Flowers Hair Pins by Floresdelsur

Flowers for forever! check out the awesome work of Floresdelsur!

BESTeam Mosaic
All items are clickable and will take you directly to floresdelsur's listings...

Some of you may know that I'm getting married next year, and something that has been taking up my time this week has been lots of searching on Etsy for someone that makes beautiful handmade and long lasting flowers as it is my wish to have a 50s style, handmade wedding (and the thought of all my flowers and bouquet dying eventually is horrifying lol!). So to my delight I get to feature the beautiful work of Marisa Kraiselburd from floresdelsur in Montevideo Uruguay, whom makes lovely flower accessories made from a selection of fabrics. They are extremely versatile, suiting both special occasions and casual wear and as the colors are so bright, and some of the designs are very modern/abstract, I feel that they would appeal to a broad age range too. I can imagine that her geometric, abstract looking flowers influence probably come from her experience as a graphic designer, yet crafting in general is something she has enjoyed doing since she was a child, and she has a passion for all types of craft. She also has a jewelry shop lasfloresdelsur.etsy.com with a small selection of beaded jewelry and also http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftsandpixels where she sells beading tutorials and some supplies that I'm sure you'd love to visit too!
Back to her lovely hairpins, I have to say my favourites are the large poppy style beaded and fabric flowers. I love things that make a statement and these surely do!
If you are able to stop by, take a moment to visit her blog, facebook page and twitter too :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/floresdelsur
http://www.lasfloresdelsur.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Las-Flores-del-Sur/126539847362890
http://www.twitter.com/floresdelsur

For those of you with a passion for handmade, and you have a blog that is in need of a consistant weekly post to drive your traffic and help fellow artisans by doing the same. Come and join the BESTeam!

ArdentReverie Handmade Crafts, Accessories And Paintings

Tuesday - BESTeam Mosaic
weekly shoutout to the dedicated workers that like to help other handmade artists...


ArdentReverie on Etsy... Oh my gosh, talk about gorgeousness! ArdentReverie on Etsy has a really sophisticated collection of hair accessories, hats, scarves and even offers paintings for sale. Her style is certainly one to make you feel special and worth your weight in gold :) I love the way the metals are combined with the feathers in the hair items, also the beads and fabric in her jewelry, giving a simple yet chic look that will look fab in both casual and formal wear. Take a look around her store to see more!

ArdentReverie's Blog... ArdentReverie's blog is a glamourous reflection of the store, featuring other Etsy artists and contains other handmade posts you can browse through in the archive. My favourite thing about her page just has to be the color scheme/theme. Simply stunning!

All items are clickable and will take you directly to ArdentReverie's listings...

FRIDAY - Friday Finds... IvyKeep!

Friday Finds... IvyKeep


This is my tenth interview of the amazing not-so-well-known artists of Etsy.

Today I am posting an interview with a lovely teamaker known on Etsy as Ivykeep! It's probably in my veins being a Brit but I just LOVE tea and was very excited to find such gorgeous looking blends from someone who seems as equally passionate about tea variety. I will certainly be giving some of her blends a go at some point, especially the gorgeous pressed green tea hearts, how cute! So feeling very inspired by her store I just had to ask for an interview of course, and so pleased that she took the time out to complete my questionnaire. So here is Ivykeep on Etsy!


(Just click the images to go direct to the listings)








-- Tell me a bit about you! (Name, Age, Location, and give us a random fact whilst you're at it.) My name is Krystyne and I live in wine country - the Niagara Region - in Ontario. I moved here while attending Brock University. After graduation, I stayed. Then I met my husband and settled here.

-- What is your business about then? Tea. All kinds of tea. Here in Niagara we have a culinary school, fine restaurants and we have wineries, but if I made it about food and wine, I'd be eating and tipsy all day. *grin* With tea, I can enjoy all the great flavours with which this region inspires me, without the guilt. Besides - I love tea.

-- How did Etsy come into your life? I was doing a search one day for a present for a friend. Following the links, I found etsy, was intrigued and stayed to buy things. In fact, it's my first stop now. Recently, I decided to open my shop here.

-- Are you working a day job too? Yes. I work in ecommerce. I set up people's on-online stores and shopping carts and help them get going. I love that job too.

-- How long has the artist inside been 'unleashed' for? For as long as I can remember. However, the materials kept changing. I used to draw. Then I moved to computer graphics. I also make jewellery, cards, bookmarks, and occasionally sew (mostly historic costumes).

