Personalize It with KCEtsy

Handmade art is always a one-of-a-kind expression of the artist and the individual who purchases it. Likewise a handmade card or accessory – given as a gift or kept for yourself – designed and crafted by a talented artist can become a personalized a piece of art when you have them customize the item to your specific tastes.

Here are a few of the KCEtsy artists offering personalization:

semiprecious1: Unique, personalized, wearable art jewelry

bbsigns: Handmade cards and gift tags, personalized note and greeting cards.

karenkayartworks: Original art and prints, personalized sketchbooks.

RetrospectiveDesign: Custom wedding invitation packages, stationary and photo montages.

MondeDesign: Custom monogrammed wedding & children's accessories.

Come out and enjoy a day in beautiful Briarcliff Village where Katherine and Laura Morris, of ExcessoriesKC, will be exhibiting their original designed purses, jewelry, scarves, clothing, and more. The show will be held inside Urban Arts + Crafts, a truly unique and fun craft supply store, Saturday, July 5th, from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at 4157 North Mulberry Drive, KC MO 64116. Briarcliff Village also has many beautiful boutiques as well as several wonderful restaurants. Come on down and make a day of it!

* Written by ExcessoriesKC.

River Market Show Highlights

A big thank you to everyone who came out and supported our artists Friday night for our first showing in the River Market for Third Fridays! Eljay's is a beautiful cafe. Joy and Leah have created a chic, comfortable space perfect for enjoying a cup of coffee and sandwich with friends. We hope you'll stop by and say hello to them whenever you are in the River Market Area.

Congratulations to Marion, of Lawrence, our show basket winner! Marion will be taking home a basket of special goodies handmade by each of the artists who showed Friday night.

Here are some highlights from each of our artists booths, if you see something you love, please contact the artist for more information.



Looking for a great local Jazz band to play at your next function, you will not be sorry with Kinetic Trio. Check out their MySpace page for a sampling of their music!

It's Show Time!

Come see us tonight, as we host a Third Fridays Trunk Show of unique and handmade art and craft items at Eljay's River Market Coffeehouse, from 7 to 10:30 p.m.

The trunk show will feature a creative array of art, treasures, and gifts, including handmade cards, whimsical watercolor paintings, glass, jewelry, fiber, photography, collage art, plush collectible animals, and accessories for toddlers and babies.

Music for the event will be provided by a fantastic local jazz group, Kinetic Trio. And Eljay's will have a variety of house specialties this evening to satisfy your palette, everything from great espresso and coffees, too specialty teas, wine and spirits, as well as a variety of savory appetizers.

As a special thank you for attending our show, participating artists have contributed a sample of their handmade wares for a gift basket that one lucky show attendee will go home with. Rules for the drawing will be posted at the show. The basket will include a wide selection of original art stationary and jewelry (many pictured in this post), and a few added surprises, we're confident you'll enjoy! Thanks to the following shops for their contributions: bbesigns, The Gaudy Goddess, tinystitches, SylviaC, Excessories KC, Allison Stein, and three red trees.

KCEtsy Butterflies

Be Free - enameled necklace • ACEO - Grammatical Terms
Butterfly cardholder • Butterfly Hand Towel
Orange Butterfly - hand-cased resin pendant • Felted Butterfly Pendants

Etsys First YART SALE

Wednesday, June 11 - Friday, June 20

Etsy sellers from all over, including members of the KCEtsy Street Team, are counting down the 10 days to the first Day of Summer with an Artistic Slant on a traditional Summer Yard Sale.

To find all the fun Yart Sale deals being offered by KCEtsy Street Team participants, click here. Or search the entire Yart Sale listings within participating Etsy Handmade, Vintage or Supply Stores, by using Etsy’s new drop down search bar to choose your category (handmade, supplies, vintage or all items) and type in “Yart” and shop away!


Participating KCEtsy Shops:

ajscountrycottage – Artisan Soaps, Candles and Tarts
Save up to 25% off candles, tarts and soaps.

Thyme2dream – Jewelry & Fanciful things for Magical Space
Save $2-$20 on selected jewelry pieces, new items added daily.

allisonstein – A place for Whimsy, Dragons, Cats with Wings, And More Cats.
Free US shipping on all sale items.

bbesigns – Handmade greeting cards and gift tags for all occasions.
Discounts on gift bag and tag sets, plus buy three cards, get one free!

* * * * *

See Thyme2dream, allisonstein, and bbesigns along with other KCEtsy Team members, Friday night, June 20th from 7-10:30 pm, at Eljay's River Market Coffeehouse for the River Market Districts Third Fridays.

Lampworking 101

1. Krakator Nugget Lampwork Beads 2. Yellow Squares with Green Dots 3. Funky Lampwork Beads

Artists and crafters of today are experiencing a renaissance in the popularity of beads, jewelry making and bead embellished textile arts. With this rise in popularity of beading there has also been a revival in the ancient art of glass beadmaking, more commonly known as lampworking or flameworking.

Lampworking is the art of creating glass beads, vessels or sculptures in the flame of a torch or historically, an oil lamp. Fortunately, technology has advanced from the day of the oil lamp and flameworkers typically either use a single fuel torch or an oxygen/propane premix or surface mix torch for a hot, clean flame.

Beads are fashioned by first melting the tip of a rod of soda lime or borosilicate glass. The molten glass is wound upon a stainless steel metal mandrel that has been coated in a clay-like substance to prevent the bead from sticking to the metal. Each bead is then shaped and embellished with tiny glass stringers or noodles, metal foils or even enamels. The glass is then flame polished and promptly placed in a small kiln and held or “soaked” at over 900 degrees to anneal or eliminate stress in the glass. The beads or objects are gradually cooled overnight to prevent “thermal shock” or breakage from the hot glass cooling too rapidly. This annealing and slow cooling process assures strength and durability for your long lasting enjoyment.

