Nothing Like a Time Crunch

Nothing like a time crunch to make you try a new medium. My friend surprised us all by giving birth to a sweet baby boy three weeks early. Needless to say my powers of organization do not stretch quite this far. I had bought an organic cotton sleeper and a stuffy bunny (which Arlo was quite upset to have to wrap and part with) but had not had a chance to pick up a card. And thank goodness for that.

I searched about a bit on the net for inspiration and made myself a paper flower card. I have not given paper the credit it is due and for that I am sorry. I was telling my friend Robin about a book I was reading that took place in North Carolina before the Revolutionary war. I said the thing that struck me more than the wilderness in the book was the nearly complete lack of paper for people to write on. It made me take more care with recycling.

And from that I have progressed to a love of the beautiful Japanese papers. Another dear friend gave me a package of paper ends from Paper Ya in Granville Island and these bits are what I used for this welcome to the world card for sweet baby James.

Felted Cuffs

I felted and felted and felted and when I was done I still had pieces of unused felt left over. You know the little pieces that are too small for most anything. But still you feel that all the work it took to make that felt should not be thrown away. So I thought a minute and came up with felt and fabric cuffs. I love cuffs. I usually love leather cuffs and can't afford the truly great ones. Not to mention the tiny town factor. I am not a fan of driving for two hours to browse in shops in nearby towns. If I have a spare two hours I would rather spend it solving problems and finding new ways to do things than driving. Call me crazy.

I made about ten different cuffs with different fabric and felt colours and decided to wear this one. It is subdued for me ( I have to work not to leave the house looking like an Easter egg) but I like it and have been wearing it a lot. Yeah!

The down side is that my sewing machine is packing it in. Too much sewing on a pretty inexpensive machine that I bought just after Eden was born. I really have my heart set on a Bernina. Postmodern Hausfrau has one and I have used and loved it. They are hard to find though unless you are willing to buy new and sadly, though I am willing, I am not able to spend that kind of cash right now. If anyone has a sewing machine recommendation to pass along I would appreciate it.

Felted Hair Bands

These hair bands were really fun to make, like little felted collages. I made five that are all roughly similar and love them immensely. However...(ominous tones) I look TERRIBLE in a hair band. I have a long, narrow face and need all the bangs I can get to not look like a forehead monster. I would like to blame this on a genetic abnormality that does not allow for head band wearing but Bad Babs is a total head band devotee.

I have never seen my dad in a hair band so maybe I can yet blame this on his side of the family? (he only has brothers and I haven't seen any of them sport a head band either, so it's possible that they all have the same problem {since neither of my uncles will ever read this, I can reveal that their actual problem is baldness which makes them de facto forehead monsters without hair bands}).

Felted Hair Clips

So here are a few of the wet felted hair clips I made for selling at the Farmer's Market in my wee town this summer. My mom (Bad Babs) and dad were up for the long weekend and Bad Babs came to the first farmer's market with me for morale. It was pretty good relative to the Mayfair market I had done the week before, but still not stellar. Even the market manager warned that all weekends would not be as busy as this long weekend so not to get my hopes up. Not too cheering.

But it was nice to see my town in a different way and meet some new people. I actually think I might have made a new felting friend that was hiding right here in my town. I don't know how else we might have met each other, so for me that connection was worth the chilly morning spent outdoors (perhaps not worth it for Bad Babs who nearly froze solid?)

Happy Birthday Dark Cloud!

For the last um, five years every single present I have sent dearest Dark Cloud has been late. Not just a bit late either. A lot late, like a month or two late. So imagine how exciting it was to talk to her the other day and hear that her birthday present had arrived early. I made a very strangely sized quilt. It's not big enough for a bed and too square even for a single bed but maybe good to wrap yourself in while you watch a movie. I don't make very many quilts but I really liked making this one. The black flowers fabric is one I bought years ago and could never use for fear of not having it anymore. Now I know it has a good home though and I can relax and hunt down more dream fabric. Not much of a struggle I'm afraid. Happy Birthday Dark Cloud Blue Sky!!

Wallowing in Self Pity

Last Saturday I took part in a Mayfair event with a group of artisans. It went really poorly. Now I feel compelled to evaluate how I am interacting with the world as an artisan.
This was the fifth art/craft sale that I have done in the years since I graduated from ACAD and every one has been as miserable as the last, even though they were spread across a whole province and five or six years. At each event I talked to the people around me and regardless if they were jewellers, potters, doll-makers or soap makers, nobody was making any money. I can say personally I barely made enough to compensate for the time I stood there selling, let alone enough money to buy more supplies. And by all accounts I did better than some. I know most people don't intend to spend more than ten dollars at any one booth so I made a lot of hair clips, pins, cuffs and I had homemade candy (cashew brittle, caramels, chocolates etc...) to buoy up the bottom end of people who only intend to part with their change. So anyone who was selling paintings or silver jewellery had a really rough day.

I'm optimistic that at fairs like Renegade Craft Fair people come to buy and revel in the abundance of handcrafted items at their fingertips. But also still wallowing and willing to believe it is a myth. I need a break to figure out how to better approach the world. Continue production and sell through Etsy? Go conceptual and apply to Art Galleries? Get a loan and go to Renegade?

I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to make things happen quickly so naturally I am gripped with panic and feel a decision would help but as Postmodern Hausfrau pointed out this morning, we are yet young, with little kids and there is no rush to take over the world. This week anyway.

And on the plus side, I now have lots of time to take nicer picture of all the things I have made to show you.

Chocolate Bars

Now that I've got the caramel recipe sorted out and tested to perfection I decided I needed to try a few new things with it. So here they are, the first test and ooooh baby they are fine.
They are roughly home-made Twix bars, but so much better they hardly bear the comparison. The bottom is vanilla cookie that I then poured hot caramel over. When that was cool I cut them into sticks and dipped them in milk chocolate finally sprinkling them with chopped toasted almonds. Mmmmm....
The only things I'll change for next time will be sprinkling the almonds onto the hot caramel and then dipping them in chocolate and sprinkling the tops with finishing salt. How dreamy is that?

Home made Granola

One of Boss Hog's favourite things in the world is starting the day with a nice, reassuring bowl of home made granola. He is the type to enjoy the same thing every day and, truthfully, can be a bit of a functional eater. This kills me because I am the type to want something different every day, but every day it must be something tasty, not simply nutritious and filling. I do like a bowl of granola occasionally, with thick yogurt and frozen raspberries if I have them. So, since a dependable breakfast = true love according to Boss Hog I have been doing my best to keep him supplied.

I bought organic almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and dried cranberries and raisins from Rancho Vignola, a fantastic fruit and nut supplier located in, of all places! my small town. I added a cup of each of the nuts and seeds to 12 cups of organic old fashioned oats. In a sauce pan I combine one cup butter, one cup of liquid honey and a generous tsp of ground cinnamon and poured it over the oat mixture in two 9x13 pans. Bake at 300 F stirring every 15 mins until golden and toasty all over. I add the dried fruit after everything cools and Voila! I am beloved by Boss Hog until we run out of granola again.