Hazelnut Cottage

Fall/Winter 2008 at Hazelnut Cottage

:) Hiya! Can you BELIEVE Fall is here already and Christmas is just around the corner? I’m not sure as to why, but this year I am feeling quite especially giddy about Christmas, and it’s still early yet! I want to decorate! I want to dress up and go to parties! I want to have a tree NOW and open gifts! Yay! Ahem, yes, I realize it is only September, but still!!!

So, to get you all in the mood for the holidays, I've begun listing a few new things at the shop, with much more to come in the following weeks! Here are a few of the items now in stock at Hazelnut Cottage on Etsy.

Devotion Necklace, Autumn Series
Dark Oxidized Sterling Silver $72

Dark Passion Necklace, Autumn Series
Dark Oxidized Sterling Silver $57

Absolutely Loved Bracelet,
Oxidized Sterling Silver $68

...and finally, a new series that is near and dear to my heart...

Soar Artgirl, Fly, Artgirl Series
Oxidized Sterling Silver $92

A few other surprises coming soon!!! :) Mention you saw any of these here when you purchase something from the shop and I’ll give ya 15% off your entire order and throw in FREE shipping, now until November 1st, 2008! YAY!!!

Something’s Going On

I don’t quite know what it is...maybe it is that I’m moving so fast, as Julia says, that whole transformation thing is going on, but I’m feeling quite restless, in angst. Fatigued, stressed, excited, full and empty. I have images of art swirling around in my head but having a very hard time actually doing any art. I don’t know why this is. I feel like a dam, with the creative waters building up behind it, about to burst.

I’ve orders to fill and I must.

Hmm...2 posts in one day...

Can’t wait for my new supplies to arrive. I’ve been spending every last penny on new inventory, new obsessions and hoping these longed for items don’t end up buried under last year’s left over obsession.

Julia is right. Sometimes going sane feels like going sane. OH NO! Sigh...am I going insane?! Or, is it sane?

I think I need to go to bed now. Yeeesh!

Amazing Indie Artists

And I stumbled onto an amazing book...just amazing! If you haven't, go ahead, run over to your local bookstore or go to Amazon and get one for yourself. This book is part technique-how-to, part inspirational reading, all of it wonderful!

I am such a newbie indie artist, finding my way, stumbling, fumbling, taking adventurous leaps forward only to go skulking back in shame over a failed attempt at something and then sheepishly rising up again.

Can I really be a part of this awesome indie community? I feel like such a wanna-be. Oh, I AM a wanna-be.

Just LOOK at these women! Awesome, talented artist peoples. Not only am I simply amazed by their talent, their creativity, but I also adore their spirit, their warmth, their openness. I love the way that I’ve been able to connect, in a small way, with some of these women and felt an instant “big sister love” thing going on right from the start, while others I just admire from afar! Some of them I’ve mentioned before, some of them have links uin the little right hand margin there, some you haven't met yet...and there are others, whom I hope to feature here soon. Anyways, we’ve been journeying together for a while now and I just wanted you all to finally meet! Just LOOK!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kelly Hironaka, Illustrator/Graphic Designer
http://www.dreamstime.com/Khironaka_info
Kelly and I have been friends since design school at the UH, back in 1989 or so! If ever I had a cheerleader in this artistic life, it has been HER. A staunch friend, an ally, always with a kind word and a firm belief in my ability to, well, do whatever it was I was doing! How blessed I am to know her. And she’s an uber talented illustrator who has had her own business with her partner since, forever. I am inspired by her tenacity and comforted by her friendship!

 
Michelle Abeyta
http://www.abeytacreative.com/index.html
This is the woman who first contacted me before I was even 'live' on Etsy. She gave me my very, very first online sale. She gave me encouragement, kind and firm sisterly words and a wonderful shout out on her blog. She gave me her friendship, though I was a stranger. Wow.

Marlo Miyashiro
http://www.marlom.com/
This is the woman who has taken me under her very caring wings, and has given me much needed business advice and mentoring. I don’t deserve her kind attentions, yet she gives it freely. An skilled metalsmith and jewelry maker, she also does creative business consulting/teaching. I would so highly recommend her. Thanks Marlo!

Kelly Rae Roberts
http://www.kellyraeroberts.com/index.html.html
This is the woman who wrote that book up there...I went to her site, followed a bunch of links and just sat there, at 1:30 am and felt so much emotion over being an indie artist. Reading about her and other indie artist’s experiences at SQUAM (a recent art retreat...sigh) just made me ACHE from my head to my unpainted toenails. I shall go one day. Alone if I must. But I WILL go.

