Spring Freebie in Our Etsy Shop!

Spring is ready to pop! This year I created a really cool file of printable Ostara cupcake wraps and included a printout full of information about the Goddess Ostara and an easy recipe for making special Ostara cupcakes, great for celebrating the Sabbat with magical friends or family!


We have lots of cool gifts in our Etsy shop to celebrate Ostara or the Spring Equinox, fill a
basket or just pick one special item! Click here to visit!

Right now we will send a free printable Ostara Cupcake Wrap set to everyone who orders from our Etsy shop, from now until the Spring Equinox or Ostara March 20 2013!

Click here to visit our Etsy Shop and take advantage of this fun giveaway!

When I think of Ostara I think of the blessing of seeds, potential, and the first buds that are coming forth in the early spring. I came up with an easy way to make fancy Ostara cakes using just a simple cake mix and adding some special ingredients. These are perfect for your Ostara ritual cakes or for a celebration feast! This simple recipe including ideas for your own variations is included with the cupcake wraps and I've also included instructions for making sugared flower petals to decorate your cakes with.

Pages that come with the Ostara Cupcake Wrap set

There are four on a sheet, and you can print as many as you like year
 after year.  Of course the ones we email are high resolution and don't have a
watermark across them like these do!



Here's how they turn out, really sweet!

The Spring Equinox has special meaning to Dan and I, it's also our wedding anniversary. This year we will celebrate our 15th anniversary, we are still madly in love!  We are so happy now because we work full time running the art business so we get to be together all the time, it's awesome spending every day making pretty gifts for our wonderful customers!  We hope you enjoy this spring freebie!

Dan and Mickie March 21 1998

Have a blessed Spring!

International Woman's Day: You Are Goddess!

Today is International Woman's Day, so what does that mean to us?

Here's the scoop; International Woman's Day has been around since the early 1900's and became very popular during the Women's Suffrage Movement and has grown and grown ever since.  This day has become a global day of celebration as well as recognition of women's achievements and an opportunity to shine a light on ways to further equality for women all over the world.  Today we see women achieving their dreams, they have become leaders, medical professionals, scientists, they run companies and have even flown to the stars!  Just this year, the US military officially opened combat positions to women soldiers, a role they've been fulfilling in an unofficial capacity until recently, but may now do some with the proper recognition. Today's women can find success and balance between all the aspects of their lives, with all the grace of the Goddesses that they are!

And some of us are hard working Goddess artists, like myself!
Click here to see my art studio shop full of Goddess Art!

Today's "Be The Goddess" Spell

The power behind this celebration inspired me to write a Goddess spell for the 2013 Llewellyn's Spell-A-Day Almanac.  This simple bit of magic allows you to open your self and channel the strength of the women who came before you into this world.  Draw in the spiritual energy of those amazing trailblazers and let it become a beacon to you on your own path.  We are all part of the Goddess, the strong women in your life and the strong women throughout history are also, and now you are, and that makes us all part of something greater than ourselves.  Take a moment to read this magical enchantment and open yourself to your own inner Goddess:

You Are Goddess

Spell Date: Friday, March 8, 2013

Color of the day: Rose

Incense of the day: Vanilla

Today is International Woman's Day; it's a great day to embrace your inner Goddess. Take some time to sit somwhere quietly. If the weather is nice (click here for the entire spell)

We must always remember that there are still many inequalities for women left to be reconciled.  We remember the women of the past who fought so desperately for fair working conditions, a fair wage, and the right to vote.  We see women fighting still today to end violence against women, equal pay, and education both in this country and around the world.  We shine a powerful beacon upon the ignorance of the uninformed and misguided, refusing them the power to run our lives for us.  We realize that women and girls still have battles to face, but when we look back and see how far we've come, and remember the plight of the strong brave women that came before us, we realize that we can do anything we dream, and ladies, do we dream big!

Dryad Spirit available in my Etsy shop, click here for more details.

International Woman's Day is a time to remember to honor the achievement of women today and remain vigilant and act accordingly so that women's equality is gained for all and maintained in all aspects of life.  We must show support for each other and stand together to make positive changes in the world.

Ogham Shield candle sconce, light a candle to your inner Warrior Goddess,
Click here for more details

Brightest Blessings!

