Bartlett & Craft

Bartletts 2024 Greetings, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! A physical card in the mail happened not again this year, my apologies to all, but between getting a puppy (yes, a puppy!), renovating our kitchen and all the rest (waves wildly at the chaos around us), it just didn't happen.  BUT, I bring you an update with pictures of our year; a summary.   (Shout out to Signal Return in Detroit for hosting a lovely workshop where this artwork above was made.  If you are in the southeast Michigan area, I highly recommend signing up for a class!) And now for an update on the family :)  Peter - He celebrated his 15th year at the same workplace this year.  We are very thankful for a job that allows him to work from home (although he says he misses the office life a little bit) and close to family.  And 15 years means some extra, extra perks in the form of being able to take off almost every Friday from October- December! Woo-hoo!  He has been working hard, bu...

 In an effort to be more environmentally friendly this year (and because we ran out of time to send anything before the New Year), we have transitioned over to a e-Christmas Card!  And now you get to see more pictures of our beautiful faces (a win, win!).   Enjoy our Bartlett 2023 by the numbers and a few photo favorites. The kids took up rock climbing lessons this year, and it has been fun for the whole family!  Here we are 'topped out' on the bouldering wall. The kids have been enjoying their 1st and 4th grade years, its been smooth sailing so far with some pretty awesome teaching staff. We had our first family ski trip this year, we are hitting a sweet spot with kids enjoying activities that challenge them and us at the same time.  Eli lost his first tooth! Our 2023 garden at its peak! And a new pantry designed by yours truly to showcase our bountiful squash harvest :) Happy New Year!

A Collection of Christmas cards I have designed over the years for my family 2017 2018 2019  

When we first moved into our 1885 queen anne victorian in 2018, it was pretty much a blank slate full of character.  Aside from the projects that needed our attention (mainly fixing an issue with the chimney, which we knew about before purchasing), there wasn't much in the way of repair, so I went ahead and got started on choosing colors that were more to our (haha, my) taste. I also wanted to invest in a really good dining room table (we didn't even have one in our old house) so I figured I would start in the dining room and get going! But first, a couple pictures to show just how 'blank slate' this house was. The formal living room, which for now is our playroom.  Though I have dreams of enclosing the large opening with glass doors and making it a music room.  This large opening would have glass doors if my plans come true. ;) The family room, the center of the house, where we spend most of our time.  View into the dining room.  I ...

My family recently moved to Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee and we are absolutely loving it!  We lived in Lansing, Michigan for almost 7 years, and while there are friends/family there that we miss, there isn't much else about the place that I have found myself missing.  Don't get me wrong, I love Michigan, and if we had the chance to move back closer to my family or in a different city, we would likely do it, but Lansing was just not it for us.  Milwaukee, however, I feel is like this hidden gem...it is such a cool place but you hardly ever hear about it.  It has its problems, for sure, like any larger city does, but for the most part the people I have encountered here really care about the place they live, which is so refreshing. Being in a place that we love has really increased my desire to make my mark on my place, to settle in and get involved.  So I find myself not only coming up with more creative outlets, but I actually have great motivation to g...

Had some extra time today to add the next few photos of baby girl into her artifact uprising photo album that will be complete once we celebrate her first birthday.  Can't wait, but can wait.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from each month so far... 5 days old One month Two months Three months Four months Five months Six months Seven months

So for Lent this year I decided to concentrate on my productivity, or lack thereof.  As a sidenote, I am a Christian, but I am not the type that views Lent as being a religious practice, at least not every year.  I do view it as a good excuse to reflect on my life and figure out what I could do better.  And who knows, maybe this exercise will lead to more frequent communication with God and a better understanding of Jesus' sacrifice. Anyway, back to my story.  What better way to increase productivity than to get rid of the time wasters!  Some of my biggest time wasters seem to be the internet in general and facebook more specifically.  I would often refresh my facebook newsfeed every two minutes (not exaggerating) and there would usually be 2 or 3 new updates from people that I probably hadn't talked to in years, maybe even decades.  Do I really need to know what they are up to?  Nope!  So, I went through my entire 'friends' list and 'hid...

A few baby bows for my niece made from some of grandma S.'s lace, grandma J.'s buttons and a few odds and ends from my beads/ribbon box.  Can't wait to take pictures of them on my niece! made from grandma's lace made with grandma's buttons Made with grandma's buttons