Colorful Practice

I've been on a creative high these past few weeks. Partially due to my health getting back on track, but also because I've gotten ahold of some awesome supplies to work with. I've kind of forgotten what it was like to create with quality products. 


I thought I would share some of my newest projects some are favorites and some are experimental, some I consider disasters, but I use them to grow and get better so who cares right? I've been mainly working on embroidery and since getting my new watercolor set I've gotten back into drawing and painting too. 

A little study I did on an old watercolor set I have.
These don't do it justice, but it was fun learning and practicing some different looks.

I'm loving this new watercolor set.  In fact I loved it so much I had to get one for Rachel too!
We've been on fire with new illustrations and ideas ever since. It's a wonderful set that is so easy to pick up and get painting where ever you are. I'm not even a watercolor kind of gal and with my kids constantly running up to me and needing my attention it is hard to sometimes sit down and paint. With this set I'm able to pull it out and put it away quickly as I need it.

I've been drawn to designs that can easily adopt any color. You can go so many directions by just changing up the color pallet and I like that. It is a phase I'm in I guess, but it's a bright colorful phase and I'll bit hitting it full force while I'm enjoying it! 

Getting into the warm weather spirit by painting all kind of colorful popsicles.  

Bubbles!! I'm in love with this simplistic piece, I'll definitely be doing more in all kinds of colors. So fun!

Who doesn't love bacon?! Since I've been transitioning to a healthier diet I've come to know bacon on another level.  It's like the candy of meats! 

One of my more intricate pieces I've done lately. This salmon color is one of my favorites lately. Gotta love the hints of bright pink too. I painted this hoop to match to give it that extra pop of color. It's available in our Etsy shop so check it out!

It's morel hunting season again! We've only found a couple so far this year (actually only my husband has). Even though we haven't found many it's still fun to go hunting for them all over the camp ground. I've been addicted to the shapes and colors of these mushrooms both for embroidery inspiration and watercolor drawings.

And finally I'd like to introduce our newest little one, Token. We originally were going to name her Monopoly, but then we migrated to Monopoly Token and went from there. She is a complete sweet heart and only 5 weeks old! 

Rachel and I are preparing to do some shows in the summer. We have some local shows in Syracuse Indiana, and North Webster. Also, we are hoping to do one in Lansing too. We are looking to revamp the look of our booth and focus more on certain items just for shows and have other items exclusively in our Etsy shop. It's exciting to try new things! 

Our Vacation to The Sunny State

As a Christmas present from the in-laws our family of four got to go to Florida this past January to visit them in their new home. It was exciting not only because it was a two week vacation, but also because it was a new experience for my husband and the boys. None of them had been to the ocean before and I just had to take them to my old stomping grounds in Sarasota.  Our first trip to the beach was to Siesta Key Beach. That was the beach I went to the most often and the sand is by far the finest sand I have yet to experience. We also made trips to Lido Key and Clearwater Beach. The closest beach for us to visit during the trip was Clearwater Beach and it was also the best one we went to for beach-combing with the family. 

These are my favorite finds from Lido Key

This little vial contains miniature shells and fragments of a starfish skeleton. It also has the little "doves" from a very small sand dollar that my husband found but it didn't last the trip home. :( 

From left to right the broken sand dollar my husband found, Lido Beach sand, Siesta Key Beach sand and the little fragments I mentioned earlier. It fascinates me how different the sand can be between Lido and Siesta but they are right next to each other.

My littlest turned one year old during our trip! We just had a cute quiet party at Grandmomma and Granddad's house with a homemade birthday cake. He wasn't too aware of the fact that it was his birthday, but we had fun celebrating anyway. 

My favorite photo from the whole trip.

Crazy spanish moss on most of the trees down there. I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

Grandmomma was looking forward to this moment. Taking her grandson on the merry-go-round at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Tobiah had a great time there. He got to meet Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie. He loved the Buzz Lightyear and Little Mermaid ride the best.

We did a great deal of thrifting during our trip. Grandmomma picked up this small motorcycle bike for my son as a surprise. He fell in love with it. Once we put some training wheels on it we had a hard time keeping him off of it. Luckily the places where my in-laws live they mostly drive golf carts around so the roads are pretty clear and safe.

I worked on two projects while I was down there. My Mother-inlaw just happened to have   a yellow that was perfect for finishing off my cheese embroidery. The color was just a little off, but it is only noticeable to me. I actually liked the contrast it added since one of the cheeses was marbled already (The swiss cheese was the one I ran out of thread for). Since I was in the summer spirit in the winter I also worked on a beach ball. Simple and free hand with some french knots for some fun texture. I love the simplicity of some of the designs I've been working on. These are both available on our Mumre Etsy shop right now too!

