Tree Wings Studio: woodland critters

Showing posts with label woodland critters. Show all posts

Sleepy fawns and foxes back in stock!

A little while back I'd run completely out of fawns and red foxes—now they're back in stock again!

A few owl and bunny friends joined them too.

See them all in my shop here.

Year End Sale!!

Hi all! I'm taking the next couple weeks off from bead making… and in order to keep you from getting too bored while I'm away, I'm running a year end sale! Everything in my shop is ready to ship, so right now there's no wait for me to make your beads… but that also means when they're gone, they're gone until I turn the bead making machine (me!) back on again on January 1st—so beads will be restocked by mid to late January.

Use code MERRY15 for 15% off your entire purchase!

Go here to start shopping.

So… now I'm off to spend some time with family, bake some pies and cookies (you probably thought I could only bake beads, I bet! Well, you are wrong! ;-), and play with my little girl, Pepper.

"Are you done with the beads NOW?"

She is the cutest little sleepy critter ~~bead~~, isn't she?!

I won't be totally gone… I'll peek in now and then, and of course I'll be busy in the shipping department!

Merry Christmas wishes to you all!

The Winning Number!

So just how many critters are in this mound???

Seventy-seven!

And the winner is Despina! Yay!

Please contact me at rspayne.art@gmail.com with your favorite critter and your mailing address.

Thank you all for playing along! This was so much fun—I'll have to do it again on the next Painting Day (and with MORE winners)!

Here are all 77 little critters in full color and sleeping so peacefully:

Stay tuned for the next guessing game!

Happy Thursday!

Take a guess… and win a sleepy critter bead!

It's Sleepy Critter Painting Day and today my worktable looks like this:

How many sleepy critters do you think are in this mound?

~~Enter your guess in the comments below and whoever's guess is the closet to the actual number will win a sleepy critter bead of their choice!!~~

* This giveaway is now closed. Thank you all for entering!*

I'll announce the winner(s) on Thursday. Happy guessing!

(Be sure to leave your contact info and which sleepy critter is your favorite along with your guess.)

A Tent-less and Windy Festival

As promised, here's my post on my latest craftshow adventures:

All year… actually I guess it was shortly after the last craftshow of 2011, I decided I wasn't going to do any shows in 2012… and I didn't. I made beads. And really only made jewelry for challenges, gifts, and my own enjoyment. And I continued to make beads. And more beads. You all never stopped buying!

All the application reminder letters just sat on my desk. I figured maybe in a couple years, I'd pick up craftshows again. It really felt great not to have that added stress.

And then September came along and I decided on a whim to count up my jewelry and go to the Mountain Magic festival on October 6th. It's a non-juried festival, but I've always done very well there. Even better than at some of the juried festivals I've been to. The one hard thing about it, is that the weather is very unpredictable in October—some years it's warm and sunny, and other years it's freezing cold and cloudy! But one thing that's a guarantee, is the wind—it's always windy. Last year after almost losing the tent in more than one strong gale and having to take it down just a few hours after setup, I decided to not even bother with it this year.

Another thing I didn't do were table skirts. Yes, exposed table legs are among the ugliest things at a craftshow, but when the wind catches the tableclothes and brings them up over the table, pulling all the nicely arranged jewelry into one tangled heap, they just had to go too.

And so my setup was very, very toned down:

For my table coverings, I used a stretchy fabric and tied knots at each corner and stretched them over each table and tucked the knots under. Fitted tablecloths on a shoestring—easy peasy!

My two "models" are simply wire hangers wearing nice colored tops and scarfs. They really caught a lot of attention and we had to keep resupplying them with new necklaces throughout the day.

Here's another shot of them. I bent the hanger back and hung them over a wooden frame, which was taped down to the table. I taped everything that could possibly be caught by the wind!

The day had started out on the chilly side, but sunny. Later in the day clouds rolled in and threatened to shower us with rain. They thankfully left without dropping more than just a few raindrops! But the wind had picked up and never left. So eventually, all these earring cards had to be taped down.

