November Giveaway!

It's Giveaway Time Again!!!
We are so delighted to have our November FEST Giveaway sponsored by Cory of Aquarian Bath from Daytona Beach. Cory is a herbalist who makes wonderful and delicious natural soaps, specialty salves and natural perfumes and grows her own herbs for her organic products.


Cory is getting us ready for the Holidays with her wonderful Christmas Gingerbread Man Soap on a Rope Ornament of Ginger, Cinnamon, Clove and Essential Oils.

Her veggie soaps are hand cut and strung with natural hemp. Gingerbread men soaps are a great gift for co-workers, family or friends. Cold-process soap and Orangutan friendly; no palm oils are included.

All of Cory's items, such as those pictured below, are made from scratch and formulated by her and are either unscented or lightly scented with pure essential oils

HOW TO ENTER: Enter to win this darling Gingerbread Man by visiting AquarianBath at her Etsy Shop or any of the FEST members listed on the top of our Blog Page. Find your favorite item, share it with us and tell us why you love it. Remember to add your email address or contact info so we can contact you if you are the Winner! Winner picked on 12/10/11. Simple and Easy!

Toodles,

Forms and Shapes to Inspire you!

I talk a lot about what gives me inspiration so I thought I'd share some photos of shapes that just might inspire you. My inspirations so often come from the things I see around me - architecture, sculptures, nature- and I'm wondering where all of you get yours.

Do you carry a camera around with you (or cell phone with a camera) everywhere you go? I do! Nothing is safe nor sacred! My family has threatened me with bodily harm if I dare share some I've taken of them....so I'll stay on a safe subject here! Forms and shapes!

Here's what I'd like to see.....no matter what type of art you create, take a look at these pictures to see if any inspire you. Then create a little something and send a pic to me. I'll post it here. In fact, I'd love to interview you about your piece and what inspired it for this blog. I'll be nice, I promise. But I'm challenging you to stretch a little and use one of these pics! Fair 'nuff?

OK, here goes!

No, these are not bowling balls!

This is the inside of a very old Steinway Piano I saw at the BMW museum in Munich!

A tree in Romania

Ornate Gate from Eastern Europe somewhere! I can't remember! (memory is the first to go!)

This is a sign above a store!

Ok, so there you go! Show me what you can do!

Toodles,

August HOT Fest BLOG GIVEAWAY!!!

Our FEST Blog Giveaway for August is a sensational Lily Inspired Dragonfly Hug Ring by MadScientistsDesigns . Mad uses beautiful antique copper to fashion her whimsical jewelry masterpieces. Her creative and lifelike representations are fanciful and exotic and this wonderful Dragonfly Ring is no exception. It conforms to your finger, is adjustable and comfortable with wings that hug your finger and a tail with a fanciful curl.

Mad loves designing jewelry to match steam punk and goth fashion and also is committed to rescuing cats and giving them a good home. She initially started selling on Etsy to help pay for their food and care and this charitable endeavor has blossomed into her wonderful Etsy Shop with so many fabulous offerings such as the Vacuum Tube Necklace pictured below.
 

HOW TO ENTER: Enter to win by visiting Mad at MadScientistDesigns or any of the FEST Team members in the Member Section. Find your favorite item, share it with us and tell us why you love it. Remember to add your email address so we can contact you if you are the Winner! Winner picked on 09/05/11. Simple and Easy! Open to EVERYONE!

July Sizzling Summer FEST GIVEAWAY

Summer is sizzling and so is our FEST Blog Giveaway for July from GardenWhimsiesByMary . Mary has combined her love of gardening with decorating and producing gorgeous unexpected treasures to add whimsy to your garden. Her pieces are one of a kind garden art and so colorful and fun as seen in this month’s Giveaway - a Sapphire Blue Petite Plate Flower.

Mary stacks plates for “flower” garden stakes and fits them with a holder on the back so they can be set on a copper pipe and placed anywhere. Her amazing talent for combing colors and textures is evident in all of her works of art. An added benefit is her love for bringing new life to objects that might otherwise find themselves in a landfill. Treat your garden to a touch of Whimsy!



HOW TO ENTER: Visit the Team FEST blog and Enter to win by visiting Mary at GardenWhimsiesByMary or any of the FEST Team members listed in the Member Section. Find your favorite item, share it with us and tell us why you love it. Remember to add your email address so we can contact you if you are the Winner! Winner picked on 08/07/11. Simple and Easy!



