craftiness all around

Tony, Renee, and I cruised around between Cambridge and Somerville yesterday to check out a couple of the local craft shows. It's amazing to see how many wonderful local artists there are in our area. It truly creates this sense of culture that I think we would really miss if we ever moved out of this area. A friend of mine (Jenne) calls the area "Camberville" - too funny!

Anyway, we began the morning with coffee and pastries at Bloc 11 in Union Square as usual. (Must look into getting stock in this place - seriously!) Had my usual egg sandwich and large latte - yum! Then we drove over to the Design Hive Market to see our friends Libby and Bren. Libby (Whistling Sparrow Designs) is a very talented sewer (is that a word?) and makes the neatest things like aprons, dresses, and cute little brooches. Check out this pineapple apron she made, complete with a recipe for pineapple upside tucked in the pocket!

Renee commissioned this tomato painting from Bren Bataclan. Isn't it cute?! Our friend, Kristen, bought an eggplant from him a couple of weeks ago so we told him that he should do a whole line of veggies. Tony and I are thinking that it would be so cool to have Bren come paint our baby's room in the future.

We also saw Saya of Saya Studio and her beautiful bags. She is going to do a custom order for me because the bag that I photographed here was a little too big for someone my size, and she didn't have her across-the-torso sling style in the green, blue, and brown color theme that I like. Isn't it gorgeous, though?


Then we drove across town over to the Joy Street Open Studios in Somerville to see our friend, Rebecca of Jewels Fabulous and her studio mate, Lydia of Quiet Jewelry. I ended up buying myself 2 necklaces and 1 pair of earrings from this excursion - check them out:

One of the pieces that I got was a "chubby bird" necklace from Kelly of Tulips to Kiss. It's so fricken cute! She has a whole series of various animals with little bits of food carved out of their bellies called the "Ate" series -- get it? The food is what they ate - too clever!


The Joy Street studio houses so many talented artist. Here's a little shot of Rebecca and Lydia's space where they make such gorgeous pieces of jewelry:

We walked around to check out the other artists and came across this interesting piece of art on a wall. It appears to be eyeballs made out of ping pong balls.

Anyway, it was a fun day checking out various artists and their wares. A cold day, for sure! But definitely worth it!

joy street open studio this weekend

My friend -- and very talented jewelry designer -- Rebecca Scott of Jewels Fabulous will be one of the participating artists at the Joy Street Open Studios this weekend. If you're in the Somerville area (near Union Square) be sure to stop by to check out over 40 artists from 12 to 6 pm each day.

Rebecca made the jewelry for our wedding -- everything from the necklace, earrings, and bracelet that I wore to the necklace and earrings that my sister and Shannon wore. My mom is totally addicted to her pieces and pretty much gets one anytime her birthday or major holiday rolls around - LOL! One of my favorite pieces by her is this simple necklace:

I bought the one where she used medium grey colored pearls and I get so many compliments on it every time I wear it! Her studio mate, Quiet Jewelry, will also be participating at the Joy Street event, and she makes some really cool, unique metal pieces.

If you can't make it to the event, you can always buy Rebecca's pieces here, or browse her website's gallery here. And if you do go see her studio, let her know I sent ya! :)

P.S. Along the same "support a friend" theme, crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager!