Sunday, November 6, 2011

gifted hand 2011

One of my most favorite shows both as a vendor and as a shopper is coming up this weekend - The Gifted Hand Fine Art and Craft Show!
This show takes place Friday November 11th, 11am-7pm & Saturday November 12th 9am-4pm at the Ramada Inn (tennis court area), 215 High St. Ellsworth, Me.

This show has been listed as one of the top ten winter craft shows to attend in New England in the Boston Globe.com Travel blog - and for good reason!

Be there or be sqaure!

Monday, October 31, 2011

no tricks, just treats!

This savvy shopper (and one of my biggest fans!) snapped up this most unusual OneWomanStudio tote bag at the recent Hall-Dale Art and Craft Show in Farmingdale, ME. The tote is fashioned from a SolidGold dog food bag which appears to be made of a reflective type of material. I think it would make a great trick-or-treat bag!

Joyce is also sporting a gorgeous strand of chunky amber from local jeweler Laurie LaBar of Spirit House Jewelry - my very entertaining and delightfully irreverent neighbor at the show!

But wait! That's not all!
Later that afternoon Joyce was lucky enough to be holding the winning raffle ticket and scored one of my Alpaca totes as well! Woo-hoo!

But was it luck or was it karma? You see, Joyce co-owns McKenney Tree and Landscaping in Richmond, ME, which earlier in the week had donated their services to hang a banner over Main St. advertising this very craft show!

Yup. See how that works ;)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

common ground fair 2011

Busy, busy, busy! The turnout at the fair has been great! Lots of happy customers sporting my bags :)
The horse totes are a big hit this weekend!


Thursday, August 25, 2011

show time

This Saturday, August 27, I'll be hauling my self and a truck load of my work to the Designing Women  Art & Craft Show in Manchester, ME. The show takes place at the enchanting Longfellow's Greenhouses from 9:30-4:30 and a luncheon will be available. This is a juried show featuring high quality work from many of Maine's most gifted artisans!  Let's hope this Saturday is as sunny and calm as the day this photo was taken! 
 
Can you believe that ALL of that stuff fits into my teeny-tiny Toyota pick-up? My Daddy - who packed his family of 4 and all their accoutrements into a station wagon every summer and headed to an island in Maine - would be very proud :)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

bread winner

It was a proud and happy moment when I delivered close to 100 of these tote bags to Skowhegan, Maine earlier this week. These totes were created especially for the Maine Grain Alliance's annual Kneading Conference which kicks off today in Skowhegan, Maine. 

I've been recycling King Arthur Flour bags into totes for a while now (read more here), so when I heard that they were again sponsoring the Kneading Conference and the Maine Artisan Bread Fair - which wraps up this 3-day event on Saturday - I knew I had to come up with something special for the occasion!
The custom graphic (created by yours truly!) was screen printed on the totes by Beth Burke who owns Custom Cottons in Sedgwick, Maine. Beth opened her shop a few months ago and has been going non-stop ever since! And I can see why - she's great to work with, creative, and FAST! Not to mention she does beautiful work!
To get your very own limited edition 2011 Kneading Conference tote bag, stop by the conference headquarters at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds July 28-30. They'll be for sale during the conference and at the Artisan Bread Fair (same location). Hope to see you there!


Thursday, June 9, 2011

new work

I've been busily working on some fun new designs and finding lots of 'new' recycled materials to feed my passion! Pictured here are burlap coffee bean bags, Maine grain sacks, rescued seat belts, designer fabric samples, and of course... pet food bags!
These styles and many others can be found at The Maine Grind in Ellsworth, Works of Hand in Winter Harbor, and coming soon to the Center for Maine Craft pop-up store in The Maine Mall, South Portland!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

first show of the season!


The 2011 Northeast Livestock Expo is happening this weekend, and OneWomanStudio will be there! This will be my first time at this event, and what a perfect venue for my recycled feed bag totes!
The Expo takes place May 20-22 on the grounds of the Windsor Fair in Windsor, Maine. Look for OneWomanStudio in the Fiber Arts tent. Hope to see you there!

Oh, and could you please bring some sunshine with you?

