Whitney Lee - Power Craft

My friend Whitney Lee is having an art opening tonight at Women and Their Work here in Austin. If you are town, you should stop by. Whitney is usually known for her PG-13 Latch hook rugs she does through her comapny Made With Sweet Love. Have you seen the clip of the Indie Craft Documentary on You Tube that went around? Well that image that is frozen on there that you click to play is a picture of Whitney standing on one of her giant rugs. Anyway tonight’s show is something a little different. I am hoping to make it out and to the Babes in Business Meeting this evening.

Speaking of art shows I wanted you to see this clip. My sister Hope has entered an art show called Radical Nautical with a couple of fantastical pieces, Buck the singing deer being my favorite. She found the deer head not working and sans antlers at a store in McKinney called a ½ of a ½ and breathed new life into him with a fresh coat of paint and a tattoo of a ship on his neck. Watch the video to see him in action.

Jewelry Rambling and Shopping Suggestions

This past week when I was not having the pee scared out of me on the airplane I flipped through the July 2007 issue of Elle. I firmly believe that Elle is the best of all the major fashion magazines, they always have the most amazing jewelry that much is fer sure (they featured NSC in Elle Accessories, but I need to work on getting into actual Elle). Actually let me go on a diatribe for a minute and mention that some magazines either don’t seem to feature jewelry at all anymore (Teen Vogue) or jewelry that is so delicate and similar to each other it’s hard to tell it is there at all (Lucky). Anywhoo, Elle always comes through for me even when it is telling me about small children using jewelry bits that I have coveted.

Hugh, what?

Well ya see this pirate themed necklace is apparently made by a little girl named Drew. I thought the necklaces on her site were pretty cute, she should set herself up a little Etsy store, but what I really noticed were the giant wooden pirate charms. Why? Because I know where she got them and how much they cost. If you live in Texas and attend the City Wide Garage Sale in Austin, Roundtop Flea Market or Fair Park Flea Market in Dallas you have seen this dealer (he actually sells all over the country). I really like his things, I really like him as a person, but he is SO EXPENSIVE. Last time I was perusing his booth he had these wooden pirate charms and I grabbed handfuls. When I went to check out he informed me that they were $10 a piece because Justin from Subversive Jewelry used them. That does not make them gold, that makes them wood (chipped wood at that). By the way thanks to Natalie for sending me the link to the article about Subversive Jewelry. I have been a fan of his from the first time several years ago when I laid eyes on his pieces at Barneys in New York. I had never seen anything like his jewelry and it seemed quickly everyone was mimicking his layered messy yet calculated chain style. OK so back to the pricey pirates and where I can find fun stuff like that for cheaper.

This dealer I mentioned goes around the country and I am sure buys out dead stock like all the other warehouses in the North East. I am taking a buying trip to Massachusetts and Rhode Island in a couple of weeks and was hoping you might have a suggestion as to where I should go shopping. Do you know some amazing bead places that you want to share? I’d prefer you email them to me (info@naughtysecretaryclub) rather than post them here in the comments. After all, in a world where everyone and their dog makes some sort of revamped vintage jewelry all you have are your obscure findings. So you don’t even have to tell me, but any suggestions on the two states for fun shopping would be greatly appreciated. I know a few warehouses to hit and obviously I am mainly going for the Brimfield Flea Market, but any tips are appreciated.

Blog Contest Winners!!!

So today is the day you have all been waiting anxiously for THE WINNERS OF THE WEEK LONG BLOG CONTEST. Some of the winners were chosen at random, some where the only people that entered and others I thought had the best answer. Keep in mind people answered on both my Blogger and My Space Blogs.

Contests All Week Long on the Blog
This contest was for a crafters prize pack of fun goodies. To enter you had to tell me what you loved, hated or wanted to see more of on Craft Lab. Have you heard the rumors about crafting shows and DIY? If you heart crafty TV shows you better let them know because apparently they think only dudes who watch home improvement shows watch the network. ANYWHOODLE the winner is Danielle of Creations by Danielle. This is a piece of her collage art she said she was inspired by the episodes with Claudine Hellmuth, some of my faves too! Seems like a lot of people watched the show when it was on HGTV briefly but do not get DIY Network. You can write HGTV and tell them you want it back too.

