Crafty Wonderland Post 3

These flour sack dish cloths turned out really great. There are several different appliques including a bird, octopus, chicken, houses and this one, the squirrel. All the fabric is vintage and then I embroidered the edges by hand as a super-cute little detail. I will have a load of these for sale on Sunday. They make the perfect gift for the cook or new homeowner in your life.

Holiday Decorations

I've been doing a bit of holiday decorating around our home. Since we'll be spending the entire season here in Portland I was so excited to get a real Christmas tree. We bought ours down the street and the boy carried it the whole way home. Luckily it's only about 5 feet tall. It lived in a bucket in our dining room for a day until we could get a tree stand. Sunday evening I made dinner and cookies and we drank egg nog, listened to Christmas carols and decorated our tree. It was the perfect holiday activity. I'm so excited for Christmas now!

Crafty Wonderland Post 2

Making kits is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Since a lot of the people who buy handmade, also make things themselves, it makes sense that kits that you complete yourself would be popular. It just never came together until now. I have a lot of wonderful vintage fabric and I thought a kit with enough fabric and thermal lining for 2 potholders and simple instructions would make a good gift. I put them in plastic bags with cute labels on the front and a limited number will be available for the first time at Crafty Wonderland.

Online Holiday Shopping Suggestions

During the past three holiday seasons, I've really enjoyed doing about half of my gift shopping online. Discovering Etsy probably had a lot to do with this but there are a lot of other great online shops with awesome holiday deals out there.

This year I love:

The Curiosity Shoppe Wonderfully eclectic group of things for your home. Really perfect for the artistic and hip person on your list. I've had my eye on that ceramic polaroid camera for a while.

Chronicle Books Always a favorite. Especially with the holiday sale they run every year. 35% off your entire order and free shipping. QUICK it ends tomorrow 12/4. Just enter FRIENDS in the promo code box when you check out. I order at least a few things from Chronicle every year because of this sale.

Fred Flare This is one of those online shops I assumed everyone knew about until I mentioned it to a friend recently and she hadn't heard about it. I love their stuff for men, especially that ikaraoke thing, a microphone that plugs in to your ipod!

And of course etsy. A few favorite shops right now include Somethings Hiding in Here, Anatomy of a Skirt, fernanimals, and Fieldguided.

Happy Shopping and don't forget, if you're local you can do even more handmade shopping at Crafty Wonderland Sunday December 13th at the Oregon Convention Center!

Crafty Wonderland Post 1

As promised, I wanted to show you a few of the new items I will be selling at Crafty Wonderland this year. I am starting off with these ties because they are probably my favorite of all the goodies I will have. They are handmade from a 70's era tie pattern using various vintage fabrics. The fabric for the pink tie is from the early 60's and is very Mad Men. It seems like most craft shows I attend, there just isn't a ton of stuff for guys. I'm hoping these will be a hit especially since they will be priced at a very reasonable $25 a piece.

Good Bye Fall, Hello Christmas Season.

I never posted photos from our Sauvie Island pumpkin picking extravaganza and I thought I would before November is over and we're full blown into snowflakes and presents and holiday parties (we've already started receiving invites!).

Sauvie Island is a somewhat magical place, even more so during the Fall. Everything is bright and crisp and the gourds are everywhere. We took a hayride up to the pumpkin patches and picked out two little cinderella pumpkins (the more squat ones with yellow and orange markings). We got this take home jar of beer from local brewery Captured by Porches and this rooster came right up to us and let the boy take his photo.
Alright, that's it. I'm ready for the Christmas and snow. Bring it on Santa.

thanksgiving.

My Thanksgiving weekend is starting early. I have to be in Seattle for a work meeting tomorrow so I'll drive up and then hang out in my hometown until thursday when the boy (finally) arrives. I have lunch and dinner plans with friends and a hair appointment to fill my time until turkey-day. On Saturday we go to the apple cup with my dad and I'll pretend I like football for a few hours. Both my father and I graduated from the University of Washington and it's a point of pride for him that I go to a football game, wear a huskies hat (mine's pink) and cheer on our school. I like a tradition and talking about our shared alma mater is something like that for us.
I've also got a ton of crafty stuff to share that's all for Crafty Wonderland. I'm so excited about the items I'm going to be selling. They have been really wonderful to design and make and I'm super proud of them. I think I'll slowly reveal them here during the week or two leading up to the sale so look out for that! Some things are in the shop already so if you're in the market for kitchen linens, make sure to stop by over there.