Sweet Tooth Crafts

follow me to my new blog!

2011-02-23T09:42:00.004-06:00

I've moved to tumblr! I find it much easier to work with and manage. Please follow me there!

New little cross-stitched pieces on etsy!

2009-09-28T21:04:00.006-05:00

I just put a collection of small cross stitch pieces (plus one embroidered piece) up in my etsy shop.
I love making these - creating patterns, finding inspirations and adjusting or translating them to x-stitch, and this is definitely my relaxing break activity these days. There is so much more cross-stitch I want to do!

new round of the Lovely Letterbox!

2009-09-27T17:00:00.010-05:00

I'm ready for a new round of The Lovely Letterbox, a mail subscription service. Are you??!

The Lovely Letterbox is : a mail subscription service that offers special packages and items handmade and assembled by me arriving in your mailbox each month for six months!

I learned a lot from the first round I did, the wonderful participants I had, and the folks from that round who did their own mail subscription projects. I've realized I need to make the project more manageable, to make it cost effective by charging for actual shipping and planning in advance what I will spend on shipping, and also figured out what I think will be a good way to offer this to international folks, too!

I will be limited the number of participants again, on a first come first serve basis (signup/sending funds) so please sign up soon!

Your mail treats will be loosely themed around the following: mail art, crafts, and zines. Supplies and ephemera, zines from my archive, and items that I create specifically for the Lovely Letterbox will be included. Check out some examples of past packages (of course, this round will be full of all new items)!

** PLEASE NOTE ** There are three separate listings in my Etsy shop, for U.S., International 6-month, and International 2-month. If it's a gift, please choose the listing for the recipient's location and specifiy in the notes section that it is a gift and when you want it to start.

Here's how it works:

Schedule

The 1st, 3rd, and 5th month will be a larger package in a flat rate priority envelope. The 2nd, 4th, and 6th months will be a smaller item, closer to first rate letter-size/weight, paired theme-wise with the previous month.

Month 1 : Mail Art stash (flat rate envelope full of supplies, ephemera, etc.)

Month 2 : Mail Art (card, letter, mail art, a letter-sized item in the mail to you)

Month 3 : Craft stash (flat rate envelope full of supplies - fabric pieces, trim, buttons, notions, etc.)

Month 4 : Craft project (a small craft project I prepare for you to make - instructions and supplies included)

Month 5 : Zines! (flat rate envelope full of zines from friends and from my personal archives)

Month 6 : Zine for Lovely Letterbox (a zine created specifically for the Lovely Letterbox, that will be first seen here, in your subscription)

Signing Up

- Your subscription will start with October or November, depending on when you sign up. Early bird/Halloween subscriptions received by next Monday, October 5, will be sent out by the week of October 19. They *will include Halloween items!!*

- Late signup - after October 5, deadline is by Monday, October 19 - will be sent out the week of November 16.

- final option is a gift subscription! This would be a fun surprise for a lover of mail or a crafty friend that's far away. This can be sent out starting as early as the first round (Halloween), or can start in December as a holiday gift and will include a card and tasteful holiday packaging.
You must sign up by Oct. 5 for Halloween, or by October 19 for November OR December. If you have any questions about this, please convo or e-mail me!

Price Breakdown:

for U.S. participants
3 months @ 4.95 (flat rate priority envelope) = $14.85
3 months at $1.50 (first class mail) = $4.50
$16 for supply costs
------
$35

International 6-month
3 months @ 10.95 = $32.85
3 months @ $3 = $9
$16 for supply costs
----------
$58

International 2-month
1 month @ 10.95
1 month @ $3
$6 supply costs
--------
$20

community + coffee art show

2009-08-04T21:49:00.002-05:00

submit your creations to this show I'm putting together at the starbucks where I work! for Austin folks, whatever media, the selected entries will be displayed for the month of September and we're going to have a fabulous opening reception on Saturday, September 5th. Tell your friends!
(x-posted)

July shop update

2009-07-02T23:05:00.009-05:00

Cross stitch design Crafty and Sew Crafty t-shirts, silkscreened using print gocco - on etsy

plus hand printed postcard sets!

fun skirts, tutu, and dress designed and hand stitched with love

Zine history, compilation/collection books leaving my collection

Part 4: out-and-about in Minneapolis

2009-06-25T15:26:00.009-05:00

Holly's vintage tray collection

City Salvage

word bricks, Birchwood Cafe

car outside Crafty Planet

Karen made earrings out of her teeth

hand sculpture

Spyhouse (my favorite coffeeshop)

Leighann's apartment, full of art and sewing supplies

hey Minneapolis! Part 3: crafty supply shopping

2009-06-25T14:23:00.009-05:00

In either of these shops, I could live forever and die happy.

Paper Source
This is my favorite paper shop of all time, and there are more branches opening up around the country. You can order online if too far away but is definitely worth the trip.
I collected many treasures and lots of inspiration for making art zines and mail art!

my loot from Paper Source:

Crafty Planet, this is easily the most fabulous fabric store I've been in. It reminds me of a big sister to our local Austin (and sorely missed) Craft-o-rama.

what I brought home

Minneapolis, ya'll! Part 2: Nimble Fingers

2009-06-25T13:22:00.011-05:00

Minneapolis is my former home. It's dear to my heart and it took me far too long (nearly 8 years) to return after moving to North Carolina. I found the city as beautiful as ever with old lovely buildings, charming ancient industrial landscape, creative people doing interesting things...

It was so neat to be able to see the great new stuff happening.

Sew-and-Sew

My gal pal Stephanie and her partner in stitchy crime Leighann have started the Nimble Fingers Sewing School. Here they are meeting in the Mill District Arts Gallery:

This is how I spent my first night in Minneapolis, with this lovely girl gang from way back in the Oak Street Cinema days, talking stitches and working on Chris's embroidered heart project for his wedding present.

a crafty journey, Part 1: Bozeman, Montana

2009-06-25T12:49:00.009-05:00

I've just returned from travels to these two most wonderful, completely distinct and uniquely beautiful places. Naturally I checked out all the artsy and crafty things I could, and wanted to share.

