Archive for the 'Shop Updates' Category

shop update and what’s going on

Published
by
robayre
on August 3, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates and Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

I added a few pinback buttons to my shop.
Did you know that tallgrass prairies could be 6 feet tall, but still there is more underground than what is seen above ground? And according to wikipedia 99% of the original prairie is covered with farmland now. I once heard that the majority of the remaining original prairieland runs along railroad tracks.
My grandmother, who was involved in prairie restoration, got me very interested in prairies when I was a child. I’ve loved them ever since and wanted to bring something with my love of prairies to the shop. They’re 1″ with pinbacks, or a magnet if you prefer, and they’re priced at just $1. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

As for “what’s going on?” Not much. The heat has officially kicked on and thus I feel super lazy. I hate sweating unintentionally. My face gets drenched and my make-up melts off. It’s also very hard to get motivated to do anything, even exercise, even though I’m already hot and sweaty. Yesterday I mowed and the rest of the day I had a headache and felt like I could not get th heat out. I kid you not, I even sat at the computer, air conditioner on, with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables on my head hoping to cool off, but no dice. BUT, good news, as erin noted to me the other day, the cicadas are already started to sing which means the end of summer, hurrah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I probably just had 2 of my 3 readers unsubscribe from my blog for saying that. People seem to really love their summer here. But, I was thinking earlier this week, I have a very small window of comfort, 65 to 75 degrees. If it’s above, I’m sweating, if it’s below, better pile on the layers.

Even Bishop and Theo feel the heat. Must be torture with permanent fur coats. Above you can see how they are getting along. We are pretty comfortable allowing them to be together alone, without fear of one tearing the other one to shreds. We also have the sneaking suspicion that while we are gone during the day Bishop sleeps outside of Theo’s cage. Tomorrow morning Bishop is going in for the big snip-snip. And while my friends Al and Elinor are in between moves, I’m renting their budgie, Ted Nugent. It’s nice to have some company in my studio while I work.

Shop Update

Published
by
robayre
on July 10, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 1 Comment

7.9 circle 12 angle, originally uploaded by robayre.

I’ve added two new original pieces to the shop. I love the one above, it really embodies the qualities I have in mind for this series.

This piece is a bit different and has a sea theme. It might be cute for a child’s room or a person who has a passion for the nautical. Speaking of ships and the sea, yesterday I found out an interesting derivation of the word Posh. It comes from the location of luxurious cabins on ships back to Britain, Portside Out, Starboard Home (P.O.S.H.).

This last weekend my friend Al had a booth at the local Art Show on the lawn of the Ellwood House. While I walked around I met a few wonderful artists. Clark Bending was selling his paintings and I was just in awe of his use of colors. His booth really stood out as a breath of fresh air, amongst the other “realistic landscape” painting booths. I spoke to him for a while, bought a print and discovered he will be giving a lecture for the local Art league in the fall. Another artist I met was Bob Politsch, who doesn’t have a website. He carved wooden sculptures from the dead bark fallen off of trees. The sculptures were very imaginative, with detailed execution, little dwellings, like castles, homes, churches, etc. They contained elaborate, doors, windows, balconies, down to bricks and mortar and wood panels with nails. I could just imagine how much fun it would be to create each one.

The cancer that grows and grows, originally uploaded by Chrissie White.

Earlier today I was searching around Flickr, as I often do and found this talented photographer and designer. Her work was very inspiring, so I went to her profile to add her to my contacts when I see that….wait for it….it’s coming…yeah…SHE’S ONLY 14 YEARS OLD! Check out her photographs, wow! I was just amazed, here I am 30 and I don’t even know how she did some of the techniques she pulled.
One last thing I wanted to mention was that Bishop and Theo are doing really well and getting adjusted to each other swiftly. Theo has turned around her attitude more beautifully than I could have ever hoped. Now, she does not get angry at the kitten and in fact she braves him wonderfully, when he tries to “play” pounce on her, she does not act like the prey instinct in her should, instead she stands her ground, but in absolutely nonthreatening manner. In fact, I think she might be enjoying the kitten because she comes out of her cage more often and explores more than ever before now. If she was feeling threatened, she would run and hide in the back of her cage, but instead she and the kitten are chasing each other around. So cute. Matt and I just waiting till the day we walk in and they are next to each other grooming one another, that would be the ultimate.

It’s a new day

Published
by
robayre
on May 12, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 0 Comments

It’s a new day, originally uploaded by robayre.

I finished this painting tonight. It’s a 6″x6″ acrylic on canvas piece done in the same style as the “Be kind” piece done for Found Art Tuesday a couple weeks ago. I really love this style and feel like I could do a bunch of these with different inspiring uplifting saying. It’s in the shop right now.

Ever have Thai Iced Tea? That stuff is like crack, or how I imagine crack to be addicting. This weekend we picked up some Thai and got tea to go. It has made me search for recipes to make my own. Feed the addiction, yes, sweet, swirling condensed milk in my tea, addiction.  So I found this site that seems to be pretty good at instructions on how to make my own Thai Iced tea in many different ways. They even have a page that links you to where buy thai tea in bags or powder form.

And lastly, I am so excited about this final link. Can I just say how excited I was to see the post on today’s Design Sponge  guest blog. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make patterns for fabric and papers and these instructions will make this so much easier. It’s so simple and I am so surprised that I didn’t think of this or hadn’t been taught this much earlier. You might even remember this tree pattern that I made earlier this year for fabric. (Note to self, I still need to execute that project, but now I can make even better patterns. yay!

 

Awakening

Published
by
robayre
on May 5, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates and Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

grass art, originally uploaded by robayre.

You may not be able to really tell what is going on in this picture, but it is momentous. This is me getting to paint outside, something I haven’t done in years and years and years. In fact, skip the painting. Just sitting outside and enjoying the outdoors…that is something I haven’t been able to do for years and years and years. It almost brought me to tears. Sure, I would go over to my folks’ house to mow, but I didn’t lounge around or really stop to appreciate the outdoors. Now I can just go right out my patio doors and plop myself down in some lush grass and just lay there. And I do.
Matt and I have been hearing all sorts of bird this spring and mimicking their call. It was a while before I thought to myself “You know, I don’t recall hearing, or at least ever consciously listening to birds’ calls the entire time I lived in that dungeon apartment.”
It’s spring, and the plants and wildlife are not the only things coming back to life.

 

I’ve added a yellow framed yoyo set to my etsy shop today.

 

And, this weekend I finally decided to devote some time to making a scarf from a pattern in the Happy Hooker book. It went by so quickly, I made two! The more green one was made using my own handspun yarn. The great thing about this pattern is that it goes so quickly and it doesn’t use much yarn. You could probably make two from one skein of yarn. Plus it looks so cute. Of course, there is the problem now that it really isn’t scarf season anymore.

sample

Published
by
robayre
on April 29, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments


Here is a close up of what I did with my new Kemper Fluid Drawing Pen.

I wanted to thank everyone for my Paper Stack Pack love. Apparently they were featured on Etsy’s front page and all were sold within two days. I’ve been on the front page a couple times, but I’ve never gotten a screen capture before. That is something I’d really love. In the meantime, I think I might just have to put together some more paper packs. Lord knows I have plenty where they came from.

april 24 Polaroid Week 2008

Published
by
robayre
on April 24, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 2 Comments

april 24 Polaroid Week 2008, originally uploaded by robayre.

Wow, I’m blowing through polaroid film this week like it’s going out of style (or maybe just being discontinued).
Have you seen the Save Polaroid site? They have a survey up, go take it.
One thing that makes me really sad about the end of instant Polaroid Film is all the stuff I wanted to do, but will never get the chance. I’ve always wanted to try emulsion transfer with polaroid, and there are so many different types of cameras and films that I never got to use. I’m still trying to get over the end of joycam and i-zones :(


I came up with the idea to make some polaroid buttons like this one and will hopefully add them to the shop soon, so keep an eye out for those.

