Friday, February 28, 2014

Picture Day

02/24/2014 - in between
{ no room 'in between' for me to nap too! }
02/25/2014 - shiny
{ a work-in-progress mosaic - adding mirror to the inside of a star box }
02/26/2014 - peaceful
02/27/2014 - in love with...
{ my muse }
Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Featured Shop - wincsike

Dreams of yarn, crocheted knitted accessories



Wincsike has a flair for yarn in such an artistic way. It is a pleasure and my greatest joy to share Wincsike as my Featured Shop this week.

Based in Hungry, all items are handmade, unique and definitely originally. Finding her Dream Catchers made me take a long look in her shop. Wow, are they gorgeous! Some are wall decor and some are necklaces. ALL are beautifully handcrafted.

Her shop has jewelry and soft looking hats and fingerless gloves, shrugs and crocheted collars too.

Here are some of my favorite items. Enjoy!





Isn't her work amazing?!

You can find wincsike on Etsy and on Facebook.

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

In The Studio

The fun continues this week! All the mosaics I made last week are now grouted!

Two are gifts.
Peace Ornament - Birthday Gift for Rowan who turned 8 years old yesterday but who is having a party this weekend. She loves peace signs and the color purple. I think I've got it covered.
This shoe is for Maddyson who is turning 5 in March. While this might look a tad too sophisticated for a five year old, Maddy is quite an unusual little girl. She drinks coffee (decafe) and prefers zombies over cheerleaders. Starfish is the pet name her grandfather gave her.

One I'm keeping but using as a prototype for made to order items once I can hone my Wediboard cutting skills a little more. Anyone interested in ordering one similar to this, let me know. This was a wooden cheese board my Dad made, probably in the 1960's, and passed down to me to use when I moved back east in the 1990's. I used it quite a bit but the small wooden dowels for feet fell off and I put it aside to do something with some day. I love what I've created with it. The retro feel to it is soooo "me". Recycling something my father made and making it a piece of art has given it even more meaning to me. I'm very happy with it.




One I'm listing next month. Another cutting board my Dad gave me; not sure he made this one, but I used it for years, then put it aside thinking I'd do this with it when I was ready. It took many years to decide what to do and how to do it, but I'm happy with the results. It's solid wood too. Really heavy!!



One is a donation. The iridescent Q's have not yet been added to the quilt. I'm considering adding resin to them, although I've only used it once before and covering them to give them a more solid foundation. On mesh and grouted, they are still too flexible and the mesh is still visible on the sides. It needs a more polished look and resin will give me that. And if they come out looking really bad, I have time (this is due before June 1st) to make another set of Q's and adding resin to those. I'll share a finished photo once I've got it.





And finally one still needs some TLC but will get listed AND offered as a made to order item. I'm not thrilled with my paint job on this - some of the paint bled into the grout on the sides and the hand mixed acrylics color is bit off too. I've decided to get some Washi tape when I can afford it and cover the sides with it. This too, will be shared once it's really finished.

Bohemian Morning
Today I am working on the next donation piece which is a mosaic star box. Inside and out, this box will be covered with stained glass and mirror.


A lot of work-in-progress photos will be shared as I continue. This is due before August 1st.

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Trendy Tuesday

I've been meditating for quite a few years now and find it the best thing I do for myself next to my art. In honor of the blissful way I feel when I meditate, I dedicate this treasury.

Getting In The Gap
There are a few things I mosaic with meditation in mind. The newest would have to be "Sun Shrine In A Box".

Sun Shrine In A Box

Namaste.

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy

Monday, February 24, 2014

Promo Blast!

Today's Promo Blast! is slightly different than usual. Today I would like to share my mosaics Etsy shop which reopened a few days ago, thanks to an art purchase made by a family member. As always, when I'm in need, my family and the wonderful online community come to the rescue. I am grateful for them all.

I'm not adding new listings or renewing anything just yet, but I am so happy it's open once again. I've missed this shop!

Head on over and take a look at what's still available and think about gift giving or getting a custom order. Next month I hope to add the newest mosaics I've made while it was closed. Custom orders are available for crescent moons and gazing balls and although they aren't shown in the shop, I am now adding suns to the made to order items too. Yay!

Dove of Peace Mosaic Wall Art

Butterfly Mosaic Wall Art
Butterfly Mosaic - Flower Power - Wall Art
Mosaic Stars Tapered Candle Holders - Set of 2
The items that have expired on Etsy are being added here on my blog. If you'll notice above a lot of the tabs are missing as I'm reworking them to include these items.

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy

Friday, February 21, 2014

Picture Day

02.14.2014 - sweet

02.15.2014 - in my hand...

02.16.2014 - different
{ NOTE: This will be available for sale soon in my photo shop on Etsy }

02.18.2014 - still

02.19.2014 - help
Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Featured Shop - A Gift of Nature

AGiftofNature

Hanging Air Plant Terrarium Kit - Marimo Moss Ball




Every so often when I make a treasury I look for interesting things that pop into my head such as "moss". That is how I found agiftofnature on Etsy. I'm more than delighted that I did.

