Saturday, December 26, 2009

MINE!

Handblown glass paperweight


Handblown glass paperweight - Latticino cane - murrini - Mentuck art glass
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Handblown glass paperweight - Latticino cane - murrini - Mentuck art glass Handblown glass paperweight - Latticino cane - murrini - Mentuck art glass Handblown glass paperweight - Latticino cane - murrini - Mentuck art glass Handblown glass paperweight - Latticino cane - murrini - Mentuck art glass Handblown glass paperweight - Latticino cane - murrini - Mentuck art glass
http://www.etsy.com/shop/marbleheadglass

This is what I received for my Etsy Christmas! Thank you to the the hubs and the kid. :)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Come see PickleBerries this Saturday, December 12th!

Gail Jacobsen bracelet Gail Jacobsen bracelet Gail Jacobsen bracelet
The 17th Annual Women's Art Festival


Quick Links

Go to the website

Hope to see you at the Festival!
Gail Jacobsen bracelet
The atmosphere is fun and festive, the artists are inspired, the music is hot! Come browse, buy, mix and mingle and support the women artists of your community.

Join Our Mailing List
Join our mailing list to get updates, hear about next year's festival, etc.
The 17th Annual Women's Art Festival
Saturday, December 12th, 2009
10 am - 5 pm
Midtown YWCA, 2121 E. Lake St in Minneapolis.
Admission is free.


Over 100 artists
Gail Jacobsen bracelet All women, all local, many media including jewelry, pottery, glass, textile, photography, painting, culinary arts, healing arts, and more. See complete list of artists.

Live music all day long!
Music by women performers including Barb Tillsen, Nancy Cox, Encore, The Earthtones, Lingua Luna and more.
Special children's music by Common Chord at noon.
See 2009 music schedule here.

Sisters' Sludge Coffee Cafe will provide food and beverages. Treat yourself to hot soup, sandwiches, sweets, coffee, tea, more...
December 12th promises to be a fun-filled day at the Women's Art Festival. Please join us there!
Sincerely,

Naomi Siegal
Women's Art Festival coordinator

Monday, December 7, 2009

Custom!


This is the dish that a very good customer of mine commissioned. The dish is a gift and she wanted these specific colors to match other things in the room where it will be displayed. We were both pretty happy with the way it turned out. I hope the recipient feels the same way!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

PickleBerries On You Tube!


My millefiori fused glass is now on You Tube! http://www.youtube.com/user/pickleberriesglass My monster of a 12 year old was kind enough to say, "A sideshow making a slide show. Way to go Mom!" Yes, high praise from the peanut gallery. :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

I've Added A Show!


I'm excited to be part of the "Thanksgifting" show at Frame-Ups and Capstone Gallery in Minneapolis on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 28th. There will be a variety of lovely artisan made items! Maybe you are looking for something different to do with family or friends who are here from out-of-town or would you like to focus more on buying local this holiday season? Whatever your motivation, stop-in for some unique shopping.

Frame-up & Capstone Gallery
Saturday, November 28th
10am-5pm
4325 Nicollet Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55409

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

It's Showtime!


Today I spent the morning setting up my table at the Ebenezer Ridges "Holiday Village Market" in Burnsville, MN. (The picture shows my $17.00 pendants carefully packed for the show.) The location in the market is wonderful, right by the gift shop and coffee shop under a nice bright light. I must admit that I thought my pieces were gorgeously displayed when I finally walked away! As in past shows here, there is an interesting mix of vendors with items being sold for both children and adults. I saw some of the same people as last year and new artisans too. I'll definitely be popping back in to make some gift purchases!

