We Like to Make Snails...

Sometimes a day does not go as planned but turns out to be fun anyway. Kai was home sick and wanted to play with play-doh. We were out so I broke out my vintage 1970-something copy of Ann Wiseman's "Making Things" and made it ourselves! (Also a great book for macrame, tie-dye, and pot holder projects.)


I like the Baker's Clay: 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 1/2 cups water. I add a teaspoon of cream of tartar to the flour and warm the water to slightly dissolve the salt. Then add food coloring to the salt/water mix and add that mix to the flour/cream of tartar mix. Squish it up and there you have it!


Somehow we always end up with lots of snails! It is so much fun to roll the dough into a snake and then roll it up into one of these cuties.

Refreshed, Renewed, Relaxed

This past weekend three girlfriends from my "Needle Exchange" needlework group went away for a relaxing weekend (meaning sans kids!)  We ate, worked on our projects, took walks, and ate some more.  It was a wonderful, stress free, three days. 

I worked on these cocktail napkins using a Sublime Stitching pattern.  The idea of a weekend away was so exciting that I ordered this awesome bag set from This Chickadee - great quality and just the right size for this embroidery project!

Thanks again to my hostess Hedy for a lovely place to stay.   And to my husband Eric for holding down the fort!

Day 2 - "Summit of Awesome"

Today I had the pleasure of attending a lunch talk with Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching.  She is the embroidery guru - with funky/fun patterns, kits and a new book coming out from Chronicle Books.  It was so much fun that I changed my afternoon plans and stayed for her embroidery workshop.

So here is Jenny followed by my very first embroidery attempt - from Jenny's  "Sexy Librarians" kit !

Hello Craft "Summit of Awesome"

Today was day one of the "Summit of Awesome" sponsored by Hello Craft.  It was really fun and informative!  The highlight was Maria Thomas, CEO of Etsy, our lunchtime speaker.  The program is really amazing with hands on workshops and learning sessions.  

Me with Maria Thomas!  

Some of the talks are being shown in the Virtual Labs.  Tomorrow, Saturday, May 2nd, the following will be shown:

"Developing a Product Line" at 10:oo A.M. 

"Selling Successfully Online" at 1:30 p.M.

For more information check out the Virtual Labs Schedule!  These are worth a peek - and free.

Storque!

Etsy, the glorious venue where I sell my journals, has a community blog called The Storque.   The articled are fun to read and informative.  I have always wanted to be included in one and I was - yesterday!  I was scrolling down the list of articles when I noticed:  Etsy Finds:  One for the Memory Books.  I thought hmm a post about books and sure enough they had my chalkboard accordion photo album.  Yeah!

This accordion photo album is covered with a black oilskin cloth that acts like a chalkboard.  I've seen them used in restaurants.  I had a piece leftover from a project I did for a client so thought I should make something out of it.  The material is very thick and a bit tricky to work with but the results look great!

First Craft Show of the Season!

Last Saturday I shared a booth at the Crofton Craft Fair.  It was a beautiful day and the first craft fair of the season!  Here is the tent with my booth partner Katie - she makes gorgeous bags, wallets, headbands and more!  

While the show was not terribly well attended it was a pleasure to spend the day chatting with Katie and her husband John.

A close-up of the booth with a smiling Katie.  Her crayon rolls sold well! 

These headbands are awesome - beautiful and durable!  (I bought one for my daughter last year and it is going strong.

Katie not only makes the bags she also came up with a great pattern for the wristlet - available at her Etsy shop.

A new product for my shop - travel journals.  So far I have one for Scandinavia and one with a French/Paris theme.  Just need to photograph them and put them in my shop.

I Gocco printed these cards a while ago but have never listed them on Etsy - but I will soon. 

Custom Work

I received a lot of custom requests after the Daily Candy piece.  Here is a fun example of what a custom binding can look like.

This is a journal for someone going to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps.  I took an image of the flag and a map of the country and printed them onto ink jet printable bookcloth.  I really like the results.  The name of the Peace Corps volunteer is stamped on the front cover in silver.  A fun project!