World Market.

For those of you who love imported goods, or are looking for some, try to locate a World Market nearest you. They have such wonderful things from accessories, furniture, housewares, and most importantly FOOD. My mother, being a British person, loves this place for its imported British goods. In the past she had to order overseas and paid a lot just for shipping, but World Market saves all that time and money. A great deal, especially their chocolates. Oh boy...

If you're American and have never tried British chocolate, I highly suggest you do. If you've had Cadbury or Milka, it's close to that. But a little more delicious. I'm not a huge fan of Whoppers here in America, and that's mostly due to my love of Maltesers. These yummy choco-pops are balls of honeycomb wrapped in creamy milk chocolate. One of my favorites ever. And they usually have sales, where a bar of Aero chocolate is only $0.75, and a big box of holiday Maltesers got marked down a whopping 90%!

Another thing I love is their accessories. After-holiday sales really end up being the best part of this store. The earrings online are pretty pricey, but in store they're relatively inexpensive and almost borderline exotic. Here is a pair of lovely earrings, a vibrant purple "dreamcatcher" design encased by metal spirals, and guess how much I paid for them? $2.99!! Incredible, huh? Even the original price of $5.99 is a great deal for pretty jewelry like this. Someone in my art class asked about them, and a friend of mine asked if they were from Etsy, haha!

So if you have a store near you, or can handle/really love online shopping, then check out World Market. Really. Right now. :)

Please forgive my slow posting. Now that school is back on track, it'll be hard to keep it daily or every other day, but I shall do my best!

Friday Featurette.

Today's goes to Kneehighsnpigtails, a lovely little jewelry shop I've recently come across. I love their antique style, and the items are reasonably priced. Even the banner is really attractive! :)



They even have a section called "Over the top earrings," which they can be but I still love the look. Not sure about wearing some of these items on casual Fridays, but they're gorgeous any way you look at it.

Friday Featurette and Update.

My quick featurette goes to Flock Together Jewelry.

Tail Feather Earrings, $10

Her shop contains beautiful earrings, necklaces, and headbands. The arrangement and detail are so spectacular, yet all lightweight, and considering the material the items are not too expensive. My friend has a pair of feather earrings that she wears a lot, and I can understand why. I hope to own a pair soon! You can visit her blog here.

In other news, I'm doing pretty well in my classes. Printmaking is now coming to printing "editions," or copies of an artist's proof that is the best print of a design. Matting will not be fun, but it must be done. In Photography... man, I love that class. My paintbrush picture (will post soon) was considered "best photo of the day" hehe. ^_^;

Fall Break is coming, but I figure I'll be busy during that time so this weekend will be my break. Going home, hopefully to shoot good documentary photos for class, work on my sketchbook (Drawing II, not the project), and relax! Sometimes taking a break is the best, most logical thing to do.

But lots of good things have been happening, and I hope it doesn't stop. My first sale was the Color Grid painting, and Tyler posted a lovely blog about receiving it. It was so surreal, seeing that there when only days ago it was in my art room. Can't wait to sell more! I've also been getting luckier with giveaways, and a lot of progress is being made. At some point I will do a giveaway, probably this weekend. I REALLY want to give back to you guys (though you seem to be disappearing on me a little)! ;)

Let me know the good things going on in your life, art or otherwise.

Thank the Stars for Etsy!!

I'm so grateful for it. I've recently made my FIRST SALE to a wonderful person named Tyler; we're past associates on eduFire. Annnnd today I received the earrings I purchased from BelladonnaBeads. Not only did I get an amazing deal on them, but Shelley, the owner, was so kind enough to also send along a free gift of the rainbow candy earrings I'd been interested in prior to the sale. (A lot of links in this post, I know, lol.)

Absolutely gorgeous, the both of them! They'll look great in my ears when I can put them in. I recommend her to any jewelry fan ten times over, and I'll be back there again around the holidays for sure.

I'm still not sure what to do. So much great stuff is going on, I feel like I should give back, but I honestly can't find anything decent. Custom art isn't as popular as accessories and whatnot. Hm.. I'll figure it out soon, you guys, I promise.

Elephants in the Room.

So, I haven't had a lot of time to spend on my sketchbook. It's not a theme to be taken lightly. However, I am determined to see its finish before the deadline approaches, despite the work school is also weighing upon me. Fall break will definitely be a good time to fill up those pages with meaningful art.

Which brings me to an important question, for you, and for me: what do you think is the biggest elephant in the room, in our society today? This is coming from my American perspective, but it can include all countries, and all cultures. What problems today are so obviously in front of us that we can reach out and literally feel the tusks?

It is important for my sketchbook to not just get my viewpoint. I don't want it to be all about me. I'm not necessarily a political person myself. But this isn't just about politics.

I want to take in your answers and do research, then translate it through artistic means. This will really help me out, and ultimately your idea will be included in this sketchbook for thousands to see at the exhibits held by The Art House Co-op.

I thank anyone for their input. Opinions, websites, etc. etc. would be appreciated.

P.S. Got my ears pierced, yay! Do I really have to wait 6 months for dangling earrings, though?? Did you guys do anything early?

Friday Featurette!

So this week's featurette is for ljlh*designs at Etsy. Some of you may think I'm a little biased because I recently won earrings from her, but honestly, this jewelry is hard to pass up anyway. If I hadn't won, I still would've given her a quick spotlight because this girl's shop is beautiful and affordable.

Dark Rainbow Bracelet/Necklace, $21

The main thing, though, is that she has very little sales in her store. She has her own website, which includes the wide variety of items she sells, a link to her blog, and even a resume. Yup, a resume. So, I was surprised to see little sales.

She makes great items, simply put! Each piece is so colorful, or so stylish, or all of the above! Not to mention, they're all not that expensive considering what they are! Most jewelry at this level would cost more than $20.

Green Leaf Earrings, $6

She also has another Etsy store, dealing with handmade items from paper: ljlhpaper.etsy.com I advise you to give that a peek, too, although it is somewhat new.

I'm very thankful for the earrings I won, for they have given me a taste of ljlh*designs, and I'll definitely be making some purchases around the holidays from this shop. Take a look for yourself, there's bound to be a good Christmas gift in there somewhere! Happy shopping!

Happy Ending to Week 3.

That's right, the week is done! As an art major, for the past three semesters I've had Fridays off, a very handy thing indeed. Today went by pretty smoothly, and had some joys in it.

Photography class was great! There were no problems getting the film into the spool and processing it. I managed to make three prints today, though I'll present only two because the third was attacked by a black fuzzy thing on the print's edge.



Printmaking wasn't too bad, just trying to figure out my still life. Need to work on that this weekend, along with a drawing on atmospheric perspective, Art Ed. writing sheets and a collage, as well as Ed. Psych. homework. Phew!

But fear not: the icing on the cake today was that I received the earrings I won from ljlh*designs!!


Hooray! I was so excited to see the little box. Everything is beautiful: the box, the cards (I like 'em!), and of course, the jewelry. It's perfect, too, because the blue crystals almost match the blue gem in my engagement ring. I can't wait to be able to wear them! Thanks so much, Libby. :)

I hope your week has been as successful and productive as mine. The only way it could get better is if I made a sale, haha!