Friday, February 29, 2008

New Painting: Cherry Blossoms

So I added a new painting to my Jellybeans store today:

"Cherry Blossoms"

Yes, I know it's another Cherry Blossoms painting, but those flowers are just so pretty and I had so many ideas for them, and I'm just a little anxious to start seeing them on my walks to work!

♥ Angie

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Blog Redesign Complete

So this is it! My blog is done being "redesigned" after hours of brainstorming and looking through html tutorials lol. If you have any comments or suggestions, that would be great! :)

Etsy Feature: Soaps of Etsy

I love showers, and I love shower products! Being clean is one of the best feelings in the world, and I love the cleaning products available on Etsy to get there!

First is Soapalooza. My first soap purchase was from this etsy store. I had purchased Strawberry-lime fusion, and loved it! The circular shape of the soap surprisingly makes it easier to hold - it fits into your hand perfectly, and the scent was wonderful with a great lather!

Other great soaps to try out from this shop: Frosted Cupcake Fusion, Raspberry Lemonade Fusion and Fresh Cucumber Soap.


My next feature is GydonyaToo, where I purchased their SweetPea Floap - soap that floats. It was remarkable scented and I loved how colourful it was. Despite the rough texture that you see of the soap, one use smooths that right down! I was also scent a sample, but I forget what it was - it was so long ago; but it was very nice!


Nexy is Lilybaysoap; the product which caught my eye was their Juicy pearn'blackberry soap with shea butter. It just sounds so delicious! This bar is also topped with exfoliating poppy seeds.

Other products to try out from Lilybaysoap's are: Cupcake soap (in the shape of a frosted cupcake!), Milk Honey and Oatmeal Natural Soap, and all natural Lemon Poppyseed soap.


My next shop is Everscents, an Etsy store which just recently opened. I favourited their Pomegrante Green Tea Shaving Slice a while back - doesn't it just sound so good! I really like how artisans are starting to create shaving bars - they definitely beat the cans of shaving cream - and there is significantly less waste!

Other products to give a look at: Oatmeal Milk and Honey soap (filled with exfoliating oatmeal!), Fresh Peach Soap, and Lemongrass Blend Soap.

Now we have MorganStreet, a loved soap seller on Etsy. Her GreenTea soap sounds wonderful, and it's a beautiful green colour (I heart green so much!). This particular bar has double the Shea butter of other recipes - can you imagine how clean and soft you'll be??

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

New Painting: Bear and Balloon


Every child believes that their stuffed friend is alive, and it's true. We just loose the ability to see them this way as we grow up, but I wish we didn't have to.

Etsy Feature: Belleandboo

I don't know how I haven't come across the shop sooner, but Etsy store belleandboo is just too cute to not stop and browse through!
Belleandboo is run by Mary and Kate from London, England.
Their beautiful art glows with love, and the concepts illustrated in their work are beautiful. My favourites would have to b: Freedom White, Lets Hug, and Friendship Green.

Monday, February 25, 2008

New Item: Cherry Blossoms Collage

So, as I promised in my last post - I have more to list today!! :) I have even more yet...but all will be revealed in due time!

Cherry Blossoms is currently residing my in artbyangie Etsy store - I hope it will have a new home soon :). It's a mixed media - collage - painting; so much has gone into this piece! Tissue paper, patterned paper, paint, pastel, and lots of love! It is a perfect piece to announce the coming of spring.



I'm not sure what it is about Cherry Blossoms, but I love them dearly! I think there will be more Cherry Blossom themed paintings in the soon future :)

♥ Angie

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Pounce Feature of the Week: artworkfire

Since Etsy released it's new Pounce feature - I've been in love with it. It's a great way to find sellers who are completely new to Etsy. And so, I thought I'd utilize this tool, and have a "Pounce Feature of the Week" - to help out new sellers even more. I know how hard it is to get out there - It took a while for my Jellybeans store, and I'm still trying to find my zen in my new artbyangie store.


My first store for my series of Pounce features is artworkfire, who very recently joined on February 23rd. This artist sells amazing vibrant paintings. My favourites would have to be her contemporary pieces, especially this piece:


Having only recently opened their store, artworkfire has an already extensive collection of peices available for purchasing.

More New Items!

