Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 08:04PM As I am a new member of entrecard, I was spending some time learning the ropes and dropping 'virtual' business cards in 'virtual fish bowls' of other bloggers and sites for the past couple of days. I was hoping to find some genuine artful blogging, 'linky love' and some creative connections, when I came across the Tialey Vintage (pronounced: tea-alley) blog spot. Tialey is an independent company selling quality vintage, clothing, accessories and housewares worldwide. Now I have to say, I'm a huge Threadbanger fan and believe wholeheartedly in recycling, reconstructing and simply DIY clothing, but what if your're Edward Scissorhands and sewing is out of the question? You can still be progressive by re-thinking, reusing and thinking VINTAGE!!
Tialey' s Fit to a T - Turquoise and Black Body Hugging Spandex Vintage Mini Dress S
I was thrilled to see Tialey's banner tagline is 'The Future of Fashion is Recycling the Past'. So as it turns out, the wonderful Tialey folk (Cathleen) saw something worthy in me too, and gave me and my site some 'linky love' AND wrote a post about my etsy store!!! As it turns out Tialey has an etsy store too! -So I have featured some of their chic, retro pieces in this post.
Mod Pop Art Tialey's Flower Print Hawaiian Textiles Vintage 70s Barkcloth Dress S
"Our handpicked selection of items are primarily from the 1940s to the 1980s. It's not only a designer name that gets our attention. We look for good design, fun fabrics, vibrant color and things that will make you smile."
The way I see it, with all the production of clothing that we have in the world we can and should save a lot of time, money, energy and resources by re-using and recycling some pretty stylish clothes! Just look at this fantastic orange dress - I wish I was tall enough to pull it off!
Tialey's Citrus Orange Vintage 1960s Miss Elliette Cocktail Social Maxi Dress S
Tialey also sells men's clothes! There stock is always changing, so check back often for new arrivals. Sign up for their newsletter to see a sneak peek of featured items and receive exclusive discounts.
Tialey Vintage, Etsy, Threadbanger, Retro, Fashion, Vintage in Design Life, Thoughts, Wearable Art Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 07:42PM 
Dead Flower by marisol diaz There is an inherent beauty in all living things - and if you train your eye - there is an inherent beauty in all things dying as well. Personally, I gravitate towards these things and love to photograph them - as you can see in my 'On Dying' gallery. I think a lot of us do - after all Fall leaves are burning red in the highlight of their death! So here is a new feature of my blog - Tantilizing Tuesdays where I share something INSPIRATIONAL for all of you creatives out there! How could this image inspire you? I like the symmetry and the texture of the petals as they wither... And if you happen to do something inspired by the image or words I post - Please, Please leave a comment with a link so that I can see and possibly write a post about your great artistic feat!! lastly this may be a great way to rekindle my art giveaways - if you link me with something you did - you may win the print!
Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 03:06PM 
The Cocktail by Jane Rocca, Drawings by Kat Macleod I came across Australian based illustrator Kat Macleod's work when I went to Philly (Philadelphia, PA) this summer for a day trip. My hub and I took the two hour drive out to Philly to attend a craft fair that was happening in the Philadelphia convention center. However, it wasn't at the craft fair, where I did see so many varied (glass, jewelry, wood, fiber) and wonderful artists/crafters that I saw her work. In fact, it was in the most unlikely of places that I saw my first Kat Macleod piece! I was in Reading terminal (One of my fave Philly spots) taking a break and getting some lunch when I walked by a cookbook shop and I saw this book sitting by the register.
Upon closer inspection I was mesmerized instantly at the this illustrator who was fusing the world of fine art and craft majestically in her delicate watercolor illustrations.
by Kat Macleod Her fluid fine line is perfectly accented with a vibrant sense of color and design. Part fashion illustration, part fabric and paper collage, Ms. Macleod's work is fresh, inspiring and a lesson to us all to be open minded about materials. You can even ind some hand-stitching in there.
by Kat Macleod Since this illustrator is from Melbourne, Australia, she is having a solo show in a gallery there called Lamington Drive. The name of her show is entitled The Tiniest Spark and boy do I wish I had a trip to Australia planned for this month, because the exhibit is up until November 29th (what a great Thanksgiving trip that would be!). So if you're luckier than me and headed to Melbourne Australia this month, you know one art stop you most definitely have to make!
Upon some more research I also discovered that Kat Macleod also does the illustration for a site called Michigirl which is an Australian based online style magazine site. It looks as though we can get another book illustrated by Kat Macleod too - Its written by Michigirl and is entitled Like I Give Frock Fashion Forecasts and Meaningless Misguidance.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 05:06PM 
Come visit my store on CafePress! Like Etsy, Cafepress is yet another way artists can sell their goods online. The difference - Etsy is for handmade products (my greatest love -all things handmade), Cafepress is a site that allows you to create preexisting (manufactured) products such as mugs, pillows, aprons, tote bags with your own imagery on it. I think both sites are wonderful and offer very distinct opportunities for artists. So since shameless, self-promotion is a wise marketing tool, a new feature of my blog will be featuring something new that I'm selling either through my Etsy shop or my Cafepress shop. Today I'm featuring the 'Let Them Eat Cupcakes!' collage I made on a pretty nifty canvas tote for only $17.99! (I think thats a pretty good deal considering thats MY original art and I won't be selling them forwever! In addition, you shouldn't pay that nasty carbon-foot-print-tax on using plastic bags anymore!)
