New Projects

Since graduating last December, I am happy to say that Ive started quite a few new endeavors. One of which is a collaborative project with my good friend and fellow artist, Shina. We were classmates at UNA and discovered through our recycling efforts that the city of Florence, Alabama does not recycle glass!!! She knew from my jewelry that I love glass (and anything eco-friendly) and proposed that we start a recycling project of our own...and thus the Green BottleTree was born.

Through our combined efforts (she cuts the glass with a tile-saw and I finish off the edges with my grinder) we have begun making a wide range of recycled glass goods...from drinking glasses to guitar slides, lamps to rings to candle holders and vases...you name it! I will be sharing MANY more pieces with you...the few photos I have here were taken at a local Trunk Show last month. We hope to have our Etsy store up and running very soon as well (Shina will be in charge of that since I already have my hands full with KeelyB) and I will be sure to keep you all updated on our online presence.

Our little eco-friendly venture has turned out to be quite the hit locally...I cant wait to share more of our creations with you!

Wow...

I cant believe its been almost an entire year since Ive written on here! And wow what a year its been...seems like enough has changed in my life that I could write pages and pages about it all. I will spare you all the details and update things slowly; just know that regaining an online presence is very important to me. I have missed blogging and all the friends I made on here last year. I have also missed Etsy and I am happy to say that after quite an absence, my shop is back...up and running at full steam! I hope to bring the blog up to speed as well.

I am starting my blog-resolution off with a new layout for the ol' girl (I dont know if you all remember the old green background...but now its white. I like white. White=clean slate...fresh start...like new cotton sheets on a nicely made bed!) Im glad to be back. Not that I ever really left...but back in action sure feels good!

Transitional Update

First of all, I would like to apologize for my absence. I am experiencing a very transitional period in my life right now and as a result my blog (and even the Etsy shop) have been put on hold...(and might I add...isn't it funny that our lives seem to transition with the seasons? Autumn is the most transitional season of them all for me, and every year during this season my life seems to be in upheaval. Not necessarily a bad upheaval, but chaotic nonetheless. And I know Im not the only one.)

I am slowly getting back into a routine...getting back into the swing of things...but with graduation approaching in December (and after that a possible move to another state) I do not know how regular of a routine I will be able to establish on here. But I will say this...I will keep you all updated. And if I am lucky there will be regular postings again. I love blogging. I want to make time for it. So there you go.

New items will appearing (finally!) in the Etsy shop. After technical difficulties of all kinds I finally have my computer in working order...so keep your eyes peeled. And as always, thanks for reading!

1000 Hearts and Front Page!

My life has been extremely hectic lately. I will spare you the details...but please know as soon as things calm down I will be back on here to blog more regularly. For now, I wanted to share with you a mile-marker in my Etsy-business life...today I reached 1000 hearts!!!

And its all thanks to this beautiful treasury that made the Etsy front page today (before the front page appearance I had about 50 hearts to go before reaching 1000). A special thanks to Muyinmolly for catching the screenshot for me : )

And an even bigger thank you to those of you who support me and my artwork!!! I really do have the best customers in the world...thank you all SO much, from the bottom of my heart : )

Art On The Square

I cant believe its been almost a year since my first major show!!! And Im set to return to Art on the Square September 6th! Part of the reason I havent written much lately is due to preparing for Art on the Square (and a second show on September 20th...the Monte Sano Art Show)...as well as being gone this past weekend for a jewelry workshop. Im very excited to share with you what I have learned, as well as some new designs, but I dont have photos of anything yet so it will have to wait (sorry!).

For now, I just wanted to give you readers an excuse for my absence and let the locals know to come out and visit me at these shows!!! They should both be wonderful!

Mid-Week Check-in

Yesterday was rainy, cold, and damp. Thats right...cold. (Compared to the heat we were experiencing during the previous week, anyway)





I didnt get anything done except for some lounging around the house and the random photos you see here. These are my lantern lights...they hang above my work area and bring me joy. Like childhood joy...the pure enjoyment of something as simple as colored lights. There is something magical about mood lighting and Ive decided that my house needs more of it (magic and mood lighting, that is...its a good thing they go hand-in-hand to me)


Today though...I need to get to work. I have two shows in September! Thats right, two! (more specifics on them later) Im concerned that my inventory will be severely lacking by the time the second show rolls around (its only two weeks behind the first one, and there is a jewelry workshop thrown in on the weekend between the two). So Im afraid the shop will be neglected in the meantime...but whats a full time college student and one-woman business supposed to do?

We are already midway through this week as well! I hope its been good to you : )

Contest Winners!!!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to leave a comment for the contest, espeically the wonderful gals from my Jet Team (I owe the Jets a blog entry of their own)! This really was a lot of fun for me...and definitely something I will do again in the future. Heres a list of the names of everyone who participated:



The names cut up and about to go into my trusty straw hat (a purchase made when I was out west...specifically at the Grand Canyon. My poor Irish skin roasted out there until I found this hat):


Mixing up the names...I thought about doing a photo for every name I drew out of the hat, but then that seemed a bit redundant. No peeking was involved in the drawing though...promise. Duke is my witness ; )

Aaaand....the winners!!! Congrats ladies!

Ive assigned each of you the prize according to the order in which your name was drawn and the order of the prizes on the other blog post.

Trentongal: Pine Needle Earrings

JC by Kendra: Tree of Life Pendant

Miscelena: Blue Petal Pendant

Please email me your mailing address at KeelyBdesigns@gmail.com so I can send these pretties out to you. I will be at the post office Monday ; )