Friday's Featured Artist - Meri GreenLeaf!

One of my favorite parts about being an on-line seller is that I make all sorts of wonderful friends! Susan (who goes by Meri on-line for the most part) has fast become one of those friends. We have many of the same interests and spend a lot of time talking on plurk! So it is my great pleasure to introduce her to you as this week's featured artist :) Click on any of the pictures you see below to be taken to the listing.

1.What type of art work do you do?

Name it, I probably do it. ;) I crochet, make jewelry and chainmaille, sculpt, paint (usually on fabric) and draw, make dreamcatchers, spin (and sometimes dye) yarn, and sew (handsew- I don't know how to use a sewing machine). My main one is the crochet, though; even a lot of my jewelry is crocheted. Most of what I make is fantasy-

related, but I also make things inspired by nature.

2.How did you get started doing art work?

I've always been into art; in elementary school I'd stay in at lunchtime to help in the art room, and in high school I stayed after school almost every day to work in the pottery classroom (pottery was my obsession back then, but I haven't had a chance to work in it since). I also used to make a lot of plastic jewelry when I was a kid. For the things I do now, I started crocheting about four years ago all because I wanted a Hufflepuff scarf from Harry Potter, and I haven't put down my hooks since. The rest of the art I do I've picked up in the few years since, mostly teaching myself

and winging it as I go along.

3.Do you do any other crafts?

I think I already answered this- yes, I do a lot of them. :)

4.Is there a story behind your shop name?

Both “Elfling Creations” and my Etsy shop “Elbit Enterprises” (although I may be changing that one to match at some point- I just haven't done that yet) come from the race of my alias/persona (and old roleplay character) who is a half elf/half halfling (or hobbit); I combined those races and got “Elbit” originally, but lately have switched over to using the combined “Elfling” instead. I go by “Meri Greenleaf” online (and sometimes in real life, as well); that was the name of my old roleplay character that has become my alter-ego (nope, I'm not a Legolas fangirl, just a huge fan of Mirkwood; “Thranduiliell” [the original second part of the name] would have been too hard for people to find me with. Besides, “Greenleaf” fits me well because I'm obsessed with the color green and forests).

5.What's your favorite piece in your shop right now?

Oh geez, that's a hard one! I love making everything I do! I think it may be Wynmaeg, my crocheted renaissance wench plushie.

(featured at the top of the post)

She's one of my older plushies, but I had so much fun making her and coming up with all the accessories for her outfit- and I love dressing up for the Renfaire, so it was fun getting to make a costumed doll.

But then again, my favorite could be this faerie cat, named after my own black kitty Clarabell. (featured to the right)

That doll isn't perfect (it was my first attempt at making an animal pattern), but I think it's adorable. Then again, I may be biased because it's based off my fur-baby. ;)

6.Where do you sell your work?

I'm on a few random online craft selling sites, but my two main ones are Artfire and Etsy:

http://merigreenleaf.artfire.com

http://merigreenleaf.etsy.com

My website is http://elflingcreations.com but I don't actually sell on that site; I use it to link to my other shops.

7.Do you blog?

Yup- I love blogging! My art blog is in two places- the main one is on blogger (http://merigreenleaf.blogspot.com) but I also crosspost most of the entries to my art livejournal (http://elbit-blog.livejournal.com).

8.Are you on any social networks you'd like to share?

I'm on a whole bunch, but Plurk is my favorite. :) These are the ones I use most:

http://twitter.com/MeriGreenleaf

http://www.plurk.com/MeriGreenleaf

http://www.ravelry.com/people/merigreenleaf

http://www.myspace.com/merigreenleaf

http://www.facebook.com/MeriGreenleaf

http://www.flickr.com/photos/merigreenleaf

http://merigreenleaf.deviantart.com

9.Do you watch or listen to anything while you work? If so, what?

A lot of the time when I'm working I'll listen to audiobooks (literature, mostly- I love http://librivox.org because that site has free audiobooks that are in the public domain) or comedy (usually Eddie Izzard- I love him!) on my iPod, but sometimes I'll also try to read at the same time (that one's a bit hard to do, lol) or watch tv (also distracting). When I'm listing and editing photos I'll often listen to music- usually Blackthorn, Enter the Haggis, Hanson, Spin Doctors, Jimmy Eat World, Goo Goo Dolls, and Tonic, as well as the occasional filk or video game song (yeah, my playlist is pretty eclectic). I've recently started streaming Pandora Radio, too, so I get to listen to all sorts of fun Celtic and Celtic rock bands that I hadn't heard of before. :)

10.Tell us one random fact about your self *wink*

Just one? Hmm... well, besides being an artist, my main goal in life is to become a professor of British Literature, hopefully being able to focus on the Renaissance- I have a thing for Renaissance plays. Besides art, books are my obsession.

I recently won a cartilage chain earring like the one you see above from Meri in a blog contest! Pictures will be coming soon :)

Good Morning World!

So all my dear creative friends - what are your plans for today? I am going to be in a crafty frenzy to finish my bead embroidery project. It's SO CLOSE but I have to finish it TODAY. After it's done there will be pictures and an explanation - don't worry! I've had a lot of fun working on this project. It's my first ever in bead embroidery and I have many more already crowding around in my head!

Other than that - I have to run some errands today. It's time for me and the hubby to get updated drivers licenses (now that we've moved) and I need to go to the craft store. Not that I object to needing to go to the craft store! As I'm sure you can guess, it's one of my favorite places to be! I need to pick up something to back my bead embroidery project with. And a few more supplies while we're at it. Actually...I think I'm going to drag my poor hubby both to the craft store AND the bead store! *wicked grin*

All in all - it's a busy day ahead of me!

Tuesday's Tips #11 (on Wednesday!)

Move in Grace

I know, I know, it's Wednesday, but this week's Tuesday's Tips was too good for me to miss just because I was too sick to post it yesterday! I'm operating off the theory that you'll all forgive me.

Continuing in the topic of inspiration I wanted to talk a little bit about how participating in challenges can be inspiring. I have more I want to say on the topic, but to start us off I've interviewed a friend of mine who's participating in challenge that I really admire! So come meet artist Arlene of Spirit Essence Art :)

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the 100 in 100 challenge you've been doing?

Sure, be glad to! It all started by my needing some extra incentive and inspiration to start creating more, especially after I lost my job and was home with time to create. I happened upon a site called www.CreativeEveryDay.com and loved the idea behind it, which was a challenge to do something creative every day. The site owner, Leah, provided a place for all participants to “check in” on a weekly basis and post about what we have done for the week, and to read other artists’ comments and look at their blog posts.

This is how I found the 100 in 100 Challenge because Rowena of www.warriorgirl.blogspot.com is one of the Creative Every Day participants. I saw that she was just starting her own challenge to provide herself extra incentive to continue to create.

The idea is to create 100 paintings, drawings, art journal entries, or whatever creative activity you want to do more of – in 100 days! Part of me didn’t want to commit to yet another activity, and I almost dismissed it. However, I think deep down inside of myself, that “higher” part of me kept pushing me to join in. It was almost an involuntary act, putting my name and blog address down! I laugh now to think of it! I am so glad I did, though, and that I have blogged about it and announced it so that it will be so uncomfortable NOT to complete that it pushes me to keep up with it.

2. What's been the hardest part?

For me, the hardest part has been (and still is sometimes), sitting down to do a painting every day even if I really don’t feel like doing it. Even more than that, deciding WHAT to paint every day! This has always been my challenge. Even when I have lots of ideas, trying to decide where to start is difficult for me. Either there are too many choices, or my mind goes blank and I simply do not come up with a single idea that turns me on at that moment. Keeping it interesting and varied has to be the key for me, so that I don’t get bored, which I can experience fairly easily if I find myself doing the same things over and over.

