Collective Elements will be at Maplewoodstock, July 9 -10, 2016

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After a long hiatus, I will return to vending at this year’s Maplewoodstock!

Maplewoodstock is a two day festival of local music and arts featuring regional and national music acts.  The festival also offers food and arts vendors, and a KidsZone, so there’s something for everyone.

In 2016, its 13th year, it will be held Sat, July 9, and Sun, July 10, 2016 at Memorial Park in Maplewood, NJ.

Collective Elements will be debuting new collections along with a special surprise.  Please be sure to stop by!

9 years and counting!

Hi all!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been creating. Collective Elements may have been on the backburner but it still exists just the direction has shifted a bit. Over the next few weeks, I will be working on the look of the blog and telling you more about the changes ahead. As you can see, I’ve moved over to WordPress and I’ll be working out the kinks as I learn how to utilize it.

Catch me vending this Saturday at the 2nd Annual Not Yo Mama’s Happy Holiday Craft Fair

After some thought I decided I couldn’t end the year without doing a craft show.

So stop by the Powerhouse Lounge on 360 Marin Blvd in Jersey City for a great time and awesome crafts!!
Featuring:

30 Incredible Crafters selling their best wares!
DJ Dancing Tony setting the holiday mood.$2-$6 Drink and food specials.The return of the much anticipated NYM Raffle Wheel, filled with amazing prizes.NYM’s own crafty lady MC Michelle on the mic!First 50 shoppers get a free holiday tote bag!$5 Suggested Donation at the door. Door Proceeds to benefit Red Cross Hurricane Relief Efforts & Bar Sales to benefit Art House Productions. 

I’ll be posting some pictures of my new holiday cards on my Facebook page this week.

I sell stationery not stationary.

(Source:  Nancy and Betty Studio)

Yesterday, I spent the day helping a friend at a local craft show.  Before the show started I strolled around to check out the competition.  I noticed one lone stationery vendor.  Oh excuse me…”stationary” vendor.  The vendor in question, had a cute little chalkboard sign stationed outside of their tent with the words “FINE STATIONARY” in big bold letters.

At first, I thought it was a mistake and walked over to help a fellow paper vendor out.  As I got closer to the tent, I noticed stationery wasn’t spelled wrong once on the chalkboard but throughout the vendor’s tent.  “Fine Stationary”.  Hmm…no mistake.

At that point, I figured it didn’t make sense to say a word.  In fact, I grew concerned the person might not appreciate me pointing out the misspelling.

Oh well…doesn’t look good when you don’t know how to spell the name of your product.

First batch of Christmas Cards!

All cards feature paper from Echo Park’s Holly Jolly 6×6 Paper Pad.

Oh Christmas Tree Card
Stickers: Walmart Holiday Collection.
Tweeting About Christmas Card
Stickers: Walmart Holiday Collection.
My Name Is Not Rudolph Card
Stickers: Walmart Holiday Collection.
Welcome Wreath Card
Stickers: Walmart Holiday Collection.
Let It Snow Card
Stickers: Walmart Holiday Collection.
Joy to the World Card
Stickers: Walmart Holiday Collection.
  Joy In Every Home Card
 Stickers:  Me and My Big Ideas Soft Spoken Christmas #1

Artsy Fartsy Stuff with the Kid

I’m artsy and my daughter’s artsy.  I’m trying to help develop her technique.   I admit my formal training is limited in certain disciplines.  For example: painting.  My painting instruction is limited to the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. Before you laugh, I know I can’t be the only one making happy trees.

My daughter had to make a diorama of the tundra for class. So guess who decided to make it into a painting lesson? 

Painted with acrylic paint in a Payless shoe box. (Yeah, we recycle/reuse/remix like that)
It took about a week to complete.  I think it came out pretty well considering she doesn’t paint often and I didn’t help (take over) too much.  I let her choose the colors and basically just defined things a bit when she went off track. For example, she picked turquoise blue for the sky.  I softened it by adding the clouds by dabbing on white paint with a crumpled paper towel.