collage poetry for kids

I'm trying something different with the kids this summer. I did not sign them up for any day camps like I usually do. I realized last summer that I was doing almost as much running around, picking up and dropping off for camps, as I was during the school year. It didn't feel like much of a summer break when we still had to be out the door by a certain time, and the kids weren't available to do anything spur-of-the-moment. Plus, I was tired of them coming home from camp with stupid "crafts" made from that sticky-back foam from the big box craft store that comes pre-cut into shapes so you don't have to think to make something.

So we kicked off the summer with a trip down to my parents for art "camp" in Mom's studio. Both kids had a good time making sculptures out of wood scraps and found objects. 

No, they did not get to use the chop saw!

Mom was working on some collages that Emma latched onto right away.

Rosemary Luckett

Something about the cut-out words makes the phrases more spontaneous. I liked them a good deal myself and think some version would be cool in her Etsy shop. Right now they are in book form.

Rosemary Luckett

Emma immediately wanted to try her hand at the word collage poetry.

It's actually the perfect craft to do at home or school. All you need are magazines or junk mail, scissors, paper, and a glue stick. It's even more fun than those refrigerator magnets with the single words. Cut out some random partial phrases, single words, and words like "and" and "the".

She came up with these delightful random mini-poems.

I think I like that last one the best.

pennsylvania lavender festival 2011

Today was a perfect day for a trip to Provence. Well not Provence exactly, but a reasonable facsimile a few hours away in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. Willow Pond Farm was hosting it's annual Pennsylvania Lavender Festival this weekend.

My festival-loving mother & sister-in-law had it on their calendars way back in January.

Dana swears she did not wear the purple shirt on purpose.

We were looking forward to the pick-your-own lavender event. They handed out clippers and let us have the run of the two acre lavender field.

I went a little crazy with the picking. I plan to hang it up to dry. Maybe make some sachets...

Over 100 varieties of lavender are cultivated on the farm as well as other culinary and medicinal herbs. This is the first year I am trying some in my garden. I have a hot dry slope where I think it will do well.

 

The owners, Tom & Madeline Wajda, also maintain an extensive demonstration garden.

Madeline's culinary training in Paris really came through in the lunch fare. No pizza, hotdogs, or sodas like at most festivals. Everything on the menu had a touch of lavender in it: the focaccia bread and jelly in the goat cheese & turkey sandwiches, the iced tea, the lemonade,

the cookies,

and the ice cream made by Bruster's. I had the black raspberry with lavender- oh baby! You wouldn't think it would go together, but it does. I was worried it might taste like soap, but the flavor is subtle and tasted like it belonged in everything we tried. I picked up some culinary grade dried lavender to try out in a recipe or two at home. I'll be sure to post the results...

clover market, june 2011

After the disappointment of a rainy Art Star show, I lucked out and was able to nab a spot in a lovely local show in Ardmore, PA this weekend called the Clover Market.

It's a smaller 60-vendor event that has shows one Sunday a month during spring and fall.

freshvintage

Unlike a lot of local shows, this one has a definite point of view: vintage! If you know me at all, you know I'm a sucker for vintage.

freshvintage

My neighbors down the aisle, freshvintage, showed up in a Tastycake truck and unloaded a perfect little 1940's homestead.

Poppy & Bean

Just the sweetest mismatched china & silverware ever from Poppy & Bean. Colleen's vignettes remind me so much of my cousin's wedding in Vermont and her selection of vintage clothing looks like it's right out of Brooklyn.

Brandywine View Antiques

Some awesome salvage from Brandywine View Antiques. They had so many great corbels and accent pieces with patina. I was sorely tempted...

Cherry Acres

At first I thought this large trough-like piece from Cherry Acres was some kind of African artifact, but turns out it's a dough bowl for makin' lots of bread. Totally American.

Circa Dee

I was actually too busy to venture beyond my aisle, but my husband is very good with the camera and went sight-seeing for me. What a cool scale from Circa Dee! I feel like I'm back in Lucketts, VA.

Salvation Nation

And some fun vintage broaches from Salvation Nation.

a lovely, little shop

Even sellers of new items, like this quirky jewelry from a lovely, little shop, displayed their products with vintage flair.

