In the Studio

It’s been a fun week in the studio. That’s always a good thing!

I have quite a few photos to share of what’s been completed, some are listed and one in particular will stay on my wall perhaps forever which is more than okay by me. While I like to make room for more creativity in my life and make available for sale most of what I do, sometimes it’s nice just to make mosaics for the sake of making them to enjoy.

First, the newest listings for the *Holiday Shop* section.

Mosaic Wooden Serving Tray – Small, Red, Green and White, Pique Assiette, Hostess Gift – 7 3/4 x 4 2/4 inches
Price: $21.15

Holiday Red Glitter Mosaic Serving Tray, Silver, Hostess Gift – 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
Price: $33.07

Holiday Red Glitter Mosaic Serving Tray – Close up

“Expect Miracles” has been completed and is on my wall where I can see it and enjoy it. I’m quite pleased with this mixed media mosaic. Taking some gypsum boards I found curbside, although not perfectly square or oblong, still more than sufficient for a mosaic, and using left over cement and a piece of plastic used to hold a bottle of perfume as my mold, a few shells, a broken dish, broken ring and broken mirror, adding some awesome stained glass, a ceramic heart and my own polymer clay word charm I created a piece of art. I’m proud of this one.

“Expect Miracles” Mixed Media Mosaic
15-1/4 x 9-1/4 inches
Stained glass, shells, glazed ceramic heart, recycled mirror, polymer clay, vitreous glass tiles, broken dishes, molded cement, broken jewelry.

I’m working on mosaic mobiles to give as gifts with more pieces of gypsum board I saved from the dump. I’m fairly sure those folks that will be receiving these don’t read this blog but in case someone should see it who will be getting one, you still don’t know which one you’re getting. Neener. 🙂

2 x 3 mosaic mobiles

Once both sides are covered, string and some cool beads will be added for hanging by a window or where ever they want to hang it. These are quick and fun to make and I’m enjoying doing them very much.

2 x 3 inch mosaic mobiles

The sun and I had a play date the other day and I took some photos of the stained glass items on my window sill. Aren’t these cool?

Playing with the sun. Boy oh boy, I love stained glass.

reflections from stained glass and the sun

on a bright and sunny day my windowsill is covered in color

Be at peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Last week when we had no power due to Hurricane Sandy, I spent time bundled up and at the crafts table. Finding my internal heat for crafting was enough to keep me happy for a few days without luxuries like coffee. Reading books about mosaics and a few other crafty things by candlelight instead of watching my favorite shows on the computer in the evenings, kept me focused on the next day. What it actually did was cause my brain to be all-consumed with mosaics and new project ideas and that meant keeping really busy at the crafts table.

I’m fairly sure I’ve shared all of the newest things I’ve worked on and listed so please look through the archives or head on over to Etsy to see what’s new.

The Upcycling Challenge Mosaic Bucket for Birds & Blooms has been shipped and delivered! I sent them a Step-by-Step Guide on how I made it with a few photos as well through email yesterday. What a difficult time I had keeping it down to “500 words or less”. We all know how chatty I am! Hopefully it arrived in one piece and as time goes on, I’ll keep you posted on where to go to vote and check out the other 11 folks who were chosen when it’s available.

Upycling Challenge Mosaic Bucket for Birds & Blooms Blog. I used all recycled items as the tesserae. Yay!

I made a sale this past week! The awesome *Shagadelic* Peace Sign was purchased by an extended family member who said as soon as they saw it, they knew they had to have it! Woo!

***SOLD***

This morning on Etsy, I listed 10 pieces of wearable art that are featured on IndieMade. I mentioned yesterday that although I like having a dedicated site just for my jewelry, I don’t spend enough time promoting it nor do I spend a lot of time on the site to fix it up like I keep saying I will. So, for now, jewelry is on both sites and I’ll keep trying to update and fix IndieMade in the coming months.

Mosaic Bottle Cap Pendant / Key Chain, Blue and Silver Glitter – 1 inch
Price: $29.86

I also haven’t gotten any further along with the Vintage Shop I want to open. I’m thinking the New Year will be quite busy!

I’m taking some items out of my Etsy shop and giving them to a crafts shop on consignment not too far from me. The person who is taking my items is a crafty family friend and wants to take them when she does her own crafts fairs and festivals as well as show them in the shop. This works for me because I don’t like doing fairs/festivals at all! I just don’t have the right mindset for them, in truth. I find it difficult to sit outside or at a table for hours. I’d rather be inside creating, allowing someone else to do the leg work. I have found the perfect solution for me and my lifestyle at the moment and I’m very pleased!

