weather&noise

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Here's to a lovely, sweet Valentine's Day for everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day! .

made : The Indie Emporium Shop

2012-02-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

A snippet from the weather&noise facebook page. Oh, life without a laptop for the last month as well. Please excuse my absence, but know that that I'm thinking about blogging and will be back to it eventually.

In the meantime, go like the page for my sweet little shop ;

made ; The Indie Emporium Shop

Oh, I'm around..

2011-11-21T09:16:00.001-08:00

I've been *super* busy. Like in the, I don't have time to sleep, or daydream, or any of those necessary things.

But it's all such wonderful busy-ness. A few weeks back was The Girlie Show in OKC. Always one of my favorite shows of the year and always so successful for me. I'll post some photos one of these days, but for now, just let me say that it was wonderful. Actually, here are a few captures (not mine) that I found on various facebook pages after the show.

from okc.net

I got a little press before & after the show, which is always nice.

http://okc.net/2011/11/06/girls-just-want-to-have-fun/
http://www.oklahomatoday.com/oklahomatoday/COMMUNITY/Editor%27s_Blog/index.html

Then, oh, this sweet little opportunity popped up for me to open a pop up shop in the Deco District of downtown Tulsa. I've loved the concept of pop up shops since I first heard about them a few years back. I made a little attempt at making one happen last Christmas, but it just didn't work out. This year, it's happening. For real, and it's under the Indie Emporium name. We have almost 30 vendors that have set things up and I'll be running the shop every moment of this next month that I'm in Tulsa. I'll update with more details about that later. It might be a big part of why I haven't had time to blog lately.

And oh, then there's this little trip this week to Renegade Austin, and next week to Renegade Chicago. Just those little things.. And how honored I am to be included on the Renegade blog. Dreams coming true folks. Especially with the company of amazing artists on this particular entry. I adore Leah Duncan's work and Kate from Little Things Studio is just the most darling lady and I can't wait for dinner with her next weekend while we're both in Austin.

Gosh, I am so happy to be checking these things off of my life's to-do list (opening a shop & Renegade holiday shows are both on my '30 by 30'). I just wish I could bask a little more in these happy days, and that there were a little more time for sleep.

Over The Weekend.. (and a little week too)

2011-11-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been a blur of activity, ups and downs, and everything in between.

There was an Indie Emporium volunteer appreciation party at Joe Momma's for trivia night. Goodness what great help we have. I am so thankful for these darling people.

Somer of SomerKnits with Holly from HollyRocks (i love these girls!)

A few Saturdays back, we ventured out to see our friends at the B.A.zaar. We didn't set up this year because of the hectic schedule we've been living, but it was fun to say hello to friends and meet some new makers. I bought some laundry detergent from the Peaceful Housewife, which I've been looking forward to trying, and another laundry-related purchase, a felted wool dryer ball from SomerKnits. I also picked up some lovely scents from Plume Perfume, and a bar of Pumpkin Lager soap for the husband's stocking. I may or may not have picked out a Christmas gift for myself.

We also picked out some pumpkins to decorate. I got one gigantic one, one regular sized one, and a bag of little cute and colorful ones.

The rest of that weekend was spent at home cleaning my studio, finishing up my midterms, reading, packaging prints and store orders, and having an all around relaxing, but still productive time.

I've been spending a lot of time treasure hunting. I tend to do this when I'm feeling stressed or need a little pick me up. I've certainly been finding some great lovelies.

This sweet leaf picture was taken while I was waiting in line at one of the best estate sales ever. I bought enough lovely treasures to fill their own entire post.

This past weekend we checked out the Harvest Festival at Cam's Grocery downtown. We made a quick trip to OKC to see my family and have a Thanksgiving dinner. Yep, it's early for that, but my uncle has been in the hospital with brain cancer and we wanted to have a nice family gathering while he was still with us. Oh friends, it's so sad to see such a positive and kind man being destroyed by a nasty disease. I send all of my love to my family in OKC and sure hope that they find just a little bit of comfort in these difficult times. I can't even imagine what they're going through these days. 2011 has been a year of loss for so many people that I know and I just wish there were any word of encouragement that could ease the pain.

The husband took me by Cuppies and Joe on the way out of OKC to get a pumpkin steamer and a little treat for the drive home. Mostly I just wanted a warm drink to hold the whole way home because it's been so chilly out. There is something so comforting about a warm, steamy drink on a cold and gloomy day.

I spent most of Sunday working on some fall projects and getting things ready for the Girlie Show this coming weekend. I had this fun, silly little idea a few weeks back to have a pumpkin party where everyone brings a pumpkin flavored treat to share. We ended up with a nice crowd of 25 people and such a wonderful assortment of pumpkin delights. Pumpkin enchiladas, pasta, canolis, and of course lots and lots of sweets. Lovely times, and I needed an afternoon with friends pretty badly.

I wish I'd taken more photos, but here was a little corner of the goodies. The husband and I made my pumpkin apple pie, and a pumpkin dip. Oh, and some really rich and tasty pumpkin cider.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I'll try to squeeze another post in before this weekend, but no promises. ;)

Learning to Crochet

2011-10-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that I've undertaken learning a new skill. I've sort of picked up crochet a few times and done some basics, but I'm going to delve further in this time. Here's what I've done so far.

Oh, and one of my crochet experiments last winter. These were sweet little crocheted "acorn" ornaments I made for the make:Tulsa girls. They were actually made with walnuts. Sillyness.

I'm re-learning with Sherri (go like her on facebook here), one of the sweetest ladies I know. She started the Tulsa Crochet Collective which meets the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month at Agora. That's her sitting next to me in the photo. Also in that picture are Andrea and Holly. My schedule is so hectic for the next few months, but I'm going to take every chance I can to join in for a night off from all of the other crazi-ness I'm living. Oh, and Agora has the most amazing pumpkin spice chai, so that doesn't hurt either.

Sherri is miss super crochet-er and made me this lovely scarf that I'm pretty much obsessed with.

Beautiful, yes? I think I'll be sporting it a lot this season.

In case you're not in Tulsa and can't learn from Sherri (she teaches at Loops too!), you should head over to Crochet School taught by Dana from Craftyminx. I've met Dana a few times and she's a total sweetheart. I have to admit, I'm a little behind in Crochet School, I'm only on lesson 6, but her videos are a million times better and more thorough than any of the ones I tried watching on youtube a few years ago. I really thought I could learn crochet from a video a few years back and didn't have much luck. Even Sherri wasn't sure how I made all of my V's in the chain stitch face the wrong way.. Crochet School is certainly going to be helpful for me when I'm stuck and wondering what I've forgotten from a Monday night Crochet Collective meeting and will keep me from totally monopolizing Sherri's time asking a million questions. So head over to Crochet School from the link above or by clicking the button on the left side of my blog.

I have to admit, I've been knitting for oh, I don't know, like 3 or 4 years now, but from the little bit that I've done, I think I really prefer crochet. I'm not totally giving up on knitting and I plan on learning to cable this winter. Just as soon as Dana makes a video for that or someone can hold my hand through it because for some reason it terrifies me.

Over The Weekend..

2011-10-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

So much for a little downtime between Indie Emporium and the fall show season.. Busy times are upon us and I'm making the best of it this year.

Wednesday Night - We started the weekend early since we had a party almost every night last week. This was a ladies party for the event that the husband is working on, Corks & Kegs. It's coming up in a few weeks and I kinda can't wait. I made pumpkin dip and pumpkin truffles for the ladies party, but forgot to take photos of the truffles. I'm pretty sure I'll be making them again this fall, so maybe I'll remember that step next time before they all disappear at a party. The dip was pretty tasty, it's a can of pumpkin, some spices, greek yogurt, and whipped cream. We dipped apples in it, but I also served it with ginger snap cookies.

Thursday Night - Girlie Show Artist Party in OKC. My dear friend Nikki from the Gleeful Peacock came along and on the way home, we ran into some crazy ghostbusters. Dontcha love my silly teeth smile in that photo?

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and had a little mini garage sale. Mainly I just wanted to get some junk out of the garage (like random clothes that the husband decided to put on!) and hopefully make enough money to pay for our trip to OKC later that day. After about 2 hours of hanging out in the garage, we'd made over $50 and we decided to pack up the rest for Goodwill and head to OKC for the Passages exhibit that they husband has been wanting to visit. I packed a sweet little picnic and threw my boots in the car and we headed out.

The line at the museum ended up being super, super long, but fortunately it moved quickly and only took about an hour. We were in line next to some lovely folks from Sapulpa, so the time passed quickly with good conversation. After the exhibit, we wandered around the museum for a while and then stopped by Cuppies & Joe before heading home. I tried the Boom Boom Pow (vanilla with chocolate frosting and salted caramel drizzle) and the husband tried the Neverland (peanut butter & chocolate). So good and I just have to say that Cuppies & Joe is the most darling place ever.

Sunday I spent the day working on homework, writing thank you cards, and with a quick make:Tulsa meeting. We finished the weekend by having Sunday night dinner with my folks, a new-ish tradition and a great way to end the weekend.

over the weekend..

2011-10-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am, feeling motivated on this lovely fall afternoon. I took a fun little handmade business blogging class from lovely Erin, over at Sunshine & Carousels this past weekend and I've been thinking about my own blog and what I want to do with it. SO, expect some changes, and maybe some more consistency!

So, first new feature is going to be each and every Monday and will be called "over the weekend". This will probably almost always just be filled with some instagram and various cell phone photos from over the weekend and just a little recap. Oh, and if you don't already follow me on instagram, then you should probably take this moment to pull out your phone and find me! (christinesharpcrowe). Now! Really!

So, onto today's post..

October . 7, 8, 9 . 2011

A lot of pillow stuffing and sewing, a quick trim of the bangs (I'm still adjusting to them!), Momentum Tulsa, Handmade Blogging Class

Momentum Tulsa is a really fun art event that I'm really happy to be a part of. I'm on the committee, but couldn't dedicate much time to helping since it was only a week away from Indie Emporium this year. But the husband and I did help out at the door on opening night and then got a chance to look around. I've had work in the show for the past few years, but missed the deadline this year with all the IE stuff going on. Only one more year for me to apply since it's for artists 30 and under! I wish I'd taken a few pictures of the work, but I was particularly struck by an embroidery piece by Julie Swearingen. Loved. It.

Oh, and one of Indie Emporium's fashion designers was showing his line again at Momentum. Since I was backstage during most of the Indie Emporium fashion show, I was happy to get to see his collection as an audience member.

Sunday was the previously mentioned handmade blogging class with some of the make:Tulsa crew and I ended the day by knitting and watching movies in bed. Also over the weekend was a trip to Philbrook for the Magnificent Vision opening (goodness, I can't wait to go back when it's not so crowded!), from scratch chicken and whole wheat dumplings with extra veggies (made by the husband), a trip to Jenks for the Art on Main festival and a quick chat with the lovely Ms. Extance of Bohemian Romance, and a trip to the I AM festival in Bixby. And all that boring stuff like laundry, homework, and a little bit of extra sleep since I'm still fighting off this ridiculous cold.

Oh, and here are just a few little peeks at Indie Emporium this year from my phone.. I ran around like cah-razy all weekend and just snapped a few cell phone photos, so I'm waiting for the real photos from one or two or three of our event photographers and then I'll share a full post about the 2011 show. I'll leave you with these little glimpses though..

Indie Emporium

2011-10-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well, Indie Emporium 5 went pretty amazingly. I'm completely exhausted, still, after a few days rest, but I think a big part of that is this lingering head cold that has me feeling a bit groggy.

I realized that I never shared any of the planning details, so this first post is going to be a bunch of the graphics that we used this year. And next post, well, maybe I'll include some event photos. We had a great turnout and great success at Living Arts of Tulsa and I can't wait to do it again in 2012.

Missoni for Target

2011-08-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

I've been a little anxious to see these what this line was going to be like and woke up this morning to a twitter stream abuzz with links and photos that were leaked. I've been looking forward to this most recent collaboration with Target because there hasn't really been one that I've been crazy about in quite some time..

So... onto the Missoni. Honestly, I'm not as crazy about it as I thought I would be. I do *love* the blanket, but it's the only must have item for me this time. Oh, and it is a must have.

Okay, maybe this bag too. The one in back.

And I do like the floral scarf and rainboots, but sort of don't need to buy anything else like that and I'm not in love with them enough to justify it.

There are a few other things that I'd probably buy if I saw them hit the sale racks. Oh, and I look forward to seeing these dishes in person. I wonder if they'll be sold as a set or individually. And the display?? I'd love if that were a full set with the display! You know this girl loves her dishes and kitchenwares. Oh and I do hope those plates are not melamine. There are some other standard Target melamine dishes by Missoni, but I just can't buy another one of those. I tend to buy them when they have lovely patterns or something that I like, but I find myself intentionally leaving them at parties and such because I hate having plastic dishes.

