When Coleen of the Howard County Arts Council asked me to create a recycled plate purse for the Power of the Purse auction for The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County, I was extremely honored and said yes right away. Two minutes later, I thought, how the hell do you make a purse out of recycled china? After a few brain storming sessions, I decided on making a stained glass style purse out of broken plates. I jumped in head first and quickly realized that that was not my best plan. Suddenly …

I have had a Tupperware container of crab claws in my freezer since the summer. I always save them with the intention of making soup, but for some reason I have always been mystified by Maryland crab soup recipes. Last week, I decided to jump in and make my first pot. I googled the recipe while in the grocery store and discovered that there are 1000 different ways to make it. I combined a few of the recipes to make my own, and I must say it was a huge …

I hope everyone is having a productive new year so far. Despite starting my year off sick, I am excited for this year. Instead of doing a year in review post for 2009, I thought I would rather look ahead to some of the good things on the horizon.
2010 started off well with a great blog post about my work over on We Covet . That is aways a nice surprise!
This year will mark the first time having a booth at the American Craft Coucil show! I will be in the AltCraft section which …

After 7 hours of pain (and about the same amount of time in traffic) my tattoo is finished! I am SO happy with it, it turned out better then I even imagined. James at Bethesda Tattoo is the man and totally worth sitting in traffic for.
Here is the inspiration and beginning…

I got to Bethesda is record time to make it to my appointment at 12:30. I decided to got all the way to Bethesda to have James do my tattoo because he is a friend’s husband, I have met and liked him, and have seen some of his work, which was amazing! I was afraid to go to some crackhead in Baltimore that I did not know. I made the right decision.
Anyway, once I got there and met with James, he had to take some time to work on my …

I have survived another Artscape! Phew, it was awesome, thanks to everyone who stopped by. It seems like I spend my whole summer preparing for Artscape, then as soon as it is over I have to think ahead to holiday shows, can you believe that? I will be updating my shows page over the next few weeks, adding all of the shows that I have already lined up for Fall/Winter.
I will also be updating the shop a bit by adding a few new pendants (including this one.) Be patient with …

Can’t wait till this weekend, because the Art Star Craft Bazaar is finally here! The show is in Philly, a mere 2 hours from Baltimore and the weather looks perfect, so hop on 95 and come see me!
When: Saturday, May 30th from 11-6pm & Sunday, May 31st from 11-6pm
Where: Philadelphia, PA @ Penn’s Landing Great Plaza - on Columbus Boulevard between Walnut Street and Chestnut Street (click here for directions) 
The ladies behind Art Star have juried in over 100 of the most talented emerging artists from the Indie Craft Scene.  The …

I feel like I am constantly apologizing for my lack of posts here, but the truth is that I am sparing you from the boring reality of the plate breaking business. Break, solder, polish, post, ship, design t-shirt, repeat… You get the point. Not much to blog about, so here are some fun things to do this weekend… 
Sweet Pepita Trunk Show
Philadelphia City Paper’s Trunk Show
Bust Craftacular
Pee Wee in Patterson Park
Preakness!
The Chesapeak Bay Blues Fest
Wine in the Woods
The next show for me is Art Star in Philly on May 30-31, cross your fingers for …

Today I updated the shop and added 20 new pieces! Get um’ while they are hot! If you saw one in in my Flickr uploads ( here or circles here) that you are interested in, contact me to see if it is still available (or it will end up in my craft show or wholesale stock.)
Some Random Links for your enjoyment:
Don’t forget that Summit of Awesome is coming up, get your tickets here.
Have you seen what Annie of Imogene has been up to? See it here
Over at GreenStarStudio Enjoy free shipping on …

I am fairly certain that I am the only person who would think that I am the luckiest person in the world for having a shamrock plate break a week before St. Patrick’s day! It happened, and I am! Now you can enjoy your own lucky shamrock plate pendant from my Etsy shop. Tya is doubly lucky because it is her birthday on St. Patrick’s Day so she automatically gets one!
Lots of Irish fun is to be had this weekend, including the Baltimore St. Patrick’s Day Parade and a special performance by …

That was a long week. Not a bad week, just loooong. I got a lot accomplished with the new simple circle line, and am really excited to make more and more circles! I have new earrings, cuff links, and rings coming in the very near future.
Now, I am going to go and enjoy my weekend. Tonight we are seeing Coraline in 3-D! BUT the part of the weekend that we are really looking forward to is breakfast at Cafe Hon. Mmmmm, Bloody Mary!
See you Monday.

So much for my super productive week. I feel like all of the forces have been conspiring against me. I only have 2 days to work, Tuesday and Thursday, when Nolan is at school. Last week, I got a stomach bug on Tuesday and on Thursday, I worked in the am, then had the nerve to take an hour lunch with Tya. When I came back I had no power, I guess that is what I get. Today, Nolan has a cold and did not go to school. ugh.
To make myself feel …

I am not sure that I have ever been more sick of a year, then 2008. Don’t get me wrong, it was not awful, and it may just be my love for odd numbers, but I am really looking forward to 2009.
My only resolution is to get Nolan into some part-time day care. Any other resolutions about working out, making better work, and reading more will not happen until day care does. I am pretty sure I have found the place for just a few days a week and am looking …

By popular request, here is a re-run of the Limoncello recipe. Enjoy!
This is all you need:

15-20 lemons - clean, unwaxed with nice plump skins. The skins should give off a lemon sent, don’t get ones that don’t smell heavenly.
2 (750-ml) bottles of Everclear (or Vodka if you are chicken.
4-6 cups water
2-4 cups sugar (more if you want it thicker or sweeter)
2-3 litre glass jar with a sealed lid.
bottles (I got mine from Pier One and made the labels on Avery sticker paper.)

I followed the super easy instructions from this website. …

Well, It looks like the Highlandtown Art-Ket will postponed until next week. Luckily, thanks to tips from Midges Mind and Annie and Imogene, I have a back up plan. I am taking the “Pre-Teen Step-Broken Plate” to go see Who Does She Think She Is? at the Baltimore Women’s Film Festival tomorrow. She may be bored to tears, but I am hoping that maybe it will teach her something (or at least she will understand a little more about what I do and why I do it.) Here is a little synopsis from the …

Buy Olympia is giving these posters by Nikki McClure away for free! Get yours now and spread the word about voting in a stylish way!
OH NO! I think they just ran out! Either way, check out these amazine posters from Nikki.

OH Shannon, How did you know I needed a distraction? I have been tagged and forced to share 6 silly facts about me, then tag 6 more bloggers. Here goes…

We are back! We ended up in Rehoboth for the weekend, and had lots of fun, but even better, I got lots of sleep. We were lucky enough to stumble upon Jazz Fest, so we enjoyed some live music and had some great meals. Mr. Broken Plate was cool enough to set up a spa day for me on Saturday. I got a massage, facial and even had my nails painted (just reminds me of that famous phrase “lipstick on a pig.”) They will be ruined by days end as …

So, I guess Mr. Broken Plate noticed that I needed a little break…