Maine

Last week we had a great little ski trip in Maine to celebrate Rob (the boyfriend)'s birthday. A night in Portland, with a tour of the Allegash brewery, a day of skiing at Sunday River, and another day at Sugarloaf! We are so spoiled. We thought this would close out the ski season for us, but there is so much snow up there, we're thinking about another trip. While everyone I know is getting excited about Spring, I'm sticking firmly to Winter.

Another reason to head back up to Maine next month? To see how this lady fares in the warmer weather.

You are looking at the world's tallest snow woman in Bethel, Maine. I thought it was pretty cool, but the thing practically hypnotized Rob. "Would you LOOK at that," was all he could utter as he almost drove off the road every time we passed it.

In honor of the fun we had in Maine, here is the work of a wonderful Maine artist, Shannon Rankin. Her collages can be seen and purchased in her Etsy shop selflesh.

inspiration

To follow up on my post from yesterday- signed off and ran to the studio, full of inspiration to create my own fantastical butterfly...and here it is. It is big and strange, and I love it. I had so much fun making it, and fun is just what I needed in the studio. Sometimes the feelings of playfulness disappear when your hobby is your job, but the creation of this piece was all play, and has me energized! It has no name yet, please let me know if you have any ideas.
It is listed for sale in my Etsy shop, but I just might decide to keep it for myself!

I love LittleRobot

I am so in love with my latest Etsy Purchase. I had been drooling over LittleRobot's work for ages, and finally broke down and bought these two prints. I have no idea why I waited so long to buy them. It is so weird how many things I have in my favorites that are not very expensive, that I need to have, but I resist. I think it is time for an Etsy shopping spree...but first I have to get these framed.

Aren't they beautiful? Oh yes they are! And the print quality is so amazing that they really need to be seen in person. The artist mixes old woodcuts with her original illustration to create these fantastical creatures. Check out more of her work here. They have me thinking about creating a fantasy butterfly. Maybe a morpho/monarch hybrid? I'm suddenly very excited to get into the studio. I guess I should be shopping more often, if I'm finding this kind of inspiration!

earrings

Yeah! The earrings are finally finished. They are part of a wholesale order flying out this week to The Butterfly Farm in Aruba . I highly recommend a visit there if you are ever lucky enough to vacation in Aruba.

I am feeling inspired today, thanks to Design for Mankind's awesome e-zine. It is absolutely beautiful, I just can't stop looking at it and looking at the world with fresh eyes.

crochet

A few weeks ago while we were skiing at Hunter Mountain, NY, I was distracted from the laborious task of putting my boots on by a strange little library. The local library uses the base lodge at the mountain as a fund-raising used book shop. I love libraries so much, so I enjoyed a few minutes browsing, and was so excited to find an old Better Homes and Gardens crochet book for just one dollar. The book contains some great and some really bad patterns, but I was most struck by the lace crochet patterns.

My grandmother and her sisters did this type of crochet, and I always thought they were nuts. It just looked sooo much work. I enjoy the process of crochet, but I also really like to see some progress and that tiny hook did not look like it was going to get anywhere fast. Well, in a moment of insanity, I decided to try one of the patterns for a lace doily. I'm actually enjoying it so far.

It is so amazing to me that this 1000 yard (!) piece of string can be knotted over and over again to create such an interesting pattern. Sometimes I have this crazy urge to tear it out, just to see it be string again, a different tangle of knots. Believe me, it's not an urge I will cave to. I'm hours and hours into it, and have a bunch more to go. I'll post photos again when it's finished, hopefully before Mother's Day.

today

I've been so inspired by all the great bloggers posting in the etsy forums, so here I am-a brand new blog! I really don't know what this will shape into, but for today, I'll show you today.

Lovely wings, all ready to be made into earrings for a wholesale order.

Set in glass, foiled, and ready for soldering. If i can get back to work tonight, I'll post the finished earrings.

And my great joy today! Look at the big holes. This ten-grain loaf gets me even closer to my goal of baking the perfect loaf of bread. Yes, we ate almost the whole loaf today.