Cupcakes & Giveaway Winners

I'm sure you're all familiar with the story "Alice in Wonderland". This past week I was living out the parallel story "Bejeweled in Etsyland". I followed the white rabbit and fell down the hole into Etsyland, where I have been happily lost for days discovering wonderful shops and new friends. I crawled back out into the real world today and realized an entire week had gone by in the blink of an eye! A whole week! Eek!! And I thought blogland was vast :) Thank you to everyone who helped me launch my new store by stopping by to visit, hearting me, or wishing me good luck! Here it has been storming madly with even a stormstorm warning. The weather center, the news crews, indeed....everyone in the know seemed to think we were going to get a lot of snow, but in the end it all turned to rain. We don't see snow too often here on the valley floor, so it would have been exciting for the kids, but maybe next time. Now we're being pummeled by huge winds (hurricane force on the coast) so it's time to be really careful on the road looking for downed tree branches and flooded parts. My husband said he saw a car submerged almost to it's roof last night on his commute home. Update: I wrote this last night - this morning it has become clear that the storm was even stronger than expected and has left a wake of devastation in Oregon and Washington - please take a moment to pray for all those lives have been affected by this event.(storm pics from the Statesman Journal online storm coverage article)

Holiday time means holiday treats! Let's all share a piece of this tasty European style apple & cranberry tartlet I found at Costco this weekend and draw some winners! It also came with chocolate macadamia nut tartlets but those lasted about 10 seconds after we opened the box :)

Winner of prize A: Kari & Kijsa
Winner of prize B: Michelle at Hold Dear
And ... I was having so much fun let's draw another winner for mystery prize C: Alison Gibbs

Congrats to you all!!! I will be contacting you shortly for your addresses.

Who doesn't love a happy cupcake? With the grey, rainy, wintery weather now firmly in place for the next 4 months, I made some cheery cupcake paintings for my kitchen. I had visions of coming downstairs, seeing these happy prints and smiling as I made my Earl Grey tea. I got so inspired I made a whole bunch! When the artistic muse strikes ... you gotta paint! With sprinkles, without sprinkles, with cherries, without cherries, with cake flower decorations, and on and on and on...... I think I painted about a dozen? I've been making hand-illustrated cupcake and cake mini-birthday gift tags for years now so it was really rewarding to paint some larger, bolder ones. I hate to part with any of them, but these are a few that will be going up for sale soon.


Next week ... the answers to the "10 weird/interesting things about you" tag. This tag is hard to write, but I'm working on it! And .... I've been making so many new friends so fast, my bookmarks have become out of control. I can't even find the link to my own shop sometimes. Yikes! Updated blogroll coming soon so I can visit you all!

The Kitchen Table with Earl Grey at 4:00 AM

One morning this week I had the most wonderful date. With a cup of piping hot Earl Grey Tea, a new tool, a bunch of paints and absolute silence. Yes, silence. How was this amazing feat accomplished? At 4:00 am while my family was still snug in their beds. But a girl has to craft when she can!

All of you awesome paper artists have inspired me to try card making. So .. this is the first card I have ever made. History in the making *grin*. This was a Buddhist theme card for a friend, so I started with a 2"x3" image, enlarged it, embellished it (it has lots of gold glitter on the figure and plants which of course doesn't show up in the photo), and then made a border and trimmed it with ribbon. For a first try, I like it!Then I whipped out the acrylics and painted a modern and masculine card for my brother. He lives in California, so I tried to do a California hill and valley theme. Didn't foof it or he might have run for those hills :)

And here is my new tool: A professional ring mandrel!!!! This thing is *heavy*, as in you could use it for weight lifting. I didn't get to play with it much since I've spent the week cleaning for my mother's visit, but I did take one of my bird necklaces and wire in into a ring and then made a "baby one" too. Fun??? Oh, yes!!!!!


This last picture was taken long after the sun rose, but I just HAD to show you all this. I have moss on my patio!!!
This was the first section of the patio we finished, and it was a ..very...long....project, so I suppose there's a slim possibility moss spores were there, invisible, waiting for the fall rains, but I'm going to swear by my moss food recipe, because this is the same area I painted it on and misted religiously. Doesn't it look great!

