Gearing up for the holidays

WE are getting ready for the holidays! the air has changed to cool or cold and I absolutely love it!
We have 2 local craft shows coming along with holiday sales in our shops on artfire and etsy..hope we can make lots of people happy with great gifts. We have unique handmade items that you will not find anywhere else!

And we will do free gift wrapping and mail directly to the recipient for the holidays!

Our hair art is world renowned now and our snowflakes have traveled the globe too!This is so much fun!
I hope you have clicked on the ornament swap badge to the right and joined in for the fun!

**WE would love to have you check out our artfire shop, we have lots of items, more payment options and you do not need an account to check out!**
Love to all out there in the cyber world, if this even gets read! I want to spread love, there is so much bad in the world,and have a great rest of the week!

I LOVE fall!!

Well, the air has changed..the mornings and evenings are cooler, the light is a bit less intense and the leaves are changing color in the mountains! We went on a 2 hour drive to see the spawning salmon that change to a brilliant coral color and it was just

beautiful! The heaviest activity was not yet present but we saw about 20 of the brilliant orange fish along with beautiful mountain scenery.

In anticipation of the holidays, i have joined an ornament swap and i invite you to join too! just click on the box to the right and join the fun!!

Hope to see you there!

Love to you!!

And the winners are...

The winners of our name the fork contest are......drum roll please.....


Mermaids tail, by physicsjen for the 2 prong design and...
Threnody , by redhairedzealot for the 4 prong design

Thank you all for your creative submissions!!
This labor day weekend be sure to celebrate your ability to go out and work, as some cannot leave thier homes due to illness or any number of things. And be sure to thank someone who works for you or with you as well.
Love to you all, more to come on our shops and new hair forks!

A word on friends and love

There are 3 days left to enter the name hair fork contest!

We have it narrowed down to a couple in anticipation but would love to have our socks rocked off by tons more in the next 3 days!!!

Here are a few great quotes on frienship and hence love. Really loving is being a true friend.

To have a good friend is one of highest delights of life; to be a good friend is one of the noblest and most difficult undertakings. Unknown

The real friend is he or she who can share all our sorrow and double our joys. B. C. Forbes

A cheerful friend is like a summer day which sheds its brightness all around. John Lubbock

One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession. Sophocles

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends. John Churto Collins

Give and take makes good friends. Scottish Saying

Have a blessed day everyone and hope to hear from you! Love to all, Kimi

There is still 12 days to enter..

Thank you all for entering our name the fork contest..but there are 12 days left!! tell your friends we need lots of names to chew on!! All of my friends at LHC..this is a chance to win free custom hair fork!! (www.longhaircommunity.com) you get the chance to check out our craftsmanship and name your length!

A great place for long hair care tips,styles for long hair and lots more!!

I got this adorable picture in an email from Mom and had to share it, it makes me smile! We are really looking forward to announcing the winners in our contest and having a name for our hair art!

You guys rock!!

The lilliputians have arrived!

WE have some great names already entered ! The contest is running until September 6th so keep them coming! Remember, it is for the SHAPE not the design or color of the forks.

Our new smaller forks called the lilliputians are here! They are adorable and sturdy,same great quality you know and love but smaller(the picture on the left is a lilliputian 2 tine)! Originally i wanted a line a of forks that really stand out, like the hair decorations in early 1900's...but we had so many request for smaller sizes we decided to just make our entire line shrunk down to lilliputians!! So now you can have either at Grah-Toe Studio!

As a note to lift the level of love in the world,

Psalm 59:16 But I will sing of your strength,in the morning I will sing of your love;for you are my fortress ,my refuge in times of trouble.

I pray you all have a blessed and joyful day, full of peace and creative fun!

Thank you for your creative entries and keep them coming! we look forward to picking the winners!

Win a custom hair fork!!

Here are a few pictures of the shapes we need names for in different angles, get the creative juices flowing!!I know there are descriptive words running through your head, just shout them out! Post a comment and leave contact information so you can be reached if you win!! We will do the shape you named in any length you need as your prize. Please feel free to spread the word and check out our other designs as well if you need more inspiration. Our forks are bold and big and meant to be seen! We have had requests for our shapes in smaller sizes so we are in the process of introducing our "lilliputian line"...same great Grah-Toe shapes and quality in liliiputian sizes!!

