Worktable Wednesday- Follow Your Passion

Worktable Wednesday features something new happening with the BBA members or something of interest we spy online.

Today I want to share these beautiful journals from Erika's Artful Rising shop. Erika is such a creative person working with everything from fabrics, to patterns, to mixed media, to paper...and everything in between.

Me & My Big Ideas

I love how she creates what speaks to her and follows her passion. Erika urges everyone to: Create. Inspire. Change the World. And I love how she does this with her journals! Her journals encourage us to Show Up, or Tell Our Story!

Show Up

 These journals have done really well in Erika's shop and it's no wonder why! Erika's passion shows in her work and I love all the new ideas she's coming up with!

Tell Your Story

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Edi is the creative mind behind Memories for Life Scrapbooks (and Laser Engraving). She has been paper crafting for over 15 years and recently purchased a laser engraver that is keeping her creativity at an all time high! Links:

Tuesday Treasuries

Treasuries on etsy are gallery collections of items for sale grouped under a theme chosen by the curator.  This is a fun way to showcase the talents and work of creative shop owners.

Blogging Business Artisans requires its members to curate one treasury per month.  Each week we will feature one of the past week's treasuries here on our team blog.

Dreaming in Pastels is a lovely soft treasury curated by Jenny of A Bird in the Hand Art.

Here are a couple items featured in that treasury:

Nancy of N Fallon Design Studio features offers a gorgeous array of knitted items and paper goods which includes her lovely art.  She says, "my goal is to create fresh and modern designs using quality materials, careful craftsmanship, and lots of love!"  You can find this hand knit zipper pouch HERE.  

Sharla of beaded tail creates lovely jewelry often with a cat or dog theme.  Sharla uses her love of creating beaded jewelry to benefit her love for animals.  How does she do this?  By donating a portion of her proceeds to animal causes.  She says, "I support animal organizations who help special needs animals such as senior pets or those with a disability. I also support those who do TNR (trap, neuter, return) for feral cats to reduce the homeless kitties without euthanization."  You can find these Moraccan Sunset earrings HERE.  PS:  You should check out her journals, too!    

Our teammates have made some awesome treasuries!  I highly urge you to visit them if you have not yet seen them.  

Here are some of the lovely treasuries curated by our teammates since our last post:

Backyard Summer Bash by Linda of Pruitt Design

Summer Forests by Margaret of Splendid Little Stars

Something For You and Your Dog Too! by Sharla of beaded tail

color, glorious color! by Margaret of Splendid Little Stars

Be sure to check back here every week for more Tuesday Treasuries!

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Today's guest blogger is Margaret.  She is the artist/owner of Splendid Little Stars, a shop filled with cotton and silk clothing and accessories for children and adults.  She loves many crafts and has been dyeing and painting fabric for more than 20 years.  Find her blog Splendid Little Stars HERE.

photos by the individual artists © 2011-2012   all rights reserved

Monday Member Mini -- Magnolia Surprise

Today we are featuring Sarah, owner of Magnolia Surprise! Sarah is actually the one that normally does these team posts but I thought I would take some time to talk about her today.

Sarah creates adorable crocheted cookies, cupcakes, washcloths, and more in her etsy shop. She works hard to create fun and safe objects and I know first hand that my kids love the heart cookies I purchased from her shop.

You will also find purses and card holders in Magnolia Surprise.

To visit Sarah's shop, just click on one of the items within the etsy mini.
Be sure to visit Sarah at all of her spots:
Shop: magnoliasurprise.etsy.com
Blog: magnoliasurprise.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/magnoliasurprise
Twitter: twitter.com/MagnoliaSurpris 
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Today's guest blogger is Erika. She is the creator of Artful Rising where she encourages you to get-your-rear-in-gear to Create. Inspire. Change the World. Join the conversation today via the weekly Artful Rising Newsletter and receive your own ebook on following your dreams.

May Monthly Challenge Link Up

May's Monthly Challenge is from Sharla of BeadedTail. We were asked to create something which shows how we feel about nature. Link up to your posts in which you share your creation for this month.

Link up with your Monthly Challenge post!

1. BeadedTail	2. random creative	3. PruittCreations
4. tapestry316	5. Memories for Life	6. Splendid Little Stars

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Friday Features: I Love Orange Kitties

My orange tabby Milo has been snuggling with me all day, so here are a few Milo inspired items (and yes, he is named after the cat in Milo and Otis).

