Mermade Market April 2014

I just applied for the upcoming December 2014 Mermade Market, and it reminded me I never posted about the April 2014 market. 

Mermade Market is a new small business started by a family friend, Elise Capener, from my hometown. It is a curated market of handmade goods in Dana Point, CA. I heard about the first

market in February right after I had Arlin. Feeling a bit "blah," I thought it would give me the creative boost I needed to get out of winter hibernation/pregnant mode. Plus, how could I miss a handmade market in my hometown and the opportunity to craft with my own mother? I also schemed that this could be the boost my mom needed to work on her "someday dream" of selling her culinary treats. We applied, were accepted, and then scrambled to figure out what exactly we should make. I felt rusty since my last Punk Rock Flea Market and Provo Farmer's Market days were gone. I hadn't made any new patterns for a while plus all my craft supplies were in boxes in a freezing garage. 

Since the sale was the 3 days leading up to Easter, it would be a good idea to have Easter themed goods (not to make a sacred holiday commercial....), so we went from there thinking of little gifts for Easter baskets. In the end, we had a good time emailing, talking on the phone, scheming what we could do and what the other person could make; it's always easier to tell someone else what they are good at and what others may want to buy. 

My mom made her famous marshmallows (vanilla and passion fruit!) and infamous caramels (vanilla and salted). I made linen rabbits; papier mache hollowed eggs from my own ducks and chickens; and small bags (zippered and drawstring) from vintage linens. I also had a random sale section from old stock. True to form, my mom took the extra step to have a polished storefront and created a business name and logo: BLACKWELDER BAKING CO. Brook Reynolds, of Inchmark, was the graphic designer, I love her work - she did our wedding announcements. To display our goods, I remembered my mom had a beautiful pine armoir to contain and display our items in many layers. I love how our booth turned out and we were 3rd highest grossing seller :)

Camp RS

For the women's organization at church, Relief Society, I helped plan an end of summer dinner we themed "Camp RS," or Camp Relief Society. I was assigned to make the posters and invitations...and I got paper crafty! 

I like how it all turned out. 

sewing with vintage linens

A few days after we came home from California, Adam was gone for a week on a 50 mile backpack trip with the scouts. It was raining for some of that time** and I decided to take the week off from painting shiplap and use my personal time at night to sew and eat chocolate. I like the two items I made: linen zipper bag and linen tote. How do you like my shiplap wall? I love it :)

I have a collection of embroidered vintage linens, which I added to this summer from my favorite antique store in Ithaca (next to Moosewood Cafe). Here are some of the recent spoils:

I will use the "knives" and "forks" rolls to store my extra silverware. The embroidered runners will be project bags (to protect current knitting projects) for me a la Dottie Angel. I have been inspired by her beautiful project bags.

shell/ivory? belt buckles. I see these on a sweet, belted blouse for me....

Detail of the white and blue embroidery; it has a Japanese feel. I thought it could be nice to use the embroidered part as a collar on a girl's dress or a pocket detail on something for me....or both, I have 6 crescents. 

White handiwork looks stunning with natural linen backing. I could frame this.

 Elliott helped me put the "fences" back on the toddler bed to make it a crib for Arlin. Right off, Elliott showed Arlin how to use his new crib: throw out all the blankets, jump and shout. Arlin took careful notes.

I mentioned Dottie Angel...another fun personal treat was to visit her at TOLT, the new-ish yarn store in Carnation. I bought a few prizes for me which hurt Elliott's feelings. The black yarn is for my skotthufa!  

**The first night on the 50 miler, it rained. Second day, huge thunderstorm terrorized the scouts and some ill prepared leaders. Third day, all but 2 scouts and 4 leaders went home early. Sixth day, the rest of the crew came home and I heard many colorful stories. Here is a photo of the food I lovingly packed as per Adam's precise directions.