February is a great party month. We’re tired of hibernating.  Super bowl. Valentines Day. President’s Day. Hey- whatever occasion works for you. Have a blast!

In my vision of a super relaxed but stylin’ super bowl party- I saw these incredibly handsome Pitchfork Side Chairs by Bradford Woodworking. Can’t you see these by your bar table? Bradford Woodworking has a fabulous new retail site. Shop away- feel good about these beautifully handcrafted pieces you will enjoy forever.

Speaking of feeling good and party decor… have a look at these lovely recycled glass plates by Riverside Design Group. These are part of their initiative called  Plates With Purpose™, a series of custom glass plates designed to raise awareness of the missions of our non-profit partners…. Riverside donates 15% of our Plates With Purpose™ sales to these vital organizations…

Now, to complete your lovely handmade in Pennsylvania par-tee… don’t forget your Pennsylvania made Farmstead and Artisan cheeses paired with a nice selection of Pennyslvania wines.

Kate, along with her husband, bring together farm, food and design at The Steel Fork. They also design and create sculptural metalworks using recycled farm machinery – Gatski Metal. Kate is also the mother of two busy little children.

2010 is not meant for Pennsylvania football.  Not so good.  Since neither is going to be in the Super Bowl, start a new annual tradition.

Take this challenge from Wendy Edsall-Kerwin and make a bowl on Super Bowl Sunday.  She made a bowl last year as a challenge to herself and this is Wendy’s challenge to you…

This year, I challenge you to join me!  You can make your bowl out of metal, wood, plastic, bread, papier-maché, anything that you want.

I want you to have plenty of time to come up with an idea.  The bowl can be started before the 7th, but it should be finished (if possible) on the actual Sunday.  There’s plenty of time before kick-off to work on your bowl, so don’t worry about missing the game.  You might even be able to use your bowl for chips or dip if you plan right!

There is a Super Bowl Challenge 2010 Flickr group set-up where we can display our finished products and I’ll showcase some of them right here on my blog.  There is also a Super Bowl Challenge Facebook event page and, if you have your own blog, show us the progress of your bowl and we can link to each other.  And make sure to tell your friends, too.  The more the merrier!

So put on your thinking caps, start designing, and set aside February 7th, 2010 to make your own Super Bowl.

Remember: after you make your bowl, take a picture and upload it to the Super Bowl Challenge 2010 Flickr group.  I’ll share the work later on so everyone can see the great creations.

The bowls shown are:

1. Bud Hohlfeld (Doylestown)
2. Wendy Edsall-Kerwin (Elizabethtown)
3. Umelecky (Punxsutawney)

It’s time again to share what you’re doing this weekend.  I really enjoyed reading everyone’s weekend plans, it gave me some ideas for future weekend plans.

Last weekend’s plan was to go to the Farm Show, which we did.  Needless to say it was memorable but not in the good way.  We had to stand in the cold with my one year old waiting on a shuttle to get us from the remote lot.  He screamed the entire (what felt to be an hour) 10 minute ride.  We essentially walked the length of the complex and back to the car.  Not a good time.

Use the comments section below to share your plans, shows or thoughts for this weekend.  What’s your favorite places to go over the weekend?  Or what’s coming up next week that you need to prepare for?

For those interested, HiP is again accepting monthly sponsor advertising.

This post is exclusively for you to share what you’ll be doing this weekend around the commonwealth.  Whether you’re planning time in the studio, a craft show stop or long weekend out of town.  Share with us.  And share your work on HiP’s group pool on Flickr.

I, for one, am heading to the Farm Show in Harrisburg.  I hope to walk my one-year-old around to see the sheep, alpacas and rabbits (here’s the for kids page).  Then I’ll make a necessary stop over at the food court for milkshakes.  And then maybe those fresh cut fries.

What else is there to do in Harrisburg while I’m there?

Use the comments section below to share your plans, shows or thoughts.

i’ll be at CAM on saturday morning, will you?

this is a great indie craft event in downtown lancaster featuring many of handmade in pa’s favorites! see you there!

and check out this ridiculously simple little tutorial I posted over at scoutie girl. i’m decorating on the theme “brown paper packages tied up with string” and made this little garland to add some punch to my walls!

tree inspired crafts in copper, bronze and sepia.

leaf pendants by wendy edsall-kerwin

bark scarf by kachina martin

tree tray by adrian bergey

all handmade in Central PA and exhibiting at Art on the Farm this weekend in Lancaster.

Elizabeth Sterling and her husband John market their one-of a kind furniture and jewelry boxes at shows in the Northeast and Midwest, through their web site, and their etsy shop, so wabi sabi. Elizabeth shares her life and love of all things handmade, homemade, and homegrown in her blog so wabi sabi.

From Scratch Market

I’m happy to announce the brand-new From Scratch Market, a much needed indie craft show for the Lehigh Valley area. The organizers are looking for vendors with quality products, a fresh aesthetic, and the energy to kick off a great new show!

The event will take place on November 14 at the “retro and awesome” in Trexlertown Grange building, in Allentown.

Crafty Balboa Holiday

“CRAFTY BALBOA is a DIY event hailing from South Philadelphia featuring talented artists and crafters! Our goal is to find the most unique, extraordinary, cool, original handmade stuff we can and bring it to you at one of our super fun events!”