Well folks, what do you think?

You can see the rest of the collection here.

Applying for Indie Craft Shows

2011-08-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you've been thinking about applying for an indie craft show, you'll want to be sure to attend the class that we're teaching with the lovely Briana, the organizer of Alliday. It's happening this Wednesday evening. And if you're far away, don't worry, we're working on making this class available online in the near future. Otherwise, we hope to see you at Cosi. Free to attend this time around!

And ya know, I might have mentioned it a few times, but the Indie Emporium applications are closing THIS WEEKEND! Apply now if you want to be a part of the 2011 show.

Prairie Hive

2011-08-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

The new issue of Prairie Hive magazine is online now and I spent a good chunk of this morning drinking a nice tea and reading it. I can honestly say, it's the first time I've actually read an online magazine with the same focus and enjoyment that I read print magazines with.

These ladies are really putting together a great source of design inspiration and lovely formatting and I look forward to seeing the future issues.

Oh, and they are just so darn sweet! I had the pleasure of meeting Dawn over the summer and have been working with Sarah on a fun little collaborative project for Prairie Hive and Indie Emporium. Look for one of our make&take tables at Indie Emporium to be led by these creative ladies. Just one more reason to come to Indie Emporium in a few months!

And make sure you check out the Prairie Hive blog as well.. lots of great content

A call for artists!

2011-07-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

You have until August 14th to apply to be a part of Indie Emporium 2011.

I'm getting pretty darn excited. What do you think of the graphics? Lovely Renee of GreenerMe & I had a little graphic pow wow yesterday. More coming soon.

Oh, friends, what a lovely day I'm having. I hope everyone else is having a sweet summer afternoon too.

Indie Emporium Video

2011-07-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

I've been working away on Indie Emporium projects this week and I'm pretty excited about this sweet, silly, little video we made to promote the applications.

The application deadline is one month from today!

Share the video with your friends.. it's on our facebook page too, so if you see yourself in one of the photos in the video, tag yourself!

Renegade Austin! My little recap.

2011-06-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

A recap in photos. And a few words too. I can't believe it's been a month ago already.

I had a most excellent time on my trip to Austin. Renegade was AMAZING and it was so much fun to get to meet so many talented vendors and make new friends and see some people that I hadn't seen in quite a while. I worked pretty hard on these new displays and I think they were well received. Sales were pretty good and weather&noise is in a few new Texas boutiques now, so overall, a really fun and successful trip.

And I fell a little in love with Austin. Here are some of the random photos from my phone from the trip. I planned to head back to Tulsa early on Monday, but got distracted by shopping and wandering around Austin for the day.

I traded for and bought some of the loveliest things, but that's a whole other blog post to come.. I'm beginning to run out of wall space around here for all of this artwork though!

Renegade was probably my last show for a while since I've got some other things in the works for summer. I'll apply for a select few fall shows, but I'm planning to be pretty busy with my new shop. Yep, my new brick & mortar shop. Coming late summer/early fall. Can't wait to share the progress with you lovely blog friends.

Music Monday

2011-05-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure excited about some of the things going on around here.. but goodness, I am ready for summer! Mostly because I'm ready for a break from this semester. I've postponed all of the liberal arts electives, so this semester was spent learning the History of American Illustration, and a few other classes that don't really relate to my degree or my major. So, let's see, finals are due on the 21st - which just happens to be the date of Renegade in Austin! I'm super super excited, but have a very long to-do list between now and then, including lots of homework and studying, and lots and lots of making for Renegade. So, I probably won't be blogging much for the next few weeks, but I promise when I come back, I'm going to be posting my favorite summer pie recipe and an update about some really exciting things I have planned for this summer. And I do mean really exciting.. life altering exciting! Gotta wait for confirmation on a few things before I announce it though.. and NO, it's not a baby! When you've been married for 7 years and tell someone you have big news, that is very much the first thing that everyone thinks. haha! As much as that would be fun and big news, that's not what I've got up my sleeve right now. I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with this..

Onto some music - I helped out with a bit of styling and making treats for a music video last week for the lovely Erin Austin of OK Sweetheart. I only took a few photos, but it was filmed in this darling house.

So, I've been listening to her new cd a bit over the past week..

And here's a little sweet video of the song that the video was for. I'll post a link to the video just as soon as I see it.

Other than that, I haven't been listening to much new music lately, it's just been a lot of Florence & The Machine, Band of Horses, and the various other Pandora stations that I obsess over. One song that I'm quite fond of today is Hometown Glory by Adele.

Oh, and just as soon as I have a few spare moments, I plan to sit down with a glass of wine, some knitting, and watch this DVD in it's entirety.

Tulsa Art Studio Tour Recap

2011-04-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with everyone how lovely a time I had during the Tulsa Art Studio Tour. I met so many nice people and really enjoyed sharing my space and my process with them. For all of you lovelies that couldn't attend, I took a bunch of pictures of my space before the tour and would love to give you a little walk through of my space.

These were the passes/tickets for the event.

My new cutting table, which by the way I *love*. The painting on the left is my very favorite piece of artwork that I own.

This is where I set up my finished product to sell. aka my living room.

And my setup in the kitchen - because that's where I really do most of my printing.

I hung examples of each step of my printing process so people could see how it all works..

The printing area in my studio.. I do my test runs and color mixing here usually, but when I'm printing multiple things (like the 50 Oklahoma tea towels I'm printing today), I like to use the kitchen because of the higher counters and easier cleanup.

And my desk.

Here's the lino block I've been working on lately.

And my big, lovely windows. I love sewing here and watching the birds and squirrels outside.

Next week I'll share some photos from my other studio, the space I've been working in downtown. It's been a little challenging having some things here and some there, but I'm so grateful to have the chance to have a little change of scenery. Even though I sure do love my space at home.

Music Monday

2011-04-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've got some lovely blog posts planned for this week, so check back in a few days for a real update about what's been happening in my world. For today, I'm playing catch up on homework and trying to finish some neglected laundry and housework. This working outside of my house has taken a toll on all of that not fun house stuff, but goodness, it's done wonders for me in general.

Onto the music - Fade Into You, by Mazzy star - probably my all time favorite song. I'd venture to say that I've listened to this song at least once a week for the last ten years. And of course, you have to love the so distinctly 90's video.

I've been listening to a lot of Florence and the Machine and I just adore the styling for this video.

And lastly, Mumford & Sons, The Cave.

I hope you're all having a lovely Monday and now I'm back to writing a compare/contrast essay of Andrew Loomis and Virgil Finlay and wondering why I thought "history of american illustration" was going to be a liberal arts course I'd enjoy.

Temporary Studio Space

2011-03-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'll be packing up a few little bits of my studio this weekend to take downtown next week for a fun little opportunity that arose from being part of the Tulsa Art Studio Tour. I'll be temporarily working in a lovely little space in the lobby of the Atlas Life Building.

I don't think I'll be doing a lot of screen printing there, because the sink is pretty small and I'm sort of messy when I print, but I'll be taking my sewing machine and some fabric that's already printed so I can make lots of pillow covers for all of these busy Spring plans. I'm also going to take a few lino blocks and sketches that I've been itching to carve.. and maybe I can even do some lino printing while I'm there. I'll be working there quite a bit over the next few weeks, so if you're in the downtown area, come see me!

I'm pretty excited to get out of the home studio for a bit because with all the chaos in my life right now, it's been really hard to focus on my work.. There's just too much laundry, too many phone calls, and other things to catch up on. I think getting out of the house for a few weeks will force me to focus on my work and maybe be a little distraction from some of the other worries. oh, the other worries.

The husband got his staples out (all 50 of them!) yesterday. His incision was 11.5 inches - goodness, but he's healing nicely.

Thankful

2011-03-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

After a terrible week watching my lovely husband hurting and very sick, I am so thankful to have him back home with me.

On the 10th, he went in for a simple procedure to see what had been causing his recent tummy troubles. On Friday the 11th he started hurting... and it kept getting worse. Many phone calls to the doctor later and no resolve, I decided it was time to head to the ER. They did some tests and found that he had "free air" in his abdomen, perhaps from a perforation in his colon. The surgeon we'd met on his last week in the hospital back in February came by and visited with us and said they'd do some more tests on Saturday morning to compare - maybe this could fix itself with pain meds and antibiotics. After a very, very, long and painful night, while on a huge dose of morphine every hour and total panic for both of us, the surgeon came in on Saturday morning and told us that there was more "free air" and that Thom needed emergency surgery, and that they didn't even know what they were doing, this was going to be "exploratory surgery" to figure out what was wrong. Somehow I held it together, even though I just wanted to bawl my eyes out with worry.. We didn't have much time to prepare - 30 minutes until they were taking him downstairs. He was panicked, I was panicked, it was a very scary time. The surgery lasted just about 2 and a half hours, during which I think I paced the entire time. Some wonderful nurses came to tell me that Thom was doing well and the surgeon was just closing him back up. I was so relieved and we headed back up to his hospital room while he was in recovery.

They wheeled him into the room and my heart sank - so many tubes and machines and he looked to be so miserable. I guess I had expected that the surgery would be over and he would be totally fine, not that this was going to be a long and difficult recovery. The doctor explained that they had cut out about 6" of his colon that was inflamed and infected. I can't remember clearly exactly what was said because I've spoken with so many doctors and nurses this week, but things seemed okay - and terrifying. He said to plan on the husband being in the hospital for 5-7 days. Thom was in SO much pain for those first few days and had an awful tube that went from his stomach, up through his throat and nose that was pumping stuff out of his stomach - he couldn't swallow.. no water or anything for the first 3 days, just able to suck on ice chips.

I have a horrible hospital anxiety and felt panic attacks coming on so many times. I laid on the couch watching his every breath for days - just waiting for the first little movement or thing to change. I laid there and shook and cried, and worried myself sick. Literally sick. By Monday, things were starting to improve, he'd been able to get up and walk a bit and his body was waking up. He got a few tubes removed.. but goodness, it was still so hard to watch him be so miserable. I realized that I hadn't slept or eaten in days. My parents were taking shifts with me at the hospital so he wouldn't be alone at all. He kept waking up scared. The pain meds made him very emotional and worried and occasionally angry. We were all exhausted. Even though I'd go home for a few hours to sleep, I just laid there and shook and worried and called the nurses station to check on him. Fortunately my doctor's office was just down the hall from the hospital, so I made a visit to her to see about all of the weird numbness I'd been having in my arm for days (of course thinking I was having a stroke or something). She felt the huge knot in my neck/shoulder and said I was having muscle spasms. It's amazing what stress can do to your body. I made a crisis appointment with the therapist that I'd stopped seeing a year ago because I really felt like I couldn't handle another day of this constant worry.

And at some point, I just accepted what was happening and became thankful for how lucky we really are. Yes, my loving husband was still in an incredible amount of pain, but we are so lucky to have access to great healthcare. And to have an amazing surgeon who was able to fix what was happening in my husband's body. I really, really felt comforted by Dr. Jackson's words and care and would recommend him so highly to anyone. I'm thankful for the wonderful nurses who took care of Thom and also comforted me when I stepped out of the room to cry. I'm thankful for the drugs that eased his pain and fought his infection. I'm thankful for my parents - I don't know what we would have done without them.. And for Thom's family also. I'm thankful for our health insurance - goodness gracious, I don't know what we'd be doing right now without it. And for Thom's employers for being so understanding and letting him ease back into his schedule at work this week. I'm thankful for all of the kind emails/texts/phone calls and visits from our friends and the nourishment they provided, both literally and emotionally. It means so much, more than I can express really. And I'm thankful for things that might seem little and insignificant like the hospital maid who popped in each day with a sunny disposition to clean the room and see how Thom was feeling that day. Our lives are going to be forever affected by this and Thom has some serious and permanent dietary changes, but we are getting through it together.

Things are starting to come into perspective this Lent and I'm feeling incredibly thankful for all that I am blessed with. Even in this really difficult time, and amidst my hours of worry, I'm just feeling so darn lucky.

Renegade Austin

2011-03-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you might have seen a few weeks ago that I announced that I'll be a vendor at Renegade Austin in May. I'm super excited about this! I've been spending this morning working on my plans for the show and also for my weekend in Austin. I'm a little bummed that the husband won't be joining me at this show, but I'll be there with a few of my favorite crafty ladies. Austin friends, is there anything I need to make sure to check out while I'm there??

I'm really excited about my lodging while I'm there too.. I'm doing some custom artwork and printing for a lovely little B&B in exchange for my weekend stay. I'll share more about that later!

In the meantime, I'll be printing and designing and printing, printing, printing to prepare for my busy spring schedule.

So, if you're in the Austin area, come see me May 21st & 22nd at Renegade!

These Days..

2011-03-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

Hello March. I'm so happy to see the first little bits of Spring. I *need* Spring. I always go into February hoping for happy times, but for some reason it always ends up being a stressful and painful time. I'm welcoming March wholeheartedly and can't wait for things to start looking up.

The husband's health problems have been continuing, and my life has been revolving around that over these past few weeks, but we got into the specialist this week and should know for sure what is going on in the next few weeks. My lack of blogging has been due to this nagging stress in my mind and those general February blahs.

In happy news, I checked the mail this afternoon to find a lovely letter from the husband's school that his Master's Thesis was reviewed and approved and it had all of the details of his graduation ceremony. It might sound a little cheesy, but I really am so proud of him! Now, to find a way to get to Chicago for graduation ceremonies this July!

And with that, my weekend will include a lot of studying. And writing. And videos about textiles and illustrators. I'm getting a little obsessed with the Red Rose Girls and one of my classes is feeding that new found interest.

And maybe Sunday will hold a trip to OKC on Sunday to hang out with some crafty ladies at Coop Ale Works.. we will see how everyone is feeling around here. I'm taking things one day, no, really one hour at a time. There are these moments of panic and fear when I think about the coming months, but all will be well in time. Right?

music monday

2011-02-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun compiling what I'm listening to in the studio that I thought I'd make it a weekly post. So, here begins "music mondays".

The weekend was a little stressful around here, so I'm relaxing with some laid back music while working in the studio today. This afternoon I'm sewing buttons on things, and trying like crazy to catch up on some computer time.

I love this song by Cat Power. I couldn't find the real video for it, but I do like this one.

This song by Imogen Heap is so lovely and I sometimes just listen to it on repeat. Really great gloomy, grey day song, even on a sunny Monday.

More Bon Iver this week.

Lastly for now, "Sweet Disposition" by Temper Trap. Love.

Oh wait, I have to include one more - not because I love the song like the others, but because the video is just so..... well, just watch. I can't think of the proper adjective to describe it. Ahh, Ke-DollarSign-Ha.

Hope you're having lovely Mondays!

Tulsa Art Studio Tour

2011-02-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to be participating in the Tulsa Art Studio Tour this Spring! I've attended this event a few times and always had a great time. I do hope that if you're in Tulsa, you'll come see me! April 9&10!

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition invites you to the Tulsa Art Studio Tour & Preview Exhibition!

The self-guided tour will be Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10 from Noon-5pm.

Giving a glimpse of the art you will see on the Studio Tour, a preview exhibition will be held at the Circle Cinema Gallery, 12 S. Lewis Ave, Tulsa.

Preview ExhibitionMarch 3 - April 4
Opening reception March 10, 7-9 pm
Enjoy food, drinks and art by Tulsa Art Studio Tour artists.
Free and open to the public.

Artists
Michael Benton, wood
Kim Doner, illustration
Alan Frakes, painting
Mark Hawley, furniture
George Kountoupis, painting
Steven Rosser, painting and printmaking
Christine Sharp-Crowe, printmaking
Celeste Vaught, painting
May Yang, printmaking

www.TulsaArtStudioTour.org

Currently Listening

2011-02-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week catching up after that unexpected week off. I'm feeling pretty unrested and ever so slightly scattered, but these sunny days and warm weather are sure helping. And my pandora playlist has been just ever so good lately. I thought I'd share a little bit of what I'm listening to these days.

First up, I'm sort of obsessed with this song right now.

I'm also listening to a lot of Bon Iver.

And Band of Horses

And there is always Jenny Lewis. Always.

Look at this lovely photo of Ms. Jenny Lewis that I snapped the first time I saw her live back in 2006.

I also spend a lot of time listening to the Besnard Lakes. I can certainly classify them as my favorite band with a singer that looks quite similar to David Koresh. (really, look it up and compare!)

Here's a photo I took of them a few years ago when I saw them open for Peter, Bjorn, and John.

Oh, and these lovely folks from OKC.

Always mixing in a little Feist - Did anyone else see her live on the tour with the shadow puppets and all of the shadow imagery? It was sort of magical. I bet there are videos of it out there..

And some Fleet Foxes

These last two videos are a bit creepy, but I sure do like the songs..

What are you listening to?

Also, I'm starting to book music for Indie Emporium 2011 (Sept 30 & Oct 1). If you know of some Oklahoma musicians who might be interested in playing, have them email me at christine@indieemporium.com.

A hospital valentine..

2011-02-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

Goodness, what a week it's been. I had some lovely blog plans for Valentine's Day, but last Monday the husband started feeling yucky. By Tuesday afternoon he was admitted to the hospital for what we thought was going to be an appendectomy. He ended up not needing surgery (hooray!), but having some other problems that we were unaware of.

Needless to say, I haven't been focused on blogging or anything except helping him feel better. I have quite an aversion to hospitals and germs and usually after just a few minutes in one, I'm on the verge of a panic attack, but somehow I managed to spend every day of the past week by his side, which maybe is a Valentine's testament to how much I kinda like him.

Anyhow, as long as his third CT scan looks good tomorrow, he should be coming home tomorrow - which just happens to be the best Valentine's gift I could possibly ask for.

Dark Chocolate/Blueberry/Banana/Bran Muffins

2011-02-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

Remember those muffins I mentioned last week? I thought I'd share the recipe for anyone interested.

I've been trying to eat healthy these past few months, but had really started craving something sweet and chocolat-ey. Instead of baking cookies or something, I tried a basic bran muffin recipe, but added dark chocolate chips. I substituted honey for sugar and applesauce for butter, so these are actually even healthier than regular bran muffins.

I made these a second time last week and threw in a handful of blueberries and 2 mushed up bananas. It definitely made them more moist and flavorful, but I'm thinking that I won't add blueberries again - I prefer to just eat them raw..

don't you love that anthro plate that I picked up on clearance?

Anyway, I won't lie and say that these are the tastiest sweet treat, but they did satisfy my craving. If you don't mind extra wheaty/branny flavor, you might like them. I was pretty convinced that the husband would find them disgusting, but he actually seemed pretty impressed with them, especially the second time around.

Recipe

1 cup Wheat Bran
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Honey
3/4 cup Applesauce
2 tbsp Melted Butter or Oil
2 Eggs
Various amounts dark chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, blueberries or whatever add-ins you want. I put about 1/3 cups dark chocolate and 1/2 cup of blueberries. I also added 2 mushed up bananas, and that time used just a little less applesauce.

Preheat oven to 400. Mix flour, bran, baking soda, and baking powder. In separate bowl, mix milk, eggs, butter/oil, and honey. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and then stir in your add ins.

Spoon into lightly oiled muffin tins or foil muffin cups and bake for about 18 minutes. I noticed that they took about 3-4 minutes longer when I used banana in the recipe, so just check them until they are firm. Makes 12 muffins.

And now to go tidy the kitchen for a lil photoshoot happening in about an hour. And this time it's not me! The husband is doing a story about home-brewing for Tulsa People Magazine. I'll post a scan of the article when it's out.

Valentines in the Snow

2011-02-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

I'm finding ways to keep myself entertained on this chilly Saturday!

Also posted on thing-a-day

End of the vacation..

2011-02-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Last week was supposed to be the last little bit of my little "vacation" time. By vacation, I mean that I'd taken a step back from some of the things I do and groups I'm involved in to spend time preparing myself for this busy year. And, goodness, staying home almost every evening was a nice change compared to our usual schedule around here.

I got tons of little projects done around the house, cleaned both of my studio spaces, cleaned closets and the pantry, reorganized, sold lots of stuff on craigslist & ebay, and got prepared for what is in store for weather&noise this spring. And my busy schedule has now started back up! Spring classes started on Monday. I was scheduled to have three (yes, 3!) photoshoots over last weekend, but they didn't all happen. I did have an interview and quick photoshoot for an event I'm participating in in April and I did get some new product photos taken, but the third photoshoot was cancelled due to that little snowstorm we ended up having.

Since we got trapped inside for a few stress free days, I finished up some projects that were started long ago. One is this washcloth made from tshirt yarn. I made the yarn last year, I believe in September when we were teaching tshirt crafts to kids at the library. It's a really fun and simple project, but I don't really like how the yarn knits up. However it seems like it will be great as a washcloth or trivet for hot dishes. I just threw this one in the washer and will test it out this evening.

I also baked some tasty muffins which I'll be back to share the recipe for later. These are the blueberry/banana/dark chocolate chip/bran muffins that I mentioned in the last post. Oh, how nice it is to bake on a cold winter day.

Hard to believe that just last weekend we were at the park without coats! We took Tucker and my parent's dog Baron for a little trip to the park. 76 degreeees, how I long for more of those days.

And speaking of last weekend, we had a a great make:Tulsa meeting and I'm just so excited about the direction of things to come. I have such fun with these lovely ladies!

thing-a-day

2011-01-24T15:50:00.000-08:00

I've got a very busy week ahead, but wanted to share something that I'm going to try to do starting February 1st.

Visit thing-a-day if you want to sign up too!

To Read

2011-01-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

At the end of last year, I made a print that says "Read More Books". I mostly made it because I had planned on that being my 2011 goal, but I thought perhaps some other people would like it too. I only printed a few of the prints at first and sold out at my first fall show last year. I decided to print 100 more of the book prints before the Girlie Show and Jingle Bash and by the time I got home from Fort Worth, I only had a couple left. Ooh, and if you watch this video from the Girlie Show, aside from seeing what a fun show it is, you'll see my print at about 1:49 and a few little clips of my booth elsewhere.

Since the print was so popular, I printed it on tea towels, pillow covers, bookmarks, and pocket mirrors.. goodness, just about everything!

$6 in the shop

$5 in the shop

Anyway, I've been living up to reading more books.

I'm spending this lovely winter afternoon reading a few that I got for Christmas. First up is Crafting A Meaningful Home by Meg Mateo Ilasco. I've loved her other books and so far this one is no exception. I think I'm going to make some of the button garland asap. The book is colorful and lovely and I love the book trailer for it too.

Crafting a Meaningful Home from Meg Mateo Ilasco on Vimeo.

Of course I've been enjoying The Black Apple's Paper Doll Primer. I started drawing out ideas for some of my own paper dolls last year, so of course I was really excited when I heard about this book. I kept bugging the husband before Christmas making sure that someone was getting it for me. Paper dolls have always been dear to me.. I remember many afternoon of playing with them with my grandma and one time while she was busy, my grandfather tried to help me with cutting some out. He ended up cutting off all of those little darling white tabs on the clothing and it really broke my 8 year old heart. To cheer me up, my grandma helped me make some new clothes for them with plain white paper and we cut out real fabric to attach.. such a sweet memory that I'm so happy to have. In the Paper Doll Primer, I think my favorite is Sylvie. I didn't end up finishing the paper dolls that I was making last year, but I have drawn out plans for a paper doll themed tea towel and pillow cover, so be looking out for that this Spring. And maybe I'll eventually finish the others that I was making.. I was trying to theme them after some of the lovely ladies I know.

I've been saving the book I'm most excited about reading until I finish the others. Do other people do that? It's like the dessert of my current reading list. I am so inspired by Lotta Jansdotter and have adored her other books, so I'm sure that Handmade Living will be no exception. It's no secret that I'm a bit obsessed with Scandinavian design.. and handmade things, so I think this book will be just lovely. I've flipped through the pages and can hardly wait to sit down and savor each page.

What are you reading?

Longing for Spring.

2011-01-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

Goodness gracious, what a bummer this is! weather&noise unfortunately is included in this mess, but I am fortunate to have only sent a small little bit of stock to Queen City Emporium. I feel just awful for those small business owners who sent $1000+ in inventory.

Well, instead of focusing on rotten situations, I'm choosing to spend my afternoon drinking apple cider and enjoying some happy things online like this..

She & Him - Don't Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

And daydreaming about extra warm days like this..

One Love Music Fest - August 2009

And growing things..

And cooking meals prepared entirely with things found at the Farmer's Market or backyard..

and hanging out with my best friend. outside. without shoes.

One of our engagement photos - Spring 2004

Is anyone else longing for spring? The forecast is looking awfully snowy for tonight, so the next few days might end up looking a bit more like this..

