Thursday, August 18, 2011

Help the Plaza District Festival

Clean out your craft closet! The Plaza District Festival is in need of items for the kids area during the Festival as well as volunteers. All items can be dropped off at Collected Thread (OKC), 1705A NW 16th Street, Tuesdays – Saturdays 11-7

Items needed:
600 paper sacks
Glue (sticks and tubes)
Safety scissors
Markers
Crayons
Pencils
Yarn
Ribbon
Scrap fabric ( and anything else that could decorate puppets)
Beads
Yarn needles
Face paints
Paint brushes
2 reams of paper (scavenger hunt)
Baby wipes
Paper towels
Paper plates
Old mens button shirts for smocks
Sidewalk chalk
Volunteers needed for kids area prep day!
Need volunteers to get ready for Kids Area, Sep. 17th 2 p.m. at the Plaza District office.
Projects include:
Painting/priming mural panels
Organizing supplies.
and Other prep work
E-mail us if you can volunteer at info@plazadistrict.org

Friday, August 12, 2011

Hi! It’s Danielle again. One of my last posts was about the Treasure Boat Antique Thrift Shop up by Tulsa. This week I want to share with you one of my favorite places close to where I live now, in Oklahoma City.

Mary’s Swap Meet is a large flea market that takes place outside every Saturday and Sunday morning, year round. It is located at the corner of Midwest Blvd and NE 23rd St. It’s so good because it’s like fifty little garage sales all crammed into one place, and you can find all kinds of things there.

The trick with Mary’s though, in my experience, is that to get the good stuff you have to be there right when they open – which is at dawn. There’s still a lot of stuff there later, but for the really good deals it helps to get there as they’re opening.

They also have a fake old western town built where you can walk around for free and take pictures! Overall, it’s a pretty cool experience, and it’s worth waking yourself up before dawn to check it out at least once.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

OkEtsy Featured Seller: BearyCreative

BearyCreative, please introduce yourself.
Jeri Hall, Tulsa, Whimsically-Dark Artist


What is/was your inspiration?

I have been inspired by the work of: Tim Burton and Edward Gorey. There is also a woman on Etsy I have purchased from who makes amazing art dolls (which I now have 4 of :) who's work has really inspired me to grow and be a better artist.

What is your favorite media and why?
My favorite media is painting (with acrylics). I love to paint. It's very theraputic and relaxing.

What has been your favorite project?
My favorite project would be when I was preparing for the 2011 BlueDome Arts Festival in Tulsa. I decided I wanted to showcase my art there within 3 weeks of the Festival and had to make like 20 paintings in that time. It was crazy, but I did it and think it has been some of my best work!

Where would you like to see yourself 5/10 years from now in this project?
I'd still like to be taking part in local shows- but have grown as an Artist and become better and have had a billion sales :)

Do you have any keys of success to share?
Network!

What has been your biggest challenge in developing your shop?
Getting people to know about your shop. There's sooo many wonderful and talented Artist on Etsy that sometimes it's hard to stand out! So, the way I get noticed is to carry business cards everywhere I go and I wear my artwork on t-shirts just about everyday :)

Tell us one thing crazy about yourself.
This is gonna sound weird, but it's true... I have 2 toes the same size on my left foot ha :) TMI

What is something you would love to learn how to do?
Make art dolls out of paper mache. I admire those on Etsy who make beautiful dolls. I've tried, and it's harder than what you'd think!

What is one thing you love about Oklahoma?
My family is all in Oklahoma.

Check out this week's featured seller, BearyCreative, at the following places:
etsy:
bearycreative.etsy.com
blog: bearycreativeart.blogspot.com
fb: "bearycreative"
personal site: zhibit.org/jerihall

Thanks, Jeri!