Archive for the 'shop update' Category

I’m a nerd

Published
by
robayre
on May 28, 2010
in Cool Links, My Artwork, Projects, etsy and shop update
. 4 Comments

Here is my second animated gif for number 2 on my to-do list. Here’s number one from earlier this year.  This time I made it bigger so you can actually see what’s going on.

Last week I was walking from my car to our house when I saw the brightest yellow finch. It’s been so long since I’ve seen one, I thought it was an escaped pet bird at first. The very next day I was at a BBQ birthday party and saw the boldest Indigo Bunting. It kept flying up to the bird feeder just a few feet away from us. THEN the very next day I was on a bike ride and a bright red Cardinal swooped right in front of me. I view brightly colored birds as a sign, and remembered this mail art piece I made and decided to list it for sale in my Etsy shop.

I recently discovered the coolest (new-to-me) artist through flickr. Alyn Carlson is a very talented artist, graphic designer and actress. She makes the most wonderful art hats, and they can be found in her Etsy shop here. I love how she posts often about colors, often in a Pantone theme, which really speaks to the graphic designer in me too. Well, lo and behold, this week she featured a photograph I took of my tootsie in grass, on this post. And then today, she shared my silver cast and handspun yarn Grass Ring. A woman who also loves grass is a woman after my own heart.

New Series - Blades of Grass

Published
by
robayre
on May 3, 2010
in My Artwork, Projects, etsy and shop update
. 1 Comment

I think I mentioned last week how I’ve been working on a new series of paintings. As usual, I continue with my love for the grass image. I have two complete and I’m pretty excited about the whole series. It’s all I can think of, and when I’m not painting I’m scribbling down notes and sketches for more pieces. I can’t create as fast as the inspiration comes, and that’s a good thing. Today I listed the one above in my Etsy shop.

Here is a progress picture from last week. My drawing table was a complete mess. I like how, even though it is entirely painting, it almost looks like collage or mixed media because of all the lines and details.

This particular piece is 12 inches square, so a pretty decent size to hang on a wall. Lately I’ve been wanting to go bigger and I think it stems from my desire to hang larger pieces on my own walls. In this series I plan on creating pieces of all different sizes, from small canvases (like my artomat pieces) to BIG BIG BIG. We will see how that goes :)

Three things

Published
by
robayre
on April 21, 2010
in Coverage, General Update, etsy, life and shop update
. 1 Comment

I saw this “three things” list on Leethal’s blog and decided to participate myself.
Three names I go by:
1. Rob
2. Robbie
3. Robs

Three jobs I have had:
1. Night audit/ front desk clerk at a hotel
2. Nursery supervisor at a church
3. Study hall aide for 7th and 8th graders

Three places I have lived:
1. at my parents house (residential neighborhood)
2. In a farmhouse out in the country
3. In an apartment building, next door to a murderer (really, not kidding at all)

Three favorite drinks:
1. Slurpees
2. Thai iced tea
3. Boba drinks

Three TV shows I watch:
1. Lost
2. 30 Rock
3. Check Please (chicago pbs)

Three places I have been:
1. Juneau, Alaska (not on a cruise, thank-you-very-much)
2. Blarney Castle in Ireland (and yes I kissed the Blarney stone)
3. Breaking for “REAL BEEF JERKY” in Texas (I also break for cheese curds in Wisconsin)

Three places I would like to visit:
1. Japan
2. The East coast of the United States
3. Seattle (I’ve been, but only stayed overnight and didn’t get to see anything really)

Three favorite old TV shows:
1. Six Feet Under
2. Arrested Development
3. My So Called Life (but, I can’t watch it anymore. It’s like looking at old awkward pictures of yourself, it’s embarrasing and makes you start reflecting on a time you’d rather forget.)

Three favorite dishes:
1. Home cooked in the crock pot - Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana
2. Tuna Casserole (my mom’s dish)
3. Sausage & Rotini (my mom’s dish)

Three makeup/beauty products I cannot live without:
1. soap
2. deoderant
3. toothpaste (other than that, I really can’t think of anything I couldn’t live without. I won’t die if I can’t find my mascara.)

