Each year Creative Loafing, Tampa's free weekly altenative newspaper holds their coveted Best of the Bay Awards. People get to mominate their favorite restaurants, galleries, hangouts, and more. This year I was nominated in two categories- Best Hand-Crafted Jewelry and Best Place to Shop Green. It may sound trite but it is an honor to be nominated. Voting ends September 9th. 2021. You can vote using the button below.

When I saw this sign in the store I knew I had to have it. I am very proud to say that I inherited my Mom's creativity and talents. She could make just about anything! She made my clothes, Halloween costumes, holiday decorations, and most importantly, ceramics. She made my first Easter dress without a pattern. She fell in love with this dress in a department store but it was too expensive. So she studied it and would go back and look at it over an over and made it herself!

After retiring from the Burlesque stage shortly before I was born, my mom opened a ceramic shop. I was not even 2 years old when she stuck a paintbrush in my hand and I made my first craft. It was a little ceramic lamb that I still have. 

My Mom, aka Dawn Jabot, The Fashion Plate of Burlesque.  She made a lot of her own costumes.

​Over the years she would move away from ceramics and into various other crafts. Painting, punch needle embroidery, rag crochet, heat transfer t-shirt iron-ons, and more. Whatever the hottest trend was, she tried it.

As time went on she stopped creating. But she was with me, guiding me and inspiring me as I built up my jewelry business.  She would accompany me to craft shows and markets. She loved being out there meeting people.

I lost my mom in 2011 but her creative spirit lives on in me. I feel her watching over me when I'm creating something or looking for inspiration.  She was truly larger than life and I am proud to be her daughter. When people ask me where I get my creativity from, I tell them I got it from my Mama!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

ReUsin By Susan

Multi-colored recycled paper beads are the focal point of these adorable earrings. The earwires are surgical steel and are very lightweight.
www.etsy.com/listing/789368355/recycled-paper-bead-drop-earrings?ref=listings_manager_grid

Want to feel like a rockstar? Guitar pick jewery is a must for any rocker chick's wardrobe. I carefully select the picks and beads to find the best color combinations. Each pair is unique.

Its all about a differnt angle! By simply flipping the pick these earrings take on a completely different look anf feel. The accent beads match so perfectly, you'd think they were made to be together!

Complete your rocker chick look with a necklace that echos the laces on a corset! Two guitar picks are "laced" together with wire and suspended on a black metal chain.

Thanks to the global pandemic many of us in the handmade business are feeling pretty down. Not that we are sick, just heartbroken and scared. Many of us, like myself have real world jobs and we sell our crafts as a way to make extra money. But for others its a sole source of income. With the rise of Covid-19 all of the markets, festivals, and craft shows have been cancelled for the forseeable future. This is a huge blow to all of us. I'm lucky that I have this website and my Etsy shop but I can't say that business is booming. At least not yet.

Right now, everyone is still coming to grips with the situation the world is now in. Eventually when the panic buying of toilet paper slows down and people settle into a routine in our new reality, we were start to look for things to do. More people than ever will be exploring online shopping. My hope is that you will take a little time to explore local, handmade items.

Since my main market closed this past weekend, several of my fellow vendors and myself of us are using social media to do "Virtual Markets" as a way to promote each other. These Virtual Markets are just us sharing posts, projects and updates on what we are doing during this shutdown. We just want to stay relevant so that when we do reopen our customers can find us again. Or better yet continue to shop with us using our online options.

So thats what us crafters are doing. Want to help? Here's how:

• Like, follow, comment, and share your favorite crafter's or artist's social media. Those darn algorithms!
• Shop Etsy and similar websites since they are all small business owners so those funds stay in the community.
• Encourage your friends and family to shop small during this crisis.
• Follow blogs like mine to stay updated on what we are working on.

We are all in this together! We will get through it but it won't be easy. If we stick together it will only make us stronger!

Be well and Wash your hands!
​ReUsin by Susan

I have a LOT of wine corks! I don't drink a lot of wine. Hardly any at all, really. I only like sweet wines. Not a fan of dry wine, but I digress. Lucky for me, I don't even have to drink wine to get corks! Ever since I started making recycled jewelry people have been giving me wine corks. I have bags and boxes full. I like to go through and see the sizes, colors, and graphics. All of these play into what I will do with them.

This past weekend I was gifted a bag of wine corks. In them were the wonderful pink corks! I knew exactly what I was going to do with them! I have some pink ribbon glass beads that I added to them and made this necklace and key chain.

The "grapes" in this ornament are not painted. These are naturally stained by the wine. I think the different patterns and colors just add so much more depth to it.

​Recently I have expanded my cork art beyond just jewelry. I glued some corks together and painted them to make pumpkins in different sizes. I also made some "grape bunches" out of some red wine stained corks. I have to say i was really impressed with how well they turned out!

I have plans to make earrings and bracelets out of wine corks as well. Cutting wine corks presents some challenges I haven't quite worked out yet. But as soon as I do I will post them here!

In the meantime, if you have some wine corks, bottle caps, buttons, or anything you think I can use just send me an email at reusinbysusanfl@gmail.com or you can bring them to me at the Ybor City Saturday Market.