a st. valentine's day art + craft fair

who:
A. Jason Ross www.artemas-quibble.com
Ali Williams www.alimwilliams.tk
Alicia McCarthy aliciamccarthymassage@gmail.com
Amber Martin Leister amartinart@yahoo.com
Aubrie Costello www.aubriecostello.com
Beth King
Callie Konane Rickards www.konane.etsy.com
C. Roberts Thomas
Darla Jackson www.darlajacksonsculpture.com
Ellen Rockower ellen.rockower@gmail.com
Elsa Shadley www.warsaw.etsy.com
Emily Wren
Esther K. www.estherk.net
Heather Sundquist haveaheart@gmail.com
James Ulmer www.jamesulmer.com
Josie Newman
Katie Henry www.madebyhank.etsy.com
Katie Marlowe www.lucysvintage.etsy.com
Katie Van Vliet www.katevanvliet.com
Kris Chau www.krischau.com
Laura McKinley www.lauramckinley.typepad.com
Luren Jenison www.wooloo.org/luren
Margaux Kent www.theblackspotbooks.etsy.com
Melissa Nannen www.flickr.com/photos/talula1227
Nicole Cook
north port fishington cookie factory
RA Friedman www.steampunkphoto.com
Savannah Roberts
Tim Dowlin

what:
a place for buying tokens of love (art, journals, live portarits- both photographic and by the hand, jewelry, stuffed
curiosities, and other desirable unnecessaries)

when:
saturday, february 7th from noon until 6pm

where:
An olde warehouse in Port Richmond, Philadelphia
3237 Amber Street Studio 3-3-A

why:
because myself and several awesome + fun local artists will be selling their wares and fun is sure to be had by all.

please stop by for a bit if you can!

shop update!

i apologize for not posting much lately. i have been super busy trying to put a shop update together, and am also still working on the sewn drawings for the bambi show.

i started updating the shop yesterday, with some new smaller zipper purses in valentine's colors. i just finished adding the rest. they are going fast, but right now i have a few new totes (perfect laptop size!), a new batch of roundy-bottomed zipper purses, and lots of pencil purses. most of the ones i added yesterday are already sold (!), but there are a few smaller zipper purses in greens and aquas.

the bambi project, a few clutches, and a porcupine in my throat

i apologize for being a bit of a deadbeat blogger lately. i have been hard at work, i assure you. i am working on a new batch of my sewn drawings, which will be part of a show with katherine kaminski in february at the bambi gallery. i am very excited to work with candace (she owns the bambi gallery), and katherine, whom i have not yet met. i am not at liberty to reveal what she will be displaying, but it is very large and sweet and often found in the forest.

here is a sneak peek of one of my pieces


i will share more details about the show soon!

i am trying to also keep my etsy shop stocked, but because i have limited time to finish my work for bambi, this is proving to be a bit difficult right now. i finished up a few clutches and added them to the shop this morning, and i will try my best to add more bags soon!







i am also trying to keep myself healthy, because yesterday i woke up with a small porcupine in my throat. you know the feeling- achy everything, heavy head, no energy, fuzzy brain...
this does not make for a very productive day of sewing. and because i cannot get sick right now, i decided it was best to rest and drink lots of orange juice and tea and also watch stomp the yard, of course. if you have not seen this, please do. the battle scenes are so good. and it is kind of hilarious, because they are super tough dudes and they are dance battling each other. also, please watch rize, which is the documentary about clowning and krumping. rize is so much more amazing, because these are just regular kids, and their moves are incredible.

oh, you didn't know? i am a bit obsessed with dance movies. and completely unashamed.

i will post about future shop updates when they are ready.

and i hope everyone is enjoying 2009 so far!

look for these

in the shop in about one hour from now! (which means around 7pm philadelphia time.)

something wonderful this way comes...

oh, oh, oh!

this is exciting news indeed.

