Showing posts with label polarity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polarity. Show all posts

My Scoutie Girl Giveaway

Check out my interview and giveaway on the absolutely amazing Scoutie Girl blog.

Jan said some really nice things about me-

"Cat Ivins is a very 'cool cat' (shucks!)- her originality & commitment to her ideas, techniques and materials rocks in every which way. she is currently focused on two materials in her work: sustainable cork and recycled steel. using these materials in conjunction with gorgeous artwork and other repurposed items, like barnwood & galvanized steel, she creates ingenius cork pendants, magnetic lockets, earrings, bulletin/magnet boards, pushpins and so much more. when i see an artist who pushes boundaries like this in such simple yet unconventional ways - and do it so well - i can barely stand it! progressive artists like Cat are such an asset to the modern art movement of their/our time. in her words: "I seek to use repurposed, recycled and sustainable materials in new, unique and beautiful ways leaving the lightest possible footprint in my wake." that's passion baby!"

*yes, Jan, your check is in the mail*

Actually I have hung this in my studio to remind my family I am one cool Cat!

This giveaway is double-trouble and includes my favorite GIDDYUP seahorse cork necklace by Uncorked and a TinyArtbyJMullin Locket from my Polarity artist series featuring the gorgeous collage work of Jennifer Mullin. The contest runs through July 5th so drop your barbecue mitts and get yourself entered!

If something HAD to crash...

So, I arrived home from my great Oregon adventure two nights ago. After some hugs and "missed ya's" and hints of parties that I just don't want to even know about I was finally able to sneak away from my family and head to my studio

(aka the room that used to be called the garage)

which felt oddly quiet with the computer screen blank and I felt oddly disconnected after only 4 days away (more proof that this room is starting to feel alot more like WORK and alot less like fun these days).

I pushed the start-up button on my Gateway and waited to reconnect with the world... and ... NOTHING happened... before I had time to analyze the situation (ie PANIC) hubby caught up with me (it was after midnight) and demanded (ie pleaded) for me to go to bed with him -

(totally NOT what you are thinking)

he confessed that he had tossed and turned all night without me (I did NOT confess that I had slept like a rock without him), so I went off to bed convincing myself that pup Olive had pulled a plug and that my life was not about to implode.

(how long ago HAD I backed anything up, anyway?)

Fast forward about 7 hours and $70.00 later and I am on the phone with a Gateway tech named Tommy.

Now, in the normal, real world I would NOT be taking advice from anyone who called himself Tommy- well, not since 6th grade anyway and would likely be trying to get past Tommy to a Tom or a Thomas or a Thomasina but in the techie world the people named Tommy and Billy and Jimmy are king and I am immediately convinced that he knows what he is doing.

(Note- I never trust anyone over 30 with my computer and drive my hubby crazy when I ignore his advice for that of my 12 year old neighbor Lucy)

Dead motherboard (really bad), maybe dead harddrive (really, really bad), since all of Tommy's diagnoses (is that a word?) involve the world "dead" as in NOT COMING BACK TO LIFE - this is all very bad news.

I wish I could wrap this up with a happy ending, but right now I am still in the middle of "the crash" and using a VERY old computer and my laptop in some strange combination with each other that has me tripping over cords and attempting some leftie mouse maneuvers AND doing really fast research on a new system. Luckily, I do have ALOT backed up on my external- unluckily I do NOT have everything backed up.

Looking at the bright side of all of this-

(yes, I am a very Pollyanna type personality who always looks on the bright side in case you hadn't noticed this about me before)

at least this crash didn't involve the airplane I was on the other day because to be honest with you I never listen to those crash procedures and would be looking around for a 12 year old to tell me what to do- they always seem to be paying attention ....





