my house

Because i'm so sure that my thrift store field trips are of great fascination to all my legions of readers I bring you my most recent finds.

First up, a cutie living room stool!
it looked like this when i brought it home, sorta eh...not really matching my decor but it's legs have a nice mid century tone. but it was only $8.00, so good potential.

now it looks like this!
hurray! so much cuter!
i made a run down to michael levines today for 250 yards of twill tape( yep, 250 yards!) and i of course got distracted with all the pretty fabrics. a quick call home to my sweet boy who measured the stool for me and i only needed 3/4 yard! hooray! that meant i could buy something kinda fancy! so i choose this bright pop flower pattern becasue if you can't do something like that on an' occasional' stool where the heck can you use such a weird and awesome fabric! $9.40 for the fabric plus $1.50 for batting brings the grand total to less than $20.00!

heres what it looks like next to the chair
(that i stole from my dad's garage and refinished, i think he used to smoke cigars in it!)

here's the rest of my weekend thrift store retail therapy ( i am so supposed to be saving my money for Italy but every now and then...)

redwood burl lamp! $7.00!
it came with a serviceable lampshade and light bulb!

close up of the burl

see i have these rules about our decor:
if it's mid century- buy it!
if it's woodland theme- buy it!
if it's both- double awesome!

sugar skulls

new prints from this weekend

Sugar Skull -White

12" x 12"
two layer screen print with applied glitter
edition of 12

Sugar Skull -Gold

12" x 12"
two layer screen print with applied glitter
edition of 3
the fade on the red is the light catching the clear coat to seal the glitter, it is a solid color

also this weekend we rearranged our bedroom and built a new platform bed! hurray!
now all i've got to do is prowl craigslist to find a replacement dresser and put some art back up on the wall.

2009 Calenders!

yep, that's right! and it's only September! yay me!

So far I've printed the bicycle ones in three colors.

Below is a close up of the actual calender pages, I do all the type lay out myself. This years font is Coolvetica, a afforable (i.e. free) friend of Helvetica.


I promise to be adding the new WISH print and the calenders to etsy tomorrow, I'm just way too beat to do it tonight 'cause we went to the LA County Fair today!
It was awesome!
So many kinds of awesome!
It's way bigger than my childhood fair, the Alameda County Fair.

We drank fresh lemonade, looked at strange infomercial things for sale, poked at Giant Rabbits, ate fresh Ice Cream made at the fair grounds, looked at more live stock, rode the Sky Tram, had beer samplers, ate pulled pork sammy's with sweet potatoe fries, drank more beer, took photo booth pic, looked at all the home made jams, quilts, and table settings.
Closed out the afternoon with a funnel cake and covered our selves with powered sugar.
It was awesome!
I may not be allowed near sugar for the next month :)

WISH print, second edition

I re-worked the WISH print into one layer and reprinted it on a much cooler day and it turned out great! I don't usually take the time to re-work something, but this print didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted the first time 'round. I still love the bright magenta of the first edition but I also really like the way the soft lilac gray turned out.

It's pretty big so it's sure to make a delightful impact in any home!

WISH, 2nd edition
September 2009
one layer screen print
paper size 16x20, image size 12x18

It's been super hectic 'round these parts, lots to do and lots to finish.
I'm just about done with the new 2009 bicycle calenders so stay tuned!

busy busy

working on new things in the studio,
almost ready to post some new prints but haven't quite finished them.
for now take a look at this new piece of awesomeness on my fireplace mantle.
me mum sent the antique welding or driving glasses and i promptly put them on my coyote scull.

introducing...

Mini-Prints!
yay!!!!!!!!!!!!
what's a mini print you ask?

well, it goes like this.
when i print i usually start with a set number of pieces of paper and along the printing process a few of the prints start to look a little less than fantastic.
oh, maybe the ink is blurry in a patch, or they got left out of a layer or any number of things goes awry in the studio.
previously i wasn't quite sure what to do with these prints, i would chuck them into my flat files and come upon them like sad lost little prints that didn't make the grade. i got rid of a slew of them when i moved.
But now they shall forever become Mini-Prints!!!