I’m going to grout a tray for the *Holiday Shop* section in my Etsy shop today. Look at the cool photo of the glitter and tempered glass.

Acrylics, glitter and tempered glass tray before grout.

Love this close up shot:

And I’m also working on a mixed media wall piece I call “Expect Miracles”. So far it has a cement piece I covered in dish shards that is shaped sort of like an angel. I used a plastic cover from a perfume bottle and filled it up with left over thin set. If you decide to do this, put petroleum jelly around the area where the thin set is to go. This will allow the plastic and the dry thin set to part easily without crumbling. I grouted it and then attached it to the board with silicone. The wings are shells and they too are attached with silicone.

“Expect Miracles” Mixed Media Mosaic – 15 x 9 inches

Filling in around the heart after adding the hardware to hang this securely.

If you’d like to see the best way to hang cement board, check out this blog post by MosaicSmith. Linda Pieroth Smith gives you exactly what you need to know and how to do it. She has one of the best blogs filled with “how to” info around. Take some time to look it over. She shares a lot of fun “how to” mosaic projects. She rocks!

Be at peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Now that my cold has subsided (only allergies remain) and I’m feeling fairly normal once again, I am back to “full steam ahead” at the crafts table!

I finished up both buckets that I’ve been working on for the Upcycling Challenge through Birds & Blooms Magazine’s Blog and will be shipping the 2nd one soon. I truly am happy with them both. I plan to make more! They were so much fun and so versatile in how they can be used.

With the first, I added a romantic rose colored grout along with a few glittery butterflies. I think this would make an awesome centerpiece for a party (wedding, anniversary, etc). Lots of uses come to mind: for a guest room to hold candles, snacks, hand towels; to be used as a gift basket and fill it up with lots of goodies for someone special; holding a bottle of champagne or wine for an evening or holding a flower pot filled with pretty flowers. And the list goes on!

This mosaic bucket will either be gifted or listed soon. I love the romantic feel to this.

I’m still waiting on the $$ for supplies/shipping but once it arrives, if it does so in time before it’s to be sent on it’s way, I want to get a potted flower to place in the second one shown below and take a few pictures. I think it would look awesome on an outdoor table for a party or even just for every day sparkle and bling. Broken mirror, plastic juice caps, bottle caps, broken ball chain and wine bottle screw tops were used. Only the black glass gems were not recycled materials. And I’ve been told that recycled glass is used to make those, so I believe I can say 100% of the materials used to make this mosaic were recycled! Yay!

I like this photo because it shows all the recycled bits I used. Plus the reflection of the candlelight on the mirror is awesome!

I also got two more small mosaics ready for grouting this week. I’m putting this one in the *Holiday Shop* very soon.

Work-in-progress holiday tray. Smashing up a broken holiday cup and adding it to this small tray was so much fun!

This is the small white dish I shared a few weeks ago now with the dish shards in it ready for grout. I’m pleased with the results.

Although I really do love white (especially old dishes!), the splash of color these shards on this small white serving dish, gives it new life and an updated look.

In blogging news, I’ve gotten responses from everyone I’ve written to asking if I can do a feature on them and their shop here in my blog. Every single one said “yes”! Yay! This means I’m set until 2013 and I’m so very pleased about that!

The Wall Art sale is still going strong until the end of the month. Get 25% off your purchase of any wall art by using Coupon Code: WALLART.

Be at peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

The studio is silent these days while I get over a nasty cold but I still have a few things to share and mention.

Over the weekend I worked on the upcycling challenge piece for a bit. This one is filled with plastic caps, mirror, ball chain, bottle caps and glass gems. I am enjoying working with the black thin set I mixed up and using it liberally to hold the plastic pieces. No grout on this one. It’s looking pretty good.

Using broken up and cut pieces of mirror to help with the free-flowing
design was an afterthought and one I am happy I had!

This shot is a favorite of mine. The glue is still visible where the ball chain is around the cap
(a wine cap with cut edges to lay flat on the surface).
It bugs me but not enough to rip it up.

