Happy Holidays 2014

Dreaming About Your Spring Garden

If your mailbox is anything like mine, you have received catalog after catalog of possible gift items over the last couple of months. Right after the first of the year however, that will change over to seed/garden catalogs. Full of beautiful pictures, these catalogs help gardeners cope with the winter blues as they pour over the pictures and descriptions to see what they want to add to their flower or vegetable gardens in the coming spring season.

For those of you in the lower latitudes in the U.S., don't dream too long though. Early spring vegetable seeds can start to be planted in some areas by the end of January. Transplants of warmer season vegetables or flowers that shouldn't be planted until after the last freeze need to be started indoors six to eight weeks before the average last freeze date. For many north Texas gardeners, that means getting your seeds started indoors by the end of January too.

So when those lovely seed catalogs full of tempting new varieties or old staples show up in your mailbox, instead of curling up with a good book on a cold, gray winter's day, grab a note pad and pencil along with those lovely catalogs and page through them and decide what you want to give space to in your 2015 garden. Seeds are an affordable option for "test driving" new plant varieties in your garden. (If you don't currently receive any seed catalogs, you can do an online search for "garden catalogs" and look at them online or request some to be sent to you.)

Thanks for the Treasuries - November 2014

Three Etsy shop owners and one Etsy team let me know that they had featured one or more of my items in treasuries during November. Three November Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations and one treasury featured one item from each of my shops. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during November. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured one or more of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like. You will also see information about the TexasFriendsTeam that also featured items of mine.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

ARTZO
Here you will find a large selection of gold and silver plated stainless steel infinity, love, purity, promise, best friends, sister, and mother/daughter rings and necklaces.

CorkyCrafts
If you have a wine connoisseur who happens to appreciate hand made items, look no further than this shop.

GirlieGals
Girlie Gals offers you sparkle and shine at affordable prices. ~ "It's a Bling Thing!"

TXFriendsTeam
Past, present and future Texans are welcome and encouraged to join this team. The only real rules of the group are to promote friendly, The TX Way, and be respectful to all who participate.

Happy Holidays Gift Store

The Happy Holidays Gift Store is filled with local artisans' handmade creations and vintage collectors' finds. Don't fight the crowds on Black Friday, get a jump on shopping small and supporting artists from the metroplex in this pop-up holiday shop. You will be waited on by some of the artisans whose goods are for sale so you can ask questions and get in depth information about your purchases. This shopping experience should be much more enjoyable and personally tailored to your needs than the hustle and bustle found in the big box stores.

You will find my photographic art and jewelry along with ceramics, mardi gras masks, fused glass, mixed media art, holiday decor and much more. The photos in this post (click to enlarge) are from this year's store so you can get a glimpse of some of the things that you will find. (It's been open since Nov. 8 and it will be at the Arlington Museum of Art through Dec. 28.) Whether it be for someone on your gift list or your own personal wish list, unique finds await.

Vote to Show Support for Lady Bird Wildflower Center

TxDMV approves and oversees the manufacturing of personalized and specialty license plates. Designs are submitted by specialty plate marketing vendors and/or non-profit organizations and then reviewed to make sure the plates meet safety legibility requirements. The designs are then submitted to a voting process to help determine which designs will be produced.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a proposed license plate in the current round of voting for new designs. You can help ensure it will be approved for production by voting for the wildflowers design (even if you don't live in TX). If approved for production, $22 from each plate purchased will go to the Wildflower Center to help them increase the use and conservation of native plants, and promote the restoration and creation of healthy landscapes across Texas.

Voting is open through this Friday, Nov 21st at 5pm! I think the design is lovely and hope that it gets approved. Your vote shows support for the Lady Bird Wildflower Center and gets it one vote closer to being able to take advantage of a new revenue stream. If you are a Texan and the design gets approved, then you can also support the Wildflower Center with your purchase of their beautiful specialty license plate.

After a fairly busy month for treasury inclusions in September, October was rather slow. I want to make sure you get to meet the awesome Etsy shop owner that let me know she featured an item of mine from my EclecticSkeptic shop in a treasury in October.

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy seller that let me know they had featured an item of mine, as well as an item from their shop that I like.

ArtofAccessory
This shop owner has been crocheting & hand crafting products for over 10 years. She carries a vast array of products from barefoot sandals to jewelry to shawls and much more.

