MEET ETSY SELLERS AND SISTERS BETTY AND ROSE REFOUR

Betty Refour is a contemporary abstract artist and caregiver to her sister Rose, who is also an artist, and who is autistic. This artistic duo live and work in Oklahoma City.

A Quick Glance, Betty Refour

Betty is a sports fan and especially loves tennis. She also loves doing crafts and other creative endeavors. In addition to creating art, she knits, and makes jewelry, soap and candles.

Her Dreams Were Of Colors,Betty Refour

Betty’s fascination with art began when she was a child. She would sit for hours drawing geometric shapes in patterns and different color combinations. Later she became very interested in fashion, and began doing drawings of photos from magazines and catalogs. After high school, Betty decided to become a Fashion Designer and studied at a small Art & Design school in Texas. After graduation she couldn’t find a job as a designer and so pursued other interests. Years later, while recovering from an injury, Betty went out to purchase a painting for her home and couldn’t fine one she liked. She went and bought a canvas and supplies and went home to paint. Although her background was in illustration, she went ahead and put brush to canvas and found painting to be very therapeutic. She started getting commissions right away and has been painting every since. She did take a painting class about ten years later, but otherwise she paints to her own tune.

Lovely Day, Betty Refour

Abstract works and an occasional still life are Betty’s usual style. Rose creates charming, folk art and abstract pieces.

Beautiful Sunshine, Rose Refour

Betty is inspired by color, texture, fabric, architecture and many other things. The possibilities are limitless. Rose is inspired by shapes, colors, nature and people.

Another City Art Card, Betty Refour

Betty considers herself to be a self-taught painter.

Out On A Limb, Betty Refour

Since moving to Oklahoma, Betty has not participated much in local groups or galleries. She has however been in a few group art shows and has had one solo show.

Untitled Abstract Art Card, Betty Refour

Currently Betty has no plans to integrate any new methods or techniques into her work. We can however expect to see more bright colors and geometric shapes in her upcoming work.

Bloom, Betty Refour

Betty makes her work available in several places online. Original art, reproductions and note cards are available from her B. Refour shop on Etsy. Reproductions, jewelry and cards are available through her other Etsy shop Noteworthy Crafts. Her Cafepress shop B.Refour offers Breast Cancer Awareness products and Ovarian Cancer Awareness items are available at
B.A.Refour on Cafepress.
You can see more of her art at Bettys Art on Zazzle. Other online shops include Betty Refour Posters on ART.COM and original work is available through Betty Refour on Artist Rising.

She Sprinkled The Magic Dust Over The Flower Garden While The Sun Smiled In The Distance, Rose Refour

Rose’s artwork is available on her shop Rose Refour on Etsy and in her Cafepress shop Rose Refour.

The Diva Wore Red Lipstick, Rose Refour

Betty and Rose are active in Autism Awareness work. They are gearing up for events during April, which is Autism Awareness Month.

Trio - Because It's Always Best To Stick Together, Rose Refour

Visit Betty’s Website

Visit Betty’s Blog on Tumblr

Join Betty on Facebook

Follow Betty on Twitter

MOTHER NATURE PUTS ON HER CHARMS, Treasury Curated by Shannon Girouard-Fogl

A Team Discovery Treasury including new sellers with 20 or less sales!

So come on and click on the new shops and show them some love!

Curated by Shannon Girouard-Fogl - Etsy Seller BiscottiQueen

WATERWAIF

Beads, seaglass, gemstones, glass, metals, and all jewelry supplies!

Full Strand Miracle Beads

AIDARI
Beautiful Art, Beautiful Home, Art, Photography, Illustration

Welcome to my Etsy shop, where you will find a unique and affordable array of photography, modern Illustrations, inspirational prints, colorful art work and jewelry.

Barns in Canola Field

OMIN, Illustration Shop

♥Welcome to my illustration shop!

Cut Leaf Stickers

LE PETIT BOUDOIR
Welcome to my Petit Boudoir.

