All Roads Lead To New Talents For These Artists

Meet Tracie Bayer from Blessed Beginnings…

My name is Tracie Bayer. I have a wonderfully supportive family. I was a pediatric nurse for 7 years until I was diagnosed with 2 major illnesses that caused me to have to stop practicing nursing. 

So about 5 years ago my grandmother taught me how to sew, and I found out that I loved it, just as she always had! I sewed with my grandmother until she passed away a couple of months ago, when I inherited her sewing machine, and I have since taken on quilting. This will be my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show.

I am most inspired by my 7 year old son. He has an amazing eye for color and fabric combinations, and he loves picking out decorative stitches on my machine for my projects. I especially enjoy creating children's items and fun blankets for kids. 

I love looking through fabric remnants and finding pieces that match that I can quilt together in fun designs. In the future, I would like to spend more time learning and practicing new sewing and quilting techniques.

Meet Amy Piel-Glass from Out of the Moon…

I'm Amy, and I'm 55 going on nine.  Married 28 years, husband very patient.  And intelligent.  And funny.  3 cats, 1 dog, 4 fish.  Figure like the Venus - of Willendorf. Ex-amateur Middle-Eastern dancer, current amateur mycologist. Vegetarian, cookbook collector, and lover of travel, camping, and canoeing. I've been crafting for about 19 years. This is my first Avant-Garde Show, and I'm looking forward to it!

 Color, more color, and curiosity all inspire me to create.  Color's the starting line - it's the constant "What if?" that moves things forward. I blame a Bloomington, IN bead shop with an earring bar for my creativity.  Buy parts, assemble on the spot, take home.  A half-dozen pairs of earrings later, I was literally hooked. Julie, the owner of a then-tiny basement bead shop in Fort Wayne, IN, mentored me and got me into my first show.

My creative process is messy, messy, messy!  Start, take apart, re-start, pull hair, roam the workshop, look in every drawer, pull out 10 other things to try, then re-arrange until it's just right.

In five years I see myself still at it, like marriage, for better or worse. Enjoy yourself and celebrate every day.

Meet Carol Wass from Studio Wass…

I have always loved arts and crafts. After attending a prestigious art college straight out of high school for a year or so, I got a job in real estate and somehow became lost in time.  

Every now and then my artistic side would pop out.  A few years ago our daughter asked me if I would help design her wedding invitations!! WOW.  I did many sketches and finally created a pen and ink illustration that she loved.  I felt so honored.  Now, I can't keep ideas from popping out of my head. 

I only have a chance to dabble in this around my full time job but hope that someday I can spend more time creating new things.  I have expanded into jewelry making and continue to learn new techniques and design.  

As any artist will tell you it's about passion and creating things that you love and hope that others love them too. I've been doing this for about five years and this will be my 3rd Avant-Garde Show.

Sometimes I just get ideas in my head and have to get them out. I have always been an artists in some form since middle school. I would describe my creative process as a work in progress. I will start on a design and it will change during the process. 

I love what I do and hope to have more time in the future to create and sell. Generally I make what I like to wear or use and figure someone else may like it too.

Meet Carmencita from Gracelle Jewelry…

I’m Carmencita and originally from the Philippines.  I have 4 children and the youngest is in 7^th grade. I have been a homemaker for more than 20 years now. As my children are getting older I began to find ways to fill up my time whether it was working out more or attending more seminars for improving myself. 

Since I had more time up in my schedule I wanted to try new hobbies. The question that was constantly wandering through my mind was “what do I want to do now? Should I try something new?” I ventured out and continued to look for something that might be my passion. I realized it was never about looking. Once you know what your passion is you will feel it in your gut and that is when I realized jewelry making was my passion.

I founded and created the company Gracelle Jewelry a year and a half ago. At first I created jewelry as a hobby. I experimented on different media, including leather, glass, metal, acrylics. Through growth and experience my inspiration truly comes from my customers. Their stories and experiences really impact my jewelry making. That’s why there is always a story behind a piece of jewelry I create.

