String Theory

There's this great yarn shop in Blue Hill Nearby to me called String Theory.
Here's an example of some of their lovely yarn:

Their online store is neat, too. I used some of their hand dyed yarn for hair for my new fairy finger puppets, and they put them in their online gallery of stuff made with their hand dyed yarn. So take a peek... it's got all kinds of neat stuff and there's even a slide show of stuff people have made.

All the Upcoming Gigs

I'm pleased to present my Summer & Fall schedule (thus far) of very high quality, juried venues. It's been a lot of work putting this schedule together. Here it is...

Fern House Studio 2008 Shows
Art, Cards + Puppets by Christina Heiniger
__________________________________
July 26 & 27 Open Studio with Linden O'Ryan
& Heather Murray at Linden O'Ryan Gallery, 92 Herrick Road,
Southwest Harbor, Maine. 10am-4pm Saturday & noon-4pm Sunday.

August 1, 2 & 3 Directions Fine Craft Show (33rd Annual)
Mt. Desert Island High School, Eagle Lake Road, Mt. Desert
Friday 8/1 5 - 9pm, Saturday & Sunday 8/2 & 3 10am - 5pm

August 16 Open Studio with Philip Frey at Philip Frey Studio,
Cedar Lane, Sullivan, Maine. 11am - 3pm Info: 422.2008

August 23 Designing Women Show & Sale, Atlantic Oakes
Conference Center, Bar Harbor, Maine. 9am - 4pm

September 19, 20 & 21 Common Ground Country Fair
(Maine Marketplace Area), Unity, Maine. Gates open at 9am.

October 25 & 26 2008 Homecoming Craft Fair,
University of Maine Field House, Orono, Maine.
Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm.

November 1 Designing Women Show & Sale,
Husson College, Bangor, Maine. 9am - 4pm

November 14 & 15 The Gifted Hand: Fine Art, Craft
& Gift Show, Holiday Inn, 215 High Street, Ellsworth,
Maine. Friday noon - 6pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm.

November 22 The School Around Us Craft Faire,
Kennebunk High School, Kennebunk, Maine.
Saturday, 9am - 4pm.

More to come...

I'm Back

It's been a really long time since I updated my blog, but I'm happy to report I'm back at it! So much has happened. Too much to begin to say, so I'll just let you all know about upcoming shows for now...

I've been collaborating on selling things a lot with artist Linden O'Ryan. We'll be doing an open studio together on July 26 & 27, 2008. The Open Studio with Linden O'Ryan & Heather Murray will take place at Linden O'Ryan Gallery, 92 Herrick Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine. 10am - 4pm Saturday & noon - 4pm Sunday. Info: 244.0463 or www.LindenOryan.com. Featuring paintings, puppets and cards by myself, paintings and lampshades by Linden O'Ryan and jewelry by Heather Murray.

There's some lovely examples of Heather's Jewelry at the top of this post. Hope you can make it!

harmonious fall flowers

harmonious fall flowers
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

Soon to be added to my website and etsy shoppe. Happy Shopping.

Just in Time for Valentine's Day

kiss from above
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

This new card is arriving at my website just in time for Valentine's Day! It was the winner, quite some time ago I admit, of the "choose the next Fern House Studio Card" contest on this very blog. Stop by and check it out...sure to make your sweetie smile!

Crowns for The Sampler

Crowns
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

Marie at The Sampler was kind enough to feature part of my October contribution--these crowns, on her homepage. Go Marie, Go Sampler!

I've made a HUGE 200+ item contribution for November. Still looking out for my October Sampler to arrive-- should happen anytime now.

Coming to a gallery near you: verdant green flowers

verdant green flowers
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

Just finished this piece for the Small Works Show at the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth-- coming up soon. All my Holiday show info is below--more info to come on the shows page of my website. Check back...

