Artist Spotlight: Om Is Where The Heart Is + Giveaway!

To kick off my return to the active blogging world I figured I'd start out with a new Artist Spotlight feature, complete with giveaway (details below). This feature is of a friend and colleague of mine Lauren Belleza. She runs an Etsy shop called Om Is Where the Heart Is and you like her shop on Facebook.

Please introduce yourself, what lead you to begin creating?

Lauren and her son Orion

My name is Lauren Belleza. I have always enjoyed working with my hands. When my son was born five years ago I decided to open an Etsy shop and begin creating! I put the proceeds into his college fund. Then I realized I could also use half to fund whatever charity I felt like donating to at the time! I get to save, create and help others all at the same time!!  


Who in your life has been the biggest inspiration to your work?
My husband since he has been completely supportive since day one. No matter how many times he trips over my sewing machine cord or picks up extra beads off the floor he always is excited for every order I get:)  

Custom Hand Stamped Necklace

What is your favorite medium to work with/favorite technique to use?
I love metal stamping. It's so fun to create one of a kind works.  

What do you hope to accomplish through your work?
I hope to save a little for my son and at the same time be able to contribute to charities close to my heart.  


Which item currently listed in your shop/in your collection is your favorite and why?

Handcuff-ed

I love all of my items. Each and every one is made with love, truly. Each piece has a little part of my heart in it. If I had to pick I think I'd say the "50 shades" pendants. They are so risqué but at the same time so sweet and such a great layering piece.  

What fellow artist(s) have you been impressed by recently?
I love several Etsy artists. I love that they create for individuals. A few of my faves is Karina Grace, Zenned Out and Drapes of Wrath. :)  

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist?
Create what you would actually use or wear.  

One of Lauren's recent charity causes
 is building of an indoor skate ramp
 at the local YMCA.

What are you plans for the future of your shop/work?
Just keep busy and remember to create things that I love. I'd like to always stay busy. I have a day job but my passion is with my creations. I'd love to do craft fairs in the future in the Seattle area.

Lauren's shop doesn't only feature jewelry either, she also crafts comfy tank tops from up-cycled tee-shirts and infinity scarves with bright pops of color. Here in the Pacific Northwest we need all the pops of color we can get in all that grey weather.

Not only is she giving away a necklace to one lucky reader, she's giving away the one-on-one experience of crafting a one of a kind custom designed piece just for you. Instructions on how to enter the giveaway are below the break.

May Fabric Preview

We spent Cinco de Mayo thrift store hopping for fun new fabrics for the end of spring. Here are a couple previews of what you can expect to see in our shop.

This is a fun vintage floral cotton in bright orange, mint green and lavender, paired with a remnant of lavender polka dot cotton.

Another great vintage print, forest green with white, red and yellow tulips paired with up-cycled royal blue and navy cotton.

Drapes of Wrath Hits 100 Sales!

Today we hit 100 sales in our shop, and we just wanted to give a big thank you to all of our readers here. To all of our customers. To all of our friends and family who've been cheering us on.

To celebrate this milestone we're having a sale in our shop. You can use coupon code: 100SALES25OFF for 25% off all orders for the next week. April was a great month for us, at a record 13 sales, and what better way to start off the month of May than with a celebration! So share this with your friends and family. We appreciate you all so much.

Treat Yo Self!

When we started Drapes of Wrath almost a year and a half ago, we had no idea we'd still be going at this point. It's an awesome feeling of pride and success. And all throughout that time we've been constantly striving to improve our workmanship, come up with fresh designs, and really put 110% into our work. Recently we finally broke down and admitted that if at least a third of the time you spend sewing an apron is spent ripping stitches because the bobbin jumped the track, or tried to eat the fabric, something has to change.

We'd outgrown our sewing machine, not that it hadn't served us well. But it had become like the grumpy old cat that crosses the whole linoleum kitchen to hock a hairball on the carpet out of spite.

Enter the Singer 160 Limited Edition sewing machine. We'd been eying it longingly for a month or so since it came out when it finally went on sale. The price was equivalent to our online shopping when the shipping cost isn't an issue, and we could take it home that very same day.

This was our Treat Yo Self moment, as you can tell we're big fans of Parks and Recreation, and we weren't about to let it slip away. We bought the machine, and after an unbearably long "instructional" session with the representative at the store, we brought it home.

This machine is a thing of beauty, both literally and figuratively, starting with the sleek black design with gold trim, reminiscent of the original singer machines. It has a large sewing area with a lot of room to move fabric around, which is invaluable when we're working on our suit aprons.


If it's physical beauty weren't enough of a selling point, this machine sews like a dream. It's incredibly smooth and rarely steps out of line.  While it's not a super robotic embroidering machine, it had a wide selection of stitches that more than meet our needs. All of which can be easily switched to, or adjusted with the touch screen panel.


We've actually had it for a while now, but honestly we've been to busy playing with it to stop and take photos for the post. We even got a special attachment used for ruffling and pleating. My personal favorite function is one of the decorative stitches which makes a little vine pattern with leaves. It adds a cute and fun touch, and is no more difficult that sewing a straight line.

 When it comes down to it, we're not only treating ourselves, we're treating all of our customers. When you have good tools that make your work easier, and more enjoyable, the quality improves as well. We've been able to create high quality pieces that we are more than proud of as we head into the uncharted waters of internet small business.

Portland Iron Chef Apron: Put A Bird On It

We recently were invited, through the Pacific Northwest Artisans Team on Etsy, to participate in a silent auction in Portland, OR. The auction will be held at the 11th Annual Portland's Original Iron Chef event, benefiting Children's Relief Nursery. We were drawn to this event initially because, being from Oregon, we like to give back to our home state. But also, how perfect an opportunity to give an apron up for auction at a cooking event!

All of the fabric used on this apron is up-cycled, with the exception of the heat resistant batting used in the potholders. We wanted to keep the design simple and size-friendly, but we still wanted to add a touch of personality. For this we were inspired by a skit from the show Portlandia, where a couple take over an entire shop in Portland putting birds on everything. We finished off the theme by making the potholders egg shaped.

The event is Friday April, 20th and we can't wait to hopefully see some pictures of the event and maybe even hear from the winner of our apron. Did you see that apron before? I didn't. Now it has a bird on it!