bring on the weekend

ok, so i made it through last weekend, all three shows, and the snow. whew. i'll be heading to pittsburgh this weekend for the wonderful handmade arcade, and my work will also be at

squidfire, thanks to shannon of sweetpepita. if you're in pittsburgh, please stop by and see me, or come visit shannon and my BEST buddies down in canton.

exactly two week until christmas. gulp.

buy handmade and help others

It has been a difficult year for many Marylanders because of the tough economy. Many are without jobs and without food. In an effort to help those in need this holiday season, several BEST members will be donating a percentage of money from the the sales of their handmade items from December 1-14. Buyers will have a unique opportunity to support handmade and help feed hungry Marylanders.

The Maryland Food Bank provides nearly 14 million pounds of food annually to 1,000 Network Partners - including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, low-income day care centers, after-school programs, senior centers, rehabilitation centers, and other feeding programs. They supply food for over 50,000 Marylanders each week who otherwise would go hungry or not eat enough, including families with children, the elderly, the homeless, the homebound, low-income workers, the recently unemployed, and people with AIDS and other health problems. For every $1 contributed to the Maryland Food Bank, they are able to provide 3 meals to Maryland’s needy families and individuals.

From December 1st through 14th, the following participating BEST members will be donating a percentage of their sales:

blockpartypress- 10% of Etsy sales
sweetpepita- 10% of all Etsy sales
jenmenkhaus- 10% of all Etsy sales
glowgirl - 10% of all Etsy sales
yummyandcompany- 10% of all Etsy sales
atelieradornments - 10% of all Etsy sales
lanabella - 10% of all Etsy sales
lolamiren - 10% of all Etsy sales
thebrokenplate - 10% of all Etsy sales
tigerlillyshop - 10% of all Etsy ring sales
greenstarstudio - 10% of all Etsy sales

Take some time to visit these Etsy shops, support handmade and know that when you make a purchase between Dec. 1 - 14, you will be helping to provide food and services to someone in need this holiday season. Here are some other ways to support the MD Food Bank:

* Make a direct monetary donation

* Purchase and donate food through the Food Bank's “Virtual Food Drive”

* Deliver the food directly to the Maryland Food Bank at 2200 Halethorpe Farms Road. Please call 410-737-8282 to arrange your delivery.

* Volunteer Opportunities

(Thanks Tamara, of BlockPartyPress, for organizing this drive & writing this lovely post).

file under "what was i thinking?"

i've always been a person who believed if i think i can do it, i can. well, this week is pretty much going to test that theory once and for all. because i will manage to be in three places at once this weekend.

i'm really excited about the Holiday Shop-n-Stroll, from the awesome folks who brought us Handmade Mart. i'll be there in a tent, in december, and i'm looking forward to it!

i'm super disappointed not to actually BE at this show, a favorite of mine, but thanks to my friend emilie, my work will be at Holiday Heap. i'll be stopping by at the end to do some quick shopping, since there will be some great vendors there!

i'm trying out the Greenbelt Festival of Lights this year with the ladies of BEST. i'll be there sunday, but my work will be there on saturday too!

so, as you can see, i'll be spread pretty thin this weekend, but i have plenty of work for all of these shows thanks to my can-do attitude and lots of coffee. but since my work can't be three places at once, if there's something you're interested in, just tell me, and i'll make sure it gets to the right show. now if only someone can make sure i get to the right show!

ok, see you around this weekend!

thank you!

to all of my wonderful customers, friends, and family, thank you for letting me do what i love! as a special thanks, i'll be offering free US shipping and $1 international shipping on any order over $10, from wednesday, november 25th through monday, november 30th. just checkout as normal, use the code "thanks" in the "notes to seller" section at checkout. i'll refund your shipping via paypal once i receive payment. have fun!

happy thanksgiving!

quarantined.

image by shopworthy

well, not really, but we've learned that having a child in pre-school means having perpetual runny noses, and lots of other fun stuff. the sickness hit the day after halloween, and somehow, here we are 2/3rds of the way through november!

well, after having a busy week in the shop last week, i'm now caught up on orders, recovered and getting ready for the few shows i have in december. (you can find my schedule here.) i'm a bit behind in beefing up my etsy shop, but if there's something you want, please please contact me and i'll be happy to make it! i'm just a little behind on photos.

i'll post more on my shows soon, but in the meantime just wanted to share that we are healthy! awesome!

happy halloween!

from a hula girl,

a mischievous alien named stitch

and these guys.

images from my favorite season

sometimes we try to cram a lot of fun into our weeks. starting with the bean's field trip to the always nostalgic (for me) clark's elioak farm, for her first field trip, we kicked off our harvest season.



