that there are two different sales going on in the Etsy shop until Monday night. It would be a great time to stock up on stationery or holiday cards! You can see details for the sales in the shop announcement (or here and here).
People are still asking what this post was about. So, here is a tiny little reveal. The website above isn't quite ready yet, and I want to offer a special coupon code for my blog readers, but it should be ready by Cyber Monday!
The homemade jams in Lemonbird's shop look amazing to me. I have a weakness for jams and jellies and their combinations sound mouthwatering: Fig with Honey and Cinammon, Pear and Anise with Balsamic Vinegar, and Pink Grapefruit with Basil are just some of them. They also offer a gift box and a jam of the month club, both perfect for the holidays.
{See the pecan pie recipe here.}
From now until Monday, December 1, I am offering free shipping on all items from the Holiday section of the shop!
In a last minute change of plans, I was assigned the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner. And this, as Martha would say, is a good thing. Because I have the easiest, most excellent pecan pie recipe ever, and I wanted to make it again. It's baking in the oven right now and the house is filled with the aroma of maple-y, nutty goodness.
I think the thing that I love about making these buttons is discovering tiny, sweet little images and then putting them together in sets. When I was younger I had a "miniature" collection of random porcelain figurines that I would constantly arrange and rearrange into little scenes. I suppose a part of me still adores tiny things.
Yesterday Billy and I had a really fun afternoon thrifting for sweaters for our "Hideous Holiday Sweater" party that's coming up. And find hideous holiday sweaters we did. Think sweatshirts rather than nice wool. Think glitter. Think puff paints. Think sewn-in collar. Think matching looks, except too small for him and oversized for me. It's going to be great.
The other thing we stumbled upon were these "12 Days of Christmas" glasses. The set is missing three of the days, but we didn't care. They're printed in awesomely weird retro color combinations and we thought they'd be a fun way for everyone to remember which glass of eggnog is theirs.
Stock up on stationery from the Note Set section of the shop! From now until December 1, all note sets are buy one, get one free! Just enter "NOTE" in the "Notes to Seller" upon checkout and I will send you a revised invoice. Higher price prevails and shipping still applies. Sorry, but this offer does not apply to holiday cards.
'Tis the season where I start trying to make handmade gifts. I had, of course, intended to start much, much earlier, but some local shows and some boring "life" chores like dealing with insurance companies have kept me quite busy. I managed to have an almost entirely handmade Christmas last year. What I could not make myself I bought on Etsy, and the whole process was a lot more fun and a lot easier on our budget.
by Jeanette Walls
by John Steinbeck
I am a huge fan of short stories and anyone might as well start with the master. For a list of other short story books I love, click here.
I stumbled upon a new shop a few days ago. Ninainvorm takes vintage ceramics and screenprints them with sweet images of birds, flowers, hearts, and droplets in a variety of lovely colors.
I was still playing around with my Gocco fabric printing experiment up until this week. I knew I wanted the end product to eventually be Christmas ornaments, but I wasn't exactly sure what the final result would look like. Then, when organizing my studio, I found the stash of embroidery floss above. I've had it since high school and it was added to by the mother of my college roommate. In any case, I hadn't touched it in a long time.
And here is the finished product, lightly stuffed with batting and edged in blanket stitch. As is the rule with good embroidery, I tried to make the back look as neat as the front. If you want to learn blanket stitch, futuregirl has an excellent tutorial that I used as a refresher.
Well, that was it! I hope people like them, and I hope to have these listed in the shop shortly. I'll post a notice when I do.
{Cran-Orange Exfoliating Soap Bar by dennisanderson, $3}
{Winter Fox Sticky Notes by cicadastudio, $5.50}
Just a quick note that there is only one more set of these in the shop . . . you may want to snatch them up now!
Something very big might be happening for Paper Menagerie. I can't talk about it yet, but keep your fingers crossed for me!
Unicorns and a folkloric-print in a tunic-style top? It's like my childhood aesthetic and my adult aesthetic blended together, and I love it.
Have you heard of it? No? Good, then I'm laying claim to the term right now. Crafter's Law is the cousin of Murphy's Law. It's the law that guarantees no matter how fabulous your results are when you're just tinkering around, when deadlines loom, everything will go wrong. That means that the week you have a show will be inundated with other "life" appointments, the bobbin on your sewing machine will suddenly decide to act up, your dogs will demand attention by reverting to puppyhood and chewing on household items, and when you do have time to sit down and work on things, you will run out of thread.
It's shaping up to be a busy week. I'll be spending the morning cutting the rest of the printed linen and making ornaments.
You thought Elections were over?! Me too! Imagine my surprise when I saw my card design (above) featured in Etsy's Holiday 2008: Choose Your Favorite Greeting Cards! feature.
This is how we spent our Saturday afternoon. We packed Brie, crackers, an apple, some quinoa salad, cheese sandwiches, a chocolate bar, and a thermos full of butternut squash soup. I've come to the realization that a mug of hot soup outside, under a yellow tree as the sun is going down, is one of life's great pleasures.
In a fit of boredom this afternoon, I decided to stop hoarding my Gocco supplies despite the sad news that the factory has closed. I bought a fabric stamp kit a long time ago and realized if I didn't use the screens soon, they would likely expire.
Ever since I've started the Friday Finds segment I'm seeing more and more handcrafted lusciousness, and it's making me greedy! Oooh, how I want this cotton jersey scarf from Red Prairie Press. The print is lovely, and the idea of a soft T-shirt like fabric wrapped around one's neck on a cool day? Heaven.
Now that the election is over I feel like I can return to everyday routines. I spent the morning printing another run of reindeer cards in green and gold--- they're drying as I write this. The brown and gold version proved very popular and I only have a few sets left for the holiday season. It feels a little bittersweet printing holiday cards this year, with the closure of the Gocco factory. But I'm branching out, and I have a few more projects in the works beyond buttons.
I made this for our Election Night dinner, along with mushroom turnovers. It was very easy and delicious. Please forgive the bad photo. It's quite dark in our kitchen.
rather than tossing them. It's one of my favorite kitchen tools. Seriously, check it out.
I have not posted since Election Day because there are not adequate words to express my joy, my hope, and my pride in this country. For the first time in eight years, I am hopeful that we can move forward and that the world can once again respect our actions and our policies.
There was early voting here. I'm hoping tomorrow goes well. And that's all I can say about that.
This dress has been coming together. It's looking a bit like a tent (yes I did measure myself before, thank you very much), but I don't want to rip the side seams out and start over now that the collar is gathered and stitched in. It will probably still be cute with my favorite vintage 
or some tights and ballet flats.
