The Creative Connection

Kelly is the author of Taking Flight: Inspiration + Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings, a bestselling book that encompasses all aspects of what it means to live the creative life. She is also the author of Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks to Help Your Creative Biz Soar, a series of popular e-books where she shares everything she knows about how she got to where she is now. Her work has been featured in a variety of mixed media books by her peers and she’s had several articles published in various magazines, including Cloth Paper Scissors, Somerset Life, Somerset Studios (her artwork was on the 03/2010 cover!), Where Women Create, Memory Makers, and more. Much of her artwork is licensed and can be seen in stores nationwide on a variety of products, including decorative wall art, stationery products, sculptures, and so much more. In essence, Kelly is an artist and all-around lover of life and people. She seeks to express a sense of vitality and connectedness in her paintings and writings. Having spent most of her life in the company of women, her pieces grow out of the kindred support she has felt from many of them throughout her life. She is unendingly grateful for the spirits of these women who walk with her, in flesh or in paint, on her incredible journey into art, love, and life.

Kelly currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her outdoorsy husband John, their new baby boy named True, and their airplane-eared dog Bella.

Lisa McCue is one of today’s most sought-after illustrators. In the past 30 years, Lisa has illustrated more than 175 books for children, and has written and illustrated the bestselling Quiet Bunny books. In addition to Quiet Bunny, McCue has created many of today’s most recognizable children’s book characters, such as the world of Corduroy, Cork & Fuzz, and Fuzzytails. She has received numerous awards for her work, including many awards for Best Book of the Year, CCBC Choice Books, and the Junior Library Guild Premium Selection. Many of Lisa’s books have also been selected by the Society of Illustrators for the Original Art Show, featuring the best art in children’s books.

Lisa’s artwork appears on many licensed products—including fabrics, greeting cards, gift tins, wrapping paper, clothing, puzzles, home décor, and a number of plush toys fashioned after her popular characters.

Mary Hettmansperger is a fiber and jewelry artist who teaches in the U.S. and internationally—Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Singapore. She has taught for Arrowmont, Penland, Bead and Button, Convergence, national and regional fiber conferences, at art and craft schools, and for private guilds. Mary has authored and illustrated three books: Fabulous Woven Jewelry, Mixed Metal Jewelry Workshop, and Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet, all published by Lark/Sterling. Currently, Mary is working on two more books, including a new jewelry book due to be released in Spring of 2012, and an art quilt book that will be released in Fall of 2012—titles coming soon! Her work has been featured in many other books: Jewelry Design Challenge, 500 Baskets, Fiber Arts Design Book 7, the Gourd Book, Creative Scarecrows, Pushing the Envelope, Fabulous Found Object Jewelry, Teapots – Makers and Collectors, Beading with Crystals, and Creative Beading Volume 2. Mary’s creative designs have also been mentioned in magazines, including Quilting Arts, Art Jewelry, Bead and Button, Beadwork, Shuttle Spindle & Dye Pot, and Crafts Report. Mary has exhibited her work at SOFA, through the Katie Gingrass Gallery, and she is a frequent contributor to the PBS shows Beads Baubles & Jewels, and Quilting Art.

Brenda Schweder has good-naturedly embraced many labels in her lifetime, from A Little Bit Steampunk to a Little Bit Tree Hugger to The Little Red-Haired Girl (back when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” still captured the attention of all good little boys and girls). Her latest monikers are Bend-it Like Brenda and Iron woMan (thanks to her friends Jill and Jill, for helping her realize her left arm is now growing larger than her right), due to her most unfeminine passion for creating jewelry with steel wire (grrrrr!). In addition to Steel Wire Jewelry (Lark Books), Schweder is the author of Junk to Jewelry: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Found Objects in Jewelry You Can Actually Wear and Vintage Redux: Remake Classic and Collectible Jewelry (Kalmbach Publishing Company). Schweder’s designs and fashion jewelry forecasts have been published over 100 times in books and magazines, including: 30 Minute Earrings, 30 Minute Necklaces, 30 Minute Rings, Art Jewelry magazine, Bead Style magazine, Bead&Button magazine, BUST magazine, Vintage Style Jewelry magazine, Make it Mine magazine, Wirework 2010 magazine, Wirework, Step by Step Wire, Steampunk Style Jewelry, Crystal Chic, and many other compilations, pamphlets, and books. Schweder has been featured in both an online workshop and a podcast with Alison Lee of Craftcast.com, and will make her television debut in Spring 2011 on Beads, Baubles & Jewels (PBS). A nationally-recognized teacher and jewelry designer, Schweder is an instructor at Mount Mary College and offers workshops at beading venues such as The Bead&Button Show (Milwaukee),the Racine Art Museum, Hacienda Mosaico, THE CREATIVE CONNECTION, The Ranch Center for Arts and Crafts (Seattle), and to bead societies nationwide. Schweder has designed for Swarovski and is a CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI Elements Ambassador. An advocate for the DIY jewelry segment, Schweder currently serves as past president of the Loose Bead Society of Greater Milwaukee and was instrumental in starting the Global Bead Society, bringing beading and jewelry making enthusiasts together worldwide.

