New jewelry pieces and a new treasury!

Hi there, Hillary wanted to share with you some of the htings she has been up to recently!  First, she made a "rosie the riveter" themed treasury in honor of labor day.

Next, Hillary made a few new pieces pictured below and has plans for more!  We will take pictures of these in our awesome plastic container photo studio very soon so we can list them on the etsy shop!
The first one is a wire wrapped black Zwarovski Crystal we recently obtained as a part of a large lot of very awesome and very sparkly crystals.  The next one is a bottle cap pendant created from a unique bottlecap obtained as a part of a large donation of bottlecaps from a friend (pictured at the bottom).  So not only do we have some new pieces to put up, we have tons of materials for more new and amazing creations to put in the shop soon!

interview with Sandy of UpToMuch

Today we bring you an interview with Sandy of UpToMuch in Edinburgh, UK.  Sandy is a talented artist with a very unique approach and creation process.  Hillary says she hopes you enjoy reading this as much as she enjoyed conducting the interview.

How did you get started with art and creation?

I've always been into making things, my mam and dad are both practical people capable of making things and fixing things so the house always had plenty of tools and materials slightly beyond the normal children's crafting stuff.  I built a lot of model kits, tanks, planes and the like, though was never very keen on painting and decorating them.  In fact, I was never very good at making them either, until my brother showed me that I didn't have to use ALL the glue, ALL the time.  I loved the way the parts interlocked, how some kits were so satisfying to construct.

How did you get from where you started to the items you make now?

[It was a] Gradual process of increasing the scale and complexity of designs, in
woodwork or in graphics, until they started to have real function.  It
was kick-started when I decided I wanted to go to study 3D design
(furniture and fancy stuff) at university, and I needed to build a
portfolio - this made me put a structure around my play, made me
define bits and pieces as explicit projects and led to a more
formalized and concerted year of varied projects, experiments and
analysis.

I never graduated, but kept on making things all the while, and
revisited a couple of my university projects (thiswayup lamp) armed
with new processes and techniques that were suddenly open to the
general public like never before - namely laser cutting through
Ponoko.  The ease of this spurred me on to look more closely at these
new manufacturing companies that hid all the dirty manufacturing work
and delivered a very finished and reliable part - Shapeways was next
where they'd just introduced printing in steel, and I rattled off a
couple of designs for jewellery that I'd had for a while, and they
came out beautifully.  I opened a little storefront on Etsy just to
gauge reaction, and was very pleased by the result.

Your creation process is very unique.  Can you tell us a little bit about

how a design is conceived, then how it comes to be "printed" into a plastic or steel item using a 3d printer?

My design process is a very technical one - that was a place I was
very weak in university and felt it acutely.  I'm not good at
sketching, and I'm terrible at presentation graphics - I tend to
diagram and annotate rather than express, but I did learn to iterate
and iterate and iterate, produce as many drawings as possible rather
than labour over one perfect one.  My jewellery is not sketched on
paper first though, it's almost always created primarily in the CAD
software.  This is possible because I'm self-guided--I don't have a
brief--I just play with it until I get a form that appeals to me, and
then that becomes the jumping-off point for the rest of the design.
It's also because my designs tend to be technical and with repetitive
features, and they are hard to draw!

Once I've got a form I'm interested in seeing, it is exported as a 3d
model file and sent to my 3d printing company (I'm usually using
Shapeways at the moment), and I wait for a couple of weeks to see if
it really looks and feels as nice in the hand as it does on screen.
It's hard to judge the physical reality of an object without ever
setting hands on it - working just from an on-screen view, even with
the most photo-realistic renderings, is very risky.

The nylon pieces are made by using a laser to melt a pattern (a
cross-section of the 3D model) into a bed of nylon powder.  Another
thin layer of powder is added, and the next pattern is melted into it,
fusing it to the layer below.  A few hundred layers later, you can
shake off all the loose powder that hasn't been melted, and you're
left with a solid model.  This is really strong and light, great
stuff, and takes dyes beautifully, and can even be burnished to a very
handsome finish.  I use this for my bracelets and for prototypes.

The printing in steel is similar, except instead of a bed of nylon
powder, it's fine steel powder, and instead of laser, there's a kind
of glue that get's sprayed, like an inkjet printer head.  Once the
model is finished being built up and the loose material blown off
(still very delicate, only glued together after all), it's packed into
some other material, has a sprue attached and is heated and injected
with molten brass.  This burns out all the glue and fills all the
voids and makes the object entirely solid. After that it's cooled,
tumbled, polished, can be plated or further finished if required.

There are plenty of other processes and technologies, it's really
booming now, and some are really affordable.  I've got a little 3d
printer I built from a kit (eMaker Huxley) that sits next to my
computer in the living room and builds models by extruding layers of
molten plastic out of a computer-controlled nozzle.  Good for
functional prototypes.

What led you to using a 3d printer over other options available for

creating jewelry?

In a word, access.  I don't have the space or the money to run a
workshop and do messy, noisy, fiery stuff.  3D printing, and other
on-demand manufacturing like it (mail order laser cutting, etc.) give me
the ability to produce usable, functional, hard-wearing and beautiful
things without having to do all that messy stuff.  I love the messy
stuff, but I just don't have the space or the time.

This would seem to me to be the choice of someone who is inquisitive and is

always looking for new ideas... What other things are you inquisitive about

or what other new ideas have you explored?

My current most consuming project is my drawing machine (polargraph).
This is a pen hanging from a couple of bits of string, that can draw
pictures.  It's simple, there's almost nothing to go wrong, and it's
very appealing because of it.  It's drawing technique has a slightly
mesmeric effect - very watchable, which is odd considering it is just
wiggling a pen back and forwards.

But it captures attention and lots of people like it.  I love the idea
of a machine using human tools, especially in a non-imitative kind of
way.  This isn't a machine that draws anything like most people draw,
it's obsessively focused on the detail and has no concept of the
(literally) bigger picture.  We could draw like it if we wanted to,
but it goes so against our natural bent that it would be so difficult.
Whereas to get the machine to draw more like us (perceiving
patterns, objects) is entirely against the machine way of doing
things, it's not natural at all.

This is based on a machine called Hektor that was a spray-can drawing
machine made about ten years ago - I remember seeing a video for it
then and feeling so inspired to do something physical, something with
hardware, actual parts.  That was back when it was still quite hard to
do that kind of hardware hacking unless you knew what you were doing.
I just had to wait around for long enough, and eventually, projects
like the Arduino put that sort of power in the hands of people like me
- curious but fairly ignorant.

So I put together some off-the-shelf hardware and wrote the software
for this and it has gradually turned into something that is much more
suitable for general-purpose use, as a cheap way to make huge
drawings.  I made one for a gallery last year that was 6 metres wide -
took all week to draw a simple image, and the speed is a big part of
the attraction for me.  It was self-consciously an attempt to break
away from the standard formats (something that has to fit through a
printer or on a screen) and proprietary tools (special inks and
printers) that makes computer imaging sometimes pretty anodyne.  It's
easy to get stuck in that graphics ghetto of just working
in-the-computer because it's so easy to get a professional looking
result, even if it's a fairly vapid idea.

What would you say to other unique artists trying to make their start?

Produce, make, do, sketch, iterate, iterate, iterate. Whatever your
product is, just make it as much as you can.  Don't over-value any
particular recital, don't over-polish, it becomes brittle and fragile.
Do it, and if it's not good enough, do it again, and if it is good
enough, move onto the next thing.

Finally, Where can we find you and your art?

Jewellery and drawings:
uptomuch.etsy.com
Or can be bought from Godiva Boutique and Curiouser & Curiouser in Edinburgh.

Drawing machines:
www.polargraph.co.uk

General development:
www.euphy.co.uk

Interview with "Just Give Me Peace"

Today we are featuring an interview that Hillary did with Sing of Just give me Peace.  Hillary Said that she was drawn to Sing's art because it is colorful, has a very unique watercolor style and is very retro/hippie much like Hillary's own work.

How has art and self expression been a part of your life and when did your involvement with it start?

