Arts Collinwood’s 2011 Holiday Art Sale

 

I’ll have work as part of the Arts Collinwood Gallery Holiday Sale next week.  There will be a selection of mixed metal earrings, some of my geode and druzy necklaces, and a few of my oxidized silver pieces.

 Hours and Schedule:

Holiday Art Sale Sneak Preview

Thursday, December 8th - 6pm-10pm

Become a member of Arts Collinwood for as little as $10 and enjoy this early bird shopping experience exclusive to our members. The evening will include wine and light appetizers,  a live performance by the Carnegie Brass Trio, holiday drink specials in our Café, first pick at the work of over thirty of the regions best artists, and of course, lots of holiday spirit!

Arts Collinwood Annual Holiday Sale Hours

Friday, December 9^th -11am-11pm

Saturday, December 10^th -11am-11pm

Sunday, December 11^th - 11am-5pm

 

Here’s the details from Arts Collinwood:  Shop local this holiday season at Arts Collinwood’s Annual Holiday Art Sale featuring over 30 of the region’s best artists. The Arts Collinwood Holiday Art Sale has become a popular Cleveland destination and a draw for holiday shoppers from around the city, featuring a wide array of unique, affordable artwork including: wearable art, award- winning jewelry designs, prints, adorable baby items, museum quality paintings, exquisite glassworks, luxurious knitwear, beautiful holiday cards and much more.

Take advantage of free childcare while you shop from noon-4pm on Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy lunch, dinner or cocktails in our adjoining Café. The Café at Arts Collinwood features a full bar with a great selection of microbrews, wine and espresso drinks, as well as soups, salads, sandwiches and daily specials.  Also, enjoy live music Friday and Saturday night with no cover charge.

 

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

New from Miscellanea by Valerie Tyler

Lots of new items added to the Miscellanea Collection, here’s a sampling.

 

 

Never miss a sale again!

Want to catch sales on items before they sell out? Do you love finding out when something you’ve had your eye on has been discounted, putting that item within your monetary reach?

I recently discovered that salemarked.com
will let you bookmark items from retailers like Etsy, Banana Republic, Anthropologie, and Crate and Barrel and enter the amount you are willing to pay for those items and the site will e-mail you if the items ever reach your price range. It’s no guarantee the items you want won’t be sold out long before the priced is reduced, but it’s a great site to make sure you don’t miss any super deals.

For example, these earrings were recently marked down over 75% off on Etsy to only $5! That’s a steal.

Jak of All Trades Fest : Cleveland, Labor Day Weekend

Got word from a friend the other day about a local Cleveland event. If you’ve seen print media in Cleveland, there’s a good chance it was done by this company. Jakprints will host the local festival at its headquarters located in Cleveland’s MidTown district on Saturday, September 3rd from 12pm to 7pm. This free family-friendly event will feature:

* Live bands & DJs
* A street-course style skate park
* Popular local food trucks: Dim and Dem Sum, Umami Moto and StrEAT
* Pop-up stores and a fashion show
* A live, all-day art installation, as well as other art exhibits and hands-on activities
* A complimentary beer garden from event sponsors
* Tours of Jakprints cutting-edge and eco-friendly facilities

There will be many other activities for children under 14 that include games, crafts, a kids’ chalk area, the Big Fun squirt gun zone and special skateboarding hours for the kids.

Jakprints is committed to making a better Cleveland, so, in addition to providing a full day of entertainment to guests, the festival will feature a charity raffle that benefits MidTown Cleveland Incorporated and Community Greenhouse Partners. Participants can win an HP TouchPad, tickets to concerts and professional sporting events, as well as gift cards and gift baskets from local businesses.

Jak of All Trades Fest is open to the public but attendees must RSVP by Sunday, August 28th. Full event details and the online RSVP form can be found at: http://www.jakprints.com/joat. We also have the event up on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170168303048578.

So if you’re in town why not go celebrate…free is always good.

From jakprints:Jakprints specializes in full color printing, custom apparel printing and sticker production. Always taking a personal approach to customer service, westrive to help customers by providing highest quality service and merchandise

2011 University Park Arts Fair and Food Fest

100 local and regional artists, food and entertainment and it’s FREE ADMISSION. Come on out this weekend and celebrate the arts at the historic Grace Park in Akron at the corner of Prospect and Perkins Street.
The University Park Arts Fair and Food Fest runs from 10 am to 6 pm

The Great Earring Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Natalie, who was chosen as the winner of the Great Earring Giveaway using the random number generator. Natalie, I’ve sent you a message, so send me your address to receive your prize.

