It is such a big day here at ElfWench Studio. Today is the launch of the EWS Etsy store and, my birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep, the big 3 2.  Not to mention, tomorrow is Mother’s Day.  Yet another thing to celebrate!  I am all about celebrating stuff.  I’m looking forward to enjoying some time with my family and lucky me, my own Mum lives not even 100 yards away.  Talk about a gift.

But to really celebrate I wanted to share the love with everyone!

So, for the next week you can use these two coupon codes at the Gallery:

SHIPPINGBDAYLOVE free shipping in the US only or

SHAREBDAYLOVE32 for 16% off your order!

Keep your eyes peeled throughout the week for new additions to the Gallery and share the LOVE! The sale end at midnight on May 19th.

Ok my lovelies, this is a quick fast update to let you know what’s going on.

It’s been super quiet here since I started my new 9-5 and first and formost, I want to thank you guys for sticking around with me and being so patient.  I’m settling in nicely and finding a routine again.

One that I’ve made sure will allow time for the Studio and posting.

Having to do rework my days has shifted my perspective on some things and made me find ways to accommodate.

One thing that it has made abundantly clear is that I need ElfWench Studio.

I need it the way I need air and water.

This Studio and what it represents is my life blood.

And I am more determined than ever to see my dream take flight.  Now, in order for that to happen, I needed to make some changes around here.

The first and probably the biggest is that my motto is changing.  In the next few days you will see the header here change.  It will no longer say “Finding the beauty & joy in art & connecting with the feminine”.  Very soon it will say “Finding the beauty & joy in art & self love”.  I will go into greater detail about this in another post, in a couple days.  But, long story short, self love is where it’s at for me.

You cannot truly connect with anything if you don’t love yourself.  And, it’s important.

The second change, is that I am moving the gallery to etsy.  It was a long and hard decision but, it is the best choice for me.

The cool thing is, you can access my etsy store right from the Studio!  Yay!

I’ve discover that I just don’t have the time or patience right now to do all the work that goes into it on WordPress.

So in the meantime, while the Gallery page is on hiatus, here is the direct link to the etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElfWenchStudio

Again, I really want to say thanks for sticking with me and I love you all, you’re amazing!   I will have new postness for very soon.

Namaste,

Shel

I know I promised a blog post and new additions to the Gallery but life has a way of getting in the way.  A number of things came up for me this last week not the least of which was a job offer that I could not, at this point, refuse.

So I took it.

It was a bit of a tough choice but, it was the best option for my family.

This is not, I repeat is not, going to affect ElfWench Studio.  Not in a big way at any rate.  In fact, I’m hoping it will benefit EWS.  I make no secret of the fact that I am not so great at setting my own home schedule.  I try, but it doesn’t always work so well. Having things more structured has always been a motivator for me in the past and I think it will be now as well.

Not to mention, full-time employment means more money for art supplies and beads .

That said, I am making no promises as to posts or the adding of content for the next few weeks as I settle into my new job.

Namaste

Shel

If you follow my on Twitter, Facebook, or G+ you probably already know that I have a guest post up at OffBeat Family today.  I am pretty excited about it.  Not only is it my first ever guest post but I am  truly honored because it was for one of my favorite blogs.  So make sure you go a read not only mine but, all the other wonderful posts in the series.

In other news…… well, I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the last 5 days or so.  Maybe it’s a bit of a comedown off the launch of the Gallery or just the weather doing strange things to me.  Either way, after several days of immersing myself in my own little land of geekdom, I am feeling much better.  A 2 day Geek and Sundry and The Guild marathon will do that.  :)

Sidenote: I totally want to play a board game with Wil Wheaton now.  

In Gallery news, I will be getting several new items listed in the next two or three days so keep an eye out on the Twitter page and/or on the Facebook page for updates.  Or even here.  :)

So something to hold on to and think about, remember to check in with yourself and practice some self-care.  Just taking a day or two to decompress now and again will do you a world of good.  And try to remember to take 10 mins every day for a little self-tlc.

Namaste,

Shel

ElfWench Studio is open for business!!!!!

Wow, it has been a roller coaster couple days for me here at the Studio.  The last few hours especially.  And there is so much more in the days to come.  Unbelievable!  I truly can’t believe I finally did it.

Today I made the decision to tell fear to kiss my ass!  I kept thinking I could do it in baby steps and then it would be ok.  Somehow time would erase the  chance of failure and lack of approval.  And then, it clicked.  In the middle of a conference call for an e-course the answer came.  Fear, that is all that is holding me back.  Not bad lighting.  Not the ever irritating Photoshop issues.  Not the fact that my computer fan is trying to die.  Fear.  Complete and utter, stinking, soul draining FEAR!

FEAR!!!!!!!!!

So I told that fear to get the hell outta my way!  It has been holding me back for way too long.  Holding me back here and in my home life.  Even in the Way of the Wild Woman course I’ve been taking.  It just clicked.

And fear is such an insidious foe.  It hides behind insecurity and logic and past rejection.  I’ve been listening to the ever amazing Ellie Di of The Headologist talk about it for ages.  How sneaky it can been.  She is totally right.  And I was too scared to do anything with the information.  Then while chatting with the uber awesome Melissa of Spirit Goddess I hear the magic words.  It was like a bolt of lightening.  Everything came into focus.  A plan was taking shape.

I had told her a little earlier that if I had to put a personality to my intuition it would be sort of like a cosmic prankster.  It likes to sneak up behind me and smack me on the back of the head.

That is totally what this was like.

A smack on the head.

It was amazing.

And scary.

And so right.

So here we go.  It’s starting.

I am so glad you are along for the ride with me.

Namaste,

Shel

P.s.

For more on fear and how to kick its ass, get your booty over to The Headologist

Wow.  It’s good to be back.  It turns out that I needed some time to decompress and regroup.  I realized that I need to make sure not to get overwhelmed and to take a little more time for me.  I also need to learn to set my perfectionism aside.  Perfection is not natural and in 90 cases out of 100 not what’s needed.

I am happy to say that my downtime was not unproductive.  While I did as little as possible in regards to webmistressing, photo editing and, blogging, I took the time to examine myself, what I want, and to make art.  Wow, that was a lot of comma’s lol.

I am working on photo editing so, that the store page will be up and running soon.  I am really excited to show you what I’ve been working on.

There are so many exciting things going on out there right now that I want to share with you.  If you look over to the sidebar you will see buttons for several AMAZING sites and programs that are going on.  The two biggies for me at the mo are Way of the Wild Woman through SpiritGoddess.com and 2012 Book of Days  with the queen of glitter flinging herself, Effy Wild.  I’ll be adding several more buttons in the next few days so be sure to check back.

I will let you guys know when the shop page is up and running so be sure to follow me on Twitter and/or the Studio page on Facebook for announcements.

Love & Blessings,

Shel

I wish to remember that happiness is found in all the little things.  I don’t need to sell a painting to be happy, I just need to paint it. I don’t need to have this cool gadget or that neat thingy, I need to hug my children every chance I get.

Is it fun to go out to a restaurant and the movies and get a giant tub of popcorn? Sure.  But you know what is way more fun?  Staying home with my kids and my love and all curling up together with a giant bowl of popcorn and watching a movie.

If this recession has done one good thing, it’s that it has helped people remember the simple things.

Sometimes I feel it slip away and find myself getting caught up in the things and the do it nows and the musts.  But mostly, I want to remember about how my daughter has a smile with more wattage than the sun.  And my son has more boundless energy than a whole herd of wild horses.  And how the most perfect thing in the world his a hug from my husband.  Those are the things that are important.  Those are the things that matter.

Those are the things I want to remember.

Love & Blessings,

Shel

Since we are coming up on Thanksgiving, and I totally promised one of the awesome lovelies I twitter with a recipe for vegan cheesecake, I figured it was only fair to share it with all of you as well!

One of the things I feared for years about going dairy free was giving up cheesecake.  And pumpkin pie.  They are two of my absolutely fave’ desserts and I knew giving them up, it was gonna be tough.

Well, I took the plunge last year in August and went meat and dairy free (‘cept fish, I still eat that on occasion) and one of the first things I did was start to look for veganized  versions of my beloved sweets.  These are actually the first two I tried and they were both kick butt amazing!!!!!

Even my meat and cheese loving hubby gave them rave reviews.

So now, ON TO THE PIE!!!!!!

Vegan Cheesecake

Ingredients:

•  1 container Tofutti  cream cheese alternative (or whatever brand you can find, I hear Galaxy Nutrition makes a good one)
• one package silken tofu
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp egg replacer (or 2 egg and leave out the water)
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 pre-made gram cracker pie crust (if you can’t find a non-dairy crust then just make one using a regular recipe and sub a non-dairy margarine for the butter)

Prep:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix egg replacer with the water in a small bowl until smooth and add to blender. Blend together all ingredients (except for oil and crust) until smooth. Mixture should be thick and creamy. Slowly incorporate oil at a low speed.

Pour into pie crust and bake 45-50 minutes or until barely firm.  Allow it to cool and either refrigerate or freeze slightly before serving to firm it up.  I honestly find that it does better if left to firm for at least 6 hrs.  Overnight seems to be best in my experience.

And, Voila!  It is totally nummy on its own but you can top it with fruit or chocolate syrup (Ah!laska has a fantastic dairy free choco syrup)

Is that not as easy as pumpkin pie?!  Which by the way is the next recipe I want to share lol.

Easy as Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 15 ounce can pumpkin (not I repeat, NOT pumpkin pie mix.  Know someone who did that, it wasn’t cool)
• 1 cup soy (or other non dairy, I love it with almond) milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 9 inch  pie crust (lil’ secret, it rocks with a gram cracker crust too)

Prep:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Add all ingredients together in a bowl or even your blender if it has a mix setting. Mix at medium speed for about 3 to 4 minutes.

Pour into a 9-inch pie crust prepped according to package, and bake 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F. Bake another 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool until it can be handled and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Top with your favorite non dairy whipped cream (or plain is divine too) and munch your way to pie heaven.

As a note, I wish I could remember where I got these recipes.  They are very similar to many different ones out there but still, I wish I could credit my source.  I want to say that it was About: Vegetarian but, I can’t be sure as I copied them and forgot to put my source on the page.

Anyway, there are probably a thousand and one non-dairy recipes for these out there so if these don’t float your boat then another might.

Enjoy and have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Love & Blessings,

Shel

See that title? Yep, that’s me a the moment. Don’t really know why but that is where I am at the moment. I doubt I will be here long but I wanted to give you lovelies a heads up just incase I continue to be quiet for the next few days. Possibly a week, can’t say for sure at this point. I’m thinking maybe I have just taken on too much and need to process. I’m doing 4 e-courses, wrangling 2 kids (one of whom is home nasty sick) and 1 stubborn husband who all have a lot going on right now, and trying to set up my studio all at the same time. On top of general life and business. I think I’m a little overwhelmed. But hey, I’m a big enough girl to accept that I bit off more than I could chew and give myself permission to get my bearings.

Anywho, I haven’t gone anywhere and will be back before you know it.

Lots of Loves & extra Blessings,
Shel