11 days

life is a little bit fuzzy rigt now ~ but just about to come into full focus.

wow. it has been a long time since my last post. you know the camera has been packed up and sent off with almost everything else we own to the new house. well- the new old house. {we are actully moving back to our same dear little house we left behind in september} alexander and i have been in gloucester this past school year teaching at a waldorf school together. couldn't have been more homesick. we are glad to be heading back north to our little cove in belfast! cape ann was good to us, and we met many good friends but it was just not quite our speed. even though gloucester is on the ocean, it did not incite long walks and picnics and sea- glass hunts like my rocky maine coast does. we missed the pace in maine, the slow deliberate lull, the smell of the good clean ocean, the waking up and walking everywhere we need to be. life in maine is good. sweet. and very local. we love that. well with just one week of school left - we have moved everything home - and are getting by with just the bare bones.
the computer will be boxed up today and we are off to cambridge to stay with alex's folks and get some good visiting time in with old friends there.
well dearies- when i next write you i'll be sure to include some pictures of the new shop and house and coast.
much love.

woolies is fast at tag!

i was tagged by dear woolies at;
www.woolies-woolies.blogspot.com
( she makes the sweetest knitted animals!)

and in response to woolies' fun facts i have a few of my own.
1. i also love to be alone. i sometimes get to feeling like i am really only truely myself when i AM alone. like singing in the car loudly...or at all. i would never do that around other people - but i enjoy it so much.
2. i love waking early and heading out the door on a simple errand. it gives me so much satisfaction for some reason.
3. the forest is a magical place and the smell of the mossy earthy floor is one of the best i know.
4. when i first became a kindergarten teacher i felt like i was cheating. i got to take long walks with the kids to the stream, catch waterbugs(and even a red spotted salamander once), tap maple trees, color, paint and knit. all in a days work.
5. i relish in simple tasks like folding the laundry when it's warm (my dear rd- i loved reading that about you!!), making my morning tea or coffee (depends on what side of the bed i woke up on), cleaning up from last nights dinner, and checking my mail.
6. my parents house in maine on a warm afternoon is about my favorite place to be. it also has a smell..of my dad's vegetable garden. it's sweet peas, it's overgrown horse radish, and green beans, the wildflower patch and the rhubard near baking in the hot sun... the woods and the stream near by. home.
7. my close friends chuck and jill are haivng a baby..and alex and i stay up nights whispering about how wonderous it is going to be!

okay- now i need 6 friends who wnt to play tag. well i'll have to think on that!
xo

do you ever make something you really don't want to give up. but then you do in a way 'cos you know it's one of your best things?

well - that was how my morning went. plus i had left my good scissors at ash's and was trying desperately to make due with a veeeery old pair of fiskars that i have let alex have a while back.. and wouldn't you know it i sliced my finger right open.
man- those fiskars would not cut a buttonhole open but were not shy when it came to my hands.
blast.
oh -well - i'm okay now, no stitches or anything.

on another note:
this summer i am going to start featuring some of mosey handmades artists. that is to say- those who's wares we are selling at the brick and mortar will all get a little blog love.

look for those posts starting in the magical month of june.
happy day everyone!

new lables.

here at mosey we struggle with our lables. we once found the perfect teal leather scraps for making them...but alas the are extinct.
we did try hand stamping them... but i wasn't too excited with how they came out...
well now we used the gocco and as always (with the gocco) are o-so happy with the results.

are you in need of cozy-ing?

for that matter is your french press in need? i certainly know where you can get a whole lotta cozy at a great price! and what could be better than say...two elephants in love...in pink and orange no less!
aly the red of bliss monkey studio makes great f.p. cozies out of recycled sweaters. be sure to check out her shop and all her other coffee cup cozies and creatures!
aly's wares are as hip as they are eco friendly and she has become a very dear etsy pal.
thanks aly - for my great cozy, my french press is so much more happy now, and it makes me smile every morning!

PART TWO ~ the handmade registry

so dearies, if you are reading this you likely stuck through yesterdays veeery long post (thank-you!) and are wondering just what i was getting at.
well here you go - PART TWO:
SO i made my macy's registry. pots, pans, some things we really would love to have in our kitchen. i even registered for a fancy place setting that i do really love and HAVE be drooling over since i very first saw it. 'but it's so much!' i said- well my grandmother reassured me that you register for the good china and kind of collect it all your life - and that appealed to me. i love collections.
but still something did not feel right to me. i wasn't feeling the gleeful excitement i thought i would. i was feeling - well.. guilty.
my beloved, who sometimes surprises me by how well he knows me, said "well - i just thought you'd make a whole HANDMADE thingy."
and that really got my gears turning.
i remembered and etsy post in the etsy wedding series about registries and went there..the suggested wists and a few other outside sources. no, that wasn't quite right for me either.
so this is what i did all day a few weeks ago- i set up a new etsy account under alexander's name and went ahead and picked a bunch of favorites. i linked it to our wedding blog and voile - here you have it:
OUR HANDMADE REGISTRY!
i was so excited picking out things that i think i picked too many. macy's wouldn't think so they kept telling me : if you have one hundred and ten guests it's likley you should register for over two hundred gifts! ack! no thanks - about 60 etsy lovelies will do.

