So… I’m so sorry it has taken me until now to post. I had a very busy week two weeks ago and then was gone with my hubs last week (more to come on that) and since I’ve been home have been cleaning, unpacking, cooking, shopping and taking product photos.

Two weeks ago I was busy slaving away at all of my new Fall and Holiday designs for 2009. Can I say how much fun that was? It was FUN. And then I realized my eyes would no longer focus. Damn old glasses. I have quite the glasses debacle going on right now. Anyway…the whole point of this is that I have so many lovely treats going up on my site continuously these next few days. There are already a few new ones up there.

So that was the first thing. I pounded out all these designs so that I would have some things to showcase at Rez’s Fall art fair. I had so much fun there talking to others with similar business interests and seeing people like my stuff. It was very gratifying and it made me realize I really need to get out more. I mean, there are only so many times you can listen to “Two Weeks” until you don’t love it anymore. (So far I haven’t figured out that number and am listening to it right now. Thank you Heather Armstrong). It also boosted my confidence by 100%.

The other confidence booster was the photo shoot I did with Emily, Sara, Meghan and Peju later that day. It was a very long day, but oh so worth it. I arrived in the city around 3 with literal armloads of jewelry fresh from the art fair to find an apartment full of girls and clothes and makeup. Emily kept saying how much fun she was having, which was good because she was doing a lot of the work. That girl was tireless. I guess you have to be when you shoot weddings for a living. We had a whole lot of girlie fun. Even Meghan – who doesn’t like having her picture taken.

Some of these Emily did while I was gone this week. Thank you Emily! Didn’t they turn out wonderfully? These are just a few from the sneak peek she sent us all. There are a LOT more where these came from and I’ll be sharing soon. However, onto thing #3 which is that I HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR A YEAR!!!!!

In celebration of that fact and because we didn’t want to be separated, I accompanied Henry on his college fair tour. This is us looking goofy in Cincinnatti

I warned you

It started in St. Louis – of which I only saw the Doubletree Inn. The warm cookie made me really happy though. We drove to Indy the next day and I spent the fair in a Border’s reading dirty home and garden magazines. I pretty much spent the whole tour reading except for when I was making a baby gift for Becky’s baby Grace, due in November. I won’t show it, though, in case she’s one of my loyal readers. I’ll post that later – it’s super awesome.

I know you don’t want to hear about all of the food I ate, which is pretty much the only other component of that trip, so I will end this post only to take up another about our ANNIVERSARY weekend in New Buffalo, Michigan.

Here are some of my faves for Fall from anthropologie and jcrew. Enjoy!

I figured it was about time for us all to get steampunked. Actually…I had no idea what that was until I stumbled across Bionic Unicorn’s store on Etsy one time when I was looking around like I am wont to do. I can’t resist feasting my eyes on all the pretties.

Actually, I put some of Kristin’s (of Bionic Unicorn) earrings on my recent treasury and we had a lovely chat via etsy convo after that. Apparently, we just love each other. 🙂 I think she’s has quite an eye and I love that she lives in the Midwest. Keep up the good work Kristin!

Here is a little bit of Kristin’s story from her website:

“I am Kristin Berwald and I studied fine arts in college, including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, fibers, graphic design, and art history. I went to Pigeon Lake a whole lot and got really experimental with my painting style. From there, it moved into assemblage sculpture, and more painting. Now I have taken that and used it to make assemblage jewelry, which in a way is like wearable art.

I like to think of my floral pieces as small gardens or landscapes that tell a story. I try to use as many vintage components as possible in each creation becauase it is a fun challenge and it is good for the earth to upcycle and repurpose materials. When I make a piece of jewelry, I like to think of who will be wearing it and what they will be doing and I make up little fun stories about it, like the Clockmaker’s Daughter… a girl with an uncanny ability to repair clocks and Exquisite Species, a strange mechanical butterfly.”

You can also check out her blog here.

I don’t know if you’d call these next designers steampunk, but they are innovative and very cute. Here is a little bit of Esther and Estella’s story:

“Jewelry making for me started in a rough way some fifteen years ago. I had an accident at the building site (I am a civil engineer) that left me incapacitated and unable to do that kind of work any longer. After a long convalescence I decided to move from the Netherlands with my then adolescent daughter, Estella, to Turkey, a favorite holiday spot for us. The climate was more favorable for my injuries and the cost of living was a lot cheaper which suited my dramatically diminished income. And this has proved to be a sound decision. My physical mobility improved greatly, and the beauty of the country, the colors, the traditions, and even the smells are a daily source of inspiration. 

