Small Kindnesses

Lots of little extremely nice things going on!


1) Yesterday I spent the day at Candace's house, she has the supremely cute shop The Intuitive Garden on Etsy. Along with being great fun to talk to, she is an inspiring artisan with a million interesting ideas for new wearable art, plus she's an ace photographer and 2-D artist. I really enjoyed meeting her clever kitties and seeing her colorful home. And when I left I had a box of crafting goodies she had collected just for me. It seems she is constantly thinking of things I can use and making sure they get to me. How amazing is that? She thinks it's no big deal, what are friends for? But the rest of us can see how rare and special a friend she is. Thanks TIG, you rock :)

2) I have been mentioned in two blogs recently. First, Marianne has written that I am someone that Makes Her Day! Now that makes MY day and so the happiness is paid forward. Thanks Marianne! Your photos are amazing and your enthusiastic spirit is contagious.

The second blog was a nice little surprise waiting in my Etsy inbox this morning. Whitney of piccalillitoo.etsy.com has picked one of my new felty hearts as Something she is eyeing this week... How cool is that? Thanks so much!

3) I was accepted into the Winterfest show in Lowell! And so was Amanda of Brick Mill Studio. We will be showing in the Glacier Gallery at the Masonic Temple, in the same room as the Soup Competition, so this should be interesting :) We will be there 7-9 PM on Friday February 8th, and on Saturday, February 9th from 1-4. This building is next to Cobblestones Restaurant.

4) I made some spider bodies and heads for Liz of Lush Beads. Yep, that's what I said. I made them out of polymer clay and she created the creatures by adding beads and wire in a very clever way. She wanted special Valentine's spiders so she requested heart shaped bodies. They came out so cute! She sells them in her Bricks and Mortar store and in her Etsy Shop.


5) I have really enjoyed making bunches of cute little felty heart pins and I am pleased at the wonderful response they are getting. I shall be making many more!

Photo Caption Contest Winner!

It was a tough choice, you all came through with some hilarious entries and everyone gets a pat on the back and a gold star on their forehead. But after much thought and copious giggling, I have decided that the winner of the What Is Chester Thinking? Photo Caption Contest is...



Cynthia Sherrick Mitchell!! For capturing the essence of the distraught look on Chet's face. Congratulations! Your major award will go in the mail next week, for now, bask in the warm glow of your accomplishment.

And thanks to everyone who participated, you gave me a lot of laughs and that counts too :)

Supply

Yesterday was a lot of fun! I traveled 30 miles south to my parents' house to visit, have lunch and make a quick trip to Paper Source with Mom for card-making supplies. We are quite fortunate to have within access three Paper Source stores from which to choose! We went usually go to the one in Brookline, MA:


But yesterday we went to the one in Wellesley, MA and it was very pleasant.





I make cards from the amazing illustrations and watercolors my mom creates. I use the best acid-free card stock and creamy text weight paper to make cards from her gorgeous images.


She keeps several journals in which she makes drawings, watercolors and colored pencil illustrations. Since she only draws from life, the journals become a record of the things around her or the view out the window of wherever she is sitting.

The recent snowfall stuck to every branch on every tree in Newton, it was so beautiful! I snapped some photos as little loose snow crystals were flying through the air sparkling like glitter! It was amazing. Lowell was a little colder and so the snow wasn't as wet, it covered the ground but didn't stick to trees, hence no winter wonderland, I'm glad I got to see it.

I Feel Like A Superstar!

Etsy has a fun tool called the Treasury. It's a collection of member-curated lists of twelve Etsy items each. You have to be fairly lucky to snag an empty treasury list, the demand is high! And once you do get one, the list only lasts one to three days then it disappears forever.

If you are an Etsy seller, you can tell if you've been chosen to be featured in a list if there is a gold star next to the title when you scroll through the title pages (you must be logged in for this to work.) If there is a gray star, you have been chosen as an alternate, which is also a nice feeling.

The best part about the treasury is that is often where Etsy Admin get the front page items. So if you are in a treasury that gets chosen for the front page, there is huge exposure for that item and your shop!

Tip to Etsy peeps: if you do land on the front page, increase the quantity of your item if possible so if one sells, you will remain in the spotlight. If your item sells and the qty was one, you will drop off the front page and who knows if you will ever get there again?? This is hard if your item is OOAK (One Of A Kind). I guess just bask in the temporary glory and cheer the sale :)

It's so random whether you will ever get on the front page and I have had the huge fortune of being on the front page at least 5 times in the year since I joined Etsy and each incident was a heart stopping jubilant moment. I will never get tired of that.

Anyway, another way to feel special is to be the curator of the list that gets chosen! It means Admin approves of your taste which is exciting, because you have stood out amongst thousands of sellers, maybe they will check out your shop and discover you are a crafting genius, maybe they will make you featured seller...one's dreams grow to grandiose proportions. Oh, to be an Etsy superstar!

(Oh, also, the people in your list really love you if you get them on the front page!)

Here is a link to an incomplete Flickr set of treasuries I have been featured in, and below is the front page I chose the items for that was featured today!!:

Photo Caption Contest

So I don't know what the prize is yet...but I have to put this up and get your ideas. D took this self portrait with Chester and the look on their respective faces made us laugh for at least fifteen minutes.


The contest: what is Chester thinking? Leave a post below, if you crack me up the most and have a blog or an email or an Etsy shop where I can find you, I'll send you something cute :)

I give you until January 17th to be a comedy genius!

Disclaimer: Members of the WGA are excluded from this contest until the strike is over.

New Year!

While I'm not a huge fan of getting older :/ I do love the opportunity to refresh and reassess that the arbitrary milestone January first provides. This year I am full of ideas about clearing out a lot of the items I've hoarded over the years. I can't wait to create more space and instill order in the space where the things I plan to keep will reside.

Saturday's Open Studios was a wonderful day of visiting with my parents and other Western Avenue artists. Plus a surprising turnout of people excited to be visiting WAS for the first time or super nice return customers who brought their friends! It was so much fun :)

Here are mom and dad on their way home, 30 miles south of Lowell. I really love it when they spend some time with me in my studio!


Sunday, D and I took down our cute little tree, Chet helped with the ornament storage, testing the box size for cat-shaped objects.


I finished my silk/cotton crochet scarf and I love it!


Now I'm working on something minty green (huge surprise, right?) in a bamboo, acrylic blend, mmmm...silky smooth. I love bamboo fabric!

I have been working on felty things in my studio:


I have already listed a cute heart pin In my Etsy shop for Valentine's day or any time you want to get a smile from people, because that's what I hear wearing my felty pins will result in :)