MMMMMMM...CUPCAKES

Just ran across this amazing little site, and all of a sudden I feel the need to eat bake pretty little cupcakes: Bake it Pretty!

Look Look Look!

Pretty Striped Cups!

Pretty Flower Cups!

Little Deer Toppers!

 

Beer Can Toppers!  Wait.

They've also got some badass candy molds:

 

Mmmmm...bacon...

 

Annnnnddd, a boombox.

Okay, so it might not all be pretty, but it's all pretty awesome.

No really, now I need a cupcake.  Like, now. 

ANCHORS AWEIGH

So here's the latest Etsy piece. I had wanted it done earlier in the summer, but well, life got in the way.

It's funny how it works. Now I have the time, and I have 2 new custom orders to work on. Funny, huh? Looking forward to starting them both.

NO 'EFFIN WAY

So I get an email on Monday, asking for a custom embroidery. I'm all, cool, no problem, then I re-read the email, and see that she says she saw my stuff on Apartment Therapy.

I read Apartment Therapy every day, so I was all WTF, but I read the original New York version. (Apartment Therapy is BIG time in the design blogging world, they've done TV shows on HGTV, recently expanded to include 4 cities and a new blog just about food, and just published a book. We're not talking about one person in their bedroom, talking about their favorite new chair, we're talking people who are becoming pretty respected in the design world.) So I did some searching, and Big Sky Starlet on Etsy was featured on the Los Angeles version on Monday morning.

SWEET! OMIGOD! HOLY CRAP! LOOK LOOK LOOK!

I am so incredibly psyched, I may even pick up a needle and thread this weekend.

YIPPIEE!!!

FLAH-RI-DA

So I actually finished this last weekend, bit I still hadn't gotten it scanned in. I haven't even photographed it for the shop yet, either. Oh, well.

I called it Flah-ri-da, 'cause, I don't know, it makes me think of the sunshine state.

I like it. Note the lawn ornament legs. I'm not into realism when dealing with kitsch.

I'm gonna buy a couple of this this year for Christmas decorations. Because it's FLAH-RI-DA, that's why!

WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT

Look what I found at Penney's today! Apparently, Big Sky Starlet Inc. is bigger than I thought. I didn't know that I had hired PR people to get the word out. I'm glad they're doing such a fantastic job.

The weird thing is, it's actually in my new colors. Bizarre.

HOW RA-SHA-SHA!

That's what I named the latest tank. Ra-sha-sha.


I HATE this photo, but it's all I got before the batteries on the camera died...

I need to buy a mannequin if I'm going to continue to make clothing. Suncoast had one that would of been perfect, if not for the fact that they wanted $50 for it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! FIFTY BUCKS?



The embroidery turned out suprisingly well for being just an outline. The key was getting the backing really ironed on to the tank, then getting it stretched REALLY tightly over the embroidery hoop.

I like it alot.

BIG SKY STARLET - SPRING 2006 COLLECTION

So I've got the first two tanks done. I'm almost done with a third, and want to have the 4th done by this weekend. I'm going to list 2 per week, one each on Tuesday and Thursday, to keep the shop exposure high. That seemed to work before, so we'll be trying that again.

I'm gonna market them as 'lounge wear', something to wear to lounge around the house in, read a book, watch tv, go to the gym, or sleep in. I was afraid that the embroideries were going to be stiff and itchy, but they came through the washing machine like a dream. And the colors didn't run! Huzzah!

Anyway here's the first one:



I still haven't come up with a title for any of these yet, but I want to.



And the second one:



Can I just say how FUN it is to have to model these?



I made sure to buy sizes for women, not girls. No x-sm things in my store. Since I have no boobies, you can't really tell that the pink shirt would fit a bombshell with a bust size of 44. The green one would fit up to a 40. But the green one also fit me, very comfortably.

I even made some custom tags to sew inside:



They are just ink-jet printed iron-on transfers put onto twill bias tape. I got that idea off of the craftster.org boards. Not the easiest things to make, but they turned out alright, and cost less than $10. They're a little stiff, though. I wonder where the least annoying place would be to put them...hmmm.

So I'm gonna list the shirts around 2pm, since that seems to be when everybody stops working to check out what's new on the internets.

