New listings just in time for CyberMonday Sale! Take 30% off all items in our studio with code CYBERMONDAYDEALS2012 including new listings!

Denim and Black Satin Long Gypsy Coat

Thanksgiving Day Sale on Artfire!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, hope your day is filled with family and friends and lots of great food!

If you are ready to start your holiday shopping now is a great time to visit The Gypsy Cottage! We are having a studio wide 20% off sale! Artfire has a section set up for all the shops on their site who are having sales today, don't miss these great deals on gifts for the whole family! www.TheGypsyCottage.artfire.com

Visit TheGypsyCottage's Studio

SAVE 20% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

TURKEYDAYDEALS2012

during checkout.

Floral Gifts

Dont miss out on the upcoming Black Friday Sales, Cyber Monday Sales and Holiday Deals through the end of the year!

ArtFire is constantly looking for new ways to better align the goals of handmade artists and the crafting industry supporting each other. We’re aware a lot of our sellers regularly purchase supplies from brands they trust and rely on for their quality. In order to continue reaching toward that alignment of artisans and craft suppliers, ArtFire has partnered with major craft suppliers to introduce a new section of brand name craft supplies as a supplement to ArtFire’s existing indie supplies.
With an estimated 85,000 new supply items at the launch of the new craft supplies section, that number will grow to around 150,000 items by end of the first quarter of 2013. A lot of high-quality brand names including Clover, American Crafts, and Prima will provide new access for handmade crafters and artisans to the raw materials they work with: textiles, beads, jewelry tools, and more.
Integrating both brand name craft supplies and indie supplies into the ArtFire marketplace will provide the synergy between artisans and the supplies they work with to make ArtFire a more productive place to work and sell on. This new category of supplies will also provide the opportunity for those who regularly buy supplies for their arts & crafts to help support the ArtFire website as a whole: sales from the new commercial supplies section will generate a commission for ArtFire to reinvest in the website itself.
The new supplies section also serves an additional purpose: changes to Google’s search algorithms have ranked domains with brand-name products higher, resulting in more favorable search results for ArtFire as a whole to the benefit of individual sellers.
Adding commercial supplies to ArtFire is one big step in the direction of not only creating a site where handmade artisans can sell their work at very affordable costs on a robust marketplace, but now also purchase a lot of the raw materials from the very partners who will help fund the expansion of the handmade artisan business and grow the ArtFire community.
To forge a better connection between the handmade products and craft supplies on ArtFire, we have also launched a brand new Facebook page and Twitter account for ArtFire Craft Supplies where fans can find crafting tips and DIY tutorials.
You can read more and see it in action at

Fall into Artfire

Curated By: TheGypsyCottage

ArtFire.com

Jewelry Supplies

WELCOME TO BLOG PARTY SUNDAY! To view a list of wonderful handmade item blog features click the link below. The holidays are almost here, what better way to give a unique gift than a OOAK handmade item. Hope you enjoy browsing this list from ByYourHands.com

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/TheGypsyCottage/4959532/tan_sweater_and_ivory_lace_arm_warmers/handmade/accessories/gloves/arm_warmers

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Feature Artist - Shadow Dog Designs

Our feature artist is Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs your place to purchase unique, handmade, one-of-a-kind jewelry! Catherine works with gemstones of all kinds and creates beautiful pieces of jewlery that will last a life-time. Her goal is to make OOAK jewelry that can be passed on to the next generation. A Shadow Dog Designs ArtFire shop was opened October 1, 2010. When I asked what her favorite pieces where she said,
"Each piece is like a kid and I hate to pick out a favorite, but one of the pieces I'm in love with right now is this pair of ethnic inspired earrings."

Here is what Catherine has to say about herself and Shadow Dog Designs:
Experiencing a life long love affair with Nature (am a self-professed "nature geek"), I am able to satisfy a strong desire to create by designing one-of-a-kind jewelry mainly using semi-precious stones and sterling or fine silver, but also polymer clay, Czech glass, Swarovski crystals, and, more recently, copper and lampwork beads. My Muse is Nature, and to be inspired, I just have to look out over the amazing desert landscape where my husband, my Shadow Puppy, Seamus, and I are privileged to live. My work is sold through galleries in Virginia, Texas and South Carolina, through art shows, home shows, Facebook and Flickr. I LOVE my ArtFire studio!

