Here’s the latest treasury I’ve been featured in, selected by www.thelittlebluecottage.etsy.com 

Please click away using the link above, the more clicks, the better chance this treasury has to make it to the front of Etsy

• Baby Shoes  TissaGibbons $30.00 USD 

• 
  FREE SHIPPING – SPRING …  vivibijoux$89.00 USD

   

• 
  Hey diddle diddle  myfanwynia$555.00 USD

   

• 
  I AM A BOY DON’T CALL M…  SneakyOwls$12.00 USD

   

• 
  Hand knit classic Irish…  IrishWoolen$48.00 USD

   

• 
  Berrylicious Summer Dress  Leatherstreasure$29.50 USD

   

• 
  Baby Quilt  curlyrip$75.00 USD

   

• 
  Little Green Princess …  thelittleblue…$15.00 USD

   

• 
  The Peckish Moon – Lisa…  meluseenaSold

   

• 
  Happy Owl Dress  beefreekidscl…$35.00 USD

   

• 
  Crochet Beanie hat  crochetingfor…$10.00 USD

   

• 
  White lace Baby appliqu… LittleSnippets $4.00 USD

   

• 
  Handmade Baby Bell with…  patchworkdeli…$16.00 USD

   

• 
  Handmade Personalised C…  LuckyRainbowD… $5.00 USD

   

• 
  Mrs Rabbit making tea -…  tanyabond$12.00 USD

   

• 

Baby quilt – Apples and Ice cream www.mukkymonkey.etsy.com $100

We’re just back from England where we’ve attended a family funeral  But we’re off again this week end for 2 weeks in the south-west of France where we’re going to stay with my family. 

Unfortunately before we can relax we’ve got loads to do and prepare. Given that on wednesday I’m going with Dylan and an artist friend to the craft market, I need to get all my available jewelry tagged and ready to go. That means making sure I’ve got enough handmade gift pouches with me (I made a few last week), look into taking a table + chairs, a table clothe, my earrings displays, enough food and toys to feed and keep baby happy…oh!and closing the etsy shop for 2 weeks and everything else I can’t think of right now but will hit me at a later date lol.

So anyway, I’m sure somehow it’ll get done. That if Dylan will let me, He’s growing 2 teeth at the moment and has the sniffles since the week-end.

He’s got nearly 8 teeth now, is starting to stand up from sitting on the floor when holding on to something and started to crawl a couple of weeks back. Yes it’s all happening and he’s just turned 11 months!

The quilt I was talking to you about is now complete and thought I would share with you some pics before I take it to France to its new home…

It’ a single bed size and there’s nothing complicated about this quilt, as it had to be done relatively quickly, it’s the print that really makes it…

Today, I’m revealing the name of the participants and who they will be trading with! (before the official post on the Ireland team blog tomorrow…Naughty ) 
(Please click on banners for links to blogs. Didn’t get a blog address for all the participants, if by any chance I have forgotten one, please let me know!)

Bee http://www.beeliciouscrafts.etsy.com/ + Beth http://www.magpieandbutton.etsy.com/

Ruth http://www.nicedaydesigns.etsy.com/ + Mary http://www.myrasimon.etsy.com/

Carrie http://www.cherryblossomtatoo.etsy.com/ + Suzie http://www.littlewhitedog.etsy.com/

Tanya http://www.tanymac.etsy.com/ + Virginie http://www.vivibijoux.etsy.com/

Rachel http://www.balanced.etsy.com/ + Fiona http://www.patchworkdelights.etsy.com/

Linda http://www.clickdecourcyni.etsy.com/ + Jessamyn http://www.homespunireland.etsy.com/

Aine http://www.missaine.etsy.com/ + Virginie (uneven number, sorry!) http://www.vivibijoux.etsy.com/

The original idea was to showcase them in each boutique. It allows people to go from boutique to boutique and discover new crafts. One week should be plenty for that .

If anyone prefers to display on the blog instead, no pb. Please convo me and let me know if there’s anything you wanna make sure or if you have suggestions!

Brigitte from http://www.purlsofcolours.etsy.com/ is kindly designing an official widget for the swap so that the team and the participants can display them on their blogs. It should be available soon here.

Meanwhile, anyone who would like to help spreading the word about this challenge and the team is more than welcome to pick it up and stick it on web sites and personal blogs!

My button is to grab too, don’t hesitate, it’s free and pretty!!

