a lucky girl

I really really love giving gifts - it seems to be a trait that bloggers share, and explains why my mailbox has been filling up with such lovely surprises:

I came home yesterday to find a surprise package from Heather - I had commented on some cute repro fabric she had used on a quilt, and she sent me the scraps with a sweet note that I could probably do something fabulous with them! How perfectly do they coordinate with the fat quarters I had just purchased earlier in the day?!
... and now today I read that I won something special in a contest she's holding. Yay!

Earlier in the week, I had sent of my package to my Back2School swap partner, Melissa (the swap was hosted by the lovely Marta over here). This gal did her homework on me! She sent me way too many lovelies inlcuding fabric, gift tags, handmade notecards and magnets, a darling book, and a bag of black jelly beans (!) among other things. She totally spoiled me! Thanks so much, Melissa - I had so much fun doing this swap with you!


And for my other sweet Melissa, who has gifted me with way too much cool pottery and unlimited studio time (and clay, of course!), I'm working on some photography and marketing materials:

She's just getting back to blogging, and you should go tell her to keep it up and check out her work! Now go enjoy your weekend...

xoxo

Done!

Well, folks, the baby quilt is far from perfect, but I made it myself:


... and it's done!

xoxo

Designed for Chubbies

My friend Melissa called me a couple of weeks ago from a garage sale. I think she was jumping up and down, she was so excited. She said this sale had Jessie written all over it. I was grabbing my keys and getting ready to meet her there when she told me she was out of town.

So she did the only thing she could think of: She bought just about everything she thought I might like, and delivered it to me upon her arrival back in town (good thing it was a road trip because there was a lot of good stuff in her trunk for me).

She bought three bags of vintage patterns for 75 cents!!!
Most of the patterns had been cut and used, and would be really hard for me to piece back together to actually sew, but the packaging itself is awesome.

I think this one has to rank up there in my top ten:



In return for all my loot, Melissa politely asked me to make her a shadowbox. I think her exact words were "Cough up the diorama, bitch! That was the deal."

So I made this bad boy using fabric, vintage notions and spools of thread, wire, old miniature things (the mushroom and the snail), contact paper, millinery flowers and embroidery floss.
And a bird.




xoxo

show and tell

Olivia drew this for me a couple of months ago, and I smile every single time I look at it. Where I have to look at a picture of something to even try to draw it, Olivia draws completely from her mind, and her attention to detail is amazing. Her gift is incredible.

I asked her a couple of years ago if she wanted to be an artist when she grows up. She said, "I already am an artist."

Moreso than I will ever be. That's my girl.

xoxo

Hey, look!

I made a child's apron, and I'm just pleased as punch about how it turned out:

It's three tiers of thrifted vintage sheets with ties made from some of the same fabric. I'm sure that's not real apron-making lingo, but hey, I'm not a real apron maker. What I love about using sheets as fabric is that the edges are already hemmed, which is seriously a nice touch.

I saw something similar at one of my favorite little shops in Minnesota last time I was in town. It was reasonably priced, but it was just so cute that I had to try making my own.

Okay, then. Now I can cross that off my list.


xoxo

weekending

I think I managed to fit all of summer into one week: We had guests in, went to the pool, out for ice cream, ran around with sparklers, bought bouncy balls, drank some mojitos with Ellie (and we crafted like madwomen in the pm hours), hit every thrift shop within a 15 mile radius (plus one estate sale and a church garage sale), FINALLY got our sod, and found a supercute little children's shop in town that wants to carry Sweet Jessie. This week will be no less crazy.

My very favorite find is this pink award ribbon - it's BEST IN CLASS for a men's gardening club. I love love love it!

and here's a thrifty bequeathement from Miss Ellie Richellie:


The end result of my noctournal crafting session (it's for a baby gift):
a decoupaged suitcase (ala Pixiegenne). El's is going to be a mobile craft case, which I think is a great idea. She scooped hers off before I could get a picture of it, but I promise it was supercute!



Now I need to get another cup of coffee before the madness of the upcoming week sets in (3 playdates, stuff to sew, two sports classes for the kids, 19 loads of laundry to fold, birthday invitations to make and send, a trip to the pool, a piano lesson, a cut and color, a mani and pedi, some waxing, a night out with the neighbor girls, and then... we're off to Minneapolis for ten days or so!)
xoxo

good mail

Here's some of the stuff I got in the mail this week:

a fabric grab bag from A. Bel Emporium:


And also these little dandies:


Some fabric from Kitty-Craft; Vintage Whitman playing cards from Ebay; Bakery Labels for my Bits and Pieces Packets:


New bluebird squeekies from Ebay (Sarah sent me a link after I posted the picture of the first's destruction):
although I have to admit, I never should have tried to replace them. They can't possibly compare.

I also got a huge box filled with all of my Paper Source goodies, and my order of 36 beach balls for my kids' birthday party next month. What fun!

Here's what's going out:
These bookplates are going to Honey-Bunch.com - such a cute shop based in Toronto. I'm thrilled to be a part of it!


Tomorrow my friend Miss Ellie arrives from St. Louis with two kidlets in tow, so I'll probably take a bloggie break for a couple of days, but I promise to take lots of pictures. And maybe I'll even send you a postcard.

Until next week, then, lovelies...

xoxo

I'm baaaaaa-aaack

Hi kids, I'm back!
I had such a lovely weekend in Minneapolis. I got to spend quite a bit of time with my family and my oldest friend (whom I've known since I was five), eat too much, drink some mojitos, visit my brother's new condo, buy some new work from my very favorite Minneapolis-based artist, Jennifer Davis, move everything out of my summer "cottage" and over to my mom's house, and do the tiniest bit of shopping. All in about 72 hours. I need a vacation after that vacation.

Then I came home and packed up some goodies for the Sweepstakes Winners (I'm still waiting for two addresses, girls, so if you haven't sent yours to me yet, please do!)...


I had everything all packed up so cute, and then I boxed them up for shipping and was very unhappy with the results. So I UNPACKED everything and started over. Because I'm crazy like that. But I did get it done, and ten packages are off and running (I went to the post office this morning). And even though Chicago was just ranked as the worst postal system, I live near a sorting center, and mail seems to go through my area quite smoothly. So be on the lookout, ladies.

xoxo

Show and Tell

Visited with a great friend, who always brings great gifts:

(I'd link to you, El, if you had a blog, which you desperately need)

Got the seriagraph I ordered from Sugarloop (love it!):

Finished some projects:

Started some others:


Wore the most uncomortable shoes in the world:

Worked on prizes from the Sweepstakes (and some new logo design):

And now I'm off to the chiropractor.

xoxo

to market to market...

This has to be a really quick post today because I'm supposed to be cleaning right now. But I just wanted to show you a few of my favorite finds from the Sanwich Antiques Market yesterday:


Okay, now back to the laundry...

xoxo

I stopped in at a church 'garage sale' yesterday and was disappointed to find that it was much smaller than I had hoped it would be. But then I found all of these owl treasures (some fabric, some sort of dish, and a cookie cutter!), and that more than made up for it. Then I went to two more sales and didn't find anything at all. Nothin. Bupkus. But then I went to the Goodwill and found more stuff. Hmmm... and I wonder why I can't find any time to fold the laundry.

I'm starting to realize that my flea-marketing/garage-sailing/antiquing/thrift-shopping has become a bit of an obsession of late. It's more like a part-time job at this point. Except without, you know, the paycheck. So I'm thinking I should start selling some of my finds. I mean, I'm going to keep buying them; It's just that I can't keep keeping all of them. Any suggestions on a format for this venture? It'll give me something to think about this weekend.
I hope your weekend is just swell!

xoxo

good mail

have you seen the new "Katie Jump Rope" line of Fabric From Denyse Schmidt? It was too hard to decide which to order...
so I bought a fat quarter of each and every one of them from Cia's Palette. I just ordered it yesterday, and here it is in my studio this afternoon. That's superfast shipping - "What can brown do for you?" Oh, and the shipping was free!!

