Tuesday, October 18, 2011

New Group, New Blog, New Challenge!

Colors of Autumn

Eclectic Friends of Etsy would like to introduce our followers to this new team.  We are all about eclectic crafting, from soap making, candle making, knitting, paper crafts, crocheting, journal making, jewelry making and everything in between.  This is our first challenge for our new team of extremely talented artisans and such a perfect way to show off our crafting by having a Colors of Autumn In Your Area Challenge.  We are from all over the globe and as such our fall colors are as varied as our crafts.  

Here are the entries for Colors of Autumn Challenge: 

 ANHOKI'S PLACE

Winds Of Change Kaleidescope -- Stained Glass Wind Chimes OOAK -- Autumn In Your Region EFOE Challenge

John and I live where the Mockingbird is the state bird. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a way of life and not just a "tourist trap". The state wild animal aka the raccoon loves to climb the arbors and pick through the bird seed. Honey bees torment the dogs while butterflies and box turtles are everywhere you turn. Iris, Passion flower, Dogwood, Tulip Poplar, the mighty Oak.... While my ideal local is the Pacific Northwest Tennessee isn't too shabby either. I love Autumn in the South. Watching all the critters gather food for the Winter, listening to the birds chirp and play, and watching the kids do leaf angels are just a few of my favorite things about Autumn in the South.
Winds Of Change are 21 inches (with the five inch chain) and seven inches wide. Hanging from the iron trivet are 16 strands with a total of 72 pieces of glass. Each piece of glass was cut, ground and double hole drilled by yours truly. I do not smooth or polish my glass pieces. I prefer them to be "rustic" in nature. I like the chips and nicks that sometimes happen when I cut the glass and do what I can to accentuate some of them. Connecting the glass and trivet topper is a total of 344 stainless steel rings. And yes....it's heavy. :~) 


Thistle Delight Soapworks

The entry for our challenge by San of Thistle Delight Soapworks is this gorgeous knitted coat.  This is not an item that San has in her shop but it is a wonderful example of why we call ourselves Ecclectic Friends of Etsy!


San and her family live near Peoria, Illinois and this is a stunning example of the beautiful Fall colors found in her area.  Check out Thistle Delight Soap Works for luscious bath and body products.


Kristi from Life Soap Simple has also entered an item that is not listed in her shop but is a perfect representation of the colors of Fall as you will see by her entry:
 Camp Fire (A Quilt)


Logs crackle, flames leap on a crisp Autumn night. Gathered around the fire we reminisce and laugh. Hot dogs on hand cut branches blacken on the fire, marshmallows toast warm to sandwich with chocolate and graham crackers. A handmade blanket keeps the cool breeze off our backs as it rustles through the crunching leaves left hanging to nearly bare branches. These are the things of a mid-Missouri Fall. I'm ready to snuggle under that blanket.

You can find many, many gorgeous products at Life Soap Simple!


Pink Parchment Soaps


These are beautiful autumn leaves soap set that are scented in Pomegranate Orange, a wonderful fragrance for autumn.

This set is made up of 8 different leaves. Because these are handmade, each leaf is unique and no 2 are the same.

Save on Shipping:
3 to 8 bars of soap
$5.00 (US)
$12.00 (Canada)
$14.00 (Everywhere else)
Shipping overages over $1.00 are refunded through paypal
Excludes Cupcake Soaps and gift sets

Vegan - no animal testing or animal by-products.

Size: 3.5 x 2.5
Weight: 3.0 oz. total

An 8 strand necklace made with seed beads strung on thin but sturdy beading wire. Sterling silver cones gather all the strands together, and are then attached to a sterling silver toggle clasp.

In the fall, we head up to Mt. Lemmon to see the aspens turn their golden color. This necklace captures all the colors we see ... yellow, gold, silver, green, and turquoise blue for the sky. All the seed beads are vintage glass, and sparkle like crazy in the light! And one added sparkle, one small light topaz colored Swarovski crystal.

Before closing the necklace, twist from both ends to achieve the twisted look. Or, don't twist and let the necklace hang flat. Either way is gorgeous!

The length of the necklace is 18 1/4 inches. Twisting is shortens it up just a little. 
 



This Chan Luu style bracelet was so much fun to make.   I used 2 mm brown Greek leather cord, very strong nylon thread and accented with semi-precious flower stone beads.  The total bracelet length is 15" and I used a decorative gold and black filigree button for the closure.  Perfect size for someone with a 6" or 7" wrist.

This item was made in response to a challenge put forth by Eclectic friends of Etsy Team.  As members of this Etsy Team were were given the task of making an item that is representative of the colors of Autumn in your respective area.  Since I am located in Southern California then you can find an array of beautiful earth tones ranging from light green and beige through various shades of orange and deep, rich browns.

The bracelet will arrive wrapped in tissue paper and nestled into a box for easy gift giving.


This is a beautiful array of products that represent Autumn in areas where these team members reside.  You can see why we call ourselves Eclectic Friends of Etsy!

Feel free to cast your vote for your favorite item, in a comment at the end of this blog post.  

3 comments:

  1. I love love love the items in the challenge and I am SO proud of this team. AWESOME blog post. XO

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  2. Great job everyone! Love the variety. You all are so talented.

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  3. Just beautiful !! I just love San's sweater (even though it is 90 degrees out here in Tucson, and I start sweating just looking at it!).

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