Globe Aquarium Terrarium, Seashells Sea Coral Home Decor Housewarming Gift Wedding Gift Teacher Gift


Air Plant Gift Hanging Glass Terrarium Globe Orb Under The Sea -Tillandsia Golden Moss Starfish Kit Thank You Housewarming Birthday Gift

As they say: "Simple ideas to accent your home or brighten up your office. A Gift Of Nature features adorable miniature landscapes and aquascapes. Our love of nature brings about our vision for these mini terrariums. Easy and fun to assemble terrarium kits. Experience the beauty of nature at your fingertips!"

I truly love these terrariums. These are such a great way to add a small piece of nature to any room or perfect to give as a gift.

BEACH TERRARIUM KIT Hanging Air Plant,Tillandsia Glass Globe Terrarium, Air Plant Orb Housewarming Gift Thank You Gift Birthday Gift Hostess

You can find A Gift of Nature on Facebook and Pinterest - check them out and enjoy!

Here's a treasury, featuring one of my favorite items above, called "The Great Outdoors". Click on the link under the photo and it will take you to Etsy and the treasury.

The Great Outdoors

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

In The Studio

It's been a good week In The Studio which means I've been busy! That's always a wonderful thing.

The custom sun "Bohemian Blue" is on its way towards its new home as I write this. I love working on suns, stars and moons, so this was particularly enjoyable.


Using iridescent glass instead of mirror was a nice change. I'm glad I decided to do that here.


The client wants to place this in her kitchen. I think it will sparkle delightfully and catch the eye of many. I painted the sides a fresh white (not shown here). Oddly enough once I painted the sides and back, I neglected to take a photo of it.

I am lucky enough to be taking part in a mosaic mural for the Ronald McDonald House of Portland Maine called "ABC's of Life & Love" being coordinated by the amazing Amanda Edwards of Mandolin Mosaics. Her work is just as amazing as she is - do yourself a favor and go to her website. The mural, once completed, will be approximately 4 feet by 3 feet. Those of us who are contributing our time and talent were each given a letter of the alphabet to do. I got "Q". Thinking about how much I used to love to snuggle up with my daughters and now my grandson I chose to make a mosaic quilt.

I purchased the MDF square for this project as well as the sun shapes shown here from zzbob on Etsy. If you are looking for fun substrates, hop on over to their shop and take a look at what they make. They are also the folks I use when I need a crescent moon for a custom order made. They ROCK!!











My plan is to grout the quilt in white and the mesh "Q" and "q" will be grouted separately and in black. Once the grout is dry on all 3 pieces, I'm going to cut the mesh completely away and glue them down onto the quilt like this. Surprisingly most of the colors from the quilt will still be seen even with the mesh pieces glued to the top.

I have also been making a few gifts for little girls' in our family who are having birthday's soon.

This is a mosaic shoe wall art for a sweet 5 year old who loves all things princess.



Plum acrylic paint, grape glitter with a touch of silver glitter here and there. Tempered glass was glued on top of that. I normally use MAC Glue or a silicone based glue but my supplies are mostly gone with adhesives, so I used Weldbond as shown below, and I globbed it on! As you can see, it dries from white to clear in less than a week this time (it can take weeks or even months to dry). Once grouted, it will get milky colored again and there is always that threat of it not going clear again. Over time, it eventually dries to clear normally.


My daughter's boyfriend, Mark has two daughters. His youngest is having a birthday soon and will be eight! She loves purple and peace signs, so I made her this to be hung on her wall.



Both the shoe and the peace sign will be grouted in white. I think I might paint the peace sign the plum color used on the sides and back but that will be decided once it's grouted.

And last but certainly not least, I had another sun shape to use and was going to hold onto it for a while to see if I would get another custom order for one. Well, that lasted for all of a day before I decided to pull out some dollar store dishes and get smashing. I love how it looks and I'll use black grout to get these colors to pop!


When I shared this on last night after gluing the last piece down, I said because our area here in PA has been so gray lately, I decided to create my own sunshine. So there.

I'm just about out of black and white acrylic paint so until I can get more, the cool dot painted sphere I was making will have to sit for a while and wait. Also, in case you were wondering, the "Kick It Up" sphere I was making at the end of January has also been put aside. I can't decide how to continue with that one after pulling off so much of what I glued down when I made it. AND I'm also out of silicone so I can't keep going with it even if I wanted to. Weldbond would probably work but I like silicone to attach jewelry to my mosaics. It's my preference and works for me.



And that catches you all up-to-the-minute from In The Studio. Next week I may be sharing my progress on a few old window frames I pulled out of the closet. I've got some great ideas for these! But I'm fairly sure I'll do one and collapse in a heap for a while. I've only done one prior, shown below, and it took about two weeks to mosaic. These are labor-intensive and challenging but so awesome once they have a mosaic on them.


"Sunset Fire"
Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy