Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Meet Marnie!

"My name is Marnie Saeugling. I have been a teacher for over 30 years. I am the mother of 3 grown children. I have always been a crafter and a few years ago I decided to start a business, Icing on the Cake Accessories. It started with flower headbands and it has grown into all kinds of accessories, mostly made from fabrics and recycled wool sweaters. I love all fabrics but my favorites are the batiks. I enjoy coming up with new ideas for products and trying them out. I always welcome custom orders, that way I know people are getting exactly what they want. For winter I am again featuring my ultra warm recycled wool mittens, lined with super soft minky. Stop by the open house and try them on."



Marnie is generously giving away this pair at our open house!  Don't they look warm and cozy?!

You can reach Marnie at icingonthecakeaccessories@gmail.com or on her facebook page.

More giveaways to be announced yet!

Meet Diana and Marissa of Girls' Intuition!

Diana and Marissa will be joining again this year at our open house!

It's all in the family! The girls behind Girls' Intuition also happen to be mother and daughter and awesome friends! How did they get started? They have always been crafty and jewelry has evolved into something that the two of them enjoy doing together.  One day, Diana's husband commented that their jewelry looked just like what he was seeing in the catalogs (for a pretty price).  They started thinking about how fun it would be to make unique, creative jewelry for those who want to express their style without spending a fortune. (like them!)

Why "Girls' Intuition?" The more excited they got about the prospect of this business venture, they started thinking that this could be a good opportunity for Marissa to play a part in helping earn money to put aside for her college tuition. Thus the name, Girls' InTUITION!

Here are some examples of their jewelry:



Diana and Marissa have generously offered to give away this necklace at our open house!

  They will have a wide variety of necklaces, earrings, bracelets and sets for sale at our open house!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Meet Shadley!

 The next artist we'd like you to meet is Shadley Grimes, who will be joining us at our open house again this year with her original paintings.  She's a great artist - and both Laura and I have special pieces of hers hanging in our own homes!

Shadley Grimes studied art at the University of Iowa where her work was called, "drawings with paint."  Over the years her work has evolved into large "doodles" on upcycled windows.  Painted with tempera, India ink, and other paint, these windows come ready to hang and sealed with a protective finish.  Shadley loves creating interesting shapes and new color combinations.  She lives in North Liberty with her husband Dan, daughters Eden and Elly, and son Esias.

Here's the painting I have in our bedroom:



*UPDATED!
We're really excited to show you pictures of a few of the new paintings that Shadley will have for sale this weekend:




We can't wait to spend the day with her - she's like an honorary sister and we always have a blast! 

If you'd like to learn and see more of Shadley's past works, visit her website:  http://shadleygrimes.com or contact her at grimesfam@gmail.com

If you're interested in learning more about our holiday open house this weekend in Iowa City, visit this facebook event and/or email us at paperprayers@hotmail.com for an invite!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Meet Penny of Penny Pops - New to Our Open House!

This week we'll be introducing you to the artists and crafty people who will be joining for THIS weekend's open house in Iowa City!  (Can you believe it's almost here?!)

Friday Dec 2, 4pm-8pm
Saturday Dec 3, 10am-5pm

The first person who we'd like you to meet is new this year to our open house!  Her name is Penny Podhajsky and she will be selling her delicious cake pops:

Aren't they cute?!

Penny Podhajsky is the creator and baker of Penny Pops. Penny was awarded "Craft Master" in 2004 by the Recker-Noel Foundation. During the week Penny is the lunch lady at Weber School.  Nobody sports a hairnet quite like Penny!  Or you may have seen Penny zipping around on her red scooter delivering Penny Pops, or chauffeuring her four kids around Iowa City. 

If you have never had a cake pop, you are in for a treat!  Penny Pops are tasty, moist cake bites of various flavors, set on a lollipop stick and then hand crafted into various designs or characters like Santa hats, penguins, owls and snowmen.  Make your next party extra special by serving Penny Pops!
If you're interested in learning more about what she does, you can contact Penny by emailing her at itspennypod@msn.com.    

Welcome Penny!  We're so glad you're joining us this year!  

***********************************************

Stay tuned - we'll be bringing you more open house sneak peeks and introductions all week long.  Later this week we'll be announcing some giveaways that you can enter when you come to the open house!

If you did not receive a postcard in the mail but want to get an invite, email us at paperprayers@hotmail.com.  It's not too late!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Some Good News to Celebrate "Together"

Here's something to be SUPER thankful for this Thanksgiving!!!  We just received the most wonderful update from Emily, the "Be Brave" owner from this earlier post.



She had her lung and heart transplant on Sunday, Nov 6!!!  Her expected 6 month wait turned into only 2 1/2 months!  Yes, she's been in the hospital since our last post, waiting for 2 1/2 months -which seems plenty long to me! 

She said that the pain of such a significant transplant was unbelievable.  (I can't even imagine.)  Although she was discharged this past Sunday night, she continues to recover at a Gift of Life transplant house - as she is required to stay in the area for the next 3 months.

She says it will just be her and her husband for Thanksgiving: "kind of a downer for the Holidays but this too shall pass.... I have a long ways to go, still using a wheelchair for any distance because I am so weak but I just have to do the work."  

