Less than 24 Hours to Go!

Meet Capri Wisniewski from Craftinista Girl...

I’m Capri and I’m the ‘girl’ behind Craftinista Girl. Crafts have long been a BIG part of my life. I’m fairly certain that the ‘gene’ was passed along to me through my Grandma and my Mom (both of which are incredibly talented ladies). Growing up I spent a lot of time making all sorts of different things with the two of them. Additionally, my grandmother is the master of new-uses. I definitely inherited her repurposeful spirit and try to use that in each and every item I create. So technically, I've been doing this all my life! 

Like a lot of other creatives, my business started in an unknowing-kind-of-way. Just after I had finished my graduate degree, one of my closest friends found out she would be having a baby girl. In true-Capri-fashion, I made her a gift for the shower; a baby outfit from an old tshirt that we loved in high school. Making my own pattern, figuring out how to piece it together, and the overall end result got me hooked! In addition, I wasn’t having much success finding a “real-job” so I started selling on Etsy to make a little extra cash on the side.

Making, marketing, and selling my handmade items has turned out to be the perfect way for me to use my business degree in a way that makes me feel more fulfilled than I could have ever imagined. Over the summer I decided to quit everything and focus on taking my handmade business to the next level. I love the Midwest, and Columbus being the mother-of-all-creative-goodness seemed like the perfect place to pursue this journey. I've been selling on Etsy for three years, and just started doing shows in person at the beginning of 2015. All in all, I'm pretty new to the craft scene, but I'm loving every moment!

The great thing about my 'craft' is that I thoroughly enjoy every part of the process. I would say it all begins with thrifting. Some of the shirts I use do come from family, friends, and sometimes my own wardrobe, but a lot of them come from the thrift store. To me, it's like a treasure hunt! Once I get my hands on the best shirts I dissect them into many different pieces. The primary products that some from the shirts are baby outfits and scarves. There are almost always leftovers, and I make a number of different bi-products from these pieces. You wouldn't believe all of the different things that can come from a single t-shirt! Since I have a bit of craft-A.D.D. it's nice that I can work on a variety of projects from that one shirt.

In five years, I would love my business to be sustainable enough to fully support me so that I can focus on some other business ideas I have. No matter what, making is in my bones and I will always continue to do it whether it is full-time, part-time, or just for fun. I am very excited to participate in my first Avant Garde Craft Show on December 5th at St. Agatha Church, hope to see you there! 

Meet Shauna Burton from Scented Essentials...

My name is Shauna Burton and I am from Youngstown, Ohio. I'm a title clerk at a local dealership by day, candle maker by night! I have been making my own products for a few years now. I just recently started to sell my candles about four months ago. I have been selling my lip balm for over a year.

How I got started.. All of my products started out as a DIY projects for myself. I wanted to know how to make my own products so I truly know all of the ingredients and to make sure they are safe with no harsh chemicals. Candles, Lip Balm & Room Spray may be the only items I make and sell now, but I am always working on others. Inspired by my own needs or what others have suggested.

There's is something about making your own products that is very rewarding. Knowing that I made a quality product that not only I myself love and use, but others love as well. That I must say is the best feeling. 

How I discovered my talent.. After giving my products as gifts to friends and family and hearing their responses, I soon started ScentedEssentials. It's a job I love to do!

My creative process... I really put the customer first. Whatever the case may be, whichever season we are in, the customer comes first. I take all comments, suggestions, seasonal trends, etc. and make sure I have exactly what the consumer wants to see and have. 

In five years it will be 2020. I would love to see myself doing this full time. To have my own boutique selling all of my products and also featuring other makers products as well would be amazing. Hard work pays off. 

Every single product I sell is all natural and made with high quality ingredients. No additives, no preservatives, no harsh chemicals. I strive to make only quality products at affordable prices with a handmade personal touch. 

Website: www.scentedessentials.etsy.com

Instagram: @_scentedessentials

Facebook: scentedessentials1

Meet Robbie Hay from Creative Arts Center...

Suzanne “Robbie” Hay lives in Columbus, Ohio and has owned and operated, with the help of her family, a full service entertainment agency since 1994. She stays busy facepainting at birthday parties, corporate events and festivals. Hubby, David, turns into Santa Claus at Christmas time.  Jason, her older son is a caricature artist, and also is the artist for her book cover, ”Facepainting for Fun and Profit”. Younger son, Aaron, or Dizzy Doc is a nationally known balloon artist.

Robbie, a former public school teacher, has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Ohio State University and continues to teach in the field of face and body painting. She has received awards and placed in face and body painting competitions in Florida, in Seeboden, Austria, and in New Mexico.

Robbie is a facepainting instructor in her hometown and teaches at various facepainting conventions around the country. Robbie also authored a facepainting board game called “Gazebo”.

She has recently created a line of pen and ink drawings.

Meet Amanda Lovell from Center Street Candles...

I'm a "sidepreneur" who balances a successful career in corporate HR with a growing, and very FUN, candle business!  I learned candle making from my Mom about 15 years ago, and it's been a hobby since then. 

What inspires me to create? - I've always been obsessed with aromas, so I decided to channel that energy into a fabulous product. I could be inspired by a meal, a book, or the outdoors (to name a few)

How I describe my creative process? - Impulsive! I think of fragrance possibilities at the strangest times, and then go through as much R&D as I need to perfect the fragrance blend. 

My five year goal - I'd love to own my own boutique specializing in hand made goods for the home.

2014 Columbus Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday, December 5, 2015

 10:00am-4:00pm

St. Agatha's Parish Hall

1860 Northam Rd

Columbus, OH 43221

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

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

LINKEDIN

Holiday Shopping, Handmade Happiness!

Meet Marsha and Nancy from Granny's Candy...

My business partner, Nancy, is a wife, mom of 2 daughters and grandma of 2 young boys. Nancy is a florist and still works in the industry. Marsha is a wife, mom of 2 daughters and gram to 2 young boys, as well. Marsha is a retired dental professional..... Yes, she really does make candy!

Our business, Your Granny's Candy started in January 2014. This is our first Avant-Garde show. We're so excited to be a part of this organization!

The thing that inspires us is the appreciation of all things handmade. To offer a gift made from your heart is so satisfying. Nancy and Marsha, besides being business partners, are sisters-in-law. Making old fashioned hard tack candy was a Christmas tradition we did as a family with our mom and daughters.

How we got started in our business.. More than discovering hard tack candy-making as a talent, we missed the tradition when our mother passed away. We found this type of candy impossible to purchase. We wanted to fill the void of enjoying hard tack for all who had the fond memories without time to make it themselves.

We are always thinking of ways to streamline the process, introduce new flavors and best ways to market our product. Nancy always has the creative juices flowing; Marsha's forte is more towards the business aspects.

In five years our goal.... We would love to be a part of a large gourmet gift basket business.

The message behind our work is to stop and enjoy the sweetness of life. It is our hope that while you are enjoying our delicious candy, you experience fond memories of your past and pay tribute to those who showed love by the gifts of their hands.

Meet Becky Rodriguez from Wreath Envy...

I’ve always liked textiles, and have enjoyed sewing, doing macramé when that was trendy, weaving, and making yarn from my own Angora rabbits. In my twenties, I was working toward the Mother Earth self-sufficiency homesteading, and made as much as I could by hand, from clothing to goat cheese.

Burlap ribbon has the natural feel and look I like.  I enjoy searching for just the right combination of design and accents to create a unique wreath that will compliment someone’s home decor. I listen carefully to people’s comments when they’re choosing one of my wreaths for their door or inside their home, so that I can continually improve my craft.  I try to make wreaths that are exactly what someone was looking for, and if that means swapping out one ornament for another I’ll do that. I come prepared with tools! I’ll do custom orders, too.  It is important to me that my wreaths have the right balance of fun and elegance without becoming gaudy.

I recently retired from 23 years of public school teaching as a bilingual and ESL teacher and now have more time to spend on making wreaths. I had been making spring and summer floral grapevine wreaths for friends and family. I still add floral components to some burlap wreaths. 

My plan is to offer additional specialized themed wreaths in the future-dogs, cats, weddings, babies, OSU, etc. I have been collecting materials to hand stamp and stencil burlap for a Golden Retriever wreath and a “Congratulations Mr. and Mrs.!” wreath. In the summer I hope to have my inventory of hand stamped and stenciled burlap tote bags ready!

This is my first holiday season participating in craft shows and my first Avant-Garde show. I am very excited to be a part of this event! I am making new friends and seeing some wonderful church venues.

Meet Cathy Baker from Baker's Buttons and Bows...

I am a retired executive administrative assistant.  Worked for Nationwide Insurance for 36 years and retired in January 2015. I have been married for 36 years, have two children and three grandchildren. Love to read, scrapbook and, of course, craft making. 

I have even making crafts for 20 years for family and friends. Decided to make it a part-time hobby/career after I retired.

About my crafting style.. I love the primitive look and feel. My motto is if I create it, would it fit into the theme and look of my home and will others who love the primitives love them!! I like creating and designing items. Makes me feel challenged and a sense of accomplishment when I see the finished product.

When it comes to my creative process if I see something I like, I tweak it to fit my decor and colors. That may mean changing the entire design!  

