Sunday Showcase - Royal

1.Leperqueen2.Sleepyhollowfolkart3.OuterKnits4.HSWTPhotography5.LilyPadLane6.Maked
Each Sunday Showcase features one item from six wonderful shops based on a predetermined theme. I want to stress that this week's choices were VERY difficult to select! Thank you SO much to everyone for giving me such amazing things to look at and enjoy!

Want to have a chance to be selected for a Sunday Showcase? It's really simple!

♥ Check out the current Sunday Showcase thread running in Promos on Etsy to find out the theme for the following week♥ Comment in the thread if you feel you meet the criteria (or if you want to bump it up for others...;)♥ Comment on this post and tell me which of the six items is your favorite and why. Don't forget to post your shop URL so I know who is who!♥ Only shops who comment in both locations will be considered
Here's the current thread!
That's all there is to it! Simple, right?

The thread will be open for participation until the Friday of the given week. Saturday will be used to go through selections and create the mosaic!

Shops CAN be featured multiple times, but I will never feature a shop more than once in a 3 months span. I will be keeping records of who is chosen so as to do my best to follow through on this promise.

All items will be tweeted on my Twitter page and the link to this blog entry posted on my Facebook Fan Page.
Twitter
Facebook

All types of artisan crafts, vintage & supplies are up for consideration so don't be shy!

Extrvaganza Customer Appreciation Giveaway Winner!

As many of you know, I had one of my bi-yearly sales the weekend of Black-Friday to Cyber Monday.

In appreciation for their continued support, I wanted to do something special for my customers.

For every item purchased, each customer received a ballot towards a special thank you gift worth 30$!




The Pearlessent earrings are a simple and delicate pair featuring thin sterling silver chain, sterling silver accent balls and two tiny, delicate freshwater pearls in a soft, creamy white. Everything was hung from a 3-way connector and a simple ball-tipped french ear-wire. I wanted these to be neutral enough for everyone's tastes...:)

Congratulations go to Linda, who won these earrings and who will also be taking home her purchase of the Heart Breaker earrings.

I hope everyone enjoyed my Holiday Sale and I look forward to those one-day sales I'll be springing on my Facebook Fans now and then as well as my second yearly sale for Mother's Day!

Thank you SO much for making my Holiday Sale a success!
♥

Mini Marvels - HappyTortoiseSupply

It Mini-Marvel time!

I know it's amazing, but I actually have a SECOND Etsy-Man for you...I know, they are such rare creatures we all think they've become extinct! :)

HappyTortoiseSupply is an absolute sweetheart who has the bizarre knack of being able to hit the 00 count in all our threads. We won't hold that against him though...;) He's a super talented cutter and a super talented designer, as attested by his second shop HappyTortoiseDesigns, with a great sense of humor and a huge Tortoise for a wonderful pet. Sometimes, I picture him smiling when I read what he's written.

I asked him to give us a little taste of his passions and here's what he has to say.

I came into my art through an unlikely source – science. I’ve always been a science nut and math geek. Probably because that’s what I was good at right away, so I went with it. By high school I was doing higher calculus and physics equations in my head, but couldn’t draw a straight line. Unless I was trying to draw a curve. No kidding, that bad.

Which is a shame, because I love art. I’ve studied art, art history, modern art, etc. I can appreciate it in all it’s forms. I always felt left out that I couldn’t participate because what was in my head couldn’t be brought out.

In comes my muse – rocks. When I first started dating my wife, she had some specimens all over her apartment. Geodes, faced pieces of jasper, minerals, etc. I was fascinated by them. I learned their names quickly, and wanted more. That lead me to collect and study minerals. Thousands of them, every type, every formation, every color. Nature is a better artist than any human could ever hope to be. My love of science and art found an unlikely perfect union.

Then at a local rock show I saw someone demonstrating cabbing. I’m good with my hands, familiar with tools and machines, so I thought “I could do that.” I wandered over and watched the guy running through his full routine. I knew I’d want to try my hand at it, but no such luck. The machines were too messy and noisy for an apartment.

