Artscape is America’s largest free arts festival featuring 150+artists, fashion designers and craftspeople, including DIY/new wave crafters; visual art exhibits on and off site, outdoor sculpture, art cars, photography incredible live concerts on four outdoor stages.

New this year, if you check in at my booth on Foursquare, you will get either $5 off or a free pair of my new tiny plate acrylic earrings with your purchase! (earrings are available while supplies last, of course.)

Image from Sleepylittlemouse @ flickr

Seriously, where does time go? I feel like I was JUST writing a similar post. This weekend, Saturday June 26th, is Pile of Craft at St. Johns Church! I LOVE doing these shows with the Charm city Craft Mafia because, not only is the show in my back yard, but I get to show will all of my friends of craft from Baltimore and some who come to town just to do this show. This year, I hear there will be a photo booth  for an added bit of fun! The only thing that could make this show better is if it ran monthly. Anyone? Ok, 2 times a year will do.

This summer is shaping up to be a busy one! Next on the list is Pile of Craft on June 26th, followed by a hot hot Artscape. Hope to clean out the tray and have a fresh selection at both of these shows.

See you sooon! Here is my shop link.

Bring your craft supplies, Picnic Basket & blanket and come craft en mass with a crowd of other Baltimore crafters to celebrate the birthday of Etsy.com!

Help us make a big banner to show Baltimore’s Crafty Pride!

No experience required. Only enthusiasm!
RSVP HERE
Help us promote the event on FACEBOOK HERE.

The craft meetup that gets the most attendees wins Etsy awards & prizes!!

Now off to enjoy a show-free 3 day weekend. Please visit my friends at Handmade Mart this weekend! I am hoping to make it out there to ATTEND my first craft show, not as a vendor. ohhh, exciting.

Craft Corps is officially due to be released on May 10th, but they seem to be available on Amazon now. I am so honored that Vickie Howellchose me to be a part of this book which is modeled after NPR’s Story Corps. It is a book that tells  stories of this generation of crafters.  SO exciting that my buddies in craft, Shannon of Sweet Pepita and Rachael Bone of Red Prairie Press are also featured crafters. Anyway, hope you pick one up!

If you’d like a goodie in exchange for your donation, I am offering this necklace on my Etsy page. Half of the selling price will go straight to the Maryland SPCA.

craft show season starts in less than a month with squidfire in baltimore up first. to see a list of confirmed upcoming shows go to my show page.

that is all for now because my keyboard is making me crazy.

Enter: porcelain thimbles!

I love them. They are so much like plates in that you never know what bizarre image you will find on them. I have found cool advertising images (like this one to the left), birds, trees, animals… SO much fun to collect. This is why I started the plate breaking in the first place! I searched all over the Internet and have found no other porcelain thimble jewelry, (only a few metal thimble necklaces) so I am really excited about them.

This will never replace my plate breaking, of course, but it is a fun related departure. If anyone is trying to unload a thimble collection, keep me in mind! =)

In other news: If you happen to live in Tampa Florida, or want to check out the live stream on their website (maybe?) Laura York will be sporting (and maybe talking about) my jewelry on the 9 o’Clock hour of Good Day on Friday.

Alright, enough procrastination, back to plate breaking.

In 2006, I did my first craft show, Handmade Arcade in Pittsburgh. I had  a TERRIBLE set up, no cords for my pendants and really sub-par soldering skills, but the feedback and love that I got was overwhelmingly positive. I remember one guy looked at my stuff and told me that I should apply to the American Craft Council show in Baltimore, that my stuff would fit in perfectly. I said thank you, but as soon as he was gone, I had to laugh. I said to my sister “Ha did you hear that guy, that is hysterical!”

Photo from my Demo taken by Tigerlillyshop

Fast forward to 2009, I got a call to do a demo of my process for ACC! I was shocked, and nervous about it because she mentioned using a microphone. I was going to be like the guy doing a cooking segment at the home show, too much! I gave in and took the opportunity, and it actually was not scary. It was pretty fun. I did my demo twice, made a little girl a necklace, and added ACC demo to my resume.

