A Treasury and a Giveaway!

I'm in another treasury! You can find it here until it expires. I feel so blessed to be in another one! It's my Wind Dancer piece, third row, on the right :)

Big thanks are in order to AmieVoltaire for featuring me! Isn't this skirt from her shop cute?

Do you like fun felt creations? Well here's your chance to win one like the one pictured below! Just go here :)

Tuesday's Tips #9

Wind Dancer

We've been talking the last few weeks about inspiration. Today I want to look at one place you can find inspiration - other artists in your field.

Note of Caution: They say there is nothing new under the sun and the imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Both statements have truth to them, however, you need to be aware of copy write laws and how they affect your field of art. While being inspired and learning from other artists is fine, you don't want to steal their hard work!

Ok, on to cheerier thoughts!

I LOVE to look at the work of other jewelry artists. Often I just look and drool. After all, there are many forms of jewelry that I can never attempt. For instance, anything that involves a lot of fumes (like resin) is off limits because of my severe asthma. That doesn't mean I can't admire and be inspired by their work! Here's some places I go to look at other jewelry artists work - I think you'll find you can translate this to your particular field of art :)

Teams:

I'm on several teams and they all contain fellow jewelry artists. The one I gain the most inspiration from though is my Etsy Bead Weavers team because the team is very focused on that medium! The other teams are great - but their focus is different and so it doesn't provide as many challenges or as much inspiration for the art side of things. If your not on a team specific to your medium I'd highly encourage it!

Books:

I just got done going through the book "500 Beaded Objects: New Dimensions in Contemporary Beadwork" and I was utterly floored by the possibilities out there! Sometimes looking through the work of the masters can be humbling, but I found it both challenging and encouraging as I see how much I have left to learn! I also got some new ideas :)

Magazines:

I regularly read Bead and Button and even sometimes Jewelry Artist. Now this is an area you need to be careful. You can learn a LOT, but you don't want to recreate their patterns for sale without first getting the permission of the artist who created it. Sometimes they will be willing to let you, other times they won't. You can make the patterns for yourself (and you'll often learn a lot!) but don't ever sell them without permission.

There are many other places you can view artists work in your field, browsing the various selling venues for instance, but these are some of my favorites!

I'd love to hear from you guys. What are your favorite magazines, books, or teams in YOUR field? I'll compile a list from what you tell me and post it for next weeks Tips :D Let's help each other!

Check these out!

Ok - so I know this is just a super quick post - but I have better planned for tomorrow I promise! 

If you chat w/ me a lot your probably saw many of these as I listed them. BUT if you tell me which piece out of these 9 is your favorite, and why, you'll get credit for TWO comments towards my comment contest instead of just one!

Introducing - Earth Walker

I'm so excited and frustrated all at the same time! I knew I was going to the bead store today and I'd be able to pick up the final color I needed to finish Earth Walker - the newest in my Elements series - and I didn't remember to pick up the clasp I need! *sigh* So it'll be a couple days before I can properly finish and photograph this piece, but here it is 99% done!

I used 6 different colors in this piece starting with Smoky Topaz, rootbeer, copper, Dark green, medium green, and light green! I really like how it turned out. This isn't the BEST picture, but since it's not finished I was just snapping something quick so I could post about it anyway :P It's going to be $80. 

If you want to see the other's in the series there are links to all of them in my Wind Dancer listing.

Thanks for looking!

Update on Craftiness

Ok! I've started a blog post, I'm going to keep it in drafts, and update as the day goes along! 

Update #1 ~ Relisted two bracelets on etsy that were about to expire (Bracelet 1, Bracelet 2)

Update #2 ~ I got the next segment in my on-going story "Aria's Quest" written up! Ahead of time for once... 

Update #3 ~ I picked up some new agate/rock chip strands yesterday. I love working with these! I usually make extremely simple bracelets out of them, but they've sold extremely well. So I just whipped together 2 bracelets to take with me when I restock my consignment shop on Monday.

Update #4 ~ So I've decided my "hour on one thing, hour on the next" isn't quite practical because some projects take less than that...but I am alternating between one thing and the next!