Ebenezer Ridges "Holiday Village Market"
November 4th-7th
Wednesday 3-8, Thursday & Friday 10-5:30, Saturday 10-1
13820 Community Drive, Burnsville, MN 55337

Sunday, September 27, 2009

My Mess


OK, maybe not so much mess as organized chaos! At the top of the picture there are some rows of completed cabochons waiting for ponytail, earring and pendant bails to be glued on. You can see rows of pairs of millefiori slices on the left awaiting inspiration. The millefiori on the right has already been paired up with other slices that I'll to use together in earrings. I also have jewelry hang tags drying, each is glued to a business card to be hung on my display pieces. This is what my table has looked like this last week as I've prepared pieces for Papa's Barn Boutique

All of my inventory, 105 pieces, was delivered this last Saturday. There are earrings, ponytail holders and pendants in a wide variety of colors, sizes and styles. The venue in Wabasha is fabulous. It's a family farm in the foothills of the bluffs along the Mississippi, beautiful! Most of the merchandise had been delivered by the other vendors by the time I arrived with mine. I got to wander through both floors of the barn and peek. The antique and handmade furniture was lovely, the prices were so reasonable for such quality. I could have done some serious damage if they were open for business! Every vendor booth with gifts, Halloween and Christmas items were decorated deliciously. These women who run the show are quite talented in the art of display. About the only thing missing were the food vendors who arrive later this week, kettle corn freshly made anyone?! Starting on Friday the Boutique will run for 10 days and be open from 8-6. I'll be hard pressed not to shoot down first thing on Friday and load up my car with goodies!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The End Of Summer or Time To Give My Child Back To School

This time of year is always difficult for me. Why? Because I like my child. I enjoy having her around the house all summer. There is no rushing or insanity, we just get to hang together. And now I have to give her back to school in a little over a week. I start to get weepy when I think about giving her back, which is goofy because my daughter goes to the best school on the planet. They nurture her and love her for the caustic witted, tutu wearing, unconformist that she is. She's funny, she's creative, she's smart, she's interesting and she's relaxing to be around. (Of course there is cranky, snotty and stubborn too, but I honestly don't see those very often.) These amazing qualities continue to grow as she does. At 12 years I'm beginning to get glimpses of who she is growing into. It's exciting and wonderful, but at the same time my baby is quickly disappearing into a memory. Each summer it becomes more obvious that college is around the corner and each summer becomes more precious and harder to give up.

Our end of summer ritual, since my princess was 4 months old, is to spend a day together at the Minnesota State Fair. We never fail to start the day with crepes for breakfast and end the day with a bag of caramel corn in the Coliseum watching the horses.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

How I Spent My Summer Vacation or I Have A Website Now



The whole time that I've been selling online I've debated whether I wanted to create a PickleBerries website. I did some homework and then more homework. July 18th was my one year anniversary on Etsy and I decided to celebrate by buying the PickleBerries domain name and building a website. After a few glitches from the hosting site my website is complete and LIVE! Please pop in and peruse.

http://www.pickleberries.com

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Take A Peek!


These are cabochons from my last kiln run that have just been cleaned and are all lined up sparkling in the sunshine. You may see some of these in one of my two shops, Etsy or 1000 Markets, or you may see some of them at my next show, one never knows.

Friday, June 19, 2009

My New Line!









PickleBerries now has lovely delicate millefiori post style earrings! I realize that not everyone cares for earrings that dangle. I've been playing with my millefiori pieces to see just how small I can make a cabochon. My experiment has resulted in some very sweet little posts using surgical steel findings and also some tiny dangle style earrings. These pieces will be popping up in my shops in the very near future, if they haven't already made an appearance.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time there was a quiet, skinny little girl with big eyes and long, straight, mousy, brown hair. She had a frail, wizened grandma who collected treasures of old. These antiquities were kept in a tall, ornately carved cabinet with a glass door and curved glass sides. The treasures were always visible for all to gaze upon. Every time the little girl would visit her gram she would spend some time gazing at the wonders inside of the cabinet. Each item was special and gram would spin stories about many. The child's favorite were the glass spheres that fit perfectly on the palm of an adults hand. Each of these unique works held captured within their depths, minute flower filled universes exploding with color. They were exquisite works of art made for no other reason than to weigh down the loose papers of ones life. How extraordinary! The little girl grew up, as little girls do, and her gram passed on during that growing up. The millefiori paperweights were tucked in with the rest of the memories of gram only to be reborn when the little girl, now grown with her own quiet, skinny little girl with big eyes and long, straight, bright red hair, decided it was time. Time to make intricate little universes of her own out of tiny, vibrant glass flowers. These creations would not be relegated to a glass cabinet though, these creations would be to wear and enjoy. They would adorn hair, ears and yes, chests too. Hence the gestation and birth of PickleBerries where all lived happily ever after. The end.

