2014 Design Trends

According to designer Jessica Kelly in an article in Style at Home the five biggest design trends for 2014 are:

Contrasting traditional with contemporary items -

Mixing barn doors with contemporary

Large scale patterns, particularly animal prints - Animal prints have been popular for a long time but this season they are larger and bolder than ever.

Black and White Zebra Print

 

Black and White Zebra Print Ottoman

 

Antique mirrors - Mirrors have always been a great way to bring in the light.

Large Scale Mirror

Black and white - Always popular in fashion or interior design; this classic style is one of my favorites.  The color white symbolizes purity and black has always been the ultimate of sophistication.

Black and White Kitchen

 

Black and White Dining

 

Luxurious textures - What could be more luxurious than this rug?

Luxurious Rug

Do you notice the one thing that all five pictures have in common?  They're all black and white! 

Here is some black and white artwork for your enjoyment.

Audrey Hepburn by Zoia 

 

Little Black Dress by Zoia

She Believed She Could...by Susan Newberry Designs

 

Four Geometric Prints by Susan Newberry Designs

 

So to sum it all up, you just can't go wrong with black and white.  Next week we'll talk about fashion trends.  I bet black and white fashion will be one of them!

Thanks for stopping by...

Until next time,

Friday Finds April Finds

This week's treasury had a fun theme: April Finds. We selected the treasury curated by Andreea Radu from FunkyBoxStudio . Andrea has a paper supply shop on Etsy, and she makes gift boxes, gift tags, table numbers, coasters and many more cuts, including custom orders. Here is one of her creative designs:


                                                      Wedding  Table Numbers

Here is the link to her treasury : April Finds  

Some of her curated items:

                                                Easter Candles  from   LessCandles

   Happy Easter Banner    from  ABannerAffair

  

Easter Bonnet   from  FootLoosefancyFree

We hope you have enjoyed this edition of Friday Finds. Thanks for stopping by! Until next time… Zoica

Artist Showcase - MaxPlanations

Welcome to another edition of Artist Spotlight, our regular Monday blog. 

Meet Princess from MaxPlanations.  She specializes in Travel photography, wine photography and wine themed items. Here is one of Princess’ gorgeous pieces.

25 Wine Corks

Where do you get your inspiration?

My husband is a photographer who loves wine, or is that the other way around? Come travel THRU us! We have a variety of travel photography prints available in our shop, along with gifts for travelers wine lovers. Our shop is called ‘Maxplanations’. It is named after the way my husband has an explanation for everything. Photography is just another way of sharing your point of view…through pictures.

Wine Cork Coasters

What has been your biggest successful moment so far?

I am starting to sell my items through a local bridal store in town. It’s a great partnership! I never thought that my items could be considered for wedding favors. You would be surprised who your target market is.

Wine Cork Board

What challenges do you face selling online?

Reaching customers is an ongoing challenge. There's a lot of competition, so I research SEO and marketing strategies on a daily basis. I am also networking with local vineyards in Arizona to start selling my products. Keep networking. I have even made sales to individuals in the post office! I keep my business cards on me at all times.

Wine Cork Board

What advice would you give someone just starting out on Etsy?

Do not think of your business as a hobby. If you do, you won't be successful. Once I realized that, our shop grew. In one year we made over 600 sales (60% of our sales in Nov and Dec alone). I quickly realized that our wine cork crafts and wine travel photography could turn into a successful business.

Wine Art Print

Thank you Princess for sharing your story with us. 

Well that wraps up another edition of Artist Spotlight.  We try and run this column every Monday and we’re always looking for artists to spotlight.  So if you are interested or know someone that we’d enjoy reading about please pass on the information.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Until next time…

 

 

 

 

Friday Finds love triangle

Welcome to this week’s Friday Finds! The theme was “It’s your style!” We picked Asta’s treasury called “Love Triangle. What to Choose?”. Asta is from Poland and has a beautiful shop named Adatele. She makes linen clutches, lingerie bags and home décor using her keen eye for color, fabric and details. Here is a linen gift lingerie bag made by Asta:

                                      Romantic Linen Gift Lingerie Bag

Here is her treasury: " Love Triangle. What to choose?" 

Here are some of the designs from her treasury:

Dear Deer from bemydeer:

                                         Vintage pastel yellow three quarter sleeve blouse

Olga  from HelgaYutt

                                     Leaves Locket, Nature Locket, Brass Locket, RoundLocket

Claudia Viola from Skomoroki:

                                                                       Silk paisley dress:

We hope you have enjoyed this edition of Friday Finds. Next week's theme will be ”April finds”. If you have a treasury you would like to submit, just send me or Susan a link via Etsy convo by Thursday afternoon and we will take a look. Remember, if your treasury is featured, we will feature an item from your shop. Thanks for stopping by!
 Until next time…
 Zoica

Hello Spring

Today is the first day of spring!  What are you going to do?  Clean?  Do you know where the origin of spring cleaning came from?

