Riding my bike again yeah

After abstaining for 6 months, due to severely broken ankle, I finally started riding my bike again while we were on vacation in Florida.

I went with a group of people I didn't know to a wonderful place called Babcock Wildlife Management Area near Punta Gorda, Florida.

In 1941, the Commission of Game and Freshwater Fish, the predecessor agency of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, purchased land in Charlotte County for wildlife management.

Today this land is part of the 65,758-acre Fred C. Babcock-Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area and 14,577-acre Yucca Pens Unit. Surrounded by residential development, citrus groves, and improved pasture, Babcock/Webb is among the last undeveloped expanses of hydric (wet) pine flatwoods in southwest Florida.

Within 5 miles of Punta Gorda and 20 miles from Ft. Myers, here you can hunt bobwhite quail, participate in bird dog field trials, fish for trophy size bluegill, hike, mountain bike, and horseback ride. Resident and migratory birds and wildflowers are abundant.

There are wide, paved roads with no cars! It was wonderful.

I rode ten miles on my little fold up bike, the longest I've ridden in 25 years.

To read more about Babcock follow this link. What a wonderful resource for the citizens and visitors.

 Jan Francoeur

Fun Time at Sharkys on Venice Beach

Our dear friend Donna told us about this restaurant on Venice Beach in Florida. We never would have found it  otherwise! But obviously other people didn't have any trouble because it was packed! They offered inside and outside dining, it's right on the beach so you can stumble in and eat or just sit outside and have a drink and listen to the music.

The food was great too!

 

New Glass Artist Rich Fizer

We just returned from a wonderful vacation in Florida where we didn't do much other than rest.

We stayed in Punta Gorda one week and met a wonderful glass artist Rich Fizer.

We ordered these beautiful glass fish for the gallery and they'll be here in just a few days!

   Rich has a master's of fine arts, with a concentration in glass. The seeds of his current work are evident in college pieces made years ago. The early works have a clear base, or foot, which has become his trademark. Instead of a simple circular or square base, Rich manipulates the glass to form a wavelike motion around the edge of the bottom. Pieces include the imprint and texture of pliers' jaws where he has worked the glass. "Just to make it more ornamental," he says. "By adding the attachments, it looks like it's rolling or moving."
  Common in his pieces is a feathered look for the colored body, achieved by rolling and blending the glass "just like you would make ribbon candy," he says. "It's kind of the same concept."
   He has been creating the fish for 17 years, adding, "I made enough to pay my way through college." The small and large creatures are quite colorful, such as a lime-green blowfish with orange spots. Eyes, lips, fins and tail are clear. Also clear are the foot — for placement on a surface — and a loop at the top of the body--for hanging on a wall. Although he often uses blue and aqua green, the hues of water bodies, Rich says red, orange and yellow pieces have become especially popular this past year.
  

 

We are thrilled to add Rich to our stable of great glass artists!

Jan Francoeur

Carolina Creations Named 2011 Constant Contant All Star Award Winner

 

Carolina Creations was named a 2011 Constant Contact All Star Award Winner for our Carolina Creations Newsletters!

Carolina Creations has received the 2011 All Star Award from Constant Contact®, Inc., the trusted marketing advisor to more than half a million small organizations worldwide. Each year, a select group of Constant Contact customers are honored with the All Star Award for their exemplary marketing results. Carolina Creations results ranked among the top 10% of Constant Contact’s customer base.

"We are thrilled to be given this honor! We love doing our monthly newsletter and we love it when our customers tell us how much they look forward to receiving it."

Constant Contact customers using any combination of the company’s Email Marketing, Event Marketing, and Online Survey tools are eligible for this award. Constant Contact looked at the following criteria to select this year’s All Stars:

Frequency of campaigns, events, and surveys
Open, bounce, and click-through rates
Survey completion rates
Use of social features
Use of mailing list sign-up tools

“There is nothing we like more than to see our customers finding success. It’s the reason Constant Contact was founded, and it’s a thrill to see the fantastic results that our All Stars are achieving,” said Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact. “This group is really leading the charge when it comes to delivering relevant, engaging content that drives real business results. We salute this year’s All Stars for their success, and are honored to have played a part in their achievements.”

About Constant Contact, Inc.
Constant Contact is revolutionizing the success formula for small organizations through affordable, easy-to-use Engagement MarketingTM tools that help create and grow customer relationships. More than half a million small businesses, nonprofits, and associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact to drive ongoing customer dialogs through email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online surveys. All Constant Contact products come with unrivaled KnowHow, education, and free coaching with a personal touch, including award-winning customer support.

Thank you to constant contact and Thank You to all our Carolina Creations customers!!

New from Stephen Kitras

These new friendship and blossom balls are beautiful! Stop in and check them out. The come in two sizes.

