The 12 Days of Christmas.....

If you're like me, you are having a hard time believing Christmas is just 15 days away!!  15?!   With the weather in Nebraska unseasonably warm (65+ today), it is even tougher to grasp that the year is nearing its end.  We still need to decorate the house and find a few more gifts in the next week or so!  YIKES.

Jim and I celebrate the holiday with the 12 Days of Christmas.   Each day leading up to Christmas we exchange little gifts and a card.  It is a treat to have a little surprise every morning and nice to share a card with a sweet message or funny memory.  The gifts might be a special Christmas Tea, or chocolates, maybe a DMB CD...anything that we think the other would enjoy (and maybe even share ;)

This season I have decided to add one more tradition along with our 12 Days of Christmas.  In the same vein I am going to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas by sending out 12 handmade gifts to 12 Ladies that have inspired me in some way.  Each Day I'll share with you who these women are and what they have done to be surprised with a little something heading their way.

I am sure I could come up with 100 women to send something to, however, I do need to be a little realistic on how much I can get done in the next 2 weeks!  

Would you like to join me??  I have way too much to do, but after participating in the Secret Sister gift giving and getting a handful of sweet surprises I thought why not pay that forward and send a few more gifts out??  If you don't find the time to send 12 gifts, why not just send a few?  It could be a handmade card, or gift tags, anything that your recipient would enjoy!

If you do join me why don't you tag photos of your handmade goodies with #12DaysHandmadeGiftGiving  

I would love to hear about who inspires you!  

Happy Handmade Holidays!

Stay tuned, it all begins Sunday!

Cheers!

-Rach

Exciting Announcement!! Handmade U - Stitch Team

Hi Everyone!!

I am so excited to announce that Handmade U now has our own Stitch Team!!

I love designing and coming up with lots of stitching ideas for you all, but don't always have time to create multiple samples and I know many of you have wonderful creative ideas on how to make things "your own".  So I decided that to give you the biggest variety of ideas I needed to recruit some of my favorite stitchers that would be excited to share their stitching with all of you!!

So without further adieu.... drum roll please ....


Jennifer Allred of The Turquoise Tomato

Carey Powell of According to Carey 

Shae Otto 

These three will be our Powerhouse Stitchers for HANDMADE U!  I'm so excited to have each one onboard for this adventure with me!!  Love them all!  Thank you ladies for stepping into the unknown and coming along for the ride!!

During the Spring 2015 Handmade U semester I taught a little class stitching the Big Red Barn!  I love my barn, and what a fun way to bring it to so many but to have an embroidery sampler of it!

I'll be teaching an upcoming class on Brave Girl University to show you ideas on how to stitch your own Big Red Barn soon!  I will also have samplers for purchase sometime in the near future!

If you haven't already signed up for Brave Girl University please do so here at my LINK

Can't wait to share more with you soon!!

xoxo
Happy Stitching!
-Rach

Fall 2015 Handmade U Quick Highlights and Spring 2016 Announcement!

Hi Everyone,

I am still coming down from the Handmade U High since our Fall semester was this past weekend.  Each semester it just seems to get better and better.  The teachers, the ladies, the projects, the food, and the weather - All just SOOO Good!

I'll be posting lots of pics and stories from the weekend but wanted to give you a few highlights from the past weekend, and give you the info on next semester!!

 Lorraine Bell and Rae Missigman are a dynamic duo!  Both their classes which they taught together were AMAZING!!  I think everyone FINISHED their projects which is always a treat!

Cora McGough especially loved Rae!

We also had Nicole be our right-hand girl for the weekend.  Wow did this make a big difference, thank you so much Nicole!  Look forward to having you back in May!

Here is our Fall 2015 Class!  A good mix of 1-peaters (Freshmen) and 2-, 3-, ...up to an 8-peater!  Love that my repeaters come back time and time again.  It is like a family reunion when we all can get together and love welcoming 1-peaters into the fold.

I'll be sharing all the details of the weekend, from the class projects to the food to the SWAPS!!

I know so many of you have asked "WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE?!?"  The answer is May 12-14, 2016!  We will be welcoming Mindy Lacefield to Handmade U to teach her inspired work!!  

I'll be teaching as well and be showing you how to create a Leather Quiltdori!

Can't wait!  Go check it out HERE!!  Be sure to like us on Facebook HERE to stay current on updates!!

More to come on the wonderful time we had this past weekend.  I miss all the girls so much already!!

xoxo
-Rach

Handmade U Semester 8 - Day 2 - Class with Melody Ross and Antiquing!

Hi Friends,


Our teacher for Friday morning and Saturday morning was Melody Ross, who by the way is amazing, I'm sure you know this, but in case someone hasn't been touched by the Brave Girl's Club, please go and check them out.  It is life - changing, soul - stirring, healing stuff they do over there.  Love them....

We did miss having the other half of the founding duo of BGC with us, Kathy Wilkins, but so happy she was able to spend time with her newest grandbaby!  So we'll look forward to her visiting us during another semester!!

Melody brought a fun project with awesome techniques that use many household items such as foil!

She made a fun little birdie that holds a special message, as well as a plaque....

