An UpCycled Answer & The Winner Is.....

Hello to my blogging fans. Thanks to all of you who participated in my blog giveaway. I plan on doing some more giveaways this year, so stay tuned. I asked you to answer the question about what UpCycled item I used for my Susan sculpture. As most of you guessed, it is in fact a light bulb.

I also have used the smaller, itty, bitty burned out halogens to make mini sculptures. I named these 2 mini ones after my nieces, Kristin & Katrina. The one in pink is Kristin, who happens to have a similar hairstyle as the sculpture. The one in yellow is Katrina.


I got these mini halogens from a store I worked at. Anytime there was a bulb that burned out, I asked if I could have it.


Anyway, the random number generator picked number two, which belonged to Melissa. Congrats to Melissa! You will be getting a Mr. Fluffy Bum Bottom pin and Petite Purse mailed to you just in time for Easter.

Win a Bunny Pin & Petite Purse

Hello! In honor of Easter and to celebrate the growth of my Facebook fan page I'm going to have a free giveaway at my blog starting today. I have a fun little quiz for anyone interested in entering to win one of my "Mr. Fluffy Bum Bottom" bunny pins and one of my Petite Purses. A picture of Mr. Fluffy Bum Bottom is shown below.

The exact Petite Purse will be a surprise. Here's a sampling of some of my Petite Purses, which come in a small & a large size. The small size is perfect for giving a small gift in like a pin, magnet or necklace, the larger size is the perfect size to hold a gift card or a small trinket/treasure. This giveaway will be for the smaller size Petite Purse.Now it's quiz time! Shown below is a photo of one my sculptures named Susan (after one of my sisters). She likes the dress and said she would wear a dress like that one, so when I was thinking of a name for her, I decided to name her Susan. Anyway, my question to you is.....what did I use for the structure of this sculpture? Clue: It's an object that I UpCycled. Another way to get a clue is to visit my store and look in my UpCycled sculpture section and find out what I used for some of those pieces.

Contest closed. Time to pick a winner!
All correct answers will be entered into a drawing for the bunny pin & purse. Please include your e-mail address in your comment/answer, otherwise you won't be entered into the contest even if you answered correctly. Contest closes at 11pm CST on Thurday, March 25th. Good luck!

Valentine's Card Contest

The other day while on Etsy I found out about this fun Valentine Card design contest. Since I love greeting cards and hope to be an illustrator of cards and children's books, I decided to enter the contest. The blog "Cool Mom Picks" is running the contest. They are looking for nine designs to feature in Etsy's very own shop. They will be selling the card designs as downloadable pdf files for children to color. All of the proceeds go to the Children's Heart Foundation. Here are my three entries.

The "Woof" Dog

The Lovey Dovey Love Bugs! <3

Sarette the Birguin "Be Mine!"

Giveaway at my Facebook Fan Page

This weekend I'm having a giveaway for one of my Petite Purses. Just stop by my Facebook fan page to leave comment under the post about my Petite Purses. Just remember that you need to become a fan of my page, before you can leave a comment. Good luck! :-)

You can tuck in a little trinket or treasure inside of the purse. In the following photo I tucked in one of my Calico Cat pins inside of a pink Petite Purse.

Playful Penguins & Snowflakes

"Green" Penguins Playing in the Snow. Here are my UpCycled Sculptures made with burned out light bulbs.

These penguins are ready to play in the snow. In honor of the anticipated blizzard here in Wisconsin, my Playful Penguins proudly display snowflakes. I am not a fan of Wisconsin winters and snow, cold, etc. One of these days I hope to move to warmer, more mild temperate state. Do you like winter weather? And if so, what is your favorite part of winter and what do you like to do in the winter?

My Recyc-a-lite Penguin holding a snowflake.