A vintage inspired collection full of romance made with love!!
Something that you 'll love and want to make it yours...maybe is in this collection

Lime Green Chrysanthemum Filigree Earrings

HUWANG JUNGUO
Welcome!Thanks for your glimpse in my shop!

I'm a new member on Etsy,
All the dresses are made by our team.
Hope to hear more and more people love!
Happy shopping......

White Long Pendulum Chiffon Dress


STORY KING
Welcome everyone :)

Here is simple design about bags.
I hope you will love them.

Wool Felt Documents Pouch


VIRIDITAS MINERVA PHOTOGRAPHY
Fine Photographs for the Mythically Inclined

Featuring photography of our magical world by Hollin Elizabeth Pagos. Please be in touch to request custom sizes or sets.

Nature Glass

MADAM KOITEH
Beautiful by Nature

Organic shea butter, cocoa butter, and African Black Soap. Yoruba metaphysical herbal and spiritual supplies for Hoodoo, Santeria, Orisha, and all religious traditions.

Organic HYSSOP Bulk Herb

GARDENMIS
Fresh modern sachets and other delights

Fresh modern ~ organic sachets and bookmarks filled with lavender, jasmine, and roses & other delights. Welcome to gardenmis ~ grab a cup of tea and enjoy your visit :)

Fresh Green Blue Rosebud Adjustable Ring

GAO LEI SHOES

Hand Made Womens Shoes


STARLET & JULIET
Thanks so much for stopping by.

Starlet and Juliet offers a complete line of bath and body products as well as products for the home. We have been off of Etsy for a while but are back; and new products will continued to be listed. Our focus is to give our customers delightful products to either use or give as a special gift to just about anyone.

Milky Shampoo and Silky Deep Conditioner Set Peppermint

FOTORON

Reflection Fine Art Photo

DeLOOP
Hair Accessories Bridal & Fashion ...

Flower Crowns, Hair Clips, Combs, Bobbies Vintages & Romantic Jewelry! ...

Sage Green Roses Hair Flower Comb

FAIRY DUST CRAFTS
All of my items are handbuilt

100% handmade and always sprinkled with a bit of fairy dust...I work mostly in low fire ceramics, though occasionally you will find some high fire items.

Set of Four Bamboo Green Ceramic Buttons

THE LION AND THE CRAB
Fun eco-friendly knits for babies and children

Bibs, hats, headbands, & fun accessories for babies and children.
Hello, and welcome to Lion and the Crab, a shop devoted to quality, handmade, whimsical knit accessories for all the little people in your life. As a mom myself, I strive to create unique styles of bibs, headbands, and toy animals with colors that pop and are knit with a luxurious vegan cotton blend for softness against the skin and fantastic durability. All knits are also 100% machine washable

Sky and Sea Blue Flower Button Hand Knit Cotton Baby Headband 0-6 months

FIVE LITTLE GEMS
Beaded Jewelry Designs

Romantic and sparkling hand-crafted jewelry featuring crystals, lampwork beads, pearls, semi-precious gemstones, shell beads, glass and acrylic flowers. My name is Holly and welcome to my Etsy shop!

Necklace Aqua Green and Amber Brown Agate Necklace in Silver Moon Mist

All Images Copyright to the respective Etsy Seller, All Rights Reserved.

Treasury Curated by Shannon Girouard-Fogl.

EMELE PHOTOGRAPHY ON ETSY

Emele is Emily Goodwin. Emily uses the name Emele, a combination of her first and middle names, on her ‘online venues’. Emily was born in Cambridgeshire in the UK. She moved, with her family, to Crete, Greece for 7 years when she was 18. Now she splits her time between the UK to be with her partner with extended vacations to Greece!

FORT TOWER ARCHITECTURE

Emily is a cat lover, bookworm, Sunday afternoon baker, lover of art, design and crafts, and an avid bargain hunter. She loves to learn new things, one of which is knitting. She says she isn’t very good at it yet, but she works away at it. She also works on a cross stitch project that she has been working on for 10 years.