An Easel for Better Ergonomics

Well, I turned 48 yesterday, and I must say that years of hunching over my art hasn't done my back any good at all except for an opportunity to earn money to pay the chiropractor!  My dear Dan has always had a knack for coming up with the perfect gift for me because sometimes he knows me better than I know myself, this year is no exception!  I was totally delighted when Dan and our son Tristan presented me with a beautiful new box table easel for my birthday this year!

Taa-daa!!  I love my new easel!! It saves my back and stores my paint too!!

I had been experimenting with different positions to do my work because I'm trying to rock out 78 cards for my upcoming publishing project with author Lunaea Weatherston, Mystical Cats Tarot, (click here for a sneak peek) and let me tell you, that's a lot of cats!!  So I had propped up a piece of super firm cardboard that was about 4 layers thick and was using it as a sort of make-shift easel, just to see if the position would suit me never having worked on my drawings in a vertical position before.  Lynne Menturweck from Llewellyns art department warned me that I would notice new and different sore muscles I got used to it,  and she was totally right, and I'm glad she mentioned it or I might not have kept going, but I did.  Once I got used to it, it was amazing.  My upper back and shoulders were feeling much better.  And Dan was very happy for that, but I think he was tired of looking at me drawing away on that big chunk of cardboard propped against my table with a yoga block to get the right position.  LOL

"If I only had an easel...the bells, the bells!!!"

I had some of that foamy non skiddy shelf liner, so I used double sided tape and mounted a big piece to the bottom, now it won't scratch up my old wooden art table and I can lean on it as I draw without it sliding.

Putting shelf liner on the bottom protects the table from scratches and keeps
 it from sliding.  I just mounted it with double sided tape
 so I can remove it if I wish.

Since I usually work on illustration board and not canvas, I needed a board to put in the easel that I could tape my art and reference photos to.  Tristan ran with me up to the hardware store where I planned to get some Masonite, but instead we found a beautiful piece of very smooth birch.  Birch is one of the sacred Celtic trees and is a tree of magical new beginnings, inception and birth, it offers success in new projects.  I can't imagine a more magical wood to mount my artwork to while I work!  They cut it to size for me, 16" x 20" and then Dan and I used our sander to smooth the edges down.  Eventually I'll stain it to match the desk, but for now, I have art to do!

So here's my set up, I had a couple of little touch ups to do on some art for a
new item we're going to have in our Etsy shop.  I folded a tapestry that I can rest my elbow
on from time to time.

I really love this set up, my back stays straight while I work, no more hunchback for me, and since I've been using the "cardboard chunk easel" my neck and shoulders have improved tremendously!  I highly recommend trying this to any artist who hunches over their work, it might not be for everyone, I was really dubious being an old dog that doesn't always like new trick, but I'm so glad I did it!

Instead of hunching over, I just lean in, back straight, and draw!  Artist tip: That's
the low tack tape that house painters use to mask off areas, it's more affordable
than the fancy stuff marketed to artists and a roll of it lasts forever. 
The best part is, you can remove it without tearing up your paper or illustration board.
 I used to used regular masking tape but have since switched to this with great results!

Another shot of my new drawing position.

Do you want to know more about the project on my board?  It's already off again as of this writing and one of my Mystical Cats for the new Tarot Deck has taken it's place, but this is a sheet of designs for some new totem animal jewelry pieces we're doing.  I drew them, we scanned them and printed them on our Dye Sublimation printer, then Dan pressed them onto these amulets:

Raven Totem Animal Mother of Pearl Amulet,
available here: Mickie Mueller Studio Etsy shop

Here's Dan modeling the Snake Totem Animal Mother of Pearl Amulet,
available here: Mickie Mueller Studio Etsy Shop

Happy Art and Brightest Blessings!

Spell A Day, Snowbird Prosperity Spell

Todays Llewellyn's Spell-A Day Alamanc entry is my Snowbird Spell.  We've been making these beautiful Snow Goddesses in my family ever since I was just a kid!  I think it was my mom that first had the idea of making a "Snow Woman" that would also serve as a way to offer food to the birds in the neigborhood.  She was always racking up good karma points by making sure the birds were taken care of, after all, they are the messengers to the spirit realm.



This was our Snow Goddess "Ice-is," as named by my son, we did this
 one several years ago.

Here's a link to the full spell, I hope you get a little snow and have tho opportunity to try this rewarding spell!

