Swapping Fun: Part II

And here are the other two cards for the Vintage Button Card Swap! Yes .. I used the same French Queen twice, but it was such a great, rich image. It was fun to alter and add to them in different ways.



For those of you who asked, the Beaded Fabric Hairpins are now at the shop! I'll add the Flower Fabric Hairpins and the Kitties handforged wire earrings next. Bird Nest Necklace news: Finally, my supplies for the bird nests are arriving this week! I have several back orders to fill and then I'll put them up at the shop.

In other news, I am SO excited to join the 2007 Bead Journal Project! I sent off my e-mail entry to join today, just one day before the deadline, so I hope I make it in! I really wanted to give it some serious thought and make sure I could make the year long time commitment. I've always wanted to experiment more with bead embroidery and I think the fusion of journal work and beading is going to be just heaven. There is so much energy around this creative project and so many talented artists! I know this will be a wonderful artistic journey and I am excited to have the opportunity to learn from such wonderful artists and share in return.

Swapping Fun

I'm participating in the Vintage Button Card swap over at Speckled Egg. I hadn't worked in the paper arts for a while (except for making Japanese paper earrings) and I had a really great time designing these. Thanks to Heather for hosting such a wonderful swap! Here are two of the cards complete with their buttons. I'll post the other two soon.


I also recently found out that Kaari Meng, of French General, is publishing a new book this fall ... and it's on jewelry!! I loved her first book and can't wait to order this new one. I already have it on my wish list at Amazon. I wish it was going to be out this summer, but I'll try to wait gracefully :)

Market Day!

It's here! Market Day!! The day when all your hard work (hopefully) pays off :) We had an absolutely fantastic opening day for market. There was a wonderful article in the local paper announcing our opening day and it seemed like everyone came down to see what the market was all about.

Our new location next to the library had ample parking, live music and a great concrete "boardwalk" to stroll with over 40 vendors. I did really well (yeah!!!) and am now making new product to fill all those holes in my display. I have a small car, perennially packed with car seats and kid gear, so my market tent, tables, etc. are all on the diminutive side having to fit in the space left over. Which didn't bother me until I saw all the ultra cool booths that looked like swanky mall stores transplanted to the sidewalk. I consoled myself with the realization that I can break down my booth and be in the warm car with coffee and donuts in 10 minutes after the end of the market, while they will probably still be dismantling doors and shelving units.

And here are the surprise best sellers. These hairpins were just a quick thought one afternoon, but wow did they garner compliments and sales!!

This has just been a quick post to let you all know that market went well, and that I finally was able to leave the studio :) I love my studio, but it feels good to get out and enjoy the sunshine and flowers! I really appreciate all the positive, encouraging sentiments you all have been sending me for market! This week I will be trying to catch up (finally!) on all my e-mail, snail mail, blogs, comments, etc. while I simultaneously get the house ready for company this weekend, take care of two sick munchkins, and get the garden weeded so we can get our vegetables and herbs planted. This is what triple expresso mocha lattes are for, right? :)

The Countdown: 4 Days to Market .......

Has it really been two weeks since my last post? I have been designing jewelry, working on my display set up and labeling/packing product in the studio getting ready for the start of Saturday Market. Thank you everybody for your well wishes for market!! I know it's going to be a wonderful event and I'm really looking forward to seeing all my regular customers and chatting with all the creative artists that will be vending there. The market also offers flowers, plants and tasty farm fresh produce, so all-in-all, it is a great place to be! If you live in the area, please come down and visit!

OK, I said I wasn't going to add any product to the store before market, but I ended up adding a few necklaces today. I already have a list of people who would like bird nest necklaces, so I'll try to get those up soon too! The blue and rose "eggs" actually ended up looking the best, so I stuck to those. I love them! They are SO cute! I'm previewing a few necklaces in this post, but you can see all the new additions here.



I added two antique Chinese coin necklaces, a flame worked copper Celtic necklace, and the "Indian Wedding Cake Bead" necklace from the last post. And having decided that the pictures I took for the last post needed a lot of help ... I went and splurged and bought a tripod for my camera. What a difference! It's already paid for itself in time saved retaking pictures :) I wish I had purchased one a long time ago. If anybody who takes close up's of small objects is hesistating on getting a tripod, get one - you won't regret it!


Here is a shot of more things left to do before Saturday. It's a very long list, but I'm working hard on it! The top has handmade beads made from shimmer fabric and wrapped in brass and seed beads. The bottom has my Tudor hoop earrings. I LOVE making Renaissance inspired jewelry. Aren't the rich colors of the pearls, combined with the antiqued copper, just lovely?

These are a brand new concept and I'm hoping to get some good feedback on them at market. I'm going to call them "Wine Goblet" earrings. They are handmade beads out of a fabric printed with vintage wine labels and I've capped them with crystal that has a two-tone wine and green Coke bottle finish. We have a lot of vineyards around here and they would be just perfect as gifts, I think.


The lovely Karin at Creative Chaos gave me a thinking blogger award! (Thanks Karin!) Now it's my turn to pass the award on :) I'll have to give it some thought. There are so many wonderful people out there, it will be hard to narrow it down to just five. Well, time to return my nose to the grindstone! I'll try to answer everyone's sweet comments and lovely e-mails as soon as I can!!