CAT LOVE

Emily is arty, crafty, and creative and she makes her living online. She says a 9 to 5 job is just not for her! Emily blogs, writes articles, designs and creates physical art through her photography. She started her online creative ventures with handmade cards and gifts. When she bought a digital camera so she could photograph the items she had made, in order to upload them for sale on her website, she discovered the joys of photography and realized that she could make money from it, she's never looked back!

YELLOW FLORAL PRINT

The next adventure for Emily is to venture into the world of paintings. She has gathered all the materials and supplies and is waiting for her muse to inspire her to put brush to canvas! (It never happened, the materials are still unused!!!)

BLACK AND WHITE FLOWER

Subject matter for Emily’s photography can be pretty much anything! Emily is self-taught and enjoys taking photos of flowers, especially macro shots; cats and other animals; scenic views and anything else that catches her eye. Her photos often end up as prints or featured on home décor/gift items in her online Print on Demand sites. Emily also shoots photos of tiled floors, rusty padlocks, and other similar types of photos and sells these as micro stock online.

HOTTENTOT FIG MACRO

Emily is a self-taught photographer. She tends to shy away from the technical side of things and tinker on her own. Gradually, using books, websites and tutorials, Emily is learning the ins and outs of her camera, what it can do, and more about photographic techniques and possibilities in general.

SNAIL PRINT

Some business goals Emily has are to place her prints in brick and mortar shops for sale and also to license her photography. As well she plans to introduce cards and calendars to her ETSY shop.

FLOWER INCHIES SHEET

Currently Emily is working on more ‘Nine Square’ photo designs similar to some she now offers in her shops. Eventually she will introduce a new Nine Squares print monthly. She has also developed a line of digital downloads of her floral images which other artists can use in their product designs. Some are currently being offered in her ETSY shop and more will be coming soon!

FLOWER CENTER INCHIES

Emily offers products and designs on several sites. She sells prints through her ETSY shop. In her Cafepress shop, she sells keepsake boxes, clocks, coasters, and journals which feature her photography on them. Her Zazzle store also features products with her photography on them. These products include cards, magnets, mouse pads, prints and more.

CRETE MOUNTAIN VIEW

While working on her various online shops and blogs and marketing on twitter and facebook, Emily meets many, many talented, creative people. Although she wants to collect all of their work, it is not possible, so Emily came up with another way to ‘collect’ their work and support these artists.

PEBBLES PRINT

Since Emily is a web designer and an SEO girl (search engine optimization) she developed a blog where she features the artist’s she supports. She focuses on getting people who are searching online to the blog, and then, hopefully, to purchase some of the artist’s work whether that art be on a poster, print, mug, tshirt or something else!

“CREATIVE ARTIST’S BLOG is a Blog for Artists, Photographers, Designers as well as Art lovers and Shoppers. Find new artists and artwork, Be inspired, Learn & Support the Creativity!”


Visit Emily Goodwin’s Personal Blog

EMELE, Emily Goodwin on ETSY

EMELE, Emily Goodwin on Cafepress

EMELE, Emily Goodwin on Zazzle

EMELE, Emily Goodwin on Redbubble

FOLLOW EMELE ON TWITTER

LIKE EMELE ON FACEBOOK

All Images Copyright Emily Goodwin, All Rights Reserved

Written by Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved

NEWS FOR SELLERS AND BUYERS ON ETSY

As a SELLER or a BUYER on Etsy, you should check your settings on the site.

Along with the changes to create CIRCLES on the site, your name and buying history are now public information by default settings on your account. A GOOGLE search on your name can reveal all purchase details and the viewer can then find you on facebook or elsewhere.

Read this article for more information:

Etsy users irked after buyers, purchases exposed to the world
By Jacqui Cheng | Last updated about 17 hours ago

ETSY SELLER CHRISTINE SCHWARTZKOPF IS A PAINTER AND FRACTAL ARTIST

Christine Schwartzkopf was born in Ohio, loves Florida and now lives in Portland, Indiana. She has always been called Christi. Christi lives with her daughter, two grandchildren, eight Chihuahua’s, one cat, one lovebird and a couple of tanks of fish. She says she has had pretty much all kinds of pets over the years and she loves animals with a passion. Someday soon Christi is looking forward to moving back to Florida to soak up some rays and continue creating her beautiful art.

