Thursday, January 31, 2008

Craft Fair ... Zeal

Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Join SimplyJune this Saturday, February 2nd from 10:30-2pm at Newton South High School, 140 Brandeis Road; Newton Centre, MA for a craft show. We will have some of our old favorites as well as some new goodies including children's beanbag sets, new wipe-clean children's aprons and gift tags.

Also stop by to visit our friend Zandra Zuraw from Zeal: Paper Crafts for the Home and check out her colorful and eclectic boxes, frames, coasters, lampshades and more...

Keep an eye out for the upcoming City Sampler: Boston at the Sampler! SimplyJune has contributed 20 hand embroidered buttons that will be distributed in this new featured Sampler. The Sampler is a great way to check out some amazing indie artists and get some great goodies in the mail.

SimplyJune has also contributed a raffle basket valued at $200 to the Alliance For Children's 7th Annual Multicultural Fair to be held Saturday March 29th from 12-3pm at Wellesley High School. This incredible event celebrates the wonderful cultural diversity of our world and includes music and dance performances from Latin America, China, Eastern Europe and more as well as children's crafts, food, raffle and a marketplace. The annual raffle raises money for the Alliance for Children Foundation which is dedicated to improving the physical and emotional well being of abandoned children living in orphanages in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. My husband and I adopted our son Nikolai through Alliance for Children in 2006 and are honored to support this wonderful organization. If you would like more information about this wonderful event or are interested in supporting the Alliance For Children Foundation through the purchase of raffle tickets, send us an e-mail at info (at) simplyjune.com.

Karen June



















Hand Embroidered Buttons for the Sampler: Boston by SimplyJune














Lampshades by Zeal




















Boxes by Zeal



















Coasters by Zeal

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Boston-Based Indie Designers... The Boston Sampler

Check out The Sampler...they have moved to Weymouth and are having a Local Sampler featuring items from crafters and DIYers from the Boston area! Contributions are due at the end of the month. They will also be having a release party at Spark Craft Studios in Cambridge to celebrate!

So, stay tuned for the new city Samplers in their Shop... and keep your eye out from some little embroidered goodies from Simply June.

As a little side note... look what the UPS man brought me today!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Tea Flowers

I felt a little bit as if I were conducting a science experiment when making an afternoon cup of tea... My parents are in town this week and received this curious teapot and teas for Christmas this year. They brought it along to share. The tea comes in a 1" ball of tied tea leaves and herbs and blooms into a garden in the hot water. This particular tea was a blend of lavender, jasmine and green tea...


















Wednesday, January 16, 2008

200 + 30

200 posts! Hurray!

This weekend we had a little celebration for my husband Jason's 30th birthday. I centered the event around a 1930's theme with Big Band/Swing in the CD player...art deco designs...a black and white color palette for the table...chocolate dipped tuxedo strawberries...and Manhattans at the bar. I love that we have friends that enjoy those little details as much as we do.

My 30th was two years ago. 30 was a wonderful transitional year for me. I don't know quite how to explain it other than I just eased into the comfort of being me. My actual birthday on the other hand was notably one of the most weighty days in our family life. We had started the adoption process that Spring and had a referral for a little boy in Moscow. He was 2 years old...charming...beautiful...sad...soulful... He had grabbed my heart. We knew very little about him other than what we could see in the photographs and video. We thought he must be our son. Our life was in slow motion for weeks. We had chosen not to share this part of our adoption journey. There are too many hard details to share, but those long weeks culminated in a grieving process that began with very hard news on my birthday. But, with every growth in life...every transition and awakening comes some pain... some sadness. So, this year Jason and I celebrated together the transition of 30 and the joys of being a family of 3 with our son Kolya...who was so clearly meant to be ours.







































Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wool & Water

When you have a moment, pop on over to visit artist Amy Earles in her Etsy shop Wool and Water or check out her portfolio at Pushed Under. I recently bought one of her jointed paper doll sets ... Delicate Heart. There is a certain "old sole" quality to her characters...oh and that delightful little dress and ballet laced shoes! This little gal now hangs from a vintage red button on one of my walls...






































Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Posh Peacock

I spent the last few months meeting so many new talented and delightful designers at shows and I hope to introduce a few of them to you in the coming days. I met the stylish, creative and business minded Christine Koh from Posh Peacock at The Cool and Groovy Craft Fair in Cambridge back in December. Take a peek over at her shop for her colorful crisp designs and custom lines as well. I picked up a number of her cards at the show. Her designs, presentation and quality are impeccable. I also picked up this cute set of quilted coasters. Though not typical of her line, they offer up the same beautiful colors and lines and were an offshoot of her daughters bedroom re-design. I'm personally loving her dot monogram flats...