We are Officially Artists, and We Have the Cards to Prove It

After many, many mornings of creative labor----Willow's ATC Kids' Swap is wrapped up and ready to mail: Watercolor remained a big hit, as did acrylics----but for all the tiny little detail work of the tiny little trading cards, I think that Willow found herself much more satisfied, in the end, with colored pencils. She's gotten pretty representative in her work lately----and only with pencils, probably, could you create an ATC that deserves a caption like this: I think we all found the ATC experience quite inspiring--Will freely calls herself an artist (She has the proof--they are ARTIST trading cards, aren't they?), Matt rediscovered Bristol board as a canvas for the comics he draws, and I'm thinking about organizing a Kids' ATC Swap on Craftster and about using ATCs as my business cards instead of my Moo cards this coming craft fair season (Moo cards are unbeatable, but can get pricey, and shipping from the UK? I can hardly justify it).

In other news, I actually got one of my kids to wash the other kid's hair today:

If these kids didn't need me to constantly pay them so much flippin' attention, my days would be just about made.

Busts, Bitching, and Subversive Seamsters: My Birthday Favorites

Bust Magazine is my favorite!

Since I'm supposed to be using this precious naptime to frantically clean the house so that our dear friends attending Syd's birthday dinner tonight don't realize how filthy we are, I am obviously blogging instead. The very first book I picked up to put away is overdue at the library, but it's an awesome how-to book and I wanted to scan some projects from it and blog about it, and if I'm doing that I might as well blog about the other reference materials I've found recently, and, well, here we are...

I'm a big fan of the Stitch 'n Bitch franchise: I'm not a scarf-and-sweater gal, but I'd actually make a ton of these projects if I could do more than knit back-and-forth in a straight line until someone casts off for me, and the editor, Debbie Stoller, also does Bust magazine,which I adore. Son of Stitch 'n Bitch: 45 Projects to Knit and Crochet for Menis the best of the bunch, in my opinion, because I prefer wearing masc clothing, and this book is all about projects to knit and crochet for men-like people. My favorites are the beer gloves, which are the type of fingerless gloves I rocked in junior high, and the Cobra and Pub Crawler sweaters, which are very understated and comfy-looking. I'd totally make someone knit my kids the Ernie sweater, though, which is, yes, the one of Bert-and- fame.

The Vogue Knitting The Ultimate Sock Book: History*Technique*Design (Vogue Knitting) is also appealing, even though most of the patterns aren't to my taste, because of its lengthy, cogent, and illustrated instructions for sock knitting, which I reaaaaallly, reeeeaaaaallly want to learn. I keep building up the supplies during sales at the crafts store--I bought circular needles when they were 50%-off, only to have my friend Molly the Knitter tell me that it's double-pointed needles you use, and so then I bought a pair of double-pointeds at a different sale only to see in this book that you need more like two or even three pairs...Sigh.

Matt is getting frustrated with sneaking back into work at night to print me some business cards on the fussy and easily-broken color printer there, so I'm thinking about investing in these 2.75"x1" Moo cards--you can upload a beautiful photo, and put your business info on the back, and get 100 for about 20 bucks. That would be nice, because using an actual product photo or a photo of the kids would be much more relevant and evocative of my work.

I'm thinking about applying to sell at Yarncon in Chicago. Even though I don't knit, I'm really getting into the possibilities of creating with felted wool yarn, and my friend Molly the Knitter knits, so... I did apply to the Shadow Art Fair in Ypsilanti. Even though it's quite a drive, it fits my criteria because Matt's granny lives just around there, near Ann Arbor where my favorite store ever is.

The book I just can't stand to return to the library is Subversive Seamster. I had the library buy it, which means I get first dibs, but then someone else went and requested it before I could renew it! The best thing about this book is that one of the creators is an ample woman like I am, so I'm confident that most, if not all, of the designs are ample-woman friendly. This contrasts with some other remaking clothing books like T-Shirt Makeovers: 20 Transformations for Fabulous Fashions, in which I've tried to make a project or two, but I just don't think they work with my body. My favorite projects in Subversive Seamster are the duct tape dress form, which I totally have the duct tape to do, the turtleneck bolero jacket, the Hawaiian shirt pillowcase, the poncho skirt (I'd wear it over jeans), the men's dress pants shorts, the Catholic schoolgirl plaid skirt tank top, the bridesmaid's dress tie, the muumuu peasant top, the sports jersey toiletries bag--yeah, I really like this book.