Posts Tagged ‘isabel designs’
Taking Our Show on the Road!
Isabel Designs festival booth
This past weekend, Isabel Designs found herself exhibiting in Marlbank, Ontario at the Red Roof Women’s Festival. Our booth was made of things old, new, borrowed and blue. Not that we were headed to the alter, but it was the first time we took Isabel on the road, and our little store actually did contain all of these things. We had old drawers for shelves, an old screen door, and a well loved trellis for flaunting our wares. We borrowed a table from Dad and covered it with a blue tablecloth. A fancy banner, made by Noella, hanging under the canopy constituted our something new. All in all, I think we looked like seasoned experts – even if I do say so myself!
Sue and I had been – not so secretly – working on a few new products to introduce at the festival. After about an hour of selling, we realized we should have produced more pieces, so thank goodness we brought our tools and supplies with us! We even made custom jewelry and gifts on the spot for a few customers! To say that we were surprised and delighted by the reception we received over the weekend would be an understatement.
Thank you to all our new customers for supporting our work and Ovarian Cancer Research. And thank you to the Red Roof Festival organizers for putting on such a great event! (I was also a performer at the festival and had a blast sharing the stage with so many talented women. See my facebook for photos).
As soon as I catch my breath, I’ll be updating the website with new jewelry and gifts. For now, I’ll leave you with photos of our weekend and a peak at our new products: SunDrops TM, Heart Catchers TM, and Garden Whispers TM.
SunDrops TM
Heart Catchers TM
Garden Whispers TM
Eileen, Nancy & Chris on stage
Great crowd & amazing sunshine all weekend
Summertime Fairs and Festivals
Every town or city, big or small, has something to celebrate. One of the great things about summer is the number of festivals and fairs being held all over North America. I have fond memories of cotton candy and ferris wheels at the ‘Newington Fair‘ as a youngster. This annual agricultural event, held on Labour Day weekend, marked both the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year for me and my siblings, and we looked forward to meeting up with our cousins for a day of fun.
The Williamstown Fair, the oldest fair in the province of Ontario, is perhaps still my favourite of all time. It has thrill rides and great food, along with terrific entertainment (I have performed on the ‘Centre Stage’ many times), horse shows, antique machinery & car displays, highland dancing and caber tossing, and so much more. The vendors are always top notch – especially the Sign It Signs & Design booth where you’ll always see carving and painting demonstrations, and even get to try some of the techniques yourself!
Nancy Performs at RRWF
This year I’m being introduced to a new weekend event – The Red Roof Women’s Festival. I’ll be performing there on Sunday, July 19th along with other songwriters and performers who will be taking the stage all weekend. My sister-in-law Eileen will be accompanying me on viola for a few tunes too. And Isabel Designs will be setting up a booth! We’ve signed on to be vendors all weekend, bringing our creations ‘off-line’ so to speak. Maybe I’ll see you there! (You can hear some of my songs and get more info about my music here).
Another festival not to be missed in Eastern Ontario is Cornwall’s Lift Off Balloon Festival. The line up this year is incredible, including Amanda Marshall as the headliner, and my good friend Graham Greer as the opening act for her.
There’s no excuse to stay home this summer. Get out and experience the local flavours of festivals and fairs in your neighbourhood!
The Inspiration for Isabel Designs
Susan and I are really excited to be working at this project together. Isabel Designs was born one afternoon while we were wire wrapping and beading. It was obvious we were having fun and really connecting so we thought we should do something to keep up the momentum. Anytime Sue and I get together we inevitably talk about Mom, so using her middle name to identify our business seemed appropriate. Now every bead we string and pendant we hang gets wrapped up with her energy. Oh yeh, and for every sale we make on the website, a portion of the sale will be donated to Ovarian Cancer Canada for research and the cure!
If you haven’t visited the website yet, please go to http://www.isabeldesigns.com – and tell your friends to do the same! In the meantime, here’s a little information about our jewelry:
Each piece of jewelry is individually handmade using a combination of materials from both new and renewed sources. Many of our creations are inspired by abandoned vintage jewelry, reclaimed objects from our surroundings and natural beauties of the earth. We hope you like what you see.
Nancy
Photoblog