-- What has been the inspiration behind your business? I think I mentioned earlier that I am in wine country and surrounded by great food due to the culinary school, fabulous bed and breakfasts and incredible restaurants in the area. The tastes of the Niagara Region definitely inspire me.

-- If you could describe your products in three words, what would you tell me? Fresh. Affordable. Quality.

-- What would an average working day for you be like from dawn til dusk? Morning - check email and orders.
Mid-morning - go to the day job.
Supper time - return home. Check email and orders again. Print orders. Pack orders.
Evening - try out new blends in the kitchen. When I find one I like, it will go to the blending kitchen and be packaged. I also use the evenings to work on the website, create new labels, and work on newsletters and marketing ideas.


-- What's your favourite material and techniques to work with? I have a little "flavour rack" in my kitchen that has core teas in it and mixing ingredients - the same idea as a "perfumer's organ". This allows me to go wherever the muse takes me. I love working with all the teas, but my current favourite (which will change once winter has come and gone) is chocolate flavourings.

-- What is your ideal vision for the future for you and your work? I always joke that this is my retirement plan, but the truth of the matter is, I'd rather be doing this than pretty much anything else. I'd like to see it take off so that I can hire someone for the more mundane aspects and leave me to be creative. There is never enough time for creative pursuits when you wear all the hats in a business.

-- Away from work, what do you like to do for fun or to wind down? I curl up with my latest tea blend of choice and a good book.

-- What are you likely to search for on Etsy? I love searching etsy for vintage teaware and I have had some wonderful tags and cards and packaging done up by artists on etsy. I also met my photographer there.

-- Any last words? Etsy is a great community, full of wonderful handmade items. It is also a great place to sell. I have met tons of great people - all of which I'd love to have to tea sometime!

Twitch Twitch...

New Listings...Click on any image to take you direct to it's listing on Etsy.com

Twitch Twitch...

Let's just start with a short summary... ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!

LOL!

Seriously, you have never known anything more annoying than an unexplained twitch in your eyelid, when it comes to abnormal bodily functions that is. Some would call me extreme but there have been occassions over the past couple of days where my level of irritation has literally made me want to tear it off! Not the best of looks, and probably the one reason that's stopped me from testing temptation... LOL. Ok I wouldn't disfigure my face, EVER, but I have found it practically impossible to focus on anything BUT my eyelid twitching away like there's no tomorrow.



Now, the internet being such a fabulous place for random information, had plenty on the subject of this burden I have been blessed with *waves fist at universe*, however in terms of solutions it seems I'm doomed! It gave it some interesting names like myokymia or (i like this one) Blepharospasm, which both simply translate as "eye twitch". To me those just sound like an excuse for people to go around giving fancy names to make it sound harrowing for something that's apparently as common as a cup of tea. Like you really want to appear like you're diseased??? I guess it's one for hypochondriacs, but I'm someone who likes to avoid that illness lark as I hate having it plague me to the point of it distracting my life! I don't do pats on the heads I just like to get on, so to find that SLEEP and NO CAFFINE (and botox??? LOL) may help my problem I was like... ok... I'll make an effort, which I have! But to no avail. Then I found out that it can go on for weeks... or even worse, can have UNKNOWN causes...



So using initiative I've thought to myself, "AAAAH! I shall beat it at it's game and stick needles in the bugger, where's my nearest acupuncture therapist!?", but then remembered the fact that this is my EYE, and as much as needles have helped the other half's eye recently, I don't know if I want a person, even with qualifications seeping out of their ears to stick needles in my eyelid. The idea makes me shudder. My only other option is to wait for it to go away on it's own... dum de dum... twitch... twitch.



I have tried desperate measures at home. Like wearing an eye patch. YAR! My son keeps calling me Captain DJ, although I doubt I look as cool and found that it's tamed it slightly. Probably as my eye is forced shut, but it's making it hella difficult to do anything now. It's almost as if my hearing on one side is amplified on top of the temporary blindness which has left me more accident prone than my son in his early walking days. At least it's entertaining!



Anyway I've managed to get some bits done this week. I'm featured in an Artist Exposed treasury by Vicki Diane which rocks! Found out just today that I'm in another treasury actually! So that's cheered me up. I have my own treasury R a w . E l e c t r i c going, plus new updates in store. I'm looking for next weeks Monday Magic treasury features! Send me your green grass related items and I may just pop you in it! (Under 20 sales only please!) Other than that I'm excited about introducing my first Friday Finds interview tomorrow. Who do I have lined up? Wait and see :)




moonangelnay xxx