We're Getting in a Holiday State-of-Mind!

Meet Kiran Badola from Mountain Handicrafts...

I am an art, craft and design enthusiast. An alumna of National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, I also went to Kent State University to complete a course in JacqCAD weaving under the guidance of, Professor Janice Lessman-Moss. A keen weaver and textile designer, most of my scarves have been exhibited and sold at Gail Percy's trunk show, Washington DC; Gallery 143, Lazar's Art Gallery and Chestnut Hill Inc. in Canton and North Canton, and 78th. Street Studios in Cleveland, Ohio. I have designed table place-mats, cushion covers and table runners with the most exquisite digital weave structures using cotton yarns, for Palette Designs Inc., New York. I have been doing this for 20 yrs and this will be my first Avant-Garde show.

I would say that nature, pattern and colors inspire me to create. My education in Science, Art and Design are definitely what got me into crafting. I discovered my talent for this craft throughout my schooling.

 

I would describe my creative process as absorbing, meaningful and intricate. In 5 years I see myself as an individual label in the field of art and craft.

      Mountain handicrafts is all about originality and authenticity, creating

            handwoven textiles and textile books, whimsical children’s books and       clothing. We believe in hard work and dedication.  

Meet Lauren Heuer from Lauren Heuer Design...

I’m a fine artist focusing on whimsical and rustic signs and plaques. I’m also a full time graphic artist at Giant Eagle Market District. I have a love for cats, astrology, and preserving the environment. I have been doing this professionally, since 2013 and this will be my first Avant-Garde show. 

My everyday surroundings and the idea of everyone having a piece of my art in others homes is really what inspires me. I started making signs at Market District and quickly realized it’s something that people would appreciate owning. My family persuaded me to pursue my art talents since I wasn’t very skilled in Math or Gym ;-)

My creative process is a roller coaster. I get really inspired and then do a few days of researching to process my ideas better. Then I start a bunch of projects at once and that could take me a day, week or even a month to complete my original ideas.  From there, I tweak and readjust my art and perfect my thoughts constantly.

It has been almost 5 years since I started my Etsy store and I have learned so much. So, my hope is to start making more art within the next 5 years so I can have artwork in a consignment shop or a local art gallery. I have been invited to be in a few, just haven’t felt ready to take that next step.

The message behind my work is a simple and fun one...Ohio pride and foodie puns!

Meet Roseanne Rosenberger from RSquared Limited Edition...

Banker by day; beader/crafter by night!  Long time Cleveland area resident.  Married; two grown children. Lovin' life!

I've been crafting since I was a small child.  I remember making Christmas ornaments when I was six or seven.  My mom still uses them on her Christmas tree!   My dad would buy me different craft kits at the craft store in the mall. With these kits I taught myself how to do many crafts.  Many of those skills come in handy with the different jewelry techniques I use.  I have been seriously beading for about five years.  I started with wire wrapping (took a class) and have experimented with many other techniques since then.

I have participated in five Avant-Garde shows already! Everything around me inspires me to create!  My children.  My husband.  My beautiful dog, Senga.  Nature.  Flowers.  Being at our boat on Lake Erie. Everything I see and read.  I'm kind of eclectic in my jewelry making.  Today I might be into leather or suede and tomorrow resin or crocheting, or sterling silver and Swarovski. I have been creating for as far back as I can remember.  

When I started making jewelry for myself (or as gifts) people would comment on the woven bracelets or crocheted necklaces that I wore. They liked it, admired it, asked me to make them one with custom colors or materials.  It's been fun experimenting! 

As far as my creative process...the ideas are plentiful.  I come up with an idea, gather the materials, adjust until I have laid out what I want do.  Combining color theory with breaking the rules seems to fit my process!

Creating Jewelry is a hobby for me.  I suspect it be that until I retire and that is a ways off.  I bead for family and friends and co-workers.  I sell at Advant-Garde shows.  Beading is a stress reliever for me - come home from a hard day at work and there I am, at my beading desk, exercising my creative side!

My message is anything is possible; have fun with it.  That's what I love about doing a custom piece for someone - You really get to be creative for that one person, possibly in a way you might not have otherwise without their input. I have broad interests and I try all sorts of things regularly.  I don't like to stick to one technique so my work varies.  

