Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration

I'm working on a Pile of Craft wrap-up post, so until it's finished enjoy this:

Pile Of Craft Wrap-Up

I had the best time at Pile of Craft this past Saturday. I saw lots of familiar faces and quite a few new ones. The ladies and gentleman from the Charm City Craft Mafia put on a great show. Unfortunately, I was only able to take a couple pictures as I forgot to put the SD card in my camera. Luckily the Craft Mafia started a Flickr group for the show, so you see more pictures there. Magbooth was also there taking free photobooth pictures. I was actually right next to them, so I got to see the fun all day. You can see all of the magbooth photos here. You just might spot a familiar face.



My set-up:




I made enough money to make some great handmade purchases too

Shirts for the boys from Spaghetti Kiss. It's so hard to find handmade shirts for boys, so I was beyond excited to find them. The boys loved them. Score 1 for Mom! FYI - they agreed to take a picture only if they could choose their poses.


















I also got some great goodies from Green Star Studio. We added to our knitimal magnet collection:

















And I got some color your own bookmarks. We love to read and are always looking for bookmarks, so these will be perfect for summer reading and the fact that you can color them yourselves adds even more bang for your buck. A perfect solution for summer boredom. Kyle and I have already gotten started coloring ours:














Lastly, I got something just for myself. I was lucky enough to be next to the Biggs & Featherbelle ladies again. We have been neighbors at quite a few shows which is always fun. Plus the yummy smells from their booth is heavenly. I tried some body scrub this time which I totally love! I don't think my skin has been this smooth since I was a baby (and that was quite a while ago).














I also got some bars of soap for myself and as a small gift to my MIL for watching the boys and some lip balm for the boys. It's all natural, so I feel better when they use it. I don't have to worry about them licking it off and ingesting some awful chemicals.














All in all, it was a great day in handmade!!

Pile of Craft Tomorrow!!! Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak at what I'm finishing up for the show :






















I'm booth #1 !



















Here's a sweet treasury by Shannon of Sweet Pepita featuring Pile of Craft vendors.

Pile of Craft June 26!!!!

I'll be there and I hope you will too! You can see some of my newest creations, including some never before see ones! 10AM - 5PM

Let me know if there is a particular item you'd like to see me bring!

Through My Eyes : Glitter

The star of the recent Etsy Party was definitely glitter! It was everywhere, and I'm still finding it in all over my house. Here is the glitter through my eyes:















Get out your glitter. Make a mess. Make something sparkle. Take a few pictures. Enjoy!

Be Inspired to Craft with Friends

A bunch of Baltimore crafters got together last Friday to celebrate Etsy's 5th birthday. We had a ball!













Photo by Rachel of Red Prairie Press

Everyone decorated the above Banner. Kyle decorated the "I".



We crafted our own Lawn flamingos and created a collective art installation.





Guess who made this one!


We even had cute name tags from Etsy! I swear I didn't pay him to write that.



Find some time to get together with friends and create something. Make a collective project that allows everyone's talents to shine through! Just don't forget the glitter, glue and Pom poms!! Check this Flickr group to see how folks all over the world celebrated!

Inspiration Revealed - Buttons

A little necklace celebrating the button. I've been asked many times to make buttons, but the paint and the finish I use would be damaged in washing, so I did the next best thing and created a button necklace.

Don't forget to join my new Flickr group: Art Inspiration Revealed

**Special thanks to Kyle for letting me borrow his button collection!

A Handmade Father's Day

I always encourage the boys to make things for special occasions. I think the handmade gift is always more meaningful and shows that you really thought about the person and what they'd like. I thought I'd share a little bit of the handmade booty my hubs received today. Ironically I bought him a card, but I just loved the message inside and I'm no poet, so I just went with it. I will make him a handmade (homemade) dinner tonight though! Happy Father's Day!!

Trey isn't a big fan of making stuff, but he managed to make a card & a coupon book for his Dad:


























Can you guess his Dad's favorite football team?

Kyle, being a natural maker of things, made quite a bit more. His dad loves to fish so he made this lovely poster of fish. I'm a bit jealous, but since we all live together, I'll still get to see it :)














He made a foam picture frame at school














Kyle took his older brother's lead and went with a Cowboys motif for his card too.


















Here's the inside. Kyle made sure I included the inside as well since he made fancy letters. He was rather proud.














He made a little booklet at school that I love because what he writes in it is priceless














Again with the Cowboys. $50 billion sounds just about right! Ha!














Too cute!













Wait these aren't handmade. But they are his favorite and I thought it was cute that the boys thought of getting them for him.














And lastly a silly magnet and little snake.

What more could a Dad who loves the Cowboys, fishing, Whoppers and his boys ask for? Feel free to post a link in the comments to something you or your kids made for their Dad!

ETSY Birthday Party Tonight!!!

It's Etsy's birthday and we're throwin down Charm City style!!












From baltimorecraft.com: Looking for a super fun way to kick off the weekend this week? Why not join BEST & the Charm City Craft Mafia for a Craft Party & Meetup, in honor of Etsy's birthday? This Friday, June 18th, starting at 6pm, we'll be at Roosevelt Park in Hampden. We won a free Craft Party kit from Etsy for being one of the top parties, so we'll have lots of crafty goodies to test out! We'll be working on a collaborative banner project, and we'll have a few other crafty things up our sleeve. Maybe even some giveaways! In addition, we'll be hosting an informal craft supply swap at the meetup, so please bring any crafty supplies you'd like to trade or give away. Any unclaimed supplies will be donated to Art with a Heart and The Black Cherry Puppet Theater. Baltimore is DEFINITELY the craftiest spot on the globe, so let's let 'em see that, huh? Kids & families welcome. So, bring some work in progress, a blanket, a picnic dinner, and get ready for some fun! Just look for the Etsy-orange balloons. Hope to see you then!
I'll be at the lawn flamingo (Hey it's Baltimore hon) craft table! Come by and make your own lawn flamingo to add to our flock!!

Inspiration Revealed - Strawberries

Take an everyday object like a strawberry and interpret it into something uniquely you. First I created the drawing which led to the pendant. And while trying to decide on a name for this pendant, I got a whole new idea. I'll post once I get it completed!

This posting has also inspired me to create a new Flickr group where everyone can reveal their own inspiration with the final art piece. Come join!

Art Inspiration Revealed

This group is for sharing what inspired one of your art creations. Please include either 2 pictures showing the inspiration and the final art piece, or a collage showing both your inspiration and your finished piece. Finished pieces or inspirations alone will be removed. Please title your pictures "Inspiration" and "revealed" or "inspiration revealed". You can easily make a collage/mosaic from your Flickr photos with bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php.

Be Inspired by the End of School's Artful Bounty

If you have kids in elementary school, you know that the end of the year means lots and lots of papers and artwork come home as the teachers clean out their classrooms. Since I don't have much time for blogging this week, I thought I'd put my proud parent hat on and show off one of Kyle's art pieces that he brought home. Hopefully Trey will bring some home to for me to share too.



Words this piece brings to mind:
hands
patterns
geometric shapes
bright color
bold
aboriginal
repetition

Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration

It's going to be a light blogging week. I have a really busy week. I'm finishing up some custom work, making teacher gifts and I have lots and lots of end of school activities to attend, as well as my niece's graduation party and of course Father's Day preparations. So I'll do my best to at least post some pics for you. Hopefully things will slow down a bit next week. If anyone is interested in doing a guest post, just let me know!

Here's today's inspiration: