Alchemy Fair is happening this weekend!

Alchemy Fair is happening this weekend! Here are some new hand embroidered sachets I made during the past few weeks to sell at Alchemy Fair along with my original designs, available as cards and archival prints. I'm really looking forward to being part of this special event. I think it is going to be a lot of fun.

Craft, Food, Workshops and Entertainment.
Saturday April 26, 10am-6pm &Sunday April 27, 11am-4pm
Gateway City Arts Complex, Holyoke, MA 

(92-114 Race Street, Holyoke, MA, 01040).

$6 at the door, under 12 free. 

Admission includes participation in dozens of FREE workshops including juggling, tight wire walking, fabric trapeze, pottery making, hula hooping and our Kids Kraft Korner. Check the workshop page for days and times. 
UPDATE: We are now officially a St. Baldricks Foundation Event! Come shave your head with us and help put an end to pediatric cancer! 

Alchemy 
Different elements coming together to create something entirely new 

Our Sponsors
Earth Level:  
WEBS, America's Yarn Store
Northampton Beadery
Water Level:
Premiere Staffing of Holyoke
Air Level:
Artisans of Western Mass
Friends of the Fair:
The Show Circus Studio
Alotta Hoopla
BE Organics
The Celadon Studio

Get Thee To A Garden!

Smith Botanical Conservatory

"Spring is here. If you are inclined to look for the meaning of life, get thee to a garden. There are profound reasons why the garden is central in the sacred texts of major religions. Since ancient times, it has been the place where the soul goes to exercise, while simultaneously engaged in a multilayered dance with earth, plants, sun, birds, bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, night, day, temperature, the faithful earthworm, water, minerals, fragrance, a cast of thousands of microorganisms, our stalwart friends the fungi, chlorophyll, nectar. I think of it as a ballet in the biosphere."
                                                            - George Ball in The Wall Street Journal

The temperatures are climbing to the 50's F here in the hills and although there is still snow on the muddy, muddy, ground, I feel as if I am finally thawing out from a long, hard winter. The above quote made my head spin in gladness for the beautiful perspective of the words which celebrate our interconnectedness with the plant, animal environmental, celestial systems. My gardens at home are just starting to reveal themselves again and I'm aching to connect with the dirt and the plants. Soon, soon...

We went to the Smith Botanical gardens a couple of weeks ago. Oh, the smells! Wonderful smells! Humid, damp air, moist dirt, hyacinth, freesia, daffodils, tulips, orange blossoms, camellia, cacao trees... It was soothing to our winter weary souls. And nice to have a view looking out the conservatory windows through green plants and steamed up windows to the gray frozen landscape.

So if you are still waiting for the grasses to green, the daffodils to push up, the forsythia to bloom, get thee to a garden! A botanical garden or conservatory is a good place to BE, even if just for an hour or two.  Your kids will love it, you will love it! You will linger in a room of blooming bulbs and close your eyes, just to breath in the fragrance. Happy Spring!

Kaz smelling the flowers

Bulb Show, Smith Conservatory

Camellia

Cacao Tree