Meet Brittany Wiegand from BWKnits...

I am a full-time RN at Cleveland Clinic working on the Heart & Lung Transplant unit and certified Yoga Instructor.  Working in a hospital environment can sometimes (most times) be a very stressful environment.  Yoga/exercise and expressing myself through crafting has helped me immensely to relieve stress from my work life.  It has also helped me to separate work and everyday life.  When I am not working, doing yoga, or crafting, I also enjoy cooking/baking, the outdoors, reading, and traveling.

I jump started BWknits in September of 2017.  However, I have been knitting/crocheting for several years prior. This is my first show with Avant-Garde and my very first craft show!

My mom inspires me to create!  She has always been encouraging my siblings and I to express ourselves through arts/crafts and encourages us to make our gifts instead of buying gifts from the store. My mom taught me how to knit at a young age and we made scarves for all my aunts for Christmas one year.  

I started making blankets and other things as gifts for baby showers, birthdays, and Christmas. Every time I gave a knitted/crocheted gift, the recipient was always so thankful and amazed by the handmade item. They appreciated the time and effort I put into their gift and I love seeing the smile on the faces of those who have received my knitted/crocheted items

My family has helped me come up with some ideas.  I grew up watching and playing sports, and am a Cleveland sports fan until I die, so that sparked my idea to launch the GAME DAY ear warmer line!

In 5 years, I still see myself creating handmade knitted/crocheted items and participating in craft shows and selling on Etsy. I hope to one day to sell them in a small boutique.  

Meet Sonja Jones from The Pup Artist...

Hi, I'm Sonja Jones!  Currently I live in the Cleveland area, but I've lived all over Ohio and the Midwest.  We in the Midwest are so blessed with beautiful parks and nature areas, especially here in Cleveland. I love to draw inspiration from the wildlife that surrounds me here, often right in my backyard. 

I think nature is a place we can all go for solace and peace; and not just wildlife, but even our pets bring us that special kind of comfort.  As a wildlife and pet portrait artist, I try capture and bring home for my clients some of nature's comfort. 

I've been a painter for most my life, but in my earlier days it was houses that were my canvas - I started working in my parent's paint contracting business at age 14!  So I guess that's where I developed my sense of color and fine line work. It was the Christmas gift of an art sampler set a few years back, however, that shrunk my canvas; and now the days feel empty if I'm not engaged in some sort of artistic project! 

I work in acrylic, watercolor, and ink, and just started offering my work professionally two years ago - this will only be my second Avant-Garde show and my fifth show overall.  I love the excitement of the shows, seeing what the other vendors are offering, and of course, interacting with the customers!  Please stop by my booth to say hello!

2017 Chagrin Falls Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, December 16 & 17, 2017

Saturday - 10:00am-5:00pm

Sunday- 11:00am-5:00pm

Federated Church Family Life Center

16349 Chillicothe Rd.

Chagrin Falls, OH 44023

For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com

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Welcome to Show Week Chagrin!

Meet Kelly Bolyard from Not Wasted... 

My name is Kelly Bolyard and I am the Program Coordinator for Not Wasted! I am 28 years old, born and raised right here in Akron, Ohio! I am a sports mom to a very busy boy who plays all sports on multiple teams!

Not Wasted is Job skills training program for ladies who are coming home from prison and/or coming out of addiction! We have a sewing room set up in Holy Spirit Church located in Akron. We were formed by TRY, also an employment skills training program, only for men instead! We operate Tuesday, Wed  and Thursdays every week, crafting lovely items from material that would have otherwise been thrown away!

In 2014, I joined NOT WASTED 3 days after being released from a stay at a women’s prison in Cleveland. After graduating the program I became staff and now am the program coordinator! I now get to help the ladies the same way I was helped and get to speak hope and life to them!!

At NOT WASTED we upcycle materials including, bibs, bags and wallets all made from billboards off the side of the highway. Our straps on our bags and our dog leashes are made from seatbelt and we have many styles of jewelry made from antique  clock/watch parts and bicycle chains!

This will be our second time attending the Avant-Garde shows, and we look forward to participating again! As last time, everyone was so kind and very helpful!!!

I started sewing when I was a little girl with my grandma who helped raise me! She would give me washcloths and let me sew on them until I progressed into making pillows, and then hemming my own clothes. And now making products that people actually want to buy! Not only do I sew, I teach others how to sew as well, thanks gram, lol!