I make these penguin sculptures using burned out light bulbs and Apoxie Sculpt. After I'm done sculpting them, I paint them with acrylic paint. Prior to covering the bulb with Apoxie Sculpt, I decide what the penguin will be holding or doing. Once I decide what the penguin will be doing, I begin to form the wing structure with wire mesh and masking tape. Depending on what the penguin is holding, the wing sculpting process can be tricky because once I cover it with Apoxie Sculpt, it can be difficult to make additional changes.

I try to vary what my penguins hold in their wings and what they do, to keep things from becoming stagnent. After I had a large stash of burned out bulbs from a local recycling center, I tried to sketch out a variety of penguin "activities" to help me figure out how to begin sculpting each penguin.

If you'd like to learn more about how I make my Playful Penguin sculptures, click the following:

Playful Penguin Process, Part 1

Playful Penguin Process, Part 2

Stop by my Etsy shop to see my line of Upcycled Sculptures.

Have a Cuppa Java

Need a caffeine & cute fix? Here are some of my new coffee cup magnets that I sell at my Etsy store, Lilly Bug Boutique.

These magnets are fun to make. I love to pick out a color palette and having a "blank cup" to make a variety of designs on. If you have any ideas for a design to paint on a coffee cup, please let me know. Also, if you're interested in having a custom cup made for you or for a gift, I'd love to do a custom order for you. I also can make a coffee cup pin to wear, if you'd like a pin to match a magnet or a pin instead.

One of my first coffee cup designs. The first coffee cup I made was attached to a personlized pen for a line I call "Artful Pens".

I love the color combination of these bright colors of blue, magenta and green.

A nice pink colored coffee cup. :-)

And last but not least, a ladybug coffee cup. Since I'm a ladybug lover, I could not resist painting a cup with a ladybug design.

Which cup is your favorite?

My Sweet Swapper Sabine

Ladipo of Structured Chaos, organized a fun Swap, Shop 'n Blog event and I decided to participate. My swap partner is Sabine from Southwest France. She has two shops, La Marquise des Anges and her most recent shop, Vintage Marquise. Both of her shops are gorgeous, sophisticated and elegant.

Look at all of the pretty French postage stamps and the leaves Sabine drew on the package.

Here is some of what she shared with me about herself.

She is 34 years old and married to a very patient and supportive husband. She is the owner of two naughty cats and one loving dog. Before embarking on her Etsy business, she worked in International Trade and later in Tourism Industry Studies. The work she did was exciting, but left little time for a private life. Sabine loves to read, cook, dance, craft, laugh.... :-)

Here's what I saw when I first opened the package, "Made with love for you dear swap partner"

Sabine has an addiction for all things "crafty and creative" and has had this creative appetite since she was a little girl. She embellishes, adorns, sews, creates all the time. First she made things for herself, then her folks and then requests from friends and friends of friends, etc. People in her life continued to encourage Sabine to being her own boutique, especially her husband. She says, "One day I woke up and told myself, 'let's start this new adventure.'"

On the back of the flower card she wrote me a little note. Isn't it pretty?

Her plans are to grow her business while continuing to achieve providing the best personlized service possible. Furthermore, she wishes to continue to network, make ne connections. She adds that, "being able to put food on the table while doing something you love is such a blessing..."

Here's the sweet note that she wrote.

Not only does she feel "alive" when creating, she also feels "alive" in the midst of running her own business. Even when things are stressful and moments aren't "heaven on earth," she feels excited and motivated. She relishes how she feels/senses each cell in her body and the fact that she's not "stuck" in an office all day long. She enjoys making her very own decisions and above all she loves to be in contact with so many great people.

Here's the contents of my swap package.

One of her favorite shops is, Lilly Ella. Visiting her shop makes her happy and she says that she's lucky enough to own one of her gorgeous pieces of jewelry. She loves it.

e-mail: lmdamoail@gmail.com

etsy shops: www.lamarquisedesanges.etsy.com

www.etsy.com/shop/vintagemarquise

Sabine's beautiful blog: http://lamarquisedesanges.blogspot.com

A beautiful towel from her shop. I'm afraid to use it, I don't want to get it dirty.

