Wowza

Wow! I never would have expected nine sales in the first three days of my shop opening!! (plus a few pottery sales this week!)

This has really been a great week, and thank you to everyone who have been so supportive of my new shop (especially dad, for the big email blast).

Actually, I was planning on growing my listing inventory this week, but I’m working just to keep the store stocked at what I opened with! I’m not complaining, though! In fact, I just glazed a whole bunch of new beads in some fun, exciting shapes, and I expect they will be fired by the end of the week. I spent forever glazing them, although I got a little (reluctant) help from D. He’s more a of a big sculpture guy, so wiping glaze off fifty little beads for me was not exactly his cup of tea! Still, we got them done by the end of the night.

Can’t wait to see how they turn out!

Brochure

I think I’ve mentioned how awesome and fun my Adobe InDesign class is, right? Well, we have been working for the last three weeks on our brochure designs, and I like the way mine is looking! You kind of have to imagine it folded up… the upper right panel is the front, the upper middle is the back, the bottom three panels are on the inside… you get the idea.

Why jewelers have it easy

Well, my dad is coming to visit this week (which is awesome!), so I figured I should clean up the ole apartment a bit. Pretty soon that turned into a full-blown spring cleaning in which I decided to get rid of ALL the pottery I no longer want around.

Turns out, there’s a heck of a lot of it. Like, 11 boxes worth!

Of course, plenty of it is decent enough pottery. Just stuff I can’t sell, don’t like, or kept for  some sentimental reason I no longer remember. And I’m not going to toss it, I’m actually going to donate it for a May fundraising sale at my studio. They make money, I save myself a few hundred pounds of back-breaking lifting next time I move! It’s win-win!

Grand Opening – Free Giveaway!!

Woot! Woohoo!! It’s here! Allow me to present my brand new shop for ceramic art beads: Amy Esther’s Bead Boutique!!!

Yes, I’ve been working hard – stamping, glazing and listing like mad! I plan to have TONS more beads in the next couple of weeks (including different exciting shapes) so I’ll be updating with new designs as they arrive!

To celebrate this exciting moment I am going to have a FREE BEAD GIVEAWAY! YAY!  To win the bead pictured above, simply leave a comment on this post with your favorite pick from the new shop! Second place will win a 20% discount on any size bead order. The winners will be selected by a random number generator on April 1.

Like Christmas in March

Did I win the stamp jackpot, or what?

Texture-tastic!

Last but certainly not least, we come to the pile of stamps I received from the incredible Linda Cain. Hers were actually the first I received, and I was so surprised by the number, I had to go check the exchange rules to see if I had inadvertently short changed the people on my end of the swap. But no, she was just being generous, I guess! (Some of those pictured are even double-sided!)

Linda’s work on Etsy has a beautiful, simple and very refined feel, and I think you can even see that in her stamps. There are some that will be immediately put to work on some of my projects, and a couple that I think D. will be very anxious to borrow. He’s been going through my stamps lately in search of texture to add to his sculpture pieces, and I think some of Linda’s creations will be exactly what he is looking for.

Thanks again, Linda!

Colorful Clay

The next stamps in our series come from the lovely Judy B. Freeman, who has been a constant friendly, creative and funny presence on the Mud Team since I joined. Check out her shop for some ceramics that will actually make you laugh out loud (in a very good way!) and for a blast of color. Even her stamps are a blast of color! I know that makes it a little hard to see the stamp image in this picture, but you can get a really good look at the impressions they make here. One of them was even made by pressing clay on the detail around a picture frame, which is a brilliant idea that I just wouldn’t have thought of on my own! And the starfish is just too cute. I also can’t wait to see these on some pendants….

Thanks, Judy!

Stamps Galore!

Today’s lovely little stamps come from the generous Cathy Finnie, of Laterra Pottery, who really went all out and sent me four at once. I especially love the one in the upper left of the photo, which I could just instantly imagine producing some beautiful little pendant pieces for the new bead shop I’ve been planning (excitement!). I’m going to see the first of the pendants come out of the kiln this week and I’m so excited to see how they turn out. (D. ran the kiln firing, so it’s all in his hands!). Cathy’s stamps will make a wonderful addition, so many thanks to her!

Wild Grass

Next in the series of awesome stamps I received recently are these beautiful “Wild Grass” stamps from Mary Harding Jewelry. Her work is really jaw-dropping, and I think you can immediately see her amazing attention to detail and organic touch in these stamps. Check out her wild thistle pendant if you really want to be impressed!

Gifts!

I recently participated in the Etsy Mud Team stamp exchange challenge, although perhaps “participated” is a slight exaggeration. I did send out my stamps, but I have really slacked far behind on posting pictures and thanking people for the amazing things I’ve been getting in the mail lately. Sooo, by way of apology, sort of, this I want to post some of the real talent we have in this group. I have to start with this stamp from Colorado Art Studios, because it blew my mind when I unpacked it! It’s like Cynthia designed it with me in mind! And she included a little gift of Tazo tea bags, which was so cute and sweet. Many thanks to Cynthia!

And on a totally different subject – I had a really strange, rude awakening this morning. I was sleeping in at D.’s (he had left for work hours before) when I was woken up by a loud banging on the door. Before I had time to think or get dressed, his neighbor and landlord unlocked the door and came in. They apologized profusely but said they smelled gas, and had to check the stove. Well, can’t argue with that. Turns out one of the burners hadn’t shut off properly. Thank god his neighbor has the nose of a bloodhound – I was quite asleep!  All’s well that ends well, and D. may even get a new stove out of the incident.