Welcome to the Jungle!

One of my best friends is having a baby in December and the theme for his nursery is "Jungle" so we rented a beach house for the weekend and threw a safari/jungle themed shower!

We had a great time.  Girls weekend + decorating + the beach + lots of food, of course it was going to be fun!!!

We found a safari calendar that we cut pages out of to decorate the walls (and even replace some of the framed pictures on the walls), searched Michael's and Dollar Tree for every jungle/safari/animal print thing we could find - and went to town.

What have you been up to lately???

It's up!

The Etsy shop is up and running!!!

You can get to it by clicking here: www.sunrisefolk.etsy.com

New items are being added everyday...so keep checking in!

WE DID IT!!!!!

Sold my first items at a craft fair this weekend.  Slow day for sales, but we had a GREAT time!

My friend came along to help with the set up.  She made chocolate chip cookies for the booth (and coffee for us!!! Thanks Jennifer!).  The cookies were great tasting AND they brought a lot of people in.  Definitely going to make cookies for every fair!

My aprons.  Love how they all look together on the clothesline.

I worked on hair clips throughout the day (hence the piles-o-junk around my chair).  It was really fun to be able to sew most of the day, and it got people to ask what we were doing.  Jen was making stuff and so was Brian when he came by - arts and crafts time all around!

I didn't even think to get the camera out when Brian "relieved" Jennifer or when J and Wy stopped by (Brian and Jen helped out because we didn't know what the weather was going to be like and if Wy would be able to stick around that long...he's only 4 1/2 mons. you know!) ;)  Next time...

Brooches from felt and recycled shirts

Hankies from sheets and a hankie holder from a shirt

Halloween, felt covered hair clips

I walked away from my "stall" after packing everything up at the end of the day and had an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.  Not all of the items went like hot cakes, but we DID IT!  Finally, finally did what I've been thinking about, talking about, wishing about doing for so long - and it felt AWESOME!  

and then I found it...

I  have got a bug to get going on all the projects swimming around in my head….my hands are just itching to get started…and I’m sitting at work, in a cubicle, looking at a computer screen with a word document that requires lots of brain power and I just can’t focus!

And then I found it.... I was doodling in my notebook and I came across a note I had written after listening to Jennifer on Craftsanity.  She was talking about how she wants to get an airstream trailer to park by a lake on a farm and use as her studio.  Heaven!  So I went to the internets and found this beauty:

source

I could TOTALLY handle that!

Off topic – but the cubicle.  DRAB, BORING, MUTE (in a bad way), BLAH, BLAND your choice of favorite adjectives.  SO – mine has multicolored Christmas lights year round (probably why I'm so drawn to this picture!), a shelf full of pretty things I’ve collected through the years, pages torn from magazines tacked to the walls, a picture section with people and places I love and a fruit cocktail can as a pencil holder.  It does make it a little better to be in here, but I don’t know how much longer I can last…

I’ve got a year and 3 months before I can ditch the cubicle.  Don’t get me wrong, I like my ‘job’, I just don’t necessarily like what I do and I certainly don’t like being in a cubicle and well, I just feel this isn’t where I am supposed to be forever.

Perhaps I'm supposed to be here forever instead?

source

Yes, you say?  I agree.

we're in!

Ah!

We've got a booth at the Freret Market come October 2!  Which is great!  And will be even better when I feel a bit more prepared...

Not going to get all stressed out though.  If I don't have a booth chocked 'full-O-stuff', that's okay.  It's quality not quantity anyway, right?  Plus, this market will be a trial to see if the craft show/art market/etc. scene is for me.

So, if you're in the New Orleans area on October 2, come say hi and try on an apron or two!!

Detail work from a vintage piece I got at the September market

felt is fun! (and other tid-bits)

Not sure what spurred it, but I'm suddenly very interested in felt.  I made some felt flowers (which I forgot to photograph!) and this little strawberry.

This little guy was created while I watched Top Hat (how can you go wrong with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers???).  I've been using the acrylic craft felt which I have not been happy with at all.  No stores in my area sell anything else, so I looked to 'the internets', as my husband calls it, where I stumbled upon Wool Felt Central (check it out here!).  It turns out the brick and mortar store behind the website is in Cozad, Nebraska!

"So what?" you ask?  Well, it turns out I'm from Nebraska and while Cozad is not all that close to where I grew up (South Sioux City), just the fact that it is in Nebraska got me really excited!

Well, when I found out they are in Nebraska AND they have great prices AND fun patterns for things I've never tried before but want to look in to (all these fun patterns), I had to give it a go.  A little package arrived a few days ago and I can't wait to get started - but I'm not sure when I'm going to fit all this fun in!  This is going to be a present for my mom so I'm not sure if I can share a picture yet...

I also thought I'd share a picture of why my craft space looks like these days.  It is close to being declared a disaster area.  But you know what, I'm getting stuff done!  And who wants to see a pretty, clean, organized studio anyways?  Doesn't that just happen in our dreams?

Out of that mess came this 'dress-up apron'.  

You'll notice that I match my furniture.  The pillow and napkin (that's the top layer of the apron) are from World Market in a retro strawberry pattern that I LOVE!!!  The napkins were on sale the last time I was there so I got a whole bunch knowing that 'someday' a perfect project for them would come to me. 

The layer underneath is a pillowcase (ruffles and all) that my mom found at a tag sale.  I added a flower made from an old t-shirt, a leaf from a green ribbon and some worded ribbon from the scrapbook stash.  My first apron just for me!

In other news...I was sewing along in my happy little way the other day, making an apron out of a sheet and a pillowcase for a friend, when my sewing machine jammed up.  After taking it apart, cleaning it, putting back together, re-threading, etc. it is still not working correctly.  Now, I found a shop that repairs machines, but I'm afraid it will cost as much to repair it as I paid for it.  SO - I asked my friend Trish, who makes the most BEAUTIFUL quilts, what kind of machine she used and how much I should paid for a decent machine that won't do things like this to me on a regular basis.  She has a Janome that she really likes.
What about you?  Any advice?

Inspiration

First of all, the market was fun - full of good food and music and lots of fun booths!  Still haven't signed up, but I'm gearing up to have a booth at the October 2 event.  What's holding me back is the actual set up (I don't have a tent or table yet...) and I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make enough "stuff" in time.

BUT, I need to just do, even if I only have a few things ready.  At least I will have one market under my belt.  It can only get better, right?

So this is where I will be come October 2:

Now, on to what's been on my mind...

I found a podcast about a week ago that I have been listening to non-stop since.  CraftSanity (accompanying blog found here) with Jennifer has been such a treat!  I'm pretty sure I'm the last person to find this gem...where have I been???  But I am sure glad found her!  Jennifer interviews all sorts of crafty ladies and has the most wonderful conversations that we are fortunate enough to be able to listen in on.  CraftSanity and the little bits of wisdom I've gleaned from the interviews as well as from Jennifer, have really given me so much inspiration and a little kick in the pants to get myself going.  It's so fun to hear about all the aprons and running in Jennifer's life too - both things I enjoy!

Another podcast that was the first one I listened to, and am always waiting excitedly for the next one to air, is The Quilted Cupcake (found here) with Jean.  Although I wouldn't call myself a quilter, it doesn't matter because Jean has so much information about EVERYTHING - book reviews, product reviews, tips, updates, tid-bits about all the crafty trips she takes.  She is so fun to listen to and she's been a great source of information and inspiration for me (and she loves aprons too!).