oh hey, it's thursday again

This week's EART blog ring topic is "wordless works in progress." So here it is - I'm working on holidays cards for 2010 so as not to be so far behind next year, and snark Valentines for thepaperwhisperer.

See what other EART bloggers have in the works. Continue with pnkgeeni.

jewelry set

Special order for a friend - I love the way she put the colors together. The pendant is by marciapalmer.

xmas foods

My neighbor and I made peanut clusters and caramel apples while we were snowed in on Saturday. Had a great time!

Here are the apples wrapped. I didn't have any popsicle sticks, so we used plastic spoons with the spoon part broken off.

Then we did our wrapping. Behold the mess!

Then came Sunday and shoveling...

secret santa gift from hairbowswonderworld

Here's my secret santa gift from EART friend hairbowswonderworld. She cleverly made it so it could be a hairbow, brooch or ornament. Good thinking!

This is my favorite cool thing from her shop right now. Love the colors!

Thursday EART blog ring: favorite etsy shops

The topic of the EART Thursday blog ring this week is Your Favorite Etsy Shops.

There are hundreds of etsy sellers and shops that I absolutely love, so I'm just going to share the ones I actually own stuff from.

#1 Shellieartist

I actually have the original of this one, and I love it.

Why do I love Shellie? She's just such a sweet, lovable person!
Why do I love this shop? I love the medium - it's fabric on wood, which is so unique and cool. I also love the use of color. I love brights! This art is all so joyful, and I love that!

#2 Cidtalk

I've got several prints from this shop and have given several away as gifts.
Why do I love Cindy? She's refreshing down-to-earth and wise - a very cool person.
Why do I love this shop? This black and white art is awesome. Her drawing is so organic and a little wacky here and there. It's like fantasy art without the schmaltz. Just makes me happy.

#3 Countryheartgifts

I get soap here all the time.
Why do I love Pam? She's become a very successful and busy seller, yet she still pays personal attention and obviously appreciates her customers.
Why do I love this shop? This soap is amazing. The presentation is excellent, the packaging is nice (which is important for soap - a bar of soap in an envelope tends to be gross upon arrival), and the scents are amazing! My favorites are cherry freeze, desert sage, dragon's blood, peaches and cream, orange blossom, lemon frosting, pink grapefruit & mint, and sweetgrass. I'll be trying more scents soon - can't really help myself...

A few more shops I love love love:
AWEshop - amazing metalwork jewelry
marciapalmer - polymer clay in earthtones
jellybeans - light rainbow-y watercolors

Check them out!

To read about other EART members' favorite etsy shops, continue the blog ring with pnkgeeni!

chuck!

So. Excited.

Rudolpho the Red-Beaked Penguin

Ye olde singoffe on NBC

OK, seriously? Those were the best 8 a cappella groups you could find? Seriously??

First of all, I'm wondering if the yellow sweater Mormons refuse to talk to the Beelzebubs because of the name.

Secondly, I'm wondering if Maxx Factor will get a cease and desist request from the makeup company now that they're on national TV.

Third, I'm wondering if Rockapella or the Swingle Singers were watching and either rolling their eyes or laughing their butts off. Sweet Honey in the Rock is too polite to do either of those things...

Fourth, I'm wondering if anyone else thought the sound in general was off? I'm not a sound guy, but it really seemed to me that a sound engineer used to a cappella music could have balanced every single performance much better. All those judge complaints about the melody not coming out were about how it was mic'ed, so what the hey?

Fifth, I'm wondering if that Pussycat chick is high all the time or just for this show.

So here's my rundown of the groups.

Face I liked them. Don't think they should have been kicked off already. Bummer.

Nota They are the reason I'm going to watch another episode. These guys are awesome.

Noteworthy Ugh. I was stunned when they were chosen to stay. Why oh why do they sing everything all harsh and brash and in your face, thus perpetuating the idea that a women's group can't have range or nuance. Thumbs down, ladies. Cute as buttons, but that was not a good sound. Painful.

SoCals Best costuming for sure! Not that they had much competition in the yellow sweaters, lumberjack chic, nerd convention or ghetto-wear. And oh yeah, the singing. It wasn't bad. They need to chill a little and they'll be brilliant.

Voices of Lee Whatever. Yawn.

Solo Gah! I fell in love with these guys. I hope so much that someone adopts them. The potential there is enormous. If each one of those singers could get an hour of individual training, they would be off and running. Oh, my heart is broken. I want them in my living room right now. But now they've been seen and some awesome musician is going to go scoop them up and set them on their awesome path, right? Wish they could have had one more night.

Maxx Factor Oh, man oh man, I so wanted the middle-aged women to kick butt, and oh boy oh boy, they didn't. First of all, could you possibly pick a more inappropriate song? Oh wait, yes you could - the one they're singing tomorrow. And even with Dancing Queen, all they would have had to do to make it acceptable was take it up a step and a half instead of leaving their bass down there honking around like a honking honker. OK, so yes, I admit it - I have a small bias against barbershop. Still, I can respect it if it's done well. I'd like to believe they're normally better than they were on tonight's show. I'm going to go ahead and believe that so I don't have to be sad.

Beelzebubs Points for a funny name that meets irony halfway. I thought they were good. They need to drop their shoulders, get a little less spazzy, and clean up their pitch issues.

I'm totally disappointed with who went home. I would have ditched both women's groups without hesitation.

I liked Ben Folds. The other two judges and the host just made me roll my eyes repeatedly.

I did think the opening number with everyone together was pretty awesome.

Colors colors colors!

The EART Thursday question of the week is What are your favorite colors to work with? Is it hard to work outside of your favorites? Well, OK, that's two questions.


I love color in general. It's pretty much my inspiration and my starting point for most of my art. Let's see, I guess I would have to say my favorites are bright, clear colors, like your basic roybgiv. (Interestingly, polymer clay doesn't do clear primary colors well, especially red. But I do love the way it can be mixed into almost any shade.)

I can sometimes be talked into muted colors, but mostly it's the brighter the better for me.





My absolute favorite is rainbows. I have been coloring rainbows since I was a kid. I remember folding up white paper into "books" and making entire "catalogs" full of rainbow clothes and shoes. I just loved to draw rainbow clothing. Hmmm, apparently I still do:



See what the rest of the team thinks about colors. Continue reading here at pnkgeeni's blog.

There's still time to shop for Christmas!

For the girly girl

For the Glee fan

For the Firefly fan

For the crafter

For the humbug :)