Upcoming Awesomeness You Should Know About

Holidays are fast approaching, as are about a million exciting events.  Here are a few that I or the people I love are involved with, so whip out your calendars!

Coal Train Railroad Swings!
I’m a terrible friend for not posting this earlier, but the beautiful and talented Katy Bowser is releasing her second album of jazz for kids, Coal Railroad Train Swings!  I’m super excited about this, because the first one, Coal Train Railroad (2009) is incredible; I listened to it on repeat long before I even had a kiddo myself.  And here’s the kicker: Until next Friday you can get great pre-order deals (like 5 CD’s for $40!), and get them in time for Christmas!  Click on the pic below for all the info:

And, if you’re in Nashville, don’t miss the CD release party at Ugly Mugs Coffee on December 17th!

Rock ‘n’ Roll Craft Show
On the weekend following Thanksgiving, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Craft show happens at 3rd Degree Glass Factory here in the ‘Lou, and Yours Truly will have merchandise in it for the third year running.  This amazing collection of local talent is organized like a department store for easy browsing of all sorts of handmade goodness, all accompanied by local music all day, every day of the weekend.  Don’t miss the chance to support local artists (like me!) while doing your holiday shopping–screw the mall and Black Friday madness, right?!  Click the pic below for all info, including links to the websites of vendors so you know what to expect!

Cherokee Print League Sale
Cherokee Street here in St. Louis is an amazing concentration of independent print shops, galleries, and other quirky little shops, and every December they host a sale of original work from local artists.  This year it’s on December 3rd, from 10am-7pm.  I just bought my table for the event (clearly something has got hold of me. . .like delusions of being a real printmaker:) and I’m really looking forward to the experience!  Don’t miss it:

And if you ARE in Nashville, or even anywhere nearby, a couple things to check out THIS WEEKEND:

Artsy Chicks Art Sale
Station Inn, 402 12th Avenue South
Saturday, November 19th 10am-4pm

House Concert featuring Katy Bowser and Kenny Hutson,
and southern gospel quartet, The Royals
Brentwood, TN, 7pm on Saturday, November 19th

This is a concert at my parents house, hosted by my brother, and is also an opportunity to hear about an urban ministries organization he’s working with, Salama.  Click Here for all the concert info!

 

Giveaway Winner

So sorry I’m late on this!  I got a grand total of 3 comments for the giveaway entry, so you all had a pretty good chance, but the winner of the Embroidermini kit was Karma Per Diem, who kindly directed a little traffic my way by twittering about the post!  Congratulations Karma, I’ll have it in the mail as soon as I hear from you!

I have a fun announcement about an exciting project by a dear friend of mine coming up this week, so stay tuned!

 

At Long Last: Ebba Returns with a Giveaway!

So I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but I’ve put a few things back into my etsy shop and I’m going to take part in at least one craft fair this holiday season.  The shop is not totally full, but at least I have a little presence, which I am very excited about.  In honor of this, I’ve got a giveaway for you–one of my Embroidermini Embroidery Starter Kits!  I designed these little kits last year and still have several in stock.  They’re pretty fun–mini embroidery kits all wrapped up in a CD case!

Each kit includes:

• a booklet of basic stitches and ideas for “doodling” with thread, hand-illustrated by me
• 6 colors of wool embroidery thread
• 2 embroidery needles
• 1 4″ wood embroidery hoop
• 2 squares of fine linen embroidery fabric

Giveaway Rules

• The giveaway is for ONE kit
• Please leave a comment on this post AND tell at least one friend about the giveaway and my newly re-opened shop.  In your comment, just let me know how you did this (you don’t have to link to anything unless you want to, just let me know if you emailed someone, put it on facebook or on your own blog)
• That’s it!  This is open to everyone, I’m happy to ship internationally.
• Comments close on Sunday at midnight, central time, I’ll choose a winner Monday afternoon/evening (you know, whenever the little one takes a nap and I can get my act together).  The winner will also be notified by email.

NOTE TO ANY GRAPHIC DESIGNY PEOPLE AMONG YOU!
I need some help with some small things (as you will surely notice either here or in my etsy shop or both).  I don’t have any good software on my computer since the hard drive got wiped back in May, and I’m pretty lame with it all anyway.  SO, anyone interested in trading their services for goods, drop me a line at ebbahandmade (at) gmail (dot) com.  Thanks!

