Revamped Vintage Necklaces in the middle of the night.

I could not go to sleep for the life of me last night. That being said I was up until 4am making new Revamped Vintage Necklaces. They are not on the web site yet, but they should be soon.

Oh and here is an article I found last night that mentions me called Getting Your Product in the Spotlight. Actually a really good marketing article. It popped in to my Inbox somwhere in-between watching The China Syndrome with Chris and adding new Crafty Curios to my ETSY shop.

Hooray the sun is out! I bought new plants this week I need to get into the ground, including an herb garden. Whoo-hoo for pineapple mint!

Iqons, Stylehive, Lov.li, Facebook - so many sites, so little time.

So as far as I can tell My Space is on the outs. I still have a space, with over 12,000 friends I might add, I'm just saying things are not the same. Now people just paste ads all over your page. Me included. It used to be a great place to connect with people and find other crafty goodness.

This being the case I am moving on to greener pastures and trying to learn the nuisances of some different sites. My friend Susan invited me to join her on a new networking site for crafters called Lov.li and I signed up. Beyond signing up and adding a few friends I have not done a whole lot on Lov.li, but I think it has potential.

The cute little badge below is for Style Hive. I have been getting emails for at least a couple of years from Style Hive letting me know when someone has added me to their collection. You can add things you want to your "hive". You can follow other people that you think have great taste. For instance I found Tricia Royal of Bits and Bobbins and Wardrobe Remix and am following her and her impeccable taste. You can set up wish lits and all kinds of other cool options. I'm just starting to understand how it works.

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If your on Stylehive click my badge and we can be friends, or followers, or however it works.

Speaking of fashion another networking site I signed up for is Iqons. The site seems pretty cool, but is really slow and has a few kinks they need to work out. Like it is so slow I can't get the link to my page to pull up. My guess is the site is taking off and more people are getting on there than they expected.

Yesterday on Etsy I read about a site called Ma.gnolia. From what I can tell the site is an online place to share your favorite website links. There are also groups you can join so I am a member of the Etsy group.

While learning Ma.gnolia someone mentioned two other sites I was not familiar with called Technorati which is something to do with blogs, but I am not sure what. I also learned about Stumbleupon and Linked In.

I have a Facebook account too and once upon a time I had a Friendster accont, but I think I deleted that one. So many networking websites, so little time.

Road Trip Nation

Months ago my cousin Johnny and his friend Will asked if they could interview me for Road Trip Nation and I said sure. I had seen one on Paul Frank that I thought was awesome so I was psyched to be a part of it. Anywhoodle today via my google alerts I found a preview to the interview which is a mash up of a Jerry Jeff Walker interview.

Please also note my Ramonsterwear Dress.

Chris and I were bad and cut CSI class last night. We went to Pluckers for fried macaroni, Dr. Pepper flavored chicken wings and Shiner Bock instead. It felt so wrong, but yet so right. I hope last night wasn't the night where we got to dust for finger prints or splatter blood.

You Grow Girl an Interview with Gayla Trail

Since I have been blogging and thinking about gardening so much lately I thought today I would repost the interview I did with Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl.

Several years ago when I did the interview for my zine Gayla only had her website with tons of gardening tips. Now there is a You Grow Girl Book which is equally amazing. If you are a girl or guy in need of some gardening advice You Grow Girl is the place for you!

I am going to spice the interview up with pictures of my gardening I did this weekend!

At what point in your life did you know you were addicted to plants? Was there anything in particular that set you off down the green thumb path?

I really started buying plants and trying to grow them in highschool. I had my own apartment so it just kind of happened naturally. I don't remember ever making a conscious decision. At the time I didn't know what I was doing. I learned the odd thing in my grade 13 Biology class and that was when I thought maybe I should start reading up on it. I had basic scientific knowledge (like cellular respiration and transpiration) but I didn't have practical knowledge or a sense of geopgraphy about plants (where certain plants came from and how that affected their care and needs). My Biology teacher actually gave me some spider plant cuttings from the classroom plants and I still have offspring from that cutting. However it was years later before I ever really got around to reading about plants in a practical sense. I started off buying books in thrift stores that were all circa 1970's. They were mostly dusty with that water damage mold smell. It wasn't until a few years ago that I really started to make a concerted effort to learn about what I was doing. I knew the odd thing from books, but most of my knowledge was either common sense or based on experimentation.

Why did you decide to start You Grow Girl? Tell us a little about the site.

It was a few years ago. Out of nowhere I had really started going crazy with plants. I was making a real effort to learn more and I was trying to grow everything from citrus pits from the supermarket to anything I could find at my local corner store. My deck was filled with my experiments. Looking around on the web I noticed that there wasn't much for people in my age bracket (under 45). Everything was still geared to what I felt was a really conservative perspective on gardening. I wanted to do something that was about gardening but also just about plants in general. I'm not just into plants because it's fun and relaxing and makes my apartment look nice. The more I learn, the more fascinated I become with the complexity of the Plant Kingdom. Plants are crazy. They're like aliens. They are so different from animals yet also very alike. I wanted to do something that projected those feelings. I think that most gardening literature doesn't leave you with a sense of respect and wonderment. Since then I have found a few things that do. But they are so few and far between. People don't respect plants because they don't notice them. For too long the mentalilty of "that plant is a weed and that plant is a prized rare specimen" or "rip everything out and put something foreign in" have prevailed. Those attitudes need to be changed. Plants as a way to increase your property value despite the fact that the environment is being destroyed by the fertilizers and chemicals used to grow them.

I was already working as a designer and building sites for a living so making the site made sense. My friend Beate is a writer and she had the same values and interest in plants so I asked her to help me. It was years before I actually got around to doing the site. The name came about as a joke because a friend was making fun of my experiments and said that I should have a show on the local community cable station called "You Grow Girl". I thought it was a funny and memorable name so I registered the domain.

OK, for a novice at gardening in general, what is a good starter plant? Let’s assume our typical reader has little more than an apartment balcony to work with.

Well I now have little more than that to work with so I can relate. I think that as far as house plants go the absolute easiest from my experience has got to be Mother-in-Law's Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata). They'll withstand light or shade and they are relatively drought tolerant. They are very forgiving plants.

For on the deck it depends on the light intensity. The traditional annuals such as marigolds are always easy. But I think if you have limited space then go for something that you can use. There are lots of flowers that can be eaten such as some of the scented geraniums, nasturtiums violas, and calendula to name a few. You can grow a hanging basket of strawberries very easily.

To fertilize or not to fertilize that is the question. Then the second deep thought would be, do you think all fertilizers are created equal? Is there any you recommend in particular?

Definitely fertilize. Especially flowering plants. I believe in organic fertilizers 100% now. No more drop solutions and powders. My favourite fertilizer for indoor plants are worm castings. They do an amazing job, they don't burn the plants and they don't smell. Obviously outdoor garden plants need something else. Unless you are producing your own castings using a vermicomposter, it would be expensive to use on the garden. In the last few years I've become very happy with sea kelp (bought dried and mixed with water). Compost tea is extremely good as well. Plus you can water it down and use it on the leaves as foliar spray. fertilizers are important because it puts nutrients back into the soil and creates a healthy environment for your plants. The healthier your plants are, the more resistant they are to disease and insects. It's just like human health. An ounce of prevention...

In your opinion if you have the yard and the space, is making a home compost pile worth the trouble?

It is absolutely worth it. Instead of going into the landfill, all that organic matter is recycled and put back into the soil (which means richer, better soil). Not only is it environmentally the right thing to do, but it is economically beneficial as well.

Herbs seem to be a biggie that people try and grow. Are there any that are harder than others to grow. If you have the option is it better to grow herbs in a container or in the ground?

The difficulty comes in trying to grow things that aren't right for your climate. For instance lavender can be somewhat difficult in my zone because they sometimes don't make it through the winter despite proper mulching. I grow a lot of herbs on my deck every year. I use them a lot in cooking and for tea.

I think that with the exception of invasive plants such as mint, herbs are better grown in the ground. But that doesn't mean you can't grow them in containers. I grow lots of herbs in containers with little trouble. The key is to pick the right container for the plant and also pick the right location. If you have a shady balcony then don't choose something that needs lots of light and vice versa. I grow lots of basil on my deck every year very successfully. Plants like chives, mint, lemon balm, oregano, coriander, catnip are all easy to grow. Sage can be somewhat more difficult because it is susceptible to a disease called powdery mildew.

I've seen whole herb gardens grown very effectively in kid's swimming pools filled with potting soil. This year I'm building big wooden troughs for growing mine.

For someone starting their very first vegetable garden, what is some good advice? Are any veggies any easier to grow than others? Are some pretty tricky?

I don't have a lot of experience with vegetable gardens. We had a garden on and off during my childhood and about 8 years ago I lived in a student house with a yard and I dug up and planted a huge vegetable garden there. I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing and it worked out fine. I find things like carrots, lettuce, radishes, onions and beans very easy to grow. Even tomatoes do well if you can avoid the slugs. I think plants such as squash (zucchini etc) can be somewhat more difficult because they are susceptible to some insects. Beate is the veggie garden expert. She has a huge garden and grows large crops of organic veggies every year.

Again, for the apartment dwellers, any vegetables that are particularly easy to grow in a container?

This I have experience with. I grow tomatoes every year. Choose dwarf varieties such as tiny tim. As long as you provide enough sun and water and the deepest containers you can find, they'll do well. I've grown tomatoes in large detergent buckets but had more success with large galvanized metal tubs. Leafy greens such as arugula and leaf lettuce are also extremely easy to grow in containers. You can even grow them in small pots if you plant one plant per pot. I've grow radishes, carrots, onions, peas... In the case of carrots choose the half-sized varieties. That way you can avoid requiring depth. Just about anything can be grown in containers. Make sure to monitor the amount of water they get, place them somewhere where they get the appropriate light and fertilize regularly with compost tea or another organic fertilizer. I highly recommend a book called "Urban Eden" by Adam and James Caplin about growing edibles in small spaces.

