Christmas giveaway - Fabric bracelet

We are proud to announce another Holiday giveaway today!

Katrin, owner of Katrinshine shop on Etsy, is a professional seamstress from Italy who creates lovely historic dresses, corsets, textile jewelry, patchwork bags and great quilted pillow for a cozy home. Here is just a few:




Katrin is kindly offering this wonderful organza bracelet “Holiday Shimmer” for her giveaway. Can you imagine wearing this gorgeous piece at the Holiday parties? Now you can have it for free if you win our giveaway!



The rules are simple, here they are (leave your e-mail in the entry):

1. Visit her shop, browse her collection and leave a comment here on what you like the best (1 entry)
2. Heart Katrin's shop (1 entry)
3. Follow/ subscribe our blog (1 entry)
4. Grab our button and place it on your blog (include a link to your blog) (2 entry)
5. Follow/ subscribe Katrin’s twitter/ facebook/ blog (1 entry each)
6. Tweet about this giveaway (include @KatrinFedotova in your tweet) (1 entry)
7. Tweet about three most appealing to you products from Katrinshine shop (include @KatrinFedotova in your tweet) (2 entries)
8. Share this giveaway on facebook/ your blog (include a link to your post) (2 entries)

This giveaway will run until Friday, December 10, 2010. The winner will be chosen through Random.org and announced on Saturday, December 11th!

Have fun and good luck everyone!

How to make felted wool acorns - Monday Tutorial

Felted wool acorns are ideal for decorating homes, offices, back yards and even a Christmas tree. They make our homes look cozy and welcoming. Felted acorns are quite popular and one can buy them either on the Internet or at a farmer's market. But how about creating a few wool felted acorns yourself?

A sunny winter day is ideal for a stroll in a park and almost every park in America has oak trees. Don't just spare your walk! Collect a few large acorn cups that will be later used for creating felted acorns at home!

So how do we start?
Since we already have a few acorn tops we will now need some felting wool. It can be purchased on the internet or in any Ben Franklin store in your city. Apart from wool we will need regular soap and hot water. I usually try to use wool of as many colors as I can find as it helps to create a whole array of multicolored, bright and vivid acorns.

The creation process starts with felting. I normally take a small piece of wool make it into a soft ball, wet it with hot water and add some soap to it. After squeezing and rolling the ball between my palms for good 10 to 15 minutes wetting it and adding soap from time to time I get a felted firm ball that could be gently squeezed into an oval to look like an acorn.

Hang on! We are almost done! The last step is to connect our acorn cups to felted wool ovals. To do this we will need to make holes in our acorn cups. To connect acorn cups I use a mercerized cotton thread. This type of thread is very strong. Chances are slim it will ever tear apart. The thread enables us to hang acorns anywhere we like.

I personally like acorns to be of different shapes and sizes. They look genuine as they pretty much are. Bright wool colors make them look festive and jolly. Felted wool acorns are beautiful, durable and could be used in many ways. They add color and style to one's house and make it look cozy and friendly. They are a perfect gift for anyone you love or care about!

If you like hand felted scarves, brooches, hats, jackets and home decor items you might want to check out these wonderful shops by our Russian Artists team members:
AleksandraRoo
allmadewithlove
Beautyland
CityCrochet
dalmmar
frenchfelt
FunEmbroidery
galafilc
JaneBoFelt
jezek
JuliaFelt
manonknits
SilkMagic
soroka
Svetusha
VitalTemptation
YanArt
woolsolution

This article was written by TonyaUtkina at CityCrochet

Magical time of Hanukkah

Story by Svetlana (Lirigal)


Hanukkah is a Jewish light festival that starts on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev and lasts for 8 days. This holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks.

After their victory, Jewish troops came back to the Temple in Jerusalem. They wanted to spiritually purify the Temple by cleaning it and then burning ritual oil in the Temple's menorah for eight days. However, there was only one day's worth of oil left in the Temple. They lit the menorah anyway and by miracle the small amount of oil lasted for eight days.


To celebrate this miracle every year Jews light a special menorah known as a hanukkiyah for eight days. One candle is lit on the first day, two - on the second, three - on the third, and so on, until eight candles are lit. The candles are placed in the menorah from right to left, but lit from left to right. Special blessings are recited each night before the lights are lit. A special candle called shamash is used to light the other candles every night.


