i'm still here!

{and I've missed you.}

a little break from the blogging world, but not from the lief world! we've been busy with shows, weddings, ties, stamps, handmade collectives, connecting with fellow grand rapidian artists, eating good food, dancing and lots and lots of calligraphy. it's been an incredibly busy, yet absolutely joyful season.

here is a handful of lief happenings these past few months....

{UICA Holiday Artist Market booth}

{hand calligraphed + stamped save the dates}

{GRunveiled booth: calligraphy tray}

{hand stamped + calligraphed Chicago print}

{potato stamping (with the lovely tori)}

{custom linen thank you cards for 6.25 paper}

happy weekend. happy spring.

CAREballet + birthdays

liefday monday.

{GRunveiled + CAREballet}

here are some more photos from the show from talented nicole haley. thank you again for all of your hard work that night!

also, CAREballet (creative arts repertoire ensemble) is having their auction on Saturday, March 26^th at Kent Country Club.

CARE is a great organization that I got connected to through a dear family that I simply cherish. Two of their three girls dance with CARE and I had the chance to see them this past Christmas in their 'TWAS show -- it was great! (and at st. cecelia!) CARE also works hard to connect under-served children in the Grand Rapids Area to dance by providing tickets and transportation to Friday night performances. I think what they are doing in the lives of children in the GR area is wonderful and inspiring. If you plan on attending the auction, keep your eye out for a lief design bag filled with thank you cards, a journal and a gift certificate -- all tied together in a handmade bag, of course! :)

and a big happy birthday to some of the dearest people to me!

happy monday!

thank you + congrats!

first, thank you for all of your support. I am humbled and joyed by this.

second, a big congrats to shawn campbell for winning a lief goodie bag (filled with notecard packs, notepads and a lief coupon) from the email list drawing from GRunveiled.

here is a picture of the liefdesign stitched notebooks that the first 50 registers for GRunveiled received in their goodie bag.

a picture of the beginning stitches of the lief banner. that is one big embroidery hoop!

and a new picture from the studio. screenprint thanks to delicious design league. and to my dear friend suzy for working there...

enjoy your sunny (hopefully it is where you are too) Tuesday.

GRunveiled booth.

GRunveiled was a treat to be part of, thank you to all who came out to support! It was great to meet you all!

"proficiency in knowledge of linen"

today I have been reading a lecture by W.H. Webb regarding linen. He was the president of the Irish Linen Merchants' Association and deemed it imperative that the people selling linen had a deep understanding of this beautiful product. it's only 28 pages long [hehe]. the salespeople even had questionnaires at the end in which they could be granted the diploma of "proficiency in knowledge of linen," if passed. awesome. I printed it out and will continue to swoon over it for the next couple of days. this quote did make me smile: "Germany, France and Czecho-Slovakia are producers of flax [linen comes from flax] but chiefly for home consumption. Holland also produces flax, and Dutch flax-seed has been famous for years." (Webb, pg 8) leuk!

and some pictures of the linen I hope to incorporate into my booth at GRunveiled. oh what fun it is to stitch with some gorgeous yards of linen.

going to the meet 'n' greet last night was very exciting! it was great to see joy'l and aletha and see where my booth is going to be -- right on the top of the stairs. come check it out! even if you're not a bride, you can still come! there will be treats for you too! :)

ready, set, bodice. yup, made a bodice from this. confused? I was too! but I finished it. now for next week: arms, skirt and jean pants. woah!

I sure do love winter. a picture from the blizzard last week.

GRunveiled + Drafting.

It's funny how as soon as I posted about the beauty of winter's slower paced reflection, my life starts to speed on again. ha, someday my life will slow down...but probably not. I guess my 80 year old soul will have to try and keep up with my 25 year old body, once again. {oh, but all I want to do is sew + dip that beautiful nib into that smooth calligraphy ink!} But the things keeping me busy are pretty awesome - I'm really excited about them!

I started a Pattern Drafting class at Kendall College of Art and Design (a seriously cool gift I got for Christmas). This week we drafted our bodice - fun, but very difficult! For someone who still uses her fingers to do simple math, drafting makes my head hurt! But after three hours of 1/4ing, 1/2ing, and 1/3ing my measurements I have a bodice draft that should fit me to a tee (that is if I did all the math correctly!) luckily I have some delightful people in my class to help me along. thanks!

With the help of my dear friend Suzy @ suzannewilliamsdesign, I redesigned my logo. I wanted to keep it simple while incorporating my calligraphy. so here it is:

Another huge highlight for the week was getting into the GRunveiled show. I am thrilled about this! It's a really cool bridal show held at St. Cecilia's downtown Grand Rapids on February 24. I went last year to check it out and loved the vendors that were there -- unique and local, with lots of great design! I can't wait!! If you're interested, check out the website for more information.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the last bits of January!