Interior Architecture & Design

2011-01-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

As my winter break is starting to wind down, I decided it was about time to enroll in my spring classes. It may seem like I've been working on my degree forever, and I kind of have - I'm taking classes about 3 at a time because that's what my financial aid allows. After this semester, I'll have exactly 10 classes left until I'll have my BFA and can start working on getting NCIDQ certified. This semester I'm taking Fabric & Fiber Technology, History of American Illustration, and Sustainable Design. I've been feeling pretty burned out with school and antsy to finish, but I did get my copy of my Associate's degree in the mail a few months ago - so that sort of made me feel like all of my work (and $$) was going towards something..

Anyway, I don't think I've really blogged much about my school, or any of my projects, which is odd since it's been such a big part of my life. So I decided to post a bit of what I've worked on over the past few years.

This was a semester project for a design studio for a clothing designer.

These are from a residential redesign project from 2009.

You might notice some etsy finds in some of those if you look real close...

This is the part I don't like so much, but I've gotten pretty fluent in AutoCAD and Google SketchUp. I literally have hundreds of files that look like this on my computer, but I've gotten to the point where I can actually read and understand them.

These are just a few of the things I found stashed away in my school folder on my laptop. Most of my work is on our desktop computer.. maybe I should upload it all to flickr. Oh, one of these days..

A quick sketch of a living room..

This is a simple Balsa wood model - I do these for most of my projects to help visualize the flow of a space. The next two photos show one of the more complex models I did a few years ago. It was for a two room redesign.. I used tons of old jewelry on the model. Fun but SO much work.. and goodness, now I don't know what to do with all of these models that have stacked up around the studio. This one took over 60 hours to complete.

This is a gouache study for my Sacred Geometry & The Golden Section class. Every aspect of this design utilizes the golden section ratio. I ended up also making this piece digitally and sell it pretty regularly at shows.

Lastly, this was the concept board for my most recent kitchen redesign project.

It's been a long, long ride, but I'm really happy that I can draft a floorplan by hand or with AutoCAD, make cut sheets & color boards like nobodies business, and all of the other valuable things that I've ~~gone into immense debt for~~ learned.

I have some pretty big news to share later this week, so check back!

Snow Days

2011-01-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

We got our first dusting of snow yesterday.

I'm staying cozy in bed today with the laptop and a long to do list - mostly updating my websites / etsy shops / flickr. It looks a bit like this.

More snow is expected this afternoon and I'm oh so happy to home and warm.

Whew!

2011-01-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

What a great holiday season it was, but I sure am happy and relieved that it's now January and things are getting back to normal.

We spent Christmas in Houston for a week. We had a pretty good trip this year and had a blast with our 6 year old nephew and the rest of the inlaws. Of course the trip to Houston wouldn't be complete without a trip to ikea for a stack of fabric.

This year I am particularly grateful for family and everything that makes us so lucky. I tend to be such a worrier - about everything really! I'm constantly thinking about everything that could go wrong at any given time - and that's something I'm going to work on with the new year. Rather than worrying, I'm going to be grateful for what is going right, and just try to enjoy things one day at a time, rather than obsessing about things I cannot change.

And speaking of grateful, I got some lovely gifts this year. First and foremost, I got the JCrew Juliet shoes that I've been hinting at the husband about with not so subtle emails to ebay auctions.

I also got a stash of books that should keep me entertained and inspired.

And then a some other lovelies that I had on my (mostly monochromatic) wishlist..

Oh - and a gift from our 6 year old nephew, a pair of little frogs.. it made for an interesting 8 hour drive home, but the little guys made it home to Tulsa safely and are now living in our kitchen.

I have some pretty exciting plans for 2011 that I look forward to unveiling right here on my blog.

First up, I'm going to be creating one new tea towel/pillow design each month during 2011! I have ideas sketched out for the first few months and will be working away at them on my time off from school (3 more weeks!). I also plan to create more fine art pieces this year. Last January I pretty much lost all focus and didn't get it back until August-ish. I'm hoping to not repeat my mini-breakdown again this spring and instead be productive and thankful. Not anxious and sad. Here's to that!

The Pillow Covers

2010-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Between working on my finals this week, I'll be editing photos from the weekend of my new pillow covers. Here are a few little peeks..

I also wanted to share my little acorn ornaments that I made for the make:Tulsa Christmas Party & Ornament Swap yesterday. These sort of came into existence by accident - on Friday evening, the husband and I were watching a movie and I decided that I would crochet something. I really don't know how to crochet - just a brief lesson from the lovely Sherri was all I was going on - and that was quite some time back, but I told the husband that I was going to teach myself to crochet a flower for our wreath.. I was really half joking, because obviously, that's probably pretty advanced for me, but within a few minutes I had made an odd little bowl. We joked about all of the things it could be - dog booties, thumb warmers, rudolph nose, etc, but then I stuck a walnut in it and decided that it would be fun for the ornament swap. The husband also made some keychain bottle openers with some of my beloved knitted wrapping paper.

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

New Things..

2010-12-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

I'm all caught up with the stores that I sell weather&noise and Christine Sharp-Crowe goods in. Hooray! Now I'm working on getting some new things in my etsy shops. A little late for holiday shoppers, but that's just how it happened this year. Lots of photo taking over the past few days.. Here's a little preview of what I photographed yesterday - mostly of my crafty stuff. I'll be photographing my new homewares (tea towels and pillow covers) and a few new prints today and will update with those tomorrow morning.

Embroidery Hoop Wall Art!

Bookmarks!

Screen Printed Ceramic Pendants!

And screen printed linen coasters!

I'm also going to make a little time to prepare for the make:Tulsa Christmas party this weekend. We're having a handmade ornament swap and doing some handmade gift wrapping at the party. Can't wait!

But for now, I'm getting out of the house for a bit. We're getting a brand new roof this week and the noise is making it extra hard to stay focused. Bang, bang, clonk, bark, bark, bang.. yes, Tucker has almost exhausted himself from the nonstop barking at the ceiling.

Almost, but not quite.

Catching up!

2010-12-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

Settle in, this is a long update with lots of photos..

What a whirlwind fall it's been! I'm such a bad fall blogger - just too many things going on and I tend to neglect the blog first. Anyway, my schedule has slowed down a bit now.. so a little recap is in store. It’s hard to even remember everything exciting and blog-worthy that took place. Thank goodness for cell phone cameras – right? That seems to be the only way I can remember what I did for the past few months.

October

Momentum Tulsa – I was happy to be on the committee for Momentum Tulsa this year. It was also really fun to set up an Indie Emporium display at the show to promote Indie Emporium.

Sometime in October, miss Sam Lamb came for a visit. And somehow we stumbled upon some tree cutters. Sam thought the wood would be perfect for some of her new work, so alas, a car full of cedar.

Most of October was spent getting ready for Indie Emporium. So.. on to that..
Our 4^th year was fun and exciting. This marked our last year at the VFW and believe it or not, we're already planning for next year. Mark your calendars, Sept 30 & Oct 1 at LIVING ARTS! Here are some photos by the lovely Miss Casey Hanson. The rest of her photos from Indie Emporium are up on my flickr.

November

Dia De Los Muertos – This is always one of my favorite events of the year. This year we met up with some friends to enjoy Mexican Hot Cocoa (yum) and the evening festivities. Sorry for my terrible video skills! The first video is from the Blessing of the Altars and the second is the Skeleton Dance. Fun times! My friend Kristin made an alter dedicated to her grandma and it made me feel super nostalgic and warm about my own grandmother.

Girlie Show - OKC - Nov 4 & 5 - I had a great time at the Girlie Show again this year. I'd been pretty nervous because I was selling all new products and that's always a little scary, but I sold out of pillow covers and some of my tea towel designs. The Girlie Show is always such a great time despite that I was pretty sick the whole weekend (long story involving my arm getting infected from getting a flu shot! Anyway – I was on antibiotics that made me feel super yucky) Here are a few photos from the show.

My dad helped me out at the show and we stayed with my family in OKC. With how exhausted I was, I was soo grateful for this comfy bed at my aunt's house after the show.

A few weeks later was the Jingle Bash in Dallas. Wow, Jingle Bash was PACKED! Word has it that Kelly Clarkson was doing some holiday shopping there too. I don't know if she bought anything of mine because I was pretty nonstop busy and I didn't really have any idea what she looked like. Great show though!
Here’s a group photo of all of the vendors. Can you spot me? I think we should do a group shot like this at Indie Emporium next year!

Sticks (south Tulsa indie crochet & knitting) has moved to loops! I missed the first few meetings at the new location, but was able to make it the week of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was spent with my family in OKC. The husband and I also spent that weekend doing some fun holiday stuff – including a trip to Philbrook for the Festival of Trees, picking our own tree!, making Thanksgiving Dinner (pt 2) at my parents, going to the shopTulsa black friday party, and watching lots of movies together, including the new Harry Potter (the husband’s pick).

Whew! Since then, I've been catching up with orders from the stores I consign with and even getting things in a few new (to me) shops. My new tea towels and "oklahoma" pillow covers are now available at Dwelling Spaces in downtown Tulsa. Ooh, and I’m planning a show for make:Tulsa at Ida Red on 12/18. Here are the last few photos from my absence – mostly taken over the past few weeks. Some of these are things I'm working on for school. You might notice the little kitty in the bottom corner – we’ve been feeding 5 stray kitties that seem to have found us. They won’t let us near them yet, but my oh my, they sure are cuties.

Alright, well that pretty much sums up the past few months. I'll try to get back on track with blogging now..

Just a little peek..

2010-10-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a little peek at some of the homewares I've been working on. They'll be available first at my fall shows (Oct 29&30 - Indie Emporium, Tulsa, Nov 5&7 - Girlie Show, OKC, Nov 20 - Jingle Bash, Dallas) and I'll be listing them in the etsy shop on November 10th.

I hope you like them! I have a few other new prints that will be on tea towels and pillows and I'm just so excited to share them with you.

These photos were all taken by the lovely Samantha Lamb. We had a splendid time together yesterday and I just love how dreamy her photos make everything look.

Busy Times..

2010-09-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it is officially busy season! I am spending most of my time working on things to get ready for Indie Emporium. Keeping the website updated, building hype on facebook/twitter, printing totes & tees, keeping everything organized, booking music, space planning, planning demos and make&takes, budgeting, tax forms, ordering tickets and flyers and posters, buying goodies, soliciting raffle items and giveaways, paperwork, setting up "previews" of IE at a few local spots, goodness gracious, what ~~stress~~ fun it all is!

I'm also working on my new line of homewares. I made a BIG investment in my business this week, and I sure hope that people like what I'm working on. I certainly can't wait to show everyone what I've been working on over the summer.

In the meantime, this coming Sunday, I will be selling my artwork and prints and The Gatsby Picnic. Dress up and come see me!

Then of course on October 29&30 is Indie Emporium.

The weekend after Indie Emporium, I'll be a vendor at The Girlie Show in OKC. The Girlie Show is my favorite show of the year, so I am thrilled to be selling there again this year!

Then, I'll have a few weeks off, but will busily be making more goodies for The Jingle Bash in Dallas. I can't wait for this trip! I attended the show last year, but this will be my first time selling there. Come see me Dallas friends!!

December will *hopefully* consist of my biggest show to sell at, but I won't know for a while if I've been accepted. I'm also working with our friends at Ida Red, here in T-town, to set up a lil' pre-Christmas craft show. Will update with details as they come.

Wish me luck at surviving this busy season! I probably won't be blogging much during October, but I'll try to check in now and again!

Tulsa Anthropologie!

2010-09-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come! Tulsa's Anthropologie opened this morning! I picked up the husband for an early lunch so he could check out the store with me and we were there within about 5 minutes of the doors opening. Goodness, what a happy and inspired atmosphere. One of Indie Emporium's talented vendors & designers, Mr. Tony Li and the Anthro crew were responsible for these displays - and I think they had some help from a few other IE vendors. What a talented crew!

And the staff was all so sweet and friendly. We shopped around for a while - so many lovely things to take in. I've had a kind of crummy, stressful week, so this was a great way to segway into the weekend. I ended up taking home a few new lovelies for the kitchen. A pair of seafoam Latte Bowls and 2 fancy pie plates. I think I fell in love with the Happy Filling pie plate from the description on the Anthro website "Rhubarb, blueberries and pecans alike will appreciate the company of a gregarious duck and laughing suns during their warm bake." - How charming. I really think I'm going to need the ceramic rolling pin too, but I stuck with just the pie plate for now. It ended up being on sale for just $14! Of course, since I was saving a few dollars there, the husband said it was alright to splurge a little and get the other one that I was trying to decide between. I hadn't seen it before on the Anthro site, but it's so sweet. It says, "make me a pie, bake me a tart, mix in some love, with all of your heart". I've been feeling really nostalgic these past few days, and missing my dear grandmother a lot. She made so many pies and treats and these sort of reminded me of her, so I'm sure they'll be special for a long time.

