Shop Update + Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at a new scallop ornament. It will be in the shop later today.

This little guy already sold, but if you like him, let me know and I will make another one.

I cut and stitched this bear completely freehand, so though there might be other bears, there won't ever be another one just like him. He's one-of-a-kind.

Also, I'm super excited today because Ayla did a feature on my shop! And in other news, I finally joined Instagram yesterday. I've only uploaded a few photos so far, but I can already tell how addicting it is. If you'd like to follow my username is my_hideaway.

(Clockwise from top left: "Smoke Circles" by Laura McCabe; "Too Cold" by Samantha Cotterill; "Smile" by Yael Frankel; Birds or People by Tosya; and "Denver" by Bridgette Hall.)

It's hard to look at this collection of illustrations and not smile, am I right?

Flickr Favorites

Some photos I liked recently. (Click on images to go directly to sources.)
 

Swedish Christmas Bazaar

We went to the Christmas Bazaar at the House of Sweden (the Swedish embassy) last Saturday. It was a little crowded but definitely worth it...if for no other reason than to spend a little time in one of my favorite buildings in DC.

The architecture of this building is so inspiring to me as a designer. I love the materials, openness and transparency, site, signage, everything.

You enter into an atrium that's enclosed with glass walls that have water running down them. It's part of a permanent installation entitled March 6 pm by Swedish artist Ingegerd Råman. There is glass and water throughout the building, all part of this piece. Some of the glass is etched, frosted, combined with granite...all meant to invoke the Swedish landscape of water and ice. The space might sound cold or hard when described this way, but it really isn't. It's beautiful.

Here's Peter being a good sport and posing in front of the water wall.

There were lots of cute kids running around, of course.

And lots of Swedish goodies for sale. Can you guess what I bought?

I got a new little white Dala horse to go with my older blue one. I thought he was getting a little lonely on the mantel all by himself, and now he has a friend. Don't they look cute together?

They also had some pretty decorations up along the waterfront.

I like the simple green and gold theme.

The next day, we went to another Christmas fair, but I'll save that for another post.

Also, I promise it won't be all Christmas posts for the entire month. :)

O Christmas Tree

Continuing on the ornament theme...I received my ornament from the swap made by Nicole.

 The packaging was so nice.

And look how cute it is! Nicole made it out of painted polymer clay. I love all the colorful little dots on it. I think polymer clay looks like a lot of fun too. I will have to add that to my list of crafts to try.

We might be going today to get our Christmas tree. :)

Making Lately + Shop Update

It's officially December now so there's no reason to be sheepish about embracing the holiday season in all it's glory. Time to pull out the tinsel and stockings! Eat gingerbread men and candy canes! And of course, put up the tree! Can you tell I'm excited? I know a lot of naysayers think Christmas is too commercial these days, but I somehow manage to avoid all that. Christmas has never lost it's magic for me; I love it just as much now as I did when I was little. And it has nothing to do with gifts, though I really do love buying and making gifts for family and friends. To me, Christmas will always be twinkly lights and candle glow, warm cocoa and cider, glittery ornaments, aromas of evergreens, cinnamon, and cloves, and a mix of excitement and wonder. Even as a cynical teenager, I couldn't help but be happy during this time of year. It's just the best.

And even though we haven't started decorating yet, I have been busy making lots of colorful ornaments. Here are just a few:

Modern snowflakes

Sweet scallops

And I made these yarn-wrapped trees to use as a photo prop. I made them in much the same way as I did this bottle vase. The only difference being that this time I started from the top instead of the bottom. I wanted to make a perfect little swirl on the top of the cone. All you need are Styrofoam cones from the craft store, some yarn, and regular craft glue (I used Elmer's). After I'm done using them for shop photos, they will go on the mantel with other Christmas things.

Here's how I used them to photo my ornaments. They're working out well.

There's lots more ornaments in my shop!


P.S. I've been listening to Christmas music while I sew. Here's the mix I made last year. Amazingly enough, most of the songs haven't dropped off that one yet. Happy listening!

That's a Wrap

Bet you thought this was going to be a post about wrapping paper and packaging, didn't you? I am going to do a post on that soon, but today's post is a different sort of wrap-up.

It's the last day of NaBloPoMo! I can't believe I made it all the way through the month without missing a single day. I now have a new respect for bloggers who blog every day, especially if it isn't one's main source of income (or in my case, any source of income). It can really take over your life if you let it. But, I'm happy to say I also had a lot of fun blogging this month! I got to know some new bloggers and new readers. It also sparked a lot of creative ideas, far too many to actually make an appearance here yet.

I thought about taking a few days to get caught up on other things, but I already have a few draft posts in the works, so who knows? Maybe I'll keep it up a little longer. We'll see.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!
xo,
Mary

(Click on image to go directly to source.)