We are so amazed by God's goodness!!!  We are praising God tonight and pray that Emily continue to be brave in her time of healing and resting and strengthening.  We are so thankful that we have a God of healing and for our own health that we so easily take for granted.  There is so much to be thankful for! 

*****
So I thought of a great way for all of us to celebrate Thanksgiving "together!"  Those of you who have been following her story, or are just now getting caught up, would you leave a note of encouragement for Emily here in our comments?  She's come such a long ways, and still has so much work to do.  I'm sure she'd love to hear from you guys!  I'll make sure she sees them!  

This year we are especially thankful for all of you!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Culver's Garden- Holiday Open House


Last weekend we returned to Culver's Garden Center and Greenhouse in Marion, Iowa for their annual holiday open house!  This was our second visit, so it was fun to see how much their store had changed with the addition of Christmas decorations and merchandise!

Special thanks to Claire, the new marketing expert at Culver's who even sent out press releases!  How crazy is that?!
TTCF plays well with others!  Here, TTCF and Natural Life are displayed together very nicely.

We had a fun time visiting with some very special customers, one of whom told us some great stories of how God is at work in her life and how she plans on using various pieces from our collection to remind her and others of this!  Big Praise!

It was quite a kick to see this beautiful tree, decorated and dedicated to our winged plaques!




Thanks again, Culver's, for selling "This Thing Called Family" and for a great afternoon!

They sent us home with these giant mums, pie pumpkins, and a great idea for a Thanksgiving centerpiece.  We'll be sure to show you how they turned out!



We wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving, and hope you can spend some time reflecting on all God has done over the last year. 

We are super grateful this year for all of YOU!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Should We Be Concerned?

We're starting to notice a new theme emerging in Mamma Winger's work.  What do you think it all means?!

See for yourself:


Monday, November 14, 2011

Beaverdale Holiday Boutique 2011

Another Beaverdale year has come and gone - and once again it was a blast!  We've come to know so many familiar faces at Holy Trinity school in Des Moines - and we still can't get over the hospitality of this community!  Everyone is super helpful and it's so much fun to see the teamwork of entire families working together to do their parts to make the event run smoothly.  It is no small task to pull this show off- they empty all of their classrooms, help vendors load and unload, put together a raffle, humongous bake sale that takes over their school library, coat and bag checkers, and delicious homemade lunch options.  You can see why this is one of our favorite events of the year!

We set up Friday afternoon, to be open for a couple of hours Friday night.  People were lined up at the door and around the side of the building, waiting to get in!  We were in our usual spot: a kindergarten classroom that was transformed into "North Pole room 1"  :-)  Here's some pics of our spot:





We love this spot, because we can use the back of this giant bookcase as extra hanging space!



here are some new favs of Green Girl's:






And here are a few new ones of Mamma Winger's:





Here's sort of an overview of the room we were in.  These shoppers were looking at the pieces we had hanging on the back of the bookshelf I mentioned earlier.   Some of you may know our friend Heather Pentico?  Well that gal in the red jacket and hat is her college roommate!  We actually met her for the first time at last year's show and she looked and looked at buying a family rules piece, but did not buy one.  She said she'd immediately regretted it, and has been waiting all year to come back and get one this year!!!  We're glad to say she walked away this year a happy customer!



Since most of these pieces sold, we're going to be hard at work for the next couple of weeks, getting ready for our own show: the annual Things With Wings Holiday Open House, Dec 2 + 3!   New this year, we've added Friday evening hours! All the details - hours, special features, the RSVP and how you can receive your own invitation are here on this facebook event page.  We'll be adding more details about each of the artist friends who are joining us for the weekend, along with a sneak peek at the item that they are giving away in our drawings!  There's going to be a prize from each of us!  PLUS, those of you who attend will get the first look at new Demdaco items that are not available to the public yet!  These pieces will be joining our "This Thing Called Family" collection in January, but we wanted YOU to be the first ones to see them up close in person!  So this year promises to be even bigger and better than last year!  Can't wait!  Gather some girlfriends and start planning a road trip to come visit us!

Friday, November 4, 2011

TWO Open Houses Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we have the joy of spending our day at two fine retailers who are selling "This Thing Called Family!"  They've invited us to be a part of their Holiday Open Houses - a sort of "meet the artists" type of thing - and so we're going to be hanging around and visiting with folks!

From 10am-1pm we'll be at The Treasure House in Ankeny, Iowa for their Christmas Open House!



Then, we'll travel to Melcher-Dallas to City Floral for another Holiday Open House!!!  We'll be there from 2pm-5pm! 

We'd love to visit, so if you're in the area, come out and say hello!!!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

TWO Winners!

*UPDATED 11-2-11!

We have two winners to announce from our flower accessory giveaway!  They get to choose what kind they like from this post, and I'll make them one of their very own!

The two winners are Kathy of Why Ducks and Aimee of Artsyville!

Congrats girls!


*11-2-11
Because Aimee is in the midst of a big move and so much is up in the air, she ask that we choose a new winner to insure the prize arrives safe and sound!

The new winner is Lori Leissner of Leissner Art!

congrats Lori!

email me at paperprayers@hotmail.com with your preference and your mailing address!