Chicken Poop Bingo and Free Jewelry
Either people love free jewelry or free magazines because more people entered this contest than any other. Out of 30 people it was hard to choose who would win since there was no right or wrong answer to the question, it was just how did you hear about Naughty Secretary Club. I chose waffelle Belgium who entered through My Space and claims to be from Sri Lanka, but sometimes people on My Space joke about such things and for the sake of the raised shipping rates I hope she is just kidding :)

Wreck This Sock and Glove and More Freebies
For this contest you got a free book about Sock Monkeys and a free pair of Hand in Glove Earrings. 19 people entered this one and Stephanie of Tefi Designs is our winner. Not because she has a blog called Ugly Knick-Knacks that I find amusing and not because she blogged about her new Abe Lincoln Bracelet that she got from NSC but because she caught my Smiths reference. I name lot’s of my jewelry after song titles and she mentioned it. Plus she listed some good craft book titles like I asked and it didn’t hurt that my fellow Bead Bloggers gal pal Margot Potter was on her list!

Send Me a Picture and Win Some Free Jewelry
Are you people camera shy or what? Do my actual customers not read my blog? Only one adorable person named Anh entered the contest. We had a late entry by Emma, but we will talk about her on another blog and another day. I am trying to beef up my customer gallery so if you have a picture of yourself in your Naughty Secretary Club jewelry please send that bad boy over. Anywhoodle Anh may have been our only entry, but she looks cute as a button and is showing her love for NSC twice. She is sporting a Nouveau Necklace and wearing a Naughty Secretary Club pin on her hat! Double Whammy, of course she wins!

Fred Flare Next Big Thing Contest
Thanks for all the nice words from everyone about the contest. Ya know now they are choosing one of us to win $1000 and an editorial feature so if you wanted to vote for Naughty Secretary Club I wouldn’t think you sucked. Anywhoo the contest… 22 contestants and 2 prizes. The winner of the Teal Crafty Curios set is Claye who writes the blog On the Level. Her answer to the question about kits stuck with me as I whipped up some new Crafty Curios kits for Etsy. The second prize is a crafty collage curio pack with a doggie theme and the winner is Chanya of the blog Color Struck.

Chris Boehk – The Day I Realized I Might Not Make It.
7 people entered to win a prize pack of goodies from Has Anyone Ever Told You? Records. For this contest you were to think of a song about crafting. I have to say a little lass going by Jen in Leavensux, Kansas who entered through My Space made me giggle. She wrote a parody of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Anyone who watched The Sopranos finale already had that song stuck in their head so sing this crafty version to the same tune…
"Don't Stop Craftin'"
Just a craftin' girl/ living in her studio
She took the midnight train goin' to the craft fair
Just a knittin' boy/ crafty and self-employed
He took the midnight train goin' to the craft fair

An artist in a messy room
A smell of paint and drying glue
For a project they'll stay up all night
It goes on and on and on and on...

PRETTY IN PUNK – A KNITTERS PRIZE PACK.
16 people entered the contest to win a copy of the book and two balls of yarn, but only one could win. I chose Brandi of Blue Girl Designs because in her comment she had the sentence “I love craft books, and mohawks.” and that made me giggle.

Thanks to everyone for entering and leaving your oh-so-informative answers!

5 Days in Vancouver Canada

First of all I want to say that I have officially decided I hate flying. I don’t dislike it, I hate it. I love to travel, but turbulence freaks me out. Even just a little bit that seems to alarm no one else around but me, I really really don’t like it. After almost having a panic attack on the flight from Denver to Austin it is official that I either have to visit the doctor for a prescription when flying or have a cocktail on the flight. I sat up last night ringing my hands thinking of all the flights I have to do for the rest of the year and if there was any way to get out of them. I don’t really have to go that wedding in Maine, flea market in Massachusetts, artist retreat in Phoenix or photo shoot in Cincinnati do I? The answer is yes so I need to figure something out. Actually my trip there was perfect there were just storms to contend with on the way home.

So besides my every growing phobia of flying Vancouver was wonderful.

TUESDAY: As mentioned my flight to Vancouver was smooth sailing, I don’t think I white knuckle gripped anything once. Customs went fine and dandy although I was a little paranoid about it since Jenny had mentioned when she went to Canada to film the same TV show and she was practically put into quarantine. Since I was not getting paid to be on the show I swept right through customs no problems.

