What I Want for Christmas...

Crocheted Dinosaur Skull by knittingneedle

PLEEEEASE.....

New stuff...

I have many new things that I have been selling that I just haven't gotten up on my etsy site. The Thanksgiving break has provided me with a nice opportunity to get some stuff photographed and ready to be put up - so these should be coming to my little shop in the next day or two!Japanese Flower Necklace


Shadow Cellular Necklace


Bud Posts

No sleep 'til Pittsburgh!

So, I kind of fell off the face of the earth. Things have been very crazy preparing for the holiday shows. This is a little recap of our first big show Handmade Arcade. We had a lovely time ( minus the snow on the Pennsylvania Turnpike) and got a little vacation out of it to boot.The lovely Pittsburgh skyline.

This is me. I am cold. I was cold for two days. This is before I bought a stocking cap from another vendor.
An AMAZING Elementary school we found while slightly lost. The whole doorway was this very elaborate, beautiful menagerie.

Textures

I took a lot of pictures of nice texturey things in Pittsburgh - here are a few of my favorites:

I love the brick side walks that they have, their colors are much more interesting than they are here in Baltimore.


These are funky little stunted ginko leaves.


You know what this is, but I like the way that it looks...

We went to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. I took many very bad pictures of birds there. Birds just don't hold still. Dammit. I did manage to get this nice feather shot of one of the birds, though.

Yeah! Goin' to New York!

I got into the Bust Holiday Craftular! It is going to be Dec. 8th up in Manhattan! I am going to have to make SOOOO much work for this. It is going to be absolutely amazing and HUGE. Apparently they are having around 300 vendors this year. I'll see you in New York!

AVAM - Finally!

Kasimir and I went to the American Visionary Art Museum FOR THE FIRST TIME last Friday. This is utterly shameful. We've lived in Baltimore for years and never gotten around to going. I admit I expected it to be neat, but that's about it, but the museum totally rocked me. The work that is there is so moving and personal, you are almost peaking into someones soul. I loved it.

The have a special exhibition going on now called All Faiths Beautiful which shows work that explores people ideas, hopes, and relationships with whatever god they worship. Part of this exhibition includes hundreds of postcards from Postsecret. I consider this the most moving part of the exhibition - you are literally reading people's secrets. I'll admit some of them made me cry.

Devotion

This piece, called "Devotion" was one of my Senior Project Thesis pieces. I recently had to bring the image out for an event at school and I had forgotten how lovely it was. Most of that is probably due to my lovely model Sanghee... I miss you Sanghee!

Yeh! Heap!

I found out yesterday that I was accepted to the Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap. It is taking place Dec. 1st in the BEAUTIFUL St. John's Church in Charles Village (Baltimore). The last show was amazing, so I can only expect this one to be even better. Here is their site for more information and an eventual vendor list.

vinyl, vinyl, vinyl

So , apparently, right now I am obsessed with putting vinyl decals on EVERYTHING. Here are a few that I'm not sure if I can live without.

Jellyfish Toilet Vinyl Graphic by Vital

Vinyl Laptop Decal by thosmhicks

Hedgerow Wall Graphic by ellynelly

This whole vinyl trend takes me right back to 3rd grade when I decided to decorate my entire room with stickers - hundred and hundred of stickers. I am still working on getting off all of the dried on sticker grossness from my childhood bookshelf. I love this stuff.

free day!

So Kasimir and I both had a day off together this last Friday (shocking). We hopped on the train and went over to D.C. for the day. Here are a few of highlights:


We finally found the Andy Goldsworthy that is outside of the National Gallery. I have, sadly, looked for it a couple of times before and never found it. This time around, we just kind of stumbled onto it.



This little bug was trying his hardest to destroy Kasimir with his pinchers in Jackson Park. Needless to say, Kasimir survived.


The most ridiculously beautiful sunset sky.

studio shots!

Here are a couple of studio shots - I am (hopefully) going to be selling my "Power" necklace. I am taking it apart and giving it a good cleaning. Here is a picture of its skeleton:

Here is a shot of my pieces that I have made for my Sphere Earrings. It is so satisfying to see so may things all spread out.

wall art

K and I are on the hunt for stuff to hang on our very bare walls. Here are a few of my favorites from etsy:

Specimen No. 2 by wondercabinet

Central Park March 6th 1890 print by ohmycavalier

you are the one I want most of all print by project8256

Happy Day = Quilt Day

My mother is officially addicted to making quilts- she is finishing one every few weeks at this point. So as is inevitable - my mother has made me a new quilt! I just got it today and am quite pleased. It is made entirely out of Civil War-era reproduction fabrics. It was so much fun picking out the fabric for it - I needed five or six patterns and ended up with a dozen.
Here it is:
These are a couple of my favorite patterns!

Before and After...

I love these kinds of shots - the pieces waiting to get put together into something grand! SO here we go: The before shot -The after shot. Ta Da! Hopefully I'll get them photographed properly and up on etsy today!

Embarrassing Confession -

I can't figure out how to make the pictures on the right side of the blog (Handmade Arcade and Trunkt banners) into links. Help? How embarrassing.

time machine 2 finds

More things I would love to get my grubby little hands on....

Trilobite Pendant by Neurasthenia

Gocco Bear Monster Print by Matte Art

Ninja Espresso Cups by Lobi's Shop

Birch Bark Tubes by Small Stump

beautiful but deadly

Aren't these beautiful? They are our haul from our bush of Thai chili peppers. They are only about 1cm long from top to bottom, but they are unbelievably hot! At least they are good lookin', even if I am a little scared of them.

Trunkt!

I got into Trunkt! AHHH! For those of your who are not familiar with the world of Trunkt - it is a self-described "buyer's guide to independent art and design" where you apply for porfolio positions to highlight your work for potential buyers. It is a lot of fun to look through - tons of great work to drool over, so make sure you have a chunk of time before you dive in.

The jewelry catagory is super competitive and I thought that I didn't have a chance! You can see my bare-bones porfolio here. I'm gonna have to add and edit a lot over the next couple of days! Who needs sleep!

fanciness at the walters

The Walters Art Museum is holding "Timeless Treasures: Jewelry Fair at the Walters" Nov. 15-18. They are going to be having a fair where 25 jewelers are going to be selling work - including Carla Reinter whose work is pictured above.

They are also going to have a lecture Fri., Nov. 16 entitled "Great American Jewelers 1930-1980" at 10 a.m. for those of you who don't work a 9-5.

There are other events including demonstrations and group tours of the Walters jewelry collection.

curtains, curtains, curtains

I am picking out curtains for my new studio and have a couple of finalist. I do quite like this guy from Urban Outfitters.


Or maybe this curtain panel, I do love the old lady color and pattern.....

hmmmmm......

lovely!

Last night I ditched the closing reception that I was suposed to go to and went and saw Regina Spektor instead down at Ram's Head Live! I chose wisely. She was so wonderful and charming. She is AMAZING live and I highly recommend you see her if you get the chance. I am embarrassed to admit that I was so into the concert that when she started playing my favorite song as the FIFTH song of her encore, I squealed and jump up and down. (that was Samson, by the way) I loved it.

While I was gone....

So, I finally have my computer back, thank goodness! While I was forced to be off-line I got my butt into gear and actually started getting my home studio going! I have only really painted so far, but what an improvement... the people who sold us the house had painted EVERYTHING upstairs this awful orange sherbert color. Why? They loved ugly, apparently.

I'll post more "in progress" shots as it comes along!

You can see the last little bit of orange sherbert peaking out here. Goodbye, forever!

Craftland!

I just found out that I was accepted into Craftland! It is a consignment gallery that goes up in Providence for the holiday season. My stuff will be there from Dec. 1-22... joy!

Handmade Arcade!

AAHHH! I got into Handmade Arcade!

I am terribly excited! The show is in Pittsburgh November 10th and 11th.... yey! I'll post more details later - but I wanted to share the good news immediately!

Zoop! Zoop!

If you could not easily recognize the title of this post, here it is: that is the sound of me defending the world from SPACE INVADERS. I just found this awesome mobile at Pixelparty's Etsy shop and had to share!

Corey Ackelmire

I was just thinking about her work LAST NIGHT while I was brushing my teeth and today I find out (thanks to Megan) that she has a new blog and and etsy page! Ha!

Time Machine 2

Some fun things from Etsy's Time Machine 2:

baby goat print by yumiyumi

Mixed-media artwork by HiCutiePie

lovely scarf by Scissorstitch

Steel Earrings by gemmafactrix