News, Reviews and Thanks (Right from the Chica's Mouth)

I know a lot of you are awaiting the next installment of my reviews of the Crafty Chica product line, but please be assured that I have not forgotten you. As a matter of fact, I have MORE to tell you about! I picked up a set of the DIY Appliqués and will be adding those to my list of reviews soon, but I'm waiting for one particular product to arrive first (hint: I use these in my fabric art a LOT and the Chica just came out with a set!).

Scary CRAFT will also have a mucho-Chica-relevant announcement soon, but you'll just have to wait for that too! [ insert evil laughter here ] In the meantime, I've collected some goodies to tide you over, including two videos! Click, watch, get linky with it.

• Enter to WIN A FREE CRAFTY CHICA CRUISE! Deadline to enter is October 10th (winner announced 11/1, cruise is in March 2009) - even if you're already registered for the cruise, you're eligible to win!

More soon!

xoxoxo

Krissi (and Skelekitty)

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Free Skelekitty postcard!

Well, get over there and find out how to get one!

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Getting Smaller and Stronger!

First Turkish Get Up with 15# bar
Originally uploaded by krissi's stitchery & mexiphemera

Here's my first-ever video installment chronicling my shrinking body / increasing strength. Appropriately, it shows my first-ever Turkish get up with a barbell (15#), with a windmill at the top for added fun.

Thank you (again and again and...) to my trainer Allyson at Body Tribe for all the butt kicking, goal setting and for pointing her Side Kick at me and filming this!

Care to see how far I've come?

Here I am about 3 or 4 years ago, looking like an angry size 20 parakeet (round body, stick legs). I was too out of breath to do what should have been a moderate hike at altitude - I gave up and went to the car to cry. Want to know what's worse? That wasn't the worst shape I've been in (but I'm still searching for that "worser" photo).

Rock on peoples. If I can do it with my space alienism limitations, anyone can do it - you just have to want to.

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Rennaisance Woman, Al Seconds

I go on about my trainer, Allyson, a lot. It's because she's awesome and I figure she deserves some recognition for putting up with the original "grumble bee" (yep, that's me). In the past week, we've had a few gym breakthroughs despite all of my recent health ... err ... "annoyances:"

1. I look forward to going to the gym, especially if I'm stressed out or on a bummer;
2. I was able to hold my own bodyweight at the bottom of a chin-up position and then to pull my shoulderblades in and down (pulled me up about an inch or two)
3. I managed to do a couple glute ham raises (Google it if you need to), with a little help from Al and, yes, my butt is killing me today!

I've been training for 10 years as of this summer and I didn't hit any of these milestones before. A year (and a bit) with Al and I can't believe what she's gotten me to WANT to do.

Not only is she a personal trainer, but she's also an artist (ceramic sculpture), photographer, coffeehouse owner (the True Love) and musician. Here's a little of what the Sac Bee had to say this week about her new endeavor as a singer (not just for backup anymore!):

Allyson Seconds is well-known around Sacramento. Over the years, she's been in numerous bands including Go National and Ghetto Moments but it'd been years since she'd performed front and center, with the spotlight of attention shining solely on her.

So, the 39-year-old musician, ready to find her voice, called on longtime friend Anton Barbeau, currently playing music in the U.K., to help her make some music. The resulting songs, which will appear on the upcoming album "Bag of Kittens," are sweet pop gems steeped in melancholy and regret....READ THE REST OF THE POST HERE.

You can watch the video for "I Used To Say Your Name" on the Bag o Kittens MySpace page, and listen to the song along with quite a few others from her upcoming album. My personal favorite is the title track, Bag of Kittens, 'cause it's sweet, cute, a little rockin' and it's just so darn "Al."

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My Personal "Plan B"

Hey! You creative types out there! Yeah, YOU! If you aren't already a subscriber, today is THE day to start reading Kathy Cano-Murillo's blog, Diary of a Crafty Chica: Why "Plan B" rocks.


Skelekitty was my Plan B.

I wanted to be a "great" fiber artist, creating stunningly colorful quilts that made you want to cry and laugh at the same time. Occasionally, I'd hit on one, like Hot Flash Rising, but mostly I just heard people crying out, "where's Skelekitty?!" What? I created her with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek! My mind kept telling me that bony cat wasn't 'art' and it felt like a waste of my time and resources to make $200 quilts featuring what amounted to a a cartoon.

First I reacted by instituting a moratorium - no more skele-creatures jumpin' on my quilts! Still, my friends and clients begged for her... After hearing over and over from C!nder, Nik, Yoli, everyone's favorite "Sacred Mama," Virginia, and even my own husband, how marketable that darn kitty cat was, I decided to let her take care of me. Now she's on prints, greeting cards, jewelry (available on Etsy and at Grind n Groove), custom gifts for my friends and this Fall, on rubber stamps! She even has her own blog - dang, that cat's unstoppable.

Plan B truly rocks.

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"I Can't Draw."

