Etsy Treasury: Grape Expectations

What a treat! Tonight I found out that one of my bracelets was chosen for an Etsy Treasury.

(I removed the link because the treasury has expired, but you can still go shopping in my Etsy Store. www.rgrdesigns.etsy.com)

My heart is not black, but THIS one is!

New in my Etsy shop! Check out this Black Onyx and Sterling Silver Necklace.

Matching earrings are available in a separate listing.These onyx beads are interesting because they have varying amounts of opacity and translucency.

I've been experimenting with some different photography props. The necklace is laid on a mirror for the shot in this post. I have mixed feelings about the image. The mirror aided in showing the stones' translucency. The reflected image may be confusing. I included other images in my Etsy post that did not use the mirror.

It's a challenge to create clear images for Etsy that will draw attention. My latest jewelry designs have been mostly neutral colors, which adds to the challenge.

Do you have any thoughts on the subject?

And one last thing - a new Picture Jasper Bracelet that is also in my RGR Designs Etsy Store.

Card Party Charm Bracelet & News

As promised, I added a few items to my Etsy store today. I will be adding more this coming week.

I also promised to make an announcement this week. Thanks for your reminders in the comments some of you left. I almost forgot my promise. My mind has been elsewhere this week. We said our final goodbye to a very dear friend who has gone on to Heaven. Our thoughts have been with her family.

So - what was I holding back on? A couple of things -

1. My painting "Golden Harvest" will be displayed at the Iowa State Fair in the Fine Arts competition. I am THRILLED! We are looking into making prints.

2. I am closing in on my 200th blog post and the 2nd anniversary of this blog. Keep your eyes on this blog for give aways in the upcoming days/weeks. I added a follower button that you can see on the right hand column. Have you signed up yet?

Give Thanks Card AEDM 2008

Even though I've been doing many artistic things, I haven't managed to post for several days. The weekend was very busy. One thing I spent time on was putting together kits to make greeting cards with women from my church on Monday night. In my last post I showed one of the cards I designed. This is the second card. It is embellished with punched leaves and flowers. Thankfully, dear Hubby offered to help punch the flowers. My hands and arms had had enough after doing all the leaves for both cards. Have you ever used one of those hand-held punches? They aren't so bad with text weight paper, but card stock is a real bear to punch. Before I was done making kits, I was ruing my decision to have so many elements on my cards.

BUT - it turned out to be worth all the effort. We had lots of fun Monday night. We started assembling the card shown here. It was fun to see that most of the women expressed their creativity by assembling them differently from my example. I showed them how to make a simple stitched binding that held a single insert in the cards.

On Sunday, Hubby took me to the Two Rivers Art Expo in Des Moines. My dear friend Brandie Isley had a booth & Hubby bought me one of her prints, "Arm in Arm We Face the Day". He also treated me to a print by Bekah Ash, whose work I have admired for a long time. I placed the prints so I can glance at them from my desk. Once I frame them, they'll have new homes, but I want to keep them where I can be inspired.

Earlier today I sketched an idea for a fun painting featuring a snowman, but once I laid in the background of the painting, I changed my mind about the subject. Instead it became a winter landscape inspired by my memories of our trip through Colorado on Amtrak last winter. I'm not sure if it's done yet, but I'll be sure to post it soon.

But snowmen were not forsaken, because I made several pair of snowman earrings tonight before I started painting. I'll be taking some to Swinging Bridge Studio in Story City on Friday, and hope to get some in my Etsy shop, too. Two pair of snowman earrings I posted earlier have been spoken for. Already in my Etsy shop are Swarovski crystal trees. They are emerald green, but I also have clear crystal trees available, too.

Last night I worked on building more layers of texture and color on a canvas I started a few months ago. I had a concept in mind while I painted last night, but when I looked at the canvas this morning, I realized the color was different from what I had in my head. I often forget the slight shift of color as acrylic dries. I'd been working with watercolor lately. It's the opposite of acrylic, drying lighter than it appears wet. Anyway, when I looked at the canvas tonight, I think I'll be going in a different direction with it. I may need to make some skins. I flipped through some of my clip art books for inspiration.

I promise to take some pictures of what I've been working on, but I just wanted to get a new post up. Now it's time to get some sleep.

Amazonite Challenge

Since I've been recouperating from getting my wisdom teeth removed last Friday, I'm taking it easy. Working at my jewelry design board was just the thing to take my mind off the pain for a while. This month's gemstone challenge is Amazonite at The Beadhive (BHV), a jewelry and bead designing group I belong to at Etsy & Ebay. I just happened to pick up some Amazonite coins at a show last Spring.