It's funny, but we were allowed to color on the walls when we were little. To paint lines down the middle of the sheets and write our names on our pillows. To paint make-up on our Barbie dolls and dye their hair with magic markers. To tattoo them. I don't ever remember a time when I wasn't talking with colors. And painting stories with them.

How did your styles of expression develop over the years? 

When I look at my work, some of it 40 years old, I still see the same lines, a cobweb of no rules. And as much as I think I've changed, I really haven't. I'm most comfortable with the same mediums I used as a child....Markers, acrylics, watercolors, pencils, ink, food coloring. And silly as it sounds, the only style I have is hippie, no fine art training, so I guess I just go with the flow...

Your shop features a very eclectic mix: some drawings, some paintings, some done on paper or more traditional "canvases" and some done on re-used items like records. You also feature poetry that goes along with each image. How did you come to this mixture of expression?
That's an 'always been'. The poems. Because all my work first begins with the thoughts, the words or remembrances of a moment...the painting or drawing itself just takes over where the words leave off. I think I did my first piece to poetry my senior year of highschool, and that was a really, really long time ago. My friends call me the 'keeper of words', and most of my works are just that. As for what I paint or draw on, it's whatever I can put my hands on, and often even the canvas works and papers are hand-me-downs, reclaimed and put to use again. Nothing is safe 'round here. :)

What is your creative process like for an individual piece of art? Do you do things in a specific order (e.g. writing the poem first), do you have an idea for what the finished work will be, or is it more stream of consciousness?

I never ever know what the finished piece will look like. There is no choreography at all, and usually it just begins with the thoughts I'm going to write about, maybe one line scribbled on a paper towel....and one single color. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it's splashed, sometimes I bounce back and forth between mediums and methods, but always, I'm lost in thought. It's like some kind of quiet therapy, a little yoga for my spirit.

Where does your art come from?
It comes from my heart. From my beliefs. From the tiny sometimes unimportant and yet totally profound moments in an ordinary day. Sometimes it comes from the sound of rain, the expression of a stranger, but always, from my heart.

Is there something that you hope that your art does for others? 

Art is so very personal. I can only hope that every now and then, someone is moved by it. Feels it. Connects with it. When someone is touched by my work, I feel like they've given me a gift. Like we've shared a heartstring.

Is there anything you like us to know about you that we haven't already covered? 

Nah, pretty much my whole world is covered in the words tethered to my paintings, but Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview. It was an unexpected invitation, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finally, Where can we find you and your art? 

Online, at www.etsy.com/shop/justgivemepeace and in real life, well, you just never know :)

AldoJeffrey Interview

Today we present an interview that Hillary did with Aldo Jeffrey of Art by Aldo Jeffrey.  Hillary said that she was drawn to Aldo's work because it displays excellent technical skill while expressing some very personal and private emotions.

First, Tell everyone a little bit about your background as an artist.

I've always drawn. I started by doodling, but then moved on to copying drawings out of magazines of videogame characters when I was younger. I never really considered being an artist until I realized that you can actually make a living doing it (if you do it correctly). When I was about 22, I had the opportunity to sell some of my drawings at an art fair.. They were terrible drawings, I scotch taped them to a little table, just the pieces of paper, and stood on the side of the road for about 5 hours, while people drove by or walked by. I didn't have any prices for anything, so most people just looked, but one guy bought a drawing for $7...and that was enough motivation for me to become an artist. The first month I had 5 drawings, the next, I had about 25. I've been drawing since.
Eventually, I would go back to school to learn how to make 3d art for videogames. So now I'm a 3d Artist as my job and career, and 2d 'fine art' as my hobby.

Your art seems very personal. How did that develop?

