Portland Circle of Friends & Family Preschool Spring Extravaganza Bazaar

Saturday, April 30 is another great bazaar that you can attend to find all sorts of wonderful items for your spring and summer events.  It is sponsored by Portland Circle of Friends & Family Preschool and is a great event for every member of the family, young or old.  Besides vendors such as Earringopia (http://www.etsy.com/shop/earringopia) and Wahkeena Photos (http://www.etsy.com/shop/WahkeenaPhotos) with a great assortment of handmade jewelry and beautiful photo stylings, there will also be a number of other vendors offering their handmade wares.  There will also be a raffle, bake sale, activities for children, and more.  I think it sounds like great fun and sure hope to see you there!

The bazaar will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is located at 4904 SE Hawthorne Boulevard (Eagles Lodge) in Portland, Oregon.  Stop by, say hi, have some fun, and find some truly unique items from local Portland artists.

This Week's Favorite Etsy Find

I had to clean my floors recently with my Swiffer and realized I had run out of the boxed Swiffer pads.  It was then I realized what I wanted to feature in my next blog post, this great reusable and washable and reversible Swiffer cover for both wet and dry use.  The boxed Swiffer pads sure don't come in gorgeous colors like this and it's just one more way to be both thrifty and kind to the earth.  This excellent product is available from MontanaDaisyGirl on Etsy at Ecofriendly Handmade Cotton Swiffer Cover  I know I sure want one.

Dutch Iris Necklace

This necklace started out as an odd fragment of a coil of wire in a box of supplies.  It kept talking to me, telling me it would make the most beautiful pendant for a necklace, but I ignored it for awhile.  I finally hung the wire fragment from an earring holder on my work table and it grew on me enough that I pulled out my bead box.  There were several lavendar and violet blue beads and one larger aurora borealis bead that worked their magic on me. 

I am not an experienced wire wrapper, so it took me awhile to arrive at the final shape and pull the ends together and wrap the wire.  I was pleased with the final product save for the top part where I had wrapped the wire tightly and securely, but really didn't like the end product there.  Poor me, I made a trip to my local fabulous button and ribbon store, The Button Emporium (http://www.buttonemporium.com/ ) and spent a very pleasant couple of hours picking out ribbon and buttons (button story later).  I used the very pretty ribbon to wrap around and over the unattractive wire portion and it came out looking like this:

A much prettier product I am proud to present.  Here's a further closeup of the ribbon:

And in the end this is how the necklace looks as it would hang on a neckline:

Like I said, I am pleased to present the necklace and found working with the wire fun, but seriously I don't want to have to work that hard or long in the future.  There's always a better way, so I've decided to sign up for a wire wrapping class with my pal, Cari (a talented photographer for the record at http://www.etsy.com/people/WahkeenaPhotos ) at a local bead shop, Let It Bead (http://letitbeadportland.com/ ) on either Sunday, May 15 or Sunday, May 22.  I'd also like to invite you to join us in the wire wrapping class.  If you do want to join us, please leave that wish in the comments section below along with the better of the two Sundays for your participation.  Also be sure to leave any questions you might have below in the comments section as well.

Basic info about the classes:
When: Sundays at 2 p.m., two hours in length
Cost: $35 for two hour class plus cost of materials for any project you wish to make and keep. 
Where: Let It Bead, 1426 NW 23rd Avenue, between Pettygrove and Quimby Avenue, Portland, OR

The necklace is now listed at Earringopia (http://www.etsy.com/listing/72005248/spring-iris-blue-and-purple-color-wire)  Should you decide to order the necklace between now and Mother's Day, an extra added little matching set of dangly earrings will be added to your order (picture of that treat will be shown in the listing) as a thank you treat.

Sew Po First Anniversary Party - Please Join Us

CaKe Enterprises (Earringopia and Wahkeena Photos) is very honored to have been invited to participate in Sew Po's first anniversary party.  I think it's particularly important to note that Sew Po, a small business in Portland, Oregon, has reached out to other local artists and invited them to participate, but then that's the Portland way, something we should all be very proud of.  So, please come and join not just Earringopia and Wahkeena Photos, but also all the lovely people featured in the above announcement for Sew Po's first birthday party.  I'd like to give a particular nod to Emily Engdahl (http://www.songbirdfreelancedesign.com/ ) for designing the beautiful, cheerful, colorful announcement pictured above!

Pop-Ups in Portland

"A pop-up retail space is a venue that is temporary — the space could be a sample sale one day and host a private cocktail party the next evening. Pop-up retail is specifically an idea or mindset that allows a company to create a unique environment that engages their customers, as well as generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. It can also be for the duration of a peak in demand anticipated to be short.
The trend involves “popping-up” one day, and disappearing the next. These stores, while small and temporary, can build up buzz by consumer exposure." (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-up_retail ). 

I'll have to give my thanks to Wikipedia for the general overall definition of a pop-up shop.  I know what they are, but didn't necessarily know the exact definition.  Definitions are great on paper, but when you want to shop a pop-up shop, you need to know much more about it, no matter how temporary it might be.  OK, I'll start you with a little tease:

This is where the pop-up shop will be located.

Here is a sampling of the jewelry that will be available.

These beautiful pictures (and photo notecards) will also be available

OK, I think I've teased you enough, so let me give you all the particulars.  Several local artists have gathered together to have the Broadway Pop-Up Christmas Bazaar this coming Saturday and Sunday, November 27 and 28 from 11 to 6 p.m. each day.  The address of this fun bazaar is 3109 NE Broadway Street in Portland, Oregon.

This group of artists and friends would love to have you come down and see what we have to offer to you for your holiday shopping needs.  Forget QVC.  Forget Black Friday.  Forget the stores that stay open on Thanksgiving Day and don't give their employees a chance to relax with their friends and families.  Take your time, enjoy yourself, talk to the artists about their products, and find some really unique and lovely handmade and reasonably priced gifts for your friends and families (and perhaps a nice little treat for yourself).