How did you start in the Handmade community?

Urban Baby Co. started out as a simple craft idea. At the age of 9, I saw Anne Geddes "Children's Collection" and fell in love with the colors, the cute costumes, textures, and her out-of-the ordinary compositions. My mom must have seen my interest because every January I would get her calendar and frame the old ones!

I took what she did visually and composed unique and cheeky sayings that usually brings a smile to someone’s face. Couple that with fabric, stencils, and quality organic baby onesies, and you’ve got Urban Baby Co. It was something I did for fun that ended up turning into a full-time business. 

I think my mom still has a number of Anne Geddes dolls in her basement...

What or who inspires you?

As an adult my inspirations come from clever conversations, art, nature, big cities, and sarcasm. My designs cover a broad range which opens doors for all kinds of people whose lives are touched by a baby. 

What makes your work unique and truly your own?

I'm constantly asking myself, "what would be something fun?" and "what would I want my baby to wear?" If I'm excited and can’t stop thinking about it - I go for it. I'll play with colors and designs until it's perfect. Something so little as to changing the font to reflect the mood or the tone of a phrase turns it into an artful piece.

People that shop in the handmade community appreciate the thought process behind my designs.  You won't see them at big chain stores and if you do, please note that they were probably copied by another manufacturer (ha!).

What can we expect to see from you at Jackalope?

Big holiday surprises with unique designs, colors, and hip vibes! I'll be bringing: organic baby onesies, baby headbands, organic adult tees, and family sets. I'm excited to participate with Jackalope as this will be my first year!

How did you get your start in the Handmade community? 

I grew up in a creative household.  My aunt was always tinkering with quilting and ceramics, and my mother tole painted.  She taught classes and had booths at craft fairs, there was scarcely a home in the small town I grew up in that did not have a piece she had painted.  I loved sketching, painting, and took sewing classes throughout my childhood, but it wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I really started to explore my own creativity.  While in college I found myself a starving student, unable to afford a birthday present for my niece.  She wanted nothing but a Justin Bieber doll.  I had a few supplies lying around the house, $3 later at my local fabric store, and The Phina Project was born.

What or who inspires you?

My Grandma Sweet Anne has always been my source of inspiration.  She was a strong, caring, and sometimes inappropriate woman that was quick to smile and loved to garden.  She taught me the power to do what I love and not worry what others think.  While she is my inspiration, my husband is my driving force.  He believes in me when I don't believe myself.  He is the one who has encouraged me to really insert myself in to the handmade community.  I had been making dolls for friends and family for 5 years and had an Etsy shop that I didn't ever do anything with, until he talked me in to doing my first show.  I have been pushing myself and my business ever since.

When do you feel the most creative?

Without fail, I have the most brilliant strokes of creativity when I am driving and can't write down my genius thoughts.  The calm of the road is a sort of meditation for me (when, of course, I'm not cursing traffic).  It is the time of day when I am alone in my thoughts without a million other things I should be doing.  I turn the radio down and let my mind wander.

What can we expect to see from you at Jackalope?

I have been making cloth dolls for about 7 years now.  It hasn't been until this year that I have pushed myself to better my design and expand my capabilities.  You can expect to see unique, somewhat quirky dolls that range from 10" to 21".  Each doll is handmade and unique.  I have a pattern that I loosely base each doll upon so they all have slightly different personalities and looks.  With simplistic faces they have something of a Waldorf appeal that inspires imagination.

What's the coolest artistic tip you've ever received?

"Someone else is always going to do it first, faster, and better than you. Don't let that stop you from being that person to someone else."

How would you describe your style? 
I would call my style magical realism because it brings you in and out of this reality. A little magic mixed with some science makes an extraordinary universe. I am inspired by the abstract expressionist painters such as, Wasily Kandinsky and Cy Twombly, along with ceramics Martha Russo and Christina Bothwell. 

When do you feel most creative?
Early, early in the morning!