Please click away here on this new treasury by www.balanced.etsy.com , my Sunny me Earrings are featured there ^_^

The theme is fab! I’m delighted that I discovered through this selection an artist from the Crafty Ireland Etsy team called Meluseena from www.meluseena.etsy.com . She’s very talented and I love some of her prints. Especially that one that I keep an eye on :

ATC of Alice in Wonderland after she’s grown tiny, she’s reaching up for the bottle that says “Drink Me” 

(click on link to see the artist’s other cards)

Just a quick reminder to look into the Etsy Ireland team Swap. We are looking for a lot more participants, in fact we are an uneven number at the moment (which makes it tricky to pair up lol).

 Please have a look at the post, share your love for your craft and join us, we’re all beginners here ^_^

 The list of participants will be posted on Saturday. Leave a comment here or convo me to join us, that’d be great!

This week, it’s all about print and fabric! I love both, so I hope you enjoy this weekly selection.

The fabric is real Chic and the contrast between pink, yellow,white and black adds to the fab layered design…Really, you wouldn’t want to cook a bolognese sauce with that on, it’s too cute to get tomatoe sauce all over yourself

Business card holder damask by www.ocstylescreations.etsy.com $7.99

I love it and love everything there is in the shop! go and check it out. When practical goes with good looking, can you ask for more?!

Jamestown toile Jewelry pouch by www.susankeepsake.etsy.com $21

Useful and lovely, handy for your jewellery when you go away. I think the fabric and the inner gingham with loads and loads of pocket are so well thought out. Brillant idea!

Dandy damask pleated bag by www.bagsbycolette.etsy.com $49

Can you tell I’m into teal and white and black and damask…lol If you look at the item in the shop, you’ll see it’s as practical as it looks good.

Groovy gurlz jungle love bag by www.groovygurlz.etsy.com $18.50

Being a child at heart, I could easily wear this. Plus it’s reversible with, guess what…polka dots…An other thing I’m really into these days…

In fact, what I’m into right now ( as we’re talking about it) is ( in no particular order or link):

♥ marshmallows

♥ polka dots and damask

♥ teal/turquoise and black&white

♥ bows and ribbons

♥ anything ‘make your own’ ( I’m intrigued at how people make homemade stuff)

♥ have a nosey at people’s workshops

♥ oreos (they’re quite addictive you know)

♥ amazon’s craft books dpt (I could spend hours browsing and adding to my wishlist)

Ok, We are going to stop here because I’ve got to put the baby to bed…and we don’t want to bore you to death. lol.

Speak to you next post ^_^

I shipped a set of lampwork jewelry yesterday. It was very satisfying to see them go off to a good home in the US and to see that the gifts certificates are being used, it’s fantastic! For some reason, the code didn’t enter properly, so I promptly sent a quick refund.  We were both delighted! However I do need to look into it in Paypal (If any of you know anything about voucher codes on Ppal, let me know ).

These are ‘Waterlillies’ handcrafted lampwork beads I had custom ordered for myself because I had previously bought a pair of the same beads, had sold them (set in a different way) and decided that I fancied a pandora style bead and earring pair tomatch.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In the end I opted for a sterling silver snake chain…(It has such an effect on! Plus you can still slide it on your pandora bracelet. Fun!) Such a colorful piece HAD to be in the shop….I couldn’t possibly keep if for myself ^_^

All nicely packaged with gift box and matching handmade tag (I really took the time as I enjoy it so much)

It was actully sent to the recipient as a gift from the customer so I added a note in one of my handmade cards.

and a little surprise!

With a Craft Fair coming up on the 28th July, a Quilt to finish (which I’ll be showing you soon), custom orders (previous articles), a bead swap to send off soon (Petite bead box swap, scroll down to view  post), and a teething baby who just started to crawl at the week-end….-wow, just talking about it is exhausting!- Well, I’ve had just about time to finish these lovelies, and I hope you like them :

‘Wednesday butterfly’ in reference to a friend who loves anything butterfly

It’s all sterling silver and I opted for a spring like feel for my choice of swarovskis hues : Rose, Rosaline, Peridot, Erinite & Chrysoline

The ball post earrings go really well on this pair as it falls and balances just right on the ear.

After cheer beauty, some cheekyness please! With that pair of ‘Oui, non, Mademoiselle’ everyone will be admiring your style : Featuring a metal bow (You know I’m having a bow fever right ), and silver plated hooks and charms

Simply delicious…

Soon to come on my Etsy shop

 As most of you know, I’m a member of the Ireland team on Etsy and I thought I would organize a challenge  for the team. Artists from all streams of life are more than welcome to join in the fun with the Irish team :

An ATC swap where all participants will be paired up to exchange their Artist Trading Card. Tany Bond wrote an interesting article about ACEOs which are very similar to trading cards only ATC are swaped, ACEOs sell.

