New Look

I took it into my head yesterday to re-photograph my tags. Although I wasn't unhappy with my existing photos I knew there was room for improvement. So I spent the whole afternoon 'staging' them with a box wrapped in brown paper and stringand I even got out the Christmas decorations as well :)

I am really pleased with how they turned out. These new photos make the tags look more vintage and show their gorgeous muted colours far better than the photos taken on a plain white background. I just hope prospective customers agree :)

You can see all the new photos in my Folksy shop: www.folksy.com/shops/ClaryceDesign

Folksy Friday

I have never done a Folksy Friday blog before but have been featured in a few. Folksy Friday postings are a great way to feature other sellers on Folksy and are usually themed in some way.

My theme is everything French and all the items I am featuring were found searching this term.

I hope you enjoy my selection and that you will visit all the shops featured and have a browse :)

How could I resist this little fella :) I loved knitting as a child and invariably got an adorable knitted creature of some kind from my grandmother for Christmas, so they are very dear to my heart. I especially love his quirky expression and his jaunty beret! He was lovingly created by Rosie Plumpton -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/Rosieplumton

This gorgeous miniature pendant is right up my street as I make them myself :) I love the choice of stamp featured on this vintage wooden scrabble tile. This crafter obviously knows what they are doing as it is not easy to get resin to do what you want when making these :) Check out Emma Louise's other stamp pendants here:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/RussianDollDesigns

Loved this milk churn!! What a gorgeous colour and yes, so French!! This is a vintage item and would make a great umbrella stand or side table with a round piece of glass on the top. I am sure all you creative Folksiers could come up with other great uses for it too :) Available at:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/mrfolkart

I had a really hard time deciding what to feature from this shop which is brimming over with French inspired items. In fact I found it hard to resist buying up their entire stock!! Beautifully designed and crafted paper items from tags to journals - if you love decorative papers, stamping and ephemera in general you must take the time to browse Crafty Pagan's wares :)

http://www.folksy.com/shops/Craftypagan

This beautiful collage is 'to die for'. I love interior design and anything french and am an artist at heart so I cannot say enough in praise of this piece. Such talent! This collage is so understated in line and colour yet has a great movement and vibrancy about it. I love the furniture featured, I love the decorative wallpaper and the grey/blue tones. It is ridiculously reasonable, so snap it up quick. My only suggestion would be to frame this in a huge white frame with a white mount board and float the collage in the centre. Wish I had somewhere to hang it...

http://www.folksy.com/shops/stephiemariedesigns

Last but not least another stunning picture. What a simple but effective idea for wall art. These butterflies are diecut out of vintage French ephemera and layered over one another for a 3D effect. Beautifully framed in a white box frame. There are lots of subjects and colours to choose from in this shop so hurry over...
http://www.folksy.com/shops/TerrorDome

That it is for this week. I have enjoyed browsing through Folksy and finding new favourite items and sellers. I shall certainly do so again.

Thanks for browsing :)

So Far So Good

Don't look now, but I am blogging for a second day in a row! This could be dangerous!

Today I will share the latest addition to my shop - vintage style postcards. I ordered these from Vistaprint for promotional purposes and loved them so much I decided to try selling some. Of the 100 I ordered I have already sold over half. Not surprising really when you see how irresistible they are!

They are printed on recycled white card and are blank on the back apart from my business details. I have just ordered another couple of hundred - one with my Paris image with green stamp and the other my Christmas image with the two singing angels on it. I am hoping these will sell well as Christmas cards with a difference :)

You can find the swallow postcards for sale here:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/ClaryceDesign

Best Intentions

It seems every posting begins with a promise (empty) to post more regularly........sigh.....maybe this time it might happen - yeah right!!

It has been a crazy (good) few months with a house move, summer holidays and a big push to try and grow Claryce Design...

I survived the first two and I am enjoying the challenge of the third.

How do I begin sharing with you all the new items that I have created? I guess the easiest way is to start backwards with what I have done most recently and if I keep to my goal of blogging more regularly I shall then bring out older inventory to show you :)

Over the summer I brought out a range of 'to die for' rings made from flower cabuchons. I don't know if it their colour or shape that appeals most to me or just the fact that they shout 'look at me!'

As you can see one of our new kittens ( oh yes, I should have added them to the above list) took an interest in them. These are the smaller size which measure about 18mm.

The big sisters to these are about 30mm in diameter and really make a statement! The only bad part about these rings is deciding which colour to choose!



You can see the full range here: http://www.folksy.com/shops/IdeClaire

Featured in Blog

It was a lovely surprise this morning to hear that I had been featured in a fellow Folksian's blog - Two Hip Hippos's post entitled Folksy Friday :)

Here is the post:-

Here is the link so you can go there direct :)

http://twohiphippos.blogspot.com/ and go to the post 'Folksy Friday for May 14th.

New Shops!!

