Archive for the 'shop update' Category

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
. 10 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.

Been Busy!

Published
by
robayre
on September 16, 2009
in General Update, My Artwork, etsy, fiber, life and shop update
. 3 Comments

I’m on a roll, checking things off my lists.

Dinner is on, changed the cat’s litterbox, changed the burned out lights in the garage, photographed and listed new items in my etsy shop. Now it’s time to knock out this one last item for tonight. Blog.

I can’t believe it is already Wednesday. I wanted to post about my whirlwind weekend and it’s seems the week is slipping by just as quickly.

Thursday evening my best friend and I went to the Sandwich Fair. It’s actually the county fair and pretty small-town. Imagine tractor pulls and lots of 4H kids running around. I got to visit the rabbit house, the chicken house and ate corn on the cob, onion blossom, ribs and fried cheese, what more can you ask for? Erica and I took a picture together in a BIG chair, which goes along with our eternal search for BIG things, like here and here.

   

Friday, is my errands day and I went to get reproductions made of 3 original pieces of mine. I’m very excited to offer these as I’ve been wanting to do it for so long, they are such great quality and they are extremely affordable. They are listed in the shop right now :D

Saturday was my cousin’s wedding at the Drake in Chicago. We dressed up and a great time. Really, I couldn’t have been more happy after I found out that they had a photo booth at their reception. That definitely made my night. Congratulations to David and Sarah, they seemed to be on a new plane of happiness that day, and congratulations to my Aunt, who reads here regularly :D

These are the pictures from the photo booth. It’s my sister, matt and I. 1st picture is just smiles, second picture is the paparazzi shot, 3rd picture is sad face, fourth picture is roller coaster.  Funny enough, afterward my brother and sister in law were showing their pictures to us and they did something similar, ending in a picture called “tyrannosaurus!”

Sunday my sister and I went to the Renegade craft fair in chicago. I didn’t buy one thing  and that wasn’t for lack of desire. I found many things I liked but it would be way too expensive, they didn’t have my size, or the variety was gone and I wasn’t crazy about the remaining color selections. Lesson learned, it’s better to go on Saturday before all the good stuff is gone.

And then Sunday evening on the ride home I finally finished my cowl, and of course, it’s been in the 80s all week long. I’m excited to make more of these. In fact, now that I’ve completed posting and crossing off the final item on today’s to-do list I think I will begin a new one.

Thanks for stopping by and reading :D

resin art ring and grass

Published
by
robayre
on May 13, 2009
in General Update, My Artwork and shop update
. 0 Comments

stars + grass = love
snails=awesome
get it in my etsy shop now

 

Grass has always been a theme in my artwork, even from early college, or late high school days. I’ve made grass sculptures, grass jewelry, grass paintings. One time I made a hammock that had grass growing on it.
I wish I had taken a picture of that.
My first mail art postcard (above) was stars and grass, before I even knew what Mail Art was.
I’ve recently had a great idea for using grass in a new to me medium. More coming soon…

Happy Thursday

Published
by
robayre
on April 2, 2009
in Artists, General Update, etsy and shop update
. 0 Comments

Today was a good day.

I recently decided to start adding my handspun yarns back to my shop. I used to have some listed a long time ago, but when their time came up I just let them expire and then gave them away to friends. I used to really struggle with the idea of what my shop should be. I would always hear how the most successful shops only sell one type of item, and if you have too many different kinds of items it confuses customers. But since my art show last fall I’ve had a greater acceptance of what my work is and who I am as an artist, and that includes all aspects of my work, not just my photography, not just my fine art pieces or my quilting, etc. I have more confidence in representing all my areas of interest and I think it shows across the board in all my work. My pieces say “this looks like something Robyn made” whether it be some of my handspun yarn, or a piece of jewelry. So, today was the day I finally had time and enough sunlight to photograph then list some handspun. Keep your eyes open for more. I love them all and I think you will too.

