Equestrian Contest Winner

So many excellent TeamBluegrass shops participated in the 2010 Equestrian Challenge, and public voting  for the challenge has closed. I am pleased to announce that this extremely tight race ended in a photo finish!  Whimsy Beading's one of a kind Epona Shell & Swarovski Bib Necklace takes the win!

Congratulations go to Whimsy Beading for creating such elegant and interesting work, and thanks to all the other amazing TeamBluegrass shops that participated!  

Team Meeting In Bernheim Forest Fall 2009

Our team meeting at beautiful Bernheim Forest was a blast! We went over quite a few topics during our meeting thanks to the impeccable organization skills of Kim Ries, who made an agenda of topics that need attention from the team.

First thing was handing out a team roster, this is invaluable to all of us since we want to encourage shopping within the team, and its nice to be able to have an easy way to contact other members for networking. The team roster is available for download if any member would like it please contact me or Kim and we can send you the file.

We talked about our ad coming in the October-December issue of Arts Across Kentucky. Kim passed around the printed out ad to show how it will look in the magazine. Many many thanks to our resident graphic designer Brandy of WickedSisterDesigns for designing this ad for us, it will make each of us so proud to see it in print!

We talked about our monthly giveaway, and have taken sign ups into next year for this. We will be having 2 giveaways in October so get ready!!

We talked about the samples box that our wonderful Jackie Alberti (Of Kentucky WIld weeds fame) of Glorybeherbals will be accepting donations of samples for the box which will be sold in our team shop to raise funds for the team treasury. Anyone wanting to send a donation for her box can contact Jackie.

We also talked about membership issues...this has been a hot topic all year since we do have a large portion of the team that is not active in any way. We will be taking action in the next few days to hopefully thin out the team a bit and get us into one smaller and more organized and active group that can have each member promoting the team and their fellow team mates on various social networks to help us all gain more overall sales and boost ALL of our shops popularity.

We all had a wonderful lunch served by Isaacs Cafe, All the food was large portions and in my opinion very much worth the money spent. The vegetables were very tasty and very fresh. Everything we got looked so delicious I wished I had more than one stomach! I would definitely go back there with my family just to hang out and eat! Thanks so much to Carolyn of CowgirlRosie fame for running our lunch orders over there, and many many thanks to the staff at Isaacs for preparing such a wonderful delicious and nutritious lunch for our team! We needed the extra vitamins after all that talking and trading we did!

We got to hear some wonderful stories from our members. One such story was the story of Angus McEwan. He is the handsome ram/sheep that is pictured to the right and at the top. He apparently was a very naughty boy and got his twitter account deleted....now he spends his time blogging about the Whimsybeading husband and wife team of Kelly and Joey Graves. Thanks guys for bringing Angus - he made my day! I hope he didn't cause any trouble on the way home.


We got to meet with two of our newest members of a sewing team called SewFriendzy. They create gorgeous dog leashes, beds and other pet wares. Leighann brought a beautifully made halloween bag with a kitty applique on it to the meeting...I left with it! My daughter adores kitties and I had to have it for her! Her work is VERY professional and this is coming from a long time seamstress. I highly recommend checking them out if you're in the market for an item for your pet.If you are a jewelry lover, one member does jewelry! Her shop HumanKindness is full of treasures to behold! Many warm welcomes to our newest members of the team! Its a pleasure to have you all!

In summary it was an awesome day and we get to get together again very soon as we will be having a Christmas get together at Brendans on Shelbyville Road in Louisville on Dec 12th. Thanks so much to Joey Graves for setting this up for us I cant wait to try that Veggie Quesadilla Kelly mentioned! This venue serves alcohol so bring your designated driver and goods to swap! I am so looking forward to getting together once again with the team for good times, lots of laughs and trading!


Team photo from left to right:
Libby Goldsmith ( Mayleesgarden )
Kelly Graves (Whimsybeading)
Carolyn Campbell (Cowgirlrosie)
Joseph Graves (Whimsybeading) Angela Latham (Spoolofplenty)
Paulena ( Paulena )
And our wonderous meeting organizer who deserves more than a thousand thank yous for all her hard work for the team, Kim Ries (Creativeeyestudio)

Not pictured but who came to the meeting (we were having so much fun we forgot about pictures till it was time to go!)
Toni of Vernon Ave (Who by the way is having an article about her in the new issue of Haute Handbags! GO TONI!)
Leighann and Sherry from SewFriendzy
Tina Mackin from SmackinArt
And Asha from MisfitDreamers

Thanks so much to all who were able to come out, and next big meeting hopefully will be in the spring in Lexington!

