My Heartsy Deal

So excited for my heartsy deal today. ChellaBellaPapers is featured...

Click the link below to sign up. Lots and lots of great items at great discount prices: http://heartsy.me/users/26190/referral?c=plink

Summer is just around the corner =)

It's coming close to that time of year again.Summer is on it's warm and wonderful way. Preparing for the season I started off with this pretty summer inspired digital paper pack entitled "Soft Petals" You can check it out in my shop www.kissedbyapixel.com

Featured Artist Of The Month

This month's featured artist is Jacqueline of Spokane United States. I got a chance to interview her about her collection from lovely jewelry to throw cushions and supplies! Here is what she had to say...

What type of artwork do you do?
NedjmaBazaar makes jewelry and decor inspired by culture and nature, with a heavy African and Arabian influence.

My shop MesEtoiles makes edibles. mostly non perishables like teas and spice blends with a cooking lesson, which I call the MesEtoiles world chef series. This is where I adapt favorite restaurant fare from different cultures to recipes for weeknight meals anyone can make. I find this to be valuable for saving money and being adventurous in your repertoire. I also make spicy chocolate truffles... which are very popular.

How long have you been creating?
How long have I been alive? I have been drawing, painting, cooking, and beading as far back as I can remember. Although I have surely adapted and improved over the years.

How much time do you spend working on your craft?
Typically, anywhere for 20-30 hours a week. Then another 20-30 promoting and selling it.

What inspires you to create?
Well, there is a never ending whirlwind of thoughts that race through my head all the time. I think there is a little elf in my head that grabs thoughts as they race by and puts them together and hands them to me - No! Seriously, I am heavily inspired by nature, culture, and color. I love rich and dramatic color combination's.

Do you have a designing process?
Yes, but its more a non-process. its like reading tea leaves. The pieces fall where they fall and I try to make sense of them. Once I organized my bead bucket and subsequently had a creators block until they all fell off a shelf and ended up back in a bucket. I let the beads tell me what to do, rather than the other way around.

Where do you do your creating?
At home. Typically on my couch although I have been beading in the back yard all week while my son plays. I do a lot of creating in my head. I pretty much never stop creating. Oh, and my kitchen of course.

Have you always been artsy?
Since i came out of the womb. My mom is an artist and my dads family are musicians. It is in our blood and we are never happy doing anything else.

Do you have another job?
I did but now I do not. I am doing all I can to make creation my job, on Etsy and otherwise.

Where do you sell your pieces?
Currently I sell on Etsy as well as locally. I am coming up with ideas for other venues as well.

Do you enjoy what you do?
Immensely! I stopped creating when my son was born and became so depressed and lost. I feel like now that I am back to doing what I love, I have woken up from a deep sleep. I am very thrilled about it.

Do you have a favorite piece in your shop?
I have several. I have one simple pair of earrings that I had to make myself a clone of. I loved them so much: Tribal Earrings and for my more complex work it would have to be my
Earthy Beaded Necklace really though, its hard to choose.

Do you have a blog or website setup?
www.nedjmabazaar.com/blog
www.facebook.com/pages/Nedjma

My new favorite toy

Lately I've been diving into scrapbooking, card and tag making and and have fallen in love with various paper packs, embellishments, ink pads, stamps etc... Just found my new favorite scrapbooking toy. Purchased in online a few days ago from Etsy shop www.photomamaregina.etsy.com and just opened it today. I just know we are going to be the best of friends. Look how pretty those flowers are, going to be making hundred upon hundreds. Be still my excited heart =)

What is your favorite scrapbooking tool? I would love to get a cricut, maybe for my Birthday?!

Featured Artist Of The Month

This month's featured artist is Stephanie of Northern California Coast. I got a chance to interview her about her collection of lovely children's apparel and accessories! Here is what she had to say...

What type of artwork do you do?
Create children's clothing and accessories.

How long have you been creating?
Probably 8 years total . . . I was recently given a sewing machine, and decided less than a year ago to take up sewing after a very, very long hiatus!

I used to make most of my clothing as a teenager, because I was mortified whenever a classmate wore the same dress as me. Once my children were born, I found I was always having to work outside the home. Then there were the needles, pins and scissors that couldn't be left out where little toes and fingers could get hurt, so eventually the sewing machine went bye-bye!

How much time do you spend working on your craft?
Varies. Can go one or two weeks without creating, then can spend 20 hours the next two weeks!!! It has to be fun, or I don't do it!

What inspires you to create?
My grandchildren, they are very special little people. Colors and textures that I just want to reach out and touch , nostalgic things . . . like sock monkeys, ruffles, old buttons and bow-ties.

Do you have a designing process?
I love to collect patterns, fabrics, ribbon, and embellishments. In my mind I pull together design elements, but it's really fun when I sit down and arrange pieces to incorporate. Many times I go a different direction and making something else with the fabric or embellish with other pieces I have instead.

Where do you do your creating?
In my head, bouncing ideas back and forth at Starbucks with my BFF, then I get down and dirty cutting out patterns on my kitchen counter, and operating the sewing machine on the kitchen table, haha. My treat at the end is any hand sewing that needs to be done, while in bed watching television.

Have you always been artsy?
Never really thought of myself as "creative" or "artsy" for some reason. I always had a rebellious streak when it came to following sewing pattern suggested fabrics. Always wanting to "prove them wrong" and use something entirely different. That was during the 60s and 70s so experimentation is just what everyone did, just seemed normal, not artsy. My mother opened a bead shop several years ago, and she taught me to make a few pieces of jewelry. I have just begun collecting and moving beads around to see what strikes me, so I can make some beautiful pieces for moms and their little girls.

Do you have another job?
No, we don't have House Husband in our home! He works every day and I stay home, so you could say I'm retired.

Where do you sell your pieces?
www.etsy.rubybeantoes.com

Do you enjoy what you do?
I love what I do as long as I am enjoying the process, and not just rushing to a deadline. It is so rewarding when a piece is finished and I imagine a little one wearing it. Working at home on pieces affords me a day off when I want, then the next day, I can get back to it, rolling up my sleeves and gettin 'er done, ignoring the telephone and listening to my favorite old R&B tunes.

Do you have a favorite piece in your shop?
Probably the bow-ties, they are just so 40s-50s' style, and quite fun to make.

Sparkling Jewel Tone Collection

Come visit the store by clicking here: www.sparklingtwi.com
Lots of new items listed daily!!