And my sign caused a near disaster when (yes, I had it weighted at the back) toppled over and hit one of the vases. I turned just in time and caught it before it crashed onto the pavement. I had to put away all the vases by midday—the wind was just too strong and I was afraid they'd blow off the table.

The wind continued to get stronger and stronger. And the sun came back out and ROASTED us! Yep, we forgot the sunscreen… actually I didn't even think of it, since we usually have a tent and being roasted is not a problem. By the end of the day, my mom, two sisters, and I were vivid red.

So, you're probably asking was it worth it? The cold? The wind? The heat? The sunburn? And oh, yeah, the splitting headache? Yes! Of course I'll make improvements for next time. And also by the time next year comes around I'll probably have mostly forgotten about the uncomfortable parts!

I just love getting out and setting up "shop", meeting customers and other artists, and seeing my creations find new homes.

I actually got to bring some of my critters too. Most of the time I have none to bring since you all keep them flying out of the shop! (I'm not complaining! lol) But I squeezed in a few this time and everyone LOVED them. Here's one of the owl necklaces I made (please excuse the photo quality and arrangement!). He was too cute not to share!

And the very best moment of the whole festival—my favorite clay picture got it's forever home! It was one of those sales, where you know the match between customer and your art was just meant to be! I couldn't be happier about it!

"Country Sunrise"

And so, there you have it—my tent-less and very windy festival. Will I do craftshows next year? No idea yet! Ask me in September! ;-)

And another note of interest: I'm now part of the Art Jewelry Elements blog! Today I published my first post. Come on by for a visit and to see what it's all about!

Thanks for stopping by today!

New Sleepy Critters

New little sleepy critters have joined the Tree Wings family!

Come and meet…

Little yellow-orange spotted gecko…

…and little stripey snake!

And they come in earring pairs too, along with their new friends little hedgehogs and turtle pairs!

Thanks for the suggestion, Charlotte! I always enjoy making new critters! :-)

Check them out in the shop here.

I'm back... with some new beads!

Hi again! So sorry for the long absence! I didn't actually go anywhere—I've been here all along... life just got a little more crazy than usual and I couldn't keep up with everything.

The past couple months for me have involved so many things: a very sick little dog, a brand new job (which I totally love!), a tornado touchdown that caused a five-day power outage right in the middle of a scorching heat wave, all kinds of things breaking and suddenly not working around the house... and numerous other things that would just make this list too long and depressing. And of course, along with all that there was a lack of sleep which didn't help with the fact that each day is never long enough to do everything that needs doing... and somewhere in all the craziness, bead making and blogging got mostly left behind...

But now I'm finding more time in my days again and I'm back at doing the things I love!

I have a whole bunch of beads and pendants that have been waiting their turn to be listed in the shop. I've just started on that. And there are new bead designs in progress... :-)

Here are the latest additions to the shop:

Hand painted daisy pendants... these are my favorite and I only have two of them, so don't let them get away!

New sleepy critters! Little yorkshire terriers! Thanks to a few wonderful customers asking, I'm now starting to make dogs. Keep your eye out for other breeds in the shop in the coming months.

Yes, they're FINALLY in the shop too—sleepy flying bluebirds. (Sleeping while flying not recommended... it requires special talent! ;-)

Rustic flower pendants in black.... I only have two of these also.

One rustic flower pendant in denim blue.

Wild roses in white.

Scattered rose drop pairs in turquoise and...

White! Thanks for the suggestion, Theresa! :-)

Tiny winged heart charm pairs.

And finally, scattered rose rings—I think these would make great toggles!

See everything in my shop here!

Bead Table Wednesday ~ 8/31/11

Aside from the growing mountain of woodland critter beads awaiting final shaping and painting, there are a few new things happening on my table...

Black owls. Just like my brown owls in the previous post... only black. This guy is the first to get his photo shoot. His friends Wynken and Nod are next in line.