I’m enjoying the layers on this. It has gone in a slightly different direction than I had planned but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

I recently said there were 19 in this challenge group but I was wrong. There are 12 and I’m not the only mosaic artist in it. I learned an online bud, Chris Emmert was also chosen. I’m thrilled she was also chosen! I love Chris’ work!!! Her mosaics are absolutely beautiful. I’m so lucky to rub cyber elbows with her. She rocks (tee-hee) which is a play on words that you will only understand after viewing her mosaics. Here’s her website: http://chrisemmert.com/home.html

Nothing much else is happening in the studio right now but I do have to mention something about Facebook Pages and the fairly new way they’ve changed the format in viewing them on your news feed. I have to admit I’m a bit confused about Interest Lists because I haven’t seen much of a difference in what I see on my feed. I know once I figure out who, how and why I placed the pages where I have, the updates will come at me the way they should although I am not sure I’m missing seeing anything by creating them as of yet. I do think the news feed only shows me people I talk to often and has nothing much to do with the pages I have liked. They all seem to still be there. As FB makes changes a lot, when I realize I haven’t seen comments or new posts for people, places and things I like, I go search out the person/page I’m curious about. I often skip through the news feed altogether and head on over to my favorite pages or people’s profiles when I sign in, so my knowledge of what is and isn’t on the news feed is limited.

My page now has over 500 likes (YAY!!) and it says there are 61 people who actually see it. What this obviously means is that not everyone is getting to see the daily and often multiple updates I do on my page. I have mixed emotions about this. I like to share what I do and if only a few see it, I’m okay with that. It’s there whenever anyone wants to hop on over to take a look. I would be okay with only 1 or 2 people seeing it and commenting daily. A little activity or a lot – it doesn’t make my life any more or less complicated and if it helps to make a sale, that’s awesome but again, it’s okay if it doesn’t. But it is important to share the page with my fellow Etsians and the newer folks who have found me along the way and if they are new and not seeing what I post, then it is a waste of some awesome mosaic goodness! If you like getting all my updates and you haven’t seen them recently on your News Feed on Facebook, you should add my page to an interest list to make sure you see it.

The instructions are fairly simple:

1. Make sure you are on the EarthMotherMosaics business fan page using your computer (it won’t work from a cell phone or mobile device, as I understand it, but I could be wrong),

2. On the right hand side on the screen right next to the “Like” button there is a drop down box.

3. Click on that drop down box and click on the “add to interest list”.

That’s all there is to it. Hope to see you there!

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

I hope you’re enjoying your week so far. It’s been a busy one here!

I’m working on the mosaic for Birds & Blooms Magazine’s Upcycling Challenge. I’ve got a lot of great items to use for my upcycled mosaic. I found 2 small aluminum buckets under $5 each at my local DIY store, perfect for this purpose. One will go on to the magazine, the other will stay with me and go into the shop.

The first one I made was using dish shards and ceramic hearts. It’s waiting for grout but I like the way it looks and am fairly sure it will be the one that stays behind.

This is the perfect size to hold rolled up washcloths in the bathroom, a bottle of wine on ice, flowers on a table. It would even make a great gift basket for someone special, filled with all kinds of teas, coffees, cookies or fill it with things for a spa day, office supplies … the possibilities are endless!

The second one, still in the process of being created, is filled with recycled things like pop-tops, bottle caps, wine corks, buttons and a few more cool things that many would see as just junk. This will be the one I send on to the magazine because it will be filled with the most recycled items. It’s the same size as the one above and can be used in the same ways. I’ll unveil it soon but here are some of the cool things I found to use that were headed towards the garbage.

Once this is finished, I’ve already found the next mosaic to do. The other day I had to rearrange my crafts side of my room to allow for the heat to be turned on. After a long hard summer, the a/c is no longer running non-stop. But that means the heater needed to be free from the many different forms of art supplies I have sitting in every available space. I moved some dishes out of the corner and a small white dish plopped on the floor at my feet. Hmm … perfect for the dish shards I found only a few minutes before in a box filled with goodies! Viola’! A mosaic will soon be born!!

A small white plate and brightly colored dish shards will be combined to make a nice little catch-all for jewelry, etc. I happen to know where you can get some wonderful mosaic jewelry to put into it, if you’re interested … wink, wink.

