Artist Spotlight: Part Ninety-Eight and Ninety-Nine

I have two amazing artists this time, neither of which you've seen here before.  First, Dyanne of Deeliteful Jewelry in Van Buren, Arkansas.

Dyanne is a self-described widow, mm, daughter, sister, aunt, fiancee, and friend.  In addition to her online presence, she's actually got a brick and mortar business, so kudos to her for taking that leap!

She was originally led to create exciting jewelry with beads, and lets her inner goddess guide her as to color, size, shape, and combinations.  Like me, she loves bright colors.

In 2012, she added creating lampwork beads of her own to her repertoire.

Her business is a one-woman operation, from creation to shipping.  Her jewelry is unique, and each piece is one of a kind.  She's definitely got an eye for design.

Even better, since her jewelry is inspired by her own dreams, you know you'll never find anyone else making or wearing the same pieces.  If you're anything like me, this is hugely appealing, since I love to stand out in a crowd.

To keep up with her, be sure to follow her blog.

The second artist I have for you is something entirely different, and I love it!  Check out ThinkEco2.

This stuff is just phenomenal!  Meet Brian Behncke and Jules Lavallee, of San Diego, CA, the founders of ThinkEco2 and the brains behind these gorgeous recycled wares.

Brian is a hardworking construction guy with a passion for building eco-chic cedar products.  He works with a crew to build the products, while he and Jules help the community by building jobs and donating many of their beautiful wine racks to help local charities and fundraisers.

I agree with them that it's important to be eco-conscious and to give back.  To that end, they use 100% reclaimed wood for their products and employ 100% US employees.  They refuse to harm additional trees to make their products.  And heck, they even add to the flora by making planters!

My favorite, though, is this amazing patio table.

You can keep up with them on their blog or feel free to contact them to discuss custom orders, which they're happy to fill.

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.