Here goes! (Here's the link to the first one)

WORKS IN PROGRESS

I've got a TON of projects lined up. I need to stop planning and get started sewing. The pic above is the first tank. Acutally, it's not the first, but I hated the way the other one turned out and ripped out all the stitches to start over. So this is the first one I like. I'm thinking like $24 a piece, plus $6 for shipping since the damn post office raised rates again. So a nice round $30. I wonder if this is too much, or too little, 'cause they're gonna take quite awhile to sew. But I really, reallly like them, and if they don't sell, I'll be more than happy to add them to my lounge-around-the-house wardrobe.



Pink has a coral lip mark on the lapel area, blue has a cool retro-y apple on the lapel, brown will have an orange crown near the waist, purple with have a white umbrella near the waist, and aqua will have a feather in this pinky-brown thread - don't know if I'll do the peacock eye or if this pattern will even work. We'll see.



Just in case I miraculously become the bionic woman over the weekend and get those tanks finished, I've also got the dinner napkins to sew and then embroider.

Oh, and a few art ones, too.



Well. I'm off to pick out some flicks to watch, but not really look at, and get started.

FREE ON MONDAYS

Daisies are such a happy little flower. And I love, love, love that urn.

Sorry, dudes. It's been a busy week. Got called last Wednesday for an interview scheduled on Friday, and spent the end of the week madly cobbling together another, better, version of my portfolio. Then all day Thursday, studying interview techniques and writing answers to the questions they might ask.

None of which they actually asked.

This job would be lovely, but it's a 60 mile drive. One way. On toll roads. But it really wasn't that bad of a drive, so I'm still on the fence as to weather it would be a good thing. The interview went as well as could be expected, what with my STELLAR interview-ee skills. I'm just trying not to think about it.

But anyway, since I spent 3 entire days on the interview stuff, I had to spend Saturday sewing (to finish an order that should have been done on Wednesday) instead of doing laundry and cleaning the house. So all of that crap had to be done Sunday (and there was a lot to be done). It was a long day.

So we decided yesterday to take the day off and have some fun. I started the day with a bath, with B still snoring away in the bed. Can I just say that it feels sooooooooo luxuriously decadent to have a proper, searing hot bubble bath first thing in the morning. Especially on a weekday. Utterly divine.

Anyway. The botanical gardens here are free on Monday mornings, and since the weather was fantastic, we decided to take a stroll and take some pictures.


It's yellow! It's a tree! It's a yellow tree! No, really, that's what it's called. Go figure.

It's a really cool place. It seemed like the entire city was there, and I had no idea that Monday mornings were so popular. There were a lot of little kiddies there, doing cartwheels in the fields and trying to catch butterflies in the butterfly garden, and just generally being adorable.


I wish my garden looked like this.

It's a pretty magical place, especially now, with a lot of the flowers in bloom. An the smell!!! GAH! You could just drown in the aroma of the jasmine and the herb garden.


Peaches and Cream. The heady scent just about knocked you over.

Everywhere you turn there's something cool to see. And smell. And gush over. We'd never been in the springtime before. Must go back.


I wonder how long it took to get it to look like this.

So after we soaked up some nature, we were starving so decided to grab some (conveniently free) lunch. If you ever go to Crispers, dude, just get half a sandwich. They put like 3/4lb of meat on there. Huge! But tasty.

Then we had an appointment for tea (pinkies out!) with B's Mom and their cousin Lola at the tea room at the Grand Floridian at Disney. On the way there we saw the single biggest 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' fan on the planet:


They love Lindsey Lohan pictures.

I'm still not used to the fact that we live in the same city as DISNEYWORLD. Seeing the monorail on a regular basis always trips me out.


It's the pink one.

Tea was lovely, as always, and a huge thank you to Lola for treating us. THANK YOU!

Then we went to the parentals house for some dinner. Which was tasty, but I have to say that my favorite part of visiting the homestead is being able to witness the love of my life, circa 1994. Hot-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha! Nice specs.

I wasn't able to get a snap of the 'Brian the Magnificent' portrait. Maybe next time...

RUN OF THE MILL WEEKEND

I made cupcakes! They are so yummy. They even smell good, 'cause I made buttercream frosting from scratch to make up for the fact that I used a yellow cake mix from a box. YUM!

