and if anyone else has used some of the fabric I designed from Spoonflower, please send me photos- I'm so excited to see it in "action"!
1.31.2011
one handmade cutie...
made using some of my fabric! Thanks for sending me the photo Emily- of Rabbit! Rabbit! Softies. Check out her shop to see more of her work.
and if anyone else has used some of the fabric I designed from Spoonflower, please send me photos- I'm so excited to see it in "action"!
and if anyone else has used some of the fabric I designed from Spoonflower, please send me photos- I'm so excited to see it in "action"!
1.29.2011
an arm full of goodness
sending lots of boxes off today...
I'll miss having all these boys in the studio! Seeing 10 of each of the 3 pieces together for so long was really nice... all so similar but each with his or her own personality. The studio shelves are now almost bare- everyone's headed off to new homes.
While these guys are all sold, I still have a few bears still looking for homes. Check out my website for more info.
1.28.2011
I still need a sticker for this
but everyone should know:
Yes he does- he's always there helping me when I shoot photos- usually eager to snatch one of the bears for a closer look...
phew!
Just finished sewing! Right on time- I'll be posting the new pieces in about 10 minutes!
(hope you're all having a good day. I'm happily in the studio, with the fireplace blazing. It feels good to keep warm on these MN winter days. Now I just need to make another coffee and I'll be ready for the big email rush!)
1.27.2011
1.26.2011
fish! (a side note from outside the studio)
This morning Claude and I hung out (now I'm in the studio- soooo much to do before Friday!) and we admired the quilt my mom made for him this past Christmas. It's so lovely and we often talk about about different things we see in each small piece of fabric- this morning there was a lot of talk about "FISH!".
I'm sure she'll be posting more images of this beauty on her blog soon, along with all the pattern info-
1.25.2011
from last year... a remake?
I made this little heart for a Valentines Bear last year and I'm wondering if it's too cute to pass up making more for the update on Friday------ Who doesn't need a little heart to have and hold?
1.24.2011
1.23.2011
more and more and more...
This coming Friday is my Valentine's Days Website Update... There is still a lot to do, but these bunnies are almost finished... hello boys! They're all wondering:
1.22.2011
1.21.2011
1.18.2011
I say yes- yes yes yes.
the diamonds and the palette and the scale and the styling and that edge- it's all so good.
rugs designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec- losanges rug
via design sponge
rugs designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec- losanges rug
via design sponge
1.17.2011
a floppy ear and handful of hearts...
My workday is filled with so many different activities- designing, cutting, searching for materials, taking photos, writing, blogging, thinking, not to mention the physical act of sewing... and really that's just the obvious actions. Running a business is a hefty load of multitasking and odd jobs. Yesterday I did a number of things, my favorite of which was nailing down the design for the bunnies I'm making for the Valentines Day Update. Designing is a complex puzzle that is so satisfying. I find all the joy is in the smallest details- a flopped over ear- the slight differences in layering felt for small hearts...
1.15.2011
1.13.2011
order a yard for yourself!- FABRIC UPDATE-
Here's the link to order my fabric directly... from Spoonflower. (if that link isn't working for you for some reason, you can search my name in their search box too.) You get it at the regular Spoonflower retail price (no mark up from me) and have a number of different fabrics to choose from. If you click on the "zoom" button you can see the full yard design which has a little bit of all four patterns...
Ordering Note - The only way to get all four designs it to purchase a full yard or more. You'll see as you click on different sizes of "cuts" what the piece your purchasing will look like- if you only order a swatch or a fat quarter, you'll just get part of one design... hope this helps!
Hope you Enjoy!!!
and I'd love to see anything people make with this- so send your images my way!
Ordering Note - The only way to get all four designs it to purchase a full yard or more. You'll see as you click on different sizes of "cuts" what the piece your purchasing will look like- if you only order a swatch or a fat quarter, you'll just get part of one design... hope this helps!
Hope you Enjoy!!!
and I'd love to see anything people make with this- so send your images my way!
more info on fabric
I'm working on making a yard of my fabric- all 4 designs on one piece available for everyone soon! Stay tuned. Ohhh and I designed it all in Photoshop... I'm not as good with Illustrator or InDesign, but I made it work. Even though Photoshop isn't ideal for this job the print quality on the fabric didn't seem to suffer- I'm so happy with the samples that arrived yesterday. I'm working with the yardage now to make clothes for the Valentines animals... I've got one dress- and I do like the idea of overalls- we'll see.
1.12.2011
the fabric arrived
and the colors are perfect with all the hand dyed fabric I'm working with... things are really shaping up- now what to make with it?!
1.10.2011
Valentines Day Update...
I'm currently working on 3 limited edition pieces (10 in each edition)... they're in various stages right now, but I'll be posting photos as they come together. I plan on incorporating some of the fabric I designed for their clothes and other little details. I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery from Spoonflower- fingers crossed it all comes out! Until I have the fabric in my hands I won't know what outfits I'll be making for each piece, so the above drawing is just a loose idea...
