Upcoming Craft Fairs!

I just finalized my fall craft fair lineup and boy is it insane! I'm probably out of my mind but it's the time of year to sell like crazy so I'm going for it. I'm excited to be participating in some of my usual favorites (Felt Club, Urban Craft Uprising + Crafty Wonderland) plus a few fairs that I will be at for the first time (Crafty Bastards, Maker Faire - Austin + BazBiz San Francisco).

Here's the skinny:

Crafty Bastards in Washington, DC
Sunday, September 28th from 10am-5pm

Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire in Austin, TX
Saturday, October 18th from 10am - 10pm
Sunday, October 19th from 10am -6pm

Felt Club in Los Angeles
Sunday, November 16th from 11am - 7pm

Bazaar Bizarre Holiday Sale in San Francisco
Sunday, November 30th from 10am - 5pm

Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle, WA
Saturday, December 6th + Sunday, December 7th from 11am - 5pm

And last but not least, my favorite fair of all...

Crafty Wonderland here in Portland, OR
Sunday, December 14th from 11am - 7pm

Whew! It's gonna be totally insane but I'm ready. I think.
I'm hard at work on sweaters, skirts, patches and new tote bags.
Buy Handmade for the Holidays!

Back to School!

This little blog has suffered a bit while I enjoyed what was left of Summer vacation. It was a strange and wonderful last week of summer culminating with my son heading off to his first day of middle school. How am I suddenly old enough to have a middle-schooler!? Seems like not that long ago I was bringing him to his first day of pre-school. I think I was more nervous than he was as I dropped him off at his first class and he paused at the door looking for a familiar face in the sea of 6th, 7th and 8th grade strangers. Yikes! He ended up having a fantastic day at an awesome school that I wish I could attend. His two electives for this first semester are Visual Art and African Drumming. Wow!

My neighbor gave us the idea for a "Week of Fun" to close out the Summer. The week started off with a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington - a pimped out hotel that houses an indoor water park, arcade, gift shop, spa, restaurants and more. You get the picture...it's crazy over the top but oh-so-much-fun.

Because water and cameras don't mix, I didn't get any photos of the water park...but here is a shot of the animated tree house in the lobby. It comes to life several times a day and that freaky boy doll pokes his head out of the tree stump and tells you a story. Yes, it's as creepy as it looks.

The week of fun also included a movie, ice cream, pizza, a trip to the circus and bowling. What would a week of fun be without bowling?

And speaking of bowling...have I mentioned how much I love Barack Obama?

And how much I distrust John McCain?
It's going to be a hard campaign but hopefully good will win out over evil.

Summer's over - time to get back to work!

Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale!

Announcing the 2008 Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale!

Featuring art and handmade goods from over 125 amazing vendors!!

Sunday, December 14th, 2008
from 11am-7pm
at The Oregon Convention Center – Exhibit Hall E
777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd
Portland, OR 97232

Torie and I are super excited to announce the details of our 2008 Crafty Wonderland Holiday Sale! Last year's event at Norse Hall was a huge success with thousands of eager shoppers waiting in a line that wrapped around the corner pretty much all day long! We ended up having to stand at the door and only let people in as people left. It was insane - in a good way! But it made us realize that we needed to move the event to a much larger venue where both vendors and shoppers could have the space that they needed to really enjoy the event.
We chose the Convention Center because it is centrally located and offers 30,000 square feet of space for us to fill with crafty goodness! It's going to be HUGE!

Applications are now open and are due September 19th. Check out www.craftywonderland.com for all the juicy details. Anyone interested in volunteer or sponsorship opportunities can email us through that website.

Sugar Skull Making Class at DIY Lounge!

I know it's still Summertime (hot as hell in Portland, in fact!) but Fall is just around the corner and along with the usual Fall traditions comes my annual Mexican Sugar Skull making class at DIY Lounge. I just love Mexican folk art and Day of the Dead traditions and look forward to teaching this class each year (this will be my third). Something super amazing and cool that is new to the class this year is my new Virgin of Guadalupe sugar mold! Yes, you heard it right - the Virgin of Guadalupe molded out of sugar.

I acquired the mold late last year so it wasn't included in the class. I managed to mold one but didn't get a chance to add decoration and see her in full glory. Imagine her covered in colorful frosting with paper gold stars on her robe and little fabric flowers at her feet. Amazing, right? Students in the class will have a change to make several skulls like the ones pictured below as well as a Guadalupe if they choose.

Because DIY Lounge has expanded to a second location, I will teach two separate sessions - one at each location. Each class session has two parts - on the first day we will learn how to make the sugar mixture and mold the skulls and on the second day we will decorate our skulls. Pure fun!

Here's the skinny:
Sugar Skulls: Celebrate dia de los Muertos

at DIY Lounge on SE Woodstock Blvd.
Thursday, October 2nd from 6-8pm
AND Saturday, October 4th from 2-4pm

at DIY Lounge on NE Alberta St.
Thursday, October 23rd from 6-8pm
AND Saturday, October 25th from 2-4pm

You can find even more details and register for the class HERE.
Hope to see you there!

It's Crafty Wonderland Time!

It's that time of the month again!

CRAFTY WONDERLAND!
Portland's Monthly Art + Craft Extravaganza
Sunday, August 10th
11am - 4pm
at Doug Fir Lounge
830 E. Burnside in Portland
info. and a full vendor list at www.craftywonderland.com

I'll be there with my usual assortment of skirts, sweaters and cut tin wall pieces. I'm cleaning house and marking down some skirts and sweaters to make room for the new ones so come check out my $25 treasure bin!

Plus, we've got the fabulous Jen Neitzel from DIY Lounge at the free DIY table making plush creatures out of old sweaters with our shoppers.

After you do some crafty shopping, head upstairs to Doug Fir's free summer concert series, "Pickin' on Sundays". From 3-7pm you can enjoy food and drink specials out on the patio while listening to the sounds of James Low and Michael Dean Damron.

First Thursday Art Opening

I was excited to create a piece that will be included in "Face Melting Double Attack" - a group show at Manette Gallery in NW Portland. All the juicy details are included in the above flyer. Check out the first Thursday opening reception this week. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend but hope some of you will be there to represent.


Here is a sneak preview of the hand embroidered piece I did for the show. My inspiration was a cool vintage book from the 1940s that I unearthed while cleaning out my studio - it's called "A Boy Grows Up" and is a coming of age book meant to guide a young boy into manhood. The illustrations are hysterical and rather random. This particular illustration was taken from Chapter 5 which instructs a boy how to get along with his mother. I added my own twist by giving the unsuspecting young man some tattoos.


I am all about the fine details so the back of the piece is just as presentable as the front and has the title embroidered on it - "A Boy Grows Up - Chapter 5".

The instructions on the theme of the show were to use "emotion" to create your piece. I struggled with what to do but finally made a decision as my son was off at sleep-away camp for the first time and about to turn eleven years old. He is growing up so fast. I hope that someday he helps me move my heavy furniture.

Letterpress Yard Sale in Portland

Check out this very cool event this Sunday!

What: Letterpress Yard Sale
Where: Liberty Hall, 311 N Ivy
When: Sunday, August 3, 11 am - 4 pm
Detail: A one-day sale with over a dozen letterpress printers and
printshops selling original prints, letterpress equipment, and odds
and ends. Plus Demos!

Here are all the juicy details straight from Carye of Red Bat Press who will be there selling off some of her work:

You are cordially invited to the first annual Letterpress Yard Sale Sunday, August 3rd, from 11am to 4pm, at Liberty Hall in N Portland (311 N Ivy). Come browse letterpress-printed broadsides, cards and artist books as well as type and cabinets, bindery equipment, and tools. See demos on a small table-top letterpress throughout the day.

Vendors include:
the Oregon College of Art and Craft, Crack Press, Textura Letterpress, Triangular Press, Satsuma Press, Red Bat Press, Letterary Press, Sarah Contrary, Twin Ravens Press, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, Stumptown Printers, Arcana 27, Tiger Food Press, and the American Amateur Press Association (AAPA). The sale is free and open to the public.