Show on the Lake

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Elaine

Within weeks of my moving to Saskatchewan last summer there was this little craft show at Lac Pelletier, a small resort town near here. It was a sweet show and a nice day even though I had the last of a flu for it. This year I’m happy to say it was STILL a sweet show and I was completely healthy.

The area is beautiful with a big lake nestled in the hills – for a flat province, Saskatchewan has a freakish amount of hills – and the show is in the community hall.

I was a dope and forgot a whole box of my stock which ended up not being a big deal. I had plenty of my bread and butter small show pieces and those went over well. Of course, I spent a big chunk of my proceeds on local baking and farm food but we’ll eat well for days yet.

My friend Cindy was at the show with me since doing them with friends is much more fun.

Now back to the regular week! My Christmas in July sale on Etsy and ArtFire runs until the end of the month. If you’re looking for beads or canes to use in your fall designs give it a peek!

Completely Different

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Elaine

At the Oasis Bead Show in June, I bought up a few packets of paper beads made by a self-sufficiency project in Uganda. They’re great – such nice organic colours and very lightweight. My mom, who is often my muse, asked for several long necklaces from them since they’re so lightweight.

I supplemented with a few of my own seed beads and metallic bits and came up with quite a few pieces from only 4 packages of paper beads (what can I say, I didn’t shop until the end of the show and they were low on the colours I wanted!).

I can honestly recommend the beads – the quality was great, the colours were just right and you can’t beat the prices. And that’s without even considering that they all help teach a trade and self-sufficiency to women and children.

Meet CreativeCritters

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Elaine

The Smoosher of the week is Michelle of CreativeCritters. Based in Fairview Park, Ohio Michelle is a talented sculptor. She creates primarily fantasy and whimsical pieces from polymer clay and other materials (check out her bears! so cute!)

Kitties (fast kitties!) and dragons make me happy.

Michelle is also participating in the ArtFire Twelve Days of Christmas in July promotion. You can take advantage of her promo by using the code XMASINJULY on the items in her Christmas in July section.

Check out her blog at: http://creativecrittersblog.blogspot.com/
And view her studio: http://www.artfire.com/users/CreativeCritters

Christmas in July

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Elaine

I know, way too early. Don’t even mention it. Didn’t Christmas just happen?

However distant it seems when you’re sitting out there on the deck with your icy cold lemonade enjoying the sun the holidays always show up much sooner than we’re ready for! And the Christmas in July promotion on Etsy and the Twelve Days of Christmas in July promotion on ArtFire gives you the chance to see what people are dreaming up for the season.

I’ve relisted a few of my favourite beads and canes, added a few fun sets of (summer) holiday themed beads into the mix and, of course, posted more of my poinsettia holiday beads:

I’ll be offering 20% off in my Etsy and ArtFire shops. I’ve marked them all down in both shops so there’s no fooling with extra invoices and refunds – if you have any questions please do let me know!

On ArtFire I encourage you to check out their Trend Page for the Twelve Days of Christmas promotion and this forum thread for a list of other active participants(and some fabulous deals on great handmade art, supplies and vintage).

You Meet the Neatest People

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Elaine

… at shows. The bead show gave me the chance to see lots of customers and friends again but there were a few new ones. One was Marie of Skye Jewels who I’ve seen in various circles over the last year or so on Etsy and other online locales. She snapped up a few of my unexpectedly popular flower beads at the show and today I just got a glimpse of what she created with them.

If you have the chance, follow the link in her post and give the piece a vote on the Vintaj site!