Inspired by...Paper Crafting

"Plan out your life on paper but live your life by your heart."
~Warren DeMike

I love paper.

It is a fascination that I have had my entire life.

I love origami papers, intricate wallpapers, scraps of wrapping paper, brand new spiral bound notebooks, the smallest sticky note pads you can buy and especially hand made paper. I am the reason that the Kindle will never replace traditional reading materials in my house. I love the feel of the paper in books. Especially the really old ones with the deckle edges.

Although I love all things paper, I am a scrapbooker-wannabe. I have all the implements, tools, dohickees and tchotchkes. I buy albums, page protectors, brads, chipboard and stickers. But I do not have one completed album of anything. There was the time when I set out to make an ABC-123 book for my son using stickers, writing, artfully torn papers and pictures of our many trips to the Milwaukee Zoo. But I think there might be only a 1/3 of the alphabet in there. And he is 12 now. He knows his ABCs. So I don't think that one will ever get done {but maybe if I start now I might be finished by the time I have grandchildren!}

But my good friend is a paper diva. No, really. She is. And I want you to meet her.

Say hello to Lisa Falduto. {Hello, Lisa!}

Lisa has been crafting her entire life. She has done it all...from candle-making to counted cross stitch and sewing to rubber stamping there isn't a craft that Lisa has met that she didn't like {does she sound familiar to anyone? Maybe you are like Lisa?}. It wasn't until she discovered the art of paper-crafting that her world opened up. Lisa Falduto has been a big part of the paper-crafting world, working for companies from Fiskars and Wausau Paper to design teams like Cosmo Cricket. Lisa has had many pieces published in trade magazines and books. She is a craftonista if I ever met one!

Since we both have a love of paper, and a passion for sharing stories and memories, we make an oddball but perfect fit sort of local crafting community. We share ideas about blooming our businesses and cheer each other on, without any feelings of competition. Lisa is the best kind of people and the sort that you wouldn't mind spending an afternoon with by pulling up a chair and sharing a cup of tea. Once you get the two of us together it is hard to stop us from talking.

I am so excited for Lisa {who, incidentally, was the entire reason that I got published the first time in Bead Trends November 2008. She believed in me and encouraged me to try. For that, I am grateful}. June 1st marked the opening of her newest venture: Paper Fashions Boutique.

Here is a little bit about it in her own words:

At Paper Fashions Boutique we offer two distinctive scrapbooking kits each month! I personally design and carefully package each kit before sending it off to be delivered to your front door. Monthly offerings will be a rotating mix of mini albums, home decor, card, and layout kits designed with you in mind!

Each unique scrapbook kit contains full step by step instructions with color photos along with the supplies needed to create the project as shown.

Paper Fashions Boutique is not a subscription based site. At the beginning of each month two new paper crafting kits will be released on the site in a limited quantity. You simply add the kits you want to purchase to your shopping cart and check out. Just remember, when they're gone, they're gone! After kits sell out each month the full set of instructions will be available for purchase separately.

I invite you to come in and browse around Paper Fashions Boutique. Glad to have you here!

I am sure that if you are at all a typical creative you rarely cover just one medium. I am told that Bead Trends came about because the researchers at the parent company Scrapbook Trends found that those who dabbled in paper-crafting also dabbled in jewelry making. And for some of you it might be the other way around. Or, if you are like me, you love all things scrapbook but find another use for the myriad of products targeted to the scrapbooking industry.

I love a good scrapbooking store just as much as I love a good hardware store. There is a certain fascination that I have for all things related to paper-crafting. And with good reason. There is a lot for a jewelry designer to love. There are metal pieces by the thousands. Stickers that look like jewels. Snaps and buttons and all sorts of embellishments that lend themselves perfectly to punctuating jewelry designs with flair. I have discovered companies like 7 Gypsies have a beautiful, timeless look and vintage looking hardware and dangles. And you would have to be living in a crafting vacuum to not hear of Tim Holtz and his highly inventive line of materials that makes a crossover from scrapping to jewelry quite easy.

Lisa came over on Monday and we had a bit of a play date. While our children played badminton and Wii, Lisa and I experimented with the Cuttlebug and Vintaj metal pieces. This is so stinkin' cool! You can run these little metal pieces through this toaster-looking green machine and get really cool results! And you can then jazz them up with inks and paint and pens that make it look enameled. I will share my experiments with you soon when I have time to make something. In the meantime, click the link above to take you to the Vintaj blog where Jess shares all the fun. {This Cuttlebug thing is definitely going on my 'must-have' list.}

So, your challenge this month is to be Inspired by...Paper Crafting. And to make it interesting to both scrappers who like jewelry and jewelry designers who like scrapping, I am going to open this one wide to encourage as many people to play as possible. Pay attention...there are many ways to enter and win!

