Chelsea Art Festival

I just wanted to show you some newer work that I had at the Chelsea Art Market. Big thank you to everyone who came out and braved the heat!

2015 Show Schedule

This is my show schedule for 2015- hope to see you soon!

February 6th- Teresa Robinette's Home - Chandler, AZ
May 13-16th - Soft Glass Invitational- Teaching and show - Pennsylvania
June 5-6th - Art on The Mall- Downtown Kalamazoo, MI
July 3 -  Teresa Robinette's Home - Chandler, AZ
July 24-25th - Chelsea Art Festival - Chelsea, MI
August 1st - Art in the Park - Holland, MI
October 4th - Bead Bonanza - Southfield Center Pavilion -Southfield, MI
November 7th - Winter Wonders Holiday Glass Show - Birmingham Unitarian Church - Bloomfield                            Hills, MI
December 4-6th - Detroit Urban Craft Fair - Masonic Temple - Detroit, MI - pending application
December 12-13th - DIYipsi - Ypsilanti, MI - pending application

Circle or square?

Shapes are everything and everywhere. Do you prefer a square or a circle? For the past year I have been obsessed with circles. When we remodeled our house, all of the new parts ended up being angles instead of curves, so all I want are circles in my life. 

http://www.icancraftthat.ca/2011/05/craziest-art-you-could-make.html

See you in Kalamazoo!

This weekend is one of the many fun outdoor art shows going on in Michigan. It is located in Kalamazoo and is this Friday and Saturday in the downtown area. Here is more information: http://www.junejubilee.org/
I have done this show for the last 2 years and I have the pleasure of sharing a space with 2 other talented bead artists and we have lots of laughs. Here is our table from last year:

And here is a preview of what I am bringing with this year:

Hope to see you there!!

No excuses

So, it's been a really long time since I posted here and I am just going to be quick!
I just wanted to show some of my newest work.

Enameled wire and beads

Copper riveted bangles and lampwork with copper pendant

Sterling silver bangles

Revisiting an older style of beads and adding extra sparkle

Michigan Art Show recap

So, I finally feel like I have a momentum going here in Michigan as far as the bead/jewelry/art fair shows are concerned. I have been really happy with the feed back that I have been getting this year and I am really happy with my display (for now!) I thought it would be fun to look at some of the progression.

This is the Art on the Mall in Kalamazoo in June. I have done this show twice now and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Kalamazoo has a really great energy and everyone turns out in full force for this event. I share a booth with two to three other artists who have fantastic work and we all compliment each other really well.

This is the Chelsea Sounds and Sights Festival and the first time I have done this show. This show is in the process of a re-birth and had a good turnout. The plans for the next show include more artists and more music. This show was in July and was a warm weekend, luckily I had my mom there to help me.

New wooden displays for necklaces and a new display for earrings.

New displays that were given to me by a friend, don't they look great?

New work

Cause I cannot resist any dog with a mohawk!

 The last show was the DIYipsi Indie Art Fair. This was inside at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti and was lots of fun. This was my first time in the show and I met lots of really great artists.

DIYipsi

My friend Jen, a happy supporter of my work.

The next show scheduled is the Bead Bonanza put on by the Great Lakes Beadworker's Guild in Southfield. I have been doing this show since I moved here and I look forward to seeing my customers from that area. Come out and see me: October 5th 10-5pm Southfield Municipal Complex 26000 Evergreen Rd in Southfield.

Lets dehydrate everything.

We have been trying to eat better. We eat much less meat and dairy than we used to. I am contentious of where our food comes from and better yet, we planted a garden with raised beds and all organic soil and seeds. I even purchase organic and free range foods for our pets. I think its important and I wanted to share some of it with you.
Since I don't feed our dog bones or any of those rawhide ears or snouts, I wanted to find him something he could chew on besides everything else that happens to be laying around the house. He loves veggies and fruit so I found some dehydrated sweet potato treats, and boy does he love them. I purchased several brands to be sure it was the potatoes and not the brand, but they are not cheap!

After the third bag, I decided that I could make these myself, so I purchased a food dehydrator and started dehydrating everything!

Here are dehydrated sweet potatoes, zucchini and beets. Oliver, our dog, loves all of them except the beets, which is fine, cause I love them!
After I tried this experiment, I decided that anything is game.

I started to look at other foods differently.  don't really like bananas unless they are green and crunchy, but for some reason I love banana chips! (The pets do too)

Here in Michigan, the summer has been really mild, we have a few warm days followed by cool days so our tomatoes are growing but not ripening fast enough.  We had a warm spell and they grew big but took weeks to ripen so they are large and mushy with not much flavor. Well... I stuck them in the dehydrator to see what would happen, and OMG tomato chips are my new favorite snack. The mushy tomatoes are crisp and bright with color and intense flavor and I can take them with me anywhere to snack on. Love them. Kale is another yummy treat when it is dehydrated. Oh and fruit leather.... throw your over ripe fruit into the blender with some lemon juice, into the dehydrator and boom, you have fruit leather the next day!

Fresh tomatoes with some salt before

A different variety

And after-so good!!