My five year goal is to continue to do shows, as I enjoy meeting and talking to people.

The message behind my work is love what you do, and do what you love.

Meet Michael Lutz from Handcrafted by Michael Lutz...

I was born and grew up mostly in Ohio, graduating from Ohio State with a degree in Psychology. So I spent 25 years in construction. I've always had a creative, hands on side. I've only been serious about making stuff to make stuff for the last 7 years. 

I enjoy the creative process as much as the final result. Most of the things I make are spontaneous, with very few drawings, which can lead to unexpected results, both good and bad! I'm OK with that. 

Every piece is practice and a learning experience for the next piece, so its hard to see where that may lead me in the future. I have so many untapped ideas currently, I had to quit my day job to explore them, and I have just been getting into CNC and 3D printing. 

As for future goals with the business... my intent is to begin to merge the many media that I work in into larger scale multi-media projects! I'm just so excited to see what comes next! 

Meet Jesse Potts from Houndstooth Maille...

My name is Jesse Potts, I'm 26 and I was born and raised in Ohio. I moved to Columbus in 2009 and currently work for a company that has me travel around to other cities in Ohio as well as other states. I went to CCAD for a couple of years in the illustration program. I make chainmaille jewelry and accessories in my spare time. I've been making chainmaille for about 2 and a half years now.

What inspires me.. I follow a bunch of other artists on social networking sites and am a member of a few groups that specialize in chainmaille. Seeing others trying new things and posting their works in progress as well as their finished products really helps me to keep going and trying new things. I like surrounding myself will all kinds of art and drawing inspiration from the world around me.

How I got into my hobby... Honestly, I don't remember. I think I saw a blog post where someone posted some pictures of some chainmaille items they made and I thought to myself that it was a really interesting hobby that you don't see very often. The fact that you could make almost anything with it, including clothing/armor and even intricate pieces of art was interesting to me as well. I picked up some cheap supplies to see what it was like and fell in love with learning all the different ways to link my metal rings together.

I have always loved making things with my hands. I have tried knitting, crochet, sewing, sculpting, painting, drawing, and many many other crafts and arts. I still come back to these other things every once in a while but I think I found my niche in chainmaille, it is definitely the thing I have stuck with the longest. 

My creative process... When I'm trying new weaves I like to research the one I'm learning thoroughly and try it out a few times before committing it to memory. I use leftover materials that might not necessarily be used or sold later for practice, and then when I have the hang of it I work on making finished, polished pieces. 

My five year plan... I would really like to be able to attend more shows in a year. Currently I'm busy with other things so I don't get to create nearly as much as I would like. So I think being able to focus more on my craft and getting out and seeing others at shows would be my goal.

The message behind my work.. My aesthetic has always be casual but almost elegant. I like things that look intricate but are fun or deceptively plain enough to be worn casually. Sort of like a paradox, I suppose. It's the opposite of what you might expect.

I work typically in a light weight but strong aluminum alloy. I also have access to other metals and often used anodized metals to add color to my pieces. I try hard to limit my pieces to metals that are non-reactive and hypoallergenic. This includes all my earrings, the ear hooks are all hypoallergenic stainless steel or niobium. You can find some of my jewelry on my etsy!http://www.etsy.com/shop/houndstoothmaille.

2014 Columbus Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday, December 5, 2015

 10:00am-4:00pm

St. Agatha's Parish Hall

1860 Northam Rd

Columbus, OH 43221

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

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

LINKEDIN

Holiday Finds for the Whole Family!

Meet Toni Gilson from Yellow Rose Retail...