Also, for being one of the first 50 customers, we got a lovely little terrarium ornament. I'm going to have to find just the right place to hang this little guy. What a happy little treat!

Other than that, life has been looking a lot like this..

I've tested lots of new inks, and lots of linens and think I've finally made my decisions on what is going to be best for my new designs. The prints above are just some random samplings - you might recognize a Lotta Jansdotter print or two up there, so clearly those aren't the prints I'll be selling next month, just some screens I was testing with that had leftover designs of some cloth napkins I made for myself. Goodness, I'm going to have a few very busy weeks of printing ahead. The husband has been worried that I'm not going to get everything done before fall shows start (October 29!), but I do my best work when I have a looming deadline.

I'm also working on a custom order for 4 prints inspired by the work of Eva Zeisel. I'm going to commit some time to that this weekend. Other weekend plans include seeing the Smashing Pumpkins (tonight!), helping my mom out with her garage sale tomorrow morning, making a trip to Brush Creek Bazaar to see a few friends who are setting up there, working on all of these new designs, printing Indie Emporium swag bags, homework, and perhaps (hopefully!) a visit from Miss Samantha Lamb for another trip to Anthropologie. She had a tough week - for any of my OKC friends, please go to Cuppie & Joes tomorrow for her Meadow Meanderings show.

Have a lovely weekend friends!

New Magazines!

2010-09-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy that there are going to be some lovely design magazines coming back into my life! I've missed domino oh so dearly, as I've posted about a lot.

So, first up, I'm really excited about Rue Magazine. Their premier issue just hit ~~stands~~ the web this week. I'm looking forward to finding some time to sit down and browse through the whole thing in depth. I haven't really gotten into the online magazine thing yet (yeah, I know I'm late to the game there), but goodness, just browsing through the first few pages has totally changed my mind. Love it! So effing cool (yeah, so cool it makes me want to use naughty language!). Clicking on photos and being directed to the website where I can buy it?? This is going to make paying off my credit cards a lot harder. Seriously, how ingenious is that? And, bonus, the first issue has an article about Emily Henderson AKA thebrasspetal AKA my favorite Design Star contestant ever! Which reminds me, when will there be another episode of Secrets of a Stylist?

Next up, Anthology! I'm a little beyond excited about this.. and I have to admit, this is the one I'm looking forward to most. Because it is going to be real print magazine and because it looks *beautiful*. A magazine that I can keep in my purse to read through anytime I have a few minutes waiting somewhere. Or that I can take to bed with me to read. Or the bath. I do miss real print. And how much do I love this video?

Print Is Not Dead from Anthology Magazine on Vimeo.

A lot, that's how much. I don't think that Meg Mateo-Ilasco can do anything poorly. I've blogged about how much her books have helped me prioritize and was already in love with Anthology after that little stop motion video, but once I learned that she is the Creative Director, I knew that this magazine was going to be amazing.

Lastly, is Lonny. Lonny is being offered digitally AND in print. Which is awesome, but the print copy is a bit pricey - $34 for the current issue. I totally understand though - they are printing on FSC certified paper and printing on demand. I just don't think I can quite spend that much on a magazine until I know it a little better, so I'm going to check out some issues online only and re-evaluate. Of course, it might be something good to ask for with the holidays approaching. It can't hurt that one of the first things I noticed in it was the new John Derian collection at Target.

Inspiration is running high around here - fall is in the air, lots of new pretty pages to browse, Indie Emporium next month, AND, Tulsa's Anthropologie is opening NEXT FRIDAY. Life is good.

Ready for Fall

2010-08-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

The little cool-off we've been having for the past week has gotten me really excited about fall. I think this fall is going to be extra wonderful and special. I have lots of grand plans - we'll see if I can make them all happen. What are your favorite things about fall? I love the coffee! And going to fall festivals with the husband! And leaves! And sitting outside having dinner by the chiminea! And soup! And coats, and turtlenecks, and gloves, and hats, and scarves! Oh my, I can hardly wait. I think a new coat is in store this year, hopefully one like this.. in fact, here's a little fall inspiration board of what's on my current wish list.

Here are photos of some of the scarves I've made this year. Scarves modeled by Renee of GreenerMe and photographed by miss Samantha. Hope they inspire you to get excited about fall also. I'll be listing them in the shop next week. And until next time, I'll just be knitting away..

make:Tulsa Beginnings

2010-08-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

As promised, I'm back with some photos of recent make:Tulsa events. A few weeks ago, we had a "mixer" where everyone came and chatted a bit about what they do and we talked about things we'd like to do as a group. I'm really excited about all of the creative people in the group and the direction the group is headed in. I forgot to take pictures at the Mixer, but there were 16 of us! A lovely crowd for our first official meeting.

That being said - the weekend after the mixer, we had a little informal Mod Podge Printing class.

And then, last weekend, we had a photo party - for the Tulsa Makers who needed any of their work photographed for etsy listings/websites/etc. We had a great turnout again and many thanks to Justin for volunteering to take photos for us, and Holly & Renee for being such lovely models.


Baby in a Lightbox!


Photo Party

Then of course, every 2nd and 4th Tuesday is STICKS. This week we had some new knitters. I am making more and more and more scarflettes for fall shows, so I just kept working away on my pile of those. I need to take a break from the knitting and start putting some buttons on them, but that's the not-nearly-as-fun part.

We're going to start hosting a monthly knit night at a bar. We've been talking about doing it for a while, but need to just pick somewhere and start doing it. Any bar suggestions, Tulsans?

Well, I'm off to start my weekend of lying in bed working on the laptop. I woke up this morning with an awful earache / jaw ache and with the cold I've had all week, I finally gave in and went to the doctor. She said I have the worst ear infection she's seen all year, so at least I'm excelling at something, right? Anyway, I guess that explains why I've been feeling so yucky all week. I've already taken my first dose of antibiotics and I'm hoping to feel better asap, but until then, it's photo editing on the computer and working on some designs I've been needing to draw out. Have a lovely weekend!

Around the House

2010-08-26T14:07:00.000-07:00


The Before


The After

I've been doing some general organizing around the house lately. As some of you know, my main "office" workspace has been in my living room for quite some time. My studio is upstairs, in one of our spare bedrooms, and my sewing machine moves from space to space depending on where I feel like working. This "system" has been okay for a while, but leaves me feeling a bit fragmented. In an attempt to simplify more things into one space, I decided last week that I wanted to set up shop in our (almost never used) formal dining room. I got the go-ahead from the husband and set to moving furniture. After a few days of total mess and chaos, things are coming together.


The After

One of my yarn stashes

In fact, I've even submitted my space to the CB2 / The Selby contest. Please vote for my space if you so kindly would! I don't think I have much of / any chance of winning, but I thought I'd at least submit some photos for fun. My pictures aren't greatly shot and I'm just too tired to really work on creating a nice vignette.. Goodness, did I mention that I have this awful summer cold. I was hoping it was just allergies, but I'm going on 4 days of stuffiness and exhaustion now. I guess it's time to give in and take some meds. boo.

The bedroom - as it is now..

I'm planning to paint our bedroom in the coming months.. I have some new bedding that I've been antsy to try out, but for some reason I feel like the room needs to be painted first. I love the muted mustard color, but just don't find it good for the bedroom. I think I'm going to go with a nice soothing grey wall color.

In other news, I got word that I was accepted as a vendor at the Jingle Bash in Dallas in November. I went to Jingle Bash as a shopper last year and had a great time, and bought some lovely letterpress prints, but I'm just so darn excited to be there as a vendor this time around. And it looks like I'm the only vendor that's NOT from Texas.

I've got some photos from recent make:Tulsa events that I've been meaning to post.. will be back with those tomorrow!

Happy Thursday friends!

Shaker Inspiration

2010-08-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Oh blog friends, how inspired I’ve been feeling. I have pages and pages of ideas that I’ve been sketching.. I just don’t know when I’ll have time to make everything! I promise to give you some photos very soon of what I’ve been working on.

So, we’ll keep this post about inspiration. One of my favorite design styles, and one I've been thinking about a lot lately, is Shaker design. I actually hadn’t heard of the Shakers until a few years ago. I read about them during one of my design classes and got pretty obsessed with the simplicity, but deep devotion to design perfection that they centered their work around. Last week I got an email about Apartment Therapy’s Shaker Design Resource Guide and have spent a few minutes during my chai each morning visiting a few of the links and pouring through the info and photos included. What a nice, quiet way to start my morning.

In case you don’t know about the Shakers, their primary belief was “Maintaining that everybody could find God within him or herself, rather than through clergy or rituals, the Shakers dedicated their lives to pursuing perfection and continuously confessing their sins. A good example of this is this motto: "Do your work as though you had a thousand years to live and as if you were to die tomorrow." Thus, objects were made to be perfect in their eyes while plain in style, durable and highly functional.”

The Shakers had some interesting practices – separate staircases, doors, and furniture for men & women, no marriage or procreation- not exactly the best way to carry on your legacy and religious beliefs, but geez, they sure could make furniture! The Shakers were also very devoted to cleanliness. The rooms in Shaker villages and homes have pegs surrounding the room and at the end of the day, or when things were not being used, they would hang everything up, including the chairs, to thoroughly sweep. Their founder, Mother Ann, was quoted saying "There is no dirt in heaven" so they designed rooms that were easy to keep clean. "A Shaker room usually contained walls of recessed doors and drawers for storage. The less freestanding furniture- the easier it was to sweep the floors. Their cabinetry was beautifully joined and finished with very little ornament. Although Shakers believed that items with utility could also be beautiful, they did not believe in adding beauty for beauty's sake alone. Typically, drawers were simple slab fronts with small wooden pulls and cupboard doors had simple styles and rails with a recessed center panel. The beauty was in the details; the way the cupboard doors fit precisely into their frame, the dovetailed joints of the drawers, the careful mitering of the styles and rails.

I think the the Shaker ideals closely align with how I’m feeling about my new work right now.. I want everything to be just perfect before I “debut” it all… BUT, it’s all so simple and functional. A few months ago Thom and I were at a book sale and I found a book of Shaker furniture plans that I’ve been reading at night. I’m just so smitten with it all right now. I wonder what life is like for the 3 remaining Shakers at Sabbathday Lake. I often daydream about leading a simpler life, without all of the television, internet, and connected-ness, but I sure do like all of our modern conveniences.

And I do find a bit of irony in my obsession with the Shakers and the fact that I blog about it on the day I'm picking up my new iphone. Maybe I should get this case for it by Miniot, a Dutch designed & made case.

Or maybe this one by Vers, if they make an iphone 4 one soon.

A Weekend & A Winner!

2010-08-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! The husband and I spent some time doing some little home projects; touching up paint, framing some artwork that I've been acquiring - like the lovely Samantha Lamb print above - doesn't it look splendid with my yellow kitchen walls? The calendar in the photo on the right is by Jen Oaks, one of my very favorite illustrators and those are two of my favorite aprons hanging alongside it. You know, I hated the yellow walls when I first moved into this house - and it was such a priority to paint, but it's grown on me. It's so sunshin-ey. It's amazing how much doing some little things around the house will renew your love of home.

I also bought the rest of the linen that was in stock at Joann's and continued working on my new project. Goodness, what fun I've been having with that... I can't wait to show you all!

Friday night was the make:Tulsa mixer at my house. We had about 15 lovely makers attend and we got an idea of what the group will do together. Renee posted about it with some photos, so head over to her blog if you're interested.

On Saturday I convinced the husband to take me to the Vintage Show at the Spirit Bank Event Center. I didn't buy much, just a vintage tea towel. I've started collecting them and can almost always find one that I like at any estate sale or flea market. And, even better, I can usually get one for less than $5! This weekend's treasure was only $3. Doesn't it remind you of vintage Marimekko? I'm pretty infatuated with it right now.

AND, on the way home, I stopped by Target (again!) to see if they'd put up the Poketo display. This was about the third time I'd been there to check this week. This time it was there! With one other excited shopper, I scoured everything and decided to get this cute little case for my new iPhone (which should be heeeeerrre soon!). I wanted to buy a few other goodies, but I want to be out of debt even more, so I restrained myself. What is your favorite Poketo for Target item? I really like the laptop case a lot, but I *just* got a new laptop case recently and couldn't justify buying another one.

Well, onto the winner - I went over to random.org and it generated #7 for me, so Christine, you are the lucky winner! I'll email you to get your details and your prints will be headed your way. I hope you'll enjoy and I'd *love* to see a picture when you get them hung. :)

New Website, New Giveaway!

2010-08-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

To celebrate my new site being finished (!!), I am having a giveaway! The winner will receive three (very!) limited edition prints.

I made these prints last year and they are all hand pulled, 4-color prints from editions of 10. A $105 value! All you have to do to enter is become a follower of my blog (there is a button below and to the left), and post a comment on this post. You can get an extra entry or two or three by:

1.       Tweeting about the contest

2.       Blogging about the contest

3.       Becoming a fan of my work on facebook

Just come back and leave comments when you do those things. I’ll pick a winner using random.org next Monday morning!

Also, I’m offering free shipping on everything in my new shop until 8/6 AND I’ll throw in an extra little goody with each order.

Poketo at Target! Yes, please!

2010-07-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a little sneak peek of the new Poketo collection that will be in Target stores starting August 10th. (although I heard that a few stores already have displays out! - going to have to check my Target this afternoon!)

I found these photos from our friends over at Apartment Therapy. There are a few more photos there or on Poketo's site.

Librarian Chic

2010-07-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else get the daily Etsy Finds emails? I sure loved yesterday's theme; Librarian Chic.

the prettiest ugly wallpaper dress youve ever seen

vintage brass alligator nutcracker

Vintage Dentistry Cabinet

(oh just think of what you could stow away in all of those drawers!)

C.S. Lewis letterpress bookmark

Vintage Shoes

Vintage Rhinestone EyeGlasses

Antique leather bound Bank with hidden storage and calendar in a book WITH KEY

I've been dreaming up a library print.. Perhaps I'll give you a sneak peak at the sketches in my next entry.

Tuesday Tuesday

2010-07-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

What a lovely, sunny Tuesday it is! I've been working away on that *last* website that I'm building as a portfolio for my artwork / prints / my surprise new project. It's soso close to being done - just waiting on the transfer from our hosting company (up to 72 hours!). In the meantime, I have set up a shop on bigcartel for my artwork. I love Etsy dearly, but it just didn't seem to be the best fit for my prints. I'm not closing down shop there, just trying out something new for a bit.

Check out the new bigcartel shop!

Speaking of new - here are some of the lovely captures that my dear friend Miss Sam Lamb took of some of my scarves.. I'm not going to list them all in the shop until a bit closer to fall - because, what kind of crazy person would possibly buy a scarf on these 95 degree days? In any case, know that I've been spending a lot of time working on new scarves for the fall - in fact, I've spent more than one evening in the last week sitting out by the pool knitting up some new lovelies.

I can't wait to be done building these websites and doing all of this computer work so I can get back into the studio and make some of these ideas floating around in my head into real things to show you all! And I also can't wait to join some of my favorite ladies for an evening of coffee and knitting tonight!

Chai Popsicles

2010-07-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

I’ve started working on plans for the fall shows and what inventory I'll be taking to each one. I’m so excited about a new line of products that I’ll be debuting this fall! I'm not ready to share with everyone what I’m working on, but it involves purchasing large quantities of linen for some trials.. I’ve been studying in depth different linen blends and cotton vs linen and European linen and linen, linen, linen. I’m pretty madly in love with the stuff at the moment to be honest. Things are in the works and I promise to share soon enough!

This week while I was at home working, and I ventured up to the studio on a particularly hot afternoon. I had made my daily chai and headed back downstairs to make it an iced chai, rather than hot and decided to take a totally different approach…. We recently bought some popsicle molds, so I poured my chai in there and made it into a popsicle! So good.. I’m still experimenting with various popsicle recipes, but goodness, what a nice summer treat!

So – here’s a quick recipe –

Chai – you can either use regular chai tea and add some cream, milk, or yogurt (oh how I love the honey almond yogurt from Target!), OR, if you want to do this the super simple way, just use a chai latte mix. I’m obsessed with the Oregon Chai mix. Tazo also makes a really good organic liquid Chai concentrate that I buy a lot, but was out of it this week. The photo above represents only a fraction of our chais.. I may go a little overboard with tea purchases, but that’s a story for another blog..

So, make your chai as usual – however YOU prefer it. For the photos I just used the chai latte mix, but it was tasty with reg chai tea and a little almond milk, and a bit healthier. Now, pour into popsicle molds.

Freeze for at least 4 hours – mine were still a little slushy when I checked after 3 hours, but by the 4th hour, they were totally solid. Your freezer may be different.

When we took them out, they were a little hard to get out of the molds, and I didn’t want to pull the stick out, so I ran the mold under warm water for about 30 seconds and voila – chai popsicles! So simple and tasty! It’s like a kid’s treat for grown up taste buds.

By the way, that is the husband's hand - I don't have man-hands or thumbs that bend backwards.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I had a few moments of panic earlier when my computer said it needed to "system restore" or something similar. I got it to finally come back to normal and saved EVERYTHING to an external hard drive.. I'm afraid the end may be near for my dear laptop.

Summer Days

2010-07-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

These days I am finding myself happily busy. I’m so pleased to have finished this website, the maketulsa.com site, and most recently, I did a complete overhaul of indieemporium.com in preparation for the 2010 show. Now I just need to finish my artwork site and I should be done with site building for a while. I’ve also been sorting through the thousands of photos on my computers (desktop and laptop) and have uploaded ALL of the photos from previous Indie Emporiums.. quite an undertaking! Needless to say, the past few weeks have been spent behind the computer screen. As in at least 12 hours a day. Here's a little peek into my workspace. This is where I do all of my computer and "office-ey" tasks.

So, over the holiday weekend, the husband insisted that I take an entire day off from working on websites/flickr/photo editing. And I almost did! I snuck in a little website time while he was at church on Sunday morning, but other than that, I spent the day (which just happened to be my birthday!) hanging out with Thom and having a splendid time. We went swimming, watched old DVRed episodes of the CBS Sunday Morning Show and Man Shops Globe, had dinner with my parents, and my dad made “birthday pie” on my request. I wish I could find the recipe online to link to, but I can't find any that are made with my grandma's recipe - even though I'm pretty sure it wasn't her own recipe.. mostly it's just sweetened condensed milk, cream, and lots of fresh lemon juice. Maybe I'll post a recipe/tutorial soon! We’ve decided around here that cake is a bit over-rated. For Father’s Day this year, I made my grandma’s special “birthday pie” for my dad – his favorite. It was so tasty and such a great summer dessert – that I decided that’s what I’d like from now on. Funny, as a kid, it was never one of my favorites, but something about the tart lemon cream makes me nostalgic about summer days sewing with my grandma. I miss her dearly these days..

The birthday (28!) was pretty uneventful and quiet – just what I wanted this year. I usually throw a big 4th of July party – lots of baking and cooking and preparing and this year I just didn’t feel up to it. This year has been a hard one –filled with many melancholy days and anxious thoughts, so I just wanted to keep the birthday celebration simple this year. Thom did surprise me with some lovely macarons from Antionette Baking Co. They definitely made the day feel a little more festive! I forgot to take a photo of my macarons, but you get the idea...lovely!

Photo from weheartit.com

This week I had a chance to get caught up with the stores I consign with and mailed out all of these goodies and quite a few more yesterday.

Lastnight one of my very favorite ladies stayed the night with us and we had a lovely breakfast together this morning at Dilly Deli. She is such a ray of sunshine! I can't wait to see her new coffee table book in person next month! Samantha showed me a preview on the computer while she was here and it looks splendid and dreamy!

I hope everyone is enjoying these warm summer days!

Domino is back! (sort of)

2010-06-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

You may remember my heartbreak last year at the news that Domino magazine was no more.. If not, you can read here. I'm constantly pulling out my old copies to look at something and have been scouring yard sales and the internet for the 3 copies that I'm missing. One of the saddest things about Domino's demise that all of their online content disappeared as well.

Well...... I just read that brides.com has acquired Domino's archives and will be posting them online shortly! In fact, some are already there! Click here to see what brides.com has so far.

Speaking of design, has anyone been watching this season of 'Design Star'? I've loved this show in the past, but have been a little underwhelmed so far with this season.

Life is good..

2010-06-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

We had a great turnout for the Etsy Craft Party! Philbrook was an amazing party venue and I think everyone had a great time. I’ve uploaded the full set of photos to my flickr.

I may even upload photos from FiberFest – geez, that was back at the beginning of May and I never even mentioned what a great success it was! The barn was a perfect atmosphere for the event and everyone had a wonderful time. I bought some handspun yarn from Angora Jane and have been dying to start knitting myself something from it. And of course it was fun to have such a lovely weekend houseguest, miss Samantha Lamb! We had a lovely time together!

Thom started his new job with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation this week and I think he’s going to be much happier… There is a lot of change happening in our lives, but it’s mostly positive and I am feeling so fortunate lately. I had a really difficult spring (perhaps why the blog is so neglected!), but things are looking up.

I've got a new series of prints in the works and will share some photos as they progress..

By the way, I totally changed up the website/blog. What do you think?

Craft Party!

2010-06-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tulsa is having an Etsy Craft Party and everyone is invited. Etsy.com is using the just launched Meetups Everywhere tool to throw a huge worldwide party on June 18 (Etsy's birthday). Etsy challenged local creative communities like ours to create, join or step up to organize an Etsy Craft Party in their town, and we want to make Tulsa's party a huge success!

The top 50 parties with the most RSVPs will get a free Craft Party Kit. So be sure to RSVP soon, so we can show Etsy how crafty Tulsa is. Sign up here.

Etsy.com is a marketplace and community for artists & crafters & the people who love them, but you don't have to be an Etsy member to participate. More info on the Etsy blog: http://www.etsy.com/storque/article/8083

I am still searching for the location for Tulsa's Craft Party - so if you have a good suggestion, please let me know!

Blue Dome!

2010-05-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Weather permitting, I will be set up with the lovely ladies of the Tulsa Craft Mafia at Blue Dome Arts Festival tomorrow and Sunday. As long as it's not rainy and yucky, I'll have some of my new prints for sale along with lots of other goodies. Come see us!

An update. Finally.

2010-03-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hello blog friends. I have decided to skip updating about the events of last fall/winter and just say that it was a season of ups and downs! Indie Emporium was fabulous last year, with over 1000 guests!! Wow, what an amazing and supportive community we are in. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen! I can't wait to do it again! I hope to blog through the planning process of Indie Emporium more in 2010. We have just begun planning this year's event and should be announcing the 2010 date and location very soon.

So far, 2010 has been difficult. My sweet 97 year old grandmother passed away in January after she had been in a coma for over a week. She had been suffering from dementia for about 12 years. Grieving is a challenge when a person has not been herself for many years.. So we have been having a lot of family time in recent months. She was a special lady!

I've also been working on a new project that I don't think I'd mentioned on the blog before - make:Tulsa. You can read all about it here. If you are in the Tulsa area, you should join! Add us on facebook to stay up to date on what we're doing with that.

I'm in the process of getting my (too) numerous websites built/rebuilt/updated/functioning. It entails so much frustration, but I'm happy to say that the make:Tulsa site is complete, and I hope to upload the new weather&noise site this week. Then just 3 to go..

School is going well and I'm finally approaching graduation. I'm spending some time this semester building my portfolio and trying to prioritize things.

Lastly, with the ladies of STICKS (south tulsa indie crocheting & knitting), I have been helping plan a new Tulsa craft event; FiberFest. It will take place on May 2nd and you can read all about it here.

Life is busy, but I will try to be a better blogger. Promise!

milk + honey

2009-12-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

I've been postponing blogging because I feel like I need a real update.. and I promise to have a recap of my 4 month absence soon, but for now, enjoy the milk + honey treasury I just made.

milk + honey

New Items in the Shop and Guest Blogging!

2009-08-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Since summer classes have been winding down, I've found some time to work on creative endeavors over the past few weeks. Here are some of the new items I've listed in the shop.

Airplanes Bottle Opener Keychain

Red & White Globes Pocket Mirror. I love this paper! A few months ago I used it as a cover on some of the books I was binding and it's quickly become one of my favorite papers.

& lastly, the Grow A Beard, and Must Have Moustache Buttons.
Click any of the pictures to be directed to the etsy listings. I'll be making a lot more of these for fall shows and actually had a little spare time to make some new button designs today that I hope to add to the shop next week.

Also, make your way over to Homemaker Hero today where I posted a guest blog with one of my favorite projects.

More updates soon with pictures from my blogging hiatus.

Hiatus

2009-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

So, I've been pretty much absent from the online world for the past few weeks. The summer semester started and I've been doing some re-evaluating and re-prioritizing of everything that I do. I often struggle with feeling fragmented and scattered and I think the only way to solve that is to cut back on some of the things that I've been doing, or at least stop daydreaming with new ideas and just focus on the things that I know. Does anyone else have a desire to know how to do everything? I feel like I want to learn it all and then decide what I like, but really, I end up liking most things that I try and that's why I cannot focus. I think if I could choose one thing, I could do it well, but instead, I choose many things and just do them well-ish. This post is probably sounding about as jumbled as I'm feeling.

I feel so lucky to work from home, and really, I know how fortunate that makes me. But sometimes it seems like if I just got a "real" job, I wouldn't have so many problems focusing. Like I could just go to work from 8-5 and then forget about things until the next morning. I'd love to hear from some other artists that work from home about how they find time to focus on their art. I find that when I fully intend to spend the day working on a project, there are numerous phone calls, laundry to be done, endless homework assignments, grocery shopping, and lists of other distractions that keep me so occupied that I don't get to spend time on the things that are really important to me. And then when I find some spare time, I can't decide if I'd rather work on things for weather&noise, Indie Emporium, my ebay store, my artwork, or one of the other many things that I'm always thinking about. I keep saying that I'm going to just go up to the studio in a 4 hour block and not answer the phone, check email, or think about anything else. Right now I think my biggest "to do" on the list is getting the 3 websites that I've been working on finished. I think that will be a huge relief.. really huge. But, learning AutoCAD this semester isn't meshing with learning Dreamweaver on my own.

And, I want to apologize to everyone that I've been ignoring. I do know that I have an inbox full of emails, missed calls/txts on my cell phone, and the home phone has been flashing "21" for a few days. Is it awful to just delete without listening.. I know I need to change all of my billing addresses on EVERY ACCOUNT I'VE EVER HAD ANYWHERE because my post office box place closed, I'm just feeling pretty anti-social and overwhelmed.

Tonight, I'll be finishing at least one un-finished project.. the apron that I started a few weeks ago with Emily of Girl with the Red Kerchief. BTW, she's a great teacher!

Tomorrow I've planned a nice morning of getting some free coffee (yay coupons!) and then going with the husband to see Away We Go. Then we're going to get our house ready for a visit from the inlaws next week (thurs-mon) and go shopping for ingredients for all of those awesome cupcakes I'll be baking for my birthday party which might just be next weekend. Sunday I have a pretty big assignment due, so I bet I'll be spending most of the day on that. And sometime in there, I'd really like to find some time to enjoy my dad's wonderful earthbox vegetable garden, take Tucker to the new dog park, nap with my husband, and a few of those other things that make my heart happy.

New Prints in the Etsy Shop!

2009-06-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
christinesharpcrowe.etsy.com

Overdue..

2009-05-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

I know that a new post is so far overdue, but I've been spending so much time enjoying the beautiful sunshine and doing spring cleaning that I have not felt like being at the computer.

A brief recap.. Deluxe took place a few (maybe 3!) weeks ago and I joined the lovely ladies of the Tulsa Craft Mafia in OKC. Blue Dome was 2 weeks ago.. Three day, outdoor shows are exhausting, but sales were good.

Ok, that's all. I said this would be brief!

I did find out today that my husband & parents are going to get me a KitchenAid Artisan mixer for my birthday.. Trying to pick a color. I really think I want the pear colored one. It will match all of my Orla Kiely goodies (apron, oven mitts, hand towels). But, my mom thinks I should get something that I will like for a long time.. silver, or black, since I will probably have the mixer for a really long time.

What do you think?

A productive day..

2009-05-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

And I'm feeling much more at ease.

I finished the next two layers of color on my screen printing project and got everything ready for Deluxe today. If you are in the OKC area tomorrow, come out and shop! I'll be joined by some of the lovely ladies of the Tulsa Craft Mafia.

Last night I ventured out to the Oklahoma Women Blogger Meetup. Jenny of crashtestmommy was nice enough to give me a ride, since I still haven't replaced my car battery. It was nice to meet some new people and I won a door prize, so that was fun!

After 9+ hours of screen printing today, I'm pretty exhausted, but looking forward to a fun and hopefully profitable day in OKC tomorrow.

I probably won't be checking back in for a few days.. you know, craft show & finals.. Sunday I plan to take the laptop into the backyard, light the chiminea, make a good playlist, and work nonstop on my Design of the Built Environment final that I've been neglecting.

Surrounded by Grey

2009-05-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

After much panicking, I have my first coat printed on the next 39 prints.. I had ink drama lastnight/this morning. I was pretty sure that my final would not get completed, or at least completed properly, thus dropping my solid A to a bad grade.. you know, lowering my GPA, and therefore just crushing my world. I wish that grades didn't concern me so much, but I OBSESS over them.. I have gotten one B so far in college. I'm pretty sure that tears were shed.

You would think that with my feelings about grades, I wouldn't wait until the last minute on assignments, but I always seem to find myself scrambling. And you know what? It usually turns out just fine.

This morning felt like the brink of a nervous breakdown. On my current worry list, finishing the next 3 colors (9 screens) of colors on these 30 prints, finishing my SFVC redesign project, preparing for and getting to OKC/Deluxe Saturday, preparing for Blue Dome the following weekend, the garage sale at my house on the same day as Blue Dome (thanks neighborhood association for caring about my other plans!), getting the Indie Emporium website updated with 2009 info, getting tucker's shots, figuring out how to "open" our swimming pool, getting my car fixed, travel arrangements, and about 40 other things. Also, tomorrow is my only free night until the 17th.. Who knew May was so busy? If I check out and don't respond to anyone for a few weeks, you know why.

So, although overwhelmed, I can always just think about last September/October and remember that things will get done and I will carry on. Really, things could not be busier than that.. If you'll remember, I was screen printing 2,000 bags for the National Trust for Historic Preservation with 6 weeks to go. And I had no screen printing experience/help. Or supplies. And Indie Emporium approaching with many emails/calls a day about it and lots of prep work. And in laws at my house for 9 days. And parents house floods. And squirrels were living in my attic. But you know what, I finished the bags early, enjoyed time with the family, had the squirrels evicted, and planned a successful event. And I can't wait to do it again this year.

Prints this week

2009-05-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here is what I'm working on this week..

I'll be screen printing editions of 10 of each of these prints. It's part of my final in my printmaking class.. gotta be done by the end of the week. If you're counting, that's 10 screens! yikes.. better stop distracting myself with bookmaking and get to work on these.

Tonight my Tulsa Craft Mafia friends will be coming over and we're designing our booth layout for Deluxe in OKC this weekend and Blue Dome the following weekend. Lots of work to do!

New Promo Button Design

2009-05-04T11:12:00.001-07:00

Blogging twice in one day, so unlike me! I'm stuck at home with a broken car.

I just wanted to post the design I just made for my new promo buttons.

VAC Baywalk

2009-05-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Friday I set up some artwork and handmade goods at the Visual Arts Center Baywalk. I'm really excited for the Visual Arts Center to open (looks like 2010 or so..). It will be in the Mathews Warehouse, home of the first Indie Emporium. I really love the space and was happy to participate in the art show. And..... I sold a few more prints! It is encouraging that people keep buying my prints, since I'm sort of new to the process. I saw some familiar faces and someone even mentioned collecting weather&noise products! I definitely plan to do this show again next time.

Saturday I spent a lot of time working on homework and one of my assignments was to make a hand bound book. The husband thought that sounded like fun, so he made his own. Actually, he picked it up faster than I did and finished before me. So, I have decided to add these to the weather&noise line because I think they are so cute. I bought bunches of fun papers for the covers and recycled, acid free paper for the "guts". The husband spent a lot of time cutting the pages to size yesterday and tonight we're going to watch a movie and bind them. I'm already excited about learning more binding techniques, but for now we're just using a simple stitch.
Yesterday, on the way home from Michael's, for some reason we drove through Jenks and totally on a whim decided to get a new chiminea to replace the broken one. I can't wait until later this week when we'll have time to grill out some veggies and light up the chiminea.

Funky Finds & Upcoming Plans

2009-05-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Our Fort Worth trip was fun and successful. I think we even managed to make it back to Tulsa without catching the swine flu, despite my worrying!

We got into Fort Worth on Friday afternoon and dropped off all of my craft show stuff at the Funky Finds venue. The rest of Friday included a trip to the Kimbell Museum, a trip downtown, and our anniversary dinner.Funky Finds was a lot of fun and I was really impressed at how together everything was for a first time show! There were lots of shoppers and raffles and it was a fun atmosphere. Once I'd made enough to cover my booth fee, I started shopping. I bought a craft show apron made from some IKEA fabric that I've been eying.. Sorry, I don't even remember who I bought that from. I bought a cute barrette from rachel elise, my booth neighbor. I also bought some gifts for a few lovely ladies who may or may not read this, so I'm not going to mention those!

After the show we went to dinner with a bunch of other vendors at an awesome/awful barbeque restaurant. Thom and I ended up with free drinks though, so I can't complain!

It's been a rainy week at home working on finals. We had some big excitement when I looked outside Tuesday to find ducks swimming in our pool! We still have it covered from winter, so they were in the tarp water... so I just let them swim around all afternoon.

Tonight I'll be setup at the Visual Arts Center Baywalk, part of the Brady Arts District's First Friday Art Crawl. I'm not taking much, just some prints and a few other little goodies. Come by and see me if you are in the area. 6-9 pm!

Next weekend is Deluxe in OKC and the following weekend is Blue Dome! Lots to do!

Funky Finds

2009-04-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

The husband and I leave tomorrow morning for Funky Finds in Fort Worth! This will be my first out of state show. I'm feeling like I should have prepared a little more.. but I have quite a bit of inventory. I'll be selling......

screen printed & appliqued reclaimed clothing
bjorn plushies

some of the prints I've been working on
buttons/bottle openers/pocket mirrors
screen printed tote bags
little accessories

Everything is pretty much packed up and ready to go, but I feel like I need to be working on things, so I'm making some Indie Emporium fliers right now.

Some of you may know that I used to sell dresses on ebay.. Well, I haven't been listing anything there and would really like to sell the 70 prom dresses that are currently hanging in my living room. I posted on craigslist to sell them and got bombarded with replies, so I'm planning a dress sale next Tuesday. Fun stuff!

Wish me luck in TX!

Mostly about school...

2009-04-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

I'm finishing up the last 5 weeks of school and preparing for a busy, but exciting summer.

I finished a new series of prints this week. The colors are actually much nicer than the scan shows, but my camera is sadly broken. I printed an edition of 10.

One of my other classes is now taking up about 2-3 hours a day of my time and probably will until I turn in the final on May 14th. However, I received word from my other teacher today that my midterm (a rough draft of the final project), was complete and I did not even need to change anything, so I guess I will only have 2 finals to work on! That's fabulous news and will give me lots more time to focus on lots of new prints!

Have I mentioned how much I've fallen in love with printmaking?

I've also taken up the new habit of coupon shopping.

This weekend is Eastern Easter/Pascha and the husband is off work tomorrow for numerous Good Friday services, a vigil, then Saturday holds the main events. I've made a lovely Pascha basket for him full of goodies. Actually so much fun stuff that it over-flowed into a second basket! He asked what I want in my basket and I told him not to make me one since I don't really go to church with him, but secretly I hope that I still get one. Maybe with some pens and pencils. I seem to have lost everything to write with except my fancy drafting supplies and I really don't like to use those for making lists. Pascha services start at 11pm Saturday and last 3-4 hours. I'm typically really bad at church attendance, but I usually try to make this service as it is the husband's favorite.

Next Wednesday I'll be selling my wares at the TU Conscious Consumer Marketplace. Stay tuned for more details.

Then on Friday, we head to Fort Worth for Funky Finds Spring Fling! The husband and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary on Friday and after the drive to TX, and my booth setup at Funky Finds, we'll be heading to the Kimbell and out for a nice dinner.

I got my NeoCon info in the mail yesterday. Excited.

Checking in!

2009-04-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've missed blogging about a bunch of things over the past few weeks, but I've been working on schoolwork so much that I have not been blogging/twittering/playing online really at all. Really, 3 classes does not sound like a lot, but I'm working 7ish hours a day on schoolwork and I'm still struggling to stay caught up. My intent here is not at all complaining, I really love what I'm learning and I feel fortunate to be studying art/design, but one of my classes has an overwhelming amount of work...

So, a few things. In list format because that's how my brain is working right now.

Thursday - Tulsa Craft Mafia article in Urban Tulsa!

Friday - Craft O Rama show at OU. Really nice people, neat building, but I didn't sell all that much.. lots of MLM vendors.

