The Partay Give-Away!

Every fun party leaves its' guests with a treat of some sort.  I've been known to give fake mustaches before!  (of course it was for a Spy Party when William turned 9)  This etsy kick-off party was an idea I decided to just roll with.  A little cheesy, yes.  A little unexpected, yes.  But for some reason I am slap happy these days!  I suppose it has something to do with, but certainly not limited to finding a rhythm finally in this new lifestyle.   So happiness I've been told is contagious.  I hope it sticks around for a spell.  Yep.

Anyways, the give-away is this new necklace style:

It was one of those laying in bed trying to figure out what the heck to do with the 100 clay birds I bought on etsy months ago that have just been sitting in egg cartons waiting for their moment "a-ha!" moment.  Love those.  So quickly I ran downstairs and tried it first with a thicker brass strip.  This was a little more complicated than I had wanted (there are 100 birds peeps, I was not kidding).  So I decided to whip out the 500 ft coil of copper wire and make more of a hanging nest!  (I tend to buy in bulk I've noticed.) And so it began.  And many birds now have sweet cages to dangle from.  And make you oh so happy to wear.  Right?

Now the good part....unfortunately I can't party favor you all.  Wish I could!  But one lucky person who leaves a comment below telling me what they are over the MOON happy about right now gets their name in the pot to win one of the birdcage hoops.  (it could be as simple as eating a yummy cupcake)  You get to the choose bird color.  We can get to that later.  Right now, you guys need to get to commenting below!!

Oh....and the drawing will be FRIDAY......happy commenting.

Sing A New Song

I've spoken here often about how important it is as an artist to find that common thread to weave through your work.  It opens your creative thought process up and expands your vocabulary as an artist when you recognize the patterns in your work.  Setting boundaries may not be the best way to describe it, but making conscious decisions about what you put out in the world is important to becoming an authentic voice in the art world.  A voice that people will be drawn to because they know it's you.

Awhile back I tweaked my original bird pattern from Betz White's felted bird one to my own using fabric, felt....and lots of love.  A friend had passed along the idea of using embroidery hoops as a cage, and adapting it to my aesthetic, came up with these cuties:

Fast forwarding, my creative doors have opened to jewelry making.  After taking Stephanie Lee's class I have found a whole new passion for jewelry making.  And feel I've been able to weave my voice into her techniques and learn to make them mine.   As evident below:

Art imitating, art.  Love this.  The cage has been made using brass strips and solder.  The bird was hand crafted from paper clay and then coated with gloss medium.  Hanging from the bottom to replicate my ribbons and hand stamped message is chain, glass beads and a sweet message to "Sing a New Song".

The bird cage hangs about 36" down on this amazing new rosary inspired chain I found.  Love it.  As I finished this up last night Mailey said, "Mommy, you just can't sell this."  But you know what, I am.  And you can find it here.   I'm making some changes in the studio.....important ones to my business growing.  And one is reaching to those who can not attend art shows or my galleries.  Etsy is about to get puffy heart time.  I'll be sure to let you know as items get listed.  My theme is, "scattering joy through paint. fabric.metal".  I've got a nice pile of metal to photo, edit and upload first.  Already starting with the lovely piece above.