Three things I’m looking forward to:
1. This kind of makes me sad because a thing I’ve been hopefully looking forward to, will most likely not happen
2. I’ve been dealing with this today
3. And, it’s hard for me to think of anything else to look forward to right now.

Wow, that didn’t really end on an uplifting note. I think I will add another category just so it doesn’t seem so sad.

Three songs that make me happy:
1. As Is - Ani Difranco
2. Halloweenhead - Ryan Adams
3. Breakin’ Up - Rilo Kiley

And then just for fun, A bonus round: 3 things I made and added to my Etsy shop recently:


This handbound journal that I’m in love with. It’s similar to one of the very first items I made and sold on Etsy, eons ago. The inside pages are an assortment of different papers, and each page is next to a different kind of paper. There is watercolor paper, graph paper, and even some papers I designed and printed myself. I really need to make one for myself, because describing it right now, I want to take it out of my shop and just keep it. Control yourself, Robyn. lol.

This orange and aqua spiral stratum ring. I actually made it as a custom order for a customer who apparently decided they didn’t like it because it still sits there days later. booo. Oh well, I like it and I probably wouldn’t have thought to use those colors if they hadn’t requested it.

Lastly, here is one of the 3 or 4 alphabet badges I made. It’s also being featured in this alphabet inspired treasury. Cute!

Please play along! Let me know if you posted three things too, I’d love to read them.

What I’ve done today

Published
by
robayre
on April 2, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork, etsy and shop update
. 1 Comment

I’ve listed two new paintings to my Etsy shop today. The first one can be found here. They are in the same style as my Artomat pieces, which can be seen here. These paintings are based on collages I did during Thing A Day in February.

The second painting can be found here.

Also, I sold these miniature books that were commissioned. I LOVE the smaller one. It looks like it’s leather bound, but really it’s a fancy textured paper. I’ll have to keep my eye out for more papers similar to these. I have another one to list in my etsy shop, but I’ve been thinking of turning it into a necklace.

New Paper Wrapped/Coiled Rings

Published
by
robayre
on March 22, 2010
in etsy and shop update
. 1 Comment

I’ve added 4 new paper wrapped spiral/stratum rings to my Etsy shop, click on the images to take you to their listing.
I am in love with the one above. It’s made from a world map.

And this one is made from a road map. I think they are so beautiful from afar, and if you look up close you can see that it actually map pages.

 

I also made these two, an orange and a pink ring. They are equally stunning. I just love the details.

new additions

Published
by
robayre
on March 21, 2010
in General Update, etsy and shop update
. 2 Comments

 

 

Today I added 4 new leaf style rings to my Etsy shop.  I also have a few more rings in the paper spiral/coiled style that I’m going to add tomorrow. I’m excited. They are so pretty.

How was your weekend? I had one of those rare weekends which are packed full, and yet seem long, stretched out and productive, as opposed to rushed and stressed. A relaxed, stress free weekend. I got to visit with my brother and sister in law and their new addition, I attended a wedding, AND made it to my friend Tom’s birthday party. Oh, also, I’m very excited that I scored a bike on ebay, just like my old one that was destroyed last year, but the female version. I was even able to test ride it around our cul-de-sac a few times before the snow hit this weekend.

I’m so so so excited for spring. I even got to walk home from work on Thursday. It was so nice to just get sun and fresh air. I carried my camera with me and took a bunch of pictures. After hectic months like February, it feels like such a blessing to be leisurely and take the time to enjoy the simple things. Last week was a perfect sample of what’s to come, temps in the 50’s even reaching the 60s a day or two. Saturday we woke up to a snow covered ground. No one was happy about that, but it’s pretty typical for spring time in northern Illinois.

Welcome March!

Published
by
robayre
on March 1, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork, etsy and shop update
. 2 Comments

 The countdown to spring is on! 19 days left. If the rest of those 19 days are as nice as today was, this should be a breeze. The snow was all melty and I was able to drive around with my window rolled down half way.

Today was one of my days where I have to go in to work at 2 a.m. so I had the daylight to myself. I got a lot done. Grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc., etc. I also finally got around to listing the rings I made last month for Thing-a-Day.

  

The circle Paper Wrapped Spiral Stratum Rings are a new offering for my shop. I love the pendants that I make like this so much that I had to make some as rings as well. Dare I say, these rings are even more beautiful than the pendants?

