Creations Through Colors- Some of our Bright and Bold Vendors!

Meet Sara Wood and Julie Ickes-Jefferson from Twinklefly Boutique...

Welcome to Twinklefly Boutique! We are Sara Wood and Julie Ickes-Jefferson - crafters, entrepreneurs, artists, spirited, creative, owners. We are a mother-daughter crafting duo. Our main focus at TFB (Twinklefly Boutique) is to create unique handcrafted baby gifts, but often, as our creative personalities take over, we get bored and stray towards something different for a while.

We have been attending art and craft shows for as long as I can remember. We have also been creating for as long as I can remember. One day we just decided to open an etsy shop with the jewelry we create. From there, we got into selling at shows. We have been selling the baby gifts for just over a year, but we were selling our jewelry about a year prior to that. Creating? We have been crafting our entire lives. 

Sara: I am a new mommy and in my free time I like to spend as much time with my son and husband as I possibly can. I couldn't ask for anything better than the experience of becoming a mom! I absolutely love it! Aside from that, I work full-time for a prescription drug insurance provider. 

Julie: I am enjoying my role as a new grandma and look forward to my family growing with a second grandchild on the way! I also love my dog as if she were my child (she's my big baby! Black lab/rot mix) and take her everywhere with me (except to shows, but I would if I could!). I also work full-time for a non-profit organization.

We are always creating. We gain inspiration from eachother as well as those around us, the wonderful babies in our lives, nature, our animals and many other places. 

 

Sara: I’m creative by nature, I've been crafting with my mom since I was born. Everything I do has to have some sort of my own spin on it to make it unique. I created all of my wedding jewelry and centerpieces, numerous cards and invites, gifts, Halloween costumes, home decor, organizing solutions, etc. I have a wonderful baby and a wonderful husband who makes every attempt to support and foster my creativity.

Julie: We have always done some sort of creating/crafting in my family. I have been making things since I was born. Crafting was handed down from generation to generation. 

 

Sara: My creative process is scattered. I am very random and tend to be all over the board (yes, annoying at times to my family and friends. . . You should see me on a cleaning day! I'm on to the next task before the first is complete. It's amazing my house gets clean in the end!) 

Julie: My creative process is spirited and creative. I am fascinated by the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of life, natural healing, nature and always looking for new things to create. 

 

Our goal we hope, is to one day be able to quit our day jobs and work for ourselves full-time and be able to make a living.

The message behind our work: A fun and unique way of presenting a gift, creativity is not a dying breed and share your talents with others. We also like to encourage buying local to help stimulate our local economies and support artists like ourselves..

   

We love to create custom items so you have the perfect gift that reflects the recipient's (or your) personality. Colors, themes, sizes, etc. Please let us know if you'd like us to create something just for you! Our website is www.Twinklefly.etsy.com You can email us at TwinkleflyBoutique@gmail.com or give us a call at 440-708-4469 or 216-469-5532

You can also check out our handcrafted jewelry at www.LedgewoodDesigns.etsy.com Each piece is unique. 

Love us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at:

Twinklefly Boutique Facebook:http://on.fb.me/HpUsUm

Ledgewood Designs Facebook:http://on.fb.me/bjKM62

Twitter:@LedgewoodDesign http://bit.ly/b5fXfh 

Meet Christina Woo from Vintage Postcard Pendants  ... 

I live in the country, Wellington, Ohio, and work in the city, Cleveland. I am a mild-mannered HR Manager by day and a fun-loving arts & craft freak by night (and weekend). Unlike many creative people, I have NOT been into arts and crafts my whole life. I only discovered my love of crafting (and sewing) about 15 years ago when I took a quilting class on a whim. One thing led to another and now I cannot stop creating!! Like many creative people, I have many, many hobbies and I'll try just about anything! 

How I got started.. About 15 years ago I watched a Sewing with Nancy episode and said, I CAN DO THAT!! I signed up for a quilting class within a week and I have been creating ever since!

  

I definitely get my creativity from my late dad, Charlie Drake. He painted wolves and country scenes on just about every surface he could get his hands on, and he played guitar and banjo. 

A couple of years ago I made my family and friends little wooden pendants for Christmas. The pendants had vintage postcard images decoupaged on them. I was seriously amazed at the overwhelming reaction that I got. You would have thought I gave them gold! They were begging me to make more for their family and friends. I absolutely LOVE LOVE my little pendants. I have been making these little decoupaged pendants for almost 3 years now.

My creative process is spontaneous, fast, and intense. I don't choose to do anything that takes too long. I’m fast and furious! I guess I need instant gratification.  However, when I'm "in the zone" nothing else matters. I will sit down at my creative table early one Saturday morning and when I finally look at the clock and stretch my creaking bones, I realize I have been sitting there for 6 hours!!  I absolutely LOVE creating things. 

I have to say I am the most proud of the art quilt I made for my banjo teacher.  I needed to express to him how much it meant to me that he was helping me to make one of my dreams come true.  It was hard to give it away, but he absolutely adores it.

