So, I'm trying some makeshift screen printing. Here's my first attempt...


I think it's pretty dang good for a first try and am hoping to improve!

Let me know what you think...about the actual screenprint, not the arse (unless it's good, it's mine and I don't know if I could take it!)

craft on ya'll!

A Hap-tacular New Year's Eve or "Holy Crap! Kate blogged!"

Well, it's finally '09. Seems like a mere 365-make that 366 days this time around-since I was out celebrating the turn of the calendar and new leaves with several thousands of folks and the Flaming Lips. This year I decided to take it easy and wondered if ringing in the new year by myself would put me on the express route to Bluesville. It did not and brought a few things to my attention.

-Just because it's New Year's Eve, you don't have to drink. Yes folks, 'tis true. My bottle of rum sits unopened on my shelf. Quite honestly, I think if I had ventured a cocktail last night, I would have been out like a light and missed hanging out with my friends, Dana Carvey, George Carlin and Ricky Gervais. Lucky for me HBO had pity on me and scheduled some stand-up specials that I had yet to view. That Dana Carvey is one funny little man. His impressions are always dead on but his Dick Chaney had me in stitches. George Carlin...what can I say? He's always been a favorite of mine and I didn't know if I could make it through his special without tearing up a little bit. I grew up sneaking snippets of his album "Take Offs and Put Ons" and I'm pretty sure that had quite an impact on the formative years of my humour. May he rest in peace wherever he ended up.
Now Mr. Gervais, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. If you do not know who he is, I highly recommend that you do some research. You can read all about him here and there's a funny bit about Humpty Dumpty here. Despite the fact that he is a slightly doughy fellow, eleven years my senior I still have a bit of a crush on him. It's all in the sense of humour. And he has pretty good teeth for a Brit. And I really like hearing him swear. In fact, I enjoy hearing anyone with a British accent swear. They're just so nonchalant about it. They throw around the F-bomb like it's nothing and "twat"...that may be my new favorite word. I used to rate it up there with the "C" word but I think it could go mainstream in my vocabulary. I may need to see if I can find one of those noise machines and fill it with the sounds of British men swearing. Of course, it would probably be cheaper to just watch "Snatch" before I drift off. They dropped the F-bomb 163 times in that movie. Yes, the Brits like their swear words-so do I!
-New Year's Eve is just another night if you're not doing anything special. Really, it is. I promise.
After spending three hours laughing my tail off, I decided to retire. It was 11.00pm. I watched a little more TV but was out by 11.30. Yes, you read that right, 11.30pm. I didn't even make it to midnight. I was, however, awoken at 12.15 by several text messages and calls wishing me a happy new year and all that stuff. I turned my phone on silent and went back to sleep until about 9 this morning. I awoke with a relatively positive outlook for the day (I would say the year, but it was only the 1st), so I figured that was half the battle. I have four days to get cleaned and organized and grocery shopped and budgeted and menu-ed for the year. Let's hear it for aspirations and resolutions. I'm off to start a load of laundry AND put it away and organize my craft room. Tomorrow? Who knows? One day at a time right?

Happy New Year and be nice to each other-or I'll have to get Surly with you
xo
-k

Disciples of Etsy invade Dallas

So-I'm back from Dallas and the Show Pony Show.  It was soooo much fun!  It was my first show and I think I did pretty good.  Even if I wouldn't have made the money I made, the weekend was so fun it would have more than made up for it.

I was off Friday and keeping busy getting ready for it.  That evening I went to my folks house for dinner with some family in from out of town and stayed later than I had expected so getting home later put me in bed later than anticipated.  After about 5 hours of sleep, I was up and at 'em again packing up the car and heading out to get Claudia.  We got her packed up and were off to Taraneh's house.  We stopped at Starbucks and off we went.  We were running early so we sat outside Taraneh's and visited for awhile waiting for JD to show up.  Once she got there, Taraneh came out, we packed up and were soon Southbound.  