 

Belated 1st Birthday

So I confess, life back in St. Louis hardly seems blog-worthy these days.  Eric teaches two days a week, during which he has our only car, and keeps a pretty rigorous research and writing schedule the other three-to-four days, so mostly I hang out with Everett, try to keep the place liveable amongst a mess of stuff that has been displaced from the lowest shelves, and try to find things to keep both of us occupied, inside or outside the house.  This does not often include world-class museums, monuments, or even shopping that is not necessary for survival.  And it rarely leaves time anymore for creative endeavors.  Eric’s mom was visiting us for awhile back in September, which gave me some extra time, and planning and preparing for Everett’s first birthday party–which we held a week and a half after his actual birthday–has been my main creative outlet recently.  I thought it would be fun to have a travel-themed party, given the fact that Everett spent more of his first year outside of the U.S. than here, so we had some travel themed activities, favors, and food from each country we visited.  Both sets of grandparents were here, as well as my brother, and we had an absolutely perfect day for the outdoor affair.  I think it was a total success!

Little sketchbooks made to look like passports ("PASSPORT" is stamped in gold on them but it was pretty hard to see), along with stickers that looked like passport stamps

Our favor boxes, meant to look kinda like suitcases, with some luggage tags made from leftover oilcloth scraps--tutorial anyone? They were super easy to make! Inside were European candies (from World Market) and space for their activities like. . .

these little wooden airplanes from Oriental Trading Co., easily "painted" with crayola markers!

Some decor--simple flags cut from an old U.S. road atlas and sewn together at the top--also super easy!

The cake--maple walnut with maple cream cheese icing--to represent Canada (along with the moose finger-puppet-turned-cake-topper)

The birthday boy with his first taste of cake

Our earliest guests enjoying themselves--eventually the backyard was full of toddlers and older sibblings and parents and it was fantastic!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any good pictures of the food table, I was too busy trying to get the food finished and out and keeping cool or warm!  But we had dutch pannekoeken (pancakes, a lot like crepes) with nutella and other spreads, scones with jam and cream mini steak and ale pies, chips (fries) with malt vinegar (English style) and mayonaise (Dutch style), salad with our favorite L’Abri recipe dressing, and Icelandic skyr (yogurt) that I managed to find at Whole Foods.

Everett opened presents with just family after everyone else had left, at which point he was totally overwhelmed and a bit glassy-eyed so the pictures are more amusing than adorable, but he got lots of good stuff, and we are grateful for lots of new toys to keep him occupied (we had painfully few after all the traveling!)

I am hoping to participate in a couple of craft shows coming up, and I also want to add a few things to my currently inactive etsy shop, so keep an eye out for a possible giveaway as I attempt to draw more attention to myself:)

 

A Little Dirt on a Monday

I have high hopes of returning to crafting soon (before and after pics of my messy studio may make an appearance), and will post the things I make for Everett’s upcoming birthday–they will be done in time for his party on October 1st, not his actual birthday, which is Wednesday.  That’s just how it’s gotta be.  And maybe once that’s through, I’ll make room for a giveaway of some kind, wouldn’t that be fun?!

But before all of that, I just cannot resist posting a few adorable pics of my little man, who was overjoyed when the grey day brightened up this evening just as I was starting to prepare dinner.  I took a break to take him into the backyard for some much-needed sunshine and dirt.  The results (beware, this proud mama of an almost 1-year-old definitely went overboard with the pictures):

I've got my trowell and I'm ready to work, Mama!

I'll start with the arugula (or rocket, for our European friends),

Moving on to the basil!

dirty bottom. . .I mean, c'mon, how could I NOT allow this?

This thing makes a crinkly sound I'm really diggin'

Dirty hands

But it's really all much better without the clothes

So then a police chopper came circling RIGHT overhead and we were reminded that, Oh yeah, we live in the city, and sometimes bank robbers get loose and we should probably go inside and avoid getting caught in any potential crossfire.