Llewellyn's Spell A Day: Snow Bird Prosperity Spell
Color of the day: Purple
Incense of the day: Apricot

Build a full-figured snow goddess with her arms folded and cupped in front of her, creating a bowl made out of snow. Think "snowman with dangerous curves"...Click here for the entire spell

I hope you get some packing snow so you can enjoy this sweet spell!

Brightest Blessings!

Spell A Day, An Inspiration Spell for Removing Creative Blocks

The other day while I was on the computer I had one of those CAPTCHA questions to answer, instead of just asking me to retype a twisted up phrase, it asked a question with multiple choice answers.  The question was "Which one is hardest?" 
The choices were:
1 picking up a pen
2. staring at blank paper
3. going for a walk
4.writing a novel

Drawing a BLANK...

I laughed and told Dan who was sitting there with me, "I know the answer is "writing a novel" but man,  staring at blank paper can be pretty hard in it's own way!!"
Over the years, I've had many creative types, writers, artists, etc. ask me if there is a good way to cure "creative blocks."  My advice is usually the same, "Quit doing what you're doing and get outside your comfort zone!"  That was the inspiration behind todays spell in Llewellyn's Spell A Day Almanac, which I have a link to at the end of this article.

Yeah, it's just like that!

It seems like staring at the blank page is the thing to do, that somehow forcing it the way you would attack an unopenable jar of pickles would be the answer, but creativity just doesn't work that way.  Your art table, computer, or wherever you choose to create isn't where your inspiration is born, it's just where you express your inspiration.  If you're feeling like you don't have any new ideas, or good ideas, then you need to take your brain and feed it, and not on the same old stuff.  You must give yourself new experiences in order to blow out the cobwebs and get your brain moving.  If you love nature, sitting in a garden might help, but if you're muse is really shut down, you might need to wake that muse up by doing something drastic and completely out of your nature or comfort zone. 

Now, I'm not talking anything illegal, but do something that you would never usually do, if you really don't dig country music, get thee to a honkey tonk bar!  If you've never seen a live play, Shakespeare in the Park!  Never been out of your home town, guess what...road trip! Are you nervous about the idea of trying something new?  Good, that means it's already working, you can do it, and your reward will be great!  Your muse is just a personification of that creative part of your mind, and that part can get bored.  Your outing doesn't have to be related in any way to the project you're trying to work on, but whatever you do, make it a brand new experience, that's what feeds your creative mind, and gets those synapses firing on all cylinders!

It's like magic!  If you're a magically inclined creative person, you can boost the experience and bend it towards your goal by using the following spell as a focusing tool for the exercise of taking your muse out on the town.  I wrote this for Llewellyn's 2013 Spell A Day Almanac, I hope you enjoy it!

All you need for this spell is a bag of mint tea, a journal and someplace brand
new to drag your snoozing muse.  Creative block? This is your wake up call!

Inspiration Spell

By Mickie Mueller, Spell Date: Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Color of the day: Red

Incense of the day: Basil

"Has your creative muse been napping? If everything seems solemn right now, the best way to get your creative juices flowing is to shake things up a..." Click here for the full spell!

You can use the power of creativity in many aspects of your life, not just artistic pursuits, inspiration can be applied to even the most mundane of tasks in order to get better results, so start thinking outside the box.  Where to begin, stepping outside your door and your comfort zone!

Interested in picking up a copy of Llewellyn's Spell A Day Almanac for 2013?  Click here!

Blessings!

Top 5 Reasons Tea for One is Awesome!

We started making these cool Tea for One sets in the studio for the holidays, and we've gotten such a good response, we're keeping them in stock!  These are really neat sets, a porcelain cup and teapot, just perfect a bit of indulgence for any tea lover (like me) creating a comforting moment to relax at home or even while taking a break at the office!  Here are the top 5 reasons that I love these new tea sets!

1. They Make You Feel Super Fancy!  For me, having a cup of tea is a little break just for me, even when I'm working, a sip make you feel good inside.  Having your own personal set like this makes it extra nice.  This set features the art of Lunar Eclipse, the Moon Goddess pulls her dark cloak around her as she rests in the starry sky.  If you love these pictures, just wait until you see one in person, even better! I love to nestle the cup in my hand, just perfect!



I was using mine while working on my illustrations for Llewellyn's Magical Almanac
last week, it's nice to be able to get a second hot cup without getting up, especially
when you're on a deadline!



