Happy Birthday!!!

Today, my hubby turns 26!   When I think about the fact that we have been dating since he was 19! -that just makes it seem so much older!  For his birthday I gave him a toy spy camera from the 1950's or 60's.  It was pretty much love at first sight for him.  He has a collection of over 30 antique cameras, in which most of them work now since he's so handy dandy with fixing up cameras.  

It is extremely tiny!  Two inches across and about one and a half inches tall.  It came with a cute leather case that looks hand sewn AND it still has a roll of film in it!  It's so itty bitty, it's adorable.  

I also got him a tintype photograph from late 1800's.

Tomorrow we are going to really celebrate his birthday (my parents are watching Cypress for us so we can go on a date!)  I think I'm going to take him to Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids.  Oh so good.

- Rachel

Reading and Learning

I’ve been doing a lot of reading these days and finally made it to a book I’ve been sort of hesitant to read, but excited at the same time. I’m reading Grow Your Handmade Business by Kari Chapin. I love the way she writes and how easy she is to follow.  For as intimidating as starting a business sounds initially, she does a great job of easing you into it with excitement. I read Handmade Marketplace by her too. That was the book that got me really into being myself through my work instead of trying to do things people had expected of me. Since reading her book I’ve learned more about myself and what I’m really interested in.

So far, there are a lot of great things to be read in this book. I’m only officially the first chapter in (I love to skip around in these sort of books, but I really do read the whole book eventually ) and the words “be brave” have stuck out to me the most. It may be because I have a special place in my heart for the word brave (it’s my youngest son’s middle name). Being brave is such a good thing to have stuck into my head through this journey. I’m excited to try new things, why not have courage to do things they way we want to and not how we’ve only seen them done before.

I like the idea that all the things we make are one of a kind. Since we repurpose materials it’s unlikely that any piece will look just like another.  It leaves room for creativity ALL the time. Rachel and I are constantly coming up with new ideas and we aren’t pressured to keep to one particular path.  Between the two of us inspiration comes from so many different sources, we never really know what we are going to pick up next and make something awesome out of it.

-Hannah

Clouds & Raindrops

I've been looking for a good mobile for Cypress since she is sleeping in her crib, in her own room these days.  I'm not crazy about the ones that most stores sell, they are too ordinary for my style, so I decided to make one myself!  It was pretty easy to make.  

The clouds are cut out of thin cardboard.  You could use a cereal box or something similar to that.  I just drew two simple cloud shapes and cut them out, painted them white with acrylic paint and added glitter so it glistens in the sunlight.  I made a cut on the top center of one of the clouds and the bottom center of the other so that they fit together.  When they're connected it sort of looks 3-D!  

After that, I cut out raindrops from colorful scraps of paper, strung them up to the clouds with thread, added beads for more sparkle and "Ta-da!"  It's finished!   

Here's how it looks above Cypress's crib.  She likes it!

While I'm at it, here are the other corners of her room.  I like to collect a lot of vintage things.  All of Cypress's books are in an old wooden case that I turned into a shelf. The rocker was what my mom used for me and my siblings.

This area is pretty much the art/inspiration corner of Cypress's room.  A lot of art and sewing supplies, books, fabric and yarn are stored here.  We have collected a few old style toys for Cypress, like a Fisher Price record player, and an antique children's typewriter.

-Rachel

Another Antiquing/Thrifting Adventure!

One of our all time favorite things to do is find new antique/thrift stores.  Of course, we have our favorites that we frequent, but finding a new one (that's close by) is almost as fun as discovering a great find at the store.  To me, it's like a treasure hunt!  

Today we went to a of couple thrift stores and one antique store, that we just found.  It's in Cedar Springs, just a hop, skip, and a jump from our place, and it's a beaut!  I've noticed, since I was pregnant with Cypress that instead of spending most of my time in the home goods, clothing or shoes sections, that I've been gravitating towards the toys, books, baby clothes, and craft sections.  

We purchased a couple of wonderful Children's Books from the 1950's .  
They are filled with  popular  stories  from that era. 
-I have only heard of a couple of them.

Illustration from The Quiet Mother and the Noisy Little Boy

I'm in love with all of the different illustrations. 

Andy Warhol illustrated The Magic Porridge Pot.
My favorite line in this story is "Cheer up, Chickabiddy."
I think I found a new name for Cypress!

Barbar the King

Fabric!  The one on the left is this 80's fabric with maps of Australia, signs of kangaroos xing, cowboys, and postcards from Australia.  The fabric in the center is hot pink corduroy. and the right is 2 yards of green lace.  I'm not sure what I'm going to make with them yet, but I'll be sure to share when I do!

Salt and pepper shakers to add to my growing collection!

And a very old thermos...to add to that accidental collection.  

Ma babes still has energy after a long day out and about!

At the end of the day, flowers from Dylan.
I can honestly say I would pick wildflowers over roses any day.

Sometimes when I go shopping I end up feeling guilty because we don't really need the items that we get, or we don't have enough space for it, but I feel good about today.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, and babies just make days better.

-Rachel

Finished Skateboard Project

We have had a lot going on in our household recently, but one thing that did not leave my sons mind was his skateboard.  My husband and I started this project a couple weeks ago. You can read more about it in my first skateboard project post. So we bought what was needed to finish it and let him play on it again.  Since he isn't old enough to do crazy tricks on it or anything, we didn't put too much money into it, but just enough to get it rolling safely.

First, we had to replace the ball bearings and the wheels.  I thought the original wheels were pretty sweet.  They are old ceramic ones, but they have been pretty beat up and we decided to get some blue ones to match the board.  I'm hoping to find something to do with all the old materials from this skateboard.

I'd say it's time for some new bearings.

We didn't replace all the hardware on the skateboard so we have some older metal still on it.  I love the look of the old with the new.  It matches the old comics that were put on the board and the texture adds something of it's own too.

My husband and I found grip off of amazon that was made from recycled glass with different thickness levels to choose from.  We chose the one that provided the most grip for our little toddler.  A huge plus for us was that it is also clear so it is perfect for my decoupage art underneath the grip!  It went on easy but after I was done applying the grip I decided to put a clear coat of varnish on top both to get rid of the slight sugar crystal look and to dull some of the little sharp edges until there is natural wear on the skateboard.  I couldn't be any more satisfied with this finished project.

My son is already getting better at pushing off on the skateboard by himself (that is more than I can do).  Of course he is also learning that falling down comes with the territory.  He is a trooper and is better for it.  Next task is to find a helmet small enough for his head.

- Hannah

We've recently put new creations up in the shop. Check it out! www.mumre.etsy.com 

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

What a Colorful Life!

Just thought I'd share a couple things that make my life a little brighter before we head into the weekend. Tomorrow we will be having a booth set up at Art in the Park in Holland, Michigan. Come and visit us! 

This is one of the best games I've ever experienced. It's called The Magnificent Race. I suggest finding the game and playing immediately! 

These are my proudest findings this week. I found 36 vintage coloring books from the 70s and early 80s for less than 50 cents a piece. Only one or two have a colored page, and very few have torn out of their binding. After loosing my coloring book collection two years ago to water mildew, I'm pretty excited to go to town in these. The illustrations are so beautifully detailed. 

Today's colorful harvest included watermelons!

I'm particularly excited about these tomatillos to add to our salsas. nom nom.

Last but not least, this is what I woke up to this morning. My oldest is with his grandparents for the weekend while we are at the art festival. We will miss him, but we are glad he gets to visit with more of his family. I'm sure he will come back spoiled as ever. With me doing all this preparation for the booths he deserves it.
I love these boys. 

Bring on the weekend!

-Hannah