Artsyorange on Etsy

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I was able to get some goodies listed in Etsy over the past few days.  Artsy bracelets and the hand painted pendants are now available for purchase.  Here's the link:  artsyorange

Any of these artsy treats would be a pleasant surprise to receive as a gift.  All hand-made and made in America.  I personally craft each piece with love and with a joyful spirit.  Surely this transfers in some fashion, right?

 So head on over.  The pendants are each one of a kind.  So no two are alike.  You know you want one for yourself and a friend!

Making New Jewelry

Originally posted 1.7.09
I've never thought of myself as a jewelry maker. I dabble in many things....and jewelry making would be one of them. Mostly I like to make things for myself to wear that no one else has. Then Vero at The Naked Art Gallery saw my nesting jewelry series in a blog post and asked if I wanted to sign on at her gallery as a jewelry artist. Right now she carries my paintings and porcelain jewelry line like below. The porcelain has my original paintings embedded into them with a bail glued on. Not really much thought to making those. Like mini paintings on your neck! And ears!

The nesting series I did a few months back was tedious but quite rewarding for me. First, not one piece was alike. I made about 10 pairs of earrings and 2 necklaces from these nest-like beads I found in New York. It took me hours to put them all together. So today I have 3 pairs of earrings left and 3 rings. I hand delivered them to Vero last week and her first reply was, "You are making more?" Well, you see those beads came from NY, and I have no idea where. So today I ventured into etsy and put in...materials....findings....and guess what? I think about 10000000 hits came up. Yikes! I opened the first shop that looked appealing called PatinaQueen. And there I became so inspired that I can't wait to put my new series together. Since I paint mostly birds and their environments I think my jewelry should reflect this as well. Everything I chose was brown, teal, turquoise, amazing greens, and a dab of pink. I already know the line's name, "Nestlings". So be looking for a new post soon with some sweet birds and nests that you can wear similar to those below.

Little Painting Love Here

Lot's of original goodness in my etsy shop today.  Yep.  Oooweee...are they cuties.  You are going need one.  And they are small enough that surely you can find a place for one.  And affordable enough to make you smile.   And maybe buy more than one.  Yep.  See you over there!! 

Major Etsy Update

I've only a few goals this summer.  With the kiddos out of school and Mom duty in full swing (pool time in full swing I should say), I have to set weekly goals that are attainable.  I get really wound up about "not working".  Ummm...actually I get a little crazy when I am not working.  When the momentum gets out of whack, well I am not so pleasant to be around.  It's me.  I know that.  So, to ward of the crazy Mom syndrome I set goals.  Week 1......ETSY update in the metal category.  WOOOHOOO.......It's done.  And just in the nick of time.   

 The necklace above is similar to the ones featured in Belle Amoire this month!!

Next week's goal:  ETSY update in paint.  Yep.  Real paint.  Not prints.  Well, doorbell is ringing.  Day of play here we come!!!

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.

The Great Etsy Shop Update!

Ok blog friends, I finally took the hours needed to size and upload many new items into my etsy shop.  It feels SO GOOD to have it done!!  I am thinking if you place your order ASAP I can get the items into the mail and hopefully to you before Christmas.  Fingers crossed anyhoo.  So now available are hardboard tiles and stands:

 keychains:

statement necklaces:

I also wanted to say thanks to all of you for your continued support throughout the year.  I know you are reading, my stat counter tells me so, and it makes my heart so full knowing that you are there.  It's like I have  a thousand friends I've never even met.  Super cool.

What You Are..Thought For the Day

 Last night I was so pumped up from the end of camp that I just couldn't stand the thought of getting in bed.   And my mind was just too tired for working on anything.  So what's a chick to do?  Well we have HBO now, which I always forget about, and showing at 11PM was The Women with Meg Ryan, Jada Smith, Annette Benning and the Debra Messinger (OK, may not have spelled any of those names right, but you know who I'm talking about, right?).  I'd not seen this move in a really long time and had forgotten how much I enjoy it!  What a great lesson inside of the story as well about friendships.  Meg and Annette's characters have a falling out in the middle of the movie and Meg says that what Annette did hurt more than the husband cheating.  Yikes.  What is it about friendships that can be so very painful?  And blindsiding so most of the time.  It just creeps up and WHAM...it hits ya like a brick wall. As a general rule, women are nurturing characters. So why is it that we can throw one another outta the nest before the wings are ready? 

Then this morning I was uploading more originals into my ETSY site and this one gave me a good punch in the tummy.  "What you are will show up in what you do."  sigh.   Signs are adding up and I'm noticing them for sure.  Something is unbalanced right now.  And I am ready to face it.  Because character can only be nurtured when you are willing to accept the good, bad and ugly.  When you have a willingness to look beyond the surface and embrace the differences within your relationships.  And find that happy ground.  Life is just too dang short to be embracing relationships that do not nurture my whole heart, flaws and all 100%.   Yep.   So here's my last thought, "I live for those who love me, for those who know me true."  -G. Banks

So, how well do you know those you love?  And what have you done to nurture them lately?  I am thinking I've been slacking in this area, otherwise these signs wouldn't be neoning in my head right now. 

