Showing posts with label baked goods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baked goods. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Shop Over 80 Handmade Vendors in Loveland!

Meet Suzanne from SQ2 Creations ...

I’m a quilt maker based in Piketon, Ohio, creating heirloom-quality quilts designed for everyday use and long-term durability. My work focuses on thoughtful color palettes, balanced design, and construction meant to hold up to years of real life. Each quilt is made slowly and intentionally, with an emphasis on comfort, longevity, and quiet beauty.

I’ve been quilting for several years, with my work evolving steadily from personal projects into a focused small business. Over time, my process has become more intentional, emphasizing consistency, material quality, and design that feels timeless rather than trend-driven. March in Cincinnati will be my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show, and I’m looking forward to being part of it!

I’m inspired by the idea of making objects that are meant to be used — quilts that live in homes, get folded, washed, and passed down. Natural textures, balanced color, and a sense of calm all play a role in my work, as does the belief that handmade quilts should be thoughtfully made, functional, and attainable enough to be genuinely used rather than reserved for display.

I was drawn to quilting as a way to combine creativity with function. The process of taking raw materials and turning them into something useful, warm, and lasting has always appealed to me. 

It developed over time through practice, curiosity, and a willingness to refine my work. Quilting is a craft where skill builds slowly, and I’ve grown into it through consistent making and attention to detail.

My process is simple and intentional. I select a pattern, choose a fabric line that complements it, and concentrate on careful construction. I don’t overcomplicate decisions, which helps keep the work clear, balanced, and true to its purpose. I see my business continuing to grow at a sustainable pace, with a strong emphasis on quality over quantity. My goal is to maintain a body of work that feels cohesive and intentional, while continuing to offer quilts that are meant to be truly used and enjoyed.

There isn’t a message in the traditional sense. My work is about warmth, care, and longevity — creating quilts that provide comfort and become part of everyday life, rather than objects meant only for display.

Meet Kasey and Jason from Wheel and Chisel LLC...

We are Wheel and Chisel LLC. Kasey and Jason are both registered nurses who make handmade pottery and woodworking items such as bowls, mugs, cutting boards, hybrid epoxy and wood charcuterie trays, and other household items and holiday decor. Everything is made in house at every stage of the process, including glazing and firing using our own kiln. We've been lucky enough to secure a few sponsors including Designer Epoxy, Growling Molds, and Eye Candy Pigments.

We've been serious about production for about a year now and are hard at work not only creating product but building our Instagram page, @wheelandchisel, and recording content for our website, wheelandchisel.com, and building our YouTube page.

We both enjoy learning and having a creative outlet. Our inspiration comes from various sources including youtubers and artists like Florian Gatsby, Pottery to the People, Jim Sprague, and Mayuko. Learning their techniques help us create variations on popular themes as well as develop our own designs.

Kasey started her pottery journey earlier in life in a pottery class that she took in high school and she had been looking forward to developing her talent further. Jason had slowly pieced together woodworking tools, initially out of necessity for home projects, and happened to develop a love for lathe work and flatwork. 

No matter what the piece is, there are preliminary steps that need to be laid out in advance, whether it is wedging clay or gathering lumber. Each piece deserves individual attention to things like color, grain distribution, height, handle shape, etc. Sometimes, when something is on the lathe or the wheel, the piece speaks to you and quietly tells you what it wants to be and you have to be willing to listen. 

In five years we will be doing several shows a season, uploading content to YouTube and products to our website regularly. We want to constantly improve our techniques and our finished product, ensuring that our clients receive something that is one of a kind and has a special meaning to them.

Meet Teresa from My Creative Cookies...

I started in 2020 during Covid. I got my first paying customer December of 2020.  I took some online classes in baking and then discovered I really love the decorated sugar cookies side of baking. I think because it brings out the creativity I never knew I had. It really is my happy place. 


I love to make people happy and to see their faces and reactions to my decorated cookies just brings my joy. What is a blessing to me is that I get to be apart of someone’s special celebration thru my cookies. My creative inspirations is really thru the request of my customers. Sometimes they will request a certain design or theme and I think, I can’t do that, but giving it some thought and researching about the characters or watching the movie of the characters they want in cookies, I think “ok, I got this.” 

