craftgasm: the adventures of a hand-maker in DC

Coining a word is nerdy work.

2012-01-11T18:15:00.014-05:00

I've always been curious about what to call myself as a lover of all things postal. While I enjoy Donovan's colorful "postal pervert" moniker, I didn't want to be too high on the Google search results for that one. "Philatelist" is the perfect word for postage stamp aficionados, but its popular meaning is too specific. I like stamps, but I also like mail art and letters and envelopes and stationery and post office buildings, which aren't understood to be covered under "philatelist."

As someone who majored in English, I have often claimed that I am qualified to make up words if I wanted. Usually they're of the "ricockulous" variety, but after I complained about the lack of a word for postal love one too many times, Dan told me to put that claimed-expertise to work, and then helped me look some etymologies up.

I liked the idea of keeping the love of all things postal-related to the already recognized love of postage stamps, which, as I said above, already has a word: philately. Turns out that since the postage stamp didn't exist until 1840, the word was coined by Georges Herpin in 1864 who was having the exact same problem I am in wanting a better word to describe his hobby. He joined the Greek "phil," meaning "brotherly love or affection" to the closest word to stamp in Greek that he could come up with, "ateleia," meaning lack of taxes, since stamps at the time were used for both postage and as proof of payment of duties.

Georges Herpin, that sexy, word-coining bastard.

Of course, since an official, government-sanctioned postal service wasn't invented in ancient Greece, there isn't exactly an ancient Greek word for it, either, so I'm back to where our friend Georges was, and needed to find something that fit the general idea I was going for.

I started translating mail-related words into Greek to see what popped up as possible fits. "Mail" transliterated roughly into "taxidromeio," which seemed too close to the literal translation of "philately." Once I transliterated the translation of "letter," though, I knew I had my answer. I had no idea that "epistle" was already based in Greek ("epystol"), and I already have affection for the word since it relates to a form of literature; an epistolary novel is one of my favorite genres.

So.

Phil*e*pist*list (fil-ih-pis-list)
noun
One who enjoys writing and receiving letters & postal mail.

No longer shall we have to describe our hobby as "well, I really love mail and mail art and pen pals and pretty stationery and making my own envelopes." We have a word! Go forth, my fellow philepistlists, and proliferate our new moniker!

Edited to add:
The incredibly smart Ashley came up with adding a resting syllable in there to make it "philepistolist." I like it being easier to say, but then the T will be pronounced instead of silent like in "epistle." What are your thoughts?

o! tidings of comfort and joy!

2011-12-06T08:51:00.000-05:00

I'm really excited about the holiday cards I made this year. A friend asked me to design her annual holiday postcard, and I loved how they turned out so much that I wanted to make them available for everyone.

The image was collaged by me using some of my favorite materials: vintage ledger paper, maps, and canceled postage stamps. Add in some ribbon, a doily, and some typewritten words, and you've got the makings of an eclectic, vintage-y holiday note. (Of course, the actual cards don't have a watermark on them.)

I had the collage professionally printed onto FSC-certified, eco-friendly cardstock. Each set of 6 comes with white envelopes in a white stationery box with a clear lid (which are also great for packaging up small Christmas gifts once you've sent out all your cards). The ledger paper design wraps onto the back of the card, and each card is blank inside so that you can personalize them however you wish.

Order your set in my Etsy shop! All orders placed this week will come with a strip of coordinating vintage postage stickers made from canceled stamps, which will coordinate nicely with your cards. Use them to decorate the envelopes -- or keep them to yourself. (I won't tell if you decide to do the latter.)

Nana's Handmade Holly Mart

2011-11-30T02:43:00.002-05:00

I'm excited to announce that I'll be selling in person at Nana this Saturday during their first-ever Handmade Holly Mart! If you're in the DC area, swing by to shop from ten local makers, not to mention the usual fabulous inventory one can find at Nana's.

Nana's is located in Mt. Pleasant at 3068 Mount Pleasant Street, NW, and will be open from 11AM until 7PM. Shop local this holiday season!

a personal project

2011-07-05T04:44:00.015-04:00

If you follow me on Twitter (which you should, because I post on there faaar more often than here), you probably already know that I'm getting married this fall. We had been having issues with our venue, though, so we needed to wait a while to send out any official notices for the wedding. Plus, I had about 382 ideas for what to do for a save the date mailing, and I needed to work out which was actually realistic-yet-pretty and in keeping with the handmade feel of the wedding we want to have.

Why hello, vintage postcards.

I contemplated typing up the information on my Electra cursive machine, and then also contemplated myself going mad from frustration, so that fantasy only lasted about twelve minutes. However, stamping could still give a vintage look in keeping with the gorgeous fronts without sacrificing my sanity. I had spotted this DIY stamp kit at Staples before for about $30 and looked up some other projects people had used it for. The font was in keeping with our aesthetic sensibilities, so we picked one up. I bought the vintage DC postcards in several eBay lots, sorted through them for the blank ones, and stacked them like so. Aren't they gorgeous? I almost didn't want to send them out.

I would've been perfectly happy framing these instead.

A close-up of amazingness.

And of course, being a huge postal nerd, I didn't want to use boring stamps. I've been amassing a small cache of DC-related stamps for about a year now in preparation for this moment. They didn't lend themselves to easily fitting onto pretty vintage cards, which caused some frustration, but they're SO nice.

It was worth it.

Where possible, the stamps match the fronts of the postcards. There are White House stamps on postcards of the White House, Jefferson stamps on postcards of the Jefferson Memorial, Smithsonian stamps on postcards of the Smithsonian. You get the idea. (See also: Melissa enjoys making things more difficult for herself.)

There are also some library stamps mixed in, but there's a reason for that (besides them going with the Library of Congress postcards).

And after only 125 handwritten addresses and 250+ vintage stamps licked, here is the finished project. The date itself wasn't stamped with the kit, but with a library date stamper I have.

Why yes, I AM the type of girl who has a library due date stamp. Thank you for noticing!

Did you know that if you are a regular at your post office and ask super nicely, the lady you talk to every time you buy stamps will graciously hand-cancel your vintage postcards to preserve the look you spend hours of work creating? True story.

your weekend plans

2011-05-18T11:28:00.001-04:00

...you know, if you aren't raptured.

I'll be at these two awesome shows.

Spring Thing

15th and P Street, NW - WDC
Saturday, May 21
11AM - 5PM

AND!

Handmade Mart

Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland
Sunday, May 22
10AM - 5PM

You should swing by. Mention the rapture for your choice of a free pin!

