Looking For More Creativity In Gifts For Mother's Day

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - My Handmade Designs on ARTFIRE

Lovebird In Heart

Creativity for Mother's Day!

I've joined together with a number of others who sell on online venues such as Artfire.com and Etsy and Zibbet - many of us sell our own HANDMADE that we make or design with our own hands, though others sell Vintage and Antique - or Supplies - or Commercial.

But one thing we all have in common is that we have relatively small businesses - and from the interaction I've had with these sellers - we all genuinely Care about what we sell and about our Customers.

If you buy from us - you may get something Distinctive - nothing like the mass-produced items in commercial stores - and you might get something truly One-Of-A-Kind!

I'm not only joining in - I put it on my own blog here:

Mother's Day Gifts Blog Hop

Each week through this time, it starts with a Blog Hop created by Julie Cleveland of Blue Morning Expressions - links to listings are added by each individual - and some of us, like me, share the whole set of links by doing the Blog Hop, as well as sharing around the Internet - like I have in the PINTEREST Board I set up for this!!

Follow Ruth Sandra Sperling's board Mother's Day Gift Ideas 2014 on Pinterest.

I strongly urge readers of my blogs to take a look and see what we have to share!!

The photos in this post are my 3 Handmade items that I link to in this week's Blog Hop - to give you an idea of what I have to offer that some Mother might like!!!

Woven Celtic Purple Flowers in a Mat

Cottontail In Bush - Nature In Fiber Art

My Shamrocks Nature Crochet Art Doily in Handmade Great Finds

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - My Handmade Designs

Shamrocks 3-Leaf Clovers with Yellow Flowers Nature Art Doily

I designed and crocheted the above Doily - I wanted to do something very specific - to do the popular Shamrock or 3-Leaf Clover Theme, but as they are in Nature.  I had a bunch of "Clover" or Shamrocks in the Garden out front - they had naturally spread and were making great ground cover I thought - especially as usually during the summer months, they had little Yellow Flowers all over them!!!

Most of us think of Shamrocks as 3-Leaf Clovers along with the more rare 4-Leaf Clover.

They are a symbol - mostly Irish and for St. Patrick's Day (I'm not Irish at all - just like some Irish culture).

BUT THEY ARE A REAL PLANT -- and I really like having them in my garden!!  Apparently, there were "... flowered CLOVERED plains ..." mentioned in early Irish literature - and I am not sure if it originally had anything to do with "St. Patrick" or any Saints, but beautiful Irish plains in Nature!!!

So I took crochet patterns for 3-Leaf Clovers and little multi-petal flowers -- and a design for a round crochet mat -- and put together this Crochet Art Doily!!!!

Here are photos of flowering clover from a front-yard garden I had ....

.... and a closeup of the center of my Handmade Thread Crochet 

 And .... On Fire For Handmade decided to include my Shamrock Nature Art Doily in it's "Kiss Me I'm Irish Great Finds" this week!  You can VOTE for it there if you like it!!!

Curating an Artfire Collection Inspired By My Well-Known Love of Forests and All That Lives Within

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - My Handmade Designs on ARTFIRE

Inspired By Love of Forests and Their Wildlife - An Artfire Collection by RSS Designs In Fiber

It was August 2013 -- and I and many others in the world had been watching the Rim Fire in the Central Sierra Nevada - in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park and the adjoining areas - and frightened and even loosing sleep over it, I was worried about All the Life in that Forest and the ramifications to it from the High Intensity Fire raging there.

I knew of people living in the area - actually in Twain Harte, CA - just northwest of the Rim Fire area - the people of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center (known as CSERC ), run by John Buckley, who I had met at a Sierra Nevada Framework Forest Service Science Meeting on Old Growth forests.  On their Facebook Page -- and their website, I read first-hand accounts of the Rim Fire.

For me, this was a major event that was significant to me, though I didn't live there or anywhere near the Rim Fire.  But since early 1999 - and I got involved in environmental campaigns about the Sierra Nevada forests ( such as the Sierra Forest Legacy [formerly the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign in 1999] ) -- and I learned the Global significance of the Sierra Nevada Forests, part of the California Floristic Province, to Global Biodiversity, as discussed on the Conservation International website:  The World's 10 Most Threatened Forest Hotspots - which mentions the High Importance of the California Floristic Province Forests (which Includes the Sierra Nevada Forests, including the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park - and the Giant Sequoias) for Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Stabilization - I have been paying a lot of attention to many Events, as I can, in the Sierra Nevada Forests.

In other words, this Rim Fire affected a forest with importance to Global Biodiversity - therefore I see it as we should all be concerned in the Restoration after the fire!!!

So-o-o -- to express my Love of Forests and Their Wildlife and show how others express their such Love, I looked to my some of my friends who do Handmade and Fine Art -- and found various items they had made and were selling on Artfire on that theme -- and created the above Collection.

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It is now March of 2014 -- and the Artfire Collection, "Inspired By The Love of Forests and Their Wildlife", has over 1,000 views and a few items have sold (replaced by others I had previously chosen).

I love to see creations based on Nature -- and I totally enjoyed curating this Collection!!!

The Rim Fire is in the past, though some of us are following the Recovery Projects in the different areas of it, such as on the Stanislaus National Forest website and the CSERC website.

In the 402 square miles of the Stanislaus National Forest that the Rim Fire ravaged, I am hoping for recovery based on true Ecological Forest Restoration, like that defined by the Sierra Forest Legacy -- for the health of this Forest -- and for its contribution to Global Biodiversity.  Quote from the Dec. 08, 2013 Sierra Forest Legacy Newsletter:  

We take seriously the Forest Service's commitment to ecological restoration and will be challenging them to demonstrate that their salvage logging proposals are consistent with their commitment.

Note:  after a certain number of the Artfire listings in an Artfire Collection sell, the Artfire Collection "expires" -- and disappears from the Internet.  So, I would like to thank the Artfire Artisans who created the Handmade and Fine Art items I put in this Collection -- showing their Love of Forests and Their Wildlife -- and where you can fine such types of Handmade and Fine Art!!!

Conscience Art Studios

4everbeads

Walk In The Woods LLC

RSS Designs In Fiber

Uniquely Jen Quilt Creations

The Art of Amy-Elyse Neer

Jewelry Art By Dawn

Christie Cottage

Honey From The Bee

Berkshire Bowls

Blue Morning Expressions

Specialtivity

Big Red Heart for Valentine Decor - or Just For Those Who Like Hearts

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - My Handmade Designs on ARTFIRE

Big Red Irish Crochet Heart - Big Enough to Hang on a Wall!



Does a BIG HEART mean more LOVE??????

Only the one with HEART will know!

The above, though, is a Larger piece of Decor I made - made Large for Bigger Spaces or Bigger Arrangements - of one of the most well-known Symbols of Love, Camaraderie and/or True Friendship!

So when Anne Hopfer of On Fire For Handmade put together a "Great Finds" for Valentine's Day, "Cupid's Arrow" - I thought this was a good Handmade Item of mine to Submit - and was thrilled when it was included!!!

Cupid's Arrow Great Handmade Finds

This HEART is done in Irish Crochet with the inside of the Heart filled with 3 Multi-layer Crocheted Roses - in a Soft 100% Non-Toxic Cotton Yarn in Burgundy and Cherry Pink Ombre.  See all the details at the listing !

Welcoming in 2014 With Some Brightly Colored Handmade!

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - My Handmade Designs on ARTFIRE

Welcoming The New Year With Cheerful Col...

  Curated By: RSSDesignsInF...

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Ringin' in the NEW YEAR this first week of 2014!

I thought it would be nice to set a positive, uplifting tone to the New Year with a Bright, Colorful Collection from Artfire.com !

It is also somewhat a THANK YOU to some of the people in the Artfire Checked In Today Guild who have helped promote my Handmade in their Collections and with their Blog Posts and on Pinterest!

Wishing All A Good 2014!!

My Crocheted Lace Pink Tulips in A Collection of Handmade Perfect Holiday Pinks? How Novel!

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Get My Handmade on ARTFIRE or Bonanza - or Privately

22 1/2 Inch Pink Tulip Ring Doily

How many of you think of the Color PINK for your WINTER HOLIDAY celebrations????  Decor or What to Wear????

My first thought on it, as I put in my Title, is:  How Novel!!!

In this case, the word "Novel" meaning:  "adj. Striking, new, unusual or different"!

But if you check - and I did out of curiosity on PINTEREST - you will find references to "Pink Christmas" etc. etc.  Looks like it mostly falls into the styles of Shabby Chic or Art Deco or Modernist Styles -- but maybe some of the people are just being Original!!

PINK is certainly not a traditional WINTER HOLIDAY Color, but for some??!!

I was rather pleased that Anne Hopfer of On Fire For Handmade chose to put this one of my Handmade Crocheted Lace pieces, pictured above, in one of her Great Finds.  Crocheting a 22 1/2 Inch piece in  Size 30 Crochet Threads is quite a lot of crocheting!!

PINK is a popular color in Fashion and Decor -- and this week's "Great Finds" by On Fire For Handmade is full of some Handmade Finds in PINK - and I'll bet there is someone somewhere who would like some of them for a Gift!!

Here's a photo of all of the "Perfect Holiday Pinks Great Finds" - but go to the link, maybe click on a few - and you can always Vote for your Favorite!