The Ravin' Raven

All spring/summer I've been cutting bouquets of whatever is flourishing around my house and bringing them in as little surprises to my partner's table on his side of the bed, or sometimes out to his little "chill spot" outside on the porch.

I've been busy lately, moreso than usual, and haven't been able to go around cutting flowers for a few weeks. The other night I woke up at 3AM to see him making this on the other half of the bed...

He bought me a Lego orchid and put it together for me (I think they're super pretty but I can't focus on them long enough to finish any) so I can have flowers in my home office. 😭😭❤️ (It's on the 3D printer for now but I'll find it a better place!)

Left TugFest on the Illinois side at 10:30 last night, went over to the Iowa side to grab some goodies from Kneaded Kindness because

A)I was hungee from working a 3 day festival and needed to gorge myself like a trash panda on treats as "self care"

B) they got kind of screwed over (I think unintentionally but still, ew) and were supposed to be the only coffee/baked goods vendor and then was set up NEXT TO ANOTHER COFFEE/BAKERY VENDOR and

C) my mom loves the espresso brownies and we have a family road trip this weekend, so I could rationalize buying even more

Worth every penny, even the ones they didn't charge me when I specifically told them not to do that 😂😂 but they will probably be having a "leftover inventory because we got the shaft at this festival" sale, so give them a follow if you haven't already to see what goodies you can snag ❤️

Oh, and they asked to give the pup I'm dogsitting a free pup cup of whipped cream!!

Picture of my shameless haul 😍😂

How can so many people just blatantly talk s**t about people in the Olympics when like... Most of us can't run an entire mile without stopping. Or half a mile. Or more than a couple blocks.

They're OLYMPIANS, whether they win or lose. Even the kids could kick all of our asses. They get to call themselves an Olympian forever. Y'all are silly.

I finally finished this, and now I'm not sure I can sell it.

I added some compartments, painted it, and added red velvet to the background. All of the bones/teeth I have found and cleaned myself. Most of the figures I've painted myself as well. I 3D printed some of the little stands/tables.

There's racoon bones, a coyote canine tooth, squirrel vertebrae, and a bobcat claw. Red jasper, flower agate, moss agate, quartz and rose quartz.

It's like, sort of available... I think.

Found some Aspen oysters in the parking lot going into TJ Maxx today 😂😂 I swear, we weren't even looking today, they find us!!

Another work in progress cow mandible. The blue background and mushrooms were requested by my youngest child... It's not for him, he just likes to tell me what to do 🤣🖤

Why are these so fun to make?! I wish I had space to keep them all for myself 🤣🖤

If this isn't your vibe yet, IT'S SPOOKY SEASON TIME WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

I love when I get to make something out of all the random goblin treasures I find throughout the year (except the pyrite, I haven't been cool enough to find that anywhere yet besides crystal shops lol)

The lighting in this pic is terrible but it's somehow the only group photo I have of my new moody-ass-bitch vibe altar candles 🖤🔮💀🎃

Big ol' cow mandible in the works, the only problem is every time I think I'm done I find something else to paint over/fix/change/improve 🤣🤣

I'll be vending here this weekend!! The only shows I have scheduled until I am able to cover any vendor fees (it's been over a grand for various emergency pet visits in 3 months 😵‍💫) are this and this month's Eclectic Market on the 28th!

Definitely cool doing a show inside a tattoo shop, last time I was here there was so much cool local art!! This Saturday, come check it out!

Be sure to stop by Ink Th3rapy Tattoo this weekend to shop with local artists and vendors!

All of my art will now be Halloween themed... Instead of... Wait 🔮🕸️🕷️💀⚰️👻🎃

First time looking for and finding chanterelles!! Over 50 and then I stopped counting, my partner and I both have never cooked or eaten these before, so I hope we like them 🤣🤣

My dog is sick, it's making me nervous, so I haven't been able to sleep. His appointment is at 8 am, so now there's no way I'd wake up if I fall asleep now, so I've started painting... something... For funsies. No idea what it's going to be, just painting over sharpie lines and winging it 🤣

PS- all nighters hit different at 35 than 25. Yeesh. Never again.

Matthew Moody told me the first time he ever saw me at a setup when I was first starting out that I was underselling myself and I could do this full time if I really wanted to. I had nervously said while he was looking silently with great intent at every single thing I had up there, that this was just a side hobby and I was hoping to be able to cover my costs to try and get better at what I was doing. It wasn't until a minute later when he finally spoke I realized he was truly appreciating and studying every single weird piece I had up there. I had never met him before this but the sincerity in the way he spoke I'll never forget.

A couple of months ago, he came to my booth at the Eclectic Market and bought one of my cooler, bigger pieces AND insisted on giving me a tip. I don't know if he remembered telling me two years ago I was underselling myself or not, I've seen him many times around the QC at various events and things, and I know he was always actively involved in supporting everything he could, so I wouldn't expect him to remember that one quick comment to a random vendor years earlier. But damn, if that one little act of a tip when I now charge way more than I ever dreamed of feeling comfortable doing didn't hit my right in the heart that day...

This man put so much value in me and my artwork and he didn't know me much outside of my vendor persona. Judging by my Facebook feed right now, this is the person he was to everyone. It's a special kind of soul that invests everything they have into every single moment of others, regardless of who they are. If he had this effect on me, I can't even imagine what his friends and family got to experience.

A truly amazing human being.

I literally make these kinds of candles too (not always for sale, but sometimes,) but Felix’s Wares always finds the coolest vintage glass and I'm jealous of them every time 😂 check out their site, they have the BEST smelling candles and they burn beautifully ❤️🖤

Why is Atlanta Fulscher the coolest human 😍

This piece was sold a few weeks ago but I just remembered I never shared a lil' piccy pic of it ❤️🍄🐌

People keep reaching out to me to ask what kind of mushroom knife I have or recommend, and I'm just really concerned that y'all think I'm some fancy pants human who actually plans their foraging excursions, uses a map/compass, uses correct "tools" and buys the cool s**t that TikTok foragers have.

I literally walk into whatever part of the woods looks or feels cool, sometimes it's the side of the road, sometimes I wasn't planning on going anywhere at all but I drove by something cool. I have a 13 year old lime green Jansport backpack (so I can find it when I absent-mindedly put it down everywhere) with a bunch of paper bags, Walmart plastic bags, and some $1 lingerie mesh bags that eternally live in there. I keep some apple sauce pouches and a (usually partially filled and left in from before) bottle of water in it, and some hard candies in case my mouth gets dry or I get dizzy out there. I've also got like 3-4 pairs of disposable gloves and a couple of trash bags in case I find something not-so-fresh for the bones or just to take out random garbage I find while I'm out. I *think* there's still a flashlight in there.

I do not get lost because foraging depends on looking in the right places, which means studying the heck out of your surroundings, (which you should be doing so well you can recognize which tree you found something on a week later in the rain through a deer trail.) Should I still have a compass? Probably, except I don't know s**t about where the actual named directions are going to point me to. My directions in my head are "past the crooked branch dead tree, next to the stump with a weird streak on it, turn right until you find the raspberry bushes and the good morel spot was right under a tree over there." But telling me we parked north of the main parking lot? Cool. I'm going to die out here from exposure it'll take me so long to find the car. Tell me what was growing near the parking lot entrance or if there was a cool boulder or something, and I'm there. 🤷‍♀️

And finally, I do not have a mushroom knife. I rarely have any kind of blade at all, I used to carry pruners but I keep losing my ones at home and taking them out of my bag so I usually don't have them when I'm out 🤣 as far digging/cutting/harvesting/etc? I claw at the dirt, bark, woody mushroom cluster stem or whatever else with my bare hands with a frenzy like a possum who hasn't had a good meal in a while.

I get lots of splinters and thorns, and my nails always make me look like I just crawled out of a hole. Also sometimes I put my fingers into some WEIRD substances, usually never figure out what they are either, there's so many brightly colored squishy things out in the woods these days.

This is an affiliate post, for every human I lure into the woods without iron/weapons I am blessed with another year of bountiful foraging harvests from my local Goblin Overlord.

(It's me. I bless myself. Good job, self! Go find more s**t!)

First time actually looking for COW and I actually found it!! Didn't take all that I found since a lot of it looked very young (I think, I dunno, until now it's all reading knowledge lol) but I was floored by the SMELL!! How did I not know they would already smell like a delicious bowl of freshly sauteed mushrooms?! I found my first two by looking, but I found my third (and a bunch of others nearby as well) by sniffing around some dead logs deep in the woods!

I didn't actually expect to find any this time, and certainly not this much, sooo now I have to figure out what I'm gonna do with them and add them to dinner tonight! ❤️🍄❤️

I was so excited to find them I started doing a happy dance in the woods much to the confusion of my kids, boyfriend, and dogs 🤣 knocking off foraging goals for 2024 left and right ❤️

These wouldn't dry out properly, so I was only able to snap a picture of how absolutely badass these mushrooms look!!

Kinda surprised this guy hasn't been snatched up at any of my last couple of markets 🤷‍♀️

Super surprised to actually find these in tact, I hope they dry well because they would look badass in a piece 👀👀❤️

My mom's roses decided to celebrate Pride Month too 🎊🎊🎉🎉❤️❤️

First time harvesting and eating coral mushies this year!! Found these last week but I keep thinking about how cool they look 🍄❤️