This will be my third Avant Garde event. I like this event because it’s organized, it’s local, it’s exposure, and it’s affordable for me being a home baker.  

In five years I’d like to own a place where I can teach classes and other bakers can affordably rent space to teach classes, have cookie and cake supplies and use my Eddible printer, 3D printer for their own use when needed. 

Meet Rob from Heartwood Workshop... 

I've been making things my entire life but in early September of 2024 I got a wild hair and decided to start making and selling woodcrafts. Join me here on my journey. I make home decor and outdoor furniture and planters. 

I started in September of 2024 making small Jack-0-Lanterns and selling them to co-workers and on Facebook. 

This will be my first Avante Garde show. Being a WestSider I'm a little afraid to make the trek all the way to Lebanon.  I didn't get accepted at previous shows so I'm pretty humbled to be in this one! 

I LOVE taking a piece of wood or scrap or cedar picket and turning it into something of value. There is no scrap wood, only pieces that haven't been used yet.

When I retire in then next few years I don't want to sit on the couch and die, I want to do something.  If I can make other people smile it's even better! 

 
When I was able to sell things and friends and neighbors reach out to me for projects (I recently turned an old baby bed into a hallway bench for example). 

I'm a youtube certified woodworker.  I love to watch videos and then the videos that the videos find and tell me to watch.  I take something I see there and add my "flair" to it to make it mine. In 5 years I'm hoping to make this my full time / part time retirement job.  Hopefully closer to 2 or even 1 year!

Meet Ginger Boyd from Pieces with Purpose..

As a proud mom of seven and grandmother of two, I am self-employed, happily married, and share my home with our dog, Allie. I began this creative journey about seven months ago and recently participated in my very first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. What inspires me most is simple but powerful: new year, new mission, same commitment to our youth.


In 2025, we focused our efforts on supporting local teen substance abuse centers, and we are overjoyed that all of their current needs have been met. As we move into 2026, our heart remains with local teens, and Pieces with Purpose is honored to partner with The Ben Memorial Fund. 

This incredible organization was founded by a Loveland resident after the heartbreaking loss of her son to suicide, and it works tirelessly to erase the stigma surrounding mental health struggles while providing life-saving resources to young people in crisis.


I discovered my creative passion with the encouragement of my sister-in-law when I became partially retired and needed something meaningful to fill my time. Since then, my creative process has been rooted in intention and purpose, always centered on supporting teens and the daily struggles they face.

In five years, I hope to continue growing this mission, expanding our impact, and helping spark the conversations that truly save lives. Together, we can make a difference.



2026 Cincinnati Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Sunday, March 15, 2016
Sunday- 10:00am-4:00pm
RSVP Event Center
453 Wards Corner Rd.
Loveland, Ohio 45140
For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, becki@ag-shows.com
Visit us on:

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Let's Get Crafty In Cincinnati!

Meet Sara Jo from Sergio’s Flower Trunk… 

My passion for floral design started at the age of eight. Babe Meyer Florist, in Oakley, let me clean his shop in exchange for a lesson on how to make a corsage as a gift for my mom for Mother’s Day. I have well over 50 years of experience, but this is my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show.  

I get inspired in many ways. Many times, my sisters will get an offbeat vase and tell me they just want to see what I can do with it. I haven’t been stumped yet by them. I can match most decors with a picture, so that helps to fuel my creativity as well. 

My dad used to deliver flowers for BeJo Flowers in Oakley. Since I got car sick I stayed in the shop. I got to absorb all the beauty of the floral industry at a very young age. At the age of 12 I discovered my talent when I made my first successful Mother’s Day arrangements.

 
In regard to my creative process, I just know what to do for a piece. It's like my mind has a camera shooting pictures as I talk to a client and it comes together. Sometimes I'll sketch the piece out, but most times I just go by the photos in my mind.

My message is "Art can be an expression of whatever your passion is". For me it's flowers, for others it may be poetry or painting. Whatever it is, express it and let your joy show through your creations.

Meet Carol Tomes from Woods by Design…

My name is Carol Tomes. About seven years ago I remarried and my husband asked if there was something I’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the chance. Absolutely, I’d love to learn to work with wood! I’ve always been a crafter but after a couple of classes I knew this was it! This will be my first Avant-Garde show, but I will hopefully participate in many more. I have participated in many Cincinnati shows. 


