We sure are excited to have our 3D Animals join the fine folks at Los Altos' own Linden Tree Books!  If you're on the Pennisula or in the South Bay, be sure to check their very active events calendar as it seems something exciting is happening every week:
http://www.lindentreebooks.com/events-2/linden-tree-events/

Like many households, ours disagrees on the correct date when Christmas decorations can be hauled out, or when Christmas can even be mentioned!  Some of us stick with the "not until December" tradition, while others argue for the day after Halloween (take a good guess who belongs in which camp).

Imagine the surprise on the kids' faces when we told them (before Halloween no less) to break out the new Frida metallic paints because Santa's sleigh needs building!  Yes, Christmas came very early with the arrival of our new line of Christmas 3D models.  

Create a whole team of reindeer to decorate your mantel, a Santa napkin holder to add some festivity to your kitchen table, or stuff Santa's sleigh full of those nougaty candies with Christmas trees in the middle.  Yep, just thinking about those candies makes me want to string up the lights and hang up the stockings!

We are very excited to welcome the reps of R-Biz Associates to our team!  A whole crew of new reps needs a whole lot of new samples, so we've been busy gluing and painting.  We've settled on a new style of samples to better explain our 3D modeling kits - half painted!  
As all the samples that I've made until now have been completely different from one another, it was funny to see this little dog army develop. 

Over the years I've collected a lot of small embroidered pieces, mostly from family.  There are the handmade pieces of lace from David's grandmother, the embroidered table cloths that are too small for any table I own, and the little pieces made with love by my 8 year old at summer camp.  They sure are pretty, but the question has always been, what do you do with all those little doilies??  

I have found one answer.  Stitch them all onto a large piece(s) of fabric and use 'em as curtains.  I used here baby's great-grandparents' linen sheets dyed for a little more color.  It would be preferable if you were arty and had a good sense of composition to make your curtains extra attractive rather than let your 8 year old do the layout (ahem).  

Even with questionable layout, I'm thrilled with the outcome.  It's a fabulous way to bring the faraway French countryside world of baby's great-grandmother into her daily life, and an opening to tell all of the family stories.

So it looks like David also has a crafty streak.  We needed a little display for our cows which were destined for local creamery, Nicasio Valley Cheese Company.  He walks outside, takes one look at the wood pile, and declares, "I can make something."  And indeed he did!  Here it is before it had a header to hold Bessie, and down below is the finished display at the Cheese Comapny.

Wonderfully in keeping with the recycled nature of the product itself, this upcycled display is now a standard in our assortment.  

Both the Chicken Coop and Le Mariage found a home after the Fairfax Festival in the window of local art, craft, and toy emporium, Doodlebugs.  The kids were absurdly proud to find their creations in the window of the big destination of downtown San Anselmo.  OK, not just the kids - I probably took 20 pictures!
Thank you Doodlebugs!

The highlight of our summer was attending the wedding of Miss Cow with Monsieur Dog at the Fairfax Festival.  Ok, perhaps not the highlight, but a lot of fun all the same.

My daughter and I dug through the fabric bin looking for a suitable veil for Miss Cow and had to settle on a plain white cotton, dressed up with a few beads and a bit of glitter.  It was only after we finished that we noticed (sitting right there on the table) the cutting of lace sent as a sample for my veil.  How did we miss that??  Miss Cow didn't mind, she turned out lovely just the same.

Many other cows and people too came for the wedding (well, perhaps they were coming for the music and organic wine).  We were happy to show our products and meet like-minded creative-types from Fairfax and the rest of the Bay Area.

Toward the end of the school year, my son came home discouraged.  They had had a free day to create, build whatever they wanted.  His goal was to build a birdhouse.  Somehow his 40 pounds of lumber and tin foil didn't turn out looking much like a birdhouse.  I took one look at it and knew we'd found something special - a chicken coop for all of our little roosters!  It didn't take much to convince him that a creative reuse was even better than the original idea.

The timing was perfect - just days before a consumer show.  The coop got a lot of attention.  Everyone's favorite rooster was certainly not the realistic bird I felt compelled to create. No, it was my daughter's rooster with mohawk on the far left.  It was, indeed, far cooler.

Hi there!  Welcome to Trussart Designs and our crafty little blog.  We are a family business where everyone has a job to do - grownups run the business, big kids test all the products and the littlest one (for the moment anyway) just has to sit there and look cute.  That's 3 of us on the left at our first show.

This blog will bring you the latest in our products, shows, and workshops plus crafty projects and ideas that tickle my fancy.  I hope they inspire you to get crafting too!