The Human Figure as Drawn by Kristina Laurendi

The human figure has not looked so wondrous to me in a while. I love pastels, but I haven't been able to draw anything like Kristina Laurendi Havens. Her pastel, charcoal, oil, and watercolor works are splendidly bright, with an acute attention to detail that has truly captivated me. To see her works, like the one below, you may find her shop on Etsy.com by clicking here.



This has truly inspired me to start painting again myself.

Fabulous Scratcher Idea for Etsy Shops

On Twitter, I ran into a link to ARTMIND's post on how to make scratchers for your shop. This is a great idea that I definitely plan to try out.



Check out the link, and try em' out yourself for a great way to spice up your business!

& happy Monday everyone!

Card Sale on my Etsy

So, I'm currently faced with a slight, although very quickly fading, overstock on cards. I've put up ten of my favorites on SALE at my ZoiShop on Etsy.com including my "Foggy Trails" photo card shown below.

Wearable Art

I know I'm kind of kicking myself in the arse for being so in love with someone else's wearable art, but I keep coming back and back to Heather Kent's Etsy, HeatherKent.

Her miniature painting necklace's have really inspired me into the direction I want to go with my own wearable art. To put it plain and simply, her jewelry is just darn right adorable.



You can also follow Heather (HeatherKentArt) on twitter! Don't forget to add me (ZoiShop) too!

I just put up two of my own photo necklace's, "Butterfly" & "You Melt My Heart", up for sale on Etsy. Although this is not the design that my line will have, I'm still quite happy with my work.



Wearable art is a really interesting concept to me, and I simply love the idea of taking my work and making it something people can literally USE every day.

an ever-so-cute necklace by Michelle Wey

I found this handmade necklace, made my Michelle Wey on Etsy.com earlier today, and had to share it.



I don't know what it is about it specifically that I've found so attractive. I guess it's simplicity. Maybe the autumn colors. I just found it worth sharing as a unique find. It's a little expensive, but hey, a splurge isn't always a bad thing right?

a new year, a new beginning.

2011 is off to a great start, and I hope to only build from here. That is not to say I didn't begin without any resolutions. Among the many things I want to work on this year building my art business, blogging more and, of course, a new year can't do without this, losing a few extra pounds, top the list.

I've begun fulfilling my resolutions, by making a big, but not so hard decision, to change my company name from Aztlán Photo Works to Zoi designs by Sandra Santos. I want to build out of the photography niche, although, most of my works will still be photography based, I do enjoy art, including pencils and pastels, so I want to explore and share those elements of myself as well. By creating collections, one of which will remain: Aztlán Photo Cards, I hope to be able to expand, yet remain centralized.

A new name could only mean one thing, a new Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZoiShop and a new twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/zoishop.

This year I'm beginning with a marketing splurge. There are good things to come, and I'm stoked!

I hope everyone's new year is starting off with a bang as well!

The Past Couple of Months...

have been hectic.

It's been a little over a month since I officially launched the Aztlán Photo Works pages on my web Site, including a holiday boutique page for great gifts. I've steadily been working on getting more photo works out, including jewelry, and more prints.



I also recently participated in my first ever holiday boutique, which I'm glad to say went really well. And, I finally managed to get a lot of my work on google's shopping list.

But there is still a lot to be done. And a lot more creativity to release. With the holiday's coming fast, I am trying to stay in gear.