Working with the ladies in the sewing room is such a joy, there is always peace and happiness there. You can always find music playing and the sound of laughter down the hallways of the church at any given time!! Its really fun to lay out a 20 – 30 foot billboard and watch everyone’s creative gears start turning and picturing how a bag will be made from what piece of a giant picture. Or to see ladies digging thru and disassembling old clocks to find the exact piece to finish off a beautiful set of earrings!!!

At NOT WASTED we not only teach ladies to sew, but we teach them how to show up to work on time. How to dress, talk and act appropriately in a work environment. Most of our ladies have never even held a job before, so they are learning valuable life lessons and we are “giving them a hand up, and not a hand out”. On top of jobs skills training, we offer life coaching, health and nutrition classes, exercise, cooking, Bible studies, Outreach opportunities, financial and budgeting classes, spiritual support and many other important tools for them to have a successful life!!!

Meet Allyson Hall from Let's Get Lit... 

My name is Allyson, I have spent 28 exciting years with my husband Michael and we made a great kid Nicholas together! I’ve always loved to tinker with Crafts! Homemade and from the heart are my favorites!  I have not done any Avant-Garde shows yet but I have shopped at just about all of them!

What inspires me is simply to put a smile on someone’s face! I think of the person and ask myself, “What would make them smile and add a little happiness to their life”. Then it’s simple!

I must give credit for my passion to my Mom, she had me antiquing and re-purposing items as long as I can remember! Thanks Mom!

Seeing so many candles and buying so many candles over the years I would always think to myself, “If I made a candle I would change this or do that so it would look like this”. So eventually I just did it! It was a real learning experience and still is. I quickly got an appreciation of all that goes into it!

My creative process would be that I choose themes I know people love and play off that concept. A little trial and error with some tinkering and I discover something new every time that will go into that piece but will blend into others as well. My process keeps evolving just like anything when learning!

I feel success is loving who you are and what you do, I’m already there!  I simply want to put a smile on someone’s face! If it doesn’t hurt a little to give it away then it’s not the right gift!

Meet Gena Davis fromThe Irish Trading Co...

I own The Irish Trading Co. in Shaker Hts with my husband, Don. We have 2 wonderful sons, one beautiful grandson and three happy grand puppies. I have been making art in one form or another since high school.

This will be my first Avant-Garde Art Show. Creativity is in my DNA. My grandmother made clothes and quilts out of necessity, but they are works of art made by hand and later on a treadle sewing machine. She also made lace and did tatting. I have many of her quilts and tatting pieces.

My mother made a lot of our clothes and now she creates art quilts, at 92. My father was a stained glass artist after he retired. I have taken classes in just about every medium. Ceramics, enameling, pottery, water color, stained glass and stenciling. Had my own stenciling business for 20 years. Trompe l’ loi, murals and faux finishes were my favorite.

Then I discovered the fiber art world. Knitting lead to spinning my own wool, and on to weaving. Making art cloth and embellished denim jackets. Ice dyeing takes over in the summer and fall. I love unique glass beads, so bracelets are in my crafting life now.

Color and textures inspire me. In 5 years I hope to be creating new and useful art with my grandchildren. My message is “Wear Your Art”. Everything I make should make you happy and be functional!

Meet Jenny Campbell from Campbell Cartooning...

I’ve been a freelance cartoonist and illustrator for almost 30 years.  Originally from Arizona, then California, I migrated to Philadelphia when I started freelancing, and eventually landed in Chagrin Falls, where I’ve been for the past 21 years.  In those 29+ years of freelancing, I’ve illustrated more than 15 children’s books, more than 200 educational textbooks and done a myriad of other freelance artwork from spaghetti sauce labels to tattoos to artwork on the sides of vans.  I’ve also been the cartoonist/writer for the nationally syndicated cartoon strip “Flo & Friends” since 2002.  Having gotten a syndicated cartoon strip just as newspapers were beginning to die, I’ve never made it past 30 papers, but my strip runs as far west at Kailua Kona, Hawaii; and as far east as Newark, NJ.  I’m also an avid animal person, and have done all the artwork, including the logo, for Rescue Village in Geauga County, since its opening in 2003.  In addition, I did the artwork on the Ohio “pet plate” license plate; all the artwork for PetFix NE Ohio, including the characters on their mobile spay-neuter van; and I’m now contributing my artwork to the City Dogs program at Cleveland City Kennel.  In the past few years I’ve started doing a lot of painting just for fun, mostly ridiculous animal art, and have been donating them to fundraisers for my animal welfare groups, and most recently, for The Gathering Place.  Much of the work I’m hoping to put into the Avant-Garde shows are new paintings.

