Blake, Nora, and Dawn braved the crowds at Hogle Zoo to see the newborn baby elephant playing with her mom. Of course, no zoo trip is complete without a ride on the carousel. Finishing up at Chili’s was just the icing on the cake.
Who hasn’t fallen asleep while reading a book on the couch?
Nora was absolutely sure of one thing: that there was a bad guy in this book.
Nora has a musical Elmo book, the kind with the buttons you push at certain parts of the story, to add sound effects. It was a gift.
PLUS:
1) Patented ‘Elmo’s walking music’ dance
2) Coy ‘I’m ignoring that camera’ face
3) Fierce bear roar.
Those three things are my gift to YOU.
The Liberty Park carousel: creepily tailor-made for all your amateur-horror-movie-filming needs!
Macaroni and cheese at Noodles & Company.
Sometimes, the cuteness of your kid just overwhelms you and you have to stop whatever you’re doing to take a picture. I think it’s biological.
Pretty much everything you need to know about the Powerpuff Girls. A beginner’s guide, if you will.
Nora tried out a few new dance moves while listening to an adorable family Rockabilly band at the craft festival. Her face looked happier than this most of the time–I think she’s just concentrating really hard on her newest creation, The Hand-Washer.
I find it’s most helpful to review an event two months after it happens, so that everyone who might once have cared has already forgotten about it. That’s why I’m telling you now how much I loved Craft Lake City!
The craft booths were everything I wished the disappointing shopping at Swiss Days and Peach Days would be. Instead of seeing the same vinyl cutouts and magnet boards at every booth, there were tons of alternative and/or slightly subversive crafts, and fun and unusual fabrics galore.
Here are photos of my (reasonably priced) booty:
1. A skirt for Nora for next summer, from Noelle O Designs.
2. A horse finger puppet from Nifty Kidstuff, which has the cutest details–like a bright green lining to match the bridle.
3. My mom shopped Nifty Kidstuff too, and found Nora a doll that she can practice fasteners on. Nora named her Betsy Buttons, after this book. (Seriously, this girl makes so many cute things. How much do I want this little fabric sewing machine for Nora?)
4. Grandma also bought Nora some cute hair ties with fabric-covered buttons, but unfortunately they didn’t have any maker-identifying packaging.
5. I had a hard time tracking down these ribbon-covered hair clips online (they’re just marked ‘am’), but I think the buttons covered with Japanese fabrics are darling, and they inspired me to make my own ribbon clips.
6. This little yellow papier-mache bird was an impulse buy at Beehive Bazaar, and I love having him on my mantel.
I also loved the fascinators and headbands from Its The Little Things, but I didn’t have enough cash to buy one at Craft Lake City. Instead, I grabbed one of her cards and bought a hat for Jillian’s funeral on Etsy later.
The family rockabilly band that was so cute was Mad Max and the Wild Ones.
Here’s more of Nora enjoying them:
Anyway, I hope that Craft Lake City becomes an annual event, and that they have even more awesome booths next year. If I had one suggestion to offer, it would be to the crafters whose great wares were for sale: make sure your packaging is branded, and list your website right on it if you have one. That way, the love can keep going long after the festival is done.