Holiday (Midwest)

I'm checking in for a quick mid Holiday post. Joey and I have been busy with his brother in town, my longtime friend Missy, and the kids. Thanksgiving was very successful this year. And, by successful I mean nobody melted down, the food was tasty, at least one of my kids ate, I got to eat, nothing was broken (oh wait, Sam did take out a vintage ride on toy that probably had sentimental value), and we got to enjoy each other.




In the topmost photo you see a vegetable animal creation that I made. In our family each Thanksgiving (for some 25 or so years now) there is a table set up with a huge bowl of various vegetables, fruits, toothpicks and sometimes carving utensils. All those attending Thanksgiving are required to make a vegetable animal for placing on the table. It's a fun tradition because it's fun to do yourself, but it's even more fun to see what others come up with.





Hope everyone out there is having a great weekend!

The Scent of Saturday (Midwest)

I shuffled into my office all bleary eyed this morning. With coffee in hand. Ready to check email. I sat down and then picked up the faintest, most delicate, teensy weensiest of scents. Press wash. Not strong and chemically in the way where you wear gloves for your hands but wonder if your nose needs protection. But, light and pleasant. A reminder of yesterday. Yes. Yesterday. Sigh. I printed. And, not just that. I set type.

For weeks I've been wanting to whip out some gift tags for the Craftacular. I've been thinking about what plates and blocks I have laying around to work with. I thought, why not a simple type solution. So yesterday I pulled out a drawer of 42 pt lead type. I set up the words. To. From. And locked them onto the press. They printed backwards. Doh! I always do that. After some rearranging and adjusting. Voila. A simple little gift tag. I lurvs it. Because it's simple. And, type. And, because it was fun to create. Nuff said.

Enjoy your weekend.

To Market to Market (Midwest)

Yippee! The next Poppytalk Handmade Market is up today. Guess who has a booth?

She's mighty mighty, just lettin it all hang out* (Midwest)

So my hubby, Joey, was born in the wrong decade. I think he was meant to live in about 1929 or so. He has always had a thing for history and collecting old stuff. It would not be unusual to hear him rant "They sure don't make stuff like they used to!" I swear his is an 80 year old man sometimes. "Kids, get out of my yard!" "Don't just stand there with your hands in your pockets! " I'm sidetracking here...

After many years of finding, collecting and storing things in every corner of our house. He has rented a modest little booth at a local antique shop. I'm kinda excited to help him with his side project. The plan is to stock the booth with his style of crap, and hopefully recoup our monthly booth fee.



We're calling ourselves Brick House Salvage. Because we live in a Brick House. And...yeah that's it. (* Did you get the Brick House lyrics reference in the post title? Did you?) I plopped some type together to create a very quick and dirty logo (top idea). Being the crafty gal that I am, I punched some tags, cut some twine and voila. A hang tag is born. Today we start stocking the booth. It will be like playing house and playing storekeeper all at one time.

Wheeheeeeeeee!

Happy Day (West Coast)

Pretty yarn! My latest yarn purchase from Purl Soho arrived a few days ago. Some of this is marked to be Christmas presents, while some of it will be little bits I keep for myself. I am working away on little gifts for my family and friends for the holidays. My kids are always excited to have me make something for them... They will each have a few little treats. I am glad they appreciate having handmade gifts.


These are a few of the wholesale card orders that are heading out to local shops. We had six wholesale orders this month! It is a good start. It has definitely given me an exciting push to work harder, and produce more. I received my paper order Monday, and I hope to get to it next week. I have a little one at home with Strep, so we have some shows to watch and games to play.

Monday (Midwest)

This is a photo I took yesterday. I hooked up with the Madison Flickrmeets people and did a little photowalk on the Near East side. It was very cold. 31 degrees I think. Windy, and snowing on and off. My fingerless gloves, which I thought were so clever and helpful for picture taking, turned out to be stupid. My fingers hurt and I cursed my foolish fashion sense as I drove home one handed. Would I ever let my kids wear fingerless gloves? No, I tell you. No.

But hey, I am excited to discover that Lucky Bee Press had a mention in the Holiday Card Guide at Poppytalk. Laurie, isn't that exciting?!? I signed myself up for a spot in the next Poppytalk market. I'm hoping to get some Christmas card traffic. Thanks Poppytalk!



This week's calendar is looking pretty good for me. I need to print. I would really like to bang out a couple notebook covers and some gift tags. I might even hand set some metal type. I'm really looking forward to it. It's been too long.

Finally, my Internet connection is back. I had about 9 days (9 days!)* without it. It was very frustrating. I had to jump onto Joey's laptop to read emails. I even checked my email at the Apple Store in the mall the other day. I used the 17" Macbook Pro they had on display. It was mighty nice. Want. Want. Want.

*Anyone catch the Ferris Bueller near reference here? 9 times? Yeah. I know. It was subtle.

Ok. Kids are up. I must make breakfast. Toodles.

Hold On (Midwest)

This is an image I took a few days ago for my photo a day group on Flickr. It was a windy day and these little lady bugs were just holding on to a flimsy little branch. I think this photo is a good metaphor for how I have felt for these last few weeks. I have been holding on, worried yet hopful, waiting for the elections to come and be finalized. And, today as I sip my coffee and look out my window, there is sunshine, optimism and relief. It's time to let go of the branch and fly freely.

Get Out and Vote!!! (West Coast)

I am ready for change, and hope today is the day. I don't remember an election that I have ever been so tuned in to. This is my reminder to us all to get out and VOTE today! It is too important to let this election slide by. My daughter's 5th grade class was told they would not have homework tonight so they could all focus on the election coverage. Let's hope for change.