the random scribble here and there, but to get my thoughts down each day about what’s going on with me). This is like therapy to me. I find that I’m clearer on my direction, how I approach my work, and how I feel throughout each day if I get it all out like this."

Monica is about to begin a new and exciting chapter in her life. She has been accepted for a graduate program in Library Science in Boston. A girl after my own heart, I'd love to live and work in a library or bookstore! Just the smell of the books is enough to bring a smile to my face. But the field of library science has many different career paths. While Monica would love to work as a librarian, she has other interests as well. She is particularly interested in the tool of online presence development in libraries and library programs. She said that she would love to work on building community involvement in library programs via social media and interactive web databases.

Monica has a shop on Esty, M. Soeldner, if you'd like to see more of her jewelry. To read more about Monica and all of her remarkable artwork, visit her blog. In closing today, I had to include just one more photo from Monica. I love this photo of her and her very well loved dog, Erma.

Pretty Poppies!

2011-03-31T14:37:00.003-04:00

I'm so in the mood for spring! I just dropped off a group of new jewelry pieces to The Muse in Frederick. This one is definitely one of my favorites. Poppies will be sprouting up in many of my new jewelry pieces this spring.

I'm also really having fun with new wire earring styles. This pair never made it out of my studio...my neighbor bought them before I could even put them on a earring card! I will be making more of this style for spring.

Just wanted to share a few new pieces with you. Hope you are having a great day!

Spreading the Creative Word

2011-03-30T07:16:00.000-04:00


Creative Coconuts

From left to right:

As I shared on an earlier post, I have joined a wonderful group of inspirational artists called The Creative Coconuts. I wanted to share their amazing artwork and talents with you. Above is a listing of the artists and links to their websites. I hope you enjoy visiting with the coconuts.

On Friday, April 1st I will be featuring Monica Soeldner as the Artist of the Month. Make sure to stop back then to learn more about Monica and her artwork!

Time

2011-03-24T13:12:00.000-04:00

I was trying to think of a subject to create a treasury around the other evening. I'm sitting on my bed with my laptop while my daughter is dancing around getting ready for her bath. My mind of course goes to the "I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do" voice that seems to constantly be lurking in my head. So, I thought time. That's it! So I titled my treasury A Block of Time.

A block of time

The funny thing is that I didn't have time to finish it that night. My 14 year old son called me a computer crazy person, picked up my laptop and carried it down to the den. Apparently it was time for the three of us to read in bed together. I have to admit reading together is one of my favorite activities and it was just what the doctor ordered. I felt much more relaxed.

The next morning I brewed myself a cup of coffee and of course sat down to finish my treasury. Before I hopped over to that tab, I stopped for a visit in my Etsy shop and saw that my watch was featured in this beautiful treasury. Notice the title! How funny!

Where has time gone?

After spending a few minutes thinking about time, I remembered this poem that I used to have on my office bulletin board a long time ago. It was written by an 85 year old man. I love the whole message in this poem and hope that you enjoy it too.

If I Had My Life to Live Over Again
by Don Herold
I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
I'd relax, I would limber up.
I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.
I would take more chances.
I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans.
I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else.
Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.
I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute.
If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.

Hope you take time to enjoy your day.

Blog Hop

2011-03-22T09:41:00.000-04:00

Blogging For Lila

One of my fellow artist friends from the Creative Coconuts, Sarah Stevenson is sponsoring a Blog Hop in honor of this beautiful little girl, Lila. I will be participating in the Blog Hop on April 15th and will share more information about Lila at that time. I just wanted to put up the link to Sarah's blog in case you would like to participate in the Blog Hop as well. It's a great way to meet other artists, get your blog a few views and help out a little girl in need.

New Look!

2011-03-17T06:00:00.010-04:00

Thanks to the many talents of Jennifer Parker my blog has a new background. Jennifer not only created this wonderful and colorful background for my blog, she also created my new Etsy shop banner.

I really love Jenny's work, it's very organic and full of soft warm colors. Jennifer is the artist behind Jennifer Parker Designs and offer's a variety of artistic services to include the following:

licensing opportunities with JuniperTrail product line

gift/paper products design and production

product development

publication design: book design and calendars

packaging: bath and body, kitchen

marketing: brochures, postcards and business cards

invitations and announcements

website banners and layouts

personal assemblages and digital collage commissions

For more information about Jennifer and her lovely designs, visit her website Jennifer Parker Designs.

Of course since I have a new background, I had to play around with all the other fun details of my blog. I have to admit, I really haven't spent much time doing anything else but play with my blog for the past two days. It's so addictive! Today, I will stay away from my blog, twitter, email and facebook and spend time creating jewelry! Hope you have a wonderful day.

21 Secrets Art Journal Playground Class

2011-03-14T09:24:00.001-04:00

I'm so excited! I just signed up for this new class called 21 Secrets an Art Journal playground. I can't wait to get started. There are 21 different teachers all sharing their experience and secrets about drawing, painting and art journaling.

My friend Jane Davenport is one of the teachers. Jane was my March artist of the month if you'd like to read more about her and her amazing work. The class is sponsored by Dirty Footprints Studio. I could definitely get lost on their website, just reading about all the different teachers and visiting their blogs could fill my whole week.

Take a look at the class and see if you'd like to sign up too. Off to the jewelry studio!

Number 100!

2011-03-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

Well, it finally happened...I had my 100th sale on Etsy this week. It couldn't have happened to a nicer customer. Minda Metz purchased my 100th item and selected this lucky four leaf clover charm as her gift. Minda owns a great little cafe here in Maryland called The Buzz . The Buzz offers ice cream, pastries, and coffee among other goodies. If you live in the area, stop by for a visit with Minda and her yummy food.

I'm very excited about my Etsy shop and watching it grow. Although I started my Etsy shop four years ago, I didn't really start fully selling from it until last year. Like many others I felt overwhelmed about how much there was to learn about marketing and selling on line. So last January I started scheduling just 15 minutes a day to learn a little about Etsy. It sort of snowballed and now I'm having trouble getting myself off the computer! It's so exciting how much information is out there.

Yesterday and today I did limit my computer time so I could spend some uninterrupted time in my studio. I made a group of silver pieces that are just about ready to fire in the kiln. I will post photos once I get the new pieces created.

Hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks so much for stopping by. Stacie