Hummingbird Mode

Spring is here. We are in extreme hummingbird mode. This means that we are flapping our wings at 12 - 90 beats per second. Per second, folks, we are not kidding around here!

We are in full swing with end of the year activities at school, how many field trips can they cram in at the last minute, book reports, poetry readings, concerts, musicals, field days, and 5th grade graduation. Oh, wait, did I mention that the dandelions and weeds are out of control, and we've had 5 weekends in a row or rain or snow! What about planting a garden? And those vegetable beds we've been meaning to put in, they're half-way done. Don't forget book club and volunteer meetings. The public art committee is gearing up for their summertime events, and oh yeah, Rachel just agreed to be their secretary. We are also coordinating, planning and working on our own home and garden renovation projects. We may even be planning a family vacation, if we're lucky. Then, there is still laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, children, husbands, and friends. Is anyone else feeling this way? It makes my head spin, just to think about it all!

And in the midst of it all, we are preparing for our Spring Sale. Just a little last fling, before we batten down the hatches for the summer. We are excited to be offering a line of less expensive, fun summer jewelry, as well as a wide variety of fabric accessories including tote bags, headbands, wristlet pouches, and bags like these.

So, we know you all are busy too. We hope this spring finds you happy and healthy in the midst of your own personal hummingbird action. Hang in there, summer is just around the corner!

Save the date...

You've been asking, so we've done it....

We've finally picked a date for our Spring Sale.

Thursday, May 21; 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Friday, May 22; 9:00am - 1:00pm



Tell your friends! Mark your calendar! We hope you can make it!

Display ideas

As we were getting ready for our art sale, Kerry and I spent some time working on displaying our jewelry. It is always a challenge for us, as we have a functional studio, where we not only make jewelry, store jewelry, but also display it in a fashion that is appealing to visitors. Our old stand-by is a converted drawing table. When we renovated the studio three years ago, we had my mom's old drawing table. We covered it with batting and then a solid material. We then used upholstery tacks and satin ribbon to make loops. We hang our necklaces and bracelets from the loops. Last year we removed the base of the table and mounted the table top on the wall, it now is a handy display place, as well as an attractive piece of wall decor. Looking for some new display techniques, we came up with some creative ideas that gave our pieces a fresh look. Our next idea was to use mini clothespins and clips to hang carded earrings from yarn strung on our bakers rack.

We used the clip idea several times around the studio. Here is another shot where we used the clips to hang earrings from a wire frame.

Some of our ideas would even work with your jewelry at home. Here we used an old photo display stand to hold earring cards, but you could hang bracelets and necklaces from the rings, or hang french hook earrings over the wires.

This earring display is a favorite of mine because our friend Lisa gave us this...

She found a wooden frame, distressed it and then inserted a piece of metal radiator sheeting. the cut-outs in the metal are perfect for hanging earrings. You could also hang small s-hooks from the holes and use those to hang your necklaces and earrings.

Our last jewelry display was a gift from Kerry's dad. He made several wooden display stand for us, using a wooden base with dowels, and beautifuly stained, this stand is perfect for displaying our pendants.

It is always a challenge for us. We want to display items in an attractive way, but also have to maintain the functionality of our studio. What unique jewelry display ideas do you have?

A picture says 1000 words...

... a picture can say "I love you" over and over again.

Several of our friends had Kerry and I make these photo pendants for their mothers or friends for Mother's Day. We hope they enjoyed them.

It was fun working with these cute kids pics and the wonderful handmade paper collection we have in the studio. Each person choose their favorite paper to complement the child's photo and the wearer's sense of style.

We hope the recipients enjoyed their gifts last weekend as much as we enjoyed making them.

Artists, Artists Everywhere

There are creative people lurking everywhere in our lives, we just have to look and ask. I was on a field trip with my daughter's class and noticed another mom with a fabulous necklace on. I went to admire it and found out she had made it herself and has an ETSY site. The piece was a recycled Scrabble piece with brilliant papers on it. I have seen other pieces made in the same fashion but not with the same high quality artistry or attention to details. Her name is Christiane and is a a stay at home mom with three kids. Check out her ETSY site featuring jewelry and appliqué work. We hope to feature her in our next show at the studio but until then support her and all of the other artists in your lives.

More Sale Photos

Art & Craft Sale

We are busy getting ready for our sale! If you are in the area, stop by next weekend!