Kentucky Wild Weeds: Dandelion

Kentucky Wild Weeds

Dandelion

The name dandelion comes from the French name “dent de lion” which means lions tooth. This comes from the jagged shape of the leaves. Mankind has been trying to eradicate this plant since the lawn was invented. Thankfully, this will never happen. The dandelion is very smart. It seeds are fun for kids to blow in the wind.

Every part of this plant is medicinal. The bitter root is a famous liver tonic. It can be dried, ground and roasted for use as a coffee substitute just like chicory root. Root teas increase the flow of bile from liver which helps the human body to break down fats more efficiently and detoxifies the liver.

The milky sap from the stem can be applied directly to warts and skin tags to help dissolve them.

The leaves (greens) can be steamed and eaten as a vegetable. They are natures perfect diuretic. They flush out excess fluids from the body and replace potassium.

The flowers have analgesic (pain relieving) properties. The petals should be removed from the green parts. They can be infused in water that has been boiled to make a soothing tea. Or you can infuse them in oil to make a massage oil for sore muscles. This oil is also a great massage oil for breaking up lumpy breast tissue and it’s safe to use every day. I love this oil-it looks like bottled sunshine.

Don’t spray dangerous chemicals on your dandelions to try to kill them. Dig them up and use them-it’s free medicine!



Thanks so much to our own Jackie Alberti ( GloryBeHerbals ) for the fun and educational article!

Share our Success: Pearlbuds

Our very own Pearlbuds was featured in a really interesting article called "All Atwitter About Tweeds" That is on handmadenews.org

If you click the highlighted word "tote" in the article you see this GORGEOUS tote.

Lets all give Miss Stacy a big pat on the back for some recognition for her AMAZING work!

GO STACY!

Feature Friday: These Precious Things - Jama Watts

Many thanks to Devin who got this interview together on our Facebook page. I copied and pasted from there. Thanks so much to our superstar Jama Watts for participating

!


1)How did you first hear about etsy :

I'd heard about etsy a while back from a friend who was purchasing items and thinking about opening her own store. Last year, when I made the conscious decision to promote myself better, I opened my store in July. It took me a while, but I really enjoy it!

2)Tell us about a little about yourself and your favorite craft/art!:

I'm a single mother of one fantastic little girl, own a small gallery/coffee shop in Lebanon, Ky, work part-time at the local public library and am very involved in the community with our Arts & Humanities Council, Main Street Committee, Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and other organizations. I like to be busy!

I'm a jewelry designer, focusing primarily on beading, but I also do wire work, silver clay, resin, bead crochet and anything else that strikes my fancy. I'm too ADD to really focus on one medium and I LOVE to learn, so I'm always buying books and magazines to learn new techniques.

3)How did you get started as a designer?:

I started out as a painter and sculpter, getting my art degree from Campbellsville University. Like many artists, I ended up with jobs that had nothing to do with my degree for a while. I kept painting in my spare time, but wasn't doing anything career wise or promoting myself.

In 2002, I was pregnant with my daughter and working as a web designer/office manager for my mom's computer programming & repair business. My OB kicked me out of my art studio and I needed to find some sort of creative release. I bought some beads, beading wire and inexpensive tools, figuring that I could create jewelry and have something to wear or give as gifts. I found I really enjoyed it and started snatching up every beading book and magazine I could find!

4)What inspires you to create?:

I have to create. I can actually feel when I haven't been able to produce something. I think that's just something inside me that has to be released. As for a muse or something to that effect, I have music going 99.9% if the time that I'm working. I find inspiration in music, artwork and nature. Sometimes, it might be the thrill of learning a new technique of a challenge, but the inspiration comes from those three key items.

5)How long have you been a member of Bluegrass etsy and how did you hear about the team?

I joined the BEST team right after joining etsy, probably in August or September of 2008. I searched through the etsy team listings, hoping to find a group of Kentucky artists. I couldn't be happier that I found you guys!
6)Any advice you would give to aspiring designers?:

Always push yourself beyond your comfort zone. There's nothing wrong with perfecting a technique and working on your favorite items, but you don't want your art to become stagnant.


Check out here awesome shop here:
http://thesepreciousthings.etsy.com