How it works:

• You may enter up to two different items this month (one from each category):
1: Jewelry using scrapbook materials {think brads, chipboard, stickers, embellishments, and of course paper, etc.} or using jewelry tools {like embossing metal with the Cuttlebug}.
2: Altered art object using scrapbook materials but must contain traditional jewelry materials {think chain, beads, etc.}.

• Post your pictures to the Flickr account here.

• If you are so inspired {and I hope you will be!}, feel free to create as many pieces as you like for the challenge and post to the Flickr account, and this month your name will be entered for each piece (up to two per person). {For extra BONUS ENTRY opportunities, see below}. You have until 11:59 pm CST on Wednesday, June 30th to post to the Flickr account.

In the description of your picture be sure to add the following:

•Title of the piece
•Short description of your inspiration {be sure to tell what crossover pieces you used!}
•Your Name
•Your email address
•Your blog or website

BONUS ENTRY OPPORTUNITIES:

• If you use an art bead in your piece {art bead is defined as a bead or component created by yourself or another artisan}, be sure to point that out in your description {with a link to the appropriate artisan’s website, shop or blog} and you will have TWO extra entries.

• If you blog, Facebook, Twitter, sky write or take out a billboard to publicize each week’s challenge, be sure to let me know {leave a comment here} and your name will be in for ONE extra entry.

• NEW! Be a FOLLOWER of Treasures Found for ONE extra entry. (Be sure to post another comment for this to count!)

• NEW! Become a FOLLOWER of Paper Fashions Boutique and sign up for Lisa's newsletter for ONE extra entry! (Be sure to post another comment for this to count! I will double check with Lisa!)

•That's a total of SEVEN ENTRIES!

And for the winner... Lisa has graciously offered one of her first kits, this cheery Birdhouse, to the winner. All the materials are provided along with the instructions for this limited edition kit perfect for summer crafting! And I will provide the winner with one of my custom W.O.W. (Words of Wisdom) Pendants created using pretty papers, glass, solder and resin with the winner's choice of color, and word or letter.

So, what are you waiting for? Go out and get inspired!

So, tell me...Are you are scrapbooker who dabbles in jewelry? or a jewelry fanatic that dabbles in scrapbooking? Or maybe you have other crafts you like to do? Do you love paper as much as I do and hoard it every chance you get? Does your head spin in the sticker aisle at Michaels from the wealth of choices? Do tell!

Check It Out::Paper Fashions Blog Where Paper Gets It's Style On

Enjoy the day!

And the winner is....

Congratulations to Peacock Fairy who is the winner of the CSN Stores $100 gift certificate! Woohoo! It will be like getting to register all over again for your wedding! (Heather...Email me at enjoytheday{at}tesoritrovati{dot}com and I will arrange for your prize!)

Heather's entry was actually the first one submitted entitled

Love in the Garden.

You can read all about her inspiration, her own wedding held in the botanical gardens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And happy eighth anniversary, too!

We had some really beautiful entries this month. I think that because you were inspired by flowers there was a certain special loveliness in these. All were really lovely, but new participant Craftymoose made her own beaded flowers into a bouquet. It should be added to my post about flowerless weddings. How creative!


I hope you will stay tuned for June's Inspired by... challenge coming soon!

Do you enjoy participating in challenges?
What do you like most about them?
Would you like to see more challenges where it is open to more than just jewelry, or do you like to see that inspirations translated into things you can wear?
Do you have any great ideas you would like me to consider for a future challenge?
Do tell!

Enjoy the day!

Keep Your Best

"Doing the best in this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."
~Oprah Winfrey

When I create my jewelry I like to say that it is one-of-a-kind made one-at-a-time. So when people see my jewelry, like the set of 9 pieces that I created for the Bead Star contest, they invariably want it. But they can't always have it. {At least not at that moment.}

This past weekend at the Arts Walk, I could have sold Tiny Dancer's "Icy Rings" about a dozen times over. Same for "Lily at Twilight." And even "The Bee Whisperer."

But I had to tell everyone that they were not for sale.

Now that can sometimes send people over the edge.

"But I want it!" cried one woman.

"When can I buy it?" another asks.

The truth is that once I make something I rarely want to make it again. Maybe that is shooting myself in the foot. Or maybe that is marketing genius.
I have created a culture where people want what I create. That is great. But most of what I create is either custom work for one individual or for potential publication. And that leaves people wanting.

I like the fact that they want what I create. That is very flattering. But I also find it hard to let it go. Does anyone else have that problem?

In 2009 I challenged myself to be published once per month. It took a lot of constant work and stumping my ideas to various publications, but I did it. I was proud of that fact. But that left a lot of what I had to show only in the pages of a magazine.

I have sold a lot of those pieces. And the prestige of having a copy of the magazine where the piece is shown creates interest on its own.