Aren't they fanfrickintastic?
(sorry, but we're trying to curb the potty mouth around here. Which is why I say - okay, type - things like "holy moly" and "jeez louise". It's because I'm a lady, not a drunken sailor. I just have to remind myself of that sometimes.)

moving on.

I also received a lovely lovely print from Jen of Swallowfield earlier this week:

I'm loving her collages! It was really hard to choose which print to buy. I think I'll have to have more of them at some point. And, of course, I'll frame this one. I just wanted to show it to you.

xoxo

weekending

Well, didja go? To Michael's? To see the Martha Stewart stuff? I hope you went. I told you to go.
I actually went to three different Michael's. I know I have a problem. And in the end, I didn't even buy anything. I'm really trying to use up all the stuff I already have. I will go back and buy the super cute cupcake liners and the matching waxed tissue, though. I've been looking for some cute waxed tissue for years. I had some monogrammed cake boxes made from Williams Sonoma a few years ago, which I'm extremely stingy with. I'f you've received one from me, I probably like you a whole lot. Or I was trying to impress you. Anyways, I've always wanted some cute waxed tissue paper for inside the boxes. And the Martha stuff is cute.

Here are my thoughts on the rest of the line: If you saved your issues of KIDS, you probably have everything in clip art form, or can download directions to make most of these things yourself. I probably won't buy any of the kits, but they're cute. They'd be a lovely gift for a friend who's crafty-but-no-as-crafty-as-me because I'd rather just make the stuff myself.

In other news, I received my package from the Old School swap this weekend. My swap partner was Ann. Look at all the great stuff she sent me:


(there was also a darling handmade book bag that she sent me, but I could not for the life of me get it to sit right for the photo)

Here is what I sent her:

(check out the awesome vintage school charm bracelet. It was hard to part with that. and the counting/spelling board. and the flashcards. boy, do i like vintage old school stuff)

Here's what else I did this weekend:

:: had "bunko" on Friday night with about 20 ladies in my new neighborhood. What I love about this group is there's actually no pretense of even playing bunko (which is good, because I'm not even sure what it is). In fact, this particular event was held at a local nail salon and we had appetizers and drinks and got manicures and pedicures. I love my new neigbhorhood!

:: Saturday night, went to dinner with the family at a friend's house. In my old neighborhood. And played at my "old" park. I love my old neighborhood!

:: Sunday, took the kids to Great America. My husband's company rents it out once a year for the co-workers. This is the first time we've gone. If I had my way, it would also be our last. Of course, it's lovely of the company to do this. It's Great America itself that I take issue with. Let's just say that I brought my camera and couldn't find anything to take a picture of. I could find nothing charming about the place - nothing unusual or pretty. And, usually, I'm the first one to take a good carnie photo. This just isn't that place. It's all Looney Tunes all the time, with some $3 cokes thrown in. But the kids had fun. And so it was a good day.

sweet melissa

I spent the afternoon on Melissa's couch, sewing up some stuffies I'm working on and resting my eyes. And she asked. "Wanna open a present?" Of course! So I opened up my present, the most darling Free People sweatshirt and I said thank you, thank you, i love it, it's too much! And she opened up my present to her, and our kids all exchanged gifts and we went on with our afternoon, drinking black tea and sitting in her living room, and being comfy. And she said, "i almost forgot! I have some stuff with Jessie written all over it"(figuratively, of course, because it would be odd for items to have the actual name Jessie written all over them)... and she led me to a box in her closet with the most spectacular treasures... and she let me have whatever I wanted!!! It seems that this box o' goodies came from a lady who used to nanny for Melissa's husband when he was a wee lad, and in her free time, she used to make dollhouses. And these were a few miniature trinkets she still had lying around 30 years later, and was preparing to throw away. Luckily, Melissa saved them from an untimely death and generously offered them to me lucky me! And so, of course I again said thank you, thank you, I'll treasure them! The only catch was that I must make her something that incorporates at least one of these items... and so it's off to work i joyfully go! Thanks again, sweet Melissa!