Owner: Charming Sam Studio URL:http://www.charmingsam.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 22:18:18 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Handcrafted travel jewelry using artist Amy Steinberg’s original mixed media paintings set in necklaces, rings and earrings. London, Paris and NYC are just a few destinations to choose from. Each piece is hand embellished by the artist before set in res Site statistics:Click here
Other Artists Studios 2007-05-08 10:05:00 The last couple of weeks I've been really intrigued with pictures of other artists studios. This could be because I'm trying to get mine organized for an impending move. In addition I couldn't find anything so something had to be done. I was sort of surprised to see so many artists treat their studios as a place of inspiration and not just a space to produce work. I've sort of been on the edge of creating an inspiring space by taping photos and other tidbits to the walls but beyond that the space has been purely utilitarian. So, I am intrigued by the beauty of other artists studios and am feeling inspired to really re-do my studio so when I move I can create a dream space.The first intresting studio is from Etsy seller Experimental. I've been wanting to do more metal work and have been slowly acquiring the tools but nothing compared to Victoria's studio. This is just wonderful, all the cool tools, organized nicely but still functional. I'd love to spend a day in her studio and l Read more:Artists
, Studios
Lov.li 2007-05-07 10:09:00 I found another site over the weekend. I haven't had enough time to really explore but it seems like another Etsy type site and the name you can visit at www.lov.li . I found some cool finds and saw lots of artists I also see on Etsy.First from seller, Groovy Inclinations, aka Mindy Wilson.Second this cute little clutch from Michy Moo.Lastly I was super excited to find these great Skull & Crow notecards that can be personalized from Malien00. She also has some really beautiful Thai Flower notecards made by Gocco press.Happy Monday!
Silvery Moon Arts 2007-05-12 06:28:00 It's Friday. yeah! This beautiful mixed media art is from LuAnne Payne over at Silvery Moon Art. Makes a pretty piece for the coffee table, conversation piece and also inspirational piece. Happy Weekend!
ArtCYCLOPEDIA 2007-05-10 10:16:00 Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the sheer talent and focus other artists have for their work. Which got me to thinking about contemporary women artists and led me to a site called ArtCYCLOPEDIA and a subset of pages dedicated to Contemporary Women Artists.I could spend days and days looking, reading, discovering and then being inspired by this site but I did manage to hone in on an artist or two worth spending some quality time on. First is Elizabeth Blackadder and her painting Flowers on an Indian Cloth; Flowers on Cloth - 1965. I love this painting and am already dreaming of paintings I'd like to do in this genre. The other interesting artist I found was Margot Lovejoy and in exploring her website I ended up at TURNS (What event changed your life?). I don't know how to describe this site except to copy their description. "TURNS is a new type of social collaboration based on the idea of revealing and then discovering one's major turning point life experience in relation to those of o
Come visit me... 2007-05-09 09:59:00 If you live in the Bay area and are looking for a weekend activity come visit
me at Santana Row. Now through the end of May I am showing my art and jewelry directly in front of the Vintage Wine Bar on the weekends. Saturdays from 10:00am to 10:00pm and Sundays 10:00am to 7:00pm. I have a bunch of paintings for sale and of course all my jewelry. I'm hoping to get a new line of silver pieces done this week and bring along with my easel to do some plen air painting. Stop by, visit and say hello!
Brownie Babe 2007-05-14 10:50:00 This week I thought I'd spend the week finding some great sites for foodies. I think that "artist" is synonymous with "chef", they are one in the same. I can't remember ever meeting an artist who couldn't cook really well. I'm not sure if it is the other way around, although my cousin is probably the best cook I know and she is an amazing photoghrapher too boot. Anyway, I ran across this blog called Once Upon a Tart. The Brownie
Babe is a monthly contest for the best brownie recipe and oh, my - oh, my! Take a look at this ooey, gooey, delightful piece of craftsmanship. I am a huge fan of the brownie so am wondering how one weasels one-self in to becoming a taste tester for this contest???Beyond the brownies though there are some really lovely recipes that seem easy and tasty. And the photos are so pretty. Groove on over and check out Once Upon a Tart I bet you find at least one recipe you can't resist trying!Cheers!
Smitten Kitchen 2007-05-17 13:47:00 Cute name for a website huh? This is day 4 in my ode to cooking as an art form and while cruising out there in internet land I found Smitten Kitchen
. Great blog full of recipes, photographs and yummies galore. While I generally am drawn to sweets this particular egg dish looks so good that I think I am going to have to try it. In addition the recipe is super easy even though chef and author, "Deb" makes note that she thinks the photograph isn't so great. Am I crazy?There is a host of culinary artistry on this site, you'll love the recipes, humor and like I said the photos are great. For instance this wonderful cake. Honestly, how bad could it be? I wish we had smell-o-vision or in this case smell-o-net. Happy Thursday!
