little birds handmade

happy thanksgiving!

seeing the forest for the trees

Things have been a bit crazy for me, and I've been doing a lot of hit-and-run posting around here. I think the less I say, the more open to interpretation it is which can, at times, be unfortunate. When I posted my mugs the other day and mentioned the ones at Anthropologie, I meant nothing other than to share my love of them, show that they could now be bought new, and let people know they could also be found for a bargain price. If, however, you count the hours and hours of picking through kitchen cabinets at estate sales and sticky shelves at the thrift, $10 may start to sound like the bargain.

I linked to the photo of the trees at Anthropologie because I knew people were getting excited about making soft trees and I thought theirs looked really great grouped together. I was just excited about soft trees! I did not mean to imply that Anthropologie was copying me. I mean, they are just fabric cones. It's not rocket science. I regret that people thought that that was my implication. I'm sorry that I was not able to clarify until now, but I've been a little caught up in barf and bands of pirates and assembling Playmobil castles.

Anyway, I think that Alex, who had a very talented hand in creating the stunning displays of soft trees at Anthropologie, felt a bit hurt by the Anthropologie-bashing in the comments. You can read her response here. She gives some good insight into how Anthropologie lines and store displays are generated, and gives some food for thought in regards to the sharing of ideas.

As for my version of soft trees, I really do think I've worked out my technical difficulties and will have a pattern to share tomorrow. Do with it what you wish!

peaceful warrior

This gorgeous viking doll was made by the talented Sandra Monat of Herzensart, a gift to Miles from his Aunt Lisa for his fifth birthday today. So wonderful and huggable (like the recipient).

Happy Birthday Milo. You make our lives so very good...thank you.

no. 2

Beautiful postcard from mav. I know I just mentioned Christmas yesterday, but I'm really not ready for fall to end!

news

Happy Friday! I let my mailing list know this morning that I will not be updating the shop today (some of you I let know twice, some not at all...still figuring out how to send out mass emails, sorry). Etsy is down all weekend, so I thought I'd update next Wednesday (November 15th) at 10 am pst instead. It will be my last planned shop update of the year. I am unable to take any special orders either. I will be concentrating on making things for  friends and family and exploring a few new ideas. The shop will reopen in January. As I was telling my mailing list, there are so many craftspeople that do plan on stocking up their shops for the holidays, so please buy handmade!

I've had a lot of inquiries about my stuffed trees. I'm going to try to add a few tree sets to the shop on Wednesday, but I'd also like to provide a free pattern to download here, so that you all can make your own. I just need to work out some technical difficulties (I have neither a scanner nor an Illustrating program), and I'll post it to the site. Let's cover the world in soft trees!

his work, in green

mitten, sewn at preschool from a felted sweater.

angry vikings.

ahoy!

The next big event on the crafting and family calendar is Miles' pirate birthday party. I made this pirate ship drawing (thank you Ed Emberley!) last night which will be Gocco printed on the invitations. Miles spotted this cake in ReadyMade and his heart set on it (but NOT a cheesecake). I wanted to do skull cupcakes, but, really, one cake with sails will be so much easier.

I'd welcome any other pirate-themed craft, food or game ideas for three to seven year olds (boys and girls). We're renting an indoor play area, so elaborate decorations and treasure hunts won't work...we will be suggesting that party goers come in their pirate finery, however!

out and in

Well, that was an unintended blog break, but sometimes life just gets in the way! I am going to try to get back into my blogging groove by posting every day the rest of the month (there's a little bit of that going around). I love what Carol and Tracy are doing with 30 Days of Living and may do some posts in that spirit as well.

I just took the password protection off my former blog, so now your links will work for specific posts in my archives. Thank you for being patient with me while I gave this situation some thought. I am really happy with the new direction of my blog, but I felt badly that I had cut a wire in the great linking circuitry of craft blogs. Please, always feel free to link to my posts, images, or site. It is my strong preference that you email me for permission before posting any photos or quotes from my blog or Flickr on your own site out of their original context. Thanks for understanding.

Studio Craft was so much fun! What a great group of people! Thank you to everyone who came out in the rain to say hello. I appreciated it so much. Extra special giant heaps of gratitude go to Sally and Melissa for giving so much of their time and selves to the whole endeavor. Amazing women all around. I wasn't able to finish (or even start) much of what I had planned, but was happy with what I was able to bring and will get to the rest of the projects another day. I have just a few things left over and they will go into my shop on Friday morning.

My sister has been here most of the week, and I'm really sad she's going home today! I'm finally unwinding from my giant ball of stress, and she's gone. Thank you for all you do for me, Lisa.

Okay, back tomorrow, right?

mixed bag weekend

Beautiful fall weather. An outing to the pumpkin patch. Farm animals to feed. A hay slide. A house full of chestnuts in which to roll. Kettle corn (maybe a little too much kettle corn for someone). The perfect pumpkins (and some white gourds for me). A school harvest faire. More treats and games. A tummy ache for Mia. Missed book group. Up half the night with a sick child. A lot of midnight laundry. A new day. All better. More sunshine. Coffee and the New York Times. A trip to the thrift store. No puffy-sleeved blue dresses to be found (for the Alice-in-Wonderland costume). A little cuckoo-style clock unearthed by Mia. Five dollars. Sold. Grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Back to work. A new week...

butfl day

The sun is trying to break through the clouds here in Portland, and I hear it will stick around for the weekend. I meant to let everyone know in my post yesterday that there would be no Friday shop update today. In all likelihood, I won't be updating until after Studio Craft in November, but I might surprise you.

Have a beautiful day!