for the past few months, i have been half-heartedly searching for some sort of clothing tags or something along those lines to sew onto some of my smaller zipper purses and things. mostly i had been whole-heartedly hoping for something to magically fall in my lap because every time i tried to search for some, they were super sadly mass produced in lots of places, none of which were located in america. i wanted something simple and understated, yet unique.

i was somehow lucky enough to randomly stumble upon roberto's etsy shop a few weeks back, and those gears in my brain started turning right away. he makes wooden things, you see. and i love wooden things. and i love buttons and i love tags, as anyone who has ever met me or has purchased something from me can easily tell.

do you see where this is going?

wooden buttons, and wooden tags!
i asked him if he would be able to make the little tags he makes with some extra holes, and even though i am not always the best at making my ideas go from my brain to someone else's in a very organized way (especially through the internet waves), he sent me a little package of samples and i sort of couldn't believe how completely and absolutely perfect they were!

you, see, i have this mother. she is somewhere in ohio and she has these wrists. these wrists are so very small. and so i have these wrists that are so very small. and being a waitress for ten years and a stitcher for nearly five now, my little wrists have developed some repetitive motion stress issues.

and sewing up the storm that i have been recently has made me a bit concerned. sewing the madebyhank freehand onto each of well over five hundred bags and zipper purses and clutches is beginning to take its tole.

and so, i will still stitch it onto most of the things that i make. but this way, i can offer some smaller zipper purses and such, finished with these little wonders.

each one is engraved with madebyhank. this is terribly fancy and exciting to me, and so i wanted to share this with you.

please visit roberto's shop. it's called bullfrog laserworks. he not only makes beautiful wooden things, but is is also a very sweet and kind person too.



he literally made my dreams come true. now that just doesn't happen every day.

oh, and some fun stuff i forgot to share...

the b2 bazaar bonanza was a smashing success. it was so nice to be in a room full of good people. we went home with some pretty sweet stuff, too.


benna made me a bracelet, which may well be the best piece of jewelry i have ever owned. (benna is five)



james ulmer was doing five-dollar sharpie portraits. of course manny and i took full advantage of that.



and to go with those, two polaroid portraits in the faux forest by zoe strauss. note my zombie eyes. the result of not sleeping for about two weeks prior to this photo. i tried to make a scary face to match them.



and here are two that we took of each other a few months back (pre-beard manny). these were taken with his camera that i have absolutely no idea how to use (you have to match up two images in the lens and you really have no idea what you are photographing. i will stick to my little sewing machine, and leave the cameras to him). we were outside of the photo place and he wanted to develop the roll and had two exposures left. so he took one of me and i took one of him.



our tree. we stopped by greensgrow to pick out a tree on sunday, and as we were walking up, we saw the sign that told us they closed at 4pm (it was around 3:52pm). but the best thing happened. we turned around and there, right in front of us, was the most beautiful, most perfect blue spruce. we were just going to get a little guy, but were both glad this one found us instead. and the nicest man i have met in a very long time helped us wrap it up and even carried it to the car for us.



and what could possibly be better than this very perfect tree (which makes our place smell soooo good)? a handmade stocking, sewn for me by manny. i made one for him last year, so this year he made one for me. he assured me he knew how to use my machine, and so i was to stay on the other side of the room, so i would not see it until it was finished. approximately four minutes later i heard bbbbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. which was the sound of one million threads building up underneath the machine, because he had no idea he was supposed to put the presser foot down. for those of you who sew, you know that is a pretty important step to take.

he even wrote my name in glue and finished it with fuschia glitter.

i hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

love,
hank.

oh, and thank you everyone- the clutches i posted a few hours ago are sold and will be sent on their way to their new homes shortly!

i'm still here!

hello, hello there!

after a few days of much needed relaxing, re-organizing, re-grouping and recuperation, i am back and ready to spend some serious time in front of my little sewing machine.

i just added a few small clutches to my shop, and will be working on a new batch of tough ruffles purses, so look for those this week!