I don’t know how many of you follow Dana Willard’s MADE blog or Rae’s madebyrae blog,  but if you don’t, now would be a good time to start.  They are spending the month of February hosting various giveaways, having guest bloggers, and providing tips and tutorials to share with all of us!

So far, they have had some amazing crafters from far and wide offing gorgeous photography of their projects and various awesome giveaways, so head on over and check out all the recent posts.  It’s quite exciting!

Later this month, Shelly and I are honored to participate with Dana and Rae by offering a sewing tutorial, a One Boy Circus Giveaway, and a special prize from Patterns by Figgy’s.  Stay tuned for more.

Well, lookie here!  La Femme Monkita has listed One Girl Circus as her Michigan etsy Shop of the day!

Thank you Kirsten!

It’s thrilling to see a dear friend’s name in print.  Especially when she’s sweet, talented and inspiring all at once.  Amy from Handmade Detroit is featured on the closing page of the new Apronology Magazine (Book, really) from Stampington Press.

The adorable apron is shown to my left, and you can read Amy’s feature story if you click on it.

Congratulations, Amy!!

My dear, darling Tracy was in town from California for a wedding and we had the good fortune of hosting her for a while.  We transformed Julia’s room from the teenaged den of sloth and torpor it was (complete with 40 mountain dew bottles) into a respectable guest room.  I try not to think about how she will respond when she comes home from Michigan State for a weekend. I wish we had a before picture. Seriously.  J really earned his daddy badge (of course he hasn’t told her yet!) …moving right along:

Tracy wanted to see the Plymouth Ice Festival, and since I’ve never been, I agreed that Ella and I would accompany her.  It was cold, very cold.  We went the day before it officially opened and witnessed the carving of some of the sculptures which was impressive.  Ella was absolutely fascinated.  I was freezing.

I love my Ella and my Tracy, so I didn’t complain (aloud) about the chill. I was wearing my heated jacket (I know!)

      We had a lovely afternoon wandering around the sweet downtown.  We discovered an adorable little tea shop and each purchased some “Earl Grey Extreme” because we girls love the bergamot.  Extremely.

Ella and J and I have to head to California soon.  I simply must have a hike with Tracy.  It has been too long since we’ve had outdoorsy fun together.

You know the kind of relationship where you are busy with your lives, but you always think of one another?  One where when you finally do have the opportunity to slow down and connect, it’s as if you haven’t missed a beat? It’s wonderful isn’t it?

Originally uploaded by Pranamama

I have been spending more time offline than on, and not only have I been upgrading my tablet, and learning all kinds of new software, but I have been working on some very exciting projects.  Shelly from Figgy’s and I are collaborating and she talks about it here far more eloquntly than I could.

Ellabella and I have been doing a lot of cooking and cleaning, and trying really, really hard to get on a schedule so we can all be more productive around here.

Separately, I am working on a huge poject for the next month, working on websites, marketing and booth design, getting ready for NADA in Orlando.

If you are noticing that there’s not a lot of sewing in there, you’re right.  I made some special gifts, but that’s it, other than craft fair inventory for the month of  December.  I have not even seen my sewing space in weeks, and I’m tiring of working with pixels rather than fabric.  That alone is motivation to finish with the deadlines and move on to the exciting new things!

I have been seeing a chiropractor 3x weekly since mid-december, addressing some issues that seem to have arisen from back-to-back (no pun intended) car accidents about 8 years ago.  So there went my “extra” time, and also has thwarted my efforts at a nice calm home rhythm for dear Ella.

Add to this, that J and I volunteered to coach Peter’s lego robotics team this season, and we have an overload.

I have more to write, but it is 1:20 am already, and the next big thank you post deserves photos that are on the old tablet (which I never want to see again after downloading!!)

*whew*  are you still with me?

love,

k