Fabulous Women and Their Wares

In 2011, we here at Bean Up The Nose Art have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of many wonderful Bay Area artists. Which also leads to the pleasure of getting to highlight here their talents. And the two women we feature below both have incredibly cute shops on etsy.com, where you can shop for the holidays! (In fact, all photos here are from those etsy shops.)

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Linda Grimes has taken the opportunity provided by her 2010 job lay-off to pursue the passion she's been fostering for the past 15 years in schooling, business planning, equipment-purchasing: to become a surface pattern designer.

What is a surface pattern? The designs on textiles -- for clothing, upholstery, even shower curtains. The designs on paper products -- gift wrap, wallpaper, covers on notebook and journals. Even the designs on dishes.

With her business name Bruna Hest, Linda explains, "My Swedish heritage has definitely influenced my design style. I love mid-century modern and Scandinavian design, and I love selecting color palettes."

On the crafting side of life, she puts these same skills and talents to exquisite work . . . fashioning Scrabble tile necklaces -- for sale FOR ONLY $7.00!!! -- on her etsy shop. Click here to go take a peak for yourself right now :)

She has sold these gems to folks like the Women's Initiative, which ordered 100 as thank you gifts for donors and benefactors at their annual gala. Linda is also a talented photographer who makes cards out of her work, and makes gourd art that she donates to charities for silent auction fundraisers.

We love Linda's work, and have been lucky enough to be in classes with her, on play dates, and at fairs . . . where we we very happy to become Scrabble necklace owners :) Nice job, woman!!!

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Like Linda, Sue Warhaftig is an artist who practices in many media. A knitter who spins her own alpaca, mohair and wool yarn, she has also recently gone back to college to continue her education in ceramics. Oh -- and she also recently published a steamy romance novel: Meant To Be. (Click here to find out more about that!)

But that's not all. Nope. Sue also makes beautiful jewelry. Click here to explore her shop on etsy.com!

Sue explains that she comes from a very artistic family -- both her mom and older sister are art teachers -- and playfully laments, "I have so much fun with art and so little time!" Along with fabulous jewelry creation -- the makings of which she finds at yard sales, flea markets, on Craig's List and in attics -- Sue is crafting a prequel to her first book. And building a new house . . . for which she is hoping to make mosaic pieces. Yep!

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We salute you, Linda and Sue, for your passions and the way they play out in your lives: for your dreaming up and executing cool project after cool project, for your bravery in putting them out in the world for us to get to see and love, and for your successes in going for it. YOU ROCK!!!