I up cycle using scraps of wood from different sources. I even go to sawmills for unusual pieces. Some of my pictures are framed in discontinued kitchen cabinet samples, which make beautiful frames. I also make custom pieces. Ex. Trombone: the background is from a sawmill in Tennessee. 

To be able to save the wood and show off its beauty thrills me. I have a Women’s Cave in my basement where I go in the evenings and get lost. Although I’m up in age, God willing in five years I’ll still be showing off my pieces.

If you have a passion for something Go For It. You’ll never know unless you try. At any age. 


Meet Brittany Harris from The Cookie Source...


My name is Brittany Harris. I am the owner of The Cookie Source, a licensed home bakery. I specialize in custom decorated sugar cookies and gourmet drop cookies. I have been a licensed business for three years now. I've participated in one other Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show back in 2019. I'm excited to be back with an even better array of goodies this year!


I get inspired by many things... A pattern on someone's shirt at the grocery store, a beautiful flower I see while outside with my kids. But most of all is the expression on a customer's face when I'm able to bring to life the design they had in their head.

A family friend offered to teach me the art of cookie decorating. As soon as I caught the hang of it there was no turning back! Having grown up thinking I wasn't artistic at all (thanks high school art teachers...) I would have never discovered my talent if it hadn't been for my family's friend suggesting she teach me.

Cookie decorating is quite the process. Step one is sketching the cookie designs. My #1 focus is a delicious cookie, so the recipe was tweaked until it was perfect! Cookies baked, icing stirred and colors mixed and bagged. The decorating process can take 24+ hours because of the drying process. The different layers of designs can really take quite a while to complete.

In five years I hope to have a cookie food truck that I can drive around and set up at various locations to sell yummy treats and to make it more convenient for people to pick up their orders.

The message behind my work is love. The detail and time poured into each individual cookie simply boils down to love. Love for the process, love for the creativity, and love for the people who will be enjoying the art I create.




2021 Cincinnati Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Sunday, March 7th, 2021 - 10:00am-4:00pm
Oasis Golf Club & Conference Center
902 Loveland-Miamiville Rd.
Loveland, OH 45140
For more information, contact Amanda Look, Event Coordinator at Amanda@ag-shows.com
Visit us on:


Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Meet More of the Talented Vendors Attending the Cincinnati Show this Weekend!

Meet Nancy McCloskey from Fancy Nancy Knits...
My grandmother and mother taught me to knit. Making doll clothes, coasters, hats for my pet cat has transformed into my passion of combining textures and colors into what I call Fancy Nancy Knits. I am lucky to have a wonderful husband and two sons. A mostly male household does not allow me much sparkle or glitter. My knitting lets me bling something up. Each item I knit is adorned with a button, a pin, a flower, something girly. Life gets busy...but I try to find time to knit. I am still knitting with my grandmother’s and mother’s needles. What a joy that is! In the evening when I knit my fingers are busy so I cannot be munching on chips. So please help me put down the chips and keep knitting!
My grandmother showed me how to knit when I was in 2nd grade-and the craft has been a passion of mine ever since. I am excited to say this is my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. I love to mix colors and textures and often find colors and patterns in nature like a bouquet of flowers from the garden.

I came from a crafty family. My family was always crafting. I do love to try new crafts out even today-but knitting has remained the one that I continuously go back to. I think it is in my family blood.
When describing my creative process I say it all starts with color. I usually pick colors that match my mood or desired mood. They might be calming greys or bright pinks. That is the great thing, my knitting is almost like a meditation. If I need to be calm -- knitting with some soft fuzzy grey yarn will get me there.   

In five years, I would like to retire from my day job of being a Speech and Language Pathologist, move Up North in Michigan with my husband and be able to hike, garden and knit. I add a bit of bling to each of my items because we all need sparkle.  Often my mittens do not match because too much in life has to match -our gloves do not need to.  I hope that people look at my knit items on their hands, neck or heads and smile!

