Twinnie Art for the holidays

Twinnie Carol and I still work full time, so we don't have as much art time as we'd like. One medium that we love is digital art. It doesn't require dragging out tons of supplies; we can sit down and work for a few minutes or hours at a time and don't have to wait for things to dry; we don't have to put the unfinished project and supplies away.

So, it's time to churn out some holiday greeting cards for Etsy and the Licking County Arts Gallery. See how excited those folks above are about this? Those of you who know us know we don't do traditional stuff and love to cruise the internet for fun images. I've just put together 3 holiday cards so far. May have to do more this weekend, because they're so much fun!

Greta (above) is posing for the photographer, Svengali, for her holiday cards. She is usually quiet and reserved, but something happened in the photo studio. Egads!

Y'all come visit us at http://www.etsy.com/shop/twinnieart or the LCA Gallery at 38 S. 3rd St., Newark Ohio. Twinnie Susan

What's next?

Now that all the Trick and Treating is over, what's on your workbench,other than the good chocolate bars you stole from your kids' bags. I hear that The Big One is coming. The Holidays, I mean. So Etsy claims. I doubt that my little shop will be hiring Elf Temps to fill the orders. My stuff is so OOAK. (Etsy and Ebay speak for One Of A Kind) Learning the online lingo, here. I make little paintings. Not a big call for wall art these days. But ya' never know. Sometimes I think I oughta go into the Supplies side of Etsy economics. They seem to be doing ok. I could unshovel my room and have enough inventory for a year. Must think about that.

Tell us what's going on around the Great Circle.

Being a visual person I will share with you my self-portrait taken at the LCA Gallery Friday for the Altered Visions show. It was out of the box. Well, things were crawling out of the box.

What Are You Doing for Halloween?

As for me, not so much, now that the kids are grown and my g-daughters live far away. The LCA (Licking County Arts) is having an opening on Final Friday called (on occasion, Altered Visions) We are encouraged to enter our 'darker' stuff, not posies or kittens. I won't show you what I am entering quite yet--no pictures. But here's some stuff I used to have on Etsy and Other places.

And one for my friend Russell:

Fall Inspirations

I have been absent from this blog for too long. How do I stay so busy, living with just 3 doggies and working full time? I certainly don't spend time cleaning my house. My furry herd has their own doggie door and I often have more evidence of the outdoors inside than outside. I just wish the dust/dog hair bunnies in my house were as colorful as the assemblage above.Anyway, the trees are changing into their brilliant fall outfits and should be inspiring us all to create artwork in wonderful color combinations. (Old photos here. Haven't had my camera out for a while.) I love line and color and try to pay attention to that in my photos.

The Licking County Arts does take a lot of my free time right now. It's a wonderful organization and our members have become like a second family to me. I hang out with the "Friday Group" on Fridays and we have fun. Our latest project is to try to come up with fun and funky ornaments for the holidays. We had a "workshop" last Friday to start on funky angels. And, I do mean funky. Sue challenged me to make one out of an old light socket. Well see...........

Not From Pixie Hollow, but from an Unique Garden

I keep checking and checking and nobody else has jumped in here to be bold and brazen and promote themselves, so here I am again! Anyone who has ever known me will tell you that I have Never had a problem with talking, so it stands to reason that writing about my creations or myself would not be too difficult either! lol.

A few months ago I was asked to create a new, personal fragrance for a woman that lived in Florida. She was a stranger that just happened to find my etsy shop (Unique Garden) . While She had a few criteria, she did not provide enough that I was sure that I knew immediately and exactly what she wanted. Her major criteria was that I incorporate the scent of honey into the fragrance and that it smell "sexy" and not "old lady ish". Of course there were some "do not use" scents, personal preferences being personal preferences, but all in all, I was pretty free to offer up my creativity.

Long story short, I came up with some I didn't personally care for a lot, but I wasn't creating for me, so I sent those and a few that I loved off to Florida for evaluation. I numbered them all, and named the ones that I loved, saying that I would be introducing them into my line at one point or another. As it so turns out, my favorite was the one that she chose as her favorite too! Since she was my inspiration, I decided to hold off introducing it so that she could be the only one to have it for a while, but now the time has come to share! Listed just last week, I immediately received an order for it, and they too love the scent, so now I know that there are at least two people who love it as much as I do! lol

Somewhere beneath the Rowan tree, a small garden grows. Laden with beautiful blooms of carnation, gardenia, lilac, and more. Ever so slightly kissed with honey dew, the Fairies gather nectar there just to share with You!

