My name is Carrie and I have two shops on The CraftStar: Augie by Carrie Jewelry and Carrie D’Augustine Original Art.
I was born and raised in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada. I live with my boyfriend Jeff and 2 lovable cats: Storm and Kali (who have very unique personalities)!
When I was in grade 9 in highschool I was able to choose 1 of 3 courses as my own personal choice. I could choose from music, art and home etc. At this point I had no idea I had any artistic talent. I chose art.
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During my fall semester I was one of the rare grade 9 students that had a piece of art chosen for the highschool art show that was going on display in our local art gallery at that time. My teacher had called my home to receive parental consent to display my watercolour painting. That started my personal discovery with art.
I continued with art class throughout highschool and even went into a 3 year Graphic Art and Design course in college in 1995. During all that time my father had become quite ill and after he passed away I took a break from it as I found it hard to be creative. I followed it up by another 1 year course in Multi Media web Design in 2000. I took a customer service job shortly after graduation to get out on my own. During this hiatus from creativity I was a passenger in a car accident and was off work for about 6 months. While I was healing personally and physically I started playing around with crafts and was taking apart curtain decorations and other items people gave me and made jewelry out of it. My love of art turned into another form of creating and my passion for jewelry design came to be.
I started it more as a hobby and making gifts for people when needed. People started asking me to make things for them and I was doing this on the side of my full time regular job. Now here I am 6 years later I had decided I wanted to do it more serious and have it become more prominent in my daily life. Augie by Carrie Jewelry was developed.
The name comes from Augie, which was my father's nickname because of our last name and he was my biggest supporter in my talent. It was my way of paying tribute to him and my individuality. Now I am aspiring to design full time and have since gotten back into my art.
My current projects are I am completing a 3 panel piece of artwork and I am repurposing some broken jewelry that was passed down to someone into some new wearable accessories.
My hope and aspirations ..
My hope is to be able to be a full time jewelry designer and artist. I love helping people express themselves through my imagination wether its through my art or taking different items and making something unique for them. My dream is to someday develop a high end collection and have it on store shelves. Slowly I have been in the wee developmental stages of making it happen.
My main accomplishment is going through college and getting 2 degrees amongst a trying time in life. But I can say that I am proud that for 2 years in a row, I have been selected to be in a shop for handmade promotion locally and have a feature written about me for my unique work. In December 2012 my jewelry was written about and in December 2013 my art was written about.
Three tools I cannot live without are my paintbrushes, my camera and my sketchbook ... I feel they all play very important roles in my creation process.
I have experienced many craft disasters sometimes they are mistakes that turn into a cool piece other times I use them as something I learned from. I accept that everything cannot turn out perfect on the first try.
I do feel that marketing is important to your business. The most effective tips for myself are good images and not being afraid to put yourself out there. I try to keep up with social media but I had to take a break to learn how to make it better and I think I have a good handle on it now.
My best selling items are my nautical starfish and anchor lockets and my steampunk inspired rings.
My favorite item is my steampunk inspired starfish ring that I made with a larimar gemstone.
I love the unique look of the rough looking pieces with the pretty gemstones and Swarovski crystals.
My first fave item is this delicious looking candle. I do not have one yet but I love candles. I have shelf full of yummy smelling scents. I believe this smells as good as it looks.
My second fave item is this ring box . I am a hopeless romantic at heart.
FOR MORE OF CARRIE'S JEWELRY and ART:
Augie by Carrie Jewelry http://augiebycarriejewelry.thecraftstar.com/
Carrie D’Augustine Original Art http://carriedaugustineoriginalart.thecraftstar.com/
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1 comment:
Carrie is such a talented, creative artist, truly and and inspiration to all!
Nancy
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