Sacred: The Empress; new waist "chain" (removable wearable necklace of desert jasper and chrysocolla with charm dangle and silver clasp).  For more, see The Empress at the Sacred website. $1,000.00 retail, by Tammy Vitale

If you are a buyer for a shop or gallery, be sure to visit the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market, February 15 – 18, and my booth: 4233.

There are several new updates on the Sacred website:  The Empress (above)  switched her amulet out for a necklace;  The Emperor has a new necklace since his nice glass dragon necklace proved unable to take smacking against his chest and broke into many pieces (no more glass pendants), and if you haven’t visited recently, then you haven’t seen all the new pieces that are on the site either.  So go visit!

Only six more days ’til….(no, not Christmas.  We just got done with that) leaving for Philadelphia and my introduction to and immersion in the world of wholesale buying.

Top Wholesale Markets in Crafting: As A Business (1994)are listed as the Philadelphia Buyers Market, Baltimore ACE show and Boston Buyers Market.  Of course the book is written by Wendy Rosen of the Rosen Group who puts on the Philadelphia Buyers Market, so perhaps one need take this with that in mind; yet this is the one I’ve always heard about.  And I didn’t know the Baltimore show was considered a big deal (it’s only an hour away).  Given the cost of rooms and board for a show, it could well pay me to look into that next year. It’s always in February, this year Feb 22 – 24 – that’s the weekend after Philadelphia.  I’m betting they’re always lined up that way so crafters can hit both.  With good sales, it could mean a year of work and only several shows, 2 in February which would solve my particular problem of February being the longest month of the year.  Who has time to pay attention to that this year?!  Certainly not me!

Have dismantled the booth and packed it in the van:

I am amazed at how compact it is now that it is all packed, and pretty pleased with the way that went together.  I’m also hoping that packing several pieces in one container proves to be an okay way to store the torsos for moving around. 

Have gone shopping at the closest wholesale food (BJ’s) and bought snacks and sweets to entice hungry buyers in long enough to look around; need to find my bowl for that – have no idea where I stuck it after Unique Boutique in November.  Have moved all my work tables back into the space I cleaned out for the booth so I can now walk around in the studio again, and have time to make some pieces to be ready to fire when I get home to fill all those orders for new work (insert very big smiley face here).

No matter what happens, I know that I am going to learn just tons of new things at this show, meet great new people, and have a smashing time.  I shall let you in on a secret right here:  I haven’t been this happily humming along for this long in memorable time in my life.  This has to be a good thing! And, I know lots of new information and lots of new people always equal change:  ready or not.

thought for the day:  Change, even when it ultimately leads to living from deeper and more consistent contact with the still center of our being, is never easy…when we enter the creative process fully, we put our carefully developed sense of self, and all that we have put in place in the hopes of preserving that sense of self, on the line…Any creative process entered into fully and honestly can and often will lead to a transformation of the one who enters it willingly because it involves engaging with something larger than us, touching a truth deeper than those we have previously known or allowed ourselves to acknowledge.  Afterward we see and know differently, even if we cannot articulate exactly how, and this difference, this change in perception, requires that we act differently in our lives and in the world.  When we bring all of who we are to our creative work, our souls unfold, consciousness is cultivated, and we cannot help but co-create the meaning that comes from touching truth.  This is how our spirituality is intimately intertwined with our creativity.  The questions to ask yourself:…Is that really true?  Is that something I know or imagine or hope to be true? Is that the whole truth?  Am I hedging at all?  What am I holding back?  What don’t I want to write or paint or explore?  What am I refusing to risk?  Oriah Mountain Dreamer, What we Ache For:  Creativity and the Unfolding of Your Soul.