Fortunately, we moved into a house (with a good sized garage for studio space) about half a year later, and the odyssey began. Now I cut every chance I get.

I think this background gives me a fairly unique approach to the stones. I can appreciate the patterns, inclusions, colors, and implied images in the slabs I work with. I can look at a slab and see both the minerals and formation as well as the scene. I don’t cut the stone just to make a cab, or try to force a scene. I let the picture come to me and try to free it, accentuate it, and highlight it. The art is already done by the Earth. I just try to translate it for other people. It is a good bridge between my appreciation of others’ work, and finally being able to participate.

Which leads to the metal work. Cutting a stone is all well and good, but then... what to do with them all? Sure, sell them. But all of them? No, I had to do something more.

I enrolled in the jewelry program at North Seattle Community College, and had the honor of working under the tutelage of Lynne Hull. One of the best in the nation, I’m told. And believe.

Again, I found a pleasant melding of art and science. Shaping the metal, soldering, fusing, cutting, casting... hands-on art, no doubt. But also the metallurgy, understanding how the metal reacts, alloys... Oh yeah, I’ve found my art. Rock and metal.

After a few years of limited studio time, I feel I’m just coming out of my artistic infancy. I’m pushing my schedule for more studio time, pushing my skills to expand what I can do, learning how to market and run a business, so I can sell my work. The final goal is to become self supported doing what I most love. But the process of getting there is so enjoyable, that I'm in no particular hurry.

Jason

The joy of lapidary is that the stones are so individualistic so buying from one is NOT like buying from another!
♥

Orange You Glad...Treasury

Yay! Was wandering around the pounce for fun and noticed that Treasury Main was coming up. All the piece in this treasury are from shops who recently sold something!

Feel free to click and comment if the treasury is still active! Doing so helps to promote all the wonderful pieces in the collection!

Orange You Glad...

Sunday Showcase - Timeworn

1.thevint2.SuZefashion3.ladyinthetower4.TheGreenHaven5.Vintagefix6.splendidthings
Each Sunday Showcase features one item from six wonderful shops based on a predetermined theme.

Want to have a chance to be selected for a Sunday Showcase? It's really simple!

♥ Check out the current Sunday Showcase thread running in Promos on Etsy to find out the theme for the following week♥ Comment in the thread if you feel you meet the criteria (or if you want to bump it up for others...;)♥ Comment on this post and tell me which of the six items is your favorite and why. Don't forget to post your shop URL so I know who is who!♥ Only shops who comment in both locations will be considered
Here's the current thread!
That's all there is to it! Simple, right?

The thread will be open for participation until the Friday of the given week. Saturday will be used to go through selections and create the mosaic!

Shops CAN be featured multiple times, but I will never feature a shop more than once in a 3 months span. I will be keeping records of who is chosen so as to do my best to follow through on this promise.

All items will be tweeted on my Twitter page and the link to this blog entry posted on my Facebook Fan Page.
Twitter
Facebook

All types of artisan crafts, vintage & supplies are up for consideration so don't be shy!

Black Friday Sale in FULL SWING! Woohoo! UPDATED!

Finally, after all the prep and all the waiting, The Etsy Black Friday Weekend Extravaganza is FINALLY here!

I can't tell you guys how excited I am about this!

I've already sold/reserved 8 pieces and this was before the sale even officially began! Now added 1 more sale!

I'll try and keep a running tab of the pieces that were sold through-out the weekend...:)

I am offering 10-30% off items in my SALES Selections Section in shop. Prices have already been reduced with the percentages indicated for fast and easy checkout!

I hope to see you all there!
♥

Pieces sold:
Grapeful necklace
Charmony necklace
Creme-Brulee necklace
Quintessence necklace
Quintessence earrings
Waterfall necklace
Waterfall earrings
Paperclip Parade necklace
Heart Breaker earrings

EtsyQ in Color! Treasury

I hadn't made a treasury in honor of my team mates in a while and so I chose to put one together. I can in JUST in time to catch Treasury West...:)

If the Treasury is still active when you see this, please comment and click to help promote this incredibly bunch of people!