I have always had a passion for handcrafts, but of course, being a single ‘Mum’ with a full time job, it had been years since I had had the time and tranquility to do something with my hands. Well, here was my opportunity! 

As my daughter was growing up we explored many crafts together: drawing, painting, embroidering, and decorating the house (with often a zero budget but smashing results). Our many friends and acquaintances considered us the most creative family they knew. 

A visit some eight years ago to a remote village where ethnic fellahs live, brought about a fundamental change to our crafts. A young woman gave me present, a piece of fabric on which she had ‘painted’ a characteristic ruin of her village. The ‘painting’ was done with sequins and beads, and in bold colors; and it was very expressive. 

What a discovery! My daughter and I began to create fabric pictures of buildings, mosques and churches with onion domes, an old passion of mine from my building life. Sewing sequin by sequin, tiny seed bead by tiny seed bead onto the fabric we created bright, fantastic landscapes for our walls. Each work took several months to complete, generally with me sketching the composition and making the contours while my daughter, with better eyes and quicker hands, filled it in. And from this a very close and personal way of working together was born, the two of us with four hands working towards a common goal. 

And then, four years ago, jewelry making became a fashion even in the small town in southwest Turkey where we live and all kind of beads and findings began to arrive from Istanbul, where, of course, every thing imaginable in the world can be found at the bazaar. Estella started to make her own jewellery and soon I got interested too. And from the first necklace we created, we had the feeling we could become really, really good at this, we could be passionate about it and fulfilled. My daughter and I have since go on to create hundreds of jewelry pieces, with two different tastes and designstyles Estella’s and mine. Estella skillfully executing the designs, she also solves the technical problems of jewelry making. This work bring us great joy, especially the hands on aspect of it, and the fact that women look great in our designs gives us a kick. 

Estella has finished her education as an interior designer (you know, smashing results with almost zero budget) but in the small town where we live there is not a big demand for this. The jewelry making, however is a different story. Women (and men) always feel a need to embellish themselves. Jewelry helps women to feel good, to look good, and yes, to heal themselves, and we are there for every woman and every budget. 

Thousands of people make a living either in the jewelry industry or by making jewelry, and with so many competitors it is a challenge to be different and to get our name out there while at the same time working to improve our craft. We feel Etsy is a step in the right direction and will help us to achieve our goals, and it also a great way to make new friends.”

In making my way through the Star of the East store today I had the feeling that these ladies just can’t sit still. They have to be creating something! They have so much great and different jewelry in their store. You really have to see for yourself. These are just a few of my favorites:

You can also check out their great blog here.

I, also, love making friends on etsy. Thanks, ladies, for letting me share about your lives and your creative process. Good luck!

Jenn

So, Wheaton and Glen Ellyn are full of beautifully restored old houses, almost more than any towns I’ve ever lived in. LaPorte (Indiana) has a few beauties and Sheboygan (Wisconsin) had a lot. I remember all of the “painted ladies” there were to see near the Lake Michigan shore. I always thought I’d paint her like a lady when I had a house of my own. Aside: Henry and I went back there two years ago this Fall (I can’t believe it’s been that long) to see the two houses where I lived. The first was in town and let me tell you; I can understand now how that town would have captured my imagination as a tween.

We rented this gorgeous restored Victorian from a husband wife restoration team. They were great. Glen and Sylvia I think. When we became friends with them, they told us how they’d spent weeks ripping up dog pee soaked carpets and tearing out moldy insulation until their knuckles bled. As I look back on it now I appreciate more how well they did restoring that thing. I remember the before-and-after pictures. Original wood floors and stained (not painted) woodwork. Crown moulding. Curved bannister. My parents were given the option to buy it for something incredible like $25,000 (this was in ’91 or so) but turned it down to opt for a house further out in the country with atrocious siding that we never replaced because we only lived there for a year. No…it’s not a sore subject at all, why do you ask?

Anyway, all three of us kids thought this house was haunted or we were at least scared of it at night. The upstairs hallway was narrow and very dark and the light switch was all the way at the end by the bathroom. You had to pass the creepy attic door that didn’t close all the way and risk being touched on the arm by a ghost as you passed. I’m telling you, it was terrifying. I had dreams all the time while we there of a secret passageway leading to a huge ballroom we had that we’d never known about.

One time, my friend Rachel and I were getting ready to take a bath together (we were 9, okay?) in my room, which was one down from the attic when we heard the attic door creek. I looked out just in time to see thee doorknob turn. I am not kidding you, the doorknob TURNED. Basically, we were ghost-meat. Anyway…long story short we ran the other way to the bathroom and barricaded ourselves in until my dad finally came up and, of all things, MADE LIGHT of the situation by opening the attic door and pretending to be scared while we were listening anxiously from inside the bathroom. At one point during the ordeal Rachel announced, “I’m going to pray.”

I never did feel totally comfortable in that house. But we all cried when we moved out of it. I hope someday I get to live in an old house with some character (maybe an imaginary ghost or two) of my very own.

That is why, when I am walking or driving around here I am always looking. It doesn’t matter if I see this house every day, I have to stare for as long as I can – it’s just so beautiful. I picture this house on 16 acres with all of the attendant orchards and old barns and horses. Basically I want to live in the south of France without having to give up the comfort of not having to learn another language. Oh and being close to my mom for free babysitting.

I got so nervous that someone would see me snapping pictures and wonder what I was doing that I had to be very surreptitious about my picture-taking. I also felt kind of lame taking pictures of other people’s property. So…you can’t see the front door because of the angle from either direction.

Mmmm…don’t you just love it? I just want to roll around in their front yard, I love this house so much.

Hey guys!

If you don’t already know, you can create a treasury on Etsy of all your favorite stuff. People can comment on it and the Etsy editors look at these lists and sometimes post some or all of a list on the front page. It’s a great way to shop too since etsy pros are making lists of their favorites. I got one today!! It’s up until Saturday. Take a look!

“Fall”

This is just a few of the lovelies on my list. Click here to take a look!

Well, I never thought I could do it, having only taken 2/3 a semester of basic construction and patternmaking, but I did! And I wore it to Megan and Tim’s incredibly beautiful and incredibly hot wedding. So here is the dress. With a necklace I also made for myself for the wedding. I think the feather idea is going to big a big part of my fall collection. 🙂

Here’s the whole outfit: chocolate patent slingbacks, chocolate faux snakeskin skinny belt, 3 strand gold sparkle seed beads w/ fuschia flower and found feather necklace. (I found it at Madison Meadows while frisbee golfing).

I have to complain a little about this picture. Why do I always get stuck on the outside, closest to the camera so that I look huge compared to everyone else?

By the way, I made the bridesmaids’ necklaces which you can kind of see in this picture. Oh, and I made the earrings although I didn’t pick the beads. More to come on that!

I am a new admirer of Dooce.com. I just found out what that was from Sam Campen and within the first 48 hours I was hooked. I read back through some of the archives about her bouts with depression and I looked through her style entries going back probably two years. Yes, I do sometimes have that much time on my hands. Also it was for business, so don’t worry. Who doesn’t accidentally spend a few hours online? Anyway, my point is that Heather (of Dooce.com) is hilarious. She’s an excellent writer and her devil-may-care attitude is refreshing sometimes. The way she is first and foremostly self-deprecating reminds me of Anne Lamott. It’s something I’ve always wanted to work on: seeing my own foibles and being able to laugh at them.

Anyway, I didn’t start this blog with the purpose of sharing intimate details of my life. Chances are, a lot of you reading this would know most of them anyway. 🙂 But today I wanted to start off by writing about how I’m reading “Nourishing Traditions” because it’s occupying a lot of my thoughts right now. The tagline is “The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats.” If that doesn’t give you a clue as to what it might say, hang on.

First of all, the family in which I grew up went through several phases of health food craziness with my mom leading the charge. I don’t know when it started, but she’s deeply distrustful of the medical establishment. I, of course, have imbibed this view from her over the years – although it has been diffused somewhat through knowing people in the medical world and Henry just having had sinus surgery. Thank you again, Dr. Reddy. But when I hear things like this http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p003r6jk/Newshour_30_07_2009/

interview (toward the end of the hour – about min. 49), I do get ticked off. Who is funding these broadcasts making it so important to reiterate how commercially produced food is just as good for you as organic? In the forward of Nourshing Traditions – which is primarily a cookbook – Sally Fallon, its writer, sites scientific study after study disproving much of the diet “sense” we hear from most mainstream sources. Not only that, but showing what our processed diet is doing to us beyond making us overweight. It’s truly frightening.

So, I’m contemplating this for the second time. When Henry and I were dating we decided to give (more exclusively) organic a whirl, following something like The Maker’s Diet. That was the most stressful thing ever. Not necessarily because of making the food, but because neither of us had our own spaces in which to cook and it was insane trying to find time to squeeze in kitchens already being used by two or three people. I said back then that we should try it if and when we got married. Here we are now, married, a little overweight and Henry not feeling any less fatigued than he did before his surgery and I’m willing to maybe try it again.

