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.