Roseanne P • September 2024
Victorian Lace Knitting
Roseanne is a New York native and self-taught knitter who’s been knitting for over forty years. Most of her knitting knowledge comes from instructional books and the internet. About twenty years ago, she came across a book on Victorian Lace knitting and was immediately hooked. Roseanne loves the complexity, the endless variety of stitch patterns, and the countless ways they can be combined and shaped into something ethereal and beautiful. She maintains a personal library of lace stitches and books that includes some rare publications from all over the world. All of her knitting is done on fourteen-inch straight wood needles, and she uses lace-weight knitting yarn, primarily alpaca or merino wool based. The yarn is so fine that the typical shawl only weighs around five ounces, making them comfortable to wear all year long, even in Florida! Her Etsy store has even more selections, and custom orders are always welcome. Please visit Roseanne's listing on the APPAREL Page.
Artistic Crafts Group • October 2024
Creativity Abounds
Each crafter has a story to tell, a history behind making their unique wares, often dating back to influences of their own parents and grandparents passing down skills that were taught to them.
This year our coordinator Marion has plans to celebrate all the holidays, including customer and crafter appreciation events. This always adds an exciting and joyful touch to the show. The networking of our crafters is enhanced by the knowledge gained when asking questions, like when searching for local and national resources for supplies. Sharing educational books and websites for improving their techniques, often brings the start of new ideas to put in motion.
As October celebrates Halloween and the coming of fall, you’ll see that reflected in the cards, home goods, apparel, and gifts available to brighten your home, wardrobe, and items to celebrate someone else. What a great bonus to have shopping just down the street from where we live! Especially wonderful is that so many crafters are available to make custom orders, whether it is a different color, style, size or new idea. The variety of goods is also tremendous, just look at over ninety crafters already online, showing their quality products within six different categories. Any of our online vendors are available for sales any day of the week, just in case you missed the Tuesday event.
Ocala Blue Star Mothers FL10 • November 2024
Patriotic Mission
The Ocala Blue Star Mothers FL10 are the mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, and legal female guardians of military (including National Guard and Reserves) and veterans. They support our local and national military and veterans as well as the families of our fallen. This organization is congressionally chartered with approximately two hundred national chapters and six thousand members. A small group of five patriotic military moms chartered this chapter in January 2018. Over the years, they have grown to over thirty members and associate members. This group serves the mission by sharing it with the world at large. The main focus of their fundraising is on the variety of handmade craft items that are sold online or at local craft fairs. These talented chapter moms get together regularly to make patriotic handcrafted items such as those adorable sock snowmen, very practical handbags made from up-cycled uniforms, towels, ornaments and bracelets. Crafting allows them quiet time, fellowship, and the ability to get away from the stress of having a child serving in the active military, as many have been deployed. The seasoned moms in the group support the newer moms, forging precious bonds among these dedicated members. This group is always looking for new members and associates (people who like to support their mission but are not military mothers). Please visit the Ocala Blue Star Mothers' listing on the GIFTS 2 page.
Doreen M • December 2024
Industrial Sewing Machine Expertise
Doreen is a country girl from New York, born and raised on Long Island. Shortly after relocating, Doreen decided to retire from her career as a Quality Engineer for Northrop Grumman Space Division based in California. In this position, she traveled each week to different suppliers that manufactured products for the different programs. It was a rewarding and dynamic career giving her the opportunity to work in England on components of the James Webb Space Telescope, and now marvel at the spectacular photos that the telescope is sending home to Earth. She also had the exciting opportunity to work on the Mars Land Rover program.
Her husband chose the perfect retirement gift for her, an industrial sewing machine. This sews through leather and thick materials, while the cylinder arm is perfect for sewing bags. She always enjoyed sewing, and currently has five sewing machines. Doreen learned to sew garments and home decor in junior high school Home Economics class, and sewing continues to be a favorite pastime. When she bought her embroidery machine years ago, she enrolled in classes at the local sewing shop near her home, and made large and small quilts, including both quilted and embroidered bags.
Now with a new beast of a sewing machine, she found a creative passion as a handcrafted handbag designer and maker. Crafting one-of-a-kind pieces with care and attention to detail came naturally to her, being a quality engineer she couldn’t help herself, since it is all in the details. She finds inspiration online and subscribes to pattern designer’s groups. None of her handcrafted pieces are mass produced. The thrill comes when collaborating with customers to create bags tailored to their individual style. A wide range of quality materials is used such as leather, exotic animal faux leather, waterproof canvas, and custom printed ultra vinyl. Please visit Doreen's listing on the APPAREL Page.
Jan R • January 2025
Something for the Home
Jan is a designer, creator, and producer of all types of crafts from textile products. Her interests began as a little girl, learning from observation and teachings of her mother. In high school she took Home Economics classes which included some sewing experience, using machines and learning hand stitches. During this time she also began making some of her own clothes, back when patterns could be purchased for fifty cents!
Jan’s formal training and experience related to her hobbies include seminars, classes at the local fabric stores, as well as taking a class to learn the lost art of tatting, which is a process of knotting special thread to form items that have a lace appearance. Her current creations start with ideas from many sources including fabric stores, online, books, magazines and yes, looking at items made by other crafters while attending craft shows.
To keep inspired and continue to make products, she often reflects upon the influence of her mother and grandmother, as well as constant encouragement from her husband of fifty years, including the many folks that have purchased her items.