Eclectic Design Choices at the BRIT's Artisan Market

This Saturday, Nov. 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. I will have my photographic art items and feather jewelry & accessories at the First Annual BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) Artisan Market. You will be able to view most of my ready to hang photographic art creations. I'll have a selection of matted and framed prints, gallery wrapped canvas prints and prints on metal or acrylic. In addition, my matted prints, trinket dishes, note cards, purse hangers, CD clocks and bookmarks will be there too. My feather creations include hair accessories, pendants and earrings.

BRIT will be hosting additional talented artisans selling a variety of hand-crafted items including jewelry, wood housewares, hand embroidered textiles from Mexico and Honduras, photographic art, ceramics, hand-dyed accessories, all natural bath products, artisanal food and lovely hand-made children’s items.

Get a jump start on your holiday shopping. I'll see you Saturday.

Halloween Trick-or-Treating Alternative

Where can you find family friendly fun followed by an adult costume party and midnight movie, all under one roof? If you live in the DFW area, you will find it at the Arlington Museum of Art. The local group of artisans, that I am part of, that will be running the Happy Holidays Gift Store as part of AMA's holiday exhibit, "Scenes from the Nativity", during November and December is donating their time to man one of the Trick-or-Treat stations being adopted by local groups. If you are in the area and want an alternative to trudging around the neighborhood, come join us for Fright Night at the museum. (more details, straight from AMA below)

Friday, October 31, AMA turns into Museum Scary on Halloween night and we invite YOU to join in the spooky fun!

From 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Join AMA for an alternative, indoor Halloween experience for your little ghosts and goblins.
--Main Gallery: trick-or-treating booths, FREE for children under 14 (bring a sack/bag/pail for candy)
--Basement: games and activity booths - $1 to $2

From 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.: Get a sitter if you need to and come back for an adult Halloween party. $10 if you DON'T plan to partake of adult beverages, $15 if you DO plan to partake of adult beverages. And to get everyone in the holiday spirit, come in costume to get $2 off adult admission!
--Mezzanine:
-----Gallery one: take a peek into your future with our Fortune Teller
-----Gallery two: food, drinks, and candy bar
-----Gallery three: fun pics in our zombie infested Photo Booth
--Rooftop Gallery: outside deck open until midnight, costume contest for gift card prizes from local businesses (Grease Monkey, The Sanford House Spa, and others), and the midnight movie starts at 12:00 a.m. (of course!) when we will show the original 1968 black & white horror classic, Night of the Living Dead.

Snags for Wildlife

What is the first thing you think of doing with a tree that has died on your property? My guess is that you plan to have it taken down and hauled off. If you have enough room and if and when that dead tree falls it would not likely cause any damage, I want to encourage you to leave it in place instead.

Many birds and mammals rely on tree cavities for nests, shelter, preferred perches and storage. Some live trees do have cavities but it is the dead trees or snags that provide the majority of the cavity space needed by wildlife. Knowing this, I leave my snags when I can for wildlife habitat. I did have a large sycamore that succumbed to drought removed many years ago because it had the potential to take out my tack room when it fell. You do have to carefully evaluate the potential for damage from a snag when it falls before deciding to leave it in place.

And snags, because they are dead and decaying trees, will fall. We had a storm with hurricane force gusts earlier this month and I lost portions of two snags that I had left in place. While we were cleaning up a portion of one of the snags that had fallen, we discovered another critter that benefits from the cavities in snags, honey bees. Another section of the snag we had been clearing had come down nearby and come to rest still standing fairly vertically. It had a very large number of bees that seemed to be forming a living scab over what most likely used to be a more covered cavity. They were a docile bunch and bees are beneficial so I did not want to have them removed from my property if they were likely to be ok after the partial destruction of their home.

I had a chance a couple of days later to speak with a honey producer that was very knowledgeable about how bees cared for themselves in the wild. The advice I received based on my input to the honey producer was to watch them to make sure the repairs were progressing and that they should have enough time to get their house in order before winter hit. They do seem to be making great progress building new honeycomb. Having a chance to watch them up close, I have seen many bees returning with full pollen sacs and even saw one bee doing its dance to communicate with the others in the hive.

I'm glad I have been able to provide a place for a wild nest of honey bees (especially since they are a docile bunch). I never noticed they were in that old snag until the storm brought their home down to eye level.

Fall Flowering Bulbs

Three bulbs that produce showy flowers that appear in my garden when the rains return in the fall are spider lilies (Lycoris radiata), magic lily (Lycoris squamigera), and oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida). The most common spider lilies are red, however if you search you may also find them in white, yellow, peach and pink. Magic lily is the tallest with good sized clusters of pink trumpet shaped flowers. Oxblood lilies can be planted to create a spectacular swath of red.

