Favorite neighbors

This past year at craft shows I lucked out sitting near great people.
At Bust I was next to the ultra lovely Maggie and David from Loyalty and Blood They print cool shirts and great tote bags and make jewelry. They do it all!

On the other side of my were the cuties from Schmutzerland I picked up this delightful Octopus ring that I always get 1000 questions about whenever I wear it.
Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring is where I met Kasey and Kelley of Biggs and Featherbelle (you need their citrus and peppermint soap. Trust me.)
At Art Star I wasn't next to them, per se but when the monsoon hit saturday afternoon, the ladies from Clairemcdermott offered my brother and I a piece of plastic to put up so our tent had a wall and it worked surprisingly well. They were so kind to offer us that last tarp.
There were a few others through the year but I've unfortunately forgotten their names. I'm looking forward to making new friends and neighbors in 2009!

More on the consumer product warning info

I'm trying to consolidate information and links here for myself and for other people-
First, http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263549

Well organized site from a toymaker with info on the ruling as well as how to write to congress:
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

About the CPSC
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.html

bad news/worse news

This is going to be a little bummer of an entry, but I will try to post later the spoils of my quickie shopping spree from bust as well as a little bit about my totally awesome neighbors.

bad news: I am sick. started with a sore throat monday and steamrolled into stuffy nose, lots of coughing and other unattractive things. I've been home 2 days and I feel lousy.

worse news: Have you heard about the CPSIA ruling? The Consumer Products and Safety Commission (CPSC) is trying to pass a ruling about toy makers and people who make products for people under 12.
while I don't necessarily consider my stuff for kids, i know people give them to kids. THis would mean I would have to pay for 3rd party testing of my toys and could cost up to $4000 per toy.
Bunk right? Why is this happening? Because of China and the slack import laws that allowed stuff riddled with lead to come into this country.
read more about the regulations they're trying to pass here:
handmade toy alliance and sign their petition while you're at it.

i'm going back to bed.

Spectacular craftacular!

It's 7:30 on Monday morning after a long weekend and a lot of driving from Tina's sister Lisa but it was worth it.
THanks to all who came to Bust's Craftacular! I have a new record to beat! You're all amazing.

THank you thank you thank you!

new favorite-

I admit, I'm really gunshy about ordering stuff from abroad. I think it's because 3 out of 5 times, i have international shipping nightmares, but how CUTE is this necklace????
It's from Joannarutter on Etsy.

Thank you!

Thanks to all who came out on Saturday for the Holiday Booty market!! I hope you had fun and ate lots of cookies (i did!) and found great christmas presents!!!!

This Crafting Business: Staples V. Kinkos

I've recently begun utilizing the printing services of Staples. Which, if you've never explored and do a lot of printing not from your home, I recommend checking out.
Now, both Staples and Kinkos have features where you're able to email a document and specify paper preferences and pick up etc.

Now, your mileage may vary as the staff of each location differs wildly and that's as important to this whole process as paper selection is.
For what it's worth, here's my opinion of the two chains in the area

Kinkos
College Park- preferred if you need to be in the store. Big, room to lay project out. Good access to their supplies. Also, will let you use their large format printer. Also, open acess to paper stock (not toal stock, but it's enough)
7th & D NW - Staff helpful, not allowed to touch large format printer, easy metro access (Archives/Navy Memorial)
7th & NY - Best staff in the city. Layout a little confusing. This is my preferred Kinkos location, Metro stop: Convention center or China town. 5 blocks from either. Parking not recommended.
8th & D st. SE (Capitol Hill) This one is kind of a nightmare. Good Metro access, but the staff is ridiculous at best and usually surly. Machines largely undependable.

Saying that, I just made tags for my owls and emailed it in to the Kinkos on D st. SE for pick up. I did call ahead to see if they could be done an hour earlier than the web said they would be available for pick up. The guy on the phone assured me no problem. I arrived at the store and no one knew what I was talking about, still they printed the tags out for me, and I have to say, they look great.
That mostly is because I chose the glossy cover card stock. An option Staples does not have.


Staples:

Location: Rt. 193 Greenbelt/near college park. Across the street from Beltway plaza mall. It's fine, they're competent. Not my first choice.

Location: 14th St. Columbia Heights- great. Huge, new facility (no room for project layout, but good) helpful staff. Understand double-sided copies.