I have 2 other things waiting for a mosaic treatment but because I often change my mind I will share them once they are finished. All are headed towards the online shops. Tthen I can get back to the 3-D elephant for a while. I’m happy I gave myself a break from it. I was in need of something neutral in color after months of working on her, my brain fried a little from all the colors in it and caused me to become extremely tired – I probably overstimulating the senses a bit – so this peace sign was a nice change of pace and helped settle my brain down to a nice quiet calm place. A very Zen-like feeling.

Peace sign filled with stained glass in shades of brown waiting for grout.

Monday’s new format of sharing a favorite shop on Etsy was well received and I’m thrilled to have found a new way to share the love. They do take more time to do than a treasury does. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do these features every week but that is the plan right now. I’d like to get a few articles written ahead of time just in case I do get pulled away by the muse into the land of “What Day Is It?” or if I have computer/internet troubles – something that happens every so often. Items get sold and new items get added to shops all the time, so writing more than one or two ahead of time would be all I do. If there are a few Monday’s when you don’t get a post, no worries. It means I’m busy at the crafts table!

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

I’ve been working really hard this week with more photo editing and a little bit of mosaic making. Mostly getting items photographed and listed for the new *Holiday Shop* section I have on Etsy and the showcase spots on IndieMade. This is exhausting work and very worth it! I’m not finished editing them yet. Each day I do one or two more. I love this process to get to see my work through the camera goddess’s view. Sometimes the results are really awesome. When I find a particular photo I like, I share it on Facebook and call it: “Mosaic Photo of the Day”.

My Grandson has shared his cold with me, so it is taking me a little bit longer to get through the normal stuff and things I like to do when I have the time to do them. I’ve replaced that time with tea, honey, lemon and rest. Life is still good! I’m thrilled that I can rest when I need to, work on my mosaics when I want to and be here for my family when I’m needed. Not necessarily in that order.

The crafts table is a bit dusty right now but I have a few things to repair and finish. Repair means re-painting of wooden pieces around the mosaics, mostly. I do have a few pieces of stained glass and mirror to replace on a few pieces too. They are fairly sturdy but once in a while after being jostled around a lot, something gives and needs repair. Out of the 80+ items on Etsy, so far only 4 needed these repairs and that was re-painting only. But the older pieces that I’ve been finding in boxes and corners of closets are the ones that need some TLC. The good news is once I get those finished and listed, I can go back to work on the peace sign!

No more progress on this since last week but I hope to get back to it soon!

More items are being added to both shops this week. Here’s a few I really love from both Etsy and IndieMade.

Mosaic Bowl in Earth Tones, Handmade, Stained Glass, Fine Art, Home Decor, Introductory Price –
8 1/2 inches high by 7 1/2 inches wide
Price: $481.31

Green Microbeads and Blue Glitter Bottle Cap Pendant / Key Chain – 1 inch
Price: $29.86

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing a post with some of the items that will be part of Promo Thursday on Facebook and Twitter. Each hour I take an item from one of my shops and share a photo and the link. Last week I did this from 9 AM to 9 PM but lost people some time around 7 PM probably mostly due to favorite and new shows being shown on cable, dinner time, bed time for kids, etc. So this week I’ll start around the same time but end a few hours earlier more in keeping with an 8 hour work day. I love these Promo Blast days because some folks aren’t aware of much that I’ve made until I do them. And those that are in the know, seem to enjoy seeing them once again. Yay!

Be at Peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

It has been an interesting week between my birthday celebration, the sales events and working on mosaics! I made one sale on IndieMade and none on Etsy, proving to me once again that sales for my items are just as successful as doing what I always do without them. Promotion always works but offering sales do not! Interesting, right?!

Birthday flowers from my daughter! The Autumnal Equinox and my birthday happen at the same time. That is probably why my favorite colors to use in mosaics are these.

Sometimes it is best to just get busy and create and not worry so much about the shops and that’s where I’ve happily been since the weekend!

I do have an announcement about my blog posts too. I have decided not to do a treasury post each Monday any longer nor will I be doing many if any treasuries in the future. I have found something has changed drastically on the site in relation to treasuries and haven’t done too much research but can’t really seem to find anything that would cause the lack of views. I haven’t changed my formula for how I make them, what I pick as a theme or where I share them but the views went from over 300 to less than 75. I’ve noticed a decline in interest in my treasuries over the summer and thought it had something to do with the time of year. Then thought maybe it was the way I make them which is through Shmetsy Tools. I know Etsy is working on something similar to Shmetsy Tools (I’ve seen the threads about the Beta tests) but there shouldn’t be a drop in views no matter how they are made. I have chalked it up to disinterest or uninteresting treasuries on my part; perhaps the ones I’m doing are too similar in style now and not as fresh becoming the same-old-same-old thing. I need to take a break from them.

