New Year = New Projects

I've not been posting much. I'm trying to be more like Rachael of Pistachio Press, who appears to have made a resolution to post daily- which I love. Please keep it up!

I've been working though, some projects for me and some that will, I PROMISE, end up in my etsy shop. The project for me was reupholstering my kitchen table chairs. These chairs used to belong to my beloved Grammie.

Here is the before, a good chair but the brown isn't me.


Here's the after- its a gorgeous green I got on sale. Grammie loved green, I'm sure she'd approve. I can almost hear her voice telling me just that....




I was so excited when I realized I could redo these chairs- it was so easy. Just unscrew the seats...


And staple on the new fabric.


I love them, and it appears MacKenzie approves!


As some of you know I am a college teacher by trade, a lowly adjunct but it does have it's benefits. Among them, access to the screen printing area! I took advantage of the break to make some new prints that will be made into pillows, sachets and other hand stitched wonders. Some designs will be familiar to those of you who have seen my recent work, but there are a few new ones in there too...


A shot of the screen as I washed it out for those of you not familiar with screen-printing, its a messy but fun process. I started screen printing in college and have never strayed too far. In fact I'm hoping to allocate some of what I *hope* will be a good tax return to purchasing some screens and other equipment for myself... time will tell.



One last photo, of one of my favorite sights. My sweet baby-boy Oliver, or Bean as I love to call him sleeping in my bed. He'll be 10 in just a few weeks... my little guy is growing up too fast!


I hope the new year is treating all of you well. I know a few of you readers aren't blogger subscribers and I thought I had this set up so you could comment anyway, but I was told recently it didn't work... so I'm looking into it because I love to get feedback!

In the meantime please make note of my email address- found on my profile page (click my photo up top), and feel more than welcome to drop me a line. If you like I can always add you to my mailing list as well.

Much love to you all...

Is 17 days in too late for a Happy New Year?

I don't think so. For the first time this year I went downtown to see the ball drop. It was incredibly exciting - there's something really thrilling about being in a big crowd screaming "5, 4, 3, 2 ....." and since this is a small city I was able to be in viewing distance from the outskirts of the crowd, which is good when you're me and being in the middle freaks you out!

Sadly the new year brought senseless tragedy to the streets of our little city. My mind is still reeling at the news of yesterday's shooting at Merge Restaurant.

It seems an employee turned a gun on two of his co-workers, killing one of them. Seldom few details are being released right now which I think is best for the families involved. My deepest regrets and sympathies go to the owner's Sarah and Eliza and to the family of the man who lost his life. A link has been set up on their website to take donations for the family, which I recommend doing.

I have a few new finished projects that I'll post later this week, but talking about those things feels vulgar right now, so I'll give it some time.

Until soon, friends.

Third Bird

Happy Holiday's blog-o-sphere! I hope yours were as lovely as mine. I've been taking lots of photos and will post them soon.

But for now, I'd like to announce the opening of a fabulous new Etsy shop! Deirdre of Third Bird has opened her shop and has filled it was some gorgeous ceramic mugs.

She's celebrating by having a giveaway and I strongly suggest you pop your head in and see what it's all about. I am always amazed be people who can craft these sorts of things. I have ceramic envy to be sure. She is a self-described "textile designer" and if you know me, you know I love anything fiber based and in looking through the images on her flicker page I am hard pressed to choose a favorite image. I've picked this one for now, but I strongly suggest you go see for yourself!



Until soon friends!

Happy Holidays!

Best wishes for a warm, safe and happy holiday from Me, MacKenzie, and the Bean!

Remembering

One of my favorite parts of the Second Storie sale is checking out everyone's photos after the fact. I used to be a photographer but I've long since lost my knack, and am always so impressed with the photos everyone else's takes, such an amazing combination of candor and beauty- they really capture the moment and the spirit of the event.

A few of my favorites... these (and the one above) are from one of Second Storie's founder's Shanna Murray's blog, I believe she got them from friends.





These are from the Second Storie blog. I can't believe it's already come and gone- I can't wait for next year!

Going ROUGE

Six artists, two days, twelve hours.

We’re setting up shop for two days only! And we’re going rouge. That’s right, the color of Sarah Palin’s cheeks in the frosty Alaskan winter. There’s no telling what will happen.

Framed and unframed prints and drawings, paintings, cards, textiles, 3D works and last minute gifts!

Artists include: Ani Hoover, Mary Begley, Bruce Adams, Lukia Costello, Viktoria Ciostek and yours truly.

Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13. Rouge tag prices!

Conveniently located at 301 Parkside across from the zoo entrance. Stop in and visit.

Special offer: buy any unframed work of art and receive a 10% discount off framing at Wyatt Design, Picture Framing and Frame Restoration, right next door.

SEE YOU THERE!

Thank you.

Second Storie's Indie Market last weekend was the best yet. It was so good to see so many old friends, and to meet so many new ones. It felt a lot like a family reunion.

I had some new items on hand this year, napkins with knitted napkin rings made from kitchen string and jute twine.


I re-designed the tea-stained cards I've been doing and added some fabric collaged journals. I'm very excited about them.

I'm most excited about my new screen-printed pillows. The response was really overwhelming and flattering. I sold so many on the first day of the sale I drove home and made a couple more as well as some little sachets. I have plans to print more fabric over the break and stock my etsy shop with them.


I was also incredibly touched when a repeat customer from last year showed up looking for my glass etchings. I wish I had had some to offer her, but my little engraver is on the fritz and I haven't been able to track down a viable replacement. I've purchased some glass etching cream
but have yet to figure it out. All in time for sure, and I'll post as soon as I've got some made.

One of the best parts of these events is the trading! I made out like a bandit I must say, gorgeous new earrings from small bird, a new calendar from pistachio press, and some amazing flower pins from ReFashioned. I'll be putting up a post devoted to these amazing new items I have and all the other little things I picked up over the weekend.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone for their support and for coming out to this amazing event. It was one of the best sales I've ever participated in.

If you're new to my little world I do hope you'll check in often. Thanks for reading and especially for taking home my little creations, it means a lot to me.

Until soon friends.