Spring Handmade Cavalcade!

If you are in NYC next weekend, Saturday May 5th, please stop by Littlefield, for the Spring Handmade Cavalcade! There will be lots of super-great vendors that are all Etsy sellers from the NYC-area. It will be mega-fun and a great way to kick off the spring/summer crafty season. 

Ah yes, and I designed the flier this year! It's gonna be a fun one. :)

...And there might be some free totebags with my little crafty-girly-fox design on it, for the first 100 or so people to show up...

Martha and crafting

This past Monday, I was invited to be in the audience of an Etsy-themed Martha Stewart Show. Everyone in the studio audience has an Etsy shop (and brought what they make to hold up!), and the whole show was all about Etsy. I wouldn't really call myself a huge Martha fan in general, but it was a really fun experience and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity! I was able to see lots of my local Etsy NY teammates, took home lots of swag, and hopefully you'll be able to see me waaaay in the back row when it airs. Ha! The episode will air tomorrow, April 26th at 10am EST, on the Hallmark channel. 

It's starting to be that time of year again, where all the craft shows are looming in the future. I'm trying to get things together sooner rather than later, to save myself some sanity. The above photo are new mounted prints that I'm thinking about bringing to the shop. They really aren't glossy, the varnish was just put on and they are drying. I made those to bring to a local shop, Fuego 718, but am thinking about putting them in my shop. What do you think? 

Craft away! :)

Spring-loving

This has been a really great week! Last Saturday, Nik and I decided to walk to Manhattan, over the Williamsburg Bridge, to the BUST Craftacular that was going on. It was a gorgeous day out and the perfect temperature for a long meandering walk. We met up with a few friends and took in the craft fair, got some treats from the Cinnamon Snail, and kept walking north up to Union Square. Nik and I had a reservation at Candle 79 later on for a belated b-day dinner, and we were going to be super-ambitious and continue walking north, but I wore the wrong shoes and they were getting a little sore. Still super-fun though! Candle 79 is my absolute favorite, and my tummy and I were happy with the Seitan Piccata and the PB Bliss dessert. 

The next day, I took a bus ride up to Rochester, NY to go visit my family and to help out my Mom, who just had back surgery last week. It was a much-needed visit and filled with some quality family-time. I got to see both of my sisters, my parents, and my Grandma. I planted lots of flower and vegetable seeds for my Mom and made some yummy dinners. Their cat, Bam, cracks me up. He looks like a lion! Super-fluff-ball! 

I rolled back into the city late last night, and there are lots of things on my to-do list today, but I just wanted to share some of my photos of my travels before I got too deep into my list. 

Happy Thursday!

Michelle

Sneak-peek at a new product that will be in my shop in a few weeks!

Vegan Apricot Cheese Danish, from the Cinnamon Snail

BUST Craftacular was hopping.

Pretty sunset in Central Park

Butterfly hanging out at my parent's house

Perfect Rainbow! There actually was a double rainbow there, but you can't see it in the photo.

Bam taking a nap.

I woke his majesty up.

Lion paws. Get that camera outta my face.

B-day Sale!

This is last minute, but I'm in the party-mood and it's my birthday, so hey, sale time! I may or may not be turning 32 years old, so if you use the coupon code PARTYTIME32, you can get a cool 32% off in my shop today. Sale is only for today, and ends at midnight EST.

WOO!

xo,
Michelle

In-between seasons

Williamsburg Bridge, view from Grand St. park in Brooklyn

It's been back and forth between spring/winter here for the last few weeks, and dang is that confusing. First I want tea and then I want iced tea, and then I want flip flops, but then I need my fuzzy socks. I'm also in denial about those days where I probably should have wore my winter coat. 

I have been working on lots of new things lately, but alas, most of it has to stay a secret for now. I'm beginning to think about craft show season, that is fast approaching. I have two shows coming up, the Spring Handmade Cavalcade on May 5th, and Renegade Brooklyn on June 23/24. I have grand plans for my booth this year, so hopefully I can pull it off! 

Random: Are you on Pinterest? I am! Follow me here and let me know where you are!

Homemade Spaghettio's of sort.  I had made the tomato soup out of "Vegan Diner" and had just added in the circle pasta. The next day, the pasta had soaked up so much of the soup, that it was just like eating spaghettios! 

Iced tea with a ton of lemons. ARNOLD PALMER for the win.

Kalamata Olive bread, another tester recipe

Mother's Day Cards!

Hey Mom Unicorns is available here

Mother's Day is coming up soon, on Sunday May 13! I put up three new designs in the shop last night, to cover all of the special ladies in your life who are moms. 

(I don't know if I will ever get over my obsession with unicorns and hot pink.) 

Psychedelic Happy Mother's day is available here.

Hoppy Mother's Day Bunnies is available here.

Whole Grain Baking

English Muffin Bread

 You guys, I can't wait for this book to come out. Celine and Tami are making an amaaazing book on whole grain baking, and I've been lucky enough to be a recipe tester for them. I thought I would show you a sampling of some of the things that I have been baking thus far (and make you drool a little.) Seriously, these ladies have changed how I have viewed whole grain baking. I've discovered that I LOVE spelt flour, and that it might be my favorite flour (what, you don't have a favorite flour?), and that barley flour is pretty awesome too. In most of these recipes, you wouldn't be able to tell that this was "healthy" baking (and sometimes I don't tell Nik and he doesn't even notice!) I really can't rave enough about these recipes, and can't wait for the actual book to come out. There is a nice balance of sweet and savory too, so I've been making things for dinner and for breakfast/sweets time.

Coconut Spice Granola with vanilla soy yoghurt

Wholly Noochy Crackers

Lemon Curd Tart. Celine was super-nice and put this recipe up on her blog yesterday! 

Pita Bread that puffs!!

Cindy Sherman at MOMA

Friday night I met a friend at MOMA to check out the Cindy Sherman exhibition that I've been dying to see. I'm a big Cindy Sherman fan and I studied her a lot back in college, in my art history and women's studies classes, so I was super-excited to see this retrospective. Over 170 photographs were on  display and it was really great to see her old stuff leading up to her current work. My friend and I were imagining her studio with all the different drawers she must have full of noses and wigs and teeth and tongues and even nipples. Ha! 

Wandering around the other floors of MOMA: