Tell us about yourself.
My name is Jessica Tenbusch and I'm currently living in Ypsilanti. I'm at Eastern Michigan University earning a second bachelors in fine arts. Not sure when I got the crazy idea in my head to keep going to school after I already graduated, but here I am!

What are your favorite materials and what types of things do you create with them?
When it comes to jewelry, I love to use oxidized sterling silver, yummy gemstones and vintage beads. I generally focus on color more than form or texture. I also love brass stampings and vintage brass chains.

As for other crafty-ness, I'm having a love affair with yarn! I love the colors and textures, yarn is very sensual, as in gratifying to the senses. I'm taking two textiles classes in the spring. So, who knows, maybe I'll abandon jewelry for yarn.

What first made you want to become an artist/crafter?
I've got some crafty roots; my mother is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. She refinishes and builds furniture, she was a seamstress for a while, her and and my grandmother had a company making clocks and she also works in heating and cooling and knows her way around electronics to list a few of my mother's skills. To sum it up, she rocks. :) So I spent a lot of time as a kid at crafting stores like Michaels and Franks and learning how to make stuff. My favorite were the Lisa Frank jewelry kits. I could spend hours making bracelets and necklaces from all that gaudy neon-colored plastic.

But, I didn't actually decide to be an artist until recently. I was originally against the idea thinking that going to art school or trying to pursue it as a career would force me to be creative and then it wouldn't be fun anymore. Sometime last year though, I decided to give it a shot. I began to sell jewelry on Etsy and started my degree last fall. I am very happy I did!

Where does the inspiration for your work come from?
My inspiration comes from observations of the natural world and from science. I love to think of say continental shelves or sine waves, and then design a piece around that concept. All the names of my pieces come from science as well. I like to name a piece something obscure like thermohaline in the hopes that someone would find it intriguing and maybe look up the term and educate themselves about it.

I also keep a scrapbook of sorts where I keep images of different designs from jewelry to wallpaper and browse through them whenever I'm feeling a little stumped.

How do you promote your work?
Promotion, now that is something I should spend more time on! Right now, I use Flickr and MySpace and have some business cards. Nothing fancy. I have an idea for a blog but I'm afraid my treehugger and socially conscientious ways will have me on a soap box more than promoting my work, lol.

Where can your work be found?
I sell my work on Etsy only (equilibria.etsy.com) but I hope to move to some local brick and mortar stores soon.

My work can be viewed on Flickr (http://www. flickr. com/photos/equilibria/) and promotions, news, events and the like can be viewed here on MySpace (http://www. myspace. com/equilibria_design).


What do you like best about the DIY scene?
I love the sense of community! It's so much like the days of buying from the mom & pop stores, you can build a relationship with the people you buy from and learn about them as a person, not just a business. And, due to social conscientiousness stated above, I find DIY an environmentally and artisan friendly response the capitalist and overly-consumer culture the Western world has created. Plus there is nothing more satisfying that saying "I made this!"

In 5 years what would you like to be doing?
I would love to graduate for good! But I would also love to build a successful business and finally find my niche. So far I've dabbled in quite a bit artistically but I have yet to find the medium that truly resonates with me.

Tell us about yourself.
My name is Taryn, I live in Mt. Clemens in an old house built in 1891 and I run a little craft company called TalkingSquid that's been going now for about 2 years. And yes, Squid's can talk!


What are your favorite materials and what types of things do you create with them?
Fabric, tee shirts, color, and modern design! I love to recycle, and I'm a total vintage fabric junky...it all started with a one dollar box filled to the brim with vintage fabric scraps that I found at an estate sale...for some reason, the gears just started turning...


What first made you want to become an artist / crafter?
I've always been the "artsy type", I went to CCS for photography and quickly learned that traditional schooling wasn't for me. I explored and dabbled in everything from painting to modeling before I started to figure out what my artistic vision was. As someone who is 100% self taught in all of my current crafting, I'm still learning everyday. I really love to take my design concepts and turn them into unique but practical products that people can enjoy.


