New Business Card, Finally!

Think I have found a look that I'm happy with! For now, since it's always good to switch things up.

Some flowers!

Some floral design pieces I hadn't posted yet:

This pink piece is silk:

I found some peacock feathers!

Wedding flowers from last November:

The Bride's bouquet:

"Female Fashion Affair"

This friday I was a part of a great event at Urban Headquarters in Utica called "The Female Fashion Affair." The event is the first of what we hope to be a bi-annual event with an almost full female cast of artists, photographers, craft vendors, musicians, fashion designers, spoken word poets, etc. We had a great turn out and I'm very happy to have been a part of the event!

Here are some photos from my display:

I'm also getting ready for the Spring Indie Garage sale at the Utica train station.

I'm thinking of making some hair pieces to match those necklaces!!

New Earrings, New Business Card, etc.

Another new necklace:

Working on this new business card. This is the back. Haven't decided on colors yet:

And my cousins final logo:

And possible business card:

Some new earrings:

First Necklace

Look, Look!! All that's left is the chain and clasp:

The cute back:

I guess I really like yellow and green.

Here are some "bib" necklaces I am working on for my next craft show. These will be adorned with some vintage broaches, buttons, etc. I'll also be backing them with some funky fabric! I cant wait to finish them all, it's just a matter of the right thrift store finds!

I got this great new lamp shade, for my green Salvation Army lamp find! Looks great with my mismatched paint cabinet knobs :)

Here's a wedding bouquet sample I put together for a bridal show a few weeks ago... love those roses!

I don't know what to call this post.

It's been a few weeks! So busy!

I've 99.9% decided that I'm going to be merging my handmade and illustration business and calling it "RetroSorrento" after my blog and my Etsy shop. [As some of my customers might know, if they are dealing with me off-line, I go by "Maria Vallese Illustration"]

The handmade aspect of my creative life has been intertwining itself with my illustration, and vice versa. It all seems to fit into one package, so it no longer seems necessary to separate the two.

Oh, and now you can like me on Facebook! I'll like you back!!! <3

Something I've been struggling with for the past year is the identity of the handmade business and it's packaging. This is such an important part of my business as a whole but something I never really considered starting out. Anyway, here are some new tag designs that I've come up with. The great thing about these is that they can be used as price tags for hats, earring cards, and can be glued to boxes for a really cute look!

I've also ventured back into some oil pastel work in the past few weeks. Something I felt so passionate about and then got away from, feeling it was an "immature" medium. In hindsight, I'm glad I made that decision because it helped me find my illustration style, but it's nice to go back to this medium and see how I've changed and improved, regardless of the outcome.

I've been reading "Van Gogh: The Life," and I think I can attribute some of my color, subject matter and experimentation inspiration to that.

[You might remember this from a previous post! It's one of my first floral arrangements.]

Last, here are some logo sketches for my cousin's DJ-ing business. In case you're wondering, he's flip-flopping on the name a little bit, but that's something I can identify with, so I don't mind.