s h o p * u p d a t e

I put some printed felt wall ornaments in my shop this evening.

And, I've made my sweet (kind of like pie) squash casserole. It has squash, eggs, and sugar with a brown sugar and toasted almond buttery crisp top. So sweet, and somehow okay served on the dinner plate.

This lovely, supportive blog community is one of the things that makes me so happy. Thank you for reading, commenting, and stopping by. And, a belly-full, reclined-on-the-couch- with-loved-ones Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate.

xo e

and, p.s., I put a nifty new Google search bar in the sidebar of my blog for easy search-ability.

printed felt wall hangings

I'd like to introduce you to my new deer friend. She popped into my mind when a customer asked if I had a shirt with a deer on it. Thank you, mystery shopper, for the inspiration. I also made a new bird, mushroom, and acorn.




You know how I said that hanging with lovely people was my most favorite part about selling at this weekend's craft fair? It really was! My second most favorite part was the time I got to spend thinking about design. I came home with lots of new inspiration and ideas for color, shape, and materials. I love carving stamps of simple, meaningful images, and I'm always thinking of new, inspiring applications for them.

These are some examples of my new wall hanging design (pinned onto my new red display board). The hanging is made out of wool felt, a cotton linen blend, fabric ink, and the ties are little scraps of thrifted, repurposed material. At first, I used various threads and floss for the ties, abut eventually I decided to tap into my large stash of thrifted pillow cases and sheets, and I couldn't be happier with the result. I made these thinking they would be nice wall hangings or door knob hangers. But, hey, now that I think about it, they might even make nice holiday decorations.

Oh, and a bathroom renovation update: We painted the walls, and, at first, it seemed like the color looked like old dirty wall, but after it dried, it ended up being bright and cheery. It is a pale but bright (hello, oxymoron) yellow-green. We painted the bathroom sink cabinet a slightly darker shade of the same color, and we are hanging a really nifty floral shower curtain. I had planned on linking to the curtain, but apparently Urban Outfitters isn't selling it anymore. I'll take pictures when the room is finished. We are so close to having an upstairs sink again. *sigh*

xoxo e

Hoorah!

Today's craft fair was glorious. I got to sip coffee while chatting with dear friends, old friends, community friends, and neighbors. Many of our conversations were cut short, but even with all of the choppiness, I actually got caught up with people. And, I ended up learning more about those I didn't know so well. This was my most favorite part; the connections.

And, hey, check out this nifty little necklace stand that Tom made for me. I have been holding onto this small piece of tomato red linen forever, so I was happy to finally give it a home. He stole the hinge for the back from a sweet little wooden container I gave him as a birthday gift years ago. I don't hold it against him, though - he totally worked it out. It is no wonder our Chick manages to make something out of anything. We like to do that around here.


Some prints


And, oh!, the talent and creativity that surrounded me. Lovely.

So sleepy. Off to bed.

xo e

i'll be there

I'll be at the Hartsbrook Winter Festival on Saturday, from 9-4, selling

these


and these


and these


Hey locals, stop by and say "hello" if you end up going.

Happy weekend!

xo e

busy, busy

work around

Last night, I had finished sewing a little tree onto a soft jersey t-shirt when I noticed that there was a big hole in the arm pit. It wasn't repairable since the hole was in the fabric rather than in the seam. It was the end of a long wonderful day, my feet hurt, and it made me frustrated to see my little design attached to a shirt with nowhere to go. It's funny because I think if it had been earlier in the day, I would have been perfectly fine with leaving it for later, but there was something unsettling about going to bed just after discovering a mistake. So, before stopping for the night, I turned my problem t-shirt into a little wall hanging for Mouse's room.


I carefully cut a rectangle around the design and hemmed the top and bottom. This morning, Mouse and I went for a walk in the woods and found two slender twigs to place into the top and bottom of the hanging, and I used embroidery thread as the hanger.


I love the soft and sweet way it hangs. Not only was a defunct t-shirt turned into something new, but I am now inspired to create more of these little fabric wall hangings.

xo e

we found fall, again!

