Fall Yarn Wreath

   This Saturday I'll be sharing a booth with one of my best pals at the Cohill Festival. I've been using any spare time I've had to craft some lovliness to sell. This weekend I started on a yarn wreath, went through a period of feeling uninspired, then saw that wreath I shared yesterday, became inspired, and finished my yarn wreath.

Here it is....

It started out as this....

It's much prettier now.

So do you like it? Is it Autumnal enough?

My First Indie Market

    Well friends, I did it. My first Indie market is over. 

   I had business cards and everything. Pretty official...thanks to my sweet dad.

   I spent the first hour thinking about how much I wanted to go home where I'd be safe from the terrible wind, but it got better. There was an odd lady wondering around downtown and I suppose she felt sorry for me because my stuff was blowing around and off my table. She found me some strange metal display "things" in a nearby dumpster and brought them to me to hold my stuff down. It was a very sweet gesture and I genuinely thanked her for her thoughtfulness. I used them for a very brief amount of time.

   Did I mention it was also freezing?

   I sold some earrings and wreaths. Enough to cover the cost of the booth, make a little profit, and draw me back there next month.

   It's so nice to be home and WARM and I'm excited to have one market under my belt. 

Spring has {finally} made it to our front door

   It's been a rough Monday. It started out super cold and gloomy and then, as my kindergartners were eating breakfast, it began SNOWING. This is what I hate about Spring. Teasingly warm one day and frigid the next. Then my kids were just off today. Perhaps it was the weather or maybe the massive amount of sugar in their breakfast this morning. I don't know. Finally, once I got home I began working on school stuff for a few hours until I could take no more. I'm learning that sometimes I just have to put my work down and enjoy life a little. I enjoy crafting. So I saved all the report cards and Personal Education Plans I was toiling over, set down my laptop, and had some fun.

I've been infatuated by these ever since I laid eyes upon them Friday.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but....we've had our Valentine's wreath on our apartment door until today. I couldn't take it anymore.

My flowers are a bit different from the inspirations flowers. 

Now, instead of a lone heart, we have spring flowers to greet us each day.

The last of my wreaths for now

   In the Winter I HATE rain. There's nothing more horribly miserable than cold wet feet is there? But it's warm now, and though I am disappointed I couldn't celebrate this 80degree day with a run, the rain outside isn't annoying me like it does during the winter. I'm actually really enjoying the sound of it. So soothing. It definitely caused me to go to sleep on the couch for a little while. Why is the couch so much more appealing than bed for afternoons naps?
   So, in preparation for the upcoming Indie Market, I've been making lots of lovely wreaths. I finished my last one today. It's purdy.

Why have I never used buttons on a wreath before?

Here it is. My couch makes a special background....One rain drawback, no outside pictures.

I know, another wreath...but it's for a very good reason

   Yesterday I came home from school and instantly sat down to make another wreath. By this point you might think I'd be burnt out on making wreaths and that every room in our apartment already has at least one hanging on it. I've said a couple of times that I'm hoping to get accepted to sell my jewelry and wreaths at a local indie market. Though unsure of whether I'd be accepted, I've been crankin' out the earrings and wreaths. Well, I can now do it with enthusiasm and a sense of urgency because I was accepted to sell. Yay! I now have less than two weeks so I'm just pluggin' away. Very happy to have a good reason for all this crafting.
  So, here's the wreath I made yesterday.

   I haven't used this yarn on a wreath before and I love it. So bright and cheerful.

   I'm currently working on one more wreath (I'll definitely share it of course) and then I believe I'll be done with them. I might make a few more earrings and maybe one or two more necklaces. I'm just so excited to get to participate! 

My Favorite Wreath Yet?

   It has been *such* a beautiful Saturday. Close to 80 degrees, sunny, and filled with the signs of Spring. I went on two glorious walks today, we enjoyed just having the screen on our sliding glass door open, and I even laid beside the pool for a bit. I feel like every winter, just when I think I can take the cold NO LONGER, God sends us Spring. He's so good to us :o)
   I know I've already posted once today, but we were about to go to the gym and Brandon fell asleep so I'm now just waiting for him to wake up. I finished a yarn wreath today that I started on last weekend and I figured I'd use these few minutes to share it. I really do think it just might be my favorite yet.

