New critter boxes!!!!! yaaaaaaaaay

Little sheep boxes……and the unbaaaaaaaaaalievable news is that these little sheepies and some more critters are heading on over to their new home Unique Yarns, where I am also hoping to teach a few felting classes in August………..how exciting is that?  eeeeeeek I’m positively giddy,  can’t wait to see the critters in their new home it’s such a beautiful store I just hope they behave themselves!!!

Of course I’ll list the sheep in the store too………

1.  I really hate camping.

Oh sure the barbecuing outdoors and looking at the stars late at night are terrific fun……….but the sleeping in the tent in the dark woods with no running water,   and is that rain?  why yes it is………not so much……..and don’t get me started on the porta potties

2.  Grown men in lycra stops being funny and starts to get icky after about 5 minutes.

I don’t think I need to say anything more really……..

3.  I like it best when my hubby does his races with his friends

Actually it was kinda cool to see Mark and his amazing feats of strength……he took part in the 24 9 mile bike race in Waussau, Wisconsin this weekend.   He did the 12 hour solo men’s endurance race,  he started riding at 11am and didn’t stop until 10.30 at night putting in 7 laps (one lap being 14 and a half miles).    Mark came 14th out of 56 riders which may not sound that impressive but when you consider he was the only one on a single speed fixie bike (you have to pedal all the time or the bike doesn’t move and no gears) it suddenly becomes quite a bit more wow.  His actual results.

So no new critters to show but lots and lots of mosquito bites this weekend which leads to number 4…..

4.  I hate mosquitoes!!!

So that was my weekend a little odd and very out of character for me I’d really rather be crafting but it was definately different

So the store is now officially open…………..yaaaaaaaaaaay

So as a little grand re-opening surprise I’m doing free shipping and a free goody to the first 5 customers.  Yaaaaaaay I’m so glad to be back and hopefully the critters will all stop their squeeking about wanting to go and travel.

Just had to share the blooms on my balcony with you,  it’s so pretty out there right now it makes me incredibly happy to sit out in the mornings…..

Although sitting out is hard work as the boys love to be outside and most of these beautiful blooms are incredibly toxic (why is it always the pretty ones?).   The best thing growing out there is my tomato plant just take a look at all these yummies

Although as you are reading this most of them are gone now as we piggied them last night………sooooooo good.

So a very successful growing experience this year and everything smells so good………..

And in Stabby Critter news………I am finally going to re – open my Etsy store……….yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,  it’s about time right?

grand re-opening  Monday the 27th July……….stay tuned.

And not just because it was my birthday on Friday,  but mostly because Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince came out on Wednesday.  Have you seen it yet?  If yes wasn’t it brilliant?  If not what are you thinking?  get to it post haste!!!  I can’t wait to see it on the imax,  the 3d stuff will be so amazing…………eeeeeeeeek roll on Aug 2nd.

My birthday was fab though,  we went to Chicago for the weekend and stayed in a mega beautiful hotel,  quite by accident….. you see I booked the Hyatt Regency Chicago on hotwire for a dream rate and when we arrived in Chicago we went for dinner and were lucky enough to catch the Puppet bike………..oooh how I love the puppet bike,  it’s basically a trike with a punch and judy style theater attached to it and the puppet master cycles around the Chicago neighborhoods performing with his dancing extraordinare stars……(my favourite being bunny)

Just look at how cute it is,  and how those critters love the dollars…………

so long story short a few hours later we arrived at our guaranteed booked hotel where we were told that they were oversold and given away our room!!!!!!  WHAT!!!!  but not to worry as they were going to put us up in the mega expensive,  mega luxury,  mega cool Park Hyatt on Michigan Ave and they were going to drive us there free to………yaaaaaaaaay Happy Birthday to me.

And good grief you should have seen the room!!! I thought I had died and gone to trendy heaven,  I didn’t want to leave……..ever…….sigh how the other half lives but it was nice to enjoy it for cheap.

And gifts?  well My friend Mathew bought me these little guys

From Beastlies and I adore them……..Thanks again Matt.

And Mark is buying me this couch from Ikea

Can’t wait to get it,  it’ll be nice to have some room on the couch instead of fighting with the furry faces for a spare patch on our current sofa……they hate sharing.  So that’s been my week………kinda brilliant but a little critter free,  let me ammend that asap.

how I love thee………for numerous reasons too,  not just because you are my birth month  (although that is a pretty awesome reason).  But also because so much cool schtuff happens during your wonderous 31 days.   For instance Art fair On and Off  the square in Madison was this past weekend and that is one of my very  favourite things in Madison (another is Maxwell Street days but that’s next weekend).  There is nothing better than perusing the work of over 650 artists whilst enjoying the street performers and location…….

Not the best piccie I grant you,  but in my defense it was bloomin’ roastin’ last weekend and so this was taken whilst enjoying some shade under a giant oak tree and I did take better pictures last year if you want to look at them.  I met up with my crafting  buddy Ekra who bought this cool painting by Keith Grace

It’s called Mad Cat and it’s body is made up of the Madison area map…. how cool is that?  it’s going to be a great reminder of Madison for her when she moves to Carbondale next month.   I on the other hand was thrilled to see Molly Bitters had a booth this year,  Molly was also a vendor  with me at last years Bucktown bizarre and I loved her jewelry then but I freaked out when I saw her new stuff,

I had to purchase this little acorn necklace instantly when I saw it,  but it was a tough call as I adored so many of her pieces………she also has an etsy store I highly recommend you peruse.   I was kinda surprised I bought jewelry  though as I seem to be buying it a lot of late…..but how could I not buy these earings from etsy seller SilverNutmegStudio?

I love the north star ones and the flower hoops are just  the perfect touch of whimsy for me.

Art fair on the square looks great at night too

And another reason for July greatness?  Well it’s when all the big movies come out………..can’t you feel the excitement in the air for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince or is that just round at my house?   Eeeep, Eeeeeep, Eeeeeeep…..I can’t wait till Tuesday,  I got midnight showing tickets about a month ago and I almost can’t breathe for the anticipation,  so much so  that to distract myself I made Ashley………

probably not the best distraction granted,  but I sure had fun figuring  out the best way to make him…..I wonder if Fawkes would approve?

And another thing I love about July?  hmmmmm eating brats and drinking beer on the terrace in Madison

yumm,   can a picture look any more Madison if it tried?  well maybe there should be some deep fried cheese curds there too but other than that I think it’s perfect!  and  that and the sun and the flowers and the critters completes my little love fest with the month of July.

had asked me if it’s hot enough for me I swear I was going to scream!!!! I don’t think there was one day when the thermometer didn’t hit a hundred and when you don’t have air conditioning I can’t even begin to tell you how that feels……well mostly sticky.

I was doing anything to try and think cool thoughts,  which is how this little guy came about….

I think he has helped the temperature as since he has arrived there has definately been a break in the weather (thank god).

In unrelated stabby news I am loving the new  mythical creature stamps by the royal mail,  in particular the cornish pixie one… it  is just brilliant….

It makes me want to receive lots of letters from the UK……hmmmm perhaps I should get a penfriend.  I am also extremely excited about the new Tim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland (are you surprised)  there have been some pictures online of Johnny depp and Helena Bonham Carter as the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen respectively and I get quite giddy at the thought of how brilliant it’s going to be…….I’ve even started reading Alice in Wonderland to get myself more in touch with Wonderland…I was lucky enough to snag a vintage book on ebay and I adore looking at it as much as reading it as it has the original Tenniel drawings,  even the cover’ s absolutely brilliant….which just proves that you can judge some books by their cover

and the pages make reading a pleasure

I love the mousey page….