I'm thinking about music and light and darkness and what the last weeks of fall will bring. Our home life feels a little more condensed and saturated these days as I craft and bake, and while we sit by the fire, reading and playing.

Saturday was rainy and cold, so we ate oatmeal, cleaned the house, and rested. We had some original plans that were canceled, so instead our dear, dear friends (the kind that are just like family) came for dinner on Saturday evening and stayed all the way until tonight's dinner.

This morning, Chick and Mouse were thrilled to wake to their charming, excited cousins eating yogurt and planning the day. After breakfast #2, which involved bagels coated with cream cheese, we went for a walk and noticed more signs of fall.

There were:


giant yellow leaves



and worms

and other cool stuff

and, Mr. Juicy Cheeks who was molded into my arms for as many minutes as possible. I already miss his smell and his peaceful chocolate-y eyes. Gah! I love him. And, I love my nieces who are the most magnificent artists and explorers and friends.

I'm hoping for a week where we can squeeze in a trip to the park, a walk in the woods, some library time, and lots of craft fair preparation for me.

xo e

bag of wood

Last week, while running into our local lumber yard/hardware store to pick up some paint swatches, I noticed big (huge even) $4.00 plastic netted bags of scrap lumber greeting me on my way in. I asked the guy behind the counter if the wood is loaded up with chemicals and he assured me that I could gnaw on it or burn it and be perfectly fine. The wood is all oddly shaped and rough, and I couldn't be more excited. Really. I'd take the bag of wood over ice cream sundaes every night for a week or five sunny days in a row, but definitely not over escaping the flu and maybe not over the pair of boots I have my eye on either.

I sanded them, but left many of the imperfections because those are what makes the surface interesting. Then, I merrily busted open my bag of milk paint and coated a bunch of them in a moody, foggy shade of slate gray. The color makes me think of dusk at the ocean. I have all sorts of ideas for them. The first one I made was the bird (no foggy gray here),

then the branch.


I've been a bit consumed with creating simple groups of images using fabric, felt, paint, found paper, and my handcrafted stamps. This evening I used the letter p. Plant, pins, present.

I made the safety pin stamp last night, and I'm quite happy with it. There are some spots where the milk paint is a bit uneven, so I plan on making another one just like it today. More letters and more board art to come.

There are picture hangers on the back, and a few of them will be in my shop next week.


xo e

f a n c y

Fancy Pencil Jar :: Remake

Use to store pencils, rulers, paint brushes, kitchen utensils, and maybe even dried flowers or seed pods.

Made with a glass jar, some paper, and glue. Cut circles and designs, glue them on an appropriately sized strip of nice quality white paper, place in jar, and use a few dots of glue from a hot glue gun to secure in two or three places.

Definitely don't use a "craft repositioning stick" to glue your circles and designs onto the strip of paper. It isn't glue and it doesn't work to actually adhere paper. I imagine it is useful for other things, but it somehow appeared in my glue stick collection, and when I used it, without knowing what it was, it reminded me of blowing out trick candles on my birthday cake. "Uh oh! Try again!" It looks just like a glue stick, but it really, really isn't. Good to know that sort of thing is out there, right?

You don't need a lot of hot glue to affix the paper strip to the jar. Just place one or two dots under the seam (where the ends overlap) and press.

Wouldn't it make a nice gift with a stack of new pencils?


xo e

r e d

I've been enamored by the colors in our backyard. Our biggest maple tree was rusty red on Thursday, and by Saturday it turned fiery red, and by Sunday, when the wind and rain had cleared, almost all of the leaves had fallen off of the tree. Towards the end of Sunday afternoon the light was shining through the trees in that breathtaking way that makes you forgive the sky for yesterday's torrents of rain. It was as if the angular beams of light were proudly pointing at each branch and at each deeply colored leaf asking me to notice.

I read a poem with Chick this evening. It was all about sandboxes that won't be used again until the spring, dried seed pods who were turning their heads toward the ground, window screens stored in the attic, people putting their garden to sleep, and the pause before the earth is covered in snow. It all felt a little dramatic when they locked the garden gate for the winter, but still, it echoed exactly how I was feeling today. There was a damp cold feeling in the air that reminded me that the seemingly perpetual 65 degree afternoons won't be around much longer.

