Joy

Thursday night was my first of the two craft sales I am doing. It was held in the small town I live in, and only lasts for 2 hours. But what a busy 2 hours it was. The town only has about 800 people, and yet I always sell so much more than I think I will. This is of course great, and it makes me smile to be so supported by this small community. I sold out of a number of items. The hard part of this is that next weekend, is the bigger sale that I am in, and I don't have much time to restock my creations.
And so I have been busy today making more earrings, as I nearly sold out of those.

I love the look of metal with bits of wispy silk, and the middle earrings have pearls I bought in Bali last year.

Besides earrings, I packaged up some original mixed media creations, and now am going to try to make some more cards. I will have time tomorrow, but after that it is back to my busy week of work and regular family activities - so not too much time to create.

P.S. The messiness of my studio has seemed to take over the rest of my house - but I didn't take a picture of that to share!

when you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. ~ rumi

I Believe in Goodness

Goodness has been happening to me often lately - and it brings a smile to my face and heart. To celebrate my first year of blogging, I offered up a few items for trade. The trades could be in exchange for creations, or random acts of kindness. Kelly Thiel had offered me numerous kindness, as she has been offering up kind words by commenting on my blog for a long time. It was the support I needed to keep me going in those early and unsure days of blogging. Therefore when she commented that she liked this necklace, I was thrilled to send it off to her. AND then, she did another lovely thing and blogged about my gift on her site. Her kind and supportive words are such a wonderful gift.

AND THEN TODAY when I got home from work there was a parcel waiting for me. It was from Crystal Neubauer. She too was interested in trading, and I sent her a package of handpainted face cards in the mail a couple of weeks ago. The package she sent looked lovely, but I could hardly wait to see what was inside,

and when I opened it up, I was thrilled to find this beautiful encaustic collage/painting. Crystal's work is beautiful, and I am thrilled that she was interested in trading items. I keep picking this piece up and looking at it tonight - it continually makes me smile. I will find the perfect place to put it, and cherish it for always.

(above artwork by Crystal, and tied to my parcel)

AND so I want to say a huge thank you to both Kelly and Crystal for their kindness.

I do believe in goodness!

A Nice Surprise

Cloth Paper Scissors is a mixed media magazine that I enjoy. They often have challenges and swaps to encourage their readers to create items, and a few months ago they held a swap in which readers could send in Christmas swap items. You can send in your creation, and they send it off to another person, and some of them are pictured in upcoming editions of the magazine.
When I was flipping through the Nov/Dec issue, I was pleased to come across my creation, among numerous other wonderful creations.

and here it is in close up. It is a decoration with a copy of a face I painted, with the words Joy to the World written on it. I am not sure where it ended up.....

but I was fortunate enough to receive this decoration in the mail a few weeks ago.

Jewellery Time

I am always busy - but amongst my normal busy life, I have been trying to finish off some jewellery pieces that I will be selling at local art sales.

I have finished some large bezels

as well as some small bezels that I added to pieces of chains and circles of soldering to create these necklaces.

These small bezels are also ready.

I still need to finish some of the black cords I am sewing that the above can be hung on.
I am slowly getting there.....

Inspiration

It always amazes me where inspiration comes from.

This tiny wee books (approx 3" X 2") were inspired by images Mystele showed of painted bookcovers she was making. They look nothing like mine (go here and scroll down to see them)

I am not sure how I got these from what she created, but I am glad I did, as they were fun to make. They have an elastic wrapped around them to keep them closed.

and when the elastic is removed the books burst open with pages waiting for notes, little drawings or whatever.

My busy life is keeping me from creating as much as my mind would like me too. Only 11 and 21 more days until the art sales I am in!

Happiness in a Messy Studio

This may look messy - but to me it looks happy - it is a place where I am busy and creating.

And, if you look closely among the mess you will see the makings of some little books - the glue is drying, and the wax coating the covers them is waiting to be polished up before the pages are sewn inside.