Let Them Eat Cupcakes! Tote Bag $17.99
amarettogirl, unique gifts, tote bags, cafepress, shop in Collage, Design Life, Wearable Art , Gifts Monday, November 10, 2008 at 02:16PM Oh My gosh I am in love! I was reading this months Craft zine and I came across an article on printing custom fabric - with a company called Spoonflower which offers online custom fabric printing! Compared to pre-existing fabric printing companies, Spoonflower offers low fees, fast production, easy-peasy digital accessiblility and best of all low minimum yardage requirements!
The great things is that most companies that would allow artist to do such a thing in the past had large minimum orders, making it nearly impossible for artists to order small swatches or batches.
;)
So I just couldn't wait to try my hand at it! If you have a photo-editing program (I use photoshop), either scan your artwork into the computer or take a high quality photo of your art. Then using your photo-editing program start to think about what I like to call a quadrant (a square that can be repeated to develop a pattern.) Spoonflower offers clear and easy instructions on how to prepare your art for uploading. I used some old collages, most of which my readers may recognize. Here is one of the many images I uploaded. However before you start I must warn you - it is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! I'm going to place an order and update you all with the results!!! You can follow when I place the order - how long it takes to get to me, and what it looks like as fabric!
Marie Antoinette Fabric Design by marisol diaz
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 06:51PM Well my fears have been put to rest, and my dream was realized, Barack Obama won!! With that said, I have chosen to resurrect some Obama art pieces that I made for the 52 Chelsea art exhibit in the month of September.
El Valiente (the Courageous One) direct illustration on Shrinky Dink by marisol diaz September '08I made these illustrations as part of a contemporary Loteria card game set. I will soon be posting all of the remaining Dinks up individually for sale on my Etsy Shop.
El Cotorro (The Parrot) by marisol diaz Direct Illustration on Shrinky Dink Sept. '08To see the process of how I make these Dinks check out this video:
marisol diaz, Obama Art, Political Art, 52 exhbit, Chelsea Art in Art, Exhibits, Thoughts Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 05:42PM Well, I thought blogging would be just one of those things I could truly stick to in a disciplined fashion. As it turns out, there isn't much beside my four-legged children that I can stick with on a long-term basis- in fact my husband keeps shocking me with the number of years that we've been married (a whopping six and half years!) I'm just one of those people...easily distracted or perpetually overwhelmed by self-imposed deadlines. Hence my blogging has been sparse. In the end I have decided that it doesn't matter how many comments I get, or how frequent I post - but what matters is that I have something to say or an image to share that is of some worth to me.
Today is election day and the US world I live in is somehow going to miraculously change (or not) tomorrow. More young people have been active in ensuring everyone they know takes on their civic duty to vote. Facebook comments read with anxiety, hope and fear. As it has been so easy to get caught up in polarized political attitudes, a good friend and fellow artist Nick Guarracino a.k.a. Grumpyboy reminded me that we shouldn't romanticize or idolize any human, there is no such thing as a perfect or completely good or bad person - at the very least we will wake up tomorrow and finally be done with Bush. Thank you Nick.
Now I offer you my favorite pic of the week, Chica. In this shot she is thoroughly annoyed that I have awoken her from her nap on my desk just for a pic!
Baby Chica Sleeping on My Desk at Work Now I must return to watching my favorite Rocky scene where Rocky slides down his apartment wall making out with Adrian for the first time! So hot!
Grumpy Boy, Blogging, Creativity in Inspiring Artists, Thoughts Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 08:42PM 
Wicked Cat Spell by marisol diaz
So here is another great Halloween tip- If your having a Monster bash and would like something a bit less gruesome than witch fingers try this POT of DIRT dessert!
Cups of Dirt Dessert - Better with gummy worms and spiders!
All you need are some small terra-cotta pots (with little paper cups inside). Fill them with ice cream of your choice, then cover the ice-cream with CRUSHED OREOS (it would be better without the filling)!!!!! Stiock a fake flower in and voila! You have a pot of dirt dessert! But to really get into the Halloween spirit add gummy worms and gummy spiders to the top - and daisies (Pushing up Daises reference) could be more fun!
Some Murder Mystery guests eating Pots of Dirt
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 01:22PM 
Witch Finger made out of marzipan, pistachios and melted red chocolate Another great halloween tip is making spooky witch fingers out of marzipan. As an artist I have always enjoyed making candies for parties out of marzipan and I have been known to make some pretty 'risque' ones for birthdays and bridal showers! By tinting the marzipan with food coloring, I was able to make a variety of flesh tones, my favorite being green! You should be able to do this easily by mixing or kneading the food coloring into the marzipan. I used a small thin knife (like an Xacto) to get some of the flesh creases and I simply balled up some marzipan to make the finger warts. Pistachios make excellent finger nails!
The hardest part is melting some candied red chocolate which I bought at a craft store like A.C. Moore or Michael's (the colored chocolate is usually in the baking/cake decorating section next to the chocolate molds.) As you can see some of the chocolate was over-cooked to get that textured crunchy look and thats exactly how you want it for a bloody cut off finger. Its just that easy! Try it!
If you're interested in a custom order contact me as I may begin to sell boxes of these treats on Etsy!
Before They Were All Eaten
Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 07:30PM I am a Halloween freak and since I have most certainly lost readership on my blog due to an overwhelming amount of 'to-do-by-yesterday-stress' and 'good-ol'-blog-neglect', I'm hoping to reinvigorate some new blog loyalty via one of the most creative, expressive and mystique filled days - All Hallow's Eve!
Wickedest Witch by marisol diaz
The newest member of my family, Chica! 
The Pumpkin Must Still Be on The VineAfter allowing the pumpkin some time to heal while still on the vine, the results should look like this as the scratch marks scar:
Awesome Scarification!
Stumble It!