People's Market keeps on Growing!

People's Market keeps getting bigger and better every week.
Don't you need a new picnic table? These look like benches until you fold the back rest forward to meet the other bench's back rest and now you have a picnic table!
All kinds of cool art. How about beautiful china that has been made into mosaic tables, serving trays, wall hangings, vases?
And the vegetables are more and more each week. Did you know you can eat Squash blossoms? Did you know you can buy them at the People's Market?

Come for a relaxed, unstressful fun Sunday morning - 1000 South 900 West -
Salt Lake City, Utah 10:00am - 3:00pm!

Here's an Example of a Custom Order

A few weeks ago (just after 4th of July) I received a package in the mail. Inside were a letter and a small bag of charms and various beads.

Here's the letter:

Hello Brenda
Writing this letter in hope's you are still able to make an exceptionally beautiful and unique necklace for my daughter Teresa Tashina Salazar. She had lost her father, Michael Paul Salazar so suddenly on June 24, 09. My husband and I met you at the Jordon Park and we purchased earrings that had a brochure of the Philippines. We loved your work. Please help us; help my daughter Tashina to be able to be strong at this time and forevermore. I'm sending these items which I hope will be of help. Each item has significant memories and symbol of our love.
Michael Paul loved the Grateful Dead music, loved tye dye, nature, the desert, people who he came in contact. I enclosed a copy of the service pamphlet, obituary (copies), 1 spiral which means life is a full circle, mother carrying baby which Tashina will always be my baby, turtle represents take your time enjoy life, arrowhead -sacred symbol of the Navajo for prayer (protection), green earring which her father purchase for me at a Grateful Dead concert (lost the other one), Dove - her grandma bought it home from Mexico for me because she loved me, and beads from our time together. The colors and where we purchase them mean a lot to me.
I thank you before hand, Brenda, you have an amazing gift and you are sharing that with everyone. Peace. Charilene Filfred


I looked at all the items, read everything again and again. One phone call to Ms. Filfred just to verify my idea of what to do. Then I added:
* several beads made from tie-dyed cloth
* silver colored beads and spacers
* Turquoise chips
* handmade paper beads from the memorial service and the copies of the obituary

The end product:




I'm having a good day today, I just received this email:

Hello Brenda

Wow!! my friend, if I may; I love it, it is so beautiful; I am forever grateful for creating a master piece for my daughter Tashina. I honestly think you’re an AWESOME person to have done this creation for me and my family. Please use what you need to, even the names. Again Brenda I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I just absolutely love it. The necklace is a moving piece for me, so many memories. And especially a great father, friend, son, and husband to be honored in such a beautiful piece of art. Blessed be, Clarilene

Another Week Closer to Start of New School Year...ugh!

But, one word about the weather for the 'I heart Utah' festival....

Can you say, THE WORST EVER FOR A FESTIVAL!

I gave up on the 'Earth Jam' festival in April due to the beginning of the Freaky Utah monsoon this spring. Now I had to give up on the 'I heart Utah' festival because of the 103 degree temperature. Electric Park at Thanksgiving Point is pretty new so the trees were not much taller than me. Very little shade - which is not good for hundreds of vendors, many of them being food vendors with hot grills! I was under the pavilion so I fared much better than most all the others. The morning was gorgeous, all vendors were rather 'hyper' with anticipation of the day's events. By 9:00am it was beginning to feel warm, at 11:00am it was really warm and then it proceeded to get downright miserably hot by 1:00pm. By 3:00pm I called my husband and said I'd have to stay longer because there was no way I was going to clean up, haul stuff to my car in this heat, I'd have to wait until it started to cool off! Clouds came over within 45 minutes of my calling the hubby and it was amazing to see everyone acting like Alaska Caribou heeding the migratory instinct, (only because of the heat I guess we were more like African Wildebeest!) I felt real bad about abandoning the festival which was continuing until 7:00pm, but it literally had been about 7 hours since I had last needed to go potty. I had downed 3 liters of water and still had no urine output! That's not good.

So those festival attendees who braved the heat and who came to visit me and purchase, I say Thank You!

I couldn't wait to get back to my Home Sweet Home, the People's Market today! The weather was delightful (I would probably have said hot if I hadn't experienced the previous day). I enjoyed meeting the young lady who had been to Africa recently and had actually seen the women of Africa "in the bush" making paper beads. I said I made these paper beads in the way yonder bush of Utah called Murray! and even better, my beads were indigenous to Utah. Real authentic Utah, indigenous junk mail beads. (Her male companion laughed.)

The young lady who had recently returned from Africa then asked if I also coated my beads with clear fingernail polish? Hmmm.. no, I use the sap from the local polyacrylic tree! How do they get enough clear nail polish in Africa to coat all those beads? These women in the bush are really poor people aren't they? How do they even buy fingernail polish?

I was very impressed with a young lady, Catherine, who also makes jewelry mostly out of pennies! yes, pennies. I had to buy a pair of penny earrings. Please check out her ETSY store and support a young entrepreneur - http://www.cmmay.etsy.com/

By the way did you see the full page write up on the People's Market Chain-mail lady in last Sunday's paper? You need to come see her wares! How about a 35 lb. chain-mail vest? But actually her wallet chains are to die for! If I were thirty years younger and male and cool, I'd buy one!

Oh, and how bloody cool that a couple from Scotland bought a necklace from me! I thought my hearing was getting worse when I couldn't understand what this one cute little lady was saying to me. So I finally said, "What part of England did you get that accent from?" "Scotland! not England," she correctly me quite harshly, I must say. Well, anyway my Tiger Eye pendant will now be sported around in Scotland because they are just here on vacation and bought from me! How sweet is that?

This week will be a bit less hectic. Maybe I can visit some relatives. Maybe I can vacuum some floors and dust... hmmm, I better think those last two over a bit more.

The final week of summer coming up - It's all down hill to school starting after the 24th of July!

Driving Directions to I 'Heart' Utah Festival this Saturday:

I'm really excited for Saturday; The I "heart" Utah Festival!

http://www.iheartut.com/

It is FREE and has tons of activities for kids, prizes, entertainment, food and shopping.

There will be an opening "ribbon cutting" ceremony at 10:00am with special guests and free pearl necklaces for the first 5,000 through the gate!

Ok, so take I-15 to exit #284 which is the Cabela's store exit, the first exit in Utah County after leaving Salt Lake County OR the last exit as you head north out of Utah County!

Anyway, exit #284 then head west to the first intersection and turn left weaving past the Chevron station and that takes you on the frontage road running between I-15 and Thanksgiving Point. Follow the frontage road going south all the way to the Thanksgiving Point theatres. The very first road past the Thanksgiving Point Theatres you want to turn west (right) and now you are running along side the East parking lot area for the Festival. The large grassy Electric Park area is enclosed by green wrought-iron fencing. There is an east parking lot, south and west parking lot! Inside the Festival area is a covered pavilion where I will be located! The pavilion people will be facing the large stage area where entertainment will be on-going!

Ok, so see you Saturday at Thanksgiving Point and then back to my home-sweet-home, the People's Market on Sunday morning. (1000 South and 900 West in SLC).

Last Sunday's People's Market spilled over into this week. I had the three lovey Sneed ladies (mother and two daughters) come to my home to purchase jewelry. They were able to leisurely look through and try on all the necklaces they wanted to, at my "in-home" jewelry store! Thanks for coming ladies, I really enjoyed having you at my home! Give me a call if you and your friends would prefer this kind of shopping experience also!

I also need to tell Clarilene (who sent me memorabilia from which I shall made a necklace) that I am still working on the necklace and will call her hopefully the first of next week to get pictures sent of the finished product.

And George, your necklace is done - take a look at http://www.bowenwright.com/ to see it!

I also need to thank, at this point, CyberDefender, for fixing my computer! http://www.cyberdefender.com/

Good heavens, they are fast, efficient and darn nice to work with! They took over my computer, cleaned it all up (took them about 3 hours) and I didn't have to drive anywhere, un-plug and un-hook my computer or even lift my fanny off my chair! Plus I can have a live person to talk to anytime I want for a Year! Why didn't I invent this company?

Well now comes your Summer Science Lesson: This week we had a tragic death in our family. My 30+ year old Maple tree in my front yard had to be put down. It was traumatic. It hasn't been doing well the last maybe 10 years. It's leaves are small and turn brown before summer is over, large branches dying. The neighbors had their tree like this just summarily cut down. I wanted more for my tree so I took it on as a project and researched (I love the Internet) and found that Maples are prone to "Strangler Roots". If the tree is not planted properly sometimes a root will grow around the trunk and over time as the root and the tree both get larger, the root strangles the tree. They say you can tell if this is happening to your tree by inspecting the trunk and if it is not perfectly round in shape (like with a flat side), then you have a strangler root and it needs to be cut away to save the tree.

That's the ugly strangler root against the base of the tree!

So my husband and I decided to find the strangler root and cut it away and save our 30+ year old tree! What a hoot that was! Our neighbors watched as we dug away the soil from one side of the tree and after going down less than a foot, we found the problem. It was a HUGE, (as Karmen would say, "Ginormous") root running perpendicular to the tree trunk. It was so obvious that the root could not be cut out and safely leave enough of the tree trunk to make it anything but a falling hazard. So the wonderful arborist dudes with Murray City came and cut it down Wednesday morning. They had the tree down, ground up into mulch and the stump removed quicker than I could believe. So what shall we plant in it's place.... We haven't yet decided... You are just going to have to wait to find out! Something fast growing, that's for sure, I doubt we have another 30 years!

Here's a bit closer look. They say planting young trees to deep can promote strangler roots! Also make sure roots on your new tree are not looped or twisted around the trunk as you put them in the hole! You learn somthing new every day!

Come Celebrate Utah! July 18th Thanksgiving Point

Bringing together many local Utah businesses, artists, entertainers and families, the 2009 I Heart Utah Festival focuses on, “celebrating the state of Utah and her treasures…the people, places, and products that make Utah great.”

The Festival takes place on Saturday, July 18^th just prior to Pioneer Week, Utah’s own holiday and is FREE to the public. At a central location between Utah and Salt Lake counties, Thanksgiving Point’s Electric Park will be the picturesque location of a memorable day full of shopping, sampling, winning, entertainment, education and activities for the entire family.

With the current economic situation, Festival producers saw a need to do what they could locally to help support small business within Utah cities and throughout the State, and help encourage Utah citizens to do the same. “We found such an impressive amount of quality products and services offered by individuals or small businesses right here in our own back yard, and an exciting amount of nationally recognized companies that are founded or run from our great 801 or 435 area codes!” (Melynda Valgardson, Vyking Media & Entertainment)

Festival vendor categories include health and wellness, travel and tourism, sports and recreation, home and garden, businesses catering to women, preparedness, education, ‘Greening” Utah, arts and entertainment, and will include a local Farmers Market. Any business or organization that is based in or originated in Utah qualifies for involvement in the Festival and can reserve a vendor or nonprofit information booth space for a minimal fee.

Festival Schedule: The I Heart Utah Festival begins at 10:00 am with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce. The ribbon cutting will be done by special guests and local Utah heroes that will be escorted in by motorcade and helicopter, (please contact for details). Krispy Kreme donuts will be available while supplies last. The first 5,000 Festival attendees will also receive a pearl necklace courtesy Overstock.com.

Throughout the day attendees can walk the Festival grounds including theme areas: (1) Pink Street sponsored by Window Fashions with vendors catering to women, (2) Green Street sponsored by Utah Valley University including businesses and organizations that focus on ‘green living’ and taking care of Utah, (3) Red, White, & Blue Street hosted by Vyking Entertainment representing businesses throughout Utah with a patriotic theme, (4) Kids Korner sponsored by Sunshine Generation of Utah County with businesses catering to children including numerous inflatables from Goose Jumps, (5) Sports Park sponsored by Supa Fly Mobile Detailing and representing local sports and recreation organizations, (6) Front Parking Lot sponsored by Fun Share Rentals including boats, ATV’s, motorcycles and a Utah Trikes demo, (7) and a Farmers Market reflecting Utah cuisine, food and beverage as well as local artists and crafters. Additional activities and displays include a karaoke contest at the Talent Quest booth, hang gliding display by Wings over Wasatch, a sailboat from Bonneville School of Sailing, a helicopter by Universal Helicopter, and an airplane from UVU Aviation plus many more prizes, activities, demos, and education at over 100 “I Heart Utah” vendor and informational booths. All Festival attendees can visit the information and prize booth to vote for their favorite Utah businesses and sign up to win a number of prizes throughout the day including our grand prize courtesy JetBlue Airways.