  Up 'til now I feel like most of my wreaths have been very simple, which is odd because I'm not a big fan of simple. I think that's why this wreath makes me so delighted. It has lots of different elements and just looks special and happy.

   Are y'all as fond of it as I am?

Wreaths With Lots of Yarn and Ribbon

  I just woke up from like a 2...or maybe 3 hour nap. I guess I'm catching up from this week. At least that sounds like a better reason than saying I'm lazy and just wanna sleep the day away. I had a terrible dream that my front four teeth fell out while making blueberry cobbler. Very weird and more like a nightmare. Before I fell asleep, I finished a wreath I started on last night and decorated another one. So since last night I've made three wreaths.  Do you like them?

Picture Frame Turned Wreath

  What a beautiful Sunday. It's been a sunny 70 degree day. The perfect kinda day for a walk with my parents, which I enjoyed so very much :o)
  I don't know why, but I've been feeling especially crafty this weekend. Maybe it's because I've been so slack and uncreative the past couple of weeks. I wanted to make some more earrings today, but I need to visit the crafts store first so I decided today was a good wreath day.

  I went to the dollar store yeterday in hopes of getting some foam and whicker wreaths. They had none. I've had this oval picture frame I got at Goodwill (it came with a terribly ugly picture in it) for way too long and I figured it would make a pretty little wreath.

   Thank goodness I stocked up on yearn yesterday. Wrapping yarn wreaths always tries my patience. 

   All finished. I made a felt rose as well as a layered flower out of some scrapbook paper I got on clearance. 

   I like how it turned out. It's springy and very girly. I like very girly. Perhaps I'll try to sell it...or just add it to my collection :o)

Wreaths on Saturday

   I have much to do this Saturday, but I really don't feel like doing any of it. I should go to the gym, clean the apartment, work on school stuff, go to the grocery store...but all I really wanna do is lay around in the sunshine that's coming through our windows. My parents are coming over tonight for supper and I'll be making this. It's gonna be tasty. That's a big reason I need to clean the apartment. My mom and dad should not come over as guests and be subjected to my sometimes, slob-like ways. My biggest task is to clean out "Anna's junk corner" as Brandon calls it. It's really just the corner of our office area filled with things like my coats that never made it to the closet, a Christmas gift still in the box, all my Valentine's gifts, craft projects, a paper bag filled with unopened mail, and that kinda thing. Nothing abnormal about that right? Hmmmm the procrastinator in me says to put that task off as long as possible. Good idea :o)
   Remember that Indie market I made all that jewelry to sell at back in December and then didn't get to do it? Well, I'm hoping to have a booth at the one in April. This time I plan to sell jewelry I've made as well as wreaths. I worked on a couple of wreaths this morning.

  Do ya like 'em? I've made a ribbon wreath before but never a wreath like the dictionary page sunbursts one. It's a nice relaxing hobby. Way more relaxing than cleaning...

Focus and Zoom

   Today has been a pretty lazy day. I've been some what productive, but not terribly, and it's been great. We have tomorrow off of school for MLK Jr. day, a three day week, and then a work day. What am I going to do when our schedule is all back to normal?
   Friday night I did something very exciting, I got a new camera! My old one was a lovely purple and it served its purpose very well for a few years, but in the past few months my poor purple camera has slowly lost its ability to zoom or focus. The latter being pretty dang important. So I took some gift cards and Christmas money to best buy and got a wonderful, zooming, focusing camera. I finally got a memory card for it today so I could actually use it and I've been thoroughly enjoying my new friend.
   So after taking pictures of every object in our apartment, I decided to put it to good use and photograph a craft. I know you've seen one of these wreaths already, BUT this wreath has different colored ribbons AND the pictures are taken with my new camera.

   The last picture is a good indicator that there will be more wreaths like this in the future. What is up with this dollar store ribbon obsession I seem to have?