Ahh, I got time last night and this morning to beat out some new Valentine heart designs. They are a little late for this year, but love isn't just for Valentine's Day anyway, right?. My little sweetheart is just now waking up so I must post swiftly. I am so pleased with this new pop up design, adapted into two different styles.
One so sweet:
And one kind of wild:
To see them in their entirety check them out in my shop.
So here I am three weeks post Artist Row, and I have been virtually absent from my blog and my shop. For two weeks I grabbed any half-busy moment to work on my stock and display for the show. In the frenzy I did come up with a bunch of new cards and ideas galore! So many of the ideas are still whirling in my head because time, oh sweet precious time...
Here is my grove of sweet tree cards gradually appearing in my shop.
We have a great swing tree in our yard and now there is one in a card.
Oh sweet prize, an acorn. My dad is a huge fan of the movie "Ice Age" which I didn't even think of when I created this card (I haven't even seen the whole thing).
The elegant ginkgo. Already featured on Sun Shines on the Ginkgo Tree.
Weeping cherries. Who decided they were sad. They look bouncy happy to me.
The graceful Japanese maple. I have five of these in my yard. They were a wedding gift. Isn't a tree a lovely wedding gift? I sure think so.
There is more to come.
***UPDATE, all four have sold!! WOOT! Check them out. Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro. More will be in my shop soon.***
My contributions.
Pictures don't do these little piggies justice. They have subtleties. The words are letterpress. Two are debossed. The piggies cut paper.
(Trying so hard to get back in the saddle. I opened my shop to get motivated. Well it worked well because in a couple hours I had a sale. Yikes! I sure didn't expect that. Forget the saddle I need my studio.)
It is a fundraiser at Rochester Contemporary. Each piece is only $20. There are over 3,000 works to choose from. There is still time, you can buy/support online.
The opening was crowded, stiflingly hot and fun. I didn't even take any pictures. Steven carried the baby in the sling and he attracted more attention than the art work. Men and women equally swarmed to admire his cuteness. At one point Steven was literally surrounded by women. He loves to quip that the ladies were using the baby as their excuse to get close to him. I know how they feel, I don't need an excuse. Men, ha!
Actually, I don't have one but I should given my strongly Bavarian heritage. My latest work drips of Dutch/German/Swiss styling with its sweet symmetric scherenschnitte accents. Symmetry goes against my grain, or so I thought. Of course these little strips are mounted in an asymmetrical fashion.
You can see more in my shop and in my last post.
Sometimes ideas can be so obvious. I laugh when it seems to take me forever to think of them. When my wonderful husband and I were married a wee bit over four sublime years ago we had a celestial theme for our wedding.
While we were dating and during our engagement we witnessed so many fabulous celestial events it just seemed a natural choice for a theme. We watched hundreds of shooting stars during the August meteor shower. We both witnessed out first Aurora Borealis together, went to the planetarium to view Mars as it was the closest to Earth it will be for thousands of years, danced in the glow of giant harvest moons, laid on blankets to count stars and put together constellations, strained to see the tendrils of the Milky Way. We got engaged just after the massive northeast blackout when we got to just sit among the stars for entertainment.
I made the invitations, place cards, decorations, my veil, favors and a card box. I made a giant card box. It wasn't that I was expecting tons of cards, we kept the guest list intimate, it was meant to do double duty as a centerpiece. It constructed a star shaped box and decorated with intricately cut stars that my sister and I made. It was gorgeous and of course it is still in my studio because I can't bear to part with it and I just don't know what to do with it. It is just so out of this world!
So if you take a giant card box like this and put it into an incredible shrinking machine you get a bank; star, piggy or otherwise! I have started with a swan. Inspired by the signature swans of Stratford, Canada where Steven and I were engaged and where we have returned every August since. 
A Sweet Cygnet Savings Bank another way to express my cut paper designs.
**As I was gathering links for this post I learned with shock and great sadness that the longest serving artisitic director of the Stratford Festival died of a pulmonary embolism on Wednesday night. Richard Monette is one of the reasons we fell in love with the festival. Just a couple weeks ago we saw his last directoral effort of Love's Labour's Lost. He had an amazing talent and energy. Farewell.**
I was doing a little rearranging in my studio the other day or shall I say cleaning or maybe just moving junk around. I'll err on the side of diplomacy, I need to be kinder to myself. I came across a template for Swimmy. He is the character in a children's book of the same title. Etsy launched a group project asking members to make a swimmy to send to headquarters. This was in February. Well mine swimmed over to Etsyland in June. I came across it and thought what the heck, a cool lake dweller would be my creative warm-up for the day. I hand dyed some paper and cut the lovely orange rice paper to make my swimmy an organic rainbow scaled stud.
I just had to include an image of this stunning treasury that Etsy member Lunalove put together. I am a part of it, my Bliss cut paper wedding card made it in. Altogether is is a feast for the eyes. Peep on this for a few minutes.
Today I am reminded of two occasions when I received greeting cards from friends. One time was when JI graduated from college. I had a small party celebrating the event and my return from abroad. I got three of the exact same greeting card from three guests. Another time out of the blue two of my friends, who don't know each other, sent "glad we are friends" card. The fact that they both did this at the same time was weird enough but they were also the same exact card. Very weird. The sentiments in those cards brought tears to my eyes and it reminded me that I have the best friends. Sure they were nice cards and I appreciate the sentiments but it is a shame there aren't more options out there. The world is full of so many creative people, we need to get them connected to the people who value that creativity. That is what Etsy is all about.
There are a myriad of blogs on the web these days that celebrate and promote independent art and design. EtsyGreetings is one of those blogs.
See my "Pocket Full of Posies" card pop to life on the EtsyGreetings blog where my shop is being featured today. The EtsyGreetings blog is for card designers to showcase their work and consumers who are prefer to purchase independent goods handmade by artists and designers. I think it is proof that handmade is better than mass-produced because it is unique and made with the care and passion of a person devoted to their art form. Everyday there is a different artist devoted the the handmade greeting card being feature on EtsyGreetings. Check it out. An artist's statement appears with each feature bringing indie buyers a little closer to the creator.
The adorable Rob Kalin, founder and president of Etsy appeared on Martha Stewart today. He did a great job of showcasing many talented Etsy artisans. I have been dabbling with Etsy for a couple months and I already feel its potential. It is so exciting to see something I believe in do well, take hold and catch some mainstream attention. What do I believe in? I believe in having a connection to the things we buy. I believe in creativity and the power of an individual. I believe in being fair, the golden rule.
It is amazing to have an outlet that is easy, inexpensive and open to anyone. Etsy deletes the catch 22. You don't have to have a big impressive portfolio to get in the door in many ways they help you create that portfolio and a successful business. I am tired of the same old, same old, the malls, the big box--the biggest box (which will remain nameless) has been out of my shopping repotoire for about 4 years now.
So, later today I was getting groceries and I stopped to pick op a Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. As I leafed through there was an article about Etsy with several Etsians featured. The Etsy Everywhere theme continued when I learned that there will be a report about Etsy on Weekend Edition on NPR. I love NPR so I am so glad they are picking up the all the wonderful and progressive things that are all things Etsy.
