Studio Tour Interview Questionnaire's

Hi friends! Don't forget to turn in those questionnaire's for the CCCOE Studio Tour Features. We are very excited about this new feature but can't make it work without your help! We want to feature all our members so be sure to fill out the forms and send them back to Amanda or Heather.

CCCOE Holiday Gift Guide

Your fabulous PR committee has been slaving away at getting this fantastic project together.

The 2008 Handmade in California Holiday Gift Guide. Be sure to check out the great gift ideas for the upcoming holidays. Support Handmade! There are new items being added daily. With so many talented members you are sure to find what you are looking for, for everyone on your list this year! If you want to reserve your spot in the guide click here. Sections are already filling up so reserve your spot now.

LoriDelisle Presents a New LIFE Collection!

CCCOE member LoriDelisle has an all new collection available on Etsy.

All pieces are custom made, OOAK, available in men's and women's versions, Christian or Jewish(not listed yet but available now... listing soon). The options will be slowly expanding. Check out her shop to see more options. If you are a CCCOE member and have a new collection, event, or happening please send Heather or I the info!

CCCOE Member Studio Tour ~ Featured Artist: Wrenay Charlton

Tell us a little about yourself and how it all began. My name is Wrenay Gomez Charlton (my etsy friends and some close family members call me Wren). Currently, I run a graphic design studio from my home office. I started making crafts after the birth of my second daughter, Mia (now 2 years old). Crafting was my way to have a creative outlet, since I had to put my conceptual art pursuits on the back burner to tend to the newbie in the house. I started off making felt plushies as Christmas presents, but then started to get custom requests from friends and friends of friends. Where do you work? Show us your space please! What is your favorite tool? I love working with my vintage cameras. I shoot a lot of photos, not only as a means to create art, but also product shots for my 3 etsy shops. I also cannot live without my sandpaper block-almost everything I create-at some point will come into contact with sandpaper. What time of the day are you the most productive/inspired? Because I work from home, I can fit blocks of time for my shops and crafting between everything else. But, I am most productive between 10PM and 1AM (when everyone else is asleep) What inspires you? Music, poetry, my kid's laughter, rain, cloudy days, memories, art supplies, the blank page and the smell of playdough. How do you promote yourself and your shop? I promote my shops at craft fairs and on my blog. I'm also on Trunkt and some other related sites. I just recently started advertising online, but its too soon to tell if that is driving traffic to my shops. I plan to launch a website for all my crafty endeavours in 2009. How long have you been on Etsy? I've been on Etsy as a buyer since Jul 24, 2006. I opened my first shop, Whimsy in Jan 2008, my second shop, Wrenay Gomez Charlton Photography in March 2008 and my third shop, The Crafty Wren, Sept 2008. What else do you enjoy doing other than creating? I like going on drives, listening to music...I waste a lot of time on Facebook. I meet my friends at least once a week, for coffee, museum/gallery visits, etc. What would you like to see happen/change with CCCOE? There are so many talented members, it would be great to have our own version of Etsylabs-CCCOElabs! What is your favorite thing about CCCOE? I have met so many wonderful people since joining CCCOE. I love the support I have received from other teamsters. Whether it be a friendly dispatch on the weekly thread, an uplifting convo or a visit to my booth at various craft fairs. There are a core group of members at the heart of this team and I have grown very fond of them all. What is your favorite food? Pizza Favorite book or movie? There are too many great ones to pick a favorite...but I'll give it a go... Some recent great movies I have seen include...The Diving Bell and Butterfly, Stepbrothers, Cinema Paradisio (this one is a fav I return to often) Books: Where the Sidewalk Ends, Wicked, anything by Edward Gorey or Bret Easton Ellis. I also love craft books, my favorites are Remake, Restyle, Reuse and Lotta Prints One thing you absolutely cannot live without? There are so many things that I would not want to live without (besides the aforementioned sandpaper block). But, since having kids, I have learned that there are a great many things that I can live without, after all. Lastly what piece that you have created is your favorite and why? My current fav is a set of notecards I made, using my own silhouette (from when I was 10) as the artwork. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15926583 Much of my conceptual art is based on my childhood memories. My eldest daughter is often the model in those photos-a stand-in for me as a child. This is one time, I actually got to use my own image from childhood to make something.

October Monthly Challenge Theme...

The theme this month is giving thanks. Tag your entry CCCOE and octoberchallenge and go to Etsy and post the link in this thread. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5834891

Vote for this Month's Monthly Challenge.

The theme was Fall Traditions and you can vote here till October 8th. You can view all the entries here in the CCCOE favorites.

CCCOE October Happenings

CCCOE is an active group. Check out some of what's happening in October. If you want to add your event this month or any other please email aklockrow@yahoo.com

October 4th: Kim of Visionquest is having an Art Opening called Fall Fusion from 6-9pm at Red Brick Gallery located in Ventura at 328 E Main St. A portion of the proceeds go to Rock the Cure. October 4th: Susan of RedBessBonney and RedBessBonneyToo will have her papercrafts at the Laguna Niguel Fall Crafts Faire at Crown Valley Park in Laguna Niguel from 10-3.

http://www.ci.laguna-niguel.ca.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=1089 October 4th and 5th: Julee of HeArtCollective will be teaching workshops in the Bay area. Julee is having a reliquaries workshop here in the East Bay at the Stamper's Warehouse in Danville and a second day of reliquaries down in San Jose at Scrap Lovers at A Work of Heart! October 11th: Julee of HeArtCollective will be doing this class once more in the Bay Area at Luna's Memories in Half Moon Bay... (650) 726-1444 October 11th and 12th: Peg of PegGradyArt and Sarah of SarahWinkler will be doing the San Luis Obispo County Open Studios Art Tour on October 11 & 12. They will be showing their work at Sarah's studio which is in the Dove Creek Homes at 9182 Araujo Ct., Atascadero. Sarah's phone number is 805-466-1380 if you need directions. Web link for the event is www.artsobispo.org. October 18th and 19th: Kim of Visionquest will be selling her handcrafted jewelry at the Ventura Art Walk. October 25th: Jen of Porterness and Rose of MyFriendRoze will be selling their handmade jewelry, cards, and more at the Claremont Village Venture. Miriam of MiriamDema and Amanda of AmandaKLockrowJewelry will be selling their prints and jewelry there as well. October 25th and 26th: Peg of PegGradyArt and Sarah of SarahWinkler will be doing the San Luis Obispo County Open Studios Art Tour on October 25 & 26. They will be showing their work at Sarah's studio which is in the Dove Creek Homes at 9182 Araujo Ct., Atascadero. Sarah's phone number is 805-466-1380 if you need directions. Web link for the event is www.artsobispo.org. General Announcement: Sarah of SmallShinyObjects will be donating 25% of my total profit in October to the wonderful charity group, One Is Greater Than None - a group started by eight young girls from New York, who wanted to help liberate enslaved young children in Ghana, and give them education, shelter and a chance for a better life. For more information on this charity, or to donate directly, visit http://www.oneisgreaterthannone.org. November 1st and 2nd: Raven of MolecularMuse will be selling her handmade jewelry at

It's Wonderfest: the bay area festival of science. Nov 1 at Stanford and Nov 2 at UC Berkeley.

http://www.wonderfest.org/wp/