Report on the Silver Bella Effect

If you've read Vonnegut extensively, you'll understand the title of this post. Making a connection between my story and Vonnegut's story would be difficult at best. I just like the sound of it:)

Okay. I was woefully unprepared which is no surprise to anyone who knows me. I pulled off a mildly acceptable vendor table in the three days I gave myself to prepare. I either need to ADMIT to myself that I'm too much of a procrastinator to do these sorts or events or I need to GET MY BUTT IN GEAR.

With that said, I'll move onto the the Vendor Faire. It was a wonderful experience! I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had that night. Visiting, laughing, admiring. Seeing so many kindred spirits in one room. It's also an interesting thing for me to see the local folks who bought a ticket to shop the event just because they "get" what we do. Quite cool and a couple of girls (mother and daughter) dressed for Vintage Prom Night. Of course, I don't have pictures of them. H-A-S-S-L-E. I wish I could insert a chip in my brain and take photos with my eyes. Here is the sum total of photos I took at Silver Bella (minus the photos of our rental van's dent via the valet service).

Here are the pretty, playful girls who dressed for the event. Teresa will have much better pictures than me because she has a good camera. Here's the best I could do.

 

Here is a photo of my table. Should have used a flash. Didn't even want to bother to take a second picture with a flash even though I knew this one would be bad. I desperately need the brain chip.

 

The cool thing on my table is that dyed cheese cloth. The ticket to making it look really, really cool is tea. First dye it with whatever color you choose. I used Dylon (lime) which was a pretty cool color, but when I sunk it into the tea it transformed to an AMAZING COLOR. Same with the pink. I used a mixture of Dylon baby pink and a darker pink then plunged it into tea. In retrospect, I would have used the baby pink only. It gave that light, dirty pink I love so much. Also LOVED my feather tree garland. Remember my silk ribbon fling a while back? Well, I've been tea dying that ribbon. Takes the tea beautifully. I added the old mercury glass beads to the strand. It takes the larger beads which are pretty hard to find. I was lucky to have some light pink beads and sold all of those garlands (of course at Silver Bella:). I still have beads to make more red and silver garland. The silver gives a very nice look too. The red is my favorite:) I'll try to remember to show closer pictures of those garlands soon.

Next, Kim Caldwell's Craft Totes. Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a QUALITY freak. Poor craftsmanship sinks a brilliant idea in my book. I'm here to promise you Kim's totes are completely handmade and the quality is stunning. Stellar. It's hard to believe they are not manufactured because they are flawless. Not exaggerating at all. Michelle Geller came by my table later in the night and she had purchased one. I'm almost positive it was that brown one in front. So awesome. I don't know how she ever chose one.

 

So, after vendor night, Saturday rolled around. I got really sad on Saturday. This caught me completely off guard because I relish being alone. I've always required a pretty good amount of PT (private time). I did not take classes because it would have made me CRAZY to take 5 craft classes in two days. I could not have done it, but I think the high of vendor night and the camaraderie felt there compared to being TOTALLY ALONE the next day was an emotional blast I had a hard time managing. If I'd had a friend who wasn't taking classes I would have been fine. Most of the vendors who weren't taking classes left Saturday morning or Friday night. I also missed my boys more than I ever imagined possible. Missed them terribly (I'm pretty much over them now BTW:). Another addition to the emotion is a friend of mine (unrelated to SB) has been sideways with a sibling for a couple of weeks now. The whole thing has been weighing heavy on me and Saturday morning I started MISSING my brother who lives in southern California. We talk all the time, but I haven't seen him since 2002. I started thinking about how horrible it would be to have ever spent one minute of my life in any kind of a rift with him. Thanking God we've never experienced that. Boo-hooing at the idea of it. Then the crying went into sobbing. You know how when you get really emotional and the crying almost feels good? You get on a roll and just keep rollin'. Then you sorta get pitiful and feel sorry for yourself. I started thinking about the I Love Lucy episode when Lucy got it in her head that she had no friends. Went to a park and started sobbing on a bench. There she hooked up with the "friends of the friendless." They had a band and Lucy was playing this huge drum hanging around her neck loudly singing the "friends of the friendless" song. I just spent 45 minutes on youtube trying to find a clip from the episode. Had to jar myself out of it. This internet is so consuming. Anyway, it cheered me up to think of that episode. I think exhaustion also played a part in my big emotional day. I was better Sunday and I think, in retrospect, that it's good to stop long enough to feel things deeply every once in a while. We all strive for joy, but humanity would actually be valueless if not for the spectrum of emotion. I don't think we could feel anything if weren't capable of feeling everything.

Here are photos of some pretty things I got to bring home.

Ornaments from Pam Garrison.

 

 

It was a pleasure to meet Pam in person. She is exactly what I expected her to be. Nice, fun, funny, savvy, smart and cute as can be. I was also quite pleased to meet Elizabeth Shea, an artist whose work I have admired for years. She has no online presence, but her work has been published many times over the years in Stampington magazines. She is actually probably in the galleries of Catherine Moore's stamp company and Oxford Impressions. She is a delightful person and I'm hoping she will have a Flickr account soon. I'll let you know if that happens because you'll want to see her amazing body of work. A couple of tags I picked from her bag. I wanted them all it was impossible to choose.

 

Yes, I found a few of her things here and here. Also note the work of my good friend Barbara Smith in the Character Constructions gallery.

