Happy Thanksgiving

Saturday morning.....I think I'll skip St. Norbert farmer's market today. Doesn't this photo look somewhat like the one I posted on April 1 this past spring? Talk about a short summer. Too bad about the weather, this weekend is usually a nice one at the farmer's market, many people traditionally pick up their produce for Thanksgiving dinner today, which is usually the last market of the season. This year it runs till Halloween, but unless the weather changes drastically, I'd say this is it!
So....I won't see any of you at a sale until Scattered Seeds, coming up in less than 2 weeks, Oct. 22-25. Look for me on the main floor in booth 251, I've been working on a lot of new things to tempt you with!
Plans for the In Plain View Studio Tour are still underway, contact me if you would like a map/brochure for the event, and I'll make sure to get one out to you. I wil be in my studio on the weekend of December 5-6, hosting 2 other artists, Heidi Hunter and Carrie Wolchok. Be sure to visit us!

September events

A quick post to let everyone know what's going on in the next few weeks.....I will be at HSC tomorrow, September 10, at the St. Norbert Farmer's Market on Saturday, and at Fort Whyte's Fall Festival from 10-3 Sunday, September 13th. On Sunday, Manitoba farmer's market vendors will join Fort Whyte Farms to offer a variety of seasonal produce, honey, pasture-raised chickens and exceptional Manitoba products. Select local artisans have been invited to sell their handcrafted items. It promises to be a fun-filled day, complete with horse drawn wagon rides and other activities, in addition to the beauty of the trails at Fort Whyte. Hope you can join us! St. Norbert Market is still going strong, and they are hosting a new event this month:

"Winnipeg’s first annual Farmers’ Feast. It’s a celebration of local food and local producers. Ten chefs will come to our market on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 23rd, and create a fabulous meal using all local foods.
Tickets are going on sale for the event this Saturday morning at our market, the Village Market, and through Manitoba Food Charter; we are hosting this event in partnership with a number of other groups including those just noted, SlowFood Manitoba and The Organic Food Council. a This is a promotional event for the market and the chefs, specifically promoting the value of local producers. Proceeds from the event will go to future Farmers’ Feasts, which are typically held on farms. We are honoured to host the first of such events at our market.
Tickets are $35.00 each, and can be purchased at the kiosk on Saturday mornings, at the Village Market, and with PayPal at the Farmers’ Feast website. "

Preparations are underway as well for the In Plain View Studio Tour, check out the website and follow along with the blog to find out more about the artists participating, I'm looking forward to seeing you all at my open house on December 5 and 6! A further email will be sent out to all subscribers to my newletter, and to those who have signed my guestbook at an event over the summer.

New collections are SLOWLY being posted to my website, "winter berries" is a new fall collection done in shades of plum, berry and sage, and "web" is featured in the Sterling and Bronze collection. While you're looking in the sterling and bronze collection, take a peek at the "oak leaf necklace", perfect for fall. Look for the "truffle" collection to be posted soon, all done in warm shades of brown and caramel.

I'm long overdue for a blog posting, last time I updated was 2 1/2 months ago! Lots going on since then. The new studio is complete, with the exceptions of a few touch ups. I'll post some pics soon, (or once I clean it up enough to photograph it). What can I say, creating is a messy business!
To catch up on a few things....
The L.A. trade show was not to be. Flew to Calgary via Westjet to transfer to my connecting flight to L.A., picked up my luggage and attempted to go through customs. Ha. I was denied entry on the basis that I did not have a "Carnet". For those of you in the dark, as I was, it is a Temporary Import Document. One that applies ONLY TO U.S. RESIDENTS. Hmmm. Someone apparently didn't have their info straight, and it wasn't me.... They sent me out of customs, to UPS, who had no idea what a carnet was either, and sent me back to customs. After playing this back-and-forth game a few times, the Westjet floor supervisor attempted to intervene and get it straightened out before I missed my connecting flight. She couldn't figure out which hoops to jump through either, so I finally said "please put me on a flight back to Winnipeg". And she did. Westjet staff are amazing, this is the second time this year they've bailed me out of a jam. ( The first being the Edmonton/wheelchair disaster.) So, I lost my full booth fee, flight, and numerous other expenses because the customs supervisor I had the misfortune to meet is apparently attempting to save the U.S. from recession via the Calgary airport. As a side note: another artist I know strolled right through customs with her samples en route to L.A. with no problem!
On a happier note, I had a lovely time at the show in Sioux Narrows again this year, tourism was down a bit, but the the organizers, and the beautiful setting, make the weekend a pleasure.
The St. Norbert Farmer's Market is going strong, the fact that we haven't seemed to have a summer yet is not hindering the shoppers that visit us each weekend. If you haven't been yet, make sure you come for a visit soon.
Fall shows are quickly approaching as well, I'll update you on "when" and "where" in my next post.
Now get out and enjoy the summer weather, I hear rain is in the forecast again for the weekend....

cupcakes!