I have to figure out something else to do and I will eventually. I do like to share items I find and favorite, so some format will take it’s place, perhaps featuring 8 items and shop info on Monday of some favorites will be what I try next. In that way I’ll still be happy virtual shopping and will still share the love! I’ve also reduced doing the tumblr posts of Etsy decor items I find and favorite to twice a month instead of every week. Not many followers on that one, but enough to keep it going. Or perhaps I’ll do what was done for me this week; something I think I could enjoy because I know first hand what it feels like to be featured in someone else’s blog. It has happened a few times and I’m always thrilled to be found on Etsy, let alone featured on someone’s blog!

Such is the case here. I am honored to have my shop featured in a blog post this week! Kristen V of Kayma Boutique at Etsy, KaymaBoutique contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would allow her to do a post about my shop on her blog. It’s so nice to have folks take the time to do this for each other and it’s more than possible that is what I’ll do on Monday’s now. kayma boutique’s blog

Well, I actually managed to put the little 3-D elephant aside for a few days and work on other things. When I first start on something new, I have a horrible time getting my brain to switch gears if I haven’t completed what I’ve been working on before I try. Sometimes when I work on brightly colored items I feel like I need a break after a while and force myself to do something different. I get what could be considered a “color overload” and have trouble making the colors blend well. I know it’s time to put the mosaic piece aside when that happens and work on something else for a week or two.

The first thing I tried was a small piece of cement board measuring about 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter. It was a piece I didn’t cut exactly straight but I never toss anything out that has room for a mosaic on it! If nothing else, I can use it for a practice piece to get the juices flowing. Normally these are what I call “glue and slap” – some end up to be really awesome and some … not so much. I’m fairly sure I’ll be putting this one into the Art Abandonment Group pile once it is grouted, painted and a magnet attached to the back.

Then I was able to head on over to the 12 inch peace sign and have started a nice soft, muted earth colored palette. I should have this finished by this time next week and will list it soon.

Over on IndieMade, I’ll be switching out the jewelry over the weekend and keeping the newer pieces in for 3 months. I have 10 slots available to showcase jewelry and 3 galleries to share whatever I decide on. I think I might place the jewelry I can’t fit in these 10 slots in a gallery with contact info and pricing. I’ll make the announcement next week.

This is one that will be taken out of the showcase spot over the weekend.

I’m also adding more mosaics to Etsy! I have a few older pieces still to list and I’m going to add a Christmas Shop section to include the pieces I did manage to get made for the holidays. I still have time to make one or two more things I know, but the chances are good that I might not. Even using most of this year to think about what to make, I had some trouble figuring it all out. I am glad I have what I do have all made and ready! Maybe this will give me the shot in the arm I need once they are listed to make one or two more mosaics for that section.

Meanwhile, there are a few things in the shop now that would work great as gifts for that someone special! Below is a photo of the stained glass candle holder that I’ve used as a vase.

Some of the flowers are still with me! Here they are a few days later, in a mosaic stained glass candle holder in greens, yellows and white (which is available through Etsy).

I’m going to be sharing photos as soon as I can of the work-in-progress Upcycling Challenge piece I’m doing for Birds & Blooms Magazine. It’s still in my head right now … but it has to be sent to them by November, so it has to come out of my head and get started within the next week or so. I’m still so excited to have been chosen. I’m going to have so much fun making this mosaic!

Don’t forget to head on over to Facebook and “like” my page to get updated daily (hourly some days!) on all the events taking place for EarthMotherMosaics.

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Lots to catch up on this week, so get comfy! This is going to be a long one!!

Beyond Borders Mosaic Auction for DWB/MSF ends Friday, Sept 21st! There’s only a few more days left for the online auction. This is for such a great cause. Known in the U.S. as Doctors Without Borders (DWB) and worldwide as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), DWB/MSF is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides aid in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened, providing medical aid to those most in need. Please, if you haven’t done so yet, head on over and bid, bid, bid! My mosaic, “Syncopation” is in the Abstracts section. Click on the photo below and it’ll take you to the online auction website directly.

