The Shuswap Artisan Market is Now Open!

I am so excited to be a part of the Shuswap Artisan Market again this year.  It is actually a Cooperative with 26 artisans sharing the space and working together to create an awesome shopping experience.  It is in Sorrento but in a new location -- still on the Trans Canada Hwy but on the opposite side of the Petro-Can station and right next to Steamers Coffee.  The other exciting news is that this market will be open year round!

That is Debbie and Rose in the above photo.  They are two of the artists in the market that made it all happen.  They both have worked very hard behind the scenes in organizing and decorating the place.  They have done an awesome job and each one of us are so proud and appreciative!

The market opened on the 1st but our Grand Opening is tomorrow (Saturday May 5th).  I will be doing a demo out front and will be there at 1pm for an hour or so.  If you are in the area, stop by and say hi and check it all out!

For more info on the market, you can visit the facebook page.  There is even a video for a sneak peek of the inside.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

Here in Canada we have an even greater reason to celebrate as Canada will be 150 years old!  Dave and I will be celebrating down at the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento today so if you are in the area, drop in and say hi.  We will have a large selection of our handcrafted Canadian themed items available.

To celebrate, we are having a sale -- 20% off all our Canadian themed items.  Enter the coupon code:  Canada150 at the checkout to receive your discount.  Click here or on the photo below to see our Canada Collection:

Vintage Lace Designs

Our friend Linda was helping with the clay this past month, when she was able to.  She has been in a lot of pain waiting for her hip replacement surgery and she found that playing with the clay was very therapeutic and helped keep her mind off things.  Fortunately her surgery is tomorrow (Friday) and we wish her well with our thoughts and prayers.

These past couple of months with her helping has been a lot of fun and a real blessing!  I first taught her how to condition clay and then to mix up my color recipes.  I had several large bins of scrap clay and she had a ball going through each bin, sorting into piles and then mixing them up to create some new colors.

We were discussing what to do with some of it and I happened to mention to her about the air dry clay and ceramic dishes I had seen online made by texturing with lace doilies.  I have been wanting to try that with the polymer for some time now.  Linda was quite excited about the idea and the next day she came over with a bag full of old vintage doilies!  We started experimenting with them and these were a few of the first ones we made (not finished off yet). 

And this is one that I just finished off the other day.  You can see in the photos how large they really are.

We were wondering what else we could create with the lace and I thought switch plate covers could be cool.  We had fun figuring out various designs to see which ones we liked the best.

Some of these items will be going into the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento this Saturday.  It is Canada Day and Dave and I will be there with all of our special Canada 150 themed pieces to celebrate this big event.  If you are in the area, come on in and see us!

New Dishes Created

I love creating larger items that are functional but finding the time is always an issue.  I finally found some creative play time and decided to make some new dishes.  I discovered that once I started, it got my creative juices flowing and now I have more ideas.

Making items like these require more patience and take a little more time as they generally go through at least 2 bakings but the end product is so worth it!  All of these pieces went to the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento and are already sold so we dropped off a few more pieces today.

Brilliant Rainbow Swirl Dish

Brilliant Rainbow Swirl Dish - Side view

Green Leaves with Lady Bugs Soap or Trinket Dish

Green Leaves with Lady Bugs Soap or Trinket Dish - Side view

Gigantic Bloom Dish in Pink and Lime

Flower Dish in Teal and Lime

Our First Day at the Shuswap Artisan Market

The grand opening of the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento was last weekend.  Dave and I had our first shift at the store on Sunday and was a very enjoyable day.

Rebecca of Uberustic Natural Skin Care was there as well that day and set up her soap making demo and fun selfie photo booth outside.

And this is a display of her handmade natural skin care products that are for sale in the store.

We had a demo set-up that day as well to show how we make a cane and sculpt our signature lady bugs like the ones on these dishes which are now available in the new store.  

We also added a selection of our flip flop necklaces and earrings which are quite popular during the summer season.

With 21 local artists in the shop, there is a wide variety of handcrafted items and fresh new items arriving on a regular basis.  We will be sharing a little bit about the other artists over time but in the meantime, here is a sneak peek of a few of the various items that are for sale there.

Our New Shuswap Artisan Market Opening this Weekend

We have some exciting news to share.  We, along with 20 other local artists, will be in a new Artisan Collective Market in Sorrento.  It is located in the building right next to the Lighthouse Market and will be opening this Saturday, May 13 with the grand opening the following May long weekend.

This is Debbie and Rose, the two artists that are responsible for bringing all of us together and making it happen.  They have both been working hard and everything is looking really awesome so far!

We have been busy preparing some new scarf jewelry designs along with other special items to sell there.  All of the artists take turns managing and running the shop and our first shift will be on the Sunday, May 21, of the grand opening.

The Shuswap Lake Culture Crawl is on the same weekend so stop in and see our new shop if you are in the area.