Guest blogging

Hi there. I'm Trish from Little Silver Stars and I'll be your guest blogger this month!
I guess the best way to introduce myself is to send you to my blog, littlesilverstars, rather than bore you with details all over again. I've been an etsy seller since 2005, and a member of EVA since it began. And while my job sometimes keeps me much busier than I would like, I really try my best to focus on my true passion at the end of the day, making jewelry.
I thought a fun way to start the month is to show you my workspace. (This has nothing to do with the fact that I just cleaned and organized it today, I swear it. I also have no idea what happened to that bag of cookies that were in the pantry...)

Anyway, the desk is usually coated with coils of sterling silver wire or scraps, loose crystals and pearls, tools, assorted findings and one of my two cats. Tonight it's just got a ring and a pair of earrings I am working on at the moment.

I have two mascots on or around my desk all the time, depending on how much real estate I have. The first on is my pink glittery deer. I bought it at Christmastime two years ago in a bookstore, and I just think she's so cute I can't bring myself to pack her away. The second is a turquoise garden gnome my sister gave me. No real reason for him, I just like him.

I use a planter for my pen/pencil/crochet hook/random tool holder. It's bursting at the moment. I am sort of a pen hoarder I think. There's also always some jewlery hanging off of it, like these earrings. I made these a long time ago but I think they're boring, so I have just left them there so I don't forget to redo them. They are now tarnished and dusty.

This is the red cabinet that I keep just about everything in. It's about as organized as it gets in here. It's packed pretty tight with random junk, you can even see my hammers on top, which haven't seen the inside of the cabinet in months.
I am realizing as I post these photos that my office looks my prettier in the daylight. Oh well, you get the idea!

So that's it. My little work area. I dream of the day I will have an actual house where I can set things up more permanently, maybe have a larger corner of the universe to work in. But you deal with what you got. In fact some of you with houses of your own might even have smaller work spaces than I do, so here's me not complaining.

So anyway, stay tuned this week for a very special giveaway of one of my own original designs! Check back soon!

And one last thing....

This is Bella. If you stop by, she would like to sync with your iPod!

Update on the Vegas Show

I had a wonderful time at the Glass Craft Vegas show this year. I met a LOT of talented artists there from jewelry designers, enamelers, and of course, glass arts.
This was a great venue to use for meeting others and getting some great networking started. I may even be teaching a class or 2 there next year, but have to get with some people and meet the submission deadline - - hope I make it!
Here are some pics of the showroom floor. Most of the sellers are glass artists, but there are also sellers who carry findings and supplies, PMC, chain mail, enameled pieces for jewelry and jewelry designers who don't actually make glass beads but use them in their product.

Jeannie

Off to the Vegas Glass Expo

Hi Again,

It is very late, going on 1am and I am still preparing for the Vegas Glass Expo at the South Point Hotel and Casino. I am on the road at 6am, so as usual, I am cutting it close.

This is a great event for everything glass and also no-so-glass stuff, too, so I wanted to point out some of the "other" things that are available there, if anyone is interested.

Of course, there's ALL glass stuff there - - stained glass, fused glass, lampwork (like me), sculpture, marbles, goblets - - you name it, along with a ton of suppliers. They have beginning glass classes there also for anyone who just wants to try their hand at one of the many aspects of glass.

But along with all those glass classes, they also have chain mail classes, PMC classes, wire wrapping classes, photography classes and many more. They also have various lectures on being successful in business. It's definitely a great place to gather info and learn a thing or 2.

Please check out the link below if you are interested. This is an annual event, so if you can't make it this year (cutting it pretty close since it starts tomorrow), but maybe you can make plans for next year.

Glass Craft and Bead Expo

Jeannie

The Many Talents of the East Valley

Here are some pix of my favorite items up for sale this week from our talented group of Artisans of the East Valley. Our group is a varied mix of artists from painting to paper and sculpture to shrinky dinks.

Please check out their Etsy sites.

Support our economy, support local business, support our artists!

