Vacation Instagrams

This week husband and I took a little vacation with his family to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg TN.  This was our first family vacation with everyone together and we definitely enjoyed it.  We ate a lot of good food, put-putted, shopped, played games and did a lot of front porch sitting.  I sure wish I could enjoy coffee this morning on a wrap around porch with a mountain side view surrounded by trees, but having the pups lay on my lap happy to have me back in Ohio is just as good. ;)

Weekend Instagrams

waiting for the hot air balloons.

the balloon glow.

eating coconut shrimp while watching boats dock.

on our way canoeing.

our birthday gift we bought for our nephew.  I wonder how hard it will be for husband
to look at the hulk hands on the shelf for a week and not open them to play.

This past week has felt like a vacation week.  We enjoyed the long holiday weekend {Memorial Day was yesterday here in the US}, the warm sunny weather and another visit from my parents Thursday night/Friday morning on their way home from Niagra Falls.  

We spent Thursday evening in Cleveland at a hot air balloon festival, ate seafood on the lake Friday night with our friends, spent Saturday shopping for summer clothes {my least favorite clothing season, btw}, canoeing and cooking out on Sunday and relaxing yesterday.  

After our 3 hour canoe trip with our friends on Sunday, and tipping our canoe 3 times {two times were accidental, once was one of the boys sneaking up behind us and jumping in our canoe like a frog.  And by one of the boys I mean my husband.} we were exhausted and I have countless bruises on my legs and one really bad bruise on my hip.  Have you ever been canoeing?!  We usually kayak, but let me tell you, it is almost impossible getting back in your canoe if the river is more than 3 feet deep.  This is why I have so many bruises because it was not graceful and I had to make several attempts at jumping back in the boat.  Despite the unattractive legs at the moment, we had a really fun time!

Now, who is ready for summer?! :)  

I am actually a little bit excited for this summer, even though I'm not into the whole bathing suit wearing, 95 degree temperatures and bees buzzing around me kind of girl. 

Crafty Supermarket Recap

Last weekend I traveled to southwest Ohio and set up a little booth for the Crafty Supermarket at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center.  This was my first indie craft show and it was so much fun being a vendor!  I am still very new to the shows and events scene for my handmade business, but after leaving last weekend I knew I wanted to apply for the Crafty Supermarket's next show in November.

During the show I took note of the different comments and questions customers would ask me.  For example, I was asked quite a few times if I could make matching bow-ties and hair clips for kids so they could match their dog.  This is an idea I have been wanting to do for a while now and I am excited to make this happen!  My favorite thing that was said to me was "Oh my gosh.  There are so many reasons I need a dog, but this is definitely the top reason!"  -referring to my bow-ties.

Overall, the show was a big success and I was introduced to so many cool artists and their work.

These were my favorite booths from Saturday:

Cynthia Vardhan Ceramics

Good tunes accompanied us all day.

Wholly Craft!

Andy J Miller from DesignKoma

Design Koma was screen printing fresh prints at their booth!  I love when artists show their work in progress.

Redraven Studios

Animals made from vintage fabrics.  Shop The Wind & The Sail.

The Wind and The Sail again.  I really adored her vintage linen animals.  Each one was unique.

Gracie Sparkles handmade cards.

Sara Gelbert is the designer from Excitations.  I loved all her feather wood prints and leather jewelry!  You can shop her products on etsy.

Some of my other favorite vendors that I do not have photos of are the artists listed below:
Cordial Kitten  (custom illustrations)
Sally Harless (art + illustration)
David Nebert  (Works + Inspirations: organic life and recycled light bulbs)

Take a look at some of these artists and let them know you found them through Little Blue Feather!

Hello May

May 1 is here and oh my, it's going to be a busy month!  Today I woke up early and started my day {and my month} off on a good note.  I had a little pep talk from the hubs about how awesome of a day it was going to be, packed him a very impressive pita for lunch, showered with amazing new handmade fragrant soap, cooked a power breakfast for myself, cleaned the kitchen and sat down to write in my calendar.  And it's only 8 am!

There are so many things I am looking forward to in May.
Upcoming shows:
May 5 - Crafty Supermarket (Cincinnati, OH)
May 12 - Bark in the Park (Akron, OH)

Mother's Day, my mother-in-law's birthday, my parent's anniversary and my mom's birthday are all in the same week.

One of my best friend's from high school is getting married this weekend.

A visit to northeast Ohio from my parents.

And of course I am looking forward to spring flowers, warmer temps and more outdoor time with my family.

Yeah, it's going to be a great month!
Do you have big plans?
Happy 1st day of May!

New fabrics + First indie craft show

This weekend I am participating in my first ever indie craft show taking place in Cincinnati!  I am so excited, yet so nervous.  The name of the show is the Craft Supermarket and the team behind the show has put together a really awesome vendor line up.  I'm totally impressed!!  Not only am I excited to sell at the show, but I hope to do a little shopping too! ;)

The next four days I am going to consume way too much iced coffee, sleep too little and work work work as much as possible.  I have some new fabrics that I am excited to work with and some fun displays from Ikea for my booth.