Kinkos wins for more convenient locations and I think paper selection.

just a tip

christmas wish #1

from Made with love by hannah

I wonder if my brother would actually get this for me...probably not.

I'm particularly covetous of the blue.

shows!

I'm excited for christmas this year. i hope i don't lose the excitement....I haven't even minded the slightly early music.
I'm really looking forward to going to NYC with Tina Seamonster for the Bust Craftacular and other NYC shenanigans.

Craftacular! In!

Ok, I'm in! whew....That was some serious waiting. I'm happy I'm in 'tho...now oh god...now i have to make so much stuff!!!

where'd i put my elves?

Updates!

First- You know Tina Seamonster right? Of course you do! She's famous! She's also going to be on NPR's sunday edition talking about making your own christmas presents and hosting a chat
around 1:30 pm I think

Ok, SECOND! SHOWS!
There's still no word on Bust...I called, spoke with someone who assured me they'd get back to me, but I'm not holding my breath, but The Craft Mutiny is doing our annual Holiday Booty Market Saturday December 6.
Come on out!


I might be doing rock and shop...maybe not...i've been told there's no room, but Tina and Debbie might let me mooch a bit of real estate at their tables because they're awesome.
But I'm definitely doing the Bloomingdale Art Market I think the 20th? of December...I'm looking forward to that one!
I'm looking forward to all of them (including Bust because even if they say 'no', I'm going to share a table with Tina. Shhhhh....don't tell them. Not that it'll matter because Bust is so disorganized they'll never notice)


Last!
I'm pretty uh...amature at the whole webby-net-net thing, but I still appreciate good design, so thank you Google first, for gmail. Which is by far superior to any web-based email system ever, but now they've introduced "themes". Mine is currently "desk top" but I think I might be switching it to something more orange.

craftacu-lost

Well, I'd like to tell you if I got into Bust's Craftacular this year, but as of Sunday, they say they can't find my application...even after I forwarded them my receipt of payment.

At this point, I'm more than a little aggrivated so I just have to wait I guess until they're able to give me an answer one way or the other.
I'm so glad that the Kim and Sarah who organize Crafty Bastards are so amazingly togeher, I guess I'm spoiled.

Pirate Yetis

This is what happens when trends collide-

If you live in the DC area, you might be seeing a bit of this guy as the Craft Mutiny advertises our upcoming holiday show.
This is the first Yeti I made for myself last spring dressed up like a pirate. I will make a special/few costumed Yetis for this show.

More about the cat

I have some updates on the cat from the last post. He is neutered...he is desperate for attention (and love!) and has all his shots.

According to the people who he is trying to adopt (but can't due to their own territorial cat) he looks like he's getting anxious about winter coming.
If you live in the DC area and have space for another grateful kitty, let me know! I will make your connection!

Looking for a home

This fella is looking for a good home. I'm trying to find out more about him, but here's a bit from the person who found him:

this affectionate, sweet-natured beast appeared in my alley a couple of months ago. He is almost a full-grown adult, and unlike the other feral cats who live behind my house, he is definitely used to being domesticated, and is getting panicky as winter sets in about being homeless. It looks like his previous owners decided they didn't want him and just turned him loose.

If you have room in your house and heart for him, let me know and I'll put you in touch.

To do this weekend:

I know it's halloween and all, but if you're looking for something candy-like without the sugar-hangover, why not head to theLino Tagliapietra exhibit at the Renwick Gallery
It's there 'through the 11th of January.
It looks stunning, I can't wait to go!

crafting ADD

Hey other fellow crafty-types-
Today TODAY is the deadline for applying to theAmerican Craft Council show as an "indie crafter".

I am going to submit my owls...my pictures aren't very good but I figure, the owls are!
Also, i keep thinking about

Dress you up with my loves

I'm going to assemble an outfit of things I love from Etsy...herewe go!
I have two pairs of earrings by Brooke Marton - The above pair and a pair called 'cherry bomb' which I'm wearing now. I love them. Plus? She lives in Baltimore. How studiously cute would they look with this jumper?
I found a dress by Jane Bon Bon at a store in Chicago this summer called Viva La Feme and it was as if the dress was made for me. I love it. And of course you'll need some shoes...In honor of the red shoes I'm wearing right now, how about these?
Mine are by Dansko, these are by Zerkahloostrah. I also love these:

Above all, I love the idea of hand-made shoes. Her work is stunning, no?