Vintage Valentines

2011-02-12T14:30:00.004-05:00

I picked these up a few months ago, intending to send them out for Valentine's Day. Instead I forgot about them until this week, meaning only one (a duplicate) found its way to anyone. To make up for it, I'm going to share them here with you.

You can find all seven designs here, available for you to download and use in any medium you like. There's a dragon one that came with these that I don't think is quite as vintage as the rest, but otherwise, they're all a similar style to this little lady. Fit four on a sheet of cardstock and they'd be perfect as last minute Valentines for a classroom -- or anyone you'll be seeing on Monday.

If you use them in your own design, please share a picture of it - I'd love to see how it turns out!

(Of course, I'd appreciate if you continued to keep them free and available and didn't sell them. That would be kind of crappy of you.)

Post-Craftacular Round-Up

2010-12-15T23:54:00.003-05:00

I know I am days late in posting about how awesome the Bust Craftacular was, but it took me a couple of days to recover from all the fabulosity. (To be honest, I didn't even leave my house on Monday after we got back. It was too cold here in DC and I was too tired after arriving home at 2AM from New York.) This is unfortunate because we leave for our Christmas on Saturday, so being more ready is preferable to less ready.

What was I talking about? Oh, Bust! Righto.

Bust was awesome.

The morning started off with Amy Sedaris and I opening one of the big windows together next to my table. That was when I knew the day was going to be fantastic. I managed to not squee like a little girl while I was perched on a chair unlocking the pane (which is good, as I did not want to break an ankle because I lost my balance because I was freaking out about Amy Sedaris talking to me).

Unrelated story. A few years ago as a shopper at the same event, I got Ms. Sedaris to sign a book for my friend Billy, who thinks she is possibly one of the hottest people on the planet. "Um, hi. Could you sign this for my friend Billy, but make it like you and he hooked up?" She didn't bat an eye. "Oh, sure." It read, "Billy - thanks for last night. You were dyn-o-mite! love, Amy." This is why this woman is awesome.

She is also awesome because she commandeered my box of garbage bags (brought by me to wrap up vintage maps since it was raining; used by her to keep the window open) without asking. Normally that would be a mite irksome, but it's Amy Sedaris, so it just makes her more badass. I will happily mail out a folded garbage bag from that box to anyone who is crazy enough about her to want one. It's too bad she's not someone like Justin Bieber and her fans have a modicum of sense, because otherwise, I'd sell them individually for like, $50 a pop on eBay.

My neighbor on my right was a fun lady named Faune Yerby, whose work is a gorgeous mix of photography and toys and paper lovelies. She was also quietly hilarious, a quality I admire, and we had fun chatting with each other when there was a rare break in the crowd.

The rain poured steadily on all day, which was a bummer, but it kept the normally claustrophic crowds to a more manageable, constant level, which was nice. Getting to talk to people is one of the most fun things about selling in person, and actually being able to hear them is always a plus in that department.

One of the ladies who I got talking to noticed my vintage stamps and asked if I knew of her stamp dealer. As he is my main stamp contact as well, we started talking about him and of the blogs we read regularly that are also fans of his, and then we introduced ourselves. Her name is Mim, and it turns out I've been reading her blog, too! Small world. You should check out her blog and her contributions to the MailArt365 project.

I also was able to do some shopping toward the end of the day and found some perfect presents for several friends. Among them: a squirrel mirror from Bubbledog for my best friend, issue #1 of Remedy Quarterly for her foodie fiancée, and soaps for my aunt from Meow Meow Tweet. I also got to catch up a bit with some fellow DC crafting folk, like Mary (and hubby Tom!) from Herban Lifestyle.

Now that the show is over, I'm making custom works for some customers I met there, and then closing up shop after this Friday for a week or so while we head to Florida for Christmas. If you want anything in time for the holidays, order soon! I've posted the remaining bicycle Gocco prints in the shop, so grab one while you can.

This will be my first Christmas ever not spent with my family in upstate New York, which feels very strange. But it'll also be the first Christmas Dan and I get to spend together (after spending the past three years traveling in different directions), which is about the best present I could ask for. :)

Enjoy the rest of the holiday season with your loved ones!

Sunday is the Bust Craftacular!

2010-12-10T14:22:00.004-05:00

I'm so excited about this weekend's Bust Magazine Holiday Craftacular! Not only can I barely believe I got in, there are going to be so many other amazing makers there; I'm looking forward to getting all of my holiday shopping finished up.

I know, I know, but as it turns out, when you're hand-making items for one of the largest craft shows in the country, you have very little time to get your holiday shopping done.

Also a casualty: I have left my house twice this week for periods of longer than five minutes. Yes, today is Friday.

Oh right, Craftacular. I've attended as a shopper since 2005, when it was in a comparatively tiny Polish dance hall in Brooklyn, and it is so worth a trip. My best friend and I (and later our fiancé(e)s) made it into an adventure each year, either in day trip or weekend form, and always had an awesome time. You should grab a friend or five and come visit!

I'll be on the second floor of the Metropolitan Pavilion on the left, just as you come up the stairs. Hope to see you there!

P. S. Whisper your favorite tip for cold weather bicycling to either me or Dan and get a free pin!

hello again

2010-07-14T11:02:00.011-04:00

I've been busy with some temporary work (which has become a good source of fun crazy-people stories). It was only supposed to last a few weeks, but here it is mid-July and I'm still plugging away. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I wanted to explain that I have to strike while the iron's hot.

Today, however, is humid and gross and drizzly, which means it's disgusting out, so I'm avoiding the outdoors by sitting in front of a fan and unloading images from my camera. This has the added benefit of being a quiet activity, which means it won't wake up the birds, who are still sleeping in their cages. (Yes, plural birds. We acquired another cockatiel, because we didn't have enough projects going on.)

Here are just a couple things I've been working on lately.

These were for a handmade notebook swap through a mail art group I belong to on swap-bot.com. We were to mail the notebooks as they were, so I had to think of a way to keep them shut in the mail. Then I realized that I usually have the problem of keeping it shut in my bag, too, so I designed my partners' notebooks with a little flap to protect the pages inside from the postal system's machinery and their errant pens, lip balms, and other purse whatnots. I used color-coordinated rubber bands to keep them from "flapping about like a wounded bird," as one swapper put it, with the intent for them to continue using the rubber bands as a fastening device.

Su's a big postal nerd like me, so I made for her a collage of pretty postmarks on typically American stamps to go on the back of the notebook. The front I designed to look like an airmail envelope using a mostly steady hand and trusty Sharpies.

Lisa enjoys public transit, so I covered her notebook with a Metrobus schedule and stamped it with a bicycle stamp of my own design and carving. Among the themed sides of postage stamps, I also snuck in a vintage one featuring honoring the 200th anniversary of the "treaty of amity and commerce" between Sweden and the U.S., which means she gets Ben Franklin on both sides of her notebook. Lucky gal.

