Felix's Travels

Hi! It's been a while. I thought I would share some pictures that were sent to me from Felix the Fox's new home in Australia! So exciting!

I'm so happy that Felix has such a great new home. What a lucky fox! ^_^

Bawk Bawk, Chicken Lovers!

Well here is the big backyard surprise I mentioned in my last post...we got chickens! Three of them, actually: Gertrude, Francis Pistachio, and Muffin the Cheep Cheep. They are cute little weirdos and we rescued them from a place that was not keeping their animals very well. They have a much better life now, but we are having to treat them for some problems. =( People can really be awful.

Check out Muffin, cheeping for me to pick her up:

We think she looks like a giant little peep with feathers. ^_^

I hope everyone is enjoying their outdoor spaces, be it your backyard, a park, or balcony.

Oh! And don't forget to follow me over on Instagram! I've been selling a few things over there, plus you'll get to see snapshots of our family's life and you even might get some more chicken videos. Later!

Shop News from Annaliese's Emporium and Life Stuff from Annaliese!

Hey there!

I have a bunch of fun stuff going on with my shop right now! I have been adding new items, one of which are bow tie pasta hair bows, which are buy three get the fourth one free. You pick the color and I'll make 'em for you!

These are great for party favors! I'm actually going to be making some for Miss G's birthday party, which is coming up in the next couple of weeks!

How are my kids getting so old?? Eek! 

Here is a sneak peek at the new dolls that will be in my shop soon! If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen these:

I love their cute little faces!

They will be in the shop very sooooonnnn!!!

I've been making a few fun Etsy treasuries you might check out, too.

And our family has been really working hard on our yards and garden, and spending as much time outside as possible in this nice spring weather. We have lots of little green sprouts coming up in our starter trays and containers inside and they should be ready to plant outside soon! We're also building a hugelkultur garden and we planted two apple trees! I'm hoping for a mini food forest at our house someday. ^_^

Not a burial mound. A hugel!

Even though we are in the middle of a city, I'm trying to make our backyard a bit of a lush oasis. The privacy fence helps. :) We should soon have some exciting news about our outdoor adventures! 

Lots of fun stuff going on around here. I hope everyone is getting some warmer weather, too!

What's Going On

Hey there. It's been pretty busy over here! Not only have I been working away on shop stuff, but we also have had some major home repairs and projects (hooray for tearing out ceilings of lathe and plaster!...not) and having family time of course. :)

My husband was on tv to play a couple of his new songs and I got to hang out at the station with him. Television stations are very interesting and it was a neat experience. 

I have also worked on some new art pieces and started a new line of hair accessories and brooches! 

"The Master & Margarita" inspired self-portrait.

A few of my new hair clips or brooches...I can turn them into either one!

Husband soundchecking at the tv station.

Me checking out the studio.

Look at us, we're news anchors!
(No, I'm not really that tall. My chair was high and his was low.)

Views around my workshop.

More sights around my workshop.

And for my international homies:

Hear ye, hear ye!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Work In Progress: the forever blanket

About a year and a half ago, I started making granny squares and fell in love with a cool little trick that made a granny square with a big fat polka dot in the middle.  "Make a blanket for the couch," I thought to myself; "I'll never get sick of yellow & grey," I thought.

"How long could it *POSSIBLY* take?!"

I took this picture today when I found the bag containing this half-assembled hot mess.  I'm 5 squares short and even shorter on the patience required to stitch all of these squares together, obviously.

I've decided to just go ahead and finish the darn thing up already.  I'll make the remaining squares tonight and start the incredibly boring task of stitching it all up tomorrow.  I need the motivation to complete it because I just found a really cute idea for matching pixel art blankets to make for my nephews this year (but that's another work in progress post for another day).

What are YOU working on?

How's It Going?

Holiday preparations underway? Pretty busy? I hear ya. Yesterday I finished up Miss S and Miss G's Christmas presents (finally!) and I'm still working on a few more presents. Not to mention, the day after tomorrow we are having another feast - our annual Sweet Swap (Now with Bonus Potluck-Style Feast)! People bring enough of a homemade treat to share and at the end of the night everyone goes home with an array of sweets. You might have guessed we were having another feast if you've been following along at All Tomorrow's (Dinner) Parties!

