Free Shipping!

I'm having a sale in my ArtFire Studio! Now's a great time to get holiday gifts! Use the code Holiday-Free-Shipping from Dec. 7-24 for free shipping on every item!

Sales!

I'm having a sale in My ArtFire Studio! Now's a great time to get holiday gifts! Use the code Gift-Gear-Up for 10% off every item for the rest of the month! I'm also offering Free Shipping for every order placed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday with the code FREE-IS-THE-NEW-BLACK.

How Do You Get To Carnagie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

This evening, I've been practicing music with my boyfriend and musical partner, Mark. We've been working on "Como Poden", a song from the Cantigas de Santa Maria. I'm supposed to play the psaltery (double bow technique) and sing in 14th century Portuguese Gallician. Very exciting, I assure you. *grin*

Tomorrow, I'm going to unpack my craft/jewelry stuff (just moved into a lovely new apartment!) and I'm going to put up some new jewelry in my Artfire and Etsy stores. I'm going to start up an awesome sale for a very limited time, so stay tuned!

EtsyVeg Earthly Riches Giveaway

I am one of the shops participating in the EtsyVeg Earthly Riches giveaway!  There are 20 prizes in 5 prize categories, with multiple chances to win. You will find one hidden Earth image in 20 shops, including mine - if you find them all you can earn an entry for the grand prize, worth over $100! You can also earn FIVE entries for the grand prize by spending $25 in this shop, and FIVE entries for the first prize for spending $10 (please see rules for details)!

For complete rules and details on how to enter, including a list of shops participating and prizes, please see the EtsyVeg blog. The giveaway runs from April 22-28.

Linen, Linen, and More Linen!

Last week, I got my order from Fabrics-store.com. I bought some lovely chocolate-colored linen and some bright white mid-weight linen to make chemises and bloomers for the upcoming run of the Oklahoma Renaissance Faire in Muskogee, where I will be performing (with a contract! Yay!) as a lane and Maypole musician. I washed the linen on cold and machine dryed it, and it's wonderfully soft. I've got a chemise and bloomers cut out of the brown linen, only to discover that I don't have any brown thread! *headdesk* Oh, well. I'll go ahead and cut and sew the white chemises (I've got white thread), and I'll pick up some brown thread tomorrow at lunch. It makes perfect sense, but I still feel a bit irked that I have all of this brown and green garb here and somehow managed to not have any brown thread. *sigh*

At least the work is going fairly quickly! It's nice to get things accomplished!

An Update

The weather here in central Texas is quite lovely today! Not too hot, not too cold, with a nice breeze that stops short of being too windy. *smile*

Last night, I made two wire-wrapped crystal necklaces: one opal aura crystal and one regular crystal. I almost finished making an aqua aura crystal necklace at lunch - did everything but the clasp (since I ran out of them last night). As soon as I got out of work today, I'm made a trip to Sea of Beads and buy some more. I usually tend to favor lobster claw clasps for necklaces, but I've been using fancy toggle clasps for these crystal necklaces. Readers, what do you prefer (if you have a preference?)

I'm going to be vending at Belaharr's CD release party at Ruta Maya this Friday from 6-10. Here's the specifics -

Where: Ruta Maya Headquarters, S. Congress near Ben White, Austin, TX
Notes: Belaharr's new CD, "Belly Up" (specifically made for bellydancers) as well as a re-mastered version of their first CD, "Worlds" will be available. Dancers include the Typsy Gypsys, Rania, Alana Shea, and Yamina. Doors at 6pm with food by Ararat, show 7-9 pm. Kids welcome! $5.00 cover

I'm hoping to make some bellydance pieces for the show. I have several in mind; it's just a matter of getting them done before I go to bed tomorrow night. *grin* I will definitely have some beaded "Gypsy Bells" anklets as well as some fun hair falls. If you're in the area, come check it out! The music and the food will be great!

First Post!

Goodness, a first post is always so intimidating!  What to put?

Well, I just got an Artfire shop so that I can see how it compares to my Etsy shop.  I just need to list some items in it!  I'm also working on some new wire-wrapped crystals, so look for those in one or both shops (hopefully) sometime this week!  Tomorrow, I'm going to take my existing inventory down to one of the local vintage shops - the owner was impressed by my wire-wrapped titanium aura crystal necklace, and told me to bring stuff for possible commission.  Woot!

In other news, I'm getting ready for my first *paid* season as a performer at the Oklahoma Renaissance Faire in Muskogee.  I'm so excited!  I bought a gorgeous new bodice from Moresca online, but it won't get here until after the Media Weekend (next to last weekend in April), so I figured I'd make another bodice for that weekend.  Never hurts to have two different bodices - options are good!  I used an online custom corset pattern generator, modified it to be a 16th century bodice, and cut it out of cheap fabric.  Well, the sides weren't long enough, nor was the bottom front, and i have a sneaking suspicion that the front needs to be wider and scoop-ier.  (New word.  Like it?)  Tomorrow, I'm going to have my boyfriend help me make a duct tape dressmaker's dummy so I can alter this pattern correctly.  Wish me luck!