St. Johns Town Center Brings New Friends

I participated in the 1st Annual St. Johns Town Center Fine Arts Festival this past weekend. Being a first year show, the crowd was understandably small, but I enjoyed the event nonetheless. Jamie Hendrix of J. and Company Events is a great person to work with and takes great care of her artists! This was also my first experience doing a two day show by myself. Whitney had another obligation so I was on my own, and I learned something! Whitney, you will be happy to know that I have finally mastered the puzzle of getting ALL the tent sides to fit into the tent sides pouch on the tent bag without having to hold my breath while squirming and stuffing them in there! Whoo hoo! I was so proud of myself! (I know, I know...simple things amaze simple minds....) Now I just hope I remember what I did next time!

I also made some great new artist friends at this show, so I thought I'd give them all a little plug here. I actually met Anne Cullum, the artist behind EliSilas Designs, at my December Jacksonville Beach show (yes, we suffered through the miserable weather and, therefore, dismal crowd together), but she was right next door to me this time so we had more time to talk. She's pictured here with some of her work. She has such a unique art style. Really beautiful work! Anne will be showing her work in her first Amelia Island Shrimp Fesitval this weekend, too! I'm so excited for her! Visit Anne's website at here. And, if you are in the North Florida area, go see her this weekend at the Shrimp Festival!

To my right was a great ceramics artist and all around fun person, Patty Bodney, the force behind Padi Custom Ceramics. Patty and I hit it off right away, and I think she and I are going to make a great pair getting the Jacksonville Craft Mafia off the ground! More to come on that later! We hope to be neighbors again for Jamie's Jacksonville Beaches festival series this summer. Patty does lots of custom work, so be sure to visit her website at here.

Next door to Patty was Jen Eccleston, who makes totally adorable handbags. Jen has a unique mission behind her handbags, called the Sophie Ann Collection. She and her husband are in the process of working to adopt a child from an orphanage in China. All the proceeds from her handbag sales go towards the adoption and to supporting orphans worldwide improving their health, welfare and living conditions. She makes big girl purses, too, but I thought this picture of her daughter modeling one of her smaller bags was too cute! Take a look at more of her fun handbags and read about her story here. If you are in the Jacksonville area, she also does home parties!

Last but not least, is Sandy Walker, the artist behind Parts of Art. I first met Sandy at the fall San Marco Arts Festival. She is also a jewelry designer, but her style is totally different from mine. She does some very cool things with paint chips, believe it or not! I admired her work last time, but I had to actually purchase a necklace from her this time. You can view more of her work here.

Though I'll continue to have new pieces posted on my website, I'm taking the month of May off from the festival circuit and enjoying some much needed time at home! But be sure to keep up with the blog for Free Bling Friday!

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