Well, here we are, with Summer starting on Monday, and Father's Day tomorrow! Today hubby and I are off to the Oyster Festival to enjoy some sunshine and oysters, along with some great music…

Tomorrow is the 53rd Annual –>Trinidad Fish Festival<–. In addition to the regular Artists Market, you can come and enjoy:

    * Whitefish and salmon dinners – $11, combo $13, under 12  $8, seniors $1 off
    * Soda, beer and wine from Moonstone Crossing and Winnett Vineyards
    * Free live music – Vintage Soul, Pilot Rock Ramblers and more
    * A children’s activities area
    * A street fair from Town Hall to the Memorial Lighthouse <–Find  me here!!
    * Trinidad Head Lighthouse tours  (happens once a year) <–This is very interesting & fun
    * Coast Guard helicopter rescue demos
    * New this year, Trinidad Bay activities at the Pier and the Marine Lab will be open!
    * Shuttles to the pier and up Trinidad Head for free tours of the working lighthouse.
    * Results of this year's art and best fish story contests.

This fundraiser supports our Greater Trinidad Chamber of Commerce Scholarships, our "Discover your Trinidad" visitor promotions and many other local programs including activities that support our local businesses community.

**!! EVERYTHING ON SALE !! **
Ok – even though it's getting better, the economy still sucks! I'm thinking about some new things I want to experiment with, It's a
slightly different direction for my jewelry, so it's time to move out the pieces I have on hand. So I've put everything on sale and it
will remain on sale until it's sold, traded or otherwise disposed of! Everything (including the fine silver) is 20-40% off.

Next week I'll also put the items in my http://fireblessedart.esty.com shop on sale, too. I'm still recovering from Redwood Run!!

**!! FREE JEWELRY !!**
I will also be giving away some pieces in a free drawing, so be sure to stop by and say hello – you can add your name to the bucket.
Because you're on my list, you get to enter twice!!

**!! HOME PARTIES !!**
Get free jewelry just for scheduling a home jewelry-making party. I'll show up with beads and tools (and some of my glass pieces) and you and your friends get to leave with your own custom made pieces. The cost per person is modest and you'll get to select jewelry based on any items sold. Everyone wins!

**!! Vacation for Katie !!**
Well, I don't know if it's REALLY a vacation – but it's time away from the Trinidad Artists Market. I'll be at Lewiston Lake during the
first 2 weeks of July, and then I have the grandkids visiting, so I can't really say whether I'll actually be in Trinidad during the month
of July at all. I'm not sure yet if I'll be doing the Westhaven Blackberry Festival at the end of July, but I'll certainly let you know when you can expect to see me in Trinidad again.

So, that's it for now – have a great summer and hopefully we'll catch up sometime this season!! 

BTW – you can see my videos of Elvin Bishop at the Redwood Run by going here. I'll upload another Elvin Bishop and a Lydia Pense video (from the Summer Arts Festival) sometime next week.

With the generous help of my customers who purchased from my upcycled items, I will be able to fund another KIVA loan. With the additional funds from repayment of existing loans, that means I can add 2 new loans.

It is my pleasure to target women in the crafts fields, and I was lucky enough to be able to choose 2 more this time. There are not always a lot of loans in this category, so while I prefer to fund women with families, that is not always possible. I also considered a group in Guatamala, but they were not all artisans, so selected these two instead.

Here are pictures of the two I selected:

Angela Marilu Viteri Zambrano   and      Juana Salvadora Garcia Cisneros

Click here to find out more about KIVA and my first two loans,

	If you weren't at the Humboldt Arts Festival last weekend, you missed a lot of music, fun and talent!  It was a great 2 days, with lots going on – even if it was overcast. I was lucky enough to be close to the stage, so I could watch all the incredible performers. It was great to see the families of the new graduates come through – I sold lots of graduation presents, and even sent some gifts for the folks "back home".  We had people from all over the world – I had a great conversation with a couple from Ireland who gave me wonderful tips for traveling to their country. Very timely since Hubby and I are planning just such a trip within the next couple years.
Windchimes were very popular at this fair. I sold several sets, so now I need to replenish my supply for Benbow (coming up in just 2 weeks).  The windchimes in this picture will now grace someone's home in Alaska.  The farthest I've ever sent chimes so far is to Germany, but I have several pieces of jewelry in New Zealand and Europe. I love that my work is all over the world!
	And even though Hubby said it would never happen – I sold a pair of cufflinks to this man. Since most people don't even wear suits here in Humboldt County, let alone shirts with French cuffs, I had to ask him what his profession was (yes, he told me he was a local). Turns out he's an attorney – makes sense to me!!

There was lots and lots of dancing with the music – samba, can-can, ballet, belly, and the firedancing that started at 9 pm. I will put together a short montage and post it here soon.

Oh! And thank you Humboldt – I sold enough recycled glass to fund another KIVA artist!! Yay!

All-in-all, you missed a very fun day!!

This weekend is the Humboldt Arts Festival in Arcata. The Festival is sponsored by Arcata Main Street and the Humboldt Arts Project. This is their first year, and it's been organized specifically to coincide with HSU's graduation weekend.

The location is slightly off the plaza – over at 9th and I, near Hensell's Ace Hardware – in fact there will be a sculpture garden in their parking lot. The Festival starts at noon on both Saturday and Sunday, running until 10pm Saturday night and 5pm on Sunday.

In addition to handcrafted arts, Robert Goodman Winery will be open and the area in front of the Ironworks (the old Humboldt Machine Works) is the stage location for bands and other visual artists. In fact, my friend Chakeeta will be performing belly dancing at 4pm and fire dancing at 9pm – she's amazing – you should come just to watch that!!

So stop by booth #3 – in front of Hensell's – and say "Hi!" I've been spending a lot of time this past year working with natural energies. You can see some of the results in my new Chakra Chimes and Chakra jewelry. And I have some new rainbow windchimes, too.

Even with the economy improving, I'll still be offering my jewelry and windchimes at sale prices. Mention you are on my list, or sign up while you're there, and get a free pair of earrings with any purchase.

Come join the fun!! Hope to see you there….

Warmly,

Katie

P.S.  This coming weekend is also the start of the Trinidad Artisan's Market – but of course I won't be there since I'm in Arcata that weekend!! Come see me the following week, though. We can chat!!

Or better yet, maybe you can be in my next video! Oh, and you can see some of my jewelry at my online shop: http://fireblessedart.etsy.com and my textiles, etc. at http://magicaldesign.etsy.com

Summer is fast approaching and this year we are looking forward to seeing you down at Benbow for the Summer Arts Festival.

I recently received the word that I had been accepted into the show, and I’m really looking forward to a couple of days of warm!!

I am also planning on Trinidad every Sunday again this year. Last year was a bit strange – it just didn’t work out well time-wise for us – but I’m expecting to be more consistent with my attendance this year.

My etsy shops continue to grow, and as I de-stash my house, more items will be going up on there.

Stay tuned as I add shows….

This Saturday is the Trinidad Christmas Market being held at the Trinidad Town Hall from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.  I understand there will also be a raffle as well as a wine tasting. Of course I’ll be too busy to even think about wine tasting (at least until the end of the show!)

Then on Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, I will be at the Arcata Holiday Craft Market, which is held in the Arcata Community Center across from Healthsport. The Arcata Market hours are Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Because the economy is in the tank, I am again offering everything except my fine silver at 20-30% off.

At these low rates I will have to charge sales tax instead of including it as I usually do, but since you are on my list, just tell me that at the time of your purchase and I will waive the tax!

New Designs

This summer I came across a broken blue bottle by the side of the road while on my morning walk.  So I took it home, cleaned it up and stuck it into the kiln.  Since then I have been experimenting by recycling glass into fused jewelry. I have also incorporated painted glass and some of my watercolor and silk paintings into the glass pendants.

Come see what the experimentation has led to!

Sharing the Wealth

Even though the economy is in the tank, I realize that we still live in the richest country in the world.  So I have decided to donate 20% from the sale of any of my recycled glass items to help fund microenterprises through http://kiva.org. You can find out more about this fascinating organization by clicking on the link.

It’s amazing what even $25 can do to help someone fund their business idea!  This will be my way of giving back to the creativity of the rest of the world through the sales of "upcycled" items.

My Online Shops

If you are not able to attend either of the Christmas Holiday Markets in person, you can see what I’m offering online by going to my Etsy shops.

