Friends of a Feather SPRING Event ~ May 20th, 21st & 22nd

Located in Overland Park, Kansas

Wonderful Handmades by Local Artisans

We have a very talented and all inspiring group of local artisans 

that are participating our "Gathering of Like-minded Souls." 

Here are the ones that shared photos with me!  :)

The following photos are just a small sampling of the wonderful 

handmade items that you will see for sale at the

Friends of a Feather Sale May 20th, 21st, and 22nd...

• Paper Mache' Birdies and Shadowbox Art by Lauri Meyers

• Folk art, unique shadowbox creations and pillows by Marilyn Gash

• Sophisticated and heartfelt handwrought jewelry by Julie Pishny

• Fun and quirky mosaic mirrors and frames 
by Mary Alice Henderson

• Beautiful stained glass garden spikes and 
stepping stones by Bob and Deena Webb

• Unique refashioned heirloom jewelry by Susan Mayer  

"Now & Then" ~ A Subtle Blend of Old & New ~

One of my best "Friends of a Feather" Cheryl owns 

a darling little shop in downtown Overland Park, Kansas 

called Now and Then ~ "A Subtle Blend of Old and New." 

She has a great eye for great things and will be 

bringing a bunch to our upcoming Friends of a Feather sale!  

 She will be bringing a huge selection of repurposed 

furniture, some unique iron garden accessories, and 

many other items that you will want to check out

for yourself that you probably can't live without!

Where My Best "Friend" Creates ~

Welcome to Marilyn's (Mom's) home... 

Mom has her art studio on the finished back porch of her old early 
1900's home in Overland Park, Kansas. She always has her 
faithful companion Finnegan by her side...

She has all kinds of things ready to use in her creations...
finding old cubbies and old distressed furniture to 
display her goodies is half the fun!

She just never knows what she might need 

to create that special something...

Ribbons...ribbons...ribbons...

She has made alot a fun and amazing things 

for the upcoming Friends of a Feather sale!

Spring is Here ~ and what a beautiful one!

Spring is such a beautiful time of year...the flowering trees share their beauty with their new blossoms...everything seems to be so lush this year.  I love my old vintage home in the spring more than any other time of year, as it sits nestled in the breathtaking surroundings of springtime.

Our little Flowering Crab was reaching out with her new beautiful pink blossoms...and the sky...was so blue this day!

Cooper ~ my male Great Dane ~ loves to enjoy the courtyard...

I have caught him smelling some of the early blooms himself ~ enjoying the wonderment of spring.

The Bleeding Hearts and the sweet little Forget-me-nots are two of my favorite early bloomers.

Tulips are so amazing...but last such a short time...I love to capture them on film before they disappear...

I was able to catch the sun reflecting these tulips in such a way that doesn't seem real!

I am not sure what this early bloomer is, but it is so sweet and dainty...

And, who doesn't love Lilacs?  

I have almost an acre...and we have lilacs that have been here for years and years that nearly encompasses out entire backyard and part of the front yard.  The fragrance is so overwhelmingly sweet!

A Gathering in My Studio!

Another Creative Workshop that I hosted in my studio recently was the Photo Memory Shadow Box Creative Workshop.  Each participant brought a photograph that they wanted to display in their shadow box.  Cari gathered a few things that belonged to her 88 year old grandmother to incorporate into her design ~ Cari said that her grandma was so excited and pleased that Cari wanted to make a memory shadow box of her.

I provided several boxes to choose from ~ cigar boxes are the best ~ they come in all sizes and depths!

Cari used an old crocheted doily that her great grandma had actually made as her back drop to the silhouetted photo of her grandma.  The embroidered piece was something that her grandma had made, and the buttons came from her grandma's personal stash.

The finished shadow boxes were so unique and fun!  I loved the way a spring-coil from an old watch was used to make an interesting "moving" element in this shadow box ~ and the old photo made current with a new outfit for the vintage woman to wear!

I had a few items on hand for the gals to use in their creations ~ I had a slew of old keys, wooden block letters from old games, and some old laces and little metal frames for them to use if they needed that "certain" element to finish off their works of art!

Pam had a cute series of photos of herself ~ she used an old book with the center cut out, and the pages glued together to create a perfect shadow box to display them, and with an old metal "P" stencil to give a hint of her identity!

"Charm School" Soldering Workshop ~

Recently, I hosted my Charm School Soldering Workshop in my studio.  Kara Ward and Ali Gripp are amazing instructors who were taught by the well-reknown queen of soldering Sally Jean Alexander!  

The gals who participated in my workshop had a great time creating there own one-of-a-kind miniature collage to put under glass and make into their very own soldered art jewelry to wear!

The finished pieces were so fun ~ and so uniquely original!