Not only do these bulbs produce beautiful flowers but they are really easy to care for. As long as they are not being overwatered, they will come back for you year after year without needing you to do anything else to them after setting them in place. (In fact, mine never get any supplemental watering in my north Texas garden.)

If you know someone with a large clump of one of these bulbs and if they would be willing to share, you can divide them in the spring. You can find info on how to do this in a previous blog post.

Thanks for the Treasuries - September 2014

Five Etsy shop owners, one Etsy member and one Etsy team let me know that they had featured one or more of my items in treasuries during September. Eight September Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations. One item showed up in two different treasuries. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during September. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured one or more of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like. You will also see information about the TexasFriendsTeam that also featured an item of mine.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

CorkyCrafts
If you have a wine connoisseur who happens to appreciate hand made items, look no further than this shop.

HotDogCrafts
Check out the variety in this shop, Christmas tree ornaments, big bold papier mache necklaces, button dangle earrings, anklets, scrabble tile necklaces & keychains.

JewelryByNaLa
Vintage style and industrial chic jewelry with delicate florals thrown in for good measure are a good description of the lovely jewelry you will find here.

RoughMagicals
This DIY Jewelry Supply is home to beads, gemstones, handmade findings, books, tools and more, as well as vintage costume jewelry and handcrafted party favors.

TICC
Find an assortment of handmade crafts in this shop such as jewelry, crochet, candles, ornaments, leather and woodworking.

TXFriendsTeam
Past, present and future Texans are welcome and encouraged to join this team. The only real rules of the group are to promote friendly, The TX Way, and be respectful to all who participate.

Citizen Scientist Opportunity - Invaders of Texas

While the Invaders of Texas program focuses on gathering data about invasive plant species, it does have information on invasive animals, insects and pathogens on TexasInvasives.org too. I'm sure most readers are well aware of how problematic the insect invader, imported fire ants, has turned out to be. They have caused the decline of the beloved horned lizard, inflicted painful bites and been a financial drain. According to Texas A&M AgriLife, "the impact of red imported fire ants in the state of Texas is estimated to be $1.2 billion annually". Plant invaders can wreak just as much havoc on the economy and the environment.

Scientists are striving to understand the range of different invasive plants in order to try to develop a plan to deal with them. Texas is a large state and many more eyes and "boots on the ground" than there are scientists involved with this work are required. This is where you can help. Become a trained citizen scientist for the Invaders of Texas program. This can be done online or at an in person workshop. If you are interested and in the DFW area, one such workshop is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014 at the River Legacy Living Science Center in Arlington. If you complete the training, you will have the tools to be a part of this important research.

If you don't live in Texas, your area most likely deals with its own set of invaders too. You can find some links to programs outside of TX on the Texas Invasives' website. Even if you don't currently have the time for the citizen scientist project, you can educate yourself about invasive species from the databases on Texas Invasives and others linked to from the site. (The plant invader pictured here is bahiagrass, introduced to the U.S. in 1914 from Brazil and my yard by some passing critter a few years ago!)

Design This – Lampwork Fish Earrings

After a long day of shopping, have you ever gone back to purchase something that you had decided would be perfect, only to find that it (or the last one) had already been purchased? I have learned the hard way to pick something up that catches my eye until I decide whether I want to purchase it then or continue looking and be ok if it is gone when I come back. Since many of my creations are OOAK, I have had the same thing happen in reverse when potential customers came back and were disappointed when that perfect something was already sold. Luckily there are times when I can create something similar to suit their needs.

This scenario happened last year when I participated in the Happy Holidays Gift Store at the Arlington Museum of Art. A pair of lampwork fish earrings on bright blue niobium ear wires sold not long before someone else came in looking to purchase them. Luckily I still had some lampwork fish beads and I arranged to be at the store with them when this potential customer could meet me. I let her pick out a couple of pair of fish beads that she thought went well together. My intention was to make earrings out of both sets and let her pick which pair she wanted and put the other pair out in the store. I used the already sold pair of fish earrings as inspiration for both new pair, without copying them directly.

Two pair of earrings were made and shown to my customer, but neither pair ever made it into the store. My customer liked them so much that she decided to purchase both pair. I have since made a couple of additional pair of lampwork fish earrings on niobium ear wires. One pair features black, pink and yellow fish while the other pair highlights pink, aqua and yellow fish.

I'll sum up saying that the moral of this post is that if it looks like you have missed out on purchasing that special something, especially if it is from an artisan, don’t just walk away disappointed. Talk with the artist to see if they can recreate the item or create something similar for you. If they can, it is a win for both sides.