PickleBerries comes from my childhood nickname bestowed on me by my dad a million years ago "Lonnie Mary Pickle Berry".

A wee bit of background information on me, which is now included in my shops. :)

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Good Tween Reads

When talking to other moms it seems we never fail to mention what our kids are reading. Some of us have voracious readers and some reluctant, but we all want our kids to read. So, we share titles and authors that our offspring latch onto.

I firmly believe that every child can be a reader, after any learning issues are cared for and they've found a book/subject/author that makes their heart sing. As parents it's our job to facilitate this process. We cannot give up on this with our children or expect the school system to do this for us. I have a child who has been at both ends of the learning curve with reading. In 2nd grade we found out the princess has Irlen Syndrome. Before treatment she could barely read and was in the lowest reading group at school. Four years later she tests at college level and flies through books. Her disability was treated AND she found The Littles series which opened the door to a love of literature for her.

In an effort to help kids and parents ferret out great books, the princess and I went through her stacks to come up with titles and authors that may make your child's heart sing too. Most of these are great for boys or girls in grades 4-7. Please remember that what's fine in our house may not be OK in your's and vice versa. Sci fi, mystery and fantasy involving fairies, witches, magic, & mythology are our faves. We don't go beyond a simple kiss or crush in literature or watch PG-13 movies. TV stars, Hannah Montana etc., are not seen as role models around here either, in fact the television is seldom on.

Please feel free to add your child's or your own childhood favorites in the comments. Without further yammering- some books and/or authors...
  • Anne Ursu The Shadow Thieves and The Siren Song
  • Laura Ruby The Wall And The Wing and The Chaos King
  • Cornelia Funke The Dragon Rider and (older kids) Inkspell trilogy
  • Jeanne Birdsall (girls) The Penderwick series
  • Susan Runholt (girls) The Third Lucretia
  • Thomas L. Blair The Sabatini Prophecy
  • Yann Martel Life Of Pi
  • E. D. Baker (girls) The Frog Princess series and Wings
  • Rick Riordan Percy Jackson series and 39 clues 1st in a new series of various authors
  • Kristen Miller (girls) Kiki Strike series
  • Nancy Farmer Sea Of Trolls and Land Of The Silver Apples
  • Jeanne DuPrau The City Of Ember series
  • Elizabeth Kay The Divide series
  • Chris D'Lacey Fire Star series
  • All DK Eyewitness books are awesome
  • Janet Lee Carey (girls) Dragon's Keep
  • Edith Pattou (girls) East
  • Meg Cabot (older girls) Princess Diaries
  • Patricia C. Wrede (girls) Enchanted Forest Chronicles series of 4 books
  • Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell Muddle Earth
  • All Zilpha Keatly Snyder books
  • All Bruce Coville books
  • All Judy Blume books written for kids (girls)
  • Ann Hodgman The House Of A Million Pets
  • All Gail Carson Levine books (some for older, some for younger girls)
  • Gillian Summers (girls) The Tree Shepard's Daughter and Into the Wildewood
  • All Eva Ibbotson books
  • John Vornholt The Troll series of 3 books
  • Caroline B. Cooney The Face On The Milk Carton (older kids)
  • Norton Juster The Phantom Tollbooth
  • Joseph Helgerson Horns And Wrinkles
  • Mette Ivie Harrison Mirs, Mirror (girls)
  • Clare B. Dunkle The Hollow Kingdom (girls)
  • All Blue Balliett books
  • Jenny Nimmo Charlie Bone series