IF: Captain

Someone has to navigate!

See more captains on Illustration Friday.

Sneak peak

I have been feverishly working on a new brand new website for myself at www.michellecaplan.com, complete with actual pages and the whole shebang! I cant wait to share it and graduate my cyber-presence to the next stage. I am excited to say that the entire thing was done using the new iWeb Apple just released. It is so easy, and so much more affordable than hiring a designer (sorry to all the designers, but its true!). Being trained as a print designer, and not understanding the technical side of web design at all, has frustrated me for a long time. I loved my homepage at first, but then when updating even the simple "News" section became a confusing chore, my level of frustration hit the roof. I dont want to have to rely on someone else just to update or tweak.
Thank you iWeb for making life just a little bit easier.

If you can drag and drop, you can too can have a new site! I started on Saturday, and have done nothing else since cracking the seal on the box, including one dizzying night that went until 4am. Once the juices start to flow, and it all starts to come together, you can't stop! I am sure that there will be more pages to come, but for now, I am happy as a clam!

As soon as my DNS transfer is complete, the site will go live! Keep a look out!

SPC: Patterns Wk2

I have never been very good at keeping up appearances when it comes to hair dyeing. There are at least 100 things on my to do list ahead of "get my roots done." But that is not how the life of a bottle blond goes.

My second Patterns photo is the last that will be seen of my blond hair. Tomorrow I go back to being a brunette. It was fun to revisit my towheaded childhood days, but I just cant keep up! Every 6 weeks my skin starts to itch at how ridiculous it looks to have 3/4 inch roots haloing my forehead every time I pull my hair back. That tell tale skunky pattern that labels me uninterested in my appearance and too lazy to haul ass to the salon. I do care! I swear! Furthermore, I love the salon I go to, and the fantabulous hair genie that is Brig, but this is slightly ridiculous.

And just as my poor niece had figured out that I was the same Aunt Mimi that had the long brown hair. . . .

Recent Wedding Commission

I love the energy and fun of this photo! It was a lot of fun to work on!
The finished piece is 18" x 24".

SPC: Patterns week 1

The headlights create a pattern of red dots that disappear into infinity while I sit and wait to continue on my journey. This is L.A. and one of the reasons I am so glad to work from home!

Check out SPC for more patterns!

Dream a Little Dream!

My piece, Mrs. Willis & Mrs. Sears3 will be included in this months group show at The Hive Gallery! Opening is this Saturday night! See you there!

Self Portrait Challenge-Wk 5-Elements

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, hubby and I took a trip to NY to visit family and our newborn niece!! This is my portrait of me holding Jennifer Rose! She is so sweet and good. A new life, and essential element for the world to go 'round! You have to swaddle her tight though, because she wriggles free every time! She is just simply too gorgeous for words and we are both so excited to have gotten to meet her!

Happy Client!

I love seeing where the pieces go once they leave my hands! I was just perusing Flickr and came across a couple shots of one of my clients home. She lives in Switzerland and has a few shots up sharing her interior design, the nooks and crannies of her home! I was super excited to see a few of the pieces up in her living room!


Thank you so much Janine for posting these!!!

IF: Moon

This piece was a wedding commission done as a gift for a clients friend, and it was such an amazing piece to work on! I imagine these two dancing at their wedding under a full moon, with strings of light hung above their heads illuminating their first dance! What an awesome moment to get to portray!

Felt Club

I have been trying so hard all week to get around to blogging all about last weekends Felt Club! I have been busting my chops trying to tie up loose ends and prepare for a trip that hubby and I are taking this weekend! We leave tomorrow for NY to meet our new niece born last Friday! There were so many projects to finish and bits of life to clear up that were neglected in the preparation for FC. I have sooooo many things to share, and just not enough hours in the day!

Overall, the event was a huge success! The line started forming around 9:30am, with eager people wanting to snag a swag bag staking their spots! Once the doors opened, it was nonstop crafty shopping, classes, and yummy food all day long! There were actually so many people that halfway through the day the caterer ran out of food, and by 4, the ice cream shop around the corner was all sold out too!

I didn't just sell at FC, I shopped! And man oh man did I score!

I bought this awesome stuffed Owl and the bunny pouch from Sewing Stars. That girl is a whiz with the sewing machine! Her designs are just took gorgeous for words. There was a stuffed Octopus that I would have bought in a second if I had a child! I have a bit of an Owl obsession lately, and this little guy is just perfection. He is corduroy, raw silk, felt, crushed velvet and cotton. AMAZING! And the pouch is the perfect size for my Ipod and earphones. Perfect for easy accessibility in my carry-on!