I am pausing.

And, I am inspired by the deep, bold colors of fall. It has been informing my crafting and artwork in a big way these days as I am working on collage and sewing. I've been spending much of my time creating a new series of art blocks, which are mixed media pieces made on old boards with picture hangers on the back for easy hanging. I am using natural pine scraps from our local lumber yard and a non-toxic satin sealant for protection. I'm thinking of putting a few in my shop in the coming weeks. We'll see.

This one is titled Bird at Home and it features two of my hand carved stamps.


I now have to scurry off to my studio to finish working on the girls' Halloween costumes. Chick will be the tooth fairy and Miss Mouse will be a chocolate chip cookie. Chick wants to hand out some white felt teeth, so I have some cutting to do.

xo e

m i x e d

Here are some pictures of the collage ornament project, which I promised in my last post. Chick and I worked on these at home since we have a few birthdays to account for and a Halloween treat to send to her little cousin in California. It was the kind of activity that became sort of meditative, and ended up leading to some singing, story swapping, and the buzz of chatter and quiet thought.


Materials:
re-purposed cereal box panels
little pieces of torn up magazine
glue stick
scissors
hole punch
yarn
Mod Podge (optional)

How to make it:

Cut the re-purposed cereal box panels to any shape you wish. I used rectangles for this project since I knew I'd be working with little hands. I did make a some collage birds and suns for my own work, which ended up looking kind of nifty. Go crazy with the glue stick on the cereal box shape, and then glue the pieces of paper onto the shape whichever way feels just right.


Use scissors to trim the pieces of paper to size if you wish, and don't be afraid to go off the edges since, at the end, you will trim all of the excess paper off in order to preserve the original shape. Chick decided to trim part of the shape as well, which ended up making it even more fun for her. Punch a hole. Tie on some yarn, and hang somewhere fun like on the rear view mirror in the car or on a little hook.

Or, on a doorknob.

Inexpensive, simple, and re-purposed.

xo e

t o g e t h e r

Here are some Story Stones from the Play series that I spent much of July and August working on. There are many more little children and play things in the series, and I plan to slowly share them on the blog in the coming months. Recently, I was honored to be asked to sell my wares at The Hartsbrook School's Winter Festival in late November, so I think I'll bring some of these along.


This past weekend, while the little ones soaked in the grandparent love, Tom and his father installed a beautiful white pine floor in our upstairs bathroom and I led a craft project at Cradle's open house. At the end of the day on Saturday, we sat down to a big autumn feast with sweetly roasted vegetables and apple crisp for dessert.

The open house was bright and cheery. It was one of those events where kindness blanketed the room, and everyone there was just happy to share in friendly vibe.



The craft was a simple repurposed cardboard square collage with some cotton yarn tied through a hole for easy hanging. I'll post pictures of the finished craft in the next few days.

There were busy little (and big!) hands working all morning.


I'm off to do some work and then to read to sweet Chick who has a bit of a cough.

xo e

lucky me

Look what I found at the thrift store a few weeks ago! I know, I scored big, right? It is a soft little lap quilt made with vintage fabrics, and it happens to be in beautiful condition without any holes or tears anywhere. At first, I didn't see it hanging between two worn out plaid blankets, but as I carefully pondered each blanket, I noticed a bright line of color pressed against the wall. And, when I saw it, I immediately looked around wondering how I ended up being so lucky.

Each time I place it on my lap or watch my children play with it, I try to figure out why it was unwanted and sold for $2.50.

Odds & Ends:

I'm busy preparing for a little craft project demonstration, which I am leading on Saturday at the grand opening celebration of Cradle in Northampton. I'll post some pictures of the event. It is bound to be warm and lovely since it is being organized by the wonderful Katie Rubinstein!

