Renegade Wrap-Up and New Products!

Hi friends! Thank you to all of the local peeps who stopped by my booth at Renegade SF last weekend! I had so much fun getting to meet you in person! It was a wonderful event and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Fort Mason is such a great venue, don't you think?



And to all of you who say MINIs are too small? Here's my Maxwell packed up and ready to hit the road, with room to spare, I might add! :)



I had a few brand new products make their debut at Renegade over the weekend that I'm excited to share with you.

Remember my Retro Ranch papercuts? I printed these "New Digs" cards featuring one of those papercuts and think they'd be perfect for a housewarming party or to let your friends know you have a cool new pad.



I have these cacti & succulent designs on cards and coasters, but now happy to announce they're on art prints and tea towels as well!



For all of you trailer enthusiasts, I have new art prints and tea towels! Wouldn't the towels be cute hanging in a little camper kitchen? 



Now I'm about to dive into the mad dash to get my apartment packed up for the move this weekend. Wish me luck! I'm looking forward to getting settled and jumping back into making DIY projects and tutorials!

Patchwork Show & My New Booth Sign

I had a great time at Patchwork on Sunday! Thanks to everyone who came out and said hi. I saw lots of friends from Craftcation and met lots of new crafty friends, too. There were so many cool handmade products and great brands, I wanted to buy everything! :) If you're in the Bay Area, there will be another Patchwork in the Fall. If you're in Socal you're in luck because the next two Patchwork events are coming up in Long Beach and Santa Ana. (Look closely you'll find me in that pic above from the Patchwork Flickr Album, deep in conversation.)

As you can probably imagine, I've been immersed in display design over the past few weeks. I've got most of the details ironed out now, and good thing since I have the SF Bazaar at Maker Faire coming up this weekend. Here's a little peek at some of my process and my finished display.



My booth sign was a big to-do item last week. I wanted something big and easy to read that would work with the rest of my set-up. I decided to make a painted muslin banner on wood dowels. The first step was to make a tracing paper transfer.



After I transferred the outline to the muslin I painted it in with black screen printing ink. Once the letters were painted I ironed some interfacing to the back and sewed pockets for the dowels. Here it is all done.



With the rest of my new display! I switched over from a two table display to one table and this crate shelving system.



And if you were curious, yes, all of this fits into the MINI, with room to spare! Everything I needed to build and stock my display is in this one car load. I love that MINI of mine. :)



Check out Everything Hunky Dory for a great summary of the day with lots of photos of beautiful handmade products.

How to plan and hang a gallery wall.

I love arranging art in clusters or galleries. When I'm planning an arrangement I typically spread everything out on the floor, take photos, select a layout, and then transfer the layout to the wall (much like I did with my kitchen plate wall).


I've had a stack of framed art to go above my media shelves and around my tv for a few months and decided to get to it. Since I was going to be arranging the frames around the tv, playing with arrangements on the floor wasn't going to work. In this case I'd usually measure each piece and then draft different alternatives in AutoCAD. Not everyone has (or wants) access to this program so I went with an analog approach this time. You'll need a pen, scissors, painter's tape, and a roll of kraft or butcher paper.


Trace each of your frames onto the paper. Cut each out and label which is which and which side of the paper is up. Take your time arranging and taping each piece of paper on the wall until you find the right layout. I started with 6 frames but ended up only using 5.


Once you have a layout that you like, all you have to do is determine where the nails or picture hangers need to go for each frame. Mark these points directly on the paper, tap in the nail, then pull the paper away. No unnecessary nail holes!


I like how asymmetrical this is, and that I could easily add more pieces if I want. It really completes the look of this wall and actually makes the room look bigger!

This was so easy I'm thinking I might go the paper and tape route next time. What do you think - how do you plan a gallery wall?

An Afternoon at West Elm

I had a wonderful time at the Etsy Pop-Up Shop on Saturday! Here are a few photos of my display snapped with my iPhone.



It was so nice meeting some of my Etsy customers who said they came out to the event just for me. How sweet! I also met lots of new people and got to connect with the 5 other sellers who were there. All in all it was a great afternoon and I went home feeling really excited about my business and future opportunities. I also have a few new products that I'll be listing in the Etsy shop soon.

I didn't get a chance to snap photos of the other sellers and their displays but definitely check out their shops:
Unique jewelry and hairpins: iluxo by Mariko
Lovely hand-thrown ceramics: RossLab by Rossella
Cool screenprinted tea towels: The Heated by Cristina
Beautifully simple paper goods: 45Wall Design by Traci
Fun French food illustrations: Géraldine Adams Illustrations by Géraldine