Showing posts with label etsy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label etsy. Show all posts

NEW Lockets in Polarity Shop! YAY- I am working with some amazing new artists!


In the past few days I have added some amazing new artist locket sets to my Polarity shop on Etsy (and will have a few more over the next couple of weeks)

and some of the artists I have been working with have added some incredible new sets!

If you order any new set by the end of September and mention my blog I will refund your shipping charges!



Not a Time to Panic


OK, so the swine flu pandemic (yes, it is being called a pandemic - which sounds worse than epidemic and epidemic sounds pretty bad) has just been upgraded by the World Health Organization to a level 5 alert on a scale of 1-6 (this still leaves those of us who are a bit jaded from the Homeland Security Department's color coded alert charts maybe less fazed than we should be)- there is still no reason to panic.

There is maybe a reason to be careful though - so the little extra precautions like the hand washing we should all be doing anyway can't hurt. We need to take special care with our children, elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system; basically the people who would have gotten a flu shot if there had been a flu shot.

I am not a panicky type of person, but I do like to prepare for potential emergencies a little bit. After 9/11 our entire family drew up an emergency escape from New Jersey plan (yes, I know everyone living in New Jersey SHOULD already have a different kind of escape plan- like a 'get me the heck out of here already' plan!) including a place to meet up in case of a disaster (although it never got any more specific than west of Hershey, Pennsylvania)- we had packed suitcases in the trunks of our cars for a couple years. The suitcases slowly came unpacked though, as we needed the things that were in them and as the cars that held them were sold until eventually the suitcases ended up back in our closets.

During the bird flu scare we stocked up on water and the canned goods and boxed goods that we do not normally buy, but that stockpile, too, has slowly disappeared as we raided our stash during busy or lazy times when I didn't shop or midnight munchy sprees when we were desperate enough to eat stale boxes of cereal.

This time I am preparing with some Purell hand sanitizer and some common sense. With one eye on the news and one hand on my mouse because I know I can always count on Etsy and the internet to provide all that I need to get me through a pandemic.

1. Heidi Merrick Dress - Remember, there is not enough Tamiflu to go around, so it will be especially important that we look especially cute, even while we are tossing our cookies all over the waiting room, when we get to the hospital
2. RiskyBeads 'Soup' Bracelet- Absolutely equal to chicken soup in a pandemic
3. LoucheLab's Feel Good Pills - In case our little dress fails to get us the Tamiflu these should do the trick
4. AllysonHill's Tissue Carrier - We are much too cool to leave a trail of tissues everywhere we go
5. CutieCakePatissierie's Mocha Sandwich Cookies - No explanation needed - total deliciousness
6. A Private Duty Nurse from The House of Mouse
7. Earmark's Freak Out and Throw Stuff Print -
In case we need permission to do just that
8. Haleah Jet's Pig - To remember it is not the pig's fault - of course, if we really insist on blaming the pig a nice BLT with mayo might make us feel better
A. BumbleBellyDesign's Gorgeous Oink Pillow - So we can get some rest before the next disaster

3 Things for Earth Day

I have always been a bit of an Earth Day skeptic. Being environmentally focused for 24 hours and then rushing back into our modern, fast-paced, disposal lives seems as fake as those 'green products' that keep popping up and are anything but.

Earth Day does, though, give us an actual date on the calendar to renew our commitment to saving this planet's amazing beauty and diversity for our children and for their children and it does help us to get focused.

Each year we try to commit to 3 new practices (last year we switched to compact fluorescent bulbs, gave up paper towels, paper and plastic bags -and take out containers- when shopping and started composting kitchen scraps more consistently).

This year our 3 new commitments are : 1. Reduce our garbage to 1 bag a week (with a family and two businesses we are continually challenged with this) 2. Send one letter each month to a politician -local, state or federal- concerning an environmental issue (this will also challenge us to be aware of these issues) and 3. grow more of our own fruits and vegetables and can them for colder seasons (I have never done anything even remotely like canning - no idea why this is even called canning when we use glass - we do use glass, right?), so this will be my biggest challenge yet. Hopefully I can do this without putting anyone in the hospital, or at least anyone I like in the hospital.

To celebrate Earth Day I am offering free shipping on any jewelry order in both my shops- Uncorked and Polarity through Friday midnight. Just write Earth Day in the comments to seller section of your order and I will refund your shipping!