"Mr. Franklin, I would say you are probably one of the sexiest presidents ever." --Michael Scott

The insides are all mixed papers and maps, along with a few little envelopes and other pockets into which I tucked surprises (like "par avion" postal stickers for Su and Metro tickets and found stickers for Lisa).

Both ladies have now received their notebooks (intact!) so I feel safe sharing without ruining their surprise. :)

The other thing I've been working on are these sweet Gocco-ed bicycle map prints.

I drew the bicycle and burned it onto a Gocco screen. Then I cut down a bajillion maps or so into 5x7 pages, then screened the bicycles onto them. (I also did them onto colored cardstock, but I'm more excited about maps because, well, I'm a nerd.) I have them available for a bunch of cities, including Portland, eastern Canada, Dublin, Lourdes, Hamburg, Istanbul, Lisbon, San Francisco, Copenhagen, and of course, the mid-Atlantic/DC-MD-VA region. Plus, sweet jesus, they're only $15! What are you waiting for?

Let's hope my next update won't be 7+ months in the making, shall we?

A love requited.

2009-10-22T23:00:00.008-04:00

The new craftgasm booth banner! Photo by Etsy Labs on Flickr.

Luckily for me, Crafty Bastards has loved me back. Here are a couple of press mentions that craftgasm has gotten from the show!

Nole of Oh So Beautiful Paper was kind enough to post pictures of my booth on her gorgeous blog (and was nice enough to let me reproduce them here).

Map pins, separated by region. Photo by Oh So Beautiful Paper.

The Foggy Bottom Blog wrote a super-nice little paragraph about my stuff in their round-up of the event:

Their upcycled cards and pins are unique and hip, and make you feel totally awesome about buying them. Plus, everything has a perfectly sharp sense of humor.

Scroll down past all the pretty pictures to see their assessment of some other awesome vendors; I missed the text part my first time through because I was so busy flipping through their images.

Pearls of Wisdom from Marion Barry. Photo by Oh So Beautiful Paper.

And last but not least, I was absolutely floored to be selected as one of the Washingtonian's favorite vendors in their Crafty Bastards post. Getting that email was pretty much amazing and made my week.

It's been so fantastic to hear from people who I met at the show and to get orders these past couple of weeks from those who said they read about my shop somewhere. Thank you so much for supporting handmade and making it possible for me and my crafting colleagues to do what we do!

Crafty Bastards: A Love Story

2009-10-21T13:46:00.009-04:00

Photo by kestrel127 at Flickr.

Being accepted to Crafty Bastards had been a dream of mine for years. Fulfilling that dream? Possibly even better than I'd imagined.

Reclaimed Stationery Sets. Photo by Oh So Beautiful Paper.

Gov. Mark Sanford pins. Photo by kestrel127 on Flickr.

I had a couple of new items that I brought out for Crafty Bastards. In addition to Marion Barry, I added the disgraced (but somehow not-yet-impeached) South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford to my line of hypocritical politicians saying dumb shit that I type onto pins. Gov. Sanford did better than I thought he would against Mr. Barry in the District, so I'll need to make more of him for the holidays. His "Family Values" collection will be in the shop by the end of the week.

Photo by kestrel127 on Flickr.

I also had at Crafty Bastards my new "this is not a hipster pin" pins. These were inspired by my old roommate Ben (a hipster if there ever was one, despite his professed ignorance of this fact) and by people who have no idea what they're talking about using the word indiscriminately and completely incorrectly wherever I seem to go. Apparently other people feel similarly (or know someone like my former roommate), as they were pretty popular.

My awesome friends Christina and Meigh came in the afternoon to help Dan and I get a break from (wo)manning the booth. A break for me was getting to eat lunch behind my hanging maps about three hours after it was delivered by the fabulous Crafty Bastards volunteers, but hey, I take what I can get. Luckily, both those ladies know the merchandise well enough to speak for me when customers ask questions. (Helping me package the goods earlier in the week probably helped, too.)

Me sneaking food behind the maps as Dan straightens stationery. Photo by kestrel127 on Flickr.

The entire day was amazingly packed. My first sale of the day was at 9:40, 20 minutes before we officially opened, and there was foot traffic in the booth almost constantly until about ten minutes before 5pm, our closing time. I used that lull to go turn some nearby internet friends into real-life friends. It was great to meet Sara from girlscantell and Christy from a bardis, both of whom I've long admired. And it was equally awesome to talk about reclaiming paper all day with so many fabulous customers.

I was so happy to be part of such an awesome event, and am so grateful to everyone who came out to make the day such a success.

Tomorrow, I'll post about the Crafty Bastards aftermath -- I wouldn't want to shock you by having a complete blog post all together or anything!

Stacks and stacks

2009-09-29T15:48:00.003-04:00

Why are stacks so satisfying?

This one is especially satisfying, as it took a few days to finish. First, I cut each envelope individually; you can see that some of the pages from which they were cut are visible at the bottom of the stack. Each one is then folded up to make it functional, and then I seal the sides to the bottom flap. I then make a crapton of secret-recipe peel-off strips. Finally, I apply each strip to the top of each envelope flap and organize them into countable stacks. Voila!

Here are 300 envelopes organized into sections of 25. Later this week I will organize them into groups of three and work to make sure each set gets envelopes from three different maps. This will be enough for 100 packs of Recycled Stationery Sets, available to you at Crafty Bastards or through craftgasm.

I can't believe that there are only four days left to work until Crafty Bastards!

Transition to Full-Time Crafter

2009-09-23T18:58:00.005-04:00

It's been a while, hasn't it?

To sum up my absence, I was busy getting unemployed and then going on an already-paid-for-and-at-that-point-much-needed vacation.

Now, however, I'm busy getting ready for the massive crowds of shoppers who are coming to Crafty Bastards next Saturday, October 3. This full-time crafting thing has me working more hours than I did at my old job, but it is much more satisfying to have something produced at the end of each day. ("Plus, the dress code is much more relaxed," she said, typing in boxers and a T-shirt.)

Today's happenings in full-time craftgasm-land (FTCL for short):

I trimmed, folded, and assembled 600 sheets of paper into 100 packs of Recycled Stationery Sets this afternoon and evening. I didn't really need to band them up, but it is rather satisfying to do so. These now just need to have envelopes wrapped up with them and they'll be good to go.

Which means I will be cutting, folding, and sealing up 300 envelopes tomorrow. All in a day's work.

(P. S. Have you voted for your favoritest Craftiest Bastard yet? Not that I'm advocating stuffing of ballot boxes, but you get one vote per email address...)

