Art Snap of the Month and New Items

We are starting a new program on our website.  Each month we will have a featured art snap of the month.  With every $50 purchase from our Snap Decisions Collection you will receive one of our handcrafted art snaps as a gift for free!

For the month of July our art snap of the month is our popular multi-floral in a selection of six colors to choose from each with our signature lady bug!  There is no coupon code necessary.  After purchasing at least $50 (Cdn) from our Snap Decisions Collection, leave a comment at the checkout telling us which color of snap you would like and we will included it with your order.  With a $100 order you will receive two bonus snaps plus free shipping!

We also have added some new items to our Snap Decisions Collection.  Most are in our "New Items" section but here are a few examples:  (Click on the photos to view the items in our shop)

New Stretch Band Hair Ties with a Snap Base

New Snap Base Post Earrings with a Built in Clip.

No more fiddling around with little stoppers!

Waterdrop Pendant

Also available with our interchangeable clip bail

Faux Snake Chain Lariat

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.

Flowers and Lady Bugs

It feels like spring at our house with the snow outside melting and all the flowers and ladybugs inside.  We just finished off more of our Brilliant Bloom stitch markers for the local yarn stores and this time made extra to list in our Etsy shop.

This is our stitch marker set for knitting.  The rings will accommodate up to size 7mm (10 3/4 US) size knitting needles.  They are on a double clasp with one of our matching clay beads to attach to a bag.

This is our stitch marker set for crochet that are on a clasp to attach to a bag.

Brilliant Blooms Buttons

I've been creating all sorts of things with our new bright flower canes.  These are our new Brilliant Blooms Buttons.  They are already for sale at Donna's Yarn & Craft in Kamloops and will be available in other local shops soon.

Like our "Toglets", they are sold individually rather than in a package to make it easier for purchasing any quantity and mixing up the colors.

I should mentioned that all of our buttons are totally washable (hand or machine wash and dry). Some styles of ours we recommend turning the garment or using a lingerie bag.  They should never be dry cleaned as the solvents could react with the clay.

This is a favorite summer sweater of mine that I switched out the factory made buttons for our Brilliant Blooms.  I think they give that extra touch that I was looking for.

BC Quilt Show 2013

We have been preparing for the upcoming BC "Everybody Loves Quilts" 2013 Show.  It is in Salmon Arm this year which is not too far from where we live.  We took a large space so we can display a wide range of the products that we make.  If you click on the poster you will see a map on our website of where the show is located.

I posted this photo on our facebook page a little while ago of a bunch of leaf canes I made that day.  That was an extremely good production time for me and it did help with having most of my clay colors already premixed.

So here is what some of the leaf canes were used for ...

More concave leaf buttons -- this time we made some in a smaller size that will be perfect for the knitter.  Our leaf buttons have been a popular item but since we put a lady bug on them, people cannot seem to resist them!  So we should have lots of leaf buttons available at the quilt show next week.

Black and White With a Touch of Red

The gigantic concave leaf buttons we created have also been a big hit.  We had a request for them in black and white and I love how the red lady bug really pops.

The fun thing about making buttons for both yarn and quilt shops is that each type of store prefers different styles.  Some tend to go best with the yarns and other natural fibers where others work well with the larger quilt patterns.  Some of our buttons happen to cross over and are popular in both areas such as these. They are quite large so would make an awesome accent for either a quilted or felted bag.  They  would also be fun to add to a sweater or quilted jacket.  These are available at Heather's Fabric Shelf in Kamloops as well as  the Falkland General Store in Falkland and Linda's Quilt Shoppe in Kelowna.

Favorite Flowers

We went mainly with a summer floral theme for this year's Shuswap Festival of the Arts.  Here is a sampling of a few more pieces that are available in the gift shop which is open until this Sunday July 22.

Lapel Pins

Brooches / Pendants

Garden Party Goblets

Here is the home of the ladybugs I promised to show you in my last post.  They are on leaves attached to the stems of glassware that I made for the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts show that starts this Saturday, July 14 until Sunday, July 22 in Sorrento, B.C.

I had this idea for quite some time and maybe I will eventually find the time to make as set for ourselves some day.