Be Back Soon!

My roots are starting to sprout up so I will be posting soon!  Pictured above is Blue Cohosh.  When it comes up all the way it will have a cluster of green leaves and will make a flower and then blue berries.  Right now it's just blue.

This is my bloodroot which is making a flower for the first time in four years.  I think that will be my first post after the flower opens up all the way.  Be back with you soon!

Jackie (Glory Be Herbals)

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!

Feature Friday: Harmon Art

Today's feature highlights another husband and wife creative duo on the Bluegrass etsy team, Brian and Emily Harmon of HarmonArt. They have shops on etsy and artfire and specialize in hand built earthenware and fine art gourds. Like so many others, I have always been drawn to art that represents nature, especially items with leaves. So I am delighted to share this interview with you and introduce you to two very talented artists!

How did you first hear about etsy?

My wife has always been a fan of handmade jewelry. I first found Etsy when looking for Christmas presents for her a few years ago. It took us several years to decide that our work would work for Etsy as well.

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

HarmonArt is a husband/wife team. We are both teachers. I teach high school art while my wife is an elementary librarian. We love our jobs because they afford us time off in the summer to devote to our true loves of earthenware ceramics and fine art gourds all with a natural, autumnal theme and color scheme.


How did you get started as a designer?

My wife grew up on a farm that raised gourds. She was always surrounded by them and found something beautiful to do with them. I am technically a photography teacher. I love it, but it is so technical. I got into clay because it is so different from photography: physical, malleable, dirty. I just love them both for opposite reasons.

What inspires you to create?

We are both inspired by the warm, earthy colors and organic shapes of autumn. Leaves are one of God's most overlooked but beautiful pieces of artistry. I am always looking at the details of tree leaves and they often find their way into our art.


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

I've been a member for about 2 months. I heard about the team through ArtFire actually. My wife and I also have a shop there. It is much smaller, so it is sometimes easier to connect with people. I first discovered ArtFire's version of TeamBluegrass and then sought it out on Etsy.


Any advice you would give to aspiring designers?

I am pretty new to online selling, but it was a total surprise to me how much promoting is important and necessary. I check my Google Analytic every day. Days when I intentionally spend time promoting via Facebook, Forums, link directories, Twitter, etc, I always see results in my page views. In terms of getting your shop viewed, the ball is really in your court.


Anything else you would like to add?

We have been doing art shows for years, and just this year jumped into the online art market. So far we love it and look forward to a long online career.

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Thanks to Brian and Emily for this interview and for letting us know a little more about your art. We are happy to have you on the Bluegrass etsy team! Be sure to check out their etsy shop here to see more of their nature inspired art.

To see more examples of the talent on our team, go to www.etsy.com and type teambluegrass in the search box.

If you are a team member and would like to be featured on an upcoming Feature Friday post, contact Kim Ries or leave a comment here.