Wow, it’s Thursday already. How did that happen? I overbooked and this week totally got away from me. The good news is that I still found time to cook, read, and run in addition to my usual work load. There was no time to waste this week and that was probably a good thing. Now [...]

It’s way after midnight and I just sat down after a long day of loom building. I’m sleepy and happy that there will be quite a few CraftSanity Looms under trees around the globe this holiday season. While I have barely begun my own holiday preparations, I’ve been shipping out looms as fast as I [...]

 In the last 24 hours I have: * made many, many looms for this weekend’s Detroit Urban Craft Fair * recorded and edited a podcast with an awesome artist and cook * signed my very long name 200 times on the limited edition paper doll prints Rebecca Green and I collaborated on. (Check back for [...]

Where did October go? Time has been flying lately an I’ve been too swamped to blog, so I thought I’d stop in for a quick update. Part of the reason I haven’t been blogging as much is because I’ve been sneaking off to run as much as I can. While the longest run I’ve been [...]

One of my favorite things is to find real mail delivered my mailbox. Even the best e-mail can’t quite top a handwritten letter. And when you throw a handmade surprise into the mix, well, that’s when opening mail really starts to rock. The friendship bracelets from Beverly’s swap arrived yesterday and my girls and I really [...]

I’m a city girl who has longed to live in a big old house with a wrap-around porch on a patch of farm land all my life. But every now and then the view out my suburban window is absolutely breathtaking and I’m once again reminded to be grateful for my tiny patch of land [...]

I met Tom, a Valspar paint represenative, at my local Lowe’s yesterday and he hooked me up with paint samples for tomorrow’s craft segment on WZZM Channel 13′s “Take Five” morning show. (Thanks, Tom!)  Check back here tomorrow to see what the girls and I have been working on. Oh and the curtains are up! [...]

I had kind of a frustrating day today. I’ll spare you the sordid details but I channeled my frustration into emotional fuel for a faster-than usual run around the neighborhood. That’s what I do when I get mad, I go out for a run and sweat out my anger. It may sound a bit twisted, [...]

I’ve been trying to keep a low profile and stay home as much as possible lately. The silver lining of my continued illness is that I’ve finally tried Pinterest and I really like it. It’s a great way to organize everything that inspires you on the web on a virtual bulletin board that you can share with the [...]

Look at these lovely soap, lotion and peppermint lip balm samples from Sheri, owner of Sheri’s Soap Opera and sponsor of CraftSanity Podcast episode 123. The surprise package was a nice little treat when extreme fatigue gave way to illness at the end of last week. Thanks so much, Sheri! Thankfully, my voice is coming [...]

The  deadline pressure is on as I work to put the next issue of CraftSanity Magazine together. I’m stressed but having a blast at the same time so no complaints here. The projects by designers from near and far are so diverse and awesome that I think you’re really going to love issue 2! In [...]

We’re back from a very short camping trip to Holland State Park. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing vacation because I worked every day we were there, which is completely my fault. I’ve been stuck in workaholic mode for months with no one to blame but myself. So what did I do? I kicked back in [...]

Today I interviewed a lovely woman named Fran for an upcoming newspaper column. We had a great visit during which she showed me two paper bead necklaces her mother made “years and years” ago. Fran said her mother called them memory beads because she would often take wrapping paper home from family events and make [...]

Have you ever seen one of these hand-crank knitting  machines by Mattel, Inc. that make cute little knitted yo-yos? I stumbled upon this vintage craft beauty – complete with two manuals – last weekend at an outdoor market in Fraser, Mich. (my hometown) and bought it for a dollar. I haven’t had a chance to [...]

Okay, podcast episode 114 is in the bag. We just have to update the blog and do a couple other behind-the-scenes maneuvers. But first I want to tell you about the exciting opportunity I will get this summer to participate in the Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs, Aug. 13-15 in Seattle, Wash. I will be speaking [...]