Some "homemade" lavendar and a pretty flower.

Thank you Sabine for a pretty package! :-)

Check out Sabine's blog and see what I sent to her in France.

Here's a little French lesson provided by Sabine:

à bientôt (with the accents) : means see you later, see you soon.

a marquise des anges .
marquise means "marchioness" , it is a noblewoman ranking above a countess and below a duchess
and ange means ... angel.
la marquise des anges could translated as the machioness of angels.
it comes from an old movie, a little old fashioned and "passé" but it is related to one of my very very favorite childhood memory ...when I was sitting on a decades old sofa, in between my beloved grand father and grandmother...watching this movie (it is a serie of movies) which was my grandfather's favorite ..; each year we used to had this little.
when I close my eyes and remember this lovely moment, I can feel my grand mother 's hand on my knee with tenderness, I can smell her fragrance, a combination of lavender and hoemade apple pie, as weel as the sweet blend of my grand father's tobacco pipe ...

A Bright Idea for Biz Cards!

I made and printed the pin cards (shown above) on my computer for my first craft show earlier this year. They worked out fine to merchandise my items. However, they became a bit tedious, especially since I had to cut out each and every card. After some brainstorming, I thought of using business cards as my cards to display both my pins and magnets. The business cards ended up being the perfect size for my work. Plus, I did not have to print them off on my computer or cut out each of them. Another bonus is that the business card cardstock is thicker than any of the cardstock I could find to use on my printer. Thus, I surfed my way online to Vistaprint and ordered my first set of merchandiser cards.

I found a cute, colorful, and simple template design to use for my merchandiser cards. I wanted the center of the card "blank" since this is the area where my pin or magnet would be attached to. All I added to the card design was my business name and slogan at the top. And then I added my By Hand profile address at the bottom of the cards.

The first set of cards I ordered were vertical. After attaching some of my pins/magnets to the cards, I realized that I needed some horizontally designed cards. I was very happy with how well the business cards worked out for what I needed. All I need to do when I want to attach a pin is punch a couple of holes in the card and then cut a slot between them to slide my pins on the cards. I love them. Plus, they don't cost a lot to use, approx $10 for 250 cards.

My froggy pin on merchandiser cards.

My frog and bunny pins posing on horizontal design.

This is how my pins look on the new cards.

Artisan Co-op in Janesville!

My sister, Sue & I in front of co-op on Grand Opening Day

Last month my sister, Sue and I joined an Artisan Co-op in Janesville, WI. My sister designs beaded jewelry pieces and I make a variety of items from pins to sculptures. Sandra, the co-op owner found me via my Etsy store and asked if I'd be interested in joining her Art Co-op. As a matter of coincidence, my sister was with me when I met with Sandra. As I was talking to Sandra she said that she was looking for jewelry to sell at the co-op. I went to tell my sis to see if she wanted to talk to Sandra about joining. How's that for being at the right place at the right time?

The location of the co-op is a bit of a drive for both of us, but one good thing about the location is that it's about halfway for us to see each other. My sis lives three hours away from me, but the co-op is approximately an hour and a half away for each of us. Thank goodness we are able to work together on our co-op work days. One requirement for joining the co-op is working one day per month at the co-op.

Last week my sister and I decided to work two days in a row and stay overnight at a hotel in Janesville. We had a fun time on our mini time away. Last week was our 3rd and 4th days of working at the co-op. During our first three days of working there, we had no sales. Thankfully, on our fourth day, last Friday, we had four sales. We were so excited to finally work a day and have someone buy something.

One purchase from Friday was of a painting from a co-op member, Pam, who we have become to know since she works in the same building as the co-op. Each day she works, she stops in to say hi. And on Friday just after stopping in and telling us she still has not sold anything, my sister sold one of her paintings. We were so happy for Pam. After awhile I decided to try to find Pam's office on one of the floors above the co-op. I found her office and told her the good news. She was so happy. She gave me a hug and wanted to do a happy dance. The painting that she sold was one that her husband told her would never sell and Pam told him that it would be the first painting she would sell. And it was!