Marilyn Scott-Waters loves making things out of paper. Between 2,000 and 7,000 visitors frequent Marilyn’s popular website each day, http://thetoymaker.com, downloading more than six million of her easy-to-make paper toys. Her goal is to help parents and children spend time together making things. Her first self-published book, The Toymaker: Paper Toys that You Can Make Yourself, was a bestselling paper toy book on Amazon.com. The book sold out two print runs, and was picked up as a series by Sterling Publishing in 2010. Marilyn is the creator of the paper toy craft book series The Toymaker’s Christmas: Paper Toys You Can Make Yourself (Sterling, 2010), and The Toymaker’s Workshop: Paper Toys You Can Make Yourself (Sterling, 2011). She is also the co-creator of the fully illustrated middle-grade nonfiction series, Haunted Histories, forthcoming from Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Ms. Scott-Waters illustrated The Search for Vile Things (Scholastic), and created paper engineering for Pop & Sniff Fruit (Piggy Toes Press). She was also recently featured on Career Day a nationally syndicated program for children produced by Entertainment Studios. She is represented by Jamie Weiss Chilton of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, http://andreabrownlit.com. Marilyn lives in Costa Mesa, California, with her husband and fourteen-year-old son.

“Eleven years old and willing to help” is how Olivia Bouler described herself to the Audubon Society when she contacted them about tragedy in the Gulf. Aspiring ornithologist, artist, and saxophone player, Olivia wept when she heard about the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, a place where she spent many vacations with her cousins and grandparents who live in Louisiana and Alabama. Knowing birds were going to suffer, she had to take action. Inspired by her hero James Audubon, Olivia wrote to the Audubon Society about a fundraising idea, using her talent as an artist to give bird drawings to those who donated to wildlife recovery efforts. Olivia drew and donated 500 original drawings and thousands of limited edition prints throughout the summer of 2010. (more…)

Colleen is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, science fiction, and romance. Formerly a student at the University of Arizona, she has worked as a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter for seventeen years. Tiger’s Curse is her first book, which has already received literary praise and digital success. Her self-published eBook claimed the #1 spot on Kindle’s children’s bestseller list for seven weeks. Colleen lives in Salem, Oregon, with her husband and a white stuffed tiger.

Tiffany Threadgould is a design junkie who gives scrap materials a second life. She’s the founder of RePlayGround, where you can find oodles of do-it-yourself projects, ReMake It recycling kits, and more information about her book ReMake It! She’s also the head of design at TerraCycle. Tiffany’s recycled crafts have been featured in The New York Times, Everyday with Rachael Ray, and Time Out New York. She has appeared on CNN and on the National Geographic four-part special, Garbage Moguls. Tiffany thinks that garbage has feelings too and sometimes can be found talking to her pile of junk at her design studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Laura C. Martin is the author of 24 books, the latest of which is the Green Market Baking Book (Sterling, January 2011). In this book, which she also illustrated, Laura combines her enthusiasm for healthy organic eating with her love of baking to offer 100 recipes for delectable, healthy, sweet, and savory treats. Laura has been passionate about creating, crafting, gardening, and cooking and has been actively involved in writing, lecturing, and teaching on these subjects for almost three decades. Her books and awards include Nature’s Art Box (winner of the 2004 Parents’ Choice Award), The History of Southern Gardens (winner of the Garden Writers of America 1994), The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers, Fairy Island and Handmade Gifts from a County Garden. In 2009, Laura started a business called Ties That Matter, which uses recycled neckties to make one-of-a-kind fashion accessories. The business employs women-in-need to do the sewing, and gives back 10 percent of profits to help the homeless in her community.

Terry Walters is at the forefront of the clean-eating lifestyle movement. She is the author of the highly acclaimed cookbooks, Clean Food and Clean Start, and is dedicated to making sustainable good health both easy and delicious. Without preaching or judgment, Terry shares her passion and shows how simple it is to get on the path to eating clean and enjoying good health–for yourself, your family, and the environment. Terry has traveled all over North America speaking about CLEAN FOOD. She has been featured on television and radio, in print and Internet media, and is the author of the popular blog Eat Clean Live Well. Terry serves on the board of directors for Urban Oaks Organic Farm, one of the largest urban organic farms in the country, and received her training at The Institute of Integrative Nutrition. She resides in Connecticut with her husband and two children, who know the joys of eating clean.

Terry will be featured in the Autumn 2011 issue of WHERE WOMEN COOK and will be signing copies at the Autograph Party.