Painted Baby Clothes

I'm at that age when all my friends are starting to have babies, including my sister-in-law. I just found out I'm going to be an Aunt to a little baby niece! She's due in January which is exciting because Jan 6th is my birthday. I'm really enjoying all the new love that's entering the world around me.

I've started painting babies clothes to give away as gifts to all the new little ones. Each piece is made of organic cotton that I've hand-painted with textile paints that are heat-set so they can be machine washed. My painted baby clothes won't be for sale. They take so long to make I'd have to charge outrageous prices, but they are perfect for gifting to all my new momma friends. I'm taking requests so let me know if you'd like an outfit.

Glassware Photo Shoot

I decided a few months ago that it was time to increase the quality of my glassware photographs. I fell in love with my wedding photographer's style of capturing moments rather than posed shots so I once again called on talented Annemie of megapixie.com to help me with my project.



I spent a month painting inventory for the event and coercing my friends into showing up for the big photo shoot. I asked them to bring their pretty smiles and a few changes of clothes.



The day before our photo shoot I polished glasses, ironed table cloths and staged tables. The wind was so strong I had to do all the prep work indoors because the wind threatened to blow away all my glassware and flowers. I was really worried the wind would continue and our Sunday photo shoot would end in a flurry of shattered wine glasses.



Sunday came and it was as if the weather had be pre-ordered. It was a gorgeous, calm. sunny day. My friends showed up, beautiful and ready to pose.



The photo shoot started off with some polite smiles and awkward delicate sips but as the wine flowed the photo shoot became less of a staged production and more of a real party.



We all had a lot of fun and felt like models for a magazine. My gorgeous friends played their roles beautifully and we spent the next few hours changing outfits and switching out glasses. I wanted the pictures to look natural and Annemie is a professional at capturing those special moments for the perfect shot.



It helped that I had such beautiful, fun people to work with.



My brother and I are in the picture below. George was so cute, he changed his cuff links to match the glasses for each shot.



My sister-in-law Julie, was on her fashion game and came with a ton of dresses. I love how the turquoise in this dress picks up on the turquoise of the Peacock feathers.



We even staged a wedding! Amy was kind enough to bring her wedding dress and her good looking husband along for the shoot. You can't fake these sorts of lovey looks and I was so thankful to have a bride and groom to showcase my best selling champagne flutes.



As dusk arrived, the smiles grew larger. I lost count of how many bottles of wine and champagne were poured but I think a good time was had by all. You can see the rest of the pictures taken on my websites, both on Etsy and BigCartel.



I owe everyone involved a giant THANK YOU!
Thanks for making my glassware look beautiful.
Cheers to you!

A Kaleidoscope of Spring

A Post Christmas Update:
Images are of marbled fabric, cotton and silk

This past holiday season was insane. Mary Elizabeth Arts in the past year has more than doubled sales from last year and we've run a projection and are on track to double them again this year.

My repeat customers are becoming my favorites folks. It brings me so much joy to be able to create pieces for special people I'm getting to know. Their generous feedback is what keeps me going. One of my favorite customers this year was the sister of Etsy's Founder. She purchases some glasses for a friends birthday and some pieces for her mother. I love knowing that the mother of the guy who created Etsy uses my work. That's just awesome!

We are on the hunt for an artist agent! This is very exciting news as it means that in the near future I'll be signing contracts with larger companies who will be reproducing my designs in factories and selling them in larger department stores. This will allow me to create new designs and pick back up on all my unfinished projects such as my hand-painted lingerie and silk painting.

There are two new babies in the family! My best friend of BlumeBloom just had her first baby, Emma Rose. And my sister-in-law just had her second baby boy, Christopher. Both babies are healthy, beautiful and perfect in every way.

This April I'm very excited to say that there will be a professional photo shoot of my glassware. All my product images I've taken myself and it's time to increase the quality of my listings. We are staging a faux dinner party, although I'm sure in the end the photo shoot will become a decadently staged real party. I'll be working with a few of my gorgeous friends as they sip champagne under twinkly lights this early spring. I am truly excited about this and can't wait to share the images with you. My wedding photographer Annemie of mexapixie will be taking all the shots. She's the gal who photographed my wedding so I already know her work is fabulous.

We've re-painted and re-carpeted the house! Having my studio, my packaging warehouse and inventory supply room in my home makes it easy to find living in total chaos a complete norm. I've grown accustomed to paint stains on, well, everything. And instead of scented candles and charming decorative figurines my house is constantly in a state of disarray. I secretly laugh when customers mention "stopping by my studio for a tour" I can image myself saying, "Welcome! Please just sit directly on the pile of laundry as it's the only clean place in the house." And on the way out the door everyone gets a complimentary lint roller to clean off the cat hair. So Nick, seeing my insanity grow deeper every day, has given me a new home. It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint and new carpet will for the the soul.





I have a few new oil paintings in the works. Canvas paintings are always a treat for me. It's hard to sell original art for walls these days. People tend to prefer spending their money on functional art that they can afford--and I don't blame them! But I'm trying to make it a goal to paint more with oils and canvas, even if it is just a few hours here and there. Right now I'm working on two piece from my honeymoon. A lake and mountain vista from Alaska and a Sea Cliff scene from Maui.

Back when I first started selling my artwork online the focus was on fine art prints of my original paintings. Over the past year or so I stopped making the prints and have been focusing on my glassware, until now! I'm working with Through This Lens, a local Durham photography studio and Roylee is not only making prints of my paintings but he's matting them as well so they are super easy to frame. These prints will be available in my shop by the end of the week!


And even more exciting, is my dear friend Lindi has created a small book with a whole bunch of my paintings. When I first saw it I seriously couldn't believe what an amazing job she did paring paintings. I couldn't have done it any better if I'd spent months laying it out. I was really impressed and remember thinking, it's almost like Lindi is a professional at this. Then I remembered she is. She has her masters in Museum Management and arranging artwork and displays is her specialty. Think coffee table book full of my colorful artwork--professionally arranged. The book isn't for sale just yet, but I hope to have it in print within a month or so. I'll keep you posted as to when it's available.

I'm so happy Spring is almost here. Yesterday I went on my first bike ride since last summer and I'm excited to see more sunny days and blooming trees. Happy Spring Everyone!

Black Friday Sale

Happy Holidays Everyone!
I'm starting the shopping season
off with a 10% discount on everything in my Etsy shop. One day only, Black Friday (Nov 26th) Just type in BLACKFRIDAY2010 when you check out and you'll automatically get a 10% discount. The code will only work on Friday Nov 26th. Have a great Thanksgiving!

In the Studio with Mud Pie

I've always found pottery to be a little soulful. There's something about holding a hand-made mug warmed by hot tea that evokes a sort of poetic mood. It's like holding a little bit of the earth, just polished and smoothed by an artists touch. I met Stacy of Mud Pie Studio over a year ago after I contacted her for a trade. In exchange for some of my work, I got some hand-made mugs for Christmas gifts. Ever since our trade we've gotten to know each other and our crafts a little bit more. Stacy invited me over to play with some clay in her home-based studio and I brought along my camera.

She sells her work full-time on her Etsy shop: MudPie



It's great to have a fellow Etsy friend to share in the ups and downs of running your own home-based business. She's just as swamped as I am, and often even more so because her work is so labor intensive. From raw clay she creates her custom pieces, each one made from scratch in her home-based studio. Stacy has become a well known potter on Etsy for her custom name and monogram clay creations. She even has a few copycats out there trying to achieve her success.





Below are her signature monogrammed pitchers. First pictured is a work-in-progress. Each piece requires at least two fired in one of the 3 kilns she maintains in her backyard.



My favorite pieces are the mugs with couples names on them. I've bought some for friends but want one for myself!



Stacy's most recent works include hand-carved graphic details that require an illustrators steady hand and an eye for precise detail.



This is her dedicated studio assistant taking a break from the photo shoot.

Stacy has an impressive collection of letter press block she uses for her personalized pieces. She even has some elvish script for the fantasy fans.

There are a lot of items ready to sell that she hasn't had time to list on Etsy. Top of my wish list are these clay earrings. Each one is hand-crafted from scratch.



Stacy let me play around with creating some pieces of my own. I'm no potter, and of course was once again drawn to creating trees. I made a simple little clay dish with trees etched in the clay. It's such a treat to get to take a break from my own mediums and explore another art form. If my little dish survives it's first trip through the kiln I'll be back to the studio to glaze it and hopefully make some more. There's talk of Stacy and I possible co-creating some pieces for sale next year.



Mud Pie, thanks for sharing your space and time with me! If you want to purchase some of Stacy's work you need to buy now because she's already limiting the number the holiday orders she'll be taking this year. So Shop now!