Southern Circle Retreats Take 3

This weekend I am off with this sweet chick doing what we love.

This weekend we are hosting our 3rd Southern Circle Retreats.  It's a weekend long art retreat held in the beautiful community of Serenbe. It sold out by spring....so that's why I haven't been chatting about it too much. I can't believe it....SOLD out within like a month of opening registration. Such a blessing for Tiffin and I.

We'll be making jewelry, painting, sewing, eating amazing food, staying up late in flannel PJ's, drinking wine on the porch under heaters and blankets, and most importantly building girlfriend bonds for years to come. I can't wait to meet the new group!

This year we have friends coming from as far as Hawaii. I know right? I love that we have both been given these gifts and that we enjoy sharing these gifts with others.

 If you are interested in attending next year, please follow either of us on instagram @artsyorange or @linwoodavenue for dates and registration. We are probably changing the dates up a bit, but usually we host it in January.

Each year it's a little different. But always the same is our joy for creating with others. I'll be back next week to share photos of the weekend!

May Day and Mailey

So here she is at "her first Art Show" (that's what it became once I said yep to her selling with me). When I got home from Wesleyan Saturday night we worked together on finishing up her little charms, adding sparkly beads, and placing them on the chains. And of course since it was going in my booth, it had to have a fabulous display stand. So we made a miniature version of my jewelry stands. Which worked great. She wanted them priced at $10 each and hoped to make $75.00. (math is not her strong suit)We got there early, I like to be first to this show, it gets you the best spot. After unloading and a yummy breakfast at the Blue Eyed Daisy, we set out to get our booth ready. And she was a trooper. The wind was knocking EVERYTHING down. I mean everything. It was terrible. Finally we had to literally tie everything down with rope. Even my mannequin had to be tied up to the tent. The wind was unbelievable all day. But it was a beautiful day, so we could handle the gusts of wind every once in awhile.

She made it until around 1pm, then called her Daddy to come get her. She was "bored". I wasn't of course. People to visit with, sales to make. And sales we had!! Mailey sold 8 necklaces (woohoo!) and I sold paintings and jewelry like crazy. In fact, this is a 4 hour event and our sales were about as good as the very slow 3 days at Wesleyan! People were in a spending mood! And I as happy to sell to them!

Here's my end booth. Love the end because you get them coming and going. Thousands of people came out for the day. It truly is a great event. Thanks you Serenbe!! And thanks to all of you who came out for the day.

By the way, remember my statement about the wind???? You see the bird head sculptures above? Yep. They all tasted the pavement. I nearly lost my cool. But what's an artist to do? I mean the hours I put into making those.....I'll never get that back. Fix them? I can't even look at them yet. I just may cry. For now they are in a box in the storage unit. I've way too much to do this week to worry myself. The Dunwoody Show is this weekend, and with the success of the past few days, I've got to turn to and replenish some stock! So back to the painting I go. Yipee!

Greenery With Style

I love fresh greenery at Christmas. The smell.....ummmm.....Since we use a fake tree these days, using some live greenery around the house always brings me back to the real smell of Christmas. You know what I mean? What does Christmas smell like to you? If I could bottle it up, it'd be the tree smell. Yep. And right now, my car smells like that. Ahhhh....

So here are my cone baskets all decked out for the holidays. Perfect for door decorations, door knobs, or fence posts like I have here. They are sure to make the recipient smile. Each one is unique with embellishments and is brimming with tree clippings from a local tree farm and my first Christmas tree with Billy. You see, the first tree we had was real and in a pot standing about 5' tall. After the New Year we planted it. 13 years later it is ginormous! Seriously, ginormous (Mailey's favorite word to use). We've had to stake it to the ground to keep it from falling over. So hopefully a little bit of this tree from our loving home will bring you luck during the coming year.

Be sure to stop by and say "Hello" if you make it to Braelinn or Serenbe this weekend! I'm packed and ready to go right now!