The great part of having increased responsibilities at my full time day job is the increased challenge, the new things I am learning the amount of passion the position requires of me. The downside is my brain is tired at the end of the day and writing blogs that contain sentences and clear content has not going well. April has turned out to be a great month for inspiration however, and I have seen and met some amazing people doing amazing things that have made me want to do better with Look Shiny Things.
April has brought the beginning of Spring and Spring craft shows. I have been really slow to book myself into any shows this year (to the dismay of many, including myself) but the 2 shows I have attended so far were awesome! The first was the local On the Spot Pop Up Craft Sale held at Latitude 53 right in the heart of downtown Edmonton. The shows are held 4-6 times a year and are meant to showcase local artisans doing cool and or unique things. They have food, jewelry, knitting, fabric art, paintings, candles, cards and more from about 50-60 artists accepted into the show. I want in this show, but, to be honest, my displays need some serious attention before they are ready for any show. There was some cool jewelry at the show, yet it was a painter who caught my imagination.
A canvas and acrylic painting destined for my baby niece from justactnaturalstudio.com
Sabrina is the person behind just.act.natural studio, her mission is simple. She paints robots. What caught my eye is that they are whimsical and fun. Sabrina isn’t looking to encourage you to build a robot for your home; she just loves the contrast of embodying these metal beings with emotion and wants to share that love with the world. I immediately fell in love with a painting of a Gentleman Robot for a gift, but found I had to tell the intended recipient about him so that I did not keep the painting for myself!
This weekend brought back the Make It! The Handmade Revolution to the Enjoy Centre. This bi-annual, 3 or 4 day event, held in both Vancouver and Edmonton, works to bring out artisans creating cool and unique handmade items from all over Canada. I always have mixed feeling about these fairs. They are interesting, and I enjoy going, but I do not always see something I MUST HAVE. This year was astounding however, and by far, my favorite show of any I have previously attended!
There were three booths that stood out for me, making the show unforgettable:
The Whimsical WILD – I cannot draw recognizable features with any real skill. Rylee takes doodles to a whole new level with extremely detailed and colorful drawings of animals. The friend I was with bought a small Elephant print. Whereas I may regret not buying an anglerfish print until she returns to open the shop on Etsy again – where I can only hope it is available!
Anglerfish image from The Whimsical WILD Instagram Feed
Tin House Designs – Tyler recovers tin tiles from buildings across Canada and frames them. It sounds simple until you talk to him and view these stunning tiles. Tyler can tell you where each of the tiles is from (sometimes even down to the building it was salvaged from) and a little history on the individual tiles! Each tile is beautiful, and each is unique due to the way the mix of metals making up the tin reacted to the environment throughout their history. Tin House Designs will be a future gift idea (maybe even for myself)!
Pendants from Oh! The Post! These are both from Britain but from different years! The tree is from 1973 and the Lion is from 2006. But I have one on hold from Canada in 1990.
My absolute favorite was Oh the Post! When you first looked at Laura’s booth, your attention was caught by the variety of unique images on the earrings and pendants displayed. As my friend and I started to chat with Laura, we discovered how awesome she is, and the that she creates the jewelry using postage stamps from around the world! Postage stamps are a bit of a dying art form with the advent of electronic options. Truthfully, they are amazingly detailed pieces of art in miniature, and the world has some amazing stamps out there. The Oh! The Post! collection includes older and more recent stamps as well, so you see such amazing variety and cultural significance looking through her pieces. I could not leave without two, and a third is on hold for me when Laura returns home. I should also mention that this is the first time my best friend and I have semi-begged someone to be our friend at a craft show. If we are honest, T and I pretty much flat out begged, but we do have some pride left.
I very much doubt you are going to see tin tiles, robots, postage stamps, or intricate doodles in any of my future work. What these individuals demonstrated so well was the love they have for what they do and how awesome it is to share their work with others. They reminded me how fun it can be to complete something and see how much someone loves what you have created. They inspired me to find the time and energy for the joy of sharing my creations again.
A few of my recent items – just in case you were wondering:
New Stained Glass inspired Earrings – $15.00
New Stained Glass inspired Earrings – $15.00
Look Shiny Things Blog 
The top stained glass earrings remind me of Gustavo Klimt!
Lol – thanks! I wish I could say it was intentional!