Damn It's Cold and A Bit About My Process

What do I do when I wake up to temperatures like this?

I stay inside and update my Etsy shop.  That is just what I did yesterday.  I had a few brooches completed so I took a few photos and added them to my shop.  I have a few other pieces in the works (new stuff!) and will be adding them to the shop sometime next week. 

Yesterday's additions were brooches, a few birch bark pieces and a few oak and wool. 

I was glad to have some time out in the barn last week to cut wood because with these temperatures there's no way I could stand out there and work.  The pole barn is unheated and my fingerless gloves just don't provide the warmth I need.  My gloves actually started off with fingers but suffered one too many run-ins with the belt sander so they are now mostly fingerless.  (thank goodness I'm not)

Each of these wood brooches has been cut from a downed branch that I've hauled out of the woods.  All of these are oak which is a nice sturdy wood to work with.  I cut them, shape them, sand them, drill them, wax them, and embroider them.  I gather the birch bark myself and then peel it into layers and use it as a veneer.  I make the wool felt by hand.  It's a labor of love.

It's important to me that these feel natural and unique.  I want them to feel like something plucked from the forest floor.  I cut them in organic shapes and leave angles and planes on the wood to remind the hand that holds it that it is handmade.

I can't wait to share what else I'm working on.  Soon.

What are you working on this weekend?

An Interview With Lynne from BlossomBabies

I'm a mom of 3 boys which suits me well, I'm a dig in the dirt, play hard kind of girl, but when I found out in 2008 that I was having a baby girl, (and after I recovered from the initial shock), I squealed (well, like a girl)and clicked my way over to the most adorable little dollies ever, in Blossombabies' shop on Etsy.  I had known Lynne's work already but now I had a legitimate reason to own some!  I bought my daughter her first baby doll, one that was made with love, and one that is cherished by both of us.  I wanted something special, made of natural materials, and well-made, and what I found was that not only is Lynne a talented doll-maker, but sweet, caring, and funny too.  Yeah, I'm a fan.  I bet you will be too.

Tell me about you:

My Name is Lynne and I live in a small(ish) German town near Frankfurt.

What do you make?

I make Waldorf-inspired toddlers dolls and I also free-lance design toys and plush things for babies.

Is there a particular theme in your work?

My work is really focused around simple, unobtrusive playthings. I don't like to have anything complicated or artificial on a children's doll or toy, because I really believe that simple playthings and simple natural toys inspire gentleness and nurturing in children. Especially fabric toys. They help them to be more attentive to subtlties. How fabric feels, how it ages with play and loving, how it acquires a certain scent, these are all experiences a child takes with him his whole life. A simply designed toy made by hand has a value children intrinsically appreciate.

Where do you find inspiration?

I am most inspired by my own children and their nurturing play. My children are just moving on from doll play but their deep love and care for the many dollies and animals always touches my heart. I try to capture this feeling and even that wistful bit of nostalgia in my heart about these beautiful growing children of mine when I make my dolls.

What do you love about what you do?

I really love the fact that I can create things which may, ideally, become a very special part of a child's life. I don't think that every single child who receives one of my dolls will connect in a special way to it. But of course, I really hope some may. What an honor that would be for me!

Tell me about a favorite piece that you've made

My favorite piece is the very first Sweatshirt Baby I made. The afro! The afro! He was special, and I kept him.

What do you do when you're not creating?

I am a manager and a key buyer for a shop here in Germany. I love my job because I get to work on a lot of interesting projects (we design some of our own products as well) and I also get to visit some of the biggest and most interesting trade fairs in the world. I love it. Its a big job, so I can't always keep my personal projects going at the speed I would like, but I try to make room for everything.

How can people find you?

I have an Etsy store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/blossombabies

Thank you Lynne!

An Interview With Jennifer Guthrie of PineBlossoms by Jennifer

When I first bumped into Jennifer Guthrie's work on Etsy, I was impressed by her unique looking bags.  When I took a closer look, I realized that these sweet designs were translated using repurposed materials, such as thrifted suit coats, they became even better.  "Here's a girl after my own heart, trolling the thrift stores in search of wool" I thought.   But when I received one of these repurposed lovelies, I was really blown away by the quality and details.  That was about two years ago and in the meantime I've had the opportunity to get to know Jennifer a bit and I'm sure you'll find her every bit as interesting as I do. 