Jewelry making all started when my daughter Isabelle wanted to go to a jewelry lesson at Joann’s Fabrics. She needed to be accompanied by an adult. So I decided to go with her to the lesson. After that first lesson, I started creating jewelry. I made many fumbles and mistakes as created my jewelry, but that’s the art of learning. I started to create more complicated pieces to the point where even my friends and family kept asking me where I got my jewelry. They would always be surprised when I told them I created this piece. They would contact me and they would ask me to create this type of necklace for them. That is how my company started to slowly grow.

My creative process is through inspiration. Everywhere I go and experience I am inspired by. Its not only the place, but it could also be the people that sparks my creativity. I also started to fundraise for different non-profit organizations since May 2012.   Today Gracelle Jewelry was able to donate over $3,000.00 to different charities and non-profit organizations including the American Red Cross for the typhoon Haiyan victims in Philippines.

This is my first time participating in the Avant-Garde Art & Craft Shows, I’m excited to be part of their events  because of their goal of helping organizations raise funds too.

For more information on our handmade products visit our website atwww.gracellejewelry.com and for up-to-date news and new items visit our Facebook page: Gracelle Jewelry.

2014 Columbus February Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday, February 8, 2014, 10:00am-4:00pm

St. Agatha's Parish Hall

1860 Northam Rd

Columbus, OH 43221

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardeshows.com

Visit us on:

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Think Outside the Chocolate Box- Handmade Valentine's Day Gifts

Meet The Love Family from The Amore Sign Co. 

We are The Love Family. Adam is an engineer, Karrie is a nurse practitioner, and Tellar is a baby. We are a family of 3 and moved to Ohio about a year ago from Chicago to be near family. We are on the waiting list to adopt from Africa. We live a happy life in Thornville. Our company is our last name in Italian where we went on our honeymoon.

We are brand new to the world of craft shows. We just started this year in efforts to raise money for our adoption from Africa. This will be our first Avant-Garde show!

It is a privilege to create and experiment with pieces that families can personalize for their own living spaces by decorating our signs. Adam constructs the signs and then we paint them at our kitchen island which is both fun and relaxing with conversation in the evenings. We also strive to create nice things that do not have to cost a fortune.

Our abundance of free time was not the reason for inspiration. It is an outlet of art, away from our day jobs and also a blessing to supplement this adoption journey and give back to orphanages in need.

Adam was just tinkering around in the garage with one of my endless requests for something I saw in a store but didn’t want to pay that price for… and when he got done making I discovered that he was awesome! Then it kind of blossomed from there…

We have pre-made sign pieces available for clients to construct their own personalized sign on the spot.  We also make growth charts designed to look like a ruler.  These are designed to record children’s height in such a way that is movable with the family should the situation call for it. 

In five years, hopefully we’ll be on a similar scale to where we are now… with all of us sitting in the kitchen painting as a family. At that point the adoption will be complete, we can be donating the proceeds to some charitable cause in efforts to teach our children the role of giving.

Personalization can be whatever you want it to be as each person is their own unique soul for a good reason. Be happy with who you are and enjoy the moment.

Meet Helena Demacopoulos from Helena Marie Couture

My name is Helena Demacopoulos and I’m originally from Warren, Ohio. I am 22 years old and a senior at The Ohio State University studying marketing and entrepreneurship. I currently live in Columbus with my shih tzu Addie, and I will be graduating from Ohio State with honors this May. After college I hope to pursue a marketing or merchandising career in the fashion industry, and of course continue making jewelry on the side. Helena Marie Couture is my first jewelry line and I am very excited to for this opportunity!

 I was in middle school when I first became attracted to fashion. Growing up I attended private schools that required uniforms, so I learned how to make my own jewelry to set myself apart from the sea of girls in matching blue jumpers. I continued to pursue my hobby throughout high school, and when I got to college I joined a student organization that was known for putting on extravagant, professional runway shows to showcase student talent. I have designed collections for this show during all four of my years here at Ohio State, and it was this experience that made me realize I was interested in fashion as more than just a hobby. Success selling my clothes and accessories from the shows on Etsy inspired me to take my jewelry-making craft to the next level and expand into a business. This is my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show, and also my first craft show ever!