Cut down sections of prints offered in the delightfully tiny size of 5"x7" for $5.00 a piece.
yep, that right $5.00 wooooohooooo!
See what I'm saying, Mini-Prints!!!
perfect for a window ledge, a birthday card, or what ever you like.
I'll be primarlly offering the whole slew of them at shows but I'll be posting a few of them on etsy.

Here's a selection:




they are a tad bit brighter in the photographs due to scanning, see first photo for more accurate color range.

Bee's!

This Saturday is the opening for the Bee show that I made that awesome Busy Bee print a few weeks ago. I'm going to try to go to the opening so hope to see some of you there!

The Bee Cause at Zinnia and The Funky Junque Gallery
1040 Mission St South Pasadena CA 91030
Saturday September 13th 7-9pm


"Bee Cause"

prints

new prints from this weekend!
super quick pics i took a few minutes ago.
the glass is the reflections you see but it's the wrong time of day for photographs in our house.
these are the extra large prints i was working on a few weeks ago.
I re-exposed parts of the film positives and was able to finish printing them this past weekend.
they turned out better than i thought they were going to!

"Los Angeles Palms"
2008
16" x 20"

"Los Angeles Sky"
2008
16"x 20"

new projects

calenders!

holy crap, you heard that correct. calenders!
i'm certainly getting the jump on things hmmm?

here's the one i exposed screens for tonight


the white square is where the calender tear off part will go.

this is the other one i can't quite decide about yet...
i reall like that it is pretty and simple and could go in most households.
so tell me what you think?
do you like the second one or not?


oh and they may not end up being these colors or just these colors
just so that doesn't influence you.


and the grand reason i'm working on 2009 calenders in Sept...
because it's gonna be a busy fall!!!
These are the shows i'm signed up for so far. I decided to concentrate on doing a few larger shows rather than a slew of smaller ones.

October 25th
Village Venture Art & Craft Show
Claremont CA
there are 500+ vendors and they get like 25,000 people!
I'll be sharing a booth with Amanda Lockrow

November 1 & 2
Brewery Artwalk
Down town Los Angeles
always a highlight for me this twice a year show is so much fun!
i love that people come back again to buy things and they are so great to chat with.
plus, i get to see lots of my friends!

November 16th
Felt Club!
Los Angeles, Ca
woohoo I got in!
I'll be sharing a booth with My Friend Roze.

that's it so far though i'll prolly add in a few others.
so that's why i'm getting cracking on my calender ideas already!
it'll be here before i know it.
plus!
a new scull print
re-doing the wish print
finishing a few 16x20 modern looking prints
and those awesome pennants i bought fabric for last weekend!

is that it...
i think so, for now anyways.

have a great weekend and let me know what you think of that second calender?

Labor!

I had Great Labor Day Weekend!
Friday a friend and I wandered over to the Huntington Library and Gardens to check out the Paradise Show of photographs. It was great! I highly recommend it if you can get over to the gardens before the show closes on the 15th.

I spent long portions of this weekends lazing about in a swimming pool and gabbing with friends. I also puttered away at some small projects glad to not be hot, tired and dusty at BM. I miss the good times but had such a pleasant weekend it's hard to miss the clean up and empty pocket book.
There's always next year though, I hear through the grapevine that a good friend is mayor of our village and the theme doesn't suck for 2009 so dusty I might be this time next year ;)

On Saturday I went to Michael Levine's to get fabric for my pennants! I bought 5 yards of 100% cotton in Tomato, Papaya, and Orange. The colors are so bright and vivid! After tearing off the selvage I realized I had enough to make something with it! So on Sunday after a yummy Dim Sum breakfast I made a cute scarf.

Here is the selvage all coiled up and waiting to be knitted. About 10 yards of each color.


I decided to combine it with this vintage yarn for a bit of contrast.


and here's what it turned out like!
It's 5 stitches wide knitted with size 17 needles.

here's a close up


and here's me wearing it in front of our funny kitchen chicken drapes. it matches!


awesomeness for recycling something that normally gets thrown away!
selvage yarn rocks!