AusDisasterRelief Shop, Etsians Donate Quality Handmade items to fund Charity

In response to the terrible flooding in Australia, a team of volunteers have launched the AusDisasterRelief shop on etsy. This is a place where the community of etsy sellers are donating quality handmade creations (and the costs to ship them to their buyers) so that funds go to the Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal.

Our nation is witnessing homes and families being swept away in an unbelievable, and epic disaster, and we need to reach out and help all who are hurting as a result.

On a postive note, this is a remarkable time to buy handmade, and it is a joyous feeling visiting the store and seeing the diversity of items donated for sale, watching as the number of sales steadily rises, and to feel that through our talents and dedications we are united against adversity.

How you can help the store...

You might be an etsy member (or perhaps madeit, artfire, folksy) with quality handmade items to donate, which you can do by contacting the store.

You might shop and buy from the store, in which case you will be making a charitable donation and receive handmade goods with no shipping fees.

And at no cost to yourself, you could share the link to the store on your blog, facebook, twitter, kaboodle, etc, and you can also promote individual items within the store in the same way using the built in share feature on site.

The earrings at the top of the blog post are my first donated item to the store, and are in store now http://www.etsy.com/listing/65892493/happy-trails-follow-a-butterfly-earrings

The direct shop link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/AusDisasterRelief

Building a Twig Wall....

Another wonderful day in my creative life.... complete with dreams, obstacles, perseverence and ultimately - solutions.

My 'Rule Titania' earrings from my madeit shop were to be transfered into my etsy shop, where I feel they are more accessible to the public. I thought I should do a new photo shoot for them and instantly visualised them sitting inside a birds nest, this is the 'dream' part of my day.

The obstacles were that I did not have a birds nest, and when I very enthusiastically attempted to make one... I discovered that birds are ultimately better at building birds nests than humans even though we have opposable thumbs!

My 'solution' was to build a twig wall, on a bed of leaves and use that for my photo shoot.

These earrings are now available in my etsy store www.starzyia.etsy.com

Since I had twig city set up on my dining room table, I took photographs of some of my new colour therapy earrings, which are to be added to the store during this week.

While building the twig wall, I was thinking about the three little pigs, (the house made of twigs), especially when I had to knock it down and re-erect it. I am happy to say I did manage to completely make the wall of twigs without use of any wire, while attempting to make a nest I used kitchen twist ties to make rings of stick and vine but they wouldn't hold and my twigs kept snapping.

So as you can see I had fun 'playing' (working) today!

Open for Business in 2011!

I'm open for business, 2011, yay! I have enjoyed my break, the hardest part was starting vacation, the first two days I was itching to go online and work, but after that I did get used to it so much I postponed my return a whole day. Now I am just as keen to do all that my creating and promoting requires and to plan my year.

What's New for Starry Girl by Starzyia in 2011?

Well I have just scrapped my existing store sections (earrings, jewelry, etc) in favour of sections like 'colour therapy', 'crystal healing', 'symbolic and traditional' etc this is a trial phase, so if you are familiar with my old sections and visit the store now, I'd love to know if you think this makes finding stock easier or more difficult.

The colour therapy section aims to provide a burst of colour energy and look gorgeous for you while being very thrifty.

The crystal healing section is where you will find natural gemstone creations that combine the healing properties with colour therapy too... super combinations for any purpose.

Don't forget that many of my creations will be drawn from multiple disciplines so it is worth looking in multiple sections.

I have just listed the three crystal healing necklaces pictured in this post, and will add through the year. Currently I have chrysocola, jade, new jade/serpentine, citrine quartz, rose quartz, apatite, and autumn jasper healing creations in my etsy store www.starzyia.etsy.com

My facebook birthday club is now up and running, members receive a 15% store discount for my etsy and madeit stores during the month of their birthday. If you haven't signed up but would like to, visit my facebook fan page (use the link on the right of page), click like (if you are not already a liker) and click on discussions.... under the birthday club discussion, post the month of your birthday, and you will be a full member!

I'm hoping all my friends and supporters have a great 2011, best of luck with all your adventures, creations, and goals, xxoxoxx Starry

Favourite Projects of 2010

First, the big job that I've put off for years... the postage stamps. I have my own childhood album, and the albums I inherited from my grandmother, plus thousands of loose stamps sent to me by my aunty. I had to make index lists for all the albums, research the value of the stamps, and this last part, not quite done yet... approach a stamp trader with the stamps I'm not keeping. While doing this immense job, I managed to sort some lovely sets of stamps for my etsy shop so that the beautiful stamps can be used in other people's creative work. For years I have known I have to do this job, but it was so overwhelming, chaos can freak me out a little bit, and it was also difficult to find the space necessary to sort the loose stamps into separate nations, then find separate storage envelopes or acid free baggies for them to keep them separate... I used to sit on the couch and hyperventilate a little bit, until one day I could actually begin to do the work.

I have also begun to use some of the stamps myself to make jewelry and hopefully this year some paper crafts and digital art creations too.

Amber's 18th Birthday card... this is a scanned image sot the text is not as clear and easy to read as the actual card. I collected some of my favourite quotes for her as she embarks on her life in the great big world. The quotes used are as follows:

Life is a cup to be filled, not drained.

A heart that loves is always young.

Be grateful always.

Find beauty in all that surrounds you.

When you know yourself you will be free.

Help others, and deliver them to happiness.

Sing out loud every day.

You're never too old to jump for joy.

I started to make teapot earrings, a great way to satisfy my love for beading and for tea! I always include some of my collected tea quotes in the listings.

My etsy and madeit stores are reopening this week,

www.starzia.etsy.com

www.madeit.com.au/Starzyia

Books: My Summer Reading, and Best Books 2010

I started this year's summer reading with Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars"... I hadn't read any King for a long, long time, and this offering is made of four novellas (I love King's short stories and novellas the best!). These are a true set, they go together to span the whole expanse of human's doing what they do - plot revenge, harbour resentments, and keep dark secrets - but with a lightness... I would tell King there are stars, because in each story I laughed out loud more than once, and that gives relief as a reader, and breeds empathy towards the characters.

Reminds me of: King at his best! Read if you enjoy the short stories more than the horror novels.

NEXT STOP, since I was in the mall waiting a looonnnggg time for my family, I walked into the book store and picked up Stephen King's "The Stand", a large novel, an old man who came and sat next to me joked I would be alright for entertainment if I had to sit there all day. I said 'I better not be sitting here all day!'. The fall out of catastrophic epidemic (you might say 'plague', though it is in this case a variant of influenza that does the damage) and the resurection of society in the aftermath were compelling for me, and I got through this fairly quickly for its size.

Reminds me of: nothing I've ever read.



Next Stop: Justin Cronin "The Passage" I had picked this up prior to reading Full Dark... and it flowed on really well after reading The Stand, I like to flow from one book to another. Another catastrophic health crisis and again, the restructuring of human civilisation in the aftermath. The nature of the soul, the very essence of humanity is explored, and if you love the supernatural there is something here for you too.

Reminds me of: The Stand, also, The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Next I picked up Emma Donoghue "Room" the back jacket says "Jack is five, and excited about his birthday. He lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures eleven feet by eleven feet....". Just from this, I was fascinated, I wondered if this was a prison where mothers have their children, or a Flowers in The Attic type situation, or is Ma a whack job like Bad Boy Bubby? I devoured this book, which is both joyful and sad and is told magically through the eyes of a child.

Reminds me of: Hide And Seek by Clare Sambrook




Currently Reading: Greg French "Menagerie of False Truths" gets better as I go along, fascinating portrait of the various manifestations of autism, but has some gross stuff about insects and trout fish and what they eat!

Reminds me of: Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs

My Favourite Books Read for the First time in 2010
1. Good To A Fault, Marina Endicott
2. Plain Truth, Jodi Picoult
3. Room, Emma Donoghue

The Best of Christmas' Past

Here we are (minus Mum, who took the photograph), Christmas, 1981. This is the cubby house my dad built for my christmas gift. It had a foundation with paved verandah, locking door, and real glass windows, even carpet, and thanks to mum it even had drapes! After months of hard work, we had the grand opening on Christmas Day. Pictured are my brother Don and his wife Cathy, peeking out the window; my brother Ken and his wife Cheryl on the front verandah on the left; and myself and Dad on the verandah on the right.... also note the glass of Coke I'm holding.... in my childhood we only had soft drinks on SPECIAL occasions so that was also very exciting! I also have special memories of the building of the cubby house, and my job was general hand... on one weekend a sudden bolt of thunder made me jump.... scattering the tin of nails I was holding everywhere. After the weather cleared, Dad sent me out to pick up every last nail I could find... waste not want not!

Christmas 1983, here my Dad and I are with mum's sister Jean and my grandmother... I just realized though that again, Mum is not in the picture, there is one that dad took with her in it but I have it framed. This was my first Christmas with my Nanna, we drove the long way across the Nullabor desert to get to Adelaide in time for a real family celebration. I can tell you that trip was long, hot, and many a cup of ice cubes was consumed en route. Being with Nanna for Christmas was truly magical.... definitely one of the best times in my life.

Unfortunately this year on Christmas Day, my cat Roman (pictured here a few years younger than he is now), was quite distressed before lunch and given his age and the increasing problems he has we were forced to discuss his future. At 17 years old, Roman is losing his sight a little, is getting a little hard of hearing, and thin and very stiff in the back legs... all of this is to be expected, but we are continually trying to prevent bowel obstructions which are painful and distressing. He can no longer take a general anaesthetic and we can't watch him struggle with what is an essential daily function, we give him tablets with senna in them to help, but he is also losing control of the nerves needed to do a bowel movement so it will only get harder for him. I had been hoping not to have to make this choice, I had a romantic idea of him dying happily asleep in the back yard as he is wont to do, but when the holidays are over we will have to say goodbye. It is a pity that the vet clinic does not have a special room for this, where you can sit as a family on a couch with your pet on your lap as he goes to sleep but alas, I know it will be on the exam table in a bland room where we only recently just had him re vaccinated. My biggest worry is that I will be crying before we begin, I don't want Roman to think I am unhappy or stressed as he picks up on these things. I have a few days to spend as much time with him as possible and prepare myself. I remember a Christmas a few years ago when the vet saved him on christmas day, so we are lucky to have had an extension on his life from then. Actually we have saved him a few times over this 17 years together and I know I'm very lucky to have enjoyed a long life with him. So I will remain as positive as possible.