Happy Administrative Professionals Week!

Even though I am not technically an administrative professional, I still did some celebrating of the holiday with a purchase from Naughty Secretary Club. She is having a special sale this week where you get 25% off your entire purchase! Simply enter the word SECRETARY into the voucher field at checkout to get the discount. I bought this fantastic "Pinkie and Paulie" bracelet...it was priced at $16 then with the discount it was only $12...plus the shipping was FREE! What a steal!
There are few things I love more than pink plastic so this one was a must have! When I'm not wearing it, I will display it on the Pink Plastic Shelf in my bathroom.

Upcoming Fairs

I'm very excited to be selling my wares at the Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire on Saturday and Sunday May 3rd + 4th in San Mateo, CA. If you don't know about Maker Faire - you should! It's a super cool event put on by the folks that bring us CRAFT: and MAKE: magazines. I participated last year and saw so many amazing things...art cars, power tool drag races, a giant nose picking machine, craft demos and oh-so-much-more! Who knows what they have in store at this year's event. Bazaar Bizarre pairs up with Maker Faire to offer a craft fair within the Faire! I am working feverishly to produce lots of screen printed skirts and assorted goodies to sell.

And I'm also very excited that I was accepted to the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn which is set to take place on June 14th + 15th at the McCarren Park Pool. I will be sharing a booth with the talented Cathy of California and will be travelling east (and hopefully booth neighbors) with fellow Portlanders Ryan + Lucy Berkley of Berkley Illustration and Lucy Bird Photography. Should be quite the time! I'm hoping to unveil my new dress design there...must work more.

Prom Season!

I just sent out the Evite for my 40th Birthday Prom! I've been talking about it for so long that it's exciting to finally see it in the works! I decided on "Pretty in Pink" for the theme - lots of pink decorations and cupcakes and hopefully a pink poofy dress. My perfect dress has yet to be found. The style I'm looking for tends to be 1950's pre-pubescent teenage size - not 40 year old lady who has had a kid size. Hopefully I will find it in the next 3 weeks!

Here is my prom picture circa 1986. I still have the dress but alas, it doesn't quite fit anymore...it's close but not quite.
I forced my date, Chris Wysocki, to rent that silver and black leopard print tux jacket so he would match me. So fantastic! Notice his purple socks and custom painted shoes!

Here is my husband Greg's prom picture...I think it is from 1985. He looks so baby faced!

And here is the photo-shopped version of me at the prom with Greg that I used for the Evite!

Birthday Girls!

I took a little day trip out to the Oregon coast with my Mom + Sister to celebrate their birthdays (Happy Birthday Ladies!). We stopped at Camp 18 on the way out and had a nice greasy breakfast among the big logs, chainsaw bear statues and taxidermy wildlife. If you haven't been to Camp 18, I highly suggest a pit stop if you are traveling down Highway 26 to the coast. Click HERE to see a nice history of the place and the man who dreamed it.


We had one of their Famous Cinnamon Rolls - it looks pretty average until you look at the fork next to it for scale. The thing was freaking HUGE! And pretty yummy.

Warm + Fuzzy!

Coming off of the busiest weekend I've seen in quite a while, I'm super tired but also can't help but feel warm + fuzzy inside! It was a weekend full of the things that are near and dear to my heart - Buckman Elementary School and Crafty Wonderland.

Both the Buckman Bash and the Art Show + Sell went fabulously. James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus put on great shows and Andrew Dickson was hysterical, as usual, with his power point presentation and live auctioneer skills.

The morning of the Bash I assembled some of my favorite Portland artists to help me do two chalk murals in the event space rooms at the Jupiter Hotel. I have to give a huge thank you to Juanita, Steve Mathews, Brett Superstar, Bwana Spoons, Tripper Dungan, Justin Morrison, Jenna Robertson and Greg Pitters for all their help and also to the incredible line-up of Buckman kids who contributed their talent.

This forest scene was in the room where the auctioned art was on display. There were several drawn poop piles hidden within the drawing...done by adults, not kids, I must add.

This mural of Buckman School was in the room that held the student art gallery and dessert bar.

I spent Saturday at the Buckman Art Show + Sell - hanging out with friends and selling my work. I ran home for a few hours to bake cupcakes for Crafty Wonderland's 2nd birthday the next day.

Torie's cute vintage oven was broken so while she made prizes for the raffle, I baked TWELVE DOZEN CUPCAKES! Yes, it's true. It nearly killed the joy of cupcakes in me, but I did it! The project at Crafty Wonderland's DIY table was cupcake decorating so I did not need to frost the cupcakes...just bake them. But still...me and Betty Crocker were tired after all that mixing and baking!

I colored frosting both pink and green - Pretty!

Here is the Cupcake Decorating table in full swing!
Happy Birthday Crafty Wonderland!

What a Busy Weekend!

I've spent the week recovering from my crafty weekend in SF and gearing up for another fun filled and very busy weekend. If you are in the Portland area, stop by and see me at one of these fun events.

Buckman Art Show & Sell
April 11th - 5pm-9pm - $5 admission
April 12th - 10am - 5pm - $2 suggested donation
Kids 4 and under are free both days

A benefit for Portland Public School's premier arts focused elementary school featuring live music, kids art activities and a student art gallery where you can buy art from Buckman kids. I cherish the Krusty the Clown portrait that I bought several years ago! Buckman is an incredible school where my son has spent the last 6 years. Come support this great community and take home some fantastic art!

