favorites...

Last night was design girl night. It was beautiful, it was outside and it was fun. We chatted about all things pretty.

Bobbi talks about it here: http://backfortydesign.blogspot.com/

We also started talking about our favorite websites & blogs. Here is a list of my favorites.

http://www.decor8.blogspot.com/

http://www.thatfunkyboutique.blogspot.com/
This blog belongs to a fellow Concordia College Alumni & design major. We had all the same classes together. This is her newest venture.

http://funkyfinds.blogspot.com/

http://raggeddog.wordpress.com/
This is Stacie's blog. She is the owner of Archival Elements in downtown Sioux Falls. (She also sells my jewelry).

http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/
This is a blog I stalk daily. She is an amazing creative woman.

http://thirdday.blogs.com/
This is the blog of one of my favorite bands. See they are real people too...

http://fulltimemommy.blogspot.com/
Most of you reading this probably already know about this one. This is my dear friend and super college roommate Rani's blog. (Cindy I'm waiting for you to start one!)

http://moonwaterdesigns.blogspot.com/
Nicole makes the coolest jewelry. And she lives in Denver. I am so going to live there someday...

http://www.overcaffeinatedkatie.com/
Does this need a description?

http://www.rarebirdfinds.typepad.com/
This is another daily diversion. They always have the coolest stuff.

http://www.designsponge.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com

Enjoy...

ha!

I was in Minneapolis on Sunday and Monday for a press check. I had to press check a 24 page supplementation guide for livestock supplements. Who said advertising isn't glamorous?

I saw this sign in a park and had to take a photo. It makes me smile :)

funny story....

I have been wanting to blog this since Tuesday, but I had to wait. (For a special reason, I could not post a birthday gift before the birthday girl opened it)

This week has been especially busy. We have been working on a mongo project here at work. My head has been spinning. I am on the board of our local AIGA chapter (a club for designers). Of course I am a co-planning director, which requires the most work. And our first event of the year was last night. We had 2 guys from a super cool agency in Minneapolis come and speak. Lucky for me I was invited to a fun girl birthday lunch for Bobbi on Thursday. Yeah, a bright spot. So of course I think...I just can't buy her a gift, I have to make it. Thats what you do for your designer friends. So Tuesday was the only night I could sew and go to the fabric store. I left work about 6:30 pm and headed over to the fabric store. I get there and who do I see? Miss Bobbi. So I make up this big lie about how I am buying fabric for a background for a project at work. But then we just start shopping together and picking out all the cool fabrics. So then I started to pretended I was going to make more aprons. We shopped until almost 9:00 pm! It was fun. It was a little funny to me, knowing I was going to go home and make a purse out of the fabric she was helping me buy.

I got home and read through the pattern. Its in a cool new book I purchased.

I decided that the pattern was a little boring so I decided to make the front more like a patch work quilt. This is totally the most creative thing I have done all week. Wow, I needed that.
So I sewed for a couple hours and went the bed. I finished up the next evening. All I had to do was sew the handles on.

So...that is my funny week story. Happy Birthday Bobbi!!!!!!

did you know...

Since my cool friends Bobbi & Rani are always posting "tips" & Recipes. I thought I would try to be cool like them.

Did you know that aluminum foil, boiling water & baking soda removes tarnish from silverware and other silver items? The other night I made about 7 batches of this magical potion and wow! This is so going to save me time with the thousands of pieces of silverware I have right now to make jewelry out of.

well...i did it...

I just completed my application for the No Coast Craft-O-Rama event in Minneapolis. SCARED!!! I think it will be fun. I have a lot of jewelry to make by then. I will be notified by September 15th if I am accepted. Hopefully this will turn out better than the last competition Katie & I entered...if you wish to read about that check out the link below :( (http://www.paulsenmarketing.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/6/square-one--or-is-it-two)

Of course since I am a total idiot...I was filling out the application online and I was about half way done and I accidentally hit the enter key, and I submitted a half competed form. Yikes! So then I had to go back, re-do it and submit it again. I hope they don't think I am too dumb to make jewelry :)

Here is the link to the show. They have a cool flickr stream (click on the scrapbook link in the menu) of photos from last years event. It looks like fun! Check it out if you have time. http://www.nocoastcraft.com/

creating...

Well I took a break from silverware and dusted off the sewing machine. I had to make a super hero cape for a tv spot we are shooting today. Katie's little boy gets to be our super hero. I am sure it will turn out really cool.


While the sewing machine is out and the dining room looks like fabric has exploded all over it. I decided to make an apron. Bobbi and I have been working on this next fun project. Hostess aprons are back in style. So cute. So I dug though all the material and put this together. The scary thing is...I did not have to go to the fabric store at all. (I think I have a fabric addiction. Who actually has all this stuff collecting in their house?) Below is a photo of the final product. There are a couple of tweaks I would make to the pattern if I use this one again :)

commitment...

Well yesterday was the Flatwear jewelry photoshoot. I guess I am fully committed to this creative process. The photoshoot was fun. (Thanks Bobbi for stopping by). And I am really happy with how the photos turned out (above is a sampling). I am a little afraid that the photos make them look way better than they do in person.

Step 2: Design the website. I am really looking forward to this. I am so excited to design. Hopefully I can start this weekend. Stay turned for the official launch of www.flatwearjewelry.com.

Step 3: Ponder the biggest, coolest arts & craft show in Minneapolis. Am I brave enough to sale my jewelry there? I have to decided by August 15. Katie read an article that said...part of growing and being creative is to scare your self. Well...this scares me to death. But it would be fun.

I also made a major haul off of ebay this week. I received some really, really cool silverware. Many of the patterns I have not seen before. I wish I had more hours in the day :)

organizing...

Since blogging last (I know, its been awhile) I have made a new round of jewelry to sell at Archival Elements. So my next big project is a photoshoot on Wednesday for my jewelry. So I decided to create all weekend. But, I became distracted. I decided it would be better if I organized my work area. Of course, this required a trip to Target. I purchased the shelves and headed home to organize. Love it! This is how it turned out.



A couple of weekends ago. I went to this super cool garage sale. It was more like mass chaos. Everyone lines up at 9 am and you just run and grab the stuff you want. It was fun and crazy. I bought this cool old sign to hang in the spare bedroom/workroom. It makes me happy :)

So, I guess I have my work cut out for me tomorrow...to finish the 30 pieces of jewelry :)