New "Beaded Blessings" in our Etsy Shop!

Hey guys!  I just listed 3 brand new "Beaded Blessings" in our Just Bee 'n Me Boutique Etsy shop! After selling numerous "Inspiration Kits" filled with yummy vintage trims, fabrics, buttons and jewelry, I decided to actually use some of those wonderful materials and make some little hanging fabric collage greetings to share with you...

This "Beaded Blessing" features a little wire dress form that I fashioned by hand, vintage hot pink and off white silk upholstery fabric, a dress made from vintage black and white dotted swiss...

...a hanger made from vintage beads from an old necklace, and an encouragement to "dare to dance"! Perfect sweet little greeting for a friend or to keep to bring a little inspiration to you...

Here's another one I made using some cool retro fabric in browns and golds, vintage ribbons, ric-rac and laces, vintage buttons...

...a vintage piece of tatting...

...a glass bead hanger, and a Scripture verse from Colossians 3:14 - "clothe yourselves with...kindness"

Finally, I made one featuring one of the names of God - "Jehovah Rapha" which means "Lord our Healer". I was inspired to make this one on the day we received some miraculous healing news about a young family member of mine who was facing a second heart surgery, only to find out that the issue requiring surgery had reversed itself, and the surgery was no longer needed! So, I wanted to honor God for His faithfulness and healing mercy...plus remind us that if His eye is indeed upon the tiny sparrow, how much more so will it be on us, His beloved children...

This "Beaded Blessing" features a cute little vintage embroidered birdie that I cut from a vintage linen piece...

...plus a sweet crochet flower from a vintage doily with a black rhinestone button center...

...and a background piece of vintage upholstery fabric in cool shades of lime green and turquoise, topped with a pretty glass beaded hanger...

I am looking forward to making many more of these little fabric collages - it has been so fun to dig in and really use the awesome vintage supplies I have been collecting all these years along with encouraging, inspiring Scriptures and quotes...and I hope they will be a blessing and bring a smile or two...

As February Disappears...

(Sweet Easter Inspiration Kit - $12.00 - Just Bee 'n Me Boutique on Etsy)

I guess I'll never cease to be amazed at the way time slips through my fingers. What is now almost the end of February 2013 feels more to me like January 2011 or something...but it's not. It is "now"; a new day in a rapidly aging "new" year and I had best grapple with that reality and make the best of it...

Since apparently Spring is already just around the corner, I thought I'd share a bit of Spring sweetness with our latest "Sweet Easter"Inspiration Kit in our Just Bee 'n Me Boutique on Etsy...fun stuff!

Besides new Inspiration Kits in the shop, I've been working on some new art for possible licensing...here's a snippet of new greeting card samples from my "All Dressed Up" collection of images...

I've also been working on combining two great loves of mine, my digital art with "fabric" - I'm making my own digital fabric collages "stitched" together with virtual free-motion and blanket stitching, buttons, ric rac and more. I'm having so much fun with this design concept, and I'm looking forward to all the creative possibilities it has in store...

In between designing, my work as a painting instructor at Pinot's Palette continues to be a great surprising source of joy and fulfillment in my life! I simply love seeing people come in to the studio a bit shy and apprehensive about doing this foreign thing called painting, then leaving with a wonderful painting in their hands and a contented smile on their face, happy that they conquered a fear and gained some skill and confidence, all while having a lot of fun. And I get paid to do this...amazing!

Here's my latest painting that we've added to the library of paintings at our Pinot's Palette location - we call it "Tuscan Breeze". We've done it a couple of times in the studio now - it is really fun to paint...

At the rate I've been going it may be Easter before I blog again (sigh), but you can always "Like" Just Bee 'n Me on Facebook and see a bit more of my day to day happenings and little encouragements...I'd love to have you add me to your newsfeed!  And of course I can't forget to mention Pinterest - I have a great selection of inspiring boards that I am adding to all the time, and I would love to have you follow along!! I sincerely hope to blog more in the coming days/weeks though, so don't give up on me just yet  :o)  There are so many creative ideas bubbling up in my heart and head and I always love to share those with you as I can. Here's a little preview of some of the creative things I am hoping to do in the coming weeks:

• New Inspiration Kits on Etsy, including more vintage sewing-related collections, vintage embroidered linens sets, and more lace destashing
• Original mixed-media creations as well as art prints of some of my work to be added to the Etsy shop
• More decorating features including my master bedroom which is patently waiting for its makeover
• More snippets of my design work for art licensing
• BIG makeover of my beckyschultea.com portfolio site
• Photos and notes from my upcoming trip to Round Top - the opening week falls on my birthday this year so that's my birthday present!!

I hope you'll tag along...these things are always much more fun when you have friends to share them with!!

I hope you have a blessed week doing those things that bring joy to yourself and others! Thanks as always for stopping by - you are most welcome and appreciated!

Blog Refresh and Etsy/Zazzle/CafePress Valentine Updates

(details from our latest Valentine Inspiration Kit on Etsy)

OK, the Christmas photos have GOT TO GO! My decorations are all put away and have been for a good while, so it's WAY past time to get a new post up for the New Year! (wow, are we really already 4 weeks into it??)