Mulching, how important is it? And then what kind of mulch do you prefer black plastic, cedar chips, the list seems to go on.

I use cedar chips and leaves. I don't have a mulch preference; that just seems to be the most readily available. I often have to take what I can get as I don't drive so I rely on friends to transport me to the garden centres. Although aesthetically I do like the reddish colour of the wood against the green of the foliage. Of course leaves are free mulch and I can't argue with free.

Is there any garden pest to watch out for like no other? Any arch enemy to all plants? I have a constant battle with snails and slugs in particular, any advice on killing off the slimy suckers?

I think it depends on your location. What plagues me might not even be a factor to someone else. My worst enemy used to be the aphid. I have a better understanding of how to avoid it now. Slugs are hard. Most insects can be controlled with natural predators (such as stocking your garden with lady bugs) or by making sure your plants are really healthy and resilient and don't provide an opportune environment for insects. With slugs it's more about diverting them away from your plants. The beer trap seems to be a preferred method for most people. Dig a hole. Place a container of beer into the hole and the slugs will be attracted, fall in, get drunk and die. Or for a more hidden effect you can cut a pop bottle in half (the pop bottle is a versitile garden tool), turn the top upside down and place it inside the bottom half with the funnel facing down. Pour some beer into the bottom and place that in a hole in the ground with the top near the surface. The slugs will fall through the funnel to get to the beer.

Could you please shed some light on this sterilization of your pots thing? Should I be wearing rubber gloves or what?

If you are using bleach then you should wear gloves to protect your hands. I find that oxygenated bleach aka hydrogen peroxide is a good, safe, environmentally safe way to sterilize pots. Soak them in hot water, scrub with some all-purpose cleanser and then soak them in hot water with some of the hydrogen peroxide.

Another issue that confuses me is when you read to pot a plant with a soil-less potting mixture. What is soil-less?

Good question. Soil-less potting mix is a mix that basically contains no soil. That means no humus, clay, silt or sand--all components of soil. A soil-less mix is considered to be the best for seed starting because it is light and airy with good drainage yet it holds water well--which is ideal for growing seeds. Potting soil tends to become compact, and depending on its purpose can actually be less water absorbant. Soil-less mix is also sterile which means no diseases that can harm fragile seedlings.

When outdoor gardening, vegetables and flowers, do you use starts or seeds?

I use both. If you want to grow a lot of one thing, seeds are the most economically feasible. Seeds are also good because you can get unusual or heirloom varieties that often aren't available as seedlings, and you can trade seeds with friends. I suggest getting together with friends and splitting the cost on a bunch of packs of seeds. If you split up the packs there's always lots to go around for everyone and it is much cheaper. Seedlings are good if you don't have the space or time to start seeds indoors.

How relevant is the zone in which you live?

Very relevant. This will determine how much rain you get, how much sun, the temperature, how long the growing season is... I think the key to growing plants is to understand the environment (natural habitat) each plant originated from. If you can mimick that environment, your plant will be happy. If you can't mimick that environment, or it's too much work for you then forget it. In your garden the best plants to chose are the ones that are indigenous to your region.

Is there any one key piece of gardening wisdom you like to pass down to people?

The above answer would be my first bit of advice. My second is to lighten up and relax. Talk to other people and find out what they're doing and what they're growing. There's a million ways to go about things in order to come to the same conclusion. There are often many "right ways" and not just one "perfect way". Thirdly you don't need to spend a lot of money on "the right tools" and "the right equipment" in order to grow healthy plants and create a nice environment. That's a fallacy that has been perpetuated in order to entice you into spend lots of money on needless stuff. Buy the tools you do need from auctions or garage sales. Older tools are often better anyway.

Rubber Faced Doll Paintings and Etsy.

Yesterday I had so much fun sitting around and sorting through my stash putting together new and exciting Crafty Curios packs. There is something oddly relaxing about putting together packs of crafty goodness. Maybe it is just me. Anywhoo check out my ETSY store to see all the new goodies. I am also working on some Packs O' Paper to add to the line for all you collage nuts out there.

I also snuck some new pins onto Naughty Secretary Club when you were not looking. Peep all the new brooches with things like unicorns and rainbows.

In other exciting news I went by sister's house today to meet her new taxidermied animal heads Maddox and Pax and saw the new painting she is working on. It is based on my collection of Dream Pets and Rubber Faced Dolls. I might cry if I don't own it.

Roman Polanski learns how to garden in the Craft Lab.

I spent my Saturday uploading a few new Crafty Curios to my ETSY shop and doing some gardening. The front flower bed of my house has looked down right embarrassing for so long now. I also was so excited to find a Fuchsia at Lowes. They are my very favorite and I can never find them. After I finish this blog I am going out to concur some more of the front yard. Chris started his annual garden in the backyard complete with tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, cucumber and more. The guy has a green thumb. Oh and we capped the night off watching (and reading) an older Roman Polanski movie called Knife in the Water. Friday night I had been to see Zodiac with Hope, Karly and Erin and incase I forget to mention it later it sucked. Man was it too long.

Don't forget weekdays at 11am to tune in to DIY Network for episodes of Craft Lab. I just found out they are not planning to show the fun new season 2 episodes that were on HGTV earlier this year until fall. That makes me sad since I am a little burnt out on the reruns. If you are sick of the reruns and wanna see the new episodes feel free to send a Craft Lab Love Letter to DIY.

Ok on to this week's episodes! MONDAY Lisa Shepard Stewart stops by and she and I make some wonderful home decor items and learn about African Design. TUESDAY it's origami with Jeremy Shafer. WEDNESDAY Leonila Arboleda and I come up with some Creative Produce Displays. AKA watch me try to carve fruit. THURSDAY Darlene Schaper shows me how to do Encaustic Wax Collage. Her art is amazing! FRIDAY we are making Cloth Dolls with Patt Culea. Also on Friday I hang out with Walter and Gwen Knabe and do some Crafting with Dad.

Don't forget also on DIY Network to watch Stylelicious on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:00pm. TUESDAY see Tina, Susann and Hope do a Decade Do Over. Make some 70's boots and lacy 80's belts. THURSDAY is a sentimental episode for me because it is the first one we ever filmed and I was so nervous I could die. And not because of the blazer I was wearing. Vickie, Jesse and I Spice Up some fun stuff like these customized panties!

500 Hand Bags a Call for Entries

Do you make awesome purses that you want looked at by a Project Runway winner and published in a book? Then read on...

Lark Books has sent a call for entries for their latest addition to their 500 series read on to see the email that came in my inbox. Wish they had written when they were doing 500 earrings or necklaces. Maybe I will submit the purse I made out of training panties for an episode of Stylelicious.

Call for Entries
500 Handbags

Juror: Jay McCarroll
Editor: Suzanne Tourtillott

Lark Books seeks images of striking, stylish, and out-of-the-ordinary handbags for a juried collection of work from artists, makers, and designers from around the globe for the upcoming book 500 Handbags. Professional fashion designer Jay McCarroll, winner of Bravo’s debut season of the hit show Project Runway, will be jurying images submitted for this book. A diverse assortment of bags will be considered—from teeny evening clutches to rugged bags designed for men—with one-of-a-kind, handmade, and/or limited edition pieces strongly preferred. A wide range of materials, techniques, and looks are desired. To be released in the fall of 2008, this book aims to showcase a fabulous, fun, and funky collection that will inspire amateur crafters, professional designers, and everyone in between.

To be considered for inclusion, please submit high-quality transparencies, slides, or digital images with entry forms. There is no entry fee. Entries must be postmarked by May 1, 2007.

Guidelines & entry forms Can be found on our web site:

One the web:
http://www.larkbooks.com/submissions/ArtistEntryForm-500Handbags.asp

Via e-mail: squinn@larkbooks.com

Dutch is the New Black

Craft Lab and Top Design share a guest.

Yesterday I decided to catch up on some episodes of Top Design. It was the episode where Michael gets kicked off and they have to design a chef’s dining room. It was not a riveting episode or anything but someone I know made a cameo. For one split second when they are shopping for the room you see Michael in an outside room talking to a woman whose name flashes across the screen as Wanda Wen. I was like wait, hold it, rewind, I know her for some reason. Then it dawned on me, Wanda was on an episode of Craft Lab called Artful Gift Wrap. It was a fun episode where we wrapped presents in leaves and used sealing wax. I felt special like by 6 degrees of separation I have a connection to Top Design.

Craft Cast with Alison Lee

Our first CSI class was last night as I mentioned yesterday. It is taught by Louis L. Akin, LPI. Seems like the class is going to be interesting. We talked about how bad eye witness testimony is and watched some gruesome videos of actual murder scenes and then had to discuss what we had seen afterwards. Most of us were wrong about what we swore we saw just minutes before. When Chris and I got home we watched Law and Order SVU to practice the new skills we had acquired.

My interview with Alison Lee of Craft Cast is now live. Click here to listen to Allison and I chat about Craft Lab, Naughty Secretary Club, The Austin Craft Mafia, Stitch and more. She has lot’s of awesome interviews on her site with people like Carol Duval, Claudine Hellmuth and Vickie Howell.

The most important thing that happened yesterday is I got the nails taken off. I got out of the shower and decided to start typing some emails and after total frustration I grabbed the nail clippers and started hacking away at the nails. This was not working at all so with wet hair I jumped in my car and went to the nearest nail bar ran in and pleaded for someone to take the things off. It took two people one on each hand. Oh it was icky and painful. There is that constant feeling of your fingernail being tugged away from it’s happy home on your finger as they pry the tips off. They were fun while they lasted, but adios Mr. Solar Nails.

Hi-Top Tennis Shoes, New Jewelry and a CSI Class.

During SXSW I decided I want a pair of high top tennis shoes, but making a life choice is killing me. The French artist Fafi has a new line out with Adidas that are amazing. The yellow and the pink ones rawk my face off. Then there are the awesome pink polka dotted Creative Recreation shoes. Which pair should I get, the choice is just too much for me to take.

