Tea

This is a divine cup of tea that I enjoyed at the Chinese Garden last week.

I have a certain fascination with tea.

my favorite tea: Yunan Jin Cha (Emperors Gold)

I love getting pictures from customers!

I received these pictures from Nebraska in my email box - I love getting pictures from customers!
Here I am in my booth a few weeks ago, picture was taken by the happy customer the day she found my booth at the Portland Saturday Market and picked out her new mobile. Thanks Karen for sending me pictures!

Fire Starter

These firestarters are for sale at the Portland Saturday Market. One time when I asked my Dad what his favorite booth at the market was, he said it was the The Strike Master Survival Tool.

Basically the metal stick is a piece of magnesium with a flint on one side. Magnesium burns at 5400degrees F, making it possible to ignite in just about any circumstance.

The way it works is you scrape some magnesium shavings into a pile using the blue scraper, place some tinder on the magnesium shavings (you can even scrape the "tinder" from the wooden handle! this tool is all-in-one!) and then set the flint directly into the tinder and scrape the flint. The sparks will ignite the magnesium which will get the tinder burning, you can even use green or damp tinder. Really.

Here's a video of Charlie demonstrating his firestarters at the Portland Saturday Market. This booth is a staple of the market, the business was first started by Charlie's father, and continued thru the generations. Charlie is currently the head of the Portland Saturday Market board. Next time you are at the Portland Saturday Market you'll have to stop by and check them out, he sells a key-chain version which makes for impromptu fun :)

I love these fire-starters. Perhaps I am just a sucker for anything that lets me play with fire!

Portland Saturday Market in the News

This is a picture of the media frenzy that was out on the waterfront park yesterday in Portland Oregon. They were all set up with their cameras pointed at my booth! Sam Adams, Mayor here in the city of Portland, came and welcomed us to the new site and said a few words.
The city commissioner and also the head of the Portland Developement Committee also said a few words and expressed their welcome to the artists and neighbors. It was fun to hear about the history of the site and wonderful to be reminded of the bonds that make this city so wonderful. Good neighbors, unique art, delicious food and amazing scenery all come together to make Portland the best city in the country to live in. The new Portland Saturday Market site honors the history waterfront park (as they dug up the site they found old stone balasts that the ships used to use for weights back in the days of the original Portland harbor) and the site showcases our art in a way that truly honors the artists. I couldn't be happier.

I was interviewed by KATU channel 2 news, my enthusiam for the new site was shared with the whole city this morning via the local news. :) I still haven't seen it, but friends told me it aired this morning and I did well. In the picture below you can see Paul (the head of our market) being interviewed as well.

Family Times

I've been a busy bee this week- my Dad is in town with my step-mom. They are so wonderful to hang out with.

We've been to the gardens, the arboretum, the Gorge, Mt. Hood, the Contemporary Craft Museum, the farmers market, Powells books, Bobs Red Mill, etc. I've eatten so much good Pacific NW food (did I mention a trip to Pix for some good chocolate... nummy) really how much more can you cram in one visit.

Plus my dad has been helping out with learning how to use my new camera. Here he is, taking pictures in the Chinese Gardens:
And here's another picture I took of him, the D80 takes great portraits! Love you Dad!


By the way - on a separate note - the Portland Saturday Market is all over the news right now too?! Our grand special opening (plus a parade!) is tomorrow and the Mayor will be there to cut a ribbon. How fun!

See you there!

Ladies with Idle Hands

I had a lovely day today... mimosas and crafty times with some friends. Wow was that nice!

New Portland Saturday Market Site

I took a few videos yesterday at the Portland Saturday Market to show off the new site, it was early morning and the crowds were not thick yet, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to walk around video-taping... I think next weekend I'll try again with the camera strapped to something rolling (like a baby stroller?) so that the video quality is a little bit better... but this give you a small glimpse into the beautiful new waterfront site

This past weekend was beautiful and exhausting. It was wonderful to see so many happy families spoiling their mothers and the sun glittering in the nearly cloudless sky. I am always thankful to meet other people that love mobiles and add to their collections. I hope they know how thankful I am that they help support my little business... THANK YOU!

My set-up has gotten more complicated... I have a bigger booth now, so I can fit more displays... and I am doing torchworking demonstrations again, so that entails setting up a mini glass studio... With all these additions to my booth its now taking me at least 2 hours to set-up and another 2 hours to take down each day. Whew! And my storage is an extra block away now, which seems trivial, but man oh man does it make it even more exhausting taking all those trips back and forth. Not that I am complaining - I am more just stating the obvious that my little feet hurt from endless trips back and forth. I am so so very appreciative that Tim helps me in the morning on Saturday and Tony helps me at night on Sunday. As it was my feet felt so humble and sore last night. I soaked them in salt in one of those vibrating foot baths last night, that helped too :)