Other rings that have been added are more collage based, similar to other rings that have been in my shop previously. I love this abstract piece above. It is very much like something I could see myself wearing all the time.

Here is a ring dedicated to my love of Polaroid. When I was in college I used to incorporate a lot of the polaroid shape into my artwork, printmaking primarily. This was about 10 years ago now and before Polaroid was becoming extinct, so I don’t think my teacher understood or appreciated it very much.  It warms my heart now to see the Polaroid image in so much artwork nowadays. Each time I see it, it’s like me sticking out my tongue and giving a big raspberry to that teacher and saying “See, other people get it, why couldn’t you?”

 

And finally, here is the last ring. Picture it as a whisper of the spring to come. It looks like the underside of a leaf, but it’s actually a real leaf skeleton, with a green cardstock paper visible from behind, all encased and preserved in resin.

Day Nineteen - Framed YoYo Quilt Set in Pink Gingham

Published
by
robayre
on February 19, 2010
in General Update, etsy and shop update
. 1 Comment

Today I was inspired by an Etsy front page that had all pale, soft pinks, whites and naturals. You can see the collection here. I immediately went up to my studio and grabbed this pale pink gingham and made one of my framed yoyo sets. I’ve been making yoyos (a quilt, vests, jewelry) for 17 years and making and selling these framed sets for 5 years. It was perfect because I actually had two other sets finished, but I just had not taken pictures of them yet, so finishing this set got me into action and now all three have been added to my Etsy shop here.

Miniature Scrapbook and kit

Published
by
robayre
on January 5, 2010
in Projects, etsy and shop update
. 11 Comments

Last month my sister was looking for Christmas presents to give to her scrapbooking friend, when I remembered awesome miniature ornament books she made with pictures of us from our trip to Ireland. I thought “How about one of those books put together in a scrapbooking style?” She and I spent one evening putting together books, hers for her friends, mine for my shop. Originally we were going to decorate the inside pages so all that had to be done was to print out mini pictures and glue them in, but then we came up with the idea of putting together a kit, so that someone who enjoys cropping, could do it all themselves. I had SO much fun putting these together. I want to make more and more and more.

There are two kits currently available in my shop here and here. Each “scrapbook” is mini less than 3 inches squared, hard covered and handbound with scrapbooking papers. They have ribbon closures, so you can tie them closed and hang them up somewhere. Each kit contains one book and over 30 little items to decorate the scrapbook pages, including all sorts of corresponding papers (solids, designed, edged, circles, hearts, embossed), sequins, brads, paper flowers, ribbon and tags.  All you need for this kit is to print out miniature pictures of your own and get to scrapbooking on a lilliputian scale!

Knowing me, is knowing I LOVE everything miniature and I’m pretty smitten with these books and kits.

The Happy Post

Published
by
robayre
on December 14, 2009
in Fun, General Update, etsy, life and shop update
. 11 Comments

Cross off one more item from my 2009 To-Do List. #28, I’ve decorated for Christmas. It might be pretty lacking in it’s lame, limp garland wrapped around the front porch, and the plastic tree my cat won’t stop eating, but everything is made better when you view the snowflake curtain I have been working on. I was inspired by this flickr picture and just wanted to make so many snowflakes that were all staggered and overlapping that it was more of a snow storm than anything :D It’s hanging between the kitchen and breakfast nook and makes me so happy that I just want to hang out in there all the time now.

Here’s another holiday picture, but not of my tree, but my friends’ Tom and Nikki. We went sledding last Friday. What a great evening. It was one of those nights, and I’ll quote Nikki “I was laughing so hard I thought my chest was going to explode”. Best.Feeling.In.The.World.

I still haven’t found my wallet BUT I sold another one of my handspun yarns this weekend. That makes me unbelievably happy.  I also got a great message from the person who purchased this painting. “it’s absolutely beautiful. Even more stunning than in the photos!” Wow, made me feel like a million bucks.

And last but not least, I’m thrilled to present the following paintings I finished this weekend.

 

These paintings make me ridiculously happy.

They are all available in my Etsy shop right now.  Clicking on the images will take you to their respective pages.

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