Ventura 4th of July Street Fair

It is going to be a hectic week to be sure! I cant wait for the Annual 4th of July Ventura Street Fair where HannahMade and I will be sharing a booth (#217). My Summer Sale will be continuing in-person at the fair, so if you are in the area, dont miss out!! There will be over 300 vendors, non-profit booths, live entertainment and lots of food. The fair is up and own Main Street just blocks from the beach. It is going to be an awesome day! Be sure to bring lots of cash. Lots of vendors, including us, only accept cash (preferred) and checks.

Sunday July 8th will be the Glendale Artwalk. I will be participating with a few other artisans, including the uber-talented CJ Metzger, and my gal Tyn Atol! More info to come on that later in the week. One event at a time!

Last minute crafting!!

Sorry for the last minute notice, but I just got word from Tyn that her Mini quilt class at Creative Courage will be taking place tomorrow morning (6/30) at 11 am. There is still room for walk-ins, so please come hang out and craft with us!

(All images courtesy of Pookieville)

IF: Twist

When I think of the word twist, I think of dancing. This piece is a recently finished commission. I think she could leap, twist and glide her way across any stage!!

Happy dancing!

Secret Sale!

I have just spent the entire afternoon creating a Secret Sale blog! I did not want to leave all of my blog friends out of the big sale prices I will be offering at the Ventura Street Fair. If you click over here you will be taken to a page with over a dozen larger scale pieces all marked down 25%.

This sale will go through July 3rd online, and then in-person on the 4th of July at the Ventura Street Fair. I will be clearing the blog after the 3rd, so hurry and act now!

There are "Buy It Now" buttons below each piece. When you click over shipping will be added.

Please email me if you have any questions or would like to combine shipping!

Swag bag goodies for Felt Club!

Yay! Today I finished assembling my 250 pin packs to be added to the swag bags for the upcoming XL Summer Felt Club event! I drove out to Hollywood to deliver the goods and my oh my, are these swag bags gonna be AMAZING! This time around Felt Club has recruited some incredibly generous sponsors. Most will be contributing mind blowing swag! The first 250 people in line at the event on July 15th will receive bags filled to the brim with goodies from contributers such as Sublime Stitching, Craft Magazine, Adorn, Izze, Aranzi Aronzo, Naughty Secretary Cluband Chronicle Books, just to name a very few! What I wouldn't give to be in that line! Wowser!

Thank you!

Thank you Tante Betsy for this shout out!

Change in Plans

A last minute change in plans for this weekend. Tyn's class has been rescheduled (info to come) so I will be setting up a table and hanging out at a great neighborhood sale in Sherman Oaks!

Here are the details:

Garage Sale Extravaganza

When: June 23, 2007

Time: 7:00 am - 12:00 pm

Where: Chandler Estates Area (Between Hazeltine Ave., Woodman Ave., Burbank Blvd., and Chandler Blvd.) including the following streets Cumpston St., Albers St. Murietta St., Colbath Ave., Costello Ave., Ranchito Ave., Cantaloupe Ave., Matilija Ave., and Mammoth Ave.

Go to 13900 Albers St, Sherman Oaks, for maps of houses participating in the Garage Sale Extravaganza.

I will be at a home on the corner of Albers and Ranchito, just across the street from where the maps will be handed out. This is a very lovely neighborhood full of big lavish estates and I am sure not to miss sale items! If you enjoy going to Garage sales, this is not to be missed!

Regeneration

On Tuesday I took a drive out to Eagle Rock to meet Kelly Witmer, owner of the awesome shop Regeneration! Everything in Regeneration is made from recycled and re-purposed materials, and it was all gorgeous!

While I am excited to say that Kelly is now carrying my work, that is only the precursor to a show that I will be doing at the shop in August! More info to come once I have figured out the theme for the show, but I am so excited and couldn't wait to share!

(Image courtesy of Regeneration)

How are your health habits?

Just a quick pop in today as I am busy working on commissions and putting together my swag bag goodies for the Felt Club next month!

You have to check out this hysterical report card from the early 1920's. Do you breath properly? Man, I would have failed half of this stuff, but it still would have been easier than Algebra! LOL

Back tomorrow with new show news! Happy Wednesday!

Just for starters: Mini-Quilt Class with Tyn

Last week I was left the following comment on this blog about finding craft classes in L.A.:

Hi Michelle,
I just discovered your . . . I was wondering if you had any advice for people like me, interested in collage and mixed media, but I don't know where to learn new techniques. I always make my own little cards for friends but I'd love to try new stuff and make bigger pieces. Any suggestions? I live in LA too. Thanks! Simone

I have been inspired by Simone and know that it can be really hard to find places in your surrounding communities to take classes. I am putting out a call on Creative Swoon to anyone who has a favorite spot to take a class, or if you own a shop and offer classes, please let me know. This is not just limited to LA. I will post on Creative Swoon about anywhere in the US!

To get things started I want to share that this weekend (6/23) I will be taking my dear friend Tyn's Mini quilt class at Creative Courage. This is a no-sew project and I have so loved the ones Tyn has made! I cant wait to learn learn learn! We would love to have you come and join us and spend a crafty afternoon!!!

(Images courtesy of Pookieville)

Revlon: Last Day to Donate!

Just a quick reminder that today is the very last day to make a donation to the Revlon Run/Walk Foundation to help support research and funding for Womens Cancers. The race was back on May 12th, 2007 and Jamey, Adam and I had a great time completing the course and then watching a Pat Benetar concert! She rocks!

As I said in April, I am still offering anyone who makes a donation of any size 10% of an ENTIRE ORDER from my Etsy Shop!

If you are so inclined you can see photos from the day here.