My mother arrives tomorrow for a week long stay, so I'm not sure how much computer time I'll get, but I'll visit everyone when I'm back!

Letter Writing in the Yoshiwara

The Yoshiwara was a famous walled and licensed entertainment quarter during the Tokugawa regime in feudal Japan (1600-1868). This beautiful Oiran (high class courtesan) living in the Yoshiwara is composing a letter to a male admirer. Also present in the room is her Kamuro (young assistant/apprentice). Let's eavesdrop on what they are saying!



I couldn't resist doing this! It was just too much fun! These were such beautiful Ukiyo-e pictures and all the women were missing were some jeweled accessories. :)

Stay tuned next post for mail love! My mail box has been delivering the most tasty crafty treats I can't wait to share with you!

Swapping Fun: Part II

And here are the other two cards for the Vintage Button Card Swap! Yes .. I used the same French Queen twice, but it was such a great, rich image. It was fun to alter and add to them in different ways.



For those of you who asked, the Beaded Fabric Hairpins are now at the shop! I'll add the Flower Fabric Hairpins and the Kitties handforged wire earrings next. Bird Nest Necklace news: Finally, my supplies for the bird nests are arriving this week! I have several back orders to fill and then I'll put them up at the shop.

In other news, I am SO excited to join the 2007 Bead Journal Project! I sent off my e-mail entry to join today, just one day before the deadline, so I hope I make it in! I really wanted to give it some serious thought and make sure I could make the year long time commitment. I've always wanted to experiment more with bead embroidery and I think the fusion of journal work and beading is going to be just heaven. There is so much energy around this creative project and so many talented artists! I know this will be a wonderful artistic journey and I am excited to have the opportunity to learn from such wonderful artists and share in return.

Swapping Fun

I'm participating in the Vintage Button Card swap over at Speckled Egg. I hadn't worked in the paper arts for a while (except for making Japanese paper earrings) and I had a really great time designing these. Thanks to Heather for hosting such a wonderful swap! Here are two of the cards complete with their buttons. I'll post the other two soon.


I also recently found out that Kaari Meng, of French General, is publishing a new book this fall ... and it's on jewelry!! I loved her first book and can't wait to order this new one. I already have it on my wish list at Amazon. I wish it was going to be out this summer, but I'll try to wait gracefully :)

Firebird Necklaces

I've gotten so many lovely comments on the little Firebird pins that I made especially for the "ONE World-ONE HeART" Spring Giveaway, that I decided to make some as necklaces for the shop. With their sparkly surface treatment, they were challenging to photograph, but I finally was able to capture their look by putting them in a sunbeam to photograph. Usually a very bad idea, but it worked great! I'm also happy to report that "Happiness" is a new best seller for us. Yeah!! So, I'm making two special ones, both as horizontally drilled pendants with gemstones and crystal, but one has a really cool gold antique finish. I *hope* to have them finished and posted this week.


I also had a rare chance to go shopping. I found these great flower sliders, some yummy wool yarn for felting and these vibrant chopsticks. I've always wanted to make hair sticks and I think these chopsticks would be ultra-cute turned into hair sticks. I also found some amazing washi (Japanese paper) at one of my favorite places, Uwajimaya!! The one I visit has a Kinokiniya bookstore attached and if you like Japanese craft books, is an amazing place to get the newest ones, hot off the presses.

Pretty Vintage Style

Finally! First we had the debut of our lovely crocheted hoop earrings, and now .....(drumroll).....the vintage inspired wood bird pendants are here! These have been individually hand painted from scratch and the wood artificially distressed and worn, so they really have that timeworn look of an old original. The hand drawn and hand painted images are original paintings exclusive to Jeweled Elegance.

You can find these sweet bird necklaces in our revamped "Vintage Inspired" jewelry category. I made a bluebird one for myself ("Happiness" in the boutique) and I am really enjoying it. It's fun, pretty and makes me think of Spring -- which I think has already come to Oregon. It has been just lovely here and all the geese have returned and the robins are out eating worms.

Bejeweled - Jeweled Elegance