All levels are welcome but I do hope that this challenge will be a nice introduction to Art Cards for beginners. Old timers at ATCs/ACEOs, you’re definitely invited to share your ATC wisdom with us and if you have pics of your cards please let me know so that we can show examples in the next post.

The goal of this swap : Share your love of art + promote our Ireland Etsy Team as well as individual boutiques.

So here’s the deal folks :

- A sturdy 2.5”x3.5” card (64x89mm) using anything from watercolor paper, mountboard, card stock, bristol board, wood, canvas, playing cards, leather, interfacing, fibre…you name it!

- Content using anything from fabric, paper, mixed media, paint, collage, pen, ink, watercolors…you name it (again)!

- A Back Artist Info (example of info found here - you can also google it, there’s zillions of them out there)

- A standard Trading Card Enveloppe sleeve (example of template here - same thing here, there’s loads of different ones out there)

- A swap partner who will be attributed to you after all the participants have signed up

- Optional: a little goodie (from you/your shop or a small voucher…totally optional)

These are the basic requirements.

Now, the rules are simple but plain common sense:

- Cards must be sturdy

- Art traded should not be of controversial, offensive, religious, sexual nature (obviously, so as not to offend anyone)

- You must have made the card yourself (helllllloo, makes sense but has to be said, sorry)

- Follow the ‘Golden Rule’ and only send to someone the quality of craftsmanship you’d want to receive (in other words, simply do your best)

- Shipping is the sole responsability of the swapping partners so please package your items securely.

- Final date to enter the swap is 2 weeks from now. So the list of participants and other updates will be posted here after that.

- Showcase will start 1st week of september ( So that holiday goers can still have their break and be part of the swap- with a tan grrrrr).

FAQ:

*How to showcase?

We are going to showcase the cards we made via each participant’s etsy boutique. List your card under ‘Reserved Ireland team ATC swap challenge for…’. In the comment section, add anything you’d like to say about your piece. use the max of pics allowed. The fee is $0.20 purely because it’s the minimum amount needed to list an item.

*Why do we have to list it?

The idea being: People have to go through your boutique to check out what you do. I know ATC are free, the 20cents are just to show them off for a week.

* Are any costs involved?

See listing reasons above + shipping fee+ card making costs

*Can I participate even if I don’t have an Etsy shop or are not part of the Etsy Ireland Team but follow the blog?

Of course, please do!! and don’t hesitate to give a shout to people you’d think would be interested. We will simply showcase your pics on the team blog, just send me your photos and comments.

*When do I get my goodies?

We will have roughly a week, the first week of semptember to check out all the participants stores and then cards can be sent off.

If you agree with ALL the conditions above and are ready to have and share some craic, please convo me on my etsy boutique http://www.vivibijoux.etsy.com/ or comment below with : your name, blog/facebook/twitter and Etsy shop.

Aslo I’m having a gift certificate giveaway, don’t forget to read the post below to participate…

You’ll be hearing from me with the complete list of participants and partners on the 24th july.

Thank you for reading and let the fun begin!

I do, I love my new business cards. I directed the designer into what I wanted (plus her stylish input) and they turned out perfect for me : cute, black/white and teal, scalloped edges, polka dots…Can you seriously ask for more? I hope that they convey well the kind of pieces that I make. Fun, cute, handmade, custom…

They also came in a tin that I can carry with me everywhere thanks to the hook. Brillant idea really as it happened so many times that I would meet someone and wished I had cards with me…Not anymore! Well really I don’t have any excuses to hide and not talk about what I do. I’m the worst person when it comes to sell and promote. I must get them cards out there. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how talented or how fab your product is if nobody knows about it!

And that’s not all, I ordered Gift Cards too! I’m very proud of them and I will be offering them on Etsy. But to celebrate now, I giveaway $5 gift cards to my Etsy boutique for the whole sale month. Yes, you heard it, you can use it even on sale items!!  Here’s how you can get one easy peasy :

*Follow ViviBijoux blog

*Comment on that post (one per person)

* Talk about it on your blog or Facebook/twitter page if you don’t have a blog.

Easy! And I will send you your very own ViviBijoux $5 gift card via email…which will last until the 27th July 2010.

Can’t wait to hear from you!

Also keep checking, new jewellery coming soon…