Treasury Tuesday ~ Blue & Green Beauty Machine

I really enjoy the way blue and green look together. The cool colors are nice to look at in the heat of the summer. This is a great collection of art, glass, and jewelry in blue & green.


Treasury: Blue & Green Beauty Machine (click me)

Jouna Can't Keep Her Hands Off Of Food!

It's incredible how the web and common interests can breed amazing friendships, even from oceans away. I met my friend Jouna through an Etsy forum. With no hesitation she jumped into my life and a friendship was born immediately. She has given me advice, listened to me complain and rejoice over being an Etsy shop owner and life in general while we E-mail and IM well after midnight (I just let my inner nerd slip out, please excuse!) She even made the jewelry that I gifted to my bridesmaids to wear at my wedding! She's done me the favor of being a special guest writer. Enjoy!

Hello! My name is Jonua Besnard, and just like the film, I am an American living in Paris.  I am really honored to be guest blogging for Tiffany, as she is a creative gal who is very successful in her craft. 


I run an online boutique called J. Rachel Besnard Designs, where I design jewelry from various metals and stones, but I am not here to talk about that.  Recently I started a new line called Sugar Me Jewelry, and that is what I am going to focus on in this post.  Sugar Me Jewelry is scented mini food that you wear!  All of the pieces are handcrafted from polymer clay.  I spend much time looking around at Patisseries, and through cooking magazines for inspiration, and try to capture all of the little textures and indentations in the food. 

At first jewelry was going to the only thing I focused on, but already I have worked out a deal with a boutique where I will be making miniature food on the 1:12 and 1:6 scale for dollhouses.  I am very excited to get started on this venture.   Before making mini foods, I did not realize there were so many avid collectors out there.  Being a miniaturist is addictive, whether you make food, furniture, dishes, or just collect them!

This is my fav! It even SMELLS like coffee - Tiffany

Not expecting this line to take off as fast as it did, the website is not up yet.  It should be up in late July.  Anyone who is interested in purchasing any of my pieces or just browsing through my photos can reach me on my facebook page and follow me at Pinterest.  For custom requests you can email me at jrachelbesnard@gmail.com

Just stop by and say Tiffany sent you!

Weekend Wrap Up ~ Lots Of Shots

This weekend, for the first time I had 2 photo shoots in ONE day! It was exciting and exhausting. Both models are brand new to Innov8ive Knit's modeling team and I am so pleased to have them join the group! Saturday morning before the southern sun got high in the sky, I had the pleasure of working with little miss Abigail. She is a whole 4 months old and has the most gorgeous blue eyes! I had her modeling the newborn owl hat in pink. I can't wait to get the photos up in the store. Expect to see it within the next few days.

After I got home, I squeezed in a little grocery shopping and a nap then headed across the bay to the beautiful Spanish Fort to photograph the next brand new model to the team. Kristen is a gorgeous blond haired, green eyes bombshell. Not only is she a beautiful model, she is a trooper like no other! We spent hours in the very hot hot hot southern air and even did a little stomping through some woodlands to get shots for not 1, not 2, but 3 products. She didn't complain even a smidgen. We had an absolute blast.  Kristen is also an aspiring photographer as well and is taking classes with me. Here is a quick look into the shots from the very long, hot, and oh so fun shoot.

I am so thrilled that I have an excuse to be off work to get in some much needed rest AND the time to focus on my store it is easy to forget why I have the time off in the first place. This time is set aside to celebrate the freedom of being allowed to take time off of work and the people and families who have given everything to make that possible. So while we should all enjoy this time we are so blessed to have, make sure to pay tribute and say thank you for the opportunity to be able to do so in the first place. Have a great holiday weekend and check the store periodically for new listings now that I have some great shots for them!

Weekend Wrrap Up ~ Options

This week while crrently working my way trough the book "The Artist in the Office" by Summer Pierre I came across a quote that really struck my heart strings. Strangely enough this book seems to do that just about every time I crack the cover - I swear the author is a long lost twin of mine or something. Anyway, what froze me in my tracks that morning was "If you don't know your options, you don't have any". 


I never thought of it that way but it's absolutely true. Heck most of us could be the president one day if we wanted and bothered to search our options and realize that it is in fact possible. This is something that I have thought long and hard about these last few days. What are my options? The entire world is at my (and your) disposal with a little elbow grease when you really squint at it (sometime really really hard with a magnifying glass LOL). Without giving you a whole drawn out story and a long list of complaints - I have struggled some things in my life (like all of us do) and felt trapped, but you know what? I'm not trapped, there's a world of opportunity out there if I bother to take a step back and figure out my options are. You aren't trapped either! Life is too short to spend it feeling like the world around you is sub-par because it's all about what you make it.  When I finish this book I'll do a full review on it because so far I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone (not even artists) that is working through a day job that is not included in their "long term" goals.

 Speaking of making your life and other things just the way you want I have been working on another one of these great little guys and expect to be listing him in the store sometime this coming week. I really enjoy this little dude and it's a great summer item seeing as how he's not a big hot sweater :). Each one of his hairs are individually cut and attached to his head. That's a LOT of cutting and attaching my friends Mr. Lion here for such a small head has a whole ton of hair, but that's what makes him so darn cute!