Tuesday, April 14, 2009

i'm workin on it...

"Nothing will work unless you do." - Maya Angelou

I know, I know!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Think Green

I'm showing Fresh Kills: One Man's Trash... in a show at the Plastic Club.

"THINK GREEN"
AN EXHIBITION ABOUT ECOLOGY
Opening Reception
Sunday, April 5th
2 - 5 PM

The Plastic Club
247 South Camac Street
Philadelphia, Pa 19107

View Larger Map

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

i'm new

Kutiman you are sooo clever. Thruyou is a collection of youtube remixes. I want more, I want to see live versions. I want a cd, a dvd even. Kutiman, make it happen.
I'm in love with I'm New. A jazzy space music sound mixed with occasional sultry female vocals gets me every time. The little drag queen in me that adores gay house anthems, wants to sit in front of a mirror and lip sync to Just a Lady all day in clear heels, big fake eyelashes, and way too much makeup.

And just look at how adorable he is:

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Philly Makes!

I've started to contribute to a new blog called Philly Makes! Check it out for my weekly project updates and tutorials.
Philly Makes! is a group blog for artists, crafters, designers, and makers of all sorts who live in Philadelphia. Participants commit to create and post one thing per week. A "thing" can be just about anything you might make- a piece of art, a scarf, a bicycle, a website, your dinner, whatever! It can even be a work in progress that you'd like to share and get feedback on!

Want to join? Send an email to Jen with a brief description of what you make and your web URL if you have one!

Friday, February 27, 2009

proud to be...

I loved the beaches in Thailand where I let the sun kiss my skin. I took a long long long train ride from Beijing to St. Petersburg and played in Mongolia. I found Japan to be one of the most delicious places on earth. However, dulce de leche ice cream is best in Argentina. Most of my dreams take place on Buck's Rock Road in New Milford, CT. NYC was my first true love. But... Philly, is where I'm from.

No matter how far I go, I always end up coming back, at least to visit. There is a wonderful community of creative people that keeps me here these days. The designers and artists around me keep me grounded and sane, inspired and excited to create new things. Through March 2nd, in honor of PA Pride, Handmade in PA organized a collection of sales and specials in HiP members' etsy shops.

In my shop, for every item purchased, I will be including a gift--a sweet dreams sachet. These are stuffed with lavender. You can tuck it under your pillow to bring you pleasant dreams, or stick it with your clothes to make it smell lovely. Lavender is really calming and just smells really nice. Just add “PA Proud” in the notes to seller at the etsy checkout.

Check out the specials from other HiPsters:

Kristen from WatersGirls - Enjoy 30% off your purchase!
Lynn from UnaOdd - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Rosie from RosiesWhimsy - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Kerry from ALittleSparkle - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Marissa from MarissaJoannaRojas, MJRojasPhoto, and YayforFidgetArt - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Dana from WiredDesign - Get a single FREE "Never Enough" Sterling Silver stacking ring with your purchase!
Kimberly from ChezSucreChez- Enjoy 10% off all items in her shop!
Sarah from SweetSallysSoaps - Get 3 bars of handcrafted soap for $15!
Melanie from SpreadtheLove - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Erin from Ruju - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Hillary from Antebelle - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Patty from ArtfulMommy - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Emily from disCARDS - Enjoy FREE Shipping on orders over $5!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Mew Gallery Annual Pay-the-Rent Event

If you didn't already know, I love Mew. They do so much to continue to help create community among local artists. They host fantastic events, they are open to having meetings for local collectives of artists and designers, they carry the work of people who live in the area, they make cool stuff... they're awesome! Mew has become like a second home to me. I love hanging out there. I donated the Benjamin Bangle for the fundraiser. I know it's a school night, but I hope lots of people come to support them, come to dance with me, and come to buy me lots of drinks.

All proceeds go toward keeping this place open and running. Please, help support local arts and join us for the fun!!

March 3, 2009 from 6 to 10 pm
at the South Philly Tap Room
1509 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia

Beer specials, silent auction, raffle, djs, dancing, and general merriment.

$5 suggested donation

Win fabulous stuff (photography, paintings, prints, jewelry, clothing, zines, candles, ceramics, and sooooo much more!!!) from participating artists:

Alina tees & zines, Anna Burke photography, Beck’s Buttons jewelry, Bell Buoy Press, Boto Designs, Faceplant Wasted, Flying Fox, Gray Nation, Isaac Bushkin, J.L. Schnabel, Jessica Liddel, Joy Stember, KnitKnit, Lana Heckendorn, Lauren Lopez, Leslie Albend, Megan Dorien, Mike Geno, Miss Koco, Nicole Rae Styer, Rebelle Couture, Sarah Myers, Shannon McLaughlin, Sideways E, Tiny Airplanes, Tranquility jewelry, Un De Six clothing, WabiSabi, Warren Veith, and COUNTING!!!


seriously. so much good stuff.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

the benjamin bangle


A curious case of a button stash gone wild.

The buttons were sewn to a felted merino band (still using pieces of that shrunken sweater!). Many of these buttons were sent to me from chickitout as a PIF (pay it forward). I will be donating this piece to Mew Gallery for their upcoming annual fundraiser at the South Philly Tap Room on March 3rd from 6 to 10pm. There will be beer specials, DJs, dancing (there should always be dancing), a silent auction and a raffle on art and merchandise from local artists and designers. $5 suggested door donation.

Friday, February 20, 2009

knithacker

I'm obsessed with flickr groups lately. I came across a group called knithacker that is dedicated to knitting projects that are a bit whacked out, have a certain flare, or are a combination of a couple of patterns combined together to make, as they said, "something gloriously unique and knitty-licious."

They also have a website--and they picked one of my projects from the photo pool that they featured. How fab! This knithack was part of my project Pieces of Koco. I wonder where it is now and how it's doing.

in the news

Channel 6 aired the story today to promote the craft swap tomorrow at Mew with the Sewing Collective. They presented it as a way to save money whereas the focus in the interviews was on community and creativity.

It's always strange to watch yourself. I was there, next to Amber, of PheaJean, for a few seconds giving my "I'm soooo interested" look. Hilarious. You can check out the video here.

I have to put together a bag of things to take to the swap that I can part with. This may end up being a difficult task. My yarn stash is out of control, so I'll probably bring some of that in hopes of trading it for some red buttons or cool fabric.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

links to love

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talked about mavens, people with some kind of specialized knowledge. For all things funny, interesting, and important in the world I rely heavily on two sources: my friend Luimbe and the almighty ITP Alumni listserv. Luimbe is a maven when it comes to the most delicious ridiculousness from the internet.

Luimbe has a unique ability--a super human magnetism that sucks things in from all corners of the internet. He scans content at lightning speeds, tossing aside the best nonsense to serve up to people like myself in the form of links. Beautiful, hilarious, brilliant links. His links are so tasty that I feel it is time to dedicate occasional content on my own blog to the wonders I discover through him. I will call it Luimbe's Gold Lui's Golden Ticket, uhhh... golden linkage? Luimbe's Links? Links Love Lui? LinkLuimbe? http://luimbelinks? Good Ish from the Big L... I'll have to think about that more. Just so you get an idea of what I'm talking about, here are some recent tidbits from my inbox:




Oh, and this is great: The Worst Album Covers Ever (.pdf)

I do love Luimbe's Links. They keep life interesting. More! More! More!