For those of you who follow my Facebook and Twitter updates, you know that I’m going to be in my first big craft/indie show, letting thousands of people see my toys up close and personal. *deep breath* Just the thought of it is so nerve wrecking! But, I digress.

Luckily, the owner of a consignment store where you’ll be finding my toys in next year (let’s say she’s my friend too since she’s so sweet!) is hosting a trunk show in Burbank to give the community a little teaser of what her store will be like and she invited me to be a part of it! If you live in the LA area, or will be here December 3, come check out Bare Sole (from 5 pm – 9 pm and meet me and about 11 other artists/crafters that will be in Papermoon Boutique (coming soon!) early next year.

And, if you live in the LA area, or will be here from December 5-6, please make sure to also check out Unique LA. I know that a $10 cover charge sounds steep, but here are a list of pros and cons for you to consider.

Pros:

• Variety. You’ll see me and about 300 other vendors.  That’s right.  Three Hundred.  So you’re bound to find something you’ll absolutely fall in love with.
• One Stop Shop. Get all your holiday shopping done in one place.  As I said, there are 300 vendors, and there are even 50 eco-friendly vendors for you tree huggers (or the tree huggers in your life).  So, what I’m trying to say is that you’re going to find something there for just about everyone.
• Freebies. Every guest gets a cool tote bag designed by the same folks that brought you those iconic Obama posters.  Not a Democrat?  Well, it’s not like it’s going to have Obama’s face on it, so no worries!  Also, you’ll enjoy free drinks, workshops/classes, and a photobooth with awesome props taken by a professional photographer.  And just so we’re clear, all of those things listed in the previous sentence were FREE.
• Trendy. This is not your granny’s craft fair.  Most of the artists and designers there are young people like myself.  I know this because I met at least half of them last weekend.  So, don’t expect needle pointed cats with butterflies resting on their noses, a quilt designed with Billy Rae Cyrus’ mullet in mind, or Precious Moments inspired paintings of children.  DO expect, lots of unique tshirts (most are on limited runs), dia de los muertos paintings, lots of eclectic jewlery, and cool toys *ahem*.
• Locally Made. 99% of the wares you find at this fair are made right here in the U.S. of A.  None of that China stuff.  And the only sweat shop labor you’ll find is from the artist themselves.  But not in the depressing sweat shop connotation, but rather in the “I am the person that made this and I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this… in a non-gross way.  Ya feel me?”

Cons:

• You may have a hard time deciding what to buy because of all the good stuff there.  It’ll be like AM/PM for your aesthetics.  Too much good stuff.

Lord knows I can go on and on about this, and really anything else, but I’m not going to.  I think you get the idea.  It’s going to be awesome.  I’m going to be there.  And you need to be there too.

Remember that infinity inspired scarf I started working on last week?  Well, it’s done.  No, it didn’t take me an entire week to finish it.  More like a total of 6-7 hours.  I just took very long breaks in between.  Breaks that lasted days.  So, as I approached the end of my ball of Simply Soft black yarn, I decided to give it a test run and see how much more I needed to go.  I was surprised to find that I actually liked the scarf very short and after I attached a few buttons, my infinity scarf turned into more of a cowl scarf.  It’s all good.  I’m also going to call it the t-shirt transformer because my plain outfit looked a lot more put together after I threw on my new scarf adorned with awesomely cool gold buttons I found in our luxurious design studio (aka our garage).

The all pearl version.

A few months back my sister’s friend got married and commissioned us to make her a silk flower with jewel encrusted center.  When my sister and I heard about the project, we got straight to it and headed to downtown.  We literally spent over 2 hours drooling over Swarovski crystals and the variety of shapes and colors and then another hour deciding which ones to get.  We finally decided on about 4 different shades of blue and grey and a string of real-ly pretty pearls.  :)  (Come on, I would never hot glue real pearls to a silk flower!)

For our friend’s wedding, we used an alligator clip she provided for us, but my search for some metal combs was still going on as I felt it would sit on a head the best.  Finally, I found these combs at Joann’s yesterday (go figure, the place I’m at every hour on the hour had them) and for only $1.49 each!  That’s probably over priced, but I couldn’t find them anywhere else, so I’m happy with that price for now.

Anyway, I just sewed it on and here it is.  (After I had take take off the comb and sew it on again because I positioned the comb backwards–I really should take more time to figure out how things need to go.)

Here it is on the right way.  *phew!*

These will be up on my store, New Society, when I get a free moment and some decent pictures of them.  I can’t wait for you to see the crystal versions!

I won’t even check when the last post I made was because I’ll be overcome with the feeling of disappointment.  I’ve been incredibly busy (hoping to see my products in stores and at a fair…just waiting for some answers this week–keep your fingers crossed for me please!).  But I haven’t forgotten about you all.  And I came back to my blog with 31 total comments!  I’m feeling the love here.  *Warm fuzzy feelings*

Here’s my newest crochet project.  An “Infinity Scarf” which I found in Lucky magazine… and well, on the necks of everyone here in sunny California.  If you look good, then who cares what the weather is right?

DKNY’s Infinity Scarf $145

I don’t have $145 designated to my accessories budget, so I’m going to stick with about $10 worth of yarn and my crochet hook to get this job done.  I’m using the “Iris Stitch” (which I got out of my favorite Crochet book The Crochet Bible) for two reasons #1 it’s pretty and #2 it’s so fast!  I’ve crocheted for a total of 3 hours and I already have a 12.5″ wide x 21″ long piece!  I’m not exactly sure how long I’d like it to be, as with all my other scarves I’ve made, I try it out throughout the process to see what I like.  Here’s how it’s coming along so far:

About 3 hours into it, and I can already see the end.  My kind of project.

Batwing Hoodie in Grey by tldgrainwear

Everyone knows that.  In fact, it’s the reason we’re in a drought now.  (For those of you who are not from Los Angeles–or are, and didn’t know we’re in a drought… we are low on water and yes, there are such things as “water police” to monitor our use of H₂O)  BUT, if there were ever a day where it rained for a record breaking more than 3x a year, I would definitely buy this jacket.  Actually, I would buy this jacket, even if that day never came.  First, I need it to rain some money…  It’s a reasonable price, I just don’t have the dough.