Bra for a Cause

I met my pal Oatha while working at Michaels Arts and Crafts when I was in College. She was the floral designer and taught me everything I know about arranging flowers and plants. Since my days at Michaels, I've kept in contact with her, especially since we both love going out to dinner and ALWAYS get dessert.

Oatha is involved in possibly every charity organization in Orange County, one if which is the "Soroptimist" (I don't think I've ever pronounced it correctly). Next weekend they're hosting "Bras for a Cause" where they are auctioning off decorated bras to benefit disadvantaged women. Being that I am a crafter/artist, Oatha asked me to participate. With the theme being "Hollywood," I decided to literally and create the "hills" of hollywood. (to be the opposite of subtle, I was trying to refer to boobs as hills).  I even made the radio tower out of wire, thread and beads!

Started off by spray-painting a $5 Kmart bras green, covered it with moss, then cut out the hollywood letters from white foamcore

Radio tower!

Finished product.

See more pictures on my flickr site

Phew!

What a fun weekend! I did 2 shows, the Orange County Roller Derby head-to-head on Saturday night, and the Dragonfly Boutique on Sunday. While sales were slow for everyone, I still had a great time and met some wonderful people.

New Knuckle Ring Display using a thread spool holder

New "Tattoo Man" book purse, soon to be made into "Happy Freaking Birthday" card

New to the craft empire: framed original collage, greeting cards, and art print cards

This time around, I invited my pal Rosemary, of Rosemary's Collection, to sell with me at my booth. Her Terrariums were a huge success! We will be doing some more shows together in the Spring and Summer. Hopefully she will teach me how to make fabric dye with plants from her garden (I want to dye some vintage floral prints for making collage scarves and tote bags).

The greatest thing I'm looking forward to is the possibility of an actual studio space that IS NOT WHERE I SLEEP! After the buzz and insanity that was last weekend, I've realized that I need a place for work, and a place for sleep (that isn't 6 feet above ground). I spoke with my landlord yesterday about using the workshop space that is literally connected to my backyard. She is probably going to work something out with me! Yikes! I can't stop thinking about what I would do with a space of my own to design in. Keep your fingers crossed!

Bzz Bzz Bzz

I've been such the little worker bee...but not in the conventional sense (being that I don't exactly have a full-time job). Every spare second that hasn't been spent interviewing for jobs or freelancing, I have been CREATING. I have 2 boutiques coming up this weekend.

Saturday: I'm a vendor at the OC roller derby girls match, I'm hoping to sell lot's of knuckle rings!

Sunday: I'll be at the dragonfly marketplace from 11:00-4:00 in the Orange Circle.

Since last week, I've created several new pieces, along with 24 magazine subscription collages.

Honeybee Knuckle Ring

2 and 3 finger vintage heart button knuckle rings

I'm still making more!

I've been working whole-heartedly on affordable art and art prints as well ($5-$30, how's that for cheap?)

I have completely revamped my display table as well. I built a shelf, and got some great thrift store finds to help me with that.

I'm going to take a ton of photos this weekend to showcase all of my new designs.

Hope to see some friends at the shows!

Lucky 13

So guess who stayed up until 2am making 13 collages? Once I get the juice of creativity, I know that I can't do anything but go with it. Here are 2 from the series. I've used vintage images from either Lady's Home Journal, Life magazine, or an old children's book

Look out for $5 prints and $30 framed originals!

Can I just get a McFlurry?

Last night it happened like it usually does...I got a craving for something sweet, but it was late and I didn't want to go to the liquor store for ice cream where all of the bums hang out..so i decided to get something from the safety of my car. After watching the episode of 30 Rock where Selma Hayek introduces Alec Baldwin to McFlurries, I've been craving the dessert myself. But to my shock and dismay, the McDonald's by my house was closed for renovations! SHOCK

I thought, "there's a Mickey D's every Square mile, I'll find another one." So, at 9:30 P.M., I found myself driving down 17th, then making a left on Irvine, and ended up driving all the way to the John Wayne Airport! The combination of driving a granny rental Chevy Impala and sugar withdrawals caused my delusional journey. I hopped on the 73, then 55 and remembered there was another McD's on Harbor and Wilson. But what do you know? apparently EVERY one is going through a remodel. Just when I was about to give up all hope, an America's Cup shined through my discouraged demeanor and I got my damn dessert.

PHEW. In other news, I've found my floral keffiyeh scarves to be the hot item right now, so I will spend the rest of the day completing more of those, as well as some inexpensive original arts and prints. I've got a roller derby show to prepare for!

I'll leave one last bit of beauty: while on the phone with Roark (the master artist), he introduced me to Ashes and Snow, whose artist captures unique moments of interaction between humans and wild animals. The music along with the presentation of the books in the store are just breathtaking.

Sleepy in Saturday

Work at the day job has been slow this week, and consisting entirely of Web Design, an area of design I notoriously dislike. With the extra time, I've been...would you say..."uploading like it's hot." Or, I've been adding new items to my etsy site everyday. I took over 100 pictures on Thursday and have been editing them since. (especially the ones were I've reluctantly used myself as a model). Please take a gander.

Laughed a lot this week at the episode of The Office where Michael decides to file Chapter 11 by shouting "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY!!!!"

Ate Indian Food with my surrogate grandmother Oatha yesterday at Royal Kyber. Chicken Curry, Rice Pilaf, Ginger dressing salad and the doughiest most heavenly Nan around. For desert, chocolate drizzled plate, pistachio sorbet, minced pistachios sprinkled around, and SILVER LEAF. I ate silver with my desert. Shocking.

Please, don't forget to go to my performance this sunday with Good Avery at the continental room. I will be amplified this time! You will actually be able to hear me!

Entertainment

The band I play with, Good Avery, is playing a free show this Sunday at the swanky Continental Room in Fullerton. It's got a red velvet curtain and everything! We will be playing around 10pm. Have a little fun before work on Monday morning. We won't be singing or talking about the economy.....it's an "economy talk free" zone.