1. Artwork by KD - Flower Ring
2. Pouch - Recycled Brooch
3. 2ReVert - Earrings
4. Infusion - Toddler Slippers
5. zJayne - Recycled Wristlet
6. Knitstorm - Tea Cup Cozy

WIN a girlscantell! WINNER IS TESSA!

And the winner is..... Tessa! Tessa has chosen Sara's amazing anatomical heart coasters! Check out Tessa's amazing website, too!





Sara of girlscantell is Etsy's famous dissecter of all that is complicated into all that is cool!

This amazingly talented ex-Jersey girl (there's actually no such thing as an EX-Jersey girl) lives and works in South Philadelphia diagramming and hand screenprinting everyday things onto everyday things.

She gets her inspiration from city life; a bakery window, a light fixture, a great vintage dress, a construction site, old brickwork, a rusty neon sign. Vintage typewriters, bicycles, kitchen appliances and tons of other goodies are diagrammed onto amazingly incredible coasters, cloth napkins (no more throwaways!), kitchen linens and more!

WHAT YOU GET:
One lucky winner will receive one awesome girlscantell diagrammed coaster set!

HOW TO WIN:
Visit girlscantell's Etsy Shop and check it out. Then come back here and LEAVE A COMMENT mentioning your favorite coaster set.

For additional entries:

(5) Blog about this contest, linking to this post and to girlscantell
(5) Twitter this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Follow girlscantell's blog

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries.

Sara is also offering a 20% discount (refunded through paypal) through the end of March - be sure to note 'polarity' in the comments to seller section of your order!

DRAWING:
A winner will be chosen at random on March 18th! Good Luck!

This Week's New UNCORKED Listings

This week's new items in my Uncorked Etsy shop which offer free shipping through next weekend are my EQUESTRIAN RIDER piece 'heels down' - which is dedicated to all the girls out there who got their horses and those of us who didn't (remember when we really, really wanted a horse!) and my FOXY piece which is dedicated to all those Foxy mamas out there and wannabe Foxy mamas. I am thinking the FOX is about to be the next big thing! Both are now available in my Uncorked shop with free shipping.

Adorable New Mini Lockets in Polarity Shop


I added a few new mini lockets to my Polarity shop today. Each is made from a little recycled auto part (cleaned up like NEW) and comes with 3 interchangeable magnetic lids that are guaranteed to never fall off when worn! You will love them. They are totally addicting and a great way to do more with less!

Things Fall Apart So Things Can Come Together

Last year when my hubby and I were thinking we needed to spend more time together- we decided to take a pottery class (there is a bit of irony in this because pottery is actually a very solitary, almost mystical activity). I had never worked on a wheel before and he had just a tiny bit of experience many years ago. I found it hard. Of course, he picked it up right away, became teacher's pet (I will always believe the instructor had a little bitty crush on him) and drove me crazy offering up tiny bits of advice in his oh so patient teacher-voice. He was almost effortlessly making strong, interesting pieces while my own work was inconsistent, prone to collapse and reminded me of the hand-built stuff my daughter brought home from camp when she was seven. Although we used the same glazes, his always seemed to end up reflective of nature's simple beauty (or so enthused the other students) while mine more reflective of the stuff on the nature trails that you try not to step in. This experience has given me a deep appreciation of the amazing work that potters do and Etsy has many amazing masters. Recently I came across the work of Jeff Campana (CampanaCeramics) and was simply blown away. Through a process of dismantling and reassembling his pieces- he creates the most striking fault lines that add a fascinating dichotomy of fragility and strength to his work. I have always loved the things and places within us that are damaged and scarred and the concept of those things being healed over and made stronger in the process. I hope you enjoy CampanaCeramics as much as I do. I had to purchase the beautiful lavender vase for the V-Day flowers that had better be coming my way from my own Mr. Potter ...