Fern House Studio Holiday Shows

•Small Works Show, Oct. 26th-Dec.1st 2006,
The Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Me. info: 667.6611

•The Gifted Hand: Fine Art, Craft & Gift Show
(to benefit DTA Center for Learning & Growing)
Saturday Nov. 18th 10am-5pm, Maine Grind Coffee Bar,
Main Street Downtown Ellsworth, Me. info: 667.6783

•The Bayschool Winter Faire, Saturday Dec. 2nd
9am-5pm at the Bay School, Blue Hill, Me. info: 374.2187

Shop online: www.FernHouseStudio.com
• Cards or Puppets at • ShoeGazer (Ellsworth) •
• Island Artisans (Bar Harbor) • Bella Colore (Blue Hill) •
• The Blossom Studio (Brooklin) •

New Card: Peaceful Crane

cranecard
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

This card is the newest to the Fern House Studio card line. Get it on the card page. The cool blues have a nice, wintry feel. Makes a lovely holiday card int he winter season...Christmas, Solstice or New Year.

Calendar Girl

appleinbowl
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

Great news! My artwork (Apple in a Bowl) is featured in the 2007 Women Artists Datebook published by Syracuse Cultural Workers. It's a real honor to be among the handful of artists (32) choosen for this calendar.

This wonderful appointment book/ calendar has all these features: Full color/glossy art pages • poetry pages • Quotations by women • Flat opening, spiral-bound • Beautiful smudge-free stock for notations • Lunar cycles, 13 native moons • Convenient, portable 5x7 size • Year-at-a-glance section • Holidays for many faiths • Printed in the USA on stock containing 20-100% postconsumer recycled paper

I find mine very useful to carry in my handbag because of the portable size. It's truly a lovely calendar!
I have a limited amount of copies for sale at my website. You can find them, here


• I'm also carrying new postcards from Syracuse Cultural Workers at my website. So far I have a fun new Dancing Frogs postcard for sale, and more new postcards coming soon, including some new Holiday designs. I'm planning to add a couple of new cards of my own design for the Holiday season as well... keep checking back

New at my Etsy shoppe

stawberry wallet
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

This strawberry wallet made of 100% wool felt and lovely vintage strawberry cards from a 70's Swiss memory game is for sale at my etsy shoppe.

Cool Easter News

Have you seen the Bunny-a-long Blog? It's got all kinds of funny bunny pics on it. Makes a nice pre-Easter web surf.

Speaking of pre-Easter-- you can find these nifty fingerpuppets at my site. Fun for the Easter basket!

Thuya Doors

thuya doors 2
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

These carved wooden doors are up in the spring, summer & fall at Thuya Gardens in Northeast Harbor, Maine. I think they are beautiful and took photos to inspire future paintings. This owl will definately inspire a painting!

Update -- new stuff at my site

runninggirlwallet1
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

This lovely running girl wallet is for sale at my site. Memory card is vintage--from a 70's german/swiss memory game. Oops...sewed the card on a bit crooked (only my second attempt at machine sewing anything). I thought the flower button worked well. 100% wool felt.

These other nifty things are new, too:

Open winged owl finger puppet-- a new design (see post below).
Chick finger puppet-- a new character perfect for spring.
Bunny Finger puppets are back in stock...for your favorite person's Easter or May Day basket.
100% Wool felt Vintage Card Foxy Wallet (pictured in a post below)
And kits to sew your own cool vintage memory card wallets:
100% Wool Felt Vintage Sparrow Card Wallet Kit
100% Wool Felt Vintage Lemon Card Wallet Kit
100% Wool Felt Vintage Butterfly Card Wallet Kit

Happy shopping! I hope your enjoy browsing my site. Let me know what you think.

