A Little Peek

Here’s a little peek at the Tiny Toadstools and Snowy Little Hootie Owls that debuted at the Peoria Academy Holiday Fair this weekend. I absolutely love how the snowy owls turned out. Because they are all white, I added cream or grey appliqued faces to help their eyes stand out, and I think they look darling. And perfect for the chilly winter ahead!

I also added Tiny Toadstools, sets of five little hand-painted button mushrooms in red, green, and turquoise. I think they look great nestled in among the moss in my handmade terrarium (which requires no water, because it’s decorative craft store moss. My kind of plant!) The tiny toadstools and snowy owls (along with little Hootie owls in goldenrod, plum, and blueberry) will be appearing in the shop either Sunday or Monday, so be sure to check in!

As for the craft fair, it was a nice day, if a bit slow. I had an opportunity to visit the other vendors, buy myself a pretty hematite bracelet, and talk with the shoppers, which is always one of my favorite parts. This fair got me all excited about the Fancy Schmancy Holiday Shoppe next weekend. It’s going to be fun! The slowness also gave me time to make a bunch of new owls, and I can’t wait to share them with you!

I’ll be at the Holiday Fair at Peoria Academy (location) this Saturday, November 7th, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Now that we’re getting in to November, it’s a good time to start thinking about holiday gifts, and what’s better than handmade and local? Not much. So you should come out and see me and the other great local artists who will be there. I know that Razorberries will be there, and her art is wonderful! Some of the other local artists that will be there include LaDiDa Hairware, Sheridan Ray Pottery, and Lumbered with Love.

If you can’t make it to this show, I’ll be in Pekin, Illinois the following weekend for the Fancy Schmancy Holiday Shoppe.

P.S. If you come to either event, mention this blog post for a special treat!

Christmas Cactus

Doesn’t it seem like some things make dramatic changes overnight? It seems that way with this little Christmas cactus. I bought the tiny cactus after Christmas last year, when it was droopy, neglected, and on clearance before being thrown out . Over the year, it’s become happy and healthy and put out lots of new leaves. But just this morning I noticed that It’s also covered in buds and one bright pink flower. It’s starting the holiday season a little early, but I’m so happy to see it doing so well!

Other little things making me happy lately:

The fall market season is over! While I loved doing the market, it sure was getting cold, and I’m appreciating being able to sleep in again on Saturdays. I have one more confirmed show lined up for this year (the Fancy Schmancy Holilday Shop on November 14th!), and two potential shows that I’ll let you know about once they’re official. I’m excited to be doing some holiday shows and I’m extra excited that they’ll be indoors.

It’s a little late in coming, but I also wrapped up the contest for a Little Hootie Owl on my Facebook fan page. Lots of you submitted wonderful haikus, and it was so hard to choose just one. The winning haiku was:

cold rain from the sky
strips the colors from the trees
the ground bleeds bright red

What can I say? I have a weakness for fall colors. Even in haiku form.

And finally, today we switched our clocks back an hour for daylight saving time. It’s always nice to get an extra hour, which I promptly spent sleeping in.

Those are some of the little things that are making me happy lately. What little things are making you happy today?

When does a parliament become an army?

My parliament of tiny owls continues to grow! I love these little guys, and making them has almost become addictive. I’ll be listing them on Etsy once I get some decent sun to photograph them in. Until then, you can expected to see them at the Fancy Schmancy Fall Festival down on the Peoria Riverfront this Saturday morning. And if you aren’t in the area (or even if you are!), you can enter to win one on my Facebook fan page. All you need to do is 1) be a fan and 2) write me a little haiku about anything you like. On Saturday, October 17th, I’ll choose two winners, one random and one who writes my favorite haiku, and each one will receive a tiny owl! I hope you’ll play along. Haikus are so easy and fun. (If you aren’t familiar with haikus, they are short, 3 line poems. They don’t need to rhyme. All they need to do is be structured so that the first and last lines each have 5 syllables and the second line has 7.) Good luck!

Fall Market on the Riverfront - 10/10/09

Thank goodness for sunshine! It was another cold Saturday morning, but at least it was dry and mostly sunny. It was nice to see everyone that came out, but it would have been nice to see a few more faces! Some people are speculating that our regular visitors are off on the Spoon River Drive. I hope you all make it down to the Fall Market next Saturday, when we will be joining forces with the Fancy Schmancy Fall Festival! There’s going to be so much crafty goodness, and it’s a good time to get started in thinking about holiday gifts.

I almost sold out of clip magnets this weekend, so I’ll making some new ones this week. I will also be adding them to the online shop for the first time, so keep an eye out for that. I also debuted some new gift tags made from recycled and repurposed material, and those will be appearing in the online shop this week, too.

