Hi!
To anyone who may be in the North Shore area of MA in November, there will be an amazing event that yours truly is privileged to have a table at…
Artist Spotlight- Tara White Studio
Hello,
My name is Tara White and I am a local artist who specializes in polymer clay ornaments and jewelry. I recently started following your blog through Wordpress, where I have my own blog. I wanted to find out if you ever write posts that feature local artists. If so, I would be very interested in being featured. I have been investing more and more of my time in promoting myself and I know that you have a very faithful following.
Some G-Town love on Good Morning Gloucester today!! Thanks again!!
American Made Nomination
Hi there!
For the second year in a row, I’ve entered myself into the Martha Stewart American Made contest, which spotlights the maker, supports the local and celebrates the handmade.
Check out my profile and vote for me if you can on August 26th: Vote for Tara White Studio!!
Here’s a sneak preview of my profile:
I would really appreciate your vote on August 26th!! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!
~Tara ; )
Paper bowls and a box of natural goodies!
Hello,
I thought I’d check in and give you a little update on some of the things I’ve been up to this month.
One event that I’ve been planning for this month is the Employee craft fair I organized at my work. We held one in December that was pretty successful so we wanted to see how a summer one would go. The items ranged from sea glass jewelry to crocheted octopi. This time around, we will have baked goods and gourmet salsa too! I will be selling some of the clay jewelry and figurines that I’ve mentioned here as well as some new items that are not on Etsy yet. Here’s the story behind one of my projects for the fair…
A while back I purchased a paper making kit from Wooden Deckle. I had made some paper a long time ago and still had a container of pulp that I made myself from recycled paper, in the fridge that I was afraid might go bad soon (I guess that just means get moldy). I broke out the kit again to make some grass paper – yup, paper with grass clippings in it! It came out looking very natural and rustic, I love the look.
It made eight 3 x 4 pieces and had a ton of pulp leftover. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to make some bowls out of it. I just molded the pulp into various bowls that I had in the kitchen and let them sit, for a very, very long time. Of course I got impatient after a few days and tried to speed up the process in a low temp oven, unsuccessfully. So I worked on other projects while waiting for them to dry almost completely before I could remove them from their molds. I neglected to take photos at that point. I decided to paint them instead of leaving them natural, because it would make them more durable and perhaps slightly functional, definitely not meant for food though! And I was quite pleased by how lovely they turned out…
Hopefully there is some interest in these at the fair, otherwise I will definitely be listing them on Etsy soon!
Last year I mentioned my love of flea markets and how my father, sister and I frequented the local ones. This year we had yet to go so my Dad and I went a few weeks back and I hit the jackpot! And bonus, it only cost me $10!! My score is pictured below and includes a bag of multicolored threads, a bag of black buttons, a giant spool of gold thread, a seashell stamp, a bag of ivory ribbon, a bunch of leather laces, several pieces of moon and stars costume jewelry and a vintage gingham scarf.
I am a huge fan of having things delivered to my door, anything that means I don’t have to shop in public is amazing to me! So when I saw an ad for healthy, all natural snacks that are automatically shipped to you every month, I had to try it out! A few weeks ago I registered with Nature Box, for only $5 for the first month and $19.95 each month after. Not a bad price for all natural foods that are the most expensive type at the supermarket. Plus, a “no questions asked” cancellation policy if unsatisfied. Basically, nothing to lose. Another major bonus with this company is that for every person that you refer (who joins through your referral link) you get a $10 credit and could, in theory, end up with free natural snacks!!! Well, I got the introductory box today and I was majorly impressed! It came with six decent-sized bags of various healthy, many vegan, snacks, including plantain chips, cherry granola and mango almond bites. I tried the latter already and they are delicious, seriously! I highly, highly recommend trying them out, and not only because I want credits (but if you sign up through my link, I will be forever grateful!!) Share the NatureBox Love!!
Eat your veggies!!