Tell me about you:

Hello! I am Jennifer Guthrie. After my husband and I were married, we moved our Southern California-bred selves to the mountains of Northern California. It has been a wonderful place to raise our children. We live in a wooded neighborhood with a few (not too close) neighbors, where we can keep chickens, walk mountain trails, and visit a few waterfalls. Looking out the windows of our home we see the occasional pair of deer, (much to the dismay of our neighborhood organic gardener across the street.) We get to see and hear squirrels and birds bickering over the many oak branches each hopes to claim. And watch your step here... garder snakes and many others love to sun themselves on the steps leading to our front door!

This is all wonderful and charming, until you need a yard of fabric....and have to drive an hour to the closest Quilt Supply Store. Lucky for me the 2 closest towns boast a total of 5 thrift shops! This has encouraged me to consider the wonders of Repurposing!

What do you make?

In a nutshell I take a men’s blazer and make a bag, then from the scraps I make checkbook covers, electronic devise cozies, and card cases, then from the scraps I make flower pins.

 

Is there a particular theme in your work?

Even though I am mostly working with mens’ suits, I think my theme is still pretty much NATURE. No matter what you do to wool, it is still natural. It has a feel, a smell, and behaves like a natural thing. It feels fitting to me to applique a bird to a woolen “lapel” pocket on one of my bags.

Where do you find inspiration?

Living where I do the things on my mind tend to be the animals outside and the plants growing, or even those I wish to grow. I just love those big red asian poppies, but with little sun, I am forced to be satisfied with bright red poppies on my bags! The memory of Squirrel chatter might urge me to applique a little squirrel to an Oak & Acorn themed bag. Thinking of my childhood in So. Cal. collecting snail friends has inspired several snail themed bags and accessories! I am so surprised my customers love them as I do! Finally I am inspired by my horse, Twister. Without her, and the costs associated with keeping a horse, I might not have to work so hard. I have met so many horse lovers & keepers through the sales of my “Twister” themed bags, whose compliments and words of encouragement help keep me moving right along!

 

What do you love about what you do?

Since I was in High School, I have loved thrift store shopping. I was fortunate enough to have friends, and friends’ mothers who loved thrift store shopping too... so we did it a lot! My “job” allows me to say to my dear husband, “Hey, my suit stock is low... we really need to make a run to “Savers.” (one of the bigger stores we frequent). And he makes it happen! I get to go to thrift stores with my husband, and he goes willingly!

Tell me about a favorite piece that you’ve made.

My favorite thing I have made is one of my bags. I found this very old nubby wool ladies’ blazer at the thrift shop. I guessed it to be from the 40s or 50s. It was thread bare at the edges, it had a few moth holes and had been repaired many times. I loved it! It was clear that this jacket was loved and needed by whoever had taken such care to preserve it’s functionality. Even the satin lining inside had wandering hem around the edge, where it had frayed and the owner tried to save it. It was the perfect material for one of my bags. It is so satisfying giving even a tired jacket like this, another life of usefulness.

What do you do when you’re not creating?

Growing up in Southern California, I never got much closer to horses than the posters that covered my wall and the books my grandmother sent. When we moved here, where horses are on every corner, becoming a real life “horsewoman” was actually a possibility! I currently spend most of my free time at our local college which boasts an awesome equine studies department. I take a class every semester and work on my lack of skills...Darn this whole fear thing! But it is a hobby and I love every minute of it! The kids spend a lot of time there too. They have been taking weekend & summer classes for 4 years now.

A favorite quote, a good recipe, a funny story?

I love this Baxter Black (Cowboy Poet) quote:

“Don’t be what you gotta be, to live where you wanna live. Live where you gotta live to be what you gotta be.”

How can people find you?

I feel like I am everywhere! I currently sell on Etsy at http://www.pineblossoms.com/ I keep pictures on Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/pineblossoms and I have a blog http://www.blossominginthepines.blogspot.com/ . I just started a Facebook fan page which I am just figuring out. Somehow I already have a few fans, which is pretty exciting!

Jennifer also loves to cook, and claims she cooks as she sews...without patterns.  :)

Quite A Day

I did a bit of a shop update today. In addition to some staples like felted wool acorns and stones, I also added a new project that I have been working on, coasters. I have a few designs in mind but started with a leaf shape, in a variety of fall colors. I've been using one for the past week and like it well enough that I decided to add them to my shop.

I had to photograph all of my new pieces this morning. This meant I had to crop them, save them, list the items on Etsy, and chase children all at the same time. Needless to say, the process took me h.o.u.r.s...... By the time it was over, I was exhausted. I hadn't eaten lunch and the beautiful fall-ish weather was taunting me through the window of my office.

When I finished the last listing, I bid my computer adieu and trucked the kiddies outside for a walk. I believe at that very same moment, my bark brown acorns hit the front page of Etsy (drats! missed it!) and I came back from my walk to find a handful of sales. Woo hoo!! I'm so grateful...and tired. But mostly grateful.

Felted wool stones in rustic turquoise

Acorn cap birds nests made by my 11 year old

Vintage tea cup birds nest

Autumn leaves felted wool coasters

Have a happy weekend, all!

ABC Book Origami - love!

While sipping my coffee and reading my feeds this morning, I stumbled across a post by Heather from rhymeswithmagic and in it she showed off her recent project. She is a librarian by day and paper-folding genius by night and I love that she works books into her craftwork. This new project had me all agog. She's taken a set of books from the recycle bin and folded the pages so they show the alphabet. I can just see these set on a shelf in kid's room, in a home library, or right here above my desk might be nice...

They are in her Etsy shop, along with other wonderful folded pieces, including custom folded books and book jewelry.

Go check it out. (check it out, get it? haha.)

Felt a' flying

So I've been on a bit of a bird kick lately. It seems that almost all of my latest crafting has featured a flying friend of one type or another. Today's is a wee little barn owl brooch. I made him of wool that I felted from an old sweater and backed him with some of that felted coat wool I talked about in my previous post. His eyes are the coolest black glass vintage buttons. All in all, kind of cute.

Speaking of birds, yesterday as I was driving to town a Bald Eagle swooped down right next to the road, flew alongside me for a second and then dove for something in the grass of a field. It was the first Eagle I've seen all winter and I've yet to lose that feeling of awe when I see them. I hope I never take it for granted because they really are spectacular animals.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. If you have any birds in the works, let me know, I'd love to see them.

Slowly

I've struggled with finding the time to craft since the new baby arrived, so I decided that convenience would be my friend. I've kept a bowl of stones and batts of roving near the sink so that when I have a minute, I'll make up a felted stone and I've also kept a bowl of cut-out hearts and all the neccessary supplies to make ornaments on my desk. By having these little (but satisfying) project pieces ready to go, I've been able to make enough in the past two weeks to actually add them to my Etsy shop. Hooray!

It seems funny considering that pre-baby I was able to whip out full sets of stones and multiple sets of hearts in any given day, but I'll take it. It's a slow road, but that's OK.

Begin again

felted wool heart ornaments - cupid - set of 12

I decided today to reopen my Etsy shop, but on a smaller scale, one that can accomodate my much busier schedule. It feels good, like a promise to myself that I'll be able to handle all the things I want to do, just on a different scale.

Featuring...

I am so incredibly flattered to be the featured seller on Etsy today. When I got the news I giggled the entire day. This is a big thing, I'm not generally a giggler. A smirker, sure, but not so much a giggler.

I've been working hard for the past few weeks to get some items made for the shop while keeping up with life and keeping my feature a secret. Not easy, on both counts. I'm excited the big day is here though and want to thank everyone for putting up with busy self during this time.

I'm a huge fan of Etsy, of its community, and of the handmade ideal. If you're not familiar with Etsy, please go check it out and support the thousands of people trying to carve out their creative niche in the world.

Something new

I was working on an ornament project last night, something that had been in my head for some time now, when all of a sudden the project turned into something different. I love when that happens! (I believe in happy accidents) So what had started out as ornament has turned into brooches and I have to say I'm pretty excited about them. They're so..so..me. Ok, so anything with moss and nature is pretty much me, but nonetheless... It feels good to be excited about a new project.

What I've done is made a nest from a piece of felted sweater and sewn in some bead eggs and attached it to a bed of "moss" (wool locks) and sewn in some teeny tiny wool leaves that I made, also of felted sweater. I sewed the moss and nest onto a backing and added a pinback.

I hope to get these in my Etsy shop this week, but am quite certain I'll be making one for myself in the meantime. :D

Happy Halloween!

Ah, it's my favorite holiday, Halloween. Time to get dressed up and beg the neighbors for candy.

The weather looks to be beautiful here in Minnesota and the whole family is looking forward to going out tonight. (unlike last year when it was 15 degrees)

If you're not quite up to hiking around with a bag of sugar, here are a few treats that I've had my eye on that will be a bit easier on the dental work. Enjoy!