In the last week we had Husband's graduation from university (that means a big party), kids' holiday and end of semester school events, holiday preparation, and we all had fun making and decorating cookies. If you haven't seen this, it's worth a look...we had a bunch of fun doing this to our cookies! So gorgeous and fun. Awesome Cookie Decorating Method from The Kitchn. Yes, it's as excellent as it looks.

We used my mom's simple icing recipe for the base and then colored icing for the embellishments.

Annaliese's Mom's Icing Recipe (Ready? It's Complicated)

1. Pour some powdered sugar in a bowl.
2. Add some drops of vanilla extract.
3. Add a little milk.
4. Mix until it's icing.
    4a. Too runny? Add a little more powdered sugar until it's right.
    4b. Too dry? Add a little more milk til it's right.
    4c. Too un-vanilla-y? Add a few more drops of vanilla.
5. Voila! Add food coloring, if you so choose.

I learned this recipe when I was, oh I don't know, three years old maybe. It's actually really good, and the factor of ease makes it quite delightful. I like the way it hardens on the cookie and everything looks smooth and beautiful.

The girls' main presents are a fox doll and a cat doll. They both have been asking for these for months and it's been difficult to keep it a surprise, but there's only less than a week to go now! Yay! Here are (Yet Unnamed) the Cat and Carrot the Fox, with masks, jackets, bows, and purses:

What do you think? Husband thinks the kids are going to flip out when they see them. I can't wait! ^_^

Work In Progress: The Startover Scarf

Backstory:  I started making this scarf for someone I've never met.  It's a friend of a friend that has been going through a lot of challenges lately and basically has to start from scratch.  He somehow ended up here, in Chicago, right before winter hits without even a winter coat.  As my friend was finishing his story about this person, I picked up my knitting needles and started this scarf.  

I named this piece "The Startover Scarf" because it's a part of someone's new beginning.  Little did I know that it would take on a life of it's own and live up to its name before all is said and done...

...this is the 3rd time I've pulled apart and restarted this scarf.

(startover, indeed)

I'm using super bulky wool and size 17 needles (yeah baby).  How long will it be?  Until the yarn runs out.  :)

I have a picture in my head of a double or triple wrap scarf that connects with 2 big wood buttons.

Manly and adorable all at the same time, plus it's wool so it will be nice and warm for the winter.

I'm at the halfway point right now... time to finish up, add the buttons and send it off to its new owner!

What are YOU working on right now?

Even craftgirls get the blues...

I learned something about myself today...

I have this "thing" where I set certain standards for myself and if they are not met, I tend to punish myself.  I was supposed to vend at an open house and it was going to be an intimate event at one of my friends' homes.  My friend makes GORGEOUS candles.  GORGEOUS, I tell ya.  She's also a Reiki Master Practitioner so she has a line of reiki-infused chakra candles that I just HAD TO GET MY HANDS ON.  Another vendor is pretty established in the area for her bath & body products.  You name it, she makes it.  There were also jewelry makers and what not attending as well.

You know what I make?

candles, bath & body stuff,  knit & crochet accessories, hair accessories.  and I paint. and I woodburn.  pretty much any and all crafts I can get my hands on.

You know how much I sold?

nothing.  I never even took my inventory out of the case for people to see

and I'll tell you why....

First off, I wasn't prepared with enough inventory and that pissed me right off.  I had MAYBE 10 things total ready for sale, almost all of them knit earwarmers.  I haven't been making things as fast as I usually do.  I haven't had the time or made the time.  I'll spare you my long and distinguished list of excuses.

I've been in a bit of a creative slump lately.  You can always tell when I'm tired and creatively blocked because stuff starts to pile up in my house.  Boxes of things are arranged neatly in the open spaces of my living room & kitchen floor so that they are almost ready to be tripped over.  Jars and containers I need to consolidate are arranged neatly on the kitchen floor as they anxiously await the scrubs, lotions & potions I will eventually fill them with for holiday gift sets.  The 2 reusable shopping bags I used to clean out all the "essential" items out of my old car that I have yet to put into my new car (because honestly, if I have a new, reliable car... do I really need my grandfather's jumper cables that are older than me?)

