Cheap frills

I've been enamored with the idea of ruffled streamers since I saw the Made post on them back in May. A relatively easy, relatively cheap craft that results in brightly colored ribbons we can hang all over to fancy up the place? I'm in. I'm all in.

I finally had a chance to justify some streamer manufacture at the end of July, when my parents threw a graduation party for my sister Jordan, Joshua and me (high school, college and college, respectively) at their house in Minnesota. Several bags of 99-cent crepe paper streamers and a few hours in front of the sewing machine later, we had piles and piles of textured paper goodness. Pre-party, we stapled them to the garage rafters -- paying far too much attention to alignment, considering they were paper streamers. (It's how we roll.) They were everything I hoped for. 

Dana has posted a great, informative tutorial on Made, so I won't rehash the instructions here. Really, you'll only need streamers, a sewing machine and patience.

   

Jordan takes to the power tools to make the garage a more colorful place.

A peek at the party invites.

Out in the world

Me and my books are being featured for the month of April at my beloved Electric Fetus. See the entire MinnEconomy feature here: whee!

The above picture is of a no longer visible wall on the side of the fetus building. This picture was taken shortly after the adjoining building was demolished. I loved the brief view into the paint colors of a previously interior wall, suddenly exposed for all of Superior St. to see. A new building has since taken up the spot.

New books

I just finished a new batch of books for my beloved former place of employment, the Electric Fetus in Duluth, Minn. They're making their way there via the postal service right now.

And we returned mostly unscathed from our weekend RV trek/urban camping adventure to Joshua's band's out-of-state show. This is what I was doing during the show:




You know it's a party when there's a sparkly purse involved.

Home again home again

I had a lovely, slushy trip north to Duluth to see friends + family and generally ate/drank/giggled too much the whole time. My sister and I seem to be prone to giggling at our own jokes. We think we are very, very funny. "EPOXY," she turned to me and said once, reverentially, "it's god's glue."



I also built a tiny wooden car for a pinewood derby:



I named her Gertrude (she's the white one with the red stripe) and she got third place overall. I was pretty tickled about the whole thing. Yes, the car in the back is a sandwich.







My birthday twin Nyssa June and I are happy from all our derby-ing.




Now that I am reunited with my workspace, I'm planning for a shop update with more animals + goodies soon.

a sad day for books

The news from home is not good. Apparently, the city is short on funds so the branch libraries are closing.
I spent a lot of time at the Mt. Royal Branch Library from the time I was old enough to ride a bicycle there. I remember clearly the day it opened, because we were there, 7th graders, gleefully in line to check out books. And as if that weren't enough to bear, I'm reminded of the closure and eventual ignominious end of of my dear R.O. Carlson's Used Book & Record, where I used to sit for what seemed like hours sifting through records piled on the floor, hesitantly expecting the shelves to cave in and bury me in literature. Yes, the old man was creepy, but it was Duluth's Finest Tourist Attraction.