DIY Street Fair

It's this weekend! The DIY Street Fair in Ferndale is one of the highlights of the fall season: Great art, music, beer and community filling the streets. I'll be in Booth #26 in the parking lot behind the WAB. I'll have new 2014 calendars hot off the presses and more … I hope you'll come out and visit a while.

Chicago Renegade Craft Fair

I'm headed to Chicago this weekend for the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair, Saturday and Sunday, September 7 & 8. I'll be in Booth #256 along with Marcy Davy from All Things Grow. The booth is toward the Damen end of the fair on Division, away from Paulina.

It's been two years since I've done this show and I'm looking forward to a weekend in the Windy City. I'll be thinking of my friends at the Kerrytown BookFest. If you come looking for my new calendar there, you can find me next weekend at the DIY Street Fair in Ferndale with 2014 calendars fresh off the presses!

Book Business Tuesday: Memoir Recommendations

I've just passed number 33 34 for my FiftyFifty challenge on the book side and I haven't done a book roundup in a while, so I thought I'd share some of my summertime reading highlights.

I seem to have gone through a slew of memoirs recently without any set intention to do so and have been really enjoying them. I just realized as I added the pictures below that my three favorite reads reflect perfectly my favorite things in life: Art, Food and Books. How perfect!

Bad Boy by Eric Fischl

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Let me know if you try any of these — happy reading!

Checking out

I was lucky enough to spend all of last week staring at this view. Magical. There were leisurely mornings over coffee — no email involved. In fact, no email or cell service at all. All week. Bliss. A quaint old house phone would ring every now and then. I'm not sure I even realized how great the disconnect was until I got home and felt it all creep back in. But for that time …

There were long swims in the refreshingly frigid waters of Lake Huron, slip sliding over the rocks.

Hot days picking sweet wild raspberries in old-fashioned baskets made by a grandma, later turned into the most divine cobbler… 

A lucky evening of fishing with the perch Queen … 

There was ice cream cone licking, a game called Frisbeer and leisurely afternoons chatting with neighbors with a cocktail in hand. Aaaah. I'm still savoring it all so much as we go into Labor Day weekend. Hope you capture the taste of summer this weekend! 

Chocolate dreams

My goodness! I failed to come back and let you know the outcome of the Global Talent Search — namely, that I did not make the top 50 list in the first round. Sad face. With over 1,500 entrants and boatloads of talent in the class, I was not expecting to be on that list. It was disappointing nonetheless.

I was buoyed though by thoughts of all the positive comments and enthusiasm when I posted my entry on my Facebook page and here: So a hardy thank you! I will keep plugging along and will surely make a print of the entry piece.

I am leaving you with a photo of this chocolate dream pie I made ages ago. Just cuz.

7th Annual North Fork Foodie Tour

It's that time of year again: The North Fork Foodie Tour is just around the corner. I've been designing the poster for this event for six years now—I can hardly believe it! This year's might just be my favorite design yet, but I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the previous year's designs all together:

Crocheted playgrounds

As I was researching playground themes for the Global Talent Search I wrote about on Friday, I came across these amazing, colorful crocheted playgrounds made by Japanese textile artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. You can see more of her projects here. So bright and happy! Perfect for a Monday morning. 

Lilla Rogers class and contest

As I mentioned briefly here, I recently took an intensive five-week online course with illustration rep, Lilla Rogers. The course really got my creative engine revving. She challenged us, pushed us, encouraged us and really made us stretch. It was an incredibly talented and supportive group in the class and I'm still reeling from the amount of information conveyed in such a short stretch of time.

Each week was focused on a different segment of the illustration market: Bolt Fabric, Home Decor, Picture Books, Wall Art and Gift. Here's a look at my five weeks worth of assignments:

Immediately after the course, Lilla launched a Global Talent Search. The winner receives a two-year contract with her agency, as well as a slew of other deals and goodies. Below is a look at the journal I created for the first assignment of the GTS.

Though doubtful of my chances given the amazing talent in the class I just completed, fingers crossed that mine is among the fifty to make it through the first round. Announcements on Thursday, August 1!

  

The Pixel Painter

Once I haven't posted here for over a week, it gets harder and harder to come back. I always feel like it takes an extra special something to be worthy of breaking the silence. This video and story of the 97-year-old—mostly blind—man who paints incredibly complex pieces using Microsoft Paint is worthy and inspires me greatly. What an incredible attitude and temperament he brings to life. Enjoy!

Indie Lovely illustration

Do you know about Indie Lovely? It's an interactive digital magazine featuring tons of crafty DIY projects and plenty of links to favorite indie blogs, shops, patterns, craft supplies and more. After seeing the illustrations I had done for this, the magazine's creator, Anne, approached me to create a cross-stitch pattern for her readers.