After our second day of working at the co-op, my sister and I were trying to think of some ideas to try to promote the co-op. One idea was to print postcards to hand out to people in the offices above the co-op. We had some postcards printed and last week on Thursday, we went to deliver them to the offices after we were done working.

My sister Sue at her beading table at co-op

Then on Friday, we had more customer traffic in the co-op. My sis was convinced that our postcards helped bring some of the traffic in. On Friday afternoon, I dropped of some postcards at a local cafe across the street from the co-op. The food in the cafe looks delicious. Next time I work at the co-op I want to buy some food from the cafe. I also stopped at, Carousel Consignment, a nice antique shop with so much to see, and dropped off a rack card for them to hang at the counter of the store.

While at the hotel, I helped my sister name her jewelry pieces. I try to encourage my sis to name her jewerly with unique names, instead of naming it "magenta & black beaded necklace", I recommend something like "magnificent magenta." On Thursday while at the co-op I was having a dry spell trying to think of names for her, but later at the hotel the names were coming more easily. I joked telling my sis that it must've been because I needed to eat some chocolate to get the ideas going again. :-)

My pins (shown on left) & my magnets (shown on right) at co-op

My turtle sculpture at co-op

Glass tile pendant starter kit - yay! :-)

For quite some time I've wanted to try to make my own glass tile pendants. The other week I found this great Etsy store, Candy Tiles 2, where there is a nice assortment of materials needed to make glass pendants. Candy Tiles 2 offers these wonderful starter kits, the one I ordered is pictured above. In the kit I received: five Square Glass Tiles, five small Sterling Silver Plated Aanraku Bails, two Diamond Glaze Samples, one tube of Super Glue, six assorted sheets of Chiyogami (Premium Japanese Paper) & Graphic Designed Paper cut to size. Included with the kit are step by step instructions on how to make glass tiles pendants and instructions on how to make Scrabble tile pendants. The instructions were sent to my e-mail addy in PDF format. This starter kit came nicely packaged within the decorated box shown in the photo.

As it says in the item description, ordering the starter kit is a nice way to try out making pendants instead investing a lot of money in materials. This starter kit is a wonderful way to give it a try and I think they'd make a nice gift for anyone who has a passion for crafting.

I didn't use the paper provided in the kit because I have loads of photos I wanted to use for the pendants. Last night I found a couple handfuls of pics in my photo archives and opened them in Photoshop and cropped each of them down to 7/8" sqaure. I printed them off on a sheet of 4 x 6 photo paper. Today I made my first glass tile pendant with a photo of some lilacs.

I love how the photo looks under the glass.

The photo above shows some of my favorite pics from flowers to my kitty Tiggy to my nieces' new bunnies. I also have a few of my watercolors I'd like to make into pendants. One product I need to order from Candy Tiles 2, is this material called "microglaze" to protect ink jet printed materials. After I made the lilac tile, I tried one of my cat and of the pink water lilly and the images looked a bit blurred. Using the "microglaze" is supposed to prevent smudging, so if you're going to use ink jet printed images for your pendants, this product sounds like a great thing to have while making your pendants. After I made my first pendant, I was hooked. Stop by the Candy Tiles 2 Etsy store if you want to discover a fun way to make jewelry.

Last week I blogged about my hand-made polymer clay buttons and I've gotten a positive response from my Blogger post and my By Hand blog post. In fact, someone left a comment at By Hand to let me know I was "gossiped" about and she left a link with her comment. Today I went to check it out. Julie wrote a nice post about my hand-made buttons at her Polymer Clay blog.

Please stop by Julie's Polymer Clay gossip blog.

Click here to see my blog post about my buttons.