As you can see - my blog design is slowly changing through the days. I'm almost where I want to be, but not quite yet. Until then, you'll have to bare with me :)

So I listed more items today. Just now, actually. I'm so happy it's reading week, and I have time to get all these ideas out of my system - they've been bottled up for so long!

First off, is a painting in my Jellybeans store - "Sahara". In this piece, I've encompassed the concept of that tree, with the sun rising or setting behind it used to represent the jungle / Sahara's, and by using almost a rainbow of colours - I tried to put the rising and the setting together into one tree - the red the highlight: from the rising sun, the dark navy blue: from the setting of the sun. I know that was just a bunch of jumble - this concept I'm finding hard to explain - but just look at the piece, and maybe you'll see what I'm meaning!


The colours of this picture of my painting are a bit off - I don't have access to my work scanner until Wednesday. So I just took a digital picture, and tried to tweak it a bit - it definitely looks way better in person.

My next two items, I listed in my Artbyangie store. They're two ACEO's where I've used patterned paper for a hill, and painted a cute little house on top of it, red and blue - "Upon the Patterned Hill". This will be a series of ACEO's, and I hope that they will be successful. Once again, the pictures are taken with a digital camera. I'll also have to scan these on Wednesday and relist them - but I was just so excited to get them up there! :)
.
...I think I'm going to have to invest in a scanner soon, as I'll be leaving my job at the end of summer - but we'll get to that when the time comes lol. I have more items that I've made this weekend - but I'm saving those to post on other days - can't have them all up at once now!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

New Items!!!

I just two new items in my artbyangie Etsy shop!

First is a cute ACEO - made from recycled materials - and I even used fused plastic bags for a backing (which I learnt from the lovely Etsy labs!)


And my second item, is this "leaves" linocut printed card. The card has a very neat texture to it too! :)


♥ Angie

Friday, February 22, 2008

Etsy Feature: Seasprayblue

I came across seasprayblue from Etsy, aka Katrin from Germany, a while ago, and feel in love with her "freezing" art print - only she could make the cold seem so lovely, and the day that I stumbled across this print: it really was freezing outside.
Her artwork contains cute little phases, such as "and then he kissed her" and "it's teatime", as well as inspirational phrases like "be different". She combines digital and traditional illustration techniques to create her lovely pieces.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Etsy Feature: Print Artists of Etsy!

So, in my new shop, I've been starting to dabble in linocut printing. I've already made a cardset and a postcard, and I have so many more ideas to carve up (espcially since I'm done midterms for a teeny-tiny while, and reading week is coming up)! There are so many beautiful print artists on Etsy, (and not only lino ones) and I thought that this would make a wonderful feature for today!!


First has to be AzureGrackle, she has been in the favourite sellers list for forever now! She doesn't really work with lino, but with wood-cut-printing instead. She uses transluesent layers of design to build up beautiful pieces of art. She offers a wide variety of items in her shop, making her work available to every person of every budget, and she has done collaborative work with fellow Etsy-artist: Procynidae. She also has great presentation - I her listings, she shows pictures of the actual wood-carved pieces that she used to print. I'm a huge fan of "seeing the process" - it gives tingles! AzureGrackle also has a blog where you can read up on updates.

Next artist is Amantha, who is relatively new to Etsy. A lot of her work is gocco, but I adore her etching peices. Her limited edition "Little Red Riding Hood" piece is beautiful, and little miss riding hood has been handcoloured in red - I think the focal it creates adds a wonderful touch and some brightness to this eery piece. Although it looks like the wolf has little red riding hood, she still brightly and happily stands out amoung him, and skips along her way. Too bad she doesn't know the wolf is going to dress up as her grandmother and try to eat her later... but lets not worry about that slight complication at the moment - we all know she lives happily ever after :) Amantha also has a blog where you can check her out at.