We settled on terrariums and I sent along these little guys. She has turned one into the cutest little stitched wonder for the latest issue. You can see how it turned out and download the pattern by viewing page 12 in the issue here.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

The Sloe Gin Fizz Scoutmob Shoppe

I'm so excited to have joined forces with Atlanta-based Scoutmob's Shoppe to offer a selection of discounted Sloe Gin Fizz prints and notecards in their extremely well-curated online shop of "inspired goods by independent makers."

I have my own little Sloe Gin Fizz shoppe storefront. It includes some extra bits of info about me, my process and a little peek behind the scenes. Have a look around and don't miss some of my favorite artists on there, too: Alisa, Mike and Jessica. You may not be able to resist their charms.

Craft-A-Way Camp

I spent a weekend in the woods at Craft-A-Way Camp! Amazing, right? Amy and Ethan of Small Craft organized a weekend camp for 20 people to come out to the woods and learn new crafts, gather round the fire and relax. Amazing! 

Here you see Andy Sell, the Foraging Florist leading us on a morning hike through the woods to gather material for a floral centerpiece created with a floral frog he taught us to make.

Right around the end of that session, I decided to put the camera away and just enjoy the experience. But we went on to learn screenprinting techniques and print our own craft-a-way- camp t-shirts, learned meditative stick wrapping and painting with Val Willer, reverse applique with Karen LePage, made gorgeous wood bead necklaces with Courtney Fischer. Lots of eating, drinking and fire time.

Here's one final shot of our craft cocktail session, of course. Such a great way to lead into the week of July 4th and it truly made me feel like summer has set it.

Our house on houzz

If you follow along on my Sloe Gin Fizz Facebook page, you might have seen me post last week that our house was recently photographed for Houzz.com. What you didn't see was this! (well, Instagrammers saw this day of when I was in full-blown panic mode.) This is what truly happens when someone comes to photograph your house. You pick a tiny bathroom and stuff it to the gills with … EVERYTHING ELSE. 

But really … this is what happened: I met photographer Jeff Jones at the Handmade Toledo Maker's Mart in April. He was so enthusiastic and charming, how could I not let him peek inside our little world. He came up to the house for the day and did a wonderful job capturing our home. You can see the whole post here.  Thanks so much, Jeff! 

Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair

Friends! I have so much to share with you. I've been taking this amazing class and doing tons of drawing, drawing, drawing. Working on some super fabulous fun projects still under wraps. Tasting lots of yummy eats. So much to tell … BUT. It's gotta wait. I'm headed out the door on Friday for the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair — a first for me. Hoorah!

Come say hello and have a visit in booth #199. I'll be setting up camp with my traveling crafty partner-in-crime, Courtney Fischer. We plan to rock the house. Come lend a hand!

Animated jungle wonderland

The picture book Les Poings sur les iles, illustrated by Violeta Lopiz, has been turned into a gorgeous animation. The layering and textures, as well as the boy's voice, are just beautiful. I hope you enjoy!  via Art Hound

Lilla Rogers Make Art that Sells course

I'm having so much fun taking an online class with illustration rep, Lilla Rogers. Each week of the five-week course focuses on a different part of the industry. We've just wrapped up week one dedicated to fabric design. Above is a look at my first assignment. I was torn between the neutral palette on the left and the pinks on the right. I ended up submitting the pink and this may be my first artwork using pink: ever!! Whoa. Moving on to week two: Home Decor!

Berkley Art Bash

I'll be at the Berkley Art Bash on Twelve Mile from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, June 8). There will be over 100 artists, live music and yummy eats. I'd love to see you there!

Merchandise bag design

Thanks so much to everyone who came out for Porter Flea's AirCraft last weekend in Nashville! I had such a fun visit, including my first airbnb experience, which was phenomenal. I stayed in a cute little bungalow in East Nashville. The owner was even sweet enough to come out for the AirCraft show and bought my Nashville harmonica print to hang in the guesthouse. Awww.

If you made a purchase at the show, you may have seen my new design for my merchandise bags. I broke my stamp right in two by mistake — after many years of service — and it was just the right excuse to make a new one!

AirCraft 2013 Exclusive!

I'll have a limited number of small prints and note cards with this musical beauty exclusively for Porter Flea's AirCraft 2013 this weekend. Limited! Exclusive! Harmonica! … you best shop early, folks.

Porter Flea presents AirCraft

I'm hitting the road tomorrow for some hootin' and hollerin' in Nashville! I can't wait to see what the Porter Flea group has cooked up for this weekend's AirCraft event at the Cornelia Fort Airpark. They have a way of adding special touches to their shows like nobody else can.

There's a Friday night pre-paid, ticket-only preview market from 5 to 8 p.m. with plenty of local eats and craft brews on hand. There's still time to get your tickets here. Saturday runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check out the full list of vendors here.