The Valentines Day Update
Friday January 28th at 12noon CST
(that's 1pm EST, 11am MST, 10am PST)
Here's a rundown of what to expect for the update...
On the big day at 12noon CST, these 3 pieces will be on the "new bears and animals" page of my website. If you have any questions about how the updates work check out all the info here about ordering, payment and shipping. If you have any questions at all feel free to email me. Ohhhh and I'll be sending out emails to everyone on my email update list in the next couple days with this info and more.
On the big day at 12noon CST, these 3 pieces will be on the "new bears and animals" page of my website. If you have any questions about how the updates work check out all the info here about ordering, payment and shipping. If you have any questions at all feel free to email me. Ohhhh and I'll be sending out emails to everyone on my email update list in the next couple days with this info and more.
1.09.2011
yesterday and today....
Yesterday- I dyed some fabric for an edition of Valentine bunnies and today it's dry and ready to cut out and sew up...
It's a slow and quiet one here. I spilled my milky cereal all over my couch this morning (grrrrrrr) and now that all the couch cushions are off and drying it seems to be the perfect new playplace for Claude. He's been keeping himself very busy putting things on and off- crawling up and down- on and off- quite content. I need content today. I don't seem to have enough energy for anything else. Sometimes the stars align. Happy Sunday Everyone.
It's a slow and quiet one here. I spilled my milky cereal all over my couch this morning (grrrrrrr) and now that all the couch cushions are off and drying it seems to be the perfect new playplace for Claude. He's been keeping himself very busy putting things on and off- crawling up and down- on and off- quite content. I need content today. I don't seem to have enough energy for anything else. Sometimes the stars align. Happy Sunday Everyone.
1.07.2011
where we're headed... ROME!
I've been sitting on some very exciting news. As I mentioned I have a lot of big plans for this new year... and the biggest and possibly most exciting- ROME! Jay, Claude and I will be leaving in early February for an extended stay in the magical city of magical cities- ROME! Let me say it again ROME ROME ROME!
This trip has been in the works for a while but it's taken some time to nail down all the details and get my head around what it all means for this, my little cottage industry. I'm still unsure about how it will work but as it stands now I will be taking a break from sewing for at least the 3 months we're away. This is hard to imagine right now- but more details to come (Monday?) on how the Valentines Update will look and shortly after, info on my plans post-trip. I know I know, more mystery! but there is so much change going on right now I can only wrap my head around one "plan" at a time.
So now that we've gotten some of the "business" out of the way, let's talk about ROME! As I may have mentioned before, Jay is also an artist. He's represented by a gallery in Rome and two years ago we went to install his last solo show there and fell in love with the city (not to mention the gallery and it's director). Check out the photo below- I was 4 months pregnant with Claude then... ohhhh the ease of traveling without a baby- ok, I don't even what to think about the plane ride right now- - - - So Jay has another solo show planned for this April and instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on shipping all the finished works, the gallery has asked us to come live there while Jay makes the pieces for the show. They have a lovely house for us to stay in (at the end of the block you can see the walls of the old city - amazing!) and a place for him to work. That's a hard offer to pass up and why would we?! We've found friends to live in our house and keep everything settled here, Claude is still so young and relatively easy to travel with and life is short! We'll arrive in Rome on Valentines Day and Jay will have a little over a month and a half before his show opens. There's lots of work to be done in that time, but knowing him there will be a fair amount of familytime in there too. Friends and Family are making plans to visit us and after his show is installed and open we plan to do more traveling around. This will be the first time in my adult life that I haven't worked (add a good half my teens to that too!). I'm looking forward to spending all my time with Claude and Jay- exploring a new place and learning and seeing and experiencing my life with new perspective...
This should be quite a journey.
here we go...
This trip has been in the works for a while but it's taken some time to nail down all the details and get my head around what it all means for this, my little cottage industry. I'm still unsure about how it will work but as it stands now I will be taking a break from sewing for at least the 3 months we're away. This is hard to imagine right now- but more details to come (Monday?) on how the Valentines Update will look and shortly after, info on my plans post-trip. I know I know, more mystery! but there is so much change going on right now I can only wrap my head around one "plan" at a time.
So now that we've gotten some of the "business" out of the way, let's talk about ROME! As I may have mentioned before, Jay is also an artist. He's represented by a gallery in Rome and two years ago we went to install his last solo show there and fell in love with the city (not to mention the gallery and it's director). Check out the photo below- I was 4 months pregnant with Claude then... ohhhh the ease of traveling without a baby- ok, I don't even what to think about the plane ride right now- - - - So Jay has another solo show planned for this April and instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on shipping all the finished works, the gallery has asked us to come live there while Jay makes the pieces for the show. They have a lovely house for us to stay in (at the end of the block you can see the walls of the old city - amazing!) and a place for him to work. That's a hard offer to pass up and why would we?! We've found friends to live in our house and keep everything settled here, Claude is still so young and relatively easy to travel with and life is short! We'll arrive in Rome on Valentines Day and Jay will have a little over a month and a half before his show opens. There's lots of work to be done in that time, but knowing him there will be a fair amount of familytime in there too. Friends and Family are making plans to visit us and after his show is installed and open we plan to do more traveling around. This will be the first time in my adult life that I haven't worked (add a good half my teens to that too!). I'm looking forward to spending all my time with Claude and Jay- exploring a new place and learning and seeing and experiencing my life with new perspective...
