Dandelions rank among my favorite flowers. I used to pick them for my mom when I was a kid and now I get to watch my daughters pick them for me. Because most people consider them weeds, no one ever gets on your case for picking them and I love that, too. I wrote a [...]

This week has been totally insane and it’s only Thursday. My grandfather is in the hospital several states away. Some jerk stole our credit card number and went on a shopping spree. We picked up and organized 1,300 Girl Scout cookies  for the troop. And that’s in addition to the usual craziness. On the bright [...]

I can’t believe it’s Saturday already. This week has been a complete blur. Here’s a recap: * I sold more looms this week than I expected to, so I’ve been busy making more. (A special thank you to my lovely customers. You folks rock!) This uptick in sales comes at a good time because layoff [...]

We’re in handmade holiday decoration mode here at the CraftSanity headquarters. I made this little banner to hang from the mantel out of strips of fabric woven on the CraftSanity mini loom. As a banner enthusiast, I know I’ll be whipping up more festive squares before Christmas. I make cute little potholder ornaments on this [...]

I’ve been so busy making wooden peg looms for my shop, that I haven’t had much time to weave on them lately. For this reason, I made a point to involve weaving in this year’s Halloween decor crafting. Now I “have to” weave. : ) Soon this stack of woven potholders will be transformed into [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Today I showed Take Five viewers how to do some basic weaving on recycled cardboard. From cereal boxes to packaging from the mail, cardboard is readily available and ripe for free loom-making. While cardboard looms are great for introducing kids to weaving, this project is for people of all ages. I’ve been weaving for more [...]

Remember these? This week’s craft “Take Five” TV segment is an ode to the looper pot holder. Oh, how I love the loopers. Seriously, folks, I doubt I’ll ever outgrow my the little pot holder loom. I just learned how to make loopers out of recycled T-shirts and I want to share this great info [...]

Jochen Ditterich Today my art & craft column is about Jochen Ditterich, 73, of Grand Rapids, a fantastic weaver who taught me a great deal when I did an apprenticeship with him about a decade ago. The column that appears in today edition of The Grand Rapids Press starts out like this… I was an [...]

I bought a simple rug loom at a weavers guild garage sale about eight years ago, back when motherhood was my hope. “It’s for kids,” I told my husband.  When I bought it, I could only imagine how fun it would be to weave with our children  one day. And I’m oh-so-happy to report that [...]

This is the bird’s nest we discovered under our deck today. I’m in awe of how resourceful birds are. Even our dog’s white fur is woven into this abode. I just love meeting “natural” weavers. Welcome to my back yard! Thanks to everyone who posted about the Swiss chard. I cooked it up in a [...]