I'm having a pretty good weekend so far. A large part of my general good mood I attribute to us having a free preview of HBO and Cinemax until tomorrow. Watched Monster-In-Law (bad), 50 First Dates (loved it and I bawled through the end credits like a baby), and I watched Girl with a Pearl Earring again and I have to say that on second viewing, I really like it. I was struck again by the AMAZING cinematography, but I actually paid attention to the acting this time, maybe that's why I liked it more. One more viewing and I might actually buy it. Then I watched Brown Sugar (LOVE it, why don't I own this yet?) to cap off Saturday night.

Sunday morning: paper, tea, english muffin and a V-8, and 3 hours of design shows. Sadly, the NASCAR race was postponed until tomorrow, but while they were deciding what they were going to do today (for TWO HOURS they were 'deciding') I re-organized the 'library' in the dining room. Now, wonder of wonders, you can actually find what you're looking for without going completely crazy. While I considered going totally anal and doing it by dewey decimal, I decided to take a pill and just put them together by genre. Of course, none of this means that B will be able to find the books he's looking for, but it will make it easier for me to find it for him...

So when they finally called the race, I turned the computer on and what should I find but that Mz. Swirlogirl herself bought one of my embroideries! AWESOME! Thanks, Jenn! Hope you like it!

I actually started sewing again yesterday afternoon and started the first of the ladies tanks. It's turning out to be a weeeeee bit harder than I thought. I'm going to have to get some more needles, 'cause I'm gonna break a few on these tanks, I can just tell. But it's going okay. Taking alot longer than I would like, though. I guess this project will make me slow down and take it easy. Which isn't a bad thing.

OH, GOODNESS ME

Some random thoughts:

Random Thought No. 1 - You know that it's been too long since you did laundry when you find things you forgot you owned.

Random Thought No. 2 - Spring Cleaning is so much better than going to the gym, 'cause at the end of the day, you not only got a workout, but you also have a 'house that sparkles' (except for the fact you've collapsed on the floor in the living room out of sheer exhaustion...)

Random Thought No. 3 - This is like the coolest idea ever, 'cause who wouldn't want some advice from someone who's seen it all and isn't afraid to tell it like it is?

Random Thought No. 4 - I love the music option on myspace, but everytime I go to change it, I get overwhelmed by all the options so I do nothing (just like napster in the early days).

Random Thought No. 5 - I want to go to the beach on the gulf

Random Thought No. 6 - I think I've lost my ability to make good Lo Mein. The last two times I have it's been crappy.

Random Thought No. 7 - Saying it out loud (actually, I guess that's typing it out loud) has made me actually want to stick with it. I'm finally ready to expand to new things and I've got dinner napkins and a hat in the works. I've also got a custom shirt order lined up. Now I've just got to work on getting a flyer.

PUMP D'OR

So this will be the last new one I'm gonna do for a little while. I'm feeling a little discouraged about the whole online store thing. I'm going to finish up the pieces I have planned, then I'm not going to buy any more supplies.

I really, really like doing them, but I'd like to actually see something monetarily out of this whole deal. I've re-invested all the money I've made back into new projects, which is what you're supposed to do, right? I don't know, I guess I'm just greedy. I lowered my prices so I make about $8 a piece. Is that worth the effort involved? Argh.

And I thought that 1500 hits was a big deal, until I looked around and saw that alot of people have 10000, 25000, 40000 hits. So that's that.

That all being said, I'm toying with the idea of doing some flyers to hang up around the area. Simple, black and white. Eye-catching.

I don't know. All this past week I've been thinking, "What am I doing wrong?". I'd like a little bit of success somewhere in my life again. I'm SOOOOOOO having a "every-ting I touch turns to ca-ca" period.

PS: I'm so not on her level, but Posie is much more eloquent on this subject than I am.

WOWZA

1500 hits.

It's appropriate that I was my 1500th hit.

Cool, man. Now to work on more sales.

SEWING FOR DUMMIES

I got my machine all fixed up and I was all raring to start sewing again, but I've been crippled by this debilitating fear that I would spend the money on some cool fabric and a pattern to make a dress, then royally 'eff it up because sewing is like, hard.

Did I mention it was hard?

So anyway, I'm reading a novel last night and one of the characters is setting the dinner table with cloth napkins that she made herself.

What a brilliant idea, I think. I use cloth napkins everyday. I could make cloth napkins for a lot less than I buy them at Crate & Barrel.

