As October comes to an end....

I'm trying to make lots of stuff for upcoming craft shows.
I finally finished Jacob's birthday thank-yous tonight. 

I made our November calendar/scrapbook page before November started!  I feel especially proud of myself for this small accomplishment. 

I am happy that Jacob loved his first day of "Gym & Learn" class today. 

I am getting ready for Market Day this Saturday and trying to decide if I can muster up the effort to put together a costume.  My guess is: probably not.  I'm not all that into Halloween, and comfort is important to me, especially when I'll be on my feet for oh, about nine hours straight!  But if you're coming to shop at Market Day, you should definitely wear a costume, if only to enhance my people-watching fun!

I can't believe that this Sunday is the last East Village Sunday Bazaar of 2011!  Time sure flies when you are doing shows every week!  And loving it, might I add.  But I'm looking forward to indoor shows for the rest of the year because....my tent is heavy!  And sometimes wind gusts are rather annoying.

I need to remember to buy some candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters Sunday evening.  I mean, I need to buy some candy that Jacob and Daddy will end up eating because we'll be out trick-or-treating ourselves.  We're obviously in dire need of fresh candy at our house, since I finally threw away the 4th of July parade candy a couple of weeks ago. 

I made flyers with my fall/winter show schedule to mail out to customers and hand out at craft shows and again, checking something else off my never-ending "to-do" list makes me happy. 

And now, I think it's time for some ice cream. 

I think this is the official version: Fall & Winter 2011 Shows

I'm pretty sure this is it: here's where I'll be the next couple of months.  Taking my show on the road a little bit this year, as in outside of the Des Moines city limits.  Very exciting, actually!

Sunday, Nov. 6: Fall Festival Arts & Crafts Bazaar, 105 W. 1st Ave. Indianola IA, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Friday Nov. 11(6;30 to 8:30 p.m.) & Saturday Nov. 12 (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Beaverdale Holiday Boutique @ Holy Trinity, 2926 Beaver Ave., Des Moines.

Market Day Black Friday!!  9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Nov. 25 (duh!) @ the Kirkwood, 4th & Walnut, downtown Des Moines.

Saturday, Dec. 3: Small Town Country Christmas craft show, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Milo IA.

Saturday, Dec. 10: WHAT A LOAD OF CRAFT! 11 to 7, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Iowa City, IA.  This is a new show for me this year and I'm super-excited, because I have heard all kinds of great things about it from my fellow crafty-ites here in Des Moines who have done it before.  Can't wait.  I'm sure all of these shows will be a great time.  It's always fun to meet new customers and see repeat customers.  I've honestly never had a bad time doing a craft show.  That's one big reason why I keep doing them.  Pretty simple:  they are fun. 

So, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, your pizza delivery guy, etc:  shop local and buy handmade for the holidays.  It's a great way to "occupy Wall Street" and also support your local crafters, artists, & makers of wonderful, awesome handmade stuff.  And the person who opens said fabulous handmade gift will be genuinely delighted as well.  Everybody wins. 

Tools of the Trade

I've been making books non-stop this month, so I'm spending lots of time using all of these tools.  These are the tools I couldn't live without.  my non-stick scissors (top left), and I can't even recall the manufacturer, but they are a must-have, especially when I'm cutting super-sticky redline "commitment" tape.  Next to the scissors you can see my Corner Chomper, by We R Memory Keepers.  I've been using this so much lately to round journal pages that my right hand is feeling a little bit arthritic!  Bottom right is my Fiskars rotary cutter, which is meant for quilters, but I use it to cut the large pieces of beautiful paper that I use in my journals; it goes hand-in-hand with the long metal ruler on the far right.  Bottom middle is my handy little pair of Zutter wire cutters: I held out on buying these for a while, but I'm so glad I did.  Totally worth it.  On the bottom left is my "heavy-duty" craft knife that came from Harbor Freight Tools.  I use it for lots of different things, from taking books apart to cutting book board.  It was cheap and it works great.  And last, but certainly not least, is my paper cutter: it's new this year.  I used a cheapo plastic one for quite a while, but this one by We R Memory Keepers was affordable (thank you, Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon!) and it works well and I can cut multiple pieces of paper, which has helped me increase my efficiency and keep the carpal tunnel at bay a bit longer!  I think I could cut paper in my sleep......

In the News...

Yes, this is two consecutive posts that contain the word "news" in the title, but I couldn't come up with anything better, and it really is pertinent. 
If you read The Des Moines Sunday Register (which I'm sure people everywhere in America, not just here in Iowa, do) you might have seen the "Handmade in Iowa" article on page 2 of the Iowa Life section.  Thanks to Paula Reece for including me.  And for spelling my name right.  I'm not kidding about that.  My name has been misspelled throughout my life.  Not to mention mis-pronounced.  So I was very happy for some good, free publicity.  Great timing, too: Market Day is this Saturday, Aug. 27.  And East Village Sunday Bazaar is just two weeks away!  Which means I've got to get busy and stay busy making more books. 

In other important news, I'm also pleased to announce that my journals and cards are now available at White Rabbit Gallery, at 109 South Linn in Iowa City.  You can find out more at www.whiterabbitgallery.com.  Definitely worth an in-person visit the next time you're in the Iowa City area.  You won't be disappointed.  I hadn't been to downtown Iowa City for many years and it was fun to have some time to walk around the ped mall and pretend I was nineteen again.

Back to my paper and glue!

Big News!

Something very exciting happened a few days ago.....
I travelled south to Osceola to King's Canyon Fine Art and am proud to say that my journals and cards are now available there.  King's Canyon is a wonderful place to visit; there is a wide variety of gorgeous art and handmade items by many Iowa artists.  And they serve delicious lunches, Tuesday through Saturday.  You can find out more on at www.kingscanyonart.com.  If you like them on facebook, you'll even get their weekly lunch menus.  I had a great time talking with Sara King and her mom, Cheryl, on Tuesday.  Sara even invited me to teach a class this fall....wow!  I am very excited about that.  I am really lucky to meet people like Sara, who I met last year at the East Village Sunday Bazaar, which I am looking forward to doing again this year every Sunday during September and October. 

The other big news will be in your Sunday, Aug. 14 edition of The Des Moines Register.  I am going to be featured in the "Handmade in Iowa" series, which has featured several people I know from Market Day and as well as the ladies of Ephemera, so I feel quite fortunate to be in such good company!

Little Bird Book

The little man and I have become bird watchers these past few months; since we started feeding birds (and other "outdoor pets" as the bags of bird seed refer to the squirrels, ground squirrels, and rabbits who also enjoy devouring bird seed) we have enjoyed learning more about and identifying different birds.  Then I remembered this gorgeous bird and floral print paper that I've had for a couple of years but have only used once or twice and realized it would make a good cover paper.  And luckily I had a lotka paper in a very vibrant hot pink that matched perfectly for the endpapers of this little blank book. 

Books & Begonias

This is what's blooming around our house right now: new handmade spiral books and begonias in the backyard.  Love, love, love summertime!