2. They Don't Dribble!  These sets includes a 20 oz. teapot with a dome shaped lid and a 12 oz. tea cup. The tea-for-one set is perfect for enjoying two generous cups of tea. The teapot is pours really nice and neat, it was the first thing I noticed the first time I used one.  I've had many teapots through the years that dribble down the spout, but this one doesn't, and since I like to use it at my art table, you can imagine my delight!

Nice pouring, the spout is perfect!

3. Your Tea Ball Fits:  Sometimes I use teabags, I find that I can get a really good brew with one teabag, being a thrifty artist I often make two cups form one teabag anyway.  I recently received a gift of some lovely loose teas from Amitea and a fancy tea ball, so I hoped it would fit.  The opening of the top of the teapot measures 2" so you can use a teabag, a tea ball, English style tea strainer, and any infuser that is 2" or less in diameter.

I was so glad my new tea ball works! This pretty tea ball was a gift from fellow Etsy artisan MK Beckly
from Magical Monk Bags.  If you would like one of these pretty tea balls, you can find them here at Amitea.

4. Keeps Your Tea Hot:  The first time I used this, I was very pleased that the pot keeps the tea nice and warm, so that your next cup is perfect.  Here's a tip to extend the length of time the pot stays warm!  For years I've used an electric candle warmer to keep my tea nice and warm to the last sip.  When I used my Tea For One for the first time, I decided to see if the teapot would fit on it, and it did!  The teapot bottom measures 4” in diameter, it fits on my warmer just like it was made for it.  I was so very pleased.  They make fancier ones now, but mines just one of those plastic ones, you can get them just about anywhere they sell jar candles. 

Here's my teapot sitting on the candle warmer, it's a perfect fit!

5. It Doubles as Pretty Decor: The bottom edge of the teapot is inset so it fits on top of the cup for easy stacking. When you're done the cup and teapot stack neatly together until the next time you're ready to treat yourself! These Tea for One tea sets are also available with your choice of any of my art including the art from any of my decks, sure to add magic to any kitchen.

Everyone that comes over wants to check out my teapot as soon as they see it!

Do you want to enjoy a little luxurious break the way I do at my old wooden art table?  We've got these little gems available in our Etsy shop, so drop by and browse our designs, or pick your favorite art and order through our and we'll make one up just for you!

Brightest Blessings,



A Studio Upgrade For My Favorite Price: Free!

Well, Dan and I are over the moon with delight, we have a new desk for the computer we use in the studio!  I still create my art on an old wooden art table, but we need our technology too.  This might not seem like a big deal, but with the computer and the giant printers that we use, you can't just use any old computer desk, plus the space is tight, since the production studio is a converted bedroom, so we've been looking high and low for something that is just the right fit and in our price range.  We've been using one of those big white fold-able tables that for a couple of years now, because it was all the we had that would work, but it wasn't very nice, and the height was a little "off."  We both got neck strain sitting there. 

So one day recently when we were at my moms house, Dan noticed a desk in her basement that wasn't being used that looked like it could work with some alterations.  They've been trying to get rid of some extra furniture that's taking up space so they really wanted us to have it.  Her husband is an engineer and he thought he could customise it to fit our printers on it.  He found two shelves that had been part of an aquarium stand that were exactly the right size for the printers to sit on and mounted them on the desk!  I wish I had thought to take a "before" picture to show you how the previous set up looked, but you'll just have to take my word for it, pretty sad.

This shot only shows one printer, but the other will go on the shelf on the other side.  Sometimes it's the little things in life that just make things easier this desk actually takes up less room but everything fits on it better than our previous makeshift set up!

When the printer is open, it used to block the screen making it a very awkward workspace, but now it's just perfect!  He did a great job, it looks like it came from the factory with those extra shelves, doesn't it?!  

Anyway, this is where we sit and print out sheets of art to press onto our coffee mugs, garden flags, oval tiles, and all the goodies that we make in the studio.  We use Photoshop Elements to work on the images, (as you can see in the picture above) we make them the right size and shape for each product and them lay them out on a sheet to print.  Then we use that big printer to print the images using a special dye and Dan uses our big heat presses to transfer the art onto each item.  Life in the studio just got a little bit nicer with our fancy new (to us) re-purposed desk!  Thanks Mom and Kelly!

Blessings,