Changes

. . . they are a comin'.  This week has had a few surprises.  On Monday, I was told due to the consolidation of offices, my position was becoming redundant, and I would no longer be needed after Friday.  In other words, back to being on the hunt for a new day-job.  (On the plus side, already had one fairly good interview on Wednesday, so that's promising).  Some of my coworkers have been really nice this week - been handing out lots of business cards, and one receptionist even bought my vintage amethyst earrings that I had on etsy until today.  And, it will give me some time to catch up on things with Izile's Oddities that have been slacking since I got sick a while back.

One of the things I hope to keep working on is the new From Faerie line.  I've already had one sale in that section, my new Unicorn Milk Bath (shown here).  And I have two more milk bath blends that need to be finished up, bottled and labeled.  There will be scrubs in the future as well.  Right now, for the salt scrubs, I'm taking my time and testing variations on some friends to get just the right texture of salts and sugars and just the right blend of oils.  I might come out with some uber-simple sugar scrubs in the meantime; I've been dreaming of both a brown sugar, honey, coffee scrub, and a sakura (cherry blossom) scrub as well.   - Just a note, I do plan to do a BIG Sakura post in the future, where I'll be featuring some sakura sweets and recipes as well as hopefully jewelry and a bath treat!!

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Another new surprise was I was invited to join a new etsy street team called Enchanted Etsy!  Runs a little parallel to the Fantasy Artists of Etsy that I'm already a member of, but seems to have a slightly different focus and a few different shops.

You can find the Facebook Fan Page for the street team at Enchanted Etsy and you can find goods sold by the members of Enchanted Etsy by searching "enchantedetsy" (one word) in the search bar at etsy.com

The organizer for this little group runs The Evergreen Nest, based out of South Carolina, and has a beautiful and eclectic assortment of candles, fairy crowns, hair clips, fairy-inspired earrings, miniature polymer sculptures, and even fairy nests!  I think the nests are one of the most adorable and unique items that she offers; and since it's even in her shop name; that's the item I'm going to plug today. (though I think you should go and check out everything else, as well!)

The fairy nests are sorted by color, and look like tiny birds nests filled with all sorts of fairy treasures.  The nests contain pretty buttons, bits of colorful ribbon and feather, vials of color coordinated fairy dust, and bits of quartz crystals.  I can definitely imagine this set out on an alter or windowsill to help attract the fae, or as one of the little fine touches to decorate a room you want to give a more fanciful treatment to.  She also offers the ability to custom order your own nest, if the color combo you want isn't currently available.

The group is new yet, and a lot of members haven't had a chance to get many of their items up on the "enchantedetsy" tag search - so keep going back and checking regularly to see what's new as more members find time to tag their items into the search!

A Wish for Snow That Sticks

I admit, I'm not a cold weather person.  I prefer the blazing heat of summer to almost any season.  However, I do like having seasons.  And I do recognize that without properly balanced seasons, some very unpleasant things can accumulate.  For instance, I want snow.  I want snow, I want temperatures to get below the freezing mark and stay there for at least one week.  Wow.  That sounds arbitrary, doesn't it?  But no.  I'm a gardener.  And a good week (or two) of solid freeze means a whole lot less buggies in my garden come spring.  Plus, growing up largely without snow, I still get really excited about it!  So, I'd just like some snow, please.

But, NYC isn't wanting to cooperate.  :-(  January, and this weekend might see 60' F.  That's just not right.  This happened last year and I had an ungodly swarm of aphids, and I'd never had any at all before, nearly destroy my garden.  So I dream of a real winter.  I hope and wish and want for the snow.  And so I took up Aquariann's Blog-Hop Snowflake Challenge.  You'll find a link over on the sidebar, too.  Lots of blogs all talking about snowflakes and the wonderful snowflake items on etsy!

Sunny Skies Studios is the first etsy shop who's flurries caught my eye.  As a girl with not a single piercing, I always love finding places that do ear jewelry that doesn't require holes.  This snowflake ear cuff is a delicate and beautiful touch, I like how even how it's attached to the wire gives it this feel like it's been swept there by an icy wind.

