Walk With Me - Weeds and Seeds

A perfect autumn day, bright & crisp. Let's stroll around the WillOaks Farm!

Milkweed fluff is everywhere, like flying fairies.

The "bones" of the plants are easy to see this time of year.

The seeds for next year are unmistakable.
Weeds or wild flowers? It just depends of where and how much!

It's magical how the afternoon light plays on the delicate natural forms.

Most of the color of summer has faded away, leaving neutral textures.

Except in a few cases where very unexpected color pops into view!

A new treasury really captures the season for me:

Au Naturelle...creamy taupe with hint of caramel

Please click and visit this lovely collection, curated by NestHavenStudio, who curates many lovely treasuries, listed on her page.

Isn't is sort of uncanny how these colors and textures echo the weeds and seeds we just looked at on our autumn walk? The changing seasons can be a very real source of artistic inspiration.

I think this should be on the Etsy Front page so I'm asking my blog visitors to PLEASE click here to visit this treasury--and comment if you like! It's a numbers game to get to the Etsy front page these days, because although the curators may put very beautiful and worthy collections together, unless they can motivate viewers to visit, these collections barely get seen...while some pretty awful ones, who get the tweets and the visits even without much artistic merit, get to the front page of the web site.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful Friday!!

Bright and New, a New Treasury...plus a Front Page!

First, a new treasury-
Cool Fern Glade
A few of my favorites
Ahhhh, the cool sense of greens-a beautiful new treasury that posted Saturday and curated by PattyDrake of PattyDrake Photography. I just love green, as you may have noticed and somehow, this collection really moved me when I visited her treasury page in person. You can visit, too, by clicking on the image...and Patty has a really lovely collection of manipulated photo images and fine art photography in her shop. I urge you to drop by and visit her shop, today!

Then, some new pieces-
Bright and New
As inventory of my first "Pearls and Silk" rainbow dwindles, I decided to try a new and different version of this fun and spring/summer palette. The concept is very similar to my first version, but the pearls are a bit smaller, a bit brighter and there are more of them! The price remains the same, too...for now at least! Hey, for $20 you can't even get a nice bright new blouse most days...and this piece will probably be worn much more often. Click on the image for a closer look and more information about any of these new pieces.

Hooo boy, every so often I go just a tad overboard and here is a good example of that. I ADORE all shades of turquoise, teal and aqua and put a collection together here that is such a rich collection. And besides the lovely pearls....I have lampworked glass beads, Czech pressed glass, mille fiore (thousand flower) Italian style glass and a bit of dyed quartz. No where else on earth can one find this sort of collection on one long silken chain to be worn as a very versatile piece.

And the final "bright and new" I'm sharing today is a continuation of my more simple silk and pearls series but features a lovely bright golden yellow in nice large, glossy 8mm pearls. I'm always on the lookout for neat pearls to use in this format so these little editions will continue to be made, to sell out and then new ones will pop up to replace the ones that have run out. Fun, eh??

All of these pieces and many more can be found in the section "Made With Silk" in my Etsy shop.

And last, but not least-
WillOaks Studio on the Etsy Front Page 4/10/10

Finally, I mentioned a couple of days ago my inclusion in a lovely "Linger in Lavender" Treasury curated by Samantha of SamsPaintbrush. Well, I had a hunch this one just might be front page material...and sure enough, while I was away from the computer and the studio on Saturday evening, it was right there, on the Etsy front page!! I learned about it after the fact but that was still wonderful news! Here's a screen shot I got of the hour's duration! And what a gas, the earrings sold (they have been a "best seller" for well over a year now for me) and I think I was "discovered" by quite a few other shoppers...time will tell!

So have a wonderful Sunday, everyone. I hope the weather is as nice for all as we've got here for a change...yes, it really does finally feel like Spring!!

Easter Bouquets, A New Treasury and the Etsy Front Page

Best wishes for a very Happy Easter to all my blogger friends!

Here's a fresh bouquet FOR YOU!

Thanks to the heat wave, my row of bright yellow, Dutch Master daffodils, planted for cutting some years ago, has all bloomed at the same time. Fresh bouquets will be delivered to one and all at the Easter celebration and dinner that I'm going to attend.

In fact, it all bloomed so darn fast that a day after I took these photos, winds and rain knocked many of them over. Oh well, I'm still blessed with the bounty to share!

{my} English Garden

It's no secret that I'm a complete and total gardening fool, a flower addict, a botany freak...so to learn that I was in this Etsy treasury today was a lovely treat! {my} English Garden was curated by Jen who has the Ety shop Jenaissance which features vintage inspired, and often botanical, creations including necklaces and earrings--Please visit her shop and take a closer look at this garden inspired treasury. She's got a really nice blog, too, which is here.


And finally, saving the best for last, for the first time that I am aware of, a treasury that included my work was used on the Front Page of Etsy. It was the white treasury that I showed here yesterday and I learned that it was up about 5 p.m. EST on Saturday for about one hour. I missed it!

What floored me was seeing over 30 new hearts added to my shop during that hour, whoa!! It did not lead to any sales, however, which was a fallacy I had held dear...that "all I had to do was get on the "Front Page" and I'd sell like crazy." Ummmm, I guess we can now dispel THAT delusion!!

Ahhhh, no big deal....you all have a very lovely Easter with friends and family...and Happy Spring!!