Whole Lotta Craftin' Goin On!

This is one of my favorite times of the year with the crunchy leaves, wooly scarves and comfort food galore. My crock pot has been christened for the season and my knitting needles are home to some magnum-sized Cascade hot pink yarn. I'm thinking I better pick up the pace too, because temperatures seem to be dropping rapidly.

One of my favorite parts about fall, other than the food, is the excuse to gather with friends for cozy, crafty fun. I've got plenty of excuses to get the gatherings in queue too - my calendar is jammed with show dates until Christmas. I'm totally excited and TOTALLY overwhelmed all at the same time. I plan to debut quite a bit of new product ranging from new jewelry to holiday accessories. The thing I'm most excited about at this very moment is my new line of fused glass pendants. I'm fresh on the glass scene and I'm thoroughly loving every minute of it. I just wish kilns had see-thru windows! Last night I picked up some new glass and will be prepping it for the kiln over the weekend. I hope to have it ready by my next show, Indie Underground on October 16 & 17 - part of the fashion week extravagaza - it promises to be a good time for all. I'll be there with lots of my fellow mafiosas as well as some of my Show Me Etsy pals. The show will be at the Lumiere Hotel and admission is FREE! Hope to see you there kiddos! I'll be posting again soon, promise, with the big list of show dates.

Hanging with My Gnomies

Holy gnomes and polka-dotted mushrooms Batman, Strange Folk is THIS weekend (September 26 & 27 from 10-6). This is going to be a totally awesome show. There will be more than 100 vendors representing a huge variety of crafty goodness. The festival will be located in O'Fallon, IL only 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis. In addition to the fabulous wares there will be live bands, a wine tasting, eco-conscious craft activities, a sandbox, petting zoo and lots of yummy food to eat. One of my favorite features of the event is The Upcycle Exchange. To participate, check out the online wish list and take advantage of a great excuse to clean out those closets! All donated items will go straight back in to the artist community to be upcycled into new stuff. How cool is that? I hope to see you there this weekend!

I've had a busy few weeks getting ready for the show, crafting like a madwoman. This past weekend my baby cousin Lauren came to visit and brought her beady goodies with her. She makes super cute beaded jewelry. We spent most of the time she was here trotting from one supply store to another and when we weren't doing that we were crafting like crazy trying out all our new stuff. I made a zillion bottle cap magnets and pins with vintage circus art and old t.v. show characters which will be making their debut at Strange Folk this weekend. We also spent quite a bit of time with my buddy Katie from Paste working on fun projects with her as well. On Lauren's last day we made needle felted beads and wet felted beads. Lauren likes needle felting the best. Katie and I dug the wet felting but both agreed that the dishpan hands are a lame side effect from having our hands constantly wet. In addition to the pruny fingers Katie and I are going to have to seek friend therapy for our codependent ways - her need to beg me to tie all of her knots (there are pouty faces and crocodile tears) and my enabling ways that propel my doing it for her even though I know she's capable. The results were worth it though, we all have cute new felty fun to wear.

I've got quite a few shows coming up in the next couple months, stay tuned for the details on Indie Underground during Fashion Week, Big Ass Indie-3 and Artropy. I'll be posting the 411 very soon. Right now I need to go try and scrub some more dried glue off of my sticky paws. Later taters.