So many things have gone off since my last blog post. Where do I start….
Well my grandpa died yesterday morning, be sure to check out his obit, he was an amazing man. And I’m serious when I say that, when sitting in his hospital room, and listening to my dad talk to him, I began to cry even more, when he told him that we was the “greatest man he’s ever known”. If you know me well, in real life, you know that I can be an extremely emotional person, but I hide it as hard as I can for those who don’t know me. Right now, I sit here typing this in tears. I’ve lost many people close to me, and I tend to hide it extremely well.
When I was in the seventh grade, I experienced my first close death of a family member. My uncle Mike (Michael Bracelin) died. I remember the last time I saw him alive, he was attached to so many different machines, and it was after the Easter Sunday church service. Every time Easter rolled around, I would sit in my room and cry, until my daughter was born. She has made me forget the negative things in my life. (And now I sit here typing all this, and think…I don’t have a picture, who’s going to read this?) The second death I had to experience in my life (that I remember) was my uncle Steve. He was a great man, in fact, when my uncle Mike died, he was the only one to ask me how I was. It was so hard, I was in college then, and knew a lot more about life, but this is what happens…everyone dies. I’m not trying to be negative at all here, just speaking the facts. I don’t think I’ve ever read a blog post where somebody talks about this kind of stuff. Since then I’ve had other family members die, but these are the first two that I remember most. My grandfather was an amazing man, and many others would say the same about their own grandparents  especially my best friend, but her grandfather, aka Papa was an amazing man too.
I’ve never been good at keeping up with blog posts, until recently. So let me know that you’re actually reading by leaving a comment. It truly will help, since my spirits are down. And for those of you are my fans, thank you so much. I will have my Etsy store back up after the weekend. I am also available to do custom gifts if you need them…my mom is asking for tote bags to match her purses because of a book that she’s been reading. My mom is so cute <3
Lately, with everything going on, I’ve also learned who my true friends are, and I love that I can count on them, when I need them. Love you guys!!!
I have lots of shows in the upcoming weeks, where you’ll be able to buy many things that I don’t have in my Etsy shop, cause it takes forever to take pics, write descriptions, and add to the site! Be sure to come to these events to see my newest items, including the button earrings such as the ones seen below for $8 a pair!
First up is Market Day on Saturday, October 30th. Check out all the details on the Facebook event page! Market Day takes place in downtown Des Moines, 300 SW 5th Street (south of MLK). The hours of shopping are 9 am to 2 pm, so make sure you come and check it out. So many cool people will be there!
Second is Craft Saturday on Saturday, November 6th with longer shopping hours than Market Day, you can sleep in and then come to shop noon till 6pm. Check out all the cool vendors that will be there here. Facebook event here
Lastly is the Green Gifts Fair. It is November 7, 10 am until 3 pm, at the Des Moines Social Club, 14th & Locust in downtown Des Moines. I will be a vendor, along with nearly 20 other Iowa businesses. The focus of the event is on green item or services that would be great for holiday – or other – gifts. Besides my own green gifts, there will be locally-produced soaps, foods, clothes, toys, and things for the home, as well as plenty of organic, low-impact, reusable, Eco- friendly goodies. Facebook event here. I’ll be sharing my booth space with KangarooBoo.
Brianne Sanchez was working on an article for this week’s Juice, and I decided to take the challenge to make a costume in 2 hours for $20 or less. I had a list of things to make, but the one I was most excited about was the feather duster.
My supplies were:
- 12 packages of black feathers
- floor length dress
- feather hair clip
- cording
- hot glue gun and glue sticks
I started with a floor length black formal dress that I got from a thrift store that was closing, this dress cost me $1, yes one dollar! I then found packages of black feathers on sale at Hobby Lobby for half off. This week they are on sale at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores for buy one get one half off. See Juice article at the end of this post! Continue reading Juice Challenge: $20, two hours
Sunday, October 17, 11 am – 4 pm at Green Grounds Cafe in Valley Junction (117 5th Street, WDM, IA 50265)
Swap-O-Rama-Rama (SORR) is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing. Participants bring their unwanted clothing to the event site. The clothing is sorted and everyone is encouraged to choose new items. Experts will be on hand to teach workshops and foster creative thinking in terms of clothing modification, screen printing, and embellishment. It’s more than a clothing swap, it’s a Swap-O-Rama-Rama, where excitement and opportunities for dialogue are created during the swap process. Sign up for the Des Moines SORR mailing list to be notified of future events.
