Towson Town Recap

Wow, What a crazy week this turned out to be! Between dodging the rain and tornado-like-winds on Thursday, breaking a second part of my tent,  using duct tape in creative architectural ways, unusually cold weather on Saturday, and more unexpected downpours on Sunday, I had a rather wonderful show!

I'm being a bit dramatic, but all of you who do outdoor shows know what I'm talking about: Murphy's Law. It's the only constant thing in this crazy outdoor show world we work in! Right? But with all the insanity comes the wonderful rewards of meeting so many new people.

Since I grew up in Towson, whenever I work the Towson Town Festival it's always more of a reunion than a show in some respect. I always look forward to  seeing old friends from school and from my childhood and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who stopped by to see me at this years show!

Shows aside, I'm spending today updating the website and taking promotional photos and then I should weed my poor garden that has been neglected during this crazy week!

xoxox - Amy

Update in Photos/ FREE SHIPPING CODE!

New Japanese dishes I tried cooking! 

Tofu Tempura in dipping sauce, yum!

New style of earrings, making my own sterling silver earwires again

So proud of this piece! Wood grain sample pin, so beautiful!

Brand new earring design I'm also very happy with, ready for finishing.

Piles of my signature flower sliders now in 3 different sizes, how exciting :)

Newly listed Earrings available in my Shop today!

And the best news I have for everyone is: I finally got into Artscape!!

 I'm so excited to be taking part in this years Artists Market and I hope you all will get the chance to stop by and see me at this years show!

To celebrate this joyous occasion I'm giving free shipping on all my products in my Etsy shop  with this Promo Code:  ARTSCAPE11

use it at check out and receive your items free of shipping charges now through 4/30/11!

xoxox Amy

Food I'm loving

I've been busy in the kitchen the last few days, thought I'd share some of my favorite creations. I've been trying really hard to like salad (what kind of vegetarian doesn't love salad...? me...) so I've been spicing up those boring green leaves with more lovable ingredients like the one pictured above. My mom gave me some Chia seeds which are supposedly all the health food rage right now. I've been sprinkling them on salads and in my oatmeal. They're actually pretty tasty if you can get over the tapioca like texture.

The other thing I've been trying really hard to do is make my own hand rolled sushi/maki rolls. The ones pictured are just a plain seasoned rice roll and they were 美味しい  (delicious)!  

The last photo is not something I made but Jacques Torres chocolates my Mom got me when we were in NY a few days ago and I'm so in love with the "wicked fun" flavor which is a ganache with  ancho and chipotle chiles! 

What foods are you all loving right now? 

good day for gardening

new salad greens containers

organic lettuce is in my  future!

morning glory seedlings for transplanting out front!

Start of my bean trellis system, 2 more to go

so many seeds (maybe too many)

New indoor organic herbs and spinach containers

Finally started my first round of planting in the raised bed today! It was a perfect day for it too. I'm really excited to try the beans again now that I have a new trellis for them to climb. I'm planning on staking two more and then stringing up a twine system for them to have plenty to vine up around.  I'm also anxious to get my Japanese vegetable seeds that I'm going to try this year, namely my black skinned Densuke Hokkaido watermelon!!  ( read more about them here, very interesting) I've never tried fruit but I'm determined to grow at least one of these expensive melons. As you can tell I'm super excited overall to get things growing!

Update in Photos/ Loch Raven recap

Frozen Hot chocolate at Serendipity NY

Trying my hand at flowers/herbs this year!

Seedlings 14 days in, not so great looking because of the cold weather 

Better looking indoor seedlings!

New photos of work. Used some of these as jury photos for Artscape

At a recent show

Hey everyone! So it's been another little blogless stretch! I've just been so busy working for shows that I've neglected updating, so apologies. I just wanted to recap my last show at LR High last weekend by saying what an excellent turn out we had! As you all may be aware, Art and Craft shows may not be around anymore for BCPS schools and as an artist and alum from LR, I hope from the bottom of my heart they revoke this. That aside, I always love working the LR show because of the familiar faces and the great atmosphere! Thanks everyone who came out to support Art in BCPS schools and for dropping by to say hi!

In other news, it's Spring! (even though it doesn't feel like it, right?) and I've been waiting for the perfect day to plant my vegetables in the tilled/weeded garden I slaved over last week. I also decided to try a few flowers this year. I'll let you know if they survive :)

The biggest addition we have to our budding little backyard farm is: Chickens!  I finally ordered 4 day old chicks for my birthday. They are all different breeds so we won't be getting them until the end of May. We're super excited to welcome them into our yard! So now with some luck, I'll be bringing  veggies, eggs, and flowers to the table this year and the best part is: I know what went into them.

What are you growing this year?

xoxoxo Amy 

Maryland Spring Craft Recap

As promised,  photos! This was the first year that we  attended both weekends and we will do it again next year. I always love this show because of all the kind and wonderful people we meet, both artists and customers. I just want to say another thank you to all of you I had the chance to chat with and get to know!  I also left  (of course) with some lovely items from other vendors including an awesome glow bowl from White Caterpillar, a gorgeous Japanese maple leaf necklace from MetalledWith, the loveliest soaps from Possum Hollow Farm Soap, and a to-die-for scrumptious Chocolate body scrub from Down to Earth Body Shop. Check them out if you get the chance, you won't regret it!

It's really tiring and a lot of work getting ready for a five day show but after each day and realizing how many awesome people I had the chance to really talk to and connect with, I know I wouldn't trade this for anything :).  During this last month of preparation, I have really moved my designs into some new territory. I realized  that in just a few weeks I'll be celebrating my official one year with my new collections. Changing my business image and work  has been both a crazy and rewarding journey and I'm super excited to begin this second year of shows. 

Come visit us  at Loch Raven High School and show your support for keeping Craft Shows alive in Baltimore County Public Schools! 

Happily exhausted

Hi everyone! So I've done it again: neglected to blog in my insanity of preparing for my shows! Well tonight I don't even have the energy to load photos, but I will tomorrow when I get the chance. I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all the wonderful new people I met and had a chance to chat with these last two weekends! Such a lovely show. What I will post tonight is what awaited me on the front page of Etsy when I came home: The prettiest treasury of Asian art inspired beauties! Now I'm off to make up for my lack of sleep this past month. See you all in the morning!

xoxoxox -Amy