Walking Weekend

Erin and I unknowingly walked four miles on Saturday! This (above) is the new wallet I picked up on our travels. It is a Betsy Walton design by Poketo and I got it at Rare Device. Poketo makes so many awesome wallets with so many awesome artists, it was really really difficult to decide which one I wanted. I decided on this one because I've been lusting after Betsy Walton's work in her etsy shop for a while now, so I figured this would be a gateway of sorts. Soon I'll be be snapping up her prints, I'm sure. In fact, they had some at rare device, and now I'm kind of hitting myself for not buying one. I'm hitting myself for not buying a bunch of prints they had there actually, I really need to make a trip back soon.

Another place we hit up on Saturday that I need to get back to stat is Little Otsu. I think what was going was it was super hot on Saturday, I was walking around, getting all sweaty and I wasn't thinking straight enough to know that I wanted to buy buy buy everything they had! They collaborate with artists to make awesome exclusive to them items like calendars with Jennie Smith, adorable planners with Martine Workman, and this genius film diary (want it!). Of course they are also stocked with tons and tons of sweet stationary and notebooks and pins and postcards and wallets...oh, and right now they are offering free shipping on orders over $25 on their website! That's a pretty good deal. Be sure to check out their fun blog too.

The only downer on Saturday was that we didn't make it to the Curiosity Shoppe because they were closing early, but we did get to drool a little over the window display, which was all weaving. They were showing a portable loom like the one in Craft that I've been using, but instead of paper it was made out of what looked like acrylic. Needless to say I am aching to get in there and buy that! Luckily, Curiosity Shoppe is practically next door to Little Otsu, so it will be very easy for me to visit both next weekend. See you there!

mel

Finally Friday

The tassle-eared squirrel. So so cute. In the shop now.

I am pleased as punch that it is friday. This has been an unpalatably long week. But now it is over and it is the weekend! Well, nearly anyway. I have vague plans this weekend to go through my wardrobe; I purchased a bunch of new clothes and shoes over the course of the last couple weeks and I really need to weed out some items to make room. My closet is an absolute mess, it's embarrassing.

Also on my plate for this weekend; barbeque with Steve's family (yum) and Pineapple Express tomorrow at the bargain show! And lots of maxin' and relaxin', cuz that's how I do.

Have a really beautiful friday!

mel

Indie Mart

The indie mart yesterday was a ton of fun, I would certainly recommend it to any San Francisco residents as a lovely way to pass an afternoon. It was exciting to see a good number of shops I recognized as favorites from Etsy. I ended up walking away empty handed again (except for a couple of really delicious cupcakes), but this time it was because I had neglected to bring any cash. There were a few places I would have been happy to drop some dollars, including my new favorite, NousSavons. They have really lovely vintage inspired jewelry with whimsical names, like the above Parlor Lace earrings, which are made with vintage lace. The jury is still out on whether I will be submitting an app to participate in the next indie mart, but I will certainly keep you updated.
mel

Things Are Happening (have happened)

I am sorry for the lack of posts in the last week. I don't exactly know what happened, I think it was a combination of being in Sacramento over the weekend, a broken alarm on my phone, and, y'know, being old now. But posts will start occuring at their regular frequency again. I'll give you a quick recap of things I've been thinking about this week.

*I am going to go to my coworker's daughter's Girl Scout meeting next weekend and teach the troupe how to make perfect bound books. This is exciting and a little scary.

*Steve and I will be hitting up the Mission Indie Mart this Sunday. Woo hoo craft shows!

*I am excited about the new record cover notebooks I've made that I'm slowly listing in the shop.

*KK of Lulaboutique wrote a really nice post about roska handmade on her blog. What a sweetie!

*I am on the lookout for art! I need things to hang on the wall, things that Steve and I will both like. Please share any suggestions you may have, either particular prints or places to buy. I'd sure appreciate it!

mel

Animales

I made a bunch of great new books the last couple evenings that I'm really excited about, so it's driving me kind of crazy that I haven't had a chance to photograph them (and probably won't for a couple days). Instead of dwelling on that, I decided to post about some awesome animal notebooks that I've listed in the shop recently. Yep, those are them pictured above. Clockwise from top left we have bears and goats, cats and foxes, scallop shells, terns and pigeons and doves.
Regarding those new books, I'm visiting in Sacramento this weekend, so I probably won't have a chance to photograph them and list them until next week. But you never know...
Have a great weekend!
mel

Monday = Sad Day

I had such a wonderful long weekend, and I am not super happy that it is over. It was so much fun! I saw a bunch of movies at reperatory theaters and made my house all shiny and clean and worked and worked and worked and took a lovely walk in Golden Gate Park. Ah, if only it could last forever. But it can't, and, you know, that's really ok. If my whole life was a weekend, what would I have to look forward to?

