Let’s start at the beginning. What is your earliest crafting memory?
The earliest thing I remember doing was tearing old sheets into strips with my mom. We then sewed the strips together and rolled them into balls to crochet rag rugs. I was so excited by the idea of giving old things a new life.

What did you want to be when you grew up and why?
Growing up Catholic I wanted to be a nun at one time. I guess after that I went through the usual thoughts of teaching or nursing. As an adult I realized that mothering was the most important thing I did and anything else was added to that. Read More

Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals, vegetables and minerals… I have a PC that is back up and running and am able to actually work on my blog again! Unfortunately, the possessed PC took some serious casualties with it when it was exorcised. I’m a technology Geek but I’ll keep the explanation simple: the part that manages how hard drives store their information went bad, not just a single drive. This COULD have been good news, in a sense, because all I would have had to do was replace that part, but it wasn’t good because when it went bad, it wrote gibberish all over the hard drives. As I was copying everything I could off to another drive in the system when it seemed like the first was starting to go, I thought I had a good backup but because it was the controller for the hard drives, it wrote gibberish on the backup drive as well.

The result? I lost ALL of my data that was on the PC. Every last little bit. All of my financial records, all of my address book, all of my emails, all of my patterns that I had created on the PC. The works. So computer-wise, I am essentially starting from scratch again.

The worst news for this blog is that my prepared file with all of my Daily Artisan Spotlight posts was also lost, along with all of the emails to re-create it. So I have a few DAS posts that are already online and thus weren’t affected so they’ll run, but then I’ll be out. That said, I am NOT taking new submissions right now. I’ve decided that I need to complete the program that will automate those posts so that I don’t need to do anything on my local PC for them to be scheduled and run. I don’t want to risk losing them again. So you will see that the ‘Free Press’ page has been removed and I removed the ‘Be Reviewed’ page as well while I work on getting things back to where they need to be.

I apologize for the inconvenience for all of those who had submitted. I hope you’ll bear with me as things move forward.

The ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ is a regular feature on Mindless Pursuits intended to provide insight and exposure to the tons of talented artisans working today. Please comment and give them some encouragement and check out their work! If you would like to be in the Spotlight, click on the ‘Free Press’ link above!

What is your shop?
magicouture (http://www.magicouture.etsy.com)

What is your art/craft?
Primarily, I craft unusual jewelry from glass, stone, and wire. I’m known for very outlandish rings.

Describe your style in 2 words:
Eclectic extremes

What is your favorite piece and why?
I have a ring called Honeywine Brass Ensemble that I dearly, truly love. It feels wonderful on the hand and design-wise, it just “flows.” It reminds me of an ultra-fantasy take on a musical instrument and the colors are so deep and rich and sultry.

What is the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t give up. As far as advice goes, you can’t beat that, really.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give?
Let your art be what it is. Often, I’m tempted to make the sort of things that might have a broader appeal but I feel like I would lose the integrity of my art.