Paper or Plastic = A Gift from zJayne

I was having a bad week, a very bad week (I realize that bad is a relative thing and you are going to have to trust me on this, but it was a bad week). So, this morning I am eating my breakfast, thinking about my bad week and realizing that I had memorized the back of this cereal box already (this was not what made my week bad, but it is a sad day when you realize something like this) and thinking I need to start buying a new kind of cereal when the doorbell rang and my mailman, as is his custom when I have a package, tossed my mail onto my porch which caused Olive (the biter) to jump off the arm of the chair where she likes to spend her mornings dangling over the heater, and bark.This got me moving (and away from my raisin bran) and I was SO excited to find a gift from my Etsy buddy Jane Pierce (aka zJayne) on my front porch. Jane is an amazing Ohio artist who creates beautiful art with meaning. She salvages found objects, once loved jewels and other treasures into one of a kind defining images that make a difference to the people who are fortunate enough to experience them. She is also the famous 'T-Shirt Market Bag' maker on Etsy. When I had admired her Red Cross market bag (made from a t-shirt) she gifted it to me along with an amazing and adorable bird wristlet bag (made from a t-shirt sleeve). Jane reminds us that the answer to paper or plastic is neither and that it takes as much petroleum to make 14 plastic bags as it does to drive a car one mile. Her bags are so sturdy and well-made, roomy and amazing (and cheap!) that everyone sincerely needs to own a few! Check out zJayne's amazing Etsy and 1000markets shops. Thanks Jane - I have already used your amazing bag to stock up on some new cereals! It is never leaving my car.

The Amazing Walrus Tusk on Etsy













This week I am introducing you to Jennifer’s incredible Etsy shop Walrus Tusk. If you spend any amount of time on Etsy you have come across her intricate and amazing pieces of beadwork. Jennifer was brought up in the far north in Fairbanks, Alaska where she learned from craftsmen how to adorn the body with beautiful pieces of bead work. She now lives and works in the desert in Arizona. The dry desert air creates such a different environment where she cannot help but be inspired.

I also know the ruddy duck is her favorite bird and she loves Pan’s Labrynth and Pushing Daisies and is a coffee addict (Me, too! Although I am not sure I have ever seen a ruddy duck). Her work is stunning with amazing craftsmanship (she also makes some of my favorite treasuries!). Check her out!

Favorite Recent Monthly Purchase


As part of my monthly Etsy tithe (I am committed to putting 10% of my Etsy profits back into Etsy each month) - this is my favorite October purchase. They are the sturdiest and most amazing bibs you can imagine! I was tremendously impressed and the little mama I gave them to was, too! Check out Mandolyn's amazing shop THE pretty BEAN committed to recycled plastic bags. This may also be a good place to donate your bags!

How to Make Sure Trash is NOT What's for Christmas This Year


This holiday season give our beautiful planet the gift of wrapping green - think recycle and reuse.

I love having amazingly wrapped presents under my Christmas tree, but cannot stand the thought of that same beautiful wrap still sitting in a landfill when my great-great grandchildren are opening their presents! Forty percent of our trash comes from paper products and over 900,000,000 trees are destroyed annually to provide the United States with this paper. When we send paper to a landfill it is typically compacted and sealed into an airtight hole in the ground where it is unable to decompose and becomes perfectly preserved. Decreasing the amount of trash we have this holiday season, even a little bit, can have a dramatic impact. It is always up to you if you want to add to the problem or add to the solution!

The most important thing you can do is to be conscious of what you are buying and its packaging. Purchase products with minimal packaging. When choosing between two similar items, go for the one with less packaging. Choose gifts that replace disposable products. Cloth napkins, .
crocheted dish scrubbers (Curly Girl Crochet) and electric razors all reduce the consumption of throwaway products. Use less wrapping paper. You can reuse old posters, maps and newspapers. Say no to the metallic paper that cannot be recycled- stick to recyclable paper. There are also sites that sell amazing hemp paper with soy based inks that decompose very quickly. A great idea for kids is to buy a large kraft paper roll at the office supply store and have them decorate it - I did this with my daughter a little bit each night between Thanksgiving and Christmas- then set the roll out for Santa to use on Christmas Eve (then toss the paper into the recycle bin instead of the garbage bin on Christmas morning). Give gift bags that can be used again and again. This year put your gift in one of those very inexpensive store brand shopping bags or canvas bags and nixing the tissue paper for recyclable comics give the gift they will use again and again. There is a talented seller on Etsy named ZJayne who makes reusable shopping bags out of t-shirts that would make amazing gift bags! You can make your own bags from your extra material and yarn just like Fisheye's! shown here. Her shop is filled with amazing upcycled handbags and more!

Also think reuse- and you will wrap green and save some green in your wallet at the same time. Why buy shirt boxes when your house is probably full of boxes right now. Cereal boxes are the perfect size to wrap lots of goodies. I like to use the boxes sans wrap, but if you must wrap the box think recyclable paper again. Mark all your gifts PLEASE RECYCLE ME (I print this on the back of my gift tag). You can get creative with this and use a cereal box for slippers, a dog food box for a dog sweater, etc, but the main idea is to reuse what we already have, so we are not wasting our planet's precious raw materials creating more throw away products.

