Saturday Night at the Market - 02/07/09

Last night my eye was really caught by these gorgeous porcelain veggie beads by Joan Miller Porcelain. One of the things I love about 1000 Markets is the way the front page is different every time you visit. I didn't really feel like searching or browsing last night, so I shopped by refreshing the front page and clicking on whatever caught my eye.


It's a fun way to to shop if you don't know what you're looking for, lol! After seeing the veggie beads, I went to check out Joan's shop and found this adorable Mermaid pendant, too - she'd bring a smile to anyone's day!



My next main page refresh brought up this bright and sunny painting by Nancy of Impressions Gallery. The colors in this painting make me feel like I'm right there with the sun shinging on my face. In fact the beautiful vibrant color in all of Nancy's work is making me want to redecorate my house - I'm imagining some gorgeous rooms right now!



I'd also like to introduce the newest member of the Wearable Art Market that I'm a member of - Sharon MacLeod Jewelry Design. She makes incredibly unique bracelets out of what she describes as 'the most unlikely materials' plus her own wonderful graphic art. My favorite is the Purple Bangles with Dangles stack, and the African Inspired Bangles stack. Yummy!!!



Speaking of bangles, 'bangle' was the search engine word for today's 1000 Markets Search Engine Find. 188 different bangles and bangle purses came up in the results. The one that caught my eye was the very first one on the page, not only because I love it, but because it was made by my friend Janice of Doxallo Designs. Janice is the founder of the wonderful Jewelry Artist Network and forum as well as the wonderful jewelry artist's retreat that I attend every year. Her 'Halfway There' bangle is a classic design with an edge, and would go perfectly with everything I wear!

This week's news....

Things have been moving along on the business side of things this week. (No, I'm not really caught up, but making progress, ha ha) I was contacted by a couple of weeks ago by Jerri who has a nice blog called Simply Sweet Home, which is full of tempting recipes, hints, and other cozy homey things.


I noticed that her lovely graphics were done by Polka Dot Pixels, so I gave Emily's Etsy graphics shop a visit and purchased a blog makeover from her. Check out her blog if you'd like to see more samples of her work. I really love my new look, and am having great fun developing matching business cards, new banners for my shops and other fun things from the great graphics that Emily did for me. I have been looking for a cottage-y 'scheme' forever! Ha, and you can't help but notice that my new theme matches the roses and violets coffee cup that I bought last week. Now I'm going to have to paint my house purple and grow some pink roses along with all my lavender....

I also did some new jewelry designs this week that I'm soooo excited about. I bought a lot of moonstone and labradorite at the gem show last October, and didn't have time to set any of the cabochons during the holiday rush. I wanted to do something special for the charity auction that my best friend and her husband organize every year for the Greene County Livestock Association.(Agribusiness is pretty important here in Greene County) I'm not a farmer, but my friends sure are, and they put on a great banquet every year, complete with local beef grilled on an open fire, The Stoney Creek Cloggers, (they perform at the Smokey Mountain Folk Festival, too) and a rip-roaring auction with everything from handmade collector's baskets, to watercolor paintings to black angus bull semen!!



The first piece I did for the auction is named 'Moondream' and I almost didn't give it up - I really love how it turned out. Now I'm working on another mooonstone pendant and a ring with some more of the gorgeous cabs I have.



The second piece is something else I've been wanting to do for a while, too - making more flowers in metal to keep my buttercup pieces company. I'm so excited about my new 'Wild Rose' series - I'm working on another one to post in my shop tomorrow. I might just make a tradition of introducing a new design series at the auction every year.

I gave up my jewelry pieces, but I didn't come home empty-handed - I bid on this great signed and framed watercolor print by Michael Sloane and won! It's already hanging in my dining room.

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy - 02/01/09

Happy Sunday all! I'm late today - my Mom was over for a visit. We were supposed to be working on accounting and taxes. However, we went out to lunch and spent the time chatting instead. We are just soooo bad!! I'm rounding out my lovely day of 'not watching the Superbowl' by doing my weekly browse of Etsy shops. I'm still in the same cottage-y mood from yesterday after purchasing my wonderful Violet Rose mug. I'm starting to get the urge to do some spring cleaning and a bit of redecorating, as I've decided I'm done with winter now, ha ha. Hope winter is done with me! At least it now looks like the big snowstorm that was supposed to come in this week is going elsewhere - yay!


My Etsy browsing turned up some wonderful cottage finds. I've been looking for some new pillows to accent the sagey greens in my living room, and I found this lovely pillow at Atticwear's shop. It is feather and down-filled, too - there is nothing better than snuggling on the couch with a down filled pillow. (Except......oops, my mind strayed a bit there, hee, hee).



I've also been looking for a distinctive fireplace screen for ages, and certainly never thought I'd find one on Etsy, but there it was - this gorgeous handmade wrought iron fireplace screen! This picture has a rust finish, which is lovely, but I think I'd get mine in black. I've got a clock on my mantle that just about matches it perfectly!



And what cottage would be complete without this sweet little bird sitting on a shelf? This adorable clay nuthatch is from Dances with Clay's shop. I've definitely got to get one of her sweet birds.

Speaking of birds, I also found this lovely bird's nest card in Bella Sera Designs' enchanting shop. Her cards have a beautiful vintage look, and I love them all!