I had a hard time taking pics of these little guys, couldn't find any good natural light in the last couple days. But...here they are - each cupcake measures approximately 22mm, including the "cherry" but excluding the sterling bail:

Received some other exciting news yesterday from Prairie Stained Glass. Their second annual glass exhibition was held this past week, and I entered 2 pieces for judging, I am honoured to have received Best in Show for the "Chocolate Cherries" necklace :

and "Best Beads" for my "Chocolate Cherries" bracelet:

My prize is a $300.00 gift card from Prairie Stained Glass, I am excited to say the least. Thanks to Lucinda and the staff at Prairie for putting on this event!

new studio in progress!

I'm trying to find something constructive to do while my contractor has my house turned upside down, thought it was time to return to my blog. I have a lovely new studio in progress, my contractor has gutted my ugly old basement, and is putting in new drywall, floor, ceiling, office space, it's going to be beautiful, I can hardly wait! He thinks I should be able to move back in by the weekend, but until then I am doing another stint in the garage, like last year. Unlike last year, it is freezing cold out there in the morning, and the glass rods are so cold that some of them just shatter. I've started running a heater in the morning, and waiting till mid-day to begin work, but even at that the temperature is questionable.
This morning I tried something new, cupcake beads - inspired by my weekly visits to Sweet Impressions, a cupcake bakery on Tache Avenue. Try the Pink Lemonade, or the Raspberry Creme. Oh heck, try them all, I have. Yum. I'll post pics of the cupcake beads tomorrow, right now they're "baking" in the kiln. Wonder if Krista will trade me edible cupcakes for glass cupcakes, hmmmm.....and that would be the reason why I've re-joined the gym, right there!
St. Norbert Farmer's Market gets started June 6, only a week and a half away, make sure you head out to see what's planned for opening day. I'll also be doing the Mennonite Central Committee Relief Show and Sale at the Mennonite University on Shaftsbury, hours of operation are Friday, June 19 from 5-9, and Saturday June 20 from 9-3. Hope to see you there, lots of great crafts, and the food and baking are fantastic!

let it snow, let it snow.....

April 1st in Winnipeg - woke up to about a foot of heavy, wet snow this morning. At least the dogs are happy, running around gleefully, digging, rolling around like they've never seen snow before. I personally have seen more than enough snow this winter, and this last storm has added to the flooding concerns, and an ice jam has occurred inside the city. It's now 11 pm., and as I look out the window, I see the snow starting AGAIN!

I've spent the last couple weeks getting myself organized, taxes are all done (thanks Chris!), and I have vowed NOT to throw all my receipts in a box all year, then curse at my disorganized book keeping at tax time. I'm off to a good start, have already entered all my 1st quarter paperwork, let see if I can keep it up...

Scattered Seeds is just around the corner, April 17-19. I've been hard at work on some new designs for spring, and am looking forward to seeing everyone again after the long winter. I've also been spending some time recently looking at houses, hoping to find a place where I can have a nice, roomy studio where my clients can drop in. I think I may have found just the place, I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Will keep you all posted...

spring is just around the corner...

Spring is just around the corner, right? Hah. Hard to believe when you wake up to -35 with the windchill in the middle of March. This week I had my basement insulation job finished up, probably good as it may be this cold till August. I've been working on getting orders out, and trying out a few new techniques, will post pics of my efforts next time. It involves some tricky stuff with copper mesh, and poking the daylights out of the bead without it falling off the mandrel. I have a tutorial from the very talented Sherry Bellamy, a west coast bead artist. We'll see if it's as easy as she makes it look.
I have a new thing for the dogs to tell you about. Anybody with a 2-dog household have a splitter? For those who are saying ???????? , a splitter is a 2 foot lead, with clips on each end. You hook one dog to either end, then hook the middle of it to one leash, and voila, you can walk 2 dogs without wrapping yourself up in multiple leashes while walking. Here's the trick with my two - I get their harnesses on, then the splitter and leash, and we head off to the park. We are barely out the gate (they are sooooo excited by this time) and they are beating the crap out of each other while attached to the splitter, rolling around in the snow as I walk along with this tasmanian devil-like thing at the end of the leash, snarling and tumbling around. Then, all of a sudden Sadie decides she needs to get to the park pronto, and she tears off dragging Alfie behind her, as he has little control being the lighter guy on the other end of the leash. So, next, envision me walking very briskly with an upright dog, and one on it's side. Good thing we are going to dog school next month. We all have a few things to learn. I must say though, it's been so many years since I've had young dogs, I spend more time laughing than disciplining, so it's my own fault!
In a few weeks I'll be at Health Sciences Centre to show off my new work, and shortly after that I hope I'll be seeing you all at Scattered Seeds. That's it for now, stay warm (or just stay in till spring)!