Good luck to all, I look forward to the struggle of choosing from all the great submissions!

Name the hair forks giveaway!!!

We are in need of a name for a couple styles of hair forks that we make and want your help!! We will be giving one of each away to the person whose entry is chosen! here are the styles:

We do them in several types of wood, it is the shape that needs named, not the color or design. We will do a custom length and design for the winners! You can see more examples of our work at http://www.grahtoestudio.etsy.com/ . Thank you everyone for putting your thinking caps on and getting creative! We will end the contest September 6th, one month from today so spread the word to all your long haired friends! Even if you don't have long hair they are wonderful gifts for the lovely longhairs in your life! Our forks are very sturdy, bold,and slick. We sand and finish each one extensively so you will never have to sand your tines when your fork arrives.

**Leave your contact info and the entry name in comments so we can reach you once the winners are chosen**

On a note for more love in this world..here are a few love quotes.

The word "love" has many meanings. In describing the enjoyment of ice cream some would say, "I love butter pecan." And in describing their deepest and most intimate feelings some would say, "I love my fiancée." Love is a little word with lots of implications

Love is too large, too deep ever to be truly understood or measured or limited within the framework of words. M. Scott Peck

Love talked about can easily be turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible. W. Stanley Mooneyhan

Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. Ursula K. Le Guin

Acting in kind and loving ways causes us to experience kind and loving feelings Stephen Covey

Love is that splendid triggering of human vitality...the supreme activity which nature affords anyone for going out of himself toward someone else. Ortega Y Gasset

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13

I am so proud of my husband..

Stacy's woodturning is featured in a wonderful treasury of wood workers. I would love to have you all take a peek!There is some really awesome stuff in this treasury! Great gift ideas and some really neat eye candy too!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=70742
PLease feel free to share!

shopping around treasures!

Well, I have been just cruising around artfire and etsy today, checking out everybodys stuff...We artisans are amazingly creative and diverse people! I am just in awe of all the lovley things,from painting to woven fibre arts..If only I had millions of dollars I could get something from everyone and I would love to support all of us ! But, alas, I won my first thing a few weeks ago from http://www.theresarosedesigns.blogspot.com/ ...But I wanted to share this shop , I adore these earrings!

The shop is www.marelf.artfire.com and she has lots of lovely treasures to see and buy!
We are having a "play with clay day" with our friends and thier kids today so I am busily gathering my tools from around the house..which I do my art ALL over the house! ANyone else do that? At work I am OCD about clean and order but at home I am opposite!:0) Well, in any event have a great weekend and Fathers day for all Dads out there and See ya soon! Love to all of you fellow artists, in bunches!

Ok,a wierd thing happened to me today..

Hey all! I had a fun thing happen to me today..I was out back feeding and tending the bunnies and i felt something brush by my pant leg..i thought it was my dog but I could not see her, so I started to look around and I saw some golden fur in the bushes, but it was so small, I leaned in closer and a PRAIRIE DOG ran out across the yard! I have never seen them in town at all let alone in my yard!!That was fun.

We have some new hair toys on our etsy shop and we are still offering FREE SHIPPING ON HAIR STICKS through June so take advantage of that! A celebration of summer updo's!

The one with wood burned leaves and vines was scarfed up as soon as I posted it but I have more coming and the woodburning designs come out just lovely on the maple wood background! The others have stones set in them. The one pictured here has black snowflake obsidian adorning it.The top picture is the first one we made and I got to keep it!:0) They hold your hair really well and look stunning and dramatic.

CrAzY TrAiN rider

This dragonfly pin is beautiful! I think dragonflies are fun, and deep red is a new fave color. Her shop is full of Hawaii inspired treasures and a real treat to the eyes! stop over and get something lovely for your summer wardrobe!

www.kraftouchtreasures.artfire.com

I WON!

Good morning to all! I just got some really fun news..I WON! On http://www.theresarosedesigns.blogspot.com/ . She is having a name the jewelry contest and I won! I rarely win anything and this made my day! I hope you will pop on over and checkout her etsy shop too. She does have a gift for design and color, even if she does not feel naming is the best of her creative talents!

http://www.theresarose.etsy.com/

Thank you Teresa Rose and I am sending love and blessings your way!

It's my day, what do I say...?

