Happy New White Metal Tiger Year!
Here comes 2010 White Metal Tiger Year!

Available at my Etsy shop:
Magic Laboratory of Fashion
All designs are © Tatiana Agapcheva, please do not copy my work.

L’idea non è mia, ma si sa che la rete serve tantissimo anche per prendere ispirazione.

Non ho mai creato nulla di bigiotteria con catene, pinze e accessori vari. Infatti, le maglie delle catenine di queste collane sono state accuratamente aperte, infilate e richiuse con i classici attrezzi del fai da te casalingo.
Per il momento va bene così.

Ogni collana è composta da vecchi pezzi di merceria, tutti rigorosamente in cotone, e da catenine “nickel free” color bronzo anticato.

Il fiore grande di questa collana è una vecchia applicazione, mentre i tre fiorellini laterali sono stati ritagliati da una passamaneria. A due di questi fiori ho appeso perle bianche.

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Il ciondolo è stato ritagliato da un bordo che veniva utilizzato per rifinire asciugamani da bagno.

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Bellissima farfalla in macramé, e fiori ritagliati da passamaneria.

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Le tre collane sono in vendita sul mio negozio di Etsy, dove è  ancora in corso il grande week end di vendite promozionali, il Black Friday and Cyber Monday Weekend!
Anche io ho aderito all’iniziativa e i dettagli della mia promozione sono:

• spedizione gratuita per tutti gli articoli in vendita
• 15% di sconto per l’acquisto di due o più articoli

I prezzi sono in dollari americani, e per noi il cambio è ancora decisamente favorevole…
La promozione sul mio negozio e su tutti gli altri negozi di Etsy è valida fino a questa sera.

Own it today!

by Lauren Abrams

by Aimee Koester

by Christina A Kapono

Are you a member of  EBSQ? Do you have an Etsy store? If you answered yes to both questions and would like your art featured here please opt in to Team EBSQ-Etsy today!

New Handmade Luxury Jewelry
LONDON SKY Art Felted Necklace

Available at my Etsy shop:
Magical Laboratory of Fashion
© COPYRIGHT NOTE: All of my designs, photos and descriptions are protected by copyright. They may not be duplicated, copied, reproduced and/or republished without permission or notice. All rights are reserved.

Um yes, yes please.  YES to all of it! I wish those booties came in my size…However they do have some hand made ballet flats that look oh so comfortable.

Images: Infusion

I love these prints from Nan Lawson. Especially the where the wild things are one.  They would make for a great collection.

The past few days were grey and wet, some hot pinks should lift the mood:

1.LeelaBijou

2. DeerLola

3.Miamiamia

4.Marievan

Look!  Do you see them?  No, I’m not talking about Gina Grad and Randy Wang from the hottest podcast on Hot Talk LA.

Dangling from the ear lobes of the beautiful and talented Gina Grad from The Pretty Good Podcast are a pair of my earrings.  She is showing off  a one-of-a-kind mother of pearl design  along with the new t-shirts for The Pretty Good Podcast which can be found on Hot Talk LA.

She said that the earrings were perfect for the promotional photo shoot.   I have made and sold countless pieces of jewelry that I have not seen again once they had left my studio.  Seeing my work in print is a good feeling.

So if you want some fashionable and one-of-a-kind jewelry, come visit my shop on Etsy.  I also make custom orders.  If you want to be entertained by two pretty good podcasters and maybe purchase a fashionable t-shirt, visit Hot Talk LA.  You will also find a lot of other cutting edge podcasts that may fill your entertainment sweet tooth.

Fellow Portland Mama, Heidi, from Humble Luna, makes these adorable and durable costume tails that every and any kid would love. You may remember her from my Monday Must Have: Children’s Halloween Costumes post last month. Well now she’s offering up a Dragon Tail from her shop to one of you! How cool is that!?!

Heidi loves sewing and drawing. She started making children’s costumes 8 years ago when her daughter Sophie was born. (Isn’t it interesting how many of us start on our crazy crafting journeys when we have kids?) While designing costumes as an intern at the Portland Children’s Museum, Heidi came up with the idea for these Dragon Tails. They are a safe, easy to put on dress-up toy that also appeals to both boys and girls.

If you are local and would like to buy one of these great Dragon Tails check out Piccolina on 26th and SE Clinton or Plue on SE Woodstock and 44th. You can also find Humble Luna at Milagros‘ (5433 N.E.30th Ave) fundraiser for Mercy Corps. This Holiday Bazaar is on December 5th from 11am-3pm.