Where does the inspiration for your work come from?
*Sigh* Everywhere...pretty colors, nature, shapes, modern design, fashion, vintage patterns and craft books, eco/green design, traveling...and a lot of daydreaming while I'm dressing mannequins at my normal job.


How do you promote your work?
I've always got a pocket full of business cards and a mouthful of words to say about supporting DIY! I also do a lot of chatting and networking with other crafter's, artists and business owners. You have to be fearless when talking about and promoting your own work or you can go belly up pretty fast.


Where can your work be found?
You can find me at www.talkingsquid.etsy.com and www.myspace.com/talkingsquid currently (a website of my own is coming soon!) You can also find TalkingSquid at local craft fairs (Next Thursday March 6th at the Hamtramck Blowout with Handmade Detroit), you can find my ties at Naka in Ferndale, and some of my items are at MY MY Art & Craft in Hatboro, PA. Oh, and I think I've got one of those Flickr's too!


What do you like best about the DIY scene?
Complete and total creative freedom. There isn't one single person that dictates what I can and cannot make...it's a beautiful thing.


In five years what would you like to be doing?
Honestly, I'd like to leave my full time job behind and focus on starting a family and working for myself expanding TalkingSquid. With the success of websites like Etsy, it seems like a total possibility which is VERY exciting!

Tell us about yourself
My name is joey merchant and i live in livonia, MI. i am affiliated with the society of american mosaic artists, have been a part of shows for m.i.c.e., handmade detroit and craft uprising! at biddle gallery in wyandotte.

What are your favorite materials and what types of things do you create with them?
i am a bit of a hoarder. i bounce between mosaics and soft sculpture. for mosaics, i love old dishes, found objects (which is a very broad category, i know...). this can include old toys, bottles, fortunes from fortune cookies, milagros, beads, curcuit boards, etc.
for soft sculpture, i love buying bags of vintage fabrics from thrift stores, and scouring the remant bins and clearance sections of fabric stores. giant fabric stores overwhelm me with possiblities, so i like to challenge myself and limit myself to what i can find on the cheap. this method is very interesting to me and i feel it challenges me as an artist.
i love using items that were given to me. it excites me to turn peoples' discarded objects into art. i feel it gives my work more soul somehow.

What first made you want to become an artist / crafter?
my first memories of getting excited about art/craft was in girl scouts. being singled out in 4th grade for an extra "special art" class gave me a lot of confidence and self esteem. i think as a girl it gave me something that was mine and i knew i was good at, and it really shaped me as a woman. i worry about young women today, and how many girls have to get approval from their appearance and in pleasing people. i've always looked to women artists and have been inspired. i can have "a vision". i can make up my own rules. i can challenge people. i can define myself.

Where does the inspiration for your work come from?
a lot of my inspiration comes from traveling. my travels through italy, greece, turkey, egypt and israel while in college steered me towards mosaics.
the work of frida kahlo, lee krasner, and nikki saint phalle inspires me to follow my own inner voice.
as far as my plush go, my 2 sons are a huge inspiration. it all started when i realized i could make a lot of plush for my oldest son that werent available to buy... things like pokemon and super mario characters. my yougest son loves animals, so i started sewing him whales, squid, snakes, etc.
i am inspired by heidi kenney from mypapercrane.com. not only is she a genius with plush, but from her blog i can tell she is an amazing mother, wife and artist.

How do you promote your work?
i sell my work on etsy.com, and at biddle gallery in wyandotte, mi. karen thomas, the owner, has been amazing at encouraging me and giving me freedom.
recently we have started "craft uprising:creating a design revolution" which is held on the third weekend of every month. it has been fun to seek out indie crafters in the detroit area and giving them a venue to sell their work, and to expose people to the world of DIY craft. this aint your momma's craft fair!

Where can your work be found?
http://plushbyjoey.etsy.com
www.myspace.com/rpsmosaics
www.biddlegallery.com

What do you like best about the DIY scene?
after doing the art thing for so long in detroit, it was very freeing to dive into crafts. there is no pretense. the work is so obviously coming from the heart and from peoples' need to create. i know that i myself sew to stay sane. that is why people craft and i love what comes out of that.

