I'm Part Of A Team!!!

This is gonna be fun and exciting! In fact, it already is! I've joined the Etsy West Michigan Team! You can find out more about us here -

www.etsywestmichigan.blogspot.com

I'll be adding my new team member's blogs to that little area over there to the right but these things take time.

So many things to do..............

Look what I did!!

It's the first 2 pieces in my new "series"!!

Well, OK, it's my first series ever. heehee

I took a nap the other day and when I woke up, I just had this idea in my head! So, I painted the tray that night and the box the next night! I'll be adding things with the same design - you can look forward to seeing a plate, round balls (ok, is round redundant? I think round should be implied......I'll leave it in anyway), and maybe, just maybe, a bowling pin! HA!!

Ok, that's it for now - this is short but I have to get some painting done but I'm disciplining myself to go grocery shopping first.

I'll post more later! Enjoy!

Teaser (heehee)

OK, is this totally cool or what??? heehee

This is the first picture of my new crafty idea. I don't have it perfected yet so I'll post more pictures later but this is step one. This is a square piece of glass, kinda like a thick coaster but bigger and has a recessed circle for a candle.

I'm researching different products to see what I want to used to get the string on the glass and seal it with a nice hard glossy finish. Mod Podge is too sticky, darnit. I love love love Mod Podge.

So, more to follow! Can you hardly wait or what????

Part two of the Saturday trip

So, on to the second leg of the trip!

I heard about this place out in Portland that had a few different businesses in one building and one of them was going to have hand-made home decor on consignment. Sounds like that's right up one of the many alleys in my world. LOL

So, after leaving the Byron Center Farmer's Market with our bread and cheese in hand, it was off for a 45 minute trek to Portland. Once again, the trip was filled with conversation - EBAY - etcetcetc, PETS - yakyakyak, FRENCH FRIES AND A FROSTY FOR LUNCH!! hahahaha!!I BARELY noticed the exit and tried not to holler too loudly EXIT 76 !! TURN HERE!! Actually, come to think of it, I was cool as a cuke on the outside, I was just screaming on the inside. heehee. We hadn't really paid much attention to time, we were just driving and talking and driving and talking.

We kept on talking when we got out of the truck and meandered down the sidewalk and found Rafaelle's Marketplace!

OK, before we go any farther - credit where credit is due - I forgot my camera in the truck! AH! These pictures are courtesy of the CO-owner, Julie, who generously and expediently sent these to me. Thanks Julie!

Right before we put a hand on the doorknob, my friend saw a sign and said the dreaded word - - - CLOSED!!!! My first thought was - ohhhhhh, nooooooo, they HAVE to be open on Saturday! They just HAVE to!!! So, I looked around for the hours posted while in my head I was chanting - pleasepleasepleaseplease. We found it and whew! They opened at 10! We were just a few minutes early, that's all!


So, we decided a walk around the block would be a good idea. We found a grrreeaaaat Quilting shop while we were walking at the back of the buildings and I did my best not to drool directly ON the fabrics! What a totally cool place!

Sure enough, by the time we got back around to Rafaelle's Marketplace, the door was unlocked! We were greeted by the owner who has a great smile and demeanor and as we looked around, he turned on the boom box and - JAZZ!! Ok, he's now my bestest friend forever. heehee.

Just standing in the door is a lovely aesthetically pleasing experience:



Hey........does that guy have a cookie.................? That's the owner in the middle. He's too far away to tell if he has a cookie.

There are areas of storefronts - I wouldn't call them 'booths' - they're much nicer. With the great backdrop of hand painted walls and floors, all of the shops looked great. This is the shop where I'm thinking some of my things could go - it's still a work in progress:
Then there's a section in the back.......talk about drooling!!! sheesh!!! Faaaaabulous artwork. You just have to see it to really get the effect!


OK, I FOUND THE COOKIES!!!!!!



This booth is called "The Bag Lady". heehee. Clev. ver.

We spent some pleasant time chatting with the owner and finding out more about how he ended up with a business incubator and I am sure this will be a success for him and his wife. I think I'll have to notify him ahead of time of when I'm coming next so he cand Julie can make sure there are cookies waiting..................heehee

If you want to check out their site, here's the addy:

http://raffaelesmarketplace.com/

So, now it's thinkin' time. Thinkin' Thinkin' Thinkin........

