Holiday Fair Craziness

Where have I been, you ask? I bet you thought I deserted the blogosphere--NEVER! First there was Thanksgiving, which quickly flows into the December holidays and, in between those, the holiday craft fairs. This was the first holiday season where I did more than just 1 small fair and so I put a lot of extra time and effort into my made things and display.

I flexed my design muscles a little and designed a few new cards on the computer and made polymer plates for the first time in over a year. They came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. 

The first fair was Bazaar Bizarre, where I perfected my display, which was greatly enhanced by some nifty wooden card holders my partner made.

Next was the San Francisco Center for the Book's Annual Holiday Fair; my best fair of the year. After that was Renegade, which was super fun, but, unfortunately, I seem to have lost all the images I took there. 

I learned a lot from all these craft fairs and came up with about a million new ideas for projects and products. I can't wait to put them into action but for now I'm kicking back in Colorado and enjoying a little family and football.

Anniversary Bunting

Last week for Valentine's Day, my partner, Charlie, made me a delicious 4 course meal that included herb crusted goat cheese, quinoa mint salad, mushroom schnitzel, and Mississippi mud pie. For the anniversary of our first date, today, I wanted to make something special in return. I'm not really crafty in the kitchen but I'm good at making things so, I decided to make some bunting to hang above our bed. I woke up, popped my The Breakfast Club VHS (yes, VHS) in the VCR and put Ferris Bueller's Day Off in the DVD player as a back up and set to work. 


The finished piece(s) says 'I love you more than this much'. Here's what it took to put together.


Step 1: Making the hearts

Step 2: Drawing the letters

Step 3: Outline the letters

Step 4: Paint the letters

Step 5: Cut flags

Step 6: Glue hearts on flags

Step 7: Stitch pieces together

Step 8: Hang finished bunting

SF Zine Fest: Day 2

Annnie Yu of Curbsidetreasure and her zine, Paper Suitcase

I know this post is a couple days late but yesterday was my husband's birthday so I took some time off for those festivities before posting about the second awesome day of SF Zine Fest.

It was another successful day for me but I was also able to sneak away, check out and buy some of the goodies at other vendors' tables. Tonight I'm posting about all the awesome things I picked up.

This bike illustration was the first item I bought. It's by Brooke Appler and it had been calling to me since the day before. It's just so quaint and, well, I do love my bike.

At the end of the day I traded one of my bookmarks for this lovely one by Jennie Yim. She also makes great prints.

I shared a table with the ever energetic Yumico and I traded for this zine at the end of the day.

My table neighbor was Stephanie of NerdJerk. After spending 2 days in such close proximity, I really couldn't help loving her and her stuff. Besides this wicked awesome calculator phone case I also bought a Polaroid barrette and a crocheted Nintendo character for my little brother.

After staring them down from across the aisle, I finally caved and bought these bookmarks, zine and comic from the collective Crazy Apple Studios. So fun!

Just one table down from mine was Laurie Coughlin of Motomouth Press. I know Laurie from the San Francisco Center for the Book and I'm always charmed by her personality and her work. Instead of cards, this time I got this cute little donut book, D is for Donut.

Making Friends by Odd Fauna

Parade by Odd Fauna

Odd Fauna had many amazing things including beasts sculptures and shadow boxes. I had to contain myself and I left with just these two little accordion style books. They are adorably morbid and I love it!

I have a T-shirt obsession and I was hoping I might find a great one at SF Zine Fest. I was not let down when I stopped by the Monkey and Seal table and saw this great shirt combining two of my favorite things, unicorns and narwhals.

The Wind to My Sails by Jennifer Parks

Spread from They Met in a Dream

Unicorn puking a rainbow wallet

I was wishing I lived in Portland when I stopped by the Pony Club Gallery table. The illustrations for everything were fun and inspiring and the unicorn wallet was so amazing that my husband took it from me!

All in all, I had a great time at the SF Zine Fest and I can't wait to be back next year!