She’s Crafty put me up in the luxurious Pacific Palisades Hotel. This place is pricey and I was in a corner suite on the 12th floor with a view of the city. This was awesome because I really got to see downtown Vancouver this way, plus I could see the water. I was exhausted from waking up at like 6am to catch my flight so I did not feel like doing too much this day. I did make my way down Robson Street for a little window shopping. The first thing I noticed was all the amazing street style in Vancouver. I had always heard that fashion wise Canada was fairly subdued but the ladies here rivaled Austin in the eclectic and bright areas. I could have sat on a street corner and taken pictures of all the cute outfits for hours. I have been in NYC, London, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco in the last year-ish and I am telling you the girls in Vancouver have their own thing going. You could put out a Vancouver edition of Fruits or Hel Looks and it would work. Unfortunately I was too tired to take too much in and went back to the room for a nap. I met up with the adorable host of She’s Crafty Wendy Russell in the evening for a little “how do you do” meeting. Wendy is not only the host of She’s Crafty (soon to be seen on HGTV Canada) she is also a member of the Vancouver Craft Mafia. Wendy and I chatted over my first pot of peppermint tea at the hotel restaurant Zin.

WEDNESDAY: Today was the day Chris was to arrive to meet me in Vancouver. He did not have the smooth sailing flight I had. Remember hearing on the news last week about how all of the computers at United Airlines went down? Well of course he flew United and was stranded in Denver for almost 5 hours. Instead of arriving at 1pm it was more like 10pm, but more about that later.

First thing in the morning I was whisked off to the She’s Crafty set which was an adorable loft like setting in East Vancouver. They had the set made up to look like an apartment and everything was so cute and perfect. They shot the show in High Def with very tight close ups. The lighting was gorgeous, but the close ups scare me. Of course I was having one of the worst breakouts ever. On a side note does anyone use Pro Active? I’m to the point of believing P Diddy and Jessica Simpson. ANYWHOO on the show I made a set of TV trays. Well the trays were already trays but they were barfy brown wood ones I found at the thrift store. Wendy and I transformed them into a set of 4 mini chrome mid century modern tables. I was quite pleased with how they turned out and I think the people on the show were too. Wendy was an amazing and gracious host and made my life really easy. We chatted about Naughty Secretary Club and the Austin Craft Mafia as we poured resin and glittered polka dots. I have never been a guest on another show, I am used to being the host so it was nice to get to be the person that makes the craft. Gives you something to do, it reminds me of when we filmed Stylelicious.

So I was done in the early afternoon and headed back to my hotel. From here I did a little more walking around Robson. One of the women on the set had mentioned a store called Winners that I wanted to investigate. Well I am here to tell you Winners is Ross with a different name. Given much cleaner and better things, but you can tell it is the same company that owns Ross. They did have an amazing selection of Wedge shoes, but I used restraint. I hit shops like Zara that we don’t have here and some other more boutique like places. I also noticed that yoga is big in Canada. There was an all yoga all the time channel on the TV, lots of shops selling yoga wear and lots of people wearing yoga pants. Hmmmm.

Back at the hotel I waited for Chris who finally showed as mentioned around 9. He and I sat on the patio of my hotel room and took in the view and ordered room service. Needless to say after his travel mishaps and my standing for hours filming the show we were pooped.

THURSDAY: Life of luxury at the Pacific Palisades was over. I was only scheduled to stay two days in Vancouver to film the TV show, but Chris decided to come up so we could have a little mini vacation. Needless to say we could not afford to stay at the fancy hotel so we promptly moved further west to the Buchan. I liked the picture of Chris carrying my painted suitcase and new lap top bag. The Buchan was stark and plain, but clean. It is the kind of hotel room where you pay a little extra to have a private bathroom and there was no phone or clock in the room let along wireless internet. Fine by me, it was cheap and I wasn’t doing anything more there than sleeping there. We were a bit early to check into our hotel so we dropped off our luggage and headed out for some lunch. With our trusty time out guide in hand we walked down Denman Street and into the wee Kintaro Ramen. Here we were lucky to get a table since there seemed to be a constant line of hungry people. We had the Ramen, but this is not exactly like the kind you heat in the microwave in its Styrofoam cup.