I discovered this cool mosaic tool last week, and I've been having a bunch of fun with it. I used it to put together those two detail shots up there of a Surprise project I'm working on. I used it to make this cute montage of my cat Ava.

And this one of statues in Golden Gate Park.

Yep, fun stuff. That pretty much sums up my weekend. I have some cool stuff coming up for you this week, so stayed tuned.

Oh, also I was featured on this neat blog, Environmental Friendlies. The name is pretty self explanatory, it features products that are friendly to the earth. I am honored to have my books featured. You should check it out!

mel

Lunch

BEFORE:

AFTER:

In a word: delicious.

mel

Leaving early

So you may have noticed (but probably not because i think my shop is being very unpopular lately) that i haven't added any new items to my shop in a while. last night i was finally getting ready to reverse this sitch, i was all set to make some new little books, i had my paper blocks already made, i thought to myself, "now i just need to measure out these pieces of matting that will become the covers." which is when i realized that my ruler had been run over by a computer chair and crushed to bitsy pieces. and also that i do not have another ruler. there is not a ruler in my house. sometimes i am really amazed by the things we do not have because they are things that i pretty much take for granted. like rulers. and formerly like staplers, but then it turned out that we actually have two. anyway, the point is that i will soon make new books, but first i am going to have to buy a ruler. preferrably one not made of brittle plastic that will crumble like a tortilla chip.
i am leaving for monterey in a matter of minutes. i hope it will be pretty there and i will take pictures and draw things for your enjoyment.
mel

How To Be Calm

I am kind of sad because I went to this new-ish salon in my neighborhood and I was disappointed. I wanted to like it so much before I went because it looked nice, and so much more after I was there because everyone who worked there was so nice. But I was disappointed! I got a manicure and a pedicure and the actual processes were fine, they felt nice, but the results are less than stellar. My pedicure has chipped already, after only two days. Two days! That is not normal. And my manicure...where to begin. The paint doesn't go all the way to the edges of my nails, I can make out the layers of polish, you can see all these tiny airbubbles, and my nails are all different shapes. So, I am kind of sad. I probably won't go there again. I am trying to enjoy my manicure still, because it is white which is kind of fun. I think I might get blue next time. I'm trying to start a new color trend. Anyway, the point of all this jabber is that my new year's resolution is to try to relax. Some people (Steve) might laugh at this resolution because they think I am lazy. I mean more like stop worrying all the time, thinking too much while I'm trying to go to sleep, giving myself a stomache over things I can't control. That kind of relaxing. Not the making the house messy not making notebooks kind of relaxing. That kind of relaxing has got to go, stat.
mel

Boo

So, the craft fair was....bad. I don't know, it was fine, it's just that I didn't sell anything. Which is ok. It was still fun. And I got a buncha buncha books made, and I've been slowly getting those up on my etsy page, and now they are selling like hotcakes! So everything is ok. I just don't think the holiday craft fair at my place of work is the right market for me. But hey, I learned that lesson, and it's important to learn, right? Anyway, do you want to see some of my books? Ok, here we go

I really like this one, it's from this really old atlas (1942!) that I bought a long time ago, but I had never used before. I am really happy with how they turned out, I think they look really great. You can see that I did these a little differently than usual, they have "wrap around" covers and I think they're cool. And since the maps are interesting because they are so old; the world looked pretty different then. I think on this one you can see that there was no Vietnam yet, it was called French IndoChina. These would be perfect for history buffs, they would really get a kick out of them I think.

Not too much else going on, just chugging away making books and knitting a lot. In fact, I taught Steve how to knit! It's pretty cute. He asked me to teach him, I think, because he can't stand that there is something I'm good at that he can't challenge me at. He's very competitive. And I'm happy to report that he's doing really well, he's picking it up very quickly. All my success with teaching people how to knit tempts me to start offering lessons on craigslist or something. Steve is the seventh or eighth of my friends that I've taught the knitting basics, but probably it's different teaching your friends than it is teaching strangers. It's something to think about though, I guess.