Next is minouette, who's print has unbelievable detail. When I started carving up my little lino blocks, I couldn't imagine doing anything extraordinary, but looking at her work I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time, effort and love she puts into each carving. On top of that, she prints on gorgeous handmade Japanese paper, and on some frabric, creating little stuffed animals. My favourite, "Elephant" is done with lovely black-silver ink - simply gorgeous! And like AzureGrackle, minouette also includes pictures of her carved blocks....mmm, more tingles! She also has a blog.

mLee is another lovely wood-cut print-artist, who also works in mixed media. Like previously mentioned artist, she shows her carved blocks and the process (which I love lol). The piece that really caught my eye was "ooooh Ginkgos", which is done on japanese paper with torn edges. Despite how busy the layers may look, I find the overall appeal of the piece to be very calming and relaxing. mLee was also a featured artist on Etsy - a wonderful privlege - so I'm not the only one whos eye she has caught. She has recently (very recently) opened up a second store, where she is selling prints of some of her pieces, making her artwork more accessible to everyone - I love artists like that! She also has a lovely blog, where you can read into her life and art updates - and she includes lots of pictures of her workspace! :)

I hoped you liked my little print-artist "share"...now I'm off to sketch up some more ideas! I got lino-syndrome!

♥ Angie

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Etsy Feature:blkmtntrading

So I found this sweet night stand from blkmtntrading on Etsy. It's just too cute, and in a great colour! I wish I lived closer so that I could purchase it and and pick it up, because my student-life-budget can't afford the shipping that would be required for Canada. But please, someone please buy it so that I am not longer tempted hee hee.

Monday, February 18, 2008

New Item: Tree Regressions

I just listed this piece in my artbyangie store - still trying to fill it up so that it looks like a "real" online Etsy store hee hee.

The collage, Tree Regressions, is about the natural mathematics of nature - how perfect its perspective can be sometimes.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Etsy Feature: Write it down!

I love journals, and for awhile I owned lots of them. My only problem with journals is: I can't really seem to know what to fill them up with. When I was in my younger, high school years, I loved to write. I thought about being a journalist, and so I wrote for my high school in the local newspaper. Me and my one friend Amanda, Ulixis @ Etsy, would write stories together, taking turns writing a page each. I also kept a very detailed diary filling a couple large notebooks - which I still have - but they're hidden away somewhere. I stopped writing stories in my last year of high school, and I stopped writing in my diary after a few months at University. I even remember the last thing I wrote about - it was one of those silly two-month relationships. I often wonder if I stopped writing just because I was growing up. And yes, I know, that through my blog, I'm partaking in the act of journaling, but it's not the same as putting pen to paper - and most of these posts are about my store or other items.

Anyways, this whole ramble has a point. I have found a number of journals that I simply adore, but I can't bring myself to purchasing them, because I have nothing to put into them - and I already have enough books with only a page or two filled trying to get back to journaling - so I cannot buy another one until I know what to put into it. So until then, I will share my journal love with everyone else - hoping that someone else can give these lovely books a home so that I do not buy them and have them sit around purposeless in a box in a corner in my room somewhere.

Above are SuzyJack's "Burst" notebooks.


Here are some "Purple Magnolia" moleskine notebooks by shoofly.


This is a "Red and Orange Print" journal by Kristincrane.

New Item: Hello. Tree. Postcards

Hello everyone! I'm having a really creative weekend this weekend - I should be studying, and I will after posting this (I just couldn't wait, I was so excited, I love these postcards!), cleaning my room, and showering - and then I'll study!

I've just posted these in my artbyangie Etsy store. These postcards, called, "Hello. Tree." are made from linocuts, and so each one is unique - who doesn't love a special one of a kind piece?!

Friday, February 15, 2008

How to run a successful Etsy shop - By: Greenbean baby

So I found this amazing article through the storque, and I've been meaning to post it for some time now!


Greenbean Baby from Etsy wrote a wonderful tutorial on little things that you can do to help make your Etsy shop a success! They're all simple things, that any one person can do :) I thought I'd post about it here, in case anyone missed it in the storque.

Bestest Boyfriend!


So, instead of the usual flower routine for Valentine's Day, my sweetie got me the movie, Across the Universe! I love that movie!! It made me so happy, and inspired to create and create (between my studying) this weekend. :) I hope to have new items to list this coming week!




...he also made a delicious dinner :) ♥

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone, if you're taken may it be filled with romantic sweet nothings, and if you're single, may it be filled with winks and smiles from others!

Featured here is a vintage Valentine from candyconnection22's shop, where she sells CD's of these images so that you can use them in scrapbooking, sending to others, ect - and you can therefore print as many as you want! Mmmm I heart vintage Valentine's!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

New ACEO and Etsy Video!

So first off, I'm listing a new item in my Jellybeans store today - it's been done for forever, but I just never had the time to bring it in to work and scan it all up!