Me meeting my new little mini me in Oregon pre-crash (Elise daughter of ButtonEnvy's Miranda)






Some Etsy crash survival gear:



1. Lost by YaelFran
2. Crash Pin By Hariette Estelle Berman
3. CrashTest Dummy Shirt by DesignedThreads
4. Crash and Burn Notecard by GramkinPaperStudio
5. Crashing Waves Pendant by Chickory
6. Laptop Vinyl by Vinylville

Minding Their Manor

Just a few days until my great solo Oregon adventure- heading to Portland to visit my sister and her family including my new little niece (whose cute little pics show a remarkable resemblance to her Aunt Cat, if I do say so myself). My family is staying put in New Jersey, so I am on my own for this one.

(drops mouse to happy dance around the room)

I have been thinking about proper houseguest etiquette and googled some rules so I don't make a pest of myself.

(not that this is even remotely possible... we are family, right?)

1. Share your itinerary - let your hosts know if you have other plans - easy one to follow since I have no itinerary and no plans. BUT I don't want to be one of those, "I don't know... you choose" kind of guests so I need to come up with something... and it has to be something that can be done in the rain... because this IS Portland we're talking about here...

2. Bring a gift / leave a note - this is an easy one since gifts for the kiddies, especially my new little mini-me, are easy peasy and I know any 4 month old would be pleased as punch to wear (ie gnaw on) a cork necklace, right?

3. Buy a meal - well, I guess if my sister is going to cart me around for 4 days, she can at least get a hot meal out of it, or a warm meal or at least a cold Dr. Pepper - let's see where she takes me ....

4. Never use the soap/razor/washcloth/loofah that's in the shower - that would be gross AND rude (shampoo and toothpaste are possible sharesies though). Also carry your toiletries to and from the bathroom- nothing says "Diva" like a complete bathroom sink takeover. And don't drape damp towels over the antique highboy (not that my sister has an antique highboy, but she HAS been buying alot of stuff lately at garage sales and off Craig's List so I have to be careful).

5. Make your bed- now I have to admit that most days hubby makes the bed around here (most days he also sleeps WAY later than I do) and making is really just kind of straightening so this is also a no-brainer and strip (the bed, that is) before leaving on that final morning.

6. No noisy sex - well, since I am traveling alone this would be a little hard to do and a little sad if I attempted it, but if you are traveling with Mr. Right or Mr. Wrong it is still a no-no in my book.

(and by MY BOOK I mean the etiquette book I am now thinking I should be writing since I am really, really good at this stuff)

So, what else am I missing, does anyone have any other good houseguest tips to share?



1. Sherry Truitt - Custom Destination Vintage Map Necklace (super houseguest gift I think)
2. GetReadySetGo - Upcycled Luggage (except this little elephant bag is mine - get your own)
3. JJill - Dress (I have this in every color they offer and it is perfection- it can be worn over tights, jeans or as a dress- total versatility with this one)
4. NectarJewelry- one of her new Polymer Pendants, total awesomeness
5. StrikeBooks - Pink Paper Journal - nothing screams 'my sister' like pink, believe me
6. SpaGoddess - Travel Size Scrubs - pure bliss in little jars

Jon and Kate (let's stop the hate)


I haven't seen an episode of this show in, well, maybe this entire season, but I would have to be living under a rock (which I am not as far as I can tell) to not know about what is (supposedly) going on with the Gosselins.

In case you ARE living under a rock, or in case you have an actual life that keeps you busy and focused and unaffected by 'celebrity' gossip, the Gosselins are a young married (as of right now, at least) couple with a reality tv show and 8 children under the age of 8; twins and sextuplets. Just writing the words "8 children under the age of 8" makes me feel tired and worried and somehow picturing octomom's lips (which has nothing to do with the Gosselins, but this is just how strangely my mind works).

If you've ever seen the show you have probably seen Kate organizing her little brood in formations and situations that would make the general commander of the U.S. military proud. You have also seen Kate stressed to the max and Jon very (shall we say) not stressed to the max. You have probably also seen Kate go full-blown, throw a net over her somebody already, freakin' crazy ...

Now, I have only raised one child and not 8. I have never had a camera crew documenting my every move (although this is probably the only thing, other than out of town guests, that would get my house clean these days and of course, the bundles of cash they would have to pay me would be nice).

The kids are totally adorable and I think that Jon and Kate are doing the best they can. In the episodes I have seen, they truly love their children (and maybe even like each other) and I can't even imagine the kind of work that goes into making their family run as well as it does.

Since the show has skyrocketed them to reality tv "super stardom" their lives have, I'm sure, totally changed in so many ways (and I am talking about things other than Kate's hair- but, what's with THAT?!- and both Kate and Jon's super suntans - what's with THAT, too?!).

I actually stopped watching (for the most part) this type of show last year when I found myself sitting mindlessly on my couch watching the Little People's children have a pillow fight and thought - I am CHOOSING to watch other people's kids pillow fight - not exactly a mind-blowing thought, but one that did get me to click off the tv and get myself off the couch and onto something else (it might have been surfing the web- hopefully it wasn't).

Does Kate have particularly intense perfectionist tendencies? Yup. Does Jon need to dial back in? Probably. Should Kate stop berating Jon on national television? YES. Is Jon sleeping with his kids' preschool teacher? Have no idea- hope not. Is it easy to be married- NO. Is it easy to raise a family- NO. Have I said enough about this- YES.



A. 8 Ornery Babies & Octo-owl by FlyingButtons
1. 8 is great by TypeTypeType
2. 8 Vintage Typewriter Key Tie Tac by KeysandMemories
3. 8 and other numbers by SingleStoneStudios
4. 8 Tentacled - Clara's Portrait with Simon by HeatherFuture
5. 8 Splendid Suns Scarf by Subrosa123
6. 8 Tentacled - Low Tide PeppermintDaydreams Artwork; Locket by Polarity

3 Things for Earth Day

I have always been a bit of an Earth Day skeptic. Being environmentally focused for 24 hours and then rushing back into our modern, fast-paced, disposal lives seems as fake as those 'green products' that keep popping up and are anything but.

Earth Day does, though, give us an actual date on the calendar to renew our commitment to saving this planet's amazing beauty and diversity for our children and for their children and it does help us to get focused.

Each year we try to commit to 3 new practices (last year we switched to compact fluorescent bulbs, gave up paper towels, paper and plastic bags -and take out containers- when shopping and started composting kitchen scraps more consistently).

This year our 3 new commitments are : 1. Reduce our garbage to 1 bag a week (with a family and two businesses we are continually challenged with this) 2. Send one letter each month to a politician -local, state or federal- concerning an environmental issue (this will also challenge us to be aware of these issues) and 3. grow more of our own fruits and vegetables and can them for colder seasons (I have never done anything even remotely like canning - no idea why this is even called canning when we use glass - we do use glass, right?), so this will be my biggest challenge yet. Hopefully I can do this without putting anyone in the hospital, or at least anyone I like in the hospital.

To celebrate Earth Day I am offering free shipping on any jewelry order in both my shops- Uncorked and Polarity through Friday midnight. Just write Earth Day in the comments to seller section of your order and I will refund your shipping!

1. Artwork by KD - Flower Ring
2. Pouch - Recycled Brooch
3. 2ReVert - Earrings
4. Infusion - Toddler Slippers
5. zJayne - Recycled Wristlet
6. Knitstorm - Tea Cup Cozy

You are NOT a Loser ... (I am pretty sure)

OK- so I have some serious blog goodies to be given away on four blogs right now- that's right you are not seeing in quadruple - I said FOUR!

I know this is going to take you a few minutes to enter all of these, but these little lockets used to be cars (or car parts actually) and I think it would be worth a few minutes to win a car (uhm... part), right?!

Plus entering all four of these has got to increase your chances of winning, by what, at least a gazillion percent, right? I mean, if you enter all four of these and you don't win anything, well, I mean that still wouldn't exactly make you a loser ... but I would start to worry about you a little bit....