Sunday, April 17, 2011

re-box

Call me crazy... but I make my own shipping boxes. I just can't see buying a brand new box when there is so much perfectly good cardboard out there being thrown away! And while I do love sewing, my first love was construction. As in building construction. Bird houses, sheds, a house... yes, a house! Granted, I did have help. And if he'd followed my plans, it would still be standing today... but that's a whole 'nother story...
Anyway, I love taking solid, flat material and turning it into a 3 dimensional object; Designing, measuring, figuring, cutting... it's just a fascinating process.
Although as I was doing this photo shoot, I noticed that this box looked remarkably similar in size to a 18" pizza box... If only I'd thought of that before! I could have saved myself a lot of designing, measuring, figuring, cutting... ;)
The graphics on the appliance boxes I re-use are just fabulous! I love the 'universal language' of instructive images!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

sunday project

Making interior pockets for some of the messenger bags,


evolved into a new idea using the scraps... Love that pieced/patchwork look! 

Thursday, January 20, 2011

a bit cozy

For those of you who are unaware of it - I wear glasses. All the time. Without them I'm practically blind, so except when I'm sleeping, those babies are always perched on my nose.
And since I have to wear the darn things constantly, I like to make sure I'm sporting the most fashionable pair I can afford, which is very easy since I discovered the world of online prescription eye-glasses. Got a spare 15 bucks? Well then, you can get yourself some brand new specs! 
But alas, along with each and every fabulous pair  I've ordered (I think I'm up to 6 now), comes a cheesy, plastic glasses case... Yeah, I guess if I wanted to carry ALL of my glasses around with me at once, I could use the spare cases. But that would be weird.
So, as I set about this morning to do a little woodworking, a light bulb went on over my head . As I removed my newest purchase - great big owl-like 'work' glasses - from their cheesy little case and turned to rummage through a drawer full of  loose and mistreated drill bits, a thought occurred to me: 

Cheesy Glasses Case meet Mistreated Drill Bits...

Saturday, January 8, 2011

DIY labels

Just had to share the end-product of what has been a 3-day project (including a trip to Bangor for materials I ended up not using. Sigh...)
It all began when I went into production on my newest item (details of which will be unveiled soon!), and found that I didn't have any labels swanky enough to adorn the latest addition to my creative offerings.  I've always made my own labels and hang-tags - mostly from paper sandwiched between transparent contact paper or some variation of that - but these needed to be something a little classier, professional.
So first I went online to see what I could find, and "you want HOW MUCH  for 100 labels, and it's going to take HOW LONG to get them??" - was my reaction. Then I noodled around looking for some DIY-fabric-label advice. They all pointed to printable iron-on sheet that you can use in your home printer, which I was lucky enough to find locally.

I had originally wanted to use twill tape for the actual label material, but found that to be too 'bumpy' and ended up using plain ol' muslin which worked out perfectly! The graphics came out nice and crisp and the adhesive from the label paper sealed the fabric and will prevent any fraying of the edges. Perfecto!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

flour power


Not unlike the Medieval British warrior from whence its name is derived, King Arthur Flour is the stuff of legends. This 100% USA grown wheat flour is - as each bag proclaims - "never bleached, never bromated", and is the purest, most consistently high quality flour you will ever use. Just ask any baker worth his or her weight in - well, bread - and they are sure to agree.

OK, but what does this have to do with  recycling? 

Well, all those bakers use a whole lotta bags of flour, and all those bags mean a lot of raw material for me to make my recycled tote bags out of! And that is just what I brought to the King Arthur Flour-sponsored Kneading Conference and Artisan Bread Fair up in Skowhegan, ME this past July. Was I hoping my King Arthur emblazoned tote bags would catch the eye of one of their reps? Of Course! And did that happen? Heck, yeah! And in a big way...
Long story short, my recycled flour bag totes are now available at The Baker's Store, King Arthur Flour's flagship retail location in Norwich, VT. And they are a hit! So much so that I've had to seek out additional sources for empty bags to work with, and was lucky enough to get hooked up with Amato's Bakery in Westbrook, ME. 
brothers John and Anthony Amato pose in front of pallets of King Arthur flour and a Medieval looking dough thingy
This huge bakery - family owned and run since its 1902 inception - uses tons King Arthur bread flour (by the 100lb bag-full) to create their amazing breads and rolls, and General Manager, John Amato and his merry band of bakers have been kind enough to set aside those empty bags for me! And if I time it right, I usually end up with a fresh-from-the-oven loaf to take home with me (not that it ever lasts that long...). Thanks guys!