Meet Lynne Toensmeyer from Katie's Classic Cookies, LLC...
I have been the owner of Katie's Classic Cookies, LLC along with my husband, Tom, for 5 years. I used to be a registered nurse but found it to be a bit too physically and emotionally exhausting. Since our daughter, Katie, for whom the company was named, was starting college, Katie's Classic Cookies was created in 2013 in order to pay her tuition. I have been doing this for five years
We wanted to make a cookie that would be beautiful as well as tasty. We see each cookie as a little work of art. My mom taught me to love baking and eating chocolate chip cookies. 

Baking and cooking for my family and friends has always been very rewarding. Baking for a living now satisfies my creative needs and brings people a lot of happiness. What could be better than that!
Make cookies that stay fresh for more than a couple days, make them beautiful, and make them tasty. If  we follow those steps, everyone is happy! Hopefully, I will have two children through college and I will have the health and stamina to continue baking as I do now in the next 5 years. 

Colossians 3:23  And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. This bible verse sums up how we honor God as the C.E.O. of Katie's Classic Cookies.

Meet Lindsay Nichols from Knitted by Nichols...
My name is Lindsay Nichols. This is the first Avant-Garde Art & Craft show I have ever been in. I find a lot of inspiration in nature... I also go online and find some patterns and try to put my own spin on things. I try to think outside the box! I was born without thumbs, and they moved my index fingers over to make a thumb on both hands. I could never find any gloves that fit me, so I made my own!
That is where the crocheting bug started. My friends and family will tell you that I will look at something that someone is wearing and say, "I could make that." I then go to my sketch pad and sketch out a pattern. I wish for people to see the beauty in my work. I wish to inspire people to look at my work and get some inspiration for themselves. I sell my creations when I can on Etsy. My shop name is Knitted By Nichols. I hope to grow my shop in the next five years. The message behind my work is that there is beauty everywhere. You just have to know where to look!

Meet Lindsay Allen from Katsaymeow...
I’ve spent most of my life as a bartender and have seen a lot. Really, it is the perfect job for a people watcher with a little love affair with sociology. One thing I always saw as a recurring theme is insecurity in women. About their hair and outfit, talking to other women, being alone at a bar. I am that way sometimes, we all are. It would break my heart to hear a women pour their soul out to me about not being good enough, or about how their boyfriend or husband might not find them attractive anymore. If I could wave a wand and make all the women (and men for that matter) magically confident and accepting of differences I would. Seriously, our society would benefit greatly if we didn’t tear each other down emotionally. 
If I make one piece of jewelry that makes a women feel beautiful about herself emotionally and physically, I’ve reached a goal. I have struggled with this myself and find that I personally feel more confident when I am rocking a gorgeous pair of earrings! I have always envisioned branching out to more accessories and even into home decor. I love to create and would love to offer more than just jewelry made from my soul. Gift giving is a way you can let someone know your are thinking about them, their wants or needs. You can do this with a card or cookie or a warm, sincere gesture. It is more than a gift to me, it is giving emotional confidence with belief that you have their back. That they could always reach out to you knowing you have love for them. It is tangible.
I am so excited for the future of Katsaymeow! I am always learning new skills and evolving my process to include new techniques. This year I am focused on learning to use a torch and creating rings. My creative process can get a bit scattered, with beads and wire and findings and well everything everywhere! I am really concentrating on having a focused collection and still making my fly-by-my-seat, one of a kind creations. I am inspired still by vintage designs and
ancient techniques that are still used today in modern jewelry making. These practices along with using found, up-cycled, vintage and natural gems and minerals are the cornerstone of my creative process.
This will be my first Avant-Garde Craft and Art Show. I am excited about the experience and meeting wonderful people with the same passion for art and the creative process. Not just the other artists, but the guests that attend as well. We all have humanity in common, as well as a love of art in all forms. Stop by my table and say hi! I also offer a repair service so bring your broken jewelry and I will try to fix it on the spot.




2018 Cincinnati Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Sunday, March 11th 2018
Sunday- 10:00am-5:00pm
Oasis Golf Club and Conference Center
902 Loveland-Miamiville Rd. 
Loveland, Ohio 45140
For more information, contact Amanda Look, Event Coordinator at amanda@ag-shows.com
Visit us on:







Spring Shopping is Here!

Meet  Steve Kosztala  from  KOSZTALASCOPES ...  I am a kaleidoscope-maker.  Growing up in New London, Connecticut in a large family, I didn...