HIDDEN WONDER

As a child Christi watched her mother do all types of crafts and sewing and when Christi was quite young, her mother taught her to do lace tatting and doilies. Christi’s older sister is an artist who paints in oils, and when Christi was about 12 years old she painted her first oil painting with lessons from her sister. At school, Christi frequently got caught drawing in class when she should have been doing school work.

SUNRISE

As a young woman, Christi’s life was busy with work and family. Artistic endeavors shifted to the back burner as she raised her young family. In the mid- 80’s she took some lessons in acrylic painting and developed painting abstracts into a hobby.

EARTH AND SAND

In 1996 Christi made some changes in her life and creating art became her focus again. She did a lot of cartoon artwork for her children, and began painting again too. Ebay gave Christi an outlet to market her paintings and she also discovered the EBSQ community.

LONE TREE

Christi’s art has a very strong presence of nature. Florals, landscapes, creatures both wild and domestic and people are strongly represented in her paintings. She has also created a large body of strong and dynamic abstract works. Many of Christi’s pieces can be seen in her portfolio on EBSQ.

WILD FLOWERS
WINNER OF THE PATRON'S CHOICE AWARD, EBSQ Fractal Exhibit 2011

Through EBSQ connections Christi has sold more of her artwork and also learned how to work in other mediums. She tried watercolor and decided that was not the medium for her. Prism color pencils were another medium Christi learned to use, and she likes to work with these. A number of these pieces have been sold on Ebay and Etsy.

CAGED SPIRIT

In 2010, EBSQ initiated monthly fractal shows. Intrigued, Christi downloaded Apophysis, gave fractal creation a try and fell in love. She has been hooked on fractals ever since, sometimes staying up all night to finish one. She finds them absolutely amazing. Christi says she gets the itch to paint periodically and does, but for the most part she spends her working time creating and working with fractals.

PICK UP STICKS

Currently Christi is creating more fractals and getting up to speed in CS5 to improve post process work and editing of her fractal art. Coming up in the next six months and beyond, Christi will be marketing prints of her fractals and continuing to build her Zazzle shop.

FRAMED COLOR

Christi markets her artwork online at several sites. These include an Artists profile at EBSQ Self Representing Artists, sale of originals in shops on ETSY, Bonanza and Deviant Art, and print on demand products featuring her art on Imagekind and Zazzle. She is currently adding a new shop with originals and prints available for sale, on Artfire.

SOLAR FLARE

Christi Schwartzkopf on ARTFIRE

Christi Schwartzkopf on BONANZA

Christi Schwartzkopf on DEVIANT ART

Christi Schwartzkopf on ETSY

Christi Schwartzkopf on IMAGEKIND

Christi Schwartzkopf on ZAZZLE

Visit Christi on EBSQ

Friend Christi on Facebook

Follow Christi on Twitter

All images Copyright Christine Schwartzkopf, All Rights Reserved


Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson

GETTING TO KNOW DONNA RIDGWAY, MONTANA PHOTO DOCUMENTARIAN

Donna Ridgway is a native Montanan and she says that Montana is her favourite place on this earth. Her great grandfather homesteaded on the mountains west of Dupuyer, Montana and six generations later her family still lives amongst their beloved Montana mountains. Donna and her husband Robert are now retired and are pursuing their creative interests. Robert is a cowboy poet and also restores old cars. Donna creates artwork and takes magnificent photographs of the landscape and creatures of Montana.

MINIATURE HORSE BLUE EYE

Donna grew up farming and ranching, so she has a close affinity for the land and the animals that live in Montana. Caring for animals, (especially horses), all her life has given her a deep love for them and they are what inspires most of her work. At one time Donna and her husband drove truck cross country. They had moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. An unexpected chance to move back to Montana arose and Donna found that tears began to stream from her eyes and she found she couldn’t stop crying. That was the moment when she knew how much she loved Montana and what an inspiration the scenery and animals of the state are to her. Montana is her muse.

