AlyxAndrea Design will be at the 2013 Fresh Air Craft Fair 
 

Date: May 11th 2013, 10am – 3pm Rain or Shine

Location: Elver Park, 1250 McKenna Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719

 

 

What is the Madison Parks Fresh Air Craft Fair?

Madison Parks is pleased to host the Fresh Air Craft Fair on May 11th, from 10am-3pm. Local artists and craft vendors will be showcasing and selling their original works including jewelry, pottery, paper goods, glass works, and other handmade items.

 

Activities

Kids: There will be plenty of activities for kids including spring themed kid’s crafts. The Wisconsin Kiter’s Club will be flying kites for demonstration, as well as hosting a kite making workshop, so kids can bring home their own kite creation. Also, Madison Parks hayrides will be available for $2 per person around Elver Park.

Food: Attendees will be able to purchase snacks from Curt’s Gourmet Popcorn and Jim’s Kettle Corn. The Santa Fe Food Cart will be serving burritos, tacos, and other southwest classics.
Music: Local folk/pop musician Adam Rostad will be performing from 12pm-3pm. This versatile artist creates original songs and unique covers in many different styles and genres. Don’t miss this up-and-coming artist!

Vendor List

• Jenny Blasen Pottery: Handmade stoneware pottery, coffee mugs, yarn bowls, ceramic plates, and soap dishes.
• Copper Heart Designs: Handmade jewelry created using a variety of metalsmithing techniques including etching, enameling, soldering and wirework.
• Makers Guild: Paper and Fiber Arts with a focus on eco crafts - felted crowns, whimsical up-cycled fiber critters, felted wool balls and blocks, pin cushions, journals and stationary
• Meredith Dillman: Watercolor fantasy art
• Danidorem: Handmade Eco-Friendly Jewelry
• JS Designs Studio: Custom children and infant clothing and accessories with comfort in mind
• Three Fates Design: Beaded art work
• Twisted Planet: Upcycled jewelry and crocheted stuffed animals
• Hazy Daze Glass: Unique handmade glass items
• One Thirty Jewelry: Handmade jewelry: Rough cut stones. Wood. Metalwork. Vintage chain. Organic. Asymmetrical. One of a kind.
• One Thirty Jewelry: Jewelry that combines metal techniques with traditional materials, including wood, semi-precious stones and vintage beads
• Shari Wittman: Paper creations including envelopes and note cards, as well as origami items
• Deirdre Adele Thompson: Beaded jewelry
• The Gourd Lady: Painted bird house gourds, butterfly houses, wood bird houses, and suet feeders, as well as solar garden art
• Mrs. Bow Wowz: Handmade dog treats
• Akarim African Enterprise: Hand woven baskets
• reVINYLized: Repurposed records created into fashionable jewelry, clocks, and other items.
• Randee’s Rock Gardens: Container gardens
• Aych: T-Shirt Design, Screen Printing, and Drawing
• N*Studio: Functional pottery/ceramics with a touch of color and whimsy. Textile goods, including handbags, quilts, and home accessories.
• ECE’s Candle’s: All-natural 100% Soy Candles
• Valora Vintage: Vintage rings and earrings, as well as hand blown glass ware
• Ashley Schultz: Handmade polymer clay sculpture and hand beaded glass/stone jewelry
• Selina De Haan: Beaded jewelry – Bracelets, earrings, and necklaces
• Bibi’s Arts: Handmade sterling silver, copper and brass jewelry
• AlyxAndrea Design: Beaded ribbon jewelry and accessories

Admission

Free

 

Parking

Parking will be available at Elver Park in parking lot adjacent to the Craft Fair as well as in the additional lot at Elver Park.

Bugs

What is it about creepy crawlers that are so obnoxious and or gross when they're in your house or crawling up your shirt but sooooo much fun when on jewelry.  In high school I loved spiders and never took off a spider web necklace.  I still love spiders but I absolutely love this bee pendant I found at Hobby Lobby.  This is one of the first necklaces I made and also the first one I wanted to keep for myself.  But since I'm having a hell of a time trying to sell anything anyway I figured I'd put it on my Etsy shop.  So I can still wear it until it sells :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlyxAndreaDesign

My first few necklaces just featured little charms and buttons on the side tied bow and this was the first time I put a pendant on one.  I still kept put buttons on the bow that was tied on the side which I have since moved away from.  I am now keeping most of my necklaces left untied so that you can tie it to any length in the back.

Do you like insects in fashion?  If so what kind?

Custom piece

A friend of mine asked me to make a custom necklace for a good friend of hers.  Her friend who is 39 just found out that she has a 7cm tumor in her brain.  My friend wanted me to use her favorite color green and find a pendant that portrayed a sense of peace.  She expressed that there are few other sentiments for her friend from childhood who will soon be leaving her 2 young children.