I've never really given much thought to it, but if I was going to guess, I'd say it's probably a combination of a few things. When I started out, I would spend most of my drawing time, drawing for girls in school. I wanted them to like me, and so I would draw for them....some people write notes; check yes or no. Not me, I just drew drawings. So I think just from those, I would put all my feelings and emotions into them, so they were pretty personal drawings, even thought they were usually of things like flowers or mermaids or whatever the girl liked. Once I realized what type of guy that made me, I stopped drawing to get girls to like me (or tried my best to). I think it probably did have some effect on what direction my artwork would eventually go though.
I think another reason why my artwork is so 'personal' is because I know when people look at my artwork, they don't really know why I made it or what it says about me...they can never be in my mind. They can only take it for what it is, what they see...so whatever they say about my work (in regards to the 'personal' things), is more telling about them as a person and how they see life, than what my artwork means or says about me.
Probably the biggest reason though, is my family. I grew up in an environment where everyone was pretty honest with each other, and I think it just seems like the most efficient way to approach life...so I try and be honest with all the things I do, including art. I'm not sure if growing up in that environment made me not be afraid of just putting stuff out there, but I know that for me, it's probably not as hard as some other people (just because of the experiences I've had in life).

I also noticed that some of your art is very dark in theme. Some people shy away from expression of darkness. How do you feel about creating art with dark, melancholy or otherwise unhappy themes and why do you choose to do it? 

When I was younger (about age 12 to about 22), I was terribly depressed. All I could see in life were dark things. I didn't understand how people were able to just go about being happy when there was so much misery in the world. I would ask them for answers, but no one really had any other than...well, if you think about those types of things, it'll make you sad, so don't think about those things. My reasoning was always that if you didn't think about it...that's how you end up being someone who doesn't care about people (or become detached from your empathy)...and I didn't want to be that, so I kept thinking about stuff that was depressing. So I think I've always been sort of drawn to darker/depressing things. I started really drawing when my heart was broken and I just wanted to die, so I think it started out sort of dark and continued that way
Honestly though, I don't consider my stuff to be that 'dark'. There are a few that are, that I made when I was battling depression, but for the most part, I think there are always different ways to look at my drawings....good and bad. And so someone might look at one drawing and cry and another might laugh, because they see it as sort of like a dark sense of humor, others, just see it as dark; others, don't focus so much on the dark in the drawings, but the light...and so they see it as being hopeful, little bit of light in a dark world...that type of thing.
Why do I do it? I'm not sure, but I'd guess: I've spent most of my life trying to come to terms with the dark things in this world (and in me) only to realize that most people ignore it...and I don't ever really want to be like that, so I make the type of art that I make. I make it for a younger version of myself. I make the type of art that would get my younger attention, sort of shallow and obvious on the surface, but if you look into it, maybe you could see the bigger picture or at least see it in a different way. I think of this like this....when you're depressed or your life is surrounded by darkness, you don't really see all the helpful things around you...you don't look for it...you look for the dark...and so when those types of people see my artwork, it immediately draws them in, because they relate to it...it's 'them'...and so they would investigate it...look into it...THINK about it...and how dark it is....but then maybe they'd look up, and see me smiling...and look at some of my other stuff, and see that it's not all dark...and so maybe they will consider some of my other ideas, or maybe they will ask me about whatever 'dark' theme the piece is about...and so I'll get to talk to them...maybe point them in the right direction to the answers they're looking for. I don't think of it as being important or anything like that, maybe it's just a way for me to connect with people.... and it just as silly as when I tried using my artwork to get laid, but hey, at least I don't feel bad afterwards. :)

What is the most important thing for you as an artist?

The most important thing to me as an artist: This is probably one of the harder questions but I think it's not having to feel like I have to sell art to make money. I think it changes the creation process when you know you have to be able to sell something. So I try to avoid ever feeling like I HAVE to make money off of my artwork.

What would you tell other artists who are seeking their own voice or trying to "make it."