This shop is 8 pages focused primarily on ear jewelry, both cuffs and piercings; though the other basic jewelry types are also represented in the same artful styles.

Enchanted Quills stood out as the snowflakes grew thicker in my search.  Handmade and painted feather quill pens are something I've only started being aware of in the past year-ish  (I did a trade on DeviantArt last Christmas to get one for a friend).  The more I look at them the more I like them.  Delicate and each unique in its own way, through nature and the styling of the artist.  Enchanting is a very good word for them.  Pictured here is Frostlight, with snowflakes both painted on the feather and a rhinestone ornament nestled at the top of the shaft.

The pens vary widely by not only painting and design, but color and shape - different types of feathers from different birds makes for a lot of choices!  You can also find ceremonial stick incense and even a few earrings floating through the drifts.

And as those drifts continue to get deeper, one last shop shone out through the torrent of snowflakes (that I really wish were outside my window and not just on my screen):  Alberto Cerriteño.  This artist handles a few different kinds of people and critters in his paintings, but his handling of birds are the pieces I like best.  Especially this Snowy Owl with snowflake backdrop.  In the case of this particular print, you can even request what character/symbol goes into the word bubble.  The detail and stylized touches of these prints make them exceedingly charming and personable.  And don't worry if birds aren't your thing, he's got plenty of other critter and color variations available!

Snow!

So we had our first real snow last night here in NYC. A light but constant flurry that seemed to persist for hours and did eventually stick enough for a light coating of white. It always makes the city so beautiful when the snow is fresh. It was a great way to finish a great night.

Also, little note, It is Tuesday the 14th, and I believe I will be putting Izile's Oddities on seasonal hiatus starting Thursday the 16th. So if there is anything any of you might have been wanting to buy from my etsy shop for Christmas, best to do so soon. The SALES listed a couple of posts down are still in effect until the shop goes on seasonal hiatus. I will be back January 3rd, 2011, and will probably have the shop open no later than Jan 4th.

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SNOW! I basically grew up without snow. Maybe we'd get a little snow that would stick once every

4-5 years back in Mississippi, but even then, it

was almost never enough to play with. No, we more got ice, if we got anything at all. So, yes, I still get excited about snow as an adult, because it's something I didn't get to play with or experience much as a child. Here is a photo from

"Snowmageddon" last year that my roommate took of me while I made a pitiful attempt to build a tiny snowman out in our back yard. I will say I have two things working against me when it comes to snowmen, 1) lack of experience, 2) Reynaud's Phenomenon. I won't go into details about #2, but feel free to google.

Now, back to snow on etsy!

So, "snow" results in more pages than I can shake a stick at. So, one of my favorite themes in snow are angry bluebirds. My grandmother did some birdwatching before she passed, and I remember books with lots of photos of puffed up "mad" looking bluebirds in the snow. Well, Makaio's Fotos has a couple of Eastern Bluebird photo prints. They don't necessarily look as ticked off as the ones I remember, but they are truly puffed up! There's also a great variety of other nature based shots to browse through.

And of course, when the results are too overwhelming, I know I can always check in and see what my fellow members at FAE (Fantasy Artists of Etsy) are doing. (You can always check out the items for FAE members by searching "faeteam" on etsy.) I try never to promote the same shop twice, and I've got a lot of the FAE artists covered, but Rainwater Studios has a great piece and is new enough that I've never had the opportunity to feature them before. At right is there Winter Fae Necklace. They've only had a very few sales and have 4 pages full of wonderful things to look at. Lots of great wire wrapping and fantasy themed creations!

Rain, Rain, go Away!!

One problem with being a Southern transplant to the frozen north is not coping real well with how long the winters are. By mid-March I'm in full cabin-fever mode and fidgeting to get out of the house. We had a small burst of days up in the 50's last week, but the past two days the rain pours and pours and it's cold and wet and nasty and it drives a girl a bit bonkers.

So, last night while trying to occupy myself, I busted out a new batch of Garnets I had picked up on one of the last pretty days out. Pictured is Magic Vial Pendant - Passion (haven't made one of those in a long time!) featuring the lovely new Garnets with a new gemstone to my rotation, a deep golden Topaz. Both gemstones associated with the fire elemental, passion, creativity, joy and energy.

At my etsy shop, I also made a "Lil Fire" vial in the straight miniature bottle with Garnet and Hematite.

Hopefully this year will have a bit more fire to it than its predecessors. (Or maybe there's too much Tori Amos on my playlist as I'm stuck inside - re: Take to the Sky lyrics - "I just want a little passion, to hold me in the dark, I know I've got some magic, buried deep in my heart, yeah.")

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So I looked under a few different words, but I just wanted something different. A continuation of the pacing mood, wanting something new, something different.

And that's when Bryan Collins caught my eye. The brilliantly flaming red background off sets the cool colors of the subject creating a very dramatic and aesthetically pleasing effect. The piece is entitled "He Loved Her Forever," and though the artist lists no such inspiration, it reminds me of the old fairytale Thumbalina.

The rest of his etsy shop is filled with other highly saturated, colorful and very graphic images in original, prints, ACEOs, t-shirts, journals and other merchandise options. As an extra bonus, he states that a minimum of 10% of all sales go to charity :-)

Back in Brooklyn!

This will be brief because I've still got a lot to do.

I just wanted to make a note that I'm back in Brooklyn, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is going to have a great New Year!

I just took my Etsy shop off vacation mode and renewed the few things that had lapsed while I was on vacation (and marked them down and moved them to the SALE section!) It will still be a bit before I can start making new things, but I wanted to go ahead and open up since I am home and can go to the Post Office now.

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For my plug, just because I'm glad to be back, I searched "Brooklyn."

Firstly, I saw this and had to include it, though you might have noticed I don't really include a lot of photography in my plugs. But I love this park, and that tree in particular, and this is a great photo of it.

It's an 11x14 from Dooley Images of Astoria.

At the etsy shop you can also find other examples of photography. I also like the high saturation in the fall leaf shots.

My other pick is a tote bag from My Cute Handbags of Brooklyn. 15x14.5 in cotton canvas, in a choice of colors, and best of all, printed with a design of Brooklyn pigeons. Great for books or some light grocery running.

Veritas Equitas!

First off, I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!

Secondly, as the title indicates, today is All Saint's Day, and all that means to me is that I get to go see the new Boondock Stains sequel, All Saints Day! WOOOOO!!

Now, I want someone to explain something to me, which might be a sensitive subject, before I get all high-handed here.

So, what's the deal with people on etsy who make movie merchandise? They can't all possibly be licensed. Are these legal? I really don't want to plug any merchandise that's illegally infringing on, particularly one of my favorite, movies. (And particularly a movie that has been plagued by bad luck and lots of financial and legal difficulties.)

So, if anyone has an opinion on this, I'd love to hear the thoughts.

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So, since I can't plug anything related to today from etsy. I'm going to have to reach into my favorites stash and pull someone out at random.

I don't remember ever giving this artist a plug before, so hopefully I'm not being repetitive here. Sarah K Designs has really touched something off in me today. It's the gold finches.

Years and years ago, when I was only about 13 years old, my grandmother had come to live with us in her last stages of adrenal cancer. One of her last joys was to sit by the large window in the great room with her binoculars and a book on different birds of the United States. That last spring, just a bare month before she finally died, the yard was filled up with gold finches. None of us had ever seen any before. Grandma was so excited! Our yard was covered up with gold finches; and it was beautiful!

Then the gold finches left, Grandma died, peacefully, and we've never really seen them since. Mother says she may spot one, rarely, in early spring, and it always reminds her of Grandma. So, too, gold finches will always remind me of my Grandmother. Heck, it wasn't quite 2 years ago, during one of the most painful experiences I've endured in my young life, that I sat and watched as a little female goldfinch found me in Seattle and tapped and beat at the window for nearly two days straight.

Sarah has beautiful gold finch prints! I have not always been a fan of digital collages, but these really tug at me. I'm not sure if I like the one on the right better, or the left, so I'm having to feature them both.

Also, she has lots of other birds, animals, seasonal specials, holiday cards. I definitely recommend taking the time to look through her work!