Besides dreaming about new shoes yesterday was spent putting together orders and setting up my new entertainment center. Whoa is it big. I also added some super duper cute nostalgic notions bracelets with windmills and fruit to the website. Over in my Etsy store I added some new Crafty Curios.

I am very excited because tonight Chris and I start our CSI class. We love shows like Forensic Files and Law and Order so when we saw UT was offering a CSI informal class we totally signed up. Here is the description..

Crime Scene Investigation - This class will present actual homicide scenes and is not for the faint at heart. The class, however, will be a fun balance of lecture and hands on exercises. We'll spatter blood, find latent prints, calculate bullet trajectories (paths) and witness a murder (on video) to analyze. The class will also include instruction on witness interviews. Bring $5 for handouts. Louis L. Akin is a licensed professional investigator with 23 years of experience investigating murder, suicide, accidental, and equivocal deaths.

SXSW 2007 Roundup

I don’t even know where to start since SXSW is all kind of blur. Non-stop parties, Austin Craft Mafia booths, out of town friends and more. I’d like to start with saying now that I am back to my real life I am over the amusement of the acrylic nails. They were a fun accessory for the week, but when it comes to things like typing and texting they are not awesome.

Let’s start with Wednesday since it is the first real day of the festival. Another important note about this SXSW roundup is that I did not have a pass to the festival. Most locals just RSVP to all the free parties during the day and late at night. That way you get to see all the bands plus free food and booze in most cases. I went more for the parties this year rather than the music.

So on to Wednesday… I can’t remember the order in which this day occurred, but I do remember there were a lot of parties. This was the day where we floated around to make sure we got our wristbands to everything. You RSVP, but this does not guarantee entry into anything. We went to Emo’s where we saw a bit of The Smoking Popes and hooked up some friends. Erin, Jeff and I went to Mohawk for The Austinist Party where my friend Justin was nice enough to VIP us and we got free food and drinks. We left just before Architecture in Helsinki played. Somewhere in-between here we also went to Beauty Bar to secure our wristbands for the Puma/Urb party and over to Casino El Caminos. The big party every year is thrown by Fader Magazine and Levis and luckily we all were on the list for this party as well. The venue was awesome, free drinks and an Aqua Teen Hunger Force room. Later in the evening Erin and I popped into another party or two then over to meet Hope and Kurt at Side Bar. Without an official SXSW wristband you can’t get in most places at night. I was taking Jeff to day shows and Chris had bought a wristband to take him out at night. By 10 I was home in bed.

Thursday I started the day by setting up my stuff for the Austin Craft Mafia booth at South by San Jose. I also restocked Parts and Labour. Erin swung by and picked Jeff and I up off of S. Congress and we were on Red River before 1. We were some of the first people into the Bust Magazine Party at Red 7. We snagged copies of the magazines and said hi to some people. The ladies of Northern State were their DJing the event so I got to introduce myself. I was sad we were not able to make it across town for the Venus Party. Early on we realized that my Fader wristband had fallen off at home so that meant I could not get into that party. It was just as well because I had to go and work at the booth with Travis at 3. It was actually really good because I got to hear Octopus Project play as I worked. After my shift I met the gang at Serranos for a quick dinner. Jeff split off for night time shows and Erin and I made our way to the Red Scoot Inn for the NASA party where Spank Rock and Bonde de Role were playing. Here we met up with Cory, Whitney, Hope and Kurt. Erin and I actually only made it until Kid Sister played (who was awesome) then Cory AKA our ride was leaving and so were we.

Friday for some reason I decided to wear overalls. We floated around and saw some good shows. Sondre Leche was at Beauty Bar and I found it we left right before Plastic Little played! Caught like 2 songs by the Pipettes at Emo’s and saw The Annuals at Mohawk. Over at Fader we saw Amy Whinehouse play while Katherine and I looked for Perez Hilton. That day on the street I had passed by Thurston Moore and Perry Farrell and I was looking for Perez Hilton. Oh well. We all ran over to Jackalope for quick bite and hopped to a few more parties. That night was the I Heart Comix after party at Blue Genie. Though I had RSVPed the line was so long it would have taken hours to get in. Luckily I saw my friend Kevin who is one of the owners and he gave Cory, Erin and I all wristbands. Inside the bar was crazy crowded, but free again. The first band on was The Federation and they were awesome. They sang my new My Space song “Stunna Glasses at Night" and everything. It was loads of fun getting to see everyone, but sadly the party was shut down by the police pretty early on. Was supposed to go until 5am, but the fire marshal was not having that apparently. So by accident another earlyish night to bed.

