Winter flower

I found this simple flower walking by my house on a snow day. The color combination chocolate brown flower on white snow caught my eyes. I simply couldn't walk by:)

Secret Santa gifts

Many thanks to my Secret Santas! I've received totally amazing gifts from two wonderful Artists.

a set of Holiday Napkins from Keri of Too Cute customs crafts



Keri also sent me these amazing earrings by BlueberryCream made of corrugated copper



My next Secret Santa gift came from Elizabeth Urquhart of Pure Nature Photos



All these wonderful gifts will make my home happy:) Thank you so much!!!

Clematis flowers in purple, tender pink and white

I love taking pictures of flowers. Most of the flowers are so exquisite, tender and glamorous! Even if they are not flowers still somehow radiate positive energy and happiness. Clematis with its wide range of purple, violet and pink hues definitely deserves to be noticed. A unique shape of the flower's petals and stamens makes it a great object for macro photography.

As a result I've got a number of abstract images of clematis colored mulberry, orchid, pale pink, purple and white. All the curves and twists add sophistication to the images.

The flowers could be a great inspiration for artists and craftsmen. Their tender color mixes and delicate lines could inspire jewelry makers, felting artists and many other wonderful members of hand making community to produce unique and stylishly colored pieces.

There are over 200 pieces of Clematis that comes in a wide variety of shapes and colors. The plant is relatively easy to grow. It doesn’t take too much space. Clematis is a climbing plant that could be grown into a beautiful fence in your yard.

Spring tulips

As daffodils tulips are a spring staple. We are used to yellow and bright red spots of color in city parks and our yards. But as I found out tulips come in a wide variety of colors and shapes.

If we look back at the history of Europe tulips played quite a dramatic role being at some point in the center of Dutch tulip obsession. Although originally cultivated in Ottoman Empire tulips gained extraordinary popularity in Europe with a number of tulip festivals being help in many countries including England and Netherlands.

Nowadays tulips successfully compete with other beautiful spring flowers for prime spots in our gardens.

San Diego as a New Year vacation destination

I've been to the West Coast just once and loved it. The way people live and work there is somehow different from the way people go about their business in the East Coast. I just recently came across beautiful vacation pictures of the East Coast by IrinaPhotography. It sounds like a great tradition to go on a family trip to San Diego around New Years. What a fun way to start a new year!

Fine jewelry inspired by Northen beauty from Arctida of Sweden

While searching for beautiful jewelry items created by European artists I came across Arctida, an amazing jewelry designer from Sweden. All her items are absolutely unique and inspired by white and snowy Northern winters, short and intensive Northern Summers and the beauty of country's deep blue lakes and rich forests. I'm always curious to learn more about talented artists, their everyday life and creative processes. I'm very grateful when they are willing to share their experiences and insights as this knowledge enriches us all!

Q: Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Alecia and I'm a mother, wife, scientist, jewelry designer, photographer and a digital artist. I live on the beautiful East coast of Sweden with my husband and our sweet baby girl in the 750 year old city of Stockholm. I have M.S. in Molecular Biology and during the day I do cancer research at Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm. During the night, however, I dive into my world of handmade and digital creations.
My Etsy shop is called Arctida. The name refers to the hypothetical polar continent that is believed to have existed in the geological past of our planet. I was born far up to the North and it felt right to name my shop after a Northern legend.

Q: How long have you been designing and creating jewelry?
I've been designing jewelry for over 9 years now. Gemstones of different colors and shapes are my passion. I started to make my own jewelry as I could not find any fine jewelry with high quality gemstones of different colors here in Sweden. Ever since I stumbled upon Eni Oken and Iza Malczyk tutorials, coiling and wire work have had a major influence on me. I should admit, however, that I occasionally use torch in my creative process as I love to combine styles, techniques and materials. To make life easier for other jewelry designers I started Arctidas Supplies shop on Etsy that sells high quality precious and semiprecious gemstones of different cuts and colors, pearls and precious metal findings. I know how hard it is sometimes to find reliable suppliers that offer quality gemstones.

Q: What inspires you?
My main source of inspiration is Northern nature with its crisp polar nights and gleaming Northern lights. Northern sun almost never goes down during summer days creating unique and beautiful white nights. Our lakes are vast and blue and our sky is infinite. All these beauties are ideal sources of inspiration!
I also enjoy studying Mythology of different cultures and from time to time create pieces of jewelry inspired by different myths, legends and folktales.

Alecia, Thank you for sharing!
Alecia was interviewed by TonyaUtkina

My third Esty front page

It's so cool Etsy admins picked my Urban Living treasury to be featured on Etsy front page! It's actually my third Etsy front page treasury and it's all about urban living this time. Things we like and colors we pick living in very busy, efficient and somewhat gloomy city environments.


My fellow Etsy artists I featured in the treasury include: JuliaFelt, BlueberryCream, Manonknits, SweetNumber, yevgenia, herbolution, KAPARA, CityCrochet, Aroundbeads, kpersonboutique, NeroliHandmade, sabinesydney, poaplumbagsjewelry

A green dragonfly in the Fan

I accidentally noticed this beautiful emerald green dragonfly in our front yard in the Fan, Richmond, Virginia. It was very calm and tranquil so that I could rush back home to grab my camera and be back in time to take a good shot. I actually like this combination of emerald green with green background and a few black spots on dragonfly's tail (I'm not sure it's called "tail" though). I wish someone could tell me how this beautiful creature is called!