What is your creative process like? 
I start in the potter's wheel, almost always, with a hunk of porcelain. Once I throw a perfect cup, bowl, vase, plate, etc., I "ruin" it, or rather I alter it, so that each one is completely unique. After throwing, I add a pocket for resin castings (if it will be a resin piece). Once the bisque firing is done, I freely paint on my crystalline glazes (and other glazes) however I feel will look best for that particular piece. Then, after the crystalline firing is done I go back with gold and mother of pearly lusters and fire for the last time. Finally, if the piece will be a resin encased piece, I will spread my insects the night before and then pour resin the following. 

What sort of things inspire you? 
I am inspired by astrophysics mainly, specifically the origins of life via the death of stars and atomic theory. I combine this love of the universe with the harmony of all matter-- the stars, the beetles, the plants, the rocks, the humans, the clay are all made of the same initial matter present at the birth of the universe. My work explores the interconnectedness of all these things and more, so that users can feel a connection to the cosmos and feel they have a piece of the universe in their hands. 

Where can we learn more about you?
I am kind of new to the web, so I have a start up website and Instagram that I try to update regularly. Instagram is the best bet for updates on me and my cosmic creations! 
@kelseysstarstuff

What can we expect to see from you at Jackalope?
Customers can expect to see many more exciting insect encased cups, bowls, and brooches; crystal encased ceramic pieces; and lots of crystalline glazes, gold, and mother of pearl lusters! Check on my Instagram leading up to Jackalope to get an idea of what to expect at my booth in December. 

How did you get your start in the handmade community?

I started in December of 2015 and basically taught myself how to make candles.  With only a couple instructional books and no one showing my the ropes, there was a lot of trial and error and definitely costs that came along with those mistakes.  But with repetition, I got better and better until I created a quality product, which was eventually turned into a concept for the business that I have today!

What or who inspires you?

Generally speaking, other entrepreneurs and small business owners who are successful definitely inspire me to achieve great things. I always look for inspiration from other creative individuals who are not afraid to take risks and think outside the box.  When I decided to start a business, i knew that I had to be unique and different in order to be successful.  I enjoy meeting people who love to go against the grain.  More specifically speaking, the inspiration for the collection of candles is mostly what I personally perceive as a cool looking and good smelling product.  I try to put myself in the customer's shoes, while also trusting my gut instinct on what makes a product work.  70% of my customer base is female, so I have definitely learned how to look at things from a woman's perspective and subsequently market my brand appropriately. 

When do you feel the most creative? 

I feel the most creative when I am either sitting in a coffee shop with my earbuds in, or when I am sitting on a plane traveling somewhere.  I rarely purchase the WIFI on the plane and solely use that time to just focus on writing down ideas in Microsoft Word.  Good coffee, good music, and traveling are keys to creativity for me!

What can we expect to see from you at Jackalope?

My product is unique, different and will make a great gift!  The scents in the collection are perfectly accurate to their description and definitely surprise some people! I can't wait to be a part of the Holiday season.

What is the coolest artistic tip you've ever received?

Break the rules!  Don't break the law, but break the rules.  It's impossible to be a maverick or true original if your always following the "rules".

How would you describe your style?

I would describe my style as eclectic and contemporary. I like going beyond the boundaries of whats normal and think outside the box to accomplish designs that are beautiful and bold; designs that help people make a statement. I admire artists like Joan Miro, David Hockney and Zaria forman. And I admire designer Carolina Herrera and designer house Hermes.

What makes your work unique?

That each piece I create and design, whether it is one of my paintings or one of my handbags, has my very own mark of boldness through the art I create, where each one is a one of a kind. My techniques and my composition of colors, shapes and volume are not conventional yet inspiring. I am a pioneer, always pursuing the gift of uniqueness in everything I do, which is transplanted in my artwork.

What or who inspires you?

I would say anything and everything inspires me, all the time. Im constantly inspired by everything that surrounds me. But above all things, the beauty of nature inspires me the most: the glow of the mountains after a rainy afternoon, the translucent pearl white color of aspen trees with their ever moving leaves, the passion of skiers go down the slopes, the snow that covers everything in white, etc. Living in Aspen Colorado, it's very easy to find fresh new inspiration, all I need to do is open the door and go outside.

