My family rocks!

Let's take a little break from talking about business to talk about how much fun last night's holiday gathering with my family was! It will also serve as an explanation as to why I won't be posting any new jewelry today. You see, my brother Joe and his girlfriend Michelle challenged us to a gift wrapping challenge. We lost mightily because I waited too long to start, but I did get props for hiding their present (a Groupon for an event they wanted to attend) inside last year's pocket calender, which had all the pockets stapled shut and decoy papers in most pockets. The calender was in turn covered in tape, wrapped, put inside a laptop box over-stuffed with bubblewrap, which was in turn wrapped twice.

But Joe and Michelle brought in a box larger than my washing machine, which had layers of boxes inside, including one in paper mache made of the paper leftover from her family's Christmas. And inside that, the best thing ever... a box wrapped in candy. Michelle did this for Joe last year. It was the first time we met her and needless to say, it made a great impression! We were very happy to be this year's recipient of the candy box :) It has sweet, fruity candy for Chris and chocolate for me, yay! Inside was about 7 more layers of wrapping (including two of tinfoil), and inside that, individually wrapped presents to make for the perfect game night -- a fun nerdy game, ginger beer and rum to make Dark and Stormies, hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows from Michelle's family's chocolate shop, caramel corn, and so much more!

What does this have to do with listing items? Well, all of those treats and the paper they're wrapped up in are covering the dining room table where I do all of my photography! Today is going to be mainly dedicated to cleaning up the post-holiday mess, although I will also work on making some jewelry, too.

In other news, my Mom is awesome. You might think that the above mask is leather, but no, Mom made it from polymer clay! It's the perfect blend of black with some iridescent green-gold clay in it, echoing the shimmer of raven feathers. It's so gorgeous! I'm already thinking of all the occasions I could wear it for -- a Gothic bellydance performance, masquerade at Wild Wild West Con (and any other conventions with masquerades), handing out candy on Halloween, etc etc. I really love masks and this one is extra special because it was handmade with love by my mother.

There were a lot of other cool handmade gifts. My brother has really gotten into leatherwork, so Dad and Chris both got awesome belts with lots of accessories for their steampunk costumes. Mom made Dad a sporran to go with his Utilikilts, and Michelle a black and red kitty hoodie. Michelle assembled and painted a Warhammer miniature for Joe (he was really touched, which made me exclaim "Nerd love!" I have joke immunity, after all, I was excited about the Goblins of the Labyrinth book that Chris gave me). And there was so much more! So many of this year's presents game from artists and crafters, whether made by one of us or purchased at Etsy or local conventions. I love how dedicated my family is to supporting artists!

This Week in Etsy

I'm toying with the idea of doing one weekly Etsy round-up post, that way I don't spam my blog with new listings, treasuries and team-related stuff. I don't know if I'll pick one day of the week to have it on, or just post it on whatever day I have a lot of Etsy-related stuff built up and nothing else that I feel a strong urge to blog about. Anyway, less rambling, more linking!

First, I've started the slow process of migrating items from my old website into my Etsy shop. This week I re-photographed and listed Phoenix Feathers and Sacred Grove.

I'm still attempting to weed out my bead stash, with the hopes of funding my further belly dance education and costume growth (yes, that's right, I'm thinning out one stash to increase another). This week I listed a grouping of yummy green leaf beads.

Today I was notified that I was in a Treasury! Andrea of Beadmask included me in What The Moon Saw. This reminded me of two things: I haven't made a Treasury in forever, and I really love masks. So I created A Rainbow of Masks.

And that's This Week in Etsy!

One-Winged Angel -- Locked Away Part 5

Last time, it was a heart. Now it's a one-winged angel with a keyhole for a head. As I was stitching the teal beads down, I noticed that the shape looked like a feathered wing, so I decided to go with it. Now I wish I could add another bead type -- I'd do black, probably matte black even, to really make the wings pop. I don't know how it will look to do the red or the amber. If I'd used Ultrasuede or even normal suede for the base, I'd just leave the area around the wings blank... But I don't think that the felt is attractive enough to be left "naked."

If I was more experienced with this sort of technique, and I hadn't already stitched down the center line of hexes and 8s there, I'd actually cut away the felt around the wings, making it a shaped pendant. Maybe for a future project! As it is, I've come to realize that this is going to be huge by the time I add the fringe, so I'm thinking of cutting the top off closer to the keyhole cab. Maybe I'll go ahead and cut around the top curve of the wing, and maybe attach the necklace there at the "shoulder." I think it might look pretty cool. Hmmm... brainstorming!

The angel with the keyhole head idea makes me think of MirrorMask. I can't remember if anyone in there had a keyhole mask. Gee shucks, I guess I might just have to watch the movie again to see. I know that some people are disturbed by masks, but I personally find them beautiful. Right now I'm enamored of the work of Merimask. I never wear the leather Green (wo)Man mask that I have (it doesn't quite fit my face and gives me a headache), but I'm still tempted to buy one of her masks. Maybe it would fit me better!