Sweet Valentine

Looking for a gift for your valentine? Look no further than Sweet Stella Designs!
Have something special in mind? I would be happy to create a custom order for you or your special someone!

SHOP ONLINE HERE!

Craft Sunday

Today, I taught an hour-long workshop for the Columbus Community Kollel's conference for Jewish women.


My workshop was about creating your own handmade accessory (fabric flower brooches) and the importance of shopping locally and buying handmade. I made a packet for the participants with websites, local shops, events, and directions for the project.

Shop Locally & Buy Handmade:

• To build a strong local economy
• To support independent entrepreneurs and small business owners (many of whom are women!)
• To combat the forces of mass production, which can be detrimental to our environment
• To find unique pieces that are created with love

Colour Lovers

I have discovered yet another way to make time slip by, leaving me wondering what it is that I was supposed to be doing at the computer: colourlovers.com!
I signed up for an account today (I was inspired by this thread on columbusunderground.com), and got to work creating some palettes.

Series 1: My Apartment
*these palettes represent current colors in my apartment*

Bedroom (Opposites Attract)

Bathroom (Ocean Spa)

Living Room/Kitchen (Marrakesh)

You can check out my ColourLovers profile here!

Patrice is my Informant

Yay, my apple core necklace is part of an little Valentine's feature in Etsy's web-zine, The Storque! If you look in the lower area with the six boxes, there it is on the bottom left.

Patrice is the one who alerted me again. I'm happy I have friends who are so vigilant.
Speaking of Patrice, my tummy is still happy from eating her scrumptious home-baked bread. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Ok, so my little spotlights/features this week have been very exciting. Although what would be more exciting would be a sale as a result.

I'm in the Craft: Magazine Blog

Yesterday, Patrice pointed out that my Credit Card Pendant Necklace was mentioned in the Craft: Magazine blog!!! Hooray!

This is so exciting, as that piece now has 570 views (and more people have "hearted" me on Etsy within the last 2 days, too!). Maybe someone will decide they can't live without it...

I have also broken my rule about not listing new items on Etsy. Yes, I am supposed to be writing my thesis, but I really needed to make some new things and list some old ones as well. Plus, I have 3 more books to pick up at the library...so naturally I should hold off on the writing until I have more sources, right? Right.

City Sampler: Columbus

City Sampler: Columbus (a special version of The Sampler) will feature items exclusively from crafters, DIYers and awesome businesses from Columbus and the surrounding area!

The Sampler is going local! We're creating samplers that focus on business from specific cities, towns, and regions! Along with the samples, we'll be providing all kinds of fun and interesting information and materials about the cities we're featuring!

The Sampler has spent the last three years distributing the very best handmade and indie communities have to offer. It has been really great collecting items from artists, crafters, musicians, and alternative publications all over the US, and the world! Now we'd like to try to go local - and we'd like you to be a part of it!

City Sampler: Columbus will be a new and fun way to experience both the city and The Sampler. We'd like to invite you to send us samples of your work or your product along with some promotional items, so that we can distribute them to people who are interested in supporting local businesses!

There are many benefits to contributing to the Sampler, and we know that the City sampler will provide you with an equally great opportunity!

If you send us Samples - the minimum being 10, the maximum being 100 - you may also send us 100 promo items for the City Sampler, which will reach 100 fans of Columbus (and the surrounding area) culture! You may also include an unlimited number of promos for regular issues of The Sampler, which reaches 500 subscribers and members of the media each month! For more info on contributing and promos, please see http://www.homeofthesampler.com/contributors/tips.html

Your Samples will be photographed for The Sampler website, and mentioned in the City Sampler Guide we will include in every City Sampler! So even if you only send 10 items, your business info will appear in all 100 City Samplers.

All items must be received by March 30th, 2008. Please email contribute@homeofthesampler.com with your submission ideas, or with any questions you might have about the Sampler!

You can also contact me (Amy) directly in Columbus if you have any questions or would like to contribute. Artists, crafters, musicians, business/restaurant owners, etc. are all welcome to submit materials.

San Fran Fun

My week in San Francisco was excellent! Our first adventure was a drive and a hike in the Mt. Tamalpais area, right near Mill Valley where Randy lives. I was so excited to see the Pacific Ocean!
We ate lunch at Stinson Beach and watched some crazy surfers out in the freezing water. I had fun examining the stinky piles of sea kelp and following a little bird around.