Thanks for the Treasuries - August 2014

Three Etsians and one Etsy team let me know that they had featured one or more of my items in treasuries during August. Five August Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations. One treasury even included one item from each of my shops. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during August. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured some of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like. You will also see information about the TexasFriendsTeam that also featured items of mine.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

HotDogCrafts
This shop has added a new line of big, bold, papier mache necklaces to their offerings.

TICC
Find an assortment of handmade crafts in this shop such as jewelry, crochet, candles, leather and woodworking.

WildTravels
Find a perfect gift for any adventurer or wanderluster in your life: Adventure Photography, Wanderlust Prints, Typography Art along with Wildlife & Landscape Photography

TXFriendsTeam
Past, present and future Texans are welcome and encouraged to join this team. The only real rules of the group are to promote friendly, The TX Way, and be respectful to all who participate.

Art in the Garden and Fall Gallery Night

Art in the Garden is a fundraiser for the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It is held around the FWADA's Fall Gallery Night each year. According to the Botanic Gardens' website you will find "over 60 different artists displaying oils, watercolors, sculpture, photography and jewelry." This year Art in the Garden will be Friday, September 5 from noon to 7 pm, September 6 from 9 am to 8 pm and September 7 from noon to 4 pm, with a wine and cheese reception during Fall Gallery Night, on Saturday, September 6. Artwork will be displayed in the halls of the Garden Center.

I'm pleased to report that I will be one of the 60 or so artists whose work will be on display this year. Two of my gallery wrapped photographic art prints were accepted. All displayed works are for sale and a portion of each sale will help fund the Botanic Gardens. If you have a chance to check out Art in the Garden you will have the opportunity to see some wonderful works of art and if one of them speaks to you enough to purchase it, you will be helping out a good cause.

If you visit Art in the Garden on Fall Gallery Night you will be close to several other venues with great artwork to view. Adjacent to the shared parking lot with the Botanic Gardens is BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) with the works of Billy Hassell. Other participating venues can be found in the FWADA's Fall Gallery Night catalog.

Net Neutrality – Protect an Open Internet

What I have enjoyed most about the internet is that no matter an entity’s size, its content zipped along at the same speed as everyone else's content. If big business gets its way however, that equity will come to an end. If you are not sure what this might mean to you, John Oliver put together a hilarious but educational video about net neutrality that you can view on YouTube.

There is still some time for you to give your input and help protect an open internet. The FCC is calling for public comments through 9/10/14. You can leave your comment for proceeding 14-28, Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet, until then by clicking here and then clicking on the proceeding number. In addition to posting a comment, I have also created a set of photographic art note cards in support of net neutrality if it becomes important to also send snail mail to the FCC or legislators.

EclecticSkeptic Etsy Shop Turns 5

My EclecticSkeptic Etsy shop had its 5 year Etsyversary (Etsy anniversary) yesterday, August 13. It has grown from a collection of fun flying pig items to include items for math, science, music, technology or mythology geeks as well. Math, science, music and technology probably make sense to those of you that know me and my family, but why mythology? I thought flying horses, pegasi, would go well with flying pigs, pigasi. From there it was easy to think about adding other fun mythological creations.

To show my customers some appreciation for their support, I'm having an Etsyversary sale. Everyone that is subscribed to my newsletter or has liked my business facebook page prior to placing an order from EclecticSkeptic during the week of August 11 (Aug. 11 - Aug. 17, 2014) will be refunded 10% of your order total (excluding shipping) when you add "Happy 5th Etsyversary" in the notes to seller during check out. (Yes, it is already August 14 but newsletter subscribers did find out about this almost two weeks ago. Everyone who follows the sale guidelines still has a few days to take part, so don't delay.)

What anniversary/milestone is about to happen in your life? Happy whatever it is to you!

Thanks for the Treasuries - July 2014

Two Etsians and one Etsy team let me know that they had featured some of my items in treasuries during July. Three July Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations. One treasury even included one item from each of my shops. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during July. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured some of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like. You will also see information about the TexasFriendsTeam that also featured items of mine.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

RosemarysHomestead
This shop features beautifully handcrafted, original designs in macrame jewelry, MicroMacrame bracelets, earrings, and accessories made with beads, shells, and fine cord.

TwinkleToesLane
This shop is on vacation until September 10. Check out her quality crochet when she returns.

TXFriendsTeam
Past, present and future Texans are welcome and encouraged to join this team. The only real rules of the group are to promote friendly, The TX Way, and be respectful to all who participate.