Have any idea how exhausting it is to prom dress shop for a little lady who has a clear picture of what she wants in her mind and the designers aren't sharing her vision?

Have any idea how exhausting it is to have a husband who wants his daughter to remain 6 forever?

I've laughed and cried more in this week than I have in the entire year. It is incredibly hard to let go and why prom is the catalyst for the drama---I haven't a clue.

I'm going to allow a certain three letter hormonal acronym 70% of the blame and the other 30% to the fact that prom is one of those rites of passage that just smack you in the face. The wind gets knocked out of your sails and all the horror stories replay in your mind. What if? What if? What if?

But instead of fear, I'm trying to focus on being thankful. Thankful that this little girl is able to articulate her thoughts, is able to walk, is able to love, is able to make mature decisions, is able to experience her life.

So today, we walked about 6 miles of mall and bridal stores and I loved every minute. I reveled in the fact that we can talk, we can laugh, and we can power shop.

These 4 were the ones she liked the best.

These two were abandoned because the store didn't guarantee school exclusivity. (What is up with that? I don't remember that being such an issue when we were going to prom but apparently these days, it is a major selling point.)

This store had the guarantee-though we had to use the phone a friend option to make a decision. The blue one won-it's gorgeous. (Though I'm not sure Big Mister will feel the same.)

Now what???

Look what graced my inbox this afternoon.

All of this-all of this thinking and planning and hoping and dreaming can really be mine with 3 cents worth of ink in the form of my signature. Are you kidding?

I could throw up and giggle (at the same time) at the thought of all the work that needs to be done. Fun work, work that might be crap at times, but work that is meaningful. Exhausting and rewarding work--is this what I've been searching for??

Time will tell but if you never try, you'll never know.

My "pickle jar full of buttons" friend forwarded me an excerpt from a Daily Devotional of a Purpose Driven Life:

We've all heard people say, "I took a job I hate in order to make a lot of money, so someday I can quit and do what I love to do." That's a big mistake. Don't waste your life in a job that doesn't express your heart.

The job I do for money will still see me everyday. It's nowhere near anything that allows me to express my heart but we need to eat and I'm not ready to fully let my heart lead.

But now, the job I do for love, gets to ride shotgun instead of in the trunk.

One Crazy, Surreal Week

This has been a whirwind of a week..I played artist, shop owner, shop buyer, vacationer, mother, wife, laundress, chaffeur, writer, twitterer, and blogist.

Thursday's Market was as expected; stressful and exhilarating. The studio is a freakin' disaster (so much that I couldn't even get through the door to take a picture for you). Big Mister carried something up there for me and said, "I can't even get to the table." I grinned and answered, "That's part of my process."

I must have answered the question, "Where is your shop located?" a billion times that night. My response was, "Today, I am in my studio. If all goes well, in May, the Urban Market will be downtown." Yes, friends, I've made the decision. The pain of regret is far worse than the pain of hard work. (quoted by someone I can't even recall at this moment.)

Had to whip up some new girls since the originals were adopted at the last trunk show. There is something strangely soothing to me about painting hair on wooden beads.

It has been a gorgeous weekend here in the Midwest and frankly my house needed some life. I was at the grocery store and a dozen roses were $9.99-I bought two bunches for myself. They're slowly dying but their presence and the sunshine sure do wonders.

So, on Friday and some of Saturday, I attended the Minneapolis Gift Mart to find inventory to fill the empty space I believe I have. Do you know how hard it is to buy inventory when the only idea of space is filed away in your imagination? Here I go again with my evolutionary theory instead of practically planning. It was fun and I found a few things that I'm so excited to receive.

The rest of the weekend was spent walking and puddle jumping until this evening. This evening, I was reminded that my little peepy-lou is no longer little. That boys now notice her and want to share her time. That she's a sophomore and I really only have her for a few more years.

I'm going to call this newest boy, Romeo. Now Romeo has been plotting and planning to ask her to Prom. He asked me to be an accomplice in his little plan. He sent her on a scavenger hunt around town with the final clue being at our house. This was the last clue...

Of course she said, "Yes." much to her dad's disappointment. Ahh yes, life just keep on moving by.

Are you smoking craft?

Feeling like an addict lately..been creating, creating, and creating some more. I love the thrill of a show, the chatting that occurs when someone stops at your booth, the relief and pure delight of a sale, the feel of the lightbulb moment when a project takes shape.

I hate having the deadlines, the manufacturing of multiples, the tagging and pricing and the way the laundry just eyes me up and down from pure neglect.

So part of this gig, was to contribute to a "swag bag" for the first 50 ladies who walked through the door. I've been racking my brain trying to be cheap and creative but memorable and not thrown in the garbage.

A dear junque lover friend passed on a some of her stash and among these goodies pictured here, she also shared a huge jar (think institutional pickle-sized) full of old vintage buttons. Well, they were free, I had a ton of them so my 50 swag bag items magically appeared:

Vintage Button Magnets.

Now, just have to add the foo-foo packaging, an Urban Market ad (yes, I'm not done with that yet.) and they'll be ready.

In the meantime, I have 3 1/2 days to complete the other 80 projects I have going. The laundry will just have to wait.

A little sneak peek of the things I do have done..I decided to take pictures now since I never do on market day. Enjoy the week, I'll catch you up soon.

Add soldering to my list....

If someone would have told me 5 years ago that figuring out how to solder would be on my list of to-do's-I would have loudly said, "Yeah, right."and dismissed it...But here I am, obsessed once again with figuring something out.

This is my 6th try at this soldering gig and finally, the lumpy,bumpy blackened mess of the other 5 trys is almost a distant memory.

If you want to try, I'm going to set you in the right direction for some supplies and a few quick tips:

-I made the unfortunate mistake of paying $3.99 for 4 glass slides. ArtChix has multiple sizes and larger quantities at much lower prices.

-Simply Swank has the entire kit (everything you need) if you don't want to shop around. And they have a great gallery for inspiration. Michael's also sells the soldering tool kit for about $17.99 though I couldn't find flux or the glass slides there. I also purchased this little tool which makes attaching jump rings a hell of a lot easier but you don't need it.

-If you should embarq on this little craftivity here are a few tips:

-Make sure you have "burnished" all edges of the copper tape. Do it again if you are not sure.

-If you are getting black marks on your solder, this means you are using too much flux.

-If your solder is not flowing smoothly, you may need to clean your tip. There is a bar called SAL Ammoniac. that will help clean/tin your tip.

-If your soldering tool comes with two tips, use the wider tip, not the pencil tip.

-Practice!

I just googled tutorials and came up with this one. I'm sure there are a million others out there. What did we ever do without Google?

A Sneak Peak and A Place I'd rather be...

I think a picture is sometimes worth the proverbial 1000 words..these are a few samples of upcoming Market merchandise.

But what if I were to trade all this in for this??? A trip to a French countryside to create and flea for a week? Are you kidding?? I'm sitting on my hand and repeating, " No, you musn't."

This is quite the feat since I am also trying to type this post.

It's really no fun to be responsible sometimes. No fun at all.