On the Road - Heirloom Flea Market

There's no place like home, or several blocks from home when doing a show. The second show I participated in during the weekend of the 9th was the Heirloom Flea Market at the Heirloom Arts Theater, just blocks from my home in downtown Danbury. Organized by local photographer Mandee Potter, this show brought together local artists, flea market vendors, and a few acoustic performers.

I was thrilled to be sandwiched between and across from many craftanistas extraordinaire. To my right was the multi-talented, always inspiring Lys Guillorn of Little Cowgirl. Lys offered an impressive variety of photographs, cards, jewelry, purses, and other what-nots. I love her new vintage button bracelets and always find her photography striking.  Perhaps it would be easier to list what she doesn't do! And on top of it all, she finds time to write and perform her own music. I recently saw her perform her lovely ditties during Record Store Day at Gerosa Records. Her lyrics made me melt. Lys's superpowers are far-reaching and endless!

Suburban Citizens by Lys Guillorn

The table directly to my left belonged to another busy bee - the jewelry designer and girl with go-go spirit Lydia Mandell of Rubystreet. Her playful use of color, vintage flare, and chunky plastic pieces are reminiscent of the hard candies in grandma's candy dish. She assembles kitschy necklaces, hair accessories, and bracelets, but my favorite pieces of her have to be her "UnDead Ringers." Every time I don one, a fifth grade girl will stop me at my school and compliment me on my cool ring. You know you're cool if a 5th grade girl takes the time to compliment any part of your wardrobe! In addition to creating a color frenzy, you can find her doing the pony in All Systems Go Go.

UnDead Ringer by Rubystreet

 The Hat City Scissor Squad, our local Tuesday night craft group, represented well at the event. One of the founding members, Michelle Barney-Saucier had a terrific table filled with all sorts of goodies including fanciful handmade journals, head wraps, and other fun accessories. She made a clever display/holder out of Legos that made me smile. The other members of the Squad showed up to show their support. You could feel the crafty love!

In Squad We Trust

Only Lauren could make a decapitated head thimbilism necklace look that good!

I was thrilled to get a visit from the Abby and Brian, the soon-to-be newlyweds from New Haven. It was great to finally meet Brian after hearing so many wonderful stories about him and seeing their great 50's style engagement photo shoot. Abby was wearing my "Bam! Pow! Zap!" Batman necklace from the Indie Craft Extravaganza and she wore it like a superhero! I am currently upcycling some of Abby's family heirlooms to make her a necklace to wear on her wedding day in October. She's such a creative bride and I know her DIY wedding, complete with local food trucks, is going to be quite the event. Stay tuned...I will be blogging about her necklace soon.

  

Dynamic Duo

It was a great day to hang out with friends in my hood and share my wares. In the end I said farewell to another one of my favorite necklaces (That-a-Way) and a few other goodies that went to loving homes. What's not to love?

That-a-Way went that-a-way.

All day laugh track provided by Lys and Lydia. I spell my name "Mei- LYng" whenever I'm around these gals to fit into their "LY" club.