My favorite thing about fashion is the fact that something as simple as a dazzling necklace or a fabulous shoe has the ability to affect people’s emotions and inspire confidence. I love being able to create things that not only look beautiful, but make the wearer feel beautiful, too. I find my inspiration in the world of haute couture, pop culture, and nature, and also the trendy streets of Ohio State’s enormous campus. Betsy Johnson, Vera Wang, and Christian Dior are three designers who have a major influence on my own unique style. I have always had a creative personality, and I loved making crafts growing up. My mother is very artistic too, and often accompanied me to classes at local art museums. I have pursued many different craft hobbies over the years including origami, painting, scrapbooking, and sewing. I started making jewelry in middle school and have continued to improve and expand my craft ever since then.

During my freshman year at Ohio State, I joined a student organization called the Fashion Production Association (FPA) which produces large, student designed runway shows to showcase student talent each spring. After the show each year I would sell the accessories and some of the designs I had made on Etsy. Being a part of this organization and designing for the show each year made me realize that I was interested in fashion as more than just a hobby, and successfully selling my accessories online proved to me that consumers were genuinely interested in my style and designs. I thus was inspired to start my own handmade jewelry line, Helena Marie Couture.

Sometimes an idea for a design just comes to me – others times I have to hunt for it. Runway trends, fashion magazines, nature, campus style, and others artists’ work are all sources where I find inspiration, and once I have an idea, I search from thousands of bead options until I find the perfect components for each piece of jewelry. Once I have samples made, I ask family, friends, and real consumers for their opinions of the piece and if there is anything they would like to change about it. This feedback helps me tweak and improve my jewelry to create winning designs that are exactly what my stylish customers want. 

Helena Marie Couture is a new business and I have only been selling my jewelry for a couple of months now. The possibilities for expansion are endless and I am excited to learn and grow as a designer! In fact, the Columbus Avant-Garde Art & Crafts Show is my first step on the exciting journey to expanding my business, as this is my very first craft fair. Until now I have been selling exclusively online, and I am excited for the opportunity to meet my customers face-to-face and build real relationships with them. My plans for the upcoming months are to expand into new product lines, including headbands and other accessories, and to expand to new distribution channels by selling in boutiques and other stores.

My favorite thing about fashion is its ability to inspire confidence in women, and I love the fact that jewelry has the ability to make women feel feminine, stylish, and powerful. My goals for Helena Marie Couture are to create beautiful, handcrafted jewelry for individual women with unique style that will help them stand apart from the crowd and feel radiant and beautiful on the inside and the outside.

Meet Elizabeth Cramer from Lucky Purl

I'm an artist born with passion. I make things to reach goals, raising money or product to help others. I've been creating as long as I can remember - My gram taught me to knit when I was a little girl and my momma would let me sew on her machine all the time. Making things has always been my favorite pass time! This will be my very first Avant-Garde craft show!

I'm inspired by beauty - nothing gets me more amped up to create than a hank of beautiful soft yarn or unique antique fabric! I was lucky to be born into a fairly crafty and thrifty family. I'm positive that if making things wasn't a daily occurrence/encouraged early on in my life that I would be a totally different woman. My mom still tells stories about letting me cut up paper and fabric into teeny tiny pieces; oh gosh and glue... Lots and lots of glue

 I am not sure I would have ever described the arts I do as talent, crafting has never been viewed as a separate thing from my character, who I am, but it is like my craft is more of who I am rather than the things I do
 I'm a list maker and a planner so my process, as much as I jump head first into things, does follow a method to achieve my goal or end result
 In 5 years I hope to be creating still. I'm almost positive my goals will be different and my inspiration will come from new life experiences but I pray that I continue to live my passion for creating.
 Individually my pieces don't necessarily have their own message, but I do believe in a better life and with my work I have the opportunity to help others have a better life. Check out my Etsy shop, lucky purl, for the full story and how you can join me in my mission to make life beautiful

Meet Pat and Charlie from My Soaps

Charlie and I have been making soap for almost 4 years now.  Both of us are retired, and we absolutely love going to the different art shows and festivals, meeting the different vendors and the customers.  We hit a big milestone for us last year by attending 54 shows and festivals by years end, and we hope to break that record this year.  We were at all but one of the Avant-Garde shows last year and we only missed the one because of the weather and the distance to it.

