Saturday, February 8, 2014

I'm back!

I think I am finally back! I am feeling good about working again and creating is becoming easier. I just wish I had more time. There never seems to be enough of it!
I am trying to be better organized but with everything I have going on it's been the most challenging thing of all. I have to admit I am an utter failure at shipping. I try to get things out in a timely manner but with the sheer amount of things on my plate it's incredibly difficult. 

I need to find a couple more hours in the day maybe... At least there is a 5 day weekend creeping up on us, where kids stay home so I can't work since I need to stay home with them. Perhaps some miracles will happen in the studio those few days. Either that or I may have to actually pay attention to my children and the state of this house... Balance and do both? Good idea!

My creative juices are flowing and I am dying to share some of these with you! So enjoy the jewelry pictured here, if I am lucky there will be another post this weekend with more pretty pictures! Lol!

A lot of the items pictured here are newly listed in my Etsy shop, so please head over and have a look. The link is on the side bar. Hard to do a post link as I am writing this from my phone. Still working, even in bed ;)

Did I mention I also have new pendants listed? You can find those in my supply shop. I have a bunch more to add to the lot, so keep your eyes peeled.

So much to do and so little time! I guess I better get out of bed and get to it!!
Thanks for stopping by

Marie







Saturday, January 4, 2014

Pinterest, Art Bead Scene and me!

Image from Tesori Trovati and Erin Prais-Hintz
 
I was chatting with my good friend Heather of Humblebeads, creator of the Art Bead Scene. Heather has been amazingly patient with me in the last year keeping me on as a contributor even though I did very little contributing. Well that is about to change! Heather asked me the be the Pinterest administrator for the Art Bead Scene! What an amazing opportunity! I am a total Pinterest addict and I think Heather knows it, so I really feel I am a perfect fit!
Image from Humblebeads and Heather Powers
So I dove in feet first and started rocking the Pinterest boards! Woo! Having a blast! I have a really hard time sleeping so I took up pinning as my "what else am I going to do" treat ;)
Now I can pin with a purpose!
As a pinner I personally have over 5500 followers, 96 boards and over 14,000 pins! I was made for this job! lol
Textile Design for Cretonne, 1928? 
by Lois Mailou Jones
Tempera on Paper
To start things off my duties for the ABS Boards starts with the Monthly challenge! Above is this month's inspiration art piece. You can find the Pinterest Board HERE to see what we have so far... 
Next I created a board to promote our monthly sponsors. Here is our SPONSOR BOARD. I hope you follow the ABS or the individual boards.
My next duty as you leader, I mean as the Admin, is to create inspiration boards. I will then create a post for the ABS blog to highlight the board. So my first one is BIRDS OF INSPIRATION. Many of us pull our inspiration from nature, so what better place to start than with birds. They are one of my favorite things, with their bright plumage and the variety of shapes and sizes they come in. I understand of course that they are not everyone's favourites, so look for future boards that I will be creating over the next year.
 
So I leave you with these words and hope to see you repining our inspiration to your own boards :)
 
Marie
 
**Update**
The duties for the ABS Challenge board on Pinterest will actually be shared between Kaushambi and myself :)


Friday, January 3, 2014

Remembering...

I was sitting here remembering some of the things that made me the happiest. I feel like it has been too long since I have done anything for my business so I am here reminding myself and maybe some of you out there in cyberland that I did some noteworthy things and that I really need to start again. It's really me that needs the reminder. I have gotten some lovely emails from people out there telling me how much they miss seeing my new pieces and how they hope I will get back to it again.
I am still here, I have not forgotten how my hands work, I just need them to feel inspired. I felt a touch of inspiration over Christmas, I made some nice things for people on my Christmas list. It felt good. I ran out of time to take pictures of course, I am still not set up to tale any really. I moved my studio again. I was a little scattered around the house and now I am almost done organizing my new space. It is coming, the return to creativity. I want to get my hands dirty so to speak ;) I am almost ready. I have less pain in my hands now and I hope it stays away. I have to start back slow.
I have posted a couple pictures that I was able to pull up from the internet. I never did recover anything from my computer, so I lost all my pictures. I am moving on from that, I have a new year ahead of me to make new things and take new pictures.
I am realizing that this post is pretty random and somewhat depressing. Ugh! I need something fun to happen! lol Maybe I will start submitting to publications again... I miss getting the emails saying something was accepted. It has been so long! I remember the exhilaration it gave me!
So what is next? I don't really have a plan. I think I will just see where creation takes me. I do have some pendants started...maybe I will start by finishing those...

See you soon!

Marie