Featuring IBH Guild Member SewKlassic

As I said earlier in a post I will be featuring a IBH Guild Member weekly. This week's feature will be about SewKlassic.Artfire.com. Karen grew up in a farm house that had the advantage of her two grandmothers, an aunt, and mother who had skills in quilting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, tatting and rug making, who by the way were very good teachers.With that in mind, I'm sure you know that Karen started at a very young around 7 or 8 learning her skills and techniques of sewing, tailoring, knitting, crocheting, tatting, quilting, making garments, especially with pockets, garment repair, sewing stuffed animal. All her design's are handcrafted working with her hands and sewing machine in her home.

Some of Karen's first projects started out with hand sewn outfits for fashion dolls sewn while watching TV and a special program that will take you back in time "The Leave It to Beaver Show." Her mother picked up on her interest and started teaching Karen how to use her sewing machine which led the both of them working together to make her own school clothes. Their are a lot of advantages of living out in the open air and country living, such as having a 4-H Club. Karen had neighbor's that actually started one and helped her with the art of sewing techniques and working with fabric. With Karen's accomplishments with the 4-H club all their item's were displayed at the State Fair; now I would call that a honor! Part of Karen's schooling included a great Home Economics class and at the end of her 9th grade year, all the girls organized a spring tea and fashion show for their moms featuring outfits they had made for themselves. Their were skirts, jackets, and top, and they even made cookies and punch.

Living in the country you have good and bad times as I'm sure you know. Well Karen had a bit of a bad spell in which at that time her loving mother taught her another skill by picking up the needles and learned to knit.  Karen kinda set aside some of her talent and put her hands to work with the love and enjoyment of knitting socks and things for babies.

Shades of Blue Baby Set

Sweet Summer Baby Booties

All her beautiful work still comes from her home studio where she does her sewing, design, alter clothing, knitting plans, making gifts or custom projects for family and friends;

White Lace Soap Sachet

and still to this day, design's many of her own clothes and accessories.


At SewKlassic you will only find the beauty and inspiration of using your hands to created handcrafted item's to fill your home with how hands can make artful and useful gifts and objects that bring joy to others, fill a need for beauty, and improve lives..



SewKlassic has shown all of us that country living is fun, soothing your spirit in the old fashioned classic way with love,  and most of all what the word handmade or handcrafted exactly means - quality, and purpose!

You can also find SewKlassic

online @:

http://www.sewklassic.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/S…
http://sewklassic.bythesehands.c…
http://sewklassicrandomthreads.b…

Now This Is Country Living!

IBH's Featured Artist of the Week

I'd like for everyone to meet a very artistic and creative artisan who's has taken sewing to a whole new level, her name is Teri Prouty and has a ArtFire shop called "Charming Elegance."  Terry  resides in Northern California located in the beautiful foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a lovely ranch. She has had her fingers working hard at  many different types of creativity which includes enameling, embroidery, jewelry making, macrame, knitting and much more. Through all of this, Terry found out that her first love was sewing and tailoring.  Her earliest memories have been that of sewing and crafting and now it has become her passion. In her creations she loves to iinfuse color into her handmade design's.

Cinco de Mayo Fabric Napkins Sugar Skulls Fiesta Stripes Black Bright

Even though Terry keeps herself busy outside of her home, she loves sharing her love of colorful design's and spends countless hours creating gifts for friends and family; she also creates a wide variety of items for her shop on ArtFire which is called "Charming Elegance." She accomplishes all this in a sewing studio in her home. She is a dedicated, artistic and creative artisan who believes in handcrafted item's.

ToothFairy Pillow MMiller Zoology 10X10 Flannel RicRac Poly

At Charming elegance you will find amazing home decor, baby item's, baskets, Christmas delights, and much much more in bright patterns full of color's. Here's something for you new mom's and beautiful newborn that really caught my eye:

Burp Cloths Flannel 17.5X7.5 Rocket Ships, Moons, Planets

 What about those cold winter days when you have to go to work or just play around in the snow! Charming Elegance has many color's to choose and fit your style:

Scarf Hand Knitted Striped Fringe Dress Rust Long Orange Eyelash Glitter

 Let's celebrate the wonderful holiday cheer:

Christmas Tree Cloth Napkins Folded Red Berries Gold Set of 4

Wine Glass Coasters Blue Floral Handmade Fabric Set of 4 Waterproof

All of "Charming Elegance" items are lovingly handmade in a smoke-free animal-free home sewing studio. She loves handmade and the love the feel and craftsmanship that you find with a handcrafted item. She loves for her customer's too pay great attention to detail and knowing she uses only the finest quality materials. At Charming Elegance you will own a one-of-a-kind treasure gift(s) that will make your friends, colleagues or loved ones happy knowing it came from her heart and handcrafted design meant just for you.