I'm tired of being afraid of drawing! Even the thought of sketching Skelekitty has scared me in the recent past (though I could probably render one of her in my sleep by now). After seeing the unbelievable progress that my Sistah in Craftiness, Yoli of Sacred Snatch, made in her online mixed-media class with Suzi Blu, I bit the bullet and joined up.

I'm still waiting for my personality and style to come through in my drawings, but I have faith that it will come. In the meantime, I'm learning some pretty fun and easy techniques that are taking the fear out of faces.

Here's the first time I ever put a freehanded pencil (graphite) to paper without erasing every single stroke:


Within two days of exceedingly earnest work, I'd managed shading and color with watercolor pencils, artist pencils and acrylic glazes:


And finally, today, a paper doll head for an upcoming project (for Monday):


Now that I think about it, the purple hair does have a bit of my personality to it, huh?

Back to the drawing board - More sketches & then on to birch plywood!

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Scary CRAFT's "Night of the Crafters" is tonight!

Don't forget, my little zombies! Join the ladies of Scary CRAFT -scariness optional- and create along with your pals tonight and on the 4th Tuesday evening of the month (Jan - Oct) from 6pm - 9pm!

The very generous Side Show Studios offers a bright, well lighted place for crafts with plenty of parking.

There's no admission fee and we have a community box o' goodies for you to pull from (or donate to) as well.

Tonight, Dy of DyMa Creations is doing a Make & Take Tutorial that will knock your socks hats off!

Little Black Hats by DyMa Creations!
Originally uploaded by krissi's stitchery & mexiphemera
(kits available for a small fee - must be reserved in advance)

Yoli and I hope to see you at the crafting tables!

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New blog toy

At the bottom of each post you'll find "reaction buttons" and ratings!

Have fun, my friends!

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What a Sparkletastic Day!

Whew! I almost can't believe I made it through yesterday, but boy, was it ever fun!

I started off my morning (like almost every morning) by reading a few pages of whatever book I have my nose glued in at the moment. Right now, I'm re-reading A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez for the first time since college (I graduated in '88, so it was a while ago). I'd forgotten everything except that everyone had the same name (Aureliano) and the bit about the piggy tails, but it's all coming back now in a torrent of dark, hysterical, tragic, latin mystical ... umm ... "ness."

While I was loafing about being a bookworm, Yoli was busting her hump making an awesome lunch for La Crafty Chica y familia! I contributed what I consider, if I do say so myself, a yummy "Mexican Fruit Salad with ancho chile powder and a taste of tequila!"




There was a super tasty menu - each sammie was assembled and grilled by Sharon and Yoli.

menu & art by Yoli Mazo of Sacred Snatch Designs; photo by Kathy Cano-Murillo



Yoli's decorations were awesome! Kathy's books and Yoli's custom Crafty Chica Empowerment Guardian (Angel) helped to make this a truly Crafty Chica luncheon!



There was even an extra "loving" shrine on display!

shrine by Kathy (!) for Rain thru www.swap-bot.com


Yoli even decorated the cuppy cakes!

toppers made by Yoli out of Crafty Chica "Mojito" decorative papers



Here are the "glitter" cupcakes that Amy of Peptogirl Industries brought with her (after battling and finally winning with Mapquest!)

Spread the Sparkle Cupcakes by Peptogirl Industries

And there was much merriment to be had by all!

Great minds think alike - Kathy wearing her custom Skelekitty earrings from me and with Rain and the fiesta calavera earrings she made for Kathy.



Helped along by the awesome food and Sacred Mama's Magic Sangria!

Yoli with Virginia, her 'Sacred Mama,' as she makes sangria! Kathy deciding on whether to have white or red...

Patrick wonders if he can take two more days of glitter and estrogen... D'Angelo has already checked out with his Sidekick.


And all of this before 3pm! Whew! Everyone took a little break after that and we met up at the Sacramento (Truxel Road) Michaels store for the official Spread the Sparkle event!

Check back in for Part 2 - The Invasion of Michaels!

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Craft Storage (IKEA)

Did you know that fabric and crafting supplies are actually gaseous substances which expand to fit the available space? Of course you did.

I opened my link to one of my new favorite blogs, Craft Critique, earlier this week to find a post on Ikea for Craft Storage. I love this site because the reviews are clear and informative and, once again, they don't disappoint. Lexy Daly gives two great reviews on IKEA's Helmer and Alex workspace storage cabinets with measurements, prices, pros, cons and much more.

It just got me to thinking about my own storage ... umm ... struggles. I've been using the EXPEDIT system from IKEA and really love it, especially now that they have the door and drawer inserts available.

I started off with a 4x4 for my fabrics and light box/projector, etc.:





added a 2x4 (with KASSETT boxes):


and now I have a new 5x5 (!) that I installed:


I actually have the drawers in the 5x5 cabinet, but not the new cabinet doors. Slowly, things are being put AWAY! Once I finish, I'll take a photo for posterity (since it's unlikely it will be in a clean-enough-to-photograph state again).

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