Two days in a row???

Well, I finished up the last of my 12x12 designer sheet and decided to make individual cards rather than another set. With the new Etsy stats available for my shop, I've learned that people are eager to find retirement cards. I finally made one.



With my own first wedding anniversary coming up, I guess anniversary cards were just on my mind, so something simple that can go to a couple or to a man or a woman ...



Then I realized I hadn't made any baby cards all year long. I thought this one was very sweet, and could be used for a girl or a boy.



And last but not least, a card for a new Mr. & Mrs.



As always, if you want to know more about the cards, just click on the photo! Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween?

As the summer days grow a little bit shorter and the morning air carries a chill in it, we all feel the stirrings of autumn in our blood. Halloween is just around the corner, and here's a pretty card to send to someone who just LOVES that holiday. Just click on the photo above to find out more about it.

Wall of Hope

I read about a greeting card project on a blog post by one of my Etsy Greetings team mates, wimzieprints. Thought I'd share it with you. Just click here.

I was featured today

in this blog yesterday ChrissiB -- My Life On Parade. Please go by and give her a visit!

Seven Bridges

Elizabeth of Seven Bridges studio has considered herself a writer -- far removed from visual arts -- for most of her young life. "When I was about 17, I was first introduced to digital art, and I found a world of tools that could bring my inspiration to life," she said. But it would be another 10 years or so before she actually picked up a camera.

Elizabeth loves to create images that stir the soul. She finds it difficult to tell what that will be, and shoots 300 to 400 frames during a good week. Her favorite moment is when she looks at a shot and can tell that it will evoke emotion for someone. Inspiration is her constant companion -- "I have more inspiration than time," she says. Her latest fascination is fashion photography.

Keri Love Jewels

Keri of Kerilovvejewels has a Barbados-based Etsy shop, specializing in jewelry and ornaments. She has been crafting for three years, and is a university student pursuing a bachelor's degree in ecology and psychology.

pumpkin sputnik

Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to go to art school, says Emma of pumpkinsputnik. "I never wanted to do anything else - I just loved to draw." At art school that passion turned to jewelry design as well as computer graphics. She has since combined the latter with an interest in photography and turned the combination toward making simply beautiful notebooks and stationery. "I love notebooks and usually have about three on the go for different things."

Winter and autumn are the times of the year when she's most inspired by nature and the shapes and silhouettes of trees and flowers, and the colours. "Whenever we go out walking in Scotland," says this Glasgow-based artist,"I'll take my camera - I usually get left miles behind my husband and children because I'm taking photos of trees!"

joemomma

Alysa began sewing in a junior high home economics class, where the first project was a pencil bag. "I was so proud to use something that I had made myself," she says. "After that I sewed off and on with my mom's help for a few years." But she engaged with sewing in earnest during college when her sister-in-law taught her how to make patchwork quilts. "I made quilts for everyone and loved it." The quilts were followed by baby blankets, then bibs and burp cloths as gifts. Then she had a baby of her own (Joe, as you might have guessed) and found out that the things she made worked better than anything store-bought. "The absorbency and stain-resistance amazed me! I thought I should share my baby items with others."

Then she found Etsy. It seemed the perfect venue not only for her handmade baby items, but for other things she can sew as well. Now she makes bags and pillow covers as well, and is looking forward to including some fun headbands and covered buttons in her shop. The different items allow her to work with unique vintage fabrics -- her only problem is too many ideas and not enough time.

Fabric inspires her. "My favorite thing is to go searching for vintage fabric. I have a great little store near me where I walk in the door and the owner goes right to her fabric closet and pulls out funky, bold, bright vintage fabric for me to look at. It is so fun and I love to imagine what I will make with each piece. Sometimes the fabric is so nice and so unique that I just hold on to it for a while because I want to make sure that I use it in the best way possible. I don't want to waste it!"

Joemomma is the name of her shop, which has recently been joined by a destash shop as well.

A Valentine Story

Today I was featured in Signature Sterling's blog. But that's not the real story. The real story lies in the card she selected from my shop. It's as sweet as they come. You can also visit her shop.

K is for Calligraphy

Katy of K is for Calligraphy, has a bachelor of science in accounting and a minor in French, so she never expected to be a self-employed professional calligrapher. Her mom, however, had a hunch that calligraphy was in her daughter's future, and nudged her toward a calligraphy class as soon as she learned how to write. But it was a couple of decades before Katy followed her mom's hunch (and a prompt from the other side of her brain) and enrolled, and now has a career as a professional calligrapher.

"Handmade is my creative choice," she says. "Whether it is a handmade birthday card or an original place card, it is my belief that giving is best when you are giving handmade. I cannot imagine a day without doing calligraphy or creating something new."

She is a proud member of Etsy Paper.

Featured by Citrus Tree Designs

Citrus Tree Designs wrote up a nice feature about my shop today.

Art by Heather

"I've been making messes since the day I was born," says Heather, proprietor of Art by Heather. "I love to create but the process is slightly disrupting! At the moment, I am intrigued with altered art and random creativity."

This stay-at-home mom, a self-described Pollyanna who always looked at the bright side, has always "dabbled in artsy-fartsy, crafty stuff." The offerings in her Etsy shop are only the latest in a long line of creative endeavors. She tries to reflect her positive outlook in her art, and likes to make things that make her laugh. "Hopefully you'll chuckle a bit as well," she says. The cards and dominoes in her shop were born as she looked through her collection of old photographs one day. "Chuck and Barb wanted to share their love...then Mildred gave me a dirty look and just to spite her I put her on a card. The others soon followed...and there are lots more to come!"

Heather is inspired by people...all kinds of people. "Preferably fun, quirky, ODD people. The kind most of us can relate to! My primary goal is always to make people smile...preferably to break out into a full-on knee-slapping laugh!"

Shell Mitchell

Shell Mitchell has always loved to make pretty things. "When I was five I begged my mother to let me use her sewing machine so I could make a fluffy pink skirt - the ones in the store were just not fluffy enough! Under her supervision, and many yards of tulle later, I had my very first one-of-a-kind creation."

Today, the joy of making and wearing unique, one-of-a-kind items is still with her. "As someone who gets cold when temperatures dip below 70, having a good pair of gloves suited for wearing indoors is really important to me, and I need them to be fingerless so I can still get my work done." Shell started altering her own gloves 10 years ago after not being able to find any fingerless gloves that were cute enough to wear to the very stylish office she was working in at the time. A decade later, she is still making and selling them as a part-time job. She is, in fact, in the middle of a long love affair with gloves. "Taking something basic and turning it into something beautiful and functional has been tremendously satisfying for me." Shell also likes to recreate vintage dresses into modern, wearable pieces.

Shell is inspired by people, travel, life, nature, art - you name it! The whimsy of Japanese street style fascinates her and she strives to incorporate that into her life. She makes an annual pilgrimage to the Burning Man art festival, "The creativity there is always amazing. Somehow that week of craziness always gets me back on track with my priorities in order."

Basically, however, she finds inspiration most often in small ways every day. "Sometimes it is a flower blooming in the yard, a girl walking down the street... anything that makes my heart smile will find it's way into my work sooner or later." Find out more about her work at her blog.

Sew Much Detail

Sandee of SewMuchDetail has been sewing since she was 14. She decided to turn her passion into a new business, featuring vintage and vintage inspired cottage fabrics from designers like Rachell Ashwell and Laura Ashley which you are likely to find among her designs, which include some of everything -- totes for Mom and baby, the little princess, table linens, stockings, sachets, towels and a special teachers section. She specializes in affordable, handmade pretties for every gift occasion -- especially a gift for yourself! She'll be happy to add monograms or other details to your specifications, and is happy to do other kinds of custom work as well.

TEMNO

Teresa of TEMNO is an Italian architecture student who has a fondness for high-quality paper and functional yet aesthetically pleasing notebooks and sketchbooks. "That is what I often indulge myself with, and what I am offering in this little corner of Etsy," she says. Each of her journals, sketchbooks or albums is unique and handmade, so it might not be perfect as an industrial product, but that's what she likes most.

She's also a photographer, and often her papercrafts feature some her photographs. Sometimes, you'll also find a small selection of Italian beads and copper in her shop as well. You can see more of her work on Flickr and read more about her on her blog.

Front page for a little while

I got a huge surprise today when friends let me know that this card made it into the Etsy Valentine Gift Guides as well as making an appearance on the front page. Go figure!

Sea Glass Designs

"I have always gathered sea glass."

So says Rita, a nurse, wife, mother and crafter who grew up on beautiful Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. "My father was a lobster fisherman and we lived just a few feet from the sea -- close enough that we sometimes had seaweed on the doorstep after a storm!" As a child, she and her brother and sister made crafts with beach rocks and sold them to the tourists who visited their fishing village. She pauses a moment to wonder how many of those glued together contraptions are still out there.

Collecting treasures from the sea remains a family affair. Her partner and children help with collecting the sea glass. "None of us can stroll along a beach, just enjoying the day. We can't help but walk with our heads down, eyes peeled for that little piece of colour hiding in the sand and rocks." Because their beaches are snow and ice covered from December to the end of March, the hunt is over for this year; she uses the winter hours to work with the beautiful pieces -- ranging from vibrant reds to turquoise -- that they have found through the summer and fall months. "There is history behind some of the pieces- there are books such as Richard LaMotte's 'Pure Sea Glass' which help to identify the age of certain pieces of glass, and where they may have come from. Its thrilling to find a piece that is particularly old or rare."

Rita started making jewelry with my glass collection about 5 years ago. "I took silver smithing and jewelry courses at our local art college, loved everything about it, and decided to incorporate some of our glass into the pieces. The designs are inspired by the glass itself. Sea glass, also know as beach glass or mermaid's tears, is nature's answer to bottles, china and pottery carelessly thrown into the sea many years ago. The glass is tumbled on the ocean floor, smoothed by the waves and sand until it washes up on shore, waiting to be found by a lucky passerby. Because every piece of sea glass is different, no two pieces of jewelry are exactly alike, which keeps it interesting," she says. Her work can be found in her Etsy shop as well as at craft fairs and a boutique in Halifax called Love, Me, which carries Canadian handmade goods from several Etsy shops.

Kiley's Handmade Books

"I have always been a crafty kind of girl," says Kiley. "I grew up in my Dad's studio classes as he worked towards his BFA, and I learned to make all kinds of items." A love of all kinds of arts and crafts was instilled in her from a young age -- she was in a 4-H sewing group, had a beading loom on which she made bracelets, made macramé bracelets, "the list could go on forever," she says.

Bookbinding came later, however, when she worked in a library while working on her undergraduate degree. "I knew I loved working in libraries and started to look for the area of specialization that would fit me. After an extensive amount of research I found a specialization that I thought I would love; I wanted to be a conservationist." She began by taking a series of book binding classes to get her feet wet and see if it was something she could do. She started with a basic class on small books and took another class on larger book making as well as a class on making protective boxes. "As long as I have known about handbound books I have loved them. Books have really become my passion."

From there I took off on my own, bought some books, and joined a local book arts group and have learned a lot of really unique and fun book structures. She began to build a a 3-D portfolio for graduate school admission. "I had a blast in the classes and it was something that came very naturally to me. I fell in love with the craft and have never looked back. I now spend most of my free time folding, sewing, cutting, gluing, and whatever else I can think of to do to paper with the end goal of a book in mind," she says.

Right now her two favorite structures are the Celtic Weave and her Origami books. "I just got a great deal on some larger paper and am going to start offering my origami books in a 6" square size. I love the Celtic Weave because it opens flat like a Coptic stitching but I think it is a much more eye-catching sewing," she says.

Kiley gets most of her inspiration from her paper stash. "When I start a new project I almost never start with a color, pattern, or style of book in mind. I start looking for the paper, or fabric, that stands out that day. From there I pick a structure and a size and start working."

She also get great rushes of inspiration from custom orders, trying to create the perfect book for someone she's only communicated with for short time spans. "It's always a challenge, but it's also very rewarding. I love the feedback I get from the custom books I have made that also drives me to create more wonderful books."

If you see a book in her shop that you like but don't love, she invites you to send her a message so she can do a custom order for you. Similarly if you see something in her sold listings you love, but she doesn't have any currently in stock, she'd love to make one for you. "I love doing custom orders and would love to create a book just for you!" You can keep up with Kiley's Etsy activities on her blog.

Raydel Photography

You'd never know it, but Raydel Photography is a Florida-based, self-taught photographer. "I really have always had a love of photography. I have only been shooting for about 6 months. I have always had a camera but I never though of using it as a professional." But it's a little more complex than it seems on the surface. "I have had the training and nurturing of two wonderful and professional photographers. My sister (a photographer and illustrator) and brother have taken me under wing to help me grow with my love of the photographic arts and fine tune her skills." She is in love with creating vintage style images and finding beauty in things often overlooked -- small trinkets often overlooked. "I like to find items in thrift stores that people often toss aside and make them my own little unique works of art.

She also finds inspiration in her children and in her surroundings. "Florida has so many images -- especially sunsets -- just waiting to be photographed," she says, "and I hope to someday capture them all."

From My Brush

From My Brush is a Florida artist who loves to paint in acrylics, water color, and pen and ink with watercolor wash. "I got started as an artist when I retired from my second career, my husband had passed away and my daughter was through college and well on her way to a bright future.I always had a little artistic creative flair so I decided I wanted to learn to paint.I entered the school of Folk Art in Daytona Beach," she says.

For 11 years she has enjoyed painting with the same intructor and same group of friends. She paints two hours daily. Everything around her is inspirational. "I love the trees, birds, ocean but oh, epescially the flowers. Somewhere I read that flowers were God's artwork, and I use that as my slogan. I found Etsy (where she is known as glory2727) and now I can enjoy my art and share it with others."

Her canvases are large 16x20 art renderings, candles, glass bud vases, wine glasses,wood, note cards and bookmarks. She also hand-paints designs on small letters for name boards. Visit her web site and her blog.