then we spent the weekend at baugher's, getting our pumpkins and generally getting into the autumnal spirit...


and topped the weekend off with the annual lantern parade, where rick and i decided we were definitely building our own lantern next year.


i was feeling inspired by tamara's post last week on her block party press blog which featured an amazing image of her son enjoying all that fall had to offer. with that in mind, i squashed all terrified-mom instincts and let the bean have at this bail of hay.

i was well rewarded.

flashes from the past

rick and i celebrated an anniversary this week... and i was thinking a lot about how much a different world we inhabited back when he proposed to me. i'd decided pretty early on that while marriage and kids were fun to think about, it was something i thought about as a path other people chose. i wasn't going that direction... all i wanted was to travel and have fun. a world beyond 30 never even occurred to me, like somehow at 29 everything would just end. that's it.

rick and i had been dating just a bit over a year, a year which had been really rough for me in a number of ways, when we decided to take a trip to california to see some friends of his. they lived in l.a., not too far from disneyland, and we had heard about how the haunted mansion (something we both really love) was transformed every year into a nightmare before christmas ride, something we both loved too. i remember thinking how funny it would be if he proposed to me on the ride, and it kind of left my mind as we prepared for the trip.

well, to make a long story, very short, he did propose to me, on the third ride, at the end of the day, after we had a beautiful dinner in an new orleans style restaurant right next to the haunted mansion. i was so shocked i barely left the ride standing, and after stumbling into the art gallery with all of the nightmare before christmas memorabilia, i purchased these jack and sally figures, which we used on our wedding cake. it's funny, but i totally knew we were supposed to be together after that.

i look at this picture of us, taken on that day, and i can't believe how completely unaware we were of what would be in our future. and by that, i mean our little family.

last night at dinner we were talking about halloween costumes the bean had worn, and rick pointed out the year she was a bee, which i had totally forgotten, since i hadn't made the costume. i remember this particular point in my life being so insane at my job that i didn't have the time, and clearly, barely remembered the day. it was a particularly life-affirming moment when i found this photo just to prove that she had indeed been a bumblebee one year, because just this week i was discussing with friends the role motherhood plays in our lives, and how even though i still work (at least two jobs), it's never enough, and it should be. it is.

taking a breath. i think.

i'm super excited because my brain is just whirring away... i have about 5 weeks until the next show, so i'm able to take a breath and make some fun new things... here's a preview of one of the wall pieces i'm making, and i'll also be working on some christmas pieces that i've been thinking about for some time.

i'll also be delivering an order to double dutch, so if you're in hampden you'll be able to find barrettes, headbands, and brooches there, plus i'll be working on photographing a ton of one-of-a-kind stuff to put up on my etsy shop.

maybe i won't be taking a breath after all.

squidfire! and what i'm not doing.

i'll be heading up to philadelphia next weekend for squidfire's first art mart in philly. i'm very excited to see one of my favorite cities, and there will be some fantastic vendors there as well. i should be working on making more headbands, which i sold out of last week at crafty bastards. what i am doing is nothing even remotely connected to headband-making. this includes thinking about apples, enjoying some of the october breezes, seeing a movie with a clown zombie, and thinking up at least 6 new things that i'd like to make. i've gotten a start on making some of these ideas a reality, with different degrees of success, and hopefully once we get some nice sun i can get a few images up.

until then, i'll be continuing to enjoy this beautiful season. and making headbands.

vote for the best!

our BEST blog, where i write many of my craft-relate blog posts, is in the running for Baltimore's craftiest blog. please vote for us today! (and tomorrow too!) don't worry if you are out of state, your vote counts anyway! thanks!

150 days, or thereabouts.

the little guy is 5 months today, hard to believe. i'm starting to feel optimistic that things will return to normal, whatever that is. i keep thinking that niecy nash from clean house is going to show up at my door, and in a way, i kind of welcome that idea. (hey, maybe she'd like to try out a felt flower in her hair. hmm...)

anyway, i realized i hadn't posted a pic of my little tiger lately. it's certainly not that i haven't taken any, since, like we did for the bean, i'm documenting each day of the first year of his life. (if you'll follow along while i go on a tangent here, it's probably the coolest project i've ever undertaken. there are tons of similar photos, but it's amazing to see how much they change in a matter of days. you just don't notice it when you're with them.) annnnnyway, it results in a lot of pretty boring photos of him doing pretty boring things. like sitting in his chair at the table. but really, i can't ever get enough of that smile...

a day well spent

thank you to everyone who stopped by yesterday, it was lovely to see you! i had a wonderful time. also, thanks to the lovely people that put on the show, you are the best! i didn't get much time to see much outside of my booth, but here was our little home for the day.

the view from the front, just before show opening. so colorful!

sweetpepita's beautiful new scarves, pixie hats, and our collaborative arm warmers.

all the adorable sweetpepita kid's clothes.

my beautiful new necklace display.

two of my newest necklaces, that i'm so excited about.

all the barrettes and hair thingies.

my re-invented shutters (thanks, hon!) holding a sampling of brooches.

thanks again, crafty bastards, see you soon!

i didn't rest.

so, i was packed up yesterday, but instead of just letting it be, i had to make this necklace for crafty bastards tomorrow...