Kristen Solecki

All the vintage was rounded out by a sprinkling of modern, but handmade things like these original prints from Kristen Solecki which definitely have that indie feel.

Real Fruit Jewelry

My kids were enthralled by this jewelry made from dehydrated fruit coated in resin by Real Fruit Jewelry.

Marie's Soap Co.

Enticing handmade soaps tied up with string by Marie's Soap Co.

Cool belt buckles from joeyfivecents displayed in old narrow drawers of some kind- from a sewing table, maybe?

Not sure who's bucket this was, but my husband sure knows what I like. He ought to by now, I guess. It's our 13th wedding anniversary today!

And here he is minding the booth for me. Would you buy a onesie from this character?

The next Clover Market will be on Sunday, September 18th. See you then!

art star craft bazaar 2011

Finally the day came yesterday to set up for my first craft show ever, the Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia. After many sunny, dry days in a row, we awoke to overcast skies and a 50% chance of rain. I was still excited to get underway, because that's a 50% chance of no rain right?

sketch by Curtis Harkin AIA

I had willing help from my family in the hectic weeks leading up to the show and extra hands the day of to help with set up.  Mom & Dad were there keeping the kids in line and toting loads of stuff up the long incline to the top of multilevel  Penn's Landing. I do feel so fortunate!

Here's how the booth came out after set up. Not far from my husband's sketch, right?

My photographer friend Heather took better pictures than I could. You gotta go see these and the rest of her work.

I enjoyed a few hours of nice traffic, enthusiastic reactions (many high-pitched "aaaaaaw"s), and my first sales using my handy-dandy card reader from Square installed on a smart phone generously loaned to me for the show. Then about half-way through, it started raining and continued off and on for the rest of the afternoon. Most of the lookers and buyers fled except for my diehard friends from New York who stayed to help with take-down.

the Ben Franklin Bridge as seen from Penn's Landing between showers

I took the slow period as an opportunity to check out a little bit of the show, not as thoroughly as when I attend a show as a buyer, but enough to see what good company I was in.

Some cool applique pillows, much different from my own birds and flowers, from dirtsa studio. Where would you ever be able to find anatomical hearts and frog dissections emblazoned on pillows besides an indie craft show? Certainly not Pottery Barn!

Festive buntings from Sweet Old Etcetera. I can totally relate to her vintagey fabric choices.

Some purses that caught my eye from hello bluebird, a brick-and-mortar boutique from Reading, PA that features indie crafters.

Back at the booth we packed damp clothing back into their plastic bins, leaving the tent and tables behind in hopes of a better day Sunday. We had an amazing dinner at Cuba Libre in Old City which was walking distance from the show. I felt more optimistic after a good meal and a glass of sangria...

This morning brought drizzle and a forecast of thunderstorms. That's when I decided to leave my wares home, which we'd brought inside to air out, and abandon the second day of the show. As an indiepreneur, every decision is such a risk. Do I do the show and risk drenching my product? Or do I stay home and risk missing a not-as-bad-as-I-thought day? I felt a little sheepish carting my tent away as most everyone else was mopping up the puddles and preparing to make the best of it, but by then there was no turning back. I emailed the news to any friends that might have planned to see me Sunday and bit my lip as the weather steadily improved throughout the day. I finally lost it when a friend called from the show wondering where I was. I am feeling such regret right now!

What a learning experience, though. It was such a bigger undertaking than I ever imagined between making all the product, getting the display engineered, and figuring out how to take credit cards. As much work as that was, the organizers, Art Star Gallery & Boutique owners Megan & Erin, had so much more to coordinate between gathering volunteers (thank you lovely Lisa who looks like Lisa LaPorta on HGTV), arranging security, and making the process organized for us vendors. All the while they had smiles on their faces. I am choked up with gratitude and a feeling that I let everyone down- friends, family, Megan & Erin, by wimping out on the second day.

One thing is for sure though, I will do another show next season. It ought to be much easier now that I have the tent and all the logistics worked out. And next time I will ignore the Weather Channel and be tougher!

a little bloom to go with the chirp

With the Art Star show coming up, I've been frantically trying to make as many coin purses as I can. I noticed the designs I had were almost all birds after about the 40th purse. I needed some flowers! I am "chirp & bloom" after all.