1. Noelle over at Xenotees in giving away my Kendra Zvonik Locket
2. Jen at IndixFix is giving away my Jess Gonacha Locket
3. Tia at CleverGirlGoesBlog is giving away my Unconventional Ida Locket
4. The amazing Helene at Helene's Dreams is giving away my Dilka Bear Locket


You gotta be in it, to win it, people!

These Little Girls Are Having a Birthday!

The amazingly adorable Kirsten Cram of Tollipop fame is celebrating her one year anniversary on Etsy with a SUPER GIVEAWAY.

The Grand Prize is three Tollipop original paintings in pretty blue frames, ready to hang! Kirsten is also giving away 3 more prizes of a Polarity Tollipop locket and a Tollipop print of your choice from her shop!

Getting Ready for Show Season

Spent a rainy Saturday recently making two Polarity Locket display cases for the upcoming show season.

Since the lockets are made from little car parts I wanted my new displays to be industrial but totally practical and amazingly cool (if would also be best if the display surfaces had some magnetic areas).

I like to set up 'stations' within my 10X10 booth space that flow from one to the next cohesively but are at the same time eclectic and very visually interesting.

I decided to use metal toolboxes and incorporate my customer mirrors (recycled truck sideview mirrors) into the metal lids. I covered the inner drawer areas with some foam covered fabric and my little Craftsman/Craftwoman is almost ready for show time. I will get some pictures at my first show and post these babies stocked with lockets!


New Artists for Polarity Locket Series

This week I am so fortunate to add five more amazingly talented artists to my Polarity locket artist series!


TinyArtByJMullin - Jennifer is a high school art and art history teacher by day and collage and watercolor artist by night. Creating art keeps her sane and happy and she is thrilled to be able to share her passion on Etsy! We are so lucky to have her beautiful I Will Be Blue and Floral Improv. No. 8 artwork for your locket!

f2images - Emi and Mark started f2images as a way to share their photography with others. Their ambition is to capture and present images in a unique and engaging way. Although they enjoy fine art photography, the technical aspect of image capture is equally important to them. We are so lucky to have their beautiful Lazy Summer and Mare photographs for your locket!

blackoutwell - When she was young Amy wanted to be a mad scientist but quickly decided that her path in life would be accompanied by a notebook and pen, a yellow flask of semi sweet tea, a small orange fox, a slightly bent but empty birdcage and a rusty red lantern she found in the street. Unfortunately she has only 2 hands so she carries the leftover items in her backpack, alternating from time to time and picking up treasures and inspiration along the way! We are so lucky to have her beautiful Stripey Fox and Suspicious Cat artwork for your locket!

somethingwhimsical - Vinnie is an amazing artist who wanted to have some fun and walk on the wild side of things for awhile, well, on the whimsical side at least. His little alien lifeforms known as BOBs (bunch of bolts) have recently been leaving some marks and symbols that we will leave it up to you mad scientists out there to decipher. You can check out Vinnie's other, slightly more serious side at http://www.corona-evans.com We are so lucky to have his little BOBs language for your locket! He also happens to be my amazingly talented brother....

Deadpan Alley - Liese loves to work with all types of media. Paint, ink, copper, beads, fabric, you name it. She shows work in a traditional art gallery but when she gets pen in hand nothing traditional seems to come out. Etsy is her outlet for the illustrations that like a hysterical giggle, she can't seem to suppress! We are so lucky to have her beautiful X-Ray, Devourer of Nations and The Innovator artwork for your locket!

Purchase any of these amazing lockets and you will receive a FREE set of additional lids.

I will also be doing a giveaway with each locket from now until the end of June- the first giveaway is on Andrea's awesome Anything Indie blog for the Jessica Doyle Locket shown here!

More Spring Fashion / Trashion Trends

Here are some more hot spring trends that may spark a creative fire in your belly.

