This weekend: Sycamore Spring Craft Market!

Bright and early Saturday morning I'll be heading east to Iowa City to vend at the Sycamore Spring Craft Market, which is put on by my friends ( and fellow Market Day cohorts), Jody and Jason Stoffer of Pajama Love (find them on etsy!).  I know several other Des Moines crafters will be there also, so I'll be looking forward to seeing some friends and meeting others from around Iowa.  I think it is going to be super-fun and I'm looking forward to it.  There are 60 vendors participating so definitely worth a stop if you happen to be in Iowa City this weekend.  I'll be in booth 25, across from Four Seasons, near Von Maur. 

Dress form collages

I discovered these paper mache dress forms at Michael's a few weeks ago and had to try something with them.  Similar to my pattern-gal collages, but I love the 3-D aspect of them.  And it's so much fun to get glue and paint all over my hands.  I used a couple of my favorite quotes from Marilyn Monroe:

And a "new" quote, sent to me via facebook by my good friend Katie, who said she thought of me when she saw it.  It is absolutely perfect for a dress form:

I think these would be perfect on a dressing table. 

New Journals and happy news!

Here are a few journals that I finished up yesterday.  I think these are some of my very favorites ever:

More Better Homes & Gardens.  Taking these apart and binding them takes some serious muscle. 

Love this vintage social studies book.  Love the yellow and green. 

This 1962 reader might be my very favorite of the bunch.  I finally got to use a new paper that I am in love with for the inside covers of this one:

I like pink.  And I love this pretty pattern so, so much. 

Yesterday, I waited very patiently and only checked my email a few dozen times to find out if I got in to Market Day this year.  I'm happy to say that I did!  I am so excited to be part of this awesome event again this year.  We will be located at the Kirkwood for the second year in a row, but instead of happening on the last Saturday of each month, Market Day will be the FIRST Saturday of each month, May through October.  And then in November, of course, the super-fabulous Market Day Black Friday event.  Go ahead and mark your calendars now for Saturday, May 5.  That's also the first day for the Des Moines Farmers' Market.  Come down and see us at the Kirkwood.  You can find Market Day Iowa on facebook to get updates and news and also at: www.marketdayiowa.com.  I am just so happy that I get to be a part of Market Day.  Because it is seriously awesome. 





Looks like spring....

We have been very busy all week.  Busy enjoying temperatures in the 70s and even the 80s (!).  Busy running.  Busy climbing.  Busy walking up hills and running down them (three-year-old boys make great personal trainers, by the way. ) Busy hanging laundry on the clothesline.  Busy painting stuff outside on the patio, which is great when I've got multiple projects going at once.  Just busy enjoying spring.  At the end of the day, we are very tired.  And it feels great.  Happy spring!



The Suitcase

I've had this old suitcase for a long time and have used it for storage.  Quite a while back (like nearly two years ago, I think) I had the brilliant idea to decoupage it with old book pages.  Of course, once I started it, I got a little bored with it and so it sat unfinished for a long time.  A couple of weeks ago I made up my mind to finish it. 

And so finish it, I did.  This was a great exercise in patience.  I'm pretty pleased with it.  Getting around the locks and latches and corners was a bit of a challenge, but I got it done.  The plan is to use this baby to haul journals to craft shows and it will probably even become part of my display.  I'm not sure exactly how old this old Samsonite is; I'm guessing from the 50s or 60s.  It seems to be virtually indestructible.   



And the winner is....

Jenni!  Hope this makes your Monday a little more bearable. 

Thanks to all for reading and commenting.  I'll be doing more giveaways in the future because....this was fun.  And fun is good. 

Happy Birthday to you, Dr. Seuss!

The older I get, the more I love the work of Dr. Seuss.  His books are brilliant.  And apparently he said a lot of brilliant things as well.  I'm a collector of quotes and a few of his rank among my very favorites.  So in honor of his birthday, I thought I would do my first-ever giveaway on this blog.  All you have to do is leave a comment telling me your favorite Dr. Seuss title or quote.  I'll randomly pick a winner and announce it on Monday.  The winner gets to choose one of these two quote collages:

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."  So brilliant and true.  7" x 5" collage on canvas. 

One of my perennial favorites and words that I try to live by.  And since I'm pretty mouthy, it's not too tough for me, either.  5" x 7" collage on canvas. 

Have a great weekend and good luck!

Hello March

I always get optimistic that spring will actually start in March.  Living in Iowa, this is definitely not always the case.  Many years, we get big blizzards in March.  But I was in a springtime frame of mind when I put together the calendar layout for this month:

Like I did for February, this month's layout features one of Jacob's "masterpieces" as the background and I grabbed some springy trims to fancy it up a bit.  I've had these things so long I can't even tell you what brand they are.  I added a butterfly because, well, Jacob and I like butterflies a lot.  Here's how the page progressed:

I put it together before selecting photos and I thought one butterfly would do it.  Then I added the super-cute photos of Jacob eating his very first Krispy Kreme doughnut yesterday afternoon, while wearing a Krispy Kreme hat, of course.