Saturday - Tulsa Art Studio Tour - loved it! Really, this was one of the most fun things I've done in a long time. I'd wanted to go to this for a few years, but schedules conflicted.. This year we were finally able to go. Really fun and inspiring. We came home that night and worked on my studio (yeah, I'm changing it around again already!). I've decided to separate art from craft! I've pretty much taken over our theater room with the "craft" and left my studio for fine arts. And fabric storage.

Sunday - Tulsa Craft Mafia meeting - Sadly the last one at the Collective as we received word Monday morning that our favorite spot closed. I'm really, really bummed about this. Definitely going to the "cry and get shitfaced with us" party tonight. $1 drinks, yo!

Couponing... I've been studying the ins and outs of how to use coupons and save money.. In fact.. I'm going to the 918CouponMom party tonight before the party at the Collective. That's right, a coupon party! I'm actually pretty excited about it.

Indie Emporium 09 - I finished working out the details today, we will be at VFW again and dates are October 9/10. Going to work on the new applications and website asap.

NeoCon - I'm registered!!! I'm more excited about this than I probably should be about anything, but seriously, I cannot wait!! For those that don't know, "NeoCon^® World’s Trade Fair is North America’s largest conference and exhibition of contract furnishings for the design and management of the built environment. Showcasing thousands of new products from hundreds of the world’s top manufacturers in commercial, residential, hospitality, institutional and government design products, NeoCon promises to impress its design-savvy audience with the latest trends throughout the world. " CAN NOT WAIT! I think a group of students from my school will be attending with the head of the IAD dept, and I'm hoping to join them.. or go alone, whatev, just so long as I'm there.

Funky Finds - I'm going to be setting up at Funky Finds in Fort Worth on April 25th. The husband and I will spending our 5th anniversary there. Fun!

I registered for summer classes today. I've been putting off 2 classes for quite some time and I've decided to take them both in summer (ie 6 week) format. It's going to make summer no fun, but I'll be glad to have them finished. AutoCAD and Building Construction (drawing plans for how to build cabinets, door frames, etc.. things I never plan to do).

There are more things floating around in my brain that I'd love to share, but I've got to get ready for my coupon party! I'll leave you with some of my recent prints and the plans I drew for the San Francisco Visitor's Center today.. Thrilling stuff, right??

This one is from one of Adam & Sommer's wedding photos that I stole from his facebook.. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't read my blog, but the husband did let him know that I was cropping him out of his wedding photos for a project I was working on.

Swap O Rama Rama & Press- Lots of pictures!

2009-03-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Swap O Rama Rama was a success! We had 101 people attend.. not bad for our first year! Click the picture above to read the Tulsa World article. How lovely to see one of my dresses on page 2 of the newspaper! If you want to know how Swap O Rama Rama Tulsa went, check out some of these blog posts from some of the ladies that came.

We had a BUNCH of leftover clothes which were dropped of at Youth Services of Tulsa on Monday. When I attended Swap O Rama Rama in OKC, I was so inspired by the awesome community of crafters who came together for the event. It was a neat blend of people and I'm so pleased that the Tulsa community supported our first try at such an event. Fox 23 and Channel 2 came to the event and did interviews and we had so much media support. I'm also really happy to have somewhere like the Collective to let us use their space and help out with these events. And Colleen is a super poster-maker!

Here are pictures from Tulsa's first Swap O Rama Rama. I can't wait to do it again next year!

This is probably my favorite picture from the day! The lovely Holly of sweetheartville, with her precious little girl. Photos below by Justin Dotson.

Brigid looking adorable in a dress refashioned by Tara Mason.
Setup before everyone arrived. Photo by Tara Mason.
A few pictures from Brigid...

And the rest of these pictures were from my phone. I'll upload all the pics to the Indie Emporium myspace soon, and maybe even to flickr if I get motivated enough.

Swap O Rama Rama is Tomorrow!!

2009-03-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Please join me tomorrow at the Collective for Swap O Rama Rama Tulsa. We had some great press this week. Brigid was interviewed on Good Day Tulsa, and OklaTravelNews. Tulsa World published this article yesterday on Page2 of the newspaper!

We'll have 6 sewing stations, some screen printing/stenciling, and other fun projects. The swapping and sewing will take place from 1-6 and at 8 pm we will have a fashion show and live music by Low Lita and Tops of Trees.

Exhausting week/end

2009-03-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

So exhausting that I'm not even making full sentences. A recap.

Midterms. 1 done, 2 to finish before Monday.
The husband's grandfather taken off of life support and passes away.
8 hour drive to houston.
Fever. Headache.
Funeral.
Swap O Rama Rama plans.

Tune in to Good Day Tulsa tomorrow to see Brigid talking about Swap O Rama Rama. And.. we should have a Tulsa World article out sometime this week! More later.

In the midst of midterms...

2009-03-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

The above image is one of my lithograph monotypes. I just learned this technique and I think I love it. I plan to make some more this afternoon.

Nothing is really going on to blog about, so I decided to upload the photos from my phone. I have not done this at all since I got my phone, so some of these go back to last October.

Tucker at the Blessing of the Animals - October 2008

Indie Emporium Fashion Show - October 2008

Roswell, New Mexico - October 2008

Day of the Dead Festival, Tulsa November 2008

Tulsa Democrats at the Election Watch Party - November 2008

Girlie Show - November 2008

some of my prints at my booth at Deluxe - December 2008

Fake snow at IKEA, Houston, December 2008

Enjoying IKEA, Houston, December 2008

Christmas in Houston December 2008

Yay! Thom's toast at Adam's wedding

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 6th Row, Tulsa December 2008

I won $1800!! that was pretty exciting.

A real update soon!

New Marimekko!

2009-03-03T06:41:00.000-08:00

The Marimekko Spring 2009 Collection is now online. Check it out here.

I'm working on paper lithography today and I'm really excited about all of the possibilities! Will update soon with new prints.

Oh yeah!

2009-02-27T20:07:00.001-08:00

I forgot to mention in the last post that a few weeks ago a few of the lovely Tulsa Craft Mafia ladies and myself met at The Collective for an interview with the Tulsa World about handmade Valentine's Day gifts. I was happily surprised to find my mod-podge screen printed pinup girl tote and tea towel on the front page of the newspaper and a few cards that I made in the picture in the Scene section. Here is the article in it's entirety.I got my beautiful Audrey Eclectic ornament in the mail yesterday. So pretty! Thanks Heather!! Not only do I love it, it gave me an excuse to use my lightbox again. Not much else to report right now. The husband is diligently working on finals. I've spent most of my week working on the color printing process with lino blocks. As I mentioned in my last post, I won't be listing any of these prints for sale because they oh-so-closely mimic Orla Kiely's pear. I just wanted a simple shape that could easily be somewhat monochromatic to practice registration and learn how to use two blocks/two colors for one image. I'll be creating some of my own two color designs quite soon.

Which color scheme is your favorite?

Recap of my absense

2009-02-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

Last week I took a brief sabbatical from the internet..

What I missed blogging about was this little guy that we adopted for a few days. We saw him on craigslist and he and Tucker shared a name and a breed. We thought perhaps they could be great friends, but sadly Tucker1 wasn't a fan of Tucker2. Maybe something about the NONSTOP playing interrupting all of his many naps. Tucker2 went back to his foster family after a 5 day stay at our house.

Valentine's day fell somewhere in my internet hiatus.. Thom and I really don't make a habit of doing much for Valentine's Day.. we went out to dinner and took the evening off from homework, so that's a pretty nice treat these days. This year we did actually go to a grown up restaurant, rather than continuing the Chick-fil-A tradition. For those who haven't been, each Valentine's, the Chick-Fil-A on 71st has a "romantic dinner" with table linens, flowers and candles on the table, waiters, live music.. the full deal. It's about the most darling thing to do for VD and I think next year Thom and I might have to return to that.

Our Target did finally put out the Orla Kiely goodies last week and I got these.

The two color block print I'm working on right now is actually Orla Kiely inspired.. I won't be selling this one because it's too similar to her pear and I was just trying to learn the color printing process, but maybe I'll post some pictures when it's completed.

I did list my first linocut print in my etsy shop last week. You can see it here
Oh, other news, I won a blog contest and will be getting another Audrey Eclectic ornament, which I'm really excited to hang with the other artwork in my studio.

That pretty much recaps my past week. I won't bore you with the hum drum details of homework, work, mortgages, remodeling, etc.

Oh how I love these quiet afternoons.....

Slacking

2009-02-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm slacking on the blog. My excuse is that my camera batteries are dead and the charger is missing.

And there is just no point without pictures.

LightBox

2009-02-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that I've built my own lightbox. I've been talking about doing this, reading tutorials, and planning for ages. And one afternoon last week, I just did it. It ended up only taking about an hour total. I think I'm going to make a larger one for some of the bigger items that I need to photograph, but this one will be perfect for my button/bottle openers/pocket mirrors & small Bjorn plushies.

Here is a quick tutorial.

Supplies

Cardboard Box

Duct Tape (kind of optional)

Sharpie

Ruler

Exacto

White Artist Tape

Tissue Paper

White poster board or drawing paper

Step One

I thought it would be wise to reenforce the edges of the box, so I did this with purple duct tape.

Step Two

Measure 2-3 inches from each edge of the sides, top, and front of the box and draw lines as cutting guides. This will form little boxes on each surface.

Step Three

Cut along the lines, using your exacto and ruler (I always use a cork back ruler when using an exacto so you have less chance of slipping). Repeat this on all four sections.

Step Four

At this point, your box will look like a cat tunnel.

It also helps if you have something small and furry to keep you company.

From the inside, using your white artist's tape, tape your tissue paper over the cut-out holes on the sides and top of the box. I cut my tissue paper by measuring one inch smaller than the outside dimension of the box. At first, I only used one sheet, but it let a bit too much light through, so I ended up liking it most with three sheets of tissue paper on each side. You could also use thin white fabric. Make sure that you cover any of the brown area of the cardboard on the inside walls with the white tape. You could use masking tape, but the artist's tape will have a much crisper white and will generally look better.

Step Five

Measure the width of your lightbox and cut a piece of posterboard or white drawing paper to fit. It's a little tricky to get it in and out without creasing it, but after some practice, it's simple to switch to another color of board. I tried it out with white and black. I didn't like the results of the black paper as much, but perhaps that was because I was kicking myself for cutting up a piece of $11 Canson Art Paper. The photo below shows the lightbox with black paper inside.

Step Six

You will need three lights to shine through each of the tissue paper sides of your light box. I experimented with different lights and found the best results with two task lights as the side lights and an Ott Daylight light over the top. Although Ott lights are pricey, they are very much worth the cost difference if you do any detail work or illustration, especially if you are prone to headaches. I came across my first Ott Light at a garage sale by chance and after the initial shock of having to buy a $50 light bulb, I've now grown to love them and have 4 Ott's.

Here are a few sample photos of things photographed in my new lightbox.

weather&noise

Happy Valentine's Day!

made : The Indie Emporium Shop

Oh, I'm around..

Over The Weekend.. (and a little week too)

Learning to Crochet

Over The Weekend..

over the weekend..

Indie Emporium

Missoni for Target

Applying for Indie Craft Shows

Prairie Hive

A call for artists!

Indie Emporium Video

Renegade Austin! My little recap.

Music Monday

Tulsa Art Studio Tour Recap

Music Monday

Temporary Studio Space

Thankful

Renegade Austin

These Days..

music monday

Tulsa Art Studio Tour

Currently Listening

A hospital valentine..

Dark Chocolate/Blueberry/Banana/Bran Muffins

Valentines in the Snow

End of the vacation..

Read More Books Wall Art Giveaway

thing-a-day

To Read

Longing for Spring.

Interior Architecture & Design

Snow Days

Whew!

The Pillow Covers

New Things..

Catching up!

Just a little peek..

Busy Times..

Tulsa Anthropologie!

New Magazines!

Ready for Fall

make:Tulsa Beginnings

Around the House

Shaker Inspiration

A Weekend & A Winner!

New Website, New Giveaway!

Poketo at Target! Yes, please!

Librarian Chic

Tuesday Tuesday

Chai Popsicles

Summer Days

Domino is back! (sort of)

Life is good..

Craft Party!

Blue Dome!

An update. Finally.

milk + honey

New Items in the Shop and Guest Blogging!

Hiatus

New Prints in the Etsy Shop!

Overdue..

A productive day..

Surrounded by Grey

Prints this week

New Promo Button Design

VAC Baywalk

Funky Finds & Upcoming Plans

Funky Finds

Mostly about school...

Checking in!

Swap O Rama Rama & Press- Lots of pictures!

Swap O Rama Rama is Tomorrow!!

Exhausting week/end

In the midst of midterms...

New Marimekko!

Oh yeah!

Recap of my absense