Springtime In the City

I wanted to post some new images of work I have been working on for this spring. Very excited about my new line of delicate branches. I collected specimen right around Patterson Park on my daily walks where I find much of my inspiration.


I have some new necklaces, earrings and bangle bracelets I still need to list. Stay tuned....

Tigerlillyshop Trunk Show, Saturday!

I'll be at one of my favorite shops in Frederick, MD for the wintery Fire and Ice First Saturday celebration! Street level ice sculptures are on display throughout the shopping district for this special event!

February means that love is in the air at The Muse... Check out this great boutique full of handmade wares, perfect for thoughtful Valentine gifts. I'll have a selection of my mixed metal botanical jewelry for sale, as well as some of my button work. Make a night of it and enjoy a stroll through this historic shopping district, grab a hot chocolate and be part of one of the most fun events of the winter!

Holiday Heap 2011 this weekend!

Only 4 days until the CharCity Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap, and we can hardly wait!

This year's fair will have 60 of the best local and national crafters, as well as a yarn-spinning demonstration by Three Ravens and a raffle to win a huge basket full of goodies by supporting Arts Every Day! Check the CCCM blog to see vendor interviews and raffle basket sneak peeks.

GrrChe, a local food truck, will be outside for lunch and snacks.

Check out the vendors beforehand by visiting the vendor page. The show will be held on December 3rd, from 10am to 5pm inside St John's Church at 2640 St Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21218.

Emporium Collagia, Fells Point Indie-pendant Business

In the spirit of Small Business Saturday, I thought I would post about one of my favorite small shops in Historic Fells Point, Emporium Collagia. The owner is an artist with a distinct eye for the unique. She has been a fan of my electroformed pieces for a while and always has a nice array of necklaces to choose from! This holiday season, I am so very excited that she is offering her shoppers my new bronze collection!


Proprietor and Aritst Luana Kaufmann has a beautiful little shop at 1732 Thames Street along the waterfront strip in Fells Point. Her unique collage art prints are on display and for sale tucked in amongst an exquisite collection of hand picked interesting home goods and gifts from everywhere! Her store is a collage, in it's own right, it's always fun to see what new items she has to offer.


If you are looking for a special item, you can find a great selection in her tiny storefront. There are super fun surprises in every nook. I am happy to encourage you to support Luana and her eclectic adventure. Shop locally, pop in and see what special gift you leave with!

Urbanite and my Upholstery

I have been focusing a lot of building different parts of my businesses over the last year. You may have seen my red chair upholstery ad in Baltimore's free publication: Urbanite Magazine.

The studio is filling with furniture that needs to be redone. I'll be updating you on all of that stuff as new pieces come through the studio. I'll have lots of before and after shots to inspire!

Don't forget to connect with me on my Allison Fomich Upholstery page!
Stay tuned!!!

Art Under Glass 2011

This was my display in the Tropcial Greenhouse. My jewelry just looked right in there!

Upholstery Update

Well, exciting news! We have decided to take our upholstery business to the next level! After much deliberation, we have decided to take out an ad in the Ubranite, one of Baltimore's free monthly magazines.


I think we will be reaching a broad audience across the city that appreciates handmade and supports local businesses. Hopefully the ad will make an impression. It is a small ad in the back, it will be in the "Marketplace" section. But I think we will have a striking graphic that will attract customers.

After 13 years of word-of-mouth business, we are ready to really push the business to grow. So, here we GO!

Our Patterson Park Weekend

I was taking a photo of this leaf and branch, when she jumped up to get it. Total coincidence!

Patterson Park is just breathtaking right now. We have had beautiful warm fall days, the weather and sunshine has been perfect. So glad to get some shots this year.

Where's Brett? Monkey like-in the tree tops.
It was a fun day!

End of Summer Gardening

My daughter brought her play camera to our city garden plot the other day and took some really cool shots. Yes, I love everything she makes, that is my job, but I thought it might be a nice thing to share with my readers. Here is my 5 yr old's view of a day in the sunshine of our garden.


Marigolds gone by, looking closely and smelling their pungent fragrance as she dead heads them. I think this is a universal North American gardening experience. So happy to instill these scents in her childhood memory.


This one is so beautiful, she held a stick up and made a growling face, but "It didn't work", she said. I think it is a great self portrait. Very summery and sunshine. Even though it is the hot sweltering end of summer, this image is sweet and self aware.


I asked her to take one of me for fun. She had her turn with the hose and soaked me earlier, I am drenched in this picture. We really have a good time together when it's just us. I love going to the garden with her. She helped me weed the beets at age 3. Now at age 5, she is making friends with mourning doves and asking if we can take them home. I said she has to catch them first.


Watering plot #32. I propped up the hose in our neighbor's fence so I could focus on the other plot. I love to see her perspective, her vantage point and her world.


Morning glories cover the fences this year thicker than in past years. The vines provide some much needed shade in our corner near plot #2. She was hanging out close to me picking these heart shaped leaves and giving them to me. She repeated over and over that she was giving me the most important gift of the loving heart. I made sure to tuck them into my pockets so I wouldn't lose them.

