This weekend while running errands around Chinatown NYC, I was fortunate enough to see the Lion Dances celebrating Chinese New Year. I must admit I miss the fireworks that went on when I was a child, before they were banned by the city. I remember the loud bangs and people's excitement but the lion dances are still fun and full of wonder. They come store to store bringing good luck for the New Year!
Hopefully a good New Year it will be!
It's been a crazy couple of months, and I thought I'd post so as not to seem like I perished in a blaze or anything like that. I'm very much still kicking and playing flip flop with various temp jobs and internships just to land that full time gig!
After watching the State of the Union address, with Barack trying to be hopeful for the future, I can see that his demeanor has changed to a more cautious mood towards his fellow Americans. I can't say I blame him nor can I say that I've ever had full confidence that he will make things better. I remember the election campaign when everyone had such high hopes and friends would look at me incredulously when I said I was not a Barack fan. (Nor a McCain fan either) They boosted about saving the economy, pulling out the troops, and reforming health care. Yet I had failed to see a plan of action to any of these, from both men. And after a year, more and more Americans started to loose their confidence in Obama's administration. Poor guy. He's inherited a lot of the burden that was leftover. I don't blame him not having reforms so quickly. But I do blame his overbearing confidence during his campaign, steering everyone with such unrealistic exceptions. That's what I have to say for the matter since, I've never had any sort of national crisis effect me more then this.
It's official, without even realizing it October has gone. I hope you guys had a fab Halloween. And I realized again that getting a post from me will take months! @_@
It was certainly crazy for most of the month, keeping up with my etsy shop, job hunting, part time work, and working at my new internship. Am I crazy enough to open a second etsy shop? Perhaps, but I've been toying around with the idea for a long time. What is it you may ask? I'm going to launch my own line of artworks with my name and branding. They will be fashion base, fantasy, textile, and a mix of a whole lot of other themes I'm in love with! I did a lot of research into suppliers as well. It's not going to be just art prints. I'm toying with jewelry, and even custom fabric clutches.
Just thinking of it makes me excited. But it won't happen anytime soon, since I'm a once person show. So I'm slowly building it up. I still need to reaserch on packing supplies, creating my own logo, and try to earn a bit of start up money for the endevour. Everyone thinks selling is easy, (it is, if you're doing it once on ebay) but really for something even remotely sucessful, it's hard work. And this is a fall back system for me. I don't dream to make it big a start my own line, but since the job hunting is still ongoing and economy is still in the ruts, I might as well create something for me to look to for a bit of extra cash during the hard times. I'm surprised and flattered for the amount of support I'm getting for my shop. I don't think I would have gotten that much support if people weren't feeling the hard times themselves. It's a smart move to create a fall back system that you can control. So they tell me... Kudos to fellow online shop venders! ^_^
Well at least there's an upside to the recession for lunch...
Holy Cow! @_@ Almost 2 months of neglect...Oh my poor blog, what have I done to you? Well to start my September month off. I'm jumping right back into providing stock images of Europe. And in this post it's all about Venice! ^_^
Ah my favorite city in the world. Magic, mystery, romance, not to mention Carnivale parties.
It's a city that has fully integrated the canal system to this lifestyle. There are no cars or street roads here. It's all water taxis to get you where you want to go.
We headed off to some of Venice's famous areas
Saint Mark's Square:
And the Rialto Bridge:
Wandering around the city makes it easy to get lost! Especially if you don't have a trusty map like we did...-_- But you find fascinating old nooks and alley ways even old antique stores that we wouldn't find in the tourist areas.
No Pictures! But I just can't help sneaking a snap shot of these wonderful Carnivale masks!
I admit I have an obsession with them...even brainstorming ideas to paint a series of themes based on them.
Exhausted be the end of the day? Hardly!
Until the next adventure in Europe…
Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.
Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!
Neglectful of my blog? Yep I’m such a bad girl. But it hasn’t been in vain. Ever since my absence I’m updating my shop with new products took even more time then I imagine. Since there was a surprising amount to request for origami wedding bouquets. I decided to start my own line of custom wedding items! And it wasn’t as easy as it looks. I’m hoping for some success, but I know with success comes hard marketing!
Here are just some of the bouquets and boutonnières I’ve done, and hope to expand on it. I’ve already got 2 more in the works.
I've finally made it to the front page of Etsy! I check to see that my views shot up for no reason and a surge of people hearted my shop, I wondered what the heck was going on and had a sneaking suspicion the treasury was featured. It was a beautiful treasury and no doubt the admin. of Etsy thought so too. And to my amazement it was featured not 2 hours before I got home.