Update #5 ~ Listed a pair of fun earrings on Artfire! 

Update #6 ~ Took a break from craftiness to go to the store with the hubby :)

Update #7 ~ Came home to find the earrings had sold! It's my first Artfire Sale baby! Thanks Dede!

Update #8 ~ Bloggy time! Star Wars Geeking and a Book Review :) 

Update #9 ~ WOW I've gotten a lot done...lunch time!

Update#10 Lunch was good - and I did some beading while I ate! I picked up the beads I need yesterday so I can work on the next Necklace in my Elements series. The picture above is the only one currently unsold - Wind Dancer. The one I'm working on now is going to be called Earth Walker. I started it last night and I finished up the foundation a little bit after lunch. I'm really excited! I've had a ton of fun with this series :)

Update#11 ~ DeDe's earrings are in the mail!

Update#12 ~ Blue Loving Necklace listed on Artfire.

Update#13 ~ Did some "work" writing. Write up two book reviews! More fun writing later probably :)

Update#14 ~ Picked up my knitting for the first time in weeks! Feels good :)

Update#15 ~ Decided I'm officially NOT going to be taking any photos today - back is waaaay to sore! *sigh*

*Sunday Morning*

I ended up crashing not long after the last update I wrote. My back decided it wanted to spasm, spasm, and spasm some more! So I used a heating pad and took a nap to try and let my back relax. It never really worked. We went over to my in-laws around 5 for a graduation dinner for my brother-in-law. Food was great! I love my hubby's family :) 

After we got back I couldn't keep my eyes open (might have been from the muscle relaxant) so I went to bed...and never got back up! I think I slept for around 12 hours last night >_> My back is still sore today, but much better. I'm not breathing too well though so we're home for the day instead of heading to church.

I still have a million things I want to work on but I'm pretty out of it so some of them are out of the question. I probably won't get any writing done today unless I perk up, but I spent about an hour knitting this morning and I'm going to start working on my Elements necklace again as soon as I post this :) 

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday! I'll talk to you soon :)

Most recent listings! 4/25

Check out my newest listings in all three shops! 

Thinking and Planning, and a Question

My original plan for this blog post was to continue writing about my crafty goals. Three posts ago I finished up telling you about my list of goals for last quarter - and what had been accomplished. So the plan was to go on today by talking about my new set of crafty goals. 

Then I realized theirs a degree of futility to sharing with you guys what my goals are. Why? Well, between planning to write this post, and actually writing it, a lot has happened! The list has grown longer. Two projects have been completed. Two more projects have been worked on. Not to mention there's the complication of realizing that I have crafty projects all over the place! I have crafts in different crafty genre's, projects not started that are on my list, and even a box full of unfinished objects (or UFO's), that I really should get to at some point. 

So here's the short overview :)  My crafty projects list is always growing and morphing, so this is very incomplete!

1. I'm working on knitting a scarf. It's going slooow...but I do want to finish it.

2. Whenever I finish the scarf Mom and I are going to pick out an easy first crochet project for me to tackle.

3. I have a few ideas floating around for cross-stitch projects.

4. BEAD-WEAVING - I have a LOT lined up here! Totally new pieces no one's ever seen, new takes on old favorites, and just plain lots and lots of fun :) 

I will tell you that one of my plans includes wrapping up my popular Elements series. So far Firebird, Swiftly Changing Waters, and my spin-off from the series - Woodland Fairy, have all gone to good homes! The only one currently in my shop is Wind Dancer, and this is the most unique of the whole series because I wove 50 crystals into this necklace! 

I'm still looking for the right beads to complete the 4th in the series, "Earth Walker." I had some that were perfect and the bead store hasn't restocked them yet. *sigh* After the 4th is done the Elements series will be complete, but I love this style so much that I know I won't stop there! I'll do many, many more spin-offs :) I have a few ideas of color schemes I'd like to do, but I'd love to know what your guy's ideas are! 

If your not familiar with this series I've been doing just click on any of the names to go see more pictures :)