autumn sale at my Etsy shoppe!

check out my Etsy shoppe, all summer fabric earrings are 30% off! this is my first official "sale", i am trying to get my shoppe ready for the holidays. have some new ideas brewing, and did some work in my studio this weekend. more on that later...

some of my favorite shoppes of late:

ArtLab - based in New York, way hip clothing with lots of frills and ruffles

White Owl - based in Detroit, lacey necklaces made with vintage lace, so inspirational. my favorite is the peacock sequin necklace.

Adelaide's Homesewn - based in Kansas City, vintage-inspired clothing.

Odds & Ends Couture - based in Raleigh, NC, hand-felted accessories. simply amazing.

lace and felt

inspiration for the weekend.

vintage lace (image found on Google). i have piles of vintage lace in my collection now, including lace ribbon.

recycled felt (photo by Feltorama). this stack of gorgeous colors is made from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, with the look and feel of felt. and is currently sitting in my studio, just waiting to be made into ornaments and jewelry. Felt-o-rama is a new find for me, and i am ecstatic to have found a supplier who sells recycled felt! more on that later.

combining the two. the possibilities are endless.

falling into autumn

autumn brings such warm feelings to my soul.

i feel re-born, the cool air and crispness, the leaves changing into such brilliant colors, everything is an inspiration to me.

the past weekend brought some cool weather, and so i spent a lot of time in my studio, cleaning, organizing, and actually crafting!

i have a lot of old sweaters that i don't wear anymore, so instead of donating them (again...i bought all these old sweaters from thrift stores), i am making them into shiny new things! i am keeping this one going, one of my best-selling items: leg warmers.

these are bright red cabled leg warmers, with a light Graffiti blossom applied to the top for a feminine touch. The blossom is embellished with bright yellow thread, and a vintage button, compliments of my Aunt Sally and cousin Lauren, who graciously sent me boxes and boxes of amazing vintage buttons, ribbon and fabric!!!

i've sold two pairs similar to these, but all have been one of a kind. what makes these interesting is that they are actually made from the sleeve of the sweater! the way the sleeve bells at the shoulder makes for the perfect bell at the top of your favorite pair of maryjanes.

close up of the embellishments. i just love the buttons, i have never seen anything like them.

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in other news...

i have started a list of "Things to be Happy". basically made up of random things to start, new projects, or just plain fun things to do. here are a few of them:

-new knitting projects - i've currently started a test of making a cowl

-using our NEW CAR (it's actually my brother's car that he's loaning to us while he's in Hawaii on another cruise) to visit apple orchards and pumpkin patches

-learning new recipes - i'm currently obsessed with Fresh Direct, which has some recipes from different cookbooks and magazines! we order our food from them sometimes, as it's a pain to drag our cart full of groceries 5-6 blocks once or twice a week. can't WAIT to have a car!!

-decorate our apartment for the holidays!

what are your lists of fun things to do?

also in other news, i finally went and stood in line for an hour at the Social Security office to change my name to Robinson! not my first name...although that would be an interesting one!

stay tuned for more updates!!

new featured artist - fglass knits!

there was a time in my life when i would spend hours upon hours perusing the glorious shops at Etsy.com, i was completely consumed by it. that was before my job started picking up and i started planning my wedding (although when that happened, i was perusing Etsy for all things wedding!). now that things have calmed down a bit, i find myself again drawn to Etsy's main page, which changes featured artists and treasuries fairly often.

the other day while taking a break from space planning at work, i saw an interesting item on the front page of Etsy. it was a very large knit cowl, something i was actually planning on knitting myself! fglass knits, a shop run by a wonderful knitter named Laura, completely blew me away with its creativity and interesting photography. she knits with large gauge wool yarn, all natural, and uses over-sized wooden buttons for closures that she finds at another Etsy shoppe.

this is Laura, modeling one of my favorite pieces. she also takes all of her own photographs.

the Etsy community is really one of a kind. i have found that most Etsy sellers are not only trying to sell their own work, but also very encouraging to others and their work as well. so, for Laura, instead of buying buttons from her local yarn or fabric store, she is supporting another handmade artist, it's just wonderful. All buttons in her shop are made by WoodenTreasures on Etsy.

a very original scarf design in one of my favorite colors, with more wooden buttons.

Laura has taken knitting to another level, it's modern, it's minimal, it's feminine. she likes to use bright colors, which stand out against the gray and white wall which she uses for her backdrop. she uses embroidery to make her knitwear one of a kind and interesting.

a capelet, designed by Laura. what a perfect accessory to wear to brunch on the weekends in autumn!

a simple button cowl with cherry blossom embroidery, another one of my favorites.

like me, Laura has a day job, but i think, like me, that she would love to knit all day long and sell her wares. it's sellers and crafters like Laura that inspire me to keep making, to find new ideas and follow the latest trends.

all of fglass knits can be found at her Etsy shoppe, see the link below. she specializes in custom designs, as well as the items she stocks regularly. good luck to you, Laura! thank you for the inspiration.

