Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  As a Scottish person living in the US it is a bizarrely unique and completely odd day,  but still it’s a day off work and a reason for a parade.  So it’s a little unfair that I  renamed  Thanksgiving a long time ago  ” The Christmas Spoiler holiday”.  Still I have lots of things to be thankful for and I am very grateful for everything we have.

I told you last post that the rather wonderful Rosy organizer of the Crafty fair had managed to score a full page promotion of the show in the onion and here it is

my mischief monkeys were featured and they also give me props for my super Mario ornaments……..way too cool.  And the show was packed all day with shoppers it was really a lot of fun.  I also got a brilliant commission from a shopper,  after purchasing a large santa table topper she requested I made an old world rabbi.  After googling old world rabbi and google helpfully suggesting I meant old world rabbit I came up with this guy

I really like how he turned out,  and hopefully Linda does too.

Have you seen Potter yet?   oooooooh it’s so good,  nothing says the holidays are coming like a Potter movie.  I,  of course,  saw it at midnight when it opened.   Last weekend we went to Chicago to see it on the Imax which was highly fortuitous timing for a trip to Chicago as it was the DIY Trunk show at Pulaski field house,  which gave me the excuse to go and pester  my crafty buddy Ekra…….wooooohoooo.   It was a really good show and I kept thinking if just one vendor had  a cold I’d be here with the critters right now……….sigh hopefully I’ll make it next year and not be on the waiting list again.  I did make a few awesome purchases so some Christmas pressies are at least taken care of.

Saturday is the Bucktown Bazaar

So I am busy, busy, busy……….what else is new?

So the Crafter’s round up has come and gone and it was a ton of fun.  Quite a few critters found fabulous new homes in Chicago,  I was very sad to see Connor go but thrilled to think that he had found such a lovely new mummy…..

So cute!!!

The weather was fabulous on Saturday we even saw disgraced ex governor Rod Blagojevich Jogging in the neighborhood  (the hair truly is a sight to behold)………but Sunday was a whole other story……..(gotta love the Midwest in Summer) after toughing out 3 hours of rain,  the winds came and the fear of losing my precious new E-Z up to the great blue yonder was just to great,  so sorry if you headed out to Chase Park to see us as we were already Rockford bound.

Many thanks to the rather fabulous Pam who thought of me when she saw some rather fabulous cloches at a friend’s yard sale………they are truly awesome and I can’t wait to capture some critters under them.

So this Sunday we have the Summer Craftacular in Madison Wi

Just keep your finger’s crossed Sunday’s weather is blue skies and beautiful………

Wow………when did that happen?  I’m shocked,  time it really does fly by…….

I can’t believe tomorrow the Crafter’s Round up is finally here,  I’ve been stabbying like crazy for weeks in preparation for it and now I’m finally starting to feel like I might not have a half empty table after all……….phew,  that’s a relief (although I’m not sure at this point what I would do  if I wasn’t feeling ok )

So remember if you are in the Chicago area to come on by to Chase Park and say hi to the critters this weekend.

I remembered that I never ever did show you guys some of my birthday goodies even though I said I would,  aren’t I awful?   Anyway to rectify this blatant blog neglect I thought I’d show you what my friend Matt sent me…..

Norman the big snow rabbit made by Etsy sellers monsters etc……..and I just absolutely love him!!!  you should check out their store for other cuties too!!  many  thanks Matt.

Mark bought me quite a few goodies,   my favourites being this cute fishy made by Michele Smith of Mud Spun Studio that I fell in love with at the art fair on the square,  he’s supposed to be a ceiling fan pull but I have him hanging up on my bathroom cabinet….

He also got me a pizza slice

A Heidi Kenney pizza slice for Kidrobot silly…………not a real pizza slice,  although that would have been greatly appreciated too……….mmmmmmmmm pizza.   I recently bought this little guy for myself on Etsy too with the pretense that it was part of my birthday……

I just loved it at first sight……it’s a vintage find from Etsy seller Bethtastic who is based in Chicago and has a lot of very cute jewelry in her shop,  and it’s perfect for me as I am born in the year of the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac…….gosh I really will find any excuse to validate my needless spending sprees won’t I?  Shameless!!