HORSES IN MONTANA FROST

A 14ft by 70ft trailer home is Donna’s work studio. Currently it is being fitted with new energy efficient windows, new insulation and other upgrades so that Donna will be able to work in the space year round. She says it will be a wonderfully adequate space for an artist when it is all done.

FRITO THIEF SPARROW

When Donna was just a toddler, not even old enough to talk, she would stand up on the front seat of the car between her mom and dad and point to every horse she saw in the fields. She would yell to be taken to the horses. Her parents were not horse lovers and didn’t comply with her gesticulations and requests, but Donna says that she knows from this story that she loved horses from the moment she was born. She also knows that art was part of her soul then as well. As soon as she could draw, she did.

ZEBRA CAROUSEL HORSE

The mediums Donna uses in her work are varied and she switches them according to the mood she is in. She uses colored pencils, pastels, acrylic, oil and watercolors. She has carved shapes into linoleum blocks for printing and she works in polymer clay too. As Donna says, “One medium is as satisfying to me as another.” Donna likes to work wet in wet when painting. She is a prolific artist on a never ending quest to produce the next image, whatever that may be.

MOUNTAIN GOAT ON CLIFF

In 2003, Donna bought a Canon 10D, and the camera instantly became Donna’s medium of choice. She still paints and draws, but it's the camera that fascinates, challenges, and entertains her best. In 2008, Donna added a Nikon D300, with a 70-300 mm Tamron lens to her photography tools and she says the camera has become an extension of herself. In the last few years Donna has begun to do digital art using her photos, creating original works of art. Her main subjects are horses. Montana is her secondary subject matter; she says the state drives her creatively.

FIGHTING STALLIONS ON PRAIRIE

Donna went to a country school growing up, one where the teacher taught three grades at a time. Her teacher in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade was also an artist. While the other children went outside for recess, Donna studied art with the teacher. Later in life she studied with Betty Hudson Savage in Polson, Montana and with Joan Mason in St. Ignatius, Montana. Currently she participates in webinar classes on landscape painting with Johannes Vloothuis. She also studies online tutorials for using Photoshop and her cameras.

PRAIRIE CAMOUFLAGE

Donna is a member of International Equine Artists, Front Range Art Association, World Wide Women Artists, The Montana Etsy Team, and The Whoa Team on Etsy. She has been represented in many juried shows in Montana and nationally and won awards for her work. She is on the list of Montana Outdoor Magazine photographers and has had a cover photo published on the Stable Woman Gazette. Horses in Art magazine has published her articles several times. In April 2005 Donna was an invited exhibitor at The History Museum.

BUSTIN' OUT APPALOOSA

Sometimes Donna teaches informal art lessons for a neighbor or friend who mentions they would like to paint. She is happy to show them some basics so they get together over Donna’s kitchen table and work until the students feel they can carry on by themselves.

LITTLE DOE

In the near future Donna has a few things she wants to accomplish in her art. She would like to paint some of the locations she loves most along the Rocky Mountain Front. In addition, Donna will be creating more digital art as she is in love with her Photoshop Elements 7 program and the images she can create using her photos.

HORSES IN MONTANA SNOW

Donna's original art can be purchased at her studio in Vaughan, Montana and online in her Etsy shop. She sells original paintings, ACEO cards, photographs of Montana and Giclee prints of her photos and paintings. She also offers her art on products in her Zazzle shop, RedBubble gallery and on Finer Works. The Art for Conservation site also has some of Donna’s artwork available for sale.

SPIKE ELK IN MONTANA

Donna’s beautiful work is constantly being featured on Etsy and she loves the community there. She is very excited about making her work available to collectors through Etsy and now that she has a professional page on facebook, more and more people are finding Donna’s exceptional work on Etsy. Donna finds this a great way to share her beloved Montana and horses with people worldwide.

Visit Donna Ridgway on Red Bubble

Visit Donna Ridgway’s shop JACK MORGAN on Etsy

Visit Donna Ridgway on Zazzle

Like The Nature of Montana Photography on Facebook

Visit Donna Ridgway on Art for Conservation

All Images Copyright Donna Ridgway, All Rights Reserved

Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson 2011