Oh hypocrisy.

2009-07-09T22:19:00.004-04:00

Oh Marion. He's been back in the news for allegedly stalking his girlfriend, and has stayed there this week because it came out that his office seems to have improperly hired her, but his most infamous line is what the rest of the country knows him for. What a lot of people (at least, a lot of people outside of DC) don't know is that hizzoner must live in a bubble, since both the quotes shown on the above pins are from him. Apparently, you can smoke crack with a hooker while married, hire your girlfriend on the city's dime, and care about the sanctity of marriage while being on your fourth wife (on whom you were cheating!) but still be "a politician who's moral."

These are made using pages from junk mail and will come matched up color- or pattern-wide (as seen here with the pink plaid). The quotes are typed with my awesome vintage (& cursive!) typewriter, then cut and assembled into buttons.

I'll be packaging these with fun information about our boy's complete hypocrisy.

I'm thinking about making a line for Mark Sanford, too. Great idea or greatest idea?

Reason #6272 to love Etsy treasuries.

2009-06-29T15:36:00.003-04:00

While taking a break from my Crafty Bastards application yesterday afternoon, I browsed a lovely teal and red treasury, finding a collage print by Michele Maule that features a twin of Bianca, my bicycle. I explored her work a little more and found what appears to be the parent of the collage print. Dan played for me the song that inspired the title of the work, and I was sold. Then, it was.

Depending on how much space we have left on the walls once we decorate, there may be more purchases from Ms. Maule in the future. In the meantime, enjoy her beautiful work!

Success at the Handmade Mart!

2009-06-04T15:26:00.014-04:00

The view from the stage of happy little vendor tents under the Handmade Mart banner.

Well, it was a week ago, but I figured I may as well post some tips and lessons learned from participating in the Handmade Mart in Silver Spring, Maryland last weekend. Sort of a wrap-up, if you will.

Lesson #1: Take better pictures of the booth BEFORE people trek in. It's awfully hard at a busy show to get a picture of the space without someone in it. (Not that I'm complaining about the constant foot traffic, by any means.)

There's me! Totally oblivious to the camera, as ushe.

Lesson #2: Bring watermelon. Luckily, one of my booth neighbors, Meghan of Oh Ginger, had this one down pat and was willing to share.

Lesson #3: A tent is a damn good idea. I was able to borrow one from a friend, but if that can't be an option all the time, it'd be worth it to invest in one. No sunburn OR heatstroke. Sweet.

Lesson #4: Bring change. I know this sounds obvious, but I woke up at 5:15 that morning in a cold sweat, realizing I had totally neglected to get any change. I sent Dan (who took all these lovely photos) to Starbucks to buy something with a $20 and get me through the early-early morning, and then again to get more ones and fives. (Maybe lesson #4 should really be, "Write a checklist now for supplies to bring with me because checklists written the day before are going to forget something.")

Lesson #5: Position the goods in their natural environment. This one comes from the lovely Sara at Girls Can Tell, who put up a post last month about booth displays, wondering why we put things on tabletops when everyone else is putting things on tabletops. (Obviously this does not apply to everyone, but for the sake of generality, bear with me.) I really wanted a small rolltop desk that I could file all the lovely stationery-y stuff in, but what found me was this table from my old housemate when we were vacating the premises in early May. The conversation went something like this:

Him: [shoves desk to curbside trash pick up]
Me: OMG, you're not tossing that, are you?
Him: Why, you want it?
Me: YES. [saves]

It looks much nicer here than in my old alley, doesn't it? It's also got handy drawers for hiding things -- when they're not open to showcase stuff, like the top one. Future incarnations of this desk may be painted the same blue as the interior of my new apartment, but time was a factor.

The desk area of the booth display. See also: lesson #1.

Lesson #6: Wander more. Dan very kindly kept offering to let me look around and visit with fellow crafty folks, but I felt guilty leaving my booth for longer than it took to dash to a bathroom. I need to get over that; I only got to chat with Becky of thischickadee (or Miss Chickadee, as we call her in my house) and tina seamonster very briefly while on my way to check in; the only reason I got to talk to Meghan and Pang (of Pretty Little Fings) as much as I did was because they were my booth neighbors.

Lesson #7: Sell some of the better vintage maps that are still in good condition. (Want one? Email me or comment and I'll see what I can do on any requests for specific areas. I have lots of Asia, for sure.) They were definitely a hit and a nice draw to get people over to the booth. Next time we'll think it through a bit better and use some clothesline to hold 'em up. (Another nice draw was the vintage, sadly-not-working typewriter on the desk. "Look kids! A mouseless, monitorless computer!")

This was actually my first outdoor show, and I think I definitely got lucky weather-wise and location-wise for my first such experience. Thanks to all the friends and new faces who came out and chatted me up about my little shop!

Find me at the Handmade Mart on Sunday!

2009-05-30T21:41:00.005-04:00

Things have been crazybusy with work and moving; I'm finally in (if not settled) my new apartment, finally finished with a massive work event, and about to star with 49 of my friends at the Handmade Mart, tomorrow in Silver Spring, Maryland. If you're in the greater DC area, you should stop by and see the fabulosity!

I'm stoked to be booth neighbors with Oh Ginger and have such fantastic crafters like This Chickadee and Tina Seamonster in attendance. (Find me at booth 3, near Fenton Street.) Click here for the official details, and click here to see my Q&A vendor profile!

Well I'll be.

2009-04-27T14:35:00.006-04:00

I was really excited about Hello Craft's Summit of Awesome when I heard about it at the beginning of the year. People who I admired? Check. Full of useful information? Check. And IN DC (coughnotNewYork)? Check!

And then, of course, I realized it was the same weekend by which I needed to vacate my house. Dammit.

So I've sadly watched teh intarwebs get all abuzz about the Summit, about how fantastic it was going to be, about what neat people they have booked to speak to attendees. While I am excited about my big changes that are coming that weekend, I was sad that it had to coincide with such a cool event. I thought about going, but I couldn't justify spending money just to purposely neglect my moving responsibilities.

This weekend, though, I saw that a one-day pass was being given away. And, well, if I wasn't paying for the privilege of not packing... I decided to toss my ring in the hat.

And I'll be damned if that doesn't work out on occasion.

See you Saturday! I'll be the one stressing over whether I've properly cushioned my china when I ought to be paying attention to marketing and branding {craftgasm} .

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T14:46:00.003-04:00

I'm totally ganking and re-adapting Sara (from Girls Can Tell)'s idea for today's post. In honor of Earth Day, post your favorite eco-friendly shop in the comments. You can decide its eco-friendly-ness in whatever way you want -- using recycled materials, making a product that helps you create less waste, or making old things new again are all good definitions. You can give us a link to your own shop, but only if it meets the eco-friendly requirement AND if you link to another shop that is not yours that also is Earth-friendly. It's all about the community-building, folks. Spread the love! (To help you get started, here's a link to all tagged items from Team EcoEtsy members.)

One of my favorite shops for perusal is Chakra Pennywhistle, where you can find reclaimed fabrics made into sweet pillows like this one below. She's also a fellow Team EcoEtsy member like me, so that gives her some bonus points.

Lastly, in celebration of Earth Day, I'm offering a 20% discount on any item in the {craftgasm} Etsy shop! You have to order by the end of the day (I'm defining "end of the day" loosely -- just make sure the order is in before I wake up on Thursday morning), and in the "notes to seller" box at checkout, tell me your favorite eco-friendly tip. I may share the best tips here in the blog with a link back to whatever URL you'd like, so make 'em good!

I can't wait to see all the Earth-happy goodness you'll put in the comments!

Can I be six again?

2009-04-21T11:18:00.005-04:00

Photo courtesy of and taken by Leanne at See the Woods and the Trees.

Following the Craftzine Twitter feed has never disappointed me, and paid off once again with this genius idea from See the Woods and the Trees, linked to this morning. Leanne helped her daughter make a four room dollhouse using reclaimed catalog pages and some cardboard. The result is so cute that it makes me want to have a toddler of my own just to have a socially-acceptable excuse to play with it.

I think it could be made even more eco-friendly by using old cereal boxes or somesuch reused material as the walls. Want a second story? Place another layer of cardboard on top of the first floor, then make another level. (This gives you the chance to paste a floor down, too.)

Best of all, since the dollhouse folds up, it doesn't have to take up a lot of room when it's put away. You could have dozens of setups ready for mixing and matching, and only use a few inches of bookshelf space to store it all.

How'd I get so lucky?

2009-04-10T16:31:00.006-04:00

Floorplan courtesy of Dan; text, doors, and Easter-egg-looking radiator placement by me.

As I've mentioned, I'm getting ready to move in a few weeks. My boyfriend Dan and I just signed our lease yesterday for a one bedroom English basement in Dupont. It's very sweet, but as a one bedroom, it doesn't have a built in craft room, and we'll have to carve some space from the ample living room. We were trying different arrangements on the mostly-to-scale floorplan that Dan drew up last night, and I was stressing out, wondering if my extremely large, well-loved craft desk would fit and look right in the space.

Dan busied himself with the plan for a minute and before showing it to me said, "I don't know if I necessarily like or want this idea, but it's a thought."

He had drawn a bed in the living room's craft corner, leaving the entire bedroom open for crafting and office space.

Is it any wonder that I love this man?

Promos? Maybe some readers can help me.

2009-04-09T15:59:00.006-04:00

I have an entire bookshelf full of papery goodness in the form of stock photography books. These are glossy, thick, pretty books that are given to advertising firms by photography companies to entice the agencies to buy the rights to their images. This means they are perfect for collage, ATCs, and all sorts of other forms of papercrafting. A friend of mine who works for an ad agency found out his office would be throwing an entire roomful of these fabulous books in the trash, and let me and Meigh of NoPantsMcGee in after hours to cart as many away as we could carry. She had a hand-me-down SUV at the time, and we loaded that thing's cargo area and backseat FULL of these heavy books.

Unfortunately, they are not going to all fit in my new apartment. I'm moving from a large three-level Victorian rowhouse with five bedrooms, five people, and seven built-in bookshelves (three of which I took over) to a one-bedroom English basement (zero built-ins). This means I need to come up with a way to get most of them out of my house before moving to the new place.

This is where you come in.

Since they're so pretty and useful for upcycled crafting, I don't want to just recycle them -- I want them to go toward MAKING. And since I want them to go toward making, and I also make things, I want to launch some sort of viral marketing campaign about {craftgasm}, with a free book for participants, perhaps. But the cost of mailing out books individually to people would be too cost-prohibitive to manage. (Is it acceptable to ask for $3 to ship a free item to someone?)

What genius ideas have I not come up with yet? Shoot 'em to me in the comments. (Best idea gets a book!)

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

2009-03-25T16:50:00.007-04:00

I'm taking my first tentative steps into the world of plushies. Don't worry, I don't intend to start selling them at {craftgasm} just yet; this little guy is the first of a few gifts for baby-making friends of mine.

Because I know how much everyone loves a crappy cameraphone picture.

I found what looked like an easy-to-cut, easy-to-sew pattern from the lovely Wee Wonderfuls blog. The easy-to-cut part was right on the money, though I've found the instructions to be a little frustrating when one is doing this for the first time and also is cranky because she needs to eat her dinner, posthaste. For instance, after you sew the ears wrong-side together, there is no further instruction on flipping them right side out before sewing them onto the bunny. And the skinny nature of the ears makes it incredibly hard to do that anyway. I winged it by flipping them right side out with a big pin, a pencil with eraser (for inserting the pin), and a lot of tugging and patience. I hope they're not prematurely flipped, but it doesn't look like they are. (If so, I'll deal with that later and let you know.) Also, the instructions call for embroidering after he's sewn up, but my common sense said that would be better done now.

Turns out my sewing machine doesn't like small pieces of cotton jersey fabric (or big ones either, really), and since I was lazy and haven't added interfacing to them, I'm sewing this little dude up by hand as of right now. We'll see if I get frustrated enough to iron some interfacing on later.

In keeping with the {craftgasm} mantra, the fabric pieces are all reclaimed. The solid green and blue were stained t-shirts, and the blue gingham is leftover from someone else's crafting. The little bit of white and pink on the insides of the ears was scrap fabric left over after cutting quilt squares from an old baby onesie. The whole thing will probably be stuffed with fabric scraps when he's done, too; I dislike the feel of polyfil too much, especially for a baby. And since it might be entirely hand-sewn, I don't want the polyfil leaking out the sides after its first round in the washer.

Who could be frustrated with that sleeping little face for long? Probably a good thing, then, that his face was one of the first things I did. I'll try to remember that when I'm ready to set fire to the whole project after I'm all cramped up, needle in hand.

Happy Tuesday to me!

2009-03-17T19:28:00.005-04:00

You may remember oohing and ahhing over the lovely little Accessories of Old shop in Bethesda that I talked about. Owner and blogger Lisa recently had a contest -- and I was ever so surprised to read tonight to find out I'd won! I hadn't been keeping up on my blog reading while trying to get everything finished for the Homespun Yarn Party, so when I clicked the article today, I was just curious as to what the winning idea was. Turns out it was mine! Thanks so much, Lisa!

I'll be receiving the little sheep figures to put theory into practice as decorative knobs for yarn baskets soon. To save Lisa the trouble of mailing them, I may just have to swing up to Bethesda and stop by the store again. Oh darn!

Lisa is currently hosting a giveaway of some seriously cute Easter-colored vintage items, and though telling you about it dilutes my chance of winning, I love you enough to do it anyway.

2009-03-16T18:03:00.007-04:00

Your favorite crafter halfway through the day, as seen by Anne. The fabulous crafting apron is from Becky of This Chicakdee.

The Homespun Yarn Party was a huge success yesterday! There were TONS of people -- apparently there was a long line waiting for the noon opening, which can only be attributed to the excellent promotional work done by Paula of Woolarina and Jess (whose blog will be linked here once I'm able to find out if she has one).

Here's a low-quality camera phone picture of about 1/4 of the sellers' area.

I learned some bits about some of the items I make. For instance, reclaimed manila folder mini-journals sell faster than I can make them; the only evidence they ever existed is in the top photo because I found the materials on Friday, made them Saturday, and sold all of them Sunday. (They're the purple and vanilla colored notebooks up there.) Also, buttons are a hotter item among knitters than I'd ever thought, as long as they are buttons of skeins and sheep. And cards sell much better in packs than they do singly, so I'm thinking about packaging the existing ones up together, like with like. (Is it because they can be given as gifts, or because customers feel they're getting a better deal on 3 or 4 that they aren't with just one? What do you think?)

I also had a newly engaged couple inquire about custom work after looking at the reclaimed stationery sets -- they want envelopes made with specific maps' locations for their wedding invitations. I love the idea! I hope to work with them soon on those; I'd love to get more into custom orders.

The new-and-improved Reclaimed Stationery Sets, as taken by Anne.

I love when my little creations go out into the world and find happy homes. Thanks so much to all the folks who stopped by and said hello!

Incidentally, I am going to be rescuing several hundred maps from a prominent publisher's recycling bin tomorrow, and will need lots of new projects to make with them. If you have anything in mind, feel free to get in touch with me! They're 2' x 3' to 4' x 6' so they can be used for pretty much anything. (Need some wallpaper?)

Homespun Yarn Party tomorrow!

2009-03-14T19:08:00.003-04:00

I don't have much free time because of tomorrow's craft fair, but I wanted to share these with you:

Ignore the messiness of the dining room table (and the low quality of my camera phone) and enjoy the prettypretty papers I've been playing with this week. These are now packaged up as the new and improved, all-maps-all-the-time Reclaimed + Upcycled Stationery Sets for the Homespun Yarn Party; they'll be in the {craftgasm} shop next week!

Can't wait until then? Stop by the Homespun Yarn Party from 12 - 5 on Sunday, March 15 and snap some up in person!

2009-03-04T18:12:00.005-05:00

Image by The Handmade Movement.

I just learned via Etsy about sneak attacks on new Etsy sellers by The Handmade Movement. Despite the alarming-sounding name, the goal is a worthy one -- give a newer Etsy member a boost by having as many people as possible buy an item from them all at once. How fun!

The sneak attacks are announced at 7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so head over to check out who the latest victim is! (I'll be on my commute home during tonight's, but they assure readers that participating a little bit late is okay. )

2009-03-03T19:00:00.002-05:00

I've been on vacation (the charming and lovely and EFFING HILLY San Francisco) and doing an insane amount of decluttering the past couple weeks, so while I treasure the time I get on the Metro to read others' blogs, I haven't had time or energy to post to my own. Silly, I know.

However, I promise a blog post every other day leading up to the Homespun Yarn Party on March 15th, where you will be able to find me, other crafters, and a crapton of fiber artists. How's that for a deal?

However, to buy myself a bit of time before my next-promised post (and because I'm only able to find time right now because I'm waiting for my fabulous boyfriend to finish up a project before we go get dinner), I'm going to let you vote in the comments what you want to see next. Evidence and progressive pictures of my craft area/bedroom's destashing and decluttering? Pictures from San Francisco of all the awesome stores (mostly Daiso)? The evolution of {craftgasm}'s Etsy shop as I retake pictures of products? I'll get to them all eventually, but what do you want to see first?

Hey, adoring public. Yeah, you.

2009-02-10T23:34:00.002-05:00

I am going to San Francisco (or really, anywhere else on the West Coast) for the first time on Friday for the long weekend and meant to ask: what should a crafty gal, thrift store goddess, and urbanism nerd like me not miss?

I'll be sure to take a bajillion pictures of all the flea market awesomeness that I manage to come across.

Also, excitingly, I will be a vendor at this year's Homespun Yarn Party in Savage, Maryland on Sunday, March 15! I jut got the confirmation tonight, so I will add more details as I learn them. But mark the date and start planning your weekend! I've never been to Savage, so I can't give you tips on the best way to get there (tip: not Metro), but as I figure it out, I shall share.

Bird-themed EcoEtsy Treasury

2009-02-05T17:07:00.002-05:00

Thanks to the EcoEtsy Twitter feed, I found out about Treasury West opening up this afternoon. I grabbed a spot and, inspired by the flock of birds in my tree this morning and with Valentine's Day coming up, made it lovebird themed. The items are all EcoEtsy team members, so if you snap anything up, rest assured they have green business practices!

Accessories Of Old

2009-02-03T19:42:00.015-05:00

I am going to alert you right now that this post is going to consist entirely of pictures from my Saturday trip to Accessories of Old. Side effects may include jealousy, moaning, and the repeated urge to craft. You have been warned.

They have a wall FULL of buttons. It was amazing.

Vintage barrettes!

For someone who doesn't do a whole lot with her long hair, I sure did take a lot of photos of the hair accessories.

Lisa, the shop's owner, has very smartly bagged up variety packs from which customers can choose. The pretty scrapbook paper in the background is the main color of items in the package. They include a combination of all sorts of things, like a length of lace, various buttons, and ribbons. All vintage, of course. (I snagged a package of two different colors of sunny yellow velvet ribbon.)

Vintage trim, still wrapped on its original package. How cute are those little printed faces?

Lovely gift tags for that lovely person for whom you are buying gifts at Accessories of Old.

So, when are you going?

Brick and mortar and pixels.

2009-02-01T14:58:00.002-05:00

My friends Meigh and Christina, the crafty ladies at NoPantsMcGee, sent an email to me earlier this month:

"Ohmygodohmygodohygod. We're going, yes?"

After Inauguration Madness and their return from the Outer Banks, we managed to make time this weekend, and oh my goodness, I am so glad we did. Accessories of Old sells vintage sewing notions almost exclusively, along with a few other pretty gifts and vintage items. Lisa, who we met along with husband Andrew, keeps the store's blog up-to-date with pretty pictures and projects she's working on. I took a bunch of pictures, but foolishly left my camera's cord at my office, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see my goodies.

Another adorable, localish store is Three Potato Four, based in Reston, VA (though their shop is an online-only set-up). I have always enjoyed their inventory, especially because of the beautiful way in which they style their photos. Imagine my excitement, then, when Etsy used TPF's Sneak Peek at Design*Sponge to come up with a Get the Look: Decor article for them. (Mostly my excitement stemmed from not having known there was a Sneak Peek of them!)

I love peeking into other people's well-appointed homes, especially with my own move coming up in a few months. I need to curate and cull what I have here to make it easier to get everything to the new place in an economical and timely fashion -- not to mention that I don't need so much stuff. I'll likely be updating with my adventures in downsizing, so feel free to share any experiences you've had on getting stuff out of your life, and any lessons I should learn from you!

Excellent news!

2009-01-30T18:39:00.003-05:00

Etsy is reporting that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has granted a one-year stay for enforcement of the CPSIA rules to review the issues that have been raised by small businesses.

This is fanfreakingtastic news for both small businesses that create items for children and for families that want to buy high-quality, unique, and natural toys and clothes for their kids. Keep up on what further work needs to be done to make sure the exemptions are granted in the next year, but today I think we can give ourselves a pat on the back for all the letters we've written and calls we've made that have helped this day arrive. Hooray!

My first Treasury!

2009-01-30T16:42:00.004-05:00

I rarely look at Etsy Treasuries because they're just SO overwhelming. To have the usual 400+ lists of 12-16 items each is a little more stimulation than my feeble mind can take. (Plus, I would never get any work done!) But I happened to pop in there this afternoon, and there were 335 lists, and it needed to drop only below 333 to snatch one up.

My thought process (which often resembles a conversation among very good friends) was something like this:

"No way."
"Are you f[lipp]ing serious?"
"Refresh, refresh. It must be a mistake."
"I am refreshing, chill out!"
"OK, OK."
"Well lookit that. It's for real. For real-for real."
"So what the hell are we going to post?"
"Sh[oo]t, we have to do that first, don't we?"
"Add some fellow EcoEtsy teammates' stuff, obvi."
"Well, duh. But a theme, a theme! My kingdom for a theme!"
"Go with what you know."

Which, my friends, is why I have a map-themed Treasury over at Etsy right now. I included items that were just plain gorgeous as well ones that had maps of places near and dear to my heart (New York, Florida, and of course, DC). Enjoy!

Linkity links and a question.

2009-01-28T11:18:00.004-05:00

After the exhaustedness of last week's Inauguration, and the exhaustedness of the excitement leading up to Inauguration, I've been totally pooped. (What excitement, you may ask? Well besides the peaceful transfer of leadership to the first minority leader of the free world, there was also the small matter of being invited to the White House on Wednesday, January 21. Yeah, that picture was taken from inside the gate.) Plus, DC was amazingly vibrant and dense with all our houseguests and various visitors coming for the festivities. It was fabulous to ride Bianca down the street and have groups of people respond to her bell with cheers. I'm sad that people have left and cars have returned.

In other fun news, my landlord determined my house's roof leak was caused by the heating system's expansion tank, which was housed in my closet. The back of my closet. The back of my deep closet. At least removing three years' of stored stuff from it (plus my clothes) means I have an opportunity to sort through and donate a ton of it to help me get ready for the big move in April. Unfortunately, this requires me to get it off my crafting area's floor in a reasonable amount of time. Sigh. I'll be doing that the next couple of evenings, rather than the much funner creating of new stuff.

Long story short, to tide you over, I'm going to link you to some fabulosity that you hopefully haven't come across before (or that you should rediscover if it's been a while). I can't remember where I first heard about all of these, so I apologize for the lack of hat tips.

} Open Drawer, a de-stash Etsy shop run by the woman behind d. Sharp and the d. Sharp blog.

} Dating a Banker Anonymous girls, a terrifying-if-true blog where women dating bankers in the financial meltdown can commisserate about their suddenly lower-rolling lifestyles.

} Angry Chicken, the blog written by Amy Karol that has now inspired me to eat much, much better (once I move out of my group house requiring me to share a somewhat-gross refrigerator with four other people, that is). Oh, and there are occasionally beautiful projects.

} Chez Larsson, a blog written by Benita, who has a lovely sense of simplicity in her Swedish home. It's a little heavy on the white for me to live with every day, but I do enjoy the tips on organizing and decluttering.

Semi-relatedly, is anyone interested in swapping before-and-after blog posts about crafting or studio spaces? I know I could use some motivation in getting my space cleaned up of things that don't belong in it, as well as better organized.

And the winner is,,,

2009-01-22T21:35:00.003-05:00

I fully intended to post the winner of the celebratory-hearts drawing yesterday, but I was a little derailed by spending the afternoon with 399 of my closest friends at the White House, hanging out with my new BFF Michelle. (Yes, for real. It was awesome.)

So, a day late, I'd like to announce that Ashley M. is the winner, as determined by the scientific hat-pull performed by my coworker! Congrats, Ashley.

The rest of you need not despair, however. From now until the end of the month of January, put "Happy Inauguration!" in the notes to seller and receive 20% off your order! After receiving payment, I'll issue the discount back through PayPal.

Hooray!

50+ and counting!

2009-01-15T11:49:00.006-05:00

I was so happy to watch my hearts climb upward last night, reaching 50 shortly after midnight (Eastern time, that is). I went to bed super-excited.

So imagine how thrilled I was to wake up and see that people had continued adding me to their faves even after the goal was reached! I'm currently at 52 -- and of course, always welcome more hearts! Thank you so much for your support.

As promised, to celebrate I'm going to host a giveaway of a handmade product of mine. I have been getting feedback about the Recycled Stationery Letter Sets --people love the maps and want more of them in the package. The map envelopes are time consuming to cut, so to keep costs down for customers, I had only included one map envelope in each packet, and used reclaimed envelopes for the rest of the set. But so many people have found the letter sets while searching for maps that I am going to split the product line. There will be a set with all map envelopes and blank labels, and then a set with all reclaimed envelopes with handmade map stickers at a lower price point. This will more accurately reflect the skill and time that go into making each letter set.

I'll be repackaging all of the letter sets this weekend to reflect the change, and I'll post here once they're live in my Etsy shop. However, one lucky commenter will be able to get the very first revamped set! If you want to play, leave a comment here with either a) your re-use resolution for 2009, or b) why you like something in my Etsy shop, along with a bot-proof email address to reach you. (While not required, you are more than welcome to pimp my giveaway on your own blog, linking back to this post.) To celebrate the United States' new beginning along with the new beginning of the Recycled Stationery Letter Sets, comments will have to be received by 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, January 20th. I'll use the scientific method of putting the entries in a box on Wednesday and pull one out. The winner will be posted here (maybe along with some pictures I take at Inauguration?), so tune in!

And, of course, if you want to heart {craftgasm} you are still more than welcome to do so. ;)

50 hearts by midnight?

2009-01-14T17:19:00.002-05:00

I just looked at my Etsy shop's hearts and found that 45 people have listed me among their faves -- that's so exciting! Now I'm eager to reach the big 5-0 milestone. If {craftgasm} reaches 50 hearts by midnight (I'll even make it Pacific time, to help up the ante), I'll offer up an item from the shop for a giveaway raffle here on the blog.

Sound fun? Let's go!

My first blog mention!

2008-12-29T12:55:00.003-05:00

A blog other than my own, that is.

The folks over at SuperEco, a blog about green living, included my Recycled Stationery Sets in their green last-minute gifts post on December 18th. I'd have never known if it weren't for Google Alerts, so I'm grateful for that -- and for the fact that I have a new blog to check every day! (Like I needed another one of those.)

I hope you had a very happy Christmas or Hanukkah (or for some of you luckies, both), and that your 2009 is fantastic!

Furoshiki! and other eco-friendly gift wrapping

2008-12-23T14:26:00.004-05:00

It's Christmas Eve-Eve and if you're like me, you are about to start wrapping your presents for your entire family before you leave tomorrow night for a six hour drive with your mother and tiny old dog leaving you no time once you're in New York to wrap them before Christmas morning. (OK, you may not be doing it exactly like that, but it's close.) I haven't got a ton of extra fabric that I need to part with, so furoshiki! (the exclamation is necessary) is not going to be my method of choice for last minute wrapping, but it is hella-cool. I imagine you could use some fabric presents as the gift wrap for others, too -- is anyone on your list getting placemats or towels?

Furoshiki Gift Wrapping - Funny videos are here

A pretty basket or box could be the gift wrap, too; everyone needs more storage solutions, and these can be found pretty cheaply new, or better yet, for dirt cheap at a thrift store.

If you are just looking for alternative paper, a newspaper with some ribbon makes quite a pretty picture (and if you don't believe me, I've seen similar at Anthropologie, and they know set-decorating like nobody's business). I'd recommend the classified ads, as all text with minimal disruption reads more like a neutral than headlines covering your presents. And colorful ads from magazines are good for small presents (tape multiple pages together for larger items).

This year, I'm using site plans from my office's recycling bins. I got ambitious last week and colored the fronts of buildings in the site plans with green garlands with red ribbons across the windows, but the black on white looks nice too. Last year, bus timetables taped together worked for me. (WMATA prints them in alternating hues of green, so it fit right in with my extended family's more traditional wrapping paper.) And don't forget just plain reuse of regular wrapping paper. We would use minimal tape and thriftily flatten the paper each year when I was younger to rewrap presents the next year, and it was not a big deal.

Hat tip to 365daysoftrash for the furoshiki! video. Quite a neat and thought-provoking blog he's got there.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

2008-12-08T13:46:00.011-05:00

I'm sure that folks have been constantly refreshing their browsers, anxiously awaiting the official blog-unveiling of my newest product line. No longer! The time has come!

After amassing a huge collection of stationery as "The Queen of Correspondence" (according to my friends), I started making my own when I couldn't find exactly what I wanted already being made. Enter the Recycled Stationery Sets. They are made entirely from reclaimed, reused, and repurposed papers. Notebooks, old ledgers, and abandoned printer papers are some of the sources of the sheets, and the envelopes are a combination of old maps and reclaimed stationery from an out-of-business company. (Their return address was on the back flap of the envelope, but it is now covered by a plain white label [also reclaimed from the trash heap] that is stamped to coordinate with the rest of the set.) Each set comes with six sheets of paper (two each in three designs), three envelopes (one map, two plain), and assorted stickers and labels made from maps. I'm thrilled with how well they've turned out!

You can see more details about them at my Etsy page, but feel free to ask any questions in the comments section!

How do you keep in touch with faraway friends? And how do you reuse any paper you find yourself swimming in?

The Lovely "Lovely Design"

2008-11-20T15:42:00.003-05:00

I planned for my next post to be about my ridiculously cute (if I do say so myself) stationery sets made from repurposed materials, but a troublesome camera and much more exciting news precludes that: Lovely Sharilyn of Lovely Design once again has her journey books in stock! For a long while, the only thing in stock has been the address file cards (which have totally been inspiring me; more on that later) because she's been busy raising her daughter, but we all benefit from these lovelies being back in her store. They're not going to last long, so if you want one, get it while you can!

She also writes a well-photographed blog; whenever it's updated, it's the best part of my blog-reading that day. Check it out!

I will update soon on the new-old stationery, I swear this time!

Weekend plans?

2008-11-08T19:39:00.001-05:00

I first discovered the art of sprucing up vintage suitcases at the recent Crafty Bastards event that Washington City Paper sponsors. (I've been to all of the Crafty Bastards events since I moved here three or four years ago, and can highly recommend them.) Final Approach had a booth there and I fell in love with their stenciling and designing of the hard-sided suitcases. As a kid, I remember our family had a set of light blue hard-sided cases, and theirs just brought back memories of packing those up for trips to my grandparents' lake cabin. I adore their (sadly already-sold) Abe Lincoln one.

Turns out they are not the only ones making adorably painted suitcases for a living. Another place I found on Etsy was GreyBrocket's shop. This deer suitcase is begging to come home to me, but I'm trying to cut down on spending on myself before the holidays. Perhaps he'll prance over to your house? And GetReadySetGo is the designer of the adorable birdies on the little blue suitcase. They were just made for weekend getaways.

I'm trying to buy most of the holiday gifts (that I don't make myself) on Etsy or in thrift stores. There's so much cute stuff that already exists that it seems pointless to add to the craziness by buying brand-new corporate crap for people.

Migrating over here from LiveJournal

2008-10-24T09:34:00.003-04:00

I'm going to be posting more regularly over here than I do at my current crafting blog. I'll put up stuff I'm working on for the craftgasm Etsy store, any upcoming fairs and shows where I'll be selling things, and general crafty awesomeness. Check out the old stuff at the old blog if you're curious, though, until new stuff pops up here.

Thanks for stopping by!