Add this to your daily Blog reads too!

A number of talented (do I dare say 'visionary'?) ladies of the DC-ish area have teamed up to bring you Hello Craft. It's a bunch of indie-craft superstars like Tina Seamonster and Kim Dorn

Check it out!

Greatest idea ever?

Ordinarily, I'm not the type to promote FAO schwartz, but how ingenious is this?

The price is pretty high...although I just googled what those fugly American Girl things and Build a whatevers (incidentally...if you're at a craft show? And you see a booth where someone is making *hand made* animals/monsters/characters? Don't say "oh, it's just like build-a-bear". Because it's not.
It's really, really, not.

Make your own Muppet although....a girl can get behind that...

project runway

Look, here's the thing- I love that show. I did feel this season the talent (and challenges) were a little lack-luster but the final runway show was very strong. Also- I love Kenley. I do. I want to be friends with her and hang out and eat cheetos and talk smack about people. I do think it would behoove her to know what other fashion houses are doing, but I also think some of the comparisons were not totally right.
Case in point- the McQueen feather wedding dress.
Here's McQueen's version

And here's Kenley's. Which for my money, is more like Dior's "New Look" silhouette from 1947.
I think actually, if anything, it reminds me more of Matthew Bourne's Swan lake costumes

X in DC

About a year ago, I did this great event called X in DC. It was great fun, and I'm really excited to be asked back.

I hope you can make it out!

2 events!

One definitely-

I'll be at the Ballston Art Market this Saturday and possibly next Saturday at the
X in DC monthly event at BeBar.

I did the XinDC event about a year or so ago and it was super fun...that one isn't confirmed 'tho so maybe I shouldn't post it? Ah, I will anyway.

Hope to see you there!

Art in other cities

You know Banksy Right? Well check out this large mural that went up in NY Pretty great huh? Or maybe you're thinking it's not your bag. Which it might not be. He's an aquired taste to be sure. But I have to give NY props for letting this happen. And happen so quickly. That's one thing I hate about DC- it takes 14 people to agree on anything before something even becomes a thought.
Good for you NY! This is why you continue to school the rest on the country on why artists flock to you.

Just listed

Slowly....ever so slowly will I get my etsy shop back up! err....started maybe since I switched names.
Today I listed Henri Owlington:

And a set of 5 postcards featuring Astro-NOT!

To the crafter go the spoils

I made a few key purchases on Sunday at Crafty Bastards.
I bought this necklace from Imogene


The smallest size of this vase from KG+AB

Both were things I've been agonizing over for a little while. I purchased the whale hoop earrings at Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring last june. I'm wearing the necklace right now.
I also picked up a book from Robert Ullman
who will also be at SPX this weekend in Bethesda.
Which I intend to go to if effing DC ever mails me my paycheck for September.
But that's a story for another time. Preferably over margaritas or something.

volcanoes and kittens

This is Hot Head- my newest character that debuted at Crafty Bastards

And then because some people have asked- two photos of the kitten

On the table at the vet:


in my lap at the vet:


He's eating like a champ and getting more playful everyday.
Sadie (my own, 10 year old cat) is less than excited. So let's hope my mom loves him! Because my roommate is getting attached to him as well!

Thank you!

Hey, if you're reading this because you came to Crafty Bastards, thank you.
I had such a splendid day meeting all sorts of lovely people and bought a few great pieces- I'll get some pictures up tomorrow...maybe even pictures of the kitten...

What a great show- Kim Dorn and Sarah Dick are geniuses.

lost afternoon

Good intentions, bah.

This afternoon, I intended to go to Ikea and pick up some things for my display on sunday. I took kennilworth ave instead of BW parkway and see what I thought was a black squirrel darting in and out of traffic. It was infact a teeny tiny black kitten.
I swung a u-turn, parked my car, ran across traffic, hopped a guardrail and coaxed the scrawniest black kitten out of weeds. Which reminds me, I should shower with that poison ivy stuff tonight, because knowing my luck...
So I have the kitty, he's stopped squirming and i'm holding him to my chest and petting him and he's calm now. I'm not sure what to do because I already have a cat, but my moms dear cat lucy suddenly died on wednesday. Really suddenly. So i figure it's fate and i know a good vet in the next town and take him there to get his feline -hiv/leukemia test.
He passes and the vet tells me he's probably 8 weeks old, since he has a full set of baby teeth, but he's so malnourished that he's the size of a 6 week cat. At this point, the cat is perched on my shoulder and licking my ear. He's really incredibly sweet and hungry so now I need to keep him separated from Sadie (my cat) for 2-3 weeks incase he has a respitory illness.
My mom isn't sure she wants a cat yet, let alone a male cat so I don't know what to do now. He's really really sweet and I shelled out for his first distemper shot as well...so if anyone in the DC area is looking for a sweet baby black kitten, give me a shout.