something blue.

i wanted to share a little something on a more personal note!
okay- yes we all know i am getting married in 16 weeks. i use the weeks method to scare myself into gear - my mom thinks it's crazy and just keeps saying "you know that means you still have 4 months!" i know mom- but i need to be scared.
anyhow,
when my mom was visiting form the east coast a few weeks back we did a TON of wedding planning. i realized in part i was stuck because i didn't WANT to do it without my mom - who lives a mere 2,500 miles across the land.
well we really got a lot done. including, but not limited too, my registry.
just a wee bit of backround:
i consider myself a pretty green girl. and a pretty low-key-mostly girl.
my beloved and i strive to live the good life, you know.
when i was a kid and after my parents went there seperate ways i ended up touring the eastern and southern most parts of the states in a vw bus camping all the way with my dad and brother. my dad finally settled in the northern most points east and we camped out until our house was built. (it's an amazing post and beam made by my dad's own hands!)
but: i spent many a summer vacation, long weekend, every other christmas and alla the school holidays in sunny northern california. where mom and grandma and great-grandma and all the aunts showed me the finer points of life.
like shopping - lots of it.
i would always come back to maine with these great outfits- and first the kids would be like - "um..woa!" and then the'd be like-"can you get me that"?
funny.
anyway this is all a long way at explaining why and how i arrived at registering at macy's.
i grew up spending saturday afternoons between there and bloomies, eating lunch at the now defunct bloomingdale's cafe...i loved it.
i love lunching with my posses of ladies in the late afternoon after a good shop.
it's a guilty pleasure- can you tell?
i can still remember when they would "swipe" the card manually in this great machine and hand you over one carbon copy of three.
infact i still have my great-grandmothers "famous&barr"store card, tucked neatly into the back of my wallet for good luck- it expired in the early eighties.
pause-this is getting to be a really long post!
and i say:
we need a break and then i'll be posting part two: all about my HANDMADE REGISTRY.
take a deep breath and let your mind rest.
and forgive the ramble of one with too much black tea.

henny pennies

oh yes. i love chickens. and even my beloved said we might get a pair after we move. i am so happy. i have been on the chicken train since the first summer we spent in maine at our teensy cabin. and it's been a slow train.(about 3.5 years)
finally conditions will be optimum for such an adventure.
any hen keepers out there-advice welcomed. esp. on designs and workability of the coop.
chicken coop - my ultimate summer nesting project!
these little ladies are available in my etsy shop and made or upcycled wool!

to-do tuesday.

tuesday is here again. always my long long day at kindergarten and at home. for some reason monday is always a wash but by tuesday the to-do list is in full effect.

these next few tuesdays are gonna be some real doozies over here at mosey handmade.

1. we move in 2.5 weeks

2. renegade craft fair is in 4 weeks

3. we open shop in 3 weeks

4. i get married in 16 weeks

man. so out the window with the to-do's that lag around from weekly list to weekly list:

i.e. (and i quote)

call jared about mosey sign

send things to kare fto be photographed

mosey handmade banner for shop and fair

get my beloved alex's linen suit

frames from ikea

yup- these things have all topped the lists for too many days-weeks-some even a month.

man, this being three weeks behind in life thing needs to change!

and by the way - the owls - they are brand new this tuesday.

the weren't even on the to-do's.

more wedding love- garden wedding love.

the indie wedding guide is a great resource for diy fussy and non-fussy brides alike.
{as a girl who is getting married in the fall i can definitely speak to this}!
they offer so much information on eco-weddings, diy projects, everything from favors to dress making!
we were so excited when gabreial contacted us about featuring us in their garden weddings article. thanks gabreial~
check out their wonderful site: here.

for otter~mamma

she listed it this way:
"funky - baby - wardrobe - revival"
and all whilst i was sewing it was on repeat in my head.
i know spring is here and summer is fast at it's heels but can i just say one last time:
I LOVE WOOL. esp. felted upcycled wool sweaters. dare i say i am already looking forward to next years woolies?
alright, alright- i won't say it anymore, you never know when in new england the winds might change and suddenly it's snowing in may.
good thing ottermama lives in the cool and chilly and damp pacific northewest.
cozy up baby!
xo
p.s. see more of this collection here.

the new packaging.

we here at mosey handmade are so exited to be going to the renegade craft fair this year! we were there back in 06 and were such newbies we didn't really know what we were in for! now we are gearing up for table decorations and organization and also mosey perfect packaging.
here is our first try!