In five years what would you like to be doing?
i want to own a gallery. i want to be able to promote fellow artists and satisfy people looking to buy art/craft. i want to work on public art projects in detroit. i want to have a hand in revitalizing the art scene in detroit.

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Kim Ripley (formerly Sobanski) and I am a 26 year-old female from Mount Clemens, MI.

I have always had an interest in art. I graduated from Wayne State University in Dec. 05 with a BFA in photography. Since then I have moved onto other things and began exploring collage work and resin jewelry-making. I am very passionate about photography and I love shooting colorful things with my Holga camera or one of my many Polaroids.

I am also a collector of vintage and kitsch. I love hunting out unusual items that will bring interest to my home or my wardrobe!Right now my main interest is resin jewelry. I am fascinated with the medium. I love embedding little things inside resin. I also began making photo pendants with my original artwork and photography.

The main theme of my current work is candy. I have been embedding all sorts of sweets and treats inside the resin- rainbow cupcake sprinkles, Nerds candy, and anything else that is sugary and bursting with color! When I am creating this type of work it really takes me back to my childhood. I think I was born with a sweet-tooth! Nothing in this world brings me more joy than art. I love surrounding myself with it. 

Ever since I could hold a crayon in my hand I have been creating art. I'm not quite sure where this strong interest came from since neither of my parents are artists. My mother was always very supportive of me and my work and I think that has had a major impact on my life.

I think the greatest thing about being an artist is knowing that my work is hanging on the walls of people's homes and around people's necks all over the world! I have sent my work out to so many different countries and I think it is just amazing to know that I am "out there" and all over the place. My work is very colorful, funky, and fun! I love color and I like my work to be oozing with it! I try to provoke feelings of happiness with my art. Often, my work can be inspired by something as simple as a single color and the work evolves out of that.

Right now a good word to describe my work would be "sweet". I've become quite the sprinkle-whore lately with my resin obsession!! Candy has been a major inspiration in my current line of resin jewelry. I want people to feel happy when they are wearing my jewelry. My goal is to create something sensational and so sweet it hurts!!I have had a lot of success with promotion using the Flickr site. I am active in a lot of groups there and have several contacts on Flickr. I think the site is wonderful because the audience is so vast. When sharing your work with Flickr you are sharing your images with the world.

I am also very active on the Etsy forums. Because I am a fulltime artist and work from home I am capable of spending a lot of time in the forums... sometimes way too much time! lol!www.stoopidgerl.etsy.com
www.myspace.com/stoopidgerl
www.flickr.com/photos/stoopidgerl
www.trunkt.org/stoopidgerlThe greatest thing about the DIY scene is the support from other artists. Etsy is a fabulous community with so much talent and the people there are so amazing and friendly.

I love buying and selling handmade. I think that handmade items have a lot more character than mass-produced store-bought items. I also love knowing that a lot of love and care went into the handmade item. Sipping free drinks in Vegas and pulling the lever of a slot-machine 24/7!

My dream for the last few years has been to relocate to Las Vegas. I visit there once a year every summer. I find the atmosphere out there to be very inspiring and I love cities that have a pulse.

Today we are kicking off our first CRAFT CHALLENGE....yippee!!!!

February's theme is "I heart Michigan".  I thought that was fitting
since this is the first Michigan Street Team challenge and since
February is the month of love afterall.

Guidelines:
-Your creation does not need to reflect the theme in a literal way,
but someone should be able to look at it and recognize that it has
something to do with Michigan.
-Your creation can reflect a specific area, city, or product of
Michigan.
-You and welcome to use any craft or art medium for this challenge.
-All items must be posted in your Etsy shop by midnight on February 7,
2008.
-You must use the tag "mice february" as one of the tags for this
item.
-There will be online voting for a winner from 2/7/08 thru 2/13/08.
-One winner will be announced on the micesty google group on February
14, 2008.
-The winner will receive a prize package that is tbd.

Have fun!!!

Questions about this craft challenge can be posted on our Google Group