Easter Sale on Now at the following shops

10% off at the following WEST member shops from Friday April 22 to Monday April 25, 2011

TheSilverAgenda

Prairie Peasant

Tawny Bee

chalicerae

NancyBloklandPottery

 Toxie Designs

WEST Team Easter Sale

Purple Rabbit note cards from Willowcatstudio (new WEST member)

Members from the WEST team are going to be having a sale over the Easter weekend.

The sale will be for 10% off items in their respective stores.

Please check back on Friday April 22 for a listing of the participating members and the coupon code !!!!

Scattered Seeds - April 15-17, 2011

For those of you outside of Manitoba, Scattered Seeds is one of the largest juried craft sales in Manitoba. The show is held twice a year for 3 days each spring and fall, it's held on the fair grounds in a large exhibition building on the Western outskirts of Winnipeg.

While it was a little strange to be on the buyers side of the table this past weekend, I did really enjoy having the time to shop and visit with friends and fellow Etsy team members! I didn't quite get to everyone as per usual I yack too much and ran out of time!! And I had to make a few pit stops for treats.... a girls gotta keep up her strenght ya know!

Here's all the great Etsy team members I did visit with!

ZinniaHandbags

NancyBloklandPottery

SageandOlivia

Sorry if I didn't get to you! I hope you all had a very successful weekend! The displays were awesome and I couldn't believe the amount of talent.

Treasury: Earth Mama

I created a treasury on Etsy today entitled: Earth Mama

Mother's have a wish to leave a beautiful, sustainable, healthy earth behind for their children and grandchildren after them to enjoy. Here are some eco-friendly and mother nature celebrating products for mamas to ensure their wish is granted. (All products are handmade by the wonderul and talented team W.E.S.T).

In celebration of both Earth Day (April 22nd) and Mother's Day (May 8th).

I chose my favourite items in orange, brown, and red for this particular treasury. Very earthy don't you think?



Click the photo or click here to view this treasury.

For Ruth

Ruth is the WEST Team's fearless leader. She likes to reuse bits of what many would consider junk, or even trash, to make new things, in particular jewelry. This is for her:

Several weeks ago I started to watch a show called "The Lazy Environmentalist" and I was enjoying watching the host find easy ways for many people to be a bit more enviromentally friendly in their day to day lives (to be honest I was kind revelling in it, going yeah you suck, I recycle, I walk to work etc..) then they did a show about jewelry and I was oh! This was followed a few week later "Eco-trip" doing an episode on gold mining - I was oh yeah you really need to get on this!

Since I have been searching for more enviromental friendly options for my modern jewelry designs. I have found out my silver is ethically mined (good) & I am slowly switching to vintage beads, tagua nut beads, and recycled paper beads. In my search for inspiration I found on Treehugger a post about a jewelry label called Spacefruit by Becky Crawford.

She makes jewellery from plastic bottles she finds "on the beaches as well as from a recycling center where they'd otherwise be turned into things like carpets! Each shape is cut out individually by hand so no two necklaces turn out the same, so colours will vary! Almost every colour combination is possible but please be aware that purple is very rare!"

medium disc plastic necklace & bracelet

cluster petals brooch & earrings

very wiggly necklace

So I was inspired! I have been collecting out of my recycling the plastic lids from different containers.  Cutting them into organicly shaped cirlces (I did ponder getting a circle punch but thought that  it defeated the purpose and was a bit boring) .  I have only finished one pair of earrings so far but I think I may keep it  up as it was fun cutting up the lids (I have saved all the scraps to use maybe to use in a clearplastic ring made of biobased epoxy resin with plastic sprinkles???)

 Vox earring with yellow plastic discs on Argenitum Sterling Silver - coming soon

W.E.S.T. April Design Challenge: Earth Day

The WEST team design challenge for April is in honour of Earth Day (April 22nd).

The Earth Day website says:

For over 40 years, Earth Day—April 22—has inspired and mobilized individuals and organizations worldwide to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and sustainability.

I know of a ton of WEST members who use their talents and creativity to do their part in protecting, sustaining and celebrating our Earth.

Whether it be by using sustaining and eco-friendly materials in their creations:

Love Inside The Box Fine Silver Pendant - jake + cleo

Whether it be by celebrating the wonders of mother nature:

Bent: Fine Art Photo - Carla Dyck

Or whether it be by sharing and giving new life to vintage clothes and objects:

Vintage MOM Mug - Marathon1981

There are so many directions this challenge can take with such a diverse and amazingly talented team. We are all looking forward to the results!

Here's how it works. Check the ning and blog at the start of the month to get the inspiration topic. As you mull over what that particular idea means to you, jot down some notes in the discussion thread or leave a comment on the blog. Take pictures of your process and finished item and post them in the thread or in the Flickr group (with the tag W.E.S.T._dc). We would love to hear the story behind how you arrived at your finished object! I will blog the results of each month's challenge.

A few notes: Create something especially for the challenge. Entries for each month should be finished by the last day of the month. Vintage and supply sellers are welcome to participate, too, with a focus on artful photography and careful choice of item.

Happy Earth Day designing to all!

W.E.S.T. Design Challenge: "March Into Spring" Results

For the Month of March, the WEST Design Challenge has been "March Into Spring."

Quite a few of our members have been super busy getting ready for the Mother's Day shopping season. Some have been dealing with personal crises. Others have been excited to get outside in the newly sunshiney spring weather. And I think every one of us has Spring Fever.

While everyone was dealing with things elsewhere in their lives, we are thankful to announce that one member took up our Spring Challenge and came up with a lovely creation.

Wendy Mierke of The Silver Agenda writes:

I wanted to design something light and fresh for the March Design Challenge. I saw these beautiful grass jasper beads that resembled bamboo and decided to play up that feature. I cut out small circles of clay, poked a hole in the middle and once they were dry, I rounded the edges for a softer shape. After they were fired in my kiln, I wire wrapped the beads and metal clay to form a bamboo stalk. Finishing the piece are handmade fine silver french ear wires.


Aren't they gorgeous?

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Stay tuned for the April Design Challenge Announcement on Monday!

Colourful results

As a potter the firing is the most uncontrollable element of what is a pretty long creative process.  We refer to it being Halloween or Christmas. Lots of horrors sometimes, but hopefully more often pieces that make you say Ahhh and yelp with glee , just like kids at Christmas.  This last kiln I was a kid at Christmas.  I love colour and the bolder the better.  Here are some examples that I will be showing on Etsy and at Scattered Seeds next week.

Sunday April 10

HERITAGE VICTORIA COMMUNITY CENTRE
CRAFT AND TRADE SHOW

950 STURGEON ROAD

APRIL 10, 2011
11AM – 4 PM

FREE admission


Food and beverages available for purchase
Over 30 exhibitors