If you live in Cincinnati, come out to the show and say Hi!

Lake Side

I love the area where we live and that within 30 minutes, we can get to Lake Erie, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park or to two major cities.  We try to get out and enjoy one of these places every weekend.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, we will be able to have more and more days like this.

Walking in the sand.
Watching Justin skip rocks on the lake.
Taking in the fresh air.
Enjoying family time outdoors.

InstaFriday - 01.06.12

Sharing my first Instagram phone photos of 2012!

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1. Snuggled up at home on the first day of the new year.  
2. Stanlee snuggled himself into the blanket on our couch and started his year with a lot of resting.
3. I thought adjusting the blanket was a good idea so he could, ya know, breathe.
4. I met up with Natalie for lunch today!  She is so sweet and it was really great to finally meet her in person.
5. My new NS Pottery ring Natalie brought to lunch!!  I love it so much!  Like I said, she is so sweet!
6. Sometimes it's better to just leave the hat on!  He is still pretty adorable though, crazy hair and all ;)

Around here, weekends are wonderful.  It's a full two days to hang out with the husband, cook/bake, play with the pups and just spend time together as a small little family unit.  So happy it's Friday :)


I hope everyone has a great weekend!  

InstaFriday - 12.16.11

In exactly one week, I will be in my hometown, visiting family, baking, watching cable TV, eating too many sweets, laughing, cuddling boston terriers, giving gifts and spending quality time with my loved ones.  I really can't wait!  

So, this means I have 7 days to finish shopping, make more gifts, wrap all my gifts, bake for Justin's work Christmas party, mail Christmas cards {yes I still have not done this..} and make a few batches of Oreo BonBons.  <---Recipe post coming very soon.

While I am very excited for the next 7 days, here is a look into my last 7 days via Instagram phone photos:

Husband hung our stockings and Christmas lights around our tiny little fireplace.  And yes, MileyJo and Stanlee have stockings too ;)

This Monday we are attending an ugly Christmas attire party at my friends house!  This past week I helped her set up a handmade photo booth for the party.  The stripes?!...Well, it is wrapping paper!  And I must take a moment to say how proud I am that we matched up the stripes so well!  

Mr. Sharkey took Wednesday off of work!  We did some Christmas shopping and personal shopping.  I told him I was on the hunt for very very very very very very very very warm items.  And every time I said that, I made sure there were 8 very's in the sentence. That's how serious I was and how cold it already feels.  I did not purchase this hat, but it is at Urban Outfitters along with many other awesome hats.

Our warm hunt continues... 

My first thought was, we live in Ohio, not Alaska...Then I remembered we are expected 50+ inches of snow on average in our area.  I mean, maybe they sell these for a reason here in Northeast Ohio?!

While Oreo shopping today, I came across this beautiful package.  Triple-Double Oreos.  It's like the Oreo factory knows me or something?!

That's all for now!  I am going to be sharing an Oreo BonBon recipe this weekend and a very memorable Christmas vacation husband and I had a couple years ago.  Stay tuned!!

Christmas Countdown: 9 days

InstaFriday - 12.09.11

Hello Friday.  I am so glad you made it!

This week husband has worked long crazy hours, so I have spent quite a bit of time at my friend's house and at my favorite coffee bar.  Both have been a lot of fun, but I am ready to spend some time with husband.  Naturally.

Here is a look into my week via Instagram iphone photos:

In love with my new little zippered pouch from Chandelier Jenny.  Business cards go in the pouch, the pouch goes in my purse, the purse tags along with me, and then when someone asks for a business card I can say, "why yes, right here they are!"  It's an amazing system isn't it?!  Much better than the scattered "maybe I have one in my wallet" system I was using before.

Being an adult has it's perks.  No one was able to tell me I couldn't eat this Oreo stuffed chocolate chunk cookie for breakfast.  If you haven't seen the recipe for this yet, check it out here: Oreo stuffed cookie recipe

My new book on how to make your own soaps at home.  If you love a good bar of soap, you just might be surprised how super easy this is!  Tutorial for handmade soap found here.

Stanlee has a photo shoot today for these new dog bow-ties that will be listed in my shop very soon.  Which new fabric is your favorite?!  I'm thinking the green dots and the striped/dot combo in the front are my two favorites.

Since hubby was working nights, I let the dogs sleep in bed with me.  

A nice lunch at my friend's house in the middle of our crafting date.

A handmade bar of orange honey almond soap.

Stanlee is always sitting at my side wanting to know what I am working on.

Stanlee is not very welcoming to the snow.  Poor guy was meant to live in Florida.

So that was our week.  I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend!