Stock Gallery Closed

I decided to close down the stock photo gallery I had on Deviant Art. The stock gallery had photos of myself and some friends for other artists to use as reference for their work. All things considering, particularly after chemo, I was in no mood to ever add new stock to it again, and didn't have the time to keep it maintained checking on how my photos were used and so on... and wasn't really happy with the photos that were on there... etc etc. So I've deleted out all the photos, which is just about all you can do at DA to delete an account (no account deletion? Crazy system!).

Why I love my blogging...

I'm on and off my online hang outs (forums, blogs, social networks) all day long most days... they give me something to do for little 5 minute bursts while waiting for layers of paint to dry

Original artwork competition has been drawn!

Big congratulations to P. O'Brien of SA Australia!! Your order was just drawn randomly from all customers who had a "ticket" in the draw for the original artwork "Fairy Wishing Well"!
I'm just waiting on confirmation and I'll send off the original to you!

I've got another awesomely fun competition planned for the beginning of next year, something very interactive and FUN! I'm trying to decide what the price should be, it will be another BIG competition!

Would you prefer to have the chance to win an original painting, or a big, fat gift voucher to spend as you wished?? (Or maybe a first and second place, with both prizes!!)

Hello Twitter

I'm having fun with the blogging/microblogging/social networking sites lately. Twitter is my newest baby http://twitter.com/selinafenech

I think it will be fun for my short and random thoughts I feel compelled to expell into the ether...

Christmas nearly here

I'm getting ready to close up shop over christmas, last orders will be going out tomorrow, friday, and maybe just a couple of final ones early next week as well.

While I won't be filling orders, I will be working frantically on the last few artworks for the fairy oracle deck (almost done, and she's looking beautiful!), and a lot of work for a very grand re-launch for the new year!

There will be massive changes to my websites (yep, all of them!), and loads of new goodies released, including the silk shoulder bags I showed off recently. Yes, I have some in stock right now, but I'm way too swamped to think about getting them released at this point. Of course, those coming to see me at the Rocks Markets will be able to buy them there direct! There will also be a change in design of the cameo necklaces and a few other brand new products on their way.

I've also got 5 lovely new paintings I've been hoarding away for the fairy oracle, which will be 8 new ones once I finish the final three for the deck, so be ready for some awesome new artworks being released in the big relaunch as well!

A final reminder to all that I will not be shipping any orders after the 15th, until I re-open on the 5th of January.

Also, now is the best time to get all your christmas presents at www.selinafenech.com because it also means you have a chance to win the original painting "Fairy Wishing Well"! The competition will also be drawn on the 15th, so there are only a few days left to have a chance to win this beautiful original artwork. Find out more about the competition here- http://www.selinafenech.com/pages/competition.php

I'm getting excited about next year... I can almost guarantee it'll be better than this year, heheh.

Lots of fun new things happening...

Tomorrow I have an exciting delivery coming, something I've been wanting for a long long time. It's something that is going to open up a whole range of possibilities for my business... I already have so many plans, it's going to be lots of fun!
I'm going to be spending some of my "time off" over Christmas working quietly on everything and have some great new releases in the new year!

I've also been considering mouse pads lately. I've been making a lot of effort to move my product range towards more quality and environmentally friendly products, and I can tell you mouse pads are NOT environmentally friendly, and they have been irking me for a while now. I've been trying to come up with some kind of green alternative, but I'm thinking I might just have to cut them from my range outright. As much as I like mousepads (I use one all the time), I just feel as though it's up to each of us to do whatever we can to help protect our world, and selling a product which is entirely made of synthetic chemicals and will not degrade in landfill is something I am no longer able to justify to myself, as much as they do contribute to my income!

So mouse pads may indeed soon be out and gone. On the plus side, in the new year keep an eye out for an elegant change to my artwork pendants, some other new jewelry items, the new bags I posted a photo of earlier, and a number of other hush hush plans ;)

Gorgeously Green

Over the past year and a half, I've been educating myself a lot on ways to cut out nasty chemicals from my life, to be better for my body, and the environment. Once I learned what some of those chemicals you see in the ingredients of every day skin and hair care actually were (horrible, horrible stuff!!!), I went into my bathroom and got out every moisturiser and hair treatment and cleanser and fancy bottle of "make you beautiful" product I had, and threw them all out. It was HARD to do, at the time (cos god knows how much money I had spent on it all, and it felt like I should have taken it all to a hazardous waste disposal after knowing what was in it all!), but since then, about a year ago now, my skin as been the best it's ever been (my hair was also awesomely healthy, until I lost it all in chemo of course!). No more harsh chemicals, petroleum based products, alcohols, heavy metals drying it out, irritating it, causing break out after break out. I always half thought and joked that the big beauty companies put stuff in their products that make them feel good but keep your skin/hair bad so you have to keep using them... then I found out that it was true...
I recently bought a book called "Gorgeously Green", and it's an excellent book. It covers almost every aspect of (womens particularly) life and what stuff is bad for you, and the environment, and most importantly, what your other options are. It's the kind of book I think EVERY woman out there should go out, buy, and use as their day to day bible. It covers everything from beauty to cleaning and house care, to how to eat, shop and exercise in ways that are good for you and the environment. It never says "Don't Do This" without giving you an excellent alternative.
Anyway, it's inspired me to go through all of my cosmetics now and clear the bad ones of them out of my life, as I had done with my toiletries products so long ago. I had already begun replacing a lot of my make up with natural products, but just kept all my old chemical ridden cosmetics in a box up in the cupboard. Well, now I am going to throw them all out. I keep looking at them and thinking "Noooo, my pretties!", but when I think about what's in them, the thought of putting them on my eyes, on my lips, well, I can't bring myself to use them anymore. Over this past year I've had enough crazy chemicals in my body to last a life time, I don't need to be absorbing them every day through my skin. I can't even give the stuff away, because most of it has been used, and I wouldn't want to give it to anyone close to me, because it would feel like saying "Well I don't want to poison myself with it, but you can if you want!". So in the bin it's all going.
Of course, I am consoling myself to it but spending some money on shiney, new, organic, natural, pretty cosmetics to replace some essentials I'm chucking out ;) Which, after all, is half the fun!