Artist Spotlight: Part One Hundred and Seven

I could be wrong, but I don't think you've met Monika of MyEuropeanTouch here before.

You'll note that her banner says "mosaic art," but that may be an understatement.  This woman is an artist with a capital ART.

A mosaic artist for 10 years, she's been working with different mediums quite literally all her life.  Mosaic is natural for her, though.  Growing up in Germany shortly after WWII, she watched her parents reuse, recycle, and reinvent.

She's come a long way since post-WWII Germany; her work has been seen on HGTV!  But on to more mosaics!

Would you believe she's completely self-taught?!  It's not just about the mosaics, though, no matter what her banner says.  This chick's got serious talent.  And she's come a long way since her childhood, knitting, crocheting, and sewing clothing for her dolls.

She still experiments with her diverse talents and the many types of art that have been a constant presence in her life.  Even the fine arts, which I love because it's close to my heart too.

Wanna know where else you can find her?  Try her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and her About Me page.

Artist Spotlight: Part ONE HUNDRED and One Hundred and One

Holy crow, I've made it to 100 spotlights!  That's a lot of amazing other artists I've introduced you to, you lucky dogs.

Well, this time I've got some more you've never met here before.

First, let me introduce you to Anansa, a venue for handmade artists from around the Middle East.  There are so many different things!

If I was a leather worker, I'd jump on these .pdf patterns.

Or look at these amazing acrylic and oil paintings!  These are just a few of the many, but they really caught my eye.  Or check out the hand painted ostrich egg!

How adorable is this custom wedding cake topper?

And how pretty is this Quran cover?

Children's items like this hand-knitted camel and handmade dollhouse.

And last, but not least, clothing and household items!

You get the idea, I think.  Visit the site, seriously.

And for 101, a new artist to this blog, Highland Princess Designs.

The Highland Princess is a fellow Rennie, which you know I love.  She's been crafting chainmaille jewelry for over a decade, which I find amazing.  The first project she ever attempted was a headdress with a 3' chain net to hold her hair, inspired by one she saw at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.  It started when her friends took up maille and she figured if they could, she could.  She was right.

That had her hooked, of course, and branching out into other accessories and materials.

She also crochets and has entered the world of costuming.  Although she does work in fabric and fiber, the funniest costume I've seen from her is this chainmaille armor for a stuffed animal!

Adorable, right?  For more, check out her blog.

There's Lilac and There's Lilac

And no matter what sort of lilac it is, I adore it.  Seriously, it's my favorite flower and was the one bloom I really wanted to carry in my wedding... and was so happy when the florist told me I could!

(Flowers designed by Angie at the Metropolitan Plant Exchange,

Photography by Sharon Ann Curia of Sharon's Wedding Art)

And so when Eric and I were making our latest batch of candles, I lobbied for Lilac.  In keeping with our new look, we did them two-tone pink and purple, but the scent is gorgeous, springy, unadulterated Lilac, and they're already a hit with customers.

The 15" round pillar has already sold, but you can find the square pillars here, the small round pillars here, and the votives here.  If you're not sure how much you'll love it - or the other spring candles we've made - you can also try one of each votive in our sampler pack!

But back to the lilacs.  I can't forget about them for too long, that's for sure.  The lilacs.  I love lilacs so much that one year my sister and I got a small lilac shrub for our mom for Mother's Day from the NJ Botanical Gardens.  OK, that gift wasn't quite as self-serving as it sounds.  My sister and mom like lilacs too, and mom likes to have nice, flowering plants around the yard.

Well, back in September, Eric and I moved here to Franklin Lakes, where we have a nice little house... with a whole lotta land.  There's a forest in our backyard, for real!  Well, OK, it's a small foresty area but still.  It's foresty enough that we've had not only squirrels and chipmunks but also possum, a bunny, deer on more than one occasion, and at one point... bear tracks in the snow!  And the rest of the back yard and all of the front is a lot of lawn.  Lots and lots of lawn and trees and bushes.  So I was lobbying for a lilac shrub for our own yard.  I was hoping that during their annual plant sale earlier in the month, Eric and I could go to the NJ Botanical Gardens in the hope that they had lilacs again.

Didn't need to.

Just a week or so before, I was getting into my car for work in the morning and I glanced at this big tree that was on the other side of the driveway.  It was budding.  It was budding purple.  I went for a closer look... and quite literally danced around the driveway.  Lilacs!  A whole huge lilac shrub the size of a tree!  All mine!

It's been blooming ever since, and the smell makes me smile every time I pass by.  It makes me so, so happy.  And while we've added Lilac Candles to Reef Botanicals, I've added a new photo to Fabric of my Mind.

That beauty can be found right here, if you want your own print of it.  Can't you just smell them?

Ah, I'm smiling again.  Just can't help it!

It's been a while...

... since I talked about the Handmade Artists Forum & Handmade Artists Shop.  It's still going strong, stronger than ever, in fact, so if you haven't checked it out, you really should take a look.  The shop is growing by the day with talented vendors.  If you're serious about supporting handmade, this is a great place to shop, especially now for the holidays.  The place is committed to 100% handmade wares, no mass-produced, no resellers, and they're serious about keeping out the riffraff.

Speaking of the holidays, one of the members made this terrific video to give you a sampling of what you might find if you wanted to start in on your shopping - don't forget, Chanukah is early this year!

And if you're an artisan, crafter, artist, or creator yourself, you really should join and visit the forum.  HAF is committed to promoting all handmade, so whether you sell on HA or any other site doesn't actually matter.  You can find lively discussion, support, a cheering section for your creations, constructive criticism, creating assistance and instruction, and even photos of the members' pets!

You know I'm incapable of leaving you without photos, so here are some of the things recently posted in the forum.

And for good measure, a HAF pet!

Artist Spotlight: Part Eighty-Two

Remember that awesome book I won?  Well, it's time to tell you some more about her, Andrea of Blue Highways.

She lives with her husband and boxer dog in northeast Ohio, and she does book binding and art full time!  An avid reader, she's always loved books, and now she makes some of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen.

She loves working with different fabrics and papers, and all different types of closures.

She also loves to try different binding techniques, each of which is gorgeous.

Heck, even the innards of her books are beautiful.

So why the name Blue Highways?  According to Andrea, old road maps used to have the back roads, those less traveled, printed in blue.  Those are the roads preferred by her.

Since she also encourages customers to contact her for custom items, working with them on size, fabric, binding, page count, type of paper, and more, be sure to check out her blog for ideas.