...and these earrings.

and in case you wonder where the bean is while i'm taking these photographs, now you know.

see you saturday!

just a sampling of my brooches available at crafty bastards this saturday... if you see one you want and won't make it down, contact me and i'll post it on etsy for you. i also have new eco-felt barrettes and headbands, lots of new large flower wool headbands, and some sweet new necklaces.

see you saturday! booth 3. crafty bastards.

on sunday, we sleep.

come see me this weekend!

it's this weekend! i promise i will get preview photos up before friday, but in the meantime, i'm busy sewing and cutting, cutting and sewing all kinds of new work to add some color to your fall wardrobe. i'll be introducing at least six new pieces, and maybe more if i decide to just keep the coffee pot crankin' all week. make sure to come see us in booth 3! follow me on twitter and i'll be sure to post photos and updates from the event, and maybe even a coupon code!

in the meantime, i wanted to share this little bit from my friend juliet, over at the broken plate. it's a great tribute, i think, to the wonderful craft community that i am so lucky to be a part of.

I guess my bullshit reason is that I am really proud of what I have been able to do with my silly breaking plates business. I am proud that I am surviving the crappiest economy that I have had to deal with by making things with my own hands out of objects that would be trash. Although I may not break plates forver, I want to remember the time I did forever because, well, it was pretty damn fun. I want to look at this tattoo and remember all of my awesome BEST girls, all the silly fun had at craft shows (spray tan and wine, anyone) and all of the odd calls, seemingly out of the blue, from a magazine that likes my work. Really? Rachael Ray? Crazy. So yes, I wil be a grandma with a tattoo, but when my grandkids ask about I can say “Sit down Deary, let me tell you a story about breaking plates.” The real reason, is that it is awesome.

i get by with a little help

i'm hurtling toward the holiday show season at a pace i had never imagined i could maintain. but with the bean off to school in the mornings, and the little guy being bored into sleep by the sounds of me cutting felt, i'm actually getting things done. no matter how freeing working for yourself is, as anyone who has ever been self-employed can tell you, it is the hardest work you will ever do. i'm pretty sure there is more caffiene than oxygen running through my veins, and my side of the bed has hardly had a dent in it over the last few weeks. but i will get through!

when exhaustion collides with stress, which for me is mostly over having too many ideas of new work and not being able to convince my darling children that they will be happier if they sleep more, often i have to cry for help. luckily, my BEST friends helped picked up my slack for the street team, my mom came over to help me pack and price an entire rubbermaid container of work (woohoo!), mr. bean has been dutifully pricing work and repairing displays, and my sweet friend jill brought me a little handmade finery, a beautiful necklace from pressed glass and silver. and really, not to sound shallow, but jewelry and shoes will always cheer me up.

and crafty bastards, which i am beyond excited about, is next weekend in dc. i'll be sharing booth 3 with my good friend shannon, from sweet pepita, and will be among some of the most amazing crafty talent around. so keep watching, i'll be posting some previews of my new work, soon! if i can stay awake.

vote for me!

full color

loving this! so cheerful! by horst glaesker.

halloween is coming

well, not really, unless you are in your local craft supply store. (in which case thanksgiving and christmas are right around the corner, too.) but these take a while to make, so i'm listing them now. you pick your colors, i'll whip up a one-of-a-kind brooch just for you!

happy birthday, bean.

you go, my little supergirl.

let them eat cake

the bean will be four tomorrow. it sounds weird to say it. it wasn't that long ago that we were pacing around the house, rick watching american splendor and me trying to decide if i was indeed in labor. (ok, i knew i was but somehow was still in denial.) my little girl was so strong from the beginning that the midwife actually jumped at the screams that came out of her with her first breaths. i remember that so clearly. it can't have been four years.

when she started talking about her birthday party three months ago, yes three, she was going to have a princess party. ok, i thought, easy enough. as the big day got closer and closer, the requests got more specific, until eventually they cake had to be a princess rainbow castle cake. now, being the avid color lover that i am, the rainbow part sounded great, and i was lucky enough to find this great tutorial on cake rainbow-ing. i never thought it would work, but it did. and thanks to her gigi, the outside fulfilled the castle and princess requirements.