But I haven't parted with everything. And my studio is starting to look like an episode of Clean House {or more precisely, Hoarders.}

I wonder if great Master artists had that problem? Did they feel as if they wouldn't want to let their latest work of art out into the world? Did they ever regret letting them go? Or is it simply that they had a desire to make more, they needed more money for supplies and that overrode their desire to hold onto their art?

I am by no means comparing myself to Master artists. But I think that anyone who creates for a living would have the same feelings. And since I know my readers are a creative lot, I am wondering...Do you?

I recently started following Lori Koop's blog. Lori make amazing pottery. What I love most about it is the idea that words have power and they feature prominently in her work.

{I am pining for a bit of her wall art like this one.}

But what most attracted me to Lori was the fact that if you sign up for her emails she will send you a word of the week. And I am all about words {I am sure that I told you that in another life I was an English teacher. Of 7th graders}.

Lori calls this service UPWoRDS. You can sign up right from her blog {and be entered for a chance to win her pottery!}.

This week's word was FOCUS. {How did she know that is what I am lacking in completely this week. Or this month. Or this year.}

I also appreciate the short but sweet posts {so unlike me!} that she has on her blog about how to be successful at your handmade business. Like asking yourself "would you buy it?" as a way to see if you are on your own unique track, not the boring ~ SAFE ~ track of doing what everyone else is doing.

Just the other day she posted about whether you should KEEP or SELL your best work.

Lori advocates KEEPing it.

She says that by doing so you are making it your best calling card. It should draw attention to all the best that is in you, and be your strongest ambassador. Then when someone's interest is piqued, that is when you hand them your skillfully crafted business card. {Why yes, I would be happy to make something just for you...}

And your best can help you see the worst. It can help you improve and strive to delve deeper into your art, challenging yourself to rise above your best.

But the one point that Lori makes that I like the most is that keeping your best reminds you of why you are an artist and how very good you are. Because there are times when you won't believe it yourself, until you look at your best and know deep in your heart that you are, in fact, a talented artist. Believe it.

And believing that I am doing my best will help me in the next moment that is about to arrive.

Where do you stand on the KEEP vs. SELL argument?
Do you think that it is a good idea to keep some of your best pieces for yourself? Does it make people want your work even more? Or does that just make you unapproachable because you won't let those pieces go?
Have you ever regretted letting one of your best pieces go?
Do you feel that you are doing the best in this moment? If not, what is holding you back?

Do tell!

Check It Out:Move Upword

Enjoy the day!

30 Words::Last Days

{ Photo Credit: Praveen M Tomy}

Walks to Emy J's for ice cream

Returning library books to avoid a fine

Trips to Ojibwe village

Bowling party

Cleaning desks, lockers

Water balloon games

Saying good-bye until Fall

Enjoy the day!

Starring in the Movie of My Life

My friend Jenners writes the best blog called Life With a Little One And More. Erma Bombeck's got nothin' on Jenners. She chronicles not only the life of a mother of a little boy, the hilarious home life with Mr. Jenners (not his real name), and all things zany. My very favorite post so far was the one where she tried to decipher the icons on the badges she earned as a power-girl-scout-er. Go ahead and read it. I guarantee that you will be peeing your pants at the ridiculousity. And I promise you will want to follow her for more fun and games. Or at least to find out what other soul-baring tidbits she wrote in her diary circa 7th grade.

Jenners also writes a blog about her love of reading and recommends some awesome books. She is a prolific reader, that Jenners. I stand in awe of her ability to devour the printed word.

Just the other day on her blog Jenners posted about the people who would play her in the movie of her life. What fun! I thought. She always has the most fun of anyone I know. So I hopped onto MyHeritage.com and found some fun little techno-tricks. The first one is who my celebrity look-alikes would be.





I have to say that I really didn't know all the people that were chosen as a spot-on match for my face, but I am not that disappointed. I hope that Claire Forlani is someone decent. I remember how creepy Lara Flynn Boyle could be in Twin Peaks. And I think that Daniela Pestova is a swimsuit model {yea, me!} or she could be a porn star {although SI's swimsuit issue, which is NOT welcome in our house - per the Bee Whisperer - is akin to porn.}

I always knew in my heart that I was royalty. Now I know that my bone structure has the Queen Mum written all over it. {Oh, to be in my 20s and single. And living in London. And somehow related to the Queen, however distant. Because I wouldn't get the chance to wow the Prince without those things going for me.}

And Christy Turlington was one hot model in the late, great 80s. I am tickled to have the validation that I always knew in my heart {and truthfully, so is the Bee Whisperer who I am sure carried some sort of torch for her - but didn't they all back then?}. Now I know who will play me in the movie of my life...

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities

But Richard Gere?

Really?!?

I mean, he is a fine actor, and a damn hot one to boot. But I was a bit shocked to find out that bit of news. But more importantly, did you know that I have Richard Gere's nose? And he makes a damn fine woman {or else my testosterone level is running a mite too high!}

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity

Check out MyHeritage.com and let me know which celebrity you are most like!

