Anything Beachy

I just love anything beachy. I am fortunate to live a short drive from Revere Beach, which was the first public beach. It's not the most scenic beach but it's close and I never feel like I can get there often enough over the summer. I have some new beachy creations for sale in my Etsy shop. Here is one -

Some of the seashells, used in my seashell photo frames or mirrors are collected along Revere Beach. Kindly visit my web page to see others at http://www.angelsneverlastings.com

Over the past few years, Revere Beach has hosted a sandcastle event. It's amazing what these creative people can do with sand. I ventured to take a look at the creations this July and here is a picture of beach goers and the winning sand castle.

There were other beautiful creations and I intended to return later when there were less people to get more photos but I never did. They normally last on the beach for weeks. Unfortunately, this year some loser destroyed most of them the following week. Here is a web site with some info about Revere Beach and the festival - http://www.celebrateboston.com/events/revere-beach-sand-sculpting-festival.htm

I hope you enjoyed this small view of my world.

A Bit of Mauve

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs!

Since I am without inspiration and time today, I am posting a link to a recent blog post by my husband.  I hope it blesses you!

Faith, Hope & Love Word Block Set

 TRAVELING ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW ROAD

City streets, country roads, and highways are lined with many signs telling us to stop, yield, and slow down. Signs warn us that we are approaching railroad tracks, dangerous curves, and hidden driveways. Others are demanding: “Keep Out!” “No Trespassing!” Some convey a message with a warning: “Police Take Notice!” “Proceed at your own risk!” http://restoreandencourage.blogspot.com/2011/08/traveling-on-straight-and-narrow-road.html

The Christian Artist Street Team on Etsy

This fall will mark my second year since I started my online business on Etsy.  For those unfamiliar with Etsy, it's an online marketplace for handmade crafters and artists.  Etsy's slogan is "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage, and supplies".  Each seller sets up their own shop, posting pictures and pricing their items for sale.  Browsing on Etsy, you will find sellers and items from all over the world.  There are teams of sellers that you can join which provide social opportunities to connect with other like minded crafters.  There are over 3000 different teams covering anything you could think of.  Dog lovers team, back yard chickens for chicken lovers, mountain dew team for those who love mountain dew to name just a few.    I somehow now belong to 13 different teams.  Blogger teams, promo teams, home decor teams, and more.  One team that I joined shortly after opening my shop is the Christian Artist Street Team CASTTEAM. This is the team where I spend most of my time.  The Christian Artist Street Team now has over 2000 members from all over the world.  It is a group of crafters who share their love of Christ with one another and their love of handmade.  If you are looking for prayer, support, encouragement, or advice there is no better place than the monthly CASTteam general discussion thread. (available to members only)
There is also a daily devotional thread where you can share something that you read from the Bible or even just read the scriptures that others have posted.  To help you promote your business, there are now two weekly CASTteam promo events.
There is a mid-week blog blitz where we post our blogs in the Wednesday Blog Blitz Thread - Everyone that participates in the thread is expected to read and comment on all blogs posted in the thread.   There is also a Weekend Promo Thread where you can post an item to be promoted in the thread - then promote the posted  items from other shops via twitter, facebook, kaboodle etc
So if you like handmade items, check out Etsy and if you are a Christian and sell on Etsy, check out the CASTteam.  You'll be glad you did.  

New items and a giveaway!

IN WITH THE NEW - OUT WITH THE OLD

I have two new items in my Etsy shop that I'd like to introduce and then, in order to make room for more new creations, I'd like to offer a giveaway.

The New

The first is a wall basket decorated with mixed pink dried flowers and seashells.

Wall Basket with Dried Flowers and Seashells

It is decorated with fragrant eucalyptus velvety pink celosia and delicate pink larkspur.  It measures approximately 8" across so if you need something to decorate a small spot this would be perfect.

The second one is a bow shaped grapevine wall hanging with a spray of mixed dried flowers.

Bow Shaped Grapevine Spray

Celosia, pink larkspur and lavender along with silver tones make this a very pleasing wall piece.  This is also perfect for a small wall - it measures 15" tall by 9" wide.  A bow could be added upon request.

