Arts Council Christmas Bazaar!

I've been at the studio every day getting ready for Cecil, but I'm REALLY excited about the Arts Council Christmas Bazaar this year. This is fun! It's really cool turning the upstairs of the Arts Council building into a bunch of cool little shops. Today, Vickie Clark amazed me by turning an otherwise drab corner of the Arts Council main classroom into a stunning jewelry boutique. It's all coming together better than I ever expected. Here's the cool ad we are posting tonight all over the Internet. Check it out!

Arts Council Christmas Bazaar!

The Arts Council Christmas Bazaar opens Saturday, December 4th, 5PM-9PM, UPSTAIRS in the Arts Council building on the NW corner of the Lamar Square. Come visit us after the parade (or even before)! This is not like any ho-hum "Home for the Holidays" Arts Council event you've seen before. It's an all-local, handmade, ultra-cool "mini-mall" with three separate stores to choose from. The Handmade Shop features stunning (and affordable!!!)jewelry by Vickie Clark and Fern Brown, "Mo-Chocolate" gourmet cookie mixes and candy's by Janet Dermott, Queen's Family Farm's fabulous dips, jams, candied nuts, Pam Allen's local honey, plus wreaths, scarves, holiday decor, etc etc etc! Wow! Store #2 is a "re-sell-it" shop featuring high quality, gently used, items. We've got doll house furniture, hand-carved African masks from the Ivory Coast, beautiful framed art, books, movies, clothes, dishes, just tons of amazing stuff and more coming in every day. Last but not least, store #3 is Peaceacre - you all know who that is! Handmade soaps, scrubs, lotion bars, spa salt bars, gift sets, and other natural bath and body care products. Peaceacre has added imported Bohemian cloth purses, lace scarves, and all kinds of new goodies just for this Bazaar! And the best part is, after Saturday, all three stores will be open every Thursday and Friday from Noon to 6PM, and Saturdays from 9AM-2PM though December 18th!

But wait, there's more! The amazing Kristie Boswell of Creatively Designed Photography will be doing Christmas portraits. Visit her Facebook page for details - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100001893811571

There will be frequent drawings for gift baskets, jewelry and other "door prizes." Check back for details!

More info is available on the Arts Council website at http://ACOBC.org.

See you all Saturday!

Upcoming Shows

First, I want to thank everybody for a great farmers market season. I want to acknowledge that Peaceacre kind of fell off the farmers market map there toward the end, but our loyal customers kept telling us we needed to take our show on the road and so we did. The success we had at some of the out of town shows has enabled me to invest in  bigger and better soap making equipment. I had trouble keeping up with demand in the past, making small batches, but with the new equipment, that should change. This is my second year in business, and I am learning as I go. Thanks for your patience! I could not have done any of this without my local loyal customers - Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Enough traveling for now. I am back in the area and will be at three major shows right here at home between now and Christmas.

The first is the annual craft show at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Stockton on Saturday, November 13th.

The second show is Amanda Kenter's fantastic Lamar Handmade Boutique, Saturday, November 20th at Memorial Hall in Lamar.

The third event is very exciting. Beginning during Lamar's "Home for the Holidays" celebration on the Square, December 4th, lots of very cool stuff is going to be going on in the Arts Council building at 206 West 10th Street, on the northwest corner of the Square.  Downstairs in the Gallery, Lamar jewelry artist Joanna Turnbull is hosting an "Artist's Market" featuring the work of a variety of artists from far and wide throughout the four state area. Upstairs, the Arts Council will host a handmade store along the lines of what I did last year when I opened Peaceacre to the public for the holidays, only MUCH expanded and full of surprises. It's going to be really cool, featuring awesome handmade items, demonstrations, even a rummage sale! So, to all you crafty ladies out there, if you are interested in taking part, email me at peaceacre@ymail.com ASAP! It's going to be fun! Visit this website frequently for updates!

Make It a Handmade Valentine's Day!

I finally took the "Handmade Pledge," though we've been trying to move toward as total a handmade lifestyle as possible for a long time now. From what we've seen on the web, a lot of people seem to be moving in this direction. We didn't do as good a job of sticking to the pledge at Christmas as we would have liked to, but we did buy handmade Christmas cards off Etsy, and put together some wonderful gift packages for out of town relatives with a variety of handmade and local products. My husband and I also made our gifts to each other. It's the kids that sent us into a  panic. It's hard to buy (or even make) handmade gifts for an eight year old boy. I don't know how to make LEGOs... yet...

But, everyone please note that Valentine's Day is on the horizon, and that's pretty much a grownup gift giving holiday. So this would be a great opportunity for all of us who have vowed to do better on our pledge to go 100% handmade! Start now, and build up you stamina toward next Christmas!

Here's a great start for handmade Valentine's Day gifts. My new friend Heather at "My Curly Red" makes amazing handcrafted jewelry, and here's a sample gallery of some of her work:

I bought a pair of earings for my daughter for Christmas from Heather, and I can personally attest to the beauty and quality of Heather's work. Her store, again, is located at http://www.etsy.com/shop/mycurlyred. She also has a blog at http://curlyreds.blogspot.com/. And thanks, Heather, for spreading the word about Peaceacre down there in Arkansas!