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2006 Archives December 13, 2006 So much has been going on I don't even know where to begin. I have finally gotten moving on some web updates that I have really been wanting to accomplish. With such a busy show schedule as well as other life commitments I have hardly had the time to take picture, the crop and resize them to get things posted on the site. Some times I wish I had a webmaster to do all of this stuff for me. But I think I do quite well on my own. The Brandon fresh market has moved to Winthorp Pole Barn. It is a much nicer location and has a lot more atmosphere and charm. But as with every move there are still many people that have yet to find us. However there are many new people that have found the market since it has moved to its location and I have faith that each weekend will be better and better. I held my first open house this month. This small Jewelry and Art Party was successful on so many levels, it went beyond what was sold that day. I cannot begin to express how happy I am about how the day turned out. I was so pressed for time and felt so behind schedule that I was beginning to worry. My turnout was smaller than I had hoped for however everyone did a lot better than expected. I was joined by my friend and artist Deanna Davoli. I served Fresh German Bread contributed by the Brandon Fresh Market, and Fine Santo Domingo Coffee, contributed by Gerry Digver also available at the Brandon Fresh Market. My intentions with serving items that you can only get at the market was to help promote the market and to get some people who had never been to the market introduced to what is available. Over all things when so well that I am already making plans on my next open house event. I will definitely do another holiday event in December but am considering other times of the year as well. My only regret it that I only took a few pictures of my displays. I didn't have time to think about picking up my camera to get some of the event. I didn't get into Hoggetowne this year. Which is ok. It would have been a stretch to get totally prepared for it in time anyways. Granted it could be done but it would take a lot more effort and time than I put into Bejeweled Faerie now. However I do have plans on applying for 2008. I did applied at the deadline this year which I knew was working against me. For the 2008 faire I will apply as soon as I see them accepting applications. But there have been so many changes and so much development with the Bejeweled Faerie that I will welcome the slow down come January.
November 19, 2006 Had a killer time at the Sarasota Medieval faire. Made some good money and better yet made some really good contacts, and met a lot of really nice people and new friends. I loved every minute of it. I think I even turned my mom into a Rennie this weekend. It was wonderful. My only regret is that I didn't take that many pictures. I stayed relatively busy and I didn't have a whole lot of time to fidget with the camera. I am also submitting my application for Hoggetowne Medieval faire, in Gainesville. Hoggetowne Runs Jan 27-28 and Feb 2-4. I will post information up as soon as I know more about that show. I also plan on taking many pictures and getting more stuff up on my website. before the end of next week. I had to take a few things off since they sold down at SMF. But that it quite alright, it just means that I have to make more stuff and put more stuff up on my site.
I have so much momentum going in my business
right now and I am so loving it. I just hope that I can keep up with it and my
day job. I am also looking into having a professional sign printed for my booth
and buying a trailer for my car. Believe it or not my car is actually not quite
big enough. We found this out when we had to really try hard to find space in
the car for everything and my mom coming home Sunday night after we totally took
the booth down, Go figure. November 8, 2006 This is the last week before the Sarasota Medieval Fair. Friday I go down to set up. I am really looking forward to this show. This should be a whole lot of fun. At the end of October I got a call from Stone Hill Science Fiction Club and was fortunate enough to get in last minute to their. Necronomicon Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Convention that took place the weekend before Halloween. My mom was able to take the time off to come and help me which was fantastic. We had a really great time, met a lot of wonderful people, talented authors and artists, and say some really creative costumes. This will definitely be an event that I do next year. Other exciting news, I have scheduled my first open house. To be held at my home on December 3rd. I am also pleased to have another local artist joining me for the evening. I will have more updates and new pictures in two weeks following the medieval fair.
October 2006 So many things are happening lately I am beginning to wonder if I will be able to keep up. Which I guess is a good thing. The Brandon Fresh Market is back in swing and I am gearing up for the Sarasota Medieval Festival in November. I am also arranging my Christmas Gift Baskets that I plan on having available by the first weekend in November. I have plans for my Displays as well. I hope to take the existing trays that I use and create a slanted platform for them so that they can be viewed at a slight angle. I just need to get a little help from some one that is a little more of a carpenter than I am. I am also thinking about teaching a few workshops. If I go ahead with this idea it will definitely be after the Sarasota Medieval Fair more than likely I will wait until over the spring or summer when things die down a bit since things in Florida are pretty slow that time of the year. I have been asked in the past about teaching, but never seriously thought about it. Well now I am considering it. Once I ask around to find out if there is an interest, and figure out what a good starting class would be then I will work on putting together a lesson plan that is light and fun. But I also need to consider the skill level of the people that I am working with, and what would they want to be able to accomplish. I could also teach a class about mixing bath salts. That one might be a good one especially at Under the Gypsy Moon . But these are all things that I will have to think about seriously over the coming weeks and decide exactly what I want to do and how I want to approach this. But I see it as possibly being an easy and profitable venue for me to share my talents with others, and I don't just mean monetarily however nice that may be. At the market and other places I set up my tables I am constantly meeting new people and interacting with them I find it very rewarding. By deciding to teach a few workshops here and there I think that this will enhance my level of interaction. I feel that I have as much to learn as those I teach.