Personally, I live in Chagrin Falls with my partner of almost 30 years – a Pulitzer-prize winning photographer. We live on three acres on the edge of a ravine, with Rizz, a rescued former-feral cat who’s grown WAY too fat and happy since she found her forever home; and a brand new puppy, Tanner, who recently came to Rescue Village on a transport from Alabama, and who we figure is a mix of no fewer than 14 breeds.  My passions are drawing ridiculous artwork; hard laughter; good, cheap pinot grigio; family and friends; and tennis. This will be my first Avant-Garde show!

I’m a people pleaser, and there’s nothing I love more in the world than making people laugh, and occasionally, cry.  And being a cartoonist, I’m in a unique position to be able to do both of those things with the characters I create.  I also feel like I’ve got some good stories to tell, and my artwork is a great way to tell those stories!

Very early!  When all I wanted to do in school was draw cartoons.  In Kindergarten, we got a mimeographed scene one day that we were supposed to color:  trees, grass, sky.  And I remember thinking, “what if other kids don’t see things the same way I see them?  What if ‘blue’ to me, is actually ‘red’ to another kid?”  Pretty deep thoughts for a 5-year-old.  But I tested my theory, and colored my grass blue, my trees purple and my sky orange.  And, I got an F in coloring.   Anyway, drawing when I should’ve been paying attention was a trend throughout my early school years.  My first crush was a boy named Connie in first grade, and I expressed my interest in him by drawing comic books for him… The Adventures of Fox and Rabbit.  It worked.  He liked me.

My mom was an artist, too, so she nurtured this instinct in me, and I got some great home-schooling in art!

My creative process is like anything else; it’s hit or miss.  I find that some days I’m TOTALLY in the zone, whether I’m painting, working on a commercial cartooning job, or writing gags for my cartoon strip.  Sometimes you sit down and it’s literally just falling out of you.  But there are a LOT of other days when I allot the time, and sit there for hours with NOTHING happening.  So, the creative process is basically carving out the time, arming yourself with whatever you’re going to need, and then just hoping it’s one of those GOOD days.  I’m also a night owl, so a lot of those times when I’m in the zone happen late at night when everyone else is asleep.  That’s a wildly creative time for me.

Well, I’m 62 and plan to be doing this until my arthritic fingers can no longer grip a pen.  But in five years, I’d love to be doing more artwork for FUN, for me, and for shows; than HAVING to take every job that comes along just to pay the mortgage.  It’s been a wonderful lifestyle for almost 30 years, but it hasn’t always been easy, and I still have very lean months.  I think I’m on track, though, in the next few years to be able to pick and choose what I work on a little more than I have in the past.

The message behind my work is that if you can’t laugh at yourself, and at the world around you, then you’re screwed!  My cartoon strip is about an ensemble cast of senior citizens who are “aging with an attitude”.  And since I’m becoming my own demographic group, I’m learning first-hand that aging  is one area where you have GOT to find the humor, or life will be much harder than it needs to be.  And, my other artwork, I hope, will just make people smile, and occasionally laugh out loud… animals doing what they do, and people doing what they do, and sometimes, vice versa!

2017 Chagrin Falls Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, December 16 & 17, 2017

Saturday - 10:00am-5:00pm

Sunday- 11:00am-5:00pm

Federated Church Family Life Center

16349 Chillicothe Rd.

Chagrin Falls, OH 44023

For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com

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It's Show Time!

Meet Elaine Hocevar from Basin Soapworks...
I am a soap  maker, and I also wear other hats: wife, mother, grandmother, substitute teacher, retiree from John Carroll University after 22 years, and have numerous other creative hobbies. My other hobbies include sewing, reading, cooking, and cake decorating.