I hope you had a lovely, sunny Saturday, too! Even more, I hope I see you on the Riverfront next weekend!

Apple-Pie Crumb Cake Muffins

Oh my, these muffins are so good. Go make them right now. Well, print out the recipe. Then go make them! I found the recipe for this via a post on Liesl Made, but originally the recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance. The recipe for those of us who don’t own Vegan with a Vengeance can be found (with a slight modification of the addition of walnuts) at The Flying Vegan. (The recipe calls for 1 tsp of baking powder twice, just pretend one of those is baking soda.)

I used large honeycrisp apples in mine, and I actually only needed one. I don’t know if honeycrisp apples are proper baking apples, but the muffins came out so delicious it doesn’t matter. I made these muffins last night, and I may have to make more later today. Yum.

Fall Market on the Riverfront 10/3/09

It was cold and wet and gloomy at the Fall Market yesterday. You can see the pain on poor SciFi man’s face. We shivered for 4 hours, saw a few brave souls, but mostly spent our time lamenting how only fools (read: us) would go out in this weather. Thank you SO much to the few shoppers who braved the weather and stopped by. You brightened my day!

The booth next to us kept us interested, as they were being filmed for an upcoming episode of MTV’s True Life. The MTV people kept talking about how they couldn’t find any Starbucks in our city. After we told them where it is, they had to abandon ship and drive halfway across town to get Starbucks coffee, even though there were several local shops within walking distance who would have happily served them coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker, so maybe I don’t understand, but it seemed a bit silly to me.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that next Saturday will be a great market day, sunny and lovely! If you’re in Peoria, I’d love to see you down there.

Anodyne Design Eco Wristlets and Card Wallets can now be found at re-, in the Peoria Metro Center. re- specializes in items made from re-cycled, re-purposed, or re-claimed materials. Anodyne Design products appearing there are made from recycled linens and clothing, turning unwanted and unloved fabrics into new, ready-to-love accessories.

re- has an amazing variety of sustainable products in stock, ranging from organic children’s items to re-purposed glass bottles, and reclaimed wood from wine barrels turned into platters and a lazy susan (which I oh-so-desperately want!). I picked up a special housewarming gift for my brother when I was there, and I know he’s going to love it. re- also offers a variety of classes geared towards creating something new out of something old, like old sweaters into pretty brooches and old tin cans into jewelry.  Definitely stop by and check out this unique shop if you’re in town!

Here’s a peek at some of the Anodyne Design wristlets and wallets you’ll find at re-:

Eco Wristlet made from recycled linens and sweater.

Card Wallets made from recycled material.

There’s more, so you’ll have to stop by to check them out!

P.S. There’s still time to take advantage of 25% off your total order at my Etsy shop if you get me up to 100 sales (I’m currently at 98). See the details here.

Everyday Wallet in Pinwheels

I just thought you might want to know about an opportunity to save a little cash. Anodyne Design is 2 sales away from 100 on Etsy right now. I’m offering 25% off your total sale price if you get to me to 100 (which means, either buy 2 items, or wait and hope someone else buys 1 before you buy.) The catch is that you either have to be a fan of Anodyne Design on Facebook (see that little box to the left?) or following me on Twitter, and you have to leave a note in the “notes to seller” saying either “Facebook” or “Twitter” (which one is your call, but it would probably make most sense if you chose based on which way you’re hooked up with Anodyne Design.)

I’ve added a bunch of new items to the shop over the past week, including wristlets, everyday wallets, card wallets, and new upcycled eco card wallets, so there’s lots to choose from.

It’s probably in your best interest to fan or follow me anyway, so you’ll be notified of future deals (like the giveaway that’s coming up for Facebook fans once I reach 100 fans). I don’t know about you, but I love a deal.

A foggy morning at the market.

The last RiverFront Market of the season ended on a foggy note, punctuated with thunderclaps. Fortunately the thunder didn’t arrive until the very end, and we missed the rain. It was a good market day, filled with familiar faces, and I even got to see a few of my bags “in action” around the market, which always makes me happy.

Even though today was the last day of the RiverFront Market, next Saturday marks the beginning of the month-long Fall Market on the Riverfront. The first four Saturdays in October, from 8 a.m. to noon, Anodyne Design will be appearing at the Fall Market between Old Chicago and River Station in downtown Peoria. Drop by and say hello! It’s time to start thinking about holiday gifts, and what’s sweeter than something handmade?

For the past month or two, I’ve been lucky to have my booth next to another great Etsy seller, Hey Lola. She makes amazing jewlery out of recycled old jewelry, giving new life to pieces in need of a little love. She also always has this gorgeous display of recycled flower hair clip that I’ve loved seeing every week. Very creative and pretty stuff there! I’m miss being “neighbors” at the Fall Market.