Wordless Wednesday

 

AbbieRoad- Flower Box of Rain 

Team Tuesday Blog Hop

Welcome to the EtsyNJ Team Tuesday blog hop! This is our second edition and hopefully we have all the kinks worked out. Here's how it works - write a feature about any EtsyNJ team member on your blog (as long or as short as you'd like it to be) and then add the blog hop code at the end of this post and check out all of the other great features - get to know the EtsyNJ street team!!

Today I'm starting to feel in the Spring mode, even though there is still snow on the ground, but warmer temperatures predicted for this weekend have me feeling hopeful.  I can't wait for all the green to start sprouting and the Spring holidays to begin, the first being my favorite (for the Spring, Halloween trumps all in my book) St. Patrick's Day.... Shamrocks, Green Beer, and Soda bread, Hooray!!!

I pulled together a small collection of Irish items that were made by the EtsyNJ team.

 

New Hope Beading

  

L Barics Crafts 

  

PlumDaisy 

 

 TheCupCakeMint 

blowing off the cobwebs

It has been quite a while since my last blog post, and many things have happened between then and now so I apologize if this is a long post. 
A couple days after my last blog post in December my Uncle Tom (my mother's brother and my god father) past away from bladder cancer at the age of 47 which is still a very hard pill to swallow. 

 

Dad (left) and Uncle Tom (right)

Christmas came and went, my uncle's wake, and then is was New Year's. January was a bleak month and this weather has not helped the situation at all. The little ones have enjoyed the weather though.

 

 My creative juices really haven't started flowing until recently.  

Every year we celebrate Chinese New Year with my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Paul, who makes the best food you will ever taste.  I always try to make them something special for the holiday as a thank you and let them know I am proud of my "Chinese" heritage (when I was little I used to tell people I was part Chinese, my cousins are so why am I not?.... hey I was little).  This year I made them an ancient Chinese fairy door (my aunt loves doors, when she goes on vacation that is mostly the pictures she brings back), I fell in love with them after stumbling upon this website.  My uncle and aunt were happy about the door.

Ancient Chinese Fairy Door

Aunt Maureen, Uncle Paul, and Suzy Kwan (Dad)

I also took a class on February 12th with Kecia of Lemocholy Studio, she is an amazing teacher and artist.  I really suggest taking a class with her if you ever get a chance.  I ended up making a beautiful necklace, from broken jewelry and non-jewelry items, which I can't wait for flea market season to start up to find goodies to make more.

Last week I started to get in the spring holiday spirit and made St. Patrick's Day and Easter goodies.  The Easter ones look good enough to eat but are completely non-edible.

 

They are all listed for sale in our Etsy and Artfire shops, and more can always be made....

Once again we had snow, big surprise... so Eoghan and I ended up making a Mega Block mini-zoo yesterday...

I think this wraps it up for the most part but stay tuned in for new creations that are turning out awesome... a little teaser.... Alice in Wonderland.... I'm very excited!!!

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Pictures as Promised

Holiday Soldering Class

Yesterday I took such an awesome class (my birthday gift from the hubby) taught by Kecia of Lemoncholy's Studio, she was sweet enough to invite me and other "students" (the darling sisters Melissa and Jenny Heid were among the 3 others) into to her AMAZING home (you can look around her house for days at all of her beautiful artwork and all her whimsy finds) to teach us the ways of soldering.  She went over the basics including equipment, costs, and where to find supplies then demoed what we were going to be doing (man did she make it look easy). We first warmed up to the soldering iron by doing a domino, then a 1x1 glass pendant/charm.  After we were getting the hang of it we got to tear in to the adorable goodie bags Kecia had put together for us, there was so much cool stuff in there I didn't know where to start.  After getting my two scenes together, front and back, Kecia then showed us how "tape" a larger and thicker glass piece, then sent us back to work.  Everyone's work was amazing, so wish I brought my camera! Kecia does have pics posted on her blog, and I will get pics of my finished projects up later.
I had such an amazing time it's not even funny!  Definitely going to take another class soon!

New Hope Beading

Caroline is a jewelry artsist based out of New Jersey, she does beautiful work in silver and gemstones.  Another great reason to check out her store is that 5% of the purchase price goes to the Epilepsy Foundation of NJ.  So buy yourself something nice and not feel guilty about it at the same time because you are helping out a great cause.