I was worried that I would have a hard time but me friend was happy with it.  I wasn't able to take a quality picture of it but here it is.

I went to the craft store with no clue what I would get. I ended up going with a phoenix because it represents   rebirth or transformation.  I also feel all birds portray freedom and insight.

I've been in social services for over 10 years and it's a new concept for me to help people in this creative way.  Just like counseling someone in my office doesn't solve a problem creating a piece of jewelry doesn't either.  All we can ask for is that our words or actions may offer a little bit of comfort when life hands you a lousy hand.

I'd love to hear thoughts about this.  Thank you!!!


www.alyxandreadesign.webs.com

:(

I really hate this time of year.  I hate that there is only 2 minutes of daylight all day and it's cold and wet and miserable.  I also hate that it is so hard for the clients I work with.  I work with women who are homeless and indirectly with families that are homeless.  Everyone is just so sad because with good cause they feel alone and unloved.  I can not imagine spending Christmas day in a homeless shelter.  Actually, wandering the streets because the shelter is only open at night.  The ladies have to leave at 8am and nothing is open so they generally have to spend the entire day outside.  It is absolutely heartbreaking.

On Friday, the staff had a training on secondary trauma and compassion fatigue and we talked about how hearing all of the terrible stories from our clients is causing us trauma.  This wasn't the first time I heard about the subject but it hit home more this time because I have been soooo crabby with my family and sooooo tired ALL the time.

And to add to all of this I have zero dollars for xmas and still have not sold anything on Etsy.  I went to Edge Collectibles to check on my display and no sales there either.  Of course the only signs outside advertise for games and collectibles.  The person doing the art displays is still working on signage.

I hate to be so grumbly but I'm just blah today.  Below is the pic of what blah translates into as far as jewelry making is concerned....hideousness.

Big day

Today is the day!!!  My husband was up all night designing a logo and the tags for the store and he is about to print them off so we can put them on the jewelry.  Then we're heading over to the store after 10am. !!

Experiment

So it took me about 3 hours to perfect this new design but I really like it.  This ribbon is more whimsical but I think a solid colored ribbon will be attractive to people that are looking for a more understated look than some of my other pieces.

Brick and mortar

So it's official...I will have a display to sell my jewelry at Edge Collectibles at 4 E. Fulton St. Edgerton WI.  I will start on 12/1.  I'm soooo excited.  I absolutely can not believe that something I made is going to be on sale at an actual store.

Here's a pic of the necklace I was wearing to make the sale.

I also brought in ornaments and other jewelry to show her.  She loved it and is excited to have my products in her store.  She even told me to raise my prices!

New Adventure

I'm embarking on an exciting new adventure and blogging seems to be the thing to do these days so here goes nothing.
About a month ago I made a necklace inspired by pic on Pintrest.  I put my own spin on what I saw and ended up with this 

I thought I had created other people might buy so I decided to look around for a way to sell my new creation.  I had heard of Etsy through my addiction to Pintrest so I started a shop.   Here's me: http://www.etsy.com/people/amitchell182  Now I have 25 products in my "shop."  I've also had over 130 views of my necklaces.  However, I have had zero sales except for a couple of co-workers.

I currently work full time in social services and consider myself a very patient person but when it comes to dumping money into a project that I'm hoping to make some extra money from I get a little nervous.  But, today I got some exciting news as well as did some scary math.

For the scary part first...I started using accounting software to track my expenses and hopefully income soon.  I have kept MOST of my receipts so I went to town adding $1.47 for ribbon here and $6.00 for a pendant there and found out I have invested a LOT of cash into this little adventure.  I really thought I had been keeping my spending to a minimum.  I used to have a part-time contract counseling job in addition to a full-time job but with the state's last round of budget cuts my contract was not renewed.  So, I've basically been living paycheck to paycheck and I can not to be throwing money around like this.  I know it takes money to make money but jiminy crickets this is scary.  So, I have been a tad bit anxious today which has caused me to pour my stress into making more jewelry :)

But like I said I've also had some exciting news today.  Due to an amazing husband who has been working hard to build up local contacts in order to expand his graphic design/visual comm. career he encouraged me to speak to a local store that is looking for local artists to rent display space.  So we made a trip to Edge Collectibles in the lovely tiny town I call home, Edgerton WI.  I spoke to the owner and have an appointment with her tomorrow to show her my jewelry and discuss the possibility of having it on display and for sale in an actual store.  From what I've gathered in my recent research this in practically unheard of especially for people who have no idea what they are doing.  So wish me luck!!!!!