Etsy Buy Handmade fglass

marketing

since getting back from the wedding and honeymoon, my main focus has been organizing our home and especially my studio space. i feel that when my space is completely organized, and i have a place for everything, i will really be able to start making again. in the meantime, i am trying to find some unique websites and craft marketplaces! there are so many out there, it's really a matter of which ones are right for ME and my crafts.

my shoppe has been on the back burner for almost a year, since we were engaged last August, and i am ready to start making some new things to sell. i have confidence that once i have some new goodies, things will start to pick back up again!

a few of the marketplaces and social networks i've found are ArtFire, Indiepublic, and of course, Etsy. ArtFire is brand new for me, through which i've found Handmade News, which looks to be a great resource for crafters all over the world! even though i've just started, Twitter seems to be a great place to market.

blogging is also a great way to market, which is definitely high on my list. new ideas, new trends, special artists that i fall in love with, great ways to organize my studio, new knitting projects. there are so many possibilities. i can't wait to start marketing myself more, and meeting new crafters out there!

New York is a great place to be, there are so many resources. in my spare time, i hope to really take advantage of them.

post-wedding-productivity

hello out there! we are back from our honeymoon and still loving NYC! the wedding was amazing, out of a dream!

our official wedding photos have been posted at our Bella website, if you'd like to take a look!

i am on a complete organization kick right now, and i feel that after i / we get everything organized, i can get my head into creating new things for Pink Graffiti! i have some new ideas clunking around in my head, getting a lot of new inspiration. i'm so excited to get some new items in my shoppe! i just hope that i can keep up with the new trends.

i have also joined Twitter, at last! trying to find new marketing tools, to get my shoppe going again. it's more interesting that i expected! following some fun people, like Martha Stewart, TheKnot, Etsy, Al Gore, and more. i recommend!

look for new goodies!


all photos by Mihaela Avasiloaie.

random photo of the week

preparing for a big furniture presentation at work, i'm searching for images of furniture pieces for the renderings that we're preparing.

this image came up under a search for a "wing chair". (it was a bit more specific than that, but still)

wing chair.....to FF skateboarding in a rad pair of Nike's? (photo courtesty of blog.myjemz.com)

awesome.

happy Friday!

finally 2009: the year i'm getting married

welcome to 2009, she said as she updates her blog finally. it's been wedding mayhem and chaos at work and i have no more excuses. the weather is so gorgeous outside, and my excitement is growing as our wedding day is closer and closer.

inspiration for our DIY farm day wedding! my parents are helping so much, with ideas and actually making the farm so beautiful for our special day. i couldn't imagine getting married anywhere else, and thankfully Brian was totally gung-ho about it too.

this is kind of a bad photo, but this is the stem of all my inspiration for the look and feel of the reception! a display at Anthropologie last year, i love the idea of long, rectangular tables, with the mis-matched chairs (although that idea sort of blossomed into something completely different and wonderful!)

lots of glassware, bell jars, old glass bottles and wildflowers! (photo courtesy of TheKnot.com)

lovely burlap tablecloths (unknown photo source).

i haven't been making a whole lot for my Etsy shoppe, mainly focusing on the wedding - still lots to do. this month, we're finishing up the invitations, escort cards, and purchasing miscellaneous items. it's been quite an adventure planning this entire wedding (which will be at my parents' farm in Michigan) from NYC, but i've loved every minute of it.

this month's distraction: ICFF - International Contemporary Furniture Fair, held at the Javits Center on the west side of midtown Manhattan. it's this week! and there are tons of parties all over the city, for us savvy designers.

to post soon: i'm knitting my mother a shawl for her to wear at our wedding, to go with her oh-so-couture BCBG dress! photos soon.

daemon

i've been reading the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, by Phillip Pullman.

i'm in the middle of The Subtle Knife right now, actually, i'm almost finished with it. but since i started, i've almost been obsessed with thinking of what my daemon would be. the animal entity of my soul, living outside my body. he talks to me, and reads my thoughts.

after weeks of pondering and discussing with brian, i've realized this is what my daemon would be.

a lynx. (photo courtesy of http://kritterkorner.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/canadian-lynx.jpg)

brian would be this.

an owl. (photo courtesy of http://photoramas.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/barred-owl.jpg)
how wise and philosopher-like of him.

can you imagine a giant cat-like creature and an owl crawling around our little apartment??

what would your daemon be? read about them.....here.

merry christmas and happy new year

we decorated our first christmas tree tonight.

we almost didn't get one. but i couldn't resist the small, white 3' tree.

the "yard" tree. as brian calls it.

our first ornaments. matching chuck taylors. brian's is black (like the pair he wears on his feet). mine is white.

and we even made a little star out of copper wire. maybe next year we'll have one that glows too. like the twinkle lights.

merry christmas. we'll be in michigan soon.