Everybody else can check out her etsy shop. Make sure to check back often! Heidi is planning on adding hand painted butterfly/fairy wings and other costume pieces soon. Just write The Handmade Experiment into the seller’s notes and receive a 20% discount!!

Now for the giveaway!

Just leave a comment here before Sunday the 6th, midnight PST. Tweet about this giveaway for another chance at winning, then leave me another comment letting me know. Remember to subscribe to my blog for upcoming giveaways. I’ll be having another one on Wednesday as part of the Sew, Mama, Sew December Giveaway Day! I’ll announce the winner on Monday the 7th. Good luck!

Sundays are my most productive days in regards to Amour Ame. We finally got a chance to inventory our items….and we have plenty to drool over!

This weekend, my cousin and I had a photoshoot in Fremont, Ca. amongst the wilderness and it was a fab day. What’s even better is we got some fantabulous shots!

Here’s a sneak peek of the location and the “behind the scenes.”

Paparazzi Shot

Behind the scenes - outfits and props

Stay tuned for more teasers!

check it out here – Any photos you would request to see printed? The selection will be steadily growing – this is a test batch, and there will likely be some one-off proof prints for sale in a few months after I’ve tried various paper qualities.  I’m learning as I go, so if you order, please be patient!

If you’re in the neighbourhood come on out to the Klahanie Holiday Market (Canoe Club on Klahanie Drive in Port Moody) on Sunday, Dec. 6 from noon to 4 p.m.  I was pleasantly surprised by the invitation to join this new craft market.  The contact was made through ETSY.  I am flattered and can’t wait to attend.  There will be 18 women entrepreneurs present selling wares from jewellery to organic baby food.

Here is a link to a news item from the Tri-City News.  Take a look for more information.

My beautiful best friend Teale Kelly married the wonderful Greg Fox on the 27th this week. I couldn’t be happier for them both! There wedding was beautiful and I was so glad to be able to be in Rochester for it. I loved that the wedding was a perfect representation of themselves. They did everything very non-traditional and pulled off an easy, comfortable, casual wedding that still had plenty of glam.

She wore a beautiful and simple off-white gown that matched her mother’s train perfectly. It was great that she was able to tie in a piece of her mother’s wedding with her beautifully apliqued train. She wore feather’s in her hair and thrift store find earrings (perfect!) as well as the big statement piece…designer red Louboutin shoes! Our good friend Sue from Surface Hair salon in the South Wedge in Rochester, NY did her hair Greg wore a three-piece suit with a pocket watch (swanky!) and a red tie to match her shoes. Sue did Greg’s hair too. They looked so great!

The wedding and reception was held at Artisan Works, an art gallery and Co-Op In Rochester. It was a really funky, unique place to hold a wedding and provided something to do for the guests that don’t dance. It was so much fun to tool around the place with the happy couple to take photos. Just outside those doors is the bar where canapes and drinks were served while the room was transformed from ceremony to reception.

Teale and Greg had one of their first dates and Phillips European, a restaurant in Rochester, where they went for dessert. They decided to go with Phillip European’s beautiful desserts instead of a wedding cake which I thought was a more sentimental…and delicious…idea. They displayed so beautifully and really beat out the wedding cake idea for me!

The Reception went until 10 and a second after-party was hosted at local restaurant and cocktail bar Good Luck. Teale changed out of her wedding gown into this beautiful party dress that was made by her good friend Kate. Kate is a seamstress and Etsy seller that makes beautiful fashion creations. This dress was made out of a vintage sequined skirt that she shortened into a dress. The extra fabric was sewn on as cap sleeves and it was all synched off at the waist with a gold ribbon. It was so beautiful with her red shoes! Beautiful work Kate!

Kate did some work on her own dress too! She’s great with re-working vintage clothes.

Kate has made dresses for Teale and I before. The first time I met Kate she had made a faux wedding dress for Teale to wear and destroy as I took photos. We took her creation to Stoney Brook Park and wrecked it under water falls in the name of art. Kate was a good sport for creating it, Teale was a good sport for wearing it in cold cold water. You’ll be hearing more about Kate around here soon!

I made my own dress for the wedding too, unfortunately since I took the photos…I dont have any of the dress! I’ll make sure I find some soon to share with you. Its made entirely of recycled neckties in black, white and gray.

Congrats to the happy couple again, and now that this busy holiday weekend/moving is through, I hope to get head first back into the shop and the blog. Remember to take advantage of Cyber Monday free shipping at my Etsy store!

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on the Etsy Twitter Team blog and is being shared with the permission of Kristen Evans and the Etsy Twitter Team.

Time CRUNCH: Easy Tips for Making Your Time Work

It’s the one thing everyone I know wishes they had more of: Time. If you could buy it on Etsy, it’d be the hottest product listed, especially as the holidays approach.

But despite modern attempts to get a handle on our time with everything from computers to iphones, we often find ourselves with to-do lists that never seem to end. Add owning your own business to the mix of family and daily demands and its a wonder that we get as many things done as we do!

Marcia Ramsland comes to our rescue with Simplify Your Time: Stop Running and Start Living, a book that aims to help you organize and prioritize your life without going crazy in the process. She takes us back to basics with some useful sanity savers:

• Use a Calendar – this simple tool can help you keep everything together at a glance, and that can be invaluable. Hanging calendar, computer, planner, blackberry, i phone- WHERE you keep it isn’t important. Keep it in a way that makes it easy for you to refer to and USE.
• Use a List - your short term memory can only handle 7 things before it begins throwing out tasks. A list helps you take control of your day and to-dos before they take control of you, and also helps you see where the pitfalls are. Are you overscheduled? Do you need supplies or to prepare for a meeting?
• Plan Ahead - At night, take a break to think about tomorrow and what you will need- or want-to do the next morning. At noon, plan your afternoon. Assess what works and what doesn’t, and adjust your list to fit what works best for you.
• Make 1 day each week Free Choice - one day or night a week, write “free choice” on your calendar and STICK TO IT. Do something you WANT to do, whether it’s spending time with your family, shutting the computer off, taking a walk in the woods, or just relaxing. This recharges your inner batteries and gives your brain a quick vacation. The extra energy you have after doing this will help you accomplish more in the long run, as well as handle stress more effectively.
• Prioritize - everyone from our parents to our teachers and bosses remind us to prioritize. Decide the three most crucial tasks for that day, and do them FIRST. Not only does this give you a sense of accomplishment, it also insures that you won’t be putting out fires later on something urgent that just “didn’t get done” while you were working on other, less important things.
• Do 1 action per day that will help keep your life simple and in order
• Don’t Be Afraid of a Routine – I freely admit that routines make me want to run screaming for the door, but having a few routines is actually as good for adults as it is for kids, and takes some of the stress out of your everyday life. Grocery shopping, bill paying, gym time, errand running, etc are all good tasks that can be scheduled for the same time each week, taking out the guesswork.
• Write in Pencil – this is good to remember, because life happens to all of us, and the best laid plans can be scrapped by emergencies, suddenly urgent tasks, and a host of other unexpected events. Writing your calendar in pencil makes it easier to be flexible.
• Control your Email - Schedule times to check your inbox ( 7am, noon, 4pm, for example). Invoke the 2 minute rule. If it can be handled in under 2 minutes, do it right then. Your inbox should be kept empty, so delete it, file it, or answer it. Longer responses can be addressed the next time you open your email.

Focusing on how we use ( or don’t use ) our time can help us pinpoint stress and eliminate it long before crunch time hits, and that is the best sanity-saver of all. Well, besides an emergency stash of chocolate, of course!

Kristen

http://firebirdhouse.etsy.com/

Well I decided that since it was rapidly nearing Christmas, I better get up my odds and ends onto Etsy so that people can start shopping! I added six items to my store and I’m hoping that I’ll get a few sales between now and Christmas. I actually got one a few weeks ago, which was rather nice. I’ve been thinking that I might want to put up some of my coffee cozies, which I’ve been churning out recently, for lack of a better project, or patience.
Thanksgiving was great, we stuffed ourselves silly, and it’s always nice to spend time with Ty’s family, even if they stress him out. We ended up with half of the leftovers, including half a turkey still on the carcass, and nearly half of her pantry. But we never complain when it comes to free food. I didn’t get any work done really, but I was able to relax a bit. Unfortunately now that I’m back it’s surprisingly close to finals, and all that other crap I have to do before that. Oh well, that’s what denial and hugs are for.

Recently I was browsing on Etsy and found the following items I’m really liking:

Vintage Skeleton Key Necklace- $14

Six Stacking Promise Rings in Gold- $60

Swarovski Crystal Earrings, Gold.

What do you want for Christmas?

Check out our Cyber Monday Sale on Etsy.  We have all sorts of goodies available, plus we are extending the sale to last through Wednesday, December 2nd.

See the sale section here.

My parents and I popped in to Rochester’s Second Storie indie market last Saturday to check it out. It was pretty great and very similar to Columbus’ Tiny Canary event. It’s always so inspiring to see people making their living (or just some extra money) through handmade goods and art.

These were some of my favorite vendors at Second Storie.

ABBY TRY AGAIN
Based in Portland, Oregon self-taught photographer Abby takes pictures of her everyday using old film cameras she’s picked up in thrift shops. I was completely drawn to the subject matter of her prints as well as the color tones in her work. They are vivid yet still have that vintage softness that I am so drawn to. I picked up a pack of her winter card prints.

FOUNDLING
Foundling’s owner Betsy creates jewelry using pages from old books, vintage patterned fabrics, timeworn beads, and recycled silver. I am in love with her product photography style and have my eye on this necklace and these pins. (Great site too).

PEARL & MARMALADE
Dani and CharLee are the design team behind Pearl & Marmalade’s charming cards and stationery. Their designs and sentiments really stand out to me in the ever-growing world of letterpress. I love their little manifesto too:

We love shadowy grey inks, lively greens, Jane Austen, thoughtful typesetting, Cy Twombly, fresh cut peonies, clean lines, whiskey & gingerale, quirky graphics, vintage trophies & Vera textiles, NYC bagels, salt water taffy, square knots, and a rich cup of Intelligentsia coffee on Sunday mornings in mighty Chicago.

Overall, it was a great show and I gathered up lots of business cards so I don’t forget to keep up with the vendors. I’ll definitely go back next year.

It has been a while since I last blogged. I spent most of my down time trying to will my body into better health. My cold/flu bug is over. Having said that I have been out of sorts for the last couple of days. Being sick forced me to make some questionable choices.

My apartment is anarchy. My cooking has been dreadful. Which led me to eat food that could be ordered or heated up in a moments notice. Bad choices all around. One of the big changes was going without coffee. I really missed my cup o’ joe but that pot was dirty. Like I said bad choices.

Today was a day of many firsts. I picked up a pair of knitting needles to break in a new skein of wool. Washed some dishes. Invented a sandwich. More importantly the coffee pot was cleaned for a much needed brew.

I even did some quick surfing online to find some inspiration for this delicious coffee buzz. I love FFFFound!

I hope you enjoyed this lovely Sunday. I know I did.

Squareware has joined ETSY; the online store for handmade items. We have had to modify our name to SquarewareHome as Squareware was already being used by a jewelry maker in British Columbia. Nice stuff by the way.

Check out our shop at

http://www.etsy.com/shop/squarewareHome

For those of you whom have never heard of this website let me explain. I was first told of ETSY maybe two years ago. I had heard it was a great place to market ones wares. I took a look at it and really didn’t really like what I saw. I dismissed it outright. To put it bluntly it looked like a bunch of crappy crafts. Stuff you wouldn’t even see at a small town street fair. Stuff you would be embarrassed by if your 8-year-old had made it. Hmmm, That’s pretty harsh

I’ve been a furniture maker for 20 years and I work at a very high skill level. I tend to judge hand-made objects by how much skill they take to make and how they fit into the historical evolution of design; by their aesthetic sophistication. Ohkay. Thats one way

It took me awhile, but now I can view ETSY from a different perspective. The world is alive with people who want to make things. People who make things are proud of what they do. They should be. All of us who make things want to share that experience with others. We want to know people who have had similar experiences. In addition: Making things with your own hands is as great as growing and preserving your own food. It’s about self-reliance; it’s about, in some small way, turning your back on consumerism and corporatism.

So now I look at this stuff and I don’t see a bunch of crappy craft, I see stuff made by people just like me, by people driven to create. Of course some of it is pretty crappy. Last week I was in NY and visited MOMA. There was some pretty crappy stuff there as well.

Brian Reid

We can all use a little instant gratification from time to time.  To facilitate that for our customers, we have opened an Etsy shop where we can list items that we have completed, done, polished, ready to go.  We have knitting needles, both straight and double pointed, listed, along with some fibers, some shawl pins/awls, hat pins, some fibers, and this baby:

Pretty.  Paduak with a black Dymondwood shaft.  This spindle glows.

On the home front, it is the end of Thanksgiving vacation.  The boys are tired – too much playing all week.  We’re a bit tired – work and tryptophan don’t necessarily go together well, though it is nothing that a little pie can’t compensate for. Even while under the turkey influence, Tom and I both managed to get a fair amount accomplished this week.

All in all a good week, even though I had to unexpectedly bid farewell to my car.  Anyone need a 1994 Toyota with nearly 250,000 miles that no longer runs?  If you’re handy and know how to change a timing belt, she could probably be convinced to continue carrying folks around.