Marble Masters at Blue Goose Gallery.

On November 11/12 GooseFire Gallery, Long Beach CA., hosted the very first "Marble Masters" gallery showing of fine contemporary borosilicate marbles.  My husband, Kenan Tiemeyer was extremely honored to be included among these incredibly talented 'Marble Masters'.

Some of the most recognized marble makers in the world were invited to participate in the show. These top "Marble Masters" included Mike Gong, John Kobuki, Gateson Recko, Josh Sable, and .Kenan Tiemeyer.  Two Japanese marble artists,  Yoshinori Kondo  and Ayako Hattori were invited, but unable to attend. Everyone of these artists have been making contemporary borosilicate marbles for a decade or more and has their own unique / innovative style.   Six other highly talented marble artists were also included in the event.  Each bringing an amazing collection of unique and creative glass art.

This is just a few of the marbles my husband had on display/for sale. The 'Eye of God' marble is one his signature designs.

Collectors and contemporary marble enthusiasts came to Long Beach, California from all over the United State to fill up GooseFire Gallery and were dazzled by hundreds of finely made orbs.

The "Marble Masters" are  Back row- Mike Gong, Zach Jorgenson, Jack Hanshaw, Gateson Recko, Kenan Tiemeyer, Tim Keyzers, John Bridges. Front row- Richard Hollingshead, Josh Sable, Jared Delong, John Kobuki at GooseFire Gallery.

For most, it was their first time attending an all marble show and were stunned to finally see so many beautifully made marbles in person. While many of the collectors have been acquainted with the artist's work on the internet, the experience of seeing so many outstanding pieces of art in one room was mind boggling. The experience of being able to meet and chat with the artists really made the event special. Many marbles were added to excited enthusiasts collections. In the end, everyone left with a feeling of satisfaction and gratitude for having been able to be a part of such an exciting event.
The event ended up being an overwhelming success and plans for a 2nd "Marble Masters" event to be held in 2013 are already being discussed.

The 2012 "Marble Masters" show set a very high bar that will be hard to top but it is certain that the artists will continue progressing their art and be will busy creative new dazzling orbs for 2013.

i wasn't personally able to attend the event with my husband, but am incredibly proud of him for his accomplishments and had to brag on him at least a little bit! ;)

1000 Fan Giveaway on FB!

In appreciation of reaching 1000 facebook fans, i'm having a  1000 fan giveaway!! Enter to win this lovely Woodland Gnome Bendy Play set!! Play set includes 1 woodland bendy doll, 1 toadstool table, 2 toadstool chairs, 2 wooden bowls, 1 broom, 1 wooden cake, 1 baby with hickory nut 'cradle'. First class US shipping is included in this giveaway. 

*If you do not live in the US, you may still enter but will be responsible for the shipping cost. 
Please use the Rafflecopter form to enter!!  You can visit the FB page and enter there or use the form below.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

winner will be chosen by rafflecopter, emailed and posted on the site!  Good luck!!

Melissa and Doug Terrific Twenty giveaway!

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Last week i posted a bit of a teaser about the Melissa and Doug Terrific Twenty holiday gift list.  This list that can be found at the Melissa & Doug website, it gathers the top toys of 2012, with items for every child in every age range. Including arts and crafts, wooden favorites, educational toys, classic toys for toddlers, and gifts for big kids, too, this is a great place to start as you kick off your holiday shopping! 

  To celebrate, Melissa &  Doug are hosting a “20 Days of Terrific Twenty” Giveaway on their Facebook page!

Every day this month, they’ll be giving away one item from their Terrific Twenty list to one of their lucky Facebook fans! So make sure you are entered in that!!

So, it's absolutely no secret that my family loves Melissa and Doug products! It started with my son who received a set of wooden blocks as a gift when he was 2 or 3. My boy loved it, and i loved the quality of it.  It was then handed down to his sister, who at 6 still plays with it and is not quite ready to get rid of it.  Over the years we have acquired many Melissa and Doug toys,  favorites including the Farmer market/lemonade stand, all of their wooden playfoods and the Arts and craft sets!  They really specialize in creative, imaginative play and open-ended toys.   Over the last few years their product list has really grown to include even more great items.

Melissa and Doug is also generously giving one of my readers ONE toy of the winner's choice from their Terrific Twenty List!

Enter on the rafflecopter widget below!! You might have to wait for it to load.  GOOD LUCK!! Giveaway ends 11/18/12 EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
  *Thank you to Melissa & Doug for providing a product to me (my girl chose a Trunki) and one to giveaway to a lucky reader!

Kai's Lungfest (local event).

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Kai’s LungFest, is a concert in honor of Floyd-area teenager Sekai Talley-LaRoche, who is in need of a double lung and liver transplant, it  will be held Saturday, Nov. 17 from 6 p.m. to midnight at the Dogtown Roadhouse in Floyd, VA.   

This Music Benefit for COTA (Children's Organ Transplant Association) is in honor of a local teen, as he triumphs over Cystic Fibrosis with this magical, life-extending adventure! You can read more about it here.


If you can attend this awesome fundraising festival next weekend, please do! If you cannot make it, please consider contributing whatever you can to help an amazing young man get a new set of lungs.

You can make a tax deductible donation

via mail:

Kai’s New Lungs
PO Box 980
Floyd, VA 24091

Checks payable to: COTA (Children’s Organ Transplant Association)
Memo: Sekai Talley-LaRoche

Or visit the Website Donation Page:

http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSekaiTL/

100% of all proceeds will benefit COTA in honor of Sekai to assist with transplant-related expenses.

For more information contact:
Kai’s Krew: 540.745.4078 | kaiskrew974@gmail.com

For more information about cystic fibrosis visit: http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/

For more information about COTA visit: http://www.cota.org/

Origami Butterfly Mobile

 This past summer we raised monarch butterflies again, like we do almost every year.  It's always fun watching the caterpillars grow, and then transform into their chrysalis. Then we patiently wait for the lovely butterflies to emerge so we can release them. 

Often times i will look up butterfly crafts, coloring page and printables to do while we observe the caterpillars metamorphosis. i looked up directions for origami butterflies and found a couple i liked. Then i found these cool butterfly printed origami projects.  There are easy to follow directions on the page. 

 My boy figured them out quickly, and was able to fold them without help. My girl (6) did need a little help lining up the points and creasing the paper.

 

 The site has templates pre-printed for Monarchs, Swallowtails, Painted lady and  Dianna Fritillary.  The templates didn't all come up the same size, so i had to save a couple of them to my computer then adjust the size, so they were life sized.  Then i made them into a simple mobile.

 i love the way our mobile came out! The backs of the butterflies are just white. So, i printed two of each butterfly, folded them and then paired them up so that there is a printed butterfly on each side of the string. i just used a bit of hot glue to stick them together and attach them to the string/stick.  The butterflies spin and dance!

This was really a fun afternoon project, and the fold that we learned with these printed templates could easily be used with regular paper, or origami paper to make simple solid colored butterflies.