Wait.

I could SELL cloth napkins if I embroidered them.

Awesome. I took my 2nd SCAD check (it finally arrived) and went to the fabric store to check out the clearance section.

So I've been sewing all day today. ALL day. And this is all I have to show for it:



This fabric was 1 dollar. The thread cost more than the fabric, but whatever. I love the feathers, and it seems so 50's somehow. They're a little small (because the first mistake of the day was cutting the fabric wrong) so they're the perfect size for a drinky-poo or a canape. Lovely.

I never knew that sewing 4 straight seams could be so FREAKING difficult. My machine and I are currently taking a break from one another. I'm tired of yelling at it and it's tired of being yelled at.

We may need couples counseling but I think we'll make it through.

A PLACE OF MY OWN

Some might comment that our entire apartment is mine. But I try very hard to make sure that B is as comfortable here as I am. Trust me, things would be a lot different if this was only my apartment. He keeps me from doing crazier things.

But, I decided that if I was really going to take this whole embroidery thing seriously, then I needed to dedicate a space in this apartment for that and only that.

So I did:

(If you cannot see the pictuours, consult your local library.)

I made the desk out of pine board and plumbing pipes for our old apartment. It was in storage up until now. It's just slightly higher than regular table height, so it's perfect. The chairs were already here. The lamp was in our bedroom in Savannah, but I had had it in storage, too. My bowling pin table is the perfect spot to store the machine. I picked up the soda crate at the flea market for $5 and then added a shelf and lined the inside with vinyl to protect the fabrics (Love the 'Atlas' graphics on it). Now I can keep the embroidery fabrics separate from my other fabrics and I don't have to sort them every time I start a new piece.

The little seven picture was scanned in from a catalog last year, but I could never figure out where to put it. The sconces are from eBay, and I really need to get some candles to put in them. I've stored all my little extras in the cool thrifted tin that I just love. I had two white metal bins that matched the others in storage and now I've filled them up with various supplies to build the frames. And there's finally a place to store the pins (in a glass votive candleholder).

IT'S BEEN WONDERFUL! I keep asking myself why I didn't do this sooner? It's so nice not to have to wonder where I left my pins (or pattern marker, or pattern paper, or thread, or scissors - the list goes on and on) because they have a home now. And it's so conveniently located - right next to the computer, scanner, and printer. I can watch DVD's on the computer, or just turn on the TV. Most often, I sit at the worktable while B is on the computer at night. (It's nice to be in the same room again...) I also positioned the plants outside so that I can bear to look out into the sunshine if I feel the need.

It's also re-aligned the apartment as a whole. Now, the office/studio is for weekdays, for the working time. On Saturday, I can shut the door and just relax. Go out into the rest of the apartment or the patio and just enjoy it. Instead of walking in the front door and seeing all the sewing flotsam and jetsam that's here, there, and everywhere, I just see comfy chairs and good things to read and watch. No stress.

All the little pieces fit underneath the table for when the room magically turns into a guest room. I'm going to sew a cover for it right quick. The table is actually the exact same depth as the little dresser, so I don't lose any space. We just gain some more surface space. Fantastic!

It's lover-ly. I should have done it sooner!

BUTTONS SET NO. 1

So here they are. They are easy to do, and the most difficult thing I've ever tried to make into a button. The fabric fights like a beast. But I LOVE THEM.

Don't know if I'll sell them yet, I kinda want to make sure they won't fall apart.

BUSY IS GOOD

Had a good, busy weekend.

Everything on the embroidery front is full steam ahead. Have started the buttons, and they are turning out FANTASTIC!!! Can't wait to share them with you all - at the pace I'm going, I should have some done tonight.

In etsy news, got my latest upload on the front page again. That totally rocks my world! Yea, exposure!

Now, to sell a few. I still haven't heard about/gotten the rest of my SCAD money, but I already spent it to get my machine repaired. Which I'm sure you read about. (tangent: my horoscope that day told me that 'amazing and miraculous things will happen today', which if you read B's post, you'll totally understand...)

Anyway, I'm gonna keep uploading the old ones to my store, and working on the new stuff. I'll post the new stuff here first, just 'cause I can, and I'm always hungry for feedback.

My fingers are sore, but I'm happy for a change. Hope it lasts awhile.