Etsy Shop Updated

I've had an Etsy shop now for several years,and quite honestly I've not sold too much there.  I love doing art shows and interacting with people.  I sell well in that platform.  But in order to really build my creative business, especially on-line, I've GOT to get better about Etsy and other online selling venues.  So this morning I started the daunting process of updating the shop.  And for the first time I am offering ORIGINALS!  Woohoo...at least I think so anyways.

So if you are interested in an original painting, click on over here and shop away!  My goal is to do updates once a week this summer with all sorts of goodies I've literally got piling up needing good homes.  Right now though, I've got to get myself onto art camp!  I can't wait to share our projects this week with you!

Etsy Shop Update!

Tonight I updated my etsy shop with some of my new jewelry goodies! But hurry....there aren't many! I can also do custom orders for Mother's Day. Just send me an email.

Etsy Shop Updated!!

This morning I decided to go ahead and put into my Etsy shop some of the newest members of my felted bird family. So go here now to check it out! Also, PapernStitch, a curated online shop I participate in, has a TOTALLY new amazing look. You've just got to check out the talent here. I hope you've had an amazing three day weekend. We went to visit my sister, Grandmother, aunt and uncle in South Alabama. It was nice to get away for the weekend, but now I have got to get back to the grind. I did however make what I am now calling the "car art studio" and get lots of beautiful new felted flowers made with a new pattern. I'll be showing those off as soon as the pin backs get attached (I forgot those for the studio!) See you soon!

New Etsy Banner

I've been toying with the thought lately of re-imaging my etsy, papernstitch and website. I love the blog name, Mattie's Social Circle, but really want to use just my name everywhere else. For some reason I am having a hard time letting go of the birds though. So here's the banner I have now in ESTY. You can see it bigger there. Sweet Brittni of papernstitch came up with 2 new ones that I love too. It's nice to have fresh eyes on your work sometimes. So for now.......

What do you think???

Yes, We Are Now A Petting Zoo

For about two weeks now we've been seeking the perfect Hamster. Yes, I said Hamster. I wanted one, the kids wanted one, Billy did not want one, but hey, it was 3 against 1. Majority rule in this house. Anyhoo, I am thinking at this point we might could apply for a petting zoo licence and make some money off this entourage of ours. Or get kicked out of the neighborhood for animal abundance! We now have one large fur real friends horse named Romeo, 4 sheddy cats, one silly dog, one stinky turtle, and one VERY CUTE dwarf hamster. Yep dwarf hamster. His name is, get this......Etsy. I had nothing to do with that. After buying him we were in the car throwing out names and Mailey was just insistent on Etsy. I said how do you spell that? And she said, you know, like the place you sell your art work....ETSY. Holy cow, I've created a little artsy monster. So his or her (how do you tell the gender??) name is indeed ETSY.

It is the cutest darn thing. And we've touched, held, brushed, introduced it to the four cats and silly dog, and photographed it in only 3 short hours. And it has yet to bite or seem to mind (or died). Wow. It's a good hamster. I love it already. I'm going to go out and buy it a Barbie jeep tomorrow. It's got to have a pink Barbie jeep. Okay, I am off to paint....

Oh, I wanna win!

I just found out that my framed tile below was picked in the top 40 for the Handmade Kids Sweepstakes. Way cool! So, please go here to cast your vote! I am under the Handmade Kids Art section (I think there are 5 categories to vote in). If you don't have an etsy account already, it's super easy to sign-up, and free. It's a contest for you as well. One lucky vote caster will get a $350 shopping spree from etsy. Now that's alot of fun buying money. So go online now! And thanks for your vote! Oh I wanna win.....

Etsy and Handmade Kids

I've been trying to find a way to get noticed in the world of etsy. There are so many artists listing now, I feel my little pendants and tiles get lost. So I purchase showcases, stay up on what is new and this past month I think I've found where to "plug myself in". They now off a Handmade Kids Showcase. How perfect for my little images! I know that most of my work won't be hanging in a bank, or a decorator showhouse living area. It is more likely to appear in a children's hospital, playroom, or nursery. And I love that! So now I have a new focus. They are hosting a contest too. So I've got to get creative with my photos, that's one of the criteria. Hmmmm....Maybe on the new playhouse out back? This tile is from my house series called, "Party House". I've never made tiles of it. Boy it looks cute all framed up! This is Mrs. Tobey's House.
Here's Mattie 30 and Holding.
I used Mailey's room for a set shot. I have no idea what I am doing in this area, but it was fun. And they did not argue with me, and were always smiling! So check out my new listings in etsy today!