back to regularly scheduled programming...

So the Spring Fling turned out to be really great!

From the vendor point of view:

• the entire event was well organized and well executed.
• with the exception of how hot it got, the venue was great.
  
• traffic was consistent and varied pretty widely (everyone from poverty law attorneys and soccer moms to grandmas and cowboys - fun people watching to be sure).
• lots of serious lookers as well as serious buyers.
• affordable advertising opportunities were aplenty.

From the buyer point of view:

• there were tons of great vendors.
• the event had a nice cross-section of products to choose from...it didn't appear to me that there was too much of any one type of thing.
• the venue was animal friendly so there were lots of shoppers with pooches in tow.
• FiberTherapy.org was there doing free spinning and knitting demos and one-on-one instruction (very cool!)
• food and drink vendors were available with yummy snacks and box lunches too.
  

Katie and I had a great time chatting up visitors to the booth. We had some fun ones for sure! We even had a visit from crafty elebrity, Jo Pearson. Admittedly, Katie and I didn't know her, but our lovely neighbors to the south recognized her. Anyway, she and her group of friends were a hoot to listen to. The only hitch I had was our inconsiderate neighbors to the north...they encroached on my territory with their booth set up and signage too...things I didn't notice until it was too late to worry about them (but I can sure bitch about now, can't I...after this - no more! I promise.)

Speaking of our lovely neighbors to the south, you should go right now (with your wallets handy) and take a look at their goods. LolaFalkDesigns makes the sweetest purses, bags and pouches and Stylishly Simple makes simple, yet elegant jewelry. You're sure to find something you can't live without and when you do, let them know I sent you!

I'm going to start adding things to my site and etsy shop tonight and tomorrow so keep an eye out...I am hoping for a bit of sunshine tomorrow to get some good pictures, but from the looks of things, who knows.

friday night music crush...

A hat tip to my mom this evening for the link to this vid and to Sonya too...I know a while back she made mention of Lisa's sweet ass, full-of-fibery-knitty-stitchy-goodness, website.

And now that share time is over, it's back to the salt mines for me! So you know what I've been working on the last week:

the workshop is a-buzz...

I spent the morning sawing, drilling and soldering metal and the afternoon enameling everything I could get my hands on. These little earrings were my first attempt at "drawing" with the enameling powders. I added the legs and eyes with an enamel marker after Caleb informed me that they were necessary if the blue blobs were supposed to be birds. I very hesitantly re-fired them to set the enamel marker and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't ruin them by doing so. I still need to oxidize the ear wires and then I'm either keeping these guys for myself or I might do a little giveaway with them. I'll get back to you on that...

I'm going back to my work bench to take advantage of all my little helpers being in bed right now. There's still lots to do to get ready for the Spring Fling! If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on Saturday, April 25th come see us! Click the button below for all the details!

dear janie and jack...

You know I'm weak sauce went it comes to your cute clothes. Your siren song suckered me into paying full price for this completely adorable shirt. Well, it made me sucker my -easily swayed when it comes to anything for his children- husband into paying full price for that sweet little shirt and to get him to pay full price for kids' clothes is a powerful thing. Plus it doesn't help that you've set up shop mere miles from my house...now I have to resist mauling the sale rack any time I'm in the area. Honestly, you're not playing fair! The fact that you would send me an email full of cute new lines AND 50% off sales stuff just days before my girl's second birthday proves it. You play dirty. Dirty!

Okay, I'm taking deep breaths. I'm stepping away from the computer now. Janie, Jack, I will resist you! At least until the new lines go on sale...

brought to you by the letter p (for procrastination)...

You may remember I have a show coming up very soon. April 25th to be exact. I have lots of things I've been working on as time permits and therefore have lots of half finished things everywhere. Folks, it's tough to get anything done around here with Molly Mc-Gets-Into-Everything-Pants in the house. She is a force to be reckoned with these days - FO SHO.

Anyway, my favorite coping mechanism when times like these arise is PROCRASTINATION. Fortunately, this works out for Caleb's classmates and for you too! Today's (and yesterday's) procrastination spawned these little Easter egg nest favor things:



Here's what you'll need to get started:

• nest pattern piece (download here)
  
• felt (I used some wool/rayon mix from my stash. For some reason I have YARDS of it.)
• Easter basket grass (I used sisal grass I found at Target)
• plastic Easter eggs (mine, also from Target, already had holes in them. If yours don't, get out the drill and a 1/8th inch bit and go to town.)
• mini brads
• paper flower parts (finally! I can use some of these freaking flowers I can't stop myself from buying. Sigh.)
  
• tags (you can download a blank version of the one I made here. Now, I uploaded it to my server in 150dpi and for some reason it's been converted to 72dpi. You'll have to change that in your graphics program before you print.)
  
• straight pins
  
• sewing machine (or you could certainly hand sew these - that would be extremely sweet) with complimentary colored thread (I used variegated thread and my free motion foot with the feed dogs UP.)
  
• needle and thread that matches felt
• 1/8th inch hole punch (it's handy, but you can just push the brad through the paper if you don't already have one.)

Alright! Let's get started. After you've cut out your felt pieces, overlap corner/line "a" to the dotted line "b" point and pin.



Sew in a spiral motion toward the center of the nest and then spiral back out to the edge.



Clip excess threads away and turn your nest right side out:



Tuck a bit of grass into the bottom of the nest then place the bottom part of the egg on top. Using your needle and thread sew the egg bottom into the nest as you would a button.



Now you can hide little treats inside the egg and call it a day:



It's cute, but really, it could be better. Assemble your paper flower and push a mini brad through the middle of the flower, the tag and the egg top. Push open the brad legs (? arms? is there a name for them?) on the inside of the egg top. Now you can fill it up with goodies and hand them out to all your little Easter egg loving friends! These Easter nests are guaranteed to please!



Let me know if you end up making any, I'd love to see your versions. I could see little chicks or frogs sitting on top of these things too. The possibilities are endless!