I Changed My Shop Name on Etsy

Most of you know me as a mosaic artist, but I also have a vintage store and a mosaic supply shop.

Recently Etsy offered a one time chance to change the names of our shops and I decided to do that with my supply store that is currently named Memories Mosaic Supply.

Originally, I wanted to keep the word "Memories" in each shop to continue the link of my name (Memories in Mosaics; Memories of Yesterday and Memories Mosaic Supply) but I realized later that it wasn't really the right term for what I wanted people to remember about my shop.

My new name will be "Discount Mosaic Supply".  I will be offering lower prices and a larger variety of items to my regular inventory of hand cut tiles. I plan to add glass gems, glass and ceramic tiles and more focal pieces over the next few months.

My Mosaic shop will be changing too.  I have decided to concentrate in other areas and will not be producing new pieces as much anymore.  I will still offer custom orders, but my inventory will be less overall.  I have come to the conclusion that I just can't sit at my computer as much as needed to keep all 3 shops promoted and right now my inventory for my vintage shop just keeps growing. 

My husband and I are in our mid 50's and all our children are grown and out of the home, so we wanted something we could do together.  Hunting through Estate Sales, Garage Sales and Thrift shops is a lot of fun for the two of us and something we both love to do, so my vintage shop won out over my mosaics.

I hope you will stop by and check out my shops.  I will give 10% off to anyone who reads my blog in each of my stores.  Just use coupon code "Blog10" when you check out.

My mosaic shop is http://www.memoriesinmosaics.etsy.com/

My vintage shop is http://www.memoriesofyesterday.etsy.com/

My supply shop is still http://www.memoriesmosaicsupply.etsy.com/ but soon will be
http://www.discountmosaicsupply.etsy.com/

Until Next Time :)

I'm Baaaaaack!

It has been months since I last blogged.  I put it aside for awhile so that I could concentrate on my 3 shops on Etsy. I just opened a vintage shop and had 100's of items to list and I honestly just couldn't sit any longer to post to my blog.

I also have been having a lot of trouble commenting on other blogs, so if you haven't seen me in a while it's only because Blogger won't always let me comment and tells me I don't have permission. What???

I hope to get back to posting at least once a week.  In the meantime I will share some of my new mosaic pieces and some of the new listings in my vintage shop.
The first one is a small guitar.  I have always wanted to mosaic a guitar and it was quite a challenge to do so, but I would definitely do it again.

 This one was a fun piece to do. I like to do some ultra modern pieces sometimes. I call this Orange Sunburst.

 This piece has some elements from a 120 yr-old home in rural Colorado. I did a mosaic for my sister and had some things left over so I used them in this piece. I also have my signature piece of jewelry in the tear shaped copper pendant right next to the mirror. It has a small piece of real turquoise in it. All my mosaics are One-of-a-kind and you can see them all at http://www.memoriesinmosaics.etsy.com/

 I just love dishes of all kinds, especially vintage pieces. The artistry is amazing and I always wonder who owned it and where it's been. This first one is a hand painted sugar bowl.

 This is a lovely plate with "courting scenes" all around the rim.

 This i a wonderful cameo that was carved from a shell. If it's held up to the light you can see through it.

You can see these and many other fine pieces at http://www.memoriesofyesterday.etsy.com/

Until Next Time :)

My Newest Mosaic

I have been working on a new mosaic for some time now as I couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to do with the background. 

The mosaic is made of different patterned dishes that I cut to make the pinwheels and then added various accents such as half marbles, glass tiles and ceramics.

I knew the theme would be blue because I had so many pretty dishes with blue in them, but trying to decide whether to continue the blue theme or just use white took a while to decide.
As you can see, I chose the baby blue glass tiles and a soft custom made lavender grout for the backgound. I am happy with the affect.  Now if I could just get a good photo.

More Etsy!

Some of you know that I have 3 shops on Etsy. I run a  finished mosaic shop called Memories in Mosaics,  a mosaic supply shop called Memories Mosaic Supply, and a vintage shop called Memories of Yesterday.

I am currently running a 20% OFF Sale in my supply shop. It is on everything in my store so if you know anyone who uses dish tiles, half vases or focals please let them know.

Here are a few items from there.

Sue Zipin Pattern

Laura Ashley Print

My vintage store  really didn't get up and running until my sons started adding merchandise they found at estate sales. Some great buys to be had.

Here are a few pieces of what you will find when visiting MemoriesofYesterday.

Johnson Brothers Creamer from 1930's

Erte Bronze Statue

Until Next Time :)

March Sale on Mosaics and Supplies

I am having a March Madness Sale in my mosaic shop as well as my supply shop. Everything is 10% off for a short time.

Be sure to use the code shown in the announcement of each my shops as it will automatically deduct 10% at the time of purchase.

If you have been waiting for a sale...this is it!  I won't be having another one until much later this year.

I hope you will stop by.

It's Finished!

I finished the custom mosaic this morning.  I had a few areas that needed a little more grout so I mixed a small batch and worked on that then painted the back a flat black.

I applied 5 coats of sealant to the grout knowing it will be hung above a stove so I hope the extra will help it to repel staining.  I am enclosing some of the powdered grout I used in a baggie so that if it should get some sort of stain on it the customer can easily fix it.

Since the area is cramped for space I decided it might be a good idea to use picture frame wire for hanging.  Usually I would hang 20lb. D-rings on either side assuming the customer would have large hooks, but I think it will be a bugger to try and hang it that way with the cabinets hanging down and  obstructing the view.

The finished size is 16x28

Custom Mosaic-Grouting

First of all I want to thank all of you who have commented on my mosaic.  I appreciate your taking the time to do so and to let me know that you like my work.

I got the OK this morning from my customer and have grouted the mosaic.  It took about an hour which includes the 10 minutes of letting the grout set up.

I got a little carried away with mixing too much this time, but since I normally have a mirror in the middle I wanted to be sure I had plenty.  I guess too much is better than too little.

My supplies gathered to grout. I always wear a mask but the gloves usually come off because they catch on the tile edges.

My grout is mixed and I am waiting for 10 minutes for it to "set".
It should be the consistency of a brownie mix.

Photo just before I grout.

This is how it looks once I finish getting the grout in all the crevices. I don't like to leave all of that on for too long as it just gets harder to remove it.

This is how it looks after my first cleaning.  There is still a lot of residue but the clumps are removed and I smooth out any lines created from the sponge.

Later tonight before the grout becomes too hard I plan to clean the residue off all the tiles and gems with a toothpick.  I do this while it's still slightly damp so that I can smooth the grout back out should it leave a crevice or marking.  If you wait until it is totally dry and you find that you have a few tiles that are still partially buried in the grout you end up with a "ledge" where you scraped it away if one tile sits slightly lower than another.

I try to keep my tiles thickness as consistent as possible when I make my pieces but sometimes the dish tiles are thicker than the glass tiles and the variance can cause a problem when grouting.   To  make the transition as smooth as possible I clean the bulk off of it right away.

Tomorrow will be the final post on making a custom mosaic.  I will have a few photos of the finished piece.

Until Next Time. :)