Hello all! I have not been blogging as I have been in a bad flare-up, my hands are not working right! BUt I had to say, THANK YOU ALL

It is my 2 days to ride the crazy train..lots of visitors to the shop, no sales yet but really wierd to see our shop everywhere! OK, wierd-good!:0) I am so proud of my husband, who does all the wood working. His items are so beautiful , the pictures really do not do them justice...

That is what I have been working on, getting our pictures in both our Etsy and Artfire shops retaken in better light. It is a real task, retaking/reposting and I am so impressed with the great pictures I see everywhere because it is tough to get one! I am going to try a light box, i just found a great" "recipe" for one here http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html And it is in keeping with the budget friendly feel of the times as well!

Once again I would like to say thank you all for spreading the word about crazy train, Grah-Toe Studio and Love and blessings to you all! I will be back!!WHOOWHOOO

Why do people do mean things?

As a child i was often the brunt of teasing...we were poor and I did not have fashionable clothes or hair or anything for that matter...I was always SO looking forward to being a "grown up" because there were better things for them to do than pick on me and I could do what I wanted. Well, we all know as an adult you cannot always do what you want , the bad news is "grown-ups" still do mean things to each other and for the life of me I cannot understand why! Life is hard, we all need a boost, a smile, a kind word or an arm up..there is a new venue to promote handmade www.votehandmade.com and there are people going through there marking others not on "thier" marketplace down. NOW COME ON!! let's all please play nice, wether you believe in karma or Jesus Christ there is truth in the saying "what goes around comes around" and why would you want it to be bad!?!? I really am frustrated with adults in this world....:0(

CrAzY TrAiN today is carrying www.alisunstoo.artfire.com check it out!

On a creative note, since the weather is warm again I am focusing on my pottery and having a really good run..my husband is making these adorable little footed vessels (that I will unveil soon) and I am making all kinds of handbuilt mugs and beads. I find the opalescence of certain glazes over the red clays amazingly beautiful and am focusing on that play of colors. I hope to have some good sunlight this week to revamp my studio pictures and to post some awesome pics of the pottery..meanwhile PLEASE Be kind to all and do wrong to none..Love to you all, Kimi

CRaZy TrAiN friday!

This bracelet is such a lovely idea,from suxbax, especially in the light of Mothers day this weekend! She will custom create this is in grandkids/childrens birthstones and to the length you want(according to the amount of "birthstones).!

The jewelry designs in this studio are obviously inspired by where the artist lives, in Florida, with lots of blue/greens and fun designs.I hope you will stop over and visit this shop and grab a piece for your accessories collection! www.suzbax.artfire.com

CraZyTrAin Janelson Arts

What a lovely Pendant for spring and summer! Spring is taking its time here in Utah but we are all ready to bust out the shorts and bright colors!

If you are looking for pretty lamp work beads as focal points in a jewelry design this is the place! Be sure to check this studio out at www.janelsonarts.artfire.com

I want to spread love to day and pray that you are all enjoying a restful and refueling day this Sunday!

Well LaDeDa and Hubby too!

Well La De Da and cool creations in clay! I think these polymer creations are just amazingly fun and happy!The colors and highly polished surface really show the time and love that has been put into each piece.Please hop over to her shop and add a piece to your collection or your Moms collection! Just enjoy the wonderful swirls and let your eyes dance over each piece. We love the Crazy Train !!

Viruses,trojans,and worms, OH MY!

WOW~ I had a huge glitch in my matrix! the computer crashed last week and i had not realized how very much I do on this thing! I look up weather and words i don't know and Do my Artfire and Etsy shops...And let me tell you the library is no fun place to try and do business on a computer! It is like swimming with your hands tied..So, I am back! Hello all, I have missed my blogfriends!
Are you doing the class Tim Adam is offering on Etsy Marketing? It has been a really enlightening, as his stuff usually is. Lots of good tips about Face book, blogging, twitter and marketing in general. Good stuff.
I hope you will all be following me on twitter and checking in here, for I am back!! YYEEAAAA!
Love to all out there ~Kimi

lovely jewelry by creative cove jewelry designs

WOW! These pieces are simply elegant! my favorite piece is this one
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=ViewListing&product_id=117364
a lovely dichroich glass pendant and earrings. please be sure to visit and patronize this artist shop if you are in the market for some new accessories for spring!