A full day of entertainment will be available on Ebay’s Green Stage which is powered entirely by the sun and captured by Green Tow’s mobile solar power trailer. Entertainment includes local artists and musicians (Shaun Barrowes, Jarrett Burnes, Justin Williams, Ryan Innes), performances by the Talent Quest karaoke competition winners, dance performances, and even performing dogs trained by Arrow Kennels Dog Training.

For a complete list of vendors, sponsors and event and schedule updates, please log on to www.IHeartUT.com

A quick picture of my picture enhanced back porch

I'm not even sure my family will think this cool, but I had to show what I put on the walls of my enclosed rear porch to keep it from feeling like the Sahara desert with all the light tan stucco! The wallpaper mural came in 8 pieces. I cut the bottom four a bit shorter to fit on the short walls then wallpapered them to masonite. Then I coated the front and the back with two layers of my ever faithful poly-acrylic sealer! then attached them to the wall!

Summer is the Time Between July 4th and July 24th!

Dates to remember:
***Every Sunday through Oct. 10am-3pm People's Market 1000 So. 900 West SLC
*** I "heart" Utah Festival, Saturday July 18th at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, Utah 10am-7pm


Happy Summer! The heat is on. Sunday at the People's Market was extraordinary. Lots of vendors and lots of visitors!


It is so fun to see familiar faces. Thanks for coming by!

I'll be making Harley Davidson necklaces for men this week. I have a special order in for a man's necklace made from a Harley magazine so words show up on the beads that relate to motorcycle riding. In between the Harley beads will be orange and silver beads with a silver motorcycle pendant. It is easier to make several once you get going so maybe stop by my booth later this month and I'll have one for you also.

Besides the motorcycle special order necklace, I had a request by a gentleman to make him a necklace with pure black paper beads with silver in between. This was a "guy" week, I guess. The black paper beads look like black oiled leather, they are quite beautiful I must say!

I know I promised to begin men's and boy's jewelry last fall, but... but... well, I just like girl's stuff the best I suppose! But I shall begin.

I also promised to make more bracelets! Ok, OK! I'll do that also!

I just sorted through all my cloth scraps this morning and have them separated by color so I can go into major production with more cloth scrap beads. I saw some scraps tday that were from my old dresses back in the 1950's. I think I'll have to make jewelry for myself from some of the great "memory cloths". One cloth scrap was from my "rick-rack" dress. Rows and rows of rick-rack on cloth that had little red and blue sail boats. The gathered shirt of the dress was so full that I could hold onto the hem on each side and raise my hands above my head with still plenty of material in the skirt left to still cover my knees in front. If I twirled just right, the skirt would stand straight out like a ballerina skirt!

So how was your 4th of July? Most of my relatives (sister's families) got together at my parents old home and watched the fireworks from their front lawn. That would have been fun to have seen all the kids! The hubby and I decided to go see a Bees baseball game and then watch the fireworks afterwords for the 4th of July. Good intentions - We decided to go down early Saturday morning and buy the tickets and how harsh! they were all SOLD OUT! I guess 4th of July at the Old Derks Field (I can't remember what the new name is... some phone company, I think) is pretty popular now. It is so fun to ride TRAX downtown to the ball field and then stand with everyone and wait for the TRAX train to head back home afterwards in the summertime! That's when I know summer is here, it is still pleasantly warm outside at midnight!

So not only do you have the People's Market on July 12th to attend, but don't forget the:

.................."I

....................... Utah Festival"

at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday, July 18th! Tons of fun! Farmer's Market, Crafts Market, Entertainment, Prizes, Food, Games! A whole day of celebrating UTAH! FREE entrance. http://www.iheartut.com/ for all the details.

I am excited!

I'll be in the big tent - see you there.