I have just opened two online shops this side of the pond! Check them out:

http://www.folksy.com/stores/ClaryceDesign

http://www.folksy.com/stores/IdeClaire

The first sells my more traditional looking items and the second a new range of more 'quirky' pieces that show somewhat better the more eccentric side of me :)

These cufflinks are made from shrinkable plastic (remember shrinking crisp packets in the oven as a child - no - you missed out!!) and sealed under a glossy layer of resin. I intend to add many more designs to the range but here are a few more:-

I have also been making some more fun and frivolous scrabble tile cufflinks. Featuring Union Jacks in outrageous colours; these are bound to be a big hit in the office :)

Featured in S and O's Blog

I love this blogspot - http://sandoproductions.blogspot.com Every Tuesday they feature 8 of their favourite Etsy treasuries. I think you will agree they have exquisite taste :) They featured one of my treasuries a few months back and they have just chosen this one, that I entitled 'I Whispered Softy'. Quite an honour as they had over 600 to choose from.

This time I didn't include one of my own items in the treasury, but I am sure you will agree that the items I chose are really beautiful :)

Another Etsy Treasury

The other day my Christmas notecards were featured in a treasury that a fellow Etsian had compiled.

Today, after waiting patiently for a week - until the number of lists dropped below the cut off number - I compiled a treasury of my own featuring some truly irresistible items made or offered by other Etsians. The aqua colour palette for the treasury started with my own bird silhouette necklace which I wanted to showcase ( you are permitted to feature one of your own items ). I think you will agree that the items featured alongside mine are all gorgeous :) I especially love the art print of the washing being hung out - just beautiful!

If you want to have a closer look at any of the items use the following link:-

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=120938

Hurry though because it expires in 2 days!!

Hitting the Canvas

I bought myself some water soluble oil paints a few months ago. I used to use oils years and years ago, but couldn't stand the mess and the hassle trying to get my brushes truly clean!! My friend Melissa had used them and said that they handled the same as regular oil paints so I thought I would give them a try.

I will admit that oil paint, like watercolour is not my favorite medium as it takes so darn long to dry and I am really impatient when it comes to painting. I know what I want the end result to look like and I hate to waste time achieving it!! Anyway I managed to summon up the patience to spend time over a number of weeks to complete this piece. It featues a fun, colourful display of kitchen storage jars. It is totally wrong for my kitchen, but would look great in a modern kitchen with white lacquered cabinets and plenty of stainless steel appliances!!

I have started another oil which is currently drying. What I should do is photograph it at this stage and then do updated blogs as I continue to work on it. I shall do that....

Watch this blog..........................

Etsy Treasury

Anyone familiar with Etsy will have seen the beautiful compilations of tempting items on their 'Front Page'. What you may not realise is that most of these beautiful collections are compiled by Etsy members.

Anyone with an Etsy account - whether you are a buyer or a seller can compile a treasury. However you have to be patient because the number of treasuries has to fall below a certain number before you can compile a new one. So when that magic number is reached you have to be quick off the mark because the window to make one is liturally a few seconds long! I have compiled many treasuries myself but unfortunately haven't kept a copy of any of them. Something I intend to do in the future, however I was featured in one last week which I think you will agree is stunning :) My item is bottom right - a set of Christmas notecards, which I really must remove from my shop as spring is just around the corner!!






If you want to see more beautiful collections check out this blog which features 8 new outstanding treasuries each Tuesday, selected by the blogger. I think you will agree they have fantastic taste :)


http://sandoproductions.blogspot.com/

March Endeavours

Through a happy accident I have more new gorgeous pendants to share. I ordered some beautiful filigree cameo settings for my images, but felt that they were so delicate that they lacked some weight and substance. I went searching on Etsy to try and find something to adhere the setting to for this purpose. What I ended up finding were clear glass cabuchons and voila a new style of pendant was born!!

The glass domes serve 3 purposes - they give the pendants a lovely weight, they enhance and magnify the image underneath them and they protect the image, making the pendants waterproof. In honour of this new method I have of course created some new images such as the initials and dug deep into my library of vintage ephemera to find items that can be used just as they are, such as this delightful 'purple lady'.

A similar happy accident led me to make my first pairs of earrings!! I had to source a small bead to seal onto the back of one of the settings I had ordered that was open on the reverse. I found some lovely rich brown walnut beads that turned out to a little thick for the purpose. Not wanted to waste anything I set to thinking how else I could use them. I ended up adhering my pictures to them and sealing them with resin and stringing them with some upcycled beads from a necklace of mine that had come unstrung. Hoping to add more designs to this range soon :)

Another Creative Year Begins

I have jump started 2010 with some new designs!! All my jewellery begins with the digital collages I create in Photostudio. I love the instant results without having to wait for paint or glue to dry.

I collect vintage ephemera - all digital of course: it saves clutter. My laptop is brimming over with libraries of images from backgrounds to objects to nature. Once I have selected the images I want to work with I open them in Photostudio and cut, paste, enhance, rotate and generally mess around with them until I like the end result. They then get printed, trimmed and glued onto or into anything that can be hang round a neck, from ears or in shirt sleeves!

My latest range uses cameo settings and bezels. The cameo settings are delicate and beautiful. Some are so delicate I have ordered glass domes to set in them to give them some weight and substance. The bronze bezels I found are big, chunky and look gorgeous with my images in them!! I have also just received some delicate wooden beads made from walnut that are oval and flat and perfect for making into earrings. I shall adhere images on them, seal them with resin and then hang glass beads or charms from them. Watch this space for when I have completed the first pair!