After fooling around with several different rose designs in Illustrator, I came up with this one. It's not so easy to reduce a lush, detailed flower like a cabbage rose down to two colors with pieces simple enough to applique.

I tried a few different shades of red & pink trying to find just the right contrast. Half the time, the fabrics I think will work don't have quite the right contrast once the pieces are cut & laid out.

The one think I was sure of is the linen background. I've been wanting to use it for a while and now I have even more ideas for linen-background things. For the lining, a recycled striped dress shirt.

My favorite part- getting down to business with the appliquéing. Just a simple zig-zag this time.

I should buy stock in Warm Company, the company that makes Steam-A-Seam Lite, my new favorite fusible web. It's essential for the type of appliqué I do. I iron-on my pieces and the web acts like glue during the applique process and after washings too, so the edges don't need turning under.

My least favorite part is assembling the pieces and gluing the frame on, but it has to be done. I'm always afraid I'll get glue on all over it and ruin my hard work. A purse takes about 3 hours to make!

I went ahead and did a few more colorways for variety and listed them in the shop. Cheers!

mothers day ideas from etsy & beyond

click picture to enlarge

Have you gotten your mother anything for Mothers Day yet? I found ideas galore while searching for my mom's gift online- no time to leave the house while preparing for the Art Star show. Heck, I'd like any of these for myself. I'm a mom too, come to think of it!

clockwise from top left:
-Large recycled coffee bean bag tote- WoodstockBeanbags -an ecofriendly shopping tote with character
-SunBRELLI  umbrella by Pamela Zonsius- MoMA Store -handmade in a family owned factory of renewable, sustainable biodegradable plastic, bamboo, and cotton
-Apple Green Decorative Trivet- AmyGeerDesign -heavy cast iron with a vintage patina
-Spring Bee Letterpress Boxed Notes, set of 6- DingbatPress -designed and made by a fellow mom
-Hills Tea Towel- leahduncan -hand printed on fair trade cotton
-Bushnell H20 10x26 binoculars- EMS -birdwatching anyone?
-Custom Mommy Necklace- peacesofindigo -handmade by a fellow Curation Nation teammate & stay-at-home mom
-Hens & Chicks print- anopensketchbook -just plain delightful next to the potting bench
-Sarah Midda’s In & out of the Garden book- Amazon -irresistible reproduction of a watercolor sketchbook

Less than 2 weeks left....

geocaching along the northern delaware greenway

It was looking like Easter weekend was going to be a bust weather-wise. Then the sun came out Saturday afternoon just as my brother was arriving with his brood for the weekend. Perfect weather for a hike along the Northern Delaware Greenway which cuts through our neighborhood.

But how to get the kids on board? Our children are at the age where they want to be on the computer all the time, even on a nice day. It's a challenge to get them interested in something else without whining. My brother's solution: Geocaching. I'd never heard of this before, but it's been going on for years. Using a device with a GPS such as an iPhone, you hunt for hidden "treasure" by setting off on foot and tracking a route to the treasure with the device. Using the iPhone app, we determined there were 3 within easy walking distance in Rockwood Park. There are over 1 million of these treasures all over the world, hidden well enough so to not be found by accident by someone not in on the game, but not so well that kids can't find them with a little help.

The "treasures" are small low-value items like key chains, silly bands, and the like.

 

If you take out an item, you're supposed leave something of similar value behind and sign the log book.

The first cache we found had been placed in its hiding spot in 2004 and had a long list of visitors. The GPS said it was 8 feet away when we were right on top of it. So it's not accurate down to the last foot, but accurate enough.

The Mayapples were up. I love these little umbrellas underneath the trees.

The cold storage house at Rockwwod.

Doing a circuit around the manor house at Rockwwod. Get them outside on an adventure and they can run for miles. Hike for hiking's sake- not so much.

The final cache was a small bottle with tiny rolled up log inside. The kids were thrilled with the whole adventure.

 

Such a pretty time of year here in northern Delaware!