I'm off to bake for curriculum night at Chick's school tonight, which I'm so excited to attend. I love hearing all about what she is studying and exploring.

xo e

tiny pine cone garland

Remember, two weeks ago, when we went searching high and low for fall with our finding fall box? We are searching no longer. There is now blustery wind and orange leaves blowing through our yard. The nights are cold and we have been finding ourselves wrapped in blankets while sitting in the house. Pots of soup have been made and the butternut squash is rolling in. All of this fall business inspired me to use some of our findings from the other week to make a garland for our living room doorway.


Chick happily went to our little pine forest on the side of the house to gather more tiny pine cones. I promise we aren't always happily skipping through fields around here. We have tears and dull days, but today she really was especially happy to run outside. Perhaps it was because it was really dark and rainy this morning, so the bright sun felt like a little surprise gift.

After gathering cones, I cut flowers (or suns if you ask Chick) out of some of my favorite wool felt. I did some free style sewing on the felt flowers. Here is a closeup of one of the flowers:


Then, using an embroidery needle, I threaded the pine cones and the felt flowers onto sturdy thread making sure to put the thread towards the top of the flowers to ensure that they don't flip around. The cones were pretty easy to thread, although I probably should have worn a thimble since I ended up poking myself a few times. Here is the garland hanging across our living room doorway.


I'm off to work now for a bit, so I need to kiss the girls and Tom goodnight.

xo e

f a i r y

Chick and I made fairy houses or as she likes to call it, "the big fairy hotel." She spent lots of time loading up their abodes with crab apples just in case they happen to find themselves a little snacky. This kind of outdoor play makes me think of The Girl From the North's recent post about Dinoland, which made me smile.


We spent the weekend with family visiting baby cows and goats, eating the world's biggest donut, and watching our town's 250 anniversary parade in the rain.



xo e

I read The Story of the Root-Children, by Sibylle Von Olfers, to Chick on the first day of autumn as a way to welcome the change in seasons. It is so sweet and enchanted in that elfin kind of way. It tells a short tale of the root children who live under the earth waiting for spring to arrive so that they can decorate the earth with their colors and spirits. We both decided that these shy, spritely little children are probably more than ready for a good long rest after all of their dancing and prancing and swimming (not to mention all of those curmudgeonly beetles that hog the swimming hole).

I find the pictures and earthy color pallet inspiring. It added to the sense of peace and tranquility that autumn often brings to our home.

xo e

finding fall box: remake

Since today, at around 5:30, marks the first day of autumn, I decided that Chick and I should go on a finding fall search in our backyard while Miss. Mouse naps soundly in her bed upstairs. We found yellow leaves, seed pods, acorns, a gazillion tiny pine cones, and lots of flies and bugs that decided to be born in today's balmy weather. It made me smile each time Chick thought of something that wouldn't fit into our tidy, little finding fall box, like "colder night air," "loose, rainy branches," and "that the nights are getting shorter."

The finding fall box is made out of all recycled materials. I used an Annie's Cheddar Bunnies box that I wrapped with a brown paper bag, and I used some old catalogs for the little acorn decorations. The inside paper lining is an old piece of scrap paper that I cut to size and stamped with the numbers 1-6.

I like the idea of limiting our display to six items at a time, so that we can be selective and purposeful as we change and rotate our pieces of nature as we like. I think I will make finding boxes for the other three seasons as well.

I also feel the need to introduce you to our new best friend: the mulch pile. We bought this lovely pile of mulch in June and, since then, it has been sitting on our driveway. I've actually grown attached to it since it reminds me of all of the fun things we did this summer instead of spreading boring old mulch.

Happy Fall!

xo e

w e e k e n d

I do actually have some crafty things to post about. There is the back to school (a little late, I know) story stone series that I have been plugging away at since the summer, and a little felt necklace that I have been scheming up.

But, lately, all I seem to want to post about are the colors and shapes and beauty that have been surrounding me during my late summer adventures. This time, I met two friends, from the college years, at a beautiful little camp on a pond in New Hampshire. Right away, I got to have an almost nap in the sunny spot on the dock, and then we sat on the porch and sipped tea while I stared at the water and rocks and trees in a way that I don't always have the chance to do. I brought a slew of vegetables from our C.S.A. farm share, and we slow roasted all of them throughout the late afternoon. There was eggplant, swirly beets, garlic, carrots, cauliflower (not from the farm), and red onions. We ate them with buttery pasta and salmon with crispy prosciutto.