IF: Rejection

Poor Matthew! He often finds himself on the heels of rejection but he is getting help so that one day he will annunciate and speak clearly and nab the girl of his dreams!

Stretching it this week!!! Hard topic!
Happy weekend!!

decor8 interview~

Today Holly of decor8 posted an interview that she did with me! You gotta check it out!! Thank you Holly!

Reorganized and it feels so good! Sing it with me~!

A few weeks ago I was super slammed with commissions and trying to get work done for So Co and Little Monster when I decided that that would be a good time to stop everything and reorganize my studio. Since the space is only a 10'x10' bedroom in my house every inch must be used effectively, and that just wasn't happening. I constantly found myself at the dining room table, or on the floor in our entry when I had multiple projects going at once. One morning I made a very sleep-eyed decision that I had had it and just started moving things around. This is nothing new for me. I used to do these types of big re-arrangings on a whim all through my childhood. When I was 13 I actually took a knife to my Laura Ashley wallpaper because it was just so time for a change . . . but that is a story for another day.

Anyway! So by the end of the day my closet space had been stacked sky high, which was so much smarter than it was before. Now all of my files and the TV and the button making materials, etc have a home that isn't the floor! Yay for floor space!

On his way home from work Tom stopped and bought a cheapy door to fashion into a counter top for me. Lets face it, I am going to destroy it anyway, so it doesn't have to be granite! Just something I can cover with glue, and not worry about catching with the exacto! The file drawers (Ikea!) that couldn't fit in the closet made a great table base. I can still get my legs under the surface and work comfortably! Tom also sawed a shelf in half that he had made me for my previous set up so that my giant printer would have somewhere to live. Thank GOD he is handy and has power tools!!

My most recent epiphany was that I could make the far right table all about sewing. This way the sewing machine stays off the dining room table for most projects, and is in easy reach so that I have a hope of finishing the projects I started with my initial enthusiasm. Once I put it in the closet in February (!!) when we had visitors it stayed there and I just forgot about it! That is not good since now I cant wait to get back into the sewing! Make it accessible and I will do it!

Oh, and the ball! That is the best "chair" ever! We had to notch the table so that the ball would go under and store itself there, but I can easily pull it out and roll it over to the other work surface in a heart beat, and my back or ass wont kill at the end of the day because I have been sitting on a hard surface for 12 hours! Funny but true!

Also, Charlie can hide under the table and be out of site when the ball is stored. He loves it under there! So now we are all happy and it is back to work!

Experimentation

I have been experimenting with creating pieces on wood. I love the wood grain coming through, and the organic feeling of the surface.
This one is Talia4, and she is now available in my shop!

Prints framed!

I was perusing blogland a couple days ago when I came across this awesome photo on a blog belonging to Anastasia, a client of mine in Australia! (Very cool blog by the way!) I was so excited to see how someone has framed my prints and so I immediately had to email and ask if I could blog about the pic!

I love the frames! Thank you so much Anastasia for lending me your pic!

Mr. Famous

A recent commission. I was lucky to get to met the real life Mr. Famous at the So Co Bazaar!! That was pretty cool!

Tote Bags

Lately I have been trying to make "green" changes to my life, and one of the most significant changes has been trying to conserve disposable materials. One of the coolest solutions I have found is to carry a tote bag with me when I leave the house to run errands or go to the grocery store. That way I dont have to collect tons of plastic bags at each stop. I can fill up my tote and when I get home everything is easily carried into the house!


I am very excited to announce that large Tote bags are finally available in my Shop! These have great long straps so everything is balanced well and you dont have and armpit full of bulky stuff! (I hate that!) They are 100% cotton canvas and are totally durable, and with 6 designs to choose from, pretty stylish if I do say so myself!

To help everyone get a little "Greener" I am offering free shipping on all tote bags now through June 17th. Simply enter the code "TOTE" in the message to seller box upon check out and wait for a revised invoice.

Happy Weekend!

IF: Suit

Today's IF theme is suit! Funny how the brain immediately goes to a mens 3 piece or business suit. I have been working on a series of vintage women in bathing suits at the beach, and it took a minute for me to change the direction of my thinking.

I think that is my favorite part of these IF exercises, the immediate thoughts that run into my head, and then the "and what else could it be" that I then go think about. One word carries so much initial thought. It is nice to stretch it and really sort of be creative with the theme. This is the part of school I kind of miss!

So here are the 3 ladies in their suits! I would rather be in this kind of suit, than the formal one! And that is saying A LOT! ;)
Happy weekend~

5280 Magazine

I am so excited to finally get to share the Illustration that I did for 5280, a local magazine in Denver! The whole project was so fun and I was honored to be asked to create the art. If you are in the area, make sure you check out the mag. I just got my first issue, and it is awesome, even though I live in Los Angeles!


Thank you Alese!! This project was a dream! I LOVED working with you and am so delighted by the final printed article! xoxoxox

Weekend Update

What a crazy weekend! As I mentioned in my post last week, this past weekend was the So Co Bazaar. It was a lovely afternoon overlooking the ocean! I met lots of awesome people, including my blog friend Christine Adolph, who I am with in the above photo! It was so awesome to finally get to meet her and her gorgeous family in person! She was so kind and sweet! Thank you Christine!!!


Monday was the Little Monster Market at the Sunnyside Pre-School in Studio City, CA. We (for anyone who doesn't know, I often share a booth with HannahMade) re-configured our booth for this one, and the change was really nice.

As you can see, Hannah liked it too! LOL

We met some amazing creators and I can't wait for Felt Club, as many of them will be there too!

Hannah and I really enjoy doing the craft fairs together and are thinking of venturing beyond the borders of LA. Do you have a favorite craft fair where you are? If so, please leave a comment with the name, and you never know, we may just be coming to a town near you!