We arrived in Dallas and headed straight for Make in the Bishop Arts District.  This was the coolest place I've seen.  It's a handmade boutique up front and room for classes in the back.  I'm jealous-we need a place like that in OKC.

We then grabbed some lunch at a great little Mexican joint and left for the House of Dang.  On the way there we took a detour to Dolly Python's.  This was the most eclectic place I have ever been.  It was insanely wonderful.  I found at least 100 things that I wanted but didn't purchase anything.  I was having a hard time justifying spending money when I had gone there to make money.

Finally we were off to House of Dang.  Now this joint is fabulous and Claudiasburningink sells her stuff there, so it was so cool to see someone's stuff for sale that you know.  We met one of the owners,  Andrew Bayer, who is so super cool, he should have a cape.

We then arrived at the hotel.  We stayed at Hotel Indigo and it was great.  I think I might want to live there, actually in the room that we stayed in.  With a bit of re-arranging and the addition of a stove, it would be perfect!  Anyway, we unwound, found somewhere to buy some good ole Texas beer and chilled for a little while.  We then got ready for the evening and headed out for a quick bite then off to the DoubleWide.  This was quite the bar.  They had rum and diet coke so it could have been a van that drove around the city and I wouldn't have cared.  We started on the patio then headed in when it started to rain.  My friend Mike met us there and we had some smart cocktails and caught up while the other gals went next door to listen to the bands.  I hear they were quite entertaining.  It was another late evening for me as I got to sleep around 4am.

Needless to say, 7am came very early.  JD was up and made me some coffee (Thanks JD, it hit the spot!), we all got around, checked out, piled into the cars and made our way to the Continential Lofts where the show was.  I knew I had to keep it together long enough to get set up then I could sit down.  I succeeded!  My table was organized and I got to sit for a little bit.  I ate my bagel and drank some water and I felt much better.

The show opened at 11am sharp and a steady stream of people started making their way up and down the hall.  Once I made my first sale, the rest came fairly steady.  Being my first show, I didn't really know what to expect so any sales were great in my opinion.  Some of my cards are of questionable taste so I didn't know how they would go over.  It was so fun to sit and watch people reactions as they read them.  Most laughed and laughed then had to read every one of them.  Others, well, let's just say they weren't amused.  Oh well, I was just happy some most people "got 'em".  It made me feel like I'm working towards a cause.

Lunch time arrived and after that I was completely back on my game.  I perused everyone's wares and visited with the vendors.  We met the Dallas Craft Mafia girls and they were soooo friendly.  I never once felt anything but welcome.  I was truly honored to be a part of the show as I know Claudia, JD and Taraneh did as well.  Thanks girls!!!

The show was closed at 7 and we were packed up and on the road back home by 7.30.  We made it to Denton, ate some dinner and high-tailed it North to OKC.  Claudia rode with me and we were full-on delirious by the time we made it to her house.  I have never been so happy to get my butt in my own bed in my life.  

The show was a great experience and I can't wait to be a part of the next one that those great girls get together.  I owe a HUGE thanks to everyone that made it happen, the crowd, the venue and the DCM girls were fantastic!  And a special thanks goes out to Claudia for bugging me enough to get me to go.  I wouldn't have missed it for anything!!!

If you want to see the photos, click on my Flickr badge to the right or click here.  There are also pics from JD HERE!

Now, fingers crossed I get into Indie Emporium!

-Paste out my loves

kate

Show Pony Show...

Come see me, Claudiasburningink, JDStar and TaranehsBazaar!

News!