WORK. WORK! WORK?

I hate that my creative life is so stop and start. One day nothing. No ideas, prospects or projects. Then all of a sudden, 789 things that really should be done by today.

I'm moving fully ahead on the custom embroidery thing, even have an order/ request. I made a webpage with all the available patterns (check it out) and am trying to source some stuff to sew on. There are like a millliontrillionbajillion different places to buy wholesale stuff. I want to be able to order everything from the same place, and that's proving difficult. Not to mention that I don't know if some of these websites are legit. Tried looking locally, but all of the places are just screen-printing/ embroidery shops and don't sell the stuff blank.

I'm looking for:
women's hoodies in white, camel/tan or black ($20 or less);
women's long-sleeved tees in black or camel/tan ($7 or less);
knit caps in camel/tan or black ($5 or less);
BASIC tote bags without a gusset or grosgrain handles in natural or black ($2 or less); and
long-sleeved toddler tees in whatever color kids won't ruin as quickly ($4 or less).

If this magical place also sold a small hand-bag sized tote in natural or black ($5 or less), that would be just swell. And I don't want to pay more than $10 shipping.

Would those of the boy persuasion wear something embroidered? Should I be thinking about them, too? Some of my patterns could be done in a masculine way I think.

Man, I just had a stroke of brilliance while making lunch. What about a 2" button with a tiny embroidery on it? No shiny plastic, just the embroidered fabric. I like the fact that I could still buy fabric for these, which is sorta eliminated for the clothing (although I want to try to line the totebags). Would you buy that for like $3? DUDE, I don't care if you would, I'm totally making some for myself anyway...

This weekend I'm going to drop-off my sewing machine and try to get it repaired, hopefully for less than $40. I'm also going to try and find a cheap sweatshirt that I can practice on, and get the supplies I'll need to do all this stuff. Gotta get an actual embroidery hoop or two, and I cannot use any of the thread I've used up until this point, 'cause the dyes will run when I wash them. (SO ANNOYING) Also, I need fusible web and I have to figure out some way to finish off the back sides of the embroideries.

In semi-related news, SCAD is attempting to screw me again by only paying me for 3 of the 4 pieces I sold. Can they not get their shit together, like, ever? Still haven't heard back from the gallery yet on the rest of my dinero. I want to use it to pay for all of these supplies so I'm getting a wee bit impatient. (Who me?)

I've also decided to heed the advise of my better half and re-do our personal website. It's coming along swimmingly and should be done in about a week if I can hold it together.

Foofty!

LIGHT AS A FEATHER

First off, I just want to thank everyone for the encouragement and the positive re-enforcement over my last post. This whole job search experience has just been way more emotional than I thought it would be. A big, giant, huge THANK YOU to you all.

On to different things, guess who has re-joined the 21st century! My sister, the long forgotten Rachel. Check our her blog at: watchmewin.blogspot.com. I just got it all pimped out for her. Since her screenname is "The Winner" you can see who got all the confidence in our family...

And above you'll see my latest embroidery, titled "Light as a Feather". I really love it. You can also see that my current obsession with that teal-y aqua color is still going strong. I drew the pattern from a vector image that I had made to use on one of our websites, but it just wasn't working for that, so I took it for this.

It will not, however, be in the store for a couple of weeks, as I received the Small Works pieces back from SCAD on Saturday. I'm going to work them back into the store by adding a new piece every other day, so that way I'll keep my exposure high. When you add something new, it pops you to the top of the category, so we're going to try that tactic and try to sell some more.

That's it my little birdies! I'm off to make some onion soup for dinner.

EXPANSION

There is such satisfaction from actually being able to pay a bill. (insert relieved sigh here)

Other things that satisfy are:
•planting seeds and remembering to water them for 5 days in a row so far
•getting free clip art through email every week from Dover books

I was so inspired by the above piece, I decided to re-do the old blog. The last re-do was a train wreck...this one, so fresh!

Anyway, my digs cronies have suggested that I start putting my embroideries on other stuff, like tees and hoodies. I thought cool! But then I'd be stuck with like 79 tees and hoodies that I don't wear or aren't my size.

So I'm thinking like tote bags or knit caps or something. I like the bag idea, because, well, I like bags. (Yes Trav, byags...)

Anybody got a good supplier? Or thoughts in general?