Okay, 4 RLZ People!

Published
by
robayre
on April 15, 2008
in General Updates, Shop Updates and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

This is such a fun item.

As I’ve been moving to the new house, I try to keep in mind that moving is the perfect opportunity to clean house and get rid of lots of the extras that just weigh me down. So, in that spirit I’ve decided to destash some of my VERY LARGE paper collection and share it with you. Did I say they are fun? I’ve done a couple different small sized paper swaps on Swap-bot and it was always so much fun to compile my envelopes so I’ve decided to offer some of them in my shop now. They are filled with cool decorative papers, vintage papers, and even some stickers. This thick stack-pack is actually small in size (6″x6″ ) so this item would be perfect for ATCs, ACEOs, collagers and even scrappers who are looking for an edge. Each pack has well over 100 items in it and each pack is relatively identical.
You can find it here in my shop. I’ve compiled six of these packs and will list one each day.

So now that the move is no longer looming, I have regained some freedom and decided to get some exercise in. I haven’t gone to the gym in a couple weeks and my body is feeling it. Our new home is located near a large track and so after work I headed over to use it. Just steps outside my front door I heard screaming and cheering and thought “I hope they aren’t having a track meet” and as soon as I rounded the corner I could see they were. I started heading back and debated on driving to the YMCA, but instead chose to do my old walk/job path that I used to do when I still lived at home with my folks. It was wonderful. The weather was great, the air was fresh and now I’m on a runners high. I really can’t wait to get back into longer distances again (for me that means ooooh, um, yeah… A WHOLE MILE!)

Clean Slate

Published
by
robayre
on February 10, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

I am such a slug and have no stamina when it comes to cleaning and organizing. Thanks to my sister, tonight my apartment is very sparkly and clean.  When it gets cluttered, I feel like all my energy is sapped, so it is really great when it is cleaned, I get so motivated and inspired to work on things when I am in a tidy environment. Oh yeah, and she did my taxes and woot, I am getting back a very handsome return, although (as she reminds me) it is my own money back, that they have been holding on to.

 

Tonight I finished another Circle Series piece that will be added to the shop shortly. I sold one of them this week and realized that I had never shared them with my art group. So last night, I brought, and was able to share them with a couple people. They had such a warm reception, it felt great.

I’m also pretty excited to find out that the errors I have been struggling with on this blog are due to errors on the server and have been told that my site will be moved to a new server soon. I’m very excited to get rid of that error on the bottom of the page, as well as update wordpress and a host of many other perks, such as uploading youtube videos. Oh yeah, and that means, new banner and spiffy new look, oooh lala!

Crafter Spotlight and Thanks

Published
by
robayre
on February 5, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 0 Comments

First I wanted to send a thank you out to everyone who sent me a message about the “I’m a real person” post. It really made me feel loved. I even had a “it was your best post ever!” reply and that kind of scares me now because that is a lot to live up to. Now I’m going to feel like every post needs to be that responsive.

Oh, I’m so excited, I got an email from one of my new friends at The Create A Day community, Kym. She let me know that she has featured ME on her Crafter Spotlight, how exciting! I feel like the cool kids have asked me to come sit at their table. Go check it out!

And, well, what happened this weekend, you ask? I made some stuff:

finished more pages in my book (as usual):

and BOUGHT A MINI TRAMP!!!!!!!

Red and Lime Green :)

Published
by
robayre
on February 1, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Just a quick pop in before I head out to a Makers Meeting. I finished these little book earrings today and listed them in my etsy shop.

and I just realized that they go almost perfectly with the below:

A customer sent me some apprectiation photos of their YoYo Set in their home, pictured below. How wonderful is this? Love the decor and it fits perfectly with their colors. This makes me feel like a million bucks :)

 

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