 

Sins of Omission

Mom and Dad, a.k.a. Andy and Scott, on the boat

 

Ack!  Would you believe that in my post about our Canada trip I left out THE most important people who were there?!  My Mom and Dad, the king and queen of that rustic castle!  I think in my mind I was assuming you all would just know they were there because this was a family vacation, just like every summer since I was Everett’s age.  They make this place and this annual trip possible, working their tails off to improve and keep up the place, drive all the way there with a boat we all use, and cooking and cleaning for all their guests.

The amazing deck, we call it the world's biggest play pen, that my dad designed and built to replace a rather precarious walkway that collapsed a couple years ago. This was baby central this year!

Dad with his boy. Mom's always TAKING the pictures, so I don't have many good ones of her! (doen't help that she hides when you try either)

This year was so different from last year, when Eric and I only got to stay a week and my brother and sister were both overseas, and I was so pregnant that I pretty much just napped and knitted all day.  This year it was particularly special to have the whole family back together and get to share a full two weeks with Mom and Dad after being out of the country ourselves for so long.  I hope they’ll forgive me for leaving them out of my first hurried jots about the trip!

At Henry's, a fish 'n' chips restaurant only rechable by boat. One of our annual rituals!

 

 

 

Art House America Blog

Hey faithful readers!  So I haven’t posted in awhile. . .but I have been writing and I’m thrilled to share it with you!  Jenni Simmons, editor of the Art House America Blog, kindly invited me to write an essay having something to do with our time at L’Abri.  I was so honored–I have been enjoying this beautiful collection of short and sweet reflective essays for several months now.  It took three drafts and some serious tough love editing from Eric to get something I felt I could send to Jenni, but it’s up today, horray!  Click on the Art House logo below and my essay, Daily Bread, is fourth from the top.  But don’t miss all the other amazing writers–I never fail to find something inspiring when I visit.  Thanks, Jenni!

The other fun activity I’ve been occupied with lately is an art show opening up at the new Kingsbury Gallery at Grace & Peace Fellowship in the Skinker-DeBalivier neighborhood here in St. Louis.  So if you’re a local and you love good art, Various and Sundry: A Ted Smith Retrospective opens this Saturday, the 17th, with a reception from 7-9pm in the gallery.  Ted is a founding member of Grace & Peace and has worked as an artist and graphic designer for over 40 years.  This exhibition, organized to complement the celebration of Grace & Peace’s 42nd anniversary, showcases a variety of Ted’s work including a series of charcoal portraits, small graphic work, larg-scale paintings and banners, and drawings.  We will also have giclee prints of one of Ted’s original drawings available for sale to benefit the Kingsbury Gallery programs.

 

Oh Canada!

For those of you who don’t actually know me personally, my family has a cottage up on the Georgian Bay in southern Ontario that we visit every summer (those of you who do know me personally have probably heard me wax poetic about this place ad nauseum on a few different occasions).  My grandfather, Papa George, bought it back in the ’60′s when my mom was a little girl.  He managed to take a collapsing cabin built at the turn of the 20th century, propped it up on car jack (yes, really) to rebuild the foundations, and turn it into a truly magical family vacation spot, if a little bit high maintenance still.  It’s very rustic–no electricity, propane for fridge, oven/stove, and some lights; no hot water–we bathe in the lake, pump water from the lake into a tank for the kitchen sink, heat water on the stove for dinner, and best of all, have a composting, water-free toilet (seriously).  A huge reason for all of this is that the property is actually an island unto itself, surrounded by thousands of these little islands that make up cottage country just a few hours north of Toronto.  I’ve only missed 3-4 summers for various reasons since I was born and can’t really imagine vacationing anywhere else; we start seriously dreaming about the island around Christmas time every year.  This summer was extra special, I think, because not only were we newly returned from months abroad, but both my brother and sister came as well (they couldn’t last year), AND our dear friends Kenny and Katy Hutson with their little girl Story, who is just a few months younger than Everett, joined us for about 5 days.  We stayed a total of about 3 weeks before heading back to St. Louis for good.  Some select pics for your enjoyment:

Yes, it really looks like this almost every evening.

Everett decided he LOVED the cold water the last week we were there--made him sleep well too!

Daddy and Everett hanging out on the front porch

An afternoon to myself while the little one napped and Eric and my brother went fishing

Bathtime!