Enjoy the day!

My Inspiration Wears Pigtails

"Always gotta keep busy or the voices start telling me to do wild things." ~ Steve Brown

I have been absent this week, I know.

We had our lives scheduled down to the millisecond this past week. And it shows no signs of letting up. And although the busy-ness doesn't allow for much creating time, it is something I wouldn't trade.

My husband, the Bee Whisperer {and the inspiration behind my Stones entry in the Bead Star competition of the same name!}, is coaching both children. So that means on Mondays-Wednesdays it is boys 11-12 baseball with the White Sox and on Tuesdays-Thursdays it is girls 9-10 softball with the Cubs. And on Friday there was a White Sox game. And all day on Saturday, too. He actually had to go to his car in between to change jerseys, just like Superman {minus the cape of course}.


That is every night at the ballpark, late. Eating lots of ballpark food, no cooking. {And although our ballpark does have some great food - particularly during tournament time - I am getting a bit sick of cheese curds, hot dogs, chicken tenders and greasy cheeseburgers.}

So I haven't done much more than encourage everyone I know to vote for the Bead Star entries.

On Friday night our local Arts Alliance held its Arts Walk in downtown Stevens Point. The weather was a bit iffy with the drizzles here and there, but that didn't dampen the spirits of the many, many people who came out to enjoy the arts. The stores along Main Street stay open later and house the beautiful artwork of about 50 local artists. I was lucky to be featured in the window of a little gem of a shop called Paper Doll that sells the most wonderful paper products like cards, gift wrap from Italy, special pens and journals.

I also had to hop back and forth to the Gallery Q where I am an exhibiting artist. I am also on the events committee and that meant that the after party with all the food, wine and merriment fell in my lap {okay, I really didn't have to do it all, since there are some really fine people, but I wish that I could have walked the street to see all the art and schmooze a bit more, but I was stuck putting cookies on trays and cutting grapes for the chicken salad}. It was really a wonderful event and a great way to raise awareness and appreciation of the arts.

On a positive note, I was stopped by hordes of people all asking to buy my Bead Star pieces. Especially the Under $25 piece, #12. I am sure that I could have sold that one to the highest bidder about 12 times! So I know that I am on the right track! {It was a good thing I had the presence of mind to print off business cards with my voting information, because they all walked away with one.} And here is the inspiration behind that special piece....

{Vote for #12 in the Under $25 category!}

You might recall back in February that I posted about the solar system project that my third grader was involved with. And the fact that around here, when a project comes home and the teacher gives you a suggestion, that we won't allow the children to settle for that. They have to think outside the box.

Tiny Dancer thought about it and came back to inform me that we were going to make jewelry for the solar system. {I am raising that kid right, I tell ya!} So we got out our sketchbooks and came up with ideas. And then we combined our ideas before going shopping at Michaels. And that is where "Icy Rings" was born.

I knew as soon as we put this together, the Tiny Dancer and I, that this would be one for the Bead Star contest {actually, there were three that were in the running for the contest, but Icy Rings was the clear winner}. There was originally a little brown bead, striated with the exact colors that you would see on Saturn, floating in one of those rings. But I knew that no one would get that from the picture, so we opted to remove it for the contest.

And if this particular piece wins in the Under $25 category, the glory will be shared with my Tiny Dancer, since it was her idea. I just helped her execute it. I promised her that I would put both of our names on the byline, and that the picture would be one of us together. She says that we need to use the one with the pig-tails.

I couldn't agree more.

And if you haven't gone to place your vote for Bead Star, I would be honored if you would vote for me! {And if you want some suggestions for the other categories, I have friends in all of them!}
Pearls #10
Stones #14
Under $25 #12

Enjoy the day!

Bead Star Finalist!

Bead Star is a contest that is billed as "American Idol for beaders."

Each year around 2,000 entries are received in nine categories: Crystals, Glass, Heart, Metal, Pearls, Plastic, Seed Beads, Stones and Under $25.

Last year I entered 6 categories and had 3 place in the top 20. And one of my designs - "Good Advice" - placed 2nd in the Heart category.Not bad considering the odds and that there are over 26,000 votes cast.

This year I challenged myself to entering all nine categories.
I am delighted to announce that I have placed in the top 20 in three categories again:
Pearls, Stones and Under $25.

Anyone with an email and a computer can vote. Go to www.beadstar.com and click on the Vote Now button. You will be taken to a group of pictures for each category. If you are interested in voting for me here are my entries:

Pearls: Lily At Twilight: Vote for #10

Stones: The Bee Whisperer: Vote for #14

Under $25: Icy Rings: Vote for #12

And in case you were wondering about the ones that didn't make it? Here they are.

Thanks for your support!

Enjoy the day!