Tag Archives: handmade

My next few shows

Oh hello. Figured it was time for an update!
It’s sort of a local people friendly update but still. Here are the places I’ll be in the next little bit if you’d like to come say hello and see some amazing creators selling their wares.

First up this Friday evening I’ll be at the Holiday Art Market.

After flying home to sleep I’ll be waking up early Saturday morning to head on out to the fabulous Make It Indie in Cobourg, I honestly love, love, love, this show.

Then I’ve given myself a bit of a break but not too long before I head over to the Handmade With Heart, another great gathering of creative people and wonderful workshops.

Giveaway Day!

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Win a scrappy wallet, cure made by me!
Enter here, drugs be sure to leave your email and I will contact you and we can see which wallet speaks to you!

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GiveawayDay

My art wall.

Ok I think it’s done . . . for now. Here’s some close ups.

#1 from Lisah
#2 & 5 from the lovely Jenny, an original hoop I won (yes won!!) from her 365 project and a print available in her Etsy shop.
#3 from Coucousalut
#4 bought from from Elsie herself at Renegade Chicago a few years back.

#1 Bought at a craft show, sorry about the glare. It says “When I get sad, I just stop being sad and be awesome instead” Thank you Barney Stinson.
#2 freebie from an Etsy event, made by 1canoe2
#3 print from ninjandninj
#4 another from from Jenny’s Etsy shop.

#1 From Julie her stuff is great, sadly her shop is empty right now.
#2 I don’t remember at all, bought in Ottawa at a craft show many, many years ago.
#3 Cub and Cabin on Etsy.
#4 Laura Jean‘s amazing work. I even picked more up yesterday from her.

#1 Julie again.
#2 Light and Paper
#3 Happy Town USA
#4 Made by my best friend. Says “Don’t ever let anyone dull your sparkle, because sparkle” Based on this and something funny my son said.
#5 One of two great prints I picked up at Make It Indie last year from Christine Benson
#6 Mittens by Katie Muth

I had another plan for the wall that my headboard is against but I started on the mission and realized it wasn’t going to work out as planned. I’ll have to rethink that one for now and make a new plan.

I splurged a bit.

When my shop was featured I had some money come in and it was just my birthday and some lovely people gave me money too so I decided to treat myself to some of my Etsy wishes. Since I have a tote/purse/bag weakness I stumbled upon, and fell in love with, this bag from luckycann.

I had a terrible time deciding on the colour I wanted.

Now that it’s arrived I’m totally in love with it and want to order more colours just because!

Just for fun I wanted to share what I actually carry in my bag! It’s funny when the bag I’m using is one I’ve made myself because when people ask “Did you make that?” I usually answer with “Yes and this and this and this and this . . ”

Clockwise from top left – budgeting envelope, coin purse, wallet (pattern here), notebook with cover (tutorial here), purse organizer (pattern here), thing I put my earbuds in (pattern here), sunglass case, pencil case (pattern here) and in the middle, of course, my cup cozy!

I made soap!

No really! And it was so cool!

With the help of Claire at Homespun Dazzle who taught me the great and mysterious ways of soap making, not to mention provided the supplies, I have hand crafted some pretty awesome* lime poppyseed soap!

*opinion may be biased.

The giant brick o’soap I had once I peeled the container away. I was attempting to make a swirly design, it didn’t really turn out that way but I love how it is.

It smells great, looks fun and the poppyseeds add some texture. Now it just has to cure in my kitchen for 6 weeks before I can use it. Crazy huh?

She also makes *amazing* soy candles. I mean it, literally amazing.

Spring-ish cleaning not made by me giveaway!

Again, in the spirit of cleaning up my crafty space I’d like to share some fun supplies with one lucky winner.

I’ve collected things from swaps and people giving me stuff and craft shows and well, all over the place really and now I need to share the love!

Leave a comment below with a way to contact you and I’ll pick a lucky winner on Tuesday April 30th. For a bonus entry tweet or share on Facebook or somewhere and leave a comment letting me know you did. Good luck!

Creating and my voice.

While at the Handmade show on Saturday selling with some fellow T.E.S.T members I traded the lovely Christine for one of her inspirational printed tea towels.

It’s similar to this one in her shop, same saying, just different towel.

Then Sunday I was feeling really down and a good friend from work, who’s very wise and has overcome things in her life to become this beautiful person who I adore, texted to see how I was doing. When I mentioned I was still a bit down she suggested I “go create something out of the pain and turn it into something beautiful for all to gain”.

I told her I couldn’t. While I Tweet or Facebook statuses about heading to the sewing machine, or sitting down to craft often, the truth is I very rarely do these days. I go to the basement to put a load of laundry on and I’ll turn on the lights at my craft space, pull the machine forward, even layout some fabrics, and then I proceed to just walk on by it all for the rest of the day until I admit defeat and shut the lights off at the end of the day.

She texted back “You’ve muted your voice. Give it sound again. Ask the angels to help you find your voice again”. I texted back with a picture of the towel and how I had gotten it the day before.

The funny thing was Christine said I had inquired about this towel in our Etsy convos about working out a trade but then at the show she pointed out I was changing my mind but maybe that was because the “sing your song” one was speaking to me and I should go with it.

I’ve met some amazing people lately. I’m so glad I have.

Spring-ish cleaning giveaway!

So I was doing some organizing and cleaning up in my crafty space and I realize I have just too many creations. Things I’ve tried, things I’ve made 1 of . . . they’re just piling up and taking up space.

Instead of letting that happen I’d like to make someone a nice big package of handmade happy mail and ship it off to you!

If you’re interested in some surprise fun stuff from me leave a way to contact you below and I’ll get stuffing that envelope. For a bonus entry tell me something you did to Spring Clean recently.

I’ll take names until Tuesday April 23rd and then I’ll get shipping.

Share the Love – Middle Sister Studios

When I saw Middle Sister Studios display at a craft show I had to walk back, a few times. I really love her stuff. I didn’t really have a little kid to buy for but I love her creations and envied her fabrics.

She’s got the whole super cute woodland animal thing down. These stuffies are so sweet. And her dolls are amazing too.

She’s reachable on her Facebook page.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you had a fantastic Halloween. I couldn’t find my modified prom dress that goes with my Tooth Fairy costume so I whipped up a cute plush tooth instead (complete with Mollie-eqsue face) . . . but I know it’s here somewhere.

I had a great day at school, considering it was Halloween. Sadly, with it being on a Wednesday we’ve still got 2 days left to see how crazy it’s really going to get.

My classroom runs on it’s own little time table because I teach a small special education class so I don’t see much of the school, we have our own kitchen, bathroom and we use the fenced in Kindergarten yard for recess but today I happened to catch a glimpse of the gym teacher and I’m so glad I did. Best. Costume. Ever!

We were so busy at home this evening I didn’t even snap a pic of the kids! Wow, mom fail.