Kitty Card by Artful Rising

Milo is a rescue kitty and I have this journal- By Beaded Tail

Orange Button Bracelet by Random Creative

I want this in green- Cat pendant by Susan Faye

Did I mention he has green eyes? Hair pins by EtenIren

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Today's post was brought to you by Jenny of A Bird In The Hand Art.  As the artist and owner behind A Bird In The Hand Art, Jenny spends her time creating unique jewelry and one-of-a-kind home decor pieces.  See her work in her shop or read some of her craft tutorials on her blog.

Worktable Wednesday- Keytiques

Worktable Wednesday features something new happening with the BBA members or something of interest we spy online.

This week I'd like to showcase Stacy of Keytiques.  Stacy has listed a few new items in her recent shop update:

The Princess Key

The Lover's Bottle No. 13

Steampunk Key- Deerskin Lace

The Lover's Bottle No. 17

You can see these in addition to some other lovely steampunk & vintage key jewelry in Stacy's shop, Keytiques.

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Today's post was written by Nancy of N. Fallon Design Studio.  Established in 2008, the shop houses a whimsical line of knit purses, wallets, and knitwear.  An artist at heart, Nancy also dabbles in watercolors, mixed media sculpture, and poetry.  You can read more about her life and work on her blog One Loopy Knitter.

Tuesday Treasuries

Treasuries on etsy are gallery collections of items for sale grouped under a theme chosen by the curator.  This is a fun way to showcase the talents and work of creative shop owners.

Blogging Business Artisans requires its members to curate one treasury per month.  Each week we will feature one of the past week's treasuries here on our team blog.

Here is a treasury I created full of wild animals, partly to honor Maurice Sendak.    
wild by Splendid Little Stars.

Sher of Sher Hastings Designs creates the most delightful images and  PDF Patterns for crafting, scrapbooking, card making, and other fun uses!  This cute owl is a template and will have many uses besides just fabric crafting.

Cara's shop, Cara Tilson is filled with her art, art prints, photography, and ACEOs (Art Card Editions and Originals).  Cara expresses her emotions through her art.  This fish is an original acrylic painting on wood.

Be sure to check back here every week for more Tuesday Treasuries!

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Today's guest blogger is Margaret.  She is the artist/owner of Splendid Little Stars, a shop filled with cotton and silk clothing and accessories for children and adults.  She loves many crafts and has been dyeing and painting fabric for more than 20 years.  Find her blog Splendid Little Stars HERE.

photos by the individual artists © 2011-2012   all rights reserved

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the gift certificate for N. Fallon Design Studio is Diane who said:

Congratulations, Diane, you will be contacted by Nancy about the certificate.

Thank you to all those that participated and be sure to check out next month's giveaway!

May Flowers

April showers . . . bring May flowers, as the old saying goes.  Beautiful flowers of Spring featured today! 


Flower Corsage by DinkyBirdBoutique



Lavender Bliss by MisterPenQuin

Pressed Flower No 11 by KatysDriedFlowerArt



Vintage Brooch and Earrings by ChristinasVintagery




Simple Country Dried flowers by TheFlowerPatch

Friday features brought to you today by BBA member Linda of PruittDesign . . . pretty things for a lovely lady . . . .

Let Your Readers Comment: Get Rid of Word Verification

The new word verification system has a lot of people annoyed. Most of them are difficult and some of them are impossible. But you do not have to use Word Verification. When the interface (look of the dashboard) recently changed some bloggers discovered that word verification was automatically put back on. Change it.  Here is how:

When you open up your Dashboard, click on the arrow that is circled in the photo below. It will give you a pull down menu; click on Settings.

In the new page you will see Settings toward the bottom of the list and then Posts and Comments. Click on that part. Where is says Show word verification, click No!

You can always choose to moderate the comments but read here how that can actually hurt your blog traffic. Most people rarely have problems with spam and if you do then check to see if it is on one post. If it is, close out the comments on that post. And the whole purpose of a blog is the interaction. So let your audience comment!

QUESTION: Have you changed your word verification yet?

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Today's guest blogger is Erika. She is the creator of Artful Rising where she
encourages you to get-your-rear-in-gear to Create. Inspire. Change the World. Join the conversation today and receive your own ebook on following your dreams.