I've been fortunate enough to be featured in 3 treasuries, but 2 never made it to the front page. All of them featured my Origami Rose Bouquets, which seems like the popular choice in treasuries.
My item is the first picture on the 3rd row.
I’m getting right back to my 30 days in Europe tour. Things have been a little hectic lately but I update eventually. ^_^
“When in Rome Do What the Romans Do.” Ok so it’s not the most original saying, but you can’t help but say it when you’re hitting the ancient cosmopolitan streets of Roma. It’s where Emperor Augustus reign supreme and was once the capital of the most powerful empire on earth. It’s no exaggeration when people say history comes alive.
We headed off immediately to see the Colosseum. It’s the one pit stop you never want to miss. This area is probably the most preserved spot of Ancient Rome around. Surrounding the Colosseum is the Roman Forum, with ruins of temples and aristocratic houses from ancient times. It’s one of the most busy tourist areas besides the Spanish Steps.
Next off we rushed down to visit “La Boca della Verita” or “The Mouth of Truth”. Located in a little church called the Santa Maria Cosmedin near the Tiber River, it is the famous statue where a person sticks there hand into the mouth. If you tell a lie it will bite off your hand, if you tell truths your hand escapes unscathed. Well that’s supposedly how the myth goes. But this was also the famous statue where Audrey Hepburn (my favorite actress) filmed one of her famous romantic scene in “Roman Holiday” with Gregory Peck. As a fan, this was something I couldn’t miss!
Next off we hopped on the metro to the Vatican, home of the Pope and wandered inside to see the ornate décor of the church. My favorite sculpture Michelangelo’s “Pieta” stood behind a bullet proof glass, which was put there because of an incident when a crazed man broke off a finger of the Madonna. Talk about art abuse!
FYI: Catch the Pope giving morning mass on Wednesday. Unfortunately we didn’t go on a Wednesday.
We stopped for a bit for some gelato. (My motto is, you can never get enough gelato) We found a cool gelato shop called “Old Bridge Gelateria” where the gelato is cheaper then anywhere else in Italy and they’re not stingy on giving you an extra scoop! It’s located right across the street from the Vatican Museum.
We made a brief visit to the Spanish Steps and immediately ran away from the sheer chaos of the area. BE WARNED! It’s very crowded! I don't even wanna know what's it's like during tourist season. After that we made off to the Trevi Fountain. Toss a coin in there and make a wish!
We had only a day in Rome. Our feet were exhausted, but we made it to many of the sites we planned on going. (My advice, don’t stop, not even for lunch. You’ll probably be too distracted with all the sightseeing anyway). One day is hardly enough to see Rome, but I say that for every city...
To finish off the day, we sat down for some Italian pasta! YUM!
Until the next adventure in Europe…
Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.
Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!
In the spur of the moment I decided to participate in ETSY's YART (Art + Yard Sale = Yart!)
Here's a storque article on the event: YA GOTTA YART!
PROMOTION: 
From JUNE 10-14 only!
20% off purchases $10 and over! (Not including shipping or custom orders). A refund will be issued back to you after payment is made.
For purchases $30 and up get a free bonus Swarovski Crystal Star!
Please type the word "YART" in "message to seller" section when checking out.
Look for these avatars for my sale!
Happy Selling Everyone! Best of luck! ^_^
Whoozers...3 weeks of no posts...well I'm just the horrible procrastinator aren't I? If I'm not pressured with deadlines, then my brain will just sit back and be the lazy self that it is.
But I do have something to report after being mute all this time...
May 17-20th The Jacob Javitz Center in NYC held their annual "National Stationary Show", where many top rated stationary companies showed off their latest and greatest in the world of paper crafts. There was less traffic then last year but it was still a spectacle to see with hundreds of stands lined up and ready for your beck and call for paper products.
Right beside the Stationary Show was also the annual "Surtex" Trade Show for selling and licensing original art and design. This is pretty much right up my alley, as it is filled with textile design companies buying and selling art to manufacture on next year's products. This show really got me riled up on creating after I got home! There's nothing like seeing art in person to get you to create your own art.
And in the lower levels, held the "ICFF" International Contemporary Furniture Fair, showcasing the latest innovation in interior design. It pretty much looked like a MOMA expo. Many of the products were fine art sculptures, from tube chairs, chrome wallpaper, cardboard decorations, to Andy Warhol's Campbell soup pop art...
A separate but related Japanese Design Expo showcased Japan's cutting edge designs and technology...
I had the pleasure of grabbing brochures, postcards, and catalogs for some inspiration and motivation. I might have been a bit over zealous on that regard...
And's that's only half of what I scooped up...
Nothing like seeing and interacting with art and design to give your brain a boost!
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