Randomcreative Art

Friday, August 10, 2012

Friday Feature: summer leaves

Thanks so much to everyone who linked up with me this past week for my Friday Feature link up! Here are just a few of the great finds that were featured. Click on the photos to check out the item listings, blog posts, etc.

I'm putting together one of my final summer features this week with summer leaf picks. Enjoy!

keyring or bag charm, summer leaves by picciolo

Leaf Coasters, Set of 4 by NaturesHeavenlyArt

Hand Printed Linen Decorative Pillow Case in Our Summer Leaf Design in Oatmeal and White fits a 12 x 16 pillow form by littlehenstudio

Summer leaves Ceramic Plates (OOAK, Set of 2 Handmade Spoon Rests/Small Plates) by IrihanaArts

Green Herringbone Jacket, Handmade: Leaves, Summer Collection by Wonderhand

Summer Leaves Fine Art Photography Abstract Nature Photo 8x10 Special Price by AbstractNotions

Daphne Leaves Plated Bag by bayanhippo

Have you found any great leaf items on Etsy lately?

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Thursday, August 9, 2012

voting for the August EBW challenge

Voting is up and running for the August EBW Challenge Hot Hot Hot! Voting takes place on the EBW blog through August 15. If you can't see all of the entries, head over here. The mosaic is clickable. Please check out all of the entries and vote for your favorite.

Some of you may remember that the July Challenge was Tangerine Tango. I participated with this bright orange bangle. It was amazing to create this vivid piece, but I wasn't feeling inspired to work with this palette again so shortly. This is the first challenge I've skipped in months, and it's a little surreal, but I'll be back to participate in another challenge this year I'm sure.

Of course there are still lots of amazing entries for Hot Hot Hot. If they won't inspire you for the end of summer, I don't know what will. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Hot Hot Hot - EBWC August 2012 Challenge by zviagil

One Coot HOT Peacock Bead Embroidery Bracelet EBWC Reserved for CAT by 4uidzne

Hot herringbone necklace - transformer with red art-glass bead by Svetush

Hanging Chili Peppers Necklace - EBWC - Real HOT August 2012 Midwest Drought by ArtMasquerading

Has the hot summer weather inspired your art lately?

New article:
How to Make Your Own Magnets
Altoid Tins: Survival Kits List, Craft Projects, and More

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

recipe and food related article ideas for the fall

Shortly after I started the HubPages Apprenticeship Program in June, I put out a call to action for article ideas. I got a lot of great feedback on my new ideas and received some excellent suggestions for other articles. As we head into the end of summer, I'm starting to think about fall article topics, including fall food topics, and wanted to get your input again.

First, here is a recap of the many of the new summer related food and drink articles that I wrote this year. This will give you an idea how I structure my articles. I do write a number of articles that relate to specific holidays, but I also write a lot of articles geared toward specific seasons that are likely to get traffic year round. For example, an article about lemonade will get most of its traffic during warmer weather but will continue to get hits in other seasons as well.

Last year, I only wrote one food related article for the fall: 10 Pumpkin Recipes for Thanksgiving. This means that there are tons of possibilities.

What do you want to see? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

UFO update

For those who were curious about my mystery subject in yesterday's Scavenger Hunt post, it's a piece of playground equipment. Some of you had great guesses!

Do you remember my update back in January about my UFOs? Probably not. That's okay. You can check out that post right here. I decided that I would make it one of my unofficial goals to finish or at least make some significant progress on a few major UFOs. Nope, I'm not talking about flying saucers. I'm talking about my unfinished craft projects. It's really rare that I let them happen, but a few of them sneak in from time to time. Here's how it's going.

To re-cap: I started this back in 2008 right before I got serious about my jewelry making. I'd been doing cross-stitch almost exclusively for the better part of 5 years and was ready for a little break. I've finally gotten to the point that I'm ready to devote more time to this again. I'd said in January that I didn't think I'd finish before 2013 even if I worked on it every week. I am making progress with it, but that timeline still stands. At this point, I'm hoping to finish it by the end of 2013, although that is subject to change at any time.

I made this Christmas button tree back in 2010.

I bought and covered another tree when I made this one, intending for it to be fall tree, and then I didn't do anything else with it, even though I had all of the buttons for it. I'm proud to say that this spring, I did get it nearly finished.

I made the leaves out of felt left over from my flower project. I painted them with a gold acrylic. You can see how my Christmas tree has a beautiful topper. I'd like to find something for this fall tree. Now that we're moving into fall, I'm hoping that I'll find something or spot a good tutorial.

I started my latest PDF pattern sometime last fall.

Originally I planned to have it finished before Christmas, but it got lost in the shuffle during all of my shows and other holiday stuff. I completely lost my momentum on it and haven't finished it up yet. I said in my January post that I'd like to get it listed by early March. Obviously that didn't happen.

I don't think that it'll take more than a few hours to complete it, but you know how these things go...I've lost track of where I am with editing photos and what sections I have left to write so it'll take a bit to get back in the writing groove. It would really benefit my shop to have a new pattern, and I've put a lot work into it so I will get this done at some point, but I don't have a set deadline at this time.

I know that many of you have UFOs! Share your stories.

Newest article:

Homemade Bird Feeders
How to Make Glass Magnets

Where I Linked Up Today:

Monday, August 6, 2012

Scavenger Hunt and I Heart Macro on Monday (8/6/12)

Welcome to another edition of the photo Scavenger Hunt and I Heart Macro! Enjoy!

1) Going Back in Time

I know that I'm not the only one who is nostalgic about mix tapes.

2) Something Just For Me

This is one of those pictures that I took just for me. But Jake doesn't read this blog, so he doesn't know that I'm sharing it with all of you. My husband is clearly a huge sports fan.

3) Best Part Of My Day

Honestly this is one of my least favorite prompts ever, largely because I don't like labeling anything in my life as the "best." It's like all of the people who claim that their wedding day is the best day of their life. Seriously? Having a kid, buying a house, celebrating important milestones with family and friends...none of those compare?

Anyway, I'm very fortunate at this point in my life to spend time with my little family, Jake and Angel, and to get to do things that I love almost every day. You see a lot of pictures of that. One of my favorites parts of any week in Milwaukee is spending time with some of our new friends here. Many of you know that we got to go to a pretty epic lobster cook out with, among other people, a number of Jake's co-workers and their significant others last weekend. You can see the rest of my pictures from this event right here.

4) Night and Day

I did two completely different edits of the same picture. I'm going to leave you to guess what the subject matter is here.

5) Look Up

Just a shot from a little mini excursion around the neighborhood this week (yes, with some editing).

Check out Ashley's blog to see what other people submitted for the themes this week.

Here's my shot for I Heart Macro this week. I'm only posting one of these for the link up, but I couldn't decide which one I wanted to post here, so you get both.