I’ve been having so much fun turning my paintings into wearable art in the form of antique lockets and cameo pendants, but you probably wouldn’t know that if you weren’t able to make it out to any of my winter markets. Adding the new jewelery to my Etsy shop has been going at a snail-like pace. It seemed like as soon as I got a few of them photographed and edited and ready to go, they were sold! A good problem to be had, for sure.

There are now 6 fancy necklaces in the “Pendants” section of the shop, along with the usual group of Scrabble tile pendants. I’ve got a few more that will go up tomorrow and then I really need to get to work on creating more! Tracking down the lockets themselves has not been easy and the BIG ones I had at Christmas time are nowhere to be found. I’m kicking myself now for not holding onto one of them to wear myself. The hunt continues…

Have I mentioned how much fun I’ve been having making new fancy schmancy jewelry? I’ve been doing the Scrabble tile pendants for a little over a year now, and while they’ll always have a place in my heart (so light & cute & fun), I’m smitten with my newest creations.

Making jewelry is such a different skill set than painting, so it’s been fun to learn something new and experiment with being creative in a totally different way – which beads to use, which charms, antiquing & getting different patina effects…lots to play with!

The new pendants have been popular at my local craft shows, so I’m having trouble staying on top of what inventory I have and getting it photographed and up in my Etsy shop. Since I personally antique the brass setting and add different beads and charms, each one really is unique and needs its own listing. They’ve been selling too quickly, which is, of course, a wonderful thing!

I have 2 more days at Simon Fraser University this week, then Got Craft on the weekend and THEN I can get back to focusing on my Etsy shop – which is just about too late for Christmas shopping! The last few weeks have flown by. I’m looking forward to the craft show madness to slow down so I can turn my attention to getting my own house gussied up for the holidays. The mister’s parents are coming out to visit, so there’s a little extra pressure this year. I’m kind of looking forward to curling up with the December issues of Real Simple and Martha Stewart, plus my stand-by cookbooks to plan something special. Yes, I am a dork like that.

What’s your favorite holiday recipe?

I’m very pleased to announce the latest addition to the shop – bookplates! With ROBOTS on them!!!

I’ve been playing with layouts for bookplates and researching printers for months now and I couldn’t be more tickled with these little guys now that they’re here. I played with digitally coloring in the robot or painting him in real life, then re-scanning, but ultimately I decided I really like the chicken scratch marks of my pencil sketch. I think it sweetly compliments his high tech nature. And his pudgy belly.

You can get your very own set of 8 bookplates, personalized with your name (if you wish), right here.

Of course, now I want to make a whole bunch more! All in good time.

My little crafty factory has been chugging along quite nicely over the past few weeks getting prepped for all the craft markets I’ll be attending this season. I haven’t had time to properly photograph and write up all of my new wares, so not much  is listed in my Etsy shop just yet, but it’s coming. I swear!

First off…my new fancy schmancy jewelry:

I love ‘em. I’m probably not supposed to say that about my own stuff, but I really really love the way they turned out. It’s been a long time coming; I spent months sourcing good suppliers for raw brass lockets and cameos, learning how to age & patina the brass myself, learning how to (& how NOT to) seal the tiny paintings in resin. Phew! It was well worth it, methinks.

available in my Etsy shop

I still like my Scrabble tile pendants too – they’re light & cute & fun, but it’s nice to have a dressier option. I like to wear my own jewelry when I’m out at art functions so I can explain what it is I do more easily. I hate stammering about how, “I paint girls with a, um…storybook sort of feel?” Blank stare. Much easier to just say, “I paint cute portraits – like this!” Then point to my necklace.

One of the other new things I unveiled at my last market is prints on small wood blocks, then coated with a shiny varnish. I think I’d like to try covering them in resin too, since I’m all about the juicy shiny wet look right now. They’re so cute & perfect to just perch on a shelf or window ledge. I think they’d look great hung on the wall in a wonky arrangement too. Fun fun!

One strange question…what do you think the stand in the above pic is actually for? I picked it up at a thrift store (though I didn’t think it was particularly thrifty at $5.99, but whatever). How did people originally use this thing? Tea cup displays? Books? I’ve got no clue. The handle on top seems like it’s meant to be moved around, so probably not breakable treasures. I feel like my grandparents may have had something similar sitting beside my grandpa’s easy chair where he hung newspapers off the gold bars…but I could be remembering that completely wrong. Ideas and random guesses welcome!

The Crow Keeper
prints available in my Etsy shop

The Crow Keeper has always considered herself a bit of an amateur ornithologist, drawn particularly to crows with their inky black feathers and all-around cleverness.

A bit of a strange bird, she keeps mostly to herself. She’s had little luck developing friendships over the years (possibly due to her longing for a “murder” of friends). Instead, she turns her attention to her feathered friends – and gazing up at the sky.

She’s done! I finished the painting I’ve been working on over the last couple of weeks, The Crow Keeper, and now have prints listed in my Etsy shop. I haven’t listed the original for sale yet because I think I’m going to have this one framed first. At 16″ x 20″ she’s much larger than my usual paintings and is just begging for a big black ornate frame. And possibly to hang on my own walls a wee bit longer!