COLCHESTER HIGHLAND GAMES & GATHERING 2019
For details of the Craft Fair at the Games on Sept 7th 2019 see HERE
Our Family Home & Business
East Mountain Ranch is a small hobby farm, workshop & gallery.
We just love crafts, and sell not only our own, but other locally made unique items in our little gallery. We also have a few items from Scotland, land of our ancestors.
All our jewellery and a select few other items are one off creations and can be made to your own design. Our products come with a limited lifetime guarantee (see below) and are made to exacting standards.
We also have workshops in jewellery making and very soon card making & wire wrapping where you can come and learn a new hobby. Everything is supplied for a one off fee - no hidden extra's! Though we do carry all the supplies you would need if you want to take it further - guaranteed cheaper than Wal-mart & Michaels!
We are also excited to offer an upcycling service for that piece of jewellery you never wear but like the colours... for more ideas on what you could have see here.
To get to our Gallery and Workshop just follow the drive round behind the house. Our little gallery is tucked in between the house and the barn. Follow the signs.
We hope you will take a moment to come visit us either online or in our small gallery next to Mountain Golf, off Pictou Road. Get Directions Here
Jewellery Workshops
Our Jewellery Design Workshops run at a time to suit you, we take a maximum of 5 students to enable more one on one time. Want to make a gift or give a class as a gift, you choose, schedule one now.
Everything is included in the price.
For more details see our Workshops Page
We also sell everything you need to continue your craft at home. See our Craft Supplies Page for a taster of what we have on offer.
BLOGGING ALONG
How Do I Do That?
We have a new section under our workshops button entitled How Do I Do
That?
Here we hope to give you some tips, instruction, guidance and inspiration.
Ever wondered about types of beads & all the jargon that you read online and in bead stores?
The best tool for the job?
How do I use a bead board?
Strings & Things
Learn all this and more on this page.
Is there an item in your workshop or you have seen in a store and don't know what it's for, a bead you can't identify, an item you just can't find, please email us and we will try our best to help. You can also send in your ideas for our How Do I Do That
Page.
All Things New
Time for a change. We hope you like our new website. As with all designs we do, it took us about 3 hours to choose the one we were happy with. Now we have to play around to get it looking just right. Feel free to tell us what you think.
We're busy creating new things in our workshop. Watch out for some new and unusual items appearing soon. I have set up my photo studio and will be busy photographing items over the next few weeks.
Watch this space...
SNOW, SNOW, SNOW
We have been fairly buried under a tonne of snow this year. The drifts always seem to collect around the house where we come and go. The store was closed for a few days whilst we
dug ourselves out! On the way home the other night I got stuck in the driveway and a kindly neighbour came to my rescue. He was rewarded with a dozen freshly laid eggs from our
chickens. Thank you Mike! We are looking forward to spring, but are enjoying our winter wonderland whilst it lasts. It is just so pretty.
Chicks on the Ranch
In August last year 10 baby chicks arrived at East Mountain Ranch. They were joined a couple of months later by some older bantam hens and a little rooster who sounds like he has a sore throat, but tries hard to impress all the ladies in his care! Since then the babies have grown rather large and behave just like our puppies. They are so excited when you go across to visit them in their coop in the barn and stick to your legs like limpets! They have recently started laying eggs, both brown and white, about a dozen a day, so we have some for sale.
Drop in for your freshly laid free range eggs soon.
Share to Win
This month we are giving away a one off hand crafted necklace & earrings. Just click on the Facebook icon at the top of our home page for a chance to win. Draw will take place on
Dec. 19th
Craft Supplies
We have added a new section to our Gallery at East Mountain Ranch - a craft supply corner.
You will find everything you need to make your own jewellery, cards & scrapbooking. We also have a range of flowers, stitching frames and wreaths.
Come in and browse our selection, guaranteed cheaper than Walmart & Michaels...
New Workshop
My workshop & gallery are finally completed. It took a while and lots of teamwork here at East Mountain Ranch but I think we've finally done it.
