Artist Spotlight: Part Ninety-Five

I'd like to introduce you to someone you've never met here before, Karen of Wyndwalker Creations.  

She and her husband have some seriously eclectic talents going on, that lead to a wonderfully diverse and original shop.  They hail from South Carolina, and have been creating for many years.  It shows in the obvious quality of their work.

Just look at that beadwork!  That doesn't come without Karen's 30 years of experience, for sure.  Just for good measure, here's some more.

And I promised diversity, didn't I?  How about some gorgeous beading on a trinket box... or a serious statement necklace?

Now that's a necklace to give some personality to a little black dress!  I think I need to own it.  They enjoy creating one-of-a-kind functional pieces of art, and I think they've succeeded, no?

Enough of the beads.  There's more!  They work in natural materials to create a variety of things, like leather, bone, and antlers.

Karen also likes to weave on inkle looms and tri looms.  That's how she makes adorable dog leashes and beautiful shawls!

And on top of all that?  She crochets!  My only lament is that the adorable dog doesn't come with the sweater.

Right?  And last, but definitely not least, I have to show you one of their selection of gourd birdhouses.  Oh, how I love these birdhouses!  I need one of these too.  Seriously.

Believe me when I tell you this is just a small sampling of what you can find in their Handmade Artists Shop and Etsy Shop.  And despite the variety and volume of their currently-existing wares, they love to try out new ideas, techniques and designs, and absolutely adore custom orders, so be sure to contact them.

And to keep up with them, follow the blog or like them on Facebook.

Craft Wars: Episode 2

I'm late blogging about this this week, though I did watch it Tuesday night.  I've just been so busy and so tired.  At any rate, on to my take...

This week, the one-hour challenge was to build a birdhouse using the contents of a junk drawer.  I thought this was pretty fun, and was happy that their junk drawers contained a lot of the same crap that mine always do, so I felt like it was legit.

I did have two problems with this challenge, though.  The first is that they say "make a birdhouse using this stuff... and it always seems like the contestants build something and then decorate it with the stuff in the drawer.  That's a valid use, I suppose, but really I'd expect the construction to include the junk drawer contents, not just the decoration.  Now that would be a challenge.  That would be more like the "turn a shirt into something new" challenge that I won oh-so-long ago when I made the puppet.

On the other hand, making the challenge more the way I'd prefer would also affect my second issue with this challenge, which is that either we as viewers aren't hearing the complete instructions the contestants are given, or the contestants aren't being given clear instructions, which isn't really fair.

Correct me in the comments if I'm wrong, but all ll I heard was something like "build a birdhouse using this junk drawer stuff."  All of a sudden during judging, the ability to use the birdhouse outside became an issue.  As far as I heard, they never said, "it has to be viable to be used outside."  There are birdhouses, after all, that are 100% decorative and can be hung in green rooms or around areas of the house that are heavy with indoor flora, just to be cute.  To not make this clear and then criticize the use of unprotected playing cards on the outside of this absolutely adorable house is kind of obnoxious.

And if usability was a big issue, then this house, although too overdone and hodepodge on decoration, should have kept its maker in instead of booting her before the big challenge.

Because honestly, the birdhouse that kept the male contestant in, while cute but not at all my style, was 100% unusable outside after the first rain.  It was made from foam board and paper, which I honestly think was a copout way to work quickly and easily while the women were hammering away at their wooden houses.

It kind of annoyed me that the chick was booted while this guy got to stay.

He redeemed himself, though, during the five-hour challenge.  Seriously.  The challenge was to make patio furniture out of beach toys.  And dude, his was genius.  And really beautiful.

This challenge he didn't shirk on.  I loved that boogie board chaise, and I love the bar stools.  Even having a couple beach balls and buckets strategically placed as decoration works.  The guy knows how to work with metal, that's for sure.  And he knows how to set up aesthetics.

Unlike the judges, though, who seemed to be looking for things to criticize in the furniture set made by the female contestant, I didn't find anything wrong.

Like the judges, I love her wave table, bar stools, and pillows.  Unlike the judges, I also love her couch and bar.  I agree that the towels shouldn't have been thrown over the netting, but disagree that the rope doesn't go.  Of course rope goes with beach themes.  Or at least marina themes.  Ropes are HUGE on boats, and used liberally in sea themes.  So I got it, even if they didn't want to.

Really, this one for me came down to a matter of taste and it was a close call.  In the end, I think the right person won, but it was by a nose.

Artist Spotlight: Part Sixty

Wow, I've done quite a few of these, haven't I?  Well, I've got a treat for you this week, something different.  Glass (and clay) artist Kay, of Kayz Kreations.

Kay has been doing stained glass and mosaics for several years and enjoys both, especially her ability to create unique and charming items for home and garden.  Hailing from Killeen, TX, she definitely has an affinity for items with Texas themes.

Like so many of the artists I bring you, Kay is multitalented.  She started with a stained glass class at a community college and was hooked.

(Have you started your holiday shopping yet?  How perfect would this be to decorate your home for your holiday dinner or party?  Or as a gift for someone you love?  Find it here.)

A year later, Kay took a mosaics class and started to run with that too!

I love the humor in that one.  So cute for a kid's bedroom or clubhouse door!  Or heck, there are days I'd love to hang it on my own door!

About 2.5 years ago, Kay took a fused glass class and added that to her talents too.

As a lover of gardening, a lot of her items and themes are for the outdoors, like these fun garden stakes in stained glass and clay.

Or these great birdfeeders.

And this really pretty birdhouse.

She used recycled bottles for this fun wind chime.

And she's even expanded into the world of jewelry!

You can read on her blog how she won a contest with this cool and interesting necklace.

And you can shop her wares in her Etsy and Zibbet shops.