Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tuesday Meet and Greet

This week's Tuesday Meet and Greet features 3 of my blog followers, all of whom have talents of their own I can't wait to share with you! Please meet: Christi Spangler, Susan Najarian, and Mary Green.

Christi Spangler, of Fat Bottom Bags lives in a small island community in the Pacific Northwest and is doing her part to keep the environment free of plastic bags by recycling them into reusable (and fashionable!) totes that are fun and durable, while reducing the number of plastic bags in our landfills, oceans, green ways and wet lands. Her website and blog are full of ideas, news, and information about plastics, being green, and the importance of recycling, as well as links to her shopping venues and social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

Susan Najarian, another island dweller from the Pacific Northwest, is the owner of Susan Najarian Art and Design, a shop full of encaustic painting and hand crafted items, as well as Red Truck Designs, which carries vintage and re-purposed treasures. Check out her blog, Blackbirds and Bumblebees, and follow her on Facebook and Flickr. She can also be found on Trunkt if you are interested in buying her work for resale!


Mary Green, owner of Retro Threadz Vintage Fashions of Michigan, has an Etsy shop full of wonderful vintage clothes, shoes, handbags, accessories, hats...even men's ties! It is chock full of cool stuff! Her blog looks like it's just being set up, but follow to check in on her later! Do the same with her Facebook fan page and chat with her on Twitter,
too!

I am so honored to have so many wonderful followers and hope that if you are not an official follower, but check in every once and a while, you will join our group so that I can publicly thank you in a future Tuesday Meet and Greet! To my followers here, Mary, Susan, and Christi: THANK YOU!!! I've enjoyed getting to know a little bit about you and have followed, hearted, and fanned you all!

Check out Made by SwirlyGirl if you have a minute!


Monday, February 22, 2010

New Digital Downloads!

I've been having so much fun lately creating digital downloads! I love seeing the collections of colors and patterns on one sheet and I hope that it inspires crafters to want to get to work on their projects (using my digital downloads, perhaps?)!

Take a look at the new downloads I have listed in my Etsy shop:






Tell me what kind of digital downloads you would like to see in Made by SwirlyGirl's Etsy shop. I'd love to create some more!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tuesday Meet and Greet

I have missed the past couple of Tuesdays--some days I just am too busy to gather all the information I like to uncover and share in this forum--but I have found the time today and can't wait to introduce you to three more of my blog followers--all with talents and shops for you to investigate!

Tracey Kleinwaks of TKDesigns, a former landscape architect who has always been inspired by nature, Tracey works in a variety of mediums from jewelry, oil paints, clay, fabric, and yarn. A New England native now residing in New Jersey, her Etsy and Artfire shops carry necklaces, bracelets, wine charms, bookmarks, mosaics, mixed media boxes, handpainted items, and birdhouses! Please visit her shops and take a look at her blog. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter!


Jennifer Camp Gray, from the Spokane, WA area, "loves, loves, loves to sew!" Her predominately baby accessory-filled shop also carries items used for cleaning, such as dish wipes and towels, and bar mop covers. My favorite items, though, are the baby blankets that just scream to be touched! I hope you will pay MamasBabyLove a visit on Etsy as well as Jennifer's blog!



Cathleen Lola, of Phoenix, AZ, is someone I've known virtually for months now, and she is a busy person on Twitter and Facebook! Her niche is Vintage Clothing that she sells under the name of Tialey Vintage. He items are really fun and unique and can be seen included in frequent Etsy treasuries! Tialey Vintage can be found on it's own site, Etsy, Model Mayhem, Facebook, and Twitter.





Thank you to all of my followers for taking an interest at whatever level in Made by SwirlyGirl! If you are interested in being featured in a future Tuesday Meet and Greet and are not yet a follower, you can follow me on either Blogger or Networked Blogs and I will get to you eventually!


Sunday, February 7, 2010

Leaf Cutting--An Uncommon Art

I've never heard of Leaf Cutting, but it's understandable why it might not be a very common art form: after hours of work to remove the top layer of leaf from the membranes that hold it together and creating a work of art, the leaf continues to deteriorate and becomes dust. What patience one must have, though, and an evolved sense of attachment from one's work!


clipped from sepientia.com

The art of cutting leaves

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Natural leaf carving is actual manual cutting and removal of a leaf’s surface to produce an art work on a leaf. The process of carving is performed by artists using tools to carefully the surface without cutting or removing the veins. The veins add detail into the subject matter of the carving.

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blog it

Friday, February 5, 2010

I'm a Fan of...


Igor Zenin has been a photographer for over 40 years. His work is well known in Europe far beyond the borders of his home country the Republic of Moldova. A talented photographer's lens captured a lot of significant events and famous people, including the visit to Moldova of the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, back in 1966. In 2007, over 80 works of his works were exhibited in Strasbourg during the winter session of PACE. Later works of Igor Zenin appeared on covers of several editions of the Council of Europe. Many of his recent art works are exhibited on RedBubble and are available for sale.

I've selected a few of my favorites and hope that you enjoy them enough to visit his gallery and browse through more!











Thursday, February 4, 2010

Theme of the Day Thursday

Helpful hands are springing up all over Etsy and I'd like to help spread the word by posting this Etsy mini gallery of Hearts for Haiti. Their profile explains what the shop is doing to help Haiti recover from the disastrous earthquake of two weeks ago:

"This Etsy collective is comprised of donated items from hundreds of Etsy shops. It is dedicated to raise money to rebuild Haiti. 100% of the proceeds from this shop (minus Etsy fees and Paypal fees) go directly to DoctorsWithoutBorders in bi-monthly increments. This shop has permission to use the DoctorsWithoutBorders name and a separate bank account and Paypal account have been opened to maintain the integrity of this shop.


Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
HeartsforHaiti.etsy.com



Items have been donated from many individual shops; each shop has included their particulars ( country, shipping time) in the item listings. All items include seller-donated free shipping (most worldwide, see individual listings). Because the need is SO great, we want you to buy and help support Etsians helping Haiti. The theme for the next few weeks is: heart items--- but we have so many more!! Please browse our sections to the right and know that your purchase in this shop not only gets you a great Etsy item, but also helps alleviate the needs in Haiti through donations to DoctorsWithoutBorders (MédeçinsSansFrontières)."