Thank you for supporting a great cause!

Bling on the Holidays benefitting Recipe for Success, originally uploaded by Amaria Studio.

I am so thankful to those of you that came out this past weekend to support Recipe for Success at Sheny's boutique. Even with the snow that fell in Houston, some of you braved the cold weather & came out. Thank you once again!! And remember to support your local charities!!

xoxo Ana Maria

Bling on the Holidays

Sheny designs in hosting a shopping event benefitting Recipe for Success. Featured designs by Amaria, BluGrn design and Sheny designs. 10% of all purchases will go to Recipe for Success. Please feel free to read the press release for more information. Hope to see you there!

Artisans of Houston: A Fair to Remember

As a member of Artisans of Houston, Amaria will be participating in this Fair on Saturday.
November 14, 2009 Sat. 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Bethany United Methodist Church (610/Buffalo Spwy/S.Main)
3511 Linkwood Dr.
Houston, Tx 77025

Three beautiful baskets filled with the Artisans creations will be raffled, with proceeds going to Bethany’s youth programs.
There will be no charge for entry.

Come on out and support your local Artisans!

Fall 2009 Gifts Galore at Greatwood

I will be participating in the Gifts Galore at Greatwood on October 31, 2009 from 9 to 3 pm. Come on out and do some shopping directly from the artisans! I will be in booth 30 inside.

It will be held at Dickinson Elementary 7110 Greatwood Pkwy Sugar Land, TX 77479-6275 and some proceeds will be benefitting the LAMAR EDUCATIONAL AWARDS FOUNDATION (L.E.A.F.).

Over 100 booths with unique items!
Handmade jewelry, candles, note cards, One-of-a-kind home & yard décor, handbags, belts, baby & children’s items, embellished clothing, toys, food items & MORE!

*Lunch & snack items available for purchase*

*FREE ADMISSION* *STROLLERS WELCOME* *RAIN OR SHINE*


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Sheny Designs Grand Opening benefitting Pink Ribbons Project

Sheny Designs grand opening weekend event will benefit the Pink Ribbons Project on Friday, October 23, 2009 from 4 to 8 p.m. & Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 12 to 6 p.m. at 1740 Sunset Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77005. Artisan designs from Sheny, Blugrn designand Amaria.

There will be a silent auction that includes two custom Milagros necklaces especially designed to honor miracles of those touched by breast cancer and a group wine tour donated by Messina Hof Winey and Resort, Bryan, Texas. Sheny Designs will be donating 10% of sales during the grand opening hours to Pink Ribbons.

The event will include pink iced cupcakes, strawberries dipped in pink chocolate and wine and cheese throughout the weekend. Pink ribbons pins adorned with a Milagro will also be sold at the event. One hundred percent of all from the Milagros necklaces and pink ribbons pins will benefit Pink Ribbons Project.


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Bellaire Arts Festival Oct. 17 2009

Amaria will have a booth at the festival this Saturday. I am excited and hope to sell a lot of my goodies!! I always love to see who ends up falling in love & purchasing each piece. Come on out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather! I heard it will be in the 70s and sunny! See you there!

My famous friend - MinnaK

I am so excited for my designer friend Minna Kao! Her business has been featured in the latest Brides magazine pg. 240!!!!!! Check it out! Minna remember the little people when you are rich and famous!!

Being green

My hubby and I are trying to slowly transform our house to be "greener". This past weekend we installed a rain gutter to the side of our house and made a rain barrel. He took a 55 gallon drum, painted it green, cut holes in barrel, set up barrel & modified downspout and assembled the parts. Here is the link we used to guide us. We just got another drum and will be working on attaching it this weekend. We hope to be watering our lil' garden with the rain water we collect. Go Green!!!

Creative friend

I love surrounding myself with creative people! I feel that we all feed off of each other's energy and inspire each other to create some amazing things and ideas. I was invited to join a friend Rosa at her house for cafecito (coffee) and enjoyed her homemade bread and blueberry tart. Rosa is an incredibly talented person. She bakes amazing goodies and also specializes in cakes. She also showed me some of her amazing little girls dresses that she has handmade with smocked detailing and embroidery. I am on a mission to introduce her to Etsy and see if she too can set up shop.

The September Issue

I want to see this documentary! I am a recovering fashionista but I need a fix!

DuBuhDuDesigns art prints

I am so excited that Christine Alvarado has decided to sell prints of her art dolls. She is an incredibly talented artist and photographer. I have tried many times to purchase a doll of hers and as soon as she announces on her blog that new dolls will be posted in her shop they are GONE! This might be the closest I can get to owning an art doll by DuBuhDuDesigns. Check out her prints....

High Fashion Finger Puppets

Returnees and Spoofs ( New York Times )
Jenny Dyson, the publisher of Rubbish Magazine in London, is introducing a collection of finger puppets in their likenesses as a sort of tribute to famous fashion figures around the world.

Texas Etsy Treasury

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find a message saying my Agotyo freshwater pearl rosary necklace was being featured in a Texas Treasury! I absolutely love being featured in Etsy treasuries! Check it out!

Handmade purchase from RN & TN Studio

My most recent purchase from a husband and wife artisan team RN & TN Studio based out of the small city of Lamphun in Thailand. I absolutely love their handbags, Ipod holders, & wallets. I love that they design from nature- using symbols for the sun, flowers, and the look of wood in their products. I asked them to make a custom business card holder for me. When I received my card holder, I loved the look of the packaging and my little leather key floral accessory given as a gift. From one artisan to another, I thank them for the presentation and quality of their work. Check out their website!

More seashell jewelry

I have been tinkering with all the new seashells I aquired. I have been hesitant to use my drill for these delicate seashells so I have been selecting the ones that naturally already have holes in them. My good friend Lucia from blugrn design gave me some seashells from her trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica. They are a bit smaller than the ones I found on the Sta. Teresa beaches, BUT they are so much more colorful! I just started playing with them so I will start sharing the pieces as I complete them. Hope you like them!

MinnaK

Here is the designer in a fabulous black hat! So stylish!

I want feature my great friend Minna Kao's business. She designs wedding gowns, evening gowns, and ready to wear under her label MinnaK. She also works with clients to do custom designs. Her gowns are definitely for the modern bride. She is currently working on her upcoming collection for Fall 2009 Nolcha Fashion Week . I am very proud of her and hope that the show will be a success! Go check out her designs at Minnak.

NOLA

Last weekend my hubby and I headed out to New Orleans to celebrate his B-day! I have to admit that the first time I went to NOLA I did not care for it at all. I wanted to give the city another try, so road tripping we went. We only spent a day and a half there but I enjoyed walking in the french quarter, eating beignets at Cafe du Monde, listening to jazz as walked down Bourbon street. I have to say I want to go back. I want to attend a jazz fest there and eat their wonderful food. One thing I learned was not to order a bloody mary unless you are prepared for the HOT factor. Man, did I learn my lesson.....Tums was my buddy....

Happy Monday

Just want to share the new stones I purchased at the gem show this past weekend. I bought some iolite and labradorite. I can't wait to design some new items for my shop this week. I already had a great start to the week with a sale online last night.
It is also my hubby's bday weeks! I will be putting my party hat on for the next 2 weeks. We usually celebrate with birthday month and I think we started with a big bang---- Costa Rica! So Happy Monday everyone! Have a great week!

Seashell jewelry

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday! The creative juices have finally been flowing as of last night! It took a week to get inspired after having been on vacation to Costa Rica. I cannot complain but I was wondering what was wrong with me! So today my hubby has been helping me go through the seashells my friend and I collected on the Sta. Teresa beach. He has been drilling holes in the shells that I want to design with. What a great day! I already had a sale on an item I designed last night! Thank you! Happy day, happy day!

Costa Rica

Arenal

Santa Teresa

La Fortuna Waterfalls

We are back from our trip to Costa Rica. I swear I should have read this Costa Rica website prior to going for packing info. Amazing website with great tips on what to pack. I found it late while we were waiting for our flight to C.R. Check it out if you are heading to Tico land.
I want to share a couple of photographs from our amazing trip. We took 7 days and drove to various parts of Costa Rica. We drove to Arenal, Monteverde, Montezuma, Mal Pais and Santa Teresa. Beautiful country! I am so glad we were able to join our good friends for this amazing road trip! What an adventure! You can check out more of our photographs on my flickr set.

I think next trip might be to Guatemala with some other friends. I've been once before but fell in love with Guatemala and want to go back!

Summer is here! At least in Texas!

I have finally sat down and created some new goodies this week. Believe it or not I have been a bit of a busy lady these days. I had a couple of shows this past weekend and had a great time chatting with my fellow vendors in the heat! Summer heat is here! At least in Texas!

I have been trying to organize myself better to attack the business online. I ended up reading a website called Handmadeology and getting some tips on advertising. I have officially set up some advertising to run this week and hope to see some results. I found out about this website a while back ago but heard an interview on Craftcast with the creator of Handmadeology Timothy Adam. He has some great tips for small artisan businesses. Check it out!

Bellaire Arts Festival

I have been busy preparing for the big show on Saturday. My fingers are crossed that it will not rain. Amaria will be at the Bellaire Arts Festival on Saturday April 18, 2009 from 9a.m.- 5p.m. I will be there rain or shine. So come on out and support your local artisans!!!

Spring Gifts Galore at Greatwood Craft Show

AMARIA will be at this event on Saturday. Come on out and support education and your local artists and crafters!
Located at Dickinson Elementary School at 7110 Greatwood Parkway Sugar Land, TX 77479.

Here is the info:

9:00 am to 3:oo pm *FREE ADMISSION* *STROLLERS WELCOME*

Over 100 indoor booths with unique items!