1. Lampwork Pet Charm 2. Adobe Flower Lampwork Bead Pendant 3. Orange Lampwork Bracelet 4. Reticulated Flower Pendant
5. Ambered Boro Shield Pendant 6. Coral Mango Dangle Bracelet
7. Ocean Waves Boro Beads

For more information about glass beads and lampworking, I have compiled a list of my favorite books and resources!

• Making Glass Beads by Cindy Jenkins
• You Can Make Glass Beads by Cindy Jenkins
• Beads of Glass by Cindy Jenkins
• Passing the Flame by Corina Tettinger
• 1000 Glass Beads by Valerie Van Arsdale Schrader and Cathy Finegan
• The Art and Soul of Glass Beads by Susan Ray and Richard Pearce

Some online favorites are:

• International Society of Glass Beadmakers
• Lampwork Etc.
• WetCanvas! Cyberliving for Artists

See more amazing handmade Lampwork creations from these KCEtsy Lampwork Artists:
Anglefire Art Glass • Genea Beads • Jamihamilton

*Written by Lampwork Artist Angelfire Art Glass

Four Mysterious Little Letters … ACEO

Search through all the wonderful handmade items made by Kansas City Etsy Street Team members and you might stumble across something called an ACEO. You pause momentarily, asking yourself, “What IS an ACEO, anyway?”

Simply put, an ACEO, which stands for “Art Card, Editions and Originals,” is a miniature work of art which is always two and a half inches by three and a half inches, the size of a standard playing card. It can be made in any medium; it can be an original, one-of-a-kind piece, or part of a series of cards that are the same, and it can be an easy and highly-addictive way of collecting unique and affordable works of art.

The art card movement has quickly gained popularity in the past few years. According to the book Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin, in 1997, artist M. Vånci Stirnemann started the trend by having a gallery show featuring 1,200 art cards which could be acquired by gallery visitors if one brought an art card of his or her own to trade. Thus began the ATC, or “Artist Trading Card” craze. To maintain the spirit of Stirnemann’s original concept, ATCs could only be traded, never bought or sold. Some artists wanted to be able to sell their playing card-sized creations, and thus the ACEO movement was born. Starting on eBay, the movement quickly spread to Etsy, where it currently thrives.

I began collecting ACEOs two years ago when I first signed up as a buyer on Etsy. Within my current collection you’ll find all kinds of styles and media, from traditional miniature paintings, to collage and mixed media pieces, to photographs and relief prints. Collecting ACEOs is a wonderful way to get a sampling of work from an artist whose work you admire. Made in a dizzying array of media and techniques and in a vast number of subjects, with a little looking around, you are almost guaranteed to find something you like.

The KCEtsy Team Artist ACEOs pictured above are from left to right:
Compounds of Sulphur by Jodie Hurt • Yellow Flowers by Collage Contessa • Adorable - Cute Dragon by Allison Stein • What a Wonderful World by Karen Kay Artworks

*Written by jodiehurt.

June Frist Fridays Highlights

It was great to see so many wonderful members of the KC community at our June First Friday's Trunk Show in the Crossroads District. A special thanks again to Shiraz Restaurant for allowing us to use their beautiful Gallery Room, and of course to our amazing artists. Here are just a few highlights from the show!



See you all at our next show in the River Market District at Eljay's Coffeehouse for Third Friday's!

Artist Spotlight - Genea Beads

Earlier this year we took our children to the Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, KS, for their Open House and watched glass artists create amazing marbles. We watched wide eyed as these talented artists transformed thin rods of glass into beautiful, intricate marbles - true pieces of art, not a child's toy.

Shortly after this basic introduction to one aspect of lampwork, I met Genea of Genea Beads, a fellow KCEtsy team member, at one of our First Friday Trunk Shows at Shiraz Restaurant. As a lampwork artist, Genea turns thin rods of glass into unique and vibrant beads and pendents to use in whimsical pieces of fine art jewelry.

"I've been making jewelry for years, and one of the most exciting things to add to a piece of jewelry, are beads I made to match whatever design I have in mind."

Fun, vibrant and playful best describe Genea's overall style. Her attention to detail and playful use of color and design bring her work to life.

"I love glass! There is something amazing about working with fire and using things from the earth to create beautiful works of art."
You can see Genea's lampwork creations first hand this Friday night at Shiraz Restaurant, as she and other KCEtsy Team Members show their upscale handmade wares as part of June First Fridays in the Crossroads District. Genea also sells her work at Bead Boutique in Kansas City, MO on Englewood Road and on Etsy at Genea.etsy.com.

* Written by TinyStitches.

KCEtsy Joins the River Market's Third Fridays

Several KCEtsy team members are part of an upcoming Third Friday show at Eljay's River Market Coffeehouse, located at 412 B Delaware in the River Market District.

Come and enjoy a cup of coffee, spirits, and appetizers from ElJay’s Friday, June 20th from 7-10:30 pm. Listen to Jazz by a fantastic local group, Kinetic Trio and shop for unique and handmade items our talented KCEtsy members have to offer - creative handmade cards, whimsical watercolor paintings, glass, jewelry, fiber, photography and collage art, as well as plush animals and accessories for toddlers and babies, just to name a few.

Some of the KCEtsy members participating include:

Please check out our shops and visit us in person at ElJay’s, Friday June 20th!

We look forward to meeting and visiting with you!

* Written by bbesigns, show coordinator.