sesame seed designs recycled cashmere!

These little caps are so sweet! I wish I had discovered them when Fyn was tiny. They would be a great for a baby gift. Hmm, two of my friends are pregnant right now... There are more fantastic recycled gifts here...

While I'm not a coffee drinker, I love this idea for my chai! I need to make a bigger purse, so I can fit it in there along with my nylon shopping sacks.

HeyMiemie cashmere flowers

The Christmas tree is going and I'm thinking of Valentine's Day already...
HeyMiemie makes these gorgeous buds along with all kinds of other wool felt flowers, hair clips and headbands. I've discovered a great headband goes a long way to make a bad hair day really good!

cashmere seahorses from snaulkter

What would life be like if the poppa gave birth and carried the babies like we mommas do?
Recycled cashmere makes it fabulous! Snaulkter has a whole family of seahorses on etsy.


Looks like we are going to have a fun weekend, so I'll be back with more cashmere finds next week!

tangente cashmere mittens

mmm, cashmere! So soft and warm. I love the simplicity of these mittens!

christmas decorations - handprint wreath and sentimental ornaments

My sister put this together and I love it's sentimental simplicity. It looks like the handprint is laminated, maybe using clear contact paper? My niece made it at preschool a few years ago. The wreath is not too big, but it looks larger in this photo.


When I was cleaning up one day, I found some old dog tags and decided to include them in our holiday decorations. All I did was add ribbon. It worked great for old keys too.


The zig zag garland is from my grandma. It's made of gum wrappers folded together and spray painted. I wish I knew how it was made so I could make more.


This is one of my favorite ornaments. It's made from scrap vinyl, sewn together with watercolor paper at the top. Eyelets hold it together and make great openings for the wire. Inside is a picture of T and me at the beach along with a few rocks from that day.

christmas decorating - recycled wool stockings

creative christmas adventures, chapter 2


The gifts were starting to pile up, and there were no stockings yet! So, the week before Christmas, I had one nap time left for crafting. I dashed into my studio and pulled out the pattern which I had seen at a friend's house when she was making her fabulous recycled wool stockings - she was kind enough to share.

It was hard to decide what to put in Fyn's stocking, but it seemed to come together at the last minute as Tommy (aka Santa) showed up a bit earlier than usual with some great recycled and handmade toys, procured locally, of course. The felted fruits, veggies and eggs were inspired by my friends, and a day of needlefelting earlier in the month. The fabric gifts bags were a big hit. I loved them because they are made of gorgeous recycled fabrics, and no tissue paper is needed. T loved how it was fast to wrap with them. Instead of gift tags, I wrote names on a second piece of grosgrain ribbon, that part was easy too. Our families loved them, and kept them for future reuse. I'm making more for next year!


While I thought the brown tree stocking was going to be mine, T loved it so much he wanted it. It reminds him of his favorite tree at the river. So, I'm the star here!

in celebration of three kings day

Tradition is to make a French lemony cake on Three Kings Day. I carefully slipped three almonds into the cake before baking. It came out like a cross between a biscotti and a cake, but tasted good. Everyone at our study group appreciated it. We looked at Steiner's seven seas, drawing our own, mine a metamorphosis of Jupiter and Venus. We listened to fairy tales about the seven ravens as well as the fox and the goats. It was a cloudy, slightly snowy day followed by an icy night. The wind whipped Lake Michigan into a froth and the waves crashed on the shore.

Wednesday is the actual day, but our schedules allowed us to celebrate early this year!
What are your traditions?

favorite christmas memories

snowshoes for christmas!

It was a gorgeous day today, sunny and snowy.

svelte handbags for christmas

christmas baking - gingerbread cookies!

The twelve days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and extend until Three Kings Day, or Epiphany. It seemed the perfect way for me to complete all my holiday plans, with family here to help. We baked gingerbread cookies, rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes.


Here are a few of the men that survived with heads. Fyn liked eating the heads off as soon as they hit the cookie sheet... The recipe is from a friend, who found it in Martha Stewart. I tried to find a link for you but there are thousands there! So I wrote it out below...

While we were making the frosting for the three kings cake today, I spread a little on a cookie, which made it feel like dancing!

Crisp Gingerbread Cookies
6c sifted all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2t baking powder
1c (2 sticks) unsalted butter (I used Willow Run soy margarine to be dairy-free)
1c dark brown sugar, packed
4t ground ginger
4t ground cinnamon
1 1/2t ground cloves
1 1/2t salt
1t finely ground pepper - yes, that's right, black pepper! it's the gingery "snap" you'll taste.
2 large eggs
1 c unsulfured molasses

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In bowl of electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices, salt and pepper, then eggs and molasses. Add in flour mixture on low speed. Divide into thirds; wrap in wax paper or plastic. Chill at least one hour.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll out the dough 1/8" thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to baking sheets (silpat mats were recommended, but my cookie sheets were ungreased and it worked out fine). Refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes (skipped this step...) Bake 8-10 minutes or until crisp but not darkened. Cool on wire racks and decorate.

If you want an easy solution to decorating, you can sprinkle sugar on before baking. Mine were unfrosted and that seemed to be good for a little guy. Martha recommends royal icing, but I don't have time or energy for that!

not a creature was stirring...

it's quiet in my studio for the next couple of weeks. so I'll be enjoying a little vacation with my family. I hope you'll do the same!

custom purse fabrics for may

Here's how it works:
May showed me her current purse, and mentioned that it could be a touch bigger. I showed her a style called "day traveler" and we determined that the size is good. It has a long strap that you can wear across your body and it's adjustable. Her choice of color was orange.

Here's what I found that might work:

green and brown with orange medallions

orange tweed and green floral


tan and brown with brown damask floral

dotty pocket with orange plaid floral

Maybe you know her, and think one of these looks just right. Feel free to leave it in the comments. We'll see what she chooses.

custom recycled wool jacket for Evan

It started out as a fleece hoodie and a few felted wool sweaters...

merry christmas!

tell the special story

A long time ago, in a land far away, there lived a man named Joseph and a woman named Mary. They loved each other very much. One day they left on a journey with their donkey. They traveled up and down and all around. Mary told Joseph it was time to stop, so they found a place to stay. They had a baby boy and named him Jesus. An angel sang when the baby was born "Hallelujah, hallelujah, a son is born". Shepherds were out in the fields nearby, and when they heard the angel, they went to find the baby. There was also a star in the sky, and the magi saw it and started their journey. They traveled up and down and all around. They brought the baby very special gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. He was a very special baby.

Fyn loves to hear the advent story, simplified for a two year old's attention span. He holds the baby and puts it out at the right time, and holds the angel for the singing. Somehow, in his ears, it sounds like "collie-lola". I love that!

Enjoy your family, the special traditions and the love that's all around!

light over the water

Lake Michigan in the winter. Still amazing, and incredibly inspiring!

happy new year from funny face fyn!

So this is what Fyn and his papa have been doing lately...
Seems like I'm going to be developing my somewhat latent sense of humor whether I want to or not...

sun at the river

it's snowing, but the sun is peeking through.

custom knitting bag for Lynda

Something red, that was Lynda's only request for this knitting tote and clutch set. I found a coordinating fabric in a brown colorway in my stash and added a little green inside. Amy Butler's wood fern makes the pocket new and modern. Of course, there are plenty of pockets inside. Maybe you noticed by now that I LOVE LOVE LOVE pockets! Large and small, inside and outside, vinyl and zippered!


Here's what it looks like inside the bag (above).


Even the clutch has pockets!