This cluthchy-tote was from Summer Salt Design who I am happy to share nearly sold out COMPLETELY in the first 2 hours of the day. Nicole, the brains behind the fab items, was our neighbor and the nicest girl. You have to check out her website! That whole pear is hand quilted in 1x1" squares. I dont think I would have the patience!

Not to be outdone, little miss HannahMade's side of our table was packed the ENTIRE day. I was exhausted just watching her! It was so amazing to see people trying on her gorgeous jewelry and have their eyes light up! I definitely learned a thing or two from her!

My Shop has been updated with all of the pieces I have remaining. It was an awesome show and I want to be sure to say thank you to everyone who came out and said hi! I know it was hot and crowded and we all really appreciated all of the people who showed up! As has been already said, FC has outgrown its venue, and the winter show is going to be held in a more suitable location! I cant wait to see what Jenny comes up with! If you would like to check out pics from the event, see the Felt Club Flickr pool.

OK-I am off to finish laundry and pack. Its 10pm and I haven't even had dinner yet! Have an awesome rest of the week and weekend! I will be back with pics of my new niece (!!!!) and of our time in Sag Harbor (did I mention we get to go to Sag Saturday-Monday? More on that later!) next week!

Felt Club YAY!

I took a little blogger break this week to get ready for tomorrows much anticipated Felt Club.

FC has been all over the news this week, including an awesome interview with founder Jenny Ryan in the LA Times. I am so excited to see how this show is going to go, and to see all of the amazing vendors and classes! Hannah and I will be sharing a table! We have been setting up our mock design all week so that day of will be smooth as silk!

Oh, and the above image is yesterdays Etsy homepage selected entirely by the Felt Club! Etsy is one of the events sponsors and will have a table to greet people! The whole thing is just going to be a huge craft-athon event! I will be sure to take LOTS of pictures to share on Monday! If you are in the area and make it there, please be sure to say hi!

Craft on people!

Felt Club XL: July 15th!

Yay! Less than a week to go! Hannah and I are going to be vendors at the XL: Summer Felt Club event! In case you missed the Holiday show, let me share with you how AWESOME this fair is!! At this months event there will be over 70 vendors, amazing swag bags, yummy food, lots of entertainment, and crazy door prizes!! You wont believe that THAT much amazing craftsmanship and creativity can be contained under one roof! Here is a glimpse of last years crafty madness:


There will be DJs keeping us entertained, and fun hands-on craft demonstrations. Last year, there were gift bags for the first 250 people to enter the building (and were gone in the first 7 minutes!) This year they are bigger and better than ever, so get there early and stake a spot in line!

FELT CLUB: XL SUMMER
SUNDAY, JULY 15
11am-7pm
@ THE UKRAINIAN CULTURAL CENTER
4315 Melrose Ave. @ Heliotrope
Los Angeles, CA 90029

7/7/7 showcase!

My shop is part of todays Etsy Showcase! Click over to see the other vendors! Cool stuff out there!

4th Annual Glendale ArtWalk

This weekend is the 4th Annual Glendale ArtWalk! I will be participating as a member of an awesome group of crafters setting up our tables in the courtyard of CJ Metzgers studio! If you dont know CJ's work, you dont know what you are missing! Please come by and say hi! There will be lots of yummy food, art, crafts and people to hang out with!


To get a map of all participating artists, studios and locations, please click here (a pdf will download)!

Shop Re-stocked

Just a quick note to let you know that all of my larger pieces have been added to my shop! More to come next week, after the Felt Club!!!

4th of July re-cap

Holy moly! What a great time Hannah and I had at the Ventura Street Fair! I dont think I was prepared for the volume of people! I ran out of almost all of my business cards, postcards and commission brochures! Everyone was so kind and happy to come in and try on jewelry and check out the art. Neither of us has ever had so much emotional feedback. Being near the beach with the gorgeous breezes was a lovely change from the 100 degree+ valley! It was really, really an amazing day! I can't wait until the Winter show!

More photos can be seen here.

Later we went down to the beach and watched all of the fireworks that were being set off by families all along the sand. Some of it was pretty close and the embers were falling all around us. It was a little nerve wracking, but I got to snap a lot of really cool photos. They have been uploaded to a Flickr set here.

IF: Geeky

Albert is geeky for sure! His piece is all about science and inventing. Just goes to show that geeks can be sexy too!!!

LAST DAY TO SAVE!!

Today (7/3) is the last day of my big online summer sale! Dont miss your chance to save over $100 in most cases on these larger sized portraits!!! See you on the 4th at the Ventura Street Fair!!!

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)