This ACEO is called, "Sappho's Apple Tree," and it's on signed in titled on the back with pencil.I'm currently taking a course about Greek and Roman Love Poetry, and this fragment of poem in particular stood out for me, and gave me some creative sparks.
105a (L-P)
As the sweet apple reddens on the top-most branch,
the very tip of the top-most, and the apply pickers had forgotten it;
no, not forgotten; they couldn't reach it.

My second "story" of the day, is Etsy's new video on Gocco printing! (I love etsy's video's and they always make me want to learn new things...yes, the urge is addictive and almost overpowering).



Anyways, I was thinking about learning silkscreen a long while back - but this would be an excellent alternative. The only thing stopping me from spontaneously doing this, is the requirement of all the specialized equipment. I'm thinking I'm going to put a little of my Etsy funds away for a couple weeks, and then get the little set up - oh, the ideas! I had better put them all in my sketchbook for later....

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Treasury, love.

Wow, the treasuries on Etsy this past week have been amazing! Here's another front page treasury that caught my eye, by PoppyLarity. The pink and grey are just fantastic and oh-so-romantic!



Featured sellers here (left to right, top to bottom):

Monday, February 11, 2008

Etsy Header! :)

I made it onto the Etsy header!!! :) Since that piece hasn't sold yet, you should be able to keep refreshing your browser window to see it - if you don't believe my picture evidence below hehe...


Also, there's a really pretty treasury on the front page now by fashionknitwear. I just want everything on it!!!!


Fusing plastic bags

So....while I was studying this weekend, I stumbled upon this video in the Storque. And of course, since all material were on hand, I had to give it a shot!


The results at first were bad ... I left the iron on one spot a little too long, and so it was out of proportion, but it happens. I tried again and it went better. I already have ideas for it! Mwah, ha ha.

Yes, I have slight artist-ADD.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Oh, Pickles!

I was featured in the blog, Oh, Pickles! yesterday in a polka dot feature :) Click here for the article!


It's such a lovely blog, featuring many different artists. There's some that I reconize from Etsy since I've been browsing along.

Oh, and the puppy in the above picture, I'm pretty sure that's Pickles :)

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

New Greeting Cards

I just made some super cute greeting cards tonight! I made them as a linoprint from two stamps that I've recently carved out. Since they're not excatly what's in my other store, I'm going to put them into my new store.

They're green print on cream colored paper. The pictures aren't too good right now, but it's night, so I can't get outside to take them, and I was super excited about posting them!

Blog revamp

I definitly go through phases with design, and I easily, and quickly get bored of my designs (not all, but most...espcially when I look at them almost everyday and right them), and after looking at so many blogs, you just get insipired to do something different. SO, I've decided to revamp my blog. I'm nto sure how long it will take for me to come up with some ideas that I like....but it will be revamped!

Suffice to say, I'll still be posting, this is not a shut down :)

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Art project complete! mwah ha ha!

Yes, I know this is my third post today. But, it's my blog - so I'm allowed :) and you're more then welcome to leave comments on alllll three! :)
I finished my art project for my drawing class last night! It was a pretty hard project, I think. We had to copy a work from a previous 'master' - someone old, very very old...like Da Vinci. I copied an unknown artist, who's work was based on Da Vinci's from the 16th century. It's hard, because we're not allowed to input our own creativness into it, and becasue you're working on a completly different medium and scale.

This piece is huge! 22 x 30", conte pencil on paper........so happy it's done...


... a bigger better image - plus details - can be seen on my portfolio website, www.artbyangie.ca

New Store

I've decided to open up a second store, artbyangie on Etsy, for my art work that's not so "jellybean-ish." I didn't want to ruin the look of my Jellybeans store with peices that were non-uniform to it's style; so this little store is for the misfits - for now, until a style develops there as well....




New Stuff!

I have a couple new items in my store this week! First off is my painting, Wishing Tree - which is now available in print form.I've also created a set of Thank You cards from my Cherries print. It's a set of four card, blank inside, and it includes the envelopes :)

Monday, February 4, 2008

Etsy Valentine Features!

♥ Disclaimer:I won't lie, this is a long post - but I promise it's filled with tons of love!

I love Valentine's day! I know it's a "hallmark-holiday", but it doesn't bother me; I just don't do Valentine's in the typical spend-a-fortune hallmark way! I think the best way is handmade, it's from the heart. But if you don't really have the artsy side in you, why not buy handmade? Not only will you be supporting a artist who puts tons of love into their work - you'll also be "spiting" the whole hallmark companies! This was you can enjoy Valentine's, but not nessecarly support the commerical side of it, and at the same time, still give a loved one some goodies!

Psss...if you click on the images, it will bring you to the listing :)

First off is this lovely Sweet Cherry beaded bracelet from Ulixis aka Amanda. I love the quartz that she used and I'm a sucker for opal, and I can only imagine how lovely those beads are in person! She has used a cute little heart clasp as well to finish the piece off! Not only is this lovely jewerly artist from Canada - put she's also my old school friend! We shared a bus seat for 4 years! So definitly check her out! :)


Next up, is a art print Love is everything, by Etsy artist dazeychic, aka Shelli. I love her work, her store is just too cute! I think my next "print" purchase is going to be from her...now I only need to think of a place to put it...hmmm. What I love most about this, is that it's a mixed media painting - mixed media is always so interesting! It's made from ink, pencil, paper - and coffee! (how original!) - and then pulled all together digitally! The text in the pice, all you need is love, reminds me of the move Across the Universe; which I became obsessed with when it came out (downloading all the beatles songs, and memorizing them by heart - even learning how to play some on guitar).


Here we have a Sterling Silver Artisian Handforged Ring by JuliaCatherine at Etsy. Not only is her work beautiful, but she is a very lovely person (I've spent many hours procrastinating in the chat rooms with her...I was procrastinating, she most likely wasn't hee hee). I love this ring due to it's abstract nature - it's so original, and you know that no one else will have the same one - even if you asked her to remake it for whatever reason; there's no way to reproduce it excatly. It's so modern and very chic. I know I'm not one for huge rocks and bumps on my fingers, catching onto everything I come into contact with - the design of this ring is so smooth, and in a good way, minimalistic. JuliaCatherine also ships her pieces is pretty little boxes, wrapped in ribbon - now who wants to recieve a present in the mail!?


Now for the good old fashioned Valentine card - seriously! Earmark, aka Bridgette and Mike, has created a beautiful card, with a nice retro / vintage feel to it, Sassy. I just love the whole feel to this card - it's just so cutesy and old fashioned. Earmark's store has so many great stationary pieces, including (a favourite of mine), their Hoot Journal, which is composed interiorly of 100% recycled papers!


Another cute card, is The parts of my Heart, by armatodesign, aka Amy Barker-Armato. This lovely letterpress card takes the anatomical portions of the heart, and gives them a emotional function. For example, in one artery, desire enters, and another portion longs for you when you're gone. This card is perfect for the science geek, but equally romantic for all the other non-science loves. The fact that this card is letterpress adds so much to it - letterpress artists always produce such pretty pieces...Angie wants to learn letterpress now...



I know a lot of boys and men often resort to "smelly" stuff as gifts - since honestly, you can't go wrong! Here I have Pomegrante Shea Butter Soap by BL Soaps. It's such a lovely, red-burgandy color! Now, I love pomegranates, so that's why I decided tho feature this soap in particular, it just sounds like it would smell so delicious and fresh! But if pomegrants aren't your thing, BL Soaps carries another soap, Vixen Shea Butter Soap, which is more pink-ish (if you're looking for a more traditional Valentine colour), and is scented to sweet peas, with violets and raspberries!



I'm a huge fan of Charliemotel, aka Megan Tucker. She has so many cutesy pieces, that it's hard to just show one, but I will definitly mention other favourites! (I actually have magnets done by her in the mail on their way to me!!). I will be featuring her Somebody Love you valentines day card, which has a little rabbit and bird. I also really like her I like you. Valentine's print, and her Tea makes everything Better Stationary set! Megan draws her images, and them brings them into a digital program to colour them - her result: simply cute!



I found a new lovely wooden sculpture, Blue lovebirds tree, by gypsyandtwink. They were featured on Etsy's homepage (Still are as of this moment, in a lovely treasury, but it will probably be gone by the time you read this). I think it's a perfect gift for either a friend or a loved one. The patterned paper used is gorgous, and I love the blue / red combination. I really love her turquoise elephant with bird as well...I see an Etsy feature coming on!