Upon retirement, I began soap making as a hobby. Soon I discovered that making soap was more than just a hobby.  After more than a year of trial and error, I was confident enough to sell the soap that I made. With much help and support from my family, I now have an excellent label, several kinds of soap, and a variety of fragrances.

I like working with my hands. I like colors and fragrances. Making soap is a natural combination of both color and fragrance. Although I do not color my soaps, matching label colors with fragrances is a challenge and an enjoyable experience.  Making soap is a labor of love, but the finished products are well worth the hours of planning and work.

Several years ago, I went to the “Last Minute Market” in Lakewood, Ohio. This show is the last Saturday before Christmas and attracts over one hundred vendors and thousands of visitors. I stopped at a table belonging to a young lady who makes her own soap.  I bought a dozen bars and signed up for her soap making class. I was fascinated with the soap making process and the outcome: my first batch of cold process soap.

My first batch of soap was a success. My family tested it and gave it good reviews.  I assembled supplies at home in my kitchen, bought a soap making book, selected some essential oils for fragrance, and began making small batches with trial recipes.  Because of the positive input from my family and friends and my interest in combining the oils, essential oils, and organic botanicals grown in my yard, i.e., lavender, I continued to experiment making small batches of soap with a variety of recipes and essential oils.

My creative process is spurred by my interest in perfecting soaps that I am confident in labeling and selling to people who pick up my bars of soaps at various retail stores, garden centers, art and craft shows, and gift shops.  I am pleased with the positive feedback that I get with each new recipe that I try. I am also fascinated with the process involved in making a batch of soap:  mixing the various oils with the essential oils for fragrance, distilled water, sodium hydroxide, and organic botanicals. I am not a chemist, but I have learned a lot about the chemical reaction of these mixtures and what goes into making soap as a result of combining each of these individual products.

My goal for my soap business includes introducing new recipes and essential oils as well as placing my soap in additional retail establishments.  I will continue making each batch of soap by hand in order to maintain control of the recipe and final product.  I believe it is important to maintain consistency with my product from quality, labeling, packaging, and presentation in a display.

I believe branding is essential. I want consumers to know when they see Basin Soapworks soap or hear about my soap, they are confident that the soap they purchase is a high-quality bar of soap that has been made by hand with pride, contains no artificial ingredients, and has been tested by my family and friends.

Meet Marilyn Thomas from from Dottie Bee Merry...
I am a polymer clay artist specializing in original totally cute figurines. I have been doing craft shows for over 13 years and have a shop on etsy where I sell my creations.

Since this my first Avant-Garde show, I thought I would take a minute and introduce myself. I started claying over 13 years ago to help deal with a personal loss. I picked up a book and made a scarecrow by carefully following the directions. Well, that poor little scarecrow didn’t make the oven baking and wound up in the trash. Never one to be defeated,  I tossed the book aside and used the knowledge I had garnered, and started over, this time doing things my way! That little scarecrow soon became santa and a cow and the rest is history. I had found my niche. I learned that I couldn’t draw to save my life but I could sculpt anything that entered my mind!

Everything I make is handmade and I enjoy challenging myself to come up with new ideas every year. This year you will see tons more holiday items and Halloween is shaping up to be spectacular! My challenge this year was to make at least 20 pieces for every holiday. I have Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day and Easter ready to go and I’ve also started other lines such as Artic Antics and Mutts and Meows.

Each year I also take on a cause and make a special piece that I donate the proceeds  to. In the past I had a co-worker who’s daughter was battling  breast cancer so I made an angel that I sold for $5.00 each . I was able to donate over $500.00 to her just after 3 shows. I believe in the power of giving back. I have the talent to make a difference and I want to share it. This year I will donate the proceeds from my Mutts and Meows line. 

Thanks for taking a minute to read my story. I hope to meet you at the show!

2017 Chagrin Falls Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, March 11th and 12th, 2017

Saturday - 10:00am-5:00pm

Sunday- 11:00am-5:00pm

Federated Church Family Life Center

16349 Chillicothe Rd.

Chagrin Falls, OH 44023

For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com

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Shop this Spring at the Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show!

Meet Danielle Bosak from Luna's Bath and Body...

