Jun 18th, 2010

East-Coast-Mid-Coast Journey 2010- Renegade Brooklyn!

In my flurry of travel I never got to share my Renegade weekend with you all!  It’s hard to sum up such an explosion of awesome craftiness, but for the sake of time I’ll give it a shot.

Because I like to hit all my bases I decided to turn my Renegade Brooklyn weekend into a two-week, multi-city tour of craft and family!  First stop- Storrs, Connecticut.  I got to relax with family and enjoy some quality time with my badass, rapping niece, known to rap aficionados as Half-Dollar Hannah.  Not only does Hannah spit some mad rhymes, but she also plays piano, softball, and has some mad skillz at a colonial game called, “graces”, played with something that looks like an embroidery hoop and gigantic knitting needles.  Oh yeah and she SEWS!!!  Love me some niece Hannah!!

It was my very first Renegade and admitedly, I was a little nervous about flying across the country for any craft show.  But I’m so glad that my booth partner, Margaret of  Paper Pastries talked me into it because not only have I discovered that I LOVE Brooklyn, but I got to participate in an explosion of craft and creativity and make a little cash to boot!

I thought I was so fancy when I first packed up my suitcase . . . but then we discovered that it was obscenely heavy and I had to destroy my perfect packing job.  So basically I went from this:

To this:

Don’t ask me- I have no idea how i did it.

Next time around I’ll share a few tidbits about my the Boston and Chicago bits of my journey!

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Jun 15th, 2010

Back in the Nest!!!

Can I please tell someone how good it feels to let my fingers fly over these delicate and oh-so-responsive keys?!  I tried, I really tried to blog from my iPhone, but that keyboard is sooo tiny!  I couldn’t upload photos so it seemed kinda silly anyhow.  But now I’m home, I’m fed and watered, and I’m ready to get back to my sadly neglected blog!  I guess it’s only been two weeks, but that’s like a million light years in internet time.

So give me a day to catch up with my laundry and I’ll share with you the many wonders of my journey across the country!

p.s. mwah mwah mwah to all of my internet lovelies- I’ve missed you, too!

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May 30th, 2010

Notes from the road…

Hello lovely readers and friends! I’m on the road for a couple of weeks but I’ll be sharing all the best tidbits along the way.  Right now I’m in Connecticut visiting family and enjoying some good ole fashioned colonial charm.

Today we went to the Dinosaur State Park where they’ve built museum around a very impressive collection of dinosaur tracks. We also got to make a plaster cast of some real dinosaur foot prints! I took plenty of pictures but alas, I’m iphoning it for two weeks, which means you don’t get to see ‘em!

Next stop on the Polly Danger East-Coast-Mid-Coast journey- Boston! I’m excited as heck and sad that I only have one day there this time around.

Stay tuned for more tidbits from the road!

No comments yet | Posted under Out & About

May 24th, 2010

Baz Biz Maker Faire 2010- Success!!

I have to just start out by saying that this was a mind boggling weekend!  I was totally overwhelmed by the blog-reader and frequent-customer LOVE I received!!  Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who came by to say hello!!  It was heartwarming and very welcome.

And guess what else- I am the proud recipient of a Craftzine Editor’s Choice Award!!!!  Squeee! Jump up and down and spin in a circle and Squee with me!!!  Okay, now that I’ve set my bangs back in place and smoothed out my skirt let me get respectable for a moment and share the best details with you.

I know, I know, you want pictures.  Well I’ll whet your appetite a bit and share a few here.  But you can find a bunch more on my newborn Flickr page!

We got a very lucky spot and were able to create an intimate, yet roomy booth!  7 foot tall shutters, a real chair rail, and some spiffy new fixtures were just the thing to create a little architectural flair!

It was really fantastic to explore all of my fellow crafties’ booths- I swear everyone’s booth was bigger and better than last year!  Everyone had such fantastic displays and merchandising.  Keep your peepers on Crafty Scout for a post on Baz Biz merchandising this week!  Here are some of my favorites:

Pollyanna Cowgirl‘s faaaahbulous ChaCha rings.