DIGITAL duds with pixelated patterns are going to be everywhere. Even Fendi clutches have bold digital designs that prove it is chic to be geek. Think modern tie-dye with this trend.

Clunky, bold jewelry, computer-age graphics, the dicotomy of digital with softer, lighter fabrics are all pieces of this modern mosaic.
1. Prada
2. FrostCollections
3. Polarity
4. BeadworkByAmanda
5. ChelseaEBird
6. UpcycledJewelry
7. UpcycledJewelry
8. Craftastrophe



Another spring trend is going to be a LOVE FEST with sexy-sweet clothing and accessories.

Jewel-trim headbands and leather clutches, embellished dresses and sky-high platform sandals will be everywhere. Pastels and little hearts will be happening with this style.

Also check out Pantone's new spring colors which will be incorporated into all the trends.

1. Prada
2. 13threads
3. Lillyella
4. Traven7
5. Thebline
6. Lilfishstudios
7. BayouSalvage
8. Bubbletime

All Sewed Up

As a closet embroiderer and avid collager I have an intense attraction to the wonderful textile collages we call quilts. Symbolic of warmth, protection (quilts were even worn under armor during the crusades) and a sense of community (particularly female) and family history - quilts in all their classic and modern manipulations can stop me in my tracks (I have been known to go into a kind of quilt-trance which sometimes prevents my bed from getting made).

I recently stumbled upon a modern quilter who reassembles everyday snapshots as refracted fabric visions. Luke Haynes works from photographs and disassembles, digests, and reconstructs images as progressive cloth murals. I think they are pretty cool.





More Cool Etsy Goodies
1. Space Spores in Search ... - sillyboodilly
2. Rooster Quilt - mariannemccann
3. Sew On Recycled Locket - polarity
4. Quilted Coasters - btaylorquilts
5. Space Spores in Search - sillyboodilly
6. Soft Patchwork Pillow Ring - raeburnink
7. Not Afraid of Needles - uncorked
8. In The Beginning - hudsonquilts
9. Nest Colorblock - littlelegwarmers

hiring (?) MODELS

Well, I didn't exactly "hire" them, unless you count the pizza I have promised, but haven't delivered on yet (after all models can't actually eat pizza, right?). At the urging of Noelle, of Xenotees, to get some 'models' in my pics I "hired" these two pretty (and familiar) faces- what cha' think?



this girl's got a PAINT CHIP on her shoulder

I have always wanted a yellow kitchen. I am not sure why. Maybe my first birthday cake was eaten in a yellow kitchen or that popular girl in 4th grade who invited me over for pizza rolls after school had a yellow kitchen. My memory is foggy here, but I know I have always wanted one. I have a picture in my head of this yellow kitchen (of course this picture is of a HUGE yellow kitchen, but I will make do). I know a little bit about color- or maybe I just know what I like, which is maybe all any of us ever need to know about color, so with this picture in my head and my knowledge of color, I head to the paint store. Three paint stores and thirty paint chips later I head home with my little collection of samples, but with a growing feeling of unease that none of these little paint chip yellows is MY yellow. The perfect mustard yellow that my little kitchen needs. The yellow that is in my head. The yellow that will make my little kitchen perfect. So, I hang the little paint chip cards on the kitchen wall and step back. I pace. I chew my nails. I decide to sleep on it. My husband picks a paint chip. My daughter picks a paint chip. I pace ....
1. colour theory 10 - estasketch
2. modern 3D collage - bookeesue
3. create recycled magnetic locket - polarity
4. line 256 southbound - nervousmotion
5. paint chip magnets - claireteschel
6. a paint chip for me - elizaveta
7. chipping paint expressionalism 2- kdukigrl

Adorable New Mini Lockets in Polarity Shop


I added a few new mini lockets to my Polarity shop today. Each is made from a little recycled auto part (cleaned up like NEW) and comes with 3 interchangeable magnetic lids that are guaranteed to never fall off when worn! You will love them. They are totally addicting and a great way to do more with less!