 Remember that handmade items are truly unique that are designed with care, knowledge and expertise coming from the heart and meant just for you. You will only find these treasures through members of It's Better Handmade members as we are a dedicated family of artisan's that believes handmade items will bring you a lifetime of enjoyment.

You can also find Charming Elegance by following the links below:
Charming Elegance ArtFire Shop
Charming Elegance Blog
Charming-Elegance-Gifts on Facebook

You may also find many more gifts that just might meet your fancy!
HopesandDreamsStudio
shymouseecrafts
MaggieMays Fine Jewelry

IBH's New Featured Artist Jewelry in Harmony

This is a follow-up to a earlier blog I had posted about Its Better Handmade Guild will be featuring a new artist each week. This week I am honoring "Jewelry in Harmony."

Elizabeth Devigili is the sole owner of Jewelry in Harmony and has been a independent jewelry artist for more than 10 years. She has her own art studio where she brings her love of cameo jewelry alive by wire wrapping each individual piece and creates a "piece of art."  She is a outstanding jewelry designer that finds the beauty in nature and intertwines her love of cameo's. Elizabeth's designs can be seen worldwide; now that is what I call a exquisite and exceptionally outstanding person who loves to create and share her artistic talent.

Cameo's them self are a piece of heirloom jewelry that you hold dearly to your heart. Jewelry in Harmony takes a beautiful cameo and with her artistic talent uses silver and gold to create a OOAK wire wrapped Cameo jewelry piece. If you look closely, each cameo has its own story to tell. She has worked long and hard to get where she is at and has been honored by ArtFire as a "Certified Handmade Artisan." This is not a easy achievement, it takes long hours of working and designing one-of-a-kind jewelry creations and prove yourself as a handmade artisan. Congratulation's Jewelry in Harmony on becoming certified!

Browsing through her studio I found many beautiful and artistic cameo designs that I would like to share; but let me tell you, it is not a easy decision to pick just a few. You really need to take a stroll and check out for yourself the outstanding cameo designs. You can find Jewelry in Harmony on ArtFire by following this link: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/Jewelry_in_Harmony.

Elizabeth's talent goes beyond just designing cameo jewelry; she also creates shell and pearl jewelry, gemstone jewelry, men's jewelry, rings, bracelet's, sets and the list goes on. We are talking artistic!

Here is a beautiful cameo bracelet that really caught my eye! This shows how she combines nature's beauty and a lovely goddess design cameo.
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/jewelry_in_harmony/3093176

Grecian Goddess Roses Cameo Bracelet 14k Rolled Gold Minera

How about a lustrous "Mother of Pearl"!
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/jewelry_in_harmony/1324115

Large Oval Mabe Pearl Ring 14k Rolled Gold

Let's add a little bit of Victorian!
Fine Lady Cameo Pendant

S213 Fine Lady Cameo Pendant Sterling Silver Coffee

Gentleman here's a design created just for you!
Bloodstone Gemstone Ring

R104 Bloodstone Gemstone Ring Artisan 14k Rolled Gold Mens or Ladies

You will never see two piece's alike; all are one-of-a-kind handcrafted artistic jewelry designs. What I have shown is just a touch of what to expect when you visit "Jewelry in Harmony." Here are some of Elizabeth's interest that I would like to share with you and also links to her jewelry studio's. You can also find these on her ArtFire Studio:
Jewelry in Harmony ArtFire Studio

Interests

Wire Sculpture

14k Rolled Gold

Artist

Wire Art

Jewelry Designer

Master Wire Artist

Gold,Silver

Gemstones

Mabe Pearls

Cameo

Skills and Techniques

Jewelry Designer

Wire Art

Cameo Designs

Cameo Jewelry

Find me online @:

http://www.lizsfinejewelry.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LizsDes…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.…
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/l…

IBH otherwise known as Its Better Handmade has a abundance of talented artistic artisan's that I will be informing you of for the next few weeks. Just follow the links in my post's and I'm sure you will be able to find a handcrafted item that you will find no where else. That's what IBH is all about, representing all handcrafted artistic talented artisan's that create "piece's of art." So stay tuned and next week I'll be honoring another IBH artisan. I hope you have enjoyed everything I have shared with you and we are thankful as a family group for your support in handcrafted designers.