Worktable Wednesday - Pruitt Design

Worktable Wednesday features something new happening with the BBA members or something of interest we spy online. Today I'm featuring Pruitt Design...the newly reopened shop of team member Linda Pruitt!

Linda's Design Shop has transformed many times over the years, but is back to it's original items of jewelry and handcrafted fabric items. Linda closed the shop in December 2011, but is eternally hopeful and recently opened back up :)

 Just look at some of her goodies!

Potato Pearl and Lucite Flower Cascade Shabby Chic Earrings

Travel Makeup Roll - Roses are Pink

Asian-look fancy Brocade Zipper Pouch- Medium

Stop by and welcome Linda's Design Shop back to Etsy! You may even find a piece or two calling your name :)

Tuesday Treasuries

Treasuries on etsy are gallery collections of items for sale grouped under a theme chosen by the curator.  This is a fun way to showcase the talents and work of creative shop owners.

Blogging Business Artisans requires its members to curate one treasury per month.  Each week we will feature one of the past week's treasuries here on our team blog.

This beautiful treasury, Color Inspiration curated by Edi of Memories for Life SB is definitedly filled with an explosion of color!

These little felt owls are the cutest!  They are part of a baby mobile.  What a cute shop!  Heather's etsy store, I Hart Felt is filled with plushies, baby mobiles, ornaments, and party favors.

Kathy's watercolors are exquisite!  Sometimes, she even paints ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals). This original ACEO, A Mouse House and some Cheese for the meeses is so cute!  Kathy loves to paint the wonderful animals in her life.  Do visit her shop tapestry316       

Here are some of the lovely treasuries curated by our teammates since our last post:

Mother's Day is Just Around the Bend! by Nancy of N Fallon Design Studio

Jelly Donut by Nicole of Knit Nicole Knit

Anyone besides me have Spring Fever????? by Kathy of tapestry316

Gift Guide for the Girls in Your Life by Erika of Artful Rising

Rock May With Orange by Rose of Random Creative

RED! by Kathy of tapestry316

Be sure to check back here every week for more Tuesday Treasuries!

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Today's guest blogger is Margaret.  She is the artist/owner of Splendid Little Stars, a shop filled with cotton and silk clothing and accessories for children and adults.  She loves many crafts and has been dyeing and painting fabric for more than 20 years.  Find her blog Splendid Little Stars HERE.

photos by the individual artists © 2011-2012   all rights reserved

Friday Features: Blue and Green

Today I will be sharing some pieces in my favorite colors, blue and green.  Not only are these awesome colors by themselves, but they look fantastic together.

Vintage Enamel Collar by blingitongirl

Beaded Pendant by randomcreative

Clutch Purse by SeventhSphere

Thank You Card by saralukecreative

Baby Headband by casualcutie

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Today's post was brought to you by Jenny of A Bird In The Hand Art.  As the artist and owner behind A Bird In The Hand Art, Jenny spends her time creating unique jewelry and one-of-a-kind home decor pieces.  See her work in her shop or read some of her craft tutorials on her blog.

Artisan Spotlight -- Lilees Gram Knits

7 questions is our spotlight on our favorite artisans. Please welcome...

Lilee"s Gram Knits

What do you sell in your shop?

I sell lot of different fiber items from raw washed fiber to hand spun, hand dyed yarn as well as other accessories for knitting.

 

What is your favorite thing about etsy?

It allows me a creative outlet for my creations, so I don't fill up the house!

What is your least favorite thing about etsy?

There is so much competition....but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  lol

 What does your studio/workspace look like?

A mess.....If it ain't messy, then I haven't been working.

  

 

What do you do to relax?

Spend time with my wonderful Hubby, spin, read, and my favorite way to relax is hanging out with my Grandaughter Lilee.

 

 

What accomplishments are you the most proud of?

My Marriage.  We both come from families  of Divorce and we have been married longer than any of our parents and we still love/like each other.

What are some of your goals for the next year?

Really get my shop going...so it is more of a business than just a hobby. And to spin some more funky yarns, like core spinning

Where can you find me?

Etsy Shop: www.lileesgramknits.com
Blog: www.lileesgram.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Lileesgramknits
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LileesGramKnits
Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/lileesgramknits
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lileesgramknits/