 

Reflection

About a week ago I sat down and started to write a long essay about our time at L’Abri with the hope of posting it soon.  I have concluded, however, that the long hand material is probably best left to my journal or a conversation over coffee (should you and I ever get the chance).  For here and now I will just say that it was a phenomenal period in the life of our family.  We learned a lot; I feel like I learned a whole lot about myself, which I hope will lead to a more fruitful life of service in God’s kingdom, as well as continued growth and a delightfully unquenchable yearning for truth and beauty.  We learned a lot about our marriage and about being parents, and the experience of meeting and getting to know and spend some rather intense time with people from all over the world was extraordinary and special.  I think the most difficult aspect of leaving and going forward, as filled up as I have felt, is the separation from a group of people who were so important to our daily lives in a more intense way than one can find anywhere else.  It feels a little like being pushed out of the nest sometimes, but it is a new challenge to continue those relationships over distance and  to find ways to continue to be a part of each other’s daily lives.

I give you now a whole slew of pictures that I feel just scratch the surface of capturing the beauty of this place and our time there this summer:

Huize Kortenhoeve, the main house

Eric's desk with his collection of books for the research he did while we were there (when the project comes to fruition, you can be sure I will shamelessly plug it here!!)

Tea break! (Thanks to Noah Emrich for the picture; he's way too cool to be my friend, but I'm glad he is:-))

Pitting endless amounts of sour cherries (how awesome that it was cool enough in June to wear a scarf?)

Strawberry rhubarb pie by yours truly for afternoon tea

Bonfire on a Sunday evening

New friend Story in the living room at evening coffee time

Mia (Everett's little buddy) in the pajamas I made for her (still more time for sewing!!)

Everett loving the tire swing (in the days when he would still wear a hat)

I hope we get to go back one day but for now I’m thankful we got to go at all, and thankful for every person that we met, the deeper friendships that had a chance to evolve over the 7 week stay, the books read, the lectures listened to, the frustrating, challenging, maddening moments, and the sweetness of a simplified life.

 

Catch up!

Ah dear readers, if there are any left, forgive my long hiatus! To be honest, I’ve stayed away because of a desire to hibernate a bit in addition to the fact that I really have not had access to internet on any consistent basis since the end of May! I will spend a few days playing catch up on some fun and interesting things that have happened over the past couple of months, then hopefully I can share a little bit about what it has been like to come home. . .whatever that means, right? So, first up, I just have to share about what we did on our anniversary back on June 30th:

Strong Christmas-card pic contender--thanks Meg!!

So, what do you get when you combine a beautiful national park, free bicycles (with baby seats!) and a world-class art museum? A VERY happy Emily! The Kröller-Müller Museum in Holland (and yes, it’s just as much fun to say as you might think) is one woman’s collection housed in a museum right in the middle of a huge park with bike trails and very unusual landscapes for the Netherlands. Our dear friend Kara had been before and drove us, along with another friend Meg, one Thursday (free day for L’Abri students) which also happened to be our 4th wedding anniversary. We parked at the edge of the park, grabbed some of the free bikes, and rode around till we reached the museum.

Meg and Kara in the strangely desert-like landscape of the park

A stop for lunch and to feed some ducks.

Once at the museum, we took in the sights which included an incredible collection of Van Gogh’s–famous ones like Cafe in Paris at Night, and some very early ones, arranged beautifully to show a progression of his style (plus I learned the proper pronunciation of his name, which is neither Van Go nor Van Goff, but it’s impossible to spell out the guttural sound that is correct!) Also in the museum were some great Mondrians next to some members of De Stijl (like Theo Van Doesberg); a few cubist masterpieces with Braque, Gris and Picasso juxtaposed nicely with some lesser known artists; some old masters like Vermeer; and a temporary exhibition of one contemporary artist whose work was interesting but I could personally take or leave it. So this art geek was happy! There was also a sculpture park, around which we wandered (with the complimentary stroller) to try and get Everett to sleep–he loved the bike ride, got a little restless in the museum–and then met back up with Kara and Meg inside for a coffee.

yummy Dutch beer

We stopped for pannekoeken–Dutch pancakes that come in all manner of sweet and savory varieties–and beer on our way home, which was a perfect end to a pretty much perfect day.

Happy Anniversary Mama and Daddy!