From left to right: 1) Foil-lined Disks w/Red Stars 2) Adorable Queen Tween Red & Blue Card Set 3) What Mama Said, 5x15 Print 4) Red Eyed Bug, Fiber Art Pendant 5) Bird in Paradise 6) Quark Honeycomb Coin Pouch 7) Lavender Orchards Soy Candle 8) Kyanite Aqua Quarts & Solid Sterling Sliver Dangle Earrings 9) Go- Mixed Media and Canvas 10) Ruby Red Bracelet
If you haven't come out to a Kansas City Etsy Street Team First Friday's Show at Shiraz Restaurant yet, April is the month to attend! Galleries and restaurants will open their doors Friday night, April 4th (the first Friday in April) with a variety of art shows from local artists, throughout the Crossroads Art District, and Shiraz Restaurant is no different.Heralding Springs arrival, the KC Etsy Team is busy creating new works inspired by the season of warmer temperatures, rebirth, and regrowth. We've asked several team members to share what they're working on these days, and how they are inspired by this lovely time of year.
"I find much of my inspiration from colors and nature, so when spring rolls around I'm thinking pastel colors like pink, light greens, robin's egg blue and love designs that include little flower beads or leaves," says Julie of JewlLi. "I've been working on torch-fired enamel pieces and am also using lots of pretty faceted gemstones like apatite, amethyst, blue topaz, phrenite and citrine. "
1) Little Flowering Hoops 2) Tourmaline Branch Necklace 3) Spring Blossoms 4) Swallow Necklace with Apatite
According to Karen of Karen Kay Art Works, "Spring for me is a time for new beginnings - everything starts out new again in spring. Trees get fresh new leaves for the summer and flowers pop up from the previously frozen ground to say 'Hey, I survived the winter!' I am working on some softer colored girls (pastelish with soft earth tones), full-figured (not just faces anymore) with new beginnings topics and words of affirmation and inspiration. New spring items will be in my shop soon, very soon!"
"Spring is such a time of renewal and new beginnings. Each spring I like to step a bit outside my comfort zone," says Sue from Angelfire Art Glass. "I like to try new techniques or work in colors that I am not usually drawn to or use a lot. The warmer days of spring allow me to just go out and try new things and simply play! I've been working in bright, juicy colors like orange, lime, yellow and red. One of my weaknesses is picking a limited color palette and working up new bead designs or making a variety set of beads that are all different, but coordinate instead of beads sets that are all the same. That has been my focus the past few weeks along with expanding my colors and styles of my Bloomkin series of pendants and rings!"
1) Colorways Lampwork Disk Beads 2) Speckle Pink Lampwork Ring 3) Blue Speckle Lampwork Ring 4) Lime Twister Lampwork Ring
AJ also has great soy candles in many new fresh scents. AJ adds, “White Jasmine, Wildflower Meadow, and Dream Weaver are all lovely and elegant flower scents, and Country Clothesline, Ocean Breeze, Linen Closet and Summer Breezes are wonderfully fresh & clean fragrances. And I love fruit, so I've added the sophisticated and elegant Mediterranean Fig, as well as Strawberry Coconut, Monkey Business, Forbidden Fruit, and Satsuma Citrus to my line. Satsuma is my new favorite! It's bursting with energy.” Find all of AJ's new soy candles ... flowers, fresh & clean, fruits ... listed in her shop.Local Kansas City Art & Craft Classes
An artist's creativity is the heart of their work and we tend to let our imaginations run wild trying to dream up fresh ideas or learn new techniques. We all have those half finished projects or botched pieces that we tried to construct late at night while we swore to ourselves that if we were experts in jewelry that soap making would be a piece of pie. Go figure, the soap didn't set, but don't panic! Part of the handmade movement is getting locals involved in your city to come together for the craft - here is a list of art classes/workshops available in the Kansas City area so we can all share our own expertise while picking up a new skill from our crafty neighbors.
Hot Classes:
Hot Classes:
1. Good Morning Coffee Card by christamarie612
Silver, gemstones and sea glass are the three favorite materials you’ll find artist and jewelry maker Julie of JewlLi, working and creating with in her
Julie uses sliver, gemstones and sea glass to create beautiful necklaces, earrings, bracelets and her favorite to design, rings. “Sometimes I just sit down with a jar of sea glass, hold the pieces in my hands and wonder what object they used to be … a bottle, a jar, someone’s dinnerware? It’s fun to imagine it’s prior life before it becomes a pendant or a ring.”
When designing a piece, Julie typically looks to color and nature to find inspiration for what direction to take with a collection of beads, or piece of sea glass. But when she doesn’t have a specific plan in mind, “I let the piece sort of take on its own direction. Sometimes, that’s when I make the best pieces.”
Recently, Julie has been experimenting with torch fired enameling and the results are stunning! She currently has beautiful earrings (like the red heart earrings pictured above) and pendants in shades of vibrant red, blue green, and aqua listed in her shop using this technique.
You can find Julie’s beautiful one-of-a-kind jewelry at her Etsy shop - JewlLi, Broer’s Flower shop in
The rainbow is a source of inspiration for Cindy, as is evident from the bright and lovely colors she chooses for her pieces. "A nice creamy white stoneware is my favorite material to work with. I really love to make altered bowls with rolled rims." Her current projects include large platters and slabrolled trays. "I am trying new alteration methods and new surface decorations. I think I will always be working on something new."
Cindy's pottery creations are sold at the Liberty Heritage Festival, on First Fridays at the Shiraz Restaurant in KC March 7th with other KCEtsy Team Members, and in her Etsy shop. Stop by and check her out!
* Written by ajcountrycottage.