Both my son and I will be selling at the sale - he will have assorted Mr. T related items in the student gallery and I will have misc. oddities for sale in the main gallery. I have some fun new cut tin pieces that I'm excited about - branches with birds and squirrels and nests. Sorry, no photos quite yet. They will probably go onto My Etsy Shop after the sale.

And this year an extra special event has been added to the Show & Sell. The Buckman Bash will feature a live art auction, a free dessert bar and performances by Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement and The Jicks), James Mercer (of The Shins) and Andrew Dickson (performance artist and husband to Susanstars!). I'll be there as a
parent volunteer - I may be doing the Vanna White thing with the auction items...I've been practicing!

And if that wasn't enough - Crafty Wonderland is turning two on Sunday!
I can't believe it's been two years since Torie and I filled Doug Fir Lounge with fabulous crafty goodness! On Sunday, April 13th we will do it again with 40 talented vendors selling their goods along with cupcake decorating at the DIY table and a spinning raffle basket where you can take a chance to win fabulous prizes! Stop by and celebrate with us!

Crafty Wonderland
Sunday, April 13th *11am - 4pm
at Doug Fir Lounge *830 E. Burnside St. in Portland
Free Admission - All Ages!
Full vendor list here.

Gotta run...I have 150 cupcakes to bake!
Hope to see you out and about over the weekend.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I'm back from a whirlwind weekend in San Francisco visiting my good friend Kelly P. and attending CraftCon. I had so much fun and am feeling inspired by all the panel discussions I sat in on.

The most exciting part was meeting all the crafty peeps and hearing about what they do in their own crafty lives. My favorite speaker was Garth from Extreme Craft who did a slide presentation and was wearing the craziest thrift store western shirt. Think mustard yellow floral with red faux fur and yellow rick rack. Amazing! He's coming to Portland to speak next month - I'll post details when the time comes.
Other cool folks I met were Callie from Church of Craft and Callie Co., Betsy from Craftivism, Jackie from Craft Gym, Nicole from Queen Puff Puff, Faythe Levine from Handmade Nation, Sara + Kim from Crafty Bastards, Katy from Katy Kristin and many, many more! Thanks to the organizers for putting together such a great event - can't wait for next year.

Craft Congress '08!

I'm off to San Francisco to attend Craft Congress and soak in all the crafty knowledge I can! Can't wait to meet cool folks, learn new things and explore SF a bit. Adios!

The Chair Affair

The Chair Affair is a fantastic event where over 50 local artists design / decorate found chairs then auction them off to benefit The Community Warehouse - an organization that collects and distributes used furniture and household items to individuals in need. I am excited to be one of the participating artists for the second year!
Most of the chairs will be on display through April 17th when the auction takes place. Come see me and my chair at tonight's First Thursday reception.

April 3rd
6-8pm
at The Art Institute
1122 NW Davis
there will be beer, wine and some food

This is my chair.
I called it "Paradise", as it was inspired by the vintage tropical decor of the 30's and 40's which gave average homes the romance of an island getaway.
When I found the chair at the Community Warehouse it was covered with horrid 80's southwestern patterned fabric. I rescued it from that awful fate and re-covered it with a light green fabric that I Gocco printed with hibiscus blossoms and leaves then embellished with top stitching. Hope it goes to a good home!

Bead Simple Event at Powell's!

My friend and fellow PDX Super Crafty Member, Susan Beal, will be at Powell's on Monday night presenting her brand new book, Bead Simple! She's going to show some of the 150 jewelry projects from the book, introduce the Portland guest designers who contributed, and do a little jewelry-making 101 demo so that everyone who comes can make a pair of Solo Earrings to bring home. Rumor has it she's bringing a big stash of vintage beads from her collection for you to choose from! I'll still be in San Francisco and will unfortunately miss the event - but I encourage anyone in the Portland area to go support Susan, make some fun earrings and buy a cool new book!

Bead Simple event at Powell's
1005 W. Burnside St, Portland (in the Basil Hayward Gallery upstairs)
Monday, April 7 at 7:30
More info. HERE

Cupcakes in the News

I'm feeling a little under the weather today so I hung out on the couch watching TV all morning with my cozy blanket. But the upside is that I was lucky enough to catch day two of Cupcake Week on The Martha Stewart Show! She's doing cupcake related stuff all week and even has a "Cutest Cupcake Contest" on her website.
Today, one of her guests was the author of a cupcake cookbook titled Hello, Cupcake!. In honor of April Fool's Day they made wacky and whimsical "TV Dinner Cupcakes" that looked like peas & carrots and fried chicken...oh you silly Martha!

After an hour of Martha I checked out the mid-day news and saw that over the weekend the world's largest cupcake had been created at Mall of Americas in Minnesota. It was done in conjuction with The Great American Bake Sale whose aim is to raise money to end childhood hunger by encouraging folks to hold bake sales in their communities.
The mega-cupcake weighed in at 61.4 lbs. and was 18 inched wide and 12 inches tall. Apparently the frosting alone took 16 lbs. of butter, 10 lbs. of sugar and 3 oz. of food coloring.

You never know what you're going to learn on daytime TV!