1. http://littlesilverstars.etsy.com

2. http://kandeslee.etsy.com

3. http://JensAZ.etsy.com

4. http://PaperMango.etsy.com

5. http://uninhibitedspirit.etsy.com

6. http://slightlysteamed.etsy.com

7. http://BirdWatching.etsy.com

8. http://reneelareine.etsy.com

9. http://thesilvernest.etsy.com

10. http://JillHelms.etsy.com

11. http://BirdsBubbles.etsy.com

12. http://JeansBeads.etsy.com

March meeting re-cap.

We had a great meeting in March! It was the 4th Wednesday of the month this time around. Nobody wanted to do a St. Patrick's Day meeting so we changed it. Jeannie, Trish, Jen and myself were there ... and I felt we made a lot of progress! We discussed attendance, and began the design of a new system that will hopefully encourage attendance. I believe it will help for some and perhaps discourage attendance for those who have been involved with the group half-heartedly.

At this meeting, each person there chose a special role that they will have from this meeting until the next:
- Jen is going to bring an activity to the next meeting. For anyone who is interested, she is bringing supplies to make ATC's.
- Jeannie is going to write up some blog posts for this blog
-Trish is doing some research on no-cost or low-cost ways of advertising EVA.
- I will be officially reviewing the book, The Handmade Marketplace and sharing a copy of Artful Blogging.

Trish brought a whole bunch of her new wire wrapped work to share with us. It is really great! Check it out.

Our theme for the April meeting is "Desserts and Treats"

Our Spring Time exchange items for March ...

Artist of the Month: Jen Rothstein

It has been awhile since we have had a featured artist of the month. Sorry to be so flaky on this.
Our current artist of the month is: Jen Rothstein

1. Who in your life has influenced you most creatively, and why?
My Mother. She loves to paint watercolors. I learned so much from her and there was always a lot of crafting supplies in the house to work with, while I was growing up.

2. Describe a memory from art class in your youth?
Oh wow, there are so many. I took drawing, sewing and ceramics in High School. I think my fondest memories were in ceramics class, just working with the clay and picking out the glazes. I remember making my first clay bowl on the potters wheel, well my first that didn't crack in firing. I was so proud of it. Still have it, somewhere.

3. What is your creative workspace like?
Uhm, that would be my dining room table. I have a small house so that's where I can work. It's got good lighting. I try to keep it clean, but I have all my boxes of stuff heaped around the table, with just enough room left over for hubby and I to eat there. Someday, I hope to have an entire room dedicated to all my crafting stuff.

4. Name your two favorite:
Books - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Marley and Me
Movies - probably the same
Bands - 3 Doors Down, Jethro Tull
Websites - Too many to pick from ;o)

5. What is your favorite month of the year and why?
I like October. It's just starting to cool off here in Arizona and I can go outside with my dogs.

6. What is your day job?
Currently, I'm starting my own Home Staging Business, but I also work at a pet resort.

7. Tell us about creative projects or classes that you would like to pursue ...
I would like to take some altered art classes. I do some altered art, but I really want to learn more techniques. The idea of taking found items and making them into art using varied methods, appeals to me, sort of a recycling process.

8. If you were a historical figure, who would you like to be and why?
Hmm, this is a hard question. I think I would like to be Albert Einstein. What an awesome mind and personality he had.

List your etsy or anywhere else on-line that your art is featured:
jensaz.etsy.com
http://dog-ma-jen@blogspot.com
www.atcsforall.com member name - jensaz
www.arttradermag.com - one of my ATC's will be featured in an upcoming issue

February Meeting

Last night was our February EVA meeting at Inside the Bungalow. We further discussed many of the January topics including roles of EVA members, rules for membership, social networking and blogging. Our March meeting will be a very important meeting for EVA as we finalize a lot of the details regarding how the group operates. Jill, Jeannie, Jen and myself attended this meeting. A big thanks goes out to them for contributing so many wonderful ideas on books, marketing, craft shows, motivational speakers, etc. I love the knowledge that is obtained from sharing ideas at our meetings. It is very valuable. In addition to our talented EVA members, Peggy of Wire Wears came to the meeting as a visitor. She makes some marvelous wire jewelry and incorporates found and recycled objects into her pieces. Peggy just set up a shop on etsy. We hope to see her at additional meetings.

Here are the exchange items from February. The theme was Love.

The theme for March is Easter.