My name is Toni Gilson, I’m a married mother of four, and grandmother of four. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, I moved to Columbus 16 years ago. Last year, with encouragement from my husband, I started selling my crafts full-time. I have been crafting since I was a child.   My family is the inspiration for my designs. Growing up in Texas I learned a love for crafting from my mother and sisters, especially crochet. After being transplanted to the much colder climate of Ohio, I started crocheting even more, especially winter accessories and blankets to keep my family snuggly warm in the cold Ohio winters, yet following the latest fashion trends. I enjoy designing and creating one of a kind jewelry, wreaths, and holiday décor as well.   I learned my craft through my family. My mother taught me and my sisters to sew, crochet, knit, and other crafts. She has always supported our talents in this area. My creative process varies, sometimes I see a certain yarn and an idea just comes to me, other times I’m inspired by nature, or even suggestions from my children. My youngest son also crochets, and we share project ideas. My goal for five years.. I enjoy my current business, which includes selling on etsy and ebay, it gives me the freedom to set my own hours, and spend quality time with my family. I would like to grow my online business, and eventually write and sell my crochet patterns  The message behind my work.. Product quality, uniqueness, and authenticity. I take pride in my creations, offering my customers a one of a kind handmade gift, rather than a mass produced item.  Meet the team from Craft Time Boutique... 1st Team member- Eileen "I do my crafts because I'm retired and need a hobby. The creation of a family business where I could share my crafts was very appealing to me. I have been making woven yarn ornaments and placemats for years, these are the items I've choose to share with our business!" 2nd Team member - Roxi "I started crafting to decorate my home in an affordable way. After working in a floral shop I decided to start creating my own arrangements which opened the doors for other crafts. I've choose to contribute wreaths and jewelry for our business!" 3rd Team member - Chrissy "I began crafting to be in beauty and delight to others. Over the years I've tried many crafts and through trail and error, I've found the best methods for my work.The message I want to give with my work is that you can have wonderful pieces at an affordable price!." 4th Team member - Shelli "I began crafting as a stress reliver, this was the cheapest form of therapy!! I minored in Art in college and continue to do art because I enjoyed it. The message behind my work is that you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to decorate for the holidays!" 5th Team member - Hannah "I began crafting after discovering so many interesting ideas on Pinterest. I started doing crafting as a hobby because I found it was a great stress reliever and always put me in a good mood. Our business motto speaks true to my work, "from our family to yours". I create my pieces to bring joy to other families." 6th Team member - Cara "I've always loved anything creative. I began at a young age doing portraits and that opened doors to all other kinds of crafts. I am a graphic designer which gives me a designers perspective when laying out my crafting. My message is that you can have beautiful things in your home that have meaning and are made from the heart not just manufactured by a machine. I cherish each of my crafts like I hope my customer will. My hope is that my crafts will help families make memories that will last forever." Meet Rebekah Walters from One Crazy Bead... My name is Rebekah Walters and my husband and I and three needy cats have lived in the Pickerington area for 19 years.  I am a native of NW Ohio, growing up in the Toledo area. I spent 30+ years in the paper and corrugated box industry as an Executive Account Manager.  I took early retirement in 2008 after a serious illness.  I began creating jewelry in 2009 as a creative outlet, and in 2011 began studying fused Murano glass. After years of dealing with brown corrugated boxes, the endless possibilities of fused glass was fascinating.  It has inspired me to experiment with color, texture, and shape.  Living in the Toledo, "The Glass Capital of the World," as well as frequent exposure to the fabulous Toledo Museum of Art, has influenced my love for glass.  My business is small by choice; my motivation is mostly the pure joy of designing and creating. One of my main philosophies is that life is too short to be ordinary (go big or go home!). I believe that everyone needs to regularly get out of their comfort zone and wear, create, eat, and participate in something new. Meet Robbi Jameson from Neena's Recycled... I am Roberta Jamison, aka Robbi, aka Neena's Recycled. I am mother to four amazing adult children, and grandma to three beautiful grandbabies!  I am a one woman "company" founded for the purpose of sewing and sewing, and more sewing! After copying, creating original designs, and tearing out more seams than I'd like to admit, I named my little endeavor after the name my oldest granddaughter gave me when she was about three years old (she's now nine) = Neena. The Recycled part came in because I find most of my fabric from recycling clothing from the Thrift Stores of Central Ohio!  I have been sewing since I was 14, and after losing interest and taking a long hiatus, I picked it up again at about 50 years old. I've been making purses, bags, wall art, and other various items (way too many dresses for my grands) for the past six years! I chose purses and bags for my little business because I love them, of course, and also because after I'd made about 50 of them I had to find an outlet to make some money to buy more supplies to keep on sewing!! Sewing is therapeutic for me and cutting into fabric with an idea in my head keeps me focused and healing from life's inevitable struggles. My ideas were a little scrambled at the beginning - I just wanted to sew with no real goal in mind - but after doing some soul-searching I knew I wanted to use my gift (for it is a gift from God) to benefit others. Proceeds from my sales will be going 50/50 into making more purses and bags, etc., and buying supplies to make lap blankets for the elderly, baby blankets for my local crisis pregnancy center, and dresses for charities that send them to orphanages around the world.   I strongly believe that the talents we are given are meant to benefit those around us, whether it is our own families, or our local community, or the world. In five years, Lord willing, I hope Neena's Recycled will be a self-supporting LLC that can afford to hire on a few teenagers to cut up clothing for me! And I'll be able to supply as many worthy charities in need of sewn items as much as I can! 2014 Columbus Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show Saturday, December 5, 2015  10:00am-4:00pm St. Agatha's Parish Hall 1860 Northam Rd Columbus, OH 43221 For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com Visit us on: FACEBOOK TWITTER PINTEREST LINKEDIN