Crafty Balboa holiday is December 5th at Broad Street Ministries in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Women’s Fall Festival

The final event is an urgent call for vendors for the 1st annual Women’s Fall Festival in Philadelphia:

I am part of the South Philadelphia Women’s Coalition. We are pleased to announce the First Annual Women’s Fall Festival, benefitting Woman Against Abuse, to take place on October 3 at Jefferson Square Park at 4th and Washington Streets in Philadelphia PA. Due to delays in permit reviews with the City of Philadelphia and the Office of License and Inspections, we are just now able to make a larger outreach to business women, entrepreneurs, artists and musicians who may be interested in participating in the festival as a vendor (each table is $20), sponsor or performer. I hope you will consider participating!

I think everyone is familiar with the havoc that the budget crisis has been wreaking all over the state. Here’s away you can help out an affected organization & make some dough yourself!

Way down south, as far south as you can go in Pennsylvania that is, in the rolling hills of Southern York County is the small town of New Freedom. It’s a place where fire flies are caught on warm summer nights, neighbors borrow cups of sugar and there doesn’t yet seem to be the need to put in a traffic light. But one day every fall, with charming irony, the population of the town doubles for a celebration of small town life.

Saturday, September 19 New Freedom Heritage Society will host the annual New Freedom Fest. The event will begin at 10am and finish up with an outdoor movie at 8:30pm. Local artists and craftsmen including jewelers, potters, photographers, weavers and sculptors, will be selling their work and demonstrating from 10am to 4pm. There will be kid’s games ($5 lets you play all day) and great food from local restaurants and live entertainment at the village green. Free parking and free admission make this a day fit for any budget. For a full listing of the days events and for directions check the New Freedom Heritage Society website.

Cheetah sculpture photo courtesy of Brian Kopp. All other photos courtesy of Ema Williamson.

Genevieve grew up in New Freedom and studied art at Kutztown University from 1986-1990. Currently she is working in polymer and metals and her jewelry and wearable art is available through her Etsy shop, Jibby and Juna, and at the Radius Gallery in Harrisburg.

Get on your walking shoes…the Art Association of Harrisburg will host the 21^st Annual Harrisburg Gallery Walk this Sunday, September 13^th.  With 27 galleries and shops participating, there promises to be plenty to see and a wide variety of art being exhibited.  I spoke with Carrie Wissler-Thomas, President of AAH, to find out how the event is helping to promote the development of the downtown Harrisburg Gallery District.

“When we founded Gallery Walk 21 years ago, the intention was to present an event that would promote the visual arts throughout the city, whatever the venue. We wanted to bring together nonprofit and commercial galleries, as well as all the alternative venues.”

Collectively, through the print, radio, and Internet advertising organized by AAH and the promotion that each individual participating gallery contributes through their own mailing lists and websites, they have created an opportunity to launch an expansive marketing campaign for very little expense.

The attraction of like-minded folks to an event like this makes for a great opportunity to cross-market as well.  Jessica Watson, curator of Arts and assistant manager of the Radius Gallery, feels that the addition of new shops and galleries to the art district is a boon.

“The addition of new art venues, like The Hodge Podgery and Midtown Arts… help bring attention to all the other existing art-related scenes. And they attract the same crowd, so cross-marketing can be used.”

Two new galleries will be having their grand opening this weekend in conjunction with the Gallery Walk, according to Wissler-Thomas.  The Yellow Wall Hall Gallery in Midtown Scholar and SPRAMA gallery will both open their doors to the public.  Many other galleries will be opening new exhibits, and Radius gallery will have 3 artists demonstrating on Sunday one being my husband, so if you are there stop by and make him laugh.

Do you have a tip to share about:

• Your process
• Finding inspiration
• Time management
• Advertising
• Marketing your work
• Networking
• Working with clients/customers
• Finding resources for your work

If you do, and you would like to share it through Handmade in PA, contact me!

Elizabeth Sterling and her husband John market their one-of a kind furniture and jewelry boxes at shows in the Northeast and Midwest, through their web site, and their etsy shop, so wabi sabi. Elizabeth shares her life and love of all things handmade, homemade, and homegrown in her blog so wabi sabi.

Gallery Blu is the new kid on the block in mid-town Harrisburg’s developing art district.  I spoke with owner, Christina Heintzelman-Jones, and asked her what seems to be working for them.  By hosting frequent exhibit openings, Gallery Blu has created a lot of opportunities to establish and maintain connections with potential customers and regional artists.

“We have drawn in fantastic crowds with each new opening.  Originally, we planned to have 6 openings a year but have found that featuring an entirely new group of artists in an exhibit every month to 6 weeks seems to work well for us.  This enables us to offer a wide variety of local and regional art that has broad appeal.”

Just breaking onto the scene in March of this year, they have already had 4 openings.  Their current exhibition is “Japonisme” which features the work of artists from the West whose work is influenced by the art of Japan, including Susan Faeder’s fabric collages,  Joann Wells Greenbaum gouache paintings, and sculpture by Donna Belleson and Paul Long.  The exhibit runs until September 5^th.  Gallery Blu will then be opening its 5th exhibit called Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and will be a participating gallery in Harrisburg’s 21st Annual Gallery Walk on September 13th.

Do you have a tip to share about:

• Your process
• Finding inspiration
• Time management
• Advertising
• Marketing your work
• Networking
• Working with clients/customers
• Finding resources for your work

If you do, and you would like to share it through Handmade in PA, contact me!

Elizabeth Sterling and her husband John market their one-of a kind furniture and jewelry boxes at shows in the Northeast and Midwest, through their web site, and their etsy shop, so wabi sabi. Elizabeth shares her life and love of all things handmade, homemade, and homegrown in her blog so wabi sabi.

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