My goal and hope with my artwork is that I hope to make people happy. I have only made one thing for myself because I seem to get so much more from my work when I see someone else smiling and walking away with it. 

My favorite time of year is Halloween. One day my goal is to make all Halloween-themed arts and crafts. I want to continue making my pendants, but I also plan on incorporating fiber art into my jewelry. I'm learning to use a felting machine right now and will be expanding my pendant line soon!

Meet Maudy Paden from Sewing by Maudy...

I have 20+ years of sewing experience, been trained as a religious lay professional and chaplian, and owned a franchise business. I have professionaly sewn in theatre cosutme shops, as well as bridal, and alterations workrooms. For fun, I enjoy mixing contemporary quilting techniques with upcycled garment embellishment.

Sewing was taught to me as an early teen by my mother. Both parents always had some kind of hobby or craft project in the works as an example to me. We were a "do it yourself" family. My father built all of our homes. If we wanted something special, we usually created it ourselves.

At present, I am a professional seamstress. I sew for a living; taking in side seams, replacing zippers and hemming pants. I mainly focus on alterations for private clients.

How I got into selling my work.. My daughter started selling small collage pins at craft shows last year, as a way to earn some money. I was helping her find ways to fund her dream of becoming a foreign exchange student. As a result, I could not stop thinking of more products to vend at crafts shows. She didn't have the skill to create these crafts, but I did, and I couldn't stop myself. The ideas were exploding in my head.  

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My creativity comes from my surroundings and even my dreams. Whatever I see and experience, is somehow bent to relate to a current project. My mind always has a back burner on, cooking an idea. 

My creative process is very organic. I have the ability to see what something could look like in my mind's eye. I also can allow something to progress without a complete attachment to an end product. I expect mistakes to happen and am ready to adapt and reshape my project as I go. My supplies are adapted from what I have on hand. Also, I often will have a couple different projects going on at the same time. I experiment and constantly try to fine tune my ideas. I think about my creations all the time.

My goal is to achieve self expression, mastery, reward, and the joy of sharing beauty. The message behind my work is transformation. Everything can be remade and transformed into something new. This idea especially shows up in my zipper rosettes and my wedding dress creations.  

Much of my work can be seen on my blog, www.cuttingcloth.blogspot.com and my website www.sewingbymaudy.com.  The best way to contact me is by email, maudy.paden@yahoo.com or by phone 440-967-8799.

Meet Daniela Fodor from Cecille Creations ...

My name is Daniela Fodor. I was born in Romania and I lived there 40 years. I moved to Ohio five years ago and have been doing my craft for about five years as well.

My creativity starts from the need to express my moods and feelings... Also nature, rural life and human feelings are what stimulates my creativity. Everything that has an impact on me is transformed into art.

How I got started.. I was talking with a friend who has her own business with fabric bags and she suggested using a sewing machine to create things. From there I bought the first sewing machine and that's how it began :) Every new technique fascinated me and prompted me to search, discover and learn new styles and techniques. I believe that I'm involved in a lifelong learning process. So far I have learned to create textile art and how to draw and use color, color schemes and design principles. As you can see from my work, I love using color.

At one point I found myself surrounded by quilts created by me. Also my work was noticed by colleagues and friends, whom I am grateful for their support. Many suggested me to start selling my work.

When creating a piece, I do not plan what steps need to happen in a particular order. Instead, I let it flow on its own or spontaneously. I always rely on my intuition. Most of the time I ask myself "What if ...?" My creative process actually begins with this question each time I sit down to create something.

Apart from the creating process of an art quilt, I have an hour each day that I spend drawing. I do this and draw to exercise my creativity. In terms of learning process, I impose myself discipline because I have to learn fast and I need to accumulate a lot of information to foster my creative process.

My goal is to reach artistic maturity at which point I could then say I have a personal style. For now I prefer abstract themes. I find that abstract painting stimulates my creativity. It forces me to focus more and look for connections where they do not seem to exist. I also want to achieve a large customer base. I feel that customers are the ones who spur me to create continuously. The satisfaction and delight of a buyer before an art quilt is a huge boost for me.

The message behind my work is: Allow your inner child to speak to the world.

Check out these featured vendors at the 2012 Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. This eclectic show will feature over 135 of the most talented artisans and crafters. A portion of the show's proceeds will be donated to Project Night Night, an organization that provide care packages and support for children during times of home displacement.

2012 Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, April 29, 2012, 10:00am-5:00pm

Wagner's Country Inn

30855 Center Ridge Rd. 

Westlake, OH 44145

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

Sneak Peak at Some of Our 2012 Winter Vendors!

Meet Anne Barach from Empty Knits..

I'm 24 years old and grew up in East Tennessee. In 2009 I graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, with a bachelor's degree in religion and one in French and Francophone Studies. I'm married to a wonderful guy, a native Clevelander who's currently in grad school at Case. We live in Little Italy and hope to make our life in the neighborhood.