Here are the ornaments Holly is making for the holidays. She sold out of these very quickly at Silver Bella. Obviously. I had a hard time getting a good photo. I'm sure she has a better one somewhere on her blog in recent posts.

 

 

Go here for a better look at these ornaments. However, it's still not representative of their true beauty. Hard to capture on camera. They are 5" to 6" inches tall and 4.5" to 5" inches across. Substantial. Really beautiful and she will be making more to sell for Christmas. You don't want to miss them. She is such a master at arranging millinery.

Next are earrings from Pam's best friend Kelly. If you read Pam's blog, you might remember when her best friend and neighbor moved a while back. That's Kelly. She barely has an email address so there will be no links to find her:) The earrings are made with my beloved Swarovski in Vitrail Medium and Fuchsia. I can't remember the article number of the top bead, but it is my all time favorite of Swarovski's shapes. Kelly is a nut! So much fun to be around. Enjoyed her a lot.

I was also pleased to meet a number of my loyal customers:) Online vending is sort of sad because so often you want to communicate with your customers face-to-face. It was very nice to visit with them. Julie Baxley is a hoot and I wish she would do a blog. I also got to meet and visit with Jim McFayden's delightful sister who is a sister:) What a sweet family Teresa has. They work together effortlessly. At least it appears to be effortless. Lots of love in that group. She always says Jim is a peach and I'm here to tell you it's the truth. Holly and I would probably be in Canada right now if not for him. Allie is as beautiful IRL as she is in photos. Looks like both her momma and her daddy. Drake is a doll. I'm not sure how they take on such an event, but I know lots of girls are glad they do.

Also met Marilyn Krehbiel of Hannah's Treasures fame. What a thrill that was. She's been collecting the wallpaper for at least 20 years. She was so easy to talk to and we had so much to talk about. I'm sure we'll continue to visit. So many similar interests. She has been making band boxes in the Hannah Davis tradition for many years. If you don't know about Marilyn be sure to read her story on her website. Also, don't miss the photo (click to enlarge) showing a tiny portion of her studio. I've been inspired by that photo over and over for a LONG time.

There you have it. My Silver Bella story. I advise anyone who is planning to do any sort of art event to be sure you have no alone time. It's just not the place to be alone. You'll end up out in the park searching for the Friends of the Friendless:)

Comments

[thrifty_misspriss]

I don't know where to start...all the pictures are wonderful! I SOOOO wanted to go.....I hope next year! I think the big emotional event you had was in part because it was over...you prepared and thought and planned and then BAM! Kind of like a wedding, or Christmas. I'm sorry you felt so alone! I heard other vendors saying the same things! Maybe you could host the "Silver Bella Vendor Weekend" where you all hang out during the day while the "girls are crafting"! So happy to see the pics though...we've all been waiting! And of course you know you have sooo many friends! You need to watch the Lucy episode where she is singing "friendship" with Ethyl!

[Cindy (Junque Art)]

Thanks for sharing!!! Your booth looks great! And love that cheesecloth! Awww so sorry you were by yourself!

[sherri]

Glad the vendor night went so well. Your table looks really pretty. Always hard to be alone after a big fun time like that. Glad you are home and met new friends. Sounds like a great place to have visited.

[Cheryl]

Donna,
It was so AWESOME to finally meet you! Your booth was adorable and I truly enjoyed chatting with you! Oh my goodness....I want to give you a big HUG after I read about your Saturday afternoon. I should have taken you back with me to the luncheon when I saw you in the business center...we could have been sneaky and gotten you in! If you ever decide to come out to Southern CA to visit your brother, PLEASE let me know so that we can meet up! Take Care and hope to see you real soon!
XOXO,
Cheryl

[Tracy]

sounds like a wonderful sperience Lucy.... well except that you got all verklempt.... I was reading along and before you said it I was nodding and saying "friends of the friendless yes we are yes we are" LOL... LOVED that one!
gee .. now you're back and can get to work on Holiday shtuff!
glad you're back sweetie pie... now take a little break k?

[Barbara]

WOW!! What an experience!! I just know one of these days I have to attend. I heard you met Maija too. I think just getting to meet and chat with so many wonderful people would be the coolest thing!! Glad you got a chance to visit and purchase some things. I would love to meet Elizabeth Shea. I am in awe of her amazing creations. Thanks for the link to my work. BTW, I have been updating my Flickr gallery (I upgraded to pro), so you must check it out again. Hope you will get a chance to visit with your brother soon. HUGS!! p.s. Did you get to meet Mary Engelbreit?

[jeanne]

AWWWWW...delicious. Can I say that about the idea of spending a whole weekend crafting with other amazing women. I am completely jealous!!!

[LindaSonia]

Oh I have soooo njoyed your recap of Silver Bella and your purchases and all the comments and links, but am so sorry you got sad. I've never been to Silver Bella yet, but if I do, I'll be coming alone too, and I've wondered how that might be. I'll just be sure to take all the classes. The comment you made 'it's good to stop long enough to feel things deeply every once in a while' was actually was very profound. I like the way you put that. It sounded like something I might say. LOL

And funny you should mention that Lucy episode 'Friends of the Friendless, because I just recently saw it on TV. It cracked me up.

Thanks for sharing!! Hugs, LindaSonia.

[Kim Caldwell]

Thanks so much for the wonderful comments about the totes. You are such a sweetie and after all my ordering online it was wonderful to finally have a "person" to put with all your amazing products. You are the Queen of Flocked Wall Paper and pretty dang wonderful too!

Hugs, Kim