My Little Corner of the World

To be creative, you have to feel creative.  And for me, to feel creative, you need to be inspired by your surroundings.  I don't have a dedicated office in my home.  My space is one half of our living room that I have commandeered.  Now, our whole living room functions as a home office.  When I set up my portion of the office, and told my husband that I wanted to paint one wall in our living room, the room you see first when you enter through our front door, purple, he didn't exactly jump for joy.  But I wore him down and I love the results.  I am comfortable here.  It reflects who I am and it influences my designs.

 

Springtime is Not the time to put away your hand knits!

Welcome spring!  At least I have faith it will soon arrive.  I can see my tulips peeking through the ground now.

But I have news for you.  You don't have to put away your hand knit and crocheted items for the warmer seasons!  This year's new trends include fabulous fiber arts jewelry that is perfect for warm weather.

I've begun a new line of necklaces that are knit and crocheted from cool weather yarns like cotton, rayon, bamboo and silk.  These great necklaces feel great to wear.  They are practically weightless, and feel oh so good around your neck.  They will look perfect with a t-shirt and jeans or a skirt and tank.

Please let me know what you think of my newest creations and spread the word to your friends if you like them!

Spring Line???

Several people have asked me about my Spring Line of knit accessories.  I have to admit, it's very hard for me to think about Spring when the ground is covered in snow and ice and the temperature is 5 degrees!  How can I think about what I might want to wear to accessorize my tank top and shorts when right now I'm huddled in my sweaters, scarves, cowl and gloves?  But I'm learning that this is the way of fashion.  I have to be a whole season ahead of the game.  So now I'm stressed out because I realize that instead, I'm a whole season BEHIND the game!

So, I'm putting away my heave wool yarn, and pulling out the lightweight cottons, linens and silks.  I'm going to just cast some on my needles and see what comes of it.  I will let you see my progress as soon as I've made3 some. :)

In the mean time - THINK SPRING!

My mom and dad in Florida - I love this pic!

One of my favorite shops -- Poison Garden

The Promotional Frenzy team is up and running on Etsy.  We are a fabulous group of Etsy sellers that strives to promote each other's shops in many different ways.  The team is growing and truly one of the most generous and selfless groups of sellers I have met.  Find them here on Etsy: 

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7512/promotional-frenzy-team 

Poison Garden is a shop that I love!  Not only because they are just up the road from me here in Central Indiana, but because they are a beautiful and very unique shop.

Let me show you some of my favorites ---

How sexy is this?!

Perfect for Valentine's Day

Key to my Heart



Simply Romantic

 Everything in Poison Garden's shop is feminine and romantic.  Perfect for the Victorian but edgy, hopeless romantic!

Another thing I love about their shop is the absolutely stunning photography they have achieved.  Their products are shown to their maximum potential.

Find Poison Garden at http://www.poisongarden.etsy.com/.

Photo Editing Miracles

Everyone on Etsy is constantly trying to make their photos better.  It is drilled into our heads in everything we read.  This week, I found a new application for Etsy called http://www.fotofuze.com/. It is really easy to use and the results are amazing.  It especially worked great on my jewelry photos.  I haven't tried it on a lot of my knits yet, but didn't have as good of luck on the ones I tried as I did on the jewelry.  I'm thinking maybe they are too textural or something. 

Take a look at a few before and after photos I've edited

Before Editing

After Editing with FotoFuze

 


               

Before Editing



After Editing with FotoFuze



I still have a lot of work to do and practicing with editing to see how to best use FotoFuze.  But I think it will be a fabulous tool in making my photos better.

New Year, New Friends, New Beginnings

I am excited at the start of this new year.  Etsy is such a warm and friendly place to be.  The friends and connections I have made - people I will likely never meet in person, yet I consider them my friends.  I care about them, I wish them success in their individual efforts and I know that they do the same for me.

I especially have to mention all the great people at the Promotional Frenzy Thread.  This is the most generous and caring group I have come across yet on Etsy.  The whole goal of this group is to promote OTHER PEOPLE's shops!  We are all there to cheer each other on, and to celebrate their successes.  The leaders of this group are full of information on how we can each make our shops better and more visible to the world.  I have learned so much from this frenzy thread.

I want to wish everyone A happy and very successful 2011!

From CharmedDesign1012 - 

Charmed is one of those great people who help me out when I can't seem to figure something out!  She has beautiful original jewelry that are all works of art!

SNOW DAY!!!

I'm looking out the window at the crisp, white snow that has fallen.  It is still clean and unblemished.  Truly a beautiful sight.  My boys are out of school due to the weather, and are as happy as can be.  My desire is to send them off to watch tv or play video games - anything to keep them out of my hair so that I can be productive.  But then I think, "How many more of these will I really have?"  Children grow so fast and in the blink of an eye a whole stage of their life is gone.  I don't want to miss these great moments and memories.

I am declaring today Christmas cookie baking day!  Let's make a mess in the kitchen.  Let's eat more dough than we cook.  Let's laugh and be silly and have fun, while we make treats for us and others to enjoy.

I've wasted many moments that could have been spent creating memories for my boys.  I'm not going to miss this one!