When are you most creative?

Its funny to say this, but I feel the more creative, meaning that the best ideas come to my mind, when I take a shower or go for a run.

Tell us a little about your creative process.

My creative process is very spontaneous. When I see something that inspires me or I get an idea for creating something that's cool, I either take pictures or write it down and then paint it. I really don't spend much time sketching what I am going to paint, I just go right to my canvas and start doing it when I feel the inspiration is there to motivate me.

What's the best advice you've been given?

Interesting question. It came from my grandmother, a great amazing artist herself. When I was about 10 years old, my grandma told me: "people will tell you that you should take classes to improve your artistic talent, but I tell you never take classes. Teach yourself and discover who you are as an artist and believe it. The rest is for those who need direction. You, follow your passion"

What can we expect to see from you at Jackalope?

I will be releasing a new collection of paintings  called "Pow Pow". This collection of paintings will be all about skiers and snowboarders, skiing down the mountain on beautiful, fluffy, powder snow. In addition to that,  I will have my collection of unique handbags designed by me and handcrafted in New York City. Each handbag has an original piece of artwork that I paint myself and they are one of a kind, meaning they will not b e duplicated. So say you buy the handbag called "Jump and risk" with the painting of a skier, you will be the only person to ever have that handbag with that painting. Really really cool.

Where can you be found online?

You can learn more about me on my website garaffagalli.com <http://garaffagalli.com/> and also my Instagram account isabellagaraffa_art and Facebook account GaraffaGalli

1. How would you describe your style?  Are there any artists / designers that you particularly look up to? 

Björn's Colorado Honey and BeeCareNature offer local Colorado honey and European-made bee-based skincare featuring beeswax, honey, and propolis.

We are small batch, local, honey producers based in Boulder. Pontus, our beekeeper, grew up in Sweden and learned the practice from his grandfather Björn; the company namesake.

The focus of Björn's Colorado Honey is to provide top-quality local honey produced in our Swedish family tradition. It can be said that Swedes typically enjoy their honey crystallized as this version is smooth, spreadable, and possesses a texture that is not too thick. It’s a wonderful way to enjoy honey, a fantastic natural sweetener. We also offer a traditional version for customers who prefer the fluid variety.

2. What do you feel makes your work unique and truly your own? 

Björn's Colorado Honey is the only producer in the USA that sells a propolis honey, meant for people who eat honey to stay healthy. Propolis honey was created by Pontus’ father Torbjörn in Sweden and it quickly became a hit. When Pontus moved to Colorado, he couldn’t resist whipping up his own batch. By blending Colorado honey with high-quality propolis extract we boost honey's health benefits. Propolis, an age old remedy made by the bees from tree and plant resins, is known to bolster the immune system and contains antifungal and antibacterial properties.

3. What sort of things inspire you?  Where do you look for inspiration?

Honey has a unique taste of the land it comes from and Bjorn's Colorado Honey is a taste of the Colorado front range. We are inspired every day by the wonderful open spaces of the front range, the delicate wildflowers and clover that grows on that land, and of course, the honeybees. 

As far as insects go, honeybees are pretty special. They live in amazingly advanced little societies. They coordinate with each other, perform so many duties and they do it all as a team. Plus they help keep our food supply pollinated and diverse, without them we'd have one-third of the food variety we currently have.

4. Where can we learn more about you?  

Our website:

https://bjornscoloradohoney.com/

Our Social Media Properties:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BjornsColoradoHoney

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bjorns_co_honey/

5. Anything you'd like to add that I didn't ask....?

Pontus, our beekeeper, also chose to import high quality European bee-based skin and oral care products that we sell under our BeeCareNatura line. The producer of BeeCareNatura is a professional beekeeper and pharmacist himself, who understands bees and their benefits, as well as traditional cosmetics production. He is also a long-time family friend of Pontus and his family of beekeepers in Sweden.

