Member Interview

Who are you? Betty of Art by Betty Refour.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I am an artist that uses art to advocate for causes that are important to me. I am also the caregiver for my sister Rose who has autism and we live in Oklahoma City. I have terrible allergies and have never been married so there are no pets, children or husbands - just us two. I have two shops on Etsy - Art by Betty Refour that carries art, and awareness cards for autism, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and myeloma and Noteworthy Crafts that carries fine art note cards and jewelry.

How did you learn about Etsy Project Embrace?

I think someone brought it to my attention on twitter if I'm not mistaken. I didn't actually join until recently when my sister became ill and the doctor told us that she could have cancer. I felt I needed to be a part of a group whose focus was on supporting those who have been affected by cancer. We lost our mother, maternal grandmother, a great aunt, an uncle and countless friends to cancer so I felt that if I was going to have to fight with cancer again I wanted to do it with a group like Etsy Project Embrace. Luckily she does not have cancer but I am honored to be a part of a group like Etsy Project Embrace.

What is your favorite item in your shop at the moment?

The Blue Pitcher

This is a pastel drawing that I did. I grew up drawing geometric shapes on note book paper so I am most comfortable rendering geometric shapes. Whenever I push myself out of my comfort zone I am happy.

What favorite vintage or antique item do you own, and why do you cherish it?

I have a chair and foot stool that had been discarded that I took and painted and reupholstered. I think it's my favorite because it has my stamp on it so to speak. Take A Load Off is actually a drawing of that chair and foot stool.

What is your favorite handmade possession?

I have a quilt or I should say I had a quilt that my grandmother made for me. I always kept it on my bed but Rose has taken it and it is now on her bed.

What do you collect?

I used to collect matches but I rarely see matches anymore. I am a former flight attendant and worked in marketing and public relations before that so I would collect matches from the places I went.

Where would you like to be and what do you hope to be doing ten years from now?

Ten years from now I hope to be alive and creating in a world that is a better place. Over the years I have donated art and crafts to such causes as art in schools, animal cruelty, cancer, autism, battered women, abducted children, homeless shelters, rape crisis centers, poverty and people affected by war.

I hope that in ten years we have learned to get along, that there are no victims of any kind, that we can sleep with our doors unlocked if we want to, that there's a cure for cancer.... I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. If there's no improvement I hope to still be able to use my gift to help us get there.

Finds 'n' Fancies

A peek at my Poster Sketch:

Small Change Purse by peppermintdesigns, Olga Flower Garland by emmalamb
Penny Lane House Charms by hodgepodgearts, Little Ones by jenniferdavis
Untitled by SimonFilip, Metal & Glass Glasses by spacejam
Renaissance Vine Crown by whichgoose, Vintage Velvet Pincushion by bellalulu

Surely, y'all can understand how it feels to begin putting together a group of items for a Treasury only to find you've hit a wall mid-way through. This happens to me quite a lot, actually. Sometimes, it's because I'm merely using the Poster Sketch tool as a means of relaxation and, therefore, have no real aim to begin with. The other night, I began with a painting by Jennifer Davis and just kept going until I'd lost steam. Clearly, I couldn't manage to fill a dozen squares, let alone sixteen; yet, the thought of clearing it made me feel sad, so I figured I'd share these eight squares with all of you, knowing you could appreciate the failed attempt and possibly even commiserate.

Enjoy this Thursday, everyone! And may all your Poster Sketches have happy endings. --Katie :D

Weekly Challenge

Last week's theme was 'Rebirth and Renewal'. Congratulations to Kristin of loveartworks who won with her fabulous SUDDENLY SPRING - Glorious Large footed Serving Bowl.

Congratulations Kristin!

Thank you to everyone who participated last week.

All entries can be found on our Weekly Challenge page.

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Kristin's choice for this week's theme ...

{{{SEQUENTIAL}}}

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If you would like to participate, then this is how it works:

1. Get busy creating.

2. List your item in your Etsy shop.

3. Contact me with your entries by next Monday (12th April) 12 midnight EST with a link to your listing.

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I'll post all the entries as they come in on our Weekly Challenge page. Next Wednesday I will post the winner here on the team blog. The winner then gets to choose the following week's theme, and of course, it's winner!

Have fun ...