As for what I'd tell other artists trying to find your own voice: Don't. Whatever you find, it won't be really be yours. (generalizing, I know) It will be what you think other people want, or it will be what you think hasn't been done before, or maybe even....it will be your voice...but you wouldn't know it...trying to find your voice is a lot like trying to find love...you don't really....love finds you. See, it's because the person that will love you, will love you for who you are...and so if you improve yourself and become the person you want to be...then the person that will love that person (you), will find you....but you can't just sit around and wait..so you date. See what's out there, see who you like. That's basically the same thing with art. Your goal might be to find your voice and style...but really...just try and be a good artist and you won't have to find your voice, it will find you...it's almost impossible for it not to, if you're a good artist. So focus on being a good artist, you'll voice will develop....just go out there and see what's around....try different styles, different things....anything that you like...do it...copy if you must. See, starting out...you suck...it's important to recognize that you're not good...so you have freedom to really do anything you like...it's all just training. It's how you learn. A lot of people get caught up because they think artists think....I want to say 'this' with my drawing...and then they draw it...but really, it's more like....you'll draw, and you'll think...hmm, something is missing...what should I put here to balance out the drawing? Oh, maybe a clock....oh, maybe lots of clocks....and you enjoy drawing it. Over the years, all of these types of small decisions will add up...and someone will look at you and say....oh, THIS is your voice! And you'll think...oh no, that's not what I was aiming for...I'm going to start doing these other things...and then your voice becomes that....and so all your little preferences that you make...down to things like...what type of medium you want to use and all that stuff adds up to being your voice....and it's not something you can look for or really plan (well you can, it's just not as efficient)...it's just something that develops on one's quest to become a skillful artist.

And finally, where can we find you and your art?

http://www.aldojeffrey.com and my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Artwork-of-Aldo-Jeffrey/287186624721
My facebook will have all my updated work. Everything else (including etsy) always gets updated later due to procrastination.

Interview with Bre of Breekola on Etsy

Today We are featuring an interview with Bre of Breekola on etsy.  Bre Is a talented quilling artist, fabric artist and all around Jack of all crafty trades. We were glad she took some time out of her day to answer our questions. 

First, Tell us about your history with arts and crafts.
I was your normal little girl growing up with dolls, playing dress-up and and playing with make-up but my mother told me I was happier when I had fresh paper, markers, and paint. When I was three years old, mom put me in ballet so I also have a history with the performing arts. I remember mom sewing my outfits, costumes, drapes and curtains when I was very young. I knew I wanted to do creative things as well. I started taking art classes for my electives in high school and had a few pieces featured in local art shows. I graduated with art awards and when I went off to college, I knew fine art had to be my major.

Much like too many others, I dropped out knowing I did not want any student loans once I reached the end. I started working full time at a desk job and sort of got off track from from art. Not only was I working 40 hours a week in an office but I was also teaching dance for 15-20 hours as well. I put art on the back burner in hopes that one day I would have more time.

Finally, a few years ago, I decided that I must make time to do crafty things because my need to feel creative was growing stronger and stronger and I felt that my skills were getting weaker so I focused on hand-made gifts for family and friends. My best friend and I decided to have craft nights once a week to get our creative juices flowing and to stock up on items to give away for mother's day, birthdays, christmas, etc...

Before I knew it I had a huge collection of things I had made. Paintings, flower pots, jewelry, decoupaged goods, and my living room was starting to look like a craft haven.

 How did you settle on your current art form? 

I am not sure that I have settled just yet as I find that I love so many mediums in the art and craft world. I tend to knit more in the fall and winter months then decoupage or paint in the spring and summer months. My paper flowers started when I received the most beautiful bamboo vase as a gift and decided I couldn't just put it away when there weren't any flowers in it. I saw some really cute flowers and gift toppers made from newspapers in a craft magazine.. The wheels were in motion right then and there so I sat down to try my hand at it and found different techniques that worked for me and put more of my self into how they would look. Before the flowers, I had made a couple mirrors (one is in my shop at the moment, I sold the other one) using recycled wine crates and magazine paper for beads. I am always trying to find other ways to use magazines or upcycling other resources to create beautiful art pieces. I learned how to fold origami kusudama flowers a while ago and fell in love with the idea of making those from magazine pages. I can't wait to find other uses for them.. I'm constantly learning and putting my own twist on different ideas.

Do you feel that the different forms of art you have done have influenced each other? 

Oh sure but it also depends on the medium I guess. It all comes down to your personality that you have in one piece that more than likely will carry on to the next.

What do you hope to do with your art? 

I would love to one day be able to make a living by my creations, I know it takes a lot of time and work. But I have been happy to just give away my hand-made items as gifts. If that's all that I do with it, I'll be just as happy.