BeeCareNatura lotions, creams, and salves leverage the wonders of honeybees, from beeswax to propolis and, of course, honey. The products are mild and suitable for all skin types and are never tested on animals. By placing emphasis on quality ingredients rather than fancy packaging true value can be passed along to our customers.

Our signature products are our Traditional Honey, our Propolis Honey and our Honey and Propolis Handcream. I have included links to those products but I also have images of them below. I also included a shot of all three varieties of our honey, it's a bit more artistic than the other shots, so feel free to use that one. The third variety of honey included there is our Crystallized Honey. 

1. How did you get your start in the artistic community?

Fresh from school I escaped the icy tundra of Pittsburgh, and started my professional Phoenix career, in the massively growing architecture field as an architectural graphic designer.  My extensive knowledge in 3-dimensional design dovetails nicely into my current passion of painting fantastically bold, graphic, and colorful artwork.

2. What or who inspires you?

The Southwest Sonoran Desert is a never -ending source of inspiration. Both the "Mars like"plants, and the super fast desert animals, (running for shade) fascinate me! 

3. How do you come up with your creations?

Although proficient in all mediums, I enjoy the spontaneity of acrylic... But, the smell of oils! Sometimes, watercolors, too.

4. When do you feel the most creative?

My Zen happy place is with a canvas in front of me, a brush in my hand and a fantastic song in my ear! I live and breathe art 24-7!

• How would you describe your style? 

I tend to bounce around various styles that challenge me artistically. My natural style is rather cartoonish but I like to delve into realism, abstraction and folk styles all the while balancing against the absurdist nature of designing fezzes.

• What do you feel makes your work unique and truly your own? 

My work is an unique combination of my training in Fashion Design, my love of millinery, my background in the graphic arts, and my interest in embroidery design. All of this came out of my desire to find a creative outlet to freely explore embroidery design without needing to deal with the restrictions and expectations of the fashion industry. What started as a hobby shared with friends has grown into a full-time career where the business as a whole is my creative expression. 

• What sort of things inspire you?  Where do you look for inspiration?

I look for inspiration wherever I can, but I find that most of my passion comes from classic literature, mythology, science and fringe cultures.

• What is your creative process like?

Typically my work will start with random little sketches in my well-worn sketchbook, almost stream of consciousness stuff. I'm usually looking for some idea that will trigger a change reaction of creativity. From a partial rough sketch I will then go to the computer and work up a rough vector pass on a full design with the structure of the embroidery in mind. From there it goes into the embroidery design software where I will work out the final design with all of its stitches. I tend to have a style and color of the hat in mind while working up the thread version. Then it is a series of thread tests and design tweaks before finally creating the finished prototype. If all goes well, the design heads into production.

• Any special item you'll be releasing or sale you'll be doing at the fair that we should tell people about?

We will be revisiting a design I did many years ago and producing a special edition run of our Jackalope Fez for the fair.

• Where can we learn more about you?  

Fez-o-rama.com

How would you describe your style?  Are there any artists / designers that you particularly look up to?

 My work is pop with strong influences from comics and graphic design. I like art that has a painted surface along with a three-dimensional quality. Artists I enjoy and find myself looking to are Ed Emberly, Elizabeth Murray, Rex Ray and Charles Addams.

What do you feel makes your work unique and truly your own? 

I think I make things that are cute and a little absurd. Maybe the subject matter is a little dark, but I’ll make it fun and soften the edges. The cutouts come from a craft tradition that I observed when I was younger. But I feel that painting them puts them within a different context. It becomes more of a statement than just decoration.

What sort of things inspire you?  Where do you look for inspiration?

 I love vintage children’s book illustrations, graphic designs from old packaging and vintage toys. Things looked less refined and didn’t worry as much about appealing to everyone. Really weird things that are out of fashion and tend toward kitsch.

