They say that a "man's best friend is his dog" but I think an artists best friend is her dog.  We have 4 small dogs in our house now, and added together they come up to a whopping 30 pounds.  But small as they are, they can make a lot of noise, chaos, and give us a lot of unconditional love.  Two of our dogs are Pomeranians (Pickles and Lizzy), and they are typical Poms... kinda aloof.  Sure, they show up when there is a ...

food treat or someone arrives at the door, but often we have to go looking for them and discover them in their secret little sleeping places.  Then we have the other two dogs, who are both rescue dogs, and they are like our shadows.  The first is Paco, who is a chihuahua or a mix, and he is a hand-full.  My husband heard about his plight from another member of his Quilting Guild (yep, my husband took up quilting when he retired and loves it!).  A family had lost their home and was trying to give away their pets in front of the grocery store.  Very sad!  Anyway, my husband decided to adopt Paco and in the short time we have had him has been neutered, had a scrape with a car, sprayed by a skunk, and now is terrified of the food bowl and has to have his own in another room.  We are thinking of nicknaming him "Lucky."  Regardless of his misfortune, we love him and he is part of our family.  The female dog rescued with Paco was very pregnant, and had her puppies about a week after we adopted Paco.  When we saw puppy photos, we knew who the father was!  Anyway, we also adopted Winnie and she is my best buddy.  She hangs out with me when I paint, and insists on sleeping under the blankets with me every night.  She is now 8 months old and up to about 6 pounds.  I think she has stolen my heart, and even if she is a mix of Chihuahua, terrier, and who knows what else, she is all mine.

Ok, this has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable shows I have participated in!  I was invited to be a vendor in this show after being in the Contemporary Crafts Market Show in March.  I decided to take a chance and see what this was all about.... 

   At first I was not sure of the connection between vendors, but very quickly I realized this show was about anything a woman could wear... so there was hand painted silk, designer clothing, jewelry, bead supplies, and even a boutique chocolate booth. 
  Many of those attending were people who design their own items or were very enthusiastic hobbyists. The show also offered classes by nationally known jewelry artists, and so there was a lot going on.   I was asked many questions by those who came, and everyone was eager to learn.  I was surprised how many people mentioned that they had looked up my website before coming to the show and wanted to be sure to see my booth in person when they got there.  So, it was a very interested group and it was fun for me to share my passion.
   In addition, the other vendors there were amazing!  I was surrounded by beautiful, clever and unique items.  The vendors that made these items were friendly and we had some wonderful discussions and shared business ideas when there was time.  I made a new friend, Vi, who had the booth next to me with amazing wool felted hats she had made starting with wool right off the sheep.  What talent, and how much fun it was to share our stories.
   The show was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlingame, near the San Francisco Airport.  This is a 4-star hotel that is not only beautiful, but made sure we were all pampered and taken care of.  The promoters were professional and very nice people to work with.  Wow, it doesn't get any better than this!
  So, I have already signed up to do their show in late October, and am looking forward to it....  I sure hope Jade Chocolates will be at this shows.  The passion fruit chocolate truffles were to die for!

Today I am thinking of my safety as I do my artwork more than I ever have. Of those who personally know me, you are already aware that I went through breast cancer this year.  Luckily, it was caught very early on a mammagram, and so the treatment was not that long and was very successful. . . .

Now that I am through it all, I find that I am much more aware of the risks I may take related to cancer. I have trusted the labels on my paints and epoxy to "use in a well ventilated area" and they would basically be safe.  The question becomes more complex when I consider that I am spending many hours and days exposed to these chemicals.  That is probably not what they had in mind when they made up the safety label.  So back to my favorite "Google" to do a little research. 
I found, to my surprise, that there were many online articles about this very subject.  Over and over I saw the suggestion that an exhaust system in your studio was a wise thing to do.  I found very expensive commercial systems costing thousands of dollars, and then almost free systems using spare parts, cardboard, and duct tape.  Somewhere in there was a happy middle point.  Eventually I decided to follow plans to build your own simple system using a bathroom ceiling fan.  I have to thank the staff at Home Depot that thought my project was interesting and helped me find everything I needed and added a few good suggestions to boot.  I am happy to say my project turned out to be simple enough for me to do myself and is already in use in my studio.  I plan to be painting my coins for many years, and am happy to be safe rather than sorry!
Ann

