I'm in a Treasury

that made the front page of Etsy today. That's the good news. The bad news is that I missed it; I was out getting my hair cut this morning and wasn't able to get online. Well that and the fact that our ornaments are on the bottom row of the collection and weren't included on the front page. What we got from this is a lot of extra views today from those people who clicked to see the full collection. As you can see from the screen shot above the Treasury itself is simply stunning and full of items that I am currently lusting after. To be included in this grouping is a big stroke to the ego.

We've been included in a number of treasuries over the last few weeks which is exciting all by itself. I always get a little thrill in seeing one of my items included in a collection curated by someone else. What's even better, is that I get to share this thrill with the husband who has as much invested in our ornaments as I do. Really it's equivalent to having a work of art selected by a jury for hanging in a show which is something that the Husband has only witnessed through me when I've had that honour in the past.

Feel free to click on the screen grab above and comment on the treasury and click on the items that grab your attention. You might just find that one of a kind gift for someone on your list and be that much closer to a relaxed December.

Hungry hungry hippos and candlelight baths

This year I'm gifting for my sister. What can I say about my sister? She's the baby in the family and one of the toughest cookies I know. She doesn't pull any punches and will tell you exactly what's on her mind, she'll also say things just for the shock value when someone is being rude. She's mom to my three fantastic nephews and she's a rabid collector of Hippos.

In the past, I've gotten her a hand carved soapstone hippo and she's got a massive collection of toys, collectibles and photographs of hippos. I could shop for hippo things for her, and hippo is one of the search terms I plan on using. But she's just not all about the hippos, she also enjoys a good bath, with nice scented stuff and candles.

Here are a few things that came up in my searches:

Hippo Ring from Jujulee: Zoo rings are here! Hippo ring made from acrylic
glass 1/8 inch thick,Acrylic is light weight and very sturdy. I now offer all my rings
in many colors: black, white, clear, blue, bronze, brown, orange, yellow, and red.

The above ring would have been perfect but my sister refuses to wear rings that stand up from her finger. She prefers simple bands on her fingers. I thought the ring was super cool though, and the rest of the items in Jujulee's shop are equally fantastic and well worth a look.

The Hippo from MDSparks: I love love love this cute little hippo charm.

Attached to a sterling silver bail and hung it onto a 16 inch sterling silver chain
that closes with a hook and eye clasp. A cute little hippopotamus for your collection!

This is an adorable option which would probably make it into everyday wear for my sister. and there are some gorgeous pieces that are not-hippo related in MDsparks as well.

Vintage Wade Porcelain Miniature Animal
Collection Lot from ChaoticWhimsey: My mom is an antique dealer. As a
child I would go with her to antique shows and look for little treasures. What I ended
up collecting was Wade porcelain miniatures- they were inexpensive,small, and just
difficult enough to find to keep it interesting. 20 years later and I have a plethora of the little
figures!The fruits of all my searching include this cute little collection of 6 miniature
Wade porcelain animals. It includes a rabbit, gorilla, camel, beaver, hippo and zebra.

These miniatures looked promising. ChaoticWhimsey has so many fantastic items that I've added her to my list of favourites to check out again and again.

There were so many listings on my search for Hippos on Etsy which was wonderful. Searching in malls and more mainstream stores for Hippo related items is more challenging and finding something that is a little unique on top of that can be a hair pulling experience. None of the above items made it to my short short list and are all up for grabs as I write this.

Searching for bath goods to contribute to a little self indulgence turned up heaps and heaps of items to choose from. Here are a few:

Vanilla Noir Sugar Scrub Cubes by WickedSoaps: Vanilla Noir brings to
mind the glamour of Ava Gardner or Rita Hayworth and the reminder of a bygone era.
Madagascar Vanilla, Dark Vanilla Bean, Black Plum are mixed with Bergamot
Orange and Warm Musk to bring you this dark, sophisticated scent. A wicked blend of creamy
goat's milk soap, skin loving shea butter, and pure granulated sugar, for a convenient body
wash that will leave your skin gently exfoliated and glowing.

WickedSoaps has a wide assortment of luxurious bath products that made me salivate, (I'm a soak in the tub with candle light kind of girl too). As an added bonus you can take advantage of the Thanksgiving Weekend Sale of 25% off everything in the shop! The sale runs from Wednesday, November 25th through Monday, November 30th. If you've got a bather on your list get over there now.

Sand Dollar Lavendar Herbal Sachet by Willywaw: The soothing smell
of lavender is as relaxing as a summer day. This herbal sachet is hand
screen printed on linen union cloth with a cornflower blue sand dollar and filled
with a mixture of lavender and buckwheat hulls. Measures 5 x 5 inches, printed
on the front and back is plain with a Willywaw label. Listing is for one sachet.

Willywaw is another shop with an excellent variety of hand made items.

To find out more about the items and shops I've mentioned here click on the pictures to visit the shops.

I've been lax

I keep telling myself and posting about how I'm gong to keep on schedule, keep up with weekly feature posts, keep up with regular posts, keep up with posting at least three times a week to at least post.... see a pattern here?

Summer is catching up with us we're out more often, for play dates, birthday parties (because it's birthday party season) weddings and berry picking. Blogging time just kind of melts away and will be slowly returning as summer turns into autumn.



In addition to all these real world happenings I have plans to add to, tweak and organize TMCPhoto and my business plan for TMCPhoto and for PeanutButterPie. I have plans and I also have no idea where to start or how. Of course we'll figure it out and by we, I mean me. I started out on Etsy by just diving in. I've had a year to see how things work and now It's time to set things up to work better. I have goals; I want more views, I want more sales, I want to feel like I'm moving forward each week instead of treading water or coasting.

5 questions will be back in September; The last feature I did on TubbyTabby resulted in a direct sale as a result of the feature and I couldn't be more excited and pleased and happy for Jodi of TubbyTabby. I couldn't have been more pleased if the sales were mine. I'm a firm believer in the rule of three, what you put out comes back to you threefold, if I can help out a fellow Etsian I'm also helping myself. I'd love to have more sales for my feature artists result from my features. And this is where the title of this post comes in. I'm giving myself permission to slack off for the rest of summer.

5 questions: I am a weirdo

Before we get started, help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway!


One of the things about Etsy I like (and there are a lot of great things I like about Etsy) is the favorites feature; not only can I keep track of the fabulous products I drool over and covet almost jealously, but I can find my favourite artists and artisans with the click of the mouse. In addition I can also check out some of the artists and artisans who also like me. This is how I found Susarto, this weeks featured artist.

Susarto also goes by the name SusanMoloney. She calls herself a painter, a weirdo maker and a thing creator and there could be no better way to describe her or her shop; full of lush paintings, prints of her original paintings, the most adorable plush creatures, which she calls the Weirdo's and an assortment of photographs, magnets and bookmarks as well as the most amazing hand bound zines about life in Ireland through the eyes of an American. Browsing Susarto's shops and blog is an exercise in inspiration.

Susarto belongs to the Etsy Plush Team and the IrishRougeArtisans on Etsy, she has exhibited in local galleries and has work included in a number of private art collections in the US, Ireland and England. In addition to Etsy and her blog (which features some of the most amazing art), you can find Susan on Flickr and twitter. I was very interested to see how Susarto would answer my questions and I was not disappointed:

What got you started?

i have no idea what started me...i know that i would draw and draw since i could hold a pencil (or crayon). i always said i wanted to be an artist as a kid. always.
my dad was a "commercial artist" (that's what they called graphic design back then i suppose) but i didn't know what that meant. i thought he was like picasso or something.
i would give him a paper and pencil and say "draw."
i wanted to see how to draw things.
he did, a little reluctantly, but he really wasn't bad ;)















Do you listen to music when you create? What's on your play list right now and why?

i always listen to music when i work.
my very favourite singer is chris cornell...so i have a lot of him on my playlist, soundgarden, audioslave...
but i love tom waits. he's very inspiring to work with.
stevie wonder, jane's addiction, massive attack, tool, and on rainy days, i like to listen to billie holiday :)
why would be a tough question...music sets the mood for art i guess. and paintings seem to look like the songs.
i listened to tom waits mostly when i made my train paintings. they are sort of tom-ish i think :)







What is your ultimate creator’s block cure?

go out!
look at stuff.
notice what you notice, and all of that...

i love going to the mutter museum in philadelphia (and old medical museum) and/or taking little adventure walks by the canal up by new hope, pa. my husband has a motorbike and we go on little trips through beautiful back roads. stuff like that.
if you can't get out, look at stuff on the internet. you can see most of the world that way ;)




What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

i think life just shapes your work whether you like it or not. but i recently have learned to just go with what feels natural to me.
i used to think i had to be able to be really good at oil painting...otherwise i wouldn't really be a "painter", but i don't always want to do that. so now i do what i feel the need to do. i'm much happier that way, and i get better results.

Rock, Paper or Scissors?

whenever possible, i'll take all.
if i can only pick one, paper.
you can make almost anything out of paper.
even rocks or scissors.


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Etsy Day

Etsy Day is today. What is Etsy Day you ask?

It's an Etsy seller driven media blitz to help build awareness of the place to buy and sell Handmade. Yes there are other sites out there but Etsy is more than just a place to post your stuff and sell it. It's community of creative people who support each other through sharing ideas, offering constructive criticisms and advice on how to be more successful on and offline, new techniques for crafting and fine art practices and so much more. I truly feel a sense of camaraderie within the Etsy Community. People rejoice in each others success because when one of us has success we all have it.

In honour of Etsy day I'm revisiting some of the Etsy Artists whom I have featured in my weekly feature 5 questions over the last few months; designbynihan 's Geisha sweater pictured at right, for instance . Click on each photo to see what else they have in store. Enjoy!

helveticaneue:

Deadworry:

christarenee:

Knickertwists:

Finestra:

thewillowtree