It's finally autumn in Wisconsin! The weather has cooled down a little and it feels like fall is really here. I love this time of year so much! I'm looking forward to picking pumpkins this weekend out at our CSA farm and maybe making one more trip to the apple orchard if we can find time. Also hoping to take the kids out to fly kites soon since the birthday kite flying didn't work out.

Speaking of birthdays...Lars turned five last week. He had a nice party with friends and family. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes and gifts. Lars keeps talking about this birthday and how he had SO much fun and it makes him SO HAPPY. I love it. This photo shows him blowing out candles on the teeny tiny birthday cake he made himself in his brand new easy bake oven from grandma and grandpa.


It's been another busy week. I'm trying to get my craft area organized and get some etsy orders and consignment packages sent off so I can get to making some new things. I'm also working on the poster for the Holiday Craftacular in Madison. It's almost done! I'll show you when it's ready!

One more fun thing: our Raining in my Heart print was featured on the Save Gocco blog last week. How cool is that!

It was the first weekend in awhile that I've had very little on my agenda and it was SO nice. I relaxed at home, took the kids to the park, went berry picking with Chad and the kids and their cousins and even squeezed in a movie at the theater (go see 500 Days of Summer, it's beautiful!)

This week I'm working on posting some new things to the etsy shop. I have some fun mirrors, cards and more to add to the shop but it's a little slow going getting photos ready. I love the vintage camera mirrors and magnets I've been making. Aren't old cameras the best? I'll have to scope out more vintage national geographics soon!


I'm also planning a birthday party for Lars this weekend. He's turning five! We're having a kite flying party at the park. Time to find a cake recipe!

Hope your week is most excellent

xo
andrea

Chad and I had a lovely weekend in Chicago at the Renegade Craft Fair! We had a successful show, beautiful weather and got to meet so many awesome people. We shared a booth with Daniele and Bryon from My Lavaliere. They were fantastic and friendly - we couldn't have asked for more awesome people to share a tent with.

Unfortunately I didn't get a great shot of our booth. I got a couple of quick shots just before my camera battery died. You're not missing anything though - it was not so great! This is the second outdoor show I've ever done and also the first time that we've had a large amount of clothing to show. We were just not prepared and didn't have the time to do a mock set-up before the show. The first day we had our display all wrong - we set it up to basically make it impossible for anyone to get inside our booth. Long story - but we fixed it before the show started on Sunday and it made a big difference. Our sales on Sunday far exceeded Saturday. It's crazy how much difference a display can make!

We made time to check out some of the other vendors and even dropped by the etsy booth - Chad had someone snap his photo with Matt Stinchcomb and also got to chat with several other vendors. You can read more about it and see some photos at his blog.

In the end we had a great show and even made out with lots of awesome handmade goodness! I found some super cute clothes for both of my kiddos from Charlie and Sarah and bought myself a hoodie from them as well. I also got a couple of gorgeous headbands from My Lavaliere. Here I am modeling some of my renegade loot! Chad also got some great t-shirts and art prints. So many great things to choose from!


I'm excited to have a weekend at home without too much on my agenda. We need to get caught up with things around our house and plan a birthday party for Lars. He'll be 5 next week!

In the coming weeks I also plan to get my etsy shop ready for the holidays and get my ducks in a row so I'm ready for winter shows. I'll also be working with the ladies at Anthology and Naomi from Glitter Workshop to design a poster for the Holiday Craftacular. I guess I should chill out this weekend while I can because this little bit of downtime won't last long!

A few random things!

rare bird finds featured our new robot bibs last week! Very fun. It's a fantastic blog and we're thrilled that they noticed one of our items!

We've had a few obscenely late nights but I think we'll be ready for Renegade! Well, as ready as is possible when you work full time, have two children under five and craft late at night until you're delirious. Chad and I are totally excited to show our work, meet lots of awesome people and hopefully even SHOP.

I'm kind of sad that we won't be making it to Chicago in time for the Thursday night etsy meet up but there is just not enough time. Luckily our booth at renegade is super close to etsy so we can walk over and bug them lots.

