minneapolis meet up

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of lunching and meeting with Renee of NostalgicSummer at the Longfellow Grill.  Renee grabbed a table and in no time we were involved in talk about our craft, shops, networking, and personal stories.  Renee comes from a background in merchandising and print buyer and I from graphic design.  She was encouraged to start making and SELLING some the beautiful jewelry that she repurposes from vintage bits and pieces, religious icons and local tokens.

I love these earrings made with bus tokens!

Renee also makes

unique pendants using the images from her father's antique matchbook collection.

By the time we ordered lunch, we had covered a lot of territory!  Not surprisingly, both of our shop avitars or banners feature a photo of our mothers.  Renee's mom, Gertie and my mom Ione are still going strong...both in their nineties.  We decided that their enduring positive attitudes were even more inspiring to us than their creative talents.
We also discovered that our client base is mainly, east coast, west coat, Texas and Australia!

We then got down to the business of signing our Vestiesteam traveling atlas that houses the team trophy.  Word has it that it is scheduled to be sent to Florida, then Tahoe and maybe the UK!

Renee presented me with a handmade bookmark, and I gave her a little vintage mirror that she was happy to have to use in her boutique sales.  She has been experiencing some great success at local shows.  And she was able to give me some great feedback on a handmade vintage item that I will be introducing in my shop soon...teaser...

Longfellow Grill on the Mississippi