Looking for Halloweenie Stuff???

I've been noticing that I am not the only one psyched up for Halloween!

There has been a lot of talk on Etsy about it, and I know that while getting ready for an upcoming crafts show, I need to be making more and more Halloweenie stuff.

What folks may not know is that I have a couple of shops on CafePress that have been quite popular over the years (they pay for my cell phone actually).

So if you want to check them out, here are the links:


The Wicked Witch Was Framed:

http://www.cafepress.com/wickedwitch1

Goblet Halloween One:

http://www.cafepress.com/goblethall1

Goblet Halloween Two:

http://www.cafepress.com/goblethall2

Goblet's Fall Shop (will be adding more items soon):

http://www.cafepress.com/gobfall

Eggboy's Halloween Treats:

http://www.cafepress.com/eggcorn

Enjoy!!!


Until next time...

A Most Amazing Gift...

Tonight I was overwhelmed by a gift that I was truly not expecting.

Quick background...

Our family's oldest and closest friends (who we consider extended family--calling them Aunt, Cousin, etc) had a nice Sunday bbq get-together today. It was at my Aunt's mom's house...coolest lady out there. So funny and was the closest thing to a grandmother I ever had. She lost the love of her life a year and a half ago. He was quite the gentleman. Life of the party, quick wit, LOVED to dance and do a little flirtin' with the ladies...always had a devilish grin on his face. As long as I've been alive, these folks have been a part of my life.

Ironically, having said all of that what I did not know until just a couple of years ago was that Mr. C was a jewelry maker!

When he passed, Mrs. C kept his workstudio the way he left it. And knowing that I create jewelry now, had offered to give me a few of his tools. I knew going down there today that I might come home with a pair of pliers, maybe a polishing cloth...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What happened made me more than speechless.

They opened the door to the studio, this little room that he created just the way he wanted it. Perfectly organized--tools everywhere--and drawers and drawers full of supplies. Beads, sterling silver, findings, bags, gemstones, cultured pearls from decades ago, carvings, full oxygen tanks for the blowtorch, soldering guns, you name it, he had it.

And they offered it ALL to me.

ALL

It was like telling a 5 year old, "here is the key to the candy store--go nuts".

I didn't know what to do, where to start, how to go about this. I NEVER expected such a gift!

Once it sunk in, all I could think of was, "ok. How do I cut this room out of the house and strap it to the top of the car?!"

It was amazing. Going through everything he had, every time I picked something up, I found something else underneath. He had it all. I'm still in shock at how much I found (and thinking of what I may have missed!).

I took what I could today. Lots of beads and findings. A few pairs of tools that I so badly needed. They were very surprised I didn't take more, but again, I was completely overwhelmed by what had just been presented to me.

Mrs. C kept saying, "you come back and get more, whenever you want. It's yours and you know what it's all for--I don't!" lol

Even as I'm writing this, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened today.

But I'm doing it with a big smile and a lot of love in my heart.

Wow.



Until next time...

Treasury Madness Continues--Workin' the Spectrum

Welcome back!

Ok so far we've touched on themes, dealing with the sellers you are featuring and the basics of what exactly a Treasury is.

Now I'd like to talk color.

This past weekend I was able to get two Treasuries. One in 'main' and one in Treasury West. (which I know I have to explain one day, sorry)

The first one, (see pic to the left) is well, 'steel based'. All works made with nails. Yes, nails.

I don't know where the idea came from but once I started looking things up, it came together beautifully.

If you notice from the screenshot, I didn't pick anything that had a contrasting background. That is on purpose.

I originally had some pieces, also beautiful, but their photo backgrounds didn't fit with what I was hoping to do. For this Treasury, I wanted the steel grays to really be the focal point--therefore--I wanted everything chosen to have that kind of black and white 'old movie' feel to it.

Now, I mentioned I was able to get two Treasuries this time around...

Well, for this second one, I went in the total opposite direction and really wanted a lot of color.

I also wanted to get the 'Lollipop' song out of my head (thanks Dell for using THAT for your damned ads)--so I decided why not go with something fun and super colorful:

It's so great when you have two completely different Treasuries running such as this to see the reactions folks have to it.

I love reading the comments after my Treasury goes 'live'.

Apparently this Lollipop one has been bringing back a lot of memories for folks and to me, that's fantastic.

It doesn't have to just be about promoting your work either. Neither of these Treasuries have my work in them.

Sometimes it's just about what comes to mind, what inspires you, what mood you're in that day...so many ways to create.

Color though is a wonderful way to start.

One of my first was all involving my favorite color, blue. And as you can see in a previous post, I did one that was all minty green.

The sky is the limit when it comes to creating your Treasury. So have some fun with it, but also be respectful as (and this can't be stressed enough) you are representing other artists' works.

I'll leave you with that thought for now.

Until next time...

Treasury Madness Three--Be Silly!

I've been noticing a trend with Treasuries lately, and that trend is, safe and serious.

My question for folks is, why?

Don't get me wrong, I have seen some beautiful collections--wonderful color combos--featuring great sellers--etc.

But sometimes it's ok to add a little silliness!

Take my last two Treasuries. (See pics)

I asked for suggestions for a theme and was thrown 'Big Noses'. A little off-beat but then again, so am I. So I went with it.

One of the great things about Treasuries is discovering what is out there on Etsy. By putting in a simple term like 'big nose' into the search box the items that came up were hysterical and it was so much fun to run with the idea. (no pun intended there)

It's easy to put in terms such as 'earrings' or 'felt'--granted, being a designer of earrings, I'm always hoping that my work will show up in the searches. However, every now and then, think of something strange or outside the box and see what happens!

The same weekend I created the 'Big Noses' Treasury, I also created the 'Krazy Characters' Treasury_West. (we'll get into the differences between Treasury pages another time)

This was another fun one. By putting 'characters' as my search term some wild and crazy items came up--and it was quite difficult to decide which 12 items would be highlighted. When I finally decided, this was the result:

I guess what I'm trying to get across here is that Treasuries can be fun as well as colorful.

As you've seen from my previous Treasury collections (see previous posts), I can be all about the color. I've even been on the more subdued side--tranquil, etc.

Every now and then it's fun to be silly.

My 'Big Nose' theme had more hits, clicks and comments than any other Treasury I've created. Was really hoping it would be front page bound--but alas, it did not make it there.

My thinking on this???

Other folks were hoping for some silly as well. :)

Until next time...