What do you think happens when you pick up Bird Mafia‘s receiver and put it to your ear?  I’m not telling- you’ll have to try it yourself!

I am IN LOVE.  Thank you, Silvi, of The Poetry Store for blowing my mind.  More on this insanely beautiful hybrid art in another post.

In short, although Eric got food poisoning, this weekend was really, really incredible and made me happy to be a crafty spirit.  Ups and downs be damned, I love making stuff and I love people who make stuff!

No comments yet | Posted under Confessions of a Full-time Crafter, Craft, Events, Out & About

May 19th, 2010

Custom Buttons- Yes, Please!

Just for Baz Biz Maker Faire this Saturday and Sunday- a truly special experience awaits you!

That’s right- sift through my personal stash of heavenly vintage, and new fabrics to have your very own buttons made while you wait- like keys, only better!  You can also bring your own fabric scraps and we will be more than happy to make buttons from that too!  NUM!!!

Find me (and my buttons) at BOOTH # 43, in the center aisle, near the West entrance to Cypress Hall.  See you there!


No comments yet | Posted under Craft, Events, Out & About, The Goods

May 17th, 2010

Sweet Bias Tape Monogram- a NO SEW Tutorial!

In the midst of a flurry of show prep I got a request from a lovely reader for a bias tape project to do in a group setting.  So I decided to kill two birds with one stone (I like the phrase, “snuggle two puppies with one hand” better), and make myself a monogram for the booth!  Follow along for a super simple, skill free,  NO SEW bias tape tutorial!

Here’s what you need to do this project:

* scrap fabric: (9″ x 12″)

* bias tape: 1 – 2 yards

* card stock

* spray adhesive ( I like Aleene’s )

* tacky glue (again, I like Aleene’s)

* Access to a computer and a printer (or just the skills of an artist!)

STEP 1. Iron your fabric scrap.  For an extra stiff letter, apply mid weight iron-on interfacing to the back of the fabric ( I like Pellon 880).

STEP 2. Go into your word processing program and create your letter big enough to fill a sheet of paper.  A block font works best ( I used Arial with a 1000 font size).  Next, flip the letter horizontally.  Your letter should now be backwards. Change the font color to a light gray to avoid using up ink! Before you print, make sure your printer settings are at “borderless” so that you don’t accidentally cut off anything. Print onto your card stock

STEP 3. Apply spray adhesive to the back of the card stock.  Apply the adhesive side of the card stock to the wrong side of the fabric.  The best way to to do this is to lay fabric right side down on a clean surface and then lay the gluey card stock directly on top of that.  Press and let dry.  The backward letter should now be facing up.

STEP 4.  Once the glue is dry, cut out your letter.

STEP 5.  Now apply bias tape, using binder clips or paper clips to hold the bias tape in place.  Don’t push the paper clips too far down, or they’ll be a pain in the butt to pull out.   Once you’ve paper clipped everything, you can start to glue the bias tape down, using small, even amounts of glue, close to the edge of the bias tape.  First glue the front of the letter, then the back.  You can replace the paper clips in corners to help retain shape while the glue dries.

And voila!  An adorable wall letter!  Add a loop of ribbon for quick wall hanging, or frame for elegant artwork!


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May 16th, 2010

The Baz Biz Bug Strikes Again!

I have this really bad habit of getting super crafty and forgetting everything else, which is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past week!  I turned my phone off and got to workin’!  And I can hardly wait to reveal the fruits of my labor!  But you’re gonna have to wait for Baz Biz!  It’s big, my friends, BIG!

Have I ever told you that Bazaar Bizarre Maker Faire is my very tip top favorite craft show ever?  Well it is!  This year we’re bringing our favorite helper-bunny, Justene, so Eric and I will actually get to leave the booth together sometimes!  I’m seriously hoping that this will curb Eric from disappearing for hours at a time.  Not that I can blame him.  Where else do you get to watch giant balls of flame erupt while standing in line to use the trailer-sized hand-crusher thing?!

See This Post for more about the Baz Biz San Mateo in 2009

Oh yes, and I have a secret to announce this week! Come back on Tuesday for the thrilling details of the very INTERACTIVE element that I’m adding to my booth!

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