Last time I wrote an “In the Studio” post, I mentioned not spending much time in the studio doing mosaic work but taking photos of attic pieces going into the vintage shop. This time, all camera activity has been set aside, the new shop is not yet ready and the muse is busy at work on mosaics, primarily a goofy looking elephant. Most photos of the vintage items aren’t all that great according to my critical eye, so it was time to put it all away for a bit and get back to the crafts table. It will happen when I am ready for it. I have lots of time and patience for such endeavors.

Week-to-week, the creative spark takes a turn and each item is different; some mixed media, altered art, photography, mosaics in stained glass and dish shards and still some painting might be done. I played with polymer clay as I mentioned I would and enjoyed it so very much! New charms for mosaics are the reward! Yay! I allow the spirit to move me. I have found as long as I get out of the way and don’t push in one direction or the other, super cool things begin to unfold. I’m blessed with a busy mind filled with ideas. I truly feel it’s a gift although sometimes my brain goes from idea to idea quicker than I can process it. That’s why I love to dream about my crafts because that seems to get them to stay put until I’m ready to work on them.

polymer clay pieces I made for use in mosaics (the little bits look just like candy!)

word charms for mosaics

“Blue”
5×5 inches
Mixed Media Art
Acrylics, Millefiori, Polymer Clay Heart expertly crafted by my cousin, Laura

“Green and Copper”
5×5 inches
Acrylics, Mica Powders, Poly Clay Flower crafted by me, Porcelain Tile (gifted), Lotus Charm, Millefiori & a piece of Mirror

“Mauve, Pearl and Bronze”
5×5 inches
Acrylics, Mica Powders, Vintage Mother-of-Pearl Buttons, Fused Glass circa 1985, Unglazed Ceramic Tile (purchased from the extremely talented beadfreaky at Etsy), Word Charm, Millefiori

At some point these 3 pieces will be placed either in frames or mounted on something else and placed in the shop for sale. I have more ideas for more and will share them as I make them, I’m sure. You can find lots of cool charms and beads for crafts through beadfreaky on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/beadfreaky

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This week I am celebrating my birthday which is officially on Saturday. I’ll be 58 and it will be the beginning of the New Year for me. Just as some celebrate Jan 1st as the first day of a new calendar year and many celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, I make new goals, dreams, wishes for my new year. Not as spectacular as those other things but just as important to me. “Resolutions”, if you will, are made during the week each year just before my birthday. I try to do what I can to accomplish them all before the next complete cycle around the sun. Many get added more than once onto the list, while others do indeed get crossed off! I believe more folks should try this. It’s all wrapped up with thoughts of renewal and new beginnings no matter when you celebrate your New Year, isn’t it? I have a really awesome list this year so far. It is mostly about more personal growth, learning more along the path of enlightenment and spirituality. I have come to a plateau with meditating and I’ve been unable to do yoga just yet, so adding yoga back into the daily routine and finding more ways to meditate, more often is on the list. And yes, the other things like: “lose 30 lbs”, “eat healthier” is on there too. It wouldn’t be a New Year without those on the list!

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I mentioned in Monday’s post that I am having an Etsy sale but I’m also having a sale on IndieMade too. To recap: for one week only on Etsy use COUPON CODE 58BDAY to get 10% off. Expires at midnight on September 23rd. I don’t often use coupon’s or give discounts or even reduced prices on my mosaics so if you’re at all interested in making a purchase and getting a deal, now would be the time! http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthmothermosaics

Over at IndieMade I’m doing a BOGO with a bit of a twist. If you purchase a mosaic belt buckle for $48 you’ll get 3 pendants FOR FREE with it. The one that’s $46 will get you the buckle, 2 pendants and a ring! Also, if you buy a pendant, you’ll get a pendant. FOR FREE. This too, is only happening this week. It’s a great time to start thinking about gifts for the holidays. Handmade jewelry, wearable art, is the best gift to give someone or great to treat yourself with! http://earthmothermosaics.indiemade.com/

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The next bit of news is that I’ve been chosen as 1 of only 19 people to be part of an Upcycling Challenge for “Birds & Blooms” Magazine! http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/ The emphasis is on recycling/upcycling and I’m so very honored and excited to have been given the opportunity to make something for this challenge. The finished item is due in November with a description of how it was made, what was used, etc giving the reader the inspiration and directions to make it on their own. I LOVE that!! Everyone should try to make at least one mosaic! It is the one thing I miss most when I stopped teaching. The best part for me was seeing the uncertain face in the first hour during the class always changing into a proud smile of accomplishment by the last hour of the class. Awesome. The voting for the challenge will be done online by readers in January. More on that as the time gets closer and I will share what I’m working on when I get going on it. I know what I want to make, I just have to gather up the supplies and get going on it! They generously send each of us $50. Half can go for supplies and the other half goes for shipping. This works out well for me because I do not have an income, and because I love using items I have sitting around or things I make from other things (in other words, recycling), it really works out well!