So-I got a new job. It's official today as I finally got my badge. It's a good picture so I figure it's kismet.
I am now employed by Hobby Lobby at their corporate compound in the Creative Department as a crafter. Yes people, you read that right, I'm a professional crafter. I get to spend the day making things with my hands, playing with glitter, glue, paint and scissors. I still have a hard time believing that this is a real job, but after one paycheck thus far, I guess it is, at least according to FICA.
I actually wake up and can't wait to get to work. I haven't ever known what it's like to make a living doing something you love until now. I hope it continues to be as exciting as the past two weeks have been.
I was leery about telling my boss I had defected because, well, because I sort of felt like I was a deserter. I knew they'd make it without me, heck, they did fine before I got there, nevertheless, I was nervous. The news came out and I felt a load rise off my shoulders as my boss smiled and said that she was happy for me and I think she really was.
On another note, I, along with fellow etsians Claudiasburningink, JD Star and TaranehsBazaar (check their links to the right) are heading to the big D, or Dallas as some call it for the Show Pony Show (See the flyerto the right or check them out at www.showponyshow.blogspot.com) on Sunday the 17th. If you're in the Dallas area or feel like a roadtrip, come see us! There's even going to be a real pony there from noon-2pm. Yeehaw!

Paste out
-kate

my kind of hump day!

I am usually ambiviliant towards Wednesdays but this particular "hump day" was quite refreshing.  I slept until 8, got up and around, meandered into work about 9.30, had a decent cup of coffee with my breakfast, a GREAT homemade taco salad for lunch and some delicious honeydew and pineapple for a snack.  I cut out early with the intention of going to get my Mom a birthday card as we were having dinner later.  I headed home and decided, that being a card-maker, I should probably MAKE her a card.  I sat down and after pawing through my stash of papers (mmmmmmlarrrrrrrrrrr....paaaaaa-per....) I started.  I thought it would be difficult as I have been making my "Sorry" cards for so long perhaps I had forgotten how to make a different style of card but to my surprise it came together very quickly.  This was a good thing because I went a little crazy with the Stickles and as you may or may not know, they take a good while to dry.  By the time I was ready to leave, it was dry and ready to go into the envelope.  If I were a dilligent crafter, I would have taken a picture of it because it was super-cute but, alas, I did not.  Perhaps I will add one later because I'm certain that my Momma would NEVER throw anything away that I make for her.  I know there are boxes of stuff in the attic that she couldn't bear to part with and she's probably glad she only had one kid but I digress.  Off to dinner with Mom and some friends and over dinner we discuss ghosts, etsy, cloth napkins, applique, etsy, material, Walmart and fried peaches.  I also get my craft blocks that I ordered from Julie-----they're bliss!  It was quite a lovely dinner.  After dinner Mom splits and Julie and Patty and I head off to the aforementioned "W" store as I have been informed that they now carry the Martha Stewart line and am anxious to see what my Mom has left in stock for me.

We get there and head to the craft section to check it out.  I purchased a pad of 

heavy textured cardstock, some blank wood plaques, some switch plates, a glue pad and an 18 pack of MS glitter.  This is no ordinary glitter my friends.  It is 18 shades of heaven.  I DID take a picture of it...I was so excited about my new purchases that I decided I would be working from home on Thursday and going straight home to craft.  And craft I did.  I got 15 blocks painted and ready for the paper and paste, got 3 of them paper'd and pasted and made a set of 4 cards. 

I can't wait to see what I create tomorrow!  After Julie and I hit up some more stores for fabric for her FRAKIN' sweet cloth napkins.  Check them out here!

Oh, I also took a pic of the plaques that I made Tuesday.I think they are adorable but that is just the crafter's opinion...feel free to leave yours in the comments!

paste out

-kate

a little more girlie than surly for now

Welcome to my corner of the world!

So Ladies and Gentleman-Welcome to what I hope will be an ongoing experiment...My Blog!

I am super-friendly and like comments so feel free to leave your mark here or contact me with any questions, suggestions or personal comments.

This is my first actual blog but have been tinkering with it on MySpace for a while. My personal blog can be found here but I am hoping to get everyone steered over this way very soon.

This will be mostly craft-related but will have bits of personal stuff sprinkled throughout. I hope you enjoy it!

Paste out-
kate
the Surly Girlie
www.katscratch.etsy.com