That Sea Shore Smell

One of my favorite things is my blackberry. Oh, pathetic I know. The mobility, the practicality, the freedom. For example, here I am sitting at the beach with the sea breeze in my hair, surrounded by susicious gulls, watching a thunderstorm pass across New Haven Harbor ... The rain falls on West Haven - and I can hear the thunder - but I have sun in my eyes. Yet I am still, in a sense, at my desk. If my customers call me, I am here. If they email me, I am available.

There is only one thing missing from my blackberry, as I finally have discovered today. A camera. To share this image with the world.

And ok, a sound recorder, to capture the gulls' song, as well as that of the ice cream truck which just drove up behind me. There is a fishing pier here at Nathan Hale Park, and the families bring their kids when they're fishing. A captive market!

I just saw a lightning strike over West Rock! Far away, backlit in a sense, with me squinting into the sunshine.

The ice cream truck's song has a ring, an organ melody, and this little ocarina hoot sound. So many layers to such a simple sound. Thunder percussion, and bird whines too. And most importantly, the white noise of the rolling waves.

First mobile post!

This is a first... I'm sitting with my morning coffee and reading me email on a sunny Sunday morning... Ahhh...

So who wants to turn on their pc at a moment like this? Hmm?

Why not send a post from my blackberry? Well... Here it is.

This is a test... Only a test... If it had been a real post I would have talked about... Ah well, you know what I mean! :)

paint / glass / paint / glass

Oh my goodness! I have discovered glass paint...

It is kind of like I've found the Rosetta Stone. Not quite the Holy Grail... but approaching it with wide eyes and bated breath.

I know, I know... a little dramatic. But still, it's like I found a missing vowel in my own language. Things I've been trying to do in enamel, in glass, in silver... can now be done with little Elmer's glue-shaped bottles of paint.

It's simple and it's silly. But when I am able to draw something that will permanently be part of the glass, I feel like I've been freed ~ from searching for the perfect stamp, from using black and white instead of color, from being forced to use only graphic shapes and elements in my glass work, and for that matter... using only dichroic glass. It makes all those other things more about being themselves and not trying to be something else. It makes them merely tools for specific purposes, as is this. But it just gives me another way to be creative in a way I have been craving.

I will take these to the Arts and Ideas fest and see how they go over! :)

Arts and Ideas, Here we Come!

I am so completely psyched... this is my third year living in New Haven, so it's my third year of getting excited about the New Haven International Arts & Ideas Festival!

Last year, I emailed them asking if there were any craft vending opportunities and they advised there weren't. This year, I caught myself wondering ... why not? I mean, it's an ARTS and Ideas fest! There should be all kinds of artists: visual and performing. I tried to get a permit last year to vend on Chapel Street at the same time as the festival to no avail either. So when A&I rolled around again this year, I sadly decided not to pursue getting a space there.

But then today something magical happened... someone from the CT Etsy Team posted a note on our group bulletin board that there was a billboard with info about the show. So I emailed the address she mentioned and received an answer... nay, a phone call offering spaces at the show! The organizer who called me seemed so pleased to have found a group of local artisans who want to get together and sell at the show!

So, I got info about how to apply and also that I need a hawker's license in New Haven to do any street vending. They have "day" permits and "year" permits... the year long ones require a police background check!! Not that I have any outstanding parking tickets or anything, but my library fines give me pause... so I'm leaning toward the "day" permit.

I posted the event info on the group board and it looks like there are a couple interested people. If 3 of us share a table for 2 days, it'll only cost $90 each including table and hawker's license... not a bad deal at all for such a well attended venue. If nothing else, it'll be a chance to get the team and individual names out there ~ plus cross market to our other upcoming events.

Love it!!

The People We Meet

Things are really heating up around here!
The weather is getting nicer ~ the skies are blue and the trees are green... and yes, this is my absolutely *favorite* time of year.

But I mean that I'm starting to get a lot more activity on my website, blog, and have been featured in more blogs and treasuries lately ~ YAY! So I give you my "Summer Waves" Necklace in this "Fun in the Sun" Treasury:

I tell you ... all this activity? It's all because of the CT Etsy Team, to be honest. What an amazing group of artists and people! For example, this treasury was posted by Lis-el, the creative fire behind heartofthefire.

Heartofthefire's Morganna Pendant

Lis-el does beautiful Art Clay Silver and glass work, and I was thrilled to meet her last weekend at the CT Etsy Team meeting with Etsy Admin Beth during her Mega-Beth Tour. (Read all about our fun and productive meeting here!) She was so inspiring!

Another fantastic person in the CT Etsy Team is our fearless leader Jillian ~ aka MsKittyFantastico. I could tell she had great energy from everything that'd been happening already on the various sites dedicated to the team: the Google Group, the CT Etsy Team Group blog, the MySpace page, and even a Ning page!! Such energy! But meeting her was even better ~ she's a thoughtful, intelligent speaker with great ideas and a very kind energy!

I also had a great time at the Mega-Beth event when I met the creative forces behind ScribbleNation and GooseontheLoose as I walked in. Both are so talented ~ Mary Helen's ScribbleNation Blog never fails to make me bust out laughing, and Jennifer's fine silver work is so beautifully simple. I was so glad to meet them!

There are a lot more people whom I'm glad I met ~ but I hope to mention them over time in this space. I'll just leave you with another item that left me surprised, bemused and amused: fenrislorsrai's "Mars Needs Weasels" statue:

And I think to myself... what a wonderful ... woooorrrrllld!

I've been Featured by WickedlyChic.com!

Check it out!
One of my sea glass necklaces has been blogged by a daily fashion-watch blog:

Here's the email I just received from them, which explains who what and where they are...

"Hi Sue!

Just an FYI to let you know that I am now featuring one of your necklaces in the Daily Ditties section of Wickedly Chic, http://www.wickedlychic.com . This will be permanently archived on the site after the week is over.

Be sure to check out the WC website...we're a stylish online weekly magazine (with daily updates..in the Ditties, of course) & we're devoted to featuring independent businesses. If you sign up for our giveaway newsletter (Giveaway tab on the top of the site), you will receive weekly information about fabulous contests sponsored by independent businesses. There's a winner every week!

~Liz Nonnemacher"

Here's the image of my Sea Glass Pendant as it shows up on the site:

There are lots of great things on the site, and I'm honored to be featured.

In celebration, I've let Liz know that anyone who enters promo code "WICKED" for any item in my store will receive FREE USPS First Class Mail shipping!! (Hint... as a reader of this blog, you can use that promo code too!)

New Treasury!

My "Lunar Drop" necklace has just gotten into a new treasury ~

It's called "J'amaican Me Crazy!"
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=46726


Thanks so much to Destiny's Creations for putting me into it! :)