Busy season

Well, it's been nearly two months since I've blogged, terrible of me, but I was making up for lost time with my children after last year's surgery-recovery cycle.

Kitty Hawk - July 2013 - taken during a visit with my brother and his family

We had an absolutely wonderful summer!  Lots of visiting and trips and fun.  We're also about 3/4 through our bathroom renovation. Last week was back to school for the kiddos and my husband went away on business.  As hard as I tried, I didn't get much done work-wise.

This week I've been better - getting things ready for the kick off to the fall season!  I have a new tent that you'll see at the Collingswood Farmers' Market this fall.  I am also working on new products - fine art nature photography, organic cotton shams adorned with upcycled cashmere and wool, and some new items for baby!  I am working on a new look to my newsletter this week, but more on that later!



This is the fall schedule:

Saturday, September 28 - 8 am to noon - at the Collingswood Farmers' Market - I'm the featured artist of the week - please stop by and shop if you're in the area!

Handmade Holiday Bazaar @ the Collingswood Farmers' Market - 8 am to noon under the PATCO line.  I'll be there the following dates:
Saturday, November 2
Saturday, November 16
Saturday, November 23

Saturday, December 7 - 9 am to 3 pm - Eastern High School Holiday Craft Show - I believe I'll be in the gymnasium.

Thursday, December 12th through 20th - times vary daily - Markeim Arts Center - Give the Gift of Art - 100s Under $100 - visit the website for more information.

Please sign up for the email newsletter - you won't receive too many from me - maybe 4-6 per year with information on events, special sales, etc.  I will never share or sell your email addresses!  My first one is set to go out soon so make sure you sign up!

Thanks for checking in!  Have a blessed day!
~Nicole

Creative Road Block

Laughter really is the best medicine, especially when things seem to be going backward instead of forward.

A week ago we started our bathroom renovation (I will post the photo chronicle when the job is done).  A renovation in itself is stressful, but made much less by the generousness of my parents for taking our children for nine and a half days.  They return tomorrow afternoon and we'll be glad to see them!

To add to the stress and need of a good crying laugh, the weekend before our renovation started, our dryer died.  After three visits from the repair guy with an array of parts our dryer was deemed unable to be repaired.  At that point I'd been without a dryer for nine days and had missed out on the Independence Day sales from the previous week.  So we coughed up the money for a new dryer and it was delivered the next day.  I've been happily doing laundry for several days now and am so glad to have fluffy towels instead of the cardboard that the clothesline was creating!

Our attic fan also has died, sometime between Sunday and Monday this week and it's been a heatwave here in New Jersey, so it makes it quite uncomfortable at night on the second floor and more strenuous on the air conditioner to keep the house cool.  My husband plans to look at it as soon as the sheetrock is out of the hallway and he can pull down the attic steps, but I think he's waiting for the heat to break so that he doesn't have to go into the super hot attic.  I don't blame him one bit!

Gratefully the heat is supposed to break tomorrow night when a stormy front pushes through the area.  I pray it's less violent than the storm from last night, hail damaged several of my plants in the patch - the squash leaves are scarred terribly.  As sad as I was about the dammage, I am grateful that I finally had the first picking from the patch this week, a cucumber.  I have a tomato just starting to pink up and two more cukes that should be ready over the weekend.  This doesn't seem to be the year for summer squash and zucchini - all male blooms, not a squash to be found in six plants.  My purple potatoes are growing like gangbusters, I hope that there will be good digging there soon!  I transplanted carrots a few days ago, some are in a pot on the patio and others are around the tomatoes.  I'm experimenting with those this year.  If you're curious as to what to companion plant, you should borrow these two books from your library and take good notes:  Carrots Love Tomatoes and Roses Love Garlic - they've been invaluable to me over my dozen or so years of gardening.  I learn more each year and I cannot imagine being successful without.

This week I mailed my items that will be gifted at the indiExhibit Celebrity Gifting Lounge for the 2013 Prime Time Emmys.  They're a new item that I'm adding to my product line on Etsy, part of my new sewn organic cotton items.  I was supposed to get many more items created, but without a dryer, I couldn't properly preshrink the items before sewing.  Those items will be made after vacation!  The dryer was my creative road block, unavoidable, but at least I've been able to accomplish other things!

organic cotton eye pillow filled with organic flax seeds

packaged and ready to ship: 

I will be adding the organic eye pillows and eye pillow covers to my shop in the coming weeks. There is the option to have organic lavender flower buds added to the pillow, but the ones I shipped were all unscented.