Late Edition to September 2006 Ok so I have had My first Craft show for the season. Didn't do as well as I would have liked to but it was a new show at a new venue and a really good warm-up for the season. I have set up a display at Under the Gypsy Moon In Brandon. I also felt bad not having any information to link to as the store does not have a website. So I put them a page together. I really wanted them to have the full respect of all the other places that I am associated with. it is a wonderful little store with even more wonderful people. I have also decided to add some pages related to the Metaphysical and spiritual properties of gemstones. This will be an ongoing project that will slowly evolve so keep checking back to see how it goes. Drop me an email if there is a particular stone that you want to see listed. I also have changed the cosmetics of my link bar. Keith, for as long as I have been doing this site decided to check it out and show some guys at work. Well The informed me that I have "home panties" on my links section and that they were really disappointed to find that it was parties. I guess that it is just guys with their heads in the gutter. So I changed it a little bit. I kind of like the leaves better anyways. I have also added an order form on the Ordering and policies page. So rather than sending an email you can just fill out the form and hit submit. Much more user friendly I think I also hope to add more items to the site soon as well. I know I have really been dragging my heels on this one as I hate trying to get the perfect picture and writing a description but it is coming I promise. I have one more weekend off then the Fresh Market Starts back up on October 7th. I think this year is off to a really good start. Both being out there in person as well as all of the changes I have planned for my website. See you around!
September 2006 I am excited that it is almost time for the Fresh Market to open for the season. I really miss being out there each week and I especially miss all the fresh bread, produce and homemade confections that seem to make it home with me each week. I am also working with the people at Under The Gypsy Moon, a local metaphysical store to show some of my jewelry. I will post more information on that as soon as I have it there. I am also planning on attending a relatively new local craft fair that happens monthly at Sacred Grounds Coffee House and New World Brewery, called Crafting Out Loud. I am really excited to have found the article in the Weekly Planet as this will hopefully open new doors for me. I have begun to feel a bit stagnated and out of touch with my art having not been exposed to any events for the summer. I do not feel like I have allowed my self and the Bejeweled Faerie to grow as much as it could have over the summer months, and am anxious to pick up the momentum again. Once you get things going then things start to snowball into action but if you let things stop and the momentum starts to die down some times it can be difficult to get it going again, I just hope I haven't let things sit for too long.
August 2006 Still working on projects around that house. Looking for a new job (since we all have to be part of the real world sometimes) USF finally sent me my diploma so now I need to come up with some thing to do with that before my cats destroy it, they like to do that to important things and such. On the jewelry front I have only been piddling around a bit. I have decided not to apply to do the Bay Area Renaissance Faire at MOSI for 2007. I don't feel that I am ready at this point to make that kind of commitment. Bay Area Ren Fest is 7 weekends long. That is a rather big undertaking that I am going to try for in 2008. And focus my efforts on other local events and smaller fairs. I very much am looking forward to starting back at the Brandon Fresh Market in October, as I really miss the interaction with my community and all of the neat people I get to meet. I know I have been quite the slacker on getting more things added to my website. But trust me the photos are on my camera it is just a matter of timing. I need to sit down and start cropping and resizing everything to that they can be added to the site. I do plan on doing that very soon.
July 2006 July went by really fast. I didn't have any shows scheduled nor did I work on the website any like I said I was going to do. I did finish setting up my studio and came up with some really new design ideas, in addition to a bridal Party set in Swarovski Crystal Pearls that included Earrings and necklaces for 4 brides maids, Earrings necklace and bracelet for the Bride, and lovely necklace for each the mother of the bride and groom. Plenty of things are in the works. But I am not yet ready to bring them out for the world to see. The month of August should bring new things to the Bejeweled Faerie. So look for updates in the middle of August as I get more items up on the site and hopefully some new events as well.
June 2006, The Water Carnival and Illuminations Parade that I participated in as a vendor early this month taught me many things. Things were very slow but the atmosphere was very different than what I am used to . I got a lot of good ideas about my displays and presentation of my jewelry. even though I did not sell very much at all I had an excellent time and got to spend two lovely days overlooking spring bayou with my mother and aunt. I received my acceptance to the Sarasota Medieval Fair and will be working on revamping some of the aspects of my displays. Increasing my inventory and now have an excuse to make a few more costumes. I am really looking forward to it and can't wait for the summer to be over. I have picked up a few commissioned projects this month including jewelry for a bridal party. Am working to rearrange my house so that my workspace is no longer shared with the computer room. We are moving the Daybed out of the guest bedroom so that it can be used a a sofa in the computer room and converting the guest room into my studio. I have also taken the plunge and invested in a small torch and am currently teaching myself some more advanced metalworking techniques. so far I am quite pleased with the results. I will post pictures when I get a little better with my techniques. All in all it has been a pretty exciting month full of change and growth, not just with my jewelry but in other aspects of my life as well. I just hope that I can keep up the momentum.
May 2006, The season has ended at the Brandon Fresh Market. It is kind of sad but the weather has been getting really hot and it is a big commitment and a lot of work to set up like that every weekend. I welcome the break. Over the summer I have a limited number of shows scheduled. As of yet I only have 2 and don't know if I will be adding to the list. I plan on devoting my time to building up this web site a little more, getting more designs listed and available as well as doing home parties. I have plans to attend the Sarasota Medieval Fair in November and am currently awaiting a response as to if my application has been accepted. I have so many ideas for new designs I want to make both for jewelry as well as accessories, plans for improving my workspace and the overall usage of the house. I have also just completed my Bachelors degree and will be contemplating my next career move. Some many changes I am excited to see what the coming months will hold. |