For those of you who may not have yet heard, STRANGE FOLK FESTIVAL IS THIS WEEKEND! Come and see us just across the river in O’Fallon, IL from 10-6 Saturday and Sunday September 25 & 26. The Foundrie will be sharing a tent with our favorite boothmate for life, Elizabeth of Just Liv and we will be selling our wares along with over 100 other amazing vendors. Get all the info at the Strange Folk website and we will see you there!
Just wanted to post the official call for artists/crafters/vendors for the 2010 season. Applications are coming in already and I am so excited about the artists and their work. I know this season is going to be even more incredible than the last and I cannot wait to set up shop!
Just returned home from our mini vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks. It was so different this year since Stella has grown up so much. She was a big fan of swimming and we spent a lot of time at the pool. Of course we were all soaked in spf 50 suncreen so we didn’t fry like bacon. I had my sunburn for the season a few weeks back and I did not intend to repeat that experience. We also ventured to Bridal Cave which Stella is now calling Bat Cave since we did catch a glimpse of several furry little bat friends snoozing in the cool, dark dwelling. Stella made fast friends with our tour guide and was calling her by name throughout the tour. “Mary, what is this? Mary, what is that?” It was so cute that she remembered her name. Matt and I had let it slip in one ear and out the other. Stels also called our waitress by name at dinner when neither Matt or I had bothered to remember her name. We are hoping she keeps up this polite habit as clearly she doesn’t get it from her mommy or daddy.
And of course a trip to the lake isn’t complete with some shopping at the always classy outlet mall. I did manage to snag a couple sweet embellished tanks from the J. Crew factory store and a darling yellow leaf print tote bag from the BCBG outlet. So all in all it was a successful and super fun vacation.
Now back home and gearing up for Lou Fest this weekend as well as working on securing our location for The Foundrie 2010. I am super excited about the possibilities so I will keep you all posted on the progress. Also picked up a few furniture/display pieces for the shop that are awesome and I will be updating the vendor applications soon. Hoping to have the apps live by mid September so stay tuned…
Another week has flown by and I am starting to wonder where the time is going. The highlights of the week included: dinner at BARcelona with Nicole, Brie & Sarah, lunch dates with Rachel & baby and the ladies, playdate with Claire & Lydia & Jeana, chocolate chip cookies, working at Arhaus on Wednesday, delicious belated birthday cake from the amazing Kathlean, and a hot sticky Saturday at Soulard Market Craft Fair.
Actually that last one was kind of a low point. I shared my booth with the lovely Melissa of Villa Design which was great. I love her jewelry and our displays looked so cute together. But the heat was really ridiculous. The heat index was well over 100 degrees and we basically sat in the tent rubbing ice cubes on our arms and legs and praying for the day to end quickly. I was super low on inventory and the heat kept the shoppers at home in the ac. So I sold nothing. Nada. Zip. All day. Then I had to work a shift at MADE which I normally love, but it meant I had to miss a bbq/pool party over at Sam & Erics which totally bummed me out. I haven’t seen any of those guys in ages and a dip in the pool and an ice cold beer would have cured my heat exhaustion. But it wasn’t meant to be.
So I worked at the studio instead and cranked out some more of the paper garland pictured above for The Foundrie. I only need to make about 200 more and I will be set. I think they will look great hanging in the window as long as I can make enough to make an impact. They are a bit time consuming but also fun to make. I think I am going to use some larger circle punches for the next batch so they take up more space and go a little quicker.
Today has been a rainy day at home cleaning and preparing for next week. My brother and his family are coming in from Atlanta and I am so, so excited to see them. It has been waaaaay too long and I cannot wait to meet my sweet little niece and see how big Salter has gotten. And of course catch up with Tim & Shannon over a few cold drinks. Looking forward to it for sure! I will be sure to take lots of pics of the cousins in action for a blog post next week. Hope everyone has a lovely week ahead.
The past few days have been super busy with lots of events going on. Which is a good thing because I got the news on Friday that we were wait listed for the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair. Total bummer but I have been too busy to dwell on it. There is still a chance we will make it in, so fingers crossed for that. In other news, I finally got to meet my friend Rachel’s new baby boy, Gabriel Levi. He is adorable and I can tell how happy she and her husband are about their new addition to the family.