This super cool piece of woollen art was made by Woollyfabulous. It's made from felted wool sweater material and is utterly amazing.

Felt brooch

One of my favorite indulgences is this wonderful sugar scrub by Skinandtonic. Her scents are amazing and the quality of her products is comparable to your high end department stores. This is the treat to pick if your poor skin is suffering from dryness. You'll love it.

Not Yer Average Hipster Sugar Scrub 8 oz

These magical little pumpkins are the perfect seasonal decorations, by tizib. Lovingly needlefelted they look at once earthly and ethereal. I can see these on a nature table from fall through Thanksgiving.

Magic Pumpkin

Whirlwind

Whew! It's been a while since I've checked in here on my little blog. Seems the past month has been a blur of activity. I've been busy preparing for my biggest craft show of the year, No Coast Craft-o-Rama in Minneapolis on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, as well as finishing up some custom orders, trying to keep my etsy shop decently stocked, chasing the kids...etc. Then wham! Sickness in the house and my efforts were thwarted. We're all healthy again and I'm sewing my little fingers off. Yay! I've been working on a large order of birds, but had also been asked to create some owl ornaments. I'm glad that request came up, because I think they turned out nicely. I have a few new ideas in my head that I'm looking forward to working on too once it quiets down a bit.

I'll check in here more often, I promise, so please check back.

Enjoy your day!

Round and round we go

My oh my, has it really been a month since I've loved thee, my little blog? What a crazy month it's been. The kids and I made a trip "home" to Illinois for a trunk show I hosted with work from Kathryn from jewelrybytiki, Sheryl from shayster61, my son, Riley, myself, and the incomparable Charlene from Skin and Tonic. It was a fabulous time. I'll have to post all the details later, but let me tell you all you crafters out there, if you haven't done a home show, you should consider it. We served some wine and cheese, had some music playing, tons of product out, Charlene was demonstrating her bath and body products, and people were mingling and shopping. We all made a little money, but beside that it was a really nice time. No pressure, just a comfortable situation in which to show and talk about our work.

Other happenings of note lately would be the two big totes of wool sweaters I scored that are just waiting to be felted, and the multiple dabblings in new projects. One of which is shown here. Remember making newspaper bowls in school? Well, I sacrificed a couple of National Geographics and made one. I'm not sure if I'll put it in my etsy shop or not, but I do love how the inside looks. Maybe I'll just keep it on a shelf, tilted so I an enjoy the round and round.

'Til next time!

Making the time

Ah, summertime. I remember summertime as a kid, sleeping in, running around unsupervised, causing minor mayhem, kissing boys, and growing freckles. I remember feeling so free and eventually tiring of the freedom and wishing for school to start again. These days the option to sleep in and run around unsupervised isnt' one I'm afforded. I have, however, been MAKING the time to take some time for me each day. I need my creative time, it's my vitamin.

I sat down to paint the other night, and as always, didn't have a plan for my painting. As I started to manipulate the paint, I began to see a meadow and remembered a time when driving down a country road, we had pulled over so we could run through a field of grass, just like Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. We took the time to be goofy, destination be damned. I miss that sort of detour. It seems now that it's just priority one to get to where we need to go. Stopping to run through tall grass would throw off the schedule horribly, would dirty our knees, and cover us with bugs. Or would it? Perhaps we need more silliness and simple pleasures in our lives. Let's all stop the car and run through the meadow and share a good laugh. Hold my hand, here we go.

a change in the weather

Finally! It feels like summer has finally arrived in my neck of the woods. Gone is the melting snow and misty mornings and here are the chirping birds and green leaves. Each morning I sit by the window, sipping my coffee, and watch the hummingbirds fight over prime real estate at the feeder. Rabbits nibble at the tiny bit of green in our yard, and deer drink out of the pond. Life is everywhere! What a difference a little sunshine makes. The boys are happy to be running around and jumping in the pool. I'm busy hanging out the laundry which smells divine, helped in no small part by the most wonderful laundry soap ever, found at MugwortMaggies on etsy. Though free time is still not overly abundant, I make my walks to the mailbox, and my laundry-hanging my time away from the chaos that is 3 rowdy boys and 2 naughty dogs. The only downside that I can see is that instead of creating, I want to be outside. I guess I'll just need to do some plein air painting or something. I'm not complaining, by any stretch. It's warm, it's green, and I'm happy.