Well once again I am up to new things! Alicia with Purple Goddess Design and I have merged our talents to create a new venture together - Artsy Fartsy Mommas.  We are now booking for parties and events for face and body painting!  This has been such a fun start and of course we are having a great time with our little models. From Birthday Parties, Bachelorette Parties, Baby Showers, Costume Parties, Corporate events, Business Promotions, Prenatal Belly Paintings, Small and Large Community Events, we will be painting it all!  We will be at our first event next week at the Steamboat Hot Springs & Double Diamond Athletic Club Arts/Craft Fair. We'd love to have you come out and see us in action! Please stop by our Facebook page and give us a "Like" and follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @artsyfartsymoms and let us know what you think!

I'm also stocking up for my first shows of the year! I decided not to do as many summer shows this year.  Mostly because of the heat and my skin care items not holding up as well as I'd like in the heat and to also spend a bit more time with the family. I have so many new items to share with you all! Many new upcycled items including a new crochet tote bag made from plastic shopping bags, a few different styles of market bags made from old t-shirts, and some really cute garden aprons made from old jeans. I'll also be introducing a few new skin care items including tinted lip balms and lotions with sunscreen in them (all natural/organic ingredients, of course). And of course I'll have all my old favorites with me!

The second show I'll be participating in is the Summer Fun at Arlington Gardens on Saturday, June 13th from 10am-4pm. I'll be there selling all my handcrafted goodies as well as selling Wildtree products with my team member, Nykki. There will be many great direct sales ladies there, local businesses inside the mall, local artists, and food trucks. We will also have some bins set up to accept pet food donations for the Nevada Humane Society. You can see all the event details on the Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/SummerFunatArlingtonGardens.

I hope to see all you locals at the events!  As always, if you need something custom, I'm happy to make that something special for you!

Wow, I can't believe that it's almost September.  Where did the summer go?? All the kids here have been back in school for weeks now, which of course made the summer seem so much shorter than it really was.  So much to do, so little time!  So if you've been following me on Facebook, you already know I've been pretty busy.  I finally painted my Family Tree mural that's been on my to-do list since January.  I've been crocheting like a mad woman getting ready for all my upcoming fall/holiday shows.  And of course what you probably wouldn't see is that I've also been busy being a mom/wife/gardener.  My garden is now kicking into full gear (despite some issues with the squashes/cucumbers/melons.  I'll be giving a garden update here in a future post). But first I wanted to talk about my next event coming up.

One of my favorite events is almost here!  The Great Reno Balloon Races!  It's such a fun event and has been going on in Reno for 32 years now.  We used to go to it annually when I was a kid and of course as we got older we stopped going as much just due to school schedules and sports activities.  After I moved to Las Vegas I, of course, didn't go until we moved back to the area.  We ended up taking the kids for the first time 2 years ago and it was amazing.  There's nothing like looking at something through a child's eyes and seeing the magic and wonder you once felt as a kid.  This is how it was for me.  Now if you've ever been to this event, you know that most people will park over at UNR and will walk up the very steep hills/streets to get to Rancho San Rafael Park.  And if you want to catch the Glow Show and the Dawn Patrol, you have to get there insanely early (5:00am is when the show starts, so you usually have to give yourself at least 30min before to find parking and make the hike into the park).  For us, we planned on getting up at 3:00am to get ready, driving across town to pick up my parents then looking for parking and making the hike, all with a 2 year old and a 6 month old.  Quite honestly, I thought I was insane and I imagined that I'd have 2 very tired and cranky kids with me.  Boy was I in for a great surprise!  They slept most of the way to the park and in the stroller.  We got there a little later than planned and the balloons had already started the Dawn Patrol.  As soon as my oldest saw them in the air, she called out, "Balloons! Balloons!  Balloons EVERYWHERE! Look mommy!"  It was definitely one of those great mommy moments that brings happy tears to your eyes.  Both girls had such a wide-eyed look of wonder on their faces all morning as we sat amongst the balloons.  One of the greatest parts about the event is that everyone gathers around in the open field of the park and the balloons and crews are setting up/taking off/landing all around you.  With around 100 balloons and 150,000 people, it's quite the site to see.  My kids talk about this event all year long and look forward to us waking them up when it's still dark and then seeing all the balloons.  I'm not a morning person (in fact, I usually don't go to bed until around 1:00 or 2:00am), but seeing the joy and wonder on my kids faces each year makes that early morning wake up so worth it!  