A few years ago I started with my Magical Design shop (http://magicaldesign.etsy.com).  I never did much with it until this year.  As I’ve added things it’s become quite a mixture of different crafts and you will find a combination of items there – including fabric items, cards and jewelry.

Recently I decided to put all my kiln fired jewelry into its own shop, so I am moving those over to http://fireblessedart.etsy.com, a few items at a time.

Please note that the items in Etsy are only available at Etsy, not at my shows, and vice versa. It’s too difficult to keep track of which items are listed where and which have been sold, so the items that are listed are exclusive to Etsy.

I am currently running a special through the end of the year in both of the shops, offering free shipping on all jewelry items over $20.

Etsy is a very interesting and creative place and I am making many new friends among the talented artists there. You are bound to find something interesting there – regardless of what you are looking for.

P.S.  Briceland Winery is also  having their annual Thanksgiving Open House, serving their outstanding wines and some delicious appetizers this coming weekend. It’s always a treat to go sample their latest wines. I met Maggie over 15 years ago and have loved her wines ever since I was introduced to them.  We will be going on Friday afternoon and coming back in the early evening so I have time to set up for the Saturday Trinidad Market.  Briceland will also be open on Saturday.

 Well, this was certainly an interesting year at the Market!  In fact, due to scheduling issues, family travel, truck problems and other stuff I only got to the Trinidad Artisan’s Market twice this year and neither time was stellar.

The economy here on the North Coast is always lagging behind the economy in other places, and everything has been so dismal that people are simply holding on to their money.

So, on those days when I wasn’t able to make the market (and was at home) I did other things instead – like photograph and upload stuff to my etsy shop.  It does take time and effort to get the stuff listed, and I’m never totally happy with the photos, but it is a rather simple way to have the latest stuff on display, and easier than running my own catalog and shopping cart on my sites!!  And I’ll be moving all my offers to etsy as an easy way to manage everything.

You can get an idea of what I currently have available by going to my gallery page.

There are still two more fairs I might participate in this year, I’m still undecided, but I’ll be sending notice out to my list and posting that information there….check back in a few weeks.

Oh, and those of you who are interested in textiles – I’ll be adding some of my hand dyed fabrics and miniature quilt kits to etsy soon, too…

Well, Christmas is quickly approaching – have you noticed how many commercials there are on TV and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet?

I guess because of the economy the major advertisers feel they need to start early to get our kids primed for wanting specific toys!  Remember, they often understock the season’s most popular toys – it’s a way for parents to feel guilty when they can’t get the specific one their child wants.  So the parent buys something else, and then in February or so when the shelves are suddenly bulging with that most desireable toy, the parents feel obligated to purchase it.  This is a tactic they have been using for years. In this tight economy, I encourage you to try not to fall for it this time!

Which kind of brings me back to Thanksgiving and jewelry updates. Several weeks ago my husband informed me that he wanted to go to Medford, Oregon over the Thanksgiving Day holiday to visit his family and meet the Seattle niece’s fiance. 

Well, that shifted my plans!  I had been scheduled to be in the Trinidad Thanksgiving Holiday Artisan’s Market on the Saturday after the holiday, so now I needed to cancel.  Given the dismal economy, I was okay with that anyway since although I love meeting my customers, there is a lot of work to setting up a booth for a one day event, and my experience at the last fair I did in Eureka had shown me that people are holding on to their money anyway.

Now, 2 weeks away from the holiday, it looks like the niece and fiance are not going to make it after all.  And of course it’s too late to schedule for the fair as I’m certain my booth space has been given to someone else (there are always so many jewelers who want in to a show).

However, the good news is that I will still be at the Arcata Holiday Craft Market on December 6 and 7, being held at the Arcata Community Center.

You can find me in the far left hand corner.  And, due to the economy, I will be having a 25% off sale on everything except the fine silver.

People on my list will receive an additional discount, which will be mailed about a week before the event.

I will also soon be posting pieces that will only be available through the website and through etsy.com. It was just too hard trying to get an inventory online that kept being depleted at the shows, so now I will be keeping my online offers separate.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving – hubby and I are so very grateful for the family and friends in our lives, and I am grateful to my wonderful customers and readers!  Remember, if you are at the Arcata Show, stop by and say Hello!

Warmly,

Katie