ELATION!

HEY! MODPODGE IS SOLD BY THE GALLON!!!! aaaaAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

My life.................. is complete..................

Should I.......Shouldn't I..........

Well, the road trip is finished! My friend and I thought we'd go scope out a couple of crafty venture possibilities and now we have even MORE things to think about! As if we don't have ENOUGH going on in our purty little heads!!! sheesh.

First stop - gas station, of course


um.....ouch.......... $4.08......... cah-raaaaayyyy-zyyyyyy

But what a suh-weeeet ride!!!

Next stop - Byron Center Farmer's Market! The trip didn't take as long as I thought it would but time flies when 2 like minded friends get to talk un-interrupted! I think the conversation went something like this - "CRAFTS! blahblahblah HERBS! so on and so on MARKETING! yaddayadda RETIREMENT! and and and MEN!!! lalalalala DO I TURN HERE???? ahhhh!!

heehee

So, we got to Byron Center and we could SEE the Farmer's Market but it took us a few seconds to figure out how to get in there. We almost took a visit to the bank instead of the market. heehee (again -- there was lots of 'heehee')

Although it was smaller than I thought, it wasn't too bad. I thought about getting closeup pictures of the different booths but I got wierded out. Maybe next time. But I did get some shots



We think we counted somewhere between 20 and 25 vendors. It looks pretty nice but smaller than I thought it would be - that's not necessarily a bad thing because there was a pretty good selection of everything.

The first booth we went past was chinese food! Great idea but it was 9 in the morning!! I love crab rangoon and all but.......

The veggies and plants were beeeeee-uteee-ful! There was a great variety of the standards but the two things that stood out were the PILES of yummy looking asparagus and gorrrrrgeous t'maters that had been grown in a green house.

My friend stopped and kept going "mmmmmmmm" at the home made bread booth and bought a lovely braided bread to have with her spaghetti supper. I was in the booth right next to her eying the baskets of cheese that were just whispering - "I'd be greeeeat with craaaackerrrrrrrs..." and there were SAMPLES!!! I splurged on a hunk of onion garlic goodness. I don't know if I'm gonna share with my family......

There was a guy with bags of coffee beans and carafes of coffee.......clever guy. We also sampled "Nadine's Dip mixes" and I couldn't decide between the onion dip and the veggie dip! It's a good thing it's sold at the Walgreens right there in town! I might hafta wander that way again.

So, now, it's thinking time. Do we rent an area?? I will say that quite a few people were milling around while we were there, especially for being just 9 in the morning and it had just rained for a few hours. Well, I have the contact information of the right person so I'll hold on to that and sleep on it a bit.

And so ended our first leg of the trip. I'll have to continue in another post with leg two because I was silly and left my camera in the locked truck!! We took a trek to Portland (which once again didn't seem too long "MOD PODGE! blahblahblah PAINT PENS! yaddayadda MOTOR HOMES! on and on and on) and found our destination - Rafaelle's Marketplace. It was an interesting trip and we chatted with the owner for a while then he told me he'd be sending me some pictures of his place! So, I'm going to wait until I get the pics from him then I'll be posting part two! In the meantime, you could look at their website if you'd like - http://raffaelesmarketplace.com

Until then - happy crafting!

More hats for Lois!!

More hats for Lois! Yay! I found the bright pink flower in my craft stash but the other stuff is all me! :) I bought these hats at Goodwill and added some fun stuff to 'em. I love finding old stuff and making it new again!

New Hat from Old - for Lois!

I can't wait to give this to her!!! She started chemo this week. I bought this for a cool 2 bucks at Goodwill and reconned it with these cool little teddy bear beads I have! I think she'll love it. I think it's important to help keep friend's spirits up when going through crappy stuff. I hope this will help. So, don't forget your friends!!!

You MUST see my FidgetKitty!!

Bang the Drum! Sound the horns!!!

I'm havin' a sale!!!

It's my first one! Woot!!

30% off all my valentines day stuff! Take a look at my site!

Ok, I want to write more but it's 11 PM and I really gotta get some sleep.

I think we're at the end of the whole basement pipe/burst/flood/clogged drain/can't wash clothes phase and will finally be able to go forward with other more better things like crafting!!

