I'm Back!

Well, my father's health issues and other drama kept me away from the holiday bazaar circuit last year, but this year I'm back and it's been a great success! Sitting behind my jewelry as people walk by admire (and purchase!) and receiving so many wonderful comments is just such an amazing feeling.

Thank you to everyone who came by! And thank you to everyone who facilitated getting me into Merry Marketplace and the Laurelhurst Artisan Bazaar! They are two seriously wonderful shows and worth a visit next year if you missed out this time.

Now it's down to custom order business and posting to my my etsy site!!! Bookmark me and stay tuned!!

I've been experimenting in the kitchen again...

So, last weekend I had lunch at a Whole Foods in downtown Portland with a friend and we split the most heavenly wheat-free cookie for dessert. I was intrigued that a wheat-free cookie (as in NO FLOUR!!!???) could actually work and taste good and was inspired to make a version of my own so ...

here's the recipe folks, by popular demand from all who have tasted them (and a few who want to)!

Teresa’s Flourless Concoction Cookies

3 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
½ cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups peanut butter
4 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars together until well mixed.
Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix together oats and baking soda then stir into batter.
Add all the yummy mix-ins (the sky’s the limit here people – leave out the nuts…change the chips to all chocolate…add m-n-m’s…but I think my combo is pretty yummy!)

Busy preparing for another show!

Once again my etsy site and blog have been languishing a bit as I prepare for my next show (well, ok, I've also been busy being a mom to 2 little ones and wife to 1 big one). This one is a May Fair at a private school that is a yearly event that apparently gets pretty good traffic. I'm looking at it as another wonderful oppurtunity to get my work out there and seen and make some connections with other artists in the community.
The fair is on
Saturday, May 2nd at the
Portland Waldorf School in Milwaukie, Oregon from
11am to 4pm - come by if you're in the area!!!! Here's a link to a little more info about it!

Merry Marketplace Holiday Craft Show - Success!

Well, it's been a while since my last post but I have been busy! I was invited at the end of the summer to participate in a popular holiday craft show here in Portland, Oregon and have been feverishly getting ready for it every since.

Much much much preparation went into getting ready for this show - my first official holiday bazaar - and it was all worth it. Not only did I learn a ton in the preparation/creation phase but the positive feedback on my work and sales at the actual show was soooo wonderful and a great experience.
Thanks to Laurie (http://www.magpieethel.etsy.com) for allowing me to participate!! Looking forward to next year already...

Needing to boost my inventory and design offerings for this show really pushed my creative limits and I have many new designs to show for it. I'm hoping to get some more posted to my site sooooon so check in regularly!!!! #

My first custom order

A dear friend of mine who lives in Texas commissioned me to design a necklace for her. She is a very sophisticated girl...and she likes things simple and striking and light as a feather. She was very good at describing what she had in mind...along with the reference of a piece that I had designed for her in the past...and a current necklace in my shop. Here is how the piece turned out...

I took the design a step or two forward and will be posting this (see below) in my shop soon.

I'm loving the lusciousness of the faceted amethyst and the soft lavender quartz teardrops...

With my friend's permission, I will be selling a version of her necklace along with this purple beauty, so check my store if you like it and want one for your very own!

Someone out there loves me

I've been featured in another treasury on etsy! Thank you to Meital of toolisjewelry for including one of my button rings with her selection of some of the cool button art of etsy.
Hurry and click here to see it before it expires!

What is a treasury, you ask? Well, artists of etsy (a site where artisans from all over the world can sell their hand-crafted wonderfulness) and buyers, too, have the ability to pull together 12 works of art from the amazing pool of work that exists on etsy and create a treasury of their favorites (or items that fall into a category or theme that interests them) that everyone can see. From this gathering of 12 photos, the viewer can then click away to browse those artists' shops. Pretty cool!

I Made the Semi-finals!

Well, I made it to the semi-finals in the Bead Star design competition! I posted about this creative exercise endeavor in May - click here for the back story. Over 1500 entries were judged and two of my pieces were selected; My resin necklace in the plastics category and my pearl necklace in the pearl category. There were only 20 pieces selected for each category so I feel pretty good about making it this far. I didn't make the final cut that made it into the February issue of Bead Star but was instructed to hang on to both necklaces in case they are featured in another of Interweave Press's venues like Stringing Magazine. Pretty exciting for a first timer, huh!? I'm just enjoying the ride and having fun :)