Bloggers I totally adore: Margot Potter

I've been following Margot Potter (aka "The Impatient Beader") for a little while now. I love her whacky-ness, creativity and writing style but now I'm ADDICTED to her blog. Why? 'Cause she created her first "Impatient Blogger" video blog and I have to say that it's one of the best out there. She's great on camera, funny as Hell & very instructive.

As someone who gets bored in a nanosecond, I highly recommend this to my AADD-affected friends - the edits, text commentary and supply recaps at the end of the video all make this a perfect podcast!

So without further ado, here's Madge & her video featuring "Super Chicken" & Daisy the Potbellied Pig (and, of course, a link to her blog). Enjoy!

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My Very First ATCs

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards or Altered Trading Cards) have become unbelievably popular! I love them, as I do all things collage but hadn't tried to make ACEOs or ATCs because I fear them (as I do all things collage).

Here's my very first attempt - I did a pair for a swap challenge on Swap-Bot called "Modesty Is Overrated." We were to use lyrics from any Modest Mouse song and go to town. I used "Long Distance Drunk."



lyrics are:
Hang it up now or never
Hang it up again
(Hang it up now or never)
Hang it up now or never
Hang it up again
Hang it up now or never
Hang it up again
Doesn't seem like anything you're saying or doing or doing
Is making any sense
Long distance drunk
Long distance drunk
Long distance drunk
Oh yeah oh yeah
(8 AM and someone calls you on the telephone)
Long distance drunk
(You want to be by yourself and all alone)
Long distance drunk


Here's the detail on the first one:


And the second:


So now I've finally made matchbox shrines AND ATCs. What's next? Who knows?

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"Auntie" Krissi!

My friend, Heather... Hell, she's more like family, since we shared a room in college and lived together off & on for 10 years in San Francisco (The Mission District), called me today. I wasn't surprised to hear her on the other end of the phone since I'd been thinking about her a lot and even dreamed about her the other night. The Vulcan Mind Meld is still strong, even after a decade+ of NOT living together. Well, she's preggers! It wasn't planned so much, but the impending baby girl is very much wanted and will be loved an adored by many. Heather and her hubby, Mark, are going to make great parents, but Mark is CLUELESS about how much that little one is going to have him wrapped around her tiny fingers.... It will be more than just a little entertaining to see him go all zombie-dad (complete with heart-bubbles popping over his head) and watch Heather rolling her eyes.

Heather's pregnancy doesn't JUST mean she & Mark will be having a baby. It also means I get to go on an insane "auntie" rampage collecting and making fun and funky baby stuff! Heather was a split major in college - Art/English (I was English with an Economics minor), so she loves the funky stuff. Also, she worked for years for PB Kids & is so over the whole coordinated nursery thing, it isn't even funny. Her hubby is a surfer dude at heart from Cambria, CA who drives an old T-Bird and plays bass in the Sex Presleys so I'm not worried that anything I'll give them will be too wild or too silly.

I've just put in a request to Suzi Boneshaker for a custom kitty bat cupcake onesie (once she recovers from her own child delivery next month), I have my eye on a sugar skull onesie from the most Sacred of Snatchitas, and I think I'll make some of my own. I see a special Skelekitten onsie in the little one's future. As soon as that kid is toddling, you can also be assured that I'll be providing her with her very first pair of high top chucks (in pink).

I was really in the dumps today for no reason whatsoever. After a great workout with Allyson at Body Tribe (including a snuggle session with Lulu), I was feeling a lot better. An unplanned nap with my Mouse on my lap (what we call "being Moused") and the call from Heather really improved my outlook on life. Sometimes all you need is a little furry creature & ol' friend action to get you out of the pit-o-despair.

So there ya go!

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The Engineers' Guide to Cats

I grew up with a cat-loving engineer (my dad), and this just cracks me up!

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Don't forget, Sacramento...

tonight is the first NIGHT OF THE CRAFTERS!

Watch out for crafters with scissors, glue and zombie-like walks (or just give in and join us). Clicky the link above to find out how!

xoxo Krissi

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Swapping again & another login....

Last October I joined Swap-Bot (a trading site, for those of you unfamiliar) so that I'd have something to do with my crafts -- as many of you know, I don't rely on selling those like I do my quilts, but love to craft like a madwoman.

