busy as a bee

 Last month we made a few layout changes! I did new blue table covers and I really feel that this new layout works better and is more inviting! I also demonstrated spinning all day which really had people coming in to talk and learn.

Here is what is new in the studio! I have been dying up a storm!  I have a 12 step color wheel going here - ready for tomorrow's fair.

My son - I mean assistant - hard a work. Of course I sold more while he was asleep, in front of the cash box, than while he was awake trying to actually help. I plan on borrowing Mom's lounger chair for him and letting him sleep in comfort tomorrow. He has been working hard as football season has started and having him there is nice, even when he is asleep. I am mean and wake him up if I need to use the restroom.

So much, so fast...

it has been a while since I posted. I have been a busy little beaver making this sign and a bunch of other things. I have had a great shows and a still figuring out the best layout for my booth.

 May Brookfield show layout

 May show - Mom came to keep me company and allow for potty breaks.

 I demonstrated drum carding at the May show.

Some acid dyed rovings and a view of my dye studio.

 Set up for June Brookfield show. The day was drizzlely and cold. My eldest son joined us. Dad was also there. He is an amazing woodworker! I have some of his work at all my shows and you can see more at Lodge Nest Studio

 Halfway through the day it started to rain in earnest. The storm only last for a few minutes but it got a lot of things wet - not a big deal for my work as a lot of it gets wet in the process of becoming but very discouraging. We scrambled around trying to get everything out the the wet and ended up with a new layout, which I plan on tweaking for Tomorrow's Show. 

I hope you are working for your dreams!~ Julia

Show Day!

A bit suddenly it seems I am off to my first show day of the season.  This is a craft fair at a friend's children's school.  Stocker Elementary in Kenosha Wisconsin!  See you there! here is a tasty yarn picture.

Some pretty yarns all packed up.

I am feeling a bit unprepared as we have not figured out which phone to buy so I can't yet take credit in person.  Hopefully, it will be a good day anyway!

Julia

display items

I just finished some display items I thought I would share with you... It was a lot of fun and Mom got into the act with me.

 I bought this a thrift store and her neck broke on the way home.  I tried gluing it and that held, until I brought her to my parents for a photo shoot. She broke again. Dad tried a variety of strange substances from his garage of holding (think Mary Poppins' carpetbag but a whole garage like that) her neck ended up a long and Mom made her a collar and shrug to visually break that up a bit. She is ready to hold some jewelry now though.

I broke out the mod podge and fabric scraps to fix up these thrift store frames and made a peg hanger to match.  The inserts are velvet boards sold to pin jewelry or such like to. I plan to hand skeins of yarn from the other.

In other news, I heard back from Brookfield Market & More and it is official,  I will be showing there all 6 weekends! See you there!~ Julia

piles of pretty beads

Sometimes you have a plan when you craft.  I am making X using these supplies and these tools.  Sometimes it is more like I want to make X so lets see what happens when I make it with this and with these other things and then decided which I like better. The above - overexposed but still kind of neat picture - was one of those times.  I am making crochet stitch markers and having a blast. Each is a bit different - gauge, color, size, beading etc. - but I am playing and having fun.  I also put together some earrings playing with color and shimmer.  The hammer - for making slightly threatening statements - oh yeah and for hardening and shaping the markers.  I am channeling my inner barbarian blacksmith here in the studio.  The bowl was made by my eldest son a few years ago, he is turning into quite the potter.

Sometimes the best plans just run away with themselves and don't do what you want.  I love this choker necklace, except it does not lay right.  So soon I will have to disassemble it and rebuild it slightly differently. This time with more math and less random. That growling is me.

And sometimes, a rare beautiful sometimes... you are doing something else entirely and poof that magical elusive thing inspiration attacks you.  I was actually organizing the box and drawer I keep my beads and such in, when I found the pendant stone in the upper right.  Followed by the gold pearls and copper wire... wire crochet here we come.  I kept finding bits that would look great with them so I will listen and build the necklace.

Hope you are following or ignoring your plan as best fits your day! ~ Julia

Errands and such

This morning I ran errands, some for my kids - the girls had to have pompoms to cheer on their big brother (track starts on Monday) - and some for my crafts.  I am finishing up my lunch as I write this, a yummy yellow split pea soup.

 I have been looking for the perfect clasp for a cardigan I am working on and I think this is it.

 Sweater and lace. Coming soon...

This is a bit brighter red in person and soon it will be a cuddly friend of two...

Also on today agenda was paperwork for an event or two I plan to sell at.  More info on that when I get accepted.  Thanks for joining me for lunch I am off to craft now! ~ Julia

Hello World

This is the creative space for my business. I sell things that I make and dream hoping to bring a little beauty and joy to the world.  I spend a good deal of my time chasing my four lovely children around town and around the house.  I encourage them to craft and make messes (and clean them up!) and I want to encourage you to as well! For me crafting and art is not just a business it is a necessary part of life. So please join me in the necessary, messy, beautiful business of life.

Washing very dirty wool in my kitchen sink.  I told you it can get messy!

Setting things up is a messy but very necessary part of life. The past few weeks I have been getting my ducks in a line, as it were. Filling out forms, signing things, setting up my Etsy site, and all the nuts and bolts required to sell my art.


Go get messy! ~ Julia