There's room for 5 students at a custom made mobile workstation where I will be teaching jewellery making and other crafts. My own workstation has been moved nearer the window to take advantage of the light and the amazing view and I am just loving it. It has inspired me and I have been overly productive since!
Take a minute out of your busy schedule and drop round to visit. Enjoy a stroll round our 5.2 acres, visit our new workshop and gallery, hunt down that one off gift for yourself or someone else or come participate in a craft class.
You are always welcome.
Hope to see you soon.
Linda (& James)
New Classes at East Mountain Ranch
People keep asking me how I started making jewellery and what gives me the inspiration for my unique pieces. They will wonder at the fact that I have never made two the same. I, myself often wonder how I got to where I am after the crude beginnings I had. The initial creations I sold were hand tied and all done without the use of any tools whatsoever, my beads rolling around a tray as I tried to scoop them up onto a piece of elastic or thread with my fingers!
Sometimes I wish I'd had someone to show me what to do in those early days. I did eventually attend evening classes, but by that time I had mastered most of the basic techniques myself.
Well, if there is anyone out there that has always thought
"I could do that" but doesn't know quite how to start, then why not come along to one of my jewellery making classes which are starting in June and will be running throughout the year.
My class will be limited to 5 students so that everyone gets the attention and information that they need to create their own special piece of art. There will be different themed classes and I hope to have them during the day as well as in the evening.
Classes start at $25.00 per person per class and include everything you need to make the themed piece.
Call 902 897 4712 or email Linda@eastmountainranch.com
for more details.
New Web Site Design
I'm pretty new to this web design business and I've been busy trawling through my options trying to find the right page design for me... Well, I think I finally found it.
I hope you like the one I've chosen. My favourite colours are purple and green. I've tried the green now here are the purples.
I'd love to hear your feedback
The Big Flood
There was a flood in our basement recently which meant that our workshop had to be relocated temporarily.
We, infact, had to move everything from the basement upstairs whilst the walls, floor and some of the fittings were replaced. Our main floor looked like a warehouse. With six of us in the house it was bedlam at the best of times, not to mention a bit of a squeeze as the workshop was re-located into our wee gift store.
Now that things have been renovated and we are more or less back to normal I've decided that I actually liked having my work area in the shop (the view is amazing for one) my husbands half of the workshop though can quite happily return downstairs! Not that I don't like spending time creating with him, but to have my own space, nice view, be right there for when someone comes into the store... well that beats all.
So next time you come calling into the gift store at East Mountain Ranch you can expect to see me in action creating that something special that will eventually be placed on the shelves just for you to take home.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN...
I inherited my artistic streak from my father who loved to draw and was a watchmaker in his spare time.
At the age of 21 I was asked to sketch the likeness of four dogs for a gentleman who needed an emeregency gift for his wife! I was paid $80, which was a fortune for me in the 80's.
Then one day many years later when my eldest daughter was little, she wanted me to help her with some beads she had been given. As I picked them up to look, I managed to spill all FIVE THOUSAND of them onto the floor! Two hours later and they were all back in their colour co-ordinated tray in time for my daughter to announce that she didn't really want them anyway!!!
Well, I was determined to make something with them and my very first necklace was born. My daughter proudly wore my creation to school, her friends loved it, and so did their mothers! Before long I was creating necklaces for friends and relatives and I had my first addiction!
My daughter is now 21 years old and I am still creating necklaces for her. They have come a long way since that first crude attempt. I often wonder if the people I sold my wares to back in 1998 still have them!
Years of travelling has opened my eyes to new art forms and these days I dabble in clay, candlemaking, woodburning & glass etching to name a few.
I am lucky to have met and married an equally talented and creative husband and last fall we moved to our new home in East Mountain, Nova Scotia,, and decided to use some of the space we have to show off my creations. We changed our sun room into a workshop & gallery, where we can display my works of art.
We also have commissioned artwork from some equally as talented, if not more so, local crafters.
We would love for you to come visit us and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Linda
Our Website is a work in progress.
Meanwhile please feel free to browse.
If you have any questions or are interested in any aspect, please do not hesitate to contact us by email, mail or telephone.
We look forward to hearing from you.