One of the cool things about the cottage we rent is that it has some amazing gardens in the yard. There are many different types of wildflowers as well as raspberry bushes, chives and mint galore. There is also a strawberry patch, but the berries never turn red… perhaps they are not edible strawberries? I’m not sure. We went to our local farm stand and bought a few strawberry plants, which were doing very well, but have slowed down over the last few weeks. A few months back, my husband purchased some seed pods online, containing various vegetables and herbs. We now have cilantro, lettuce, spinach that we have been cutting down and using. There are several tomato plants, peppers, and a crazy giant cucumber plant from which we are awaiting flowers and subsequently veggies.
I just think its super cool to be able to just pick food in your yard and cook with it. My favorite thing is the cilantro because every time I have tried to grow it indoors it does not do well and I use it all the time!
In the theme of veggies, I’d like to share a series of ornaments that I recently made. My good friend’s daughter is named Anna, so of course everyone calls her Anna Banana! For her 1st birthday a few months ago I made a little clay banana baby ornament as part of the gift that Mommy could enjoy. I decided it was too cute not to expand and make other types of fruit babies! Along with the banana are a strawberry, a carrot, a bunch of grapes, a pineapple and a green onion.
The fruit and veggie babies are available for purchase in my Etsy shop, here: Tara White Studio
And to round out this refreshing garden-themed post, here’s a lovely Etsy Treasury, “How does your garden grow”.
‘How does your garden grow’ by Claytastic77
Lovely new and vintage items for the garden or garden enthusiast.
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Hello Summer!
I can’t believe this is my first post in nearly two months! Since the weather is so beautiful here in New England right now, the theme of this post is nature. I’ll be sharing some woodland animal-inspired jewelry, photos of my first kayaking trip of the season and some random photos taken on walks with my dog.
I’ve mentioned my Etsy shop and team participation a few times. I recently joined some new teams, one called Animal Totems (check us out here: Animal Totems Team). Inspired by the other amazing shops run by members of this team, I created a series of animal spirit jewelry. A while back I had made some bear paw prints out of clay and wasn’t sure what to do with them at the time. So I made some more paw/claw prints as well as some clay claws, teeth, antlers and a feather:
Initially I planned to use an animal track and a claw or tooth together as part of a more eclectic necklace, like this one for the cat:
While I do love how this one turned out, it seemed it may be too much for some people to handle, plus if I separated them out, I could make way more necklaces!
Each of the necklaces shown above and more are available for purchase in my Etsy shop: Animal Spirit Jewelry
Since today was too hot to not be near the water, I took old Nemo (yeah, that’s my kayak) out for the first paddle this summer. Our street is on a river, Little River, which feeds into the Annisquam River in Gloucester, MA. Here’s a map showing my route with the red line:
I paddled down Little River and passed under the Andrew Piatt Bridge…
I paddled further and in the middle of where marshes are at low tide I saw a tiny little island, with rocks and small trees on it…
I had to pull up here and check it out. This was a pretty cool spot that I came across and definitely beat the beach since I was the only person there!
This certainly was a great weekend and I am looking forward to many more kayaking adventures. Here are some cool pics I’ve taken around the yard and neighborhood to keep with the nature theme!
Bachelorette Party Crafts, what?!
Last night was my friend’s bachelorette party in Boston.
I really wanted some flashy earrings to wear, so I created these…
I went 80′s and only wore one of them because my hair was asymmetrical and it would have been hidden on the other side anyways!
We began the night at a hotel in Boston, where we drank lots of bubbly and played a “guess who bought you this thong” game. For mine, I purchased a basic white lace thong, but completely dazzled it up with as many pink embellishments as I could find:
I may have gone a little too wild on the front and actually think the back looks like something you could potentially buy in a more risque boutique!! I will consider taking special orders for these!!!
We then enjoyed an amazing sushi dinner at Red Lantern, which has an amazing fun atmosphere.
The highlight of the night was the Drag show at Jaques Cabaret, which was so hilarious and entertaining and the pictures do not do it justice, so I recommend going!
Now that I’ve shared, I think it’s time for bed ; )