There are different types of textile materials she uses including fabric, thread, wool yarn, crochet cotton, as well as the standard tools of the trade. She hand-quilts all of her quilted items. For many years now, both the sewing and embroidery machines have been tools utilized for machine sewn items, and have served her well. There are many diversified products that she sells, like quilts, hot pads, tatted doilies, oven mitts, bowl cozies, aprons, embroidered towels, and place mats. She welcomes special requests from any customers. Please visit Jan's listing on the HOUSE 2 Page.
Barbara P • February 2025
Fused Glass Jewelry
Barbara loves all kinds of crafting. She has tried embroidery, cross stitch, quilting, scrapbooking, a tiny bit of knitting, and more. At eight years old, her aunt bought her an embroidery kit, which she still has to this day, and yes, it’s finished! She was doing a lot of cross stitch throughout high school and college. Since cross stitch takes a really long time to complete, she launched into the world of making jewelry with its different mediums including working with leather, wire, chain, stretch cord, ribbon, paper, resin, polymer clay, and shrinky dinks.
When she moved here from Wisconsin two years ago, she briefly stayed in Stone Creek with her parents, and got involved in the jewelry and stained glass crafts groups. This is where she and a friend discussed doing fused glass. After some internet searches and watching videos, Barbara found out that there is a kiln which is made to be used in the microwave oven for fusing glass. After gathering a few resources, her new obsession of designing fused glass jewelry began. Enjoying the creative part, she found there was still a lot to learn about the science of glass. With free glass supplies from her former stained glass class, she experiments with new colors and styles of glass. Some of them work and some don’t, even cracking into pieces. Each piece is a beautiful surprise because you never truly know what it will look like until the firing process is complete — making the process exciting and products unique. Please visit Barbara's listing on the JEWELRY Page.
Med J • March 2025
Jewelry and Diamond Painting
Med, originally from the Philippines, moved to the United States in her early twenties. A few years later, she met and married her husband, raising their family in central New Jersey. Her lengthy career was in insurance as a branch underwriting manager, then retirement led them to Florida nine years ago.
Med has always had a passion for jewelry making, especially creating designs with south sea pearls and semi-precious stones. Her daughter inherited this same quest for all things craft-related, so together over the years, they created whimsical, nature-inspired jewelry.
It first started with some simple drawings they drew up on Shrinky Dinks film, which required coloring on clear plastic, polystyrene sheets. When heated, the shapes became thicker, while their dimensions reduced down to a third in size. After a few years, her daughter was able to digitize their drawings and just print them out onto transfer paper.
Med's current obsession was inspired by her daughter's gift of a diamond painting kit, which is similar to a paint-by number set. The kit includes canvas, diamond applicator pen, wax and tray. Diamond painting can be time consuming, but besides making a diamond painting frame, you can also make coasters, keychains, refrigerator magnets, holiday ornaments, sun catchers, placemats, etc.
Lay the canvas print side up, a chart design is labeled with numbers which correspond to a diamond color symbol so you will know where to place each diamond accordingly. Start by peeling a small area of plastic off of the canvas. It's best to work on small sections at a time, to keep the canvas covered, and prevent unnecessary dust and debris from sticking to it. Pour a small amount of diamonds into the tray and gently shake it back and forth until the diamonds settle right-side up. With the pink square wax, dip the tip of the applicator to fill it with wax. This helps pick up the diamond, as they will easily stick to the tip of the applicator. Once chosen, carefully press the diamond to the correct symbol on the canvas. Always remember to add a little bit more wax if the pen seems like it doesn't pick up the diamond anymore. Repeat the process until you are done. Please visit Med's listing on the JEWELRY Page.
Sue B • April 2025
Acrylic & Encaustic Painting to Collage Art
Susan has degrees in graphic design and early childhood education, and her artistic journey has evolved from acrylic painting to collage art. More recently, it includes the fascinating world of encaustic painting — an ancient technique using pigmented melted wax.
Susan's career began in graphic design, where she worked extensively in the semiconductor industry as a marketing communications manager, shaping corporate identities, developing advertising campaigns, trade show graphics, and sales materials, and even producing an extensive 400-page product catalog. Her expertise in visual communication, branding, and exhibit design helped establish a strong corporate presence in an ever-evolving industry.
After twenty years in graphic design, Susan transitioned to early childhood education, where she combined her artistic talent with teaching. As an art studio teacher, she introduced young children, infants through age five, to various artistic mediums, encouraging creativity and exploration. Inspired by the works of Eric Carle, Ezra Jack Keats, and Aaron Becker, Susan designed classroom murals, preschool lobbies, and children’s room décor, fostering an environment rich in imagination and expression.
Susan’s collage work is a unique blend of cut and torn paper, fabric, and mixed materials, carefully layered on a substrate and finished with either varnish or epoxy resin. Her subject matter is deeply inspired by nature and fantasy, capturing the landscapes and wildlife of New England and the Gulf Coast of Florida. Whether depicting ocean life, still life, or whimsical illustrations for children, her collages bring a sense of vibrancy and movement to every composition.
Continuing to push creative boundaries, Susan has delved into encaustic painting, a technique that involves melting pigmented wax and fusing it onto a wooden panel using a heat source such as a hot plate or heat gun. This process creates rich textures and depth, adding a unique, ethereal quality to her artwork.
Now based in Florida, Susan exhibits and sells her work, sharing her passion for mixed media and storytelling through art. Please visit Sue's listing on the CANVAS Page.