Gimme a cup 'o tea! 2007-05-15 10:14:00 I like tea. Mostly I love a good chammomile tea but I'm up for trying just about anything. Well, while perusing some other indie sites I found this cute little tea company called SBS Teas. There is a lot of great information about tea, flavors, caffeine content, tea reading materials and some great tea accessories.My personal favorite section is the "Sugars & Treats". They have Coconut Milk Powder!!! That must be so good in a steaming cup of tea. Yummy!They also have a tea called "Strawberry White Tea", mmmmm....I bet that is good! Could even be really good iced on a hot summer day.The purveyors behind all the lovely tea and goodies are Barbara and Sharon. They have a wonderful blog and I was also impressed with their code of ethics for the company and their products.Happy tea drinking! Read more:Gimme
You look so French 2007-05-18 14:07:00 The last day of my ode to cooking as art. I'm sure I'll come back to it again but next week we are back to things that hang on your wall, sit on your tables or wear on your back. Again, another wondeful blog about food, La Tartine Gourmande. The author is a French
expatriate living in Boston named Bea and she just seems so delightful. Not to mention how impressed I am with the amount of time she has to not only write a blog but cook all those wonderful things on her site. Additionally, the photography is beautiful. Not just photographs of food but pretty flowers and many lovely places around the world. Do people really cook like this at home? Yes, I know they do. My cousin Bethany does. She doesn't have children....yet. I think that is part of the reason she has so much time to dedicate to the culinary arts. Whenever she invites us over for food we converge on her house like hungry locusts. I'm pretty sure she has quit inviting us as often because she was tired of looking around at
doodads.... 2007-05-23 03:22:00 Once again I got off on a tangent surfing the Internet. Boy, there are a lot of creative people out there. Today I found this fun artist by the name of Mo Jackson and she creates doodads. What is a doodad? It is sort of like wallpaper for your computer but really it is more like art for your art. Scrapbook page templates. I think. Mo makes these lovely collages that she calls doodads and then sells them at downright cheap prices. I can't begin to imagine the work that goes in to just one of these little lovely graphics. This is a completed doodad from her gallery. Visit to see all her lovely things and buy something. Everyone needs a doodad!
The Dreamy Giraffe 2007-05-22 02:38:00 Oooooo, how I love to find new and wonderful artists! Last week Kathy Jeffords the artist behind The DreamyGiraffe
was kind enough to leave a comment about some food she saw on this blog. And of course because I love to get comments I had to see who she was and where she was from and was pleasantly surprised that she is a very talented artist. Yeah! Allow me to introduce Kathy and her wonderful art. Whimsical is probably not the word I personally would use to describe her art because I think there is a feeling of depth and maybe just a little darkness to some of her pieces. Of course there are some pieces that make me smile and really deserve to be in my little collection. One in particular is shown here called, "Original Acrylic Painting - Peanut Butter Girl and Her Faithful Sidekick Jellybean". I love this piece because it is funny and makes me smile. She has a huge portfolio and lots of wonderful things for sale and if you are really looking to brighten your day you've got to add
The Family Next Door 2007-05-21 03:06:00 I love the Addams Family
. Yes, I am talking about the 1960's era tv show that starred some ghoulish but pretty darn funny characters. I only found out recently that the tv show was based off a comic strip often printed in the New York Times and created by Charles Addams. Ever since the first Addams Family movie came out about 10 years ago I'm like a toddler watching The Wiggles. Enraptured!So today while getting ready to log on to my Etsy account I happened to spot this art from "Dance Sippy Dance" called "the family next door". It reminded me of the Addams Family and someday when my mom stops reading this blog I'll tell you about her neighbors that she fondly refers to as "THE" Addams Family. Ha!In the meantime it's taking all I've got not to buy this but I can only imagine what my husband is going to say to me. Happy Monday! Read more:Next Door
Pippa Small Jewelry 2007-05-25 03:42:00 Pretty jewelry. Visit Pippa Small
. The designs in gneral are very simple but beautiful. I especially liked these two but there are many in various colors. Happy long weekend and see you on Tuesday! Amy Read more:Jewelry
I've been living under a bridge 2007-05-24 03:23:00 Today I was having a conversation with one of my favorite people in the world. She happens to also have helped me a great deal in getting my jewelry in national magazines so I love her even more. Anyway, she mentioned the name of a jewelry line that all the editors are crazy in love with right now called "Marni". I said, "huh?" What or who is a Marni? Obviously I've been living under a bridge
she says because it is a VERY popular jewelry line right now and all the editors are looking for stuff that "looks like Marni". "Huh?", I said. So I did a little web search and came up with lots of hits for Marni Jewelry. Like I said, I've been living under a bridge. I wonder if my husband knows??Turns out Marni has been around since 1994 as you can read at Net-a-Porter and darnit there is Marni right on Style.com. I'm all for eclectic, interesting, artsy stuff but I honestly am not sure about this Marni jewelry. I like some of the clothes, the bags are fabulous, not so sure about those fur mit
Photography - Andrew Thomas 2007-05-29 03:30:00 I guess it is time I took a serious look at the art of photography. I've always enjoyed photography and my cousin Bethany's work has given me countless hours of inspiration for many paintings. So this week I am going to show a different photographic artist everyday. First this week is AndrewThomas
Photography of Billings, Montana. Where is Billings? Um, I think it is north western Montana and while I would have only imagined there were trees and rocks to photograph I was obviously wrong as you can see from his amazing photographs. I've always been partial to black and white photography and flowers. I love to draw flowers and paint flowers and draw more flowers and now I am trying to create some flower pendants out of silver for my jewelry. (More on that some other time.) This flower is really amazing though and I highly recommend visiting his site for some beautiful color works of art too!Happy Monday & Enjoy!