That's all I've got for now. My attention span is very short when I am on this self-induced sleep deprivation schedule.

turpentine club cat

I was digging through files on my computer and found one that was just these words

Sweet smoky fresh air crackle burn slick summer sandals liquor kid candy cotton hang on let go swim in a sea of swill soft sordid apples black blue-black wasted gone never drink turpentine club cat cool mellow minded made mush swallow sin child clay orange pink blinded by the light star studded laser looker nevermind the snow slide speckled square bore aviator navigator hot car junk van plush popcorn satin lavendar licorice baby breath lemonade sleepy eyes handmade cloudy sweeping soothing unshaven wrapped warped sunny sweater thrift race sweaty sleazy going gone dusty broken branded red vodka martini madness mambo master dreaming transmit end transmission acid trap trip seeking Saturday endless faster go like hell icy inside karate mute corded texture curtain coins inspire love fame friend sparkle possibility patience power optimism smile smack swift sour sentence magical miracle kitty blackula chocolate crayons pineapple martini blast noise liquor swallow dove raspberry twist and shout cocoa sunshine quicksand clouds candyapples can you feel the love in this room sideburns pants sideburns pants sideburns pants if you shave again i’ll die tattooed neck happy eyes pink sunrise bulldozer crane flashing lights flashy nights smooth talker despair graceland wasteland

It hadn't been opened since 2002. I had forgotten until now but I used to get in a mood and just write and write words (and later type words) like crazy in a delirious stream of consciousness, hoping to find something poetic in the mix. It was my writing equivalent of craft therapy.

Reading this now makes me smile. I especially like the line "sideburns pants sideburns pants if you shave again I'll die."

xo
andrea

Renegade + Raining in my Heart

We have been busy this weekend preparing for our next show. We hope you can make it to Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago next weekend - September 12 & 13 on Division St. I'm sharing a booth with My Lavaliere who makes gorgeous jewelry. There will be nearly 300 vendors, food, music and crafty activities. If you're in the Chicago area please stop by to say hello to Chad and I! We will be giving away a limited amount of goodies bags at our booth from some Madison area artists, crafters and more for the early birds!

Before I go back to packaging mirrors I'm going to share our newest shirt with you. We printed our raining in my heart
design on slate blue organic cotton tees and I like how they turned out. I decided to add a sprinkle of hearts on one sleeve just for fun. My friend Jessi thought a big heart or a sprinkle of hearts on just one sleeve would be cute and after testing it out a little I thought that the smattering was the most flattering.

Have a lovely holiday weekend! We'll be at home crafting and just maybe maybe we'll make it to the drive-in.
xo
andrea

I knocked out a few things that have been on my list for a loooong time today! First, I finally figured out what to do for a display for my next show. I have never had a very cohesive display and had considered spray painting all of my display things silver and using just black and silver everything. I was brain storming yesterday and it occurred to me that it would be kind of cool to make my display match my Space Oddities logo and website. I went out and bought brown, pink and blue table coverings to layer and bought a new cupcake tin to use as a display for small buttons and magnets. I already had some silver tiered cake stand thingies which work well for mirrors and I thought they jived well with what I have going on. I played just a little with the setup today and this is what I came up with. I'm hoping to get a banner that matches everything else in the near future. I have been using the same banner that I made years ago for my very first craft show for years. It's really worn out but it'll have to do for at least one more show!

I also printed some shirts today. I printed a new cupcake shirt and I am happy with the end result. I mixed pink and white ink to make a 'cherry vanilla' cupcake on these soft chocolate brown shirts. I also printed a small batch of owls in love tees - an oldie but a goodie!

More printing is in store tonight! I am hoping to get started with the 'raining in my heart' design but I am having a hard time deciding what colors to use and how to place the images. I may have to wait until it's late and I'm delirious to make a decision.

Wish me luck.

xo
andrea

Lots of WIN!

And the t-shirt winners are.......

Bubbashelby
Lisa
metalicious
Derek
80sMom

I'll be contacting everyone today to find out where to send your "An American Exchange Student in Paris" shirt. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who commented!