A Visit to Salmagundi West...and Updated Calendar of Events!

This week I paid a visit to one of my all time favourite stores in Vancouver: Salmagundi West (321 West Cordova Street) - "A collection of interesting things". Sadly, the proprietress, Lynn Brown passed away recently, but the store will live on in the fine hands of Anne!

I bought this wooden crow, which I plan on having on display at my craft fair tables!

I also bought this glittery owl to add to my Halloween decor.

Anyone who knows me, knows I can't resist old photo's!! These will probably be made into Valentine's cards down the road.

Last weekend I had a booth alongside some "Portobello" vendors at the Vancouver Home and Design show. Here's some blurry snapshots of my space (taken with instagram).

I ***finally*** updated my calendar of events to show all of my winter shows/fairs that I'll be at this year!! Click on the link up above...

Resolution #1

lol - love this! (from HappyTownUSA on etsy)

Lately I've been obsessed with fancy typography on blackboards. I've seen some recipes online for homemade chalkboard paint, and all sorts of different chalkboard projects.....I see some black walls in my house in 2012! shhhhh - don't tell my hubby! (This is from designinspiration)

One of my favourite mixed media books these days is "Plaster Studio", by Stephanie Lee & Judy Wise......

.....so I was inspired to use plaster on my newest batch of birds and crows. I have no idea how they'll turn out, but it's sure fun playing around! Once these are dry I'll start playing with some paint....maybe some beeswax....I don't know!

Got Craft? Window Displays at Barefoot Contessa

Got Craft? is coming up May 8th, and I'm so, so happy and excited to be part of the show!

This month, Barefoot Contessa's window displays are showcasing a variety of samplings from a few vendors that will be at the show.

Here's the Main Street store:

My daughter did her best to be in most of the photo's!

Here's the Commercial Drive store:

One of my crows sunning himself in the Commercial Drive window!

P.S. - everything in the window display is for sale!

A Thrifted Treasure

This is one of my latest thrifted treasures: a silver bread tray. It's all tarnished and banged up, which makes me love it even more! I'll use it at my table (Nifty for Fifty) this Sunday, and probably fill it with brooches.

Some New Pieces

Made some Scrabble Tile earrings today. These ones will go up in my shop (tomorrow).

Guess I was in the mood for all things Paris, because I made several different pairs, but all Parisian themed. I dropped them off at a local store (Two of Hearts) today.

Here's a key chain made out of a recycled Rummikub game piece. This gal is definitely one of my fav's! She'll be headed off to my shop tomorrow too!

Here's a trio of recycled Rummikub necklaces.

I started making recycled Scrabble Tile lapel pins over the Christmas season. This gal reminds me of summer....

...and this trio reminds me that Spring is just around the corner!

This guy's just hanging out in my studio!

One World One Heart Giveaway

Hello - welcome! I'm thrilled to be a participant in the "One World One Heart Giveaway" Last year was my first year, and it was soooo much fun. Be prepared to sit at your computer for hours browsing through blogland, and discovering some very talented people out there. Click on the OWOH icon on my right side bar (or here) to find a list of all the blogs participating in this event.
Here's how it works: starting tonight (at midnight) the list of participants will start to be loaded up onto the OWOH site. All you have to do is have a little browse through the blogs (be prepared for eye candy overload - have the tea and cookies ready). If you'd like to be entered to win a person's giveaway, leave a comment on their post (ends Jan 17th). Easy peasy!

I have 3 giveaways. The first is this trio of recycled items: a recycled lid that I turned into a butterfly themed magnet, a recycled scrabble tile that I turned into a crow themed brooch pin, and a recycled rummikub tile that I turned into an owl themed necklace.

My second giveaway is this necklace that I made out of a recycled china plate piece.

My third giveaway is this beeswax coated, collaged bird ornament that I made out of bits and pieces of old ephemera, postage stamps, wire, sparkle and pan pastels.


If you'd like to be entered to win one of these, all you have to do is leave a comment below!


Here are the winners!

Draw #1 went to #49 - "Janine":

Draw #2 went to #237 - "Jen":

Draw #3 went to #179 - "Ladybug":

Beeswax Crows and Birds

I FINALLY finished these crows and birds! Geez louize these took me a while to finish off.

I plan on reviving my etsy shop - it's been a long while since I've listed anything on etsy. This time I'll be starting from scratch with a brand new shop under the name: "RavensRestStudio", instead of "JenniferConway".

Melted Beeswax Smells So Good

I'm still working on the beeswax coated birds and crows. I had to take a little break from them, but they're aaaaaalmost finished now!

The melted beeswax makes our house smell wonderful!

These guys just need a little colour (I love using pan pastels), and some black sparkling top hats, and they're done!

Weekend Fairs

Tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday I'll be out in North Vancouver at the Delbrook craft fair! I love this fair, and have been really looking forward to it!

All my price tags are looking a little shaggy.....shaggy in the wrong way, not my "purposely shaggy" way - so I've started to make some fresh, new ones.
Here's the newest addition to my table. I know, I know......I'm in danger of becoming the crazy crow lady!!
Plan on heading down to Circle Craft? Drop by my friend Pamela's booth to check out her wares (say "Hi" for me!).

She does beautiful, beautiful work:

This GIANT globe is hanging in the the new Trade and Convention Centre's lobby. My son is going to love this when he sees it!

Finished Pieces from the Encaustic Workshop

Whew! 3 full days of encaustics! Today I'm in wax withdrawal!

Here's some photo's of my finished pieces, now in my living room!

This one's my favourite:

...followed by this one:

...followed by these two: