My user pictures

Several weeks ago I drew new avatars for my family blog. I did them in India ink and watercolors. I didn't put much emphasis on details because I knew that they will end up as tiny blocks next to my user name. Now I regret it a little. Anyways, since this is my creativity blog, I would like to post my drawings here. I just recently got serious about painting and drawing, developing my skills. I am willing to learn and I lucky to have opportunities.

The cup of tea is my general pic. Then goes the one for posts about me, myself and I - eyes shot, day dreaming... The one with a girl and a boy is for postings about my kids. Then their is a mother with a child - it is for sad things. And finally, user picture for my arts and crafts.

I am working on a couple more images right now. I hope I can show them soon.

Christmas mood

I love fall and fall colors - black tree stems tangled in yellow and orange and red... and fall decor, all these pumpkins, gourds and scarecrows... I am sad that Thanksgiving is over and it's time to decorate for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and decorating in general, but Christmas brings just too much pressure. Everyone is in a hurry, getting ready, stressing out! Everything is spinning like it is not Happiest holiday of all coming up but the end of the world. So decorating comes with the pressure too. But it must be done:)

My daughter is 4 and a half and my son is almost 3. They are two volcanoes of creativity! They love to glue, cut, draw, paint and they will do pretty much anything with me. Today we finally pulled out that stick with pinecones, that stayed in our garage since August, spray painted it silver and hung some felted decor on it. It worked out beautifully: while I was stitching the bird, kids were cutting up little pieces of felt for me. I did give them fabric scissors, because it's impossible to cut felt with the kids ones. When kids were done cutting, they handed me bits of felt one by one while I suspended each piece on the string between two beads.

Felt leftovers we stuffed in the vase. I think, that the whole thing looks very festive and the main thing - children can participate in this project, have fun and feel important! It is also a very affordable project - 3 sheets of felt, some seed beads, thread and a couple of sticks from your backyard (you don't' have to spray paint the sticks, they can be left natural or sprinkled with glitter)!

Kolobok

There is Russian folk tale about the Kolobok (round bread) who ran away from Grandma and Grandpa and bunch of forest animals just to be eaten by a sly fox. This tale is one of my kids' favorites, so I hand sewn finger puppets out of felt and other fabrics for staging a play in our family puppet theater.

It took me a whole season of "House", but the result worth it! I designed all of these characters myself putting quiet a bit of an afford to make them look as Russian as possible:) My personal favorite is the wolf ,"Kolobok, Kolobok, I'm gonna eat you!", if he only wasn't that straight forward...

Studio Elenus

About a year and a half ago my wardrobe suffered an accessory crisis... This is when I went to the craft store, bought 4 dollar set of tiny tools, some beads and findings, made a 2 layer necklace and wore it to work the next day. Compliments poured at me and I was forced to give up the origin of my jewelry. The same day I had a buyer for my next necklace. I did not plan to make jewelry for sale (this is why I bought the cheapest tool set ) but I could not decline the offer. I created several new designs ultimately to get enormous support from my coworkers, friends and family, who purchased my jewelry and gave me confidence to continue my work.

Later last year I participated in craft fair and organized successful jewelry party. That was in Chicago, but then we moved to Dallas, where our family didn't know a soul. Here after hitting several bumps, my small jewelry business finally hit a milestone - I opened my shop on ETSY!

Studio Elenus launched on November 14 of 2009! So it is a fresh shop and I have a lot of work on my hands. However, I already had my first sale and can't be called undiscovered anymore! I am excited and a little overwhelmed, but more excited then overwhelmed:)

Regardless of being such an important part of my life, my jewelry is just a tip of an iceberg of my daily creativity, where my kids and my home are my absolute priority. This is why I am not going to post every single piece of jewelry that is featured in my shop to this blog. Instead I welcome everyone to my shop at http://www.studioelenus.etsy.com/! Maybe you can find something that fits your taste and your wardrobe there. Also I am always excited about custom orders; feel free to contact me so we can join our visions to create that perfect piece of jewelry for you!

The beginning...

Finally after 5 years of blogging about my life, I am starting a new blog dedicated to my creativity! I imagine it will become an outlet for all creative ideas residing in my head, a place where I can showcase my arts and crafts without spilling it out into my family blog. I am a kind of person who has 10 projects going at the time so this page is not going to stay empty.

I am planning to write about kids' crafts and ideas for creative play, about home decorating, about my progress in painting, drawing and knitting, as well as post some updates about new jewelry designs created for my shop on ETSY that I launched about 2 weeks ago.

So, everyone, welcome to my creative chaos!!!