a personal project

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

...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

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

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!

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

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 rescued 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.

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

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

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

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...)