Cover Art

A pair of my earrings can be found in Step By Step Wire Jewelry Magazine, Winter 2008 issue. In fact, my Spaqua Cluster Earrings are on the cover! Inside, I demonstrate how I make them. If you're not inclined to make them yourself (I hope you're not), then you can buy these earrings, or something similar from my online shop at www.ergodesign.etsy.com.

Texas Tapestry

A few fabulous things on Etsy.

B R A C E L E T S

Amazon Agate Bracelet
Crazy about COPPER Bracelet

I've gone a little bracelet crazy. That's my favorite jewelry item to make at the moment. Above are some of my new ones. I also have a rockin' green and copper bracelet that refuses to take a good photo. The bracelet above uses a bead wrap technique to link each bead together. The second bracelet uses wire links -some links hold beads, some are just coiled with wire. I find both of these styles are more adjustable than bracelets that are strung on wire. And adjustability is important with bracelets since wrist sizes vary from person to person. I tend to make bracelets on the large side so they can be sized down. Really, I make them to fit me so I can wear them around the house until the next creation steals my fancy!

Poster Contest Winner in the house!

So, there was a contest on Etsy... The contest involved designing posters of products available for purchase on Etsy. The posters (a total of 60) will be printed as marketing material for the website. And lucky me, my poster is one of the winners!

I really enjoy graphic work. In design school I got to create logos for my interiors projects. And my presentation boards (being nearly 2-d) needed to have a clean and "readable" quality. In this poster I tried to create movement and balance within my strict color selection. It took awhile to find things that were photographed in just blue and white. And the right blue!

TAGS!

I've started making collage gift tags to sell in my Etsy shop. The first set sold in 2 days, an auspicious beginning! I'm using cardstock, decorative paper, stickers (sometimes), and stamped lettering. So far I'm making 3" x 3" tags in sets of three. More to come!

Birdies

Birds are so in right now. Who knew? I've got a few bird related collages on Etsy at the moment. Here is my latest picture frame. Here I've used a light blue background and accents of orange. I used some letter stamps to add the word "Sweet" above the area for the picture. The exclamation point stamp helped form the "paths" for the butterflies. There are some French ephemera stickers, too. I like French, I studied it in high school, so it's my go-to foreign language. Although I don't remember a lot of the language now. C'est la vie.

New Collage

I made this collage last night. Usually I make collage boxes, while this is more like a card with stuff on it. Uh, so I guess it's like regular art. (?) Anyway, it's a 4" x 6" piece of mat board covered with brown paper. The collage is made of various stickers and cut out butterflies. The little scene is from a book of geisha/japanese themed stickers. The Netherlands stamp is real. On the lower portion ther are five silk-covered buttons which I sniped off a throw blanket my friend Kasha made for me. Actually I snipped off all the buttons...not just the five. Er, back to topic. I really like this new collage! I think I will make more. I haven't listed this on Etsy, but it's on Lov.li right now. Click the Lov.li badge on the left if you're interested.

Featured Artist -Sue Lee

Sue is my crafting buddy. We shared a table at a craft show last year, and we will again in June. (very excited). Sue's specialities are mosaics and stained glass. This stained glass panel is one of my new favorites. I like the way the circles and swirls play off of the linear elements. And the colors are lovely. Sue does not have an Etsy shop (yet -resistance is futile). But her work can be found here: http://sue.smugmug.com/

Cool things on Etsy -Part 1

I just think this is so cool. This motorcycle sculpture is made out of cutlery by papafork. The pizza cutter wheels are my favorite part. Here's the link to papafork's shop on Etsy: http://papafork.etsy.com.

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Obsoleteworld calls this painting "Nothing to Offer". She sells prints in her Etsy shop at http://obsoleteworld.etsy.com. She brings you into another world with each of her paintings. Something a little dark, strange, and sometimes hopeful.

Springtime

Springtime! Not only is the weather improving, there's inspiration for starting projects that are colorful and cheerful! On Etsy I recently posted a Spring themed picture frame. I decorated a similar frame for my friends after there son was born last fall. I love the partial over-sized flower on the bottom of the frame. I also like the strip of paper with Chinese, Japanese and/or who-knows-what other languages. And who doesn't like butterflies?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5641956

Somewhere to begin

This is typical of me....starting a new project at 11 pm when I should be putting away my beads and paper and going to bed. I'm going to try this blogging thing, although I'm not one for keeping a journal or diary. Short attention span.

In my posts I intend to focus on my craft work and maybe my day job a little. We'll see how it goes. I guess I start with a short introduction. My name is Erin. I grew up in Upstate New York, and now live in Richmond, Virginia. I have degrees in psychology and interior design. Currently, I make my career out of the latter. Before returning to school, I worked in theatre and opera; making, moving, fixing, buying, painting, and/or building props. These days I work at a very small firm where I design bank and office interiors. I really like it. And if that's not enough of a creative release, I am trying to make my crafting hobbies into more of a business. I have a shop on Etsy at ergodesign.etsy.com. I'm selling bead and wire jewelry and decoupage/collage boxes. I wish I were selling more, so hopefully talking about it publicly will help! I'm also very interested in learning more about materials and techniques, so I'll be searching other blogs for insight.

But now to bed.

erin