Crisis averted




If you make and sell things (not even for a living, just because you love making and all the making makes for packed closets) and then have a low sales season (not to mention year) it can be a real downer. Last year I made some changes and I think I sold about 5 prints total. No joke, so to say it was a downer is actually a huge understatement.

Personal crisis might be a better way to describe it.

Anyway, I'm back up from the gutters, have dusted myself off and reopened shop. It's not really ready for a big unveiling or anything, but it's shop-able, and I'll get it all gussied up soon. In the meantime, check it out! I have a few new prints (some of which are not listed yet) and lots of oldies and goodies, plus we're going to list Charlie's skateboards soon, which is the most exciting part of reopening shop for me!





Hippie Holidays!


I'm doing a talk tomorrow at Master Composter training about recycling through the holidays. Actually it will be more like stumbling through a quick presentation. Anyway, my counterpart is doing more gift-y type stuff and I'm doing some table centerpiece ideas.


When I get some non-phone pictures of them I'll walk you through the how-tos, but they really couldn't be easier and 2 of the 3 are 100% kid friendly!

Black Walnut Ink




What does a stay-at-home-mom do between baby wrangling and printing posters for a couple of upcoming shows? Simmer walnuts on the stove to make ink, of course!


Mabel has been helping pile up the walnuts in our yard, which then go into one of my big enamel pots (formerly used for canning), are covered with water, and then the liquid is reduced in half. I also gathered some goldenrod to add to one of the batches to see if I could get a bit of a yellow hue to the ink. I didn't gather enough goldenrod and the plants are at the end end of their season here anyway.


The result is a beautiful warm brown. I've bottled some up to take to the Handmade Market, saved a quart for Charlie to use as a wood stain, and have another batch I'm reducing even further to make it really saturated.


Want to make your own? Follow the instructions over on You Grow Girl! Gayla takes all the guess work out of the process!


A family collaboration




A few weeks ago we took a family trip to the beach. One day M sat down and said, "Let's draw shells!" How could I say no to that? So we drew shells together.


Then I made a coloring page. Then we came home and I kept drawing.


I started playing with color and texture from some watercolors images I made with this piece in mind.


Charlie suggested I use a photograph of sand he took while we were at the beach. I tried it and I liked it! I have a feeling it won't be too long before Fox plays an even greater role in the process too, but in the meantime, I like thinking of this piece as a collaboration between Mabel, Charlie and me!