It was a really hot blazing summer day out there, but we kept cool in the hose. There were a lot of weeds to pull, but we did find some creatures to look at. I squished harlequin beetles, squash bugs and we had to leave the mourning dove where he was perched on the fence. I left that garden closer to my daughter. Girl time.

Top 10 Kaboodle Contest Winner!

The results are in, I was #3 in the top ten. Thanks everybody for voting for my Red Cherry Blossom Ring! I appreciate all of your votes and I can feel the love from all my fans!

Acorns for the Autumn Season

Look at these beauties! I am gearing up for the Fall selling season, making sure I am stocked up with my acorns. They are one of my popular sellers in the electorformed copper, but I am now offering sterling castings of some choice specimen. These little guys are cast from nature, preserving each detail and characteristic of the individual piece. Collect all 4! (lol)

17th Annual Hamilton Festival and Classic Car Show this weekend!

Come visit BEST and Charm City Craft Mafia members at the 17th Annual Hamilton Festival and Classic Car Show. The festival features two stages with all-day music, dance and martial arts performances, cars, craft and food vendors. There will be beer gardens for the adults and kids games with prizes for the little ones!


Hamilton Street Festival and Classic Car Show 2010
Saturday July 31st
11:00 a.m. to 8: p.m.
Harford Road at Hamilton Ave

Patterson Park, Baltimore, MD

Pagoda, a rose garden, the pond. There is a duck and a rock in the pond.

Veggies of the Week, 7/14/10

We grew all of this. I have no idea how. I think my husband bought some seeds and started them. I have a vague recollection of planting them in our city garden plot.... I remember a lot of traveling and distractions...

We ventured out to check on things in the garden last week. Weeds had taken over a lot of the area, some veggies were being choked out by the healthy weeds, but underneath it all, we found food! Thanks to a good friend or 2 that watered for us while we were neglectful gardeners, the garden lived and somehow thrived! Check out that bounty! WOW!

Artscape DIY, Here We Come!

We'll be sweating it out at Artscape this year on Charles St. We have lots of new things to see, my sister Maria is up helping with the show!

Our booth C29, is just before the Penn Station, across the street from the Man/Woman sculpture, just before the Penn Station bridge. We're in good company selling in a tent with Sweet Pepita Clothing and The Broken Plate Pendant Company! Please come by and say hello!

Pile of Craft THis Saturday!

This Saturday is Charm City Craft Mafia’s 4th annual Pile Of Craft! A one-of-a-kind craft fair for Baltimore, featuring 40+ of the country's best handmade crafters selling their own housewares, stationary, screenprinted & sewn apparel, jewelry, handbags, hats, knit items, woven scarves, plush toys, ceramics, comic books, prints, paintings and more! Support handmade and local artists and meet them in person!

A number of BEST members will be participating in this awesome event:

Jamie Zollars, Sweet Pepita, Maneating Flower, Elisa Shere Jewelry, The little Bean, Found Studio, Boxerbox Press, Sugarpaperie, The brokenplate, Tigerlilyshop ,Yummy and Company, jennyjen42, Dandelion Blu , and Block Party Press.At our BEST table will be: greenstarstudio, Design by Night, Atelier-Beads, and Jill Popowich designs. Check out the vendors page here.

Pile of Craft is absolutely free to attend and open to all ages. I hear a rumor that a photobooth will be there! Don’t miss this amazing event!

June 26th 10-5pm

2640 St. Paul Street

Baltimore, MD 21218

Upholstery of the week

Well, really it has been a month or so! But the 2 pieces, couch and loveseat are done, delivered and sitting happily in their home. I am glad these are out of the studio, the space free to fill with the next few chairs... My daughter can scoot around here again while we work.

It was a big project, took longer than I had planned, but that is how it goes sometimes. I am pleased with the set, happy with the results.

Blooms of the week 6/8/10

Can these Asiatic Lilies give a bigger and brighter show?!? I mean, this has been nonstop for 3 weeks now! I am so glad we took a chance on the mixed collection when we did. These hardy beauties have brought us lively color for us to enjoy year after year. I guess these have been established in our container garden for about 4 yrs now. It might be time to split them up and give them to some friends soon.
And lovely marigolds, how I love you. These seeds were collected at our community garden plot one Fall when the growing season was coming to an end. The red/orange/gold blooms on these 18" annuals are enjoyable all summer. Some of our other varieties of marigolds self seeded this year, so we have lots of orange ones, too. Also, our petunias self seeded all over the place and I have been tucking those into pots all over the yard for purple and pink color.

More pictures to come as the blooms keep on going!

Blooms of the week, Our Urban Garden

Our lilies have started, and it looks like they have really multiplied this year! These Asiatic lilies are early summer bloomers that have showy colors and a profusion of blooms. Although they are not fragrant, the color and ease of culture make them indispensable in the container garden. They withstand the heat in our concrete backyard. I love these easy care bulbs.

Silver's In the Air for This Year

Some sneak peeks!