Before settling down for dinner, we drank Proseco and ate bread with strawberries, ricotta salata, and arugula (otherwise known as rocket) on crusty French bread. Divine.


The colors were deep and rich and beautiful.

There was much reminiscing about the old days, like faux trips to Boston and the way Tom first won us over with his acoustic version of The Indigo Girls' Closer to Fine. The camp is without heat, so I came prepared with fleece socks and three blankets. Our toes and fingers may have been cold from the late summer - almost autumn - air, but between the oven, the lit candles, the warm blankets, the wine, and our laughter, we were plenty warm. And, plenty happy.

Psssst: Amy at Mod Podge Rocks has her first ever give-away on her blog, and it happens to be quite useful if you like to collage or decoupage. I recommend taking a peek.

xo e

story tags :: remake

This project started because of Chick's deep desire to continue the ferry adventure conversation. These days, when we get out of the car, she asks if we can pretend our whole house is a ferry boat, and when she goes to sleep she asks for stories about ship adventures in the high seas. Little bits of our adventure keep trickling into our daily conversation, so one afternoon I went scavenging through the paper recycling bin to find a way to make our memories a little more permanent.


In this new remake craft, cereal and tissue boxes became gift tags, wall hangings, story telling cards, or memory cards. I cut the boxes into little cardboard squares, gave them rounded edges, and I made little collages onto them using magazines and junk mail. Each square represents something important about our journey, and Chick now has little pictures to use as she retells it again and again.


She especially likes to put them in chronological order, which is fun for me to observe since it is a fairly subjective process. In her mind, where does the beach fall in the line-up? The town? The pinwheel?


I used cereal and tissue boxes, a rotary paper cutter, a rounded edge punch, magazines and junk mail, and a decoupage medium (Mod Podge, diluted craft glue, etc.) to make the story tags.




Here, I used the cereal box tag to make a little sign for a very special teeny tiny boy's bedroom. Welcome to the world little Finn!


xo e

o l d

Our super fun friend and neighbor, Erica, wrote late Saturday night suggesting the possibility of driving an hour east to Old Sturbridge Village for a little adventure. I love historical villages. I just do, and I'm willing to be frank about it. There is something about the DIY, use everything, waste nothing, practical, horse drawn wagon sensibility that I find inspiring and completely fascinating. My parents tell me that when I was little they would give me five or six really fun choices for our summer family vacation, and every time I would choose the Old Sturbridge Village/Boston option. Its true! I know it is true because I remember my love affair with the old houses, tin and candle making, and peppermint candy sticks.


This historical village, in particular, is especially beautiful and pastoral with a working farm and acres of pasture land and gardens. There is also a fancy little indoor play area where the kids can sell pickled cucumbers and eggs from barrels, stack firewood, and pull carrots from the garden.


Yesterday, in the fire pit, they were dying wool with natural dyes. Oh, the colors! She used iron to make the really dark eggplant one.



Isn't this old blue farm thing pretty? I love this particular shade of blue.


Side note: If you ever feel parched and decide to get slushies on the drive home from somewhere, don't stop at Cumberland Farms for $0.79 any size slushies. There is a reason they are $0.79. Just three sips and we felt like we had eaten a dozen sour gummy candies in under a minute. Chick, who rarely eats anything that artificial and weird, was all, "Mama, this drink just doesn't taste so good." I'm pretty sure we will just go for milk shakes the next time we want a sweet, dessert drink.

Another side note: I also just have to mention that I'm feeling really excited about my lovely friend Nicole's (One Golden Apple) skirt, dress, and tunic top designs. She is a super talented crafter who has been, recently, doing the most amazing things with jersey. Her eye for color along with her simple, beautiful designs and her unique finishing techniques make me feel like I need to be cutting and sewing and getting down and dirty with jersey ... right now. She pinkie swear promised me that her techniques are simple and satisfying. I think I might begin with a long tunic sort of design since that is the sort of thing I like to wear.

The end.

Off to cook dinner.

xo e