Anyway, one of my pals (Jo of Vidriosa Designs) started a swap I just couldn't resist - a skull for your muertos shrine! I did two of my calavera plaques for my partners - carefully choosing their favorite colors (and avoiding the ones they didn't like). I got an awesome hand-sculpted skele-Frida shrine from one of my partners (kateyb), and from the other, I got what looked like a used paddleball paddle someone had taken a highlighter to. This put me off the Bot for a little bit... However, I remembered that I joined because I'm already crafting for fun, so I'm back on now. This time though, I'm trading with folks I met on the Crafty Chica cruise and a few others. I could get a bad swap when I go outside my groups, but hey..... That's life for you.

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of MY package to my pal Alisa or the one I got from "Mamita" Virginia in the "Mi Casa - Su Casa" swap that our cruise group did. Oops. Both packages ROCKED, though! I did take photos of the two matchboxes for an "opposite" swap and an 8"x8" wall hanging I've sent out this week:

First, the Good Girl/Bad Girl pulp fiction matchbox (made using images from a book Mamita gave me in the Mi Casa swap):



here's the "book" fully assembled:


and my very first altered matchbox EVER, the sweets/diet // virgin/devil matchbox:


and an 8 inch mini-quilt for some lucky (at least I hope that's what she thinks) chica:


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And finally, thanks to the Sacredest of Snatches, I'm on Twitter. She must have known that I NEEDED another page to log into, yes? No wonder I forget logins and passwords!

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Is this "weird?" It seems normal to me.

I had to fill out 10 random "weird" things about myself for a group on Swap-Bot & it turned out to be more interesting and revealing than I expected.

1. I have a maternal reaction to baby everything except humans (they're OK - just no maternal reaction).

2. Sometimes I eat the same thing over and over for weeks, then won't touch it for months afterward.

3. I powerlift for fun.

4. When I was 4, I used to hide in my wardrobe or the walk-in closet and read.

5. I was the only girl in my D&D group in Jr. High and High School.

6. I have an embarrassingly high IQ, but it never got me anywhere in a practical sense!

7. I would hibernate with my tortoise every winter if I could get away with it.

8. Most of my friends are 10-20 years younger or older than I am.

9. I've had two jobs cleaning up "shit:" one as a legal secretary and the other as a volunteer zookeeper's aid; the pay was better at the law firm, but the zoo was less scary.

10. I have to be using my brain at all times. If I'm eating, I need to have conversation, music or a book (or a cereal box, a drink menu...). I need the TV on to fall asleep unless I'm reading.

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Wordsworth's Daffodils be Damned

April is National Poetry Month? Seriously, whoever thought this up either never read Eliot's The Waste Land (and I seriously doubt that) or has a twisted sense of humor.

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land....

Since I fall into the latter category, I can't stop laughing...

p.s. It's been a while, but yes, I actually read The Waste Land in its entirety, along with The Golden Bough and a thouroughly depressing book called The Rites of Spring that details the post-WWI obsession with death, destruction and the mechanization of society.

In the event you actually want to read some Eliot, I highly recommend The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock one of my favorite poems of the 20th century. Actually, of any century. On a personal note, this poem has actually become easier to understand the older I get.

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As Navin Johnson once said,

"The new phone books are here!"

Well, my new business cards, anyway! Here's a sample of the new design (the actual cards have my phone number on them ... yeah, like I'm publishing that on my blog).



The back has the links for the Scary-Art Collective & Scary-Art CRAFT as well as to my myspace, flickr & blogspot pages.

I'll be giving them out like CANDY (along with a few of my corazon postcards) at Saturday night's reception for Taking Textiles Seriously.

xoxoxo

K

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Are You Lookin' In My DRAWERS? (2 craft projects)

As a lot of you know, I recently (pshh like over the last 6 months) moved into a new studio space in my home. In trade for the extra 70sf of space, I gave up the door which closed me off from the outside world and my stuff from my husband and my cats.

A la Less Nessman, I put up virtual walls and accompanying "office door" which has been effective on my husband. F*@%ing cats refuse to provide me with similar respect (what a surprise). Hence, anything that might be considered a cat toy must be stowed securely before I leave my space, which brings us to two small item drawer projects that intrigue me.... I believe I'll do them both.

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As featured in today's CRAFT:blog. We've seen similar projects before, yes, I know. Who cares? The papers featured here are from Hambly Screenprints.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't yet lost yourself for HOURS in the IKEA hacker blog, you are SO missing out!

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A related project for girls who inexplicably like tiny things (or people like me with itty bitty craft ephemera):

This 'matchbox bureau' was recently featured on my new not-even-guilty pleasure, Cut Out + Keep. I recently took a trip into the barrio and finally found a dollar store that carries stuff I'd want to use (like 32 count matchboxes). This should be fun -- I'm going to make teeny, tiny handles from something in my bead collection.

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