It is customary to give kids gifts and money during Hanukkah. In our family this tradition is preserved by grandma and grandpa. Kids are off school during the holidays, and adults go to work and rush back home in the evening. We gather the whole family together and light the Hanukkah candles at sunset. My husband recites the blessings. We listen to the ancient language and thank God for granting a miracle to our ancestors many centuries ago. We also give thanks for giving us life, supporting us and allowing us to reach this day.

After that the kids sing Hanukkah songs and we drink tea with jelly doughnuts. Jelly doughnuts without the hole are called Sufganiyot. They're dropped into hot oil without being shaped and are then covered in powdered sugar and/or cinnamon. Sufganiyot are a traditional Hanukkah dish.



I learned to make the dough for Sufganiyot especially to be able to make this treat for my family. We start to make and fry jelly doughnuts early in the morning, and there is always enough dough for the doughnuts, and left over for pizza and pirozhki - and this is also a miracle!

Hanukkah is a wonderful holiday, full of light, family love and wonderful smell of Sufganiyot!

And now a quiz:
How many candles do you need to light the menorah for all 8 days? Do not forget that each evening you need the shamash…

The answer to this question will be posted on coming Wednesday, December 1st!

Christmas Giveaway results!

... and the winner of our Christmas giveaway is Salleefur/Jesslyn/Jesster !

Her comment #81 was chosen as a winner by random.org generator:






Congrats to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Interview With A Star - Yulia Kazansky

Today our feautured guest is Yulia Kazansky who is a member of a Russian Artists Etsy team. Yulia has two shops on Etsy with complitely different content. One of them is yuliaart which has an artistic trend, the other one is Timeagain which features beautiful vintage jewelry, mostly of Russian origin made of amber, turquoise and coral.

Q. Tell us, please a bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Moscow, a capital of Russia. I got physics degree from Moscow State University. 15 years ago I immigrated to United States with my 2 sons. After living in Minnesota and Alaska I finally settled in North West Washington State, near Seattle. My children are living now in sunny Arizona.

Q. Why did you start making artwork?
As long as I remember myself I was always drawing, painting and making something of colored paper. I started to go to paint on plain air together with my grandfather as soon as I could walk and carry paper and watercolor. He was fine self-taught artist. Later, when I was about 10, my dad introduced me to photography when he bought a cheap simple camera. We even developed films and printed photos ourselves! So I am familiar with the depth of the process.

Q. Your Etsy shop undergone significant transformation recently?
Yes, I closed down my photography shop and right now I am reorganizing my art shop. As a new venue I started to make small art pendants, miniature art work painted on canvas, glued to wooden tile and varnished. I did not forget about photography, too! Usually I take a lot of photos, especially after I bought a new digital camera Nikon 200. I found a way to employ them: I started making digital collage sheets of my own photographs.Most of my fine art photography, paintings and animal portrait paintings are on my new website now: http://www.yuliakazansky.net/

Q. What was behind the idea of opening your vintage jewelry shop, Yulia?
Well, after my aunt passed away in Russia, her sister sent me lots of her and my grandmother's jewelry, semi-precious stones, amber and so on. It was really exciting to receive all of this. I found it is very pleasing esthetically create necklaces, bracelets and earrings of those beautiful stones. I still have whole box to go through...
Follow my blogs: Journal of Shutterfreak and Art by Yulia

Thank you for being with us today, Yulia!

On this Thanksgiving day…

… Our thoughts turn gratefully to you, dear readers and team members, with warm appreciation.

We are thankful for having you in our lives! May your Thanksgiving celebration be filled with Peace and Harmony!

Happy Thanksgiving!


Photo by Irina (IrinaPhotography)

Wonderful things Wednesday - Serenity

Early in the morning I like to come out on my deck with a cup of coffee and take a moment just looking at the trees in my backyard. The sun is not quite out yet, everything is quiet and milky fog is floating in the air.

It is nice to carry this feeling of piece and serenity into the hectic day routine. Use a soft shawl, a pair of white felted gloves, or your favorite brooch as a magic object that will transport you to a quiet sanctuary even if only for a brief moment.

