the Carrboro Artisan Market

My business partner, Rebecca and I are both very into hand made goods.  We carry a number of artists at our store: Roulette Vintage, and we both have our own hand made lines at the store.  We also recently started a store line, Roulette Remade for vintage clothes that we reconstruct and/or dye.  Rebecca had the idea to do a craft market in Carrboro, as a way to celebrate locally made goods and independent crafters.  Our friend, Sarah McLane organized the first Carrboro Artisan Market with us.

I’ll skip all the work and drama that went into making the market happen, and just point you to our website.  I’m still working on it, but doing the web design for the store and the market are my side projects.  

The day of the market dawned grey and misty.  I called my dad, just to shock him with how early I was up.  Rebecca and I were out bright and early, with A LOT of coffee in our systems and little sleep; waiting for the tent, tables and chairs to arrive.  I think we may have frightened Eric and Jody who came early to help set up.  They had not had the benefit of coffee.  Scott, from Open Eye (where Rebecca and I met) then showed up with more coffee, cheering our souls with the prospect endless coffee fueled fun chatter through out the day.    I will admit to some really fun giddy moments.

It does take more than a wet grey day to keep the people of Carrboro away from a craft market.  We set it up and they came.  It always amazes me how much people like to shop.  My friend Thomas was out in the drizzle with his t-shirts and people were just going through the piles of damp fabric, smiling with glee when they found the one they wanted.  I am that person too.  Andrea of mi scusi hand made was also in the drizzle and I was talking to her, realized my head was a bit cold so I bought one of her hats.  Very clever of me right?  I will admit right now that I was shopping with gleeful freedom.  Such fun!

Our friend, Michelle Coppedge Wallen, helped us at our booth, and our other friend, Mandy watched the store for us.  Misha arranged the music and came shopping for a “stage” outfit for her show that night.  It was the first Saturday in years that Rebecca and I were hanging out together outside the store, hence the giddy behavior.  Good times, good friends, good times.

12 years, fish and mountains

That’s right folks.  Andy and I just celebrated 12 years on July 14th.   Its crazy how time just flies by.  We have lived in North Carolina now for 10 years, and I had never been to Asheville or the NC mountains.  So we decided to do a long weekend in Asheville and a mountain cabin for our anniversary.

I don’t think I can do justice to a description of the NC mountains.  They just layer back as far as you can see.  I’m used to valleys and small ranges of mountains or being up in the mountains in West Virginia.  This was a horizon of green peaks and dips.  It was beautiful.

We stayed at Mountain Springs cabins, outside of Asheville.  There was a Trout stream running below our cabin, where we fished each evening.   Andy was up each morning to hit the stream, too.  You all know that I slept in.  It was a bit late in the season for good fishing but we had fun.  Andy caught one fish and I caught a lot of rocks.  We saw some big ones in the water, but I’m figuring that those are the clever ones.  Fake tofu turkey does not lure them (I was being adventurous in my bait and it was too dry to find good worms).  I am now the proud owner of an Ugly Stick fishing rod.  An anniversary present from Andy.  Pretty awesome. 

The Asheville portion of the trip was also great.  Vegetarian lunches and book shopping!  We also visited Looking Glass Falls.  The trip to get there was a bit scary…narrow mountain roads.  But so many gorgeous views that we’ll have to go back to just sit and take it all in.

You can check our smug mug for more pictures!

our new digs…

We’ve finally moved into our new place, and while we are very sad to leave our house by the farmer’s market, we are also excited about our new place.  It has a little front porch and a great back deck.  There is also a hammock in the back yard.   We really love all the trees around the house, and I think Andy is happy about the lack of a lawn.  He is done with mowing. 

It’s about 2 miles from Roulette, so walking is out, but I’ve purchased a vintage Schwinn bicycle.  Yes, I plan on riding it.    There’s also a bus stop just down the street.  So getting to work isn’t difficult.

Andy and I are looking forward to biking around town together.  It’s a new adventure!

We’ve posted some pics on our flickr account, so check them out!

Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Half Naked Hippie

Corsage cuffs

I wanted to get my maids of honor and photographer extraordinaire corsages instead of bouquets, but was looking for something different than the average flower shop piece.  They suggested wrist corsages, and I went with the idea.
Our friend, the talented leather worker: Iris of RADCOW Leatherworks, made these great cuffs for me.  I asked for holes to pull ribbons through and she came up with what I think of as a solar system of different sizes on dyed blue and grey leather.  She calls it the moon walker, which I love.
I used different ribbons in each cuff, wove them through and left the length long to float in the wind.  Jett found these great wicker flower buttons for me at our local fabric store, where we also got the ribbon.  (note: Always partner with a toddler, they see things at a different level.  )
The best thing about these corsage cuffs is that the ribbons can be pulled off after the wedding and you’ve got a cool piece to wear for the everyday.  I admit to having one made for myself to match.  Too cool to resist.

You can find RADCOW leather goods at Roulette Vintage or if you are out of town, on her Etsy site.

DIY wedding bouquet

I wanted something very simple for my bouquet and decided to leave it to fate and see what was available the night before.  So on the eve of the wedding, I dragged Jamie and Misha to a local grocery store.  There I found these lovely hydrangeas.  Add some ribbon and lace from the local fabric store, and voila: a bouquet.  We also used snippets of the hydrangeas for Andy and Danny’s boutonnieres.

vintage wedding card

I just love this vintage wedding card that Rebecca got us.  Since we own Roulette together, celebrating with vintage goods just seems perfect.  Thanks Rebecca!

vansonia gets fancy

We spent our wedding night at a lovely B&B in Pittsboro, The Rosemary House.
When we woke up this morning, Julie had come in the night and decorated the van with a home made sign, balloons and toilet paper.  Unfortunately it rained last night.  But it still looked properly fancy. 
Thanks Julie!!

the cake

Rebecca and Jamie decorated this yummy chocolate cake, made by our friend Leslie of Sari-Sari Sweets.
The birds are hand made by Middleburg Folk Art Studio.  Jamie made the bird bride’s veil and they cleverly found the top hat somewhere…

the rings

Our rings are hand made from recycled gold.  Andy’s ring is white gold and mine is rose gold.  We got them from the lovely wonderful people at Green Karat.

Andy’s ring was once a medieval goblet, and Kara’s was pirate treasure!  (so we like to think…)