Send out your holiday cards electronically (I can't bring myself to do this because I love to send and receive cards too much!). Use last year's holiday cards for this year's crafts including your gift tags, postcards throughout the year (cut off the backs), press them between 2 sheets of contact paper for holiday placemats or hang them on this year's tree. NestaUSA has some amazing cards this holiday season. I send my old cards to a wonderful St. Jude's program where children at St. Jude's Hospital earn money by creating new holiday cards from old cards. You mail your cards to St. Jude's Card Recycling, 100 St. Jude Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89006 - mail them USPS bound printed matter and they will be inexpensive to ship. And since it is the time of year when our mailboxes are stuffed with paper almost daily - get yourself taken off catalog mailing lists that you do not use. Call the Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service at 1-212-768-7277.

If we each make it our goal to eliminate that trash bag full of gift wrap this season - just imagine how this effect will snowball. Let's give the gift of an empty space in that landfill where our trash would have been!

Tips for Photographing Jewelry from the Amazing Kella MacPhee


Today I asked my favorite Jersey Girl Photographer Kella MacPhee - check her out and prepare to be blown away - for some quick tips to better jewelry photographs. Kella says - Interesting + FAKE IT LIKE A PRO photos can be achieved in 3 steps! #1 Light. Turn that blinding automatic flash off! The built in flash on a camera is a photographer's worst enemy and will ruin any shot. Your best bet is to invest in a lightbox, they are not too much money and will ensure that you get even light and the proper white balance every time! {www.bhphotovideo.com} This will eliminate the need to fuss with camera settings before photographing your products each time. If you're saying to yourself, hey I'm a starving artist here, I don't have money for a fancy lightbox, but still want great photos try cheap, however unpredictable sunlight! Not as practical as the lightbox, but beautiful none the less. Some examples would be the soft and diffused light of a window {try setting up a table with your art next to a window} another option is venturing outdoors. Two rules to keep in mind: first you stay out of that midday sun- your photos will have harsh shadows and be blown out! {even your jewelry does not like to look pasty} {early morning and late afternoon are best} and 2. when shooting outside in light other than those great early morning hours and the "magic hour" before sunset, look for even shade, there is nothing worse than mottled light. Using light properly will ensure you have clean, evenly lit, pro looking pics!
#2. Angle. Change your angle. Eye catching photos are created by thinking outside the box. Long gone are the days when photos need to be shot straight on.. so 1992 and so boring! Try setting your camera down and shooting at the same level as the product. Another technique is to shoot up at the product... creating some drama. Shooting straight down and I mean straight down, get your butt up on that chair can also be interesting and modern. Play around and have fun, look at some of your favorite sellers and see what it is about them that is catching your eye.
#3. Composition. Think outside the center. Centered images are boring! Negative space is king! Try placing your product on the left side and leaving the right side empty. Interesting photos are not always achieved by filling up space. Leaving room for your products to breathe can create these artistic + pro images you're after. Check out these beautiful photos by lilfishstudios and tqbdesigns.Another method is layering, now this is where it gets technical, for all you point and shooters out there cover your eyes. Gosh darn it control that depth of field if using a manual camera, think larger apertures like 2.8 or 4 {I know these seem like small #'s, but they really are large and let in more light, creating only a small portion of the image in focus.. yada, yada} by using a shallower depth of field and being in control over what you decide you want in focus, you will instantly have more professional pics. So show a variety of pics on your page, but maybe one can have a the pendant of your necklace in focus while the chain is not. Some of the most interesting photos are only parts of subjects, leaving the viewer intrigued or an interesting composition allowing your eye to move around the image.REMEMBER you are artists appealing to creative buyers .. this is not ebay.. the first thing people see is the photos.. be creative and HAVE FUN!

New Stuff Added This Week To My Shops


The following items were added to my Etsy shops this week. UNCORKED now offers CLIMB which is my little tribute to the amazing Randy Pausch whose words "brick walls are there for a reason, they show us how badly we want something" really struck home for me.

POLARITY now offers a THANKFUL Thanksgiving set which will also be available as lids. Happy Shopping!

Question of the Week


This week I am asking crafty Miranda Layton of Buttonenvy about her earliest crafty memories and here is what she has to say:

When I was five my cousin moved two hours away. She is three months younger than I am and, at the time my constant companion and only source of sibling interaction. I was devastated. To console me my grandmother gave me a dollar for the ice cream man and, for the first time let me go outside by myself to purchase my frog pop. This is one of my first clear memories. When I had finished my ice pop she told me we could save the stick and, after we had enough of them, we would build a little box out of all the pieces we had collected. This started my craft as therapy addiction. A few years later, when I had learned to read, I started to hoard the Rag Shop fliers from my grandmother's newspapers. I would plan how to spend every cent of my five-dollar weekly allowance. On the way home from a weekend spent with her my mother would stop there, and I would fill up on plastic visors and puff paints. This was the eighties remember and puff paint seemed like a craft revolution. This will lead into a long list of crafty business ventures.

SMIDGE Blogs About POLARITY!



A great big thanks to another Kat - the amazing editor at Smidge - for this wonderful shout out about Polarity's recycled lockets!

Make a RECYCLED JEWELRY CASE



These are the instructions to make one of my jewelry cases from old frames. This will be featured on a new how-to blog - if anyone making one of these would like a free test tube with cork and hardware (just pay $2.00 shipping) drop me an email cat@olivebites.com - enjoy!

Is your jewelry all knotted together in the bottom of a drawer? Are you always looking for a piece that you know “is in there somewhere” – well, this is the perfect solution to begin to untangle your messy life ….


Stuff You Will Need



2 picture frames of the same size (the deeper the better with square edges)
2 hinges with hardware
1 latch with hardware
foam board (cut to fit inside one of the frames)
fabric (dense weaves are best)
a piece of glass to fit one of the frames
silicone sealant (clear for kitchen and bath)
staple gun
glazier points
hanging hardware (saw tooth hanger)
drill or dremel
clamps
screwdriver

Step 1 - Line Up Your Frames

Marry your frames – stand them up on a table and make sure they fit together perfectly (place interiors together). Mine are square and sometimes I have to turn one in a different direction to get the perfect line up. Check your corners and sides. If your frames are out of line – give them a quickie divorce and get yourself two frames that want to live happily ever after together… skip this step at your own risk…..

Clamp your frames together –wrap cardboard to protect your wood and then clamp your two sides together (interiors facing each other)



Step 2 – The Hinges


Line up the top of the hinge with the top of the interior frame cutout and repeat for the bottom, set your hinges in place, mark screw holes with an awl or pencil (I actually use jewelry tweezers), remove hinges, pre-drill holes for hinges, secure hinge hardware with a screwdriver

Step 3 – The Latch

Determine which frame will be the front of your jewelry case. Measure to find the center (unless you are an off-center kind of girl), lay out your latch so that it opens toward the frame you would like to be the front of your case, mark screw holes with an awl, pre-drill holes for latch hardware, secure latch hardware with a screwdriver. Blow out any sawdust from the frames and wipe clean.

Step 4 – The Glass

Clean your glass; I know you are just going to get it dirty again, but you need it clean for a good seal and you want to check for any scratches or mars. Open your case. Lay your glass into the front frame. Gently hold a slight pressure down on your glass as you apply a continuous ¼” (approx) bead of clear silicone along the entire inside edge of the front frame; applying the silicone to the location where the glass meets the frame. This will hold the glass in place. Allow this to dry for 24 hours.

Step 5 – The Big Finish

Lay your foam, which you have cut to fit inside the back frame (I cut my foam with a mat-cutter but you can use a razor knife), on top of the fabric you will be using as a backdrop for your jewelry. Cut the fabric about 2” larger than the foam all the way around (you may want to iron your fabric at this point). Fold the fabric around the foam
(with the outside of your fabric facing away from the foam) and secure it with a staple gun. I use 6mm staples so they will not poke out the other side. Staple one side and then the opposite side pulling tightly until all four sides are secured. Fold your corners like you are wrapping a birthday present and staple. Cut away excess fabric.

Cut a piece of cardboard the same size as the foam (usually something you can use will come with the frame) – lay the cardboard into the back frame and lay your fabric covered foam panel on top of the cardboard.

Use a screwdriver to push 8 glazier points into the frame on top of the fabric panel (two points on each side).

Add your hanging hardware to the back by measuring to find the center and then nailing in the hardware. Use a long saw tooth hanger so the case can be adjusted for weight when hanging.

Using corsage pins (available at craft stores, florists, etc) you can hang your jewelry in style!

You can also make 2 fabric panel frames; attach them with the frame outsides facing together (opposite of above) and create an amazing display for your dresser!