Stephen Kitras began working as a glass blower in 1988.  He believes that beautiful things enhance the enjoyment of everyday life. 

A friend of our said, "All art is functional, it uplifts your spirit every time you look at it."  

So it does.

Francis Bacon

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity.  We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand….and melting like a snowflake….
Francis Bacon
Born 1/22/1561

Janet Francoeur honored by AAUW

I am truly honored to be on this list!

The Twin Rivers branch of American Association of University Women is honoring women of Craven County in its library display for Women’s History Month.

The decision to choose Craven County women coincides with the celebration of county's 300th anniversary.

The University Women is a national organization that is known for “breaking through barriers for women and girls,” according to the group. The women highlighted in the display have demonstrated their qualifications for breaking through barriers as well as community service.

Wendy Cutler and Ginny Mattern, University Women members, put together the display, using  personal interviews and written material as sources.

The 10 honored women — living and deceased — include Elinor Hawkins, Lois Jamison, Janet Francoeur, Kathleen Orringer, Tiffany Dove, Suzanne F. Gifford, Sarah Dudley Pettey, Monica Parker, Evan McPherson Clayton and Carol Totarski.

Twin Rivers AAUW helps women and girls break through educational barriers by awarding a scholarship to a non-traditional female student at Craven Community College. The recipient is a women who is returning to college after an interrruption of several years in her education.

In addition, the group provides a scholarship to send a girl to the summer Engineering Camp that is sponsored by N.C. State University and Craven Community College at the Havelock campus in June.

The local branch was formed in 1997 and welcomes members who have an associate’s degree or higher. The group meets the fourth Thursday of the month from September  to May.

For more information, call 252-636-6074.
Outstanding Craven County Women
- Elinor Hawkins — Dedicated her life to libraries. Member of Friends of the Library and Tryon Palace Commission
- Lois Jamison — Makes a commitment through service. Received many awards honoring African-American women
- Janet Francoeur — Owner of Carolina Creations. Member of many downtown development groups
- Kathleen Orringer — She was an active civic leader Orringer Auditorium at Craven Community College, which was named in her honor
- Tiffany Dove — Full-time funeral director at her family’s firm. Received Intriguing African American Women Award
- Suzanne F. Gifford — Executive director of the Craven Community College Foundation
- Sarah Dudley Pettey — African-American feminist in the late 1800s
- Monica Parker — Founded Mercy Clinic
- Eva McPherson Clayton — First African-American elected to U.S. Congress from North Carolina since 1898
- Carol Tokarski — Executive director of Craven Arts Council

Last year Gwendolyn M. Bryan, Catherine Chew, Fern Cotton, Agnes Derda, Susan Moffat-Thomas, Gov. Bev Perdue, Ethel Sampson, Cheryl Spencer, Linda Staunch, Alice Graham Underhill.

March Carolina Creations Newsletter

Here is a link to our March Newsletter

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs096/1103550702966/archive/1109227752448.html

Some of the things we talk about

- Rewards Program
- Upcoming ArtWalk
- What's New
- Sale Shelf
- Bridal Registry
- Winner of a set of coasters

Dan Nelson at ArtWalk

Our featured artist for March and April, is Dan Nelson of Raleigh. He'll be at ArtWalk on Friday, March the 9th, so you'll have a chance to meet him.

Dan could be seen painting on the streets of New Bern during February and created much excitement!

Every town has a number of artists in it. Some of those artists practice painting "en plein aire" (French: in the open air), most of those artists produce paintings roughly the size of a high school school notebook. A few of them will paint larger. But when you find one who sets up a 100-pound easel, hoists a patio umbrella, plugs a sound system and lights into his marine battery, paints 4-by-6-foot paintings, and visits with passersby until long after sundown . . . well, then you've probably found Dan Nelson.


Dan loves chatting with onlookers, students, and artist wanna-be's while he works. "I do my best painting when I am mildly distracted" Dan quips, "I  like the energy that I get from interacting with people, and the locals are the ones who can really tell you about their town."

Dan received his BFA from Calvin College but says his real education came from his tenure as a full time, free lance illustrator, from 1984 through 1998 completing over 4000 illustrations during that period.

Since then he has leaned more toward fine art but still does illustrations, portraits, and cartoons and works in mediums as varied as oils, watercolors, air brushing, charcoal, ink, and acrylics.

For this show at Carolina Creations Dan has painted Middle Street, Tryon Palace, New Street, Hancock, the Jones House, to name a few. See more by clicking here.

His show runs through April 30, 2012.

Several of us were lucky enough to attend a workshop taught by Dan in February, if you're interested in attending the next one he does for us shoot us an email and we'll let you know when the next one is.

To see more of his work and prices click here.

Yummy new leather hand bags

 

Great new leather hand bags just arrived!