Supporting Local Independent Shops

I recently faced the same dilemma that many of us will face over the next few weeks.  I was in Winners and I saw some big plastic trucks for 19.99 that my two little nephews would probably love.  I stood there for quite a while in front of them, thinking that for 19.99 times 2,  I could be finished my Christmas shopping for them, but I would be doing exactly what I said I didn't want to do - buy plastic and buy from big mega stores.  So I walked away.  I walked away and this past weekend I went to Kids Books on Broadway where one of the very helpful women working in the store knew exactly which books they had on space for 4 year olds.  I bought a beautiful book about a mouse who goes to space and a rocket ship board game.  I walked away happy that I was supporting local independent shops.

I want to live in a city where local independent shops can thrive.  

Below is a list of the amazing local independent shops and galleries who carry my handmade one of a kind jewelry.  I hope that you support some of these shops and other local independent retailers over the holidays.

British Columbia

Urbanity
2412 Granville Street
Vancouver
www.urbanity.ca

Edgemont Village Jewellers
3102 Edgemont Blvd
North Vancouver
www.edgemontjeweller.com

Stock Home Design
38036 Cleveland Avenue
Squamish
www.stockhomedesign.com

Salon D
166 Selby Street
Nanaimo

Gar-nish
120 Mackenzie Ave
Revelstoke
www.gar-nish.com

Alberta

Influx Jewellery Art Gallery
201-100 7th Avenue S.W
Calgary
www.influxjewellery.com

Saskatchewan

Mysteria Gallery
2706 13th Avenue
Regina
www.mysteria.ca

Ontario

Distill Gallery
55 Mill Street #47
The Distillery District
Toronto
www.distillgallery.com

Eastside Culture Crawl Paper Bag Project

I am honored to work with such a talented group of artists at The Onion Studio.  Last year for the Culture Crawl 5 of us participated in The Ring A Week Project.  This year 7 of us have participated in The Paper Bag Project - Recycling our Brown Paper Bags into Wearable Art.  

There have been little bits of paper bags overtaking a corner of my apartment for the past couple of months now.  This has been a true challenge for me....figuring out how I can manipulate paper to fit with my twists and turns that I crave for my designs.

In the past couple of weeks things have all come together.  This is the time when we finally see each others work, exchanging photos for posters and press releases.  This is the time when I find myself catching my breath because I realize that I am a part of this amazing creative group that continually inspires me and keeps me pushing my creative boundaries.  

This is the time when we sweep the polishing dust off of our studio floor and prepare to let you in.

This is the time that we hope some of the creative spirit that happens behind our studio doors will also inspire you.

Eastside Culture Crawl,  November 16-18.  The Onion Studio 1103 Union Street.
www.eastsideculturecrawl.com 

The Paper Bag Project

This year 7 Artists in the Onion Studio Building will be participating in the 

Paper Bag Project - Recycling Brown Paper Bags into Art Jewelry

for the Eastside Culture Crawl 

What's On My Bench

It was an enameling day in my studio today........

My Life In Jewels

I've been working on a new side project for the past little while.  I have started a new blog called My Life In Jewels.  I created My Life In Jewels because I wanted a place to tell my personal jewellery history and I wanted to learn other stories of jewellery.  I know that lots of people have pieces of jewellery that mean something to them and I want to learn about those stories.

Please have a look and if you have a story that you would like to share with me, I would be honored to share it on my blog with creds and links to you.

New Jewelry

New Cherry Blossom Necklace
I live on a street that is lined with big lovely cherry blossom trees. These trees are charming all year round, but they are absolutely divine when they are full of bright pink cherry blossoms. I so wish that this divineness stayed longer, but the cherry blossoms, like so many beautiful moments in life only stay for a very short time. The Cherry Blossom Necklace is a special necklace for those moments in life that are the most divine. 
Sterling silver, copper, enamel, freshwater pearls.

Renkum Artist Residency - A Little Movie.

While I was on my artists residency in Renkum Holland I created jewellery pieces based on the theme of movement, change, and growth.  I watched spring bloom around me and sewed brightly coloured felt into flower petals.  I accepted the changes that have been heaved my way recently and twisted wire into wheels.  I propelled myself to the other side of the world to solder wire into wings.  While I was doing this, my beau was making this video.  It's not until coming back to Canada until I realized how connected this video was to the work I was creating.