Here are some updated photos of the 3-D project. She is coming along nicely. I’m working on the left ear, the underside of the ear, the front of her face, down her trunk and front leg. I fill in the drawings using silver and gold mirror and then cut up small pieces of stained glass and add it within the glass giving me the designs. Sometimes I need tweezers to hold the glass in place and often it takes a good long time to fill in one small section. I also have no real idea what colors I’ll use until I use them. Makes for a colorful adventure that way! I’m fairly sure once grouted, the tusks are going to be wine corks. I happen to have a few sitting around. 😉

“Luna Nuren” in the sun – left side as of 09/10/12

Another shiny, razzle-dazzle shot outside – look at her shine!

Left ear and side of head and trunk as of 09/16/12

The underside of the right ear as of 09/16/12

I’m adding bling on the left front foot.

Left ear (star in the middle in gold), head and trunk as of 09/18/12

Left side view. Glass and nippers as well as things like bottles to help prop up the mosaic while I am working on it.

For those of you wondering when I’ll be making something different, possibly adding things to the online shops? Here are a few things I’ve primed that are waiting for me to mosaic and list. The cat seems to be waiting impatiently for me to come join her for a nap! I have a box full yet to be primed and lots of glass plates, vases and a few candle holders to mosaic as well. Where ever my creativity decides to go, there is always something here ready for it. How blessed am I???!!!

I hope you don’t mind waiting a bit longer, sweet kitty for me to join you! This could take a while …

Just a few things waiting for me to work on.

Be at Peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Happy Wednesday! Not much going on this week at the crafts table but the studio is not closed, it’s just been open to a different kind of busy.

I’ve been concentrating on taking photos of vintage items for the new shop on Etsy. EarthMothersAttic won’t be opened until I have enough items to list and am completely happy with the photos of the items. I asked my Dad, an antiques dealer and avid collector of junk and things, to help me out with the inventory.

Over the years, as family members have passed on, they’ve left behind quite a few knickknacks and kitschy things that were in cupboards, on shelves and in drawers. As what usually happens in these situations, the oldest living member of the family gets all the belongings that weren’t sold at auction or garage sales. The passing of two matriarchs in our family many years ago has made my Dad, the oldest son and nephew, the one responsible for what’s left. Their attic and basement are filled to the brim with many things like this. After exhaustively taking advantage of garage sales, flea market tables, booths here and there, my folks still have more treasures than they know what to do with.

Some of these treasures came home with me. Some have made their way into mosaics while others have so much personality, even though they are cracked and have been forgotten, that I felt they needed a chance to shine once more. My folks gave me a few boxes of things they’ve had tucked away and I brought them home to look at. I’ve been cleaning them up, taking photos and doing a little research on them for almost the entire week. They still have a lot of boxes and a lot of “stuff” to look at, but we’ve started with these.

I’ve acquired a new love for all the salt & pepper shakers that were sitting on shelves as I was growing up in my Grandmother’s and Great Aunt Ella’s homes. All the souvenir plates and shelf sitters that were part of our beloved family members lives are now sitting in boxes, wrapped up in old newspaper and waiting for me to share them. Make no mistake, a lot of these items were used over the years and show it. Some never left the shelves. In either case, I think some people might find these items awesome enough to want to add them to their own collections in their home.

Here’s a few photos of what my Dad and Step-Mom have given me so far, just to give you an idea as to what to expect in the shop when it is open. Not everything has been photographed yet and some items need to have photos retaken due to fuzziness or just plain uninspired photos. I have a good but critical eye and nothing will get listed until I am happy with how they look in photos.

If you love vintage items, these will be a good example of what to expect. If you don’t care for vintage or retro at all, you probably could zoom on down to the bottom of this post and catch up on the mosaic news for the week. 🙂

Honestly, not everything is “vintage”. There will be some things that have been sitting around or packed away that we feel should be shown and given a chance to shine that are more recent and not from the 50’s and 60’s. As usual, I share photos on flickr, so if you have been over there recently, you’ve probably seen a few of these already.

