Busy Fall

Life has been way too busy for me these past few months and I am finally able to catch my breath and slow things down a bit.  Doing four shows in September was a lot but I managed to get through them and now preparing for my last few shows coming up in November.

So here is a caption of what I have been up to since my last post:

August I did a Trunk show at the Silhouette Fashion Boutique in Salmon Arm.  We had a great time and I will be doing another one for Christmas coming up on November 8.

September started off with the Lake Country Art Walk.  This lady  entertained us with her fabulous voice.  It was an extremely busy yet fun time.

Entertainment at the Lake Country Art Walk

Shortly after I did a mini pop-up show at the Kelowna Yarn & Needlecrafts store.  Then at the end of the month it was off to Vancouver for Knit City.

After returning from Vancouver the Salute to the Sockeye Salmon Festival in the Shuswap had already started.  This festival only runs every 4 years when there is the largest amount of Sockeye Salmon spawning (dominant run).  My salmon themed jewelry and accessories are in the Artisan market along with more than 50 other local artists.  We all take shifts to help out in the store and greeting customers.  Everyday there are thousands of people and tourists that come out to see this spectacular event that runs for three weeks.

A few of my salmon themed items for sale in the Artisan Market

This is Kim who did an awesome job of operating and running the Artisan Market.

This is Fion who bought my salmon earrings and was already modelling them.

I will be there again for a live demo this Sunday (Oct 21st) in front of the Artisan Market which is also the final day of the festival.

Lake Country Art Walk 2016 Review

It was another great Lake Country Art Walk this year and was nice to catch up with returning customers as well as meeting new ones. 

There were plenty of new items available, some of which we have not even shown here on our blog or in our online store yet, but I will be revealing them to you over the next while.

This is a sneak peak at one of our new scarf accent designs - a scarf slide or buckle that can be worn in several ways.  We found these gorgeous linen scarves in a wide range of colors that worked beautifully with them.  The buckle shown here was created using a texture sheet by Helen Breil which is one of my favorites, and of course has a genuine Swarovski crystal embedded.

We were fortunate to have live music performed by various artists across from us which was really nice.

We try to meet our fellow artist neighbors around us but were so busy that we only managed to connect with a few.  This is Angela Hansen who does encaustic art as well as work with acrylics and polymer clay.

This is a 3D piece she created combining encaustic wax with polymer clay which I think was amazing.

Karen Palmer was also across from us who works with regular pottery with such unique designs.  I especially liked how she combined natural wood as handles for some of the pieces.

There were so many other great artists at this top notch show and is a real thrill to be a part of it.  We are already looking forward to next year!

After Lake Country Art Walk

Wow!  We just finished a gigantic art show featuring our Snap Decisions jewelry.  I haven't seen this much frenzy over a product since we introduced our scarf jewelry line.  It took a few minutes for people to grasp the idea but once they did, they would select 3, 4 or 5 pieces each to fit into a bracelet, necklace, ring or even earrings.

You can see our display set-up shown in the photos above and below including special posters we had made.  I will share in my next blog post some really cool tips on displaying the snaps and jewelry findings.

This table was up front and center which showed off some specialty items such as pens, jewelry dishes, business card holders and "snap" cuff link sets.

This is my sister-in-law Pat who was a great help with the show.  I could not have done it without her!

Tomorrow I will share with you some great ideas on how to display and sell the snaps and findings at art or craft shows.

Lake Country Art Walk 2015

I have been falling behind in my posting as there has been so much to do these past couple of weeks. We have been working long hours to prepare for our largest show of the year which is already this coming weekend --- oops!  TODAY! actually.  It is the Lake Country Art Walk in Winfield (east side of Kelowna).  We created quite a few new items just for this show which is very exciting.

It will be a huge struggle for me, however, as my claymate/husband will not be able to be there.  He is had major surgery yesterday and so I hope I can get through this entire event without worrying too much.  He says it will be good that I will have something to occupy my brain and not just be all stressed out.  At least I won't be totally alone with Dave's brother and his wife, Pat who I am staying with and they have helped with set-up.   Pat, along with Brenda, who helped us last year will also be there to help out during the show again this year.  I am really glad as I couldn't possibly do it without them and with Dave being in the hospital all weekend I will be relying on them even more.

Here is our basic set-up from yesterday.  Everything isn't completely in place but will be this morning.  I will have some better photos for you later.  I want to share with you some ideas on how to display your snaps and snap jewelry if you do any up for Christimas or other shows.  The photograph isn't that good as I still cannot figure out the camera on my phone to get better pictures and I forgot my regular camera but gives you a rough idea anyway.

If you haven't signed up for my blogposts or our newsletter from our website, I encourage you to do so as we have some exciting things we want to share with you.  Our first newsletter is almost ready to go out and there will be a special exclusive offer included for anyone receiving it.  We also have a few more surprises coming up such as an opportunity to receive my latest upcoming tutorial for free!  This is very exciting as it is tied to another special event I am involved in but cannot tell you yet as it is a big secret.  So stay posted and look for the big announcement soon.

Lake Country Art Walk Come and Gone

I hadn't blogged in a while as the last few weeks had been so busy with hardly any extra time to spare.  Dave and I had both been putting in long hours working on fall orders for the local stores that sell our work as well as preparing for the Lake Country Art Walk.

The Art Walk was last weekend and is hard to believe it has now come and gone.  We weren't as exhausted afterwards this year thanks to the extra help we had this time.  The show was so busy I didn't get a chance to take any pictures during, but did manage to get a few pics of our set-up the Friday evening before.

This is Dave and our sister-in-law Pat resting after doing our set-up the Friday evening before the show.  Pat and her friend Brenda were a great help all weekend.  We also hired an art student to help as well so there was as many as 5 of us to help take care of customers.

This was our earring display along with our flip flop pieces.  The theme this year was "Shoes, A step forward" so we had to have our flip flop jewelry to go along.

This was one of our jewelry displays.  Also included were some special scarf jewelry pieces on some gorgeous silk scarves.

This was our new sweater guard clip display.  The sweater guards were a really big hit and we had nearly sold out of them.

Some of the sweater guards here were in our new faux turquoise colors (the green and red) using the Cabezel moulds.  I will share the new color recipes I used to make these with you in my next post.

Sweater guard in new faux green turquoise

Sweater guard in new faux red turquoise

More Flip Flop Sandal Jewelry

Here is another style of flip flop sandal jewelry pieces using the extruded retro square pattern.   They are a different look for those who are not into the flowers as much.

We will have a selection of our popular flip flop jewelry available at the Lake Country Art Walk coming up in September.  Each year there is a theme and this year's is "Shoes: A Step Forward".

Follow Up on the Lake Country Art Walk and Our New Bracelet Display Stands

We had the most wonderful time at the Lake Country Art Walk last weekend.  It was our first time in this great art show and the experience was wonderful.  It was a little overwhelming at times with so many people but everyone was so patient and extremely kind and pleasant.  With all the crowds we were very fortunate to have our sister-in-law, Pat Good give us a hand and our good friend, (I wish I got a picture as she looked so gorgeous in her artsy dress) Denyse Pyke, help out as well.  We would have been totally exhausted and perhaps not survived the two days as well without them --- thank-you!

Pat and Dave taking a break...

My voice was getting hoarse by the second day from talking so much with demoing the clay and explaining how we create our pieces as polymer clay is a new art form for many that were there.

Just a follow up on my last blog post where I showed how we made our new bracelet display stands. Not only did the bracelets show off nicely and we could arrange them in different spots.  They must have worked well for us as we sold more bracelets than in any other past show.

Here are a few snapshots of our set-up.

bracelet display stands on table and above on grid.

Easy to Make Bracelet Display Stands

We are finally done adding all the finishing touches to our work and ready for our set-up at the Lake Country Art Walk today.  We are excited to be in this great art show that takes place each year in the Okanagan (Winfield - Lake Country) part of British Columbia.

One of the things we have been working on is our new memory wire bracelets.  They are like a bangle but the memory wire makes them more "expandable" so they can fit most wrist sizes comfortably and are easier to put on and take off.  They have a special clasp making it adjustable and simple to use.

We wanted some nice stands to show off these new pieces and saw some cone type ones but we would have to order them from the U.S, and they would not arrive in time for the show so we decided to improvise and make our own.

We simply picked up a sheet of poster board from the dollar store.  You could also use some fancy cardstock if you wish but we wanted a basic matte black to show off the bracelets and to match our show displays.  I used a lid from a tin that was 6-1/2" in diameter (17 cm) to trace a bunch of circles on the board and I managed to get 12 out of one sheet.

Cut the circles out plus one other circle from some plain paper to use as a template.  To find the center of the circle, fold the paper template in fourths and then make a cut on one of the folds in to the center.

Fold up one of the quarters of your template and lay it on top of your circle.  Using a ruler, mark and then cut along that line.

Note:  I found to make a "tighter" (narrower/taller) cone, I had to cut about 1/2" past the center mark.

Now roll your circle up to form a cone and then fasten it with glue and you are done.

So now our new bracelets are ready to show off.  Have a great weekend.

More Radiating Lines Kite Beads and Matching Earrings

I made more beads in different color variations of the Radiating Lines style necklace I showed you in my last blog post (click here to see).  I learned how to make my own texture plate to create these kite style beads from Helen Breil's "Radiating Lines" tutorial.  They are not put together yet but are added to our "finishing" bead pile to be put together later.  They should be finished in time for the Lake Country Art Walk along with more new creations we are working on.

copper and teal kite bead set

oil slick kite bead set

Here are some earring pieces I created to go with the above beads and the necklace I showed you last.