1. Beige Leather Double Cuff Bracelet by Justlena
2. White frosted berry felt wool brooch by CityCrochet
3. Rock Crystal Clear Quartz earrings wire wrapped in oxidized sterling silver – Leda by Arctida
4. Perfect day/ Fabric rosette necklace with brass leaf by StudioElenus


1. Crocheted white mohair flower brooch by TomBjornDesigns
2. Gentle tiger ...Nuno Felted Bag by Svetusha
3. Bridal purse lace crochet by Allmadewithlove
4. Lace White Crocheted Christening Baptismal Gown Dress, Beret and Booties Set For Size 0 to 6 months by IraRott



1. Ear Flapped Style Wool Felt Hat – Unisex by Woolsolution
2. Socks hand knit oatmeal by Socksandmittens
3. Nuno felt scarf white with brooch Tenderness by Galafilc
4. Wool felted eco friendly wrist warmers by JaneBoFelt


Story by Alla FleetingStillness
Collages by Katya KarisaGraphic

Join our shopping spree!

Save on clothing, jewelry, accessories, home décor and much more! Please see participating stores to see our offers and find out about details:


Black Friday sale, November 26th only:


Free shipping at selected shops:
Discounts at our stores:


Don’t forget to ask our store owners for coupons!

Vegetable Turkey

This recipe is not new, but maybe some people have not seen or tried it before.


A dip has to be prepared a couple of days or at least an hour in advance.
For the dip you will need:
~ 400 grams of cream cheese
~ 4 table spoons of sour cream
½ cup of finely chopped parsley
1/4 tea spoon of black or white grinded pepper
2 tea spoons of grinded lemon zest

*Cover the bottom of 10-12 cm wide bowl with cling film. Cling film has to be firmly attached to the sides of the dish.
* Mix cream cheese and sour cream in a blender until the consistency is smooth. Take the cream cheese out of the fridge some time in advance, as mixing warm cheese is easier.
* Add the lemon zest, parsley and pepper to the mixture. 3-4 table spoons of Tabasco can be added if you prefer spicy food. Mix in a blender again.
* Put the prepared mixture into the bowl covered with cling film. Carefully bend the corners and cover the cheese dip.
Put the dip into the fridge. It has to be used over 3 days.
Now let’s prepare vegetables for the turkey. You will need:
- celery
- baby-carrot
- parsley
- 1-2 cucumbers
- red and yellow bell peppers
- lettuce
- broccoli
- radish
- 1 small tomato
- ½ cup of pecans or walnuts

* Evenly distribute lettuce leaves on the top half of a round plate or a tray. Then put bell peppers cut in long stripes on top of the lettuce leaves alternating the colors.


* Afterwards lay 2-3 rows of rounds of cucumber. It is possible to stick short branches of parsley between the rows of bell peppers and cucumbers. Carefully place the dip on the lower side of the plate by overturning the bowl with caution. Remove the bowl and take off the cling film.



It’s time to form the turkey’s "body ".
*On the top side of the dip lay a row of baby carrots slightly pressing them into the soft dip by one side. Then place small leaves of celery on top of the carrots.
*Make the turkey’s "neck" from a celery stem, slightly pushing it into the "body". The bird’s claws can be made of carrots and don’t forget the "head" – place a tomato on top of the neck


*"Feathers" will be made from pecans. Start laying them from bottom progressing towards the top.
* Place broccoli on both sides of the turkey on the remaining empty space on the plate.

* Draw eyes and bleak with sour cream or mayonnaise, and the bird is ready. Bon appetite!

PS. I also had radish, so I used it too (see the first photograph).
It is not necessary to use exactly the vegetables mentioned for the turkey. Use your imagination and use other vegetables if you wish to experiment. Your relatives and guests will be surprised that it is possible to make a "bird" from vegetables.

Recipe by Albina (GoodWeather)

Topaz - the mineral of the month for November.

Topaz is one of the most beautiful minerals attracting you with its beauty: the glow, transparency, shine and numerous color shades. Topaz is the color of the blue sky, golden sunshine, sparkling shades of wine, lightness of the dew in the morning. Topaz is a stone of friendship, prudence, happiness and clear spirit.


Topaz helps you to develop your intuition, protects you from curses, helps to keep you young and beautiful. It also stimulates your mind, that’s why philosophers will find it very useful. It gives you the ability of being honest, objective and liberal.


The mineral also helps you find friends: it attracts people’s affection. It brings you wealth and people acceptance. Topaz stimulates your optimism and opens your eyes for a goodness.


Topaz of any color for a man is wisdom, generosity and intelligence. For a woman - beauty and fertility. The stone protects you from people’s lies and helps you to be able to discover the liar.


The mineral is used for a good luck, material wealth, professional success. The gem is a talisman for a scientist, a businessman and a traveler.

The other stones, associated with the calendar month of November are

pearls

citrine and chrysoprase

chrysoprase



Story by Irina (BeautyLand)