It was a close contest. The sterling twig earrings had an early lead, but the most popular pair of earrings at the end were #4 Minimal Moon Earrings in Brass!

It’s Pin Day!

Since I recently shared the site Pinterest with you, I also wanted to share my most recent pin additions to my Miscellanea shop!

Each pin measures 2″ long and features a whimsical charm. I can also customize these to say just about anything.
Each $20, at Miscellanea

Props for Pinterest – How and Why to Use it

Have you joined Pinterest?
If not, go request an invitation and start pinning away!
I’m always intrigued by the buzz around social media sites, and being an online entrepreneur (and media addict) it doesn’t take me too long to poke around and see if they’re worth joining.

What is Pinterest you may ask?
It’s basically a online or virtual photo album that lets you categorize all the beautiful photos and links you find on the web. You can discover photos through contacts and keyword searches. It’s easy to use, and an incredible organizational tool, as well as great eye candy.

How do you use it?
You can get a friend to invite you or go to Pinterest and request an invite. I signed up with my twitter account, and you can also sign up with your facebook account. Set up your account, and add a bio photo and any other information you’d like to share. Then you’re ready to go! The easiest way to pin is to add the “pin-it” button to your tool bar and then anytime you find something you like on the web that you want to share, keep track of or remember you just click that button. Then you can organize the photos into whatever categories you like.


How is it useful?
There are so many ways to use Pinterest. Some people use it to share photos of their artwork or products (Though it’s urged that you do so minimally and respectfully) Others keep track of photos of dishes and recipes they want to create, DIY and art projects they want to complete, home decorating ideas, photos of fashion and style inspiration, organizational ideas, and travel photos. The possibilities are practically endless as Pinterest lets you create your own board categories and you can organize photos however you like. In addition, each photo links to the original source allowing you to re-visit web-sites where they were found, much like a visual bookmark system.
A few things I’ve used Pinterest for include keeping track of and sharing some healthy dishes as well as pinning a few of my favorite cosmetic products to keep track of where to buy them, and to let others know how great they are.

What’s the social side of it?
You can connect with your facebook and twitter contacts and follow their pin boards. You can also search and find people who have similar interests to yours and keep an eye on their pins. Pinterest lets photos be repinned, so even if you’re not out searching the web you can still find a lot of things that interest you just through looking through the boards alone.
Feel free to take a peek at my Pinterest boards, and I may just follow you back as well!
http://pinterest.com/valerie_tyler/
Happy Pinning!

The Art of Food: Simple Pasta Salad

I’m busy.  Always busy.  So therefore, it seems I never have time to make any fancy meals or dishes unless I’m preparing for a party.  To my women readers, don’t get jealous please, my husband also does most of the cooking for dinner.  (He likes it!)

That being said, I do like to make some things, and I especially love fresh food.  Good food, doesn’t always have to be complicated to make, nor does it always have to take a ton of time. So today I share with you how to make a simple pasta salad that is extremely healthy and very tasty.

The key is FRESH HERBS and lots of vegetables!

You can experiment with adding a variety of herbs. For my salad I went out to my herb garden and picked fresh sprigs of globe basil ( a little spicier than traditional basil), oregano, a bit of thyme and some big leaves of thai basil (strong licorice flavor).  There are so many possibilities to add though: cilantro, dill, parsley and a variety of others will all slightly change the flavor of the dish.

To keep things healthy I use Barilla Plus pasta ( it’s the stuff that comes in a yellow box) as an alternative to regular pasta.  It tastes so good and has a bunch of healthy ingredients like flaxseed, semolina, and legumes and packs a lot more protein than your average pasta (and it doesn’t have the “gritty” texture like other healthy pastas have) then I dice up a bunch of veggies and toss them in with olive oil, a little lemon juice, garlic and pepper!

Ingredients and simple instructions:

*Cook half a box of Barilla Plus Pasta, any variety, per instructions on box (usually 7-10 minutes), rinse then put in a bowl

*Herbs:
Add fresh cut Globe Basil, Thai Basil, Thyme, Oregano (or add your own favorites)

*Vegetables:
Add
1/4 green pepper, diced
1/4 red pepper diced
1 carrot diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
(I also recommend broccoli)

*Toss together with olive oil to coat.
*Add 1-2 t. of lemon juice
*Add fresh grated garlic or 1 t. of garlic powder
*Salt and pepper to taste.

Add a sprig of herbs on top for presentation.

It’s simple, fresh, quick, and low calorie while still tasty!