As usual, there is so much going on, which is why I've been away from the blog of late. I wanted to get you caught up on a few things and let you know of some things that are on the horizon...so here goes:

1) Just uploaded some fun, pretty new inspiration kits for Valentine's Day to our Etsy shop, plus there is a new Lace Destash Lot in the shop that is a treasure trove of really pretty laces including some awesome vintage crochet lace trims and SO much more! Lots of crafting inspiration to go around. (as of this writing one of our Valentine kits already sold within 10 minutes of posting!)

(details from the Deep Red Elegant Valentine Inspiration Kit)

(details from the Lace Destash Lot)

2) Did a little background refresh on the blog as you can see - the green stripes and flowers coordinate with the shop banners I have for the Etsy shop as well as my Zazzle shop. The next thing I am going to tackle is my portfolio site at http://beckyschultea.com - it is in dire need of a makeover. My goal is to have all my websites to look as much alike as possible so it is as seamless as possible to go from one to the other...

3) Speaking of my Zazzle shop (as well as my CafePress shop too) - I have been working to add more new content to all the shops, but it can be slow going at times. But if you haven't taken a look at any of the shops for a while, there are some nice new inspirational items there that are perfect for gift giving, especially with Valentine's Day fast approaching:

Valentine Notecard Set - $11.99

"She is clothed with strength & Dignity..." Mug - $16.95

4) Alas, I am closing down my Aimee Asher Digital Boutique as of the end of January. I have had such a wonderful time being a shopkeeper there, but I have not been able to keep the shop stocked with new digi kits because of the demands of my art licensing work as well as my job as a painting instructor. The good news is that every kit in my shop is 50% off through the end of the month, so if you've ever wanted to try one of the clip art kits, now is the time!!

(Valentine Variety Pack Clip Art Kit)

Thanks so much for hanging in there with me though all the ebbs and flows, and ups and downs of the life of a freelance artist (and part time home decorator). I love sharing with you and hearing about your life's journey too...  

Have a lovely, peaceful weekend!  Gotta go get ready for teaching a painting class this evening - wish you could all come - oh the fun we would have!!

Etsy Shop is Open! (belated blog post)

We opened our Just Bee 'n Me Boutique Etsy shop right on schedule on Friday, August 31st - yay! (and already had a sale) But, after posting about the grand opening on Facebook and pinning some of the Etsy photos on Pinterest, I completely forgot to update the blog. Poor old blog - never gets much respect anymore...  

Have any of you bloggers experienced this - interacting with more people, spending more time, and posting more stuff on FB and Pinterest than you do on your blog sometimes?  I really don't mean to - I love this old blog, and although I don't post here a lot (I've never been a super-blogger), it really has become a little scrapbook of my life, since June 2005 anyway....

I find that I don't go and read blogs as often as I used to...and I miss that...

Pinterest is an awesome way to see LOTs of inspiration in one fell swoop, and I LOVE it - don't get me wrong...But I find that I miss the back story behind the image sometimes... It's like flipping through a magazine to soak in the pictures but never reading the great stories of how they came to be...

I miss keeping up with the snippets of our lives that we weave on our blogs...I follow many of my blog friends on Facebook, so I do see many updates, but not nearly all...

Am I the only one experiencing this...?

Just saying all this to whoever may still be reading this old blog...  I'll post this on Facebook when I'm done and I suspect that the folks that follow me there will see it there first...maybe I'm wrong - maybe it's just me...  None of this is a rant or even a real lament, because I have met and interacted with so many people outside of actual blogging and have experienced tons of inspiration on FB and Pinterest, but I just kinda miss the "old" days sometimes...curling up with my blog roll and a cup of coffee and reading away...  I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Oh, I would be terribly remiss if I failed to mention that these photos are of the 6 remaining Inspiration Kits available in our Just Bee 'n Me Boutique on Etsy ($10 each). They have been lovingly gathered and coordinated  from my stash of quality vintage upholstery fabric, vintage buttons, pretty trims, and cool old costume jewelry pieces. They're perfect for small crafting projects like altered journals, pincushions, mixed media collage, scrapbook embellishments, and much more...

And this is just the beginning - so much more to come. I have enough stash to keep these kits going for a while, plus I am planning to make prints of my artwork available as well as some vintage treasures and handmade goodies too! I hope you'll check us out from time to time to see what's new...

...and if you want to see a bit more than what I share here on the blog, I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest...I seem to be spending a fair amount of time there these days... :o)

But I have a bit of extra free time and a cup of coffee, so I'm thinking that some blog reading may be in order...see you there!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by! I love you guys...

Etsy, Here We Come! (1 week from today)

The Grand Opening of the Just Bee 'n Me Boutique on Etsy is just one week away!! Wanna know what we will be selling? Yeah, me too! LOL!  What I can tell you is that we will be starting out with supplies to inspire you. We'll be pulling together some ribbon...

...and bits of vintage jewelry...

...and vintage trims...

...plus bits of vintage linens...

...and fabrics...

...and we'll combine them into cute coordinated inspiration kits for you to use to make whatever fun projects you want!

That's just for starters. I have lots of ideas and plans for more, including art prints and journals, plus some small hand crafted home decor items like these we have made in the past...

I'm really looking forward to making all these types of items available for you and your family and friends in our little boutique! It should be a lot of fun!

I invite you to follow Just Bee 'n Me here on the blog plus our Facebook Page, my Pinterest Boards, and my Twitter page for all our Etsy store grand opening details as well as future updates and specials!

Can't wait!!!

Have a great weekend y'all!