Creative ideas are trapped inside my head with no way out 

and eventually... 

I, too, will be trapped inside my apartment 

with no clear pathway out.

Second, I was late to arrive at the open house.  This was mostly out of my control, I took my car in to get a remote start.  Yes, I made the appointment for today when I knew I had plans but I took the car in at 830 this morning fercripessake.  I didn't think I would have an issue getting to an event at 6pm.

So this is what I do.  When I am not mentally or physically prepared for something, I clam right the heck up and put myself in time out.  No vending your few crafts at THIS event, young lady.  Get it together and maybe next time.  I did manage to reward myself with shopping while I was in my self-imposed time out though.  A set of chakra candles and an extra throat chakra candle made its way into my possession before the night was over as did a small bottle of olive oil lotion.

The good news is, I started feeling little flashes of energy and inspiration while I was there.  I get around artists and crafters and I always feel like I'm home... Comfortable to talk to everyone I meet or observe quietly from behind a camera.

and just like that, I have a new project I'm working on.  Something completely unrelated to anything I saw at the open house or anything I've done before and I must say I'm excited to get it just right before I am ready to offer it up to the world... and not a second sooner.  No more timeouts.

On minimalism and holiday giving.

I'm still working on my closet folks. 

Purging. Is. Hard. 

It's not really getting rid of stuff that's hard, it's the fear of getting rid of too much. However will I survive if I get rid of too many shirts? (Duh, I'll wash the ones I have). 

We are surrounded by this fear of not having enough things to get by. Or not having enough space. Or going without things that are considered a societal norm. 

When our third son was born we kept hearing that it was minivan time. Sure a minivan might make car trips a little easier or more comfortable but 10 months later we are still making the Civic work. 

We haven't hooked up our dryer since we moved, because I don't consider it necessary. Sure, most of the population considers it a need but I'm happy with some good ol' sunshine. (Yep, even in November).

My point here is not that minivans or dryers are bad, because they aren't! My point is that it's okay to think outside the box when it it comes to weighing "needs". I've decided that I don't need 10 long sleeve t-shirts, a dryer, or a minivan ( I'm pretty psyched to rock out a station wagon when we do decide to upgrade).

When it comes time for holiday gifting my husband and I of course put a lot of thought and effort into making it special for our boys, and in years past we've worried that maybe they wouldn't have enough presents to open under the tree. But where is that line between not enough and enough, who draws that line? 

Maybe you've heard of the " want, need, wear, read" movement when it comes to gifting? If you haven't it's quite simple. You give one gift from each category per person. We've adopted this in our family and it suits us. Each boy this year will get a pair of cozy winter pajamas for the "wear" category. For "read" a special book, I haven't picked them for sure yet but I'm leaning towards some lovely winter stories. "Want" is a work in progress, and "need", well need can be a tough one. As parents we tend to provide anything our children need right away. I've found the best way to think about "need" is to consider what they may need for the winter season. This year I'm knitting them each a hat and mitten set, something they will definitely need for the Wisconsin winter but it will be special since it's mama-made. 

The other nice side effect of this little gifting motto is that we are not stretching our budget to buy a lot of quantity. Quantity inevitably ends up crumpled in a corner or shoved under a bed and that's just no fun for anybody. Since we aren't stressed about getting lots of gifts for our kids we can focus on getting quality gifts for them. 

That's a comment I hear often, the desire to buy quality items but not necessarily be able to afford them. We can't spend gobs of money either but by limiting the amount we purchase we can buy better quality items. Side note: this desire can also be used as motivation to learn a new craft or skill. 

So as we enter the season of gifting take some time to reflect on the true needs in your life. Consider where you feel comfortable drawing the line on enough. Really contemplate what gifts will be meaningful to give to your loved ones. Make a plan to buy quality over quantity, and perhaps make some gifts yourself (if you don't have the time to learn a new craft then choose to support a local crafter). 

And remember, it's about time with loved ones not stuff anyways :)