Add to your calendar that I'll be the Featured Artist at the Collingswood Farmer's Market on Saturday, September 28th from 8am-noon.  I'll post more information about it when the date gets closer.

The past week or so has been stressful, but I'm grateful that I had my faith and humor to rely on, as well as celebrating my 11th wedding anniversary with my husband - teamwork really does pay off, helps us grow stronger both as a couple and as individuals.

Thanks so much for checking in!  Have a blessed weekend!
~Nicole

Rolling along...

July!  Can you believe it?  We just finished the rainiest June that I can remember!

I'm praying for a dry Saturday so I can finish my painting jobs for the bathroom renovation - and do some abstract art with my boys - both things I refuse to do inside because I am a very messy painter and I hope to instill my messiness into my boys via tubes of acrylic paint and canvas!  I also long to go out into the garden, but it's rained so much that it's rather swamp-like and my husband hasn't been able to mow or weed-whack because of the outpouring of love from the clouds above!  My plants seem to be happy, they're growing like gangbusters, but I do need to mound the potatoes before they start peeking through the surface.

I am getting ready for the fall and Christmas selling season.  Last week, in the midst of vacation Bible school, I crochet and felted ten more black wool mice and they're packaged with catnip.

The 2013 Teen Choice Awards are coming up and these are the items I shipped to gift at the indiExhibit Celebrity Gifting Lounge.  Crochet lidded baskets are in the gifting bags and the handled basket will be on display for someone to choose.

I have one of each of these baskets available for sale and I can make them in custom sizes upon request.

Look for matted prints of my floral and scenic photography to be added to WoodstreamPapery this summer along with a variety of scenic and floral cards.

I will continue to work on adding stock to my Etsy shops over the coming weeks.

Thanks for checking in!  Have a blessed week!

~Nicole

Savoring

I'm savoring life right now.  I sneak away and work on a crochet sunhat for myself every now and again.  I'm also dreaming up what I'm making for my son's second grade teacher... last day of second grade is quickly approaching, maybe I should just do instead of pondering, but dreams really do make the best creations.

I am working on several ideas that I'll be working on over the summer in preparation for the autumn markets and exhibits.  I look forward to sharing them with you as I create them.

I am dreaming of the art I want to hang in my bathroom once it's finished.  I've settled on a canvas wrapped photograph that I took on an early morning in Virginia Beach last year or Panama City Beach, both taken in November 2012 after our exodus from Sandy.  These are the photos I'm considering...

Panama City Beach I

Panama City Beach II

Panama City Beach III

Virginia Beach

In my searches for just the right thing, I have decided that sometimes the right thing is to find someone to make it for me.  I think that we forget about the artisans in the world.  We got to Etsy and browse and then to Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, the Dollar Store, and all of those places that have things that are cookie cutter, mass produced.  I'm guilty of it.  I have done it, too often.  I'm making an effort to go to those I know, or seek out artisans who have the know-how, and hire them.  It's made a hop-skip-and jump away, not having a trip through Customs.  I can work with the artisan to achieve exactly what I want and I have the thrill of having something that no one else has.  Sure it costs a bit more than I would pay for mass produced or even vintage, but sometimes that's okay.  Sometimes one needs to indulge.  I look forward to sharing what I am having made when it's complete, sometime next month, but I wanted to encourage you to seek out the local artisans in your area to help you if there's something you're in need of that you cannot make on your own.  It will be so satisfying for all parties.

Now I'm off to make sweet cherry jam because I am craving it and I know that it will taste this winter on the dark, cold days to come!  I'm also nostalgic about sweet cherry jam because it was my favorite breakfast condiment many years ago when I visited Europe - sweet cherry jam, croissants, and coffee.

Be well!  Thank you for stopping in to read.

Have a blessed week!
~Nicole

June, already???

Oh, my!  How can it be June already?

