{featured artist :: Tuckoo and MooCow}

This giveaway is now closed.

Here at Gussy Sews we love to look at all things beautiful & handmade. Today is week #39 of my series on Featured Artists, which is a bi-monthly event showcasing fun and sassy handmade shops! I love searching for new wares to show the Gussy community. You can read all back Featured Artist posts by clicking here.

This week’s Featured Artist is Sarah from Tuckoo and MooCow, a shop filled with hand painted miniature art. Be sure & enter the giveaway below!

Please introduce yourself to us.
My name is Sarah-Lambert Cook and I am a full-time artist living in beautiful Asheville, NC making miniature watercolors into jewelry and other accessories. I haven’t been here for very long, though. My husband and I just moved to North Carolina from Atlanta, GA a few weeks ago. I sing wherever I go, skip and dance whenever I feel, read voraciously, watch old movies almost every night, have a passion for history and love to have my hands busy creating something.

What inspires you?
I am so inspired by everything around me that it is hard to pin-point what gets me going the most: good books, movies, nature, music, an interesting conversation—you name it, they pretty much all inspire me. Specifically, I am constantly inspired by my faith, John Donne’s writings, history, literature and folk music.

Share something you absolutely LOVE about your shop/your product.
I love the feeling that I creating something unique. Even if I make ten of the same painting no two will ever look exactly the same. There’s something great about feeling like each person who buys one of my pieces isn’t just buying a piece of jewelry, they’re buying a real conversation piece. Not much can start a good conversation like a work of art, and if you’re wearing the art, well that’s even better!

If you had to describe yourself in a word, what would that word be?
Inventive.

Do you have a day job or sell full-time?
I sell full-time.

Based on your answer above, what a current challenge you’re facing?
Managing my time. I’ve had days where I work until 4 am only to sleep for a few hours and get back at it by 8am. It’s not a healthy way to operate and as time has gone by I’ve become much better at working out how to parcel out those 24 short hours in a day so that I am having time for me and my husband while still getting everything done that needs to be.

Give us a little glimpse into what a typical day in your life looks like.
I wake up between 8 and 10 in the morning and start answering e-mails, Etsy convos and generally responding to everything I missed while I was asleep. By mid-afternoon I’ve packaged all items that need to be shipped that day, made a list of whatever I need to work on later in the afternoon and am ready to go to the post office and run other errands. Most painting I do is in the evening. I’m definitely a night owl and am just so much more inspired and ready to paint after dinner.

Share with us a favorite handmade purchase or shop.
There are so many favorite shops, it would be impossible for me to pick only one. My favorite handmade purchase, though, is a print of five women in white dresses from the amazing artist Kristina Havens.

What would you like to learn to do?
I would like to learn how to build my own furniture. I don’t mean simple furniture either (I’ve got that down), I mean create truly awesome hand-crafted furniture. There is something marvelous about relaxing in a well-crafted chair.

What are you listening to right now?
Fleet Foxes and Mumford and Sons. Isn’t it awesome that indie-folk music is becoming more and more popular? I am loving it!

The Giveaway Goods:

Sign your name below and enter to win a hand painted miniature necklace of your choice [the winner can pick from the 3 necklaces shown below] ~

Please note, this giveaway is open to US residents only.

For up to 3 extra entries ~ share this giveaway on your blog, facebook, or tweet this [OR click the little green “Tweet” button below]:

oh my! @tuckooandmoocow paints the prettiest handmade minis. i {heart} what @GussySews is giving away >> http://bit.ly/lgGgLC

More info ~
* The giveaway will close Sunday, May 1 at 10 pm CST.
* Connect with Tuckoo and MooCow online: blog, twitter, facebook, etsy.
* Come on back Friday, May 13 for another Featured Artist post!