Urban Stitch Recap

It's hard to believe that it is almost Thursday! Work has been insanely busy and I haven't really had a chance to recuperate from all the crafting I did last week for Urban Stitch. Here are a few photos (thanks Chris!) of the event on Sunday. I had a good time and was thrilled, as usual, to meet other fantastic local designers. Lisa from Daveylady was stationed across the way from me and she had such great products. My favorite items were her one of a kind handbags. I love carpet bags so the temptation to buy one of her amazing upholstery clutch handbags was overwhelming. They were so soft and so well crafted. Just another item to put on my wish list. You can check out her website here here

Also be sure to check out my Etsy store next Monday. A lot of amazing new items will be available, including some adorable leather headbands!

Sunday in the City!!

Just a reminder that I will be at Urban Stitch this Sunday. Come check it out. I am still offering two complimentary tickets to get in. Otherwise it is $5 to spend a few hours shopping great local designer goods. It is taking place at a bar called Roe, which is located in Soma district of SF. Check it out their blog here to find out about other participating designers, tickets, and location. I am really, really hoping that this "thunderstorm" doesn't happen this weekend. Not that I don't like a little rain, but I want to enjoy the sun this weekend!! Also, I have a few new items that I will be debuting there as well. I might give you a sneak peek tomorrow so stay tuned.

Etsy Store is Officially Open!

My Etsy Store has officially launched!! Check it out Here I only have a few items posted and but I will be posting new items through out the week. I have finally admitted getting the store packed with goodies is going to be a little slow going. But that's okay! I am also offering free shipping until the end of August to help celebrate the opening of my store.

And I already sold my first item on Saturday night!! This lovely fabric hair shell now belongs to a lady in San Diego. I really hope she enjoys it. I came up with this design last week and am actually planning on making more of them in a variety of colors and sizes. I think they are going to be a big hit (hopefully).

I am also officially participating in Urban Stitch this coming Sunday! It will be my first craft show in SF!

I am a little nervous but I think it is going to turn out to be a great experience. If you are in the area, stop by and say hi. They are charging a $5 admission fee, but I will be giving two complimentary tickets away to the first two people who email me this week!! I am also really digging the fliers they made!

New creations

I finally got my hands on a good camera and a few models! My etsy store is taking more time to launch than I thought. But while you are waiting here are a few images from my photoshoot of some super cute items that I just made!

Special thanks to Luz and Alison for modeling!!

I also found out today that I got accepted into a craft event called Urban Stitch taking place in SF later this month. I am so excited!

Delays and other things

I was really hoping to have my Etsy store up by Monday, but alas I hit a few roadbumps. I'm having a little trouble with my images but since my resources are limited I'm just going to have to use what I got. If I'm lucky, I'll get some professional photos done of my work soon. Right now I just want to get my store started!! I have also been trying to stock up on my merchandise. Lately I have been working on making these hair fans or seashell clips (not sure what to call them yet). Here is a photo of Polly from Pollyannacowgirl wearing the first one I ever made. They take forever to make but they look amazing! I also found out that Handmade Nation is premiering in SF this Friday. This film is on a very limited, limited release and I want to see it sooo bad!! Unfortunately it is being shown way out at the Fort Mason Center in SF which you can only really get to by car. I have yet to decide if I will make the trek out there to see it. Check out the preview for the film below:

Little Gifts

My friend Kelly had her birthday yesterday so I spent this week crafting some little gifts for her. She has an adorable Pug named Ziggy and Jenny Hart from Sublime Stitching just happened to post this new free pug embroidery online a couple weeks ago. So I got to test it out and make this cute little bag for her. Perfect for holding little doggy treats.

I also had to make her a signature Crooked Sister fabric flower. So I came up with this simple little black flower that can be either a hair piece (just pin to a hairband) or a brooch. I hope she enjoys them.

This weekend I'll be photographing my merchandise for my etsy store. If all goes well, it should be up and running by Monday. So exciting!!

Warning!! Creative Genuis Below

I've been on an embroidery kick lately and have been trying to figure out how to make embroidery brooches that don't look cheap. Of course, I decided to search the web to see if anything came up and I just happened upon this amazing lady, Elsita. And boy am I jealous! Not only is this woman an amazing embroider (and makes killer embroidery brooches that sell out in seconds!) but she has a thing for making paper cut-outs just like me! While I tend to struggle with my creative edge of papercutting and embroidery composing, Elsita is just flowing with innovative ideas. Here is one of her pieces: Not only is she super talented, but she happens to be from one of my favorite socialist countries, Cuba, and is, well, gorgeous. If you are not jealous yet, maybe her 3 amazing blogs will make your hair turn green with envy. Her style blog is Here. Her regular blog Here. A blog specializing in paper-cut outs (my favorite) is over Here. And don't forget to check out her etsy store. She is the kind of lady that you want to despise, but you just can't! Instead, I admire Elsita and her unwillingness to compromise one of the most important elements of life, creativity.

Weekend Endeavors

This weekend I started a new embroidery project. I have been wanting to embroider on black/dark fabric for awhile, but have not found the right transfer paper for it. I finally discovered a crafting tracing paper that I am trying out. It works okay, but not great. The transfer is really chalky and impermanent, which means it smears pretty easily. I am working on creating a small black canvas clutch bag with a white buck on it for kittinhawk. I am doing a test run this weekend to see how it looks and what type of stitches I should use. I plan on accenting most of the deer with a metallic silver thread, something I am not looking forward to. Metallic thread is a bitch to embroider with, but it makes everything so much prettier.:)

Here is a preview:

I also went on a great bike ride down to Jack London Square to check out Volta Press's new open studio.

Volta Press is run by John and Laureen. They are a great local letterpress company and super, super nice folks!

I loved how they their letterpress set up for people to use. Interactive events are the best.

Here are a few photos of their table from the Craft Bazaar.

My close friend had his birthday this week and I made him an awesome gift: a Beer Box!!

The box wasn't anything fancy since I was sort of in a rush but the beer was great!!

For those of you who don't know, I love beer. I especially love good beer that tends to be on the more expensive side (slight downfall). I can drink a bud light every now and then, but really well brewed speciality beers is what I am all about. So I made a few amazing selections from Star Grocery for my friend and to say the least he was very happy. The Japanese Hitachino Nest Ginger brew and the Hopfen Weisse by Schneider Weisse are my favorite.