By Sarah Wegelin
The Porcelain Garden, owned and operated by Brenda Smith, offers jewelry and journals handcrafted in celebration of history.
Each piece created by Smith is unique, like a flower from a garden.
Smith’s new addition of hand-crafted journals adds to the historic theme and started with the creation of jewelry from vintage porcelain while tapping into something else she loves doing: organizing.
“I love organizing and I love history,” Smith says.
No stranger to keeping things organized, Smith has worked as a public servant in the records and information department for about 10 years. She is a professional organizer by trade.
Brenda explains each crafted journal is an organization system meant for something specific.
Her travel journal is crafted with maps of local areas from the 1800s.
She says some of the maps show locations that do not exist anymore, which gives a traveller using the journal an opportunity to learn about the history of a town they visit.
Her budgeting journal provides a place to track receipts and bills.
“It’s about simplifying. Having a system so everything is organized helps with doing what’s important,” Smith says. “I like getting stuff done.”
Smith explains it takes her about two hours to create a journal. She uses old beer boxes and pieces the journals together with old items such as the maps.
Each journal has pockets to hold items, and places to write down what you need.
The journal helps to eliminate clutter around the house by providing a beautiful space to put information you don’t want to throw out or put on a computer file.
This summer Smith will occasionally be attending the Golden Farmer’s Market on Saturdays in the Spirit Square to sell her goods.
Her journals are available at Ricky’s All Day Grill on Highway 1 in the retail section of the restaurant. To place an order, or organize a viewing of her work, contact Smith at theporcelaingarden@gmail.com