Oh, just one more thing. I've been really enjoying this blog lately: mccain blogette. It's written by John McCain's daughter, who is on the campaign trail with him, riding the "straight talk express" or whatever his bus is called. Don't be scared, this is NOT a political blog, it is pretty much 100% fluff, but Ms. McCain is strangely winning. And she has the cutest clothes. But mostly I like it because it is a look at campaigning from a point of view that someone like me (early 20s, female, not particularly interested in politics) can appreciate. And it makes John McCain look really likable, which is a feat; you would think the McCain peeps would be pimping it a little harder, they could probably win some lady voters.

mel

SuperOrange

All right, I think I am seriously addicted to Orange-Carrot Juice. For a while I was having it everyday for breakfast. Then I stopped for a while, because I am lazy to walk to Jamba Juice from my office, but I was thinking about it ALL THE TIME. Now I'm back. It's just soooo good. I don't know what it is, there's just something so refreshing, yet slightly creamy about it...it's really flavorful and satiating. The way they make it at Jamba Juice it gets all frothy....yum, just thinking about it is making me salivate. Anyway, the point is that I'm a little worried that having the same thing for breakfast everyday is not good for me. Also, I am a little worried that I might turn a little orange, even though, really, I know that won't happen. But still. So I tried having yogurt and an apple for breakfast but it's just not the same! I'm going to try the yogurt thing for a while though, because I bought a TON of yogurt, and maybe eventually I'll be as obsessed with yogurt as I am now with Orange-Carrot juice. It could happen.

It seems like I am finally starting to feel creative again. Unfortunately, so far it seems like I'm feeling most creative while I'm at work, where there is nothing creative to do but doodle. Like I've mentioned before, I've really been inspired by this collage project we're doing in my drawing class, and by the Joseph Cornell exhibit at the SFMOMA. In fact, I went to see the Cornell exhibit again last night, with my boyfriend, and I feel like I wouldn't mind at all if I were going to see it again. I loved it so much. Last night I wanted to walk across the scary bridge they have on the top floor of the museum. The walkway is metal, but the floor is kind of a grid (they call it steel truss), so you can see through it. The walkway is on the fourth floor of the museum, and you can see all the way to the ground floor. And these are gallery floors so I they're a bit taller than normal floors I think. If you get a chance to go to the SFMOMA and you are not too scared of heights, you should definitely do the walkway. It is so incredibly terrifying. But fun! Really! It's indescribable. I was giggling in terror for like five minutes after. But I did it twice! The real point is that on the other side of the bridge was the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, which was also super cool. It was all about geometry and it was organic, but it had elements of collage as well, but used in a totally different way than Cornell used them. It was a really interesting contrast.

The museum lobby and the bridge with Eliasson's work "One Way Color Tunnel." Unfortunately, it doesn't make the bridge look very scary. Sorry.

So, yes, very inspiring. But it doesn't really mean anything unless I make myself sit down and get to work. And now I'm thinking about doing the Holiday Shopping Fair at my work. My coworkers have been on me about it all year, asking me if I'm going to sell my scarves and hats. I want to because then I would get to basically take a half day off work, which is always awesome. But it also means that I would need to start cranking out the knitwear like NOW. So, I guess I'll have to see what happens.

mel

Strangeness

Hi, I am back. Back to blogging. I've been out of town for a week. I've seen some people I haven't seen in ages and ages. It feels very strange to be back home. Everything is a little bit surreal. I figured, what better way to get back in the swing of things than to do a little bloggity blog bloggy? So, what is up with me, you ask? Well, things are going better than I ever expected. My notebooks are selling surprisingly well. Tonight though, I am not working on notebooks, I'm working on buttons. The Sampler is doing a new thing called City Sampler where they feature products all made by artists from a certain city, and the first city is San Francisco! Since I've lost a week, I really need to get to work so I can make the deadline for submissions. I'm really excited about this because I had been planning on getting something together for the next Sampler anyway, but it will be much cooler to have my first sampler be a San Francisco sampler.

Other than that, I am just relaxing, trying to get ready for the shell shock of going to work tomorrow. I'm downloading music by Mika and Mickey Avalon; my sister introduced me to their music while I was away and I liked it, which is odd because my taste in music and my sister's generally do not overlap. I guess I'm just feeling the dancy trashy stuff these days. Also, I am shopping on Etsy of course! I'm really considering buying jewelry from one of my very first favorite shops, Marshatoh. All of her pieces are so gorgeous, I'm just worried that, if I were to buy something, it would become another of my jewelry casualties, because I almost never wear jewelry. For some reason I am super self conscious about it. But just look at these, how can I not obssess over them?

So pretty, right? I just love the lariat necklace. I like the polished wood, it makes the pieces look so light and cool. Decisions decisions....

mel

Lithium: The Lightest of All Metals

So, hooray, the lithium solution worked! I popped those babies in the digicam and; presto! Worked like a charm. And here is the evidence: two new listings on my etsy page! A cute lil' Kris Kristofferson notebook and a larger than normal Jane Fonda Workout notebook. How do the pictures look? With the Jane Fonda book, I used this lightbox that Steve made for me. I think they turned out pretty well. Oh, also, I have to give credit to Steve for the lithium idea, he is the author. Sorry for being misleading in my last post.

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I joined a bookbinders' street team on Etsy! It's called BEST for short, and it is awesome! Here is a link to the blog. I am psyched to be in the company of so many awesome etsy sellers like myhandbound books, comfortableshoes, operationpapercut, and lots and lots more. There is a list on the blog, and I highly recommend taking a look at all the shops. You should also take a look at the BEST treasury on etsy...because I'm in it! Yay, I love being in treasuries.
I'm hoping to make this a big crafting weekend; I have a few plans, like going to see Lawrence of Arabia. It's playing at the Castro Theater (which is pretty much the most awesome theater in San Francisco) as part of their 70mm series they do every so often. L o A is one of the films they show all the time, they also always show Ghostbusters in 70mm, which is SO awesome, but I've never seen L o A before. I was going to rent it through netflix, but Steve told me to wait. We'll see if it's worth it, because I think I'm even going to have to pay for it! Also, I think we might go bowling, which would be awesome, and I am supposed to go to a game night. Sounds pretty action packed, huh?

mel

Craft is Back, Baby!

All right, so the general consensus seems to be that readers of this blog (all one of you) have had enough of my spotty fashion week coverage. Well, that is fine with me because I am kind of tired of it as well. I enjoyed writing about it, don't get me wrong, it's just that deciding which pictures to post and then actually posting them and getting them positioned right; what a pain that was. I guess at the current time I'm just not cut out to be a big time web editor. If you want to see/read more about fashion, I definitely recommend checking out the Show & Talk blog from New York magazine, I think it is the most fun and comprehensive coverage of fashion week on the interwebs. And, of course, it is the fashion week home of the Fug Girls.

On with the Craft! I have been lagging a bit on my crafting lately, it's been tough with my evening class two nights a week and an obligation on tuesday night (pub quiz is very important to me, ok?) to find time when I'm not exhausted. And my crafting area (our coffee table in our tiny living room) is super super messy right now. I did manage to crank out two really cute notebooks last night though, because on Wednesday night I cut paper for a couple hours. It really helped! It was so nice to have all my paper ready to go. I think this will have to become a regular thing. Anyway, like I said, the notebooks are super cool. One is made from a Supremes album cover and I used insert as the inside cover lining. The other is made from a New York subway system map from the seventies. I'll post pictures and have those up in my shop later this afternoon (I hope).

The other thing I'm excited about is this awesome roving I bought yesterday! I've been thinking about making felt beads for a while now, I love how they look, so yesterday I bought this:

Isn't it pretty! It's merino wool and the name is orange creamsicle...yummy, no? I bought it from etsy seller alittlequacky's shop, A Knitting Duck (ha ha). She has so much pretty roving, it was hard to choose, but I like this to start. If all goes well with the felting, I will definitely be buying from her again. I'm tempted to already because it looks like she posted a bunch of awesome new lots today! Look at this one:

I really love this, it's called duck pond. How cute! It reminded me right away of Duck Hunt on NES. Heh.

Just a quick note, I hope to get started soon on a weekly post featuring etsy sellers, sometimes with interviews. So, be on the lookout for that.

mel

Native American Summer

I've been a bad blogger! It's this hot weather, it makes me lazy! Not only have I not been blogging, I haven't been doing as much crafting either. I've really slacked off on my books. I've made some buttons, because those are a little less time consuming, and more knitting. Actually, I'm more excited about knitting than I have been in a long time. While I was in Sacramento, my mom showed me real quick how to crochet, which is something I've been meaning to learn forever. I love granny squares! I think I might also be ready to try to learn to knit in the round again. I want to make tote bags, and I really want to make a crazy quilt, to use up my stash. The other thing I would like to do is make hats and blankets for charity. If that is something that interests you, here is a link to some programs in the San Francisco area http://www.imagiknit.com/charity.html from one of my favorite yarn shops in the city.