After lunch we were just a hop skip and a jump from Stanley Park so that seemed like the next logical move. We walked around the park for a bit and then I caught wind of a free trolley that would take you around the park and point out the sites. Hooray I love free guided tours. Chris and I saw the Totem Poles, Empress of Japan, lots of trees, a small boy hand feeding a raccoon, boats and more. We could have walked the park, but it is long and I’m out of shape.

After the park we officially checked into our hotel and set out for a full day of adventures. I took Chris up Robson where I made another observation, there are a lot of Starbucks in Vancouver. There are a lot of Starbucks everywhere, but seems like there were a ton here. People get all upset at Wal Mart for being big and everywhere, seems to me like Starbucks in taking over the world little by little. We made our way to Granville Street where we stopped in at the Speakeasy on Granville for a few drinks on the patio. The weather was lovely here with the sun out and temperatures mild.

After our rest we continued shopping around Granville and decided to walk over to Gastown. This was quite the walk and honestly not worth it since I later realized this is the tourist area of Vancouver. The Jazz Fest was also happening while we were there so that made this part of town especially packed. The best part of Gastown was seeing this big faux dinosaur being loaded onto a truck. Chris and I decided to head back to the west end of town and walked up Denman and back. We eventually made our way to a Malaysian Restaurant called The Banana Leaf.

FRIDAY: Rumor had it that I would enjoy the shopping on Main St so that was my main destination for the day. We rode the bus over to Main and started with breakfast at Slickity Jim’s Chat and Chew. I have to say the service here is not that awesome. Seemed like one of those small dive restaurants where the staff gets confused that this is not an elite bar with a VIP room, it’s a greasy spoon restaurant. The food was very similar to Kerby Lane or Magnolia (yummy hearty breakfast treats), the walls were adorned with awesome bric-a-brac, and when eventually a male waiter came on staff and took over everything got better.

After breakfast we headed up Main where we shopped, shopped and shopped some more. I think the only place where I actually made a purchase was a store called ARK. Here I found an awesome metal necklace with a turntable that said “Mafia” and a reproduction souvenir jacket. Remember the 75 times I blogged about the loss of my jacket and how I tried to make up for it last year with a track jacket substitute? My new hot pink and black satin jacket is way more rad.

There were lot’s of other rad shops up and down the strip. Smoking Lily had been recommended and the clothing at Eugene Choo was pricey but amazing. We walked up one side of the street and down the other until we had seen it all. At this point my appetite was wet for shopping so we took the bus to commercial drive. I met up here with Wendy and her sister Toby so I could sign my tables I made on the show. They are having a charity auction after the show films. Not sure that my autograph will help sell the tables any, but it is always nice to be asked. There were more fun shops here, my favorite being Mintage and not just because they were familiar with Naughty Secretary Club and liked my jewelry. One girl at the counter said “It’s like Tarina Tarantino, but better”. Wow that’s a compliment since I just been drooling over her wares over at Blue Ruby on Robson.

While we were in the neighborhood we decided to take the bus over to Chinatown. Apparently there is an amazing night market on the weekends that we were interested in. I have to say for being the second largest China Town in North America I was not that impressed. The shopping is better in San Francisco. Sure I managed to score a few treasures but nothing I was freaking out over. The worst part is the weather had turned to poop and it was cold and raining. Chris and I decided not to wait for the sun to go down and head back towards our hotel.

By the time the bus took us back to our neck of the woods the sun had come back out so we stopped in a coffee shop on Denman called Bo jangles. We had a few drinks and enjoyed the sun and patio where I kept singing “Mr. Bo jangles” compulsively. Eventually hunger set in and we wandered over to Norboo’s on Robson for our first experience with Korean food. Mommy like. This place seemed to be hopping with the locals in the area which are a lot of Korean students so we took that as a good sign. I love that with Korean food you get all the ban-chan, AKA free all you can eat appetizers. We had some spicy goodness and even made friends with the two guys sitting at the table next to us.

SATURDAY: At this point we were staring to feel like we had seen most of Vancouver. We had been to most of the major areas and were grasping at straws a bit as to what to do on our last day. We thought of going to Grosse Point and the suspension bridge outside of town but those are both expensive tourist traps. Chris randomly whipped us up a day of fun at Granville Island. We took the bus over and walked around the market which was a bit touristy but also full of yummy looking produce. The farmers market portion reminded me a trip to Whole Foods on a Saturday the same yummy looking fresh food and the same crowds. I did get an ice cream cone and Chris and I got to see some otters frolicking so it was worth the trip.