So, what happens when...

...you begin to get inklings, nudgings (okay, well, breakthroughs) about yourself, your passions, you? What happens when, once again, you begin to obsess over yet A-N-O-T-H-E-R artform and start to get the feeling, that, yaaaaaaaaaahhh, man, that’s it! And you know, you just KNOW all along that this is yet another spell of art infatuation that will eventually end up in the closet under all of the leftover Christmas wrap that you will one day use again, although the crazy part of you really does secretly think, “YES! But that was LAST time! THIS time, it’s for REAL!!!!!!!!!! Muuhahahahahah!” And so this new thing that I am currently obsessing about seems to draw all of my past wanderings together into a tidy little knot and explains why I am the way I am (to a degree) and also kinda says a lot about my artistic interests, which, as you know, reach far and wide. I mean, felting animals?! What the ??!!!

Why does this keep happening? Are these longings part of my fantasy land that keep me from doing art...any kind of art, whilst i “research” and “gather sources” for my next big thing?! Do other artists suffer from this lack of focus and boredom and has anyone found a way to think of this as a strength, rather than a major character flaw, which I can’t seem to turn into an affirmation no matter how I try?!

I wish I could share more, but my last post on being 'in love again' was just posted on July 30! I am completely embarassed by my wantoness! oh, for shame!

...oh welps...did i mention it? the human being went home today, unexpectedly early! ...so, the day is done...now to sleep I go!

The (Current) Problem Is...

...that I have been busy, oh, so busy with LIFE, taking care of these human-beings that have come to find shelter under my roof (a not-so-temporary visitor), between my squishy 4 walls...and filling orders instead of C-R-E-A-T-I-N-G things, and I am so inspired by all of the creativity out there, on Etsy, everywhere else, and I just yearn for and hunger to give myself over to all of my creative stirrings, but I’ve barely the time to feed my kiddies and have a bath and then catch a few hours of sleep, only for it to start all over again and I see these awe-some women artists and think, "WOW!" and realize that for lots of them, (not all of them), their art is their life, their season for being, they either have not babies at all, have them all growed up, or have a network of support that I do not, or have SOMETHING in place that allows them time to create and I wonder, not about my choices, but if i will ever come into myself, to have an hour or two of luxurious “me” time to just sit silently and think and then to make a mess that I do not have to clean up immediately, and I wonder if there is really anything inside of me at all that really exists and has the potential to BE and artist, or if maybe, perhaps I am just dreaming the whole thing up and I try to do what Julia says, to take bits of time here and there to create, but it somehow feels as if it isn’t quite enough (do you understand?) and I wonder, how far could I go, what art would I be able to create with these 2 hands and this heart and mind? if I were able to do this thing for say, 6 or even 8 or 10 hours a day?

...

The Artist’s Way

Uh, hi all! I guess I took kind of a break there, huh? Takin’ it easy before the holiday rush sets in I guess? Anyhooo...

With lots of thanks to Jojo, The Artist’s Way Group has begun!!! Oh, joy!!!

We had our very first meeting this week, and let me just say, I have been hungering for this small group experience for quite some time now. Remember when I shared with you all that I knew God had been tugging at me to start some kind of small group? Well, I think this is it! For now anyway!

And I can just tell that this group of artists are a special bunch. We’ve already bonded and the intimacy and sharing have been just wonderful! Yay!

Shop wise, I am kind of just everywhere and nowhere, if you know what I mean. I’ve a million great ideas (well, at least they are great in my mind!!!) but for some reason I can never get myself to truly commit to any of them, and so these “great ideas” stay, floating around in my brain, waiting to be launched. I’ve some serious planning and budget setting to do, sheesh!

Internally too, there’s been lots going on. I realize I haven’t truly healed from some recent “failures”...and I know too, that this is one of the things I will need to confront and be honest about (with myself) if I am ever to move past it.

Isn’t it terrible and wonderful at the same time that God doesn’t leave us be? That He continually brings up unresolved, unhealed past hurts and failures in new situations so that we have chance after chance to come boldly to His throne of grace and deal with “stuff”? Oh, how patient He is with me.

Stay tuned...I will be launching (hopefully) a whole bunch of new inventory for the Fall/Winter 2008 Season for Hazelnut Cottage...maybe in mid-October??? Ha. We’ll see!