What do you hope that your art does for others? Nothing makes me happier than seeing other people smile or laugh and I would love to know that anything I've put time and heart into brings joy to them. That sounds so sappy but it's the honest truth. It's all about the little things in life to me, that's what's important. If a little decoupaged trinket, knit beanie, or paper flower makes someone's life a little brighter and makes them smile, I've done something right.

If there is one thing you could tell other artists out there, what would it be? 

Do at least one creative thing every single day. Big or small, it doesn't matter but if you have those days where there is so much going on, don't beat yourself up. Don't get too lazy with it because your arts and crafts won't sell themselves and they certainly can't get out there for the world to see on their own. Find something that makes you happy and become a master at it. Keep on keepin' on...

And finally, Where can we find you and your art? 
I live in Huntsville, AL and would eventually love to sell some of my things at local craft shows or independent shops but for now, Since I work two jobs, it looks like my art can only be found here in my etsy shop.

(sort of) Wordless Wednesday

Shiny metals and rings!

A couple of posts ago, we promised a blog on the creation of our lovely rings. Here is what Hillary had to say:

A couple of months ago, my friend attended a painting class at Daniel Day gallery (which I may talk about more in a later blog post) and told me that the owner was looking for rings to be displayed in his gallery. I had never successfully made rings before but set out to try to make some to display and sell in the gallery.
The first obstacle was design, but it was easily overcome with a quick glance through my bead books. Once I found a suitable design, I made several with the same tarnish resistant copper wire I use for pendants.

I quickly found out that this was not suitable for rings because where they are worn means they are in constant contact with skin on several sides and that they bump up and scrape against desks, door, poles, etc. all the time. This caused the coating to wear off very quickly, which made them look tarnished, and eventually caused them to patina. While patina may be pretty and desirable even in some jewelry pieces, on a ring it means green fingers.

The next step was to try some other materials.

First was a tarnish resistant copper wire with better coating:

It was lovely because it was nice and pliable and could make gorgeous curlicues and zig zags. This copper lasted longer but the coating eventually started wearing off, giving me the same problem I had with the other copper.

The next material I tried was raw stainless steel:


This is wonderfully durable, doesn't rust, doesn't stain, doesn't patina etc. The only drawback to the steel is that it is harder to work than any other metal i've ever worked with which means no tight curlicues, loops or zig zags. However, it does have its own unique type of beauty.

The last type of metal I tried is the most unique and is one of my favorites:
Oxidized Brass.


This is brass wire that has been pre-oxidized. I rub off some of the oxidization layer with a paper towel or magic eraser before I create the piece. The oxidization is what creates the lovely "highlights and shadows" effect that you see in the metal. The extra cool thing about this is that the effect deepens over time. As the ring is exposed to the elements, the inside of the ring becomes more oxidized while the outer sections brighten as the oxidization rubs off.

The only downside to this wire is that this wire is extremely soft so the rings have to be made a certain way so as to maintain structural integrity. However, I think the slight design change is worth it for the lovely antique look that you get from this wire.

I have made several more rings from the steel and brass and hope to post them soon!
Also, if you would like to see more of my rings, check out my sterling and argentium work on my sister blog.

New piece to be donated to a local charity

Hillary made this lovely butterfly necklace a couple of weeks ago.



He will be donated to a local children's charity so that he can make sure someone has a happy Christmas.

Halloween

We apologize for this being late, but Hillary wanted to be sure to show off her Halloween costume and mention the talented individuals and great sellers that went in to making her "Coraline" costume a success.





For her sweater, Hillary Went to a Local Thrift store and bought a blue sparkly sweater. Then She ordered some custom made silver stars from Lavdender Lady Bug. She glued them on with fabric glue and voila!

For her hair, she hair, she went to her amaing hairdresser Angie at fringe in Birmingham, AL and had her usually purple streaks turned blue.

She got AmGlam Creations to make her some great dragonfly clips.

To finish it all off, she checked out Ebay and bought some great boots from jag319.

Hillary had a blast at Halloween and loved everything so much (including the blue hair) that she keeps finding reasons to wear things again. We hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Child's Play Kickoff, new pieces, free shipping and other updates

We mentioned in an earlier post that we would be donating a portion of our profits to Child's Play. Here's the official announcement: 20% of sales from http://hippybeads.etsy.com and http://artfulunity.etsy.com will go to http://childsplaycharity.org, a charity that helps out children's hospitals throughout the world. They have already raised over half a million dollars in the last month and hope we can help give them some more. I started keeping track on thanksgiving and will turn the final donation in on Dec 30th. All sales count including sale items, custom items, and in person sales (if you know me in real life). These guys rock; help them out!

Why do they rock? Because it's a couple of passionate gamers, who write a webcomic, who got tired of the negative light that the media painted gamers in and decided to start a charity for Children's hospitals. They decided to buy toys and raise money for a couple of hospitals in their area. They ended up with about $200,000 in donations and toys that year in a one month period just by putting it out there to their readers. This is their 6th year and they more than doubled that figure their first week this year. They are now up to over $700,000 worth of donations since the beginning of November, and it all goes to help kids.

Hillary is an avid gamer and was raised in an environment of helping. She continues that spirit of helping every day as a social worker. She loves that there is a way that her jewelry businesses can help out and she really loves that there is a charity that promotes a positive image of an amazing group of people that she is proud to belong to.

In celebration of her Child's Play event, Hillary has made shipping to the US and Canada free, and international shipping only $3 per item. She has also updated the shop, put some more items on sale and added some new pieces:







Thanks for stopping by, have a great holiday and remember: http://childsplaycharity.org !

Handmade Halloween

Hillary Has been frantically getting ready for halloween and has found some great things on etsy that she wanted to share with all of you!

You could be the most fashionable martian ever with LiDDesigns' Alien Hat

The incredible details on Merimask's Wolf Mask would make a beautiful addition to a natural looking wolf costume.

Che4u'a Blue Horns would be a fabulous part of a draenei, succubus or other fantasy costume.

GothFox's Rhinestone kitty ears were too cute for use to pass up showing you them (this listing is safe for work but the shop has mature material).

SimplyAstra put a lot of thought and skill into making this utterly uniqueTaro Card Skirt.

Carribean Rose's"Shien Lee Pirate Queen" Pirate hat is a beautiful example of historically accurate art.

Tianarutledge's slit throat choker is twistedly luscious.

Look for an upcoming post on Hillary's Halloween costume and the excellent etsians who helped make it possible.

Our favorites list

We wanted to do our post early and keep it short this week because Hillary is going to be out of town starting Thursday so that she can participate in the Panoply Choreography Competition in Huntsville, AL. This week we're going to post a few of our ETSY favorites.

This Ilk - Handmade lace jewelry. It's like nothing we've ever seen before. It's elegant and bold and, best of all, lightweight no matter how large or dangly the jewelry is.

Rocket Science Style - Vegan friendly wallets made of vinyl and pretty handmade batiked fabric. Hillary has bought some custom pieces from here and she never shuts up about them.

Madelaine - Fine art photography and digital art. We like it because we are partial to art containing dancers, art with dark themes, and art that's a little off the norm and Madelaine's art is definitely all three.

Creamy Pear - How can you not love jewelry and clothing made to look like cupcakes, cookies and ice cream?

LiDDesigns - Great hair accessories and hats including some with butterflies. Hillary would never allow this one to be left off the list.

Brilliant Batik by Zyhan - Beautiful hand painted and batiked scarves with a great retro feel.

Hope you enjoy the list! See you next weekend!

Hippybeads has joined Retro Handmade!

Happy Hippy Jewelry is proud to announce that we have joined the Retro Handmade Etsy Team. "Retro Handmade is a group of Etsy sellers who specialize in handmade vintage-inspired items that resemble things from the past or create things that have retro vibe." Being that all of Hillary's jewelry pieces have always had a teeny little bit of a Hippy vibe, we thought it would be a perfect fit! To give you a little taste of what our new teamembers can do, we picked out a few photos of items that we really liked on the Retro Handmade Ning page. Keep in mind, our list is only a very small sampling--there are many talented retro-minded artists that make a lot of amazing things in this group.