Freeport Fall Festival - This Weekend, September 28-29

This coming weekend, Saturday (10am-4pm) and Sunday (11am-4pm), head on up to Freeport, Maine for some glorious weather, fantastic shopping, and fabulous handmade goods at the 15th Annual Freeport Fall Festival!

More than 60 local artists will be exhibiting and selling their work, including photographers, painters, mixed media artists, jewelers, book artists, woodworkers, potters and other super crafty people. Lofted Designs will have a booth (#72 on the map) along the edge of L.L.Bean's Discovery Park – directly between the giant Bean Boot and the main stage. Catch live music throughout the weekend, plus they've added a new Maine food lineup this year! The two-day event is free, parking is easy and the forecast looks PERFECT.

Seriously, people, it does not get any better than this:

If the Fall Festival isn't incentive enough to visit Freeport, there are also hundreds of great stores, outlets, and boutiques located within a couple of blocks. C'mon guys, even I can't resist a North Face sample sale. And if shopping all weekend sounds like a total bummer and you'd rather just be outside, come check out the festival and then participate in Great Maine Outdoor Weekend or bring a lawn chair and take in some short adventure films at the Maine Outdoor Film Fest right on the L.L.Bean Campus at 7pm on Saturday. 

For detailed event information, check out the Freeport Fall Festival online brochure, visit their website or their Facebook event page.

York Village Marketfest

This Friday & Saturday!
October 12 & 13
9 AM-4 PM

Visit Lofted Designs this Friday and Saturday at the annual Marketfest celebration in historic York Village, Maine. The forecast looks lovely and I can pretty much guarantee you've never seen more beautiful fall foliage in a such a quintessential New England village setting. 

As if Lofted Designs wasn't enough of a draw, this festival features:
• Dozens of talented artists and craftspeople
• An amazing variety of delicious foods
• Sidewalk sales
• Musical performances
• A "prisoner performance" (WHAT?) at The Museums of Old York
• Petting zoo
• Scarecrow contest (vote for your favorites!)
• Book sale
• MUCH more! You can seriously make a whole day of it. 

I will have a booth just behind the big food tent on Friday and Saturday from 9AM - 4PM. Unfortunately, the event website has virtually NO information on it, however this newspaper article lists a schedule of events. I've also created a Facebook event with all the details. 

Big Fall Weekend - Happy October!

This weekend marks the beginning of one of my favorite months of the year! October is awesome for so many reasons: warm, sunny days and crisp, cool nights, beautiful fall foliage at its peak in New England, my favorite holiday—Halloween, apple pies, golden sunlight, and all-things-pumpkin just to name a few.

I have a lot of exciting things going on this weekend to mark the start of this glorious month. I hope to see many of your smiling faces!

Apple Harvest Day – Downtown, Dover, NH

Saturday, October 1st

9am - 4pm

Dover's annual Apple Harvest Day event includes 300 crafters and artists, 3 stages worth of all-day entertainment, carnival games, rides, a petting zoo, a green marketplace, and my favorite contradiction of the day: a Healthy Living Expo and delicious-sounding apple pie baking contest. I will be selling handmade jewelry and pet tags in front of one of my favorite establishments in all the land: the Silver Moon Creperie on Third Street (next to the old Strand Theater location). Hopefully they will be sending crepes outside to me all day long at regular intervals (hint, hint Theresa and Chris).

Portsmouth Open Market – Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, NH

Sunday, October 2nd

10am - 4pm

This coming Sunday marks my final appearance of the year at the Portsmouth Open Market. And what a lovely market it is, with a wide variety of different artisans, designers, cooks, bakers and farmers each Sunday on the historic grounds of Puddle Dock at the Strawbery Banke Museum. 

I should also mention that I have LOTS of new jewelry for this weekend that is not available online yet. Be the first to get a sneak peek!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is (and always has been) my favorite holiday. I love all things spooky and scary, but so far just haven't been able to bring myself to make any Halloween jewelry. When I tried to think of ideas, I couldn't get the image of those cheesy store-bought pumpkin pins out of my head. Maybe next year.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some photos of where I live. These were taken a few days ago in Southern Maine. This spooky old graveyard is in the center of York Village and one of my favorite places to visit around Halloween. Tombstones here date back to the 1600s!





Limited edition autumn leaf necklaces inspired by New England fall foliage are available here and here.

Mark Your Calendars - York Harvestfest

Visit Lofted Designs at York Beach!
October 17th & 18th, 2009, 10am - 4pm

York Harvestfest is a longstanding tradition in Southern Maine, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year! This event is HUGE and takes place throughout York — they offer free parking and a free shuttle all weekend. There will be fun stuff for the kiddos, lots of great craft vendors, live entertainment and heaps of yummy food. BONUS: Saturday night fireworks at the beach!

I'll be at the Old Fashioned Marketplace at the York Beach ballpark (close to Short Sands) on Saturday and Sunday from 10am - 4pm. Hope to see you there!

You can find a complete schedule of events and more information here. Click these links for directions and parking info.