Surfing around the internet today I found several very cool new etsy sellers and artists.  La Señorita Pil makes the most amazing dolls. I was so inspired I had to go to the library straight after work and check out some doll making books. This will work well towards my latest obsession for still life dioramas/ shadowboxes/.and stop motion animation. The other artist is monpetitfantome who makes pretty amazing silhouettes and papercut pieces. After favoriting his etsy shop I got a big surprise to find out that I was his 1000th shop favorite and he would like to send me any item from his shop as a gift. I picked a framed silhouette of a rabbit, to honor Theo. After we had to put Theo to sleep last fall, Matt had suggested we get something to honor her memory and although we’ve kept our eye open, we hadn’t found anything yet. Thank you monpetitfantome!

And I don’t know why but this popped into my head today. Remember Log? Yeah, everyone wants a log!

Resin Collage Art Rings

Published
by
robayre
on March 19, 2009
in My Artwork, etsy and shop update
. 1 Comment

I want to tell you how excited I am about my new rings, but I say “I’m so excited” about everything, too much. It’s true, I am excited, but I lack for a better way to share exactly how I feel.

I think back to the first time I got to experiment and play with resin, and you might have seen my first ring last month. I’ve been wearing that ring ever since and just love, love, love it. Since then I have made 3 more ring that I am very happy with. The ring at the top, my sister loved, so I gave it to her.

The other two I have listed in my shop.  The ring on the left says Today as a reminder to cherish and live life to the fullest each day. It uses my favorite, blackboard paint :) and pencil drawing as well as watercolor collage. The ring on the right showcases a woman’s gaze, a flower cut from the folds of a marble statue, a looped string, a doily, and some antiqued paper all encapsulated in clear resin.

I love making these rings, and the way they look finished. I can’t wait to make more.

OH YEAH! polaroid pogo

Published
by
robayre
on March 13, 2009
in Cool Links, Fun, General Update, My Artwork and shop update
. 6 Comments

I’m very excited to share that I finally got the Polaroid Pogo that I’ve been talking about forever. And believe me it is AWESOME! Trust me, you want one of these. I’ve been telling everyone that because 1. of it’s awesomeocity, and 2. because I don’t want Polaroid to end up discontinuing this product, so the more people who have one and use it, the better the chances for it’s longevity. But to be honest, everyone that I have shown it to has LOVED it and wants one as well. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

It prints without ink. Before buying this I was skeptical, thinking there were just small ink packs that were included in each paper pack, but noooo, it really doesn’t use any ink. Here is how it works, if you are interested in the details. Basically it uses this new Zink (zero ink technology) where cyan, magenta and yellow ink crystals are layered on each paper and activated through heat, during the printing process.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that it can print from your digital camera, computer OR wirelessly through bluetooth on your camera phone! Each image is 2”x3”, can print from anywhere (doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall), prints don’t rip or tear, comes with an adhesive back, and because of the Zink, doesn’t smear or smudge ever!

We’re living in the future, People.

The night I bought it, as I was in bed trying to fall asleep, the idea came to me to mount the prints on photo matte and offer small prints in my etsy shop. Because of the medium, the prints come out very different than the original image. There is a definite graininess and color shift as well as changes in contrast, etc., which like original Polaroid instant pictures, makes them very unique and different. I will be listing Polaroid Pogo prints in my shop as they come. I have already listed the above print in my shop.

I’m so excited, can you tell yet?

Paintings in the shop

Published
by
robayre
on March 3, 2009
in Artomat, General Update, My Artwork, etsy and shop update
. 2 Comments

Last month during my “Thing-a-day” I shared a couple of collections of new collages.

I made these as a first step in what would be translated into miniature paintings similar to my Art-o-mat paintings. It’s a way to celebrate finally sending in my Art-o-mat collection. This way, anyone who might not have access to an Art-o-mat, or those who have purchased some of my work and would like to buy more, could do so from my etsy shop.
I have listed 3 “Art-o-mat” styled miniature canvas paintings to my shop so far.

Click on any of the images and it will take you to their listing page.

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