This year I get the privilege of working the event as a vendor and seeing the balloons all 3 days.  While I'm not relishing the idea of getting up at 3:00am for 3 days, I am very much looking forward to seeing those balloons, working along side some amazingly talented artists and bringing my kids along with me to enjoy the event for yet another year.  If you are local or are planning on visiting Reno, make sure to stop by for this event at least once.  I promise you won't be disappointed!  And make sure to stop by Crafter's Row to say hi and check out all of the work of our Indie Reno artists!

Wow!  I can't believe it's already been more than a month since my last blog post!  There's so may things that I want to write about and have my little mental notes filed away, life however has kept me from sitting down to write anything new.  So here is a little catch-up entry to let you know what I've been working on...

I've had a few new ideas and requests that have come up over the last couple of weeks and if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may have seen a few sneak peeks come up.  A good friend of mine and fellow fiber artist Purple Goddess Design asked me to step out of my comfort zone and try making a soap.  So after a couple of attempts to getting the right texture, I think I found one that I like.  It's a wool wash and is perfect for washing your wool or linen items.  PGD loves it to wash her wool yarns (which are fantastic!).  Thank you Alicia for getting me out of my comfort zone.  If you are interested in any wool wash for yourself, contact me and let me know.  I'm in the process of getting everything onto my Etsy shop now, and will be posting the wool wash soon.

So that leads me into what else I have been working on.  I FINALLY have my shop on Etsy open (It only took me about 7 months or so to stock it with at least one item and get it open)!  As I said before, I am in the process of trying to get more items stocked on there.  Again, those darn day-to-day things keep popping up (do the kids and animals REALLY need to be fed again?!  And that laundry and dishes... where's that maid?  Oh wait... guess my day job is calling. Hehe!).  So if you are interested in something and don't see it just yet, please feel free to drop me a line and I'll be happy to get it on the shop so you can purchase.  I do plan on getting multiple sizes of the wool wash on there, as well as my other skin care items, some hats and headbands, and of course some of my new items - recycled market bags and barefoot sandals.  Please feel free to stop on by and have a look, let me know what you think.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignsByMeganG

Here's a few new sneak peeks at my latest creations that I'll be selling on Etsy as well as at my next craft fair - Reno Earth Day.  My recycled market bags are made from old grocery/shopping bags and crocheted into a fun market bag.  I love these for the farmers markets or for trips to the beach/pool.  So versatile and I love that I get to recycle all those old bags that have piling up in my garage (and would always forget to take to the store to recycle).  Another fun project I'll be premiering at the show are these barefoot sandals.  I'll be making these in both adults and children's sizes.  The kids and I love running around barefoot, so these are perfect for us (and so pretty!).  And of course they are made with the fabulous yarn from PGD! 

Also at Reno Earth Day, my friend LeAnn will be sharing a booth with me and selling her very cool recycled bottle plates/dishes and wind chimes.  I love how crafty these are!  They are made with recycled wine/beer/liquor bottles.  Here's a little peek at what she makes:

If you are ever over in Sparks shopping, head on over to Recycled Rugrats.  I have a small display of skin care items over there for the next few months. I am one of a few featured local artists over there. They currently have all my stock items, so if you are looking for something, head on over there!  They also have great gently-used baby and kids items for sale if you are in the market. 

In addition to Recycled Rugrats, I'm also joining the Indie Reno group in a co-op store in Reno at the Great Western Marketplace.  The store will be opening later this Spring, so I will be sure to keep you updated as we get closer to opening.  I'm so excited to be joining this great group of artists!  

So with that, I must get back to making my wares for the next show... Hopefully I will be able to update the blog much sooner next time!  I have a few things I'd love to write about including some about gardening and some about cosmetics and "no-poo".  Thanks again for stopping by to read the blog!