Flowers on Friday

Poppies are so hard to photograph. It seems nearly impossible to capture their unique red-orange color, but I keep trying. They are one of my favorites. There is a house at the corner of Kingsley and Ashley in Ann Arbor that has a crazy, over-the-top hodge-podge garden. Something is always in bloom  there and I always love walking by. The poppies, snow-in-summer and columbine were growing mad wild there this week. There are also plenty of irises and a smattering of clematis. Here's a look:

This one is from last weekend's Crafty Supermarket in Cincinnati — a little yarn-bombing fun to start off your weekend right. Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget tomorrow's Craft Revival at The Loving Touch in Ferndale. I'll be there with my wares from 12 to 6 p.m.

212 Arts Center summer offerings

Two Twelve Arts Center in Saline is the creative hub and heart of that community. Their mission is to give "visual and performing artists the opportunity and working space to come together to work, create, and teach." They are certainly succeeding and I feel lucky to have found the wonderful collection of creative people involved there. Two Twelve offers a full schedule of classes, programs, performances and exhibits. You can check out their summer brochure to catch the latest offerings. (Doesn't that cover look familiar?)

Book Business Tuesday: Rose Sanderson

For this book business Tuesday, I have for you a look at artist Rose Sanderson's paintings of bugs on book covers. Perhaps it's her background as an illustrator—or that they have a little bit of many of my favorites things: books, painting, color and butterflies—but I find these truly delightful and appealing. I just wonder why the books are torn, rather than left intact. Sanderson's recent paintings of birds in graffiti-like settings are remarkably beautiful. Truly. I'm going to stick with the book theme here, but you should have a look!

 

Maker Works: Crafting a Small Business

If you haven't been to Maker Works in Ann Arbor yet, this Saturday, May 12 would be a great time. They're hosting a grand opening open house and party from 12 to 4 p.m. Maker Works is an 11,000 square foot member-based studio featuring four concentration areas: metal, circuits, wood and craft.  They host classes in each of these areas and on Saturday will be giving demos on the wide variety of tools and equipment they have. This would be a great time to check out the space and get inspired to sign up for the upcoming 9-week workshop series on Crafting the Small Business.

Crafting the Small Business get down to the nitty gritty of running a small business within the handmade marketplace. The handmade marketplace has emerged as a rapidly growing network of arenas for  handmade goods from independent artists and crafters: online marketplaces, individual online stores, indie craft fairs, crafting blogs and independent brick-and-mortar stores.

This workshop series is designed to set beginner and intermediate crafters on the path to financial stability by offering face-to-face time with experts from around southeast Michigan who are well versed in this new handmade marketplace. From craft show organizers and brick-and-mortar store owners to experts at Zingermans and a registered patent attorney, this series is sure to answer questions, inspire those tottering on the cusp of launching their businesses and be a whole heck of a lot of fun.

The sessions take place Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. You can register for the entire series or individual sessions. Details on each session and the schedule can be found here. I will be on two of the panels: The first on July 5 dealing with Pop up Events and Shows and the second on July 19 focusing on the online marketplace. I hope to see you there!