Now, about crafty bastards!
I lost 5 hours this afternoon dealing with the kitten so I need to get cracking!
Weatherly of the blog Spotlight On... was kind enough to write a little blurb about me after seeing my owls at Arts on Foot two weeks ago, so if you go to her blog, you'll find a coupon good for a surprise at Crafty Bastards....which is the day after tomorrow....oh god...I need to get back to sewing!
But it's so hard to sew when there's a baby kitten in the house!

they're here! they're here!

I had postcards made of Batty and Astro-NOT!
I didn't want to say anything until they were done, but they look so cute! And the cards have rounded corners! I'm a sucker for a rounded corner, aren't you?

Street Sculpture

There's a local artist named Mark Jenkins who I like a lot. A lotta lot. I first saw his work in 2004 or so at the Artomatic at the Children's Museum where he had his tape people and also these digital collage-things that looked like oriental rugs but it was digitally tiled images of body hair which were both intriguing and, I'll admit, a little bit revolting.

If you're lucky, you can catch his work on the street before DCRA or some other organization yanks it down.

Jenkins might be called a situationalist I guess, by taking things he finds on the street and turning it into something playful and creative- The lamp posts on Thomas Circle being turned into a Merry-Go-Round


Or large angels suspended in the unused alcoves of Malcom X Park.
I find work like his really inspiring- the ability to see something unique and beautiful and useful in an otherwise mundane and under-utilized location. His pieces are largely independant and do not cause stress or damage to their locations. Unless they are wildly misinterpreted by small minded people who apparently need something to do or complain about.

20x20

Sondra Arkin is putting on what looks to be a really cool show and she asked me to participate. To say I'm nervous is an understatement, but I am extremely honored.



The opening is this Saturday. Hope you can make it...hope I can make it!

Yikes, so much to do!

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who braved Saturday's heat (and Friday's rain!). What a fun show!
Now I have to chain myself to my machine for crafty bastards in two weeks...yikes!

Before I do, I have to give Susan and Pam of As If Bags a huge thank you for their more than generous donation of gorgeous fabrics to turn into owls.
Check out their page for their beautiful bags!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll be at Art on Foot in downtown Washington, DC with some of my little guys. Cross your fingers for better weather than they're predicting!

Long weekend

The past two weekends have involved traveling (Chicago and Pennsylvania) so I'm excited to be staring down a three day weekend, and my roommate left for Brazil for about 2 weeks which always means full first floor craft-X-plosion.

Also, I found my fabric printer for my gocco last monday which is exciting, cause I bought a bunch of blank kitchen towels...so now i'm scheming up idears for new towel designs!

These Owls currently at Pyramid Atlantic!

DSC00911
Originally uploaded by tigersscareme

I think...I know one of them (the smaller brown one in the lower left) sold as I was in the store...

Public Art can excite

Last week I went to Chicago and made it to Millennium park which has two really exciting pieces of public art. The Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa and Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (Also called 'The Bean')
The Crown Fountain is two glass brick towers that face each other and features video of about 1000 different Chicago residents. There is also a spout where water pours out from the 'mouth' of the residents every once in a while. It's really entertaining to watch people interact with the towers and to see residents who may have been filmed check out the towers to see if they'll show up on the glass block screens.
Kapoor's Cloud Gate is perfectly placed to almost fully reflect the grand architecture of Michigan Avenue on one side and the park on the other.
There's a good article on the resurgance of public sculpture in the New York Times today. It also does a kind of drive-by review of the Koons show (also in Chicago).

Getting with the times

I have a new cord for my camera!
Pictures of Chicago and more owls to come!

Also, I bought myself a pro account on Flickr, so I'll get that going as well. Join me as I take baby steps to being an artist who is trying to be an OK business person as well, won't you?

I'm back!