We drove up to Mt. Tamalpais and hiked to the top, making me realize how out-of-shape I am!! The 360-degree view was absolutely spectacular; if you look very closely towards the center of the photo, you can see a tiny San Francisco in the distance.

That Sunday, Randy and I ventured in to the city. We took the train from SoMA to the Haight and walked all the way down Haight Street, then zig-zagged our way through the Mission and all the way back to 4th St. My feet were killing me after all the walking!! Here is the obligatory photo of Haight/Ashbury.

On New Years' Eve, the sunset was gorgeous. We had an excellent view of the city from JG's place!
I am sure I will go back soon, so I am not too concerned about having "missed" out on the popular touristy things. I am a little disappointed that we didn't make it to the SFMoMA, but maybe next time!

San Francisco, Here I Come!

Tomorrow, I am off to San Francisco! I am so excited to see my favorite person in the world and to see all of the sights in the Bay Area.
I would be more excited if I wasn't trying to get rid of this stupid upper respiratory funkiness that I've had on-and-off for 2 weeks. On the upside, I may get to sit by myself on the plane (SkyBus has "open seating"), as no one will want to sit next to the girl with 100 dirty tissues hacking up a lung.

Maybe the Bay Area air will be good for what ails me!


Check back in a little over a week for photos and updates. Also, while the Sweet Stella Designs Etsy Shop will be "open" while I am away, any orders will be shipped upon my return.

Featured Artist on The270.com!

Hooray, I am the featured artist on The270.com for January/February! The270 is a local blog about Columbus, Ohio and they will be featuring a new artist on their site every two months.

In addition, there will be a color ad in the Jan/Feb issue of C-BUS Magazine. Look for it around Columbus in early January (p.s. - it's FREE!).

Gooey Treats for Winter

As the winter weather roared outside yesterday evening, I sat in my toasty apartment making jewelry reflecting the delicious treats that warm our insides. My kitchen is officially overrun with polymer clay. I think I have more clay than food at this point! Haha. Ok, maybe not.

Hot Cocoa and Marshmallow Charm Bracelet

S'mores Galore Charm Keychain

For a scrumptious scent to go with your gooey treats jewelry, try these unique blends by The Midsummer Muse: Camp Treats and Hot Chocolate!

Resin Pendants

After what seems like a million mess-ups and endless experiments later, I finally got my resin pendants to be exactly how I want them!!

The secret is finding a good bezel setting.

Scrabble tiles also work as a great backing for a found image (so do dominoes!)

Here is my ode to the Arcade Fire: it's the "Neon Bible" necklace!

The image I used for this pendant came from a large photo pf a vintage Tiffany lamp.

These last two pendants serve as reminders that the cold & flu season is upon us!

I call them the "Germophobe" necklaces. If you would like to purchase one of these necklaces, please visit my online shop! Custom orders are always welcome.

Website Milestone!

Since its launch in September, my website, sweetstelladesigns.com, has had 900 unique visitors and 1056 visits!!
Big thanks to tinycanary.com, the site where most of my referrals come from. And another big thanks to I Love Treefort, who designed my site.
This "milestone" is so exciting, especially since I just assume that no one is paying attention to my adventures on the inter-web. (haha, inter-web.)

Thanks to Google, if you type in "Sweet Stella" my site and my Etsy page comes up first!! I have triumphed over the sweet-stella.net...the porn site! (Notice how I did not make that last web address a link.)

Remember that the holiday gifting season is upon us. Chanukkah is next week and Christmas is...well...the 25th, just like it always is.

Have you taken the Handmade Pledge yet? If not, go to http://www.buyhandmade.org/ and add your name to the petition.











Since we're buying handmade, now would be a great time to mention that I have many excellent, unique gift ideas available at the Sweet Stella Designs Etsy shop, like this adorable Carrot Cake Gift Set.

Love to shop, or know someone who does? How about this cool Credit Card Necklace!

Or the smaller, pinker version!

Have something special in mind, but don't see it in my Etsy shop? Just send me a quick note and let me know what you're looking for; I love custom orders!
Happy buying (handmade)!

This Weekend...

...you're going to this event at the North Market:

I won't be a vendor, but you will be able to find some Sweet Stella Designs loot (like the apple core necklaces below) at the Wholly Craft booth! Look for many members of the Columbus Crafty Cotillion selling their handmade goodies. This event should be a blast, and after you're finished with that, head a few blocks north to the Short North Holiday Hop.