Out the window 2007-06-01 12:55:00 So much for a week of photography. I'll keep working on it but I found another site I think you'll love and will find lots of cool stuff. Not to mention the website graphics are awesome!! Visit textile designer Susanne Schjerning who seems to be Danish. She has the most wonderful pillows and a new collection of "Happy Horses" fabrics that are amazing. Check her out and if you know where to get her fabrics in the states let me know. Happy Weekend!~ Amy
Everyday Photographer 2007-05-31 07:10:00 I'm not that great of a photographer. Something about looking through that little eye just doesn't work for me but today while looking at photographs on Flickr I came across Morgan Moore in one of my Flickr Groups. I know, I know I was going to spend the whole week talking about art photography and while I did find this amazing photographer "The Plant Lady" I found Morgan's blog "One More Moore" and was sucked in. She seems so cute and funny and well, down right crafty to boot! AND she took this photograph which I think looks like a painting. I'm wondering if she meant to do that but I keep looking at it thinking it just might be a painting. So, besides all the interesting crafty things Morgan has on her blog she also has all of these photographs that seem like they are snapshots that maybe she didn't really think about when she was taking them but turned out to be little pieces of art. Or maybe she did mean them to be little pieces of art. Either way it is all very interesting.Vi Read more:Photographer
Jose Lampreia 2007-05-30 03:35:00 Day 2 of beautiful photography. I found Jose Lampreia on Etsy and really love these photographs. Look carefully at the photograph to the left, there are images within images. View or buy this photograph here. He also has wonderful paintings you can view at www.joselampreia.com.Visit Jose's beautiful store on Etsy. Inspirational in so many ways!
Lauran Normandin 2007-06-04 03:57:00 I've been waiting with bated breathe for days to put this lovely artists work up and yack about how wonderful it is. Her name is Lauran Normandin and her website is very cool. BUT you have to check out "Anthology of Internal Exploits and External Joys". Beautiful handbound books with paintings, drawings and other tidbits to make up one amazing piece of art. The "Cassock" is also really interesting and for some reason I keep going back to her "Book of Common Sparrows". So, so, so pretty!Did I mention her Hair Embroidery? If you aren't familiar with the use of hair in art then this is one way to start. There is a whole long history of hair jewelry, hair in paintings and now these lovely embroideries. Stop bye and spend some time with Lauran, you'll love her work I'm sure. Happy Monday!Amy
Liz @ Wickedly Chic & Stuff 2007-06-07 03:55:00 If you haven't visited Liz over at Wickedly Chic yet or if you haven't visited her lately I'd highly recommend stopping bye and spending some quality time. Liz is the voice and energy behind the company and quite honestly a force unto herself. First let me just say that Liz has turned out to be one of the most wonderful people I've had the opportunity to meet since Charming Sam started. Second she runs a great business and while I am an advertiser on the Wickedly Chic site it wouldn't be nearly the wonderful experience it is if Liz wasn't so amazing. She takes a lot of care to make sure each of the businesses that work with her get more then just some click thru's. She works hard to help you promote your business or cause. Which brings me to why I am going on and on about how wonderful Liz and Wickedly Chic are. Liz has taken on a new project in the last week called "The Stephanie Fund". One of Liz's loyal readers, "Lynn Underwood, has a daughter that needs help. Stephanie has
Grandmother's Buttons 2007-06-06 06:55:00 About ten years ago my mom had a retail gift store and use to carry this line of jewelry. I always thought it was interesting and when I ran across their website the other day I had to add it here.Grandmother
's Buttons
jewelry has a cute story about how they started here and I love the photo of the owners grandmother and her. They originally started by using all antique and vintage buttons in their jewelry but then expanded the line in to reproductions. The line has also expanded in to jewelry designs that don't necessarily include the buttons but are complimentary to the entire aesthetic of the line. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, brooches and a range of other things.Of course since they are Louisiana natives there are lots of Fleur de lis in the line and this necklace and earring I especially like. Which reminds me that I've had a catalog from a casting and stamping manufacturer in Paris for about six months now and I guess its time I placed an order for some new stuff. H
Blogher.org 2007-06-05 03:50:00 Finally my second attempt at getting listed on the BlogRolls at Blogher.org has paid off and today I was happy to see Charming Sam's Beautiful World listed! Yeah! Happy Dance! I'm so excited to be listed along with so many other wonderful blogs! When you get a chance please dance over to BlogRolls - Art & Design, scroll down to find "Charming Sam's Beautiful World" and leave a wonderful comment about how much you love this blog. O.k., so maybe you hate it but either way I'll be happy. (hint-hint. Mom since my husband is convinced you are the only person who ever reads my blog could you leave a comment? thanks.)Cheers!
