Gettin' Crafty

Sometimes when you're an art & craft shop owner, and the holidays roll around, and you're a little strapped for time, you're tempted to get all your family's gifts from your own shop. Well, this is what I'm doing this year, for the most part. It's not only because somehow Thanksgiving has come and gone already. It's that I'm just way too tempted by all the lovelies surrounding me everyday to not buy some of them (for other people, of course). But there are always a few difficult people to shop for. So in the spare moments here and the spare moments there, I've been making a few people's gifts myself.

Of course I can't show you the gifts I'm buying from gathered, for fear the recipients may be reading this. But here are a couple of my latest craft projects that I'm pretty sure are safe to show.

A new earring layout. 

And these are actually going to be a gift from a loved one,

who kindly commissioned them from me.

Who would have thought the beaded princess crowns would take off like this??

It's Official...

... www.etsy.com/shop/cadynspeziale is now where you will find any and all of my beadwork. Don't worry, you can still use my old website address (www.cadynspeziale.com), but it will take you directly to my Etsy page. Crafty, huh? I did a little investigating and taught myself how to do that! With a little help from my website's tech support, that is. You can even get to it on your phone, in case you want to see my latest work while you're out and about being mobile (just please, whatever you do, not while you're driving!)

And here's a recent piece that you actually won't see on my Etsy page (the aesthetic is just a tad different than my other work...) It's a custom headband crown for a lovely customer's five-year-old princess. I'm always happy to do custom pretty-much-anything,  so please contact me if you ever need a unique, personal gift for a little loved one (or your inner child).

The holidays are supposed to be a fun time of year, right?

Well the last six weeks have gone by in more of a blur than I could have thought possible. Speed of light, to be exact. Somehow we're ending the first week of December already?! No comprendo. My shop gathered has been super busy with the holidays approaching, and I am endlessly grateful for all the local folks who want to support other locals by buying things that are handcrafted right in their own area. The shop is actually doing well for itself, considering I haven't been open a year yet. It's grown to be a mutually supportive endeavor between myself and over 50 (that's fifty, I tell you!) regional artists and crafters! I'm able to make rent and bills for the space, and I'm hoping in the following year to possibly bring home a paycheck of my very own. One can hope...

Also, I've entered a juried market as an art vendor for next May! I'll find out if I've made it in January, so keep your fingers crossed for me, pretty please. It's called the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, and you can find out more about it here. A big thank you (even if I don't make it) to my family, Zoe, Jocelyn, and Kathleen for motivating me to even attempt this. I'll really have to get my beading act together if I get in!

Entering this show inspired me to revamp my Etsy site, as well as my entire personal website. The latter was an undertaking, let me tell you. I'd really like to do even more updating with the look of the website, but the way it's set up I can only access so much that I can change myself. I hope to do something about that soon.

Here is my most recent work:

(all of these can be found on my website or Etsy)

Equilibrium cuff 

 Flux necklace

 Royal Reishi necklace

Stacks necklace

And lastly, some Thanksgiving photos

from my recent trip to visit family in Atlanta:

Fixins' becoming fixin's

The men folk like to claim they do some of the work on Thanksgiving.

Gardenscapes during the mayhem indoors.

This was the best I could find with almost all the family members.

I realized too late that no one took an actual group photo this year. Sad.