When it came time to apply for the 2010 show, I was not entirely confident, but wanted to give it a shot. I applied for both the main floor and for AltCraft, the new section which highlights new indie designers. I was wait listed for the main floor and accepted into AltCraft! My buddies in craft, Greenstar Studio, Elisa Shere, DandelionBlu, and Bowerbox Press were also in! SO exciting! I was offered a spot on the main floor last week, and although it was flattering, I did not feel like I had enough time to plan a fill 10×10 booth in 2 weeks, during a blizzard. I guess I am lazy, ha! Plus, I feel like I fit in in Altcraft the most, and I only get one year to be there. So Altcraft, it is!

So, thanks for listening to my ACC rambling. I am patiently awaiting the last of the parts that I need to make the cufflinks for the show, so I am kind of at a standstill. I hope to see some of you there! Here is all the information you will need. I will be in AltCraft booth 4

The choice of book was easy. I quickly shipped Caitlin my copy of Broken for Youby Stephanies Kallos. Broken for You is a wonderful story about a complicated friendship between two woman, who often use drunken plate breaking sessions as a way to deal with the hardships in their life, from love lost to health concerns. This leads one of the characters  the discover a passion in  mosaic arts. Clearly I can relate.

Just as this planning was going on in my head, I heard a giant CRASH! Next, I heard Jason say “I have good news and bad news.” When I walked into the dinning room, Jason stood there holding a vintage Johnson Brothers Indian Tree platter, which had fallen out of the cabinet. The good news and the bad news were both the same, the platter was broken. Thus, the decision as to which plate I would use for the book was made.

This purse represents Collaboration, one of the 9 C’s of women’s giving. This collaboration ended up being a giant collaboration between myself, Caitlin Phillips, Stephanie Kallos, poor Jason who broke the plate. The auction will be a part of the 2010 Celebration of Women’s Philanthropy, Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm at The Spear Center, General Growth Properties Building, Columbia, MD. Keynote Speaker: Sondra Shaw-Hardy is a noted philanthropist, co-founder of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, author of the upcoming book “Women’s Philanthropy: Boldly Shaping a Better World”, and creator of the 9 “c’s” of why women give. 

Thank you Coleen for asking me to do this, it was great to think of things other then jewelry for a moment. Thanks Caitlin for doing this project with me, turned out great!

I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from the book. It represents my view on plate breaking perfectly.

My new favorites are this necklace and this bracelet. I really like combining a few different patterns in one piece. I will be adding them to my Etsy shop and taking what does not sell to ACC with me in February.

1 box of chicken stock and 1 box of beef stock (I couldn’t decide which I wanted and the mix was great!)

10-20 leftover crab claws

1 lb. crab meat

1 bay leaf

3 crushed cloves of garlic

1 onion chopped

1/2 bag frozen corn (or 3 ears fresh)

1/2 bag of frozen green beans (most recipes call for lima beans too but I am protesting here)

2-3 chopped carrots

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (with juice)

3 cups cubed potatoes

Old Bay to taste (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)

Add beef stock, chicken stock, bay leaf, garlic, old bay and crab claws to the pot and bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer with the lid on. Let this simmer for about 30 minutes then remove crab claws, bay leaf, garlic cloves and any foam from the pot. Now you are ready to add all of the vegetables, canned tomato and potatoes and return to a simmer. Put a lid on it for about an hour.  Now add the crab meat and and check if you need more Old Bay. Be careful here, because it is better to add too little spice then to make it too salty. At this point, it is best let to soup rest on the stove for all of the flavors blend, then reheat at meal time. We ended up not having time for this step, and it was just fine. It is even better the next day!

Enjoy!

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 is dedicated to showcasing rising indie crafters. I am so excited that me and a few of my friends in craft, Elisa Shere, Dandelion Blu, Green Star Studio, Pink Kiss Pottery and Giant Dwarf were picked out of 400 submissions. So cool.

Also in February, I will have a broken plate purse in a charity auction for The Women’s Giving Circle. I am busily trying to figure out the logistics of that. More details and photos to come!

Coming up in May, the book Craft Corps will be coming out. I am proud to be included in this book of amazing crafters. I may only have a small blurb and a photo, but that is still such an honor to be in a book with Faythe Levine and Jennifer Perkins, among others!

This year I will concentrate on getting my work into more shops, maybe gaining a little more press and generally breaking a lot more plates. I will hopefully be updating the shop more regularly (psst-I added this ring yesterday) and maybe writing one or two more blog posts then normal. Who knows, I am no good at resolutions.  

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

PS-Still have time for your custom order! Just fill out this form and get your plate in the mail! custom-order-form-new2!