Holiday Art and Craft Fair
Saturday, December 7, 2013
10am-2pm
Tree of Life Nursery specializes in California native plants. Our store contains a carefully curated collection of art, books and gifts. Our books pertain to all things California, and our gift items relate to nature and our local region with an emphasis on handmade & wild-collected materials. We also purchase directly from local craftspeople and artists creating unique natural products. We have invited these folks to bring in special items so you can meet them and see their unique items. They will bring honey products, ceramics, carvings, wreaths, hand-painted scarves and more.
Displays and sales will be open from 10am-2pm. In the morning, each person will give a short 15 minute presentation to share their story about what they make, why they make it and what makes the materials they work with unique and special. We think they are all doing great work and want to share their talents with you. Come and purchase truly unique and locally made gifts this holiday season!
Backyard Bees: 10:00 am (15 minute)
Local handmade honey products from rescued honey bees.
Dave Buchanan: 10:20 am (15 minute)
One of a kind, light-weight walking sticks from salvaged cardon ribs from Baja California.
Hilda Evans Crafts: 10:40 am (15 minute)
Yearly wreath workshop instructor will bring her unique natural and native hand-crafted holiday decor.
Joy Suzanne Scarves: 11:00 am (30 minute-demo)
Beautiful botanic watercolors hand-painted onto raw silk scarves.
Room to Fly Ceramics: 11:30 am (15 minute)
Nature-inspired ceramic pieces handcrafted for your kitchen and for decor.
More information about the vendors:
Backyard Bees – Honey and Honey Products – http://backyardbees.net/
Janet and Kelly help Orange County residents and businesses who do not want to exterminate their honeybees by rescuing honeybee hives and maintaining them to produce local honey and honey products. Today, Backyard Bees keeps over 100 rescued hives from San Clemente to Fullerton. They never treat their hives and believe in letting the bees take care of their own…well…beeswax!
Dave Buchanon – Hand-crafted Walking Sticks
In many parts of Baja California local ranchers have burned large tracts of wilderness, in the mistaken belief that the cleared areas might be converted to grazing land. 
Too many noble cardons (Baja’s endemic “saguaro” type tall cactus) have been killed by fire. Desiccated, these proud monuments topple to the ground. From these, Dave has salvaged cardon ribs, and then worked and sanded them into one-of-a-kind staffs. They are very lightweight and incredibly strong… exactly what you’re looking for in a walking stick. Using the ‘palo desierto’, you’ll find your thoughtful walker’s hand reconnects the spirit of these desert sentinels with the Earth.
Hilda Evans Crafts – Holiday Wreaths and Decor
Our yearly wreath workshop instructor will bring unique natural and native hand-crafted holiday decor including wreaths, ornaments, gourds, mini christmas trees and more. Always working with her hands and any natural materials she finds, Hilda Evans continually creates high quality and completely unique arrangements and decor out of native plant materials.
Joy Suzanne – Hand Painted Scarves
Artist-Instructor, a native Californian, considers herself a colorist with an interest in mixed media. She enjoys painting and drawing from nature due to the ever changing light. Her favorite medium is watercolor, drawing inspiration from photographs, and images of nature and creative ideas. Art is one experiment after another, honing in on painting skills, ideas, thought process and mostly enjoyment of pure pleasure of painting. Her latest venture involves painting on raw silk, with unique designs.
Room to Fly Ceramics – Sherry McClune
Sherry has always had a great love of the outdoors and nature. From a very young age she has had a fascination for objects of nature especially sea shells, spending many months with her family traveling to isolated locations in Baja California. Her current medium is clay. To Sherry: “Clay is a material that parallels the history of the human race. It reflects the changing customs and rituals in civilizations. Clay for me has become an endless expression that continues to change and evolve as I explore it.”