The Lone Star Ladies: We Offer Event Production at its Finest!

Anne Marie Beard has lived in Austin her entire life. She discovered her love of
art at an early age - and was thrilled to have a Mom and Grandmother who shared
their sewing skills with her, and a Grandfather who shared his love of art.
Growing up in Austin has been a rich experience - her childhood was filled with
trips to local Museums and heavy involvement in the performing and fine arts.

Anne Marie earned her BA in Costume Design from the University of Texas, and
began her business designing handbags while still a Senior. Since 2002 she has been
creating meticulously crafted artisan handbags and accessories and has earned a
reputation for excellence in design and construction. Anne Marie is a leader in the
Austin Craft Community - an active member of the Austin Area Quilt Guild,
a Guest Teacher at The Stitch Lab, and Leader of the 500+ member
Babes in Business Networking Group. She has mentored many
fledgling designers, and loves to promote other artists all she can -
especially by wearing their work!

After participating in hundreds of shows around Texas, Anne Marie decided it was
time to try her hand at producing a shopping event. Allison was the perfect partner!
Anne Marie has often felt that her work cannot be defined by a single category -
craft, art, or fashion. How about a little bit of all three? She hopes to attract
vendors whose work is similarly appealing across multiple markets.

Allison (Beard) Wall currently resides in San Diego, CA with her husband of 20 years,
Kevin, and their two beautiful daughters, Greta, age 17 and Erin, age 15.
Her life as a Navy Spouse has given her the opportunity to travel the United States
and live in Texas, New York, Connecticut, Georgia and now beautiful San Diego,
as well as visit many of the 50 contiguous United States. Throughout all her travels,
she has maintained her Texas pride and strong relationship with her family,
including her sister Anne Marie.

Over the years she continued to offer advice to Anne Marie on her business ventures
and became more and more interested in starting a business with her youngest sister.
Her love for the arts and entrepreneurial spirit provided a great springboard to dive right
into The Lone Star Ladies. 2008 - 2009 was a year of adventures, obstacles,
self-exploration, innumerable amounts of phone and computer time, learning how
to blog for the first time, laughter, tears and ultimately success, and made her want
to make 2010 even better! Her eyes were also opened to the possibilities for
Handmade Happenings in San Diego, so look out for what will happen next for this
oldest sister of The Lone Star Ladies!

The idea for The Lone Star Ladies was created in March of 2008 while Anne Marie was on a visit to
San Diego, CA. After a long day at a local shopping event most sisters would be tired, but Anne Marie
and Allison were energized by knowing the event they had just come from could have been better,
for the vendor and shopper alike.

The Lone Star Ladies Present: Shop Austin is the result of a major brainstorming session that took place
that evening on Allison's back porch. The time was right for a new business together, especially one that
would revolutionize the arena of Event Productions.

Allison Wall and Anne Marie Beard are both native Texans, 5th generation Austinites and have family
roots that run deep in the capital city of Texas. Our family’s ancestors, the Beards, Boswells, Brodies,
Clarks and Todds, include a rich heritage of Homesteaders, Sharp Shooters, Entrepreneurs, Farmers,
Antiques Dealers, Artists and an original Texas Ranger!

Austin and its surrounding areas are an important part of our heritage and we hope to honor the unique
flavor of Central Texas with an equally unique event production company. The Lone Star Ladies focus
on connecting handmade vendors who represent the taste, culture and fun environment of Austin with
shoppers who expect the latest in design and best in construction. The Lone Star Ladies Present:
Shop Austin in 2009 was their first event, and the 2010 Shop Austin Event will be even better!

Throughout 2009, Anne Marie and Allison continued to see a need for handmade vendors to be promoted
year-round and for aspiring handmade artisans to have financial support in order to succeed.
With those goals in mind, The Lone Star Ladies started Handmade Happenings and
The Lone Star Ladies Present: Frontier. Handmade Happenings is an Ezine and Blog focused on
promoting handmade events and classes, individual artists, crafters and designers and handmade
collaborative businesses. It serves as a venue to connect traditional shoppers with handmade vendors,
and "Covers All Things Handmade" in both Austin and San Diego!

The Lone Star Ladies Present: Frontier is a scholarship available to graduating seniors from AISD who
are pursuing an education and career in the Applied Arts. The 2010 finalists and scholarship recipient
will all be at this year's The Lone Star Ladies Present: Shop Austin! Donors and sponsors for Frontier
are always welcome, and you can contact The Lone Star Ladies for more information.