What a great opening day for the Fulton Street Artisans Market in Grand Rapids! I sold several looms (Thank you, dear customers!) and enjoyed meeting some very supportive column readers. A special thanks to our kind booth neighbors for helping Jeff and I set up the new “EZ Up” tent for the first time. And [...]

Father’s Day is coming up and my daughters are very excited. Abby has been squirreling away little handmade gifts for weeks and Amelia is on a magnets-for-every-occasion kick, so I thought it would be great to team up with my daughters for this week’s Father’s Day craft TV segment on “Take Five.” First off, we [...]

My daughters ran down Sheldon Ave. NE in Grand Rapids, Mich., to get to “Imagine That!” ArtPrizeentry located on the exterior wall of the Grand Rapids Children’s  Museum. We were on our spontaneous post-ballet class, pre-ArtPrize adventure and this was our first opportunity to explore the mural by Chicago artist, Tracy Van Duinen on foot. [...]

See anything unusual in the photo above? Like a table and two chairs waiting for some Greek gods to share a meal up on the bridge? No need to rub your eyes, the furniture set is real. I’m not that good at Photoshop, trust me. Unusal sightings like this are about to become the norm [...]

This lovely blue piece was made by Heather Robinson, a Holland, Michigan artist who often fields questions like this at art shows: “But what is for?” People get her ceramic buttons and paper bead jewelry, but passersby often want to know what pieces like the blue one above “do.” And they look to Heather to [...]

A newspaper colleague of mine wrote a lovely profile of Alynn Guerra, a local printmaker I’ve featured in my craft column and CraftSanity episode 65. I love Alynn’s prints and find her commitment to living simply very inspiring. Check out the article here, and visit Alynn of over at Red Hydrant Press. If you’re local, [...]

I’ve never been to this sale, but I’ve heard great things about it. Scope out the goods, then go check it out.

Lowell, Mich. -Sierra Cole had one of the most colorful displays at the Fallasburg Fall Festival Saturday, and I’m so glad she was okay with me snapping an obnoxious amount of pictures. These boiled wool handbags are beautiful all lined up together. Oh, to be able to buy them all and hang them up in [...]

Lugging a heavy and unattractive camera bag around art shows makes me pine for pretty purses, like those designed and sewn by Brandi Bautel in booth 5 at the Fallasburg Fall Festival, the festival I’ve been raving about that runs through 5 p.m. today.

Lowell, Mich. – I had fun photographing the glass art by Rockford Artist Steven Josiah Wheeler in booth 14 at the Fallasburg Fall Festival. I really love the  glass pendents and think they would be beautiful dangling from a simple ribbon tied in a bow.

Lowell, Mich. – The Fallasburg Fall Festival has become one my absolute favorite local art shows but I really wish it lasted longer. When 5 p.m. rolled around Saturday, I was just getting started. I didn’t get there until after 3 p.m. and only made it to six booths. Seriously, only six! How do I [...]

This is the 2008 Fallasburg Fall Festival quilt “ The Fallasburg 40th Beauty” by Lowell artist Dawn Ysseldyke. Oh, to win a quilt. I’m hoping to check out the festival this afternoon at Fallasburg Park in Lowell, Mich. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow (Sept. 27 & 28). This [...]

I’m making progress on the embroidered CraftSanity logo that I had planned to sew into a pocket for this apron. But the more I stitch the less enthused I become about the thought of sewing a black pocket over these colorful prints. I’m afraid a pocket will ruin it. Any thoughts? I swapped buttons with [...]

Doesn’t this yarn look fabulous? It ranked high among the crafty eye candy for sale at Renegade this past weekend. It was fun to chat briefly with Liz Maly, the talented maker of this lovely hand-dyed yarn and other fabulous Felt Cafe goods. Check out the super cute, felted baby booties. This photo kind of [...]

CHICAGO – Heavy rain and flooded roads slowed me down but didn’t deter my first Renegade Craft Fair experience. Even though I spent the day looking rather drenched, I met loads of fabulous people and foolishly exposed my camera to the elements to document the trip. Above you’ll see the massive amount of business cards [...]