My Weekly Etsy Picks - Week of Feb. 14th

Spring, Spring... oh how I long for you to arrive soon! In Georgia this week, we have gone from 4 inches of snow to 60 degree days. What a swing! Hopefully this weekend was Mother Nature's last Winter blast and we are bound for more days like today!

This week, I am featuring Dreams of Spring

Fuzzy yellow chicks are certainly a sign that warmer days have arrived. Check out this sweet little guy created by seller birder1:


Mmm... green, cool grass. What a wonderful and unique lamp shade by tansyandco!



Seems seller jefffetty's philosophy is to go big, or go home. Look at these amazing sculptural Daffodils:

New Feature

I am officially an Etsy addict! I love seeing all of the beautiful and creative items people have in their stores.

Each week I plan to feature three items in three artist's shops that catch my eye.


The first week, there is a somewhat predictable theme: LOVE. It is the week of Valentine's Day afterall.


This is a lovely puzzle by seller Jenlo262 made from a print of her original painting
See it here
What is more romantic for an evening out than a beautiful, feminine, frilly dress? This was created by another Georgian artist audreyandgrace
See it here
I love ceramics and one day I wish to have a kiln (or access to one). In the mean time, I will admire sweet creations like this one by kensgardenpottery.

Happy New Year 2010!

It has been a long and challenging year. I knew creating something each day of the year would be difficult. I was able to post through two trips to Boston and one to New York with success if not a little frustration to my travel mates. I was a little fanatic in the first few months!

Over the year, I had some significant life changes and the blog became routine. Though I stuck to making something for each day, posting was the difficulty. Each posting requires a scan or photo which must then be edited or at least resized. Then I must transfer the file to a computer. That seems easy enough until your computer goes on the fritz!

I started posting my pictures in batches so that the lengthy process was limited to a few nights a week and life could be lived. I felt bad about this at first, but I also realized my readership was not close to what I had hoped for. The lack of objections made it much easier to post when time allowed.

In the end, I have gained practice and experience in crafts of many types this year including polymer clay, resin casting, painting and jewelry design and creation. However, I feel the daily constraint limited the amount of detail and attention I could give to each item I made. I was prolific, but not particularly proud of my results. I have had so many ideas and concepts I dreamed up, but in the end I would have to go towards simplicity in most cases.

I started the year with a retail web site and an Etsy site. I also had a very busy (regular) work year which along with focusing on the blog left my free time limited. So I let both go to the way side and focused on my (regular) career instead. Of course, I can do both. I have done both and I WILL do both going forward. I took my original web site down, but I still own the http://www.amethyst-art.com/ domain. A talented friend is helping me get that restored, but in the mean-time, I have begun using the Etsy shop again which is located here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmethystArt

I will continue to post creations on the blog and eventually I will integrate it into the web site. Until then, keep visiting to see the the latest creation (though not daily).

As always, please contact me with any requests or questions. Often the greatest inspiration comes from the ideas of others and their excitement.

Thank you to those that did visit and support this project and an advance thank you to my new friends that might stop by.

Until next post, please enjoy something else that came to me this year- a fantastic new logo from the mind and artistic hand of Kevin Whelan
Have a happy New Year everyone. I hope 2010 brings only good and beautiful things!

~Shylee