Interviewed on Crafty Synergy

Fern House Studio was interviewed for Crafty Synergy. You can read the whole interviewhere

Here's an excerpt:
"My name came from an episode of Ira Glass' fabulous show "This American Life" on National Public radio. He was doing an interview with a sociologist who studied where children went during the day when they were alone back in the 1970's. That was back in the days when kids hung out alone and didn't have a million activities booked for them all the time (my childhood!). Anyway, what he discovered was that children all had secret places... kind of clubhouses, but they didn't have to be houses. They were places kids could go and be alone or with a group of friends and get away from the pressures of everyday life, be imaginative and creative and just play. One group of children had a special place in the woods they called "The Fern House". He described it as very beautiful... just sort of an outline of twigs and branches that created the agreed upon walls and windows, and then these beds of ferns that the children would create fresh every day with new ferns. So this idea intrigued me very much. I want my studio to always be a place where I can go, create, escape the pressures of everyday life and be inventive and play, so I adopted the name Fern House for my studio..."

new puppets coming

openwingedowl
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

This openwinged owl is a new fingerpuppet design, among many, coming soon to my website or one of the galleries carrying my work.

Look what I made!

Foxywallet1
Originally uploaded by Fern House Studio.

Look! One of my first sewing projects--a nifty changepurse/pouch. I even lined it with creme colored duponi silk. A memory game card adorns the front (a card from a memory game I used to play as a kid.) Vintage button. 100% wool felt.

I'm quite proud, though the sewing isn't perfect, it's a fun start. Think I should sell these on my website? I could also sell kits to make them--let me know what you think.

Illustration Friday: Chair

These are pics of a rocking chair I painted a couple of years ago for The Maine Discovery Museum in an auction/ benefit they were doing. It has a happy home now. Features all kinds of my animals and goes from water to land to sky.

Sew & Sew

I got a new sewing machine! I'm so excited! I'm just learning how to machine sew and got this basic $149 machine from Pfaff, which looks great for beginners. And I get 5 hours of free classes and lots of other perks from the (locally owned) store where I bought it.



So maybe you won't hear from me for awhile, as I'll be busy playing with my new machine. Then suddenly one day, all kinds of posts of wonderful sewn things will appear here. I have lots of cool ideas in mind.

Speaking of sewing, here's a new puppet body--this one's gonna be a crocodile:

The pattern of the fabric reminds me of this:, which is a piece from an old memory game from the 70's that my sister and I used to play with my grandma. I'm going to be using some of these memory pieces ( I hope) in some very cool sewn pouches/ change purses that I have planned. One of the sewing machine projects. I'll post them when I have some done. There are all kinds of retro designs on those memory pieces that I love; including a very neat fox, and a couple of inspiring owl designs. They have a very European design style-- this game came from Switzerland and was made by Ravensburger, who is still in the game/hobby business in Europe. As far as I can tell, though, this memory game is out of print.

lastly, I got the nifty chicken measuring tape at the fabric store. Pull on the egg and the tape measure comes out.

Featured Again!

Thanks to Hip Picks.com for featuring my prints. Just a reminder, my print sale is going on until Feb. 28th, supplies are dwindling, so visit soon.

Hatching a Plan...

Oh...I'd love to get my website featured in Daily Candy. Do you have a secret side that likes scheming and plotting? Well, maybe you'd enjoy helping me.

First of all, Daily Candy is a daily email that is sent to probably tens of thousand of people, maybe more--by request only (it's NOT spam). They feature a different website every day that might have things, services etc. of interest to people. Ok this is a bad description, so if anyone can do better, do so by adding a clarifying comment below.

Anyway, apparently Daily Candy is awesome press for small businesses. And they actually feature you free, which is becoming more and more unusual in our world of advertising and product placement. It's just really tough to "get in".

So here's where my plan comes in. I want to be featured on Daily Candy. If you really like my work and my website, you can help by going here:
Daily Candy's submission page and choosing story ideas & tips from the popdown menu. Then suggest my website, www.fernhousestudio.com (not this blog, of course). Then post a comment here letting me know you did just that.

I'll be overjoyed! Then, if this works, and enough people suggest me, perhaps they will feature me. If they feature me, I'll send someone who posted here as suggesting me a free sample pack of Fern House Studio cards. The winner will be picked at random. It is just a small thank you for taking the time to bother to mention my website. I really, truly appreciate any and everybody's efforts! And I always appreciate everyone's kind comments and encouragement of my work. That's really the point, putting my work out there to make people smile and enjoy.