So a couple of days ago I was contacted by a lovely woman interested in a bulk order of lovely felted Christmas ornaments for her tree………and look at what happens when you forfeit a few hours of bed

I really wanted to make these guys so I can mail them out with lots of time to spare for Christmas,  I just hope Marion likes everything and that they are how she envisioned them.

Another reason sleep is overated is who can sleep knowing that the Harry Potter exhibition is coming to Chicago……….I am so frickin’ excited for this I have a really strong desire to buy a million tickets for every day of it’s run ( April 30th – Sept 7th at the Museum of Science and Industry) and then just live there…….how awesome would that be?  they are going to set up the exhibits just like you are in the rooms of Hogwarts or Hagrid’s cottage or the Weasleys ……………………screaaaaaaaaaaam!!!! I’m so excited already 4 months is going to be a long wait!!!!!  what’s not a long wait is my last show of the year (what will I do at the weekends?)

So please come on by and wish the critters a Merry Christmas………..

Wow,  what a fantastic weekend………..so many fantastic vendors and appreciate shoppers I hardly know where to begin,  how about with a piccie?

This was at the very start of day one and I am so very glad I remembered to take a piccie as a lot of my critters found lovely new homes this weekend.   I did a few awesome trades with the other vendors which of course means Markie took them away for Christmas (would someone please explain how me setting up trades and swapping my lovely critters means Markie has got me Christmas schtuff?  because it’s confusing to me but somehow seems logical in his mind…. harumph)

Anyway I fell in love with Steve Tomashek’s Miniature Menagerie booth.  Steve whittles the most amazing little critters out of teeny bits of wood and also takes whimsical pictures of them……..loved them all to bits,  so Mark got to pick out some of them (fingers crossed it’s more than one)  for me for under the tree yippppeeeeeee.

SwallowKisses booth was behind me (very exciting as she has long been an etsy favourite of mine) I got a completely cool birdy hair clip and a peony flower pin and I LOVE them.  I also got the cutest pine cone necklace from Charmaine Anthony her jewellry was so gorgeous I was drooling at her booth…….but fell in love with the little pine cone.  I also snagged the coolest felted wool scarf from SteveSews! which I did actually keep and not permit being a Christmas gift, very essential  as Sunday was the heaviest snow storm we’ve had this year which meant that the field house was more than just a wee bit nippy…….. and made our drive back to Rockford just a little bit interesting.   Weenerware was also there (another of my favourites ever since I snagged a bottle cap pin of hers from the art-o-mat  machine a few years ago) Markie won the auction for one of her fabulous bracelets (it’s so cool, wait till you see)  but guess what?  yup  not till  Christmas…………sigh.   So thank you so much Bucktown Bazaar and all the wonderful shoppers and vendors for a completely fabulous weekend in Chicago,  my head is still spinning from the support and wonderful comments I received.

Now it’s back to work as this weekend is the rather fabulous Craftacular in Madison

OOOOoooooh haven’t you got a filthy mind?    please raise it from the gutter please,  then I can show you what I was referring too………

It’s a hanging Chinese lucky cat I made by special request.    I won’t lie to you…….I LOVE how he turned out,  the whole time I was making him I was mentally thinking …….ooh I am going to keep him,  I want him for me  (has anyone else noticed that I am getting much worse for this?…….hmmm).   Well anyway he will have a very happy home and I feel that he will indeed bring good luck to his new owner Katie.

Last weekend I did the handmade market in Chicago and it was brilliant…….and I think I have finally fixed my booth errors of the previous weekend,  well what do you think?

I was much happier with how it looked,  but I realise I need a new tablecloth…….(the one I have is horible, and it wrinkles if you so much as look at it never mind fold it)  Anyway it was a fantastic show,  and the other vendors were all super nice  and it made me mega certain that I want to do many, many more.   I also got an excellent commision that I can’t wait to make and show you………needless to say it’s something I should have made a very long time ago……..doh!!!!

Thank god for requests it means my brain switch can return from the off position.

I’ll be with the critters in Chicago for Indie in the Windy City…..

Fall Handcrafted Market!!

Saturday, October 4^th 10-4p.m.

The New Friendly Towers

920 West Wilson Ave., Chicago

The Indie Market will be featuring over 30 vendors from Chicago and surrounding area.  The goods offered will be clothing, jewelry, accessories, plush and amigurumi, paper goods, baby stuff  and more!  Some of our sellers:  bugsnbones, spinalfusion, jeniFer,  blue thimble, orangeyporangy, cranky pickle, greeniebean recycles… the list goes on…  There is none other like it in the Uptown area!

EEEeeek I can’t wait,  any excuse to spend the day in Chicago makes me very happy.   So if you are in the Chicago area please stop on by and say hi…….I of course will be stabbying like a crazy person (nothing much new there)  to have a ton of schtuff to share with you.

and falling, and falling, and falling………in fact I don’t think it ever stopped raining this past weekend in Chicago which of course made for a very wet Renegade Craft Fair.  Although it didn’t look like a bad time for everyone

He was loving the weather,   showing just how waterproof his new wellies truly were looked like a lot of fun.  Although it wasn’t so much for the vendors…..most of them appeared to give up footwear altogether (probably for the best)

But credit where credit is due I was so impressed with the resilience and friendliness of crafters even under horrible situations…….My favourite booth had to be the Etsy plush team booth

In the piccie is Christina from Dekvenga delights I have long admired her crotchet dolls on flikr, Susan of Susarto (I adore her business card…..she bills herself as a weirdo extraordinaire,  something I feel I can relate with her on) and lastly is Emma of uglyprettythings whose little Abraham I snatched up instantly as it was love at first sight…….although I happily could have stayed in their booth all day as I wanted to take all the critters home.

So here are my renegade purchase in all their glory

See what I mean about Abraham?   He is so cute,  I absolutely adore him to bits. I also got some brilliantly smelly soaps from Rinse…….mmmmm their booth smelled so yummy and I can’t wait to use their soap,  geeky ninja, magnet, pin and sticker from Shawnimals and a few completely cute magnets of cats on bike.  I of course hit up the etsy booth and got some stickers and pins……the hotdog  pin being my fave.  There was a ton of stuff I loved, but the weather being so godawful I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a huge deterrent from buying,  like a huge log pillow by Sally England Designs and the plush and wooden yoyos by suddenly it’s real and the paintings of Johanna Wright were wonderful……but the thought of schlepping them around in a torrential downpour just wasn’t  too appealing (hopefully other people thought differently for the vendors sake).  Still I’ve added a ton of etsy faves for holiday time and I’ve got a ton of insight into the not always brilliant side of outdoor craft shows.  Thanks to all the vendors for staying cheery and still making it a great time……..kudos to you all.