Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Handmade U Sponsors #3 - Jessica Rodarte

Our Third Special Sponsor is Jessica Rodarte.  She has an adorable blog - visit it HERE.

She creates the cutest most adorable TINY BOOKS like this one:


She sells them in her etsy shop - go check them out HERE.

Her blogs also features cute pics of meals for her 2 year old, fun artsy projects and swaps.  Such a fun read!  Go check her out and let her know Handmade U sent you!!

Thanks Jessica, we appreciate your support!!

-Rachel

Monday, July 30, 2012

Handmade U Sponsors!!! #2 The Speckled Egg!

Hi Everyone,

Today's Sponsor is Heather from the Speckled Egg!  If you haven't stopped by her etsy shop please rush over there now and check it out HERE!  Be prepared to ooh and ahh over so many amazing vintage finds... I especially love her collection of paper goodies!   Like these!!!




Follow her blog to keep current on all her fun finds!!

We love our sponsors for Handmade U!  Thank you so much Heather!!

-Rach

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Handmade U - Sponsors!! #1 - Dee Harvey


We have had such a great response from sponsors for Handmade U! I'd like to announce and let you know who these great ladies are! 

First we have Dee Harvey - www.studiodeestyle.com
Check out her website! She is amazingly talented and just such a nice person! I met her at a Mary Engelbreit workshop weekend and I could tell she is very passionate about her art!


Her fabrics and especially her bedding looks amazing!
Thank you Dee!!


-Rach

Friday, July 27, 2012

Collaborative Journal Project

Hello!

Hope everyone's summer is going great.  It has been HOT HOT HOT here in Omaha, so it is a good time to get into the Art Room and ORGANIZE!!  Scary word I know!  And for those of you that I have allowed to see the destruction that is my Art Room, you know how much ORGANIZATION is needed.  However, improvements are being made and progress is being realized.  Photos to come someday soon I hope!

In the meantime as I was organizing, I found lots of vintage goodies and ephemera that I really just wanted to glue some place.  I wanted to bring those old tickets, receipts, green stamps, dennison labels into the light and put them somewhere I would be able to look at them and enjoy.  I also thought I needed a partner in this, someone who I would be responsible to, to actually get the journal pages done!

So I thought for a sec and decided Michelle Geller of Hold Dear, my good friend, my right-hand lady for HANDMADE U, and not to mention someone whose Art Room I'd love to dig through was the one to collaborate with!!

She said yes before I finished saying SWAP EPHEMERA Kits.

We each put together a kit of goodies from old to new papers, journaling boxes, washi tape, punched out wallpapers, all good stuff!  We used old French Blue Books that I found in this garage in the South of France two years ago, and went to work.  You can purchase one from my etsy shop HERE!

We decided this would be our Daily July Journal.  Each day we'd write a few thoughts about what we did that day, what we ate, what we saw, anything and everything that we wanted to remember about the day.  

First we had to put together the kits, one for Michelle and one for me.  I just was so excited to see even with all the same materials how different our journals would look!!

I decided I wanted to find a fun vintage box or tin to store all the goodies.  My hubby Jim and I went to Walnut IA, the antique capital of Iowa, for their big vendor weekend.



I found a couple things that would work, and decided on a cute children's chalkboard box for Michelle. I filled it with all these goodies....



I decided to use this red pail for my supplies since I wasn't shipping it anywhere!



It was like Christmas morning when Michelle's package arrived for me!  What fun!  Isn't other peoples' stuff always more fun than the stuff you already have?!?  Between the two of us we had quite a pile to use to decorate our books.



First since the pages in the French Blue Books are fairly lightweight, we decided to double them up by taping two pages together.  It made for a fun look!!  I used a variety of different washi tapes that I had on hand and prepared the journal.



I decided to spend a few evenings just decorating all the pages to have them ready to go so journaling would be quick and easy.  I loved the process, I just used a few glue sticks, and adhered all the papers to the pages.

Then the daily pages began.



You can follow me at RJMCGOUGH on Instagram to see the pages as I create them.  You can follow Michelle at HOLDDEAR on Instagram as well.

Michelle and I are planning to sell kits for future journals, but HANDMADE U prep is fully underway, and our journal kits may have to hold for a bit!  We plan on unveiling our first kits at Handmade U, still room for you to sign up and join us!  You won't be disappointed!  Check out our Facebook page HERE!

Hope you are inspired to USE some of your favorites so you can enjoy them!!

-Happy Journaling,

Rach

Friday, June 8, 2012

My Birthday Weekend

Hi Everyone,

Even though my birthday was in April, I thought I'd share the fun weekend we had to celebrate the achievement of another year!  Since my birthday fell the weekend before Handmade U - Spring, I figured I'd have lots left to do, so we didn't go away too far.

It was a stormy weekend but we decided to brave the tornado WARNINGS, yes not watches, and drive from Omaha to Nebraska City, home of Arbor Day!  

There is a cute place called Lied Lodge where my husband booked a room.  It was a little dicey as we got close, the sirens were sounding, and apparently tornados touched down 20 miles away..waves of rain drenched the car....but as you may have guessed by my writing this post, we survived!

When we arrived at the Lodge and we relaxed in the lobby which was full of travelers and campers that came in for shelter.  


We taste tested the local Apple Wine, which was very sweet, but not too bad.  Bought some cheeses and crackers and had a little happy hour.


Sunday morning we had a relaxing massage, tasty brunch buffet and headed to tour around the area before heading home.

First stop was Kimmel Orchard



Choices.....

We tested an apple turnover and iced apple cider.  We also picked up some Apple Maple Syrup that we need to try out at home sometime soon.


Then I wanted to show Jim Monument Square, the park with the Whispering Bench!


Here is the tale of the bench...



Jim sat at one end and I on the other and if we whispered to the side of the bench we could hear each other!


We headed on our way back to Omaha with a quick stop at an antique mall that was just recovering from the huge flood we had in the area a couple years ago.  They showed pictures of the sandbag piles they had around the whole huge building that saved them.

When we got home we attempted to go out to dinner to the new Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate Sunday evening with my parents.  However, there was a 2 hour wait since new restaurants get bombarded when they open in Omaha.  We chose Cheesecake Factory next door.  Always a good standard.



Monday was my actual Birthday, so I was surprised by flowers from my sweet husband, after he already gave me generous gifts over the weekend.


We met my parents for a second try at Joe's Crab Shack over lunch on Monday.  Unfortunately it was a bad experience.  Long waits, cold food, unhappy wait staff....the opening month just didn't work for them.   Silver lining we got to wear bibs...and how often anymore do you get to do that?!?



So Jim also had ordered a cake, and of course he thought I needed cupcakes too!  So thoughtful!  Thanks Jim....I don't know why right now I have a taste for cake.....


A wonderful birthday weekend!!


- Rach