Saturday was by far the longest day that about broke me. Erin had to go back to work but Cory had the day off to play with Jeff and I. We started the afternoon early with free bloody marys and Cuban food at Habana for the Nylon party. We saw We are Monsters play. After their set we ran over to Mohawk to catch Page France. From here we popped into Beauty Bar to say hi to some people. Grabbed some pizza then headed to Lovejoys. At some point we went over to the Flatstock poster show to see my friend Chris from Vermont. We ended up at the Fader party where we saw Redman from Wu Tang and danced to some DJs. Kevin and I walked to my booth at San Jose where I sat until 10ish when Susann and I went back to her house. We had gotten wind that the Vice Magazine after party had been moved to the Elks Lodge. I never made it to pick up my wristband for this party but what do you know Susann is an elk. This party was totally wild and crazy and was supposed to go all night. Saw a lot of friends and got to watch Les Savy Fav play a few songs. Eventually the police came to shut this party down too. On our way out Susann and I realized that the railing and outside wall to their balcony had fallen off. How no one was hurt I will never know. I got a text in the parking lot from Cory saying “just saw the wall fall and Kirsten Dunst arrive”.

Needless to say yesterday I laid on the couch all day and this week I am not leaving the house and working non-stop. SXSW is fun, but man it will suck the energy out of you.

15% off sale at Naughty Secretary Club

Naughty Secretary Club is so excited about our sponsor spotlight over at Modish that we are having a 15% off sale!

When you check out use voucher code 155063027 to receive your discount!

In other exciting news my interview at E-Commerce is online if you are looking for something to read.

Jeff is leaving today and I plan on cleaning my mess of a house and writing my SXSW recap for tomorrow's blog. Juicy details about Amy Whinehouse, The Federation and collapsing balconies.

Shop with the Austin Craft Mafia during SXSW

Come say hi to the Austin Craft Mafia during SXSW at Joe’s Coffee on S. Congress. We have a fun filled booth set up in the parking lot of Joe’s/San Jose hotel with lots of crafty goodness!

Don’t forget to pop up the street into Parts and Labour where you can find more goodies by Naughty Secretary Club, Sparkle Craft, All Dressed Up and Shy and more!

Crafting and Fake Nails

You know the similarities between fake nails and crafting never really dawned on me before yesterday.

Last week I met a girl in a bar who had tack-a-liscious fake nails. Not like serious french manicures really over the top intentionally tacky nails and I was in love. Yesterday I took jeff for another American experience, the nail salon. Nail bars are what they apparently call them in London. We went to nails 2000 and I got hot pink solar nails with a blue airbrushed section. Not quite as tacky as I would have liked, but they will do. Now typing things like this blog sucks and texting is pretty much not happening.



So on to how it is like crafting. Well first of all the guy filed down my real nails with a Dremel that had a flex shaft wand. I have one of those I use for jewelry. While he was creating the nails I noticed he had Folk Art and Delta paints in his booth. What the craft paint is for I am not sure. When it came to airbrushing the nails he used a tiny stencil. Speaking of airbrushing I have done that twice on Craft Lab. So see nail art and crafts are a lot alike.

If you live in Austin and want to see my new nails live in person tonight stop by The Parlor on North Loop. I’ll be there for the Beta Valentine CD release show and to see Omega Monster Patrol play. Plus two other bands. Be sure and get there nice and early show starts around 5 and Beta goes on at 10.

Jewelry and Jason Lee

Yesterday must have not been that exciting for our out of town guest Jeff because for the most part we sat at home. It was the day after a vacation so what did he expect. We did manage to go out for Thai Food at Madame Mam’s for lunch and then Magnolia Café for dinner. I’m going to gain 20 pounds while he is here from all the eating. In-between stuffing our face I started preparing for SXSW a bit. I have a shelf at Parts and Labour on S. Congress, right across from the cash registers and I stopped by the store twice yesterday to do some tweaking. I had a Naughty Secretary Club sign made for my booth and I brought in some new baubles for SXSW. Starting Thursday you can find my jewelry in two places on S. Congress. Parts and Labour and the parking lot behind Joe’s Coffee and Hotel San Jose. The Austin Craft Mafia has a booth there for the entire weekend! I have been making some rad new baubles for the event.



Another interesting thing from yesterday. While I sat and stuck price tags on jewelry Jeff and I watched The Alternative on VH1. this show is awesome, but makes me feel a bit sad and old. Sisters of Mercy and New Order videos. Another video we saw was 100% by Sonic Youth. As we were watching I realized the skater in the video is Jason Lee. As in from “My Name is Earl”. Sure I knew Jason used to be a pro skater, I just never knew he was in a Sonic Youth video. Weird dude.

San Francisco Roundup

My whirlwind trip to San Francisco is over! We arrived Tuesday and got home just last night. Erin, Chris, Jeff and I had a wonderful time. We stayed at the Grant Plaza Hotel right in the center of Chinatown and hit about as much of everything as we could.

I want to especially thank Nat at Coquette and Craft for her amazing suggestions on places to go as well as Barbe of the San Francisco Craft Mafia.

Here is a quickie list of what we did.

RESTERAUNTS: Sodini’s, Limon, Stinking Rose, Foreign Cinema, Crepe House, Taqueria Cancun.

BARS: Tonga Room, Beauty Bar, Laslow, Li-Po, Vesuvio, Le Colonial, Casanova, Carnelian Room, Place Pigalle

SHOPPING: Needles and Pens, Paper Tree, American Rag, Villains, Otsu, Kinokuniya, Flax, Double Punch, Beadissmo, Flight 001, City Lights, Japan Center, Minnie Wilde, Candy Store, Ambiance, Shoe Biz.