EtsyQ in Color Treasury

Lavender & Lime treasury!

AbbeysAtticDesigns was kind enough to feature me in her lovely treasury not only as a main placer, but also as an alternate. I really should ask which was the alternate! *lol*

Take a gander for yourselves and feel free to click and comment if the treasury is still active when you see it!

Lavender & Lime Treasury

Mini Marvels - Lapidarious

It Mini-Marvel time!

Today I have a totally inspiring, absolutely wonderful Etsy Man for your delight to discover...:) There aren't that many of them out there, so it's good to appreciate the ones we have!

Lapidarious is one of the best sources of fine quality cabochons on Etsy. His cuts are not only technically precise but he also seems to find the parts of the stone that just sing...the parts that truly show off Mother Nature's hidden beauty. Aside from cabbing, Lap also has a GORGEOUS collection of high-end gold/silver-worked jewelry at JoyfulCrow which feature his cabs and he's just started a rough slab shop called LapidariousSlabsEtc for other cabbing enthusiasts to be able to continue the lapidary traditions he so loves.

I asked him to talk a little about what he's about and here's what he had to say.

Its always been a thing between me and the Planet.
Just being here,absorbing the surroundings and seeing how it all interplays.
That dance between elements that goes on continually all
through everything including us serves to fascinate and illuminate.
I am so blessed by this world to be able to feel the things I do and
be able to express it in metal and stone.
The very stuff the world I stand on, is.
When the work is in step with that dance, that makes me feel the most peaceful.
Sometimes its an elusive moment, sometimes its an endless summer.
The rock and metal of the Earth is a powerful medium.
I think it has much to say on its own.
And such a sweet dance partner.
If I can just keep in step.

Lapidarious is an extension of JoyfulCrow, where I couldn't get
lapidary the way I wanted or finished to the degree I wanted.
While collecting stones minerals, gems and fine lapidary rough, precedes my
jewelry involvement, cutting and sculpting gems is a fairly recent
thing for me. I have been around lapidaries all my life , but just
didn't have the hands on. Around 6 years ago I started reshaping small
cabs, and bringing up better shines and removing faults in commercial
stones. Pretty much all with my Flexshaft. Went from there to an Ameritool set up and on to a Titan. And A LOT of cutting. The addition of my own stone work to my jewelry is a big plus. But lapidary is so inspiring to its own, I haven't gotten as much bench time in the last few years. But my cutting is getting excellent.
I guess theirs a balance there.

Thanks so much for letting me ramble a bit about Lapidarious
Barney

So much to choose from at whatever level of craftsmanship you are!
♥

Sunday Showcase - Saturated

1.CLineCreations2.isewcute3.simplyprettyprints4.scrivenerferret5.OnGossamerWings6.flavored
Each Sunday Showcase features one item from six wonderful shops based on a predetermined theme.

Want to have a chance to be selected for a Sunday Showcase? It's really simple!

♥ Check out the current Sunday Showcase thread running in Promos on Etsy to find out the theme for the following week♥ Comment in the thread if you feel you meet the criteria♥ Comment on this post and tell me which of the six items is your favorite and why. Don't forget to post your shop URL!♥ Only shops who comment in both locations will be considered
Here's the current thread!
That's all there is to it! Simple, right?

The thread will be open for participation until the Friday of the given week. Saturday will be used to go through selections and create the mosaic!

Shops CAN be featured multiple times, but I will never feature a shop more than once in a 3 months span. I will be keeping records of who is chosen so as to do my best to follow through on this promise.

All items will be tweeted on my Twitter page and the link to this blog entry posted on my Facebook Fan Page.
Twitter
Facebook

All types of artisan crafts, vintage & supplies are up for consideration so don't be shy!