My name is Danielle, I'm a 30 year old mother to a beautiful two year old girl. I love to read and make people smile. I craft all sorts of things but currently I have a business making natural bath and body products. I have been making natural bath and body products for six years now. More recently I have begun selling my items to those outside of my friends and family so that I can share my passion with others. 

What inspires me.. I have always loved figuring out how things are made, I enjoy experimenting and finding out new ways of doing things and to make something from scratch I have the opportunity to do that. It is such a satisfying feeling to create something new and share it with the others.

What got me into my hobby? Honestly? It was a book! I cannot remember what it was called exactly, but they were describing this apple cinnamon tea that sounded delicious and when I couldn't find it, I decided to make it myself which led me to wanting to craft more things from scratch. I began crafting with the apple cinnamon tea that I made from scratch and began trying my hand in other arts & crafts such as making hair bows, dream catchers, bibs, and jewelry but then one day when making bath bombs and soap I decided that it was my favorite thing to create and have stuck with it since.

My creative process is just that, creative! I love to experiment with different scents and bases for my     products, not to mention coming up with new products for my friends and family to try out!  I can't even begin to describe how often I am thinking about and writing down new ideas and combinations for my items.

My five year vision.. Hopefully a storefront, owning my own shop outside of my home has always been a goal for me since I started 6 years ago. With just this year beginning to sell the bath and body products that I make, this dream is becoming more and more of a reality for me. I am currently going back to school to get a business degree so that I can do all that I would like to for my business.

The message behind my work.. Natural products do not need to break the bank. The items I make are at the lowest prices that I can possibly offer and it's not just for the purpose of sales. I know how hard it is to find bath and body products that don't irritate your skin, products that you feel you can trust not to have harsh chemicals in     them, and even products that actually work! Some big companies that offer natural products charge you an arm and a leg for a bottle of lotion, but if I can offer people a similar item for a fraction of the cost it is worth it to me.

Meet Kathy Fisher from BadaBling...

I’m married to my husband of 5 years and we have a wonderful blended family. Together our family is made up of my 2 adult twin boys (21 yrs old) and no grandchildren…yet. My husband has 3 adult children (42, 38, 35 yrs old), 8 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.  My husband retired Jan 2016 and I am retiring July 2017. So I will have lots of time to devote to my jewelry craft now.

I have always made various types of hand crafted jewelry of some kind over the years.  It started with earrings and lead to necklaces then to face pins and now I have fallen in love with the wire bracelets with charms that can lead to a customer telling a personal story, if they so desire.  That’s what makes this jewelry more fun and exciting.

What inspires me to create.. The love of beautiful jewelry and I especially love to see women wearing what I create and their excitement when they find that perfect piece.

How I got into my craft.. I got bored just going to craft shows and seeing how much fun the vendors were having talking to the customers. I wanted to try making something but I didn’t know what.  So I tried one of the jewelry kits just to wear a pair of earrings for myself and loved it!  It just blossomed from there!!

How I discovered my talent.. I just started making things that interested me and kept trying different types of jewelry until I found this form. I love that each woman or girl can tell snip-it of their life by personalizing their bracelets.

My creative process... I start with one bead and then decide which one would look good with the first.  Sometimes it’s the ones you don’t think look the best at first, that end up looking the best when you’re done with that bracelet.  

My five year goal.. I don’t want to get too big but I still want to keep it personal for my customers to be able to offer variety while still providing great customer service and keeping costs down.

 

Message behind my work.. Love what you do, and do what you love! That is actually one of the charms that I put on my bracelets.  I relax when I make my bracelets and enjoy creating all of them. It’s actually a difficult decision deciding which beads to put together :) because you don’t want to keep making the same ones you love over and over again. You don’t want to see everyone wearing the same bracelet. You want each bracelet to be unique. Every person is unique, so every bracelet should be too!

Meet Lynne Logan from Tenacious Images...

I’m originally from West Virginia, but I’ve lived in Brooklyn, New York, Los Angeles, CA, Johnson City, Tennessee, and Athens, Ohio while attending Ohio University before settling in Columbus in 1996. I’ve been married for almost 17 years, and we have 2 boys. I received a B.A. in English, and I taught pre-school/grade school for almost 4 years. Additionally, I was an instructor at a junior college for a little less than 5 years. I was also a paralegal for almost 7 years. So far, I’ve attended 3 different Avant-Garde shows in Chagrin Falls, N. Canton and one in Columbus.