we planned a simple but fun party... and of course, since i am both an overachiever and one crafty mommy, we had a wand-making session for the party princesses. as i watched the bean skillfully and stubbornly attach 50 some jewels to hers, i marveled at her little hands. hands that didn't need my help. i remember so clearly when those could barely wrap around my finger, and yet here they are. almost-four hands.

i don't know what this year will bring. and while i could probably squint hard and imagine that this bigger and brighter girl is my baby, i know she's ready to do bigger and brighter things. those strong, stubborn little hands have so much potential. so with luck, and some rainbow cake, we start year four.

bring it on.

gettin' much sleep?

image by krisblues

this is the question most new moms are familiar with. usually we'll nod, eyes half-closed and respond with something like, "oh, sure, like 2 or 3 hours at a time." this seems reasonable to us in our sleep-deprived state. the answer is met with a knowing smile, and that's it. conversation over.

i know i got the question a lot when the bean was new, and yes, i'm still getting it now. but this time, i find the one i get more often is, "how is it with two?" i'm not sure what people want to hear, but i always tell the truth. depending on the day, i may say it's a thousand times harder than i ever imagined, or i may tell them that we're getting by.

maybe it's because i'm a sahm this time around, or a wahm i guess, but the only thing i can relate my days to is this. you will understand if you've ever worked retail during the holidays - that feeling of looking up from your work and seeing no end in sight. there's not a minute where at least one doesn't need me, and more often both need me at once. i often feel that in some way i'm neglecting one or the other, and that is a pain i can't quite describe. i know, i know, i'm a total wuss. i don't know how people do this.

as stressful as my days are, sometimes, though, having a second baby has opened my eyes to things i couldn't see with my first. the first time i looked at this little guy next to his big sister, i broke down and cried. it seemed like just yesterday the bean was a tiny screaming little red thing, all colic-y and determined - i knew from the second she let out that primal first scream that she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. at almost 4, she still is more of a force than ever, and the little guy, well, all he wants to do is cuddle.

having a second makes me appreciate every moment more, because i realize how quickly they go by. it's made me re-think many decisions i thought i had made. you might have noticed, my blog and my shop have been a little quieter than usual. i'm slowing down, intentionally, but i'll be back. i've got lots of new work coming bit by bit, and i'm getting ready to kick off the show season at crafty bastards on october 3rd. you can catch my crafty blogs over at BEST, and i'll be here occasionally posting new work and updates from the bean residence.

i hope you enjoy the rest of your summer. i'll see you soon!

guest blogging on indiefixx!

i'll be helping fill jen's crafty shoes while she's on a much needed vacation... check out indie fixx next week!

the booty. and a break.

so apparently i started this blog post almost 2 weeks ago and forgot about it. hmm. i have, however been enjoying all the goodies i scored at artscape. it was great few days and i made some great purchases and trades. most are above, but happily, my beautiful print from illegible ink is already on my wall! the bean scored a cupcake necklace from block party press for helping me at the show, tiger got a giraffe-yeti from cutesy but not cutesy, and i treated myself to a much-coveted tee from red prairie press and a necklace from the broken plate...

it was a great time, thanks to everyone who stopped by! i hope the weather is as good next year!

artscape, here we come!

i'm not going to pretend it's not chaotic around here. our entire house looks like my teenage bedroom. there are crafts in the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, and even my car. everywhere i look - there's felt.

well, it's almost time, there's no denying it. the dreams of showing up to my booth with no work have started. mr. littlest bean sighs every time i pick up my scissors. there are boxes in my living room, packed and ready to go to artscape. that's because it starts on friday!

i've somehow managed to get a ton of new work ready to go, and despite my dreams, i am ready. i'll be there with fellow BEST members, so i'll be having a great time while i'm working. we'll be collecting craft supply items for Art With a Heart. so when you stop by, please bring any unused craft (or office) supplies or gift card to our BEST tent at artscape or to any of our participating artists at artscape to receive the discount. there's more info here if you need it.

we're in booths 16-21, on charles st., in the diy section. so stop by and say hi! see you there!

more new work!

new one of a kind necklace... 100% wool felt, vintage plastic, and embroidery.

new adult headband... i'm loving reds right now, i guess...

i wish i had more time to write... but right now i'm busy hugging (and smelling) babies, playing with preschoolers, trying to enjoy the summer, and... oh, getting ready for artscape!!! which is a mere 11 days away. this is some of the new work i'll have there, and more is on the way!