Studio Tour....continued

We have visitors and friends come to the studio on a pretty regular basis, so we need to display our jewelry and other art items in a pleasing way. We have tried lots of different ways to provide an appealing presentation. So far, our latest is my favorite. On the wall we mounted a jewelry display board. This is actually a re-purposed item.This is the top of an old drafting table. We disassembled the table, wrapped the top in batting and then a burgundy fabric. With a coordinating ribbon, and upholstery tacks, we make loops from which we could hang our necklaces and earrings. It has been a useful fixture in the studio. Just this summer, we mounted the display on the wall, rather than using the table stand. Below we have an old cedar chest and some bookshelves to hold our candles, a lamp from our friend Linda, and our clearance items. Above, we hung our F and H collages.
Another of our display pieces is the bakers rack. We found the bakers rack at a local flea market. We spray painted the metal portions black and changed the knobs. We use the bottom portion to hold our art and craft library. The drawers hold pouches and small fabric items we've made. The upper portions hold various jewelry displays, including my favorite wood ones that Kerry's dad made for us.
Our other challenge is to be able to sort and contain all our our art materials, supplies and tools. That will be the topic of another blog....stay tuned.

There we are...

Today we were listed on the SheFinds Blog about their Shop for the Cure fundraiser for ovarian cancer research. 20% from the sale of our two designs will benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Take a look at the SheFinds Blog to find out about all the wonderful artists participating in this worthwhile fundraiser.

In Spite of It All...

Summertime is crazy! It has been a whirlwind of art camps and trying to escape the heat. With four kids (combined) at our respective homes; Kerry and I have little time left for ourselves, much less our business. Summer perhaps should be our busy business time, but it is in fact, our busy family time.

In spite of it all we have managed to keep our Amazon storefront and our Etsy storefront updated.
We have still found time to make more jewelry, plan our fall line (you will love it!), and clean out the studio. (Check out our etsy store for great craft items!)
Next month we will launch our participation in a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. A worthy cause, indeed. Stay tuned for our special jewerly that will help to raise money for research.

The Prettiest Earrings!

Kerry made these--they are the perfect earrings for Spring!

New Jewelry

We have some new designs! You can see more at Amazon.com, just search "Milagro Jewelry" We will have more beaded pieces soon!

Create

Today was better
Today we worked in the studio. We haven’t done that for a long time, it seems. Our days have been filled with shopping, meetings, and scouting. Not to mention the days that we have to cancel due to the kids off of school or cold weather (the studio doesn’t heat very well).

Today we had studio guests in at noon. We had to stay in. I guess being “forced” to stay in was good for us. It pushed us back to what we do: make jewelry.

Sometimes finding inspiration, after not working for a while, is hard. We are pushed back to our materials. We look at the stones and silver that we have and see what strikes us. Sometimes we challenge ourselves—“we haven’t made a piece using citrine for a while,” or “what can we do with this silver piece?” I feel challenged. We have to change our designs and colors to fit trends and style as well as stay true to our own aesthetic.

We both made several new pieces...I like them all. On Friday we will take photos, and hopefully you will be able to see them on Amazon soon.

Today was good. Good to be productive. Good to be creative.

The Helen Parker Art Studio

The historic little blue building in old town Lafayette, Colorado has lived many lives. What was once Lafayette's kindergarten, a storage facility and even a wash house, is a building with a history and with history comes a story. This one involves an artist, a mother and daughter, a friendship, dreams and a pair of red cowboy boots.

Helen, a Birch and Douglas Elementary Schools art teacher and artist, started renovations on the little blue building with the dream of turning it into an art studio for herself. New cherry wood floors, walls and electricity were added but renovations stopped with her sudden death and the little blue building sat. In the coming years it was used as a storage facility by her daughter Rachel. It sat untouched for 7 years until Rachel and Kerry were looking for a place to expand their jewelry design business. The perfect place was right there in front of them in what everyone called “the schoolhouse.”

In the spring of 2005, renovations started. It was messy, dusty and sometimes overwhelming. But with determination and help from friends, everything was hauled out and cleaned and we began to see what a fabulous place we had. We found many treasures while we cleaned, including a bag of Milagros that we swore kept mysteriously moving around everytime we set them down. Each time we discovered them again we knew this was the right place for us to be. A friendly mannequin we nicknamed Paco sat in the corner with a bandaged arm. We still hope he is out there somewhere riding around Lafayette. Boxes and boxes of art supplies and treasures we named collageables, were waiting for us to transform them into art. One item we don’t have a story for but we find intriguing are the red cowboy boots that hang from the ceiling rafter. It is the one item we never moved and probably never will. They must be important, because everyone notices them and everyone has something nice to say about them. We like to think of the red boots as the logo for what we now call “The Helen Parker Art Studio.”

In the fall of 2005, we moved in and found that we wanted to create more than jewelry in our little studio. We started experimenting with our own art and world’s of ideas came to us. We always say we are full of ideas and it seems they never stop, so we had to share. In December we started classes for local women to come and create fine crafts with us. The classes fill each month and we have a nice group of regulars as well as new people each time. We love sharing our ideas and love meeting all of the fascinating, creative, bright women who join us. The Studio is a second home for Rachel and I; and we hope it feels the same way for everyone else who joins us there.