Woodbury Lakes Art Faire

I'm not sure why they put the "e" at the end of "faire." Like "shoppe." Makes it fancier I guess. Or they wanted to make it more French. In French, "faire" means "to have," so it does makes some sense if that's the angle they were going for.

This will be my first outdoor sale, made possible because they are providing the tents. Excellent. There will be new stuff at my table, and certainly lots of goodies elsewhere. I'm sure I'll sell that stuff, but I'll still post about it later :)

Made in MN Blogventure Wednesday 5: A little from column A, a little from column B.

The premise:
This blogventure celebrates my favorite colors, blue and green, while paying homage to the awesomeness of the HandmadeMN members via Etsy treasuries. Each one features items from a particular crafting category as listed on the HandmadeMN blog. If you like the items, leave a comment on the treasury - comments will bump the treasury toward the top of the list so other folks are more likely to view it and give some love to these fabulous artists!

Some categories have just a few shops and others have so many that they'll cover more than one week; I want everybody to get fair attention, so you might see some random treasuries here and there. It'll take at least six months to get through all the HandmadeMN shops, so saddle up!


This week:
A LITTLE FROM COLUMN A, A LITTLE FROM COLUMN B
featuring

Egret Effects
XO Handworks
MTart
ljbe
Harvest Moon by Hand
Catch a Star Creations

I try to stay away from gender-specific stuff, but...

My cousin Sara is having a girl and I previously had bought a metric ton of pink baby yarn at the Needlework Unlimited outlet, so there you have it.


Also, sometimes frilly, ruffly things are just cute. There, I said it. Grandpa Ryan will make sure she plays with trucks.

Clearly the sweater is unfinished, but I'm giving it short sleeves with eyelets and a tiny ruffle at the cuff. Sara was one of the cutest kids ever, so I'm betting the baby is going to be super snuggly in this sweater.

Dogs are for wrestling and people are for snuggling

It's been a while since we've heard from Penny. She's been busy eating, sleeping, pooping, and eating her poop. She also discovered a new hobby: being afraid of thunderstorms. One of my hobbies is being a pushover, so when she creeps over to the bed after the sky-grumbles start and looks longingly up at me, I have to snuggle her. More proof that she will find whatever reason she can to curl up in a lap or the crook of an arm all the day (and night) long. She also shakes a lot, which really ups her patheticness.

She isn't nearly as social with other animals, especially if she's on a leash. This week, however, she made a new friend despite her usual growly routine. She's defensive; maybe it's her size or her breed or her lack of proper training. I don't know. She just doesn't like to be sniffed, and I have to say I quite agree that this is really a violation of personal space. She's also growly when she plays, which can be confusing for other dogs and their people, but Lily the beagle took it very well. Penny (and long-time cohort Gretzky) would prefer wrestling when playing with other dogs. But if you're like Lily and you're not a wrestler, running so fast that you grunt every time your feet hit the ground will suffice.


Why the running starts, we don't know. What the running will accomplish, we don't know. We only know that it is fun and then they sleep.

Made in MN Blogventure Wednesday 4: Put It on Paper!

The premise:
This blogventure celebrates my favorite colors, blue and green, while paying homage to the awesomeness of the HandmadeMN members via Etsy treasuries. Each one features items from a particular crafting category as listed on the HandmadeMN blog. If you like the items, leave a comment on the treasury - comments will bump the treasury toward the top of the list so other folks are more likely to view it and give some love to these fabulous artists!

Some categories have just a few shops and others have so many that they'll cover more than one week; I want everybody to get fair attention, so you might see some random treasuries here and there. It'll take at least six months to get through all the HandmadeMN shops, so saddle up!


This week:
PUT IT ON PAPER
featuring

Hungry Dog Designs
JuJu Bee's Boutique
Just Another Day Designs
Light Reading
Locust Street
Oodles of Color
Sakura Design
Scissor Savvy
Scrap Addict
TC Witchcraft Factory
The Pen and the Hen

Sometimes it's fun to look through old stuff.

This is why my mom never throws anything away and why I also have this inclination. Unfortunately, hubs recently informed me that he would like there to be nothing in the entire basement of our house; he's on a bit of a purging rampage. He believes in simplicity and responsible consumerism. I believe in not having to buy things later when you can save them now. It's a different kind of responsible consumerism. Compromise; THAT'S the name of game, ABBA.

