Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Back to School!!

For those of you that know me personally- you know how much I love to be in school!!! Last night I started a new class- Silkscreening. It was really intimidating but I feel like it's a great new way to challenge myself. Let's take a look at how I got to taking this class....

A long time ago in a land far away (Flagstaff, Arizona)- I went to visit a friend of mine who had moved to Flagstaff and was attending Northern Arizona University. I fell in love -as many people do- with the mountains, the desert and Arizona in general.  A few years later I felt the need to get the heck outta New York City. Life here has a way of not only fraying but chewing on your last nerve. I always had Arizona in the back of my mind. So I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone- move to Flagstaff and go back to school. I was originally going to study to be a teacher but realized that I'm not super crazy about being in a classroom with 20+ rowdy kids. Not a good idea!! So I thought - hey I'm artistic let's get a BFA.  So I pored over the school catalog and settled on printmaking.  Imagine to my dismay that between the time I applied for school and the time I went to register for classes that 90% of the Art program had been eliminated. No more printmaking classes. That's when I changed my major to Jewelry and Metalsmithing.  I was only able to attend NAU for one year but it was one of the best years of my life!!

Fast forward to November of last year- I was on the goody bag committee for the NewNew's Winter Handmade Holiday Cavalcade. The committee was headed up by Laura of Fisk and Fern- an amazing printmaker.  I told her that I'd like to help print the goody bags.  Three of us met at SVA's printmaking lab and she showed us how to silkscreen. 200 bags later and I was hooked. OMG- it was so much fun!! All I could think of were the possibilities of what I had just learned. I spent half the night online researching silkscreening and I decided to try my hand at this.  A couple of weeks later I found SVA's continuing ed catalog in my lobby and I took it as a sign. After asking Laura to recommend a teacher, it was settled and I registered for the class. So here I am deciding what to make first.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

NYC Rescued Kitties Needs Your Help!!



My sister, Karen,  runs a cat rescue group called NYC Rescued Kitties and has recently racked up some serious vet bills due to a recent spat of sick kitties.  On top of it all she has been dealing with some serious health issues of her own which has been preventing her from doing her usual fundraising activities.

Karen has been helping animals since I can remember.  From taking in strays to rescuing cats from shelters- she loves animals more than anything.  That's what led her to start her own rescue group- NYC Rescued Kitties.  She takes great care to match the rescues with new pet parents and even rehabilitates feral cats herself. They have over 100 rescued cats currently living in foster homes. While many people already have a "full house" as far as pets go- sponsoring a pet can also be a great way to help out a homeless animal.  Sponsoring helps pay for food, litter and medical bills.

For the New Year- Karen is holding an online fundraiser to help with recent vet bills.  It is being done thru gofundme.com and you can pay with Paypal.  Click here to donate.

For a list of available pets - click here.

If you can help in any way it would be greatly appreciated!!  Even small amounts add up- Barack Obama's 2008 campaign contributions were mostly $5-20 each and he raised hundreds of millions.

Thanks in advance,
Ruby

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Sparkly Earrings Now in the Shop for Valentine's Day

So the Christmas trees haven't even been dragged out to the curb yet and the Valentine's Day stuff is already in all of the stores.  So I figured I better get on it myself.  I have just listed some sparkly square hoops with semi-precious stones dangling from them in shades of pink, red and purple.  I can't get these findings anymore so get them before they're gone forever!!!


Square Hoops with Amethyst, Pink Opal, Rose Quartz and Pink Sapphire





Square Hoops with Garnet, Amethyst and Rose Quartz



Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year to All!!! and some Resolutions :0

Hello everyone!!

Here's to a Happy, Healthy and Wealthy New Year!!!
While last year was a great year for me- this year I would like to build on that success.  To do so I have enrolled in a super cool e-course called Big Dreams- Small Wonders.  It is a four week course that helps to identify goals and ways to achieve them through creative exercises.  This course is run by a fabulous artist - Louise Gale.  I met her through my Etsy team- the {NEWNEW} New York.

Since focusing has always been a challenge for me- one of my resolutions is to narrow down my product line into a more cohesive collection.  Just because I can make anything doesn't mean that I should. I realized that having a schizophrenic selection of jewelry on my table makes things too chaotic for shoppers.
Another resolution is to network more and try to be more social. I have a tendency to spend too much time in the studio and not enough time among other human beings.  Finally- there's the time management thing that I can never seem to get a handle on.  There's more but if I try to take on too much we know what happens- I get grouchy!!!

So good luck to everyone with your resolutions!!  Feel free to share one of yours in the comments.