Last month I was in the Birds and Blooms Exhibit at Markeim Arts Center in Haddonfield, New Jersey.  That was fantastic.  At the closing party a kid, really a kid - he's 14, did abstract painting and it was spectacular to watch.  I never "got" abstract art before, but he had such energy and such a method - it really was something.  His name is Nick Kepron, his work is vibrant!  I sold a few pieces at the show, so that's always a pleasure.

Now everything's home.  I've gone through my inventory and have several items to photograph and list on WoodstreamDream and WoodstreamPapery.

My summer looks good for creating and listing.  I am available for custom work - think about what your winter weather accessories looked like before you packed them up.  Needing a new scarf or cap?  Drop me a line and I'll work with you to create something just for you!

I'm continuing work on my studio.  That was put on hold while my husband had a flurry of travel and my older son had two bouts with the stomach bug last month.  It's back on track.  Furniture has been moved.  More "stuff" to sort through and rearrange.  The destash table at my friend's yard sale last month helped to clear some stuff out.  After rearranging and sorting, my largest task is finding a table top surface to go over the filing cabinets (so I have smooth flat work surface) - the dimensions are 27ish by 54ish.  I think too deep for formica (my first thought).  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This month ends with my husband's birthday and my younger son's birthday back to back.  I'm working on getting everything settled for birthday parties and plans for the summer - trying to get travel plans nailed down.

I'm also working on ordering all that will be needed for our bathroom renovation coming up in July.  I will be posting renovation photos here.  Some of the projects are DIY - I bought an antique dresser and mirror that will be transformed into our vanity and medicine cabinet.  This is a gut job, right now it's a drafty 1964 bathroom with blue tile and tub.  I have showered for nearly four years straight and I'm ready for a good long soak in my new tub!  Most fixtures are chosen, some have been delivered and now reside in our garage.  We went through a kitchen renovation three years ago and this one should prove to be great for before & after photos, too!  I'm looking forward to the finished product, or at least when I can take a bath!

I will be back to photography and listing some time this week or next.  I have a couple new baskets and several new gift tags to get photographed and listed.  My delay is because yesterday morning I scratched my cornea when cleanser flicked up into my eye while cleaning the kitchen sink.  I find myself fatigued with wearing glasses, always needing to refocus it seems.  I go to the eye doctor tomorrow and hopefully sometime next week I can switch back to contacts.  For now it's eye drops every 4 waking hours and glasses.  It's not as painful as it was yesterday, so I'm hoping that I feel back to normal in a day or two.

Have a blessed week!  Thanks so much for checking in!
~Nicole

Summer is approaching...

I can barely believe it's been two weeks (or so) since I last wrote...  Time has flown by.  I had four PTO events in those two weeks.  My husband was supposed to have a six-day plus two-day business trip (back-to-back), but fortunately that's been scaled down to the two-day (this Thursday and Friday).  There was Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day if you didn't read my FB posts over the weekend!).  I had an opening on May 3rd at Markeim Arts Center for Birds and Blossoms the 2013 Power of the Flower Exhibit.  Then there was the other day-to-day activities, you know - parenting, housekeeping, chauffeuring, cooking, laundry, shopping for our bathroom renovation, and basic holding down the fort stuff.

Meanwhile, I am counting the days until summer arrives... I get summer fever really bad.  I was a special education teacher for five years before we started our family and I can totally relate to the daydreaming and "senioritis" and all of that springtime behavior that's annoying in the classroom, but a reality that we cannot deny - we all want OUT!

My little one has five days of preschool, plus a school picnic and then he's done, oh the glories of preschool - finished before Memorial Day!!!

My older son has school until June 20th.  It's always hard when school goes past Father's Day.  It was always a marker for me on the calendar that summer had started.  Not this year.  Oh, well.

In planning our summer, I love to have impromptu things that I can pull out of my hat at a moment's notice.  Now last year I didn't really do this.  I was tied to the recovery schedule after my four spring surgeries.  It was not the spring, summer, or autumn that I envisioned with my children.  I think that's why I'm looking forward to this summer even more than usual.

I've started pinning ideas to my Kid Stuff board on Pinterest.

I've also started a list of things that I'd like to do with the kids, things we missed out on last year for one reason or another, and things the kids have mentioned wanting to do...

