Tangent Designs Fine Art and Accessories

Last December I decided to take my designs on the road and participated in my first craft show Unique Los Angeles where I met Stacey Winters.  I was drawn to her booth by her beautiful photographs and amazing personality.  I just love Stacey's line of vintage inspired greeting cards and recently purchased one of her new photograph pendant necklaces.  Be sure to check out her shop and follow her daily photo blog.

Meet Stacey:

What I do:
I've always had the desire to create whether it be with glitter, paper, glue, beads, yarn, frosting....basically most anything, although my main passion is photography. Photographing people, animals, leaves, vintage deer, flowers, my dog Hermie, my kitties (Tuna, Ladybug, and Tiny Dancer), a spider building a web, weeds I see on my walk, my shadow, the sky (I am compelled to capture images of every cloud I see) all of these things grab me when they are illuminated in just the right light and represent a feeling or moment from the day.

A little background:
I earned a degree in Sociology then got my credential to teach elementary school children. For ten years I taught a mixture of first, second and fifth graders. It was very much rewarding in every way, more than I could've imagined, to be entrusted to those amazing human beings each year, unfortunately what ate away at me was the unbalanced focus on testing testing testing in the public schools. So after many tears, stressful moments and doubts I left teaching. I don't say forever, because one never knows...but I left to put my energy towards my creative ventures. I feel fortunate in the fact that I gave so much back to the local schools, the same community that educated me.

In my later years of teaching I itched to rediscover my personal creative side...into the wet lab I went learning photography from the organic form of black and white, with my dad's old Pentax and the chemicals that turned my fingers and clothes yellow (I love to come across that smell of a wet lab). From there I purchased my first digital SLR, the original Canon Rebel, took digital photography classes (even though years before I couldn't imagine what it would have to offer compared to working with film), learned how to work in the "digital darkroom," found workshops to learn more, purchased a Canon 5D and started up an Etsy shop with encouragement from my mom while also trying to drum up business for local people photography.

The Shop, etc.:
I stuck with my name for everything, which I'm happy I did, it is easy and it's me. January 1st 2008 I started a daily photo blog to challenge myself to explore  different photographic styles and different subjects as well as document my days. That started as a mac site, later that year I switched over to Blogger where I am today.

My creations are bright, clean, whimsical and vintage inspired...I adore images from the past. My mom shares her vintage finds of deer, birds, more deer, snowmen, angels and squirrels for me to photograph. I started out my Etsy shop with cards featuring mounted photographs of these items. In the two years my shop has been open it has grown to include nature images, brooches, cards, postcards, handmade frames, buttons, notebooks and recently pendants.

It is important to me that what I'm doing is constantly a work in progress. My style is changing and evolving as I make my way through this life. My creativity overflows when I give myself permission to change and try new things. I appreciate every sale and connection I make through Etsy and all the people who entrust me to photograph them and their loved ones.

Come by my shop and/or blog to see what my latest inspiration happens to be.
www.staceywinters.etsy.com
www.staceywinters.blogspot.com

*Want to be a featured designer? Shoot me anemail and I will take a look at your stuff. If I love it I will do a feature and place your ad on my site.

Recently I decided to take my business to the next level with a custom logo and one of a kind business cards.  I put up an ad on etsy and Aislinn of IcingsPrints replied excited to take on my new project.  She was so kind and patient with my many revisions and her clean graphic design was perfect!  I have received so many compliments on my new cards and her logo design can be seen under "About Me" on my blog.  I hope you love her as much as I do! 

Meet Aislinn:

I have a steady 8 to 5 corporate job... which more often is actually a 8 to 7 routine.  This includes a desk, tons of post-its, a gazillion emails, and meetings that would make you forget what time it is.  But my core passion is not Excel sheets or Powerpoint presentations, it's actually a little more bohemian: designing & photoshop.  (It's bohemian because I come from a hardcore prominent business dynasty ahahah.) 

I have no formal or informal training, I just happen to have a passion for experimenting with Photoshop.  Let's just say I am a certified frustrated artist.  

IcingsPrints was named after (semi-named after) me... My nickname is Ice, and when I was a child, people would mispronounce my name Aislinn to possibly everything that sounded like it:  Ice Cream, icey, and icing.  So yeah, call me narcissistic but brands ought to be a characteristic of your work aren't they?

I want my clients and my friends to associate my work as something that greatly compliments them, hence Icings.  I want my work to be the "cherry on top", the "gravy to their steak" . 

So for every project I receive... whether it's designing a business card, a logo, a postcard or photography projects, I slap on my Ipod and find within the grooves, my creative zen with hopes that I make someone happy.  

My style is whimsical, even when I am a rocker chic.  I love colors... more colors is better for me.  I love designing everything from minimalist elegance to punk acid loud creations.  The bottom line is, I love to create art.  I really don't see it as a business card or a logo.  I see it as an artwork .

My services range from creating affordable personalized & printable business cards, logo's, banners, ads, labels, tags.... I have even done random work on simple layout and photo editing.  I have been told many times that my talent is in layout, color mixing, and composition.  

So to all my clients, past present or future, all I can say is, working with IcingsPrints is a friendship.  It's a collaboration.