This should be quite a journey.
1.06.2011
fabric- DONE and done...
Here are a handful of designs I finished today... I like the idea of making little strips of fabric for seam binding or trim... we'll see how it all comes out. I've gotten fabric printed with Spoonflower before and I've been really happy with the quality, but I have a hard time envisioning how my design/color/scale/etc. will look when it's done. Fingers crossed it works out the way I'm hoping.
(check out the little shirt I made for claude a while back with the Spoonflower knit)
1.05.2011
Let's see here...
what have I been doing?
I'm a little out of practice after taking this last month off from blogging. I forgot about how much time it takes to actually get a post up nearly everyday. So HELLO FROM TODAY! I've been running around like a crazy woman this last week- in a state of completely controlled chaos but never the less running all week. Getting all of my work done for my new project with Emily- dullDiamond- set for our launch date of Jan. 1st, working on the handful of new pieces for the upcoming Valentines Update (YES THERE WILL BE ONE!- a little different than normal though- more info to come) and a few other upcoming projects. Ohhh I have a little too much going on but I guess that's how I like it. Everyone who knows me knows I'm not still for long- unless I'm on vacation- then I do absolutely nothing- really really well.
So to add to the long list of things I was working on today- I thought about making more fabric and ordering it from Spoonflower. Maybe some for the Valentines pieces??? Well this is all I have done so far- it still needs a whole lot more work, but I like the direction it's headed in... could be some really cute dress fabric:
I'm a little out of practice after taking this last month off from blogging. I forgot about how much time it takes to actually get a post up nearly everyday. So HELLO FROM TODAY! I've been running around like a crazy woman this last week- in a state of completely controlled chaos but never the less running all week. Getting all of my work done for my new project with Emily- dullDiamond- set for our launch date of Jan. 1st, working on the handful of new pieces for the upcoming Valentines Update (YES THERE WILL BE ONE!- a little different than normal though- more info to come) and a few other upcoming projects. Ohhh I have a little too much going on but I guess that's how I like it. Everyone who knows me knows I'm not still for long- unless I'm on vacation- then I do absolutely nothing- really really well.
So to add to the long list of things I was working on today- I thought about making more fabric and ordering it from Spoonflower. Maybe some for the Valentines pieces??? Well this is all I have done so far- it still needs a whole lot more work, but I like the direction it's headed in... could be some really cute dress fabric:
1.01.2011
it's a new year----> and time to unvail new projects!
The new year arrives just in time- after the gluttony of the holidays I always feel like it's time to change things up, look ahead and dream really big dreams of boundless happiness for the new year. I have to much to share with you - new directions- new adventures and new partnerships- but really one thing at a time...
First, let me wish you all a hearty HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you have a wonderful year ahead- and THANK YOU for coming here to visit and support my work... Since I've been making teddy bears and animals for so long it's always hard to nail down exactly how many years I can say I've been at it- do I count from age 11 when I made and sold my first bear? or 22 when I renewed my interest and quit all of my other jobs in order to put myself through college by sewing? or later when I launched my website and began making and selling much like I do today? There are so many milestones, but this year- 2011 finds me reminiscing because in 2001 I graduated from college. How could ten years have passed already? How time flies and (insert Beatles melody here) I have to admit it's getting better, getting better all the time... so WELCOME 2011!
Now, for the first bit of exciting news. My dear friend Emily and I have collaborated on a fun new project– an etsy store we have named the dullDiamond (and a blog to announce store updates and other bits). It's been in the works for ummmmmm- months and months now, but since we're both a little busy with a million things not to mention our little boys! (she's a mother of 2- a 3 and a half year old and a little bunch of goodness who's only 2 weeks older than Claude) it took us quite a while to get it all set up. Making stuff has been the easy part. All goods in the shop are handmade by us and for now we're featuring beaded jewelry and ceramics. This project has no expectations or boundaries...which means it is all funfunfun... what we make will depend on what we feel like making- that's a good very thing.
Now, for the first bit of exciting news. My dear friend Emily and I have collaborated on a fun new project– an etsy store we have named the dullDiamond (and a blog to announce store updates and other bits). It's been in the works for ummmmmm- months and months now, but since we're both a little busy with a million things not to mention our little boys! (she's a mother of 2- a 3 and a half year old and a little bunch of goodness who's only 2 weeks older than Claude) it took us quite a while to get it all set up. Making stuff has been the easy part. All goods in the shop are handmade by us and for now we're featuring beaded jewelry and ceramics. This project has no expectations or boundaries...which means it is all funfunfun... what we make will depend on what we feel like making- that's a good very thing.
Here's a peak at some of the beautiful bits we've been working on.
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