The lighthearted designs of single objects somehow help me reminisce on the better things in life. I tend to think back on my childhood when I played with my sister outside everyday, or hanging out with all the cousins at our family get togethers. I also get excited about our little family's future. Raising our kids on this beautiful campground, growing up with their cousins, and all of our own special memories we will create. 



It's been a busy couple of months for my family and I hope to post about everything soon! Sorry it's been a while!

- Hannah

Some New Additions to the Shop!

It's only Monday and so far we have already had a busy week! There is so much thats gonna go on this week and we are getting pumped to send out some Christmas cheer to our customers! We've got some great deals planned from this week to NewYears and some of the exclusive to our Facebook and Blog followers. Here are some newcomers to the shop. So make sure to stop in and get some handmade gifts for your loved ones!

First, there are two lovely fox drawings in colored pencil by Rachel placed in vintage circular frames. The frames have charming hints of metallic gold on them. Second, we have my first snowman paper bead ornament! This was my first attempt and it went great! The beads are made from recycled sheet music and are strung on very vibrant red wire.

I love how most of Rachel's items are in sets. She has a great way with telling a cute little story in her illustrations whether they are goofy or love stories I adore them all. Turtle love is colored pencil in a vintage frame. The bear on a unicycle is ink and watercolor. I love how chubby the bear is and his little hat!

My son got to be a model for five minutes today sporting Rachel's colorful cowl. He loves getting dressed and trying new clothes so this was right up his alley. This cowl is perfect for keeping out the cold for both kids and adults. Rachel is also taking custom orders for cowls in most any color combination requested so be sure to request one on our shop home page if you are interested!
Another adorable fox illustration is up too! The frame was carefully hand painted and shows hints of pink. Perfect for a wedding or anniversary gift!

Lastly, we have a couple sets of crocheted snowflakes. I LOVE SNOWFLAKES! I enjoy making these so much I make them all year round. I have a basic pattern I use as the root for all my patterns but I make them up randomly as I get further along the snowflake to make them all just slightly different from on another. Stiffening them also adds to their little differences too. These sets are just the colors of the threads used. Coming later this week are more of my hand dipped snowflakes. I dip them in bright colored paints for an almost tie-dyed look.

More crochet and paper bead items will be up within the next couple days. I'll also be working on a ton more paper bows for the shop and for our Holiday Bazaar coming up at Wawasee Middle School. Be sure to check in for an exclusive deal for this busy holiday weekend!

- Hannah

A Few Things That Make Me Smile

My son's first self portrait.

Just thought I would share a couple things from this past week. A little parenting, thrifting, and some things that make me smile.

This week has gone by pretty quickly for me. I'm pretty sure I've spent the entire time trying to clean my house. And I mean trying. I still haven't remotely caught up with it. I saw a status this earlier this week on facebook that said "Cleaning your house with a toddler is like brushing you teeth with an Oreo". This is especially true since most of the time my son is trying to help. While I think it's great my son wants to constantly move around and DO something, my house is really paying the price. If it's not him pulling out new activities, it's me getting out projects and not finishing them and then along comes the 10 month old who lets you know just how sloppy you are when you find the most random items hanging from his mouth. 

I really am enjoying this time in my life though. They say these days when you children are young go fast. So I'm soaking it up. I'll take my most of the time semi clean house and enjoy these moments.

I found these three tea cups and saucers at the thrift stores the other day. They say Deruta Italy on the bottoms of them with some other symbols. From what I've researched they are for real, but in the meantime I find them beautiful and will enjoy them no matter where they are from. My husband wants to open up a Etsy account with me to sell some vintage items e've collected. Maybe these will go up on the site when it opens. We came up with a pretty great name that's fun and personal too! That'll be a whole other blog post though. 

I've been in the Christmas spirit these days. Well, I kind of am all the time, but much more so lately while making items for our Mumre shop. I love getting to use these papers while wrapping orders. I mainly use either brown packaging paper or this lovely embossed creme wallpaper. They are so elegant and simple. 

A pointillism snowflake doodle in my sketch book. 

Someone's gotta eat it.

Along with a bunch of other items we have new items in our shop, I listed this particular tree.
These are so fun for me to make and for some reason every time I see this particular one I smile and feel so much joy.
Perhaps it's because it reminds me of a child's drawing of a Christmas tree with all the zigzags, simple shapes and doodle look to the whole thing, but I'll take the joy, soak it up and use it to make more. Gotta spread the good feeling! Take a look on Etsy for this one and more like it.

Keep a look out for our up coming exclusive sales for our blog readers and facebook followers!

- 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