Free Press Friday - Birch Soaps

After a week of not having a clue what day it is (yes, it's been that kind of week), I am happy to find that it is officially Friday! It's time to kick off our shoes, take a long lunch, and get ready to celebrate the weekend! It's also time to check out the work of a fellow artisan!

This week's Free Press Friday featured artisan is Birch Soaps, aka Katie. She's from Seattle, WA, 22 years old, and engaged to another artist. (Lucky girl... Can you imagine the creativity in that household?) Katie works as a design consultant and conservation framer for Museum Quality framing during the day, and creates her wonderful handcrafted goodies in her off time. In her studios, she sells handmade beauty products, including soap, lip balm, and lotion bars.

As I was browsing through her shop on Artfire, I found myself starting to drool a little. All of her products look so inviting, from her awesome pictures to her delicious fragrance descriptions. I also kept going back to stare at her Chocolate Covered Strawberry soap so much I made my own stomach growl!

Katie has studios on both Artfire and Etsy, and she also uses Trunkt to reach out to wholesalers. She's an active tweeter, and you can also find her on Flickr and indiepublic. I would advise that you go check out her Flickr page, and don't just look at the soap (as tempting as it may be to get stuck there!)... click over to her other albums and check out her awesome shots of fire spinning! (This is something I've dabbled with in the past, and I know how challenging it can be! I am super impressed by these pictures!)

Please stop by Katie's studios and say hello her! And, while you're there, if you find something you like, mention you saw this post (at checkout) and she will send you a free lip balm with your purchase! (Thanks, Katie for your kind offer to my readers!)

Thanks so much for letting me feature you, Katie! It's been a pleasure to meet you, and I wish you best with your studios!




♥

* As always, if you'd like to be featured on Free Press Friday, please leave me a comment with your name and link to your studio(s)! *

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April 2009 Artfire Giveaway!

* So I'm a little late posting about this, and for that I profusely apologize. But, on the good side, I'm only a day late, so you still have plenty of time to participate! *


There is an awesome, eco-friendly giveaway going on this month on Artfire. Thanks to the hard work and innovation of RiskyBeads, there are 11 studios participating this month. All of the products are earth-friendly, and it's super easy to enter.

The giveaway is going on from April 1st until April 7th, and you can see all the participating studios and the rules here. Each artisan has provided a product for the giveaway as a way of promoting both themselves and Artfire. Additionally, all the sellers are offering 10% off in their studios for the duration of the giveaway! (To claim your discount, enter this code on checkout: RBAPRAF10P**.)

I'm not going to list all the artisans here, but I will tell you that the discount code works in my shop! I posted earlier about the Earth Day pendant I'd made for this project, and if you win the giveaway it will be in your basket of goodies!

So please, head over to RiskyBead's blog and read all the rules. You have nothing to lose, and you might just end up with a whole lot of cool stuff!

♥

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A Trip to the Beach

Since the day I joined Artfire I have been in love. I love the people in the forums. I love the art on the front page. I love the staff who treat us like real people (not just dollar signs and statistics). I love the sense of community and feeling of family I get when I am there. I even love the off color humor and tiffs we get into sometimes. I just love being there.

But I feel like that is all about to change.

You know that feeling when you're standing on a beach and the tide goes out? The way you can feel as the ocean pulls away from the sand, desperately trying to take you away with it? How it seems as though, at any moment, the very earth beneath you will just crumble and erode away?

Well, that's how I feel right now.

This "beach" that I am on is washing away.... and I am scared I may have built my sandcastle a little too close to the waves. I can feel my walls crumbling a bit.... and I can look around this "beach" and see a lot of other castles that are in danger as well. These waters we've seen lately have been kind of stormy, and a lot of new things have washed up on our beach. Some days have brought beautiful things, while other days have deposited only debris.

In the last few weeks our beach has seen a lot of new castles being built. There are small, simple, almost timid ones. There are the standard "straight from the bucket ones". There are grandiose palaces with all sorts of adornments. And, sadly, there are even some builders who have chosen to build forts designed to do nothing but keep the other builders away.

I love these castles around me. Each one is different. Each turret is unique. Each gives me a glimpse of the heart of its builder. I don't want to watch them all wash away.

But the tides are inevitable. They are ruthless and unforgiving. They will go out. They will take with them at least some of these things I've seen lovingly built.

My only hope is that when the tide does go out it won't take me with it.

I've poured my heart and soul into the castle I've been building here. I've walked this beach, day after day, offering help to my fellow builders. I've wiped sand from eyes when it was kicked there by another. I've helped rebuild after bullies stomped castles to the ground. I've even tried to draw blueprints when newcomers couldn't find how to begin their own castles.

I know that not all castles are built on a strong foundation. I realize that some are too close to the sea, others are too far. I am aware that the bullies may not ever fully leave this beach I love. I understand that there will always be days when the waters are rough, or the winds are too strong, to be any good for building.

I just hope that I can remind myself, and my fellow beach lovers, that the tides, just as they go out, will one day come in again.

I pray that when they do turn, I will be able to look down this beautiful shoreline and see each of those castles I love still standing, mine included. I will not be taken out with this tide. Try as they may, the bullies will not storm my castle and get away with it. This beach is mine, and it is yours, and it is our job to defend the things we've built upon it... and to rebuild when necessary.

I know it's scary when the bullies are around. I can see see the fear in the faces around me. I can hear the doubt in your words. But I am begging each of you to not be taken in by them. Don't let yourself become a destroyer. Don't let our beach become desolate and ruined like so many other beaches we've seen. Remind yourself that it is more fun, and more wonderful, to take this sand and make something beautiful from it. Remember that storms will pass and sunny days are ahead. Know that the bullies will one day tire of this beach if we just ignore them and continue to build.

And, in the meantime, if you need help building (or even rebuilding) your castle, just let me know... I will do all I can to help beautify this beach I love...

♥

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Just a Little Inspiration...

I had a pretty rough day yesterday, and I was sitting at home feeling crappy about it all.... but thank goodness for friends. A friend sent me these in my email yesterday. She said she saw them in a restaurant and thought of me, so she copied them to her blackberry and forwarded them on. They were just what I needed to hear, so I thought I would share:

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered, forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see in the end it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."

"There is more to life than deadlines and due dates. Sometimes life is about deep breaths, hot baths, good friends and one more spin around the merry go round. Find the balance. Make time to dream, it's the beginning of goals. Make time to laugh it's the music of life. Make time to play, it keeps you creative. Make time to relax so the good things in life can catch up to you."

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is another new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

There's a lot of wisdom in those words, don't you think?

♥

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Do You Make a Difference?

I've noticed that there are a lot of artisans who generously give of their time and talents to help the community around them. I am continually amazed at the outpouring of kindness and compassion shown in the handmade community. So I want to give back to those who have given so much to everyone else.

I want to start featuring each of these artisans on a weekly basis here on Ninja Jenn. My sincere hope is that you, my wonderful readers, will be both enlightened and inspired by what these awesome women and men are doing. I ask that, as you read their features, you take the time to look at both their studios and their causes. I will hopefully have the first feature up by next Monday, so please check back to see who is making a difference around here!

Additionally, if you are one of these artisans, please let me know! I want each of you to be a prominent feature here, and I want to do all I can to spread awareness of your cause. I promise I will not judge, so, no matter what your cause may be, if it matters to you, let it matter to me!

If you want to be featured in the future, or you know of an artisan that deserves to be recognized, please leave me a comment with your name and a link to your studio/blog!

♥

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You KNOW You Want Some Free Earrings...

Well so do I, which is why I'm hesitant to share this info with you guys...

But, in the spirit of kindness and in the hopes that my overly taxed karma will be kind to me, I am going to let you in on something cool: there is a giveaway going on for some really super awesome earrings and a surprise gift.

Where, you ask? Over on The Vintage Jewelry Collector's blog!

Just head over and read her post and you will get all the information you need to enter the giveaway. I'll even give you hint: go read my post about the AFSP participants, and go find something you like in one of their shops. Just buy that awesome little item you just found, copy your order number, post it on her blog, and you get an extra entry!

See? I can be nice when I wanna be... ;0)

♥

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Free Press Friday - Creative Critters

WOO HOO! It's Friday! And we all know what that means, right? Time to stage a "ninja invasion" of another artisan studio and see what sort of awesomeness we can find!

This week's artisan is someone I found on Artfire just recently. She posted in the forums, and I couldn't help but take a peek inside her studio. She's Creative Critters, and her work is so cool, I sent her an email asking her to let me feature her on a Free Press Friday post. She was kind enough to say yes, and I am so happy she did! i can't wait to show the world her awesome art!

Let me start by introducing her to you guys. Her name is Michelle, and she's from Fairview Park, Ohio. She's 33 (which I think is a fine age to be LOL), and she has the ability to take a lump of polymer clay and work miracles with it! When I asked her about herself, she told me "I love all animals, being outdoors and active, anything dealing with fantasy, and working in the garden. When I create, I put my soul into my work- I truly love what I do. And I'm really enjoying getting to know some of the other artists on Artfire!" Well you know what? I couldn't agree with her more! Seems like she's loving her Artfire studio as much as I love mine!

Michelle makes polymer clay sculptures, mixed media jewelry, adorable cloth dolls, knit toys, polymer clay pen sets, and World of Warcraft plush characters, all of which you can find in her studio. She also blogs and maintains a Flickr page (where you can see tons of her awesomely cute sculptures!) If you want to make a more personal connection with her, you can find her on both Facebook and Myspace.

I love that Michelle seems to have a little bit of a "geeky side" (as do I!), and it shows in all her wonderful fantasy based pieces! But don't let her fool you... This girl can make just about anything from clay... as you will see if you look around her studio!

I tried to pick a variety of things from her studio to add to my spotlight, but there is no way I can begin to show you all her cool stuff! Please go shop around a bit... I promise you will be amazed at her talent! (And her prices are so reasonable it's crazy!)




It's been my real pleasure to meet Michelle! She's always so sweet in the forums, and her work is truly an inspiration! Good luck to you, Michelle! I imagine you will have great success around here!

♥

* Want to be featured on Free Press Friday? Leave a comment with your name and a link to your shop and I will be in touch! *

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