I don't let go until the work is 101% perfect.   See you soon at IcingsPrints.etsy.com  

 Toodles!

I am so excited to be a part of the Happilyhandmade.com giveaway that starts today.  My site is officially open to collect entries. For your chance to win my Yummy Black Cowl just click the HHG badge on my homepage and fill out the entry form.  Good Luck to everyone and thank you so much for your support!

After featuring Nicole Parrish of Honey Child Designs, she has kindly returned the favor and I cannot thank her enough.  She has devoted the entire Honey Love page to me this week.  Please stop by her site to check it out.

I have found a direction for my new blog! A few times per week I will be featuring designers who I love with articles and ads.

Of course the first person I interviewed was my girl Nicole of Honey Child Designs. We have been touring around Southern California on craft show adventures for the past 6 months now and she has been such an inspiration for me.  I could not have started Tangent Designs without her.

If you are interested in being featured, send me a link to your site and I will check you out.

What is Honey Child Designs?
Honey Child Designs is a labor of love for me.  My work is deeply meditative and gives me a freedom to express myself and to honor the beauty I see in nature's gifts.  I did not start out in this life being a nature lover, but I have truly evolved to appreciate and respect what has been given to us. 

Creating art begins with a true respect and admiration for the materials and medium you choose to work in.  I actively collect and admire Crystals of all kinds.  I seek to learn from them and gain new insights from their power. I invite you to my view my line at www.honeychilddesigns.com and begin to experience the magical word of crystals for yourself. 

Crystals aren't always meant to stay in your hands, sometimes the gift is passing them onto others.

From my heart and hands to yours,
Honey Child 

Tell us about your creative process.
I need background music, so I can tune out the everyday sounds and get into the creative zone. I work best during the week between the hours of 8 and 10pm while listening to my favorite radio show on KPFK. Once I am in the zone, it's all about crystals. They are so luminescent and beautiful to look at. I love how they glow. Check out my pieces Moonstruck and Mighty Labradoritie.

Why buy Handmade?
Originality.  You can't beat handmade art!  There's something about knowing that someone sat down and made an item all on their own. Nothing dictated how their creation was made, but their own creativity. I just think it makes it all the more special when you receive or gift someone with a handmade piece of art.There's something honorable about it.

What's your favorite thing to do when you're not working on your art?
I really enjoy cooking. I'm vegetarian, and I love experimenting with cuisines of other cultures and creating quick and easy, light and healthy dishes. I also like to make my own desserts, like homemade ice cream! YUM! But, I don't get to do that often enough!

What three things would you want if you were stuck on a desert island?
a) my electric toothbrush, don't know how I'm gonna plug it in, but I need it :)    b) shea butter, it's "my precious" ...can't live without it!
c) hmmm...that's a tough one. I think I just need some wire or string and I'd be on the island making jewelry out of seashells, nuts and seed pods, HA!

What's your favorite guilty pleasure? 
Reality television.  I'm addicted to all the dumbest shows on VH-1 and MTV. If people are embarrassing themselves on national television, I am watching!

How far have you traveled for your art?
The farthest I've gone personally to get materials was Aventuras, Mexico.  But I always ask friends to "bring me beads" when they travel. So happily, I have an assortment from all over the world: Morocco, Togo, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Kenya, Thailand and I hope to get more!

Do you have any hidden talents?
I'm a whiz at styling, coordinating things and costume design. I'm also really into Halloween. If I'm playing a character, I can get pretty elaborate into transforming my look, last year I was Chiquita Banana (Carmen Miranda) and I created a special fruit bowl hat that weighed about 10 pounds, but it looked awesome - all my friends think I'm crazy.

Before you settled on Honey Child Designs, what other names did you consider? 
Hmm, it's pretty much been Honey Child Designs from the beginning, but I have toyed with: Honey Crystals (which sounds like a sugar substitute) and Honey Charms (which sounds like a breakfast food).

Who is the greatest person you know?
My mom is pretty darn cool.  She's always been my greatest support, as I've reinvented myself thru the years. She's actually the reason why 1/2 of the creative juices are flowing thru my veins. My mom has always been an artist in disguise. She used to paint murals on my bedroom walls when I was a kid, she even refashioned her wedding gown to make my first prom dress and she's always building or creating something.  We are constantly learning from each other. Pretty cool, huh?

To read more about Nicole check out her bio at honeychilddesigns.com or her profile on honeychilddesigns.etsy.com.

I am so excited to be a part of HappilyHandmade.com's giveaway this year.  Tangent Designs has donated a Yummy Black Cowl which will be in the gift bastked of one lucky winner.

Here's how it works. Sponsors of the giveaway pay $20 and donate items to be included in gift baskets that will be raffled off in May.  Once the contest starts (April 1st), all of the sponsors will set up a page on their websites to collect entries. This can be done with an entry form or by having visitors join their mailing list. It's such a fantastic way to promote your business!

Once visitors come to your site they will see a list of all the participants. Your customers can enter once per shop to increase the chance of winning one of thesefantastic gift baskets.

Please visit the Happily Handmade site for all of the details.

Check back on April 1st for your chance to win!