    This last weekend I did the CFA Cat Show for the first time.  Another local artist, Claudia Sanchez, recommended it to me.  She does wonderful art with cats and sometime dogs... and I personally have been buying her items for over 10 years and finally recently met her.
    The show was a lot of fun and I met some wonderful people.  Laura Seely was the artist in the booth next to me, and she was so nice and a delight to be next to.  Her paintings and childrens books featuring her illustrations were amazing, and I was thrilled to win 2 of her childrens books in the raffle.
   Denise came by...again.  She has come by my booth before at both the Christmas show at the Finley Center and at the Gravenstein Apple Faire.  She hasn't bought one of my pendants yet, but admits she checks my website often.  Well, this time she bought a Isle of Man cat crown with a Burmilla Cat on it!  So thank you Denise, I am so pleased that one of my pendants is in your good care.
    ...And then there was Marie and Laura.  They both work in Claudia Sanchez's booth, and I met them both at the Christmas show at the Finley Center last December.  They have been close friends for years, and have more enthusiasm when together than you could imagine! They kept coming over to look at my coin jewelry, and spent two days anguishing over which one to buy.  It was so much fun listening to their excited decision making process, and to have their cheerful company!  On Sunday morning, Marie told me a wonderful story.  She said that her father was in the habit of spotting and picking up pennies on the street.  A couple of days after he died, she spotted a penny on the ground and thought of him.  She picked it up and it had her birth year on it.  She was delighted and has kept the penny in her wallet for the last 9 years.  She also had another penny she has saved for a long time, and she asked me if I could make her special pennies into a pendant for her.  Oh yes, I certainly would love to do that!  I am honored to be part of her story, and can't wait to get started on her special project.
More stories to come soon.... Thanks for listening!

   Yesterday I attended (and volunteered a little) a benefit for Deb and Randy, a couple I have known for over a decade.  Randy has been dealing with a long battle with cancer, and some of their friends decided it was time to help.  I was so impressed in how much this group accomplished in such a short time.  Of course I donated a couple of my coin pendants to the silent auction, and I was very pleased and surprised to see the amount of donations by the families circle of friends.  Deb, and her two adult children attended, and there were lots of hugs around.  Live music, wine, snack food, and yummy desserts.  The event was a delight!
    Randy was not up to attending, but at the end of the event Deb managed to get the large banner on the front of the building down, and take it home for Randy to see. 
   I have always appreciated Deb & Randy's warm and giving friendship.  It did my heart good to see so many people supporting them in their time of need.  A truely feel good moment.

I really like doing arts & crafts shows.  I enjoy the people, the questions, and of course making new customers.  One of my favorite shows is coming up this weekend, the Gravenstein Apple Fair in Sebastopol, CA.  It is a pretty large show for our area, attendance is about 10,000 people for the weekend, but it feels like an old fashioned friendly community kinda place.  Sure there is live music and lots of things to do, but the food is old fashioned and yummy.  Apple and berry turnovers, that kinda stuff.  It is spread out over a nice park under the oak trees, so is enjoyable for all.  Mixed in with the latest in trends is old fashioned items like hay bales, story tellers, apple peeling contests and the like.  It is a family event, in fact we used to take our son to this event when he was young.
  So, my husband and I will be out there having fun this weekend, and hopefully making a few new friends.  If you happen to also attend this show, please come by and say hi... you can always reach me by email since I have my phone with me (isn't technology grand!).  Or you can check out more about this fun event on their website www.gravensteinapplefair.com.

Ann@AnimalCoin.com