Now for the giveaway

I'm going to try to keep this simple - 

 Do all three of the following: (or do what you can if you don't have accts for all)

        Like my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AngelsNEverlastings

        Follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/judyrussi 

        Follow this blog.

Choose one of the three pieces below that you would like to win -- leave a comment stating that you followed and which one you would like to win.  If you already follow me I thank you -- just leave that in the message.  Please also leave an e-mail address so I will be able to contact you if you win. 

If you would like to leave a comment but arn't interested in the giveaway - just let me know when you comment.

Swag with Dried Flowers and Seashells

Heart Twig Wreath

Garden Trellis with Angel and Dried Flowers

Entry deadline is 7/30 at midnight.  I will use Random.org to select the winner.  Winner will be selected on 7/31.

Making a front door wreath

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77541944/silk-grapevine-door-wreath

Here is my latest wreath which is available in my etsy shop.   Kindly visit my shop at AngelsNEverlastings and check out my other wreaths and wall hangings.  If you like this wreath or something in my shop but would like something different, just send me a convo and tell me what you would like and I will design something for you.

Here are some tips if you would like to create a pleasing wreath of your own:

1.  Carefully choose colors that complement one another.  Two or three colors works well.  Light and dark shades of the same color family work well and look harmonious together.

2.  Choose one or three larger focal flowers.  Not two or four - odd numbers work best

3. Choose two or three stems of smaller accent flowers depending on how generous the stems are.   Repeat the focal flower color and add another color.

4. You will need something long to create structure.  I have used eucaluptus here staggering the lengths-some shorter and some longer.  Anything long and stemmy will work.   Pussy willows, sprigs of wheat, any long straight branches.

5. A good wreath looks balanced.  In other words one side doesn't look like it wants to fall over.  You can see that I added a small cluster of flowers across from the main floral cluster.  While this is optional it gives the wreath a balanced appearance.  

6.  You want to mirror nature where some flowers are placed so that they look straight at you and some are seen from the side.  

7.  Use all of the greenery that comes with the silk flower stems -- separate them and work them individually around and under the flowers.  

8.  Now, one last tip,  before you begin take a small amount of spanish moss and glue it to the wreath where you plan to attach the flowers.  This acts as a filler and provides a more secure surface to glue the flowers to.   (see picture below)

Start with the focal flowers in the center, then clip the accent flowers to separate so that you can attach each flower separately around the focal flowers at staggered lengths.  Glue the accent flowers, to each side with hot glue, then fill in around all flowers with the silk greenery and long stems.


I hope this is clear enough to follow, please let me know if you have any questions or plan to make your own wreath. 

My Greeting Card Organizer

I have had an Etsy on-line shop for almost two years selling my handmade floral home decor called Angelsneverlastings. While it's a thrill to be able to list and sell your handmade items on the internet, another great thing about having a Etsy shop is that there are such interesting handmade items to discover and buy.  If you are looking for something unusual or unique head over to Etsy.com and search through the many talented artists and shop owners.  If you find something you like, you can contact the creative shop owner and ask for something made to order.  Usually they are happy to accommodate.

I recently wanted to find a greeting card organizer to be used at church.  I wanted to have everything organized on Sundays so it would be easy to send cards each Sunday to those in need.  I couldn't really find what I was looking for but Angel from Bamcraftymommas volunteered to create one for me.  Her specialty is scrapbooks, party banners, & chalkboard mats for kids.  This is what she came up with.

I told her exactly what I wanted which was a booklet type organizer with pages for encouragement, special events and get well.

As you can see the pages are decorated beautifully with decorative scrapbook paper.

  I chose scriptures that I wanted used on the pages and each page had a pocket to hold greeting cards.

I then needed to stock my organizer with cards so I purchased these beautiful cards on Etsy.

This beautiful photo card is from  Mysavior on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MYSAVIOR

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NewCreatioNZ?ref=ss_profile

These are from nzcreations from New Zealand. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NewCreatioNZ?ref=ss_profile

    So when you have a few minutes -- check out these shops and others on Etsy.  You'll be glad you did.