A long sentence....

You know those times when you should really be like, sleeping, but instead you're listening to Justin Timberlake, sending random envelopes of lined school paper to your pals across the the country? Yeah, me too.
It really is quite difficult to sleep with Justin serenading you after all.

Man, I really need to get some new stamps, mine are all 37 cents! How long ago was that???

Forest Floor

Last week, at the flea, I had a special request. A commission if you will. Well, actually three, no, make it four! Gosh. It really was so cool. People just started asking if I would do a tree in a container that they brought me and I thought, sure, why not? I mean, that's what this whole shopping local thing is all about, right? PLUS they're giving me great artistic license and trust, which is a makers dream! So... three containers came to me that very day, found in another vendors space and the fourth I'll put together at a later date. Here's the first:

A mini tree in a vintage metal JELLO mold.

When I saw this container I immediately thought of a blossoming cherry tree. Perhaps inspired by a recent trip to the Botanical Garden. I usually steer clear of foliage, but just had to add blossoms on this!!


One other request was for two fiddle heads and a toadstool. I'm waiting for the container to arrive, but in the meantime I thought I'd make fern/mushroom combinations for sale as well. I'm not sure I'll be able to part with this one though, or my favorite dome cover thingy.


More forest floors...






This whole, special request container style has inspired me. I want to start seeking unique containers for my trees, like this one, that I found at Salvation Army. Much better then buying new!!

New Items in my Etsy Shop!!!

The other day I combined the two things I love most ( well a lot at least!) tiny drawings and making jewelry...and this tree necklace came out! I made a bunch of other drawing necklaces which I will post soon. I'm preparing for the Brooklyn Flea and an up coming paper themed Poppytalk Handmade.
In the process of taking photos, with myself as the only model, I completely missed the necklace... but I kinda like this photo anyway...

Craft Fair Prep

I took a break from knitting and flying around the room...aka dance rehearsal... today to do some much needed prep for the upcoming Brooklyn Flea.

Hopefully my table will be full of map & stamp jewelry, trees, craft kits and harfs. Probably not too much knitwear, considering the change in weather.

The Brooklyn Flea is going to be a huge flea market in Fort Greene starting in April, every Sunday from 10am -5pm. You'll find it at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School on Lafayette Ave. between Clermont and Vanderbilt Ave. There are about a zillion vendors listed... crafts, clothes, vintage, antiques, food, furniture... gosh, the list goes on!!

Come visit me!

New pillows 2!

At Kj's request I'm showing the before ugly- came-with-the-couch-pillow:

Then these are the finished pillows I made last night. The inspiration came from the combo of two things... that for a long time I've REALLY needed nice new pillows and that after dance rehearsal and brunch with friends I just felt like a quick jaunt across town to buy fabric.

Sometimes you just have to do a simple project. Something easy that you know you can finish in a short period of time, just to remind yourself that you still can. That you still know how to use that sewing machine and turn some flat rectangles of fabric into something infinitely cuter than what came with your couch and have been settling for over a year.

The seams are loose (thank you broken sewing machine) and nothings perfectly square, but the job is done and I am pleased.





New pillows!

Today, out of the blue , I decided I finally needed to recover the pillows on my couch! Here's the fabric that I got at Purl Patchwork :



The bottom one is a super beautiful brown/black stripe from a Japanese company. It's just gorgeous and modern but also reminds me of homespun you'd find in a country store. I managed to whip up four simple pillow covers before the Oscars were over, I'll post a photo tomorrow in daylight.

Warning you, they're pretty basic... my sewing skills are limited and I didn't have a rotary cutter, so I improvised my straight lines using the wooden floor boards as guides. I figured, close enough for me! I've always been a 'settler' when it comes to sewing anyway. If it's not my measurement and cutting, it's a wonky seam from the sewing machine and somethings bound to go awry! They should hold up for a bit I think.

On the needles....

Remember my brief mention of my project with miss Caitlin Berrigan?? It was a while ago before the Christmas rush. Anyhoo.... I'm up to my ears in little pentagons right now in order to complete this virus/hood/cape we're working on. See:

You should check some of Caitlin's work!

I like these designer chocolates made in the shape of a hepatitus C virus...

I think I took this last photo thinking about edibles...

I'll be adding to this collection ALL DAY today!!

Maps & Dreams

This is my 200th post!
Yeah!

I've been waiting for this to come up and wanted to prepare something special... but wasn't really sure what. In the spirit of Inspired Living, things just sort of came together at the last moment. I sit here typing seconds away from when I should be leaving for my next gig, as usual. Here's how it goes.
I recently I listened to an episode of This American life called Mapping. You should really listen to it because it's quite nice, especially the parts about sound. I got me to thinking about how my blog is a kind of map of my thoughts... a part of this whole gigantic map of many masterminds called simply "the internet." Crazy.

Then last night, as I sat preparing a few more bits of jewelry for the craft fair tomorrow... I came across an old map that inspired a tiny new jewelry collection for me. I hadn't sat down to make things in this way for a while... with sweaty palms, racing heart and pure excitement over an idea. Inspired Living last night for sure.

So here it is, the result of my life's map over the past week which is now a part of the bigger 'map' somehow.