Gather Here: Don't mind if I do

In honor of Random Acts of Kindness week I thought I'd share this quick story.  Not long ago I got an envelope in the mail from Gather Here- a super wicked crazy adorable sewing store & craft studio in Inman Square.  Inside there was a gift card for $25- awesome!- but it didn't say who it was from.  

"Hmmmmm, I wonder who this is from", I thought naturally. 

I asked Jeremy, called Liz, yelled down to Olivia, emailed my Sister, e-buggled Kristen and it wasn't from any of them.  That's when I had to seriously sit down and take inventory of my friends that a) are crafty and b) would have my address on hand and that's when it hit me, "ooooooh, it was AMY!"

It was so wonderful to get a random gift in the mail and the fact that it came unsigned turned it into an impromto treasure hunt which was awesome.  I made it over to Gather Here just the other day and here are the fabrics I came home with: 

I'm told they lovingly refer to the green fabric as the "q-tip fabric"....oh ya, I see it now.

  <3 thanks Amy Beth!! <3

The Owls Are Not What They Seem

If you're a Twin Peaks fan you'll love this.  My friend Amy made it.  Such a clever girl.

We did it! We did it!!

 

                                                                                    painting (c) Scott Murry

Last night was a SMASH success!!!  We packed the Cantina Mexicana to the rafters, sold some art,  killed some tacos and even enjoyed some jalapeno margaritas (Marga-penos?)!  All in all, it was an amazing night!  Thanks to everyone who braved the rain and came out to celebrate our nation's greatest food holiday. 

The tacos will be hanging at the Cantina through Sunday, Oct. 9th.  Go check 'em out!

National Deviled Egg Day is November 2nd....start the countdown!

photo credit BazBiz

UPDATE!: Bazaar Bizarre has some pictures and nice words about the event on their website!  Thanks BazBiz!

Wedding Wednesday: Penny Pendants

Amy & I made these adorable penny pendant necklaces as gifts for my bridesmaids.  I found the tutorial on one of my favorite craft blogs:JustSomethingIMade.  You can find the tutorial with great pictures and super easy to follow directions on her site.  Here's the super dumbed-down version:

Cathe says to use decals for the necklaces but as I have not acheived the level of craftyhood she has, I didn't have vintage decals lying around my house.  I do however have a solid collection of old calendars, scrap paper and wrapping paper.  Amy was nice enough to go through my scrap paper (above) and meticulously cut out tiny flowers and adorable designs (thanks Amy!) to put on the necklaces while I drilled holes in the pennies (below). 

We found that the softer the paper was, the easier it adhered to the penny.  Stiff paper tended to stay stiff and wouldn't lay down properly.  Tissue paper worked the best and had a transparent quality that allowed a lot of the penny to show through which I really liked.  After selecting our design, we laid the paper on the penny, covered them with magic powder stuff (Cathe explains all of this in the tutorial) and popped 'em in the oven.  Note- she used a toaster oven, I don't have one of those so I used my oven on a setting of 325 degrees for about 6 minutes.

And when they came out, they were necklaces!

Ok, maybe not exactly but with a couple of O rings and some adorable charms bought on Etsy (where else?) we were all set.  And my bridesmaids loved them! 

Have a great Wednesday!

Amy Made a Freak Out

OMG!  Amy made a new treasury and it made it to the FRONT PAGE** of Etsy!

**If you're not a Treasury maker or Etsy user this information might not be that special to you.

In that case please use this alternate exclamation:

"OMG! Look at this great Halloween themed treasury Amy made!"