Thursday, September 30, 2010

A peak into my drawers...no really!

So after going on and on about my basement of craft mania, I thought I would give you a little peak into my space and what's been going on down there recently.










I have a wheeled cart that houses my current works in progress as well as recently completed items. I can just roll it around wherever I am and have it next to me with all my project elements at hand.





Honestly, I also find it reassuring to open my "Finished" drawer just as an occasional morale booster. I have to tell my self that whatever I am in the trenches with, it will someday be finished and someone will get the pleasure of seeing it on their baby or child. So here's my "Finished" drawer as it looks right now.











One of my other favorite places is my shelf of fabric bins, just begging to be created into something new and fabulous!


I always wash and press everything right after I return from the store so when I have time to go down and create, all I have to do is pick my fabric of choice and get crackin'! When you have two little kids, you have to take full advantage of every moment you have to work!


Ah yes, the lovely Singer, currently set up on my craft table as I have been using it so much. (love, love, love).

My spools and bobbins are like little rainbows in boxes - such a delight!

Here is my latest purchase from my favorite yarn store in Denver, Lamb Shoppe, which is a beautiful little place piled ceiling high with the most beautiful fibers from all over the world. They house their yarns on old wooden built-in bookshelves complete with rolling ladder and all! They always have a large stock of my favorite Debbie Bliss yarns on hand. Ohhhh, it's like a bag of pure softness and tactile goodness.




Here's the top of the knitting bakers rack loaded with baskets of beautiful fiber from projects past and also a good stash for projects yet to come.







Next to the long craft table are the towers of madness...yes, the scrapbooking towers. Recently neglected in favor of other crafting options (namely for the shop), I do still love to look through all the papers and notions knowing that someday I will have time to put all my little one's pictures in albums. I am okay with that fact that that isn't today.






Right before shipping out the door, all my sales take a stop at the wrapping station to get dressed up all pretty in tissue paper, a tag, and pretty ribbon before heading out the door to their new home.



I have almost finished three boys knit hats in three different sizes which I hope to have up in the next day or two! Buddy Boy is up from his nap, so Mom duty calls :)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Fabulous Fall


(Marquette, MI)

The coming of fall stirs in me the desire for sensory fulfillment. There is so much anticipation in my soul for what delights lay just around the corner. While days here have still been hot, the midwest girl in me longs for the smell of cold earth, fallen leaves and the spiciness of baked goods; the sound of crunching leaves under my feet as summer's flourish lies scattered across every sidewalk, street, and wood; children laughing and leaping into piles of leaves; the sight of every tree lit aflame by brilliant reds, oranges and yellows, and pumpkins adorning every doorstep; the brisk chill of eminent change in the air cajoling me into sweaters, scarves and hats, and the warmth from a first lit fire of the season warming my home and my heart; and lastly the tastes of harvest's bounty fused with the sweet spices of the season, savory squashes, sweet-tart apples and warming soups and stews that lure me into the kitchen begging me to create.
I love our home here in Colorado. We will soon begin to spend more evenings with friends as holiday parties commence and I've noticed the subtle way the light playing off the mountains changes with the passing seasons.

Yet, autumn makes me long for home in ways that I do not the rest of the year. My heart pines for family, outings to cider mills, sugar from donuts lingering on your lips long after being finished, picking apples right off the tree and savoring that first bite of the season as the sweet juice runs down your fingers, and the lush canopy of trees over the streets that cocoon you into a tunnel of flames.

Most of all, fall provokes in me the sense of family, community, sharing and love like no other time of the season. There is a sense of coming together to relish in the sensory sensation autumn offers. May you delight in your own traditions and natural beauty of your surroundings, whatever they be. Happy Fall!


Mogul Mom? Momtrepreneur? Moron?


I have always loved crafts (and for those of you who know me well, this is the understatement of the century). A self proclaimed hobby-a-holic, I have always needed something to put my creative energies toward and making things with my hands has always been an outlet for me.

My basement is a rather embarrassing shrine to this habit. Clear storage bins and sliding drawers are stacked to the ceiling in the scrapbooking corner packed full of a rainbow of papers, stickers, rub-ons, stamps, embelishments, tools, punches, and more. There’s the sewing station with spools and bobbins galore, with each shade reminding me of projects past. A side of the road find bakers rack is loaded with baskets of the softest, most touchable yarns, remnants of precious projects that have graced my babies heads, feet and wrapped them in warmth as they were brand new. A storage shelf holds fabrics, pattern books, cross stich projects and floss/thread, my kids’s art supplies (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, finger paints, water colors, contruction paper and more) and some of my favorites: bins of keepsakes from when I was younger: writings, clay figurines, old programs from plays and concerts, and more (scattered in with the occasional 10 lb nursing school text book!). Then there is the banquet length craft table, inevitably strewn with the paraphernalia of whatever creation is attempting to take form.

It is merely a flight of stairs down into this organized yet somehow haphazard space, yet I feel a world away when I am down in my haven of textures and mediums just begging to be combined into something new and fabulous.

Up until about a month ago, everything I have made has always been for myself, my children, or as a gift for someone close to me. After multiple “little birdies” chirped in my ear (you know who you are!) that I really should sell what I am making, I decided to jump in with both (well, one and a half) feet.

I first heard about Etsy from my sister-in-law. What a treasury of unique, handmade and vintage gems. The concept is rather wonderful. I have been able to open a “shop” selling my handmade articles that lets me market and sell my creations to the greater population, have control over how much I make and sell, yet still have relatively little commitment if things should not go well or I get burned out. Sounded good enough for me.

Thus Rosewill Arts was born inspired from my kids’ middle names as they inspire me to be a better woman, wife, and mother every day.

So here’s to becoming a momtrepreneur, for now. We’ll see where this takes me, and for the time being, I’m along for the ride!

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