In another corner a number of bezels are waiting to be filled with images and beads and resin. These are just in the looking stage - nothing has been glued down - I look and ponder for a while before the final picture is chosen and glued down and filled with resin.

And then there is a basket of paintings waiting to be packaged.

If my studio looks like this, it usually means it has been a day of cleaning and not creating - and then my studio is not such a happy place.

Paintings From Last Year

I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked, but that seems to be the case most days for me. Maybe for you too..... I had trouble getting images printed that I wanted to mount in necklace bezels I have made. I wanted to use images of photographs I have taken, and paintings I have painted. I had chosen some, and saved them, but when I went to print them they were not as sharp as I wanted. So I had to go back into my files and refind them, and in my search I found a couple of images that I had forgotten about. The one above I made into a book cover.

This one was made using a copy of a drawing that I cut into pieces, and then transfered

onto watercolour paper and painted.... I don't think I did anything with the finished creation - or I haven't yet anyway.

Even when things don't go as planned, there is usually something good that comes of it, and finding these images of paintings that I did some time ago made me smile.

Mostly Face Paintings

I am presently getting some original paintings finished off and organized. Most of them are whimsical faces. To get a better look at them, I layed them out on the floor.
From there it was easier to see which ones still needed some work.
I am adding some final words, some sewing around the edges, and a coating of wax over the whole painting.

This one I think is finished just the way it is.

The (great big) Stitched Postcard Swap

Beth Nicholls is hosting a second postcard swap. If you want to join in you will have to hurry - there is still time, but you have to join in by Friday. Click here to learn more about it!

The theme this time around is home. Last time the theme was time.

Here is the postcard I created - it has many layers of "stuff" that I fused together, and then I embroidered on top of it, sewed around the edges, and glued it onto a hard backing. It travelled all the way from Northern Canada to Aukland New Zealand.



I am not sure what I will make with the new theme - nor where it will travel too, but I am looking forward to the fun! Why don't you join in - even if you don't create things too often this is the perfect opportunity to create something.

A Year of Blogging

It was a year ago yesterday, that I began blogging. In my first post, I wrote a bit about why I wanted to create a blog. - I wanted to keep a record of what I created, and to perhaps inspire others. Since I received a lovely comment a week or so ago, saying I provide that reader inspiration, I was thrilled - YEAH. I am so often inspired by so many wonderful blogs, and to know I inspire someone out there in blog land, makes me happy. BUT, my blog has done more than those two things for me, as I try to post twice a week, it provides me the prod to create - so I have new things to show as often as I can. AND perhaps most importantly it helps me believe in myself, and in what I create.

For the past while I have been thinking about how I would like to trade creations with other people who create, and so today, I have decided to put this offer out in the blog world, and see what happens. (even if you don't create, I am open to trades - keep reading)


The first thing I have for trading is a package of 5 cards (pics above and below). They are whimsical faces I drew, photocopied, and then painted each one.

The second item I have available for trade is a resin filled bezel necklace. The bezel is a bit rustic, but actually I like it that way.

The third item is a small ( approximately 3 X4.5 inch) address book

If you are not a person that creates things, or don't feel you want to trade what you create, I am open to trading these items for services in the community you live in. I would trade an item for the individual donating some food to a local food bank, or running an errand for someone that is housebound, or helping at an animal shelter, or helping a child learn to read, or.... a variety of other things. Leave me a comment on what you want to trade for either here or at my e-mail address - be it something you have created, or something that you will do for others, I am open for trades. Leave me your e-mail address, and I will get back to you.

And the last item I have available for trade is a grungy little (approximately4 X 3.5 inches) softcover book - with bits and pieces of images and material decorating the cover, and a material tie closure.

The inside pages are grungy, and a bit warped in a lovely sort of way (or so I think anyway).

Whether you want to trade or not, I do want to say thank you for stopping by this little blog of mine. I love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment at any time, and if you know of other people interested in trading their creations, please pass this offer along to them.

Here's too another enjoyable year of blogging!