By the way...

I got a treasury!
Up till thursday around noon, check it out before it is gone!
:)

Fairy Doors?

You definitely find out the strangest things in the most unexpected places. Linette and I shared a booth last year at the Art A licious festival in Adrian and had such an encounter. Linette makes tiny pottery, and by tiny I mean she throws with a toothpick to make the coolest little pots anybody has ever seen. I'm a bit partial, but seriously, you should see how cute and tiny they are. Anyhow, just about every other person had to say the obvious, "Oh! These would be so perfect for a doll house!" or ask the question, " Did you make these for doll houses?" After several of these inquiries it was becoming difficult for either of us to keep the smiles on and not be irritated, until this one guy. We didn't get irritated with this gentleman, in fact, I was kind of fascinated. He was completely different. Gone were the questions about doll houses, he wanted to know if Linette ever left her creations at fairy doors. At this point I thought, "boy this guy has lost it." But then, oh then! He began to explain to us (we were clearly puzzled,) that in Ann Arbor there were several businesses that had tiny little doors on the front of their shops that people often left tiny offerings at for the fairy folk.

I go to Ann Arbor pretty frequently and I have never encountered these tiny doors or heard anyone there talk about them. To be completely honest, I forgot about this conversation almost entirely until today. I was on Etsy's main page and saw a nifty single wine bottle rack from seller
boxnmor.etsy.com and then began to peruse this seller's other items. Really gorgeous woodwork, I especially loved their boxes and then I noticed they had a category of "Fairy Doors." How CUTE! I want one for my garden... These doors led me to finally look up Ann Arbors claimed fairy doors and they are the coolest little things. Some of these shop owners have even gone so far as to create a little "home" behind the door with windows from the inside so that you can see everything the little magpies have collected. This website is your direct link to pictures and locations of these little babies. I'm thinking I may have to go on an adventure. I wonder if fairies like wool....

Tentative Festival and Fair Schedule 2009

FAIR AND FESTIVAL SCHEDULE FOR 2009
(all dates and times are subject to change but probably won't)

June 13, 2009, Saturday 10AM - 5PM
Fiber Arts and Animal Festival
Side Track Ice Cream
403 South Kalamazoo Avenue
Marshall, Michigan

June 20, 2009, Saturday 10AM - 4PM
Art Fair In the Park
Mill Race Park
One W. Michigan Ave.
Battle Creek, MI 49017

September 25-26 Friday and Saturday Times TBA
Art-A-Licious Festival
Downtown Adrian
Adrian, MI 49221

October 3-4 Saturday and Sunday 10AM - 5PM both days
Fiber Arts and Animal Festival
Cornwell's Turkeyville USA
18935 15 1/2 Mile Rd
Marshall, Michigan 49068

There might be one more in there this summer and I'm pretty sure there will be one more in the fall. I will update as I know the dates but if you are in the area and love art, jewelry, fiber, etc. you should definitely come out to these shows. :)

Update

I figured it was about time for an update... I'm so bad at this blogging business.

Joe and I got rather sick shortly after my last blog which took me out for about two weeks. I couldn't do much by way of fiber so I've been trying to get back in the swing of things.

I'm going to be very busy for the next 4-5 weeks. It is getting dangerously close to art fair season and I am doing some fiber festivals this year. While art fair season will be ending in September if I do art a licious again in Adrian, fiber season fires up in spring and doesn't really slow until late fall. I think I'm doing just the two art fairs and could be doing up to 4 Fiber Festivals. That means keeping lots of fiber + metal jewelry in my arsenal and carding and spinning up a storm.

I introduced a new Spinning Supply item today in my etsy store. Handspun art yarn packets that have handmade pom poms, hand pulled roving or batts, and fabric strips of vintage sheets. I do hope they go over well because I love making pom poms and really wouldn't know what to do with the silly things. I will hopefully be putting together a lot of these packets so that I can sell that at the fiber festivals also.

AND! I even cut up some metal today. I haven't done that since I made Mom's necklace with the antler. I have great plans for this piece of copper that I have cut and hammered that include fiber and a crazy cold connection bail. I bought Susan Lenart Kazmer's book "Making Connections" and have been just waiting to play with some of the fabulous techniques that she has shared with the world. I think my favorite part of the whole book is her beautiful sketched renderings of her jewelry. They are a work of art in themselves. So anyhow wool and metal are going together in a major way tomorrow afternoon hopefully. I have a lot of gardening to do though too... Maybe the gardening can wait till wednesday.

Mom and I went to a fabulous greenhouse on Saturday. While we bought lots of lovely flowers, we left a few beauties behind like this GIANT dahlia.

Okay, late night snack time.

On nieces, the weather, and wool

First of all, and perhaps most exciting, my sister had her baby! I am now officially an aunt and little Carley is adorable. Here's a shot of my mom holding her.

As far as the weather goes, I am quite pleased despite the temperature dropping from yesterday, it is far better than snow. I went out and did some yard work yesterday which made me a bit sore but felt fantastic while I was actually doing it. I cleaned up my flower beds of all the dry dead growth from last year (I was a bad gardener and didn't do this in the fall) and while I was raking I noticed that my day lilies were already poking up about an inch and a half. HOORAY! Spring is here!

I also put in a big order for wool and a rather painful but exciting order for some more of my favorite mohair locks. I can't wait to make some beautiful batts to spin for myself out on the deck once the weather finally allows. I made root beer float batts and glittery crayon colored batts. I was channeling my inner child and got really playful with my color inspiration. I carded a few tonight and was particularly pleased with my Root Beer Float ones. Here's a picture of its yumminess.

Now, I need to go to bed...

my favorite type of blog...

To be honest, I think I have read very few blogs directly from the internet. About 90% of the blogs I have read have been in Artful Blogging. Maybe it is just my thing for magazines (an obsession really,) but I just can't seem to get into them as much if they aren't in that book format. My absolute favorite blog postings that I have read, either in the publication or on the web, are the ones where these amazing artists talk about their serene mornings and how they start out their day. I figured I'd give it a shot this morning because I'm feeling particularly serene and happy despite the mountain of laundry left to do.

Anyhow, this is my "every other Wednesday" off. It is only the third one I have had and I'm really beginning to count on them and yearn for them. It is so wonderful to work Monday and Tuesday knowing that I will have this little break in the middle of the week to do the things I really WANT to do.

I started my day squished in bed unable to move very far. I almost panicked until I realized I was sandwiched between a sleeping Irish Setter and a rather sleepy kitty. I hadn't woke up this way in a few weeks and was so pleased that I lay there a bit longer just to savor it. When the shower beckoned my name. Afterward I folded some laundry (ick!) and made myself a bowl of oatmeal, poured a glass of Simply Apple and sat down to do a little writing. I feel terrific, which is a familiar feeling but one I haven't had in a while, at least not at the beginning of my day.

Later on I'm meeting a friend for coffee at my favorite coffee shop. My punch card is full so my orange mocha will be free today! It is a good thing too because I am BROKE! After coffee I'm going to have to force myself to do some domestic chores but then I will be a studio rat for the remainder of the day. I have batts to make, jewelry to finish, and I might even get a little spinning in. Today, life is very good.