 

There are many thoughts as to the origin of spring cleaning.  Some believe that because soot and dirt had built up in homes over a cold winter due to heating with coal, oil and wood and using candlelight and oil to see, spring was a good time to get rid of all the grime and dirt.  So on the first dry, warm day of the season, everyone who could would clean and wash and sweep and dust...well you get the picture.  Others believed that spring cleaning was a Jewish tradition to ready the house for the celebration of the Passover, a holiday that marked the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

 

The Chinese clean their homes in anticipation of the new year, which occurs shortly after our new year. By sweeping and cleaning, they believe that they were getting ridding of bad luck and misfortune that had accumulated during the previous year. Once the house was clean, they welcomed good fortune by observing a prohibition against sweeping for the few days following the new year.  They believed this would prevent sweeping away any good fortune that was to come.

 

Whatever the origin of the ritual, we today still like to take some time and open up the doors and windows and let in the fresh air - those that live in the North to let in some warmth and those who live in the South to freshen the air before summer comes and the house will be shut up again!

 

This is a good time to flip your mattresses, clean your blinds and window treatments, vacuum your furniture, clean your baseboards, and clean out the refrigerator.  Bring spring into your home with flowers!

Here are some pictures to get you in the mood...

Beautiful tulips as seen on Pinterest

 

Watercolor Floral Illustration by Zoia

 

Watercolor Print by Sweet Magoo

 

Garden Bright Abstract Floral Prints

 

Beautiful Hyacinth Flowers as seen on Pinterest

 

 

So whether you plan on spring cleaning or just bringing a piece of spring into your home, I hope these pictures have gotten you in the mood.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Until next time...

 



 

Artists Spotlight Urte and Simona

Welcome to another edition of Artist Spotlight, our regular Monday blog. This week we have a team of two artists, Urte and Simona from LinenHomeShop. Urte and Simona create beautiful linens for table: napkins, table cloths, runners. Here is one of their lovely items:

                                     
                                                Green linen napkins 

• Tell us a little about yourself and your creative business.
We are Urte and Simona. Two good friends engaged to our handmade business. We have some other shops on Etsy. Urte is making flower girl linen dresses and hair accessories and Simona is an artist of collectible Teddy bears. We have families and children but also we are addicted to handmade goodies :) Our jointly business was born of a big love to linen.

                                 Linen  kitchen oven mitts pair with roses

 • How did you get your start?
One beautiful day we just talked and decided that we can share with people what we do, what we use at home, and what we are making for ourselves. So we opened a Linen home shop. The start was with vintage linen products. We used our mothers and grandmothers linen reserves :) During few months we made more products. We are doing everything together. Urte is more of the SEO specialist and I like to work with photography :) We want our shop to look more natural, so most photography compositions are made in a home environment and with food.

                                 Linen grey and red polka dot table cloth

 • Where do you get your inspiration?
Oh :) this is the easiest question :) Inspiration is everywhere around us. Books, pictures, photography, fairy tales, kids and family, and all the small wonders around the world, which sometimes are not noticed. And for sure, our big inspiration is our clients and their happiness when they get the production and write beautiful "thank you" letters...

                                             Neon  Pink Linen napkins 

 • What has been your biggest successful moment so far?
Well we are not sure jet :) Linen home shop is very young. Maybe for now it's all the attention we get from blogs, magazines, Etsy admins and customers.

                                         Linen Wedding Table Runner 

                                   

 • What challenges do you face selling online?
The biggest barrier is our language. English is a foreign language for us, and sometimes it's hard to describe everything as it should be. But we are learning a lot and I hope we will achieve a good outcome...

                                  White pale violet tartan table napkins

                                 
 • What advice would you give someone just starting out on Etsy? Do everything from your heart... Work hard.... Read more Etsy handbooks... And never give up... ;)
 Best wishes, Simona and Urte


 Thank you Simona and Urte for sharing your story with us. Well, that wraps up another edition of Artist Spotlight. We run this column every Monday and we’re always looking for artists to spotlight. So if you are interested, or know someone that our readers would love to hear about, please let us know.
 Thanks for stopping by!
 Until next time…
Zoica

Just Dance Friday Finds Art

Welcome to this week’s Friday Finds! The theme was “Just Dance”. I picked Susan’s treasury which has beautiful curated items. Do you have a ballerina in your house? Your daughter or granddaughter, or maybe you are a dancer. Here is to all of us out there who dance dream of dancing or have a dancer in our family.

                                                      Dance Wall Art Ballet 

'5, 6, 7, 8 Dance' by  snewberry55

Eiffel Tower Paris ... vannoriginals $50	4 Ballet Dancer Cha... BohemianFindi... $2.5	Black Swan - Femini... PiiaPodersalu... $21.5	Dancer in Watercolo... lauratrevey $55
Cocktails Dinner an... FlairDesigner... $27	All She Wants To Do... riskybeads $14.95	DANCE Art for Teena... NelsonsGifts $29	I Hope You Dance - ... darkerblue $16.95
Life Storm Dance in... TheVinylLette... $8.99	DANCING In The 192... DandDDigitalD... $1.99	Set of 2 Pink and W... Serendipitybo... $5.99	Pink ballerina Illu... Zoia $18

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

We hope you have enjoyed this edition of Friday Finds. Next week's theme will be ”It’s your style!” How many times you said that to a friend or you heard it from a friend? Maybe it’s the type of shoes that you are wearing, the dresses, or bags that you like to have. It’s your style and your style is unique. If you have a treasury you would like to submit, just send me or Susan a link via Etsy convo by Thursday afternoon and we will take a look.
 Remember, if your treasury is featured, we will feature an item from your shop. Thanks for stopping by!

 Until next time…
Zoica