I am addicted to white sugar and flower. It’s horrible. I can’t go a week on a caveman diet without wanting to promise my firstborn child for a slice of pizza. Here’s maybe a detail you don’t want to know, but we’re also doing nfp (natural family planning) and my cycles have been so weird. They started getting really messed up right around Easter when for the year I’d been tracking they’d been like clockwork. Last month I didn’t even ovulate. We are not trying to get pregnant right now and it’s making it that much more stressful not knowing when I might suddenly be fertile.  I think back to what I was eating back around Easter when this all started – we were on weight watchers – and I wonder if that started it. For the first time in my life I was eating very little fat and almost no saturated fat at all. (By the way, if you read any part of NT, read the part on fats – it will blow your mind) Anyway, my whole point in this is that I’ve always hoped I could bring a child into this world not addicted to sweets and teach her how to eat more healthily than I do. The more I read, the more I am starting to realize this process has to start now, before I am even close to conceiving (well, you know, intentionally). I have to start eating this way and learning to cook this way myself BEFORE I have a child. And, unfortunately, I will probably be our family’s defense against bad food. Henry will cook if I ask him, but he’s got relatively few things in his repertoire. He certainly won’t be baking bread every week unless and until I make a huge change and then really beg him to take on one of the cooking jobs. 🙂 I love you honey!

Also, as I said, he has chronic fatigue issues and while the sinus surgery was very needed and has made a bit of a difference, it wasn’t the miracle cure. Not that I am pointing to a whole organic foods diet as the miracle cure either, but I feel like we have to try.

So, one of my goals for today is to call this family farms’ cooperative in Michigan that we almost tried last time and at least get some raw milk, butter, cheese and pastured eggs into our frig.

My good friend John Campbell is making a living selling his comics and things having to do with his comics, like t-shirts with his comics on them. He is hilarious in the way that I love best, which is totally low-key and off the wall. I think he has quite a following now. I’m a huge fan.

Anyway, we are talking about me maybe doing some jewelry including his comics. Most likely these pieces would use his pictures for sad children since they are one-frame installments. More to come on this!!

What is the fabric in the background of the previous post you ask? Well, you probably don’t, but it’s been on my mind. I’m trying to make a dress for my friends’ Megan and Tim’s wedding on Aug. 15th. For myself. I bought a bunch of this white cotton fabric from my friend Suzy and attempted to dye about 5 yards of it chartreuse. Yep. It’s not the easiest color to get if you are using RIT dye in a bucket in the sink and the fabric is extra wide so there is a whole bunch of it. It came out a lot brighter and more tie-dyed than I had originally intended (she says dryly). But hey – I had so much good, sweaty fun doing it. No, but seriously…I bleached some of the color out so now it’s a nice light celery green. I also cut it all on the bias for extra stretch. Oh! You’ll be wanting to know what it’s supposed to look like when it’s done. I’m planning to make the skirt with layers of ruffles – also cut on the bias so I don’t have to hem them all. If you want an explanation of what this all means, please ask in a comment and I’ll tell you!

So…the skirt will be a pencil skirt with the layers of ruffles. I’m going to roll the straps into spaghetti straps and add some kind of flowery thing to one side of the neckline. I’m going to roll-hem the collar all the way around so I don’t have to face the top and leave it sheer so I can wear an aqua tank underneath. Have I mentioned I’m obsessed with the chartreuse/aqua combo? Well, I am. Just look at my store logo. IF I can pull all this off (oh, by the way I’ll be hand attaching an invisible zipper because I have no zipper foot on my sewing machine), I’ll be wearing a cute skinny dark brown patent belt that matches some cute slingback flats (outdoor wedding) and clutch purse. I’m excited! I hope it works! More to come!!!

Here is the last piece of the pattern I made and cut out. Yikes. And this is also the fabric pre-bleached. Not a yummy color for a dress, I don’t think.

This is a pair I think will be part of my fall and holiday collection. I love these dark red faceted beads with the chocolate velvet and freshwater pearls. yum! It makes me think of winter evenings by the fire.

I was inspired last night by the pair (in the middle) I was commissioned to make for my friend Kirsten. She had specific requests. They were supposed to be shaped like my green drop earrings but with red as a main color. I hope she likes them! I’m always a fan of aqua and red. The ones on the left are my forest earrings, reserved for Kirsten and then she wanted the forest earrings in brown – on the right. I like the crocheted beads I found on etsy from elfandpakrat. The gorgeous red beads were from acorn alley destash on etsy and the aqua drops were from gemme tresor. When I’m shopping for something specific on etsy (and it does get very specific) I’m always surprised by how much comes up when I type in exactly the size and color I’m looking for.