When my parents flew my sister and I to Washington state to meet our Great Grandmother, I couldn’t wait to check out her outhouse. I heard it was a two-seater and, at age 5, I found this little fact very intriguing. Ignorance is bliss, eh?

My apologies for the blog silence lately. I caught a nasty bug the first week of the school and it’s taken me two weeks to shake it. At last my voice is back to normal and podcast ready, so I can  post a new episode this week. A lot has happened in the last three [...]

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 [...]

Yesterday I did my weekly “Take Five” craft segment on weaving with fabric on potholder and other peg looms. (I admit I’m a bit obsessed with the topic right now.) I’ll be demonstrating this technique and selling looms from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday 9/6/09) at the Fulton Street Artisans Market near the [...]

When I quit my day job in early July it was as traumatic as a birth. As I walked down the back “employees only” hallway the last time as an official staffer, I cried like a baby while trying rather unsuccessfully to hide my face behind a vase-full of sunflowers. It was a pretty pathetic [...]

I cut my craft budget in July when I quit my day job as a newspaper reporter because I knew my new life as a podcasting, crafty freelance writer was not going to be as lucrative as getting a regular paycheck every week. And I thought I would miss having extra cash to spend on [...]

This is the “Headliner” newspaper dress that I made for last night’s “Recycled Runway” event at the UICA here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’m pleased to report that I walked the runway and survived. Boy, I’m glad that’s over. I like the design and sewing part of fashion, but don’t really dig the runway bit.

I’ve been blog silent lately because I’ve been stitching like mad in preparation for tonight’s Recycled Runway event tonight at the UICA in Grand Rapids. I made a dress out of newspaper. It took way longer than I expected, but I actually made a dress which is kind of amazing since I don’t have much [...]

It took me weeks, but I finally made it to The Sparrows, a lovely little “coffee, tea, newsstand” here in Grand Rapids, Mich. to see the latest Pinafore Print Collective show, “Feminine Products.” We were barely inside when Abby and Amelia found a stash of kid toys by the front door. I’m telling you, those [...]

Get the Mp3 player widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Rob Bliss bills himself as a just a regular guy. But his ability to use Facebook to mobilize people of all ages to participate in urban experiments is nothing short of intriguing. I met Bliss, a Grand Rapids Community College student, at [...]

I have several projects in the works, including this rag rug. It’s a sample for Friday’s TV craft segment. This segment was inspired by a wonderful handmade effort at St. Andrew’s School in Grand Rapids where parents and volunteers are crocheting rag rugs out of donated bed sheets to raise money for a school emergency [...]

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – Doesn’t this look happy? I just loved seeing the downtown sidewalks looking so bright and whimsical after today’s first-ever Grand Rapids Chalk Flood. My daughters and I didn’t color the bricks pictured above, but we did haul our bucket of chalk downtown to join in the fun. We drew flowers and [...]

Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you’re all having a lovely day. I just snapped a photo of the last-minute gifts I crocheted for my daughters. If you’re interested in the pattern you can find it over at Roxiecraft. Easy to follow and super cute, this pattern is worth trying out. My next podcast is on [...]

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, [...]