In the meantime, here are some beautiful items from around Etsy which fit into the colour scheme:

1.  I’m happy to say that we’re moving out of scarf weather here in Queensland, and into beautiful spring!  But for those of you in places which are still a bit frosty (or moving into the colder weather), this gorgeous scarf would be perfect!  I’m tempted to get one for myself and stash it away for next winter.  Very feminine and pretty, it was hand crocheted by Ayca in gorgeous pear-coloured mohair blend yarn.

2.  I made the mistake of searching for “vintage” in my quest to find a really great chocolate brown item for this post.  I don’t know why I do it to myself!  I invariably find gorgeous shoes that DON’T FIT ME.  I swear I found about 6 pairs of shoes I absolutely loved but none of them were in my size!  My favourites of all were these vintage chocolate brown suede heels from Folie A DeuxVintage.  Trust me I would be buying them intead of posting about them if they were in my size!  Incidentally, Folie a Deax means “a madness shared by two” – although I think more than two of us share a madness for vintage!

3.  I love butterflies, so I couldn’t go past these beautiful Burgandy Victorian Butterfly earrings by Tigerfli.  They’re quite large earrings but would still be very light to wear.  Big and bold yet still dainty and feminine.  They look fantastic on, check out the pictures in the listing.

4.  These South Sea Shell Pearl earrings by Realisation Creations are most definitely pretty in pink!  Elegant and pretty, they would make a beautiful accent to any outfit.  I love the little extra touches in these handmade earrings like the pretty gold swirls on the earwires.

Many thanks to Heidi and Adriel from Two Happy Stampers for providing the inspiration for this post!  Stay tuned for a painting using this colour combination… I’m thinking about combining it with this week’s Illustration Friday topic, “Dessert”.  Hmmm…

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Left to right and top to bottom:

1.  Snowflake etched stirling silver earrings by Jenna Appleton.  These are the perfect winter accessory!  I love the delicate snowlakes and the hexagon shaped stirling silver.

2.  Snow Crystals Bridal Necklace by the Beautiful Garden Boutique.  This necklace is so elegant and pretty!  It’s advertised as bridal jewellery, but I think it would also be stunning worn with an evening gown and a pair of matching earrings.  You could even use it to dress up more casual outfits – a very versatile piece!

3.  Hoop Framed Wall Hanging – Snow in the Forest by Caitlin Sainio.  Isn’t this pretty?  It features three hand crocheted snowflakes mounted on a forest green background.  And I love the title, “Snow in the Forest” – it conjures up all kinds of peaceful images of large flakes of snow falling on trees.

4. Snowy Queen Blue Icicle Mystic Quartz marquis CZ Earrings by Blue Tulip Designs.  I love the way these elegant earrings have just the slightest tinge of blue to them.  And they’re on sale at the moment, so how could you resist?

5.  Snow Queen Tattoo Tights by Tattoo Socks and More.  These are just the coolest thing ever!  I love this idea.  Make sure you check out the Tattoo Socks Etsy store, as there are lots of other cool designs like butterflies, swirls and peacock feathers.

6.  Snowy Tree Notepad by Jennifer Boston.  I fell in love with this stunningly pretty notepad featuring a tree being dusted by glittery snow before I even realised who had created it.  I get most of my supplies for pendant making from Jennifer’s supplies store, The Crafty Dragonfly.  So, I can personally vouch for the friendly, personal service, quick delivery and careful packaging which have made me keep visiting her store.

I hope these beautiful items have put you in a snowy kind of mood – even if you’re in a part of the world where it’s summer right now.  I’ll post up a pic of me in the snow when I get back from my holiday, and who knows, maybe I’ll come up with some of my own snow inspired art too!

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I’ve always been fascinated by the stars – I love looking up at the night sky, especially when I’m away from the city and the artificial light no longer dims the stars.  One of my favourite childhood memories is that of looking through a neighbour’s telescope.  So it’s not surprising that stars feature heavily in my artwork.  Nor is it a surprise that some of my favourite Etsy items are star-themed as well.  Here are a few of them:

From top to bottom, left to right:

1.  Starry Night Cobalt Glass and Silver Charm Bracelet by Trash and Trinkets.  This charm bracelet features the prettiest shade of blue, along with star and moon charms.

2.  Stellar Stream – Indigo/Gray Freeform Crochet Necklace by Irregular expressions.  I am in LOVE with this necklace!  I love the title ‘Stellar Stream’, and it really does bring up memories of seeing the milky way clearly emblazoned across the sky.  Best of all, it’s totally unique!

3.  Starry Night Serving / Pasta Dish by Spinster Sisters Pottery.  This dish is so pretty it almost seems a shame to put food on it!  Glazed in midnight blue with white crystal stars, it would make a wonderful centerpiece to the table.

4.  The Original Velvet Purple Candileria by Blue Room Pottery.  How cool are these?  I can just imagine how pretty a room would look lit by candlelight filtered through one of these beauties, stars playing against the walls.

5.  Starry Night Necklace Lapis Lazuli, Pyrite, Sterling Silver by Red Chair.  If you were to trap the night sky in a string of pearls, I think it would look something like this.  This stunning necklace features lapis lazuli beads, blue as the night sky, offset by the shine of Pyrite.

6.  Starry Night Embroidered Cloth Napkins by Monkey Beetle.  These simple, elegant and beautiful napkins would add a little starlight to any dinner table.  You can even get a glow-in-the-dark version!

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Here’s what I found:

Top to bottom, left to right:

1.  Mermaid Twist Earrings by Gypsy’s Closet.  Simple but elegant and beautiful, these earrings feature a coral bead and aqua chalcedony briolette connected by a gold twisted loop.

2.  Royal Blue Earrings by Designs by Tisha.  These are just stunning.  The Morrocan silver plated filligree drops are so pretty, and are set off beautifully by a blue Czech fire polished crystal.

3.  Navy Blue Pillow Cover with Cherry Blossoms by Sassy Pillows.  I love the way the navy background on this pillow sets off the pretty coral, green and white cherry blossoms.

4.  Lotus Favorite Mug by YogaGoat.  Most of us have a favourite mug or cup – the one you always reach for when you need that cup of tea or coffee.  I can easily see this mug becoming someone’s favourite -  I love the coral lotus flower design, and the little thumb rests on the top of the handles.

5.  Unique Summer Garden Necklace by You and Me and Bead.  Isn’t this necklace just so pretty?  It features a coral coloured flower with little antiqued brass branches and soft teal green freshwater pearls.

6.  Turquoise and Ivory Traditions Damask Table Runner by Darling Occasions.  I love table runners – they’re a great way to create a feature of your table, and tie in the colours of the room, without covering up the whole table like a tablecloth does.  This pretty runner would be a great centerpiece to any dining table.  I love the way it’s been paired with the white vases in this photograph, too.

I think I still have one more idea up my sleeve for this colour challenge, so stay tuned…

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We’ve had a bit of a rainy week this week (in fact it is raining as I write this!), so I thought I’d do a rain themed Saturday Selections of my favourite items from around Etsy.

First up is this awesome stainless steel raindrop necklace with brain contours titled ‘bRain‘ by Morphologica.  Perfect for a geek girl like me!

My next rainy-day favourite is this cute set of “Rainy Day, Time to Play” gift cards from Red Letter Studio.  They would make lovely gift cards for a rainy day, or someone who’s young (or young at heart!) and loves to play in the rain:

I just *love* this print by Kathy Panton entitled simply “Rain”.  I love the mix of colours and the way the paint seems to flow across the paper.  I sat and stared at this one for a while!  It’s easy to see why it made Etsy’s front page.

Finally, I’d like to include this print entitled “Kiss Under the Rain” by Afremov Art.  I’ve admired this artist for a while on Deviantart, and only just found him on Etsy.  The way he uses light and colour is so unique and beautiful!