PUCKER UP People


I happen to know that REAL men wear cork and REAL women love to wear little recycled auto parts. How do I know this you ask? Well, let's just say a little naked guy with an arrow told me.

Polarity Locket Saves Motorists...and Marriage....


I received a wonderful little email yesterday from a customer who had recently purchased a magnetic locket from my Polarity shop. Here is her story:

Hey, I LOVE my new necklace. It's about to go into heavy rotation in my jewelry collection. I also thought you'd like to hear...it was helpful as part of replacing my husband's car battery this weekend. Here's the tale: After MUCH swearing, he finally was narrowing down which ratchet to use...and then promply dropped the thing (like 1 in big detachable ratchet part) into the innards of his Jeep. More swearing. I was standing (far back) watching all of this and then remembered that (!) I was wearing a magnet necklace. So, I took off the front cover and lowered the pendant into the Jeep by holding onto the chain. Sure enough, I managed to get the ratchet part out and the battery got changed (eventually and with minimal extra yelling from my man, bless his heart) So, there you go...pretty AND functional! Thanks a bunch!

Just another day in the life of a Polarity recycled magnetic locket ........

REwrapping this year - Boxes and Bows

Go green instead of spending green this year!

You will need: Scrap paper (a colorful magazine page looks great), cardboard packaging (here I am using a dog food box), scissors, stapler, twine, paper cutter (or ruler), glue

1. To make the bow cut several strips of paper down to 8.5" X .75" and one piece to 4" X .75
2. Loop each strip ends back into the center and staple
3. Staple all your looped pieces together at 90 degree angles and top off with the 4" piece looped and stacked on top
4. Flatten out your cardboard packaging
5. Find the glued side and carefully separate the cardboard to open the packaging
6. Turn the box inside out and reglue it back together (or tape it if you are going to cover the box)
7. Telephone book pages run through a paper shredder make a great replacement for tissue paper
8. You can now decorate your box to your own style- or keep it simple with some twine and your recycled bow!

Black Friday thru Cyber Monday (otherwise known as Thanksgiving weekend SPECIAL in honor of LUCY)

I once had a chicken named Lucy. She appeared in our yard one day and kept trying to get into our house by flying into the windows (unopened windows...ouch, poor Lucy!). My generous hubby would walk around the yard with Lucy at his feet looking under rocks for crickets. This next part gets a little gross. He would toss the cricket on the ground to stun it and then Lucy would gobble it up - hey the girl had to eat! She would jump into our laps when we sat on the patio and nibble on our toes when we ignored her. Our dog Hershey would chase her around the yard and she would fly atop the patio umbrella to get away. When fall came (and the chicken clean up got a little too much- chickens require a lot of clean up, if you know what I mean) we took Lucy to a farmer down the street named Junebug where she lived happily ever after with other chickens and one lucky rooster, laying a gazillion eggs for farmer Junebug.

When Etsy announced a Thanksgiving weekend site-wide super-sale I somehow thought of Lucy ... I mean Lucy wasn't a turkey, but she was the closest friend to a turkey I have ever known ... So I have decided to participate in this sale in honor of Lucy. I will be offering customers a free I AM A GOOD EGG cork small necklace as well as donating 1 CHICKEN (yes, as in cluck, cluck) to World Vision (the gift of a chicken will provide a family with a lasting source of nutrition and income. Fresh eggs raise the levels of protein and other nutrients in a family’s diet, and the sale of extra eggs provides money for other household needs) with their purchase of any 3 items between my 2 shops from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Hoping to donate a little flock, clutch, peep, brood - what the heck do you call a bunch of chickens anyway?!

New Stuff Added to My Shops This Week


This is my new Spread Your Wings butterfly mini recycled magnetic locket set - that was a mouthful! - I am feeling a lot like spreading my wings lately!










I can never have enough bookmarkers because I hate to dog ear my precious books (although I still do sometimes) and this little cork one is very special to me!