Handmade Jewelry, Handbags, Note Cards

One-of-a-kind Yard and Home Décor

Monogrammed Children and Baby Items Easter and Mother’s Day Gifts, too!

A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS BENEFITS

LAMAR EDUCATIONAL AWARDS FOUNDATION (L.E.A.F.)

The Flying Pig Cafe

I wanted to go out and enjoy the day today, so I decided to go into town. I stopped by the Flying Pig here in Richmond, TX and had some coffee. I absolutely love this place. Last year I ordered my husband's birthday cake in the form of a huge cupcake from here. I found out that you can host events here during off hours such as bridal showers, birthday parties, etc. I need to keep this in mind the next time I organize an event... Maybe an Amaria jewelry party hmmmmmmmmm???

Artisan Fair at Lacenterra

Amaria is showing this weekend at Lacenterra in Katy, Texas. The farmers market and artisan fair is now located in the WEST parking lot facing Commercial Blvd. between Panera's and Baker Street Pub. Come out and shop on Saturday March 21, 2009 8am to 12am! Hope to see you there!

Fun video

For all you crafters out there... Enjoy! I got this from modish.

New Finds Friday

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade amaria.etsy.com

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! I am going to start posting my cool finds from the web every friday. Unless I am super excited about something and need to highlight an item I will dedicate a whole post about it! So here they are, take a look and tell me what you think. I especially love the Tshirt that says I grow my own food. I think that will be my next purchase.... Happy Friday once again!

Cool shop online

I need to share a couple of cute finds on the net. For those of you with babies or looking for a gift for a baby. Check out Blugrn design's Baby Angel onsie! It is incredibly cute! Also check out the onsies she does with doggies!

Our organic veggie garden

Our organic veggie garden, originally uploaded by Amaria Studio.

We finally decided to start our veggie garden this year. Last year we had bad luck with our tomatoes. We ended up having some stink bug pests all over our tomatoes. This year we are also growing jalapenos and anaheim peppers. Wish us luck!!!
I am trying to collect all information about composting as well. I really want to get as "green" as I can. I found a website called joegardener.com which has some great tips about eco-gardening. Check it out! If you have any tips please feel free to share.

Aunjema

Aunjema, originally uploaded by Amaria Studio.

Rain or shine I will be at the Artisan Fair on Saturday from 9:00am to 1:00pm for Valentine's Day at Lacenterra in Katy! Come on out and buy your sweetheart a token of your love..Or feel free to shop online. Hope to see you there!!!

Legend of love

To celebrate Valentine's Day I would like to share a legend from the Guarani Indians from Paraguay. It involves the lace called nanduti which means spider web. This lace is what inspired my logo. Please pardon the translation.
There was the son of an indian chief called Nandu Guasu Rajhy from the Nandu indians. All the young women of the tribe were in love with him but only one girl existed for him. Her name was Su Puru from a friendly tribe. From the moment he met her, he could not sleep and was in agony to be with her.
The old lady who took care of Su Puru told the young man that the young girl announced to her parents that she would marry the man that would present to her the most rare and valuable gift. Nandu Guasu thought that he should look for something extra ordinary to present the indian of his dreams so that he could beat his rivals. In one of his walks in the jungle, he found a fine lace made on the leaves that appeared like rays from the moon. It was the work of a spider that imitated intricate forms of feathers and fresh flowers of the guayabo plant. The indian was fascinated by the spider web. The jungle had inspired him with this gift to win the love of the girl. The moment he tried to grab the spider web he destroyed it.
A great sadness embittered his heart and he started to feel sick, weak and beaten. He arrived home and with a heavy heart he lied down. He wanted to cry till he had no more tears to shed. He shared his pain with his mother and his bad luck of having destroyed the web. His mother said to him to go back to the forest and show her this lace made by the spider. Luckily they found a spider busy at work adding incredible forms to the web. Remembering the failure of her son trying to grab the web, his mother just observed the work in progress. They returned home and the son decided to take a nap.
When he awoke much later he saw in his mother's hands a transparent veil. The design was identical to the work of the spider. The mother told her son that he could touch this lace because it was of better quality and stronger than the spider's web. As he touched the lace, he asked his mother how she was able to make such a beautiful thing. The old lady had studied the the design and the direction, crossing, and knotting of the lines and she used her own graying hair to imitate the design.
In this manner, maternal love the fountain of inexhaustible tenderess contributed in this case to conquer the love of her son.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy New Years everyone!

Alentina, originally uploaded by Amaria Studio.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Now it is back to work. I have been trying to get myself to sit down and start designing again this week. So my next show is January 17th from 9am- 1pm at Lacenterra in Katy, TX. So my design theme for this whole month will be love. I am designing for that special day in February so I will try to incorporate pinks & reds. Here is one of my designs Alentina....Hope you likely!