Fun at the Mall

After we dropped the necklaces at the Orange County Fair, we ducked into South Coast Plaza. Back in the day, SCP was the main mall across the street and the place we were visiting yesterday was called the Crystal Court. Now it’s all one big complex connected with a flower-lined bridge from one mall to the other. Anyway…

Since I had the Canon with me, I shot a few things I found interesting and fun.

This mall loves to decorate it’s main hub for any given holiday. This week: The Three Story Flag

Jessica McClintock in the Spirit of the Fourth

The Husband admiring a wonderful desk at Restoration Hardware. It’s in the guise of a huge steamer truck and can be closed when you’re finished for the day. He has something similar and smaller at home, but without the evocative trunk design.

The Wife, admiring the Eiffel Tower bookends and the big Z, which reminds her of her BFF, Zan.


A glittery pirate ship chandelier at Z Gallery

The colorful window of Paper Source

Do What You Love!


www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Quick OC Fair Update

Here are a few pix of the work in progress on the second necklace for this summer’s Orange County Fair entries.

I’m combining gold and silver to mix it up a little and add some interest.

The focal beads are so colorful! I think I’m likin’ this design, after a rough start.

Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Award Winning Jewelry Designer Goes to the Fair!

Low and Behold! My humble Orange County Fair entry, The Beaches of Orange County, won second place in the Bead Jewelry division! I know it’s only a little local competition and all, but I’m still really surprised and happy that my necklace is Number Two. Here’s proof:

I hate my camera. I can’t change the date on it, it doesn’t have a viewfinder and it won’t let me see the pictures in order after I take them, so unless I want to sit for 10 minutes trying to find them, I can’t see if they turned out well. All things to remember when I buy a new one…

Anyway, here are some other artist friend’s entries this year:

Here’s my co-worker, Teresa’s, scrapbooking page dedicated to her mom. I wish this was a better picture (see kvetching above) because it’s really a beautiful piece of work. In fact, when I showed it to The Husband, a woman was looking at it and talked to me about how lovely it was. I was proud to say I knew the artist!

I wasn’t sure whether my blog buddy, Kim Van Der Hoeck, was exhibiting this year because she’s preggies but I was happy to find that she had 3 pieces in the Fine Arts contests. Here are two of her wonderful oil paintings.

For the last several years, we’ve had our Celebration of the Arts booth right across from Max Yamada, his wife Jolyn and their adorable Corgi, Coco. This year, Coco wasn’t with them and we were sad to find that she had passed away earlier in the year. But she was one of Max’s favorite subjects and is immortalized in many of his acrylic paintings, one of which is on view in the Fine Arts Building this year.

Besides the wonderfully air conditioned buildings, we also wandered a bit, seeing little piggies, hearing musical groups in the plaza and enjoying the wafting aroma’s of the food vendors. Here’s a booth we avoided~deep fried everything~but I think I gained 5 pounds just looking at it!

Here’s The Husband in front of a sand sculpture honoring the Santa Ana Army Air Base. Yeah, it’s a little cartoon-y, but it’s a county fair, after all…

And what’s a trip to the fair without a stop at the petting zoo? Llama’s and wallaby’s and deer, oh my!

I wish I had gotten pictures of some of the wood carving projects--gorgeous! I hope you get a chance to go to your local county fair this season. We hadn’t been in several years and I had forgotten what a fun, interesting experience it is.

So much to do, eat and see!


www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

OC Fair Adventure, Bear Chick Style

Today, I entered the Orange County Fair for the first time. DUH! I read and reread the instructions and for the life of me, I would swear they said the fair provides the displays for jewelry. *sigh* I actually meant to bring one of my own busts, just in case, but it slipped my mind. So I got there today and realized that, indeed, I needed to supply my own display.

Luckily, I had brought along The Husband and, since we planned to have dinner at Ikea, where I get some of the display props for my show booth, he suggested we look there after dinner for something appropriate. And if we did find something, that would save me having to come all the way back tomorrow.

So, after a dinner of Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes (me) and a turkey wrap and fries (The Husband), we set off to find something to hang an orange, blue and clear necklace from. Pillows, frames and various cooking implements were rejected.

Then, like a miracle (cue the heavenly choir), the very thing I needed caught my eye in the bathroom section. It’s actually a cotton pad holder with three small, graceful legs and an opening with wavy sides. I took off the necklace, overturned the pad holder and voila! The necklace actually frames the opening and, with the chain hung around one of the legs, hangs to the perfect length. One thing I noticed when I was at the Fair was that most of the displays were black velvet. I loved the fact that the pad holder is brushed silver metal, so it will really stand out among the black.

Here are a couple of horrible camera phone pix taken in a rush, but hopefully you’ll get the idea.

I don’t expect to win anything, especially having seen some of the beautiful work there tonight, but I did get a free ticket to the fair and a purple ribbon just for entering! So I’m a pretty happy girl.

Hope you get to the Fair this year~Look for The Beaches of Orange County!

http://www.bearchick.etsy.com/
http://www.bearchickart.etsy.com/
http://www.bearchick.artfire.com/

The Beaches of Orange County Preview

I finally started the necklace I want to create for the Orange County Fair this week and submitted my entry form today. So, I have till June 20 to finish. Totally doable with no stress!

Here’s the full necklace with all charms attached. Aren’t they cute? Swimsuit, fish, beach chairs with umbrella, dolphins and orange slices.

The ceramic oranges I got at the Bead Bazaar at the Bowers a few weeks ago and the pewter orange slices I sussed out on Etsy. They’re perfect!

Close up of the beading I’ve done so far. The theme lent itself to oranges, blues and clears. In this picture, the beads look red (the day is somewhat cloudy here in sunny SoCal) but they really are orange.

So for the next week or so, this is what I’ll be working on. It’s hard to tell with only a few beads whether it’s colorful enough. With these necklaces, you can’t really get a feel for the look of it till it’s half done, so wish me luck! It’s always an adventure with the Charm N Bead!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Tall Mouse Craft Show

It wasn’t the greatest show on earth… But I met two very cool creative types~Yolandasclay (ceramic beads and pendants) and Laloon (art clay silver and cork)~and gave out a bunch of business cards. When a bad day goes fast, you know you’ve met some fun people!

Here’s a terrible, cell phone pic of my setup. It’s a constant challenge to do setup’s for different size tables and spaces.

I was happy with the different levels I created and for once, I didn’t put out too much and create clutter.

A word to show crafters, newbies and otherwise--if you’ve committed to do a show till a certain time, do NOT pack up early. I don’t want to totally rant out here, but it’s upsetting when vendors leave before the show is over. Besides the fact that it’s unprofessional, it makes the show look shoddy when there are empty spaces. You are making a commitment to do the show-have the integrity to complete your obligation.

Stepping off soapbox.

I’ve been putting off starting the competition necklace for the Orange County Fair. But now I’m back from vacation and the two shows I had are done. No more excuses!! This coming week will be dedicated to getting my Beaches of Orange County necklace done. I may even do a bracelet and earrings! To keep me motivated, I may even post progress photos.

May 15 is the day to start voting for the Beadstar contest, where I posted my Tequila Sunrise necklace. You can believe I’m gonna post the link here so you can vote! For me, hopefully :-)

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com