One Month

So, this has been a quick month and a lot of crafting has happened. I am now gearing up for Handmade in New York: A Craft Fair for Local Artists this Saturday. Visit if you are in the area.



I had a local order for the red ornament cards due this Tuesday and just got a very nice follow up note:

Hi Kristin,

Everyone I showed the cards to loved them and commented on my good taste.

Thank you so much!

-Will

Thanks, Will! This made my day, which was pretty long, and geared me up to go back to work making cards for Saturday right now! I'll post after the weekend with a HINY update. (Should be awesome- 46 exhibitors and a letterpress demo. My heart almost exploded when I heard I could learn about letterpress!)

Also, have big news on the amazing friend front coming next week!

Handmade Christmas

The budget is tight this year. Even though we're normally not extravagant and actually pretty low budget, this year it's reigned in even more for me. So, I'm going to experiment in creation. I've been giving a lot of handmade gifts over the past year and think they've been working out. Picture frames, cards, and pictures. I'm testing new things, but can't post them or they might ruin the surprise!

I also got a new dress pattern, that I hope to finish before (and maybe wear on) Christmas.


I fell in love with the green, a vibrant emerald, on the pattern cover, and tried to find the same color and material. No luck- but I am pretty close. I have a few alterations in mind and I hope they work out.

I Can See You

I decided to branch out... 5x7. With some of my favorite words and phrases from my research/academic work. I didn't think I'd be able to get the iris detail and am pretty pleased. There are a lot of places that need improvement, but I definitely pushed what I thought I could do.

Pop Up Nation

I've had a few pre-Thanksgiving pop-up themed days. Here's a little of what I've been looking at.

Majo, picture taker extraordinaire, sent this to me. I am in awe.



I also stumbled across another video this week, on WSJ.com. It's Robert Sabuda, the current go-to pop up guy, talking about his new books and a little process.



And finally, one of the daily emails I get had a pop-up list (I love lists) as a way of remembering Wally Hunt, a pop up legend. The article, by Isis Madrid on Flavorpill, is here.

I think that I love pop ups because they combine picture books, paper play, and movement. They challenge us as readers to see more. Plus, they're just cool.

Treasury

Every now and then, or all the time, I wish I could go accumulate art and other things that make me feel (unqualified, I like to have lots of feelings). I try to quell this materialism and consumerism and don't actually act on the impulse but admire. So, while working some things out this week, I decided to make a treasury on Etsy. I've made a few, maybe four, in the past and was on the front page once. That was the highlight of my pre-selling Etsy days.

So, check it out. Just click right here and let me know what you think.

Shoes

Shelley sent me some pictures of her shoes to share, and they're even better than I remember. Let's admire:

Discovery!

Last Thursday was a rough day. I made a pretty big mistake at work and then got home to discover my bike stolen. Silver lining: I was jostled out of my ordinary reserve and had a great chat with fellow bocce baller Gus after Sunday's match. We started talking about illustration- he's currently a fashion illustrator- and his new team t-shirt designs.

I think I have to take a moment to explain our bocce league a bit more. We play in a bar in Brooklyn on Sundays, though there are also Saturday and Monday divisions. My friends and I formed our team, Boccenalia, and joined the league in its second season and we're now stalwarts, with a few member shuffles as people move. Our first season, we saw that some teams had costumes and decided this was the place for us to excel while learning the game. We've had various incarnations (wreaths, tutus, chains) but right now were felted. We also have tshirts, all designed by one of our founding members, Christina, and screened first by another fab friend Gina and then by me. Here are our shirts, v1 then v2.



Beyond being a really great group of people, our team, in our inaugural season, won "Best Team Style". I believe the award was retired after that, but we've kept our overall style high.


Iris, our first and fearless leader, made flyers for our matches when we started.


This one was the inspiration for our MIA flag (those are bunnies chasing bocce balls, hand appliqued by Iris).


Team tshirts have become a big deal, about half of the teams rock them now. And we got a huge compliment when Gus told us on Sunday that one of his new designs for the Mud was inspired by our bunnies! Though, looking at the bunny getting crushed, I'm not sure how to take comment on our skill. I guess I can forgive it as the Mudskippers (go look at Gus's other designs for the Mud) are a great team, in sport and spirit.


Whew... that was more than I thought I was going to lay out. Anyhow, Gus and I were chatting with Michele, fellow Boccenalian and editor extraordinaire, and I think I shared by love of children's books (hey, I'm a literacy person) and maybe we decided to make one. I'm excited to at least talk more about it. Gus's style is so different than mine that I think we'll have some interesting ideas.

I pulled out some old illustrations I made and started a new one- buy far the most complex yet. It feels good to work on a larger scale sometimes... the little cards are a challenge to get details in and larger paper means less very tight spots. At least so far.

Moral of this long and winding tale: new projects and things to be excited about pop up when you don't expect them.

On a more related to the purpose of the blog note, I found a super cool site: CraftCult. The heartomatic feature is too cool, especially since I love love love finding out more about people who have visited my Etsy shop. It pretty much pulls up stats and hearts for your shop and items- Etsy centric analytics. And it saves me from the click pattern if I want to check this actually on the Etsy site.

And the shop has a secret admirer. I don't know anything about you, but love you back!