The Perks of Gardening

I'm so proud of my mom's gardening skills! This morning I was awoken by mom's resolute decision to garden at 9:30 am. Next to working on her art, gardening is her passion at all hours of the day. However, it's a definitely a family effort. We've even dragged dad out to remove a good portion of our lawn a few summers ago. Anyway, this morning we discovered our cucumber plants had been busy since we last looked. We picked 8 huge cucumbers! And, our bean, tomato, and lettuce plants produced a great crop as well. Summer vegetables are definitely a huge perk of gardening! This morning we were quite productive too. We planted a new crop of celery, beans, spinach, carrots, and flowers, along with pruning our roses and several other native plants from our side garden. We even met a new neighborhood cat, much to the jealousy our own cat. Though, she was very sweet and spent most of her time following mom back and forth in the garden.

Summer Afternoons

I have less than 2 weeks before I start school. I can't believe summer went by this fast! I'm going to try and keep working on my art through the school year, because I've realized what a stress reliever art really is.

Today mom and I spent the entire afternoon working together in the studio. We came up with a great way to display our jewelry for Last Thursdays in Alberta by recycling old drawers and making necklace racks. Yesterday we took a trip to the 'Rebuilding Center' on Mississippi (http://rebuildingcenter.org/) where we found old drawers for $2 each. I spent today painting the drawer to contrast our jewelry and hammering nails into the wood. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I think it will make our jewelry stand out while also making room for more items on our table.

I've also started leather cut out earrings. I took a leather feather earring example that I had bought from an old student of mine and made my own out of some recycled leather my friend brought over one night. With a good pair of fabric scissors and some beads, I came up with some very nice designs that are easy to make and make a great accessory. I picked up some more scrap leather pieces from 'Scrap' yesterday too! I think about 50% of my favorite craft supplies come from 'Scrap'. What most consider junk is a wonderland to artists. :)

*Also note the hilarious dinosaur earrings I made from some plastic figurines at 'Kids at Heart' on Hawthorne Blvd.

Joining the Feather Earring Craze

So, I think I mentioned before that Portland is filled with the steadily growing feather earring craze in fashion. Last Thursdays in Alberta is filled with feather earring artists. It's a search to find which pair really suits your taste in both style and price. Even commercial stores in the mall sell feather earrings now. I don't like to be trendy, but I do own three pairs... And, this week my mom made a fabulous rendition of her own feather earring. My sister came in the studio shouting about a cute blue feather she found outside. Usually I'm a huge germ freak, but this feather really was quite nice and seemed as clean as a found feather can be. (Also, I think it's from our neighborhood family of Western Blue Jays!) About twenty minutes later my mom created this wonderful feather earring for me. I think it blends nicely with my hair and if we started making feather earrings, I think it would definitely be a unique style. Using chain, leather, and accents with beads looks really great with this particular feather. I don't know if we'll start making feather earrings to sell, but I don't think I'll be buying them anymore!

Etsy Store Official Launch

Today has been one of the most productive days of the summer. I worked in the studio and made some new earrings (see picture). More importantly, I officially launched the J'reyesha etsy store! I'm very excited because I thought it would take me much longer to set up an etsy store, but I took advantage of today's free time and got a lot done! All I have to do now is soup up our profile page a little more. I really like how easy etsy makes it for artists to sell their work.

Check out our etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jreyesha?ref=pr_shop

Mom also worked on some new jewelry that I've already started listing on etsy. She's sticking pretty strong to the new jewelry style we're trying to develop and I'm in love with all of her new pieces! They look great. I'm focusing on my recycled jewelry still, except trying to work with a more charm/kitsch appeal. It's fun experimenting with jewelry, especially since asymmetrical isn't considered outlandish anymore! :)

Website Updates and Attempts at Publicity!

I'm trying to make things more public with the website and the blog. I feel like blogging is probably my favorite part of 'Jreyesha.com.' I only wish I knew more people were looking at it! Hence, I'm going to advertise to an internet crowd - a.k.a my facebook friends. We'll see how it goes, but I'm hoping to bring some traffic to the site and blog.

I haven't been working in the studio as much as I should, but I've been working on the site sporadically. Today, I officially removed the 'Website Under Construction' heading from the site home page. That alone feels like an accomplishment! I think the site is as finished as my basic html skills will allow, but I'm going to extend the store into an etsy store as well, which will be my next big project. 

*Also, please note this fantastically bizarre picture of a sleeping girl with a third eye! It amuses me, so I'm sharing it. :)

Funky Hand Jewelry

Last night I had a crafting party with some friends where we made jewelry out of miniature plastic babies. It's a little hard to explain. I think I'll post pictures later!

Anyway, I'm definitely inspired to make jewelry with dolls and the like now. I've made barbie doll earrings before out of shoes and arms, but never thought about focusing on hands.

 I found this great etsy seller: Lana Pineapple who made this wonderful necklace out of clay hands. I think it's fimo polymer clay, but seriously - too cool.

Alberta Arts Last Thursday

Once again, I'm slacking on keeping up with this blog. I've been pleasantly busy enjoying summer, so I really have no excuse! Anyway, I won't meander on my blog absence. Mom and I have been working in the studio less than we were a few weeks ago, but the goal of getting back into art shows and working on the website hasn't ended.

Last week we participated in Alberta Arts Last Thursday for the first time in almost a year. I can't believe how much I missed being out there. All of the other artists and musicians together is just a phenomenal atmosphere. As usual, it was a blast! Though, we were a little off in how things ran... We tried a different vending location than we usually do, which was less successful than we would have wanted due to the fact that Last Thursdays officially blocks off the streets to allow people to walk through. Without knowing this, we mistakingly set up our table out of sight. Next month we'll get it right and find a better spot - I enjoyed shopping more than vending anyway! Also, I noticed there was a lot of jewelry vendors, mostly selling feather earrings. As much as I like to say they're getting trendy, I definitely have 3 pairs in counting! It was nice to see that some of our items are one of a kind on Alberta, and there might be a chance to sell some of my 3D Box art or stencil work. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I can't wait to set up this month too!