we want to thank grace of design sponge for patiently waiting to run this sneak peek of our loft and to anne for putting it together. why did they have to wait? well, that's another story that we'll share very soon. we are pretty lucky to be featured on design sponge again - it's such an amazing blog and they do so much to support independent designers so, if you have been curious what our place might look like, here you go.
we just got a new toy. we're not quite ready to show it yet, but this is a pretty big hint. we still have lots of organizing to do... more soon.
a few days ago a friend showed us the current issue of nest magazine because they spotted our mustaches in it. we were so excited to find that it was an article about our friends lauren and derek.
we just adore these two... you may know them from their shop and gallery: the curiosity shoppe in sf, their blog: smarts and crafts, or their weekly diy projects on design sponge. the article is great, but the best part is getting to see their house. just as expected from the aesthetics of their shop, their place is witty, smart and fun.
here they are wearing our wood mustaches and if you look real close you can see some of our goods in their shoppe, like our canvas "something's hiding in here" tote bag.
after working so hard preparing for renegade, i treated myself to a stuffed dog portrait of dexter made by the amazing sian keegan. we just discovered a photo of the finished replica of dexter and, we are so excited! i am already searching for the perfect spot in our house where he will live. we better make room for two because, noodle is next.
this weekend, we were very busy working on a special project for fred flare. we will let you know more about the fate of these paint by numbers soon. right now, they are all packed up in a priority box marked fred flare or bust.
we are busy working on a top secret project and could not bring the SHinH bakery booth to s.f. for the renegade craft fair. since we can't be there, we thought we would make a "must see" list.
miss natalie is at the top of our list for a reason... we LOVE her. we were lucky enough to meet natalie during our recent trip to s.f. for our rare device show. she is one smart cookie, with a sensibility that we totally relate to. if you don't buy one of her hand painted apples, you'll be sorry (just ask grace from design sponge).
rev. aitor of the misanthrope specialty co is legendary and these unflattering portraits are the reason why. believe us when we say that this should be your first stop at the fair because this fellow ends up with long waiting lists.
the sweetie pie press is a staple at every craft fair. no seriously... i have never heard of a show that becky was not at. this amazing lady makes the best buttons and writes one of my favorite blogs that chronicles her travels across the u.s. and canada. some of her recent projects are several commissioned artist series like these from pinpals.
handmade nation is a documentary film and book about the rise of the d.i.y. movement. if for some crazy reason you don't already know about this project... click here right now! we are lucky enough to have met the amazing faythe levine who is behind this labor of love. she is also one of the ladies behind the paper boat boutique in milwaukee. this is one booth not to miss and a project worth supporting.
p.s. after a year of talking with faythe - we are finally sending a batch of goodies to the paper boat boutique. watch out milwaukee, here we come.
maggie and david of loyalty & blood are two of our favorite people ever! we joke that stephen has an exclusivity contract with them, because he wears so many of their tee shirts. you may also have seen their alphabet totes and jewelry in just about every single magazine or at the brooklyn flea market. they are the only other kids we know that pull all-nighters before a craft show. that's hardcore.
we have a pretty big slide collection from the mid to late 70's. a good majority of them seem to be from schools (elementary - high school). it was so fun to sift through them and pick a handful to scan in for our old school exhibition submission.
(we also submitted these photos of us from kindergarten).
we're pretty excited to be sending out a batch of goodies to catbird nyc. if you find yourself in williamsburg, stop into one of their two shops (390 metropolitan ave or 219 bedford ave). you just might see some of our forget me not elephants, stamps, wishbone sets, or get organized bags.
our wood acorn charms are featured in the fall/winter issue of philadelphia wedding magazine. the article focused on favors made by local designers and included some of our favorites like: bird & banner and nantaka joy. we feel pretty lucky to be in such good company.
we made more faux bois charms for a few shops and have some extras left. click here to get one.
another piece for the old school show...
set of four wool felt pennants, inspired by grade school report card remarks: very good, pass, fail, incomplete.
this weekend we printed a poster for the old school show at UPPERCASE. it shows the flight silhouettes of common birds found in north america. we also made report card pennants and a pie chart collage for the show (more photos soon).
(two dictionary pages sent to us by the gallery that inspired the poster).
we finally did it... we bought a new camera, a nikon d60. i love everything about it: the weight, size, look, even the sound the shutter makes is perfect. plus, the lens has a fancy vibration reduction feature which is perfect for me. (this photo is of the new ink colors we mixed for our old school poster).
it's taken us a week to unpack, download photos and even start to recover from the renegade craft fair in brooklyn. saturday was really busy, muggy and ended with legendary wind and rain. special thanks to KG & AB for lending us plastic totes to keep our goods dry and to rebecca for helping stephen get through the day. (take a look at this photo taken by heidi to see what it looked like after the storm - yikes).
this is what our lonely bakery counter looked like when we arrived early on sunday morning. we spent saturday night imagining what damage the weather might have caused and we were happy to find it safe and sound (wrapped in a variety of plastic tarps, duct tape and bungee cords).
at the end of it all, we agree that the best part is getting to see all of our friends, so we decided to continue our renegade '08 tour... see you in chicago!
the night before renegade we realized that we forgot to make business cards. this is why we love gocco! somehow even in our delirious state, we came up with these (cross stitch sampler) cards and were so excited that we printed bags too.
it's true... this saturday we took the day off from working in our studios and went to see the mates of state. i can't remember the last time we spent a whole day not thinking about the things we have to do. back to work now!
if you are in s.f. make sure you go see the fête show at rose and radish. they are the first shop to have our felt stationary and we are so proud to be in our second show at rose and radish.
some of our other favorite things in the show are: scallions by sian keegan, a swallow mobile by christian flensted and a cupcake pick by the small object.
our 70's floral images feel right at home on this wood grain stationary. printed by etsy and available here ($6 for a set of three).
thanks etsy for picking our designs from the "etsy design face-off challenge". check out these other items also in the etsy labs shop, bandanas by argylewhale and a totebag by juliapotts.
we're getting ready to go... come see us this weekend at the renegade craft fair.
p.s. we are bringing lots of rings.
mackenzie of SITEdesign was featured in this week's sneak peak on design sponge. one of the photos shows two of our paint by number states. yeah! (we are pretty lucky because she carries our wishbones in her shop). if you are in queens ny, stop by the shop and tell mackenzie we said hi.
(image via: design sponge)
thanks to swallowfield for adding our "get organized" bags to her hand-picked etsy feature!
p.s. i have one of these tote bags from Sian Keegan and i LOVE it!
we are happy to announce that our stationary will debut at one of our favorite shops in san francisco, rose & radish. all four styles in a variety of colors will be a part of their summer show, "fête", opening June 17th.
we were pretty excited when etsy asked us to be a part of their design face off. the challenge was to create a simple image for a tee shirt or totebag using the word etsy. we thought it would be nice for the "etsy" to be subtle, something you would discover.
the really exciting part is that the other two artists invited by etsy to submit designs are people who we really like. elise from argyle whale and julia pott. so no matter who wins, etsy is pretty lucky. click HERE to vote and see the other designs.
thanks to the ladies of art star (erin & megan) for putting together such a great event.
and a little hello to some of our friends (new & old): annie imogene, heidi my paper crane, sarah the small object, becky sweetie pie press, sue giant dwarf, maggie & david loyalty & blood, norah sheriff peanut, Katherine & Andy KG + AB... as always, it was great to see everyone.