People always ask about my business name. It was named 12 years ago to honor our 3 (now, unfortunately, down to 1) rescue dogs who would "shadow" me everywhere and give me undying love, support, playfulness, dog smiles and dog kisses. I am an ardent supporter of adopting dogs from shelters and donate a percentage of my total sales to the local Humane Society.

She is a proud member of SRAJD (Self- Representing Artist Jewelry Designer) and the Las Cruces Bead Society. You can view more of her work on
Flickr-http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowdogdesigns
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ShadowDogDesigns
and visit her studio at http://www.ShadowDogDesigns.Artfire.com

When you need a special piece of jewelry for yourself or a gift remember to check out her studio, as well as all the other beautiful handmade pieces on Artfire.com!

We have just about recovered from the wind, rain and power outages from hurricane Issac. Thought I would post a picture of the Tangipahoa River near our house. The water was almost on the bridge and officials talked about closing all the bridges crossing the river. We were thankful they did not as we would have been isolated between the Tangipahoa & Bogue Chitta Rivers.

Dawne & I have gotten in some work though. We have been working on a pile of new arm warmers and a couple purses. Here is a sneak peek at some of our work. They should be finished and listed in our studio at www.TheGypsyCottage.Artfire.com soon.

We would like to hear what you think, leave us a comment to let us know you were here!

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We'll also send you a unique "shopper code," when your code matches the code in the Daily Collection email you can claim a $100 Gift Certificate to spend in any Pro studio on ArtFire!

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Feature Artist - Shashamane

I was browsing Artfire.com saving items I thought would make great Christmas gifts this week...pre-Christmas shopping, when I came across this amazing shop. The shop owner, Richard, is based in Norwich, England. He has a very good eye for photos that create a sense of mood. You can browse his shop at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/shashamane A little bit from Shashamane: I have been taking photos seriously for about four years and am inspired by travels, atmosphere, music, mountains, decay, windows, old things and so much more. Most of these prints are scenes with mood, many digitally enhanced with textures using Photoshop to enhance a particular mood or feeling. Photographs found in my shop are shot from near my home in England, plus many to be added from my travels in Poland, Slovenia, and Georgia amongst others. I have added a preview of what you will find on his site, check out his other work that is equally as wonderful.

Fashion Trends Fall 2012

I am in no way a fashion expert but I do know how to Google. So…that is what I did. These are some of the things that I found or things I took note of from those who know, like Marie Claire and Elle. Color trends – black & dark blue Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs & many others -burgundy, oxblood, russet, dark reds Jason Wu, Kimberly Ovitz, Nanette Lepore & many others Fabric trends – leather everywhere, velvets, plaids, lace, fur trims & lots of sweaters! We love that! Of course I was looking to see how our clothing fit into the trends for fall and this is what I found. 1. Fashion experts say wardrobe must have is a statement jacket. Our gypsy sweater coats definitely make a statement. 2. I saw quite a few models wearing fingerless gloves and cuffs. We have a nice selection of cuffs and arm warmers. 3. Several big designers made room in their collections for colorful sweaters, long sweaters, and sweater coats. We have all three. 4. Lace, chiffon, ruffles and feminine accents are still in even winter whites. We have it all covered for you. 5. Lots of accessories are a must. Most popular are layered bracelets and necklaces, lots of rings, scarves, big totes & bags and vintage jewelry. We are working on those but you can find them all on Artfire.com. Some of my favorites are: So, that is what I found in my fall fashion trends search. Remember to buy handmade and support independent artist. Handmade and one of kind are always in fashion!

Artist Feature - Catfluff

Our first feature artist is a very interesting lady. She is a successful seller on Artfire.com. Her work is inspired by her two passions: her two fluff-producing felines at home (hence the name Catfluff) and her love of world travel that has taken her to more than 50 countries on seven continents.

Her love of animals, and her concern about the natural environment, combined with the influences of her multicultural background and the experiences gained from her years of travel, are apparent in all of her creations. You can visit her studio at catfluff - ArtFire Seller Shop

Stitch by stitch, she is trying to make the world a little greener (and fluffier) with her sewing machine.

Since She has started selling on Artfire in 2008 she has lived in 4 countries currently Catfluff is based in New Delhi India. Here she is working with fair trade suppliers and getting her own designs manufactured. If you would like anything sourced or manufactured from India Catfluff is your Gal!

Had a wonderful birthday today. Spent the morning brainstorming and shopping with Dawne, we ate some lunch, then spend the afternoon sewing.
The kids and some friends took me to the new restaurant in Amite,  The Boston. The food was delicious and the company was better.
I have some work in progress photos from the project we started today. What do ya think?

As a bonus we caught a peek of Mark Wahlburg & Denzel Washington, as they were filming their new movie 2 Guns, across the street. 

Pearls of Wisdom

We hope the Gypsy Pearls will be a place for you to find some “Pearls of Wisdom” you can use in your craft, business or everyday life. We are new to blogging but intend to use our blog to share what we have learned. Dawne will be posting tips & tricks for alterations, interior design & sewing projects. Dianne will share works in progress, do guest artist features & share upcycling ideas. Cally will be sharing “Pearls” about her art. We will all post about some of our life lessons.

    Feel free to comment or add insights to what we share…..we would love to hear from you!

Introductions

The Gypsy Cottage is the collective efforts of three artisans. We wanted to introduce ourselves and invite you to do the same!

Hi Dianne here! I was born & raised in southeast Louisiana. My "cottage" is nestled in the woods about an hour north of New Orleans. I have been happily married to my husband Clay for over 20 years and have 2 daughters, 2 sons, a grandson, a grand-daughter and a multitude of kids who call me Mama. My life is all about family.
I am a self taught seamstress and crafter. I inherited my love of sewing and beautiful fabric & trims from my Grandma Spears and my love of quilts and gypsy style from my Grandma Busby. I am a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University. I have done a multitude of things from accounting to hosting Extreme Cowboy Races and everything in between.

Hi Cally here! I am a 19 year old art student at Southeastern Louisiana University. I do multiple things with my art. I enjoy charcoal drawing, graphite drawing, wood burning and making jewelry. I help my mom (Dianne) by collaborating on the designs for her clothing and modeling their work. My daughter is what drives me to do my best work. I hope you enjoy my creations.

Hi Dawne here! I have been happily married for 20+ years and am the mother of twins, my son who is in the Army National Guard and has recently married and my daughter who has recently graduated from college.
I was born in Lombard, Illinois where I lived until my father was transferred to Atlanta, Ga. when I was 13. I went to Beauty College and became hairdresser there, which is where I met my husband, also a hairdresser. We married and had the twins. When they were 1 year old we moved to his hometown of Amite, LA. We wanted to raise them in a small town atmosphere, which turned out to be a good decision as they have both grown to be adults we are very proud of.

As for my sewing career I started sewing when I was 9 with no training, I guess I was a natural. I got my first sewing job with a local alterations shop while in beauty school. I learned all the ins & outs there. My next job was with an interior design workshop where I learned all their tips & tricks. We moved to LA and I met Dianne. We shared our love of sewing and soon opened our first business with me doing alteration and her sewing from scratch. It grew and I was soon doing alterations for 17 cleaners with several employees. In 2003 I gave it all up to become Mom, Dad, grounds keeper, taxi and everything else when my husband was deployed to Afghanistan. After he returned I went to work for a friend’s bridal shop doing alterations. After 7 years she closed to raise a family and I went back to work as a hairdresser. I am now an assistant manager of a local chain.
Dianne & I put our creative heads together and are once again working to create the items for our online store. I hope you enjoy our wonderful, fun items and your visit to The Gypsy Cottage!

We would love to met everyone who visits our blog......so please introduce yourself!

Inspiration

    I thought I would share the inspiration for the The Gypsy Cottage so we can get to know each other. The Gypsy Cottage was born from the need of the three partners to let our creative spirits loose to wander and explore thus...Gypsy.  We each create in our own "Cottage" then bring our projects together to share, tweek, collaborate and finish.  We would like to see our cottage industry grow so we can create and share full time. Artfire.com is the venue we choose to offer our work to others because the creators seem to understand what an artisan is looking for.
    We would love to hear your stories of inspiration for the things that are important in your life!


Hope you will join us again soon!
Dianne

Welcome to the new Gypsy Cottage Blog. Thanks for joining us!