I went to the art store today, which was actually kind of embarrassing because I had just been there yesterday and I saw the same people working there, and I don't really know why that is embarrasing, but it is. I was picking up some drawing fluid and screen filler. I had read about tusche in this really cool old screenprinting book that Steve got me for my birthday, and I thought it sounded like a clean, easy way to make screenprinting screens. Unfortunately, tusche is hard to find, and when you can find it, it's pretty expensive. Today I was looking at the Make It! blog and she was talking about drawing fluid, which I had never heard of before. I looked it up and wikipedia and, ta da! it is like an even cleaner, more modern type of tusche! I am really excited to try it out. My adventures in screenprinting so far have been more like misadventures.

I have to work on my homework before it's time for pub quiz. I have to draw one room in my house in partial blind contour. Ugh. I hope it takes less than an hour.

mel

Adventures in Knitting

Oof, it was really hot the last few days. It's been making me super sleepy. Too sleepy to work on books and too sleepy to blog. I've taken up a bit of knitting again, because it is a more lying down friendly activity. I'm making someone a birthday present! and it is coming along much more quickly than I had expected. I always forget how much fun knitting is when I don't do it for a while.

Yesterday I was in the Etsy forums looking for some advice on how to better my cruddy pictures. As expected, everyone was super helpful. But I tried a makeshift light tent, and I tried natural light, but still nothing was really working out for me. I think I need to get some of those clip on lamps. I did get a few that I think turned out ok:

This is a book I made out of a Bay City Rollers record cover that Steve got for me at Goodwill. These guys really liked plaid, they were fully decked out in it, and, guess what? turns out they're from Scotland! Unfortunately, they were not that cute so I had to feature their awesome kicks instead of them.

These are some buttons I made out of an old First Aid book, also purchased at Goodwill. Graphic, aren't they? I made nine buttons like these, all from the wounds section of the book. There are so many more awesome illustrations, just waiting to be made into buttons. I really like the colors. I think I'm going to sell these in sets of three.

I'm very excited about these pictures because these are going to be the first two items I'm going to list in my Etsy shop! Steve is helping me figure out what I want to do about pricing and shipping and all that stuff, and then I'm doing it! So please check it out and let me know what you think. Here is a link: roska.etsy.com

Tomorrow I'm driving to Sactown to visit with my mom and sisters, because it is just not hot enough here. I need it about 20 degrees warmer. Ugh. I always forget when I plan to go there just how damn hot it is. Hope you stay a little cooler than I will be.

mel

SCRAP

If you'll recall, I mentioned SCRAP a while ago. SCRAP is pretty much my very favorite place in the city at this time. From their website:
SCRAP is a creative reuse center, store and workshop space founded in 1976 in San Francisco, California. Donations of re-usable materials such as textiles, paper, jewelry findings, wood, buttons and plastics are collected from businesses, institutions and individuals and distributed to art and educational groups.
By breathing new life into old objects, SCRAP reduces the amount of waste going to crowded landfills. By offering low cost art and re-use workshops and providing schools and organizations with badly needed art supplies, SCRAP stimulates creativity and environmental awareness.

What that means is, you go to SCRAP, which is a giant warehouse in an industrial area, and there is aisle after aisle of stuff. Pretty much anything you could dream of in your wildest crafting dreams. The other day when I was there they had about 20 bowling balls (unfortunately, none of them fit my big fingers.). They have a whole aisle devoted to papers; colored paper, lined paper, letterhead, weird cloth paper, rice paper, vellum, carbon paper...the list goes on. I spend most of my time in the paper area when I'm there. Last time, I picked up some letterhead for the San Francisco Chinese Bowling League! They also have tons of fabric, found photos, rubber stamps, National Geographics, wooden dowels, art supplies, greeting cards; I could go on and on. I just think it is the most amazing place, and I am really in awe of the people who run it. While SCRAP is a really awesome place for me to go for my bookmaking supplies, I think it is way cooler that it is an awesome resource for teachers. Hey though, keep it hush hush. I don't want too many people to know about SCRAP!

Anyway, here are some pictures from my walk last week from my sewing class to SCRAP:

It's pretty, right? I know, I was surprised. It actually kind of reminded me of Sacramento; flat, dusty and dry. It was much more pleasant than I had expected. I love discovering new areas in San Francisco, I'm always coming upon some neighborhood I never knew existed.

Oh, and here are a few really crappy photos of the album cover notebook I made for my friend's birthday:

Really, it looked way cooler in real life. The middle picture is the inside cover.

Finally, here are some elephants that Sarah and I drew:

And for those of you waiting on this with bated breath (oh, I know you're out there) the new digital camera is scheduled to arrive fedex on the 30th of this month. Until then, I am busily churning out the crafty goodness, so expect my etsy shops grand opening to follow soon after.
mel