Last craft fair of the year and new Etsy listings

painted bird ornaments

 Yesterday at Irving Elementary School in Oak Park, I participated in the final craft fair of the year.  Having my stock in the American Artworks Gallery in Forest Park, I made a couple more batches of birds.  One is pieced with block printed wings and eyes.  The other is hand painted with sharpie drawings.  I also made some new garlands with contact paper and various scraps.  These were fun to make because they are little prisms of your collections:  lists, scrap paper, junk mail, etc.  They are like fragmented time capsules.  Finally, I had this idea of making soft, square heads with painted faces covered in vinyl.  I had five planned, but only one was executed.  Either the vinyl or my leaving my machine on overnight made my machine toast.  I'm taking it to the fix-it man this week because I have lots of sewing projects planned for the new year!

I added these items to my Etsy Shop along with some items from our Day Of The Dead show if you are in need of last minute gifts.  I am available to ship anytime this week through Thursday.  Friday, I am heading abroad with my family to South Africa for a couple of weeks.  So, you probably won't hear from me for awhile as it will be difficult to post; although, there will likely be a plethora of things to share.  I'll be sure to have a few good posts when I return.  I'm taking embroidery work with me, sketch books, and a camera, of course. 

PS Happy New Year!  I'm looking forward to building on this year and adding some new enterprises as well!

contact paper garlands

printed bird ornaments

cube head

2014 Calendar!

 So it's that time of year----when, it ends, and a new one begins. My sister Lisa and I, as huge fans of the Dolphin Studio Calendar,  took inspiration to create our own hand printed calendar.  We hand carved original designs into 8"x 10" linoleum, and then hand printed them with black Speedball water-based ink onto 8 1/2" x 11" 100 lb. card stock from the French Paper Company.  Four luscious colors (blue, orange, green, and gold) are featured.  This wall calendar will be clipped together and hung by a binder clip and could even be framed in a 8" x 10" frame.  I designed/printed March, May, July, August, November, and December.  Lisa designed/printed February, June, September, and October.  Jeff (Lisa's husband and my brother-in-law) designed/printed January and April.  This lovely collection will be made available in my Etsy shop soon, but if you'd like to email me or message me on Facebook if you are interested in purchasing one.  Also, we'll be selling them at Irving Craft Fair this Saturday, 12/14/13 from 9:00 until 1:00.  Happy New Year!
Forgot to mention that we are selling them for 28 dollars.  We have not determined shipping, but we'll have that soon.

Chicago Homicides in November related to gun violence

Gentilis Williamson, Mark Villanueva, LaChris Hendricks, Jeffery Whiters, Tyshon Anderson, Irbinzon Gonzalez, Brandon Torres, Amanda Fitch, Javier Gonzalez, Michael Walker,  Divorite Diggins, Uriel Quinones, Michael Sullivan, Aaron Hubbard, Steven Marshall, Demarco Powell, Phillip Curtis, Jose Rodriguez, Corderro Brown, Jason Jernigan, Jason Jernigan, Antonio Cooper, Luis Villasenor, Saul Salgado,

For more information: http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/date/2013/11/