So while rummaging through an old file cabinet looking for 1)my passport and 2)my social security card - in a bit of a panic because I really thought I had lost both* - I found this:


It's a project from my graphic design class in journalism school. The grey rectangle is there because I don't want any of you crazy people showing up at my parents' house thinking you'll be getting cold-cuts and sheet cake.

I'm a little ashamed of the blatant judgment my message via that poor chicken's board places on folks who put on costumes to make a living. TC Bear is frickin awesome. Also, I have a lot of respect/sadness for people standing on the sidewalks of Edina dressed like Lady Liberty. It may be a crappy job, but at least you've got one. And who knows, maybe it's a great job. Maybe I should look into it...

Actually, speaking of jobs, I did recently score part-time employment at Patina (which is why I was searching for certain documents providing proof of my legal status). But I'll continue crafting and, hopefully, making really bad posters and such on the side. Here's the one I did for hubs's graduation:**



* Not the case; employment, here I come!
** May contain historically inaccurate detail.

Now we are six.

Laura turned six a couple weeks ago, but since we were out of town at that time, she had a party with her friends this week. I'm a fan of stringing out birthdays and other celebrations. It usually means more cake.

She's not my kid but I totally get all the silly things grown-ups say.... she's growing up so fast! I can't believe she's six! I remember when she was just a baby!

Indeed. She was baby who did not like to be fiddled with. She loved the sound of running water. She was very, very willful. She ate lemons. She had to be rocked vigorously for about 30 minutes before being put down, and that usually resulted in me being very sweaty.

And now she's six. There's something absolutely heartbreaking about the possibility of forgetting her as a baby, and as a toddler, and as a little girl...but we get old and the business of life and the exhaustion of child-rearing chips away at our brains. And they get older, too, and lose their innocence and become independent and move on to have their own lives. The anxious part of me thinks it's totally reasonable to start preparing for that as soon as possible. I mean, like, as soon as they're born you begin reminding yourself that you don't own them; knowing that you'll spend years tending to them and then they will, in essence, leave you.

But that's the anxious part of me. The same part that nags when people aren't washing their hands and when I worry that I'm doing nothing important with my life. The truth is, I just can't tell the future or control the hygiene of everyone around me at all times. My God, I'll try, but still. I also can't say that my kids (or niece, or nephew, or anyone else) are my legacy, because I don't believe in putting that pressure on them - like I'm a wannabe pop star so I whore my child out to Disney.* Sure, I hope they do fantastic stuff. But if all they do is love their family, they have done something important, and I will have, too.

I hope I remember rocking them to sleep and teaching them to read and the total unapologetic way they run to me, but I might not, so I better just appreciate where they are while they're there, and hope I can revel in the people they become.



Things I love about being six:
we find no reason to believe you shouldn't get presents each time you see grandpa
we want to be helpful, and we are old enough to actually be helpful
we love freely
we dress up
we can handle being away from Mommy overnight
we sometimes use manners without having to be told
we dance



*I know it might be unpopular, and highly hypocritical because I grew up during the heyday that was The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, but I'm not a big Disney fan for kids. So buying that Sleeping Beauty dress for Laura probably wasn't the pinnacle of my integrity.

Made in MN Blogventure Wednesday 3: Captured Moments (and a scarf)

So...here's what I said last week: "It's not that I forgot about this little exercise, it's that I was out of town. Onward!"

This week: Ok. I forgot. BAD, blogger, BAD!


The premise:
This blogventure celebrates my favorite colors, blue and green, while paying homage to the awesomeness of the HandmadeMN members via Etsy treasuries. Each one features items from a particular crafting category as listed on the HandmadeMN blog. If you like the items, leave a comment on the treasury - comments will bump the treasury toward the top of the list so other folks are more likely to view it and give some love to these fabulous artists!

Some categories have just a few shops and others have so many that they'll cover more than one week; I want everybody to get fair attention, so you might see some random treasuries here and there. It'll take at least six months to get through all the HandmadeMN shops, so saddle up!


This week:

CAPTURED MOMENTS
featuring
Mary Foster Creative
Sarah Mandile Photography
Thole Imagery

Embossing tutorial

I recently wrote a tutorial for the HandmadeMN blog and thought I'd re-post it here. Look out for a tutorial on chalk pastels coming soon!