Hope you all have a great week, and remember how good the rain is for the garden (and the farmers!), if not for getting the washing dry.

Prefer the sunshine to the rain?  Check out my latest post on Handmade Spark, Tropical Holiday.

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Do you notice anything they have in common?

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When I came up with the idea of listing my favourite Etsy items once a week on my blog (an idea I’m sure I stole from someone), I chose Friday because I liked the alliterative quality of the title “Friday Favourites”.  I didn’t really think about how busy Fridays are for me!  It’s a shame that Saturday Favourites doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Anyway, rather than doing what I did last week and just completely forgetting about it, this week I’m thinking it’s better late than never.

And since I struggled through the first week of school this week (it was very hot in our classrooms!), I’m doing a back to school theme for this week’s Saturday Favourites.

This first item is a button I’ve featured before in a treasury, because I think it’s just awesome   Made by beanforest, this ‘Teachers Are Hot’ button has a double meaning this week – it was 36 degrees celcius in my classroom for the last few days so the teachers (and the students) were literally hot.

Isn’t this Robot Children’s Tote Bag cute!  Who doesn’t love robots?  This would make an awesome library bag.  All students at the school I work at are required to have a library bag if they want to borrow books – so why not have one as cool as this?  It’s from Tiges and Weince, where you’ll find lots of other cool stuff for kids.

All children need a pencilcase for school.  This Woodland Animals Pencilcase is so cute!  It’s handmade so you know it’s going to be better quality than a lot of other pencilcases (then the children will stop coming to me with broken zips to fix!).  I just love it because I think the picture on the front is super-cute.   It’s made by Pocket Carnival, where you can also find prints and originals of artwork like you can see on this pencilcase.

Of course, once you have a cool pencilcase, you need some cool pencils to go in it!  I just LOVE this idea of personalised greeting pencils by Right Brainy.  You can choose the paper and the message.  Would make a great gift to suck up to the teacher on the first day (hint hint!) but would also be lovely for your children – they will never have to worry about losing their pencils when they are so unique.

One last thing…

With Valentines Day coming up soon (are you reading this Matt?), I created an Etsy treasury featuring romantic artworks.  Art makes a lovely Valentine’s gift!  Check it out:

Have a great weekend!

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These labels are made with prints of my watercolour artworks.  They feature the name of the pendant (each pendant is titled and signed on the back) and state that the pendant is handpainted (makes a nice touch when giving the pendants as a gift).

I hope the recipient likes them!

In other news, I am thrilled that my Silver White Winter painting was chosen for Timothy Adam Designs’ Etsy Top 10! Check it out – the other items in the Top 10 are well worth looking at as well.

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So, here is my first week’s selections!  Please check out the other items these sellers have to offer as well, and remember to support handmade!

First up is this beautiful butterfly tray from Island Girl Pottery.  It’s so pretty it’s almost a shame to cover it up with food!

These earrings from Stone Street Studio are called “Bittersweet”, but I think they’re just sweet!

More jewellery (lots of my Etsy favourites are jewellery – you can never have too much jewellery!) – I just love this Aqua Briolette necklace from The Zen Muse – although I must confess that I have no idea what Briolette means!  I think the colours is just gorgeous.

I love the combination of Science and Art, so when I saw these Jupiter earrings from Desert Artisan I fell in love with them!  (I shouldn’t really be advertising them here because I am totally buying them as soon as I have some spare cash!).  I’ve purchased from Desert Artisan before and the earrings and pendant I purchased were even prettier in real life than in the photo.

I hope you enjoyed my very first Friday Favourites!  (Yes, it’s not quite Friday yet but I won’t be able to get to a computer tomorrow and I didn’t want to wait until next week!)

Don’t forget to stop by these sellers stores to see the other lovely items they have for sale – and buy handmade this Christmas!

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In other news, I am currently working on a piece for a commission.  I will upload pictures as soon as it is finished, but I am really excited about this one

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