Artsy Shout Outs

In the course of my rambles, I often run into other artists. Well duh, of course I do! I always enjoy seeing other people's work but sometimes I really really like what I see. And that is when I need to do a 'Shout-Out'. Just so you'all get a chance to look at these neat things too.

First up, and this goes back awhile, to when I was in Chicago at CREATE. The first day - in my Circles class - June Pfaff Daly was in there. She is a blogger I met online and then I met her in person several years ago. We sort of clicked, you know? Needless to say, I was thrilled when she signed up for my class. And....brought a couple of her friends, Claire and Heather. They were so.much.fun. My roommate, Julia and Kelley (I met both at Valley Ridge, is this a small world, or what!??!) had dinner with these girls.

Aren't they cute? Anyway, if you look real close you will see they are all wearing uber-cool fiber necklaces made by Heather, she is the one in the middle. She collects gorgeous vintage fabrics from Paris and sews them (by hand!) into amazing necklaces. I bought one. Julia bought one. Pokey Bolton, yes, *that* Pokey bought one. We were all wearing them, cult-like, as we perused the stores of Napierville. I can't believe how many people complimented us on our necklaces, it became a joke of sorts. But they are really that cool. So, anyway, I was cleaning my office. Ahem. When Heather's biz card surfaced and I knew I had to tell you guys about her. So here is a  LINK to her etsy shop if you happen to be interested.


The second artist is Carmen Alana Tibbets - she goes by Alana. I met her at The Historic Shaw Art Fair, a show I used to do, back in the day (a few years ago, ha, ha) when I was doing the outdoor art fairs. Anyhoo, even though she lives in Edwardsville, IL, I had not crossed paths with her before.  Here is a pic of her holding one of her completely delightful creations.

You must go look at her WEBSITE. Seriously. Go now, I'll still be here when you get back. Look at the gallery and enlarge the pics of all her creatures. They are so amazing in person, the level of detail blew my mind, especially the hands.....and the faces. Plus all their little outfits. Oh my, I really want one of the rabbits. Their expressions are so real, I can't even find the right words and you know I am rarely rendered speechless, ha!!
Seems to be a little trend here, in my admiration of fabric work, eh?