AREAS: Mission, Hayes Valley, Chinatown, Haight, Presidio, Japantown, Union Square


TOURIST ATTRACTIONS: Pier 39 & Fisherman’s Warf, Golden Gate Bridge, De Young Museum

This was my fourth time to San Francisco so I honestly spent a lot of time shopping rather than doing touristy things. Afterall we don’t have H&M in Texas remember. I was so excited to see the Vivian Westwood exhibit at the De Young Museum, it was incredible. I got the book of her clothing and brace yourself…there was a book of her shoes. Oh my awesome. Another favorite was the Japanese book store Kinokuniya where I stocked up on books and magazines I can’t read. Mags like Kera, Cutie, Nylon and Fruits then lots of home decorating and craft books. It was pretty much heaven. Carrying the books around all day, not rad, but now that they are home I am glad I did it!

Immediately went out again last night after we arrived back in Austin. We had the worst turbulence ever on our flight. I am talking hysterical flight attendents shouting “if you are in the aisle just sit on the floor, don’t try to make it back to your seat”. Something about broken glass in the cockpit was heard on the way out. Needless to say this made mommy need a drinkie so we picked up Hope and all went to Club Deville and Side Bar last night. SXSW and the people watching that is involved is in full swing.

Crocheted Deer Heads

The Elaine Bradford exhibit at Women and Their Work was even more amazing in person. Click here to see more pictures.

Heather Haenes Fund

This is a repost from my friend Tina Sparkles. This is a sad sad story and a good cause.

Just a heads up that the Super Sonic Soul Squad has an important performance coming up this Monday night. We are dancing to help raise money for the Heather Haenes Fund. Last month Heather was in a devastating car accident which resulted in the loss of her legs. I don't personally know Heather, but everytime I think about this, I want to cry. This Monday I will not be crying though, I will be dancing my ass off at a benefit to help raise money for her. There will also be bands, DJs, appetizers, a raffle and a bunch of other fun stuff happening. Tickets are $25 in advance (http://www.hhfund.org/) or $30 at the door. Apparently, artificial limbs are crazy-super-duper insanely out-of-this-world expensive, so every bit of money raised at this event will go directly to her. Please come out and support this very important cause. Monday, March 5, 6pm-2am at Cedar Street, Saba & Malaga.

Sunday in the Trailer Park

Jeff comes all the way from London to visit and Chris and I take him to a trailer park. Well they are about to get rid of the Shady Grove Trailer Park on Barton Springs to build condos so I decided we would take a little walking tour so that I could admire the airstreams. Chris and I honeymooned at a trailer park called The Shady Dell in Bisbee Arizona so I have a soft spot for them.


This wasn’t the only thing we took Jeff to do. As mentioned we also took him to the kite festival and a roller girls game. We also went down to the new 2nd street shopping area in Austin and poked around the fancy pants stores. This is a picture I took of one of the store windows. We almost bought this set of wee little gnomes from Blue Genie over Christmas and now seeing them in this arrangement of succulents I am wishing we had. Look closely one of the gnomes is Nick Nolte and the other is Gene Hackman. Not pictured is the third gnome who looks like Michael Caine. They are pretty awesome.


Other than that we went to Austin Java for breakfast and Jackalope for dinner not to mention Casino El Caminos for a drink in-between.

Having out of town guests makes you treat your hometown like you are on vacation and you end up going to all these new and exciting places you would otherwise never visit. Think today we are headed to the Women and Their Work Gallery to see the Elaine Bradford Freaks of Nature exhibit.

Welcome to the USA Jeff!

I’m just going to break down and have a diet coke at 7:58 am. You know when you get up super early and you can’t go back to bed and you are in denial about it thinking that at any moment you might get tired and be able to go and catch a couple more zzzzz’s? Even though you know in your heart it is not going to happen and you are just going to feel like tired poop for the rest of the day. I woke up at about 3:30am and started playing on the computer and here it is now 8:00am the sun is out and birds are chirping and I am just going to go ahead and have my morning caffeine at this point.

It’s going to be a long day with the kite festival and rollergirls game to go to. Chris and I’s friend Jeff arrived yesterday safe and sound and we have to show him a good time while he is here, hence all the exciting events planned for today. Jeff also did the "Curse of the Midnight Idol" video for Chris’s band Beta Valentine that has Rollergirls in it, so we thought it would be fun for him to see a bout.



This is the sign that Chris and I made to greet him at the airport with. It is really a big sign, the width of a door actually, I know because I taped it to the door of the spare bedroom Jeff is sleeping in when we got home from the airport. Chris and I thought it would be fun to embarrass him at the airport with our sign and we had little American Flags we waved. He has been to visit lots of times and we have been to London to visit him. We just were amused getting the big map and cutting out the big airplane and gluing it on. If you look closely there is a picture of Jeff’s head on the plane and he is saying “I can’t wait to get to Texas” and then there is a picture of the 3 of us in Brighton last year in the center.

