Baton Rouge Kite Festival

Yesterday we spent the afternoon across the river at the Kite Festival. Although the weather never cleared up and was a bit overcast, it was actually great for flying kites, and many other people agreed that the winds were cooperating. There were tons of colorful kites dotting the grey skies all day. A huge red octopus greeted us along with a cajun band, complete with someone playing a washboard, when we walked into the festival. Smells of fried shrimp, sausage and cotton candy wafted through the air tempting my taste buds.

We cafefully waddled through tangled webs of kite string across the large open field to the kite making tent so Lucas could make his own kite. After trying to fly his little paper kite for a while, we decided to make a little investment and I picked out 2 traditional style triangle kites, a blue and a purple. We flew those kites the rest of the afternoon and had a great time.

Etsy Labs Surprise

Whee! I got an unexpected surprise in the mail from Etsy labs. A whole care package filled with goodies arrived for me, ununexpectedly the other weekend.

DanielleXOXO and the gang filled up a box with a screenprinted tote bag, that will be perfect for taking to the post office and spreading the word around town. A cute cactus wrapping paper set, I can think of an Etsy seller that needs a little gift from me. A quilted square, some bumper stickers, a moustache, a magnet and more! A really nice letter press thank you card was written to me and the entire package just made my day.

Here are all the goodies!

Studio Space

I am anxiously awaiting my lease on my brand new studio space. I am a bit nervous about the extra cost each month for the rent but I think it will be well worth it. I am so excited to finally get everything out of our overcrowded house and have space to work. My poor son doesn't even have a room to call his own right now since it is filled to the ceiling with storage bins of inventory. We will be able to eat on the dining room table again. We will also finally be able to finish the front bathroom that I have been using for storage and as my darkroom for coating my screens.

I am dreading the move a little bit. I have about 100 plus screens that must be carefully transported so that they don't tear, numerous containers of ink and squeegees that must be cleaned, and lots and lots of clothes. Then the big things like the dryers, shelving units and the press will take some muscle. Everything has to be done quickly too so I can be all set up and ready to print right away, but I know I will be even more creative in this new space.

Wooden You Wanna Play With Me?

I was playing with Pounce, the new Etsy browsing feature, and came across a new Etsy shop today with beautifully crafted wooden toys.

Countree toy shoppe is owned by Brian of Higgins Lake Michigan. He has been working with wood for 30 years and started making toys for his own children out of scraps from his building job. About 6 years ago, he began touring the North Eastern U.S. attending craft shows.

I picked a few toys from his shop to feature here.

This Logging Truck and Loading Dozer set are made from ash and come with little stackable logs. The dozer has a removeable operator too. What little boy wooden love to have this toy?

This adorable Dragonfly pull toy is made from Cherry, Maple, and Black Walnut wood. The wings are even hand silkscreened! Imagine my delight! The wings flop up and down as your little one pulls it along. This is too precious.

Missing Person in Seattle Area

Recently I became aware of another Etsy seller, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5588252, whose husband Nicholas Francisco has been missing since Feb 13, 2008. She last spoke to him at work in the lower Queen Anne area of Seattle; he said he would be home after running a quick errand to Costco. He has not been seen or heard from since. He was driving a red 1992 Toyota Paseo hatchback with license plate number 601RHX and headed south toward the Seatac area.
Here are a few news articles with more information to pass on.
http://www.komotv.com/news/15682797.html
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_021608WAB_missing_seatac_man_KS.cbc94803.html
http://mailpen.net/
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5472516

Please keep your eyes and ears open and pass the word on.
I am keeping the family in my thoughts during this difficult time.

Olive the Etsy Front Page

I am so excited to have my Flying Solo Scoop neck top featured on the front page of Etsy this evening. This red and olive list is currated by misskenzie

Here is a screen shot of the beautiful list. She also entered it into the Etsy Poster Challenge.

I also submitted a treasury for the poster challenge.

Here is my sampler.

More entries can be seen on flickr.

Puppets

I have a two and a half year old little boy and recetly we have been playing with socks. He loves to pretend they are puppets. After watching the puppet show on Etsy a few months back, which was hilarious, I started browsing puppets for sale. I will share with you some of my favorites.



I'll start with Stacey Rebecca who put on the Etsy puppet show. She has been a puppet designer, builder, and performer with Elastic Theater for 5 years.


Susie is one of my favorites from her Etsy shop staceyrebecca.
Susie's favorite color is green like her shirt and she has big wide open ping pong eyes!



Next up is Ohmy made by Out of The Box Puppets.

Ohmy loves big hugs and dancing. He even comes with adoption papers. How cute is that!
Out of the Box Puppets specializes in custom puppets, blacklight puppets, (5'7") Life-size Blacklight Puppets, rod arm puppets, specialty puppets (Gooneys and Stringbeans), patterns, kits and more. You can find more puppets on Kidology.


Finally we have Otis, a full body ventriloquist puppet. He is more for the adult kids.

Otis has wildly free hair and few teeth; he is quite the character. Otis is handmade by the talented Sonny Vegas.

Sonny Vegas is a Magician, Comedian and Puppet Creator who has been making puppets for five years.

You can see more of Sonny's puppets on his website.

For more information about the puppet community check out Puppets and Stuff.

Next time, talk to the hand!!!!