I think much of my creative drive is inherited; I come from a family full of artists, musicians and other creative types. I grew up with English-professor parents, and art was just a part of everyday life in our family. I couldn't imagine living without it.

Sewing, needlepoint, and cross-stitch especially run in my mother's family. My grandmother was constantly working on beautiful counted cross-stitch pieces. Mom taught me to sew when I was little, which might be why I've always gravitated towards textile arts. In college I took three semesters of weaving, and from there I taught myself to crochet and then to knit. Knitting especially stuck with me! I've just recently taken up spinning my own yarns; it's definitely my new love.

Meet Ari Mason from Tiny Sheep..

I started on Etsy this past spring. I've had an unknown chronic illness since May 2010, and I've mostly been resting and seeing doctors over the past eight months. I had been sitting in bed making random hats for a couple of weeks straight when I realized that I could be doing more. My fiancé Brenton and I agreed that an online store would be a great project for me, so I got to work.  It's so much more than a project now!

I took up crocheting in December of 2009.  I taught myself out of a book, and it was extremely tedious. I think most people would have given up after the first hour or so, but I'm a conservatory musician - we're used to practicing for hours a day until we get it just right.  Once you're proficient at something, learning a new step comes much more easily.  I ended up putting my crochet hobby away for a while, but I started working at it again to make some blankets. I had some huge revelations while making a doily from a faulty pattern last winter.  That doily indirectly brought me to where I am today.  Before I knew it, I was making some really attractive pieces.

I try not to look at what's "trendy" too often, because it can really dampen my ideas, or even stop my creative process in its tracks.  I'm not looking to have items that everyone else makes.  If I am looking at the products of another designer, I am looking for inspiration.  I do a lot of sketching, because figuring out the construction of a crocheted item should be well thought-out.  The sketches can only help so much, though - sometimes I'll estimate how the item will work up, but I end up doing things totally differently while I'm working on it.  Once I have a successful end result, I store everything in my head, or sometimes write it out.


Meet Davy Rigsby from The Davy Boat..

My name is Davy Rigsby, I'm 24 years old and I graduated from The Ohio State University in 2009 with a major in Film Studies. I enjoy films, books, fashion, art, and of course, crafts.

My favorite thing I've done is a duct tape chair that sits in my own living room. I got the chair used and just covered it in strips of duct tape. It took about 5 hours to finish (the back still isn't even done!), but it's fun and it's actually comfy and everyone always asks about it when they come over so it's a great conversation piece.

My advice to others..Just do what you love. I have yet to focus on producing a single product, I just make things that I would like to have and hope that others will feel the same way. And if not, you get to keep your awesome creations!

Meet Daniela Fodor from Cecille Creations..

My name is Daniela Fodor. I was born in Romania and I lived there 40 years. I moved in Ohio five years ago with my husband and our daughter aged three and a half years. I am the mother of two boys and a girl and they mean a lot to me.

I finished High School in Romania and there I studied psychology for two years. Psychology is and will be one of the great passions of my life, along with fiber art. I love country life but now I live in Parma Heights in an apartment and I would like to live in a big house in which I can fit my studio.

When I came in United States I met a new world that I knew almost nothing about and had to begin the process of accommodation :) To facilitate this process and try to cope with stress imposed by the change, I learned to make quilts. What I mean is, 5 years ago I did not even know how to use the sewing machine. I started the ABC's of the sewing machine and the quilt, brand new areas for me. In the meantime, I learned many techniques and styles; I started with traditional quilt and today I am envolved with abstract fiber art ,the style that is stimulating me the most. . I had a lot of help from art books and the patience and support from my husband, for which I thank.

When it comes to a favorite piece, it's hard to choose because I have few works that I loved but one of them is my favorite due to applied technique and the outcome. It is a Byzantine religious icon created in mosaic technique, composed of small pieces of 1 / 2 inches of satin assembled with tweezers because it is a slippery fabric, It took me three months to build it but I am happy with the result.

Two years ago I began to dye fabrics, a piece of dyed fabric can send me many messages and depending on my mood, I begin to lay the foundations of a new piece. I do not plan what steps need to be followed but let it flow by itself or spontaneous, always I rely on my intuition. Most of the time I ask myself"what if ...?" the creative process actually begins with this. Apart from the creating process of an art quilt I have an hour each day drawing that is dedicated to draw and to exercise my creativity. In terms of learning process I impose myself discipline because I have to learn fast and I need to accumulate a lot of information that I need  in my creative process.

Check out these vendors this winter at the 2012 Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. This eclectic show will feature 100 of the most talented artisans and crafters. A portion of the show's proceeds will be donated to Stewart's Caring Place, an organization that support families touched by cancer.

2012 Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, January 29, 2012, 10:00am-5:00pm

Wagner's Country Inn

30855 Center Ridge Rd. 

Westlake, OH 44145

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