I used Paua Shell, Labradorite, and Kiwi Jasper along with glass seed beads for this 40 inch long necklace. Wear it singly, or wrap it for a double strand look. Matching earrings come with the necklace. I named it Minty Breeze for it's summery look and light appearance and feeling. Minty Breeze will be up for sale in my Etsy store.

New Etsy Listing Venetian Glass Earrings

One of my goals is to regularly add new listings to my Etsy shop, but I let other projects distract me too often. Tonight I added a pair of Venetian Glass Earrings to my shop.
What are Venetian Glass Beads? Authentic Venetian Glass Beads are made in Italy following ancient traditional methods. The glass is formed around a copper wire which is later dissolved with acid when the bead is completed. Imitation or copy-cats are massed produced on a wire coated with bead release. If you see chalky residue in the bead hole, it is not authentic Venetian Glass. You can read more about Venetian Glass here.
I hand selected this pair of beads. It was so hard to narrow down my selections, because there were so many beautiful designs to choose from. The pattern on these beads make me think of Van Gogh's iris painting - in a very abstract way. (On a side note, hubby & I saw this painting in 2003 when we traveled to Amsterdam. The Van Gogh Museum is one of the world's most popular museums, and it is well worth the trip!)
You can find another selection featuring Venetian Glass in my Etsy store. I hope you'll take a look. Be sure to contact me if you have any questions.

Earrings Listings on Etsy

I added 2 pair of earrrings to my Etsy store tonight. Not that I've been making jewelry... I found out yesterday that the pain I'm having in my hands and arms is from tendonitis. I hope to be back at my jewelry table soon. I started physical therapy & have a brace for my right wrist.

I've marked more photos to prepare so I can add more Etsy listings. I hope you'll come back to see what I list.

The Business of Art

I came home exhausted tonight close to 9 pm. After a cat nap I've been back at the business of art which is how I spent much of my day.

After labeling and writing an inventory list, I delivered painted totes, fantasy beaded icicles, and more jewelry (one item pictured above) to Swinging Bridge Studio in Story City. They worked on making a really nice display while I was still there. Sorry, no photo! If the weatherman is REALLY wrong, I will go back tomorrow and take pictures. We are supposed to get really nasty winter weather tomorrow.

After my regular pool exercise session, it was time to teach beginning knitting at Prairie Fibers Company. I was really excited about this opportunity. Many years ago I managed a needlework shop where I taught many skills. Knitting was among my favorites. To oversimplify - you are taking 2 sticks and string to make fabric. Wow! 3 years ago I introduced some of my nieces to knitting. I loved seeing them "get" it. So I was looking forward to helping my students get the same satisfaction. My students are a mother and her young daughter, both determined and both left being able to knit. I'm proud of both of them and looking forward to getting together for our next lesson.

I have 2 new listings on Etsy tonight. I hope you will check them out.

New Etsy Listings (At Long Last!)

Tonight I FINALLY pushed everything else aside to get some Etsy listings finished. It's not hard to post a listing, but it takes some focus to go through the steps to write a concise, yet detailed description. There's the photo editing to go through, too. I'm getting faster, but still, it takes time.

You can see thumbnails of the new additions to my Etsy store on the right side of the screen. Clicking on them will take you to the store.

Today's photo shows a bracelet that hasn't make it to the store yet. It can be yours for $120. The scrumptious lampwork beads were made by my bead pal, Tera of Beady Girl Beads.

More Sunflowers - New Etsy Listing

Here's a peek at one of my summer projects. I handpainted this tote bag with Setacolor paints and embellished it with beads, ribbons, crystals and sequins. I've just listed it on Etsy. Hubby noticed that I paint and sketch a lot of sunflowers. I just love them. But I do paint other flowers. I was inspired by a hummingbird and Siberian irises for another tote I painted. It's currently on display in my friend's store - The Prairie Fiber Company - on Main St. in Ames. There's a link to Kimberly's blog on my side bar.

Welcome to my blog!

I've joined the throng who are blogging, so what can you expect to find here?
I'll keep you informed about what I'm creating and how you can obtain my creations. I'll share some of the inspiration behind my work. I'll probably brag on a few of my artistic friends, too.

I recently openned a store at Etsy.com. Check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5215066
There are just a few items in the store so far. I won't add a lot more until October, because I'm getting ready for a show. Details will follow in a future post.

You can find more examples of my work on my web site http://www.rgrdesigns.net/ which has a gallery of some of my work. If you see anything there you are interested in, please contact me for more details. My husband updates the site in his very little free time. I'm not HTML savvy like he is.

I'm so glad you've stopped by & I'd love to hear from you.
Regina