if at first you don't succeed. . .

unfortunately i won't be a vendor for this year's IHE. there were 180-something applicants for less than 100 spots, so i know they will have some really amazing vendors! i am bummed, but life goes on.

it's time for me to spend these next few days really buckling down and preparing to take the GRE a week from today. getting into graduate school is more important to me than anything else right now, so that is where my focus is.

i am excited to go to the IHE and see all the vendors who have been selected! all i can do is my best and try again for the fall show and next year's summer show. oh, life, you are funny.

waiting for the verdict.

today is the day that i will find out if hair treasures will have a spot at this year's INDIEana handicraft exchange. i am really nervous! but i know that whether it happens or it doesn't, it will be ok. i really think this event and its creators are wonderful, and i believe in it so much.

if you want to learn more about the INDIEana handicraft exchange or the new brick-and-mortar version, Homespun, you can check out their profile on kickstarter.com.

neal and amanda, the IHE creators, won the Pepsi Refresh Everything grant that i posted about back in february and are continuing to raise money to open Homespun. this store and workshop will be really great for artists, artisans, and crafters in central indiana and beyond. i am so honored to be a supporter!

(i will post later when i get the verdict. eee!)

double the fancy. double the nancy.

it's so late! why am i awake? probably because i took a nap today, and then i drank a cherry coke. no regrets! after five hours of GRE studying, i still wasn't tired. so in my spurt of energy, i took a little time to finish up my Fancy Nancy project.

a while ago i posted about a special order for lori. lori's daughter and daughter's best friend are having a birthday party all based on the Fancy Nancy book series for kids. after i finished the first clip, i was commissioned to create a second one, so now each of the girls will have her own special treasure!

here they are together:

i decided to go with contrasting colors so the girls would be able to choose their favorites!

the new addition:

a turquoise quill feather topped with hot pink feathers, purple tulle, acrylic gems, and a turquoise butterfly. there are also some pastel pink feathers in the background. 

a close-up.

this project was really fun for me. i don't think i was ever a super girly girl, but i think the 6-year-old version of me would have totally rocked a giant bedazzled feathery butterfly clip. i hope lori's daughter and her friend do the same! 

breaktime & appreciating Secondhand Happenings.

hi, pals.

i just took a break from studying obnoxious vocabulary words to package some orders and spend a little time working on a treasure. i still have a list of special orders that i have been building in my mind over the days and weeks, so it's been fun to bring them to life. when the next two weeks are over, i'll have more time to be crafty bender!

i have been working 6-7 days a week for the past few weeks now, and, honestly, i'm exhausted. but today at work i had a pleasant surprise when two friends of mine, laura and liz (and new friend erica) came into eagle creek. liz, laura, and erica are the masterminds behind Secondhand Happenings, a blog that you should definitely check out. their posts always make me giggle, and their passion for secondhand treasures warms my vintage-loving heart. it really brightened my day to talk to them and make them some coffee treats.

these lovely ladies even wrote a little post about Hair Treasures! take a look to get some information about the upcoming Secondhand Happenings monthly features and giveaways. so exciting! i'll give more details later.

back to studying. (i think i can. i think i can. i think i can.)

piper's party & special orders.

tonight i went with my bff and partner in crime, brittany (bzwerf!), to a party thrown by piper. i met piper a few months ago at work, and now i am creating hair treasures for her wedding! she has 9 bridesmaids and 3 flower girls! and, of course, i am making a piece for her, as well, so 13 treasures total for this wedding.

at the party, piper's bridesmaids chose the jewelry for their wedding pieces. some girls want bobby pins. some want clips with tulle and feathers. other want headbands. i am really excited to get to work on all of these special orders!

(helping piper and lissa, one of her bridesmaids, create the perfect bridal hair treasure.)

i have been so, so busy lately with work and studying for the GRE (can anyone relate?), so i haven't had much time for creating new items just for the heck of it. i have, however, been able to fit in a little time for some custom orders. 

(special order for tonya: four bridesmaid clips and one flower girl clip.)

(special order for some precious little girls -- but i cannot reveal who they are right now because it's a surprise!)

i have some more great news, but i am going to save it for my next post. for now...it's study time! i hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. 

baby brayden.

in january i posted about some projects that i did for my friend kristina. at that point she was still pregnant, but on february 21st she had her baby! brayden david entered the world, blessed with two awesome parents and a whole lot of love.

thumbs up!:

today i went with my friend anna to visit kristina and meet baby brayden for the first time. i was excited to see and hold him and also see his completed room with the items i made at kristina's request. brayden is absolutely adorable, and his room is so precious! it has a vintage travel theme, complete with hanging planes and a cool baby-style wall map.

here are the curtains i made. there are two flat panels with white and khaki pinstripes, backed with a solid khaki-colored fabric. each panel has five ties. i like the shape they ended up taking when kristina draped them on the curtain rods.

the curtains:

i posted pictures back in january of the rocking chair seat cushions i re-covered for brayden's room. 

here they are on the chair: 

i had some leftover fabric after i finished these projects, so i wanted to make a little something extra to decorate brayden's room. i bought some simple wooden letters (his initials), covered them with the white and khaki pinstriped fabric, and backed them with tan felt. kristina decided to attach ribbons and hang them from a shelf in the baby's room. so cute!

the hanging initials:

today was really great. i'm so glad that anna and i were able to visit with kristina and brayden. i can't wait until i see them again! (i mentioned multiple times i am more than willing to babysit. eeee!)

brayden, obviously excited and entertained by my company:

anna with the new mommy and baby:

fancy and fabulous.

i just made the silliest thing! aaand i sort of love it. last week i was contacted on the hair treasures etsy site by a woman named Lori who requested a piece for her daughter to wear on her birthday. you may have never heard of the book series Fancy Nancy (unless you are a mom or you are 6 years old), but this was to be my inspiration.

Lori's daughter wanted her treasure to be designed based on the book Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly. i scoured the internet for pictures, descriptions, anything i could find! luckily, you can read entire Fancy Nancy books online (including illustrations!), so i struck gold there. in the book, Nancy wants to attend her friend's birthday party as an "azure" butterfly, so Lori asked me to incorporate the turquoise color into the design as well as some hot pink.

this was my inspiration: 

and this is what i came up with: 

i am really hoping that Lori and her daughter love the piece! Fancy Nancy is a cute, whimsical little storybook series, so i think this big, funny, fabulous piece will be perfect for the birthday party!

maybe next year.

i've been holding my breath about a couple of major central indiana craft shows -- the bloomington handmade market and the indieana handicraft exchange. it's no secret that i would absolutely love to participate in an event like this...i've probably mentioned them in the majority of my posts here. oopsies!

i heard back from the BHM, and, unfortunately, i won't have a spot this year. i'm not gonna lie; i was pretty bummed. it's hard when you get your hopes up about something and it doesn't work out. i take things personally, and it's hard not to when the matter at hand is something you've created -- something that is personal to you.

but i've realized that it's ok. not everyone can make the team. not everyone can get the job. not everyone can have a booth at a hip craft fair. you win some, you lose some, and life goes on! i have been trying to focus on the positive and be thankful for all of the great things Hair Treasures has brought my way in the past seven-ish months. i'm still crossing my fingers for the IHE, but i know that i will be ok either way, and there's always next year.

things like this are what really matter:

(my friends andy and beth's adorable daughter, edie, sporting her hair treasure.)

a random act of kindness.

i work in a coffee shop in zionsville, indiana. some days i lose a little of my faith in humanity when people are rude for no reason. but for the most part, it is a job that i love because i get to meet and talk to new people all the time. there are so many regulars, too, and it's fun to have a shop filled with "friends" at any given time of the day.

i recently met a woman named marie. i can't remember how we started talking about sewing, but it turns out that she has her own interior design business in which she sews drapes, pillows, etc. i told her about hair treasures, and we quickly discovered that we have a lot in common when it comes to being crafty.

to my surprise, a couple days after marie and i talked about our common interests, she brought me a bag of goodies! it was like a crafter's mini-christmas! the bag was filled with a few different fabrics, including silk, polyester, suede, and even a sort of burlap with velour zebra stripes! a few unique buttons and beads were in there, too.

i was so blessed by her kindness and definitely overwhelmed with gratitude. you never know who you'll meet in your everyday life. it's cool when God puts someone in your path who understands you and encourages you without even really trying. 

i hope someone like marie can make your day today.