the Curiosity Shoppe 2007-06-08 03:54:00 ,I found another place for some cute and crafty things called "the Curiosity Shoppe - Crafts, Kits & Curios for the Creatively Inclined". Sounds interesting huh? Looking for a little crafty kit for your next road trip or airplane flights? The Curiosity Shoppe has just what your are looking for.Grab a Spider & Snail Cross Stich Kit for a quick but fun craft for the ride to the beach on the 4th of July (only $20.00!!). Or if you are looking for a great gift for a friend who throws the most amazing parties but inevitably someone drops a dish? Then pick up a set of 4 melamine wallpaper plates in fantastic colors and patterns for only $40.00.Lots of cute crafty stuff, some gifts and other interesting things.Happy Friday!
Anna Maria Horner - Blog 2007-06-14 02:30:00 I found another beautiful blog from designer Anna Maria
Horner and her lovely website. She designs some really beautiful fabrics you can find on her site. I especially love the "kicky new table linens". And this is a great photograph of her (she looks like she is about 16) and I almost choked on my cup of coffee this morning when I read she is the mother of FIVE. Wow! I'm really impressed.Now on her blog she has some DIY projects posted. Where does she get all the time? Of course the first one is the Owl Ornament which is cool. Sam has been wanting to make another felt one for the last week and I've been too lazy to come up with a pattern. Now we have a project to do together! Yeah!
Oh My Cavalier 2007-06-13 02:29:00 Julianna Swaney has the most beautiful website at Oh My Cavalier
. She has these wonderful drawings with just a teeny edginess to some of them. I especially like "Not Who It Thought It Was" because it is quirky in a very feminine way. But seriously her art is something you might find in a hand drawn book from the 17th century or something. I'm sure in a past life she must have used her idle femine hands to draw the most amazing things for all her friends when they came to dine. Or maybe she was a swash buckling explorer who kept wonderful journals about all the amazing new plants, flowers and wildlife she found as she traversed the "new world"? Stop by Oh My Cavalier and take a look at her lovely work. And of course you can buy some limited edition prints and other stuff here.
Sarah Graham Metalsmithing 2007-06-12 02:39:00 I've found another beautiful jewelry designer by the name of SarahGraham
. The stackable rings she makes are fantastic and I'd love to own a couple myself. This is the type of jewelry I aspire to make in the future. Of course it would be my own design but the richness and craftsmanship of her work is inspiring.
Curly Girl Design 2007-06-11 03:26:00 A cute website especially the graphic design is Curly
Girl Design. Leigh is the resident artist and she has all kinds of cards, magnets, prints and journals. She has a HUGE selection and the card I picked on the left I thought was especially funny. Reminds me of my girlfriend Cary.Visit Curly Girl for cards, prints, journals and other fun stuff. If you visit the About Us page you'll see a cute picture of Leigh too and of course there is the shopping. Happy Shopping!Amy
More on Abigail A. Percy 2007-06-15 03:06:00 I'm pretty sure I've talked about Abigail on here before but today I found she has a blog. Oh, man! I love, love, love her jewelry and her art. This is a photo from her sketchbook. Um, that is sketching? I'd frame that and hang it on my wall. I'm afraid to show my sketchbook now. Doesn't look like that! Her jewelry is my favorite and while I know I can't recreate what she has I've been working on a lotus flower design of my own. I'm using a lot of lotus flowers in my paintings lately because of a commission and other stuff and I've been thinking for months about what I wanted to cut out of my sterling silver sheet I bought. I've actually been working on a new line for fall so will somehow incorporate this in. Be sure to visit Abigail's blog and her Etsy shop. Her studio is in Glasgow but she has stockists in the USA and will ship too. Happy Friday!
Cathy Nichols 2007-06-20 03:52:00 Beautiful artwork from Cathy
Nichols. This original piece is called Poem and available on Cathy's site under new paintings for a pittance. Also visit her Blog which is really cute and she has an Etsy store where reprints of most of her work is also available. Happy art shopping!
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