Informative Craft Tips

I just found out that March is national Craft Month! I have been saving up a bunch of crafty bulletins to tell you about, but I will just let them all out here to celebrate.


* The Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn is now accepting applications! This is a picture of the Austin Craft Mafia in our booth last year. We had tons of fun doing podcasts with Fred Flare, partying with our friends at 31 Corn Lane and meeting all the fun people that come out. If you are crafty and might want a booth this year will be held at McCarren Park Pool on the 16 + 17 of June.

* Speaking of Fred Flare did you see that they sent out a call for entries for their Next Big Thing Contest? You should totally enter if you make something awesome.



* The Indie Craft Experience or ICE Atlanta has also sent out their call for applications. These are the ladies that brought you the Starlets of Craft Calendar.

* Another Craft show taking applications is the Spring Bada Bing hosted by the Richmond Craft Mafia. I heard about it on their blog. If you live in that area and want to apply, now is your chance.



* In other Craft Mafia news I did a quickie interview for a story on the Baltimore Craft Mafia. I am so jealous that they are called the charm city. I should live there.

* I Heart Rummage is the first Sunday of every month up at the Crocadile Café in Seattle, WA. Tomorrow is the first Sunday so if you are in that neck of the woods stop by.

* If you are having trouble keeping all of these craft fairs straight you might wanna start checking the Indie Craft Shows website.

* My sister Hope has now caught ETSY fever. Check out all her handpainted dresses at www.hotpinkpistol.etsy.com

* One last hot tip. My very favorite online magazine NEET has a new issue out. There is an adroable crafty article on shoes, lots of awesome pictures and so much cute stuff your head will spin.

This and That

* Less than one week on ETSY and I am already confused. They started some sort of constitution and now I am confused as to whether I am allowed to sell what I am selling on ETSY. It says no more vintage goods or factory made goods and the curios are both. But then it says you can still sell craft supplies. I think I am ok, but I am not sure and the whole “tags” thing is confusing too.

* Speaking of things I find confusing, yet intriguing is Stylehive. I always get emails that people have posted about Naughty Secretary Club on there, like this morning. I started my own profile, but I am never sure how it all works. It looks so fun I wanna learn. I need to spend longer than 5 minutes looking it over.

* If you are headed out and about tonight and live in Austin, be sure to stop by the Beauty Bar to see my hubby’s band Beta Valentine play. Don’t forget March 13th at the Parlour is his CD release show.

* I read something very exciting today on Coquette and in an email from my friend at Queen Puff Puff. Vivienne Westwood's 36 Years in Fashion will be on exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from this weekend March 3rd through June 10th. That means I can go see it next week while I am there! This is the only stop on the US tour.

"Vivienne Westwood is both iconoclast and global icon. In the 1970s, she electrified the world with the launch of punk fashion and went on to become one of the most inventive and influential designers of our time. Fashion to her became "a baby I picked up and never put down."

* Another thing I am excited about is shopping in San Francisco. I am hoping to snag myself a piece of art my Lisa Congdon of A Bird in the Hand while I am there and through her site I found two interesting looking shops: Doe and The Candy Store.

* I love the two pictures at the top and bottom of this blog entry. I snagged them both from Cool Hunter. I get their newsletter and don’t always click the link. I love the fashion show with the guitar and old timey radio dresses. I also love the carmel corn packaging, how cute is that.

Crafty Curios on Etsy

So I know just yesterday when I mentioned Etsy I said “more on that coming later”. Well even I didn’t expect to start getting batches of goodies up on Etsy this quick, but I did.

Check out www.naughtysecretaryclub.etsy.com to see my little corner of the Etsy world.

Right now I am not putting jewelry on Etsy because from what I understand you are not supposed to sell things that you also sell on your website. That is why I am starting with the Crafty Curios. I have drawers and drawers of new and vintage bits and bobbins that there is no way I will ever use it all for Naughty Secretary Club jewelry so I might as well clear a little space in my studio. I had so much fun getting out all the tubs of goodies and hand selecting all the little color coded baggies.

I hope $12 is not too much for them. I really tried to make sure every baggie has several things that if I got it in the mail I would be like “YES, this little doo dad is awesome”. Plus each baggie comes with a ring blank, bobby pin blank and ear hooks so that you can make your own piece of revamped vintage jewelry. With a little imagination there is a lot of possibilities in each 4X6” baggie! It even comes with cutesy little packaging.

I am still learning the nuisances of Etsy. I have been shopping on there for awhile. I am getting all excited when people add me to their favorites list because you can click a little link that says “see who loves this seller” and then I can see if people heart me and then I can heart other sellers too. Yesterday I made Travis (my assistant) log in and heart me so I would have at least one person.



Oh and if you are looking for yet another place on the internet to buy Naughty Secretary Club jewelry besides my website and Etsy, check out My My. Taryn has a really awesome website with goodies from lots of other designers too. You might recognize the 3 pink necklaces on the bottom row of this picture. MyMy just started carrying my goodies so if you buy anything tell her I sent ya.