Tell us a little bit about your process of creation:

People usually ask me if “I paint first and then cut” or “cut and then paint.” I always start out with a cut piece and then paint. I’d be too nervous to cut a finished painting. :)

When do you feel the most creative?

I feel the most creative late at night. I put on a classic rock album and just get lost in sketching or painting a cutout. There are a lot fewer distractions at night than during the day. It leaves the mind more open to whatever inspiration may come.

What is your creative process like?

I usually start with an ink sketch that I transfer to a piece of wood that I then cut out on a scroll saw. I like how the cuts aren’t necessary laser-cut perfect, but still have a hand-done look to them. It creates more opportunities for randomness to affect the outcome of the work.

My ideas come from sketchbooks or things I see out in the world that might make a cool cutout. Ideas will bounce from sketchbook to sketchbook for years until I finally feel like it’s developed enough to paint. Sometimes I’ll look at a scrap piece of wood and a fully realized idea will just jump out at me.

What's the coolest artistic tip you've ever received?

 “It doesn’t have to be perfect.” Sometimes perfectionism can stop you from starting or finishing art. I can only do the best I can do at any given moment in time.

Where can we learn more about you?

 My instagram account @eneuschwanger usually has art that I am currently working on and photos of things that interest me. You can check out my completed work on etsy at ericneuschwanger.etsy.com

How would you describe your style?  Are there any artists / designers that you particularly look up to?
My style has this duality to it-- there's the finished pieces that are polished and elegant, but there's this whole messy behind-the-scenes that goes into the making process that I absolutely love. I like my work to feel natural and fresh and inviting. I'm a Taurus, and very home-centered, so I want my viewers to feel comfortable in my space and for my art to be something calming that they would enjoy living in or adorning their space and self with. 

I love the work of both Egon Schiele and Ana Mendieta, as well as the writings of Italo Calvino and Gabriel García Márquez. I think each of them has something unbelievable and magical about them that carries over into their work, and I strive for each of my pieces to have a little bit of magic in them as well.

What do you feel makes your work unique and truly your own? 
The handmade quality-- there's a repetition of process and a part of myself that goes into every piece. I'll spend hours crafting by hand, whether it's embroidering or woodworking, until I get every last detail right where I want it. There's a meditation in the stitching and the sanding-- and I want my viewer to experience it. So much of our everyday is now digital or exists in this intangible universe and I think there's something truly unique about owning something handmade and special.

What sort of things inspire you?  Where do you look for inspiration?
My ultimate muse, of course, is mama nature. I'm outside-- whether it's hiking or camping, in the woods or at the ocean, every chance I get. And this translates into my work-- I source local and organic materials and I'm always looking to the landscapes and the animals I surround myself with for new ideas. The animal world has been a huge catalyst for my artwork. Oh, and my dog-- he's kind of like my cheerleader and just being around his energy is always inspiring and motivating me to work and be better.

When do you feel the most creative?
All the time. I'm not sure it is something that ever turns off for me. I especially feel it being outdoors, but I can justbe going about my day-to-day, and I'll see something or find inspiration wherever I am. Hands down, my favorite is to wake up early and just work in studio all day. There's this sort of "creative high" I get from just being in my space and working with my hands-- like I'll get so lost in what I'm doing that I have no concept of time. It's the best feeling.

What is your creative process like?
Messy, experimental, a lot of trial and error and then going back and refining. I get so into making new things that I'll have four or five different projects going at the same time. I love being busy and I'm always reading or taking classes to learn new skills or processes.

What's the coolest artistic tip you've ever received?
A had a teacher once tell me to keep making art until it's all you do. And especially when you're sad, or feeling self-conscious about your work-- that's when you have to force yourself to look at it and work on it the most. Art is easy when you're happy and feeling inspired, but life isn't always that way. And some of my best work, truthfully,  has come out of my darkest times-- all of that emotion it comes out in your work and if you embrace it, and power through it, I've found you can make some really beautiful stuff from it.

Where can we learn more about you?  
www.peyote-coyote.com 
And if you have social media you can follow me @la.peyote.coyote on instagram.