Let's MEET and play with Safari SWEET!

Hi all. I have exciting news. My first fabric collection, Safari Sweet, IS NOW IN STORES! Yay! To celebrate, the lovely Nikol from Sewtropolis in Minneapolis, and I are having an embroidery get together on Saturday. We'll be stitching up little embroidered animal brooches like the one above. It's a super fun project and is especially good for kids or if you've never embroidered or sewn before. At Sewtropolis you'll also get to see a whole bunch of fun projects that you can make with Safari Sweet, like the giraffe quilt. I'll also be signing my children's book, No Monster Here. So come by on Saturday, it'll be SUPER FUN!

Saturday, October 1
1:00 - 3:00pm
Sewtropolis
5 West Diamond Lake Road
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55419

I made a Kitty and Yarn

Sheesh, it's been another long time since a post. I promise you it's because I've been working on some super fun (and time consuming) projects that I'll be able to talk about soon. Just thought I'd share with you some recent fun stuff. I completed a custom kitty of the lovely Chloe. I don't do these very often, but when I do they end up being really fun for me. I love being able to add all the extra details that I don't do with my normal kitties.
And the other little project is...I made yarn! It was my birthday last week (31 eek!) and the hubs and I stopped by the Minnesota Textile Center to check out the gallery. The Textile Center is also the home of the Weaver's Guild of Minnesota and they had their store open when we were there. They had a gorgeous wall full of beautiful yarn on cones just waiting to be woven into fabric. They also had books and some kits. I purchased a Spindle Kit that came with some poofs of wool and a spindle made from an old cd. I've seen people with their spindles online making all sorts of yarn and I've been wanting to give it a try too, so I was just squealing when I saw the kit. When I got home I gave the spindle a try and found that it definitely got some getting used to. You almost need a third hand to man the spinning while your other hands work on putting the wool together. I have a new appreciation for all the spinners out there. It wasn't until I was done that I realized that I had been spinning the yarn way to tightly so when I made it into a ball I had to unwind the yarn a ton. Gah. All in all spinning was fun. Not sure I'll be doing much more of it (it was kind of hard on the wrists) but I got to learn a new thing and I probably won't obsess about it much longer. Now I'll just obsess about the wall of yarn back at the Weaver's Guild.

No Coast Craft-o-Rama Friday and Saturday!

The No Coast Craft-0-Rama is this Friday and Saturday at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, Yippee! If you're from Minnesota you should come on down. I'll have my booth going with my bud Kristin from Doodle Bird Design, and I'll have some new items and some "oldies but goodies" there as well. Eeeeeeee, I can't wait! Come and say hi to me.

2 Short of a Dozen Holiday Boutique

Hey all. I'll be participating in a holiday boutique show in Wayzata this weekend. It's going to be super fun and full of crafty loveliness. For more info and to check out the 10 artist's work visit the 2 Short of a Dozen Holiday Boutique blog. I'll be there all day on Saturday, I can't wait!

My Saturday...

Snowkitty - made by Alyssa & Jon from Studio Collective on Vimeo.

...was spent making a Snowkitty. Hah! It snowed 6 inches on Saturday and only days before I had the windows open because it was so nice out. That's the Minnesota fer ya! Here is the hub's video he made of it all. Tee hee!

My "Vintage by Crystal" Unicorn from the Handmade Market

Just had to share this little guy. I got it from Vintage by Crystal at The Creative Connection's Handmade Market craft fair. Isn't he awesome!!! It's my little spun cotton unicorn, eeeee!

The Creative Connection Event - Jennifer Murphy class

Yesterday I had the most amazing day. I attended The Creative Connection Event that is currently taking place right now here in Minneapolis. I met the most amazing people who were all incredible and inspiring. But more on that in a bit...right now I have to jump ahead to the class I took with Jennifer Murphy during the event. Jennifer creates the most amazing quirky, vintage inspired stuffed animals and she was gracious enough to share one of her patterns and teach a class how to make her little bunny. You can see my in process and finished bunny above (mine is the one with the big blue bow), some other bunnies people made in the class, and a few of Jennifer's original bears. The last pic is my little bunny getting ready to eat the apple kuchen at the gala dinner. Check out the table cloth made from Amy Butler fabric. She spoke during the dinner btw, eeeeee!

More pics from Foot in the Door 4

This weekend I went back to the Foot in the Door 4 show with my friends. It was great, no lines, and we actually could see the work. Above are our entries and a tiny selection of others that I liked. There was so much work in the show that it was completely overwhelming! There were three whole rooms full of art like in the bottom pic.
My friend's art:
pic 1 - my kitty
pic 2 - Peter's skull painting
pic 3 - Chrysa's foxy painting
pic 4 - Kent's landscape photo
pic 5 - Jon's legs photo
pic 6-10 more of my favs!

Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Foot in the Door 4

Yesterday evening a few of my artist friends and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts "Foot in the Door 4" once every decade show. Anyone from Minnesota could submit a piece as long as it fit within a 12"x12"x12" box. And it sure seemed that all 5,000 or so people that submitted a piece were there. It was craziness. You had to wait in line for hours just to get in the gallery spaces. We decided that we weren't going to wait and would just go to the show later in the week when we could enjoy it without all the people (I'll share better pics of the show then). But we did manage to find a couple of our pieces just from peaking in which I thought was a pretty impressive feat. In the second pic, the arrow is pointing to my friend Peter's painting and in the third pic, you can see my fuzzy kitty sitting on the table! So all in all, even though we didn't get to go in all the way, it was still a fun experience. Afterwords we went and had margaritas and talked about capivaras (last pic). Yeah, don't ask.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Foot in the Door 4

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is now taking submissions for the 4th "Foot in the Door" show. Foot in the Door 4 is an open exhibition for all Minnesota artists, which takes place only once every ten years! I figured how often to you get to show a piece of work in a major art museum, so sheesh, why not show something. All submissions must fit within a 12"x12"x12" space. I'm going to put in my weird fuzzy Kitty (Kitty no.181). The bottom pic is the long line of people submitting their items yesterday, craziness! All you Minnesotans should get something together to put in the show too! Then, let me know what you put in and I'll try to find it and take a pic.

No Coast.

Phew, I made it through my first craft fair! I had a booth at the No Coast Craft-o-Rama and had a great time, that is if by great time you mean super anxious and stressed and excited, heh heh. It was great to meet all the artists and shoppers and to share a booth with the lovely Kristin from Doodle Bird Design. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us! It really was a great experience and I really appreciate all your support and nice words!

I'm at No Coast Craft-o-Rama today. Come visit me!

Hey all! I'm at the No Coast Craft-o-Rama this afternoon and tomorrow, and I'd love to see all of you! It's at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. I'm sharing a booth with the lovely Kristin from Doodle Bird Design, and it's the first craft fair that either of us have participated in. Eeeek! I'm nervous but also really excited. I'll share with you tons of pics from the show early next week. Wish me luck! :-)

Artist: Cyrus the Potter

I'm really digging these porcelain skulls by Cyrus the Potter. Love all the different patterns. Better yet, Cyrus is a fellow Minnesotan. Yay! Check out more lovely skulls and other pottery in the Cyrus the Potter etsy store. P.S. All his carved skulls are now on sale for only $25!

Artist: Jennifer Davis

Yay! I'm so excited to see that the wonderful Minneapolis artist, Jennifer Davis, is Etsy's current featured seller. Jennifer is one of the artist that If I had oodles of cash I would buy everything she paints. All of her work has just the right mixture of quirky and cute. I love her color palettes. To see more of Jennifer's work check out her etsy store and website. Also check out her featured seller interview.