Later that evening, I met up with my friend Stephanie for dinner at The Fountain on Locust followed by a show at The Firebird with the band Gold Motel. (Enough links there for you?) It was a super fun night. The hi-lights were as follows: dill pickle soup at dinner, ice cream in a pretzel cone for dessert (and no, I am not expecting baby #2.), cans of pbr at the show (see, told you so.), Stephanie borrowing my shades so she could look as awesome as the guys in the band, and meeting the singer/keyboardist Greta for the 3rd time and having her sign a cd for Stella. Gold Motel is her favorite band at the moment and she requests the cd pretty much every time we get in the car. Adorable. We ended the night having a beer on the porch with Kelly and Stephanie showed me the fab container gardening she has going on in her backyard. She gave me some tomato and tomatillo plants to add to our garden so a big thank you to her. Love you friend.
Friday was the Etsy Meetup at MADE Studios and it was our best event to date. We did 6 make and take craft stations and had lots of freebies, drinks, and snacks. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves and are all looking forward to our next make and take event which will be GagaCraft. It is going to be uh-mazing so be sure to put in on your calendar July 11th.
Saturday was Soulard Market Park Art and Craft Fair in which I shared a booth with Ms. Katie of Scarlett Garnet. We had a lovely space in the shade and it didn’t get super duper hot til around 1pm. We hung in there til the end of the market at 3pm by staying well hydrated with PBR. I did drink some water too. We made a few sales, talked a little business, and chatted the day away. A big thank you to Katie from PASTE for organizing the event.
So that brings us to today, which happens to be Father’s Day. My husband says it is a made up holiday and no reason to celebrate. I believe he says this just so he doesn’t have to make a big deal out of mother’s day either which works fine for me. But that being said, I do feel the need on this day to remind him what an amazing father he is. Seeing him with Stella brings me more joy and pride than I ever thought possible and I am so glad to have him in our lives. And to my father and matt’s father: thank you for being in our lives. You each raised us to be fairly responsible, well adjusted adults and you should be proud. And a happy father’s day to the other dads in my family. Ian, Tim and Julian. Keep up the good work! Hope everyone enjoys the day with the family! Speaking of which, I may wanna clean the house up a bit before dinner with my fam so I will wrap it up. I will try to post more frequently in the future so as to to have such a super long post. Oops.
The Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn 2010 was by far my most successful craft show to date. The weather was far from perfect and we lost the tent to the wind gusts towards the end of day 2. But the customers were hard core and continued to shop from our wind blown tent and tables. Once the rain arrived we had to concede since we no longer had a tent to keep our merchandise dry. My sister is the best booth mate a girl could ask for and we had a great time. Thank you Brooklyn and Renegade for another amazing show!
Once we put in a full 2 days of work it was time to spend some quality time with the littles. We ventured out to the Statue of Liberty on Monday which was a super treat for Stella. She experienced her first subway ride and she loved the ferry ride over to visit Ms. Liberty. Roxi packed a picnic lunch for us and we enjoyed the grounds and watching Stella and Cotton run around and burn off some energy. We had tickets to trek to the pedestal of the statue and we were weary of the toddlers making it up so many steps. But they did surprisingly well and the view was incredible. So worth it.
On Tuesday we made the drive out to Coney Island with Papa Sliger in tow. This was his first vacation since his fall last July and he was getting around as well as could be expected. It was nice to see him out of the house with his feet in the sand. We enjoyed Nathan’s hot dogs, The Wonder Wheel, and indulged the little ones in their first ever bag of cotton candy. Pure delight all around. Stella loved the ocean and the waves. She thought she could take off into the water and go for a swim. I had to drag her back to shore by her shirt. We collected sea shells and did our best to avoid the shards of glass in the sand. It is not a pristine beach but it is beautiful in it’s own way.
We arrvied home yesterday and Stella and I have been catching up on our zzz’s. It was an exhausting trip but so much fun. Wish we could visit with family more often but it it great to spend time whenever we can. Now Roxi and I are waiting to hear if we have been accepted to Renegade Chicago this September. We have our fingers and toes crossed!!
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