The giveaway is open to everyone!!

What Inspires You ?

I'm always curious about what inspires artists. There's plenty of inspiration around, if you just know where to look! I take my inspirations from nature first, and my surroundings second, and sometimes - in fact, often - from other artists. I don't copy, mind you, just interpret things in my own, warped way.

This year I was blessed with a fantastic Eastern European river cruise down the Danube. So much inspiration, my camera was hot,hot, hot, just trying to keep up. The architecture was magnificent, but oddly, I found my greatest interest in all the graffiti I saw. Some of the towns were war torn and depressing on first sight, but the graffiti was a welcomed splash of color in a mostly gray area.

My latest designs, soon to be featured in my Etsy Store, relect what I saw - or at least my own interpretation of it.

Take a look!

I'd love to hear from you about where you get your inspirations for what you create!

Toodles,

FEST Giveaway!

It's Giveaway time again!

Our lucky June Winner will have an opportunity to select one item from either of Carrie's Shops - HappyLittleMonkey or MonkeySeeMonkeyDo. Carrie is a Florida native now living in Tallahassee. She creates wonderful products for kids with practicality, utility and parents in mind.


HappyLittleMonkey specializes in great baby gifts and you can choose a Premium Swaddling Blanket and Burp Cloth Set from this Shop similar to this lovely blue, aqua and white blanket combo as your Giveaway.

MonkeySeeMonkeyDo features items for bigger kids, from age 1 to around kindergarten and growing. Or select as your Giveaway, an Appliqued Shirt from this Shop. Here's an example of Carrie's special designs.

Carrie spends hours searching for just the perfect materials and fabrics for her fabulous creations and, in addition to the Giveaway, if Team FEST members purchase a Swaddling Blanket Set by July 4th, Carrie will monogram the blanket or burp cloth FREE when FEST members use the code GOTEAMFEST in the comments.

HOW TO ENTER: Enter to win by visiting Carrie at either or both of her Shops HappyLittleMonkey or MonkeySeeMonkeyDo or any of the FEST Team members listed in the Member Section. Find your favorite item, share it with us and tell us why you love it. Remember to add your email address so we can contact you if you are the Winner! Winner picked on 07/04/11. Simple and Easy!

About the Artist:

Carrie is a stay-at-home mommy of two little ones and loves the opportunity to create great things! Her product inspiration comes from her kids, and then she create things that Moms will love too.

Carrie learned how to sew as a little girl, along-side her mother who gave Carrie her very own machine at a very young age!

Teach Them While They're Young!

Well, it's been an exciting week around the Smith household! A visit with my son and granddaughter always has me hopping! Now I know why we have kids when we're young! We "old folks" just don't have the energy level that is required with an "almost" four year old!

The wonderful thing about all that energy is that they have such inquiring minds! It's the best time to teach them! And of course, I did my best to introduce art....coloring books, stickers, and....Studio time!

During their stay, I had a couple of custom orders to finish up. My little angel, Amaya, was full of curiosity about the room that was "off limits", so I set up a little table, far from the tools and other "dangerous, don't touch" stuff, and gave her some rings with prongs I had made and a box of lampwork beads. She was so excited to be creating and her hand/eye coordination was right on! She sat there, talking a mile a minute about her creations as she fitted bead after bead onto the ring prongs. I was facinated and thrilled! How better to fuel her curiosity about what Nana makes, and start her off in the art world.

She asked about colors and wanted to know how the beads were made. I almost Skyped my friend, Patty Lakinsmith, the maker of all those wonderful beads Amaya was using, to explain the process, but didn't want to bother her and wasn't sure Amaya would really understand anyway. However, I need to mention that her favorite beads were the lil meanies that Patty makes. She thought the teeth and tongue sticking out were funny, and understood they were glass and would break if dropped on my concrete studio floor.

I read a lot of artist bios and one thing always strikes me as infinitely important. Many learned their trade or developed their interest at a very young age, at a grandparent's knee or another adult mentor who was wise enough to develop a young person's curiosity about the art. As an artist, not just a grandmother, I feel an obligation to carry that forward at every opportunity. Art needs to be cultivated and nurtured at all ages and when better than when they're young and full of questions and open to new things???

Tah Dah! The finished product! (And look at her smile!)

Ok, then...time to get back to the studio, though it'll be a little lonely now!

Toodles,