Made by Unique Garden Essences, Fairy Nectar perfume is now being offered in easy, roll-top glass containers with perforated shrink wrap to assure safety. To try this scent or others, see http://uniquegardenessences.com/

Don't be the Last One to Jump in the Tub!

Never one to be at a loss for words, one word was all that it took for me to run on over here and be the first to rant, rave, blather and what have you! Lol. For those who do not know, I am Tammy, and I have Unique Garden Essences, an all natural bath and body line, uniqueXpression, jewelry and crafts, and Unique Treat Dog Bones, all natural dog treats and herbal grooming supplies. I truly love what I make, and I always have a difficult time when asked to choose only one of my products, especially when I have to choose only one shop to get that one item from! So let me begin by saying, each of my shops have great products!

Now, for my one item.......I am going to go with the latest addition to Unique Garden, and that is Raphaels Healing Garden Bath Soak! I created this blend the day before my birthday, then decided to try it out on my birthday, as a gift to myself (I usually have family and friends test my new recipes). I have to admit that I was very tired and sore, feeling every bit of my age and then some, when I got into the tub with my book. After a twenty minute soak without any pages turned in my book, I got out with a new attitude! My skin was soft and smooth, and my joints were eased. I felt completely rejuvenated! While it was every bit my intention to create a recipe that provided these attributes, I was impressed with myself! lol

So impressed was I, that I actually blogged about this new recipe, something I don't usually do. Then I went on to hold a contest to name this new recipe. The winner, Jeanan from Florida, informed me that Raphael is the angel of healing. That name just seemed to fit, so now she can try it herself, as she won a 16oz jar of the soak, along with a bar of Bug Be Gone soap, a bag of Cleo's Bath Soak (for normal to oily skin), a trial size Heel and Elbow Cream, an Unique Treat Dog Bones pin, and a pretty, floral Gift Tag (in case she chooses to share anything). Actually, Miss Jeanan has her prize pack and has already emailed me that she is, indeed, enjoying her winnings!

Raphael's Healing Garden Bath Soak has ingredients that purport to; reduce inflammation and edema (swelling), relieve pain, promote soothing and relaxation, draw impurities from the skin, remove dirt and debris from pores, remove dead skin cells, improve circulation, both promote and speed healing of the skin, encourage rapid and healthy regrowth of skin and tissue cells, prevent infection, and generally bring a smooth, healthy glow to your skin. While I will not say that it does all of this (nasty FDA regs and all), I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my bath time, and I felt soooooooo much better after soaking in it! You will have to be the judge for yourself!

This soak is available in a cobalt blue jar (16oz) or, for a bit less get the refill in a Kraft bag (8oz or 16oz). You can also get it without scent if you'd like, but to mine, I added a proprietary blend of essential oils, meant for relaxing the body and mind.

To check out this soak or other Unique Garden Essences products, please visit http://uniquegardenessences.com/ For information on herbs, essential oils, and even some recipes that you can whip up at home, visit my blog; http://uniquegardenessences.blogspot.com/

Now....was that enough slathering, blathering, and shameless self-promotion? Who is going to try and top me???? N e x t.....step on up!!

Bold, brazen and brassy promotionals

You know what I think? I think we should take advantage of this blog and do some bold, brazen and brassy self-promotion. I am just in that kind of mood. Here's my proposal: Those of you GreatCirclers who wish, post one of your best sellers, or worst sellers, or your brand new superfantastic thingamajig and brag about it. Tell us all about it. Post a picture. And be sure to tag it abundantly. Make sure you tag. Just for giggles,let's experiment. Rant and rave and blather about it. Then let's check our shops, views, and Google Analytics and see if there's any movement--up or down.

Well, we gotta try. Why not? Somebody. Anybody start. Not me, I already talk too much. You out there, sitting glued to the monitor. Go ahead. You can do it.

Ready? Three. Two. One. Blast off my little braggadocio Etsy friends!

Carol inserts yet another unrelated but obligatory photo.