Serving dish with flowers was made in Italy. The unusual wooden stand is one piece of wood cut into 3 pieces in the form of birds. Unique and beautifully crafted.

Even though there are chips here and there plus a small piece taken out of the top flower on the dish, they don’t detract from the beauty, in my opinion.

For serious collectors, those factors mentioned above have to be considered. For my folks, because they are in the antiques business, that makes it a little more challenging to sell. I know someone will see the beauty that I see and want these things in their home as part of their collection.

Souvenir Plastic Salt & Pepper Shakers have Sterilite Fitchburg Mass on the bottom. Love the color of these!

Wooden planter with a chain attached at the top has “Bald Eagle Lookout, Pa” printed on it.

This is why I still love stoneware today – we’ve always had Williamsburg Pottery around. They even have a Facebook Page … gotta love that!

These photos should give you an idea as to what I’ve been doing and will be doing until the 2nd shop is open. There’s lots to do still; my Dad has to look at the photos and let me know what he wants for each item before I can list them. We’ll get there eventually, and I’ll announce (loudly) when the shop will open.

In mosaic news: Beyond Borders the auction is open and doing really well. If you haven’t gone over to take a look at the website where the live auction is being held until Sept 21st, please head on over there now and don’t forget to bid on something!! http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/AuctionHome.action?vhost=DWB-MSF

Not much work has been done on the elephant, but here’s a few shots of what it looks like this morning, for those who are curious. This is the left side; it’s resting on the tail making it a little easier to work on the trunk and section near the ears.

Trunk section. Stained glass is getting filled in after the silver and gold mirror is applied.

Fuzzy shot – sorry. No sun this morning makes it a little more challenging to get the sparkle and shine you can see in person.

Be at Peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

I’ve been busy working on the elephant and nothing much else in the studio this week. I was positive I would be swayed by another project or two, but so far, I am being true towards the vision of seeing this 3-D project finished. This pleases me greatly!

It looks like the muse has been uninterested in much other than the 3-D elephant at the moment and I was thinking perhaps I should try to work on a few things for the shop and the elephant too. I was feeling slightly guilty for only wanting to work on the 3-D project and not concentrate on the shops. Now I know I don’t have to push or try to squeeze the creative juices; but sometimes the pressure to get things into the shops makes me think I should be doing double duty. Luckily, with the shops fairly full of items thanks to the older mosaics I’ve pulled out of boxes to list, I can take my time, working on what I want without the pressure! This is new for me … I like it! Woo-hoo!

From the photos, I think it’s hard to know exactly which section you’re looking at. So here’s an explanation: I’m working on the front section and a little bit of the sides of the elephant adding mirror first as an outline and then filling in the spaces with stained glass. So far, I’m staying fairly true to the design I’ve drawn on it. So many swirls and lines are being filled in with mirror that some days it seems I’ve gotten nothing accomplished until I’ve actually looked at photos. The one above is a good example of this. After taking another few photos of the progress this morning, I can see I’m going at a pretty good clip! This is the right ear, head and trunk so far.

Again the frustration has kicked in on the fact that I can’t get as clear photos as I like to get on this little guy. But work-in-progress photos are important for me to have and if that means more than one fuzzy photo in the album, so be it!

I had the chance to visit with my cousin over the weekend and she gave me some odds and ends from crafts she’s done and bits and pieces of things she thought I might be able to use for my mosaics. She gave me a few gold plastic charger plates just like the ones my daughter used for her wedding only hers were silver. I put silver mirror on 8 of them for a unique mosaic table setting.

Silver charger with silver mirror, grouted in white sanded grout and painted using purple acrylics and sealed.

My cousin also gave me a lot of sculpting clay with lots and lots of cutters in lots and lots of shapes. The last time I played with clay, I wasn’t very impressed with my results and decided it was probably okay to admit it wasn’t my thing. However, lately, I’ve been wanting to try again and do word charms for my mosaics and just about the time the thought took place in my brain, I was handed the box of all the tools I’d need to make them with! For free!! How cool is that?!

A few things she gave me might end up being altered art pieces; something completely different for me to try and it’s possible they will be just okay once finished. The point is, however, I have new things to play with to keep my creative brain functioning for a very long time! Again … how cool is that?!

Be at Peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics