Kitty Genius

Weekending

This weekend was the antique expo in Portland and it is so so very large. I couldn't take a ton of photos, but here are some of the ones I snapped.

This dollhouse was so rickety and magical.

lovely book

booth after booth of ephemera

a chandelier that had a hunter whose legs turned into antlers. Wow.

cuckoo clock crazy

one of my favorites. What Drew called the tenement dollhouse. This was made from an old crate and hand-painted. Truly a piece of art.

After that Drew and I headed to a late lunch/early dinner and home for a nap!

Today I went highchair hunting with a friend and to a little french bakery that is so good and even cuter than it is tasty.

(iPhone pics on the way out) Next time i will get some of the interior.

Now, it is easing into a chilly, drizzly Sunday night. I'll take it! I hope your weekend was great!

Treasure hunting

The last few days have been filled with home improvements and, more fun, treasure hunting.

I found this vintage hutch on Craigslist and it is as cute and functional as can be. To spruce it up I made a crepe paper garland. I can't tell you how much I love crepe paper.

Making the garland is super simple. It takes nothing but time (and some crepe paper, string, scissors, and a hole punch). I like crafts that take no skill or expensive "ingredients".

A bigger magenta one. Magenta and fuchsia are my colors of choice right now.

I put loops on the top and bottom and a vintage bead (that you can't see in the photo) so I can hang them vertically or horizontally across entryways.

At an estate sale I found this vintage collection of coral.

I am now officially out of crepe paper. Next time I want to make a super long one. Maybe I need some bell jars to put the coral under. Ohhh the possibilities.

I hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

A free holiday gift for you

I wish I could take full credit for this but that's not even close to true. The creative Marichelle from Heart Handmade has just released the The Handmade Holiday Zine, which you can download. The zine is in three parts, and in part three (page 8) you will find this little house I designed to download, print out, and make for yourself!

I designed the outside of the house, but the actual design of the house comes from the talented Mike Wilson.

I'm a fan of the roof. :)

This house will totally work even if you don't print it in color. All you need is an X-acto knife and tape, but I recommend a bit of glue instead of tape and voila! you can make all the houses you want. If you use card stock or a heavy paper even better! Ours is living on top of our TV right now. I think it's a fun little gift to give people or project to work on this long holiday weekend (if you're in the US).

I hope you enjoy it and make sure to check out the rest of the zine. It's great!

Crafty

Well hello! Sorry for the impromptu break. This week went by in a bit of a blur. As November slips away and the holiday season is in full force I've been bitten by the crafty bug. One of the projects I worked on this weekend (there were quite a few, as my living room floor would show you) was a terrarium. I've been experimenting with the one above adding and subtracting from it. I like the simplicity of this version. She reminds me of Little Miss Muffet.

If there is one thing I've realized about terrariums it's that there is a lot of subversive fun you can have with them. My terrarium keeps being a bit on the dark or spooky side.

In addition to the crafty bug, due to the impending move the nesting itch (bug, itch… you know) has come over me. There were a few thrift store trips and quite a few estate sales. I have been on a weekly search for a vintage light-up globe ever since I passed on one about a year and a half ago at an antique mall. Then on Friday lurking in a dark corner of a thrift store was a 1957 12" Replogle light-up globe! I think I skipped to the cashier. I don't have a photo yet because the bulb is out and I haven't gotten a replacement. But ooohh I'm delighted.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!!

p.s. I'm thinking of making some terrarium for the shop. Would anyone be interested?

Pumpkin planning

Am I eight years old? No… but I did actually doodle some jack-o-lantern ideas. We're going to a B.Y.O.P. (bring your own pumpkin) carving party tonight.

I think my doodling helped me decide that my pumpkin must have vampire fangs (but not particularly menacing, as "exhibit A" up there shows)

This morning I went with my new friend Ami (hi Ami!) and got a ten-day trial pass to 24 Hour Fitness. I'm never a fan of the obligatory gym tour and sales pitch and the "today only we'll waive this fee and that…" but I did really enjoy all the fancy new equipment. I was sad I forgot my iPod, because each machine has its own little TV and iPod docking station—craaaaazy. I will give it the ten full days before I make my final decision. Any 24 Hour Fitness opinions out there?

If you haven't done it already I wish you happy, successful, and creative pumpkin carving!

A gift from me to you

Not quite done with your wrapping (or in my case not quite started)? Good! Since you guys are so great and I would love to give you all something a little special, I created these gift tags for you! You can download hi-res PDFs of page one and page two. They're ready to be cut into ovals and holepunched and placed on that gift to you-know-who and what's-her-face. And, in case you already have a master plan for your gift wrapping that doesn't include these tags, I tried to make them not too holiday-ey. There is always someone's birthday, and Valentine's Day is right around the corner—or just print them out as decorations (they're sans "to" and "from" labels). So, enjoy, and don't forget to check out my shop for new things.