Once my craft room is together (pics will be posted when it's done), I have a BUNCH of products lined up! There's CD binders, Checkbook covers, small storage boxes, more scarves, and a custom order Puff-Me-Knot - large - to be used as a baby toy!!

May I say once again - - WOOT!!

OK, gotta scoot off to find my pillow!!! (it's purple, just to let you know :) heehee )

Bittersweet....

Well, waddya do.....

This is another lesson in turning a negative into a positive so I thought it would be cool to let you know about it.

My son moved out in December ***pout*** but, after all, he is almost 22. Last weekend, all of a sudden we had no water!! The city water dude came out and as soon as he got to the basement, he said - 'oh, yea, your meter is frozen. It's way too cold down here.' Greeeeat. Well, see, here's the thing, even though we've lived here for 4 years, it was never an issue because the meter is in Matthew's room and he always had the space heater going down there!! We, of course, turned off the space heater when he left. oops.

So, can ya guess what happened when the room got warmer? Yea......

The split in the pipe was about 1 1/2 feet long. Matthew's room was basically annihilated. He had done so much cool stuff down there! He had painted the room, put up ceiling tiles, strung wires and lights and hooked up speakers all over and..... *sigh* it was just cool and he had done it all by himself. I found a box of his journals that had gotten totally drenched. His journals are very important to him so I painstakingly pulled the pages apart and layered them in towels and sheets and was able to save them all.

After the water was turned off and the gushing subsided, we assessed the situation and decided we had to strip the room of everything. His TV, VCR and dresser took the brunt of the shower so those are toast. Half of the ceiling tiles were soaked and fell down too. We're not sure about his bed, that will be assessed later, but we had to take everything out so we could get rid of the carpet.

Now, here's the bittersweet part. I now have an empty room in my basement...... hmmmm......what would a crafter do with an empty room..........

I'm thinking Studio!!!!! I now have a craft studio!! I've been wishing for a room of my own since we moved in!! So, on the one hand, I'm pretty bummed about Matthew's room but on the other hand - I'm pretty excited!!

I'll post pics when I'm done - right now it's basically an empty room with a bed leaning up against it but shortly, it will be my craft haven. :)

So, class, the lesson for the day is - balance. Look for the positive in the negative - it might not be this big but there usually is something positive you can find in the ruin of the negative.

Random Crafty Thoughts

Hey! Check out the bracelet I made!

It's for sale on my etsy site!! (www.craftinator.etsy.com)





Ok, the subject is......crafty stuff......

I HAVE to start writing stuff here and haven't come up with a certain topic but, as I was wandering the aisles of "Value Land" (one of my fav second hand thrift stores) I kept coming up with thoughts of creating things bing-bangin' around in my head so I thought maybe they could benefit yous guys and maybe it'll stop the bing-bangin'!!!

I just got an email from HobbyLobby - their Christmas stuff is EIGHTY PERCENT OFF!!!! AAHH!! Get me a drool bag!! So, here's the deal - Christmas stuff doesn't HAVE to be used just for Christmas! Red basket = Valentine's day! Green napkins = SOMETHING for St. Patty's day! Maybe stencil a four leaf clover in the corner? Silver, Gold, White = Mother's day, Birthdays, and on and on! And, yea, maybe buying some definitely Christmas stuff and putting it away for next year.

OK, another random thought -

So, I'm walking through ValueLand and, of COURSE, peruse the craft aisle. I found a few awwwwesome treasures! There was a bag that had one thing of silver wire and another of green wire - for 49 cents! Woot! But - - what's this???? small green glass seed beads strung on the green wire?? SCORE! heehee.

I'd like to encourage everybody to look for potential of outcast treasures! So many of the things at second hand places have TONS of potential! I found the cutest little suitcase that needs a little TLC and elbow grease, it'll look all cool-like - I just got it today so you'll have to be patient to see what it looks like when I'm done.

I also got a bead necklace that I'm going to take apart and make into other pieces of jewelry. I could eeeasily get two pair of earrings and a bracelet out of it! Heehee.

Kinda ADD today.......easily distraa....hey! look! shiny thing!!

Ok, I'll be done for today. Hey! Make something today!!!

Later.......