Whew- Chicago is a heck of a town. I feel so comfortable there, I really do.
But now I'm back and I have to get to work!
I figure I want to have about 130-140 pieces for arts on foot which means I need to finish at least 6 things per day from now until the 12th or 13th or whenever it is.
Also, I was notified a few days ago that space opened up so I am a crafty bastard after all!!!!
So that's two huge shows in September plus one more secret thing that I don't want to talk about yet because i'm very freaked out about it.

other camera things

THanks to Art who suggested I check out "the ebay" for a new camera cord.

He wins nothing, but my eternal gratitude.

This thursday I will be flying out to chicago to visit some friends, see other friends get all married and just generally have fun.

I love chicago a lot. If I could i would probably move there but I don't know if i want to be that far from my family. which is such a weird thing to say, but i'm pretty happy that I'm able to say that now.

So if you have any chicago tips/suggestions for things not to miss, leave them in the comments, won't you?
xoxo
beth b.

Did you know?

If you lose your USB cord to your camera, you're kind of screwed?

I purchased a 'card reader' to replace lost cord, but the software is on a mini disk and the users guide to my Mac basically threatened to cut me if i tried to insert a minidisc into my computer.

so...I'm at an impass. Unless i can find a way to download the software or a replacement cable that is not a 50 dollar 9-headed beheamoth multi-culti replacement cable.
cripes.

New Stuff at Pyramid Atlantic!

If you liked veronica (from two posts ago) She's currently for sale at Pyramid Atlantic.
I took a group of 5 owls, one whale and an Corn-y on friday.

Now they only have 4 owls, because one woman was actually buying them out of my hands. She wouldn't even wait until I filled out the consignment form!

She did 'tho because the store needed to log it in before it sold.

That was a nice pick-me-up to an otherwise crappy friday.

wait listed

So, I was wait-listed for crafty bastards fall show, so you probably won't be seeing me there.

This is relatively un-related, but if anyone is Chicago knows any public art job openings, be a pal and forward them on to me, won't you?

love

beth b.

Robot desk calendar

Robot desk calendar
Originally uploaded by tigersscareme

New item! this cube features a robot and a day of the week on each side. Saturday and Sunday share a side.
If i get into Crafty Bastards (fingers crossed) I'm hoping to have a bunch of them.

Meet Veronica

This is Veronica Owlington


Tomorrow is the deadline to apply for crafty bastards kids!

Pyramid Atlantic store -open!

Art with Deidre Owlington - separated at birth?
Originally uploaded by Carly & Art

I visited Pyramid Atlantic's store saturday afternoon and was dismayed to only find one of my owls- until I found out that the other two sold!!!!

This owl (Deirdre) is still available. Art (the person holding her) is not included.

Tigerflight in Silver Spring!

Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring Maryland is fulfilling yet another of my fantasies- a place where you can buy handmade craft goods. It's huge. And it's in a great location- right smack in the heart of that little center area. Across from the fountain and near Cake Love.
How much better can it get? Oh, right! They have some of my Owlingtons...and a few Yeti and an Astro-Not and a Corn-y.

You can also find art by Sean of Scenic Artisan and the lovely and sweet Bookwyrm

I will probably be going to the opening on Saturday. I'd like to try for tonight, but man, this has been a week, you know?

Back to work!

Ok, break over. I haven't made anything since saturday- back to work!

I'm wondering if I'll be able to find good, wool sweaters over the summer to turn into owls, so I'm going to start something new-

If you send me wool (it has to be wool, you can't felt acrylic) I will send you a free, small-ish owl mascot. Or will name some owls after you. Or let you name them.

What do you think?

Whew!

I am wiped out from Crafty Bastards! I had such a great location, sandwiched between Whole foods and Biggs & Featherbelle's Kelly and Kasey who are so incredibly incredibly nice.
All day long I smelled popcorn and their soap.
I bought three bars of their soap and a body scrub which was so great since the weather yesterday was icky. 90's and humid. All I wanted to do was shower, and their Polar Bar soap is fantastic.
It gave me the energy to run right back out the door to have dinner with my brother and then see Mission of Burma at the Black cat.

The crowd was unbelievable and kind and snapped up 16 of the 17 owls I had left. By about three, all I had left were the Acorns, Yetis, one owl, one astro-NOT, 4 ghosts 2 fun gus and one Handsome Devil.

There were still a few dumb questions like when someone asked me if a whale was a camel...I don't get how you could confuse the two. And another person asked if I had tea cups...

I think I'm going to take a week off from sewing and put my house back together. Two big shows in one month has wrecked it.

Seriously, greatest show ever.

Crafty Bastards sneak peek

One of 20 (I'm hoping!) owls to have at crafty bastards this saturday!

Time waster

I saw this on The Adventures of Art & Carly and thought it was cool, so here's mine






1. beth ditto, 2. Sauteed Pumpkin with Garlic Yogurt Sauce, 3. Indian Statue on Council Rock, 4. Pink Tulip Field, 5. justin3, 6. Gin Lemon. On The Rocks., 7. Paris City Hall by a Cloudy Night HDR*, 8. Tiramisu (Cafe Angelique), 9. jockey racing, 10. rays of spotlight, 11. Slob x riot68 collab..., 12. Sumatran Tiger
Flickr game:

the rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

the questions:
1. What is your first name? I used this photo of Beth Ditto from the Gossip. Some people who know me probably did a doublt take at this, but she is both prettier and more confident than I.
2. What is your favorite food? I chose this picture of sauteed pumpkin because it actually looks exactly like how they prepare it at the Afghan Grill on Calvert which is my favorite restaurant in the city. And it's heaven on a plate.

3. What high school did you go to? My school was called 'council rock' after the rock where the indians held council on the grounds where my school was built.

4. What is your favorite color? I like pink and orange. And tulips, so it was a win-win-win
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Is there anything finer than Justin Theroux? With a puppy with matching eyes? So hot.
6. Favorite drink? Gin. And tonic. With lime. Thank you!
7. Dream vacation? Cliche, but I really love Paris.

8. Favorite dessert? Tiramisu. So good.
9. What you want to be when you grow up? When I was little, i lived across the street from a farm and took riding lessons and loved National Velvet. I wanted to be a jockey so badly.
10. What do you love most in life? I love going to rock shows.
11. One Word to describe you. I think i chose messy. Or slob. I actually forget now...
12. Your flickr name. Tigers scare me? this is why.

oh jeebus....

I don't know if I would go so far as to say Richard Prince is one of my favorite painters....I certainly like him a lot. I am incredibly partial to his Nurses series that I happily saw at the Guggenheim last fall. But this makes me a wee bit sad.

Paintings

My awesome friend Beck asked me to do some paintings for an anniversary present for her husband- here they are






More siamese twins, Schlitzie the pinhead, and The Dog Faced boy.

Our stashes runneth over

You know they do. As I'm trying to partner up felted wool with interesting fabrics for the bellies of the Owls and Whales, I'm constantly sifting through unused yardage of robot printed fabrics, singular skeins of yarn I'll never use, magazines tucked away because there was something I thought "brilliant!" and have forgotten where or which magazine it was in... and oh lord...beads.
I have so much stuff, so what do I do with it?
At the spring/summer Crafty Bastards, the Craft Mutiny is going to be sponsoring a Supply Swap There's a happy hour (I think?) next week at Chloe (again, I think?)

Check out the links, and destash! And then replenish with someone else's stash!

It's a vicious cycle...

Postcards!

I've been trying to make postcards of some of my guys- I think probably Batty and Astro-NOT! since they're the ones people seem to like the best- I spent almost 2 hours trying to create an adobe illustrator file for a postcard company (I have no experience with adobe illustrator, but it seems to look more official than my photoshop elements) and it wasn't compatible with the site at all!
I was bummed.
I'm going to give it another try tonight (hopefully the power won't go out!) so keep your fingers crossed for Baddies on postcards!

Another book

My little brother game me thisbook for christmas. He swore up, down, left and right that I would like it.

I loved it.
The very very very end was minorly distracting and that's all I'll say. I would encourage anyone looking for an easy, breezy summer read to check this out. It's got references to paper making, art, joseph cornell, chicago, and hatred toward Bob Seeger.
Audrey Niffenegger, if you ever read this, please know that nothing makes me punch my car radio's power button faster than the opening strains of 'old time rock and roll'.
Actually, that 'life is a highway' song is probably a close second.

new guys

I had some of these fellas in Philly, but will have a lot more at the end of the month at Crafty Bastards


This weekend was so hot, I stayed inside and worked on three paintings for my delightful friend Beck. Which she hopefully will like.

Video!

Phillyist was there taking video of the event and posted a short clip on art star- you kind of get a feeling for how huge it was

http://phillyist.com/2008/06/02/art_star_craft.php

He ended up actually buying the owl he films around 1:30-1:33

I think i took a few photos of the weekend, I'll try to get those up here.

Thank you Art Star!

And Phiiladelphia....despite picking up a cold on saturdau, I had a great time meeting everyone.

I hope i can make the drive back to DC sniffling and sneezing and coughing.

art star day 1

It got off to a quick start- penn's landing is right on the waterfront and it's pretty. I really had no idea how far my booth was, tho, from the parking lot.
It was very windy and my brother scott and i were trying to stick the tablecloths down. we were moderately successful.
Then around 11:45 or so it rain rain rianny rained. The super lovely people at another booth i can't remember the name of gave my brother and I a piece of plastic to put over the back of our booth which helped tremendously.

But then at 3-ish, it started raining again. by this point, my throat was on fire (still is)
so that part isn't so great. but for being in crappy weather for 4 hours, i did ok. maybe rain makes people decide faster?

my cell phone died. i don't know if i can resurrect it. it's not like it even got that wet. i swear to god, motorlas are the worst.

whoa.

I finished this book the other day. I feel like I've been carrying it around on the metro for forever- it's a hard book to read in 14 minute increments.
I'm not good with reviews, but I would have to sum up the book in one word- whoa.

It's pretty spectacular. I look forward to more works from Mr. Adrian.

Meet Corn-y

Here's a bad photo of a pile of Corn-y's.


But at least you'll get the idea.
I'm still fretting over how much stuff to take to Philly at the end of the month...I'm hoping I'll have 10 of these guys finished.

A Contest!

Ok, so you know (or maybe you don't, but you do now...) how my little guys all come with stories?
I have a new character (he's not really a monster) called "Corn-y". He's an acorn with legs and boots and a moustache.

I'm trying to find (or write?)a good acorn-pun joke....So far my friends have submitted two- if you have one or can write one, I will send you a free Corn-y. I'll post photos of him later. He's super cute.

insanity

Partially inspired by a 30% off coupon and partially inspired by insanity, i bought a basic, starter carving set and a 'quick carve' speedball block. i really don't need more distractions (hence the magpie) but i am really intrigued with printmaking.

cutest. skirt. ever

is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? from
E.C. Star

Tigerflight's wall at Artomatic

Just thought I'd share....

illegal art

Ok, so it's not exactly illegal, per se but I'm doing something now that my current employer told me I was not allowed to participate in.

But the best way to get me to do something is to tell me I'm not allowed to, or that you don't think I will.

I'll show you.

Mark your calendars!

This is one of my favorite events of the year- Free Comic Book Day!

Click on the link to find stores near you. You never know, you might find a new favorite book!

Time to kick into overdrive!

I just got in to the lil' Crafty Bastard fair in June in Silver Spring!

Yikes! I need to find materials now to turn into creatures!

favorite comics

Local genius richard Thompson's Cul de Sac

Art Star in Philadelphia!

Hey guess what? I got in!

Hey, guess what else? I have a supreme headache so i'll update about it later!

want

Um....may birthday is in a month.

Just say'n.

See the planes in person

here's a map if you're in the crystal city area (or on a long layover at Regan national airport-it's about 5 minutes away)
Mine is #25

whale of a whale

I finally finished a whale.

I'll probably list him today or tomorrow on etsy. he's made from recycled sweaters (a great & blue sewn together)
I wish I could find more argyle sweaters.
The back is a grey & blue toile with the standard embroidered heart

Build a little birdhouse

I'm kind of obsessed with birdhouses. I partially blame seeing these from J Schatzprobably about a year ago and probably on Design*Sponge who always knows best about everything. Since then, I've tried to keep an eye out fo great 'houses on Etsy. THere was a seller who had some amazing work, but he flew (ha ha) to a store in Minneapolis and took his houses with him and sells them at "a store". If by some grace of god, anyone has any idea which store, please let me know. I still think about those houses which were kind of found-object-ish, but....oh...so amazing.
This Feeder is also out of my price range, but isn't it beautiful?
And of course Jonathan Adler has a ceramic version as well.
For the uber-modern Robin in your life, there's This house which is so great, I wish they made human sized versions.