I started selling some of my fine art prints (digital photos), hand painted coffee cups and vases as well as my decoupaged coasters at flea markets, arts/crafts shows and online almost 2 years ago. Additionally, I’m proud to announce that last month a representative from Bridesmaid magazine called me after seeing my shop on Etsy.com, and I’m now an approved vendor for Bridesmaid’s website,weddingwire.com, which involves creating custom bridesmaid favors and personalized wedding gifts, which are advertised on 3 different online storefronts owned by the magazine, including a site in New York.

I get inspired by the idea of mixing patterns, designs, various types of media and textures in a different way. For example, I decoupaged a beer mug with an article from the Civil War, an item, which sold on my Etsy site about 12 hours after posting the listing. I also decoupaged a couple set of coasters with duct tape (photo #1 attached of the pink ones).

I’m also inspired by the designs of other artisans. I’ll see a dress in a store that has a unique combination of colors or maybe a tablecloth or something, and I’ll take a photo of it. Then, I’ll create something similar to that pattern or color combination like the photo attached of the curved black vase (2^nd photo). That black and gray design was inspired by some scrapbook paper I saw at Michael’s.  

How I got into my craft.. I’ve also been interested in art, and when I lost my job at Chase Bank, I decided to sell a few of my photos at a flea market close to my house, and a woman drove all the way from Springfield to buy a copy of my “spooky tree” (3^rd photo attached). At that point, I decided to create a website on Etsy and another one on Ebay.  

How I discovered my talent..  Hmmm… the story above confirmed that maybe, I could make a living at selling my artwork. I’m still working part-time for William-Sonoma as a call center agent, but I’m hoping that in a year or so, I’ll be able to quit my “day” job. Then, last fall, I hand painted a set of ceramic coasters that sold to a lady in Santiago, Chile, about 2 hours after uploading the listing on Etsy (4^th photo). So, I’ve been spending more time painting and less time on my photography since then. 

My five year goal is to be selling my artwork full-time out of my house and possibly selling my coasters in larger quantities. I’m trying to find a company that will produce my wedding coasters in bulk at a reasonable price so that I can make favors for weddings as well as creating/selling bridesmaid favors.

The message behind my work..  My entire life I’ve always been the odd duck at every party, every teaching job/office job, every classroom growing up, etc. My own mother called me a “weirdo” (in an affectionate way) because I love Shakespeare as much as I love science fiction and horror movies and books as well, and I love abstract art as much as more classic art like that of Rembrandt and such. And I hope my art reflects that anything goes kind of attitude that there are no rules in art. I like what I like, and I’ll continue to create what I think is interesting whether anyone else likes it or not…:)

Meet Katie Stump from KatieRose Jewelry...

I have been married to my best friend for 9 1/2 years and we are the proud parents of two beautiful children Ashley (6) and Hayden (5). I am a stay at home mom who decided to turn my hobby into a business. I have been making jewelry on and off for over 20 years.

I'm inspired by fashion and wanting to create alluring pieces that are stylish and affordable.

My Aunt Julie is the person who introduced me to making beaded jewelry.I was 10 years old and visited my aunt in Columbus and she made amazing jewelry and I knew it was something I wanted try. I entered my first necklace into a contest at a bead store she shopped at and I won 1st prize for my age group. From then on I was hooked!

My creative process usually starts with me looking at all the beads I have and matching what I think might look good together. I could be just one color or multiple colors. I then lay out the pattern I am trying to accomplish on my board and if I think it looks good laid out then I will start putting the beads together on the eye pins. If I'm not feeling how the pattern or beads look then I can completely scratch the idea and move on to something else.

My five year goal... My hope is that KatieRose Jewelry can grow enough to be picked up by boutiques and that my online shop can grow to reach more people around the country.

The message behind my workis to bring a multitude of alluring, unique jewelry pieces that are stylish and affordable!

Online Store:

www.katierosejewelry.com

Facebook:

https://facebook.com/krjewelry

2017 Chagrin Falls Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, March 11th and 12th, 2017

Saturday - 10:00am-5:00pm

Sunday- 11:00am-5:00pm

Federated Church Family Life Center

16349 Chillicothe Rd.

Chagrin Falls, OH 44023

For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com

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