Beach Day (well, many more than just one)

Sprinkler

Have a cook out with friends

Grow a garden (that's more for me)

Go on a Hayride

Pick fruit

Bake something yummy with the fruit

Make jam to enjoy over the winter

Go whale watching

Find praying mantis (my older son)

Visit Steamtown (my younger son)

Visit Washington D.C.

River Sharks game (local baseball)

Sleep over Nana and Papa’s house (during our bathroom renovation)

Camp out back with Daddy (missed this last year)

Make Popsicles

Make homemade ice cream

Vacation Bible School

Visit Uncle Jon, Aunt Stacy, and Vanessa (yay, they're in the states this year!)

Go fishing with Uncle Joe (missed this last year)

Catch frogs at Grandmom and Grandpa’s (my older son)

Catch fireflies

Play croquet

Play badminton

Learn some bird calls (my older son has the mourning dove down pat, perhaps a few more)

PJ day with movies on a rainy day

Blow bubbles

Watch the clouds (missed this last year)

Track moon phases

Wash mom’s car

Have a science project day (or two)

Make homemade pasta

Make homemade pizza dough (I usually buy frozen whole wheat dough, they make it with my mom, but really we can do this at home ... when the pace slows during the summer)

Play with water balloons

Build a sandcastle

Go on a hike

Go to the library (I've been really bad about this with the boys since we moved to this house)

Use the metal detector at the beach

Fly kites

Make trail mix

Make a fruit pizza

Read  books (have to dig out some classics; definitely continuing the Chronicles of Narnia)

Make slime

Build a tepee (on my husband's list)

Draw on the driveway with chalk

Play checkers

Make a sand cast at the beach

Go swimming

Go on rides at Gillian’s (shore amusements on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ)

Play mini golf

Do a scavenger hunt

Look through the telescope at the summer night sky

Ride bikes

I hope that we'll get to do all of these things and more.  I'm sure that some of these things will be repeated, some deleted, and we'll add a few more as the summer approaches.

I want to take lots of pictures - of the flowers, of my family, of our adventures.  I want to bring a bag of crochet with me to the shore and sit in the sand crocheting under the umbrella as the kids bury each other and then go jump in the waves with my husband.  I want to tend my garden, eat from it, can for the winter, and share when there's abundance.

I want to savor each moment because really the memories are what matter most.  My children's memories of their childhood will shape how they spend time with their children.  I want them to have magnificent and magical memories that make them want to create memories of their own with their children.

What are you planning to do this summer?  I would love to hear from you in the comments section - maybe I'll add to my list when I hear of the fantastic things you're planning!

I'm currently working on a dark olive large handled basket.  I will be posting progress photos on my Facebook page this week.  Stop by to see how it's going and when it's ready for purchase!

Have a blessed week and thank you for stopping in!

~Nicole

Happenings... including a Feature Interview on Markets of Sunshine and Destash Sale

Hello!  I hope that your day was lovely and that you didn't have to endure the soggy day that I had here in New Jersey.

This week I'm the featured artist on the Markets of Sunshine Blog and you can read my here.

Saturday, May 4th, 8am-noon - I will be having a Destash Sale at a friend's yard sale in the 200 block of Dayton Avenue in Collingswood, New Jersey.  I will have a table full of items at bargain prices, ready for you to make something beautiful!  Please stop by, we'll be right down the street from the Collingswood Farmer's Market - it's opening week - so exciting!!!

Now for some news that I don't think you're expecting...

I'm taking the time to step back a bit from my professional world to spend time with my children.  I am feeling the nudge from God that my work has been taking me farther from my family than just the next room and I need to address that in my own way.  

I plan to continue creating and fulfilling the creative outlet that I do need and enjoy, but to a lesser scale than I had been striving for in the past several months.  I have several items created, awaiting photographing and listing.  I will continue to create new items - the second generation Tech Sleeve idea is burning a hole in my creative pocket!  There are other items that I have in mind and they will be made as well, but in due time.  I also will be accepting custom orders - my absolute favorite part of my job - creating something unique for a particular person.

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading.  I appreciate all of your support and I hope that you continue to stop by to read.

Many blessings to you and yours!
Best,
~Nicole