More Shameless Self-Promotion

I am a member of Charming Market at 1000 Markets, and today we are featured at Chic and Green, a cool design and shopping blog!

1000 Markets is a new juried website with the novel idea of having sellers belong to different markets, in theory making it easier for buyers to find items they're into by searching through theme shops - Steampunk, Bridal, Jewelry, Country, Beach Style, etc. I belong to a few different markets there, and Charming is for people who love love love charms in their jewelry.

Spring, and a Weeping Cherry in Bloom

Here's a bright addition to the neighborhood:

My neighborhood park is still very wintry-looking except for this glorious weeping cherry tree by the pond.




And because I love ducks, here's a pic of the Henry Hudson bridge at low tide, and some local duckies.

It's Tax Day, And I'm Cute!

My Victorian Novel Bracelet is featured on Cuteable today! I emailed them quite some time ago, and today I received an email that something of mine had been selected. :) Go check out the cuteness there!

Soap Heaven!

These arrived the other day from Adoration Soap. Don't they look yummy? I can't wait to use them, but I also love how they look in their pretty wrappers. I became addicted to handmade soap last year and it's a hard habit to break, so after a long period of enduring my local discount store's soap, I traded a necklace for these beauties and am again in soap nirvana. Adoration was recently a featured seller on Etsy, which is a well-deserved honor for her.

This time, I chose some summery flavors for Spring. Clockwise from lower left corner:

Nouveau Victoriana - goats milk soap
Deep Blue Sea
Raspberry Deluxe - good enough to eat!
Bentonite Tea Tree (great for shaving with - I've bought this before)
Green Tea and Cucumber - so refreshing for warmer months
Peppermint
Pineapple

If you love special soaps, checkout her shop. She has a flat rate for shipping, and these arrived in 2 days via Priority Mail, so you can have almost instant gratification!

In Which I Am Featured on Two Blogs

I neglected to post that my shop and I were recently featured on two design blogs! Here's a link to vintageindie, where the lovely Gabrieal Wyatt found me on 1000 Markets and chose four different pieces of mine that spoke to her. This feature is up today!

Last week or so, Mem's Pocket Palette featured me on her shopping blog. (Scroll halfway down the page) She asked some very good questions about selling online, and I replied. Mem is multi-talented and I don't know how she finds the time to blog and create and have a life. Wait, I don't know how I do, either!

I have had a little exposure on blogs but it's such a thrill when others are moved enough to want to write about one's work.

Re-Purposed Salvage and Glitter

I bought these beer caps on Etsy a long time ago and they've been sitting quietly in a drawer, waiting. No idea how to use them other than making magnets or some kind of altered art. Finally I had reason to raid my box of chandelier crystals, and spied the caps nearby. Why not combine them? There were some brightly colored beer caps that would be enhanced by bright crystals.

Punching holes in beer caps is a fine activity to engage in while watching TV, just so you know.

A few hours and many jump rings later, a piece of wearable ephemera was born. Perfect for that evening of karaoke, I think, and when you absolutely want to be the center of attention. One of a kind, definitely. Will debut in my Etsy shop any moment.

A Custom Project

A friend of the family, who knows I make jewelry, asked me recently to take some important bits and pieces that she'd had for many years and make them into wearable necklaces. I love this kind of project - taking orphaned, meaningful parts and re-purposing them into new pieces with their own integrity. Sadly, I did not take pictures of the pieces she gave me beforehand as it didn't occur to me until afterward that I might want to blog about it.

Our friend gave me the blue slab, the warm gemstone oval, and the pretty little gemstone hearts. She likes long necklaces and wanted a simple chain. I added a dyed yellow jade oval bead and combined all three elements, wrapping the slab in brass filigree. I think that the components work harmoniously together and are wonderfully Bohemian.





The second project was another gemstone slab and a pair of vintage broken root beer brown lucite and sterling silver earrings. They seemed to want to be together - the two warm agates had been part of a bracelet but I didn't feel compelled to keep them together. I took the earrings apart, added some sterling chain of my own that I oxidized to match and put them together on another simple gold-toned chain.

A Nature Post

I have been trying to walk more during my days and take the trains and buses less often, when I have some time, and this week was in both Central Park and Inwood Hill Park, camera in hand. I was amused by the sight of park birds feeding in the long shadows of late afternoon- fat red robins in Central Park, and the local geese in Inwood.






It's still wintry-looking, but the grass is showing signs of Spring. I am a winter-lover, and adore the bare trees and wonderful textures that you see in colder weather. It was a windy day yesterday and I loved the wind bath that whistled by. The late shadows make for interesting photos and I was taken with the striped effect on the ground from tree shadows.



I have never seen sculling in local waters before yesterday - these rowers could be from Columbia University nearby, or some other organization. There are are two boathouses at the tip of Manhattan (pictured) and they alit from their boats on their dock on the far left.




Finally, a poignant sight - this tree stump wedged in between these iron railings. I never noticed this before, and it awes me that somehow, this tree found a way to push through this fence.

A Little Bit of Promo-ing Here

I had a nice surprise tonight - I was in a Treasury that was on the Front Page of Etsy - and a really lovely one, too, curated by HeartFelt Vintage.

I am also a Spotlight artist on Shop N Blog. This blog is by Mem's Pocket Palette, who I got to know at 1000Markets, where we both have shops. Mem generously goes out of her way to feature fellow artists, something that has to happen more often here. If you love animals, there's another reason to visit Mem's blog! Mem is talented in many media and her shop is full of some simply stunning work!

Sublime and Spellbinding Singing

On Sunday evening, the Metropolitan Opera produced a Gala event designed to celebrate its 125th year and honor tenor Placido Domingo, who has sung for 40 years(!) with the company. Sadly, I didn't have the gelt required in order to attend, so I listened on the computer, via Sirius radio. The evening was mixed bag vocally, but was partly redeemed in the end by this absolutely gorgeous bit of singing from Renee Fleming. The aria is "Marietta's Lied" from the opera Die Tote Stadt, (The Dead City) by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Korngold was only 23 years old at the premiere of this opera, in Germany in 1920. You needn't know the story to enjoy this perfect moment in time, conducted by James Levine and played beautifully by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

WELL, Folks, the Metropolitan Opera pulled all of the Gala content off of YouTube, including the video I originally linked to. I have a sound clip, and post it here. Hope you enjoy it!