Spring Kinda Sprung?

We're supposed to have snow tonight in the city, but prior to this blast, it was starting to actually look like spring.  The weekend before last, I got my garden cleaned and flipped by beds; and this last weekend, I planted one side (with winter tolerant things like kale, lettuces, radishes...), and worked on lowering the pH of the bed where I will later plant tomatoes and peppers.

Also, there will have to be new herbs.  Both my rosemary plants died in the cold, and my oregano, nearly 7 years old, seems to have not made it through.  My regular thyme may have also passed, though the lemon thyme seems fine; as is the sage.  This kind of puts a severe damper on the herbal components in my Magic Vial Pendants when my garden is reduced to thyme, lavender, and sage.  With this cold snap, it will still be a few weeks before I can get bedding plants.

That said, after the time-change, I have noticed an up-tick in energy and creativity, which is a good sign.  The other weekend, after gardening, I put some work in on a long neglected drawing of a dragon, and started a new watercolor painting of a unicorn.  Most likely, neither of these will end up on etsy, but it's a good sign for productivity.

Speaking of, obviously trying to be a bit better about blogging over here, though most of my blogging energies are still going to keeping up the 3-times-a-week updates over at South Eats North, my foodie blog.  Having a chronic addiction to eating everyday means there's normally something to blog about most weeks, whether it's recipes or restaurant reviews or whathaveyou.

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I've also been poking around on pinterest more, in need of aesthetic inspiration.  It may officially be spring, but it still looks cold and grey up here, and that's not very inspiring or motivating.

It was actually through pinterest that I found out about hair chalking and this etsy seller:  Sexy Hair Chalk.

I haven't yet played with hair chalk, so I can't really say anything much on it, except it looks cool, and I look forward to playing with it this summer.  Here is a WIKIHOW about how it works.  There's lots of how-to's on google, and on youtube.  I admit, I'm surprised it will work on non-blondes, and am trying to figure out what colors might work with my red hair?

The above is her wheel of available colors, and she has lots of listings whether you want to just buy one stick for $1.49 (some colors on sale), or buy a big set of $48 for $39.99.  I'm personally trying to think about maybe just 2 or 4.  It's just a matter of deciding on which colors; but what a fun way to play with color without worrying about weird looks at the office!  

Red and White

That time of year and I always just love the way strong reds look against clean whites.  Maybe it's that strange Snow-White fixation that's so common with love of contrasts; the look of blood upon the snow.  Ah, and snow - we finally got a little of it this weekend here in NYC.  Not a lot, and it didn't last long, but my garden was tiny drifts of white for a couple of days.  I'm now left torn between wanting at least one more snow, a good one, with real deep pillowy dunes; and spring with budding little flowers breaking through thin frost and fleet feathery flurries.

Well, since my rubies finally came in for Valentines Day projects, I've made a couple of red and white themed vials.  Every year I make a couple of Lil Love mini vials pendants with rubies and pearls.  I love the symbolic mix of the passion and joy of the rough rubies with the purity and loyalty of the smooth pearls.  Topped off with some flecks of red rose petals and sterling silver wire.  It's one of my favorites to make.

And of course, a variant for the full-sized bulb-bottom vials is always a fan-favorite.  For this one, I have had a surplus of creamy opals, which with their little flecks of fire and versatility combined beautifully with the deep red rubies and a whole red rosebud and the classic silver swirl of wire.

Blood and snow, flowers and frost, it's still a little early yet, but I guess that's where my thoughts are turning.

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Along those lines, I found a new etsy shop that I'm loving - oddly off pinterest this time, and not through my regular grueling searching through page after page on etsy.

Gardens of Whimsy is right in there with my thoughts turning towards early flowers; and it doesn't hurt she's also a redheaded crafty Brooklyn-girl, too ;-)

The majority of her shop focuses around floral hair accessories, whether crowns, clips or pins.  While there is a definite nod to bridal customers, there are many pieces that would look more in place with cosplay or a ren faire than a wedding aisle.  The elfling in me also appreciates an entire section dedicated to more fae creations.  (I am also totally envious of her ability to style her hair so great - and take such awesome pics herself! I have a LOT of hair and I'm doing good when I can get it into a fishtail braid!)

She has a huge history of sales (this is definitely a "new to me" entry) so if nothing catches your eye immediately, you might want to give it a peek.  She does do custom orders, though I'd read her policies page first.

Me.  I think I need to go back on pinterest and see if I can find more step-by-step instructions on how to put my hair up in swanky ways while I try and make up my mind.

Ides and Ideas

We have rounded the bend in January and are now less than a month from the Ides of February, the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, and the day after, the modern interpretation, Valentine's Day.

For those of us/you who might be looking to do your romantic shopping online, that means you gotta start putting things together now!  Nothing quite says "oopsie" like a card from the corner dollar store with a note written in it about how "your gift is 'lost in the mail'" when it really means "I forgot to order it until February 10th."  And don't think that $5 heart-shaped box of stale chocolates from who-knows-when-or-where is going to make it much better.

We'll get to some of my other favorite picks in the plugging section, but I've also made a couple of things just for the holiday.

If you're a fan of my Magic Vial Pendants, you might like my new, one of a kind (cannot repeat it!) Heart of Hearts Magic Vial shown here.  It's a heart-shaped vial filled with cut and faceted gemstone hearts!  There's 3 Garnet hearts for passion and love in your relationship, 1 Amethyst heart for understanding, 1 dark Blue Topaz and 3 light Blue Topaz hearts for truth and joy together, and 1 Peridot heart for growth, may your love ever renew itself. It is rounded out with 4 freshwater white pearls for faith and loyalty.

It's finished off with a bail and swirl of 14K gold-filled wire.

Talk about the ultimate gemstone love-charm!

If you're more looking for the traditional style of jewelry, however, I also made this Heart of Gold necklace, at right.

This heart of gold is a 6 mm, half carat, heart-shaped Citrine bezel set in Sterling Silver.  Citrine is associated with the element of Fire and planetary connection to the Sun. It can be used as a substitute for golden Topaz for November birthstone, but is also associated with Gemini and Virgo. Citrine, like quartz crystal, is a purifying stone that dissolves negative energies, and can be used to help "clean" other stones as well as personal energies. It radiates warmth, love, success, prosperity, courage and self-esteem.

This warm talisman of love dangles from a swirl of a vine-like heart, attached to a delicate chain with an S-hook and loop clasp, all in Sterling Silver.

For those with a tighter budget, I also have a simple Magic Vial Love Charm Pendant for only $10, a mix of Rose Quartz, Rhodochrosite and a red Rosebud.  It's simple, it's affordable, and it's great for all shades of love, not just romantic, but healing love, self-love, universal love, maternal love. . .

I am also still waiting on my Thai rubies to be delivered - and if you want to use some in your own custom blended Love Charm, I am taking Valentine's Day custom requests with an added discount on the rubies (once they get here. *taps foot impatiently*)


Last, but not least, I am running a Valentine's Day give away on my Facebook fan page.  It's only for people who follow me on Facebook, but it's a chance to win a real sterling silver and garnet valentine's day charm.  Winner will be announced on February 1st!  So pop on over, look it up and enter to win!

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Now, obviously, jewelry isn't the only way to go for the holiday.  A lot of people get intimidated by jewelry, or think it's too serious (though I think it all depends on the style of jewelry.  A diamond and ruby ring is intimidating and serious.  A playful vial full of gemstones wouldn't intimidate anyone - wink wink :-) )

So what are the other "classic" gifts that might need a tweak or a twist?  Flowers are one, for sure.

Flowers can be great, but the fact is, getting really good ones, that aren't just 1-800-generic, smell like freezer storage and wilt when you turn your back on them for 5 minutes, can be difficult, take an interest in plants and flowers a lot of people don't have, and aren't inexpensive.

Your best bet is to go with something that isn't actually a real flower, but is a bit nicer than a stem of "silk" fakes from the craft store.  I, personally, really dig the Japanese kanzashi art flowers for the hair.  Their elegance and simplicity makes them easy to wear even in a casual or daily style.  They're frequently made out of gorgeous fabrics, and the clean lines tend to give it a more adult class than looking too juvenile and frilly.

I know I've plugged other kanzashi makers on etsy before, but I try very hard to not duplicate my plugs when I can.  The Divine Garden is one of the newest kanzashi makers on etsy.  Her shop isn't even 6 months old yet, only a few sales, but her items are very reasonably priced and look a lot better than a lot of hits that show up under the "kanzashi" search!  If you want to stick to the classic v-day color scheme, this one would be one of my favorite picks, right at $20 after S&H charges:
Also, smaller, simpler clips in a variant style are available for less than $10!

Another thing that gets done to death is the candy.  Now, I'm not going to tell you NOT to get candy or chocolate - but maybe put a bit more thought into it?  A couple of years ago, I spent a lot of effort to cook a big fancy meal, make homemade marshmallows as a gift, and get a cute etsy robot for my then boyfriend for v-day.  In return I got two giant, kinda stale, neon pink marshmallows covered in edible glitter, in hot-cinnamon flavor.  The extra sad thing about this, was that if he ever paid attention to me, he'd remember my constant complaint of how I have no tolerance for anything remotely hot or spicy, and how artificial additives can sometimes upset my stomach.  Don't be that guy.  If you're going to give candy, put a modicum of thought into it.  Try and remember if she said something important, like, "oh, I'm allergic to chocolate," or, "Red 40 makes me twitchy."

Sweetniks Creative Confections caught my attention with violet flower marshmallows and showed me a shop full of a mix of traditional and whimsical takes on a theme.  Now, I'm personally not a fan of rose-flavored things, of which she has many.  If you like rose flavoring, definitely hit this shop up.  Me, I'm going to push past.  The flavor combinations available here are very different, in a good way (I think).  If you want to keep it traditional, the tin of hard heart candies shown at left allow you to pick flavors and colors for a custom touch.

If you want something a bit more adventuresome, check out the lollypops, which have been featured in New York Magazine and on Food Network.  If your honey has had the flu or cold that's been tearing up everyone coast to coast, there's a rooibos, honey, lemon and ginger lolly.  Try passion fruit, violet (as well as rose), lavender, mojito, lychee, liqueurs . . . and wait til you see the shapes.  I'm not even going to go into them all on here.  Just, go look at the shop.  Try and make up your mind, and know that whatever you choose, I think you'll be glad you tried something just to the left of traditional.

More Snow!

So, they say there's another snow storm headed for NYC late tonight and early tomorrow morning. I wasn't here for the last one, so I'm not quite as put-out and over-done about it as a lot of people are. However, it does mean getting to my garden is going to be even more difficult, not that trying to dig the herbs out from under the snowbanks worked, anyway.

I do admit, since I've already stated it elsewhere, that I've been a bit under the pink. I wouldn't say I was really ill, as it doesn't seem constant, though it seems persistent. I'm not exactly sure what has been slowing me down, but I'm hoping a new batch of vitamins and a freshly restocked fruit/veg supply might help fix whatever is putting me off-kilter.

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Now how I'm supposed to type that little tidbit of a blog post to a search theme for etsy is a bit too much of a stretch for me.

So, I'll just be random. I'm missing flowers. I think the snow is pretty, I like it, it's better than just cold and wet; but I do miss green and spring and flowers. It is amazing the difference a single flower can have on someone's day or mood.

Obviously, because of my personal craft, I do a lot of research and study regarding the meanings of not just herbs and trees, but flowers as well. It's something I think that's been too forgotten in our modern society.

Kind of reminds me of that scene from Kate & Leopold where Hugh Jackman's character is complaining about a bouquet of modern flowers and the conflicting messages being sent. Of

course, now I'm just rambling.

Just as a note - you might want to be careful with carnations, a few colors of them have rather negative connotations (yellow means rejection, striped means refusal or just "no") and an orange lily just plain means I don't like you! Roses are always safe, unless you happen to find a green one, which apparently means "I am from Mars." I did not know that. I also did not know that 11 red + 1 yellow (roses) = love and passion. Again, rambling. Am I ever going to get to the feature?

Of course, I'm not, but, if YOU wanted to declare yourself as a Martian, I think this would a brilliant way to do it. Lisa Burkin of Island Girl Designs on etsy is a maker of jewelry from real flowers suspended perpetually at full bloom by use of resins. Her lemon and lime green rose hair piece would definitely count as a lovely way to declare your Martian blood. If, like me, you're not a Martian, or you don't want to come out of the Martian-closet just yet, she also has many other lovely colors of roses and orchids (which are also pretty darn safe in the flower meaning department. No "I wish you a painful dismemberment" orchids exist, so it seems.) I'm sure my brother's wife will be glad to hear that, as she's the orchid girl.

Winter Woods

December is here, Happy Chanukah to those who celebrate it!

Just put up one new Magic Vial pendant - "Guardian Heart" and was splintering off some red cedar wood to finish it up. The rest is a blend of Obsidian glass and a single chunk of genuine Rub.

The garden has already started dying off, leaving me without basil or mint. The verbena is none too happy, either, and while the sage will be fine, it has stopped putting out fresh growths, which is where I find the

leaves small enough to fit in my bottles.

I need to go for a long walk through the "wilds" of the park and see about foraging winter woods from the ground debris. Maybe

while I'm home in Mississippi for Christmas, I can go wandering through a real old forest and maybe find some things there.

But, despite the cold and recent wet and wind, I feel the need to be amongst trees.

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That's an easy enough segue, isn't it?

I thought I'd start more specifically about cedar, because it's in the vial, and it was always a favorite back home. I remember when Mom was refinishing grandpa's old steamer trunks, she'd always redo the inside in red cedar. I still love going home in the winter, digging through the trunks that hold a wild variety of forgotten treasures and the warm smell of those old trunks.

Unfortunately, that scent is rather hard to synthesize, and I just ended up being a little frustrated and branching out more into the overwhelming general search of "trees." (Yes, Virginia, Izile spent many hours on this one little blog post, didn't she?)

The first thing I came across is a leather iPhone case. Now, I don't have an iPhone, but like everyone else does, right? (heh) Anyway, this is a beautiful piece of leather workmanship and a gorgeous peach tree. Tovicorrie's "Beautiful Skin" has a gorgeous selection of all leather iPhone, iPod and iPad cases as well as a few non-tech-centered leather items. The selections and designs are definitely worth looking through if you have any of those

tech pieces.

Slightly more abstract as how I got from "tree" to this is next plug is PetalMix who is self described as a maker of "hair accessories and brooch pins are a modern twist on the Japanese art of tsumami kanzashi." The "Wood Elf" piece is how I assume I stumbled across her shop (and is pictured at left), but there's a wide selection of colors, styles and fabrics, ranging from $17 to $40. Definitely worth the time to browse the options!

DragonCon Prep

Also, getting ready for DragonCon! I go Wednesday to crash at a friend's place so we can take the bus together to the air port Thursday to Atlanta for a whole extended weekend of Geekish Fun!

I found this seller on etsy yesterday, as I had just realized that I hadn't even thought about what to do with my hair for my new steampunk costume. I love her stuff, unfortunately, I do not have time to buy anything and have it shipped before I leave. Maybe next time. This stuff is awesome, though!

Antickquities is a shop that focuses almost exclusively on steampunk hair adornments. They range in price from $5.00 to $20.00 and are made at various levels of ornamentation and in a few different colors. Mostly, watch hands are her base, but I absolutely love the way she creates different shapes with basically straight lines. If only I had found her in time, I'd probably be wearing these at DragonCon!

Lollipop! Lollipop! Oh, Lolly, Lolly, Lolly!

Wooh! Busy Week! There are sometimes when it's quiet and I've got lots of time to work on the computer, and then there are weeks where I barely have enough spare time to keep up with my emails.

I decided to make a couple of new Lollipop Hair Sticks for the summer season (even upgraded the bitten lolly to a set - pictured). I still have one more that I need to upload to my etsy shop and deviantart gallery.

They're a lot of fun, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll keep on much longer. The demand is not what I expected for what I consider a very cute and unique idea, and the amount of work it takes to make just one. . for $5.00 . . yeah, it's a labor of love, not profit, that's for sure!

I guess the other factor is, I have enough for my self, now. I've got my purple one, my *big* one, and a little red/white (peppermint) one. I still am trying to nail down a date for when I can do a craft fair this summer, and would like to see how they go in person (and I would, of course, be modeling one) before I completely axe the experiment, however.

Obviously, this weekend's too short notice, next weekend I'm going to be in D.C. for the Dream Theater/Queensryche concert. I just need to make up my mind and commit!

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I already did one write up on Lollipop sellers on Etsy, and I don't like to repeat my plugs, so I've had to dig up even more, newer Lollipop items from Etsy.

Well, since my last Lollipop Hair Stick was sold to a fashion group, how about a lollipop print dress?

FashionWhore has an adorable black dress with a bright lollipop pattern. Granted, the dress pictured does not come with the cute little apron, but that's probably a good thing, all in all. With the apron, it's a bit too much French Maid's costume, in my opinion. However, without the apron, I totally think you could get away with wearing this as a cute summer dress, not just as a "Lolita" costume.

She also has a couple of simpler, halter-necked dresses in the same fabric in her shop as well.

And for those of you who want the full costume, you can buy custom aprons from her for extra.

Candy Candy Candy!

I guess it just shows how things can stick in a child's mind. I loved Garfield as a little girl, and always watched his specials. To this day, I hear the phrase "Candy Candy Candy!" in the voice of Lorenzo Music from the Halloween special.

So, this is going to be the continuation of my last post, where I featured Etsy sellers who made Hair Sticks. It went along with my theme of my new Lollipop Hair Sticks. The one on the right is one of my newest, in bright spring-y colors, perfect for Easter or Ostara or just love of spring in general!

I made the two new ones because I ended up with a couple of extra sticks. I had made some earlier experimental ones just for me (can be seen on my DeviantArt gallery) and found the sticks to be way too long. I mistakenly thought I could remove the sticks, shorten them and reinsert them, after they'd already been secured into the baked clay. This proved to be quite incorrect. Once the sticks are secured and set inside the baked lolly heads, they are NOT coming out peacefully.

Still hoping for my first sale on my Lolly-Sticks, and even pondering some kind of promotional arragement. Like, maybe, if an even moderately popular arts/crafts/etsy blogger liked the hair sticks, I might send them one for free if they agreed to do a written review. It would also help me figure out Shipping & Handling practicies and costs.

Just thinking out loud.

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SO! LOLLIPOPS! Wow, there's 122 pages on etsy with the tag "Lollipop!"

First, the real thing, the edible kind.

Now, I'm not going to put a photo of the particular lolly that caught my attention, because I'd like to keep my shop blog as family friendly as possible. That said, I still have to promoto Kinky's Adult Candy & Gifts. Kinky also runs the much more family friendly Sweet Lollipop Shop on etsy.

Either way, both shops carry a good supply of various suckers; though I admit, I prefer the crystal candy to the chocolate based pops.

The great thing about Lollipops, of course, is that you can get a great Lolly (or lookalike item) for pretty inexpensive!

Jeni's Clay Creations has a variety of very affordable and *tiny* variations. Her tiny charms are brightly colored, very glossy, and as you can see, the heads are just fractionally smaller than a dime! She also has Lollipop Magnets in this size. The rest of her shop has lots of other extremely tiny, and extremely affordable miniatures. These lollipops are just $2.00 a piece!

And there is so much out there. There's tons of stuff for the kiddies, because, I SUPPOSE, (huffs) TECHNICALLY, (sighs) Lollipops are meant for kids. But there's also a good bit of lollies out there for us adults! From jewelry to edibles to tiny tiny tiny magnets to big sparkly hair sticks :-)

Lollipop Hair Sticks!

So, I've got a new experiment for Izile's Oddities. Hand-sculpted Lollipop Hair Sticks. I made myself a couple, loved them so much, I thought I'd try listing them on Etsy and see if anyone bites.

The one in the picture is my own. It's a whopping 2.5 inches in diameter, and man, you need a LOT of hair to counterbalance the weight! Because of that, the Lollies I'm selling have heads between 1 and 2 inches in diameter and are a lot lighter. The sticks are also shorter.

The close up on the left is one that's for sale at Izile's Oddities right now. I'm starting out the listings at $5.00 a stick. It doesn't really cover the amount of time I spend on them, particularly since I hand blend some of the colors (like my orange), but I'm thoroughly enjoying this small sculpting detour from my Magic Vial Pendants - which I will still continue making, so no fears!

I'm currently experimenting with scenting the Lollies. My giant one currently smells like citrus-blend, but I'm not going to start scenting any Etsy products until I know for sure how long the scent lasts, or if it lasts at all.

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First, I wanted to pick out a Hair Stick seller on Etsy to promote. I LOVE Hair Sticks, and have quite a collection, but I'm always drooling over more. However, I'm also pretty picky. I like straight, single sticks, either wood, bone or maybe plastic. I don't like the 2-3 pronged metal ones at all. I also mostly only wear one hair stick at a time, so I'm not a big fan of matching pairs.

However, even with these prerequisites, picking just a couple of sellers is just HARD!

The good news is I didn't see a single Lollipop Hair Stick! But, I of course checked that BEFORE I listed mine. I neither condone nor support "rip off artists" of any variety; and would never launch a line of products based on another etsy-sellers products. *AHEM* *glares at those that know who they are*

That said, there are 3 Etsy retailers of Hair Sticks that are just so absolutely wonderful, I have to mention each one. Looks like another picture heavy blog post!

Firstly, I believe I covered her before, just in general, not specifically for her hair sticks. She was also featured on Etsy's Front page a year or so ago, I can't really remember. Any way, I'm not going to repeat myself, but I will say, if you missed both or either, you should go check out Hanatsukuri Kanzashi. Whenever I get a job again and can afford pretty things, I really should buy one of her little hair treatments for spring. They would look great with my asymetrical cherry blossom neo-kimono.

The other two sellers are definitely new to me! Trash and Trinkets: by Gypsy Trading Company caught my attention with a glass wisteria (a favorite spring flower of mine) stick.

She has a wide variety of sticks and other jewerly pieces, as well as two other etsy stores where she sells more of her handmade creations, like dolls and more sculptural art pieces. And if you're not a big a fan of the natural wooden stick as I am, don't worry, a lot of her sticks have more polished and painted bases; I just prefer the natural wood look to accompany the wisteria theme.

The other seller that caught my attention was Darklyng Studios. My attention was first caught by the delicate use of peacock sword feathers. I love peacock feathers and those who know how to create with them! Now, this seller so far has NO purchases, and that's really a shame. A lot of her work really reminds me of the kind of items you might find in a gypsy camp at a Rennaissance Festival.

For a little bit of variety, she also has a couple of floral designs based around orchids and a couple of industrial/punkish kind of hair sticks with using actual nuts and bolts. Definitely worth taking the time to peek in and look over her creations.

And now, I'm out of time, so the Lollipop search will have to wait for another day! Ciao!