We love the process of soap making, and we have started designing our own, new or seasonal scents.  We make our bars from the cold process method, with Charlie's original recipes.  Our biggest seller is our Poison Ivy soap and Problem Skin soap, although the pure Jojoba oil lotion is coming on fast.  This winter our customers are using our Jewelweed Salve for those cold weather problems with their skin and we are getting a lot of feedback with that.

We have fun with the different herbs or micas that we use for our colorings, but we make our bars very simple and easy for people to use.  Telling our customers about our soaps and how good all natural soap is for your skin, and then having them tell us about what they have done for them at another show or by e-mail is one of the perks of what we do.  

Watching the transformation of someone who had a problem with their skin and knowing that our soaps are helping them is probably the best part.  After taking January off, we are looking forward to getting 2014 started with the Columbus Avant-Garde show being our first of the year.  See you there!

2014 Columbus February Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday, February 8, 2014, 10:00am-4:00pm

St. Agatha's Parish Hall

1860 Northam Rd

Columbus, OH 43221

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardeshows.com

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

LINKEDIN

These Artists Have Scents and Style!

Meet Andrea and Lisa from It’s the Little Things in Life…

 Andrea: 

I live with my husband Jake, and our 2 year old daughter Ava, in New Albany, Ohio. A 2001 Youngstown State University graduate, I taught as a Reading Specialist for 8 years and worked as a Receptionist at a medical facility for 2 years, before I became a Mom and Homemaker in 2012.  As a Homemaker, I felt compelled to release some of the creative energy I used to expend as a teacher and decided to pursue candle making.  I spent a year researching and learning the art and the business, and giving candles away to family and friends for feedback. I continue to add to my knowledge base daily.  I have had success selling candles in The Noble Baron, the barbershop Jake and I own together, for a year now. I recently began home parties and have done three in the first month.

Lisa:

I live with my husband Josh and our 3 year old son Darren, in Powell, Ohio. We are excited to be expanding our family and are expecting a daughter March 2014. I graduated from Ohio Dominican University in 2009, and have been working as a Senior Business Analyst at Nationwide for 8 years. With our growing family, I am hoping to become a Homemaker. I was inspired by Andrea’s candle venture and she has been a great source of support and encouragement as I just recently started making homemade soaps.

Lisa and Andrea met at church and have been friends for 6 years.  They have joined their business ventures to create “It’s the Little Things in Life”. They had a great time and success with their first home party together and are looking forward to their first craft show. 

Both Lisa and Andrea find inspiration in their family and a strong desire to be the best version of them selves.  They also are inspired by their community and the surrounding Columbus area.  Columbus has big city culture for a small city, a tremendous love of fashion and the arts, and numerous success stories: Cheryl’s Cookies, Jeni’s Ice Cream, Bath & Body Works, Victoria Secret and Limited Brands. All have evolved from this area, have been great influences and business leaders, and are wonderful examples to follow.  It is difficult to be a part of this community and not be inspired to do something and be passionate about doing it well!

In five years we hope to have a business presence in our community and to have had success with some of our own small city Big Ideas! 

Meet Victor and Mary from Let it Shine Candles…

We have been married for almost 24 years and have two children (both teenagers) and live in Goshen, Ohio.  We've lived in various places in Ohio our whole lives.

We've only been making candles for a couple of months.  However, we've talked about it for years.  There are/were several family members who made and sold candles for years, however, we did not want to hinder their efforts in any way.  Recently, a family member in Ohio stopped making them, so we thought it was a good time to begin our hobby. We have never participated in an Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show, this is our first time and we are excited.

We are inspired by our love for the Lord and the closeness that brings our family together when we're all working together to make our craft. (Yes, the kids are very much involved) What got us into making candles was the enjoyment of creating something that we can share with other people and being able to pass a craft on to our children so they may be able to enjoy it as they get older.

Years ago, when we began discussing the making of candles and tarts, we would always try to think of ways to promote the craft.  The art of making candles is somewhat tricky, as we have found out.  However, the desire to make a great looking and fragrant product continues to drive us.  So much of the "discovery" has been by trial and error based on our desire to create a great product.

Our creative process is one of communication with each other.  We're always bouncing ideas off of each other and then trying to step through the process of what we think will or will not work and why. Hopefully, in five years, our oldest daughter will be finishing college and our son will be in college and we'll all still be working together.  If not, then I suppose Mary and I will be enjoying each others company and still making our product and meeting new people.

The real message behind "Let It Shine Candles" is to let your light shine out unto the world.  Our family is blessed and the Lord is the center of our lives regardless of what goes on around us.  No matter what happens, we should try our best to be a help to those around us.

Meet Toya from R.I.P.E Connection Jewelry…

I have a Social Work Bachelor’s Degree and currently work as a Social Worker serving clients with mental disorder and ex-offenders. My hobby is my craft creating jewelry. I also write poetry, enjoy interior design. I give back to my community by volunteering to help homeless population. I have been creating and designing handmade jewelry for about four years. This is my first Avant-Garde Show and I am very excited!

I am a woman with deep spiritual beliefs. I admire the creative work of other artist-However my jewelry is GOD inspired which, make each piece unique and special. One day I looked everywhere for a certain kind of earring to suite my personality and style.  I never found them. As a result, I decided to purchase my own beads and materials to make the earrings that I wanted. Shortly after a woman prayed for me. She prayed for the creative ability in me to come forward. I have created and designed one-of-a-kind, handmade jewelry ever since.  I discovered I had a gift, a talent a new hobby. This particular talent caught the attention of friends and family and random strangers. What I love most about this talent is that it captures the attention of people for different countries and cultures.  This is how I got started ever since I have been inspired to create one of kind pieces.

 

I would use the word “random” to describe my creative process. Usually, I am divinely inspired and then I create! My creation is for both men and women.  I create bracelets, necklaces, magnetic broaches, earrings, and body chains. Currently I sale my jewelry in consignment shops. I am in the process of expanding. In five years, I see my jewelry in national retail stores.  

The name of my Jewelry is R.I.P.E Connection Jewelry, R.I.P.E stands for Restoration, identity, Purpose and Effectiveness in Christ. Regardless of what a person may lose in life: they should stay connected to their purpose. One lost does not define a persons’ entire purpose in life. I experienced many lost. However, through Christ, I stay connected to my whole purpose. As result, I create one of kind pieces of jewelry. I want my jewelry to remind people that GOD can Restore lost, define Identity, clarify Purpose so they can be Effective in life.    

Meet Colleen Hanrahan from Crafts by the Handful…

My name is Colleen Hanrahan.  I live in Dublin and call it home now that I've been there for 20 years.  Last year I was married and became a mother to my 10 year old stepson.  I've been told that I like to stay busy because I also recently decided to start my own business of making homemade crafts endeavor which focuses on goodies for children. 

 I have been crafty all my life, but last Christmas I was given a phenomenal gift...my sewing machine.  Since then I have been unstoppable and after being told by enough friends and family that I should start selling my items, I decided that it was time.   This will be my first Avant-Garde show, and I'm very excited!

What inspires me is also what got me into this hobby.  I found that there were at least four close females in my life who were all pregnant at the same time. 

When I thought about a special gift I could make them, I started going a little crazy and making a lot of different items for them that would be useful.  I was blessed enough to have many other friends with young children who were willing to try and use different items I was making.  

I can't pinpoint a time I "discovered" my talent, but I was raised in a house with a mom who was always sewing.  She sewed a lot of the clothing that my sisters and I wore growing up.  Anytime as a teenager that I couldn't find the exact dress I wanted, my mom and I would go shopping for a pattern and fabric.  I can't say that I got my mom's seamstress talent, but she has always been there to answer questions that come up as I work and encourage my creativity in everything I make.

My creative process starts with a mission or an idea.  I try just one of something before deciding if its something that people would like to have and if I want to make a lot more.  I also get lots of ideas from people asking me for something they want or need for their family. Where do I see myself in 5 years?  I want to be known amongst my friends as the "baby lady".  I want to be the person they turn to whenever they are heading to a baby shower and the place they get items to support the early years of their own children.  I would love for it to become my job, but understand that could be a reach that extends farther than 5 years.  

The message behind my work is creating fun items for young children, even little boys!

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