It's Getting Really Green Around Here

I Love spring! It is without a doubt my favorite time of year. All of my plants are waking up from there long nap, and everything is lush and green. I was, for the longest time, not a gardener. I left that to both of my sisters who have lots of talent in that area. I was always too bug paranoid to be playing in the dirt. Then, the first year in our house I found myself outside, headphones on, a bit of tunes flowing and I spent 3 hours straight pruning my Rhododendrons. I found it to be so meditative, relaxing. I guess you could say, I was hooked. Mr. Happiknits calls my garden the "willy nilly" garden, because I plant whatever I want in it :) Unfortunately the deer eat most of it, but year after year I try new things. Most of the space is now taken up with Butterfly bushes. I will get some photos of them when they bloom. I also have a forest of Lily of the valleys, which as you can see are very happy with their home! I find alot of inspiration for my designs from nature, so this is a very creative time of year for me. The mannequins are full with designs in the making.

Sunday is Market Day

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes! I go back this tuesday for a biopsy, I am nervous about the procedure, but optimistic that it will be ok. So this morning I woke up super early and went to the Lambertville market with 2 of my lovely girlfriends, Michele and Michele :) I have been going to the market every other weekend for most of the winter. I just discovered it last summer, so I have been hooked. This morning it was AWESOME! Packed with people and treasures! I am looking forward to an awesome summer of shopping! I have a theory that there are certain "days" as I call them, some are "button" days, "lace" days, etc... today, was a bit of both. Within the first 5 minutes I found a lovely bowl of all white buttons, alot of shell. Then it just got better from there. The best part of the day was spending time with my friends, not thinking about the biopsy and just enjoying living in the moment. I wanted to share some of these fun finds with you, there's even a bag of vintage fabric scraps that Michele spotted! Can't wait to spend more Sunday mornings out shopping with you ladies! Even Bella, got a new apron!

xoxo

Sundays Are Vintage Market days

This morning my sister and I arose at the crack of dawn to take a drive over to my favorite Lambertville market. It was VERY chilly, and the sellers were sparse. But we did happen to do very well regardless. I have photographed all my goodies, but I managed to get a few taken. It was a button and flower day. For me anyway. My sister found a nice bit of lace for her crafting adventures. I have started to branch out and want to play with some mixed media art. So I have begun to add vintage photos, letters, books, etc to my collecting in the preparation to sit down and try my hand at it. I love all the Somerset Life magazines. They give me such beautiful inspiration! I also want to try my hand at transferring some of the old black and white vintage photos onto muslin and working some Altered Couture pieces. So much to do So little time! Today was spent with the needle felting machine post the market as hubby was watching football all day :) I've been working on some more felted flowers and incorporating the millinery flowers. Too much fun!! Until next time, have fun with your artistic endevours

xoxo

Felting is Fun

I've been trying to spend some more time with my needle felting machine~she's lonely :) I have a bunch of sweaters felted and ready to go, but have been concentrating on the knitting. I am SO into the knit cape right now. I have been crazy in love with the yarn that is spun by Sara and it just works so well with them. I have 2 capelets on the mannies right now just waiting to be embelished with bits of whimsy. I did find some great vintage millinery flowers that I restored and will be using. One of which is on the nearly finished brooch, I used red and ice blue. I adore this color combo. So beautiful! I was in the next town over and discovered a quilting shop (bought some muslin) and she directed me to a shop that sells yarn, and has spinning classes. As in the wheel, not the bike (lol, I love "spin" class too). So I took a peek and she had some fantastic roving in little mini bags, perfect for my machine! So here's a peek at whats in the works, more to come!
xoxo

Traveling and Shopping

My two favorite things to do, Travel and shop! I have been a bit busy lately, now is the beginning of the "sick" season at my real world job. It is also the busy season in my Happiknits shop. I have been doing alot of custom work, and I sold at a huge Cranberry Festival in Bordentown. It was a great time, and I met quite a few fellow EtsyNJ sellers. I love festivals because I can see my pieces on there new owners! Last weekend I traveled to upstate NY with my mom and sister to visit my youngest sister and niece. We had an awesome time, although it was very COLD!!!! Despite that all 3 of us sisters got up saturday and sunday at the crack of dawn to shop the local market. Saturday is the farmer's and Sunday is the vintage day. It was fun, my toes were frozen, but the finds on Sunday were disappointing. I think I am super spoiled with the local markets here in NJ. Speaking of, because I needed my "fix" I did back to back mornings this week. Wednesday at The Golden Nugget in Lambertville. This was my first wednesday there. It is there busiest day and it was packed! I found some buttons, and went to visit my fav new Millinery flower lady and got some more flowers and a gorgeous lace collar that Bella is wearing. Thursday I did Colombus. That is their busiest day also. Not a successful day for me there, just a few very pretty buttons, and some pretty old bead necklaces, which I guess is a good day :)

I enjoy just walking around and being in the presence of all the old goodies!! Back to work for me now, will post sooner. I am leaving you with the finished Upcycled bag!

xo

What I'm Creating Now

I've been having alot of fun lately making new pieces of wearable art. I created a huge, oversized cowl as a custom order for one of the girls that I take bootcamp with. I loved it so much I made it in coral and raspberry. The yarn is simply a total joy to work with. So soft! I tried the raspberry one on after finishing it, and to be honest, I'm not sure I can part with it! I've also been playing around with the sweater felting again. I bought a bunch of sweaters from the thrift shop, felted them and they have been waiting for me to be inspired. I found these lovely fabric blocks that have beautiful graphic work. I knew it was just what these felted sweater had been waiting for. My first project is a pocketbook. I did alot of sewing today , hand sewing that is, and my fingers have the scars to prove it (hehe). I am loving the look so far, it is allowing me to play with lots of my vintage goodies too. Oh and another hat with a vintage millinery flower hand sewn on, don't ask, I can't tell you how many times I stabbed myself sewing that on! I did alot today, and now it's bedtime, sweet dreams friends...

Reviving Millinery Flowers

I love millinery flowers~

My last trip to the antique market it seemed to be vintage button and millinery flower day. I did buy some vintage lace, but for the most part it was flowers. In possession of a large quantity I sought help with "reviving" these millinery flowers. Some great people in the Etsy forums gave me the suggestion of putting the kettle on the stove and holding the flowers in the steam. Suggestion: I used a metal pair of tongs to hold the flower; that steam is HOT! lol... Anyway, wanted to post some of the flowers before and after, they came out great!! I was encouraged this weekend while out in the very hip Asbury Park , at the Asbury Lanes, I noted quite a few girls with large flowers in their hair. Very cute! Could be the newest trend! Stay tuned, I am working on some hats with these cute flowers~ *sigh* I shouldn't keep them all for myself.