Thank you my lovelies!

Kim x

slinkymalinkicat

Favourite Things

Happy Tuesday, everyone! For today's feature, I managed to corner Kendra of GreenPost and got her to share with us the sweet story behind a collection of her most favorite things...

My favorite thing is my collection of Venetian-style, hand-blown glass art made by my husband, Christian Zvonik. It is extremely difficult to get more specific as I have bonded with each piece individually. I now recognize each piece as an important part of the whole body of work and love them equally. They express the many aspects of my beloved and I can't look at his glass without feeling love for him. We will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this July and toasting from his hand-blown goblets!


Each time the sun shines through the colored glass, I am reminded of how extremely fortunate I am to be surrounded by such beauty. Each time I drink, I drink from his handmade glasses. Guests remind me that not everyone enjoys this luxury. Sometimes I do forget how fortunate I am to be connected to this artist and his fine glasswork as we have suffered together to make this glass happen! I am also a glassblower which most of you may not know. I don't work on my own pieces anymore, but do assist Christian from time to time. I know what has gone into the creation of this work and have the burn scars to prove it. It was all worth it!


This summer, Christian will begin teaching glassblowing classes at The Arts Center in St. Petersburg FL. Simultaneously, Chihuly will be opening a gallery here that will operate in conjunction with The Arts Center. We moved here from Seattle last year, in part, to be available for this opportunity. So, this is going to be a very exciting year for Christian and his glass! Come visit!


Thanks for taking this moment to appreciate my favorite things!

No, Kendra, thank YOU for painting such an intimate picture of your love for your husband and his craft. I found it quite moving--and I can't even blame the pregnancy hormones for that! ;)

My wish for all of you on this fine day is that you find a moment to raise a glass with a loved one! --Katie :D

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Have a Favourite Thing you'd like to share with the team? Leave a comment and I'll get in touch or contact me via Etsy and next Tuesday's Favourite Thing could be yours. (It's either that, or I'll hunt you down and wrangle something out of you myself. Really. Just ask Kendra.)

The Inconsequential and The Sacred

Obos.
It's a strange word, and probably calls to mind a woodwind instrument of fleeting description and hard to recognize sound, which is really an Oboe. Obos is actually a Japanese term referring to a pile of rocks, for lack of a more eloquent description, and in English they are often referred to as Cairns. A stacking of stones, one atop the other and often only 3, they mean nothing to almost everyone who sees them but have a deep and resonating meaning to the one who builds them. Why? Because they create a focal point, even if placed amongst thousands of similar stones on a windy beach shoreline, they are something that comes from someone's hands, a flourish of imagination that says "I was here".

Obos can be built anywhere from an abundance of natural resources just lying about: stones, rocks, pebbles, boulders, I've even seen them made with broken concrete blocks and old bricks. Placed on top of each other they become more than just 3 or 4 or 10 rocks in a shaky pillar, they become a sanctuary for our thoughts and our minds, sometimes only for a few minutes until we move on. Beside a ramshackle house, along a garden path, in a meditation labyrinth on someone's desk, next to a gutter on a busy Manhattan Street, riding the crest of a craggy mountain trail, there they are: shrines to the indelible human spirit of imagination and individuality. The insignificant is elevated to a different level, a tribute to something higher, a deep need to create.

Obos may be used to commemorate an event, like reaching the end of a long hike, or marking a particular patch of ground for it's importance in one's life. Perhaps they are simple homages in reverence to something grander in the natural world surrounding them or just a playful gesture without seeming thought, a doodling with rocks. But we are builders, we work with our hands and our minds, consciously or not, and what we build is sacred if only for us, privately, for a fleeting second. Obos, by their very nature, are towers of serenity even if only 2 inches tall. They give one pause, whether in their building or the contemplative eye upon them. They lend respite from the cluttered world and stand as an affirmation to the value of our personal efforts and our individual dreams.

Obos.
3 small stones, found nearly everywhere.
Inconsequential parts in nature, lovingly placed one on top of the other by our builder's hands, given life by our visions and transformed into a unique, beautiful and sacred whole.
Art that leaves no footprint.
"I was here."














The incredibly powerful Beach Stone Cairn Pendant seen above was created by Sue Davis who has a wondrous Shop on Etsy: www.suedavisjewelry.etsy.com ...Thank You!
I wish you all an amazing week. Perhaps we should all take a few moments and build an Obos, reflect on what it means to create and say "We were here."
My love to you all...
xoxo
Kristin

Member Interview

Who are you?  Laura of Creatively Tangled

Please tell us a bit about yourself. 

Hi, I'm Laura Slocum and I live in NE PA.  My shops are creativelytangled, CreativelyTangled2, and lauraslocumpainted.  My sister, jennreese7, opened my stores for me, came up with the creativelytangled name,  designs my tags and banners, and sometimes takes my pictures.  Any pictures that are excellent - she most likely took them.  She's sort of my brains......  She also developed my blog, staytuned09.blogspot.com.

 

How did you learn about Etsy Project Embrace?

Well, EPE, started because of me!  I went in for surgery last May, it was sudden, and I was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer.  My sister Jenn and my niece Kelly, of sweetnessjewelry, immediately reached out to our Etsy friends and there were a ton of treasuries for at least 2 weeks by various people wishing me well.  

When I got home, I mostly recovered on the couch and slept there at night, since my sleeping was all out of whack.  One middle of the night I was up and turned on my computer and was commenting on treasuries.  Kim, of slinkymalinkicat, who lives halfway across the world, saw my comment and that I had mentioned that i couldn't sleep.  We really didn't know each other, maybe from a treasury or two, but I'm thinking that she may have seen treasuries that talked about my surgery.  She convoed me to say that I could talk to her anytime in the middle of the night, since she was up!  Our friendship grew from there, and she was a source of support right from my first week home.  We chit chatted about our stores, families and lives.  

At some point, she asked me to write something about my experience with recovering and the support of my Etsy friends.  I  wrote her on the night before my first chemo in the beginning of July.  From that article, she got in touch with Amy from thepeachtree, and they started an informal Etsy Project Embrace, that would raise money for cancer research. 

By the time I recovered from my treatment, my article was in about 10 different blogs -- I couldn't even keep track.  It was pretty amazing, that Kim would start this for somebody she didn't even know.  She raises two beautiful young daughters, and despite that, she found time in her day to start this movement. She's an incredibly sweet person.  From there, Kristin from loveartworks got involved with a thread on the Etsy forum, and Ginny, from ginnyhuber, started listing all the EPE treasuries..... and all these great people joined and the treasuries continued.......that was the beginning of EtsyProjectEmbrace ... as I remember it!
 

What is your favorite item in your shop at the moment?

My poppy red from lauraslocumpainted and the candy shoppe wire wrapped pendants from my creativelytangled store.

What is your favorite handmade possession? 

My mom and I went shopping and picked out fabrics for a quilt that she started making for me before she passed away in 2004.  I painted my bedroom and furniture to match, and when she was having trouble with her eyesight, I went over and finished it at her house.  I just love that quilt and I keep a little sheet of paper with her handwriting in my wallet, that says "navy crochet thread."  It was the last step in my quilt to pull the thread thru on each square.

What do you collect?

I have to say art and craft supplies.........whatever I'm into at the moment, I have to have every tool there ever was.....plus, I have about 3 million beads and probably 600 colors of paint...........!

Where would you like to be and what do you hope to be doing ten years from now? 
 

Family time is my favorite.  My plan is to be here for my family..... maybe some weddings.... maybe some grandchildren!  I  also would like to be heading south in the winter -- my biggest dream -- I'm just not a winter person what so ever!

Finds 'n' Fancies

Tumbler Set by retrovertigo, Liberty Print Coin Purse by shopambrosia

Crocheted Yo-Yo's by shabbychicshack, Bloomsbury Bracelet by tamar

Here in my neck of the woods, Spring has been busy unleashing a full floral assault on all who will slow down long enough to appreciate it. Yesterday, as Chris and I walked by the river downtown, he shook a small cherry tree so the petals would fall on me like snow. The petals stuck in my hair and slipped down my blouse. It was a tiny moment of pure happiness. Unfortunately, I cannot shake cherry blossom petals on you, but I can point you in the direction of some cheery Etsy florals. And you won't even have to worry about getting them stuck in your hair.
Like a Rainbow by alicebgardens

Hope you find your own tiny moment of pure happiness today! --Katie :D