Happy Hatchday Lyric!

Ok so I'm a proud mamma and since my babies have feathers, fur and scales I can still brag about them a bit can't I?  It was 5 years ago today that my first baby grey hatched out of his egg.  I can still remember hearing the little peeps coming from the nestbox and being so excited.  I had waited a long time for a baby grey!  Happy hatchday to my Lyric!

I love my handsome Lyric!

What's new for Grey Girl Designs

So, what's the grey girl been up to lately, you ask?  Let me just fill you in.  It's been a bit hectic in my life lately and I've been hard at work balancing everything that's going on, keeping my little zoo at home happy and keeping everything running as smoothly as possible, given the circumstances. 

I've been a bit down about an upcoming milestone of a birthday that I'm not particularly overjoyed about but non-the-less, it will be celebrated in a little less than a week now.  Given the alternative, I guess I'll take the birthday.

I've been hard at work on a new line of jewelry that I hope to post pics of on here soon. 
I'm also working on creating my own printed catalog of my jewelry that's available in my Etsy store.  I'm using a handy little app called "Zetsy" by MiladyCreations that is available for download free from the Etsy site.  Here's the description of Zetsy:
"Powerful Store management program. Latest feature are Inventory tags. Zetsy is designed to catalog, track, auto renew, backup and change listings easily. Multiple listings can be selected and tags, prices, descriptions, and titles changed at once. Most shop information including product images can be downloaded and saved for later retrieval. Track your views over time for each listing; listing or sales catalogs to a printer, pdf, or html, price tags with bar coding."

I must admit I haven't used all the features of the program yet, or even figured out how to use them all, but what I was interested in using it for, creating a catalog, is proving most helpful.  Zetsy links to your Etsy store and downloads all your shop data and listings to your computer.  It will take the info and generate a report that shows each listing on it's own page, along with the pricing, description and pictures that you've downloaded to your Etsy store.  It even adds your shop banner to the top of the page to make it look oh so exciting! My brother (THANK YOU!!) helped me figure out the best way to go about editing the info and getting it all just the way I want it.  My catalog will be printed by me, and bound by me and may be a bit homemade in appearance but I believe it will suffice for what I wanted it for.  If I ever have more money coming in than I know what to do with (LOL) then I could always send the info to a printer and have it done professionally. 
If you are curious, here's a sneak peek (scaled down)  at what one of the pages of my catalog will look like.

Each piece of jewelry from my Etsy store will have it's own page. I have eight pages out of sixty-five finished.  Still a ways to go, but I am pleased with the results so far, and I want to thank the good people of MiladyCreations for creating the application and sharing it with the rest of us Etsians for free.  You may want to check out their cool Etsy store, they sell very cute handbags, totes and accessories.  Just click on their name above and it will take you right there! I also want to thank my brother for not only helping me figure out how to edit the pages, but also for creating a brand new banner for my store that I just love! 

So, that's a summarized version of what's been going on here...what have you all been up to?  It really seems like summertime flies by, doesn't it?  Feel free to leave me a comment, it's nice to know there is someone out there reading my blog!  Until next time...

                    

Some more animal art finds from Etsy!

Hi!  I thought it was about time to delve deep into the depths of Etsy once more in search of great animal art!  I love art and I love animals so I can think of no better thing to search for on Etsy than some wonderful artwork combining both. 
I often use sterling silver feather charms in my own jewelry to reflect my love of everything avian...but how about those out there that are drawn to sea life?  This first great shop shows off a lampwork artist's love of creatures from the sea.  I was mesmerized by Chip Moore's shop, C. Moore Glass.  Chip is a self-taught glass artist that uses lampwork (working with a torch to shape glass) to create wearable art and sculptures inspired by the Oregon coastline. The piece that originally drew me in was this beautiful Implosion Sea Turtle pendant:

Implosion Sea Turtle Pendant by cmooreglass

I love the colors and the mixture of the lifelike appearance of the turtle's head and flippers combined with the artful and almost mystical creation that is his shell.  Chip has some other sea turtle creations and also very cool jellyfish pendants that I find quite enchanting.  I think the glass work really makes these creatures come to life!  I can't wait to see more listings from this shop.

My next find is from Matt Price's Etsy shop, MattPriceWatercolors.  Matt sells original watercolor paintings that focus on the natural world, mainly landscapes and wildlife.  This is his painting that caught my eye:

Wildlife Painting Lion African Animal by MattPriceWatercolors

I think the vibrant color palette brings an almost otherworldly glow to the lion in this painting.  He looks so regal and proud as he struts along surveying his domain.  I feel like I'm right there in the African sunshine with him and just watching to see what he does next.  Matt also has a nice collection of different landscapes in his shop and a few other wildlife paintings. 

This next shop combines a love of ceramic clay with a fun and whimsical style to portray little animal sculptures and spirit guides.  Denise Ferragamo's shop, iktomi, is full of interesting and adorable creations that she hand sculpts and fires in her own kiln.  I really love her line of animal spirit guides, including this colorful clay Toucan:

Clay Bird Sculpture Toucan Original Spirit Guide by iktomi

Isn't he adorable?  The bright colors of the toucan are juxtaposed with the unglazed blanket wrapped around him to give him such great contrast.  One of these days I may have to commission Denise to sculpt an African Grey spirit guide for me.  I can picture it now with a brilliant red tail peeking out the back of the blanket!

The last animal artwork I'd like to share with you today comes from Artpaw on Etsy.  This artist specializes in animal portraits and mosaics full of color.  The personality of the dogs and cats portrayed really shines through these works and would touch the heart of anyone with a pet they adore.  Check out Bubba the Pug to see what I mean:

Bubba the Pug Print by artpaw

Who could be mad at a face like that?  I love the artist's style and use of color and line to emphasize the portraits.  She also has some mixed media collages that I adore, especially the Mixed Media Dachshund Collage because I have my own little dachshund friend waiting for me at home right now!

I hope you enjoyed sharing a look at these great artists and their animal artwork.  I'm always on the search for creative talent, especially those that feature nature or animals in their work.  Do you create animal artwork?  Share your link with me here and I'll check you out too!