http://ibreakplates.com Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:41:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Five years ago I went on a college field trip to the American Craft Council show at the Baltimore Convention Center. I remember having two distinct thoughts, "Holy cow, this is the most amazing show that I have ever seen!" and "Wow, I would never want to do a craft ... http://ibreakplates.com/2010/02/the-american-craft-council-and-me/ 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 ... http://ibreakplates.com/2010/01/recycled-book-and-china-purse-for-power-of-the-purse/ Can you tell I am having fun with my circles? I am. Everyday J comes home and I bombard him with all of the new ways that I want to assemble them. He kind of looks at me like I am nuts, but I might just be. My new favorites are this ... http://ibreakplates.com/2010/01/new-work/ 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 ... http://ibreakplates.com/2010/01/maryland-crab-soup/ 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 ... http://ibreakplates.com/2010/01/year-in-preview-2010/ Thank you so much for an awesome year of breaking your plates! I have had a smashing time! (Sorry, had to say it.) This has been, by far, my best year yet, and I have all of you to thank for it. I am so excited to dive head first into ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/12/thank-you-see-you-in-2010/ Just a quick post to let you know that I am adding lots of stuff to the Etsy shop this week, including these new wine bottle stoppers. If there is something you saw at a craft show and would like to know if it is still available, please send me ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/12/new-stuff-in-shop/ Last show of the season is this Saturday!!! Yes, there's another chance to shop handmade for the holidays in the Baltimore area. The Squidfire Art Mart moves from its original location at the Lyric Theater to a larger arena, the DuBurns Arena on Boston Street in Canton.This event is this ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/12/squidfire-weekend/ I am honored to be a part of this years 12 Days of Indie Holiday Shopping from Indie Fixx. To win a $50 gift certificate to my shop leave a comment at the original post with your Broken Plate Pendant Co favorites for yourself or your gift recipients. Multiple entries will be ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/12/12-days-of-indie-holiday-shopping-2009/ My first and favorite show of the holiday season, Holiday Heap is this Saturday! I have SO much stock to show you, I can not wait. I will also be bringing some fresh T's and totes from my Muthacrafter shop with me too! If you'd rather stay in and shop on Etsy, ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/12/holiday-heap-and-holiday-giveaways/ Can you believe how quickly holiday stress creeps up on you? I saw Christmas decorations in Target before Halloween even came. Not cool, guys. Not cool. I am kind of excited about this holiday season because, instead of killing myself and doing 10 shows, (that may or may not be lucrative) I ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/11/trying-to-avoid-holiday-stress-and-other-things/ 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 ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/11/finished-tattoo/ I have been spending a lot of time this week preparing my shop for the throngs of holiday shoppers that I am hoping will descend upon my Etsy shop this holiday season. (Fingers crossed) So, I just wanted to give you a heads up that I added a few new things ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/10/shop-updates/ 1000 ideas for creative reuseI was SO excited when my copy of 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse arrived yesterday. So excited, in fact, that I completely ignored the box containing my awesome new winter boots for about a half an hour while I flipped through it. I soon learned that ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/10/1000-ideas-for-creative-reuse/ Ok, ok. I am a slacker blogger, and I know it. My life is really not interesting enough to blog about daily, trust me. This is just a quick post to tell you about the Squidfire Philly Art mart that I will be participating in on October 17th. This is the ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/10/squidfire-philly-art-mart/ 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 ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/09/tattoo-part-i/ In case you have missed all of my gentle hints, Crafty Bastards is this weekend. I have tons of new work to show and am SO looking forward to getting out of this house to sell. I hope to see some of you there. The vendor list is Awesome and ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/09/crafty-bastards-reminder-and-tattuesday/ This week was spent building my craft show stock for the upcoming Crafty Bastards show, including these brooches! (I also posted a few to Etsy) If you have not done so already, I would REALLY appreciate your vote as The Craftiest Bastard of 2009. Click this link to vote. I'll wait for ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/09/craftiest-bastard-and-guffly/ Sorry for being M.I.A. but I have been feverishly working on a top secret project. In the mean time, I have been doing a lot of experimentation with the possibilities of recycled plate crafts. Some of my new favorites are these new rings and cuff links made out of crushed plate ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/09/not-just-broken-more-like-pulverized/ I have created a new section in my Etsy shop where you can browse all of my Etsy collaborations for charity. These are quickly turning into my some of my favorite pieces! I recently added the goodies to the left, made from broken plates sent to me by Just Mare.  I instantly fell in ... http://ibreakplates.com/2009/08/checking-in/