A Contest for the Holidays

There are always a few awesome contests being hosted by wonderful crafty bloggers out there, but I have found one that is truly exceptional. For 12 days, JoPackham at WhereWomenCreate is offering a daily drawing for anyone who comments on their posts. You can enter twice a day if you add their widget to your own blog (like me!) and it will totally be worth it.

Go check it out - and good luck!

29 years ago today...

On the 27th of November, 1980, my mom woke me up around 2am and told me she was going to go to the hospital - she was in the early stages of labor with my sister. Mom took me to the kitchen and gave me a quick run through on how to prepare a turkey and all the fixings. See, it wasn't just delivery day, it was also Thanksgiving.

I got up later that morning and started working on what would be my first Thanksgiving meal. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Except for the gravy. I had never made gravy, and started with the flour, rather than the turkey drippings... It was pretty much just lumpy, flavorless paste when I was done with it. Not pretty.

The turkey's automatic timer popped out, the mashed potatoes were creamed, and my two younger brothers and I sat down around the table. Just as I started to hack away at the bird, the phone rang. My mother asked "Can you hear her?" It was a girl! We jumped around the room like maniacs, cheering the birth of our sister.

Erin Nichole turned 29 today. While I don't often jump around like a maniac in her honor anymore, I am still extremely proud and pleased to have her around.

The last few years have been especially important to me. Erin moved to NW Arkansas after graduating from UT, thinking she'd live here near our mom for a few months to a year as she figured out what to do next. That was in 2004... Since then, we've become closer than ever - we've gone on shopping road trips together, started our crafting businesses together, cared for our mother through her cancer battle together... I can honestly say she's become my best friend over the last five years. I'm pretty sure that November 27, 1980 was one of the best days of my life. Except for the gravy.

Happy Birthday Erin! I love you!!

I knew it all along

When a woman reaches a certain age, she begins to wonder if her outward persona is still jiving with her inner. At least, that's something that I wonder about. If you don't - good for you. You're either incredibly self-assured, or your delusional, or maybe just in denial...


So, along those lines, I question the potential popularity of my handmade crafts as I'm coming up with new things - and think about what audience they might appeal to the most. When I started making my little hip bags out of repurposed wool sweaters, I observed that my best customer for them was young women who are a little on the "crunchy" "ecologically conscious" side - educated, concerned about the environment, listening to alternative rock  and shopping at the local farmer's markets... also a fan of vintage clothing perhaps. I don't think any sorority members or Ed Hardy fans are carrying one of my bags yet. Anyway, I have hoped that I am creating items to continue to appeal to these lovely ladies, and that I am cool enough inside to know what works and what doesn't for that demographic.

Yesterday at the Fayetteville Farmer's Market a sweet boy in his 20's (that's right, I said boy) was admiring my bags, and applauded my ability to make "hipster" bags and other items that appeal to a different group of people. I was ridiculously excited to be told that I am, indeed, able to execute a hip item properly. My inner cool quotient increased like the Grinch's heart on Christmas day. Silly, I know, but sooooo satisfying.

Crafty Memories

I was out at my mom's for a bit today and found a box in the shop that was full of fabric and a smaller box of clothing patterns. I pulled a of the well-worn envelopes out of the smaller box, and found a little time capsule of sewing. There was the peasant skirt and blouse from the 50's that my grandmother made mom when she was 10. I'm not sure if this is the same outfit, but it's another handmade bit of loveliness created by my grandmother in any case... how adorable was my mom!?

There was also my prom dress, dresses that mom made for my girls, the dress she made for my sister's band formal, Barbie doll clothes from the 50's, the cowboy vests she made out of faux leather for my brothers in 1974, the dress and blouse she made for me when I was part of the chorus in my high school musical, Oklahoma! 

These patterns mean more to me than her jewelry or keepsakes. They are symbols of the love she had for her kids. She loved us through the time and effort she spent making these things for us. I'm so glad she kept them.

Holiday Boutique!

You don't want to miss this! Okay, I might be a little biased, but not unreasonably so...

My sister and I and a few other fantastic women are going to host a little get-together and would love for you and your bffs to join us.

Snacks, drinks, music, shopping... we even have a masseuse involved!! What's not to love!?

See you Saturday!

(click on flyer image to see it in a better format... can't get it to be clearer here for some reason.)

I heart custom requests!

I recently shared a booth at the Bella Vista Arts & Crafts Festival with my uber-talented sister. We met a terrific young woman named Jennifer who works at Denali State Park during summers, and winters with her mom or with friends who live in the lower-48. I am totally envious of her and wish I had been aware of cool jobs like that when I was in my 20s... but I probably wouldn't have taken advantage of them. I'm so not the person now that I was then... thankfully.

But I digress... the cool bohemian girl loved one of the bags I had at the show, but it sold. I wandered by her mom's booth on the final day, and was asked if I wanted to trade a bag for something she had there. I picked an adorable star-shaped candle box with a painted snowman on it, and yesterday I mailed off the bag I made for Jennifer. It's almost like the one she liked - except that it has the buttons from the front of the sweater it was made from. The original was made from the back of the garment.

I would be happy to get to the point where people asked me to make custom pieces for them more often.

Sorry - this is a pretty boring post... I'm in a bit of a funk.

While wandering the local craft fair...

My sister and I spent a couple of nice, relaxing hours at a local craft fair a couple of weekends ago. Two years ago, having a booth at this fair started us both on our way to being professional handmade artisans. We enjoyed looking, and eating, and laughing, and remembering why we love making stuff and selling it to people who love what we make.

There were many beautiful things - not the least of which were the new paintings and prints by my favorite local artist, Temple Moore. There were a few things, however, that were unequivocably not good. Don't ever, ever, EVER do things like this. I love handmade, but THIS is crap.

These skirts are repurposed jeans on top, fleece on the bottom. FLEECE. Like, what you make blankets from.

There is just no way to explain this abomination, nor is there any way to excuse it. I thought when I saw it that I had no words, but obviously I do. Several. Some of them start with the letters W, T and F.

Next in line is this yard art. You can kill two birds with one well-aimed stone if you put this on your lawn. You can call yourself an Art Lover*, and at the same time, you can be accused of sacrilege by your neighbors!

I'm pretty sure that Santa Clause (or anyone else with a similar name) was NOT hanging around by the manger when Joseph and Mary's first child was born. I mean, I'm no biblical scholar, but... I was president of my church's youth group. So, you know... I know stuff.

I don't even go to church regularly, and I read athiest blogs, and I was still offended by this piece of dung. I didn't check the price. But if it wasn't free, it was too much. (hint: click the photo for the full offensive effect)

*not really.

Finally, we turn to the apparel that should not be worn when going to a craft fair. Or anywhere. Maybe in your own house... but only with the lights off.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. This poor woman obviously had nothing but this to wear. I can only guess (hope) that all of her other clothes... the ones that didn't creep into her butt-crack and make her an immediate candidate for What Not to Wear... were burned in a house fire the day before. And all of her cash, checks and credit cards were lost as well, leaving her unable to shop for new clothes before the fair. That is the only explanation I can come up with.

But if I am right, then she should have kept her spandex-encased buttcheeks at home. Seriously, there was no need to subject anyone else - even the person who made that manger scene - to that. I would have even been okay with her wearing one of those WTF skirts if it meant I wouldn't have to see those pants... leggings? Tights? Shorts? What the hell are they??

I won't even get into the fanny/belly pack and shoes. I feel a little faint...