I actually made something from pinterest!

I love pinterest!

The only two things I would love more about pinterest are:
a.) If I had invented it.
b.) If I had more time to make things I pinned on it!

That being said, I actually did make something I pinned! It's a small step toward organizing my craft room, but I'm excited! I saw this pin several months ago and thought, "I could do that! And I need to do that!" My ribbon rolls were chaos! I already had one of the plastic bins, and was using it for my chaotic acrylic paint supply (more on that later).

 
I didn't have dowel rods, so at first I used chopsticks, but they weren't really long enough.
 
I randomly had some bare plastic stems from the fake flowers I used on the KY Derby hats. They worked great! If I just pull the ribbon through the holes, easy-peasy (& organized) ribbon storage!

Renegade Craft Fair- Chicago

  
I'm sure that was photo overload, but I still had so much to share from my trip to the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago with D.I.Y. Louisville. We had an awesome time, but there was so much to see. I seriously have a pile of business cards from all the booths that I wanted to buy something from, and that wasn't even every booth!

I bought some really cool stuff: support Local sticker (DKNG), Dino art (Mr. Walters), Royal Tenenbaums print (Cordial Kitten), art cards from (La Familia Green) (Pussies on Parade) (McBitterson's), pins from (Rar Rar Press), heart earrings (Isette), sad cigarette plush (McBitterson's), and shark print (Berkley Illustration).

There were so many talented artists there. It gave me hope that one day I will be a part of an amazing craft show as a vendor! Yay, crafters and artists!

Autumn's arrival

As much as I love Autumn weather, I cannot help but mourn another summer's end! Gone are the days by the pool, reading a good book in the sunlight, leisurely sipping on a cold beverage! I had a busy summer, full of traveling and fun, so I'm a little bit sorry to see it go.

 However, the cool, sweater-weather of Autumn, and the beauty of the color-changing leaves on the trees are easing my pain. In honor of Autumn, I decided to make some earrings using these pretty gold leaf jewelry findings that I bought at JoAnn's. (As a side note, they are from Tori Spelling's collection, which actually has some really cool stuff, but don't take my word for it, see for yourself!)

What do you think of Fall? Love it or leave it?

   

Ombré blue scarf

I don't know about you, but I am loving the ombré trend in fashion. This weekend, I decided to try my hand at making a scarf using jersey knit (t-shirt) fabric and dye. I chose a really pretty aqua blue color dye. The jersey I started with was an off-white color. I used these simple instructions from Rit.
I wondered if the blues would have been deeper if I had soaked the fabric longer, or maybe started with a bright white fabric?

 
 After washing and drying the scarf, I decided to sew the ends together to make an "infinity" or circle scarf. It  was difficult to photograph the scarf to show the pretty gradient of colors. Hopefully you get the idea!
 

Trick or Treat Bags in the Shop

Yay! Trick or treat tote bags are up on etsy!

These 9x12 inch tote bags are reversible and perfect for trick or treating, toting Halloween books from the library, or carrying around in October to get into the spooky spirit!

Hello-ween!

I'm getting the shop ready for Halloween! My nephew C obliged me by modeling the trick or treat bags! We had a lot of fun with a photo shoot today. He played Dracula, while I played photographer!

Hope to post these bags and some stuffed pumpkins in the shop this weekend!

Chicago

Recently I visited the windy city of Chicago with the ladies from DIY Louisville to attend the Renegade Craft Fair! It was a lot of fun traveling from Kentucky to Illinois. We laughed a lot and bought some great stuff! I wanted to share some of the fun photos from the road trip. First, we stopped at Nord's Bakery and Sunergos Coffee in Louisville to get some donuts and coffee for the ride! They had the cutest Kentucky shaped cookies on display. About 2 hours in to the trip we stopped for lunch and some wandering near Indianapolis. After we started getting closer to Chicago on our drive through Indiana, it was cool to see all the windmills in action. After a little over 5 hours total, we made it to Chicago! This was my second trip to Chicago this year. I must be addicted! Deep-dish pizza was on the agenda, and of course Gino's East is delish. We stayed downtown and saw some cool landmarks and tried some different restaurants and shops, in addition to our trek to Renegade. I plan to do a separate post about my crafty finds from Renegade soon, so stay tuned.