Many towns across America have their festivals every year which draw the local crowds.  Ours happens to be the ‘Butter & Egg Festival’ on the last weekend in April and it draws folks from all across the county to the tune of 25,000+ people.   The ‘Butter & Egg’ title has something to do with our town’s long poultry history, but I choose not to dig into the details.  Anyway, the ‘Butter & Egg’ kicks off with the Cutest Little Chick in Town contest before the big parade. 

When we first moved to this town twelve years ago, we never would have dreamed we’d be interested in a contest like this.  But then you go and have offspring of your own and something snaps inside of you, and all of a sudden, you want your kid to be crowned the Cutest Little Chick in Town.  It’s a small town pageant where nervous parents parade their ‘chicks’ before judges for the title and $50 bucks in cash. 

Many nails are bitten.  Grandparents pace back and forth.  The competition is fierce.  Every parent wants their critter named The Cutest Little Chick in Town.  I often wonder what the parental penalty is for not smiling on cue in front of the judges. 

A sampling of the candidates before their debut, and their secret thoughts:  

“I’ll endure the paparazzi as long as the lollypops keep coming.”

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Judging from yesterday’s comments, there are faux fur haters and there are faux fur lovers, and not much in between.  If the former is you, please come back tomorrow because you will simply detest my latest creation.

I happen to fall into the latter category – I am a lover of faux fur, just as long as it is used in very small doses and in a chic and casual way.

These days, it’s not just faux fur on my mind, but texture.  Soft texture.  Interesting and different texture.  Like this little pillow I created out of the most surprising source.

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I’ve been “hired” by my younger brother Nate to upgrade his bedroom in his bachelor pad that he shares with his roommates in San Francisco.   One of the projects I’m working on is a fabric covered headboard.  When I was at Joann’s Fabrics over the weekend, something in the clearance rack popped right out at me: some suit fabric on sale for $5 dollars a yard.  Score !  What better way to cover a headboard for a man’s bedroom than with material designed for a suit ?

Well of course the handsome lad must have a proper complimentary bolster to go with it.  Is there a better way to impress the ladies ?   So I whipped up a little accent pillow to compliment his future fabric covered headboard.  I was a little envious that he was getting a special pillow of his own.  After all, we gals love our stylish suits too.  I couldn’t help but select another suit fabric to create a decorative pillow for myself.  Equal rights !

Here is brother’s:

Here is mine:

Here’s the skinny on how I made them.

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There are crafts that I do with my kids that I deem post-worthy, and crafts that I really wouldn’t write about.  But this one turned out pretty cute, so I thought I’d share.

Since I was going away for the weekend, without the kids, to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, I decided to take my five year old daughter to the craft store and spend a few hours with her, creating something together for autumn.  We picked out some fabric leaves and amber beads, and decided to make our own wind catcher.

And it’s true. There is something irresistible about autumn leaves blowing in the wind. Call me sentimental, but now I’m longing for cornfield mazes and pumpkin pie.

Here is our creation:

If you want to spend an afternoon with your kids or grandkids creating something together, then this is an inexpensive keepsake craft.

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