This project also involved plaster, which is messy, wet, and all together awesome.  Luckily we have a water spout next to the barn, so we all took a little field trip to fill up our cups.

Julie, like a pro....

All the birdies came out differently which is always the best!  Each one unique like each of our students!  Laura and Ali, a part of a fairly hilarious table...every time I walked by someone at the table was cracking a joke or laughing like crazy.....

Always a good day to wear the HU t-shirts when there might be a little mess, and an apron if they had one!

Melody was so fun to have at Handmade U.....we want her to come back again and again....

The birdies were built on top of candlestick holders that we all found and brought with us to HU.  

After a busy morning of our hands in the plaster, we took a break for lunch prior to our antiquing afternoon!!

Beginning last semester I thought it would be fun to have a box lunch one of our days.  Since this is a school of sorts, why not bring out lunches in the vintage lunch boxes I hunted down for HU??

Luckily I had Cora McGough to help direct me finishing up the packing and making of the lunches....and  of course Jim McGough in the AM to help!

Each lunch box is packed with a croissant ham and swiss with special dressing, an apple, a cookie, string cheese and what else but a bag 'o chips! 

 Thanks to Jayne for

gifting me with a couple vintage lunch boxes that she found down in Florida too!!  So fun to share these with the students each semester!  It takes you back!

Melody enjoying her lunch on the lawn...we are pretty casual at Handmade U!

After lunch we all packed into cars and headed to two of my favorite antique malls.  I gave them a heads up a couple weeks before HU to staff up since I was bringing in about 30 women, who may like to shop!  Both did, which was so appreciated when it came time to check out!!  

Dawn and Jayne with their purchases waiting for the rest of their carload to head to the next stop...

 Check-out time....

Just about everyone found some special treasures to take home with them to remember such a fun weekend.

I could get lost in here for hours....

The next stop was just like the first, tons to see, and treasures to find...

After the last penny was spent and we packed it all into the cars we headed back to the Homestead.  Jim McGough had started the preparations for dinner.... Cream Cans.....  What are Cream Cans you ask?!  It is one of my favorite favorite meals....not only for the experience but for the tasty food!

You fill an old cream can (that has been cleaned out of course!!) with corn on the cob, sausages, potatoes, carrots and cabbage.... fill it with beer to steam it all in, and once it steams to perfection dump them into these tubs to serve!  Just like that...a meal to savor!!  Nice job Jim!

Yum....

 The happy gals sharing a meal and stories...

Love seeing these happy smiles!  I miss them so...

Feels like camping a little bit....

Dig into the corn!! I love it Nicole!

Full from the food and the friendships formed this day.....

Appreciate the love and support from this guy, my #1.

 Before dinner was ready we spent time trading our swaps....oh my, that is a whole post in of itself!  The swaps, ahh, love them, love the LOVE each gal puts into sharing a special surprise with their partners.  I took TONS and TONS of pictures of each one.... I'll share soon!

Hugs,

Rach

Handmade U Semester 8! Spring 2015 - Welcome Night

Hi All!!

How have you been?!?  Things have been crazy here.  Crazy.  I paged through my older posts and there is so much I haven't shared!!  I need to catch you up.  I do.  I promise I will.


First things first.  Spring Semester of Handmade U.  Wow.  Every single semester just keeps getting better.  I think wow, I love these students, I want these students back EVERY single semester....then of course some can't make it all the time, some come nearly every time, and then we have a new Freshmen (1-peater) class and WOW, I am in love with this new community each semester.

Where do I start??

Thursday night is always WELCOME night with introductions, hugs to old friends and new, goodie bags - full of amazing sponsor goodies, a Cook-Out by the Handmade U Grill Master himself, Jim McGough, and VENDOR NIGHT!


The weather held out pretty well our first and second day....Saturday brought in a little rain, but the new windows in the barn helped keep it a bit warmer!  Note to self.....next year Spring semester will be in May!!!



Vendor night is an opportunity for anyone that attends HU to bring their handmade wares to sell to the other students.

After dinner all the vendors headed up to the Red Barn loft to set up shop!  The rest of the gals waited anxiously downstairs getting ready to shop till they drop!



I rang the big bell at the top of one of the cupola's to let them know the shops were OPEN!!


{Thanks to Melody Ross for all the super cool chalk art on my chalkboards!}

I had screen-printed posters made of last year's t-shirt design as well as this year's design.  They were sold for $12 a poster...I have some left in stock if you would like one send me an email!



This semester Barb from Thoughtful Images Ink and Heidi from Simply Bungalow, the adorable shop in Lincoln were both sponsors and though they didn't attend the weekend Barb joined us for vendor night and brought both of their fun things for us to shop through!



Shopping and chatting.....



Nicole made these fun etched glass mason jars!



Jennifer from the Turquoise Tomato of course brought her fun leather cuffs!



And much more!!!

I love to include a special dessert for Welcome Night....this year were tasty Caramel Apple Cupcakes from Goldenrod Pastries Bakery in Lincoln!

What a fun first night.  More adventure, crafting and bonding to come.....stay tuned for the rest of the weekend!!

Note: We are over half full for the FALL SEMESTER!!  If you are interested in joining us with Lorraine Bell and Rae Missigman please sign up now over HERE!!

Hugs,

Rach