Bozeman, Montana : this is a sweet, quiet, and quaint little town surrounded by beautiful mountains and so close to Yellowstone National Park.

At the Coop, I admired a woman's hand-sewn cap and she referred me to the Emerson Cultural Center; an old school converted into gallery/studio/retail art and craft spaces. It has a small screening room and little cafe.

The hat is a creation of the talented Jennifer Hogin/Super Jenny Love, and is similar to this one: Eating a scrumptious caprese sandwich in the sweet herb garden of the Emerson Cultural Center before checking out the art

Junk altar art by JC

Tart is the shop of locally and regionally handmade art & crafts. It has a great variety, and also offers crafting classes; sewing, embroidery, beading, etc.

I fell in love with this ring, made by Sarah Ann of Fleshman Creek Designs

top two prints by Courtney Blazon, bottom four by Annie L. Bailey

Embroidered Art for your home!

2009-06-01T16:04:00.029-05:00

New embroidery pieces are for sale! These pieces are currently showing in the Sew True exhibit at South Lamar & Ben White Starbucks in Austin. I'm working on stocking my etsy shop with new items and restocks to help with a whole bunch of medical expenses that have hit me all at once, for both myself and my kitty. The latest is a set of tests I have to undergo that will run $800, so I'm trying to save and get on the road to getting healthy again!

I will be listing these on Etsy this week. In the meantime, for my lovely blog readers, an offer of a slightly discounted price. The special discount will be available for the rest of the week (through Friday night).

>Details: If you are interested in purchasing any of these pieces, send me an e-mail and I will send you a paypal invoice. It will be first come, first serve and I'll need to verify that it hasn't been purchased through Etsy, etc. first. I will include shipping in the invoice amount. If you live in the area, I'd be more than happy to arrange for you to pick it up instead. As I've mentioned, these are part of an exhibit currently showing until the end of June. Unless you need your piece before then, it will be shipped at the beginning of July. If you do need it earlier, please just e-mail me and we'll work out a time that will work for you!

"Open Heart" It's a 9x10" image in a black wooden 14x18" frame.
$175 > $160 for blog readers.

Here's me & Misty, to give you an idea of the size of the piece and how it looks in the frame

"The Secret Language of Hands" > 5 1/ x 13" image in a black, wooden 10 x 21" frame. Hands telling stories and deepening of mysteries of the universe.
$125 > $110 for blog readers

"Snip Snip!" Scissor Series > Embroidery Scissors. 4x8" image in an ornate, vintage-style black wooden 12x14" frame.
$40 > $35 for blog readers

"Snip Snip!" Scissor Series > Vintage Craft. 6 1/2 x 7 1/2" image in an ornate, vintage-style black wooden 12x14" frame.
$40 > $35 for blog readers

"Snip Snip!" Scissor Series > Embroidery Scissors. Approximately 3 x 8" image in a wooden oval 5 x 9 1/2" embroidery hoop frame.
$35 > $30 for blog readers

"Snip Snip!" Scissor Series > Stitchy Scissors. Approximately 3 x 8" image in a 5 x 9 1/2" faux boix rubber embroidery hoop frame.
$35 > $30 for blog readers

Scissor Love

2009-05-28T00:20:00.005-05:00

I've been working on embroidering even more scissors (hair stylist, more vintage embroidery, diagram, etc.) and have hung up two more in the show still up at Starbucks. I will post the newest additions soon.

In the meantime, two scissor-related crafts that tickled me pink today.

Lauren Levy's show currently at D. Berman Gallery here in Austin, wonderful use of buttons! I just found out about this today and since it ends in a couple days, plan to check it out tomorrow.

And I love this demo display Rachel / Average Jane Crafter made for her embroidery classes and demos she's doing at Maker Faire San Francisco this weekend:

sweet!

science & craft

2009-05-14T22:49:00.002-05:00

from Milly and Tilly

Embroidered for a menstrual cup pouch (like The Keeper or Diva cup - I'm a huge fan! "The chemical structure of a heme group. Heme B is the oxygen binding molecule found in hemoglobin, a major component of blood."

crafty ephemera kits : in shop

2009-05-14T19:08:00.003-05:00

Here's a really fun activity : going through all of your collections (some call them hoardes) and picking out items by color theme rather than type of supply. Also, when I found these adorable little lunch boxes, I knew I had to do something with them! (in etsy shop)

Urban Threads : when crafting is used for evil?

2009-05-12T16:32:00.002-05:00

Various craft blogs and etsy among others have been posting the news about Urban Threads - a company who poses as an indie, crafty individual - ripping off designers and artists including Sublime Stitching. Feel Stitchy has a nice thorough piece with side by side comparisons that pretty much erase any doubt.

So I was especially disturbed when recently my embroidered embroidery scissor piece was favorited on flickr by Urban Threads. I'm sure they feel free to do whatever they want with any artwork that is out there but I did what I could think of which was to block UT on flickr.

It really makes me crazy and upset that this person/these people are out there continuing to do this crap, using the online communities we use for positive things like support of each other to troll for ideas. I'm not flattered, just disgusted.

coveting rings on etsy

2009-05-11T22:46:00.003-05:00

Melanie Favreau

Karalee Designs

Adorn Jewelry

I want you on my fingers!

coveting from Home Ec.

2009-05-11T21:33:00.002-05:00

fabric pattern love

2009-05-10T21:00:00.005-05:00

Craft Pudding, whose wonderful carved stamps are some of my favorites. She sells them on etsy. This fabric was printed by the custom fabric printer Spoonflower.

A friend gave me a quarter of this hand-printed house fabric from Summersville for Christmas and it's so adorable I'm going to display it in an embroidery hoop hanging on the wall. I'm embroidering outlines of a few of the houses and trees.

More great hand printed fabrics on etsy:

Emily Me

Umbrella Prints

Green Olive Textiles
Peanut Butter and Yelly

announcing Sew True! a lovely stichy art show for you!

2009-05-09T00:06:00.003-05:00

This is what I've been working on for the past few week and it is finally done!

you can see more images of the pieces here but I promise they are a lot better in person and worth the visit to see them if you can!

Birthday Advent Calendar Tutorial!

2009-05-06T19:02:00.015-05:00

I made this for my friend Michelle / Secretly Crafty for her birthday. I was inspired by some of the incredibly creative advent calendars that were posted on craft blogs this past holiday. I gave it to her 8 days before her birthday so that she would have a gift to open every day until the big day. I wanted to give her an advent calendar that she could use afterwards for something like storage, organizing craft supplies, etc. Instead of using the person's name, you could also do "Crafty Gal" or "Super Fly" or whatever else is appropriate.

1. Cut the background piece: I used some IKEA fabric because that upholstery fabric is so nice and sturdy!

2. Stitch a hem around all sides:

3. Cut out the squares for the pockets. I like to estimate rather than use patterns, so I took the presents I planned to put into each pocket and cut the pocket allowing a couple extra inches for the seam and for the thickness of the object going into the pocket.

4. For the letters of her name, I sketched them freehand on felt using a fine sharpie marker and cut them out.

Obviously I like using a wild variety of patterns. I think this would look good with more complementary fabrics, or alternating polka dots with solids, etc.

5. Lay it all out, positioning your letters in the center of your squares, and pin the letters to the fabric.

6. You might be able to stitch the letters freehand; I found it easier to do with an embroidery hoop. I used bright colors of thread to contrast the color of the letter to show the stitching. I used regular embroidery thread (I think 2 strands).

7. Next, iron and pin the top hem of all the pocket squares (fold over and iron, then fold and iron again):

8. Sew the top hems of all the pockets:

9. Fold and iron the sides and bottom sides of all the pockets:

10. Lay all the squares out on your background piece, positioning them the way you want them and carefully tucking the ironed down sides and bottom in and under.

(you can see here that I actually didn't hem the outside of the background piece until all the pockets were done. You can do it either way, but the good thing about doing it at the beginning is that you will be able to accurately position the pockets on the background).

11. Pin all the pockets to the background:

12. I found it helpful to stabilize each piece by putting a pin in the middle of the square before pinning the outside edges:

Voila!
As you can tell, I didn't attach anything to hang it with. In these photos, I've used clothespins to attach it to my bookshelf. At Michelle's, we put some heavy books on the top edge to hold it up. I'd suggest sewing a loop of ribbon or bias tape on each top corner and in the middle to hang it on a wall on nails or hooks.

the best kind of eye candy!

2009-05-01T17:29:00.002-05:00

in my taste, these could not be more delicious! I love ephemera organized in boxes.

From the wonderful Design*Sponge blog, photos from Elizabeth Demos' shop @Home in Savannah, Georgia on her guest blog home with found style.

more embroidered cuckoos!

2009-04-30T07:56:00.002-05:00

adorable, little tiny cuckoos, embroidered on cloth napkins!

spotted on the sweet blog Cider & Faun, Where Ada Likes to Wonder..., created by her friend Kathleen at The Little Nest.

Stitchy McGee

2009-04-29T18:13:00.005-05:00

I'm in the midst of creating a set of new embroidery and other work for a solo show at the starbucks where I work. I'm totally in the stitching fever!

To keep some suspense and for effect when it's all done, I'm not going to post work-in-progress photos (but am documenting my process and will post at the end).

Instead, here are some bits to titillate and tease:

I put together this handy chart to help with color planning and remembering

cuckoo love

2009-04-26T22:52:00.005-05:00

I love cuckoo clocks! I have a wall dedicated to cuckoo clocks and cuckoo themed crafts.

I designed and stitched this one for my friend Michelle, who loves cuckoos too, for her birthday; hence the M at the top and the time is actually her birth date.

detail

cuckoo wall

I would love to have a plush cuckoo clock! Here are my two favorites:

By Heidi Kenney / My Paper Crane

By one of my most favorite crafty ladies,
doe-c-doe

By Diane Koss / Cuteseybutnotcutesy

zines, heat gun, stitching

2009-03-06T03:10:00.003-06:00

some things I've been working on today

put together some zines for orders, decorated envelopes, wrote notes to recipients, packed them up, worked on Handmade Nation t-shirt (currently working on Midwest on the sleeve).

I love that the Pneumatic Catalog has a different cover each time.

print gocco incoming mail bird, newish stamps, and new vintage stamps
recently acquired from Uncommon Objects

Sublime Stitching pattern

I'm actually questioning my initial decision to not include South East -
so far, only Midwest, my original home, and South Central, my new home.

visit to the Cathedral of Junk

2009-03-04T19:40:00.015-06:00

I adore rusty things, found objects,and everything in that family, love it. I've always been collector (or is it hoarder?) I've been hearing about this very Austin art/junk - sculpture/structure for too long considering how amazing it is. Most recently I picked up a flyer at the Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata (one of my favorite places, anywhere, and deserving of its own full post!)
I finally went this week. It was even better than I imagined. It brought to life the daydreams I have always had of elaborate treehouses built of junk that magically holds together.
I took Todd along, perhaps to try to impress him. :)

If you are anywhere near Austin, I can't recommend strongly enough to get down there right away! Vince (builder/curator) now has extended hours so you can go most of the week. At night the whole thing is lit up with twinkling lights. It's hard to tell in my photos - I think I tend to try to capture the sculptural aspect more than the structural (I guess that civil engineering thing didn't really pass down from my father!) - but it is an incredibly stable formation of miniature rooms, tunnels, stairs that lead to decks and turrets, all

The man behind the magic, Vince Hannemann, wandered around with a cup of coffee, answered our questions patiently (I should say Todd's, mostly. I was too mesmerized and kind of dumbstruck), and would disappear and reappear in different parts of the cathedral.

As much as it might look like a bunch of stuff just thrown together at first glance, there is so much careful composition and care taken in the installation. Depending on your viewing perspective and how close you are to any given part, you see 3D tapestries that evolve with your steps, you are surrounded by treasures, you can't tell which way you came from or are going and that is the great part...

It makes me wish that there were many more things like this in the world. I'll see what I can find out about that museum for abandoned dolls in North Carolina that I went to by the coast one time.

Here is an article from Roadside America

The address is 4422 Lareina, off S. 1st ave.

Here are some photos I took. More are on flickr :

more more more on flickr!

hello new zine grab bags!

2009-02-01T21:34:00.007-06:00

I've gone through a couple more zine bins, and here is a new round of zines available, just for the price of shipping - details are below as before.

Info

U.S. cost is $4.95 + .50 for paypal = $5.45
Canada/Mexico cost is $10.95 + .65 for paypal = $11.60
All other international cost is $12.95 + .70 for paypal = $13.65

1. E-mail me to make sure it's still available. Specify which package you want - feel free to give a few in priority order
2. Wait till you hear back from me (first come first serve) and then paypal me the appropriate amount (I'll confirm this amount when I email you back). If you want to get more than one package, I will combine them in any way possible that is cheaper.
3. If you would like delivery confirmation, just add another $1 to the amount you paypal me, and let me know that you want it.
4. I will send your package out this week!

Zine Grab Bag #1 : 22 zines about Fat pride/phobia/politics/stories zines, several perzines and some parenting zines including
- Shameless : A brief intro to fatphobia and the transformative power of fat lovin'
- Fat Farm
- Fat chicks rock the mother fucking casbah
- Already too much; never enough (fat girl in (and out of) love)
- Girlzilla
plus -- two Aaron Cometbus books (Chicago Stories and Mixed Reviews), Hard As Nails, Overcome, 2 issues of Zuzu and the Babycatcher, Vena Cava #5, Orange & Blue #0, , 2 issues of Ration, and She Wolf magazine - a shiny glossy full color art magazine.

Grab Bag #2 : DIY, Crafts, & Cooking!
this is an awesome bunch of zines -- 16 including: How2 Zine (no 1 & 2 in one fat zine), arts & crafts revolution, T-zine (t-shirt reconstruction projects), stale cake, DIY academy Nontoxic Housecleaning, Zine making, an introduction, an intro to book binding (make your own sketchbook), Tublegs Artzine, #4, Let's DIY (tips and tricks on organizing zine workshops), stoked on spokes (community cycling resource guide), CROQ zine - issues #1 and 4

Grab Bag #3 : 23 perzines and special editions
the beautifully printed project The Dragomen with compilation zines, 2 color printed folder cover and pockets, Nina the Librarian comic, Coffeeshop Crushes, Ride On #7, Deliciosa #9, Missives (celebrating the lost art of letter writing), Miranda #11, Gideon #4, 12 Items Or Less (grocery shopping zine), 2 way frek, Temp Slave, etc.

Grab Bag #5 : 14 including Fish Piss #5, vol 2 #2, and vol 3 #1
Complete Control, Not My Small Diary, the Science, summit, headlock, and more.

home sweet home

2009-02-01T21:12:00.005-06:00

I've posted some individual house collages in my etsy shop!

new delights for your loveliness

2009-01-26T20:15:00.007-06:00

I've spent the evening adding more sew on buttons and necklaces to my etsy shop.

And eating pina colada flavored licorice.

It's destash time! zine grab bags for all!

2009-01-25T18:06:00.025-06:00

I have closets full of zines, big rubbermaid containers full, in various rooms where they're not doing anyone any good. It's time to spread them around! I'm sending them all in flat rate envelopes for just the cost of shipping. I'm trying to keep them thematically unified but some are more of a variety. This is jus the first round! I hope to post more this week.

Edited: all grab bags have been claimed! Please check back for more very soon! Thank you!

Info

U.S. cost is $4.95 + .50 for paypal = $5.45
Canada/Mexico cost is $10.95 + .65 for paypal = $11.60
All other international cost is $12.95 + .70 for paypal = $13.65

1. E-mail me to make sure it's still available. Specify which package you want - feel free to give a few in priority order
2. Wait till you hear back from me (first come first serve) and then paypal me the appropriate amount (I'll confirm this amount when I email you back)
3. If you would like delivery confirmation, just add another $1 to the amount you paypal me, and let me know that you want it.
4. I will send your package out this week!

#1 Zines about women's health - claimed!
15 zines including
- Wives Tales
- Complaints and Disorders : The Sexual Politics of Sickness (Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English)
- I have herpes and it really fucking sucks
- This is your blood, your body #2
- Hot Pantz : do it yourself gynocology / herbal remedies
- Fire Down Below (what some tam on Packet
- Pulling the plug on the sanitary protection industry
- Take back your life (wimmin's guide to alternative health care)
- Crucial Sisterhood (birth control, DIY healthcare, masturbation and sex, menstruation and alternatives)
- Spectacular Specula: an activist dyke discusses self-care, queer reproductive rights, and her os
- The Period Conspiracy : Who's out to hurt you and how
- This Is My Blood
- The Ecology of Being Female

#2 Feminist stuff, - claimed!
13 zines including -
- The invisibility of women prisoners' resistance
- don't be afraid of feminism (an introduction for men, women, boys, ladies, girls, studs, and everyone in between)
- Grrrl Kunt #2
- Let it be known! Experiences of women and lesbian activists
- Strike (2 issues)
- Bunnies on strike #2
- All hands on the bad one #1 (the riot grrrl midlands zine)
- anarcha-feminim: an introduction
- cheerleaders unite (radical cheerleaders zine)
- Striped Stockings (les attitudes des femmes)

#3 Misc. claimed! 18 zines inluding several zine review zines (best zine ever and xerography debt) plus personal and various zines

#4 Misc. - claimed!
18 zines, including several mental health, assault, and disability zines, plus various personal and story zines including:

- She Rose Again
- Still Not Perfect
- Intimate Violence (thoughts about community support around...)
- Taboo
- Word Salad, a journal of mental health (#2: question, new directions, and insurrections)
- Clark 8 (a week in the psychiatric unit, spring 2003)
-Independent Kitten
Authentic Experience Sex Zine
- Stories about my puma
- Big hands
- List
- Ladders and Hips
- Cross Examination

#5 Misc. - claimed!
21 personal and story zines, various, including
- Hirsteria, Shithole, Glossolalia 8, Rice Harvester, Toothworm, Behind Wire Fences, Baby Girl 7, Eyes of Pearl, Obsessor, Big Hands, Dyscrasia, Rum Lad, Ration, Nightly Zine, etc.

report from Acknowledge Me : 2008

2009-01-24T18:04:00.008-06:00

On December 6, 2008, a bunch of artists, crafters, DIYers, musicians, activists, ... etc. gathered on a very cold night at the Mohawk.

Thank you Michelle and Johanna who helped me set up and take down, table, kept me company and entertained in the cold !

this guy bought some of my tiny art zines

this nice girl Lani (sp?) traded a wonderful bird screenprinted shirt for a little embroidered hedgehog of mine along with a little polka-dotted tooth plushy. Later, I ran into her at my favorite paper store in Austin, the Paper Place, where she works!

Laura picked out a house collage to take home

stockings for the pups!

2009-01-24T16:40:00.006-06:00

I made stockings for 3 of my favorite pups this Christmas.

Michelle with Nola

me and Brutus

me and Tucker

I sewed the little stockings first, with trim and a loop to hang it, then sewed on the piece of fabric with their name in iron-ons.

new goodies in the shop for the holidays!

2008-11-29T01:29:00.004-06:00

and just for fun - visit!!

Most of what you see on etsy will be available at Acknowledge Fest on the 6th and at my open house party on the 13th if you want to pick it up in person!

plushies in progress

holiday cards made using prints of a cross stitch I did last year

Amigurumi and Me

2008-11-20T22:46:00.003-06:00

I love all that is adorable so naturally I adore lovely amigurumi. I have not yet moved from making plushies to actually crocheting creatures, though. I don't know if I have the patience for crochet. I gave up knitting for embroidery because I needed more instant gratification, and a more varied process, less repetetive.

It makes me admire those who knit, crochet, and amigurumi all the more. Here are three favorites:

1. In a previous post, I mentioned this adorable free pattern from the blog and put a shout out asking someone to make my dream come true and make an adorable sleepy elf for me. I was so surprised, and touched when a crafty lady out there in crafty land just offered to make it. Thank you so much, Tammy! She has a really neat blog you should check out. She did a beautiful job!

Here is a photo from her blog of Elfy in-progress:

Elfy arrived in the mail today and I'm going to embroider her little face on and will show you the result!

2. My lovely friend Misty, crocheting little critters. Cutest moose ever!

3. Yummypancake aka Denise Ferguson makes wonderful amigurumi, creates her own patterns, and cranks them out. She did a custom blue singer sewing machine with a little spool of thread. I also love her little plush toasts, pie, and bacon!

come see my crafty! 2 times in December

2008-11-18T07:31:00.004-06:00

Acknowledge Me Fest : Saturday, December 6
Holiday Open House Art & Craft Bazaar : Saturday, December 13

Acknowledge Me Fest is both a very cool DIY craft, art, zine, music fest with vegan food, performances, nonprofit orgs and is a benefit and winter drive for homeless advocacy orgs in Austin. I participated last year, and it was so much fun and also one of the best crafty fairs I've tabled at! lots of really cool cafters, artists, and zinesters.

here's my table from last year:

details
Sat. December 6 : 8pm - 2am : the Mohawk (912 Red River St, downtown Austin)
$5 plus a beanie, gloves, or toiletry item - or $6

Benefitting these two organizations: House the Homeless and ARCH (Austin Resource Center for the Homeless)

bands: The Golden Boys, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Pataphysics, The Persimmons, and Literature
plus: Capoeira demonstrations by Free Angola Capoeira Society and acrobatic balancing performances by Popsy Purvy

Holiday Open House art and craft show at my house!
I want to share some new art you may not have seen and also have handmade crafts, gifts, and craft supplies available for sale. Plus refreshments and good company!
Please drop me a line if you're interesting in coming and I'll send you full details.

Belle & Burger and Blue Mama Crafts

2008-11-16T17:30:00.007-06:00

These are two crafty gals I've had the pleasure of connecting with recently, and I wanted to make sure to share their crafty goodness with you! They are Chasity of Belle & Burger and Jen of Blue Mama. The things they make are so lovely and delightful, it's obvious how much sheer joy they get from making things and sharing them. But my very favorite thing about them is that they are both so, so wonderfully sweet and genuinely kind, open ladies.

They both have great crafty blogs - Belle & Burger and Mama Sings The Blues. I got to see them at Maker Faire and also last week at the farmer's market (the Sunset Valley one off 290 in Austin), where they have a very fun booth together. Blue Mama is also on etsy.

appreciation

2008-11-05T20:19:00.002-06:00

One of the nicest things I can think of is someone really loving something I created for them. I met this woman, Chantel (I love the picture of her on her page!), through the zine community (We Make Zines) and she bought an anatomical heart necklace. She wrote a review of it that was posted on the Feminist Review. This just made my day, oh my!

2008-10-31T09:16:00.001-05:00

pictures of my bat costume are forthcoming! have a fun halloween, everyone!

hello mail!

2008-10-30T23:24:00.003-05:00

Two amazing packages arrived this week that have cheered me so much!

1. Celia's first subscription, halloween themed - yay! and really, really fantastic.

2. super surprise from Krissy - she picks one LJ friend a month to send some fun stuff to. It arrived at a moment when I definitely needed the postal cheer, so it was pretty great. In addition to all the wonderful stuff in the box, there was also a little regifting package where you add something to what's already in it and pass it along...

my favorites are the "you are sew great" scissor print and this beautiful book with the flying man that is made of recycled graph paper

honored with a shiny seal!

2008-10-23T23:51:00.005-05:00

Taylor over at Parcell Press awarded a special honor to myself and the prolific and lovely comic artist JP Coovert for having the most popular items in his shop for awhile. Mine is for Last Known Address and JP's is for Adrift. It totally warms my heart to hear it, and here's the best part!

We are both awarded this shiny, fancy seal:

awesome. I want it made into a belt buckle! Thanks Taylor!!

fabric coasters tutorial

2008-10-22T09:50:00.006-05:00

I made some fabric coasters - they were so easy, I thought I'd share the process with you all.

I decided to use my favorite IKEA fabric and plain old felt as a backing (to be gentle on my newly built IKEA coffeetable).

You can cut a template out of cardboard or just cut your square freehand. I cut the felt first because it's the size the coaster will be in the end. Then I placed the felt square over the patterned fabric, positioning it as centrally as possible. I left about 3/4" border while cutting around the felt. The top/patterned fabric will be hemmed, but the felt, of course, doesn't need hemming.

Then I pressed the 3/4" hem around the patterned fabric with the iron.

fold over the corners of the patterned fabric after pressing

line up the felt with the pressed patterned piece and pin, keeping the corners folded as you go

pinned frontside

sew it on the frontside, as close to the edge as possible

once you're done with the outside border hem, clip your threads and sew a square in the middle (to keep your coaster flat and reinforce the shape). I just did it freehand, but you could mark the outline or corners with chalk.

remove pins and press with iron to smooth out pin marks

done!

time for a tea party!

2008-10-21T23:11:00.003-05:00

From Creative Kismet's blog, her piece for Illustration Friday - I love it! That is me right now :)
check out her blog here

lovely letterbox september

2008-10-21T18:24:00.006-05:00

was late, due to life suddenly getting in the way, and went out in earlyish October.

print gocco of an illustration from a vintage children's book, printed on cardboard cut from cereal boxes and the like

print gocco of vintage scissors

cupcake toppers using adorable stamps from The Small Object

fall recipe cards made by Kirsten

not pictured: Liz's adorable bookmarks, pieces of IKEA fabric, and little supply kits for making more cupcake toppers. I forgot to take pictures before sending them off!

here's a picture from Krissy's journal (also shows the scissor gocco printed on fabric)

Acknowledge Me Fest is coming!

2008-10-21T10:27:00.006-05:00

This is definitely one of the best craft fairs I've been a part of; crafts, DIY, zines, music....
mark your calendar and come out and see me! December 6 at Mohawk. woo!

Never too much of a good thing

2008-10-18T20:32:00.005-05:00

This weekend, I'm completely immersed in awesomeness: Ladies Rock Camp, which I've been helping organize and doing print publications for, and Maker Faire! I'm pretty much at one place or the other, or if I'm home, I'm working on the roadmap (a resource/reference book) for Ladies Rock Camp, making the program for the ladies rock showcase, oh yeah, and carving some stamps to unwind. some clouds with faces, and a little halloween stamp for the Lovely Letterbox which of course will be a surprise. Hey - if you're local, please come out for the Ladies Rock Camp showcase - it will be a great show! It's tomorrow (Sunday) at the Creekside Lounge, 7pm. Free/donations.

here are some photos from ladies rock camp (taking band photos for the program)

In order to get a free pass for Maker Faire, I volunteered with Ecology Action (the great Austin/area recycling center) for the first few hours, then caught a great presentation by Kathy Cano-Murillo (aka Crafty Chica), and Rachel's (aka Average Jane Crafter) awesome demo on making plushy monsters (from Craft magazine). This is a photo borrowed from her blog she took right before her demo of the audience - look, there I am! I'm looking off somewhere, in the middle, wearing the brown and blue chainring shirt.

More Maker Faire and LRC photos forthcoming! In the meantime, here are a few on my flickr.

amurigumi peeps!

2008-10-13T13:20:00.003-05:00

I'm so in love with this adorableness, would someone please make it for me?
It's a free pattern from the craft blog Owlishly!

I would love love love you!!

2008-10-11T05:03:00.002-05:00

Freya from Fish or Fowl did a post about typewriters and included my buttons in it. Of course I love all things typewriter! this is a neat blog, so check it out. I love this lady with the typewriter in the bathtub!

Letterboxing: a new activity, oh my!

2008-10-08T19:59:00.006-05:00

My friend Kristen has been doing this for awhile and last night she took me out to try it. And it's just as wonderful as it sounded!

Letterboxing is basically a treasure hunt where you follow clues (on a centralized letterboxing website) to find a box hidden somewhere, in cities, parks, wherever. In the box is a hand-carved rubber stamp, usually with an image that represents the place where it's hidden, or sometimes representing the person who made it.

In the box is also a little blank book (often handmade also) which is a record of everyone who has found the box. You stamp your own personal carved stamp in it and put the date you were there and your name. When you find the box, you get to see all these amazing stamps from all the people who have been there, with the dates they were there and their name. You take the stamp in the box and stamp it into your own little book where you collect all the stamps from the boxes you've found as your record. awesome! Kristen says letterboxing has been around since the 1800s, when they used to hand carve stamps and hide them, and clues

Then you go to the letterboxing community website and log your finds, print out clues to lead you to more, etc.

One etiquette item about letterboxing is to never show photos of the stamps you find or basically what's in the boxes you find - so as not to spoil the surprise for everyone that goes looking for it after you. So, here are photos of our adventures last night finding three boxes around central Austin. See the rest of the photos at my flickr page.

These are the stamps I brought along to stamp into the books. Some of the boxes and therefore the books are so tiny that the big Niku stamp didn't fit. I'm going to design and carve a new stamp to go along with my "trail name", Niku Sweet Tooth :) and the little book I brought to put the letterbox stamps into.

guess what?

2008-10-06T18:57:00.003-05:00

check it out - this is a really neat community, with fun features like groups, various ways to comment and discuss, photos, forum...

postal delights, vp debates, crafting, and cupcakes, oh my!

2008-10-03T10:46:00.006-05:00

Sugene/All This is Mine's paper ephemera subscription has been amazing! Get on her mailing list so you can be part of the next round. I have sadly failed to take pictures before but here's the one I got the other day:

my favorite thing in this package!

Last night, I hosted a viewing of the Vice Presidential debate.

see more on my flickr

Tuesday crafting (more photos will be posted after the lovely letterbox subs go out!)

Audra's tattoo (stamp from the Small Object)

crafting with Kristen at Spiderhouse

hair at Toy Joy - doesn't she look fabulous?

I heart subscriptions

2008-09-30T22:51:00.006-05:00

subscriptions are just the bees knees! I'm so excited to let you know about a new subscription being offered by one of my favorite people/zinesters/mail artists/creators - Celia Perez. oh my! her subscriptions will have original zines, paper ephemera, and surprise goodies. and I promise, her surprises (and zines, and ephemera for that matter!) are always fabulous.

There are six spots, so jump on it. The deadline is October 8 to sign up.

click here for all the tantalizing details.

a list of some things I've got going on:

+ I spent most of my day crafting with gal pals. that is heaven, right? We did some great stuff, some of which is highly classified Lovely Letterbox stuff that will be revealed before too long (not before the subscribers see it of course!)

- I love Project Runway, but I'm finding the Rachel Zoe Project tedious and just kind of boring. I guess I'm more interested in the craft, sewing, construction, design, etc. than watching someone shop and just put outfits together.

+ I'm putting the little house and tree button set on a black cardigan. I love them, and they're perfect for this lightweight, kind of floaty cardigan.

+ I could not love print gocco more. I just adore it! although I'm still figuring out stuff about it and it's not always as perfect as I'd like.

- what I've really been procrastinating: creating the "road map", kind of a manual/resource/reference book for Ladies Rock Camp. This is the biggest project I'm doing for LRC. by the way, if you haven't checked out the possibility of attending, please take a look! it's going to be really wonderful, I promise. The organizers are amazing, it's going to be an incredible experience, and this is a fundraiser for Girls Rock Camp. I need to focus some time on my work for it!

+ I watched the three part video about making resin jewelry, which is something I love and have wanted to try for so long. It still seems pretty complicated, time consuming, and difficult to me.

+ If the scheduling works out, I will hopefully be working the craft-o-rama table at the maker faire - woo! and even better, I can sell my own stuff, too. Right now I have button sets, pin cushions with tiny shrink pin toppers, needle books, strawberry pincushions, felt and ribbon covered tape measures, that sort of thing, at craft-o-rama. Any thoughts about what would work well at maker faire, i.e. craft supplies and notions, or crafty items? i.e. plushies, belts, art zines? Your feedback is most appreciated!

+ waiting on pins and needles till friday when I find out about blue genie. !! everyone cross your fingers and toes!

+ I really want these books right now:

I know that last one isn't so crafty, but the author was on the Daily Show and it looks interesting.

buttons buttons buttons!

2008-09-26T20:34:00.005-05:00

Making and using interesting sew on buttons is one of my favorite things!

customer appreciation and sister appreciation

2008-09-25T07:19:00.005-05:00

I wanted to share this from an etsy customer who used one of my mail art kits in a unique way - to create an art drawer! She's going to hang it on the wall. I love the use of collage in transforming a "useful" every day object, and it's so interesting to see familiar ephemera and artistamps in a different context.

Patti has a blog about buying and selling online and an etsy shop of vintage postcards.

I just have one sister. Wasn't she the cutest little thing when she was small? On the right is closer to present day, all grown up! She lives a very different life than I and it's a pretty interesting one.
Here is her blog.

the tough get crafting

2008-09-22T18:19:00.006-05:00

I've been out of touch for awhile. I have some hard things going on in my personal life that are, well, I'll just say, those big life things that are really hard. One of them is needing to find a place to live and move there as soon as possible. Another is the worry about having the money for a place that feels safe and has enough space to create. I might only be able to afford a tiny place, but I have to remember that it's not just one of my reasons for living and my joy, I'm trying hard to make it my livelihood.

In the midst of all the life stuff, I decided to go ahead and apply to the Blue Genie Art Bazaar, despite the bad timing and short amount time to get my application materials together. I love Blue Genie, and if I was accepted it could really help my income at a time when I really need the help. I got my application in about 30 minutes before the deadline, but it's in! I don't find out until October 3. Once I got that done and did a bunch of apartment hunting, I decided to take a little time just for me and make this post.

I wanted to share with you some of the pieces I made as samples to apply to Blue Genie.
I will probably start posting some of the houses for sale on etsy soon, but if you're interested in any of the pieces, please get in touch. If I can't give you the particular one, I'd love to make something just for you!
As always, I would love to hear your comments and feedback as I continue with my creative journey (a little corny, but I think that's what it is).
thanks for being here - I take so much solace in my lovely crafty friends!!

I love how the houses look on the painted plaques!

One of my favorite of the houses (although I love how they look all clumped together on the wall!) Click here to see more of the houses on flickr

bird house from the art show at the Morgan Lane Gallery, Oct. 2007
(now lives with Johanna)

mixed media collage

mixed media collage

new zines!

2008-09-12T14:37:00.006-05:00

two new zines finally in the etsy shop

crafty birthday time

2008-09-09T12:22:00.004-05:00

It's a special day for one of my very favorite crafty ladies!

visit her crafty goodness

art show

2008-09-03T17:06:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to post about the art show currently on view at the starbucks where I work. Because almost half of the staff are crafters and artists or people who like to make stuff, my manager had the idea to do an art show of just work by employees, instead of all work by one artist and I agreed to coordinate it.

We had an opening reception a couple weeks ago, and I finally got around to taking some pictures of the art when there weren't people around and the light was ok. To see more photos of the opening reception and bigger versions of the photos below, visit my flickr

from left to right: 1. Liz's installation/sculpture 2. Kirsten's aprons 3. my mixed media/quilted piece 4. Kirsten's drawing 5. my mixed media houses 6. Chandra's two paintings

what the heck is the Lovely Letterbox?

2008-09-02T10:32:00.015-05:00

I've mentioned the Lovely Letterbox here and there in a few places and wanted to let you all know exactly what it is, especially because it is one of my very favorite projects!

The Lovely Letterbox is basically a subscription service. I adore subscriptions, because I love mail, and love knowing I'm going to be getting mail. The idea of being able to send a package out each month containing whatever I was inspired to create or share that month really appealed to me. There are 11 participants in the first round who receive something in the mail at least once a month for 6 months. When I started it, I only knew that participants would receive original zines, zines from my personal collection (which is kind of monstrous and I'm trying to cut it down), crafts made by me, samples from new things I'm trying out, and craft/mail/ephemera supplies from my always growing collection of supplies.

We are two months in and even after two installments, I still can't say what all the future ones will include. I can share with you what I've done so far. I wanted to make this a special exclusive opportunity for the people who signed up, so I'm creating zines especially for it that won't be available until after their subscription is over, possibly offered in a pack or something like that.

I already know I'm going to continue this project when this round is finished because it has been a great success, which to me means that the participants have given me lots of positive feedback about being part of it. So if you would like to be on a waiting list for the next round, e-mail me and I'll get in touch a month or two before this round ends and the new one begins and give you the chance to sign up before I post about it here and open it up to first come first serve sign ups.

Three of my lovely participants have great craft blogs and have each done posts about Lovely Letterbox and you should check out their wonderful blogs anyway:
Average Jane Crafter, Craftypod, and PonyBoy Press

July was the first month and I made quilted fabric postcards for the very first piece of mail. I was already working on the goodies for the packages and carved stamps for everyone in the shape of the state they live in with a little envelope in the middle. I stamped this on each of their postcards as a little intrigue.

For the first package, I made a stencil and spray painted it onto their envelopes. In the package was: the hand carved stamps, a few zines each from my collection, a full color collage zine that I made at the Austin Book Workers book fair, some note paper that I stamped with various other stamps I've carved, some cute japanese note papers, and little punched out shapes I punched from patterned paper with a postage stamp shape punch and a scalloped circle punch.

For the August installment, I was really into the idea of a kit of some kind. I made kits for little plush teeth (my favorite plushy to make) with a tiny how-to zine in it, copies of the zine I made for the 24 Hour Zine challenge, pieces of this great screen normally used for screen doors/window screens that I used to make a mixed media collage piece in an art show, a letter about what inspired me in this installment and things going on in my life, some cool fibers, little sewn collage houses from the previously mentioned art show, and sets of sew on buttons.

CRAFT magazine and Naughty Secretary Club Release Party

2008-08-31T07:38:00.010-05:00

Yesterday was a crafty bonanza! It was such a good turn out, people were semi-stuffed into every corner of Craft-o-Rama. I saw so many big names in the crafty world, such as the Austin Craft Mafia, the ladies who organize Stitch, and people I've seen on Jennifer Perkins awesome show on the DIY Network, Craftlab.

It was also a pleasure meeting and spending time with my fellow volunteers, and hanging out in one of my favorite places in town!

The craft project was really cool - making fabric covered buttons into rings. I've been wanting to try making fabric covered buttons (because of my obsession with buttons!) so it was cool to try out a couple different kinds.

I brought a few button sets and funky strawberry pincushions for the raffle giveaway, and I won a sheet of screen printed rub-ons - woo!

To see all the photos I took at the party, visit my flickr set
Jennifer Ramos was the official photographer and her beautiful photos are here.

making fabric covered button rings:

Some of Jennifer Perkins' necklaces (yay gnomes!) and Jennifer herself to the left there:Jennifer Ramos and her awesome apron!

the two other volunteers, Jaime and Misty - it was lovely to meet you!!

this saturday: CRAFT magazine release party

2008-08-28T10:48:00.005-05:00

fun times if you're in Austin!
Saturday 3-6pm at the lovely Craft-o-Rama
also a book release party for Jennifer Perkins new jewelry making book
check out Average Jane's more thorough post about the event and the book
come make crafts and meet fun people!

ooh, the zineyness of it all!

2008-08-28T10:41:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited to share this news! Parcell Press, one of my favorite zine distros, finally has a new and great site! It is really nice to navigate around, and Taylor shared with me that you can set up a customer profile and the system will keep track of everything you get, so you don't have that danger of getting the same one 6 months later...

List zine

2008-08-28T09:46:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite zines is Ramsey Beyer's [List] zine. She usually has "guest lists" - lists done by friends or other zinesters. She did a call out on livejournal early this week and I put one together for the first time! She is an artist and the catch is her zine is full of amazing illustration and lists should be illustrated. Drawing is where I have somewhat of a hangup. I did my best to add illustration.

My list is favorite craft supplies. Here is a little bit:

hello friends!

2008-08-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

This is it! After considering doing this for awhile and various requests and encouragement from people, I finally started a blog just for crafting and zines. Please be patient as I try to navigate the technical aspects; this stuff doesn't come very naturally for me.
I would love it if you would comment, link back to me from your blog, and let me know what your blog is.
I'm planning to do some giveaways soon so stay tuned!
thanks for reading!
xoxo Niku