Robo Dino Print

This print is also available in my shop today too. Find here here.

Prints and Studio Update

It's official. I've left the Saturday Market. I'm still signed on as a guest vendor but for now I am leaving my commitment to be there ever weekend.

Why you say? I couldn't keep up, my day job switched to more full time hours. I was working 7 days a week and it was showing. My stress levels were so high and I was sure I was getting an ulcer or something, my chest was so tight all the time. So I took a break and after that rest I decided that I needed to take some time to catch up.

I'm not giving up on this business of mine. I just can't afford to invest right now and I'm left with a limited amount of shirts to sell. I also need to buy screens and upgrade my setup to work with a printer that that is taking longer than I thought as well.

What I learned from the market:
- I need a LOT of shirts every weekend (I need to stock up)
- People love my designs and very receptive to my new work as well
- The aprons went over well and are worth making tons more
- The hats are popular and I could make a shop with just them!
- I need to hire someone to help me or do it full time to keep up with the market
- I need capital to invest so I won't run out of stock

What this all leads down to is that I need to spend the next few months making tons of hats and aprons and save up all my extra money to invest again and give myself a cushion to start again. I don't know where this help will come from but it is needed for me to continue. Otherwise I am just trying to survive and make a living right now.

I am going to focus more on my online store and I'm going to try and post something new every day this next month. I scanned in a BUNCH of paintings and have some digital art that I am going to sell as prints. I am excited about this because I don't have to sell the paintings I LOVE and ones that are sold I won't have to paint again but can sell the print of them. Making a painting takes a while and it's hard to turn that creativity on. This way I can keep on printing even on the weeks I don't feel like drawing.

Here is what I have released as of today:




I am going to be working on some hats this week as well and I will post them when I finish them. I am looking forward to having time to catch up. I'm a little sad I can't go to the market but I know it's for the best. I have made a commitment to be at Crafty Wonderland this winter and I hope me and my friend Autumn get in!

I will keep you updated on what I get done this week! I'm so happy to have time to sew again and weekends to just be a total hermit and craft for HOURS.

craft, craft, craft.. sew, sew, sew.

More prints coming this week!

Featured Artist of the week

This week's featured artist is Happy as a Lark. I love her autumn colors so warm and cheerful.



Blog: happy-as-a-lark-designs.blogspot.com
Etsy shop with more artwork here: bewitchedlark.etsy.com

I'm in the mood to draw some owls. How about you?

LED Scarf - Tutorial

I'm going to start keeping to a schedule on my blog so I have consistent themes. This way I can keep good content coming your way! Thursday will now be Tutorial Thursdays. For this week I found this awesome LED light up scarf that has full instructions mapped out on Instructables.com

Ideas for a great halloween costume? yeah it's that time of year again! I've been wanting to make something with LEDs for a while. I think it's time I seriously look into it. I just worry about how do you WASH this item once you have everything installed?

Old Man Shirts

The following is some cool ideas I found to take that old man shirt and make it fashionable! The great thing about these big boxy shirts is that they have a lot of flat fabric and lots of room to trim it down.

Ok so maybe calling them "old man" shirts is mean. I should say.. button down shirts. Is that better? Most of what I found was skirts and dresses for women and girls. I'm sure there is more out there and I will be on the search to find you more. Now all I can think about is modifying my old button up shirts to make them look cute with a cropped sleeve. I really want to make that little girls shirt into an adult size. Would it look weird? Well good luck to you and I hope this gets you inspired to dig out some old shirts and get sewing!

Shirt dress from Dirty Pretty


Shirt Dress with tutorial by Dana


Button Down dress found on Splendicity


Re-make this dress with a tutorial on Chic Steals

Make this skirt from Blueprints

Bent Objects

More on his blog here: http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/

Prints available in his etsy shop: bentobjects.etsy.com

Monster Hoodies - Fashion Finds

I've played around with making these myself. Problem is hoodies are darn expensive and hard to find in good condition used. That's why these monster hoodies are so expensive.

Great idea for a gift though!