A Drink from the Well: Embossing
This tutorial brought to you by Theresa B of Egret Effects

What You’ll Need:
Paper; scraps are fine
“Happy Birthday” stamp

Watermark stamp pad (this is basically a clear-ink pad)

Copper embossing powder (or color of your choice)
Heat tool
Cutting board (to place the hot heat tool on)
Window cleaner and cloth rag (to clean your stamp)

Step 1: Set yourself up
Place the paper on which you’re embossing over a larger scrap of paper. Open your embossing powder and stamp pad. Have your heat tool and stamp at the ready.


Step 2: Stamp and powder
Apply the watermark ink to your stamp and stamp your paper. By moving the paper to reflect the light, you should be able to see your stamp and confirm that it’s a good one – all parts of the stamp made an impression and there are no extra marks.

Watermark ink doesn’t dry as fast as other inks, so while you don’t need to rush, you should sprinkle the embossing powder on as soon as you’ve verified the quality of the stamp. You don’t need much; just a light covering.


Step 3: Swirl, tap, and tidy
The embossing powder will stick to anything wet on your paper. Swirl it around gently so that it touches every area of your stamp; you’ll be able to see the message emerging. Once you’re sure the stamp is covered, tap the remaining loose powder onto the larger scrap paper. The powder on your stamp is secure enough to withstand a small breeze, but can still be smeared. Being careful not to touch the stamped area, set your powdered message aside and fold the paper with the loose powder in half so you can dump it back into the powder jar.

Before going any further, close your embossing powder jar. Heat tools not only get hot, they blow that hot air onto your project, and it would be pretty maddening if colored powder flew all over your desk/room/carpet – you get the idea. You might as well also eliminate loose papers hanging around. Speaking of which, if the paper you’re embossing on is small (say, smaller than 4x6) it might very well blow away, too. Use a needle-nosed pliers or other such instrument to secure the paper and keep your digits from burning.


Step 4: Heat and cool
If you don’t have a heat tool and don’t want to buy one, a hair dryer or toaster can substitute. Whatever you use, it’s a good idea to consider your first embossed stamp as a test. It’s common to see some paper warpage. Of course, if you heat the paper for too long it can get singed and discolored. We are dealing with a flammable product, so be careful!

That said, embossing is not hard. Just hold your heat tool about two or three inches up and directly over (or under, if using a toaster) the powdered stamp, moving back and forth slightly for about five to ten seconds. Embossing powder is basically tiny beads of plastic that, under the heat, melt together and grip the paper fibers. You’ll be able to see it happen right before your eyes! It only takes a few moments for the paper and newly-melted powder to cool; don’t touch it while still hot or you can smear the embossing (plus, no one wants melted plastic on their skin). Once cool, however, you have a durable, lovely embellishment to add texture to whatever special project you can come up with!



The finished product for this embellishment:


Embossing powder comes in all kinds of colors. Metalics are especially versatile; they show up nicely on most papers and can be paired with just about any color scheme.

For another look, use a colored ink pad with sparkly or “holographic” embossing powder, like this:


For a finished product of:


Happy embossing!

Wooly June

After several years of serious knitting, I think I finally understand something very important. You can't start mittens in January just because your hands are cold. Nor can you start a hat on, oh, December 22nd to give someone at Christmas, as if it won't take more than the two hours you might spend running to the store for a last-minute gift.


You have to have the foresight to start these projects early enough to allow for the relaxed, careful, and loving mindset with which they were meant to be made. So it's June, and it seems ever so wrong, but I've gotten out my wool blends and finished a couple of things with more time to spare than a half-day kindergartener.*


The mittens are for myself, to match my other winter warmies. The hat is for my dad. I was inspired on Father's Day to make it for him, which is just another indication that I tend to be a bit late to the party when it comes to having revelations.


Dad's been wearing the same stocking hat since sometime last century, but the real motivation was that he's so encouraging of my crafts. And not in a required-because-we're-family way. Sure, he's biased, but he's still sincere. So I made him a hat of mostly red, a color he looks smashing in, for the shoveling and car scraping and snowman making with the grandkids.


*I was going to go with a simile comparing my spare time with my grandmother sitting in a nursing home, but then thought that might be in poor taste.