3. How have you seen yourself grow as an artist through doing this?

It’s been kind of amazing, actually. I have done things I would have never thought possible: paint portraits (including self portraits!), draw figures, create miniature paintings (ACEO’s), paint animals, paint spontaneously and abstractly, having no idea of what I would end up with when I first put paintbrush to paper.

I have also seen a growing ability to push through blocks much more readily, and to actually dare to paint more without fear of creating something really ugly or not “good enough”. I know that sounds funny, but that has stopped me on more than one occasion from continuing on a painting that halfway through looks really awful to me, and giving myself permission to finish it anyway.

The fact that I have committed to creating a painting every day, pushes me to do SOMETHING. I realize that I don’t have to show anyone what I have done, if I choose not to. Just the act of painting so frequently has helped me expand my skills and self confidence in what I am able to do. Practice truly makes “perfect”, or certainly BETTER.

4. What do you do on the days where you have NO IDEA what to do?

Often what works for me is to do a technique where I just start on a page with a scribble in pencil or permanent ink pen, and then fill in shapes with color, looking to see what emerges. Most of the time this works well and I like the results a lot, though sometimes the product is not so much a “piece of art” but a freeing of my stuck energy, which then leads to being able to create something that flows better.

Other times I have done a project that uses different media, like pen and ink or collage or some mixed media art journal pages. One of my favorite paintings so far started out with a thick coating of gesso which was then “smooshed” around with a piece of plastic wrap to create some interesting shapes and textures. Once dry, the texture that appeared suggested some interesting fantasy shapes and “creatures”.

I have also learned that occasionally I need to just take a break and give myself some leeway. Making a conscious choice to take a day off can be the best, most refreshing thing I can do for myself. Though my “work” is a labor of love, everyone needs some time off to do something for themselves on a regular basis. Usually I have found that whenever I have done this, I am excited to get back to my studio to create some more, and have lots and lots of ideas.

5. Anything else you want to share?

By doing some of these techniques to unblock myself, I have more and more given myself permission to just play in the studio rather than feeling like I have to PRODUCE something that will be a great work of art or that is worth something in a marketing sense. Being able to create just for the sheer joy of creating and expressing myself, frees me tremendously.

One other thing I have noticed very often is that when I get part of the way into a painting or project, I often think it is just awful and that it’s just not “working.” When this happens I find that if I persist, or walk away from it for a while and return to complete it later on, I am very often thrilled with the result. Additionally, I usually find that when I put a completed painting away for 24 hours or more, and revisit it, I have a totally different perspective on it. In fact it often looks better than I remembered it! My take on this is that sometimes we, as artists, can get too close to our projects while they are in progress. A little distance and perspective on it can make a world of difference.

Thank you Arlene for sharing with us about your creative journey through this challenge!

To all my readers - Think 100 in 100 is too big of a challenge right now? That's ok! I'll be talking about some other ideas and opportunities for challenges in next weeks post :)

Etsy Bloggers Blog Carnival - August 3rd Edition

This is my first time hosting the teams blog carnival - and I'm so excited! Have fun reading :)

Welcome to the August 3, 2009 edition of etsybloggers.

Quirky presents How to Beat the Heat posted at Sew Simply Handmade

agoodwitchtoo presents Summer and Sun posted at The Copper Cauldron.

dizzydragonflies presents Somewhere in a cabin in the woods, a knitter knits posted at dizzydragonflies.

Vanessa presents Summer Lovin' posted at Designs by Vanessa.

Kathy and Carrie presents EtsyBlogger's Blog Carnival - July posted at CalKat The Jewelry Junkie.

Jessica presents Hot Fun In The Summer posted at Cut Your Heart Out.

Amy presents Blog Carnival posted at Motley Boutique - a handmade mixture.

Sykin presents hopespantry.etsy.com - etsybloggers.com Carnival Post posted at Sykin's One Stop Etsy Shopping Guide.

MagdaleneJewels presents Carnival: Hot Summer Shops posted at MagdaleneJewels's Blogs.

Margaret Freije presents hot fun in the summertime! posted at Splendid Little Stars

Mary Ann presents Great Summer shop posted at Morning Sky Jewelry and Creations.

Linda Turner presents How to Beat the North Georgia Heat..Go Further North posted at HeadTurner Jewelry by Linda Turner.

Sandi Myers presents Beat the heat? Remember the old days… posted at The T-Shirt Lady

Erika presents It's a Hot Summer posted at NICO* Designs.

miesmama presents a shop for summer - posted at miesmama.

PurrPrints presents Fun-find Friday: Beat the heat with batik posted at PurrPrints: Art, Cats, and Randomness

Rose Works Jewelry presents Rose Works Jewelry: EtsyBloggers Are HOT posted at Rose Works Jewelry.

Jamie presents Fresh Peaches & Frozen Concoctions posted at A Forest Frolic.

Now let's go visit our teammates blogs and read this edition of the EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival!

Technorati tags: etsybloggers, blog carnival.

Crafty ADD Update #2

I know, I was PLANNING on posting this last night, but I was just to lethargic and blah to do it. So I'm doing it this morning instead :)

KNITTING

Ok, so I didn't actually do any knitting this week, but I made a purchase! I'm getting close to the point where I'm going to need Mom's help on my crochet project, and I wanted to make sure I have something to work on if it takes us awhile to get together. So I went out and bought the yarn for my next scarf! I know, black can be boring, but it's a guy's Christmas present, and he looks good in black :) I also bought my very own knitting needles so I can give Mom her's back - and they are purple!

CROCHET

Like I said - I'm getting pretty far on my baby blanket! I'm now onto the third color in the blanket, and when this one is done, I'll be laying it all out and learning how to put the pieces together! I'm excited! If I keep up the pace I've been going I'll have the third color finished this week. Not sure that will happen at the moment though (explain later).

CROSS-STITCH

I'm so close! You can't really tell from this picture, but the tummies on the penguins are filled in with white thread...and I need to finish the tummy on the third penguin still. I also need to add a border... not sure I'll be working on this project much this week though.

JEWELRY

I'm doing something new! It's called bead embroidery - and I'm having fun! This is the main reason I'm not sure how far I'll get on my other projects this week. I'm making this for something in particular and so I'm on a dead-line. So everything else comes second! I'll be blogging more about this piece when it's done. I also have a custom order to do and I need to make some more bracelets to go into my consignment shop...

And I need to finish unpacking :P

July's Contest Winners!

It's that time again! Another month has come and gone (what happened to it???) and it's time for me to announce my contest winners again! I'm very excited to announce these 3 lovely ladies :) Remember how you can earn extra entries when you comment on my posts that show new items and tell me your favorites? The numbers in paranthesis show their total entries after those are added in :)

1. Splendid Little Stars: 27 (30)

2. The Eclectic Element: 19 (21)

3. Meri Green Leaf: 14 (17)

Congratulations ladies! Here's some items from their lovely shops :)

www.splendidlittlestars.etsy.com

www.theeclecticelement.etsy.com

www.merigreenleaf.artfire.com

Now here's the fun figures :)

Remember last month? Well I had forgotten to track the "extra" comment entries seperately.

So those numbers are inflated...

Top Commentator: This Month - 27. Last Month - 39

Total Commentators: This Month - 59. Last Month - 68

Total Comments: This Month - 249. Last Month - 374

Just a reminder - this is what our winners won - and what you could win next month!

Top 3 Commentators - Write up on this blog :)

1st Place - $20 Gift Certificate to my Shops

2nd Place - $10 Gift Certificate to my Shops

3rd Place - $5 Gift Certificate to my Shops

Also, don't forget, this month's winners can't win next month - so here's your chance!

Have You Seen These?

Despite moving - I somehow got some new items listed and other renewed this last week! Here's 9 of them :) Which is YOUR favorite?