I’m off to pack up the critters for their trip to Chicago,  hope to see you this weekend.

Yeah I’m looking at the bees buzzing around and all I can think is……….slackers!!!!  So apologies for the lack of blog updates but something had to give and the poor ole blog has suffered.

Yup but lookeee at my new captured critters

A little bee, ladybird and hedgie…….I’m loving the way these guys have turned out  and it had me thinking of a bigger captured critter so I grabbed my trusty fairy net and managed to snag

Norm the gnome……….He doesn’t seem that keen on being captured but luckily the glass is pretty thick so his protestations can barely be heard.  I’ve also been busy working on the goody insert for the craftacular bags (yup the first 50 lucky people to walk through the doors at the East Side Club in Madison Wisconsin  on August 15th will be getting a goody bag),  and trying to get stores restocked (something I’ve been a little slow at sorry guys),  all while trying to enjoy the beautiful sunny Illinois summer…….god how I adore summer,  never will you hear me complain about the heat, humidity and thunderstorms I love it all.

Okay so I’m off, back to work so much still to be done before the Crafter’s round up

Can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks away……….gaaaaaaaaah!!!!! don’t panic!!!!!

Last week I found myself with more green wool than I thought,  so what could I possibly make……….

It’s my favourite Mario game character Yoshi!!!  He was very, very fun to make,  I almost didn’t want to call him finished as I was enjoying making him so much,  but he is and I LOVE him  I added him to the shop already.

So in Stabby news I am in full on crafting panic mode  in preparation for my first summer show on Saturday in Cleveland.  We are making a long weekend of the trip so I am looking forward to that almost as much as the show.  But seriously I am freaking out about wether I have enough critters……..or maybe I have too many? maybe there the wrong critters?……..should I make (fill in blank) instead?  and I have so much organizing to do maybe my time would be better spent getting on with that……..gaaaaaaaah!!!!  Just need to take a breath and go with the flow…………….

I thought I’d share a fun piccie from this weekend in Chicago

It’s Sally my mini cooper in front  of the one and only Superdawg,  this was our first trip to Superdawg despite living in the Chicago  land area for almost 4 years but I doubt it will be our last as the dawgs were pretty darn tasty………and the supercute packaging had me  hooked before I even took a bite………mmmmmmm the first bite yummmmmmm

Ok back to full on panicking………I mean stabbying.

I just got the fantastic news that I have been accepted to the Crafter’s round up  August 7 + 8 Saturday and Sunday at Chase Park

So exciting and makes my Summer show schedule (so far) look like this……

Saturday  July 3 2010, 12631 Larchmere Cleveland Ohio

August 7th and 8th  The Crafters round up at Chase Park Chicago Illinois

The Summer Craftacular In Madison, WI

So exciting…….the tent is going to get a good workout this summer.

I also got a few captured critters made this week

A little ladybird under a tree and a teeny brown mouse and his hunk of cheese…….It’s kinda hard to take a good picture of the captured critters as the glass reflects a lot so I  took piccies of them uncaptured so to speak

These lil’ guys will be heading to their new home at Dandy things this Saturday…….although I kinda want to keep ’em (what else is new huh?)

Alrighty back to work as I am busy, busy, busy……….mostly freaking out about the excitement of shows and tents and sunshine eeeeeeeeek .

And I’d like to share it with you.  First of all the weather was absolutely perfect,  and we were heading to Dandy things in Long Grove Ilinois.   A really unbelievably cool indie hand made store that I am thrilled to tell you Stabbies can now be found at………yippppppppeeeeeee.  Then we headed into Chicago to see Heidi Kenney’s Seedling, sprout and spores show at Renegade Handmade……….which of course was brilliant.

Renegade Handmade did a fantastic job of hosting the gallery night  even the window got me excited to see Heidi’s work, but not as excited as I got when I saw Heidi……….she was so nice.

And I was there early enough (oh boy was I) to snag a goody bag and some of her pieces (they didn’t last long)

This cute little group scene and

the individual tree and the individual mushroom on the right are mine as well as the sprouts on the right

I am so excited to get them I can’t tell you how hard it was to walk away from the store without them (they are on display at Renegade until May 18th).

Mark of course was excited to be in Chicago for other reasons…………..the apple Ipad came out at the weekend so of course we had to head over to the Apple store on Michigan Ave so he could play with one.  After picking one up for all of 5 seconds the sales assistant barely gets out the “can I help you” question before Mark blurts out I want one do you have them in stock?  So Mark got a goody too…………The store was absolutely mobbed

This was the frenzy of people all waiting to play  with the demo Ipads (there was always at least 30 people crammed around the table) and in the 10mins we were in the store they must have sold at least 30 ipads………probably more but still pretty immpressive.    Anyway Mark is in nerd heaven with his new toy…….it is pretty cool though.

So that was my fantastic Easter weekend,  pretty great huh?  How was yours?

Ladies and gentlemen……..drumroll please………

On Saturday November 28th,  Lulu of Lulu’s Stabby Critters will be attempting the impossible.    That’s right she will be doing the impossible feat of being two places at the same time!!!!   Gasp, what? who? where? It’s not possible, it can’t be done……I hear from the crowd.   Well yes it can (thanks to the brilliance of her hubby)  On Saturday November 28th Lulu’s Stabby Critters can be found not only at the Craftacular in Madison, Wi but also at the Bucktown Bazzar in Chicago, Il.

I’m not sure why I agreed to do 2 shows at the same time………it seemed like a good idea at the time.  I mean logistically it seems possible.  Mark can go to Chicago and take care of the critters there while I drive of to Madison….. easy.   But what i forgot about was the fact that dividing and conquering also means dividing up the critter stock……….waaaaaaaaaaah.   So needless to say I’m going to be VERY busy in the next couple of weeks……..yowzers I’m a mad woman,  or at least I will be by November 28th.

The St Cornelius Fall Fest was brilliant fun……it was my first experience of an outdoor street fair and the organizers were totally on it….

I really loved having my own little tent,   and it meant I could finally display mobiles………yaaaaaaaay,  I’m still working on how to do that for indoor booths,  but hopefully I’ll work it out this year.  Alright back to work .. ……which will be tough as I’ve just discovered the brilliantly hilarious regretsy.com now I really am addicted to looking at crap.

Spiders

So I’m lovin’ my little incy wincys……I attached them to a long elasticated nylon cord so they can bounce around,  plus it looks a little like web.  I think they are going to be the last of my Halloweeny offerings before The St Cornelius Fall Fest which is GULP  this weekend……………..waaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!  So much still to do and organise……….yikes.

So I will add them to the shop as they are really fun to make and I wouldn’t mind making them any time of the year anyway,  I guess spiders aren’t really just for Halloween anyway.

booooooo….

Did my lil’ Halloween ghosties scare you?   They hope so,  trouble is they are just too cute to be terrifying……poor guys.  I made the ghosties for my batch of Octoberie goodies I’m working on in preparation for my fall show,  I still have a few more ideas I want to work on but I am starting to feel good about my quantities of  Autumnal offerings and I will of course add them to the shop today.

This past weekend we went to Chicago for the Renegade craft fair.  I was incredibly excited about this years show as one of the new vendors was someone who’s work I fell in love with about a year ago when  I purchased some of his comic books at Quimby’s (a fantastic comic book store in Chicago).  Anyway his name is Matthew Reidsma and he is awesome,  so of course within 5 seconds of finding his booth I had pretty much blown my Renegade shopping money,  but the original artwork I got is so super cool I’m sure I will be gushing about him for a long time to come.

Anyway here are my Renegade goodies. I bought some  beautiful hand painted roving from kitchen sink dyeworks and Hands and Notions.  And I’m thinking the colorways are perfect for my rotten eggs for Easter……..argh good grief can you believe it?  I’m thinking of spring 2010 and it’s not even through September 2009…….how mental is that?  Oh well i guess it’s good (and totally unlike me) to be prepared.