New Creations

We did a few shows this summer, but our favorite was the Great Lakes Folk Festival in East Lansing Michigan. We had a blast for the two days we were there and great people stopped by our tent.  It was wonderful to share with so many types of people our different pieces of arts and crafts we’ve been creating this year.

I’ve personally been focusing on embroideries with a few paper goods thrown into the mix. My eyes have been giving me some off and on troubles so whenever I can I like to do some detailed work in my embroideries.  All of my embroideries are freehand, which means I don’t use anyone’s patterns or apply any transfers to my fabrics.  Sometimes if it is a more detailed piece I’ll sketch a rough idea of what some shapes should look like beforehand. Generally I just let my needle and thread go with it.

What I love about doing everything freehand is that everything is bound to be one of a kind whether it’s because of the textures, shapes, and nearly always colors. (I have a terrible time keeping track of my colors since many of them are thrifted or bought from random places.  So far loosing track of the color number of my thread has only come back to bite me in the butt once and I have not been able to complete a project because of it.

Typically I work on a small scale of simple designs. I have even made a few patches out of my ultra tiny pieces. I’m in love with them and I can’t wait to make more (yey Skabootn’s). Lately though, I have been aching to work on a much larger scale. Maybe I’ll make a piece that is a few feet long and epic for a large empty space on someone’s wall. It’s hard to finalize all my ideas and get started on one!

I thought I’d share a few photos of some new pieces that we have done this summer. Some are in the shop and some aren’t but I was excited to share with everyone the types of things we have been interested in lately. 

We have an Instagram account now! Our user name is @mumre find us and follow us! You'll find a lot of our current projects on there before anywhere else! 

BACON! This was a challenging embroidery done on a recycled T-shirt sleeve with no stabilizer. I'm proud of the minimal amount of stretching. ;p

This bacon piece was done on some vintage scrap fabric and i had to put it in a vintage spring hoop. I love this piece, but it is still available in our shop to buy!

I'm still really into these vintage romance comic books. This piece is smaller in a 5 inch hoop. 

One of my tinier embroideries to date and my mom helped me make it into a iron-on / sew-on patch. Loved making this! I can't wait to make more. Any one want a custom patch? Just let us know on our Etsy site!

I had a chance to work on this wonderfully cute piece for a close college friend recently. This piece was embroidered onto a vintage piece of fabric and backed with yellow scrap of T-shirt in the back to kind of shine through the small holes in the fabric.  Since this was a special piece to work on I put this piece in one of my favorite wooden hoops. I've never had another one like it so far and it was marked princesses on the bottom so it seemed perfect. :)

I'd love to share more, but motherly duties are calling once again.  It's a miracle I've  been able to post this much today! Like I mentioned before, follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see what we are up to during the week.
Hope everyone had a fantastic summer. Now it's time for my favorite seasons of the year!

- Hannah

Red Flannel Festival

We just got done with an eventful weekend! Saturday we set up a booth at the Red Flannel Festival in Cedar Springs, Michigan. Boy, when they say red flannel, they mean it! Everyone was wearing red or flannel. We came prepared with multiple shirts on hand to wear and decorate with. 

This was our first experience indoors and was a nice change of pace. I'll be honest, I didn't miss packing and unpacking the bricks to prepare for some wind. We got a taste for a new kind of set up and were able to show off some new items that we've made! Rachel's gotten some made skills from her crocheting all the time. She's made some adorable infant winter hats, and super stylish cowls that I wanna snag and keep for myself! I've been working on more seasonal items like Christmas themed envelopes, cards and ornaments. 

First indoor display!

New bows and envelopes made from teen romance comic books. Saucy!

Infant sized winter hats. Our kids sport them and love to chew on the tassels.

Rachel's favorite color block scarf. Great color combinations!

Sweet drawings done by Rachel in vintage frames imported from Italy!

I crocheted this out of old telephone wire. I couldn't crochet anything for at least two weeks afterward! Thick stuff, but very cool. This type of wire is pretty hard to find for me. I'd love to get my hands on some more!

I love the tight stitching in this vibrant cowl!

Small crochet snowflakes. All uniquely made from a similar base pattern, but all different in their own way. I dip some of them in paint too!

Adorable bow barrettes for your hair!

Envelopes made from vintage "The LIFE Book of Christmas" books. 

Another cool thing we've decided to try out are some gift bundles of our handmade goods! Perfect for gift giving. We have a small bundle that will include items like a recycled crochet bowl, card with a original watercolor drawing (not a print), handmade themed envelope, recycled paper gift bow, and a hand crocheted snowflake ornament! Our larger bowls may include some crochet goods, or paper bead ornaments. We hope to have a variety of sizes up on Etsy within the week, and each bundle will vary slightly in colors and contents. Of course it's all in the process right now, but if you have an idea of a bundle you'd like from our shop make sure to let us know and we will hook you up!

- Hannah

Fall Is Here!

What a perfect mug for my tea in the morning! My sister found it for me. She's so awesome!

There are some wonderful fall happenings at in our home these days. My family loves this cooler weather. We have even been able to fire up our wood stove on some of the colder nights. I love the smells and snuggles that come along with fall.

Since the beginning of the season we’ve gotten to try some new fall flavors at our local ice cream shop, Joe’s Ice Cream Supreme.  I’m in love with their apple crisp flavor and I’m looking forward to having pumpkin spice next.

My sister and I got some hot chocolate and white chocolate mocha drinks at Joe's. We fell in love with the mustache stickers that came on the lids. I wanna go back and collect more!

Another tradition we have begun with the kiddos has been going to a pumpkin patch and picking our own pumpkins.  We went to Knollbrooke Farm this year and last. We really enjoy the atmosphere of the place. Plus it is super close.  Our favorite activities are the slingshots for tiny pumpkins, the large tricycle racetrack, and the corn maze.  Their pumpkin patch has great varieties to choose from. For some reason I always end up falling in love with the tall ones. I didn’t realize how large the pumpkin I picked was until I was carrying it to the wagon. The scale couldn’t even weigh it for us!

Our pretty picks from the pumpkin patch. One for each of us!

Fall also means a library books sale! I love to hit up this place and get some older books for a couple cents a piece. Last year old picked up some vintage children’s books. I love to have some easy read books right before bed like the Hardy Boys! I enjoy the different story telling style or some of the books back then. The plots are not too much to think about and easy enough to follow without getting stressed out before bed. Call me silly, but I’m always on the look out for more of them!

I found this small book at the book sale from 1958. It's called "A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You". The illustrations are so crisp and beautiful. 

Rachel and I are learning as we go with this business stuff, but it’s been a blast! She’s on fire with her crochet pieces! I’ll be having a booth up at a Fall Festival in North Webster full of all our stuff with a couple new seasonal items. It’s a very new festival, but it sounds like there is going to be a lot to do with the family. Come say hi if you’re around!

- Hannah

Art in the Park

Art in the Park was a success! Holland is a beautiful place to hangout with the family. Downtown is full of fun shops and a area with fountains for the children to play in. We were located in the middle of town at Centennial Park. Generally there was shade everywhere and people seemed to enjoy themselves despite the heat. 

These are some of Rachel's new creations.What a creative mind! Her irregular shaped gems are some of my favorites. The bleeding of the colors are so beautiful and make every piece so unique from one another. She also made a fun stuffed animal from a retired long sleeve shirt she had in college! The hand stitching and fun doodle patterns in the fabric add wonderful character to her creation.

This is a glimpse of one of the largest baskets we have now. I made it as part of the demonstration during the art festival. I enjoy making the handles on these larger baskets, plus it makes it even more functional.

My husband enjoyed walking around Holland and found a great sandwich shop that sold frozen yogurt at a great price. It came in a thick styrofoam container so he could get it to me in the heat without it melting quickly. love. 

We have fun.

These wonderful flowers were part of another vendor's display. At the end of the day when we were all packing up adorable kids came up to us handing out their flowers to everyone else who had a booth there. Such neat arrangements and an inspiring gesture. 

We are on our way to creating new inventory for the winter. Whenever Rachel and I are together we just explode with ideas of inspiration for each other. I have a feeling we will have some pretty awesome stuff in our shop on Etsy and at our booths for the winter festivals. Ornaments are my thing and I'm very excited to try some new techniques for the season.

-Hannah

Dixie Days Art Festival

 We now have our third art festival under our belts and it was a success! After jotting down some notes from the past two experiences we made some great improvements in our booth display and presentation. Though we love how our first one looked, it's better as a indoor display and did not handle the wind well. We had access to some old fruit crates and were able to build a display that is light to move and simply weighed down with some bricks from behind. We could even display from both sides once we develop the inventory. For now it is a great place to hide markers, cameras and some water.

We were able to use our pretty hemp with threads of blue metallic to hang Rachel's vibrant and playful illustrations. We love the look of them hanging and this way they don't blow in the wind as much and people were able to get a better look at them.

We were assigned at a corner for the art festival which gave us a great advantage with traffic. Our usual six foot tables were in a large "L" shape and we added a card table for the outer corner to utilize some space and draw more people in. 

So far, having booths art festivals have been one of my most favorite things I've decided to do in my life. I love people commenting on our creativity, throwing around more ideas on how to recycle or repurpose potential supplies for our art, and inspiring each other to do more creating with our lives. It all gives me a overwhelming high and I can't wait to put it to use. 


This experience at Dixie Days in North Webster Indiana was well organized, easy going, and so much fun. We will definitely be doing this again next year!

Next weekend is Art in the Park in Holland Michigan! 

-Hannah

Art Blast

Here are a couple pictures from our first booth at Art Blast in Syracuse, IN. We showed up bright and early ready to take on the world! Overall it was a fantastic experience that taught us what to improve for next time, and what to keep on keeping on. Cannot wait for Summerfest next weekend!

Rachel and I working on some finishing touches.

A beautiful sign my grandfather made for us. Soon we plan to stain it with some color!

My husband converted an old shelf into a wonderful display for my paper bead art.

Handmade bows from old comic strips.

retro cigarette holder made a perfect business card holder.

Rachel's husband also set up some items in our booth. Check out his etsy shop here.

Yeah, we handmade our business cards. Tutorial to come!

Our first experience was so exciting. Bring on the next weekend!

-Hannah