Finally, an Update!

Yikes! It's been nearly five months since my last blog post! I apologize. It was a vicious circle - I got too busy to blog, then I realized there was a lot I wanted to blog about, so the list of things I wanted to include in my post got longer, then I realized I didn't have time for it, then I got to busy to blog; repeat. Eeek! I won't let that happen again. Lol.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Pics of the autumn LARP and some fun wedding hair clips. What have I been up to since then, you ask? Well, the two major projects that I am most proud of are:
*Another set of LARP masks, with an alien monster theme this time!
*A set of 18 headbands and 12 clips for a dance troupe in Italy!

So of course, here are the pictures!

My husband is modeling one of the masks in the first two photos. The last one is of the entire set - as you can see, they are each unique and one of a kind. I spent a long time hand painting them so the snakeskin fabric stood out, so each wrinkle was accentuated, and every mandible had the right texture. It was my first experience using this kind of medium, and I have to say I'm proud of how they turned out! I hope for the chance to do more in the future!

Now for the dance troupe's accessories.

Each autumn leaf clip was unique, and most of the headbands were unique as well, with just a few repeats; but even the repeats were set up slightly different from each other. The summer berry theme was my favorite to work with!

If I get any photos of these pieces in action from my customers, I will be sure to share! In the meantime, check out my newest store: WePay Store: Natura Pluma Designs. Using WePay, there are less fees, and you don't have to be a member to make a purchase. I am looking at setting up an Artfire store as well. I feel it will help to have options other than Etsy; though as of right now, you can still check out my Etsy store, Natura Pluma Designs for some great clearance-priced deals! I am still looking to clear out my inventory in preparation for a move, so help me out and get a great deal at the same time! :)

Just for fun, check out the other blog I created: a recipe blog called Veggies vs Bacon where I show you step by step some tasty, healthy recipes of my own design, and heart-cloggingly delicious recipes my husband has tried out.

Thanks for reading, and I will definitely be back with updates much sooner!

Listening to: Unwoman
Pics: A few new products!

New Year, New Projects, New Sales

Once again I waited way too long in between blogs. But that's ok, because I have so much to share with you, it will make up for the past month of silence!

It looks like I have yet to show you the LARP pictures I promised, so here they are:

Aren't these photos amazing? I love the high quality, and I think the guys look pretty badass! All I can say is that it must have been tons of fun, and I hope to one day participate in something like this for myself!

It would be impossible to list all the treasuries I've been in since the last Treasury Love blog post, so I'll just include the ones I've been in so far this year.
Victorian Romance
Hazy Shade of Winter
Lord of the Forest

The latest project I've just finished is a set of hair clips for a friend of a friend's wedding. She wanted gerber daisies, and each of her bridesmaids is wearing a different color dress, so each hair clip needed to be different to match the dresses. For the bride's hair clip, she wanted white daisies with pink middles. This was absolutely impossible to find, so what I did was take apart white and pink daisies and put them together to look exactly how she wanted them. She also wanted them to have a few sparkly rhinestones, and to include a bit of her sister's veil. (Her sister tragically passed away far too young.) So here are the pictures of what I came up with. She cried a little bit upon seeing them.

I was so honored to be a part of her wedding day by making these for her. I love to make brides happy, because I know from experience that in the stress of organizing your own wedding, having something turn out just the way you wanted it to is incredibly important. I'm glad I was able to do that for her.

I also have another wedding for a coworker coming up in late summer, for which I'm creating some lily hair clips. I will share those with you when I complete them!

Speaking of big projects, I have the biggest project I've ever had coming up. I've been requested by a customer who is in charge of costuming at a dance theatre in Italy to make 30 custom clips for a performance. The dance is about the seasons, and I will be creating 12 autumn leaf clips for the adult women, and 18 summer berry headbands for the little girls. I am thrilled to pieces to be a part of this project, and I will definitely be sharing pictures of the finished project with you! I'm crossing my fingers I get some pictures of the actual dance troupe as well, and that they will be great photography like of my LARP group.

SALE ALERT:

The last thing I want to share with you today is a major sale I'm having in my Etsy shop right now. I'd like to clear some room in my inventory for some new projects, and make my load a little lighter to take to the upcoming craft fairs this season. Therefore, I've marked down some of my leaf clips and a lot of my feather clips, in some cases more than half off. This is a great deal and I will only be doing it for a little while, so get them before they're gone! Also, I will be giving free shipping on any purchase of $25 or more. The shipping will be refunded to your PayPal account. This goes for any of my pieces, sale and non-sale. I hope this helps you get the pieces you've been thinking about! :)

Listening to: Nebelhexe

Camping Trip, Giveaway Winner, and More News

Wow, the last couple weeks have been crazy. The two craft fairs I was in went very well, so thank you to everyone who stopped by! I loved doing the feather hair extensions. They're not exactly a very "creative" endeavor, but I enjoyed the look on girls' faces when they looked in the mirror after the extensions were in. That's why I enjoyed working in a salon; sometimes just the simple act of helping someone feel pretty can really light up your day. I'd love to work in a salon again. I'm not a cosmetologist, I just did the receptionist work, but it was a great experience.

I also took some time to go camping the week after I wrote the last blog. We went to Kettle Moraine State Park, only half an hour from us. It was so gorgeous out there. Our campsite was nice, with plenty of trees between us and the other campers, which is the way I like it. The only downside was because it was at the edge of the campground, it was close to the highway, so we were stuck with highway sounds all night. Oh well. During the day we did some hiking. Our favorite trails were the Nordic Trail loops. There were several different loops of varying difficulties and lengths. We chose a moderate one; it took us about an hour to do the 3 mile loop. It had some very gorgeous scenery and we stopped for a few photos. Our dog enjoyed it too!

I took these pics with my Retrocam app:

Last week, I did a very fun giveaway contest with Rachael of Talk 2 the Trees. She makes wonderful art herself, and hosts giveaways every Monday. The contests last for a week. You can enter right up until the following Monday morning. I decided to do a giveaway of this cute little item here:

It was a great experience, and brought many new friends and fans my way. Hello to all my new followers and thank you! And congratulations to Lillian Link, who was the winner of this giveaway! Check out Rachael's latest blog to enter in her next giveaway, and if you're an artist, I would definitely recommend contacting her about hosting a giveaway in the future! :)

I have a few more Halloween projects I'm sharing with you (pics below). I've kept very busy in between working on a few custom mask orders. If you want any custom orders for Halloween, please contact me soon; it looks like I'll be so busy I may not get my own costume done. Lol. For those of you who missed out on the giveaway, I have a few more skull clips available, as well as a couple new masks, new jewelry, and some knit items. I am still working on listing them all, so if they're not available at my Etsy shop yet, they will be shortly!

Listening to: Regina Spektor