Also, for you guys who do use the tags I would LOVE to see them "in the wild," so if you do take a photograph and you have a moment, please e-mail me! Happy last-minute-ish shopping!

A Few More

Here are the other two of my mini portraits. Besides for "Reaching Out To You" I think this little red one might be my favorite.

Absolutely nothing new is new with me, unless you count my newly disgusting apartment. I'm naturally a very messy person, I can admit that. But over the years I've really tried to get my act together. I think like many messy people I have no problem cleaning, but MAINTAINING is an entirely different issue. It feels like one minute your space is clean and the next it is disgusting, and I find myself asking "how did I miss the signs that it was going in this direction?" But I do try I swear, especially because I have the fear of god in me that my landlord (whose has a tendency to do this) is going to pop by at any minute. And because...well I do take pride in wear I live and the things I own.

I know it won't take long to clean this place. Last week I did a super giant cleaning of mopping floors, washing base boards, and other detail stuff. So, although this one is just picking up stray shopping bags and clothes I just don't have the energy. Let's hope the landlord doesn't stop by today for any reason and tomorrow this place will be spotless. And maybe, just maybe, I can "guilt" Drew into actually sweeping a floor or two, and I swear HE IS CLEANING THE BATHROOM THIS TIME!!!

Don't you just feel like EVERYTHING is gross when you're sick. Even if you're clean, you just want to shower. You want to lay in bed, but you want your sheets change. So, I'm extra hating a messy place.

Embroidery Schmembroidery

The Loneliest Girl In The World

Sad Bunny Puppy

Two Monsters

Conjoined (for sale)

Minding My Business (sold)

The title of this post pretty much sums things up. There's been a lot of thread around my apartment lately, but sadly it's still not nearly enough. These are the pieces that are off to a gallery in L.A. I still have so many embroidered illustrations I have drawn out, but yet to sew. I don't know if I should list more embroidered illustrations in my Etsy shop or not. I listed one and it sold, but I don't know why I'm reluctant to list more. Hmmm.

In other news I went to two malls today, which is frankly two malls too many. The idea of going to the mall always sounds enticing. I think to myself ooohhh... I'll get clothes... something different and exciting... maybe shoes too and earrings... oh and a lip gloss... normally I leave with a pretzel, diet coke, and a renewed hate of 16-year-old girls. I have one simple rule when shopping for clothes... if you look better in what you wore to the store than what you're trying on DON'T BUY IT. And today I was in an extra frumpy t-shirt and still found it quite easy to follow my little rule. Sad. Or I see all these totally unrealistic clothes and I'm like yes Ashley you absolutely have a place in your life and closet for that weird cropped asymetrical fill-in-the-blank. The good news is I found a couple dress-like things to wear over jeans and/or under t-shirts for the summer. The colors I settled on after much internal debate were black, black, and black-and-white striped. Daring, I know.

Right now I'm still in the giddy-about-my-new-clothes phase, but there's no guarantee that that will last long. I mean it's not like you can trust store mirrors and lighting. And I'm not just saying that because of the retail store smoke and mirrors (literally) bullshit. I'm saying that because we all have our one (or two) mirrors in our homes that we trust. We see ourselves in it everyday. So even if it's completely inaccurate, its inaccuracy is consistant. So if my new mall clothes look bad to me in my mirror than I know they're bad. I don't think I have the strength in me to look at my new clothes in my mirror yet.

Also, I feel kinda bad. We were suppossed to find Drew new jeans and new shoes. Neither happened. In part because I hogged our mall time and Drew says I need to be there when he buys shoes or jeans because I'm the only one who cares. Stupid boys. The other week when we bought him running pants I kept urging him to try them on and he was like "no, I'm a boy, pants are pants. I'm a medium." And you know what? He's right. His little running pants fit him just right. This just proves to me there's no underestimating the power of hips and a butt. It makes shopping soooooo very different.

O.K. that's all my complaining for now.

very happy..but busy

After seeing a few pieces of mine on my etsy shop a gallery asked if they could sell some of my art. "Oh, my god...of course" was my answer. These are some of the illustrations I've been working on and they are for sale at my fore mentioned shop. I have a lot more to work on...embroidered plush and embroidered illustrations...and all this by Friday...It's my own fault I set the deadline...and well, I'm an idiot.

Weather Can Inspire

 

The weather was so lovely. It was overcast, cool but not cold, and a little windy. I couldn't stand the idea of staying inside so a little before sunset we went to the park and sat next to the wonderful lake (man made but still) which has several giant fountains in it. When the wind blew the right way water would lightly spray everything. I worked on this drawing when I was there. It's not the best photo of it and it got cut off on the right and bottom, but it was going to be a hassle to scan it last night. It's 12x14. and both the black and green are richer then they seem here. I was thinking of making smaller prints of it available on my etsy shop, but I'm not entirely sure yet.
Today I'm off and I could do sooooooo much but I'm thinking of going to thrift stores instead....yeah, that sounds about right.