Get Your Groove On

Born and raised on the Jersey Shore and then moved to Los Angeles, Etsy artist Yaslani studied Fine Art - painting - at Otis Art Institute. Before long she found herself back in New Jersey where she detoured from art for a while and settled into a normal life fully stocked with a corporate job. Turns out normal wasn’t for her: making things became an addiction. A packrat by nature, she believes all items have a second life and loves using recycled items and supplies that are gentle to the environment.


Her work consists of bamboo pendants and mixed media paintings. She uses found objects, bamboo, ephemera, old paper, acrylic, gouache, pencils, pens, ink, glitter… and anything else within her grasp. Her influences include pop culture, color, music, animals, fashion, movies, magazines and too many artists she cares to mention. There are no heavy messages in her work; instead, she considers her art to be an aesthetic conversation. A lovely chat between friends, sometimes relaying a story or an inside joke. The only judgment Yaslani makes with her art is “am I feeling this or not.” The “not” pile gets recycled for another day.

Yaslani is the brainchild for all her creative outlets. There is so much more she plans to do. There are so many more beautiful conversations she says she plans to have, and she is still planning her escape from normal. Stay tuned at Yaslani's Groove Spot.

A Treasure Trove from Philly

Phyllis Mufson from Philadelphia, PA, is the creative force behind the Etsy shop Personal Treasures. With a distinguished career in design, first as an award-winning textile artist, she is the founder of the San Francisco School and Gallery of Textile Arts, winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and former director of Career Services at Moore College of Art and Design. Now a career consultant and personal coach, Phyllis helps her clients create reality from their dreams.


To appease her creative side (as if creating reality from dreams is not creative enough!), she now expresses herself through jewelry design, with an eye to rich gemstones showcased in silver and gold. Her designs are one-of-a-kind or limited addition, and her commitment is to beautiful, well-constructed, comfortable jewelry pieces. She has two online shops, one more upscale (Personal Treasures) and one more simple and casual (Mufi Jewels).



She uses her blog to showcase her creative expressions, and has also been actively participating in the 90-day blog challenge with wonderfully written posts on fellow Etsy artists (see here for the one she wrote on me - thanks, Phyllis!). If you want to know more about her Catalyst for Personal and Professional Growth, you can visit her site for her practice as a career coach for creative people. Anywhere you look, you'll find a trove of Treasures.

Objects of Desire

I'm not so secretly in love with jewelry artists that do beautiful metalwork, as I dabble in silversmithing myself and fantasize about having a full metal studio someday. For now I get my fix from visiting artists like Etsy's Kalicat, the shop of Londoner Catherine Marche. She creates lovely "jewellery" and self-described Objects of Desire. Catherine was nice enough to chat with me, and had this to say about her art and craft:

How did you get into your craft?

Once upon a time, I used to make my own little jewels and also some to give away as gifts. A few friends noticed and started to commission pieces for weddings, hen parties, an a shop owner asked me to place some of them in her shop.... They SOLD. A few years later, I was thinking of reconverting from IT to a more creative job, in addition to painting and illustrations (see http://www.catherinemarche.com). I got some training and Voila. What is fascinating about jewellery is that the area is so vast, I feel I can learn and create new things for a very long time.

What inspires you?

Fashion, people, colors, "poesie", travelling around the world, art, the sun...

What challenges you in your art?

Creating from a brief. I love when someone comes to me and says "I am looking for something special...." and they usually do not even know how to express it. I really enjoy playing with discerning their personality and what makes they tock, to then come up with a design they will love.

How long have you had your shop?

January 2007

Do you consider your shop a job or a hobby?

I would say that Etsy is a little window of international opportunities.

Do you have any advice for fellow Etsy shop owners?

Promote, network and be yourself.

And lastly, what is your favorite fun fact about yourself?

I own (and wear) a blue wig :) Another one is that my legs are too long for my trousers. Thank you for the interview and the feature.

I offer your readers 20% off my shop until 01.01.2008, using code Headley20

So there you have it, a hidden bonus for reading through this post! You can find out more about this artist so that you, too, can be more "stunning, chic and elegant" by visiting her blog or her MySpace.