Portland Pirate Festival 2009

This Sunday I was part of breaking a Guinness world record. Over 1,500 pirates gathered at the Portland Pirate Festival to make history.

While we waited for everyone to be counted Captain Bogg and Salty played for us.

I really love Cathedral park and the St. John's Bride. It's my favorite bridge in Portland. It has beautiful gothic inspired towers and it's so massive when you stand underneath it.

I had my picture taken three times that day by the same photographer that seemed to be following me around. It was flattering, and I hope it was because maybe I looked like a real pirate. That's cool because everything I was wearing I made myself. My brother was also suited up and had his picture taken too.

Paintings on Chip Boards.

I got these little chip boards from SCRAP and they have been sitting around my studio waiting to be use for something. I originally thought I would make little paintings on them but after attempting one I remembered that I HATE painting small and it drove me crazy. Painting is also very laborious and enough so that I stopped after just one. So my idea was to speed up the process and go with my true love, sketching and drawing.

I used paint pens found at my local art supply store and jammed out this whole set in a day. I want to make some of these prints in the future. Is there anything here worth remaking into a print for reproduction? I really like the robots. What would you guys like to see?







Paint chip boards are VERY cheap and easy to find. They had so many of them at SCRAP and I only went through a tiny bit of my supply. I think they are going to be a hit because they are small, fun and come with a hole ready for hanging!

These will be available at my upcoming show. Skating with Scissors craft bazaar. I'll be there Saturday. Feel free to stop on by and say hello!

Ruffly T-shirt Scarf

My brother posed to prove that these scarves work for guys as well. Manly!


Following the tutorial posted on Dollar Store Crafts I banged out a couple of these t-shirt scarfs. For the dark one I used some knit fabric I found at a thrift store. I cut out a couple yards of fabric, used 5 inch squares and sewed it up with a zig-zag stitch. The orange and striped scarf I used two different t-shirts. It was really easy to de-construct the shirts and cut out the squares. It doesn't matter if you use a printed shirt because that can add texture and when you use the scarf you see both sides. One of the shirts was a misprint from one of my print runs and has a skull printed on a few panels. In my line of work I use a lot of recycled shirts and sometimes I come across ones that have stains or are too used to re-sell. It's great to have a way to use them so I don't have to put them in the scrap pile.

I'm considering making a few of these out of the rest of my scraps and try and sell them at fairs. They do make a really comfortable scarf because it's soft like a t-shirt and stretchy. I love how it adds texture to a outfit and you can mix up the panels and use different color combos. This is also a GREAT way to make a last minute accessory that will pull your look together.

Make your own by following this simple tutorial on Dollar Store Crafts Blog.
Please let me know if you try it out as well!

Striped Wolfy/Cat Hat

Just finished this today!
Available in my shop here.

photoshoots are fun. hehe!
Oh and that's my brother in the first shot.

Cover the clutter

A simple way to "cover the clutter". This pile of mess was driving the housemate crazy and I came up with a simple solution using some of my scraps from another curtain project.



Here is the BEFORE:

and a better shot of the AFTER:

I salvaged loops from another curtain. I just cut them out and sewed them straight onto the new curtain fabric. Simple! re-using!


Then I simply tied them to the top of the shelf.


FIRST project I sewed up when I got my sewing machine back from the shop. A good test run and it works perfect! I really do love curtains. They can work wonders.

Dino hats in the works

Working on a Dino hat for an etsy customer. Proof that I'm working! Sewing away in the coolness of the basement.

Re-using Drawers

I was ambling around at the Rebuilding center this weekend and I found myself in the drawer section again. It's by far my favorite part of the shop. I find the different drawers intruiging with hidden stories. So many different sizes and shapes. There just has to be a use for these right? It's a nice box already put together, all it needs is some imagination.

I took some time to day to find some clever ideas. I LOVE the footstool idea and the rebuilding center is full of hinges and pieces I'm sure I could find all the parts.


[link via: DecoCycle]

[link: DecoCycle]

[link via: Curbly]

[link via: schubLaden]