If you’ve been wanting one of my t-skirts, then now’s your chance to head over to Sweet Harvey’s blog and win one! I am giving away one t-skirt from my shop, or in a size that you need if, I don’t have one in stock. So head on over there, and enter to win
I has been working with Vitae to put on a Craft Night the first Friday of the month. If you’re interested in having a special beverage, bring it! Craft Night will be kind of like an open house type thing, no need to be there right at 6 pm, because somebody will be there from 6-8 to teach you whatever the craft is!
Scheduled Crafts:
- October – Cuff from sewing trims, lace, and ribbons
- November – Decorated Clothespin Magnets
- December – Paper Garland
A Facebook event will be made under the Des Moines Swap-O-Rama-Rama fan page, so check it out to see pics of what will be made. And if you aren’t already a fan, become a fan to get up to the minute info on what DSM SORR is doing!
October
Create a Cuff to wear with scraps from your (or our) sewing basket. Bring your own supplies, or you can make a suggested donation of $5 for supplies that you use from Stephanie’s stash.
Supply list:
- Lace, Trimmings, Ribbons in the color and style of your choice (at least 9 inches long)
- Cotton fabric (8 x 5 inches)
- Button and pearl embellishments
- Hot glue, needle and thread, scissors
We will have some hot glue guns, if you have one please bring it. We will also have the cotton fabric, so you don’t need to worry about that.
I finally have some clothing in my Etsy shop! The above is one of my t-skirts that I had Karen from MayFly & the BlueNotes model for me on our trip last week to the Russian River in California (more to come on that later). I’ve also been working on lots of new clothing items, some which aren’t listed on Etsy yet, but I’ll show you a sneak peek below! I’ve been making little girl dresses from old men’s dress shirts. I had one at Market Day last month, and it was one that I screen printed on, and it sold! I was super excited, cause it’s so much fun making these little dresses. I also have a few more things up my sleeve.
I ran across Elsie’s 4 Simple Goals post and decided to do this myself! These goals are supposed to be simple and personal, but simple is key here! They are to be accomplished by 2011, and I will blog about them when they are achieved. I hope I can do this, cause every other list I’ve made with a time frame to finish, hasn’t ever been completed. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact the I’m easily distracted.
 Photo by Kelsey Cliche!
1. Take more photos of Zee. Last year I took so many pictures of my little girl, and now she’s growing so fast. I barely get out the camera any more, and I want her to be able to look back at pictures of her when she was little. Since I started my job last October I don’t have a ton of extra time, so I just don’t think of it anymore.
Photo via BurdaStyle
2. Sew more clothing. Whether it’s for me, Zee or just to sell, I need to sew more clothing and keep my tailoring skills fresh. I also want to start drafting my own patterns again, just need to make the space to do that, and that’s where #3 comes in!
Photo via decor8
3. Organize & De-Clutter my apartment. This was going to be just my sewing area, but I also need to go through all of Zee’s stuff. Her things are beginning to take over our entire living space. Just need to get rid of what we don’t need, take the stuff we are saving for later to storage, and organize what is left. I am going to make my space work for me, and this should also help to keep it clean too.
Josh made chicken cordon bleu last week (via Allrecipes)
4. Learn to cook. I do enjoy cooking, but it’s not very often cause I cook what I’m comfortable cooking. I want to venture outside of that and cook a new recipe every week. If I need help doing it, then I’ll ask Josh to help, but besides that I will help cook dinner and not just hang out waiting for dinner to be done.
So I’m not sure what I did, but now that I’ve started blogging again, and I HAD more posts, I accidentally deleted my entire website…I will now be trying to update things from where I left off, and I will also be re-adding my 30 days of truths. Maybe Kelsey will want to do this with me this time, and then I will have a reason to keep on track. I’ll also be updating with links to Mackenzie’s two year pictures again, and I’m hoping to begin blogging regularly with what’s going on in my life, my business, and my crafty lifestyle.
Lara from Handmade Pretties has an organization to her blog: Around our House, Recipes, Products, DIY/Crafts, and a few more. I want to do something like that on my blog, and I’m just trying to figure out what my “categories” should be. If you have any ideas, please comment to let me know.
Things I’m planning on blogging about:
- tutorials/diy
- what we’ve been cooking: Josh is an amazing cook and I think I’m going to start blogging about what he’s cooking, or maybe I can get him to do it…haha
- new stuff in the etsy shop
- 30 days of truths
- restoration of my vintage Hawthorn cruiser
- life and what’s going on
- parties that I’ve planned and will be planning (got a job to do one at Zee’s party!)
My baby girl was born two years ago today in Seattle. I didn’t take pictures at her party that we had Sunday, if anyone reading this has pictures from the party, please let me know!
All photos taken by Kelsey Cliche!
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