After the market we walked our way around the island stopping often at places like Kitsilano Beach and Vanier Park. Vancouver actually reminds me a lot of Austin with the laid backness of it, mix of hippies and hipsters and all the lush trees and water. After our walk around the park we headed up Yew street and stopped into the King’s Head Inn to enjoy their patio and take a load off.

Chris is not a sushi fan and I on the other hand love it. I’m not saying I am a sushi connoisseur and I openly admit that I order things like California Rolls, but I do love it. For dinner Chris took me out for a double whammy seafood/sushi dinner at Okada Sushi. Our waitress was so sweet and accommodating and helped us make some good menu choices. We had a nice mix of rolls, sashimi and sushi. Even Chris walked away licking his lips talking about how delicious it was. Probably the best sushi I have ever had. Uchi here in Austin is good, but when you are thinking of fresh seafood Vancouver is going to kick the ass of anywhere in Texas. After our dinner when we thought everything was said and done our waitress brought us out the fried heads of our shrimp that she explained had just been alive moments before. When in Rome, we both popped them in our mouth and gobbled them up (followed of course by hearty swigs of Kirin to rinse the taste out of our mouths).

Since this was our last night here we opted for one last hooray and headed back to the Gastown area in search of a bar called The Cambie. Turns out The Cambie is more like a youth hostel and is a bit rough around the edges. We shared a bench on the patio with a couple of dudes from Montreal and then later moved on to chatting up some older hippie gentlemen sitting next to us. They even asked us if we would like to participate in some of the local culture such as marijuana and nude beaches, we politely declined both.

So that ladies and gentlemen was Vancouver. The long and short of it. Lovely city, but there is no place like home and I am glad to be back!

Suitcase into a Laptop Case.

Since yesterday I traveled through the Austin, Denver and Vancouver airports with my new lap top case that I made I thought it was only fitting that I post the instructions on how I made it.

I was sick to death of having a super boring lap top case so I decided to take matters into my own hands. After my attempt at stenciling my suitcases, I thought better of painting my existing model. I thought about asking my sister Hope to paint one for me, but I already carry one her hand painted purses and there is too much of a good thing. On a trip to a local antique store called Room Service my eyes met with a small vintage travel suitcase. Everything about it was perfect the bright colors and Pucci like pattern. At first I just wanted it as an overnight bag, but then as I carried the suitcase around the store it dawned on me that it would be perfect as a lap top case. Thank God my mother the queen of crafts was in town to help me with the project.


First things first when I got home with my new suitcase I stuck my lap top inside to make sure it would fit. I also wanted to make sure there was enough room around the edges for me to include plenty of padding. My mother and I decided to use foam padding from the fabric store and cover it in fabric then glue the pieces into place.


We needed to get the padding to fit into the suitcase was our first challenge. There needed to be one solid piece across the top and the bottom was actually made of two pieces of padding. There was a layer on the bottom and then there was a piece on top of that with a rectangle shape the exact size of my lap top cut out. Padding comes in different thickness. We used a solid thicker piece for the top and the two pieces on the bottom are thinner pieces. The thing is that the foam is pretty dang hard to cut. My mother enlightened me that the best way to cut it is with an electric knife, but what do you know I didn’t have one of those. I struggled through a few cuts with scissors, but that could have taken forever. Then I remembered I had a stryo-cutter by floracraft sitting in my craft cabinet. Sure it was for cutting Styrofoam, I have used it a couple of times on Craft Lab, but I thought surely this will also cut through foam. I was right. Not like the butter cutting way it’s cuts Styrofoam, but good enough. I measured the sizes I needed and marked the foam accordingly and stryro-cutted away.


Once the pieces of foam were cut it was time to cover the pieces in fabric. I went with a stretchy black cotton. In my heart I wanted to use a lighter colored fabric but then I thought of all those trips through airport security with my grubby little hands taking the lap top in and out of these case and thought better of it. I could have gotten really fancy and sewn little slip covers for the foam, but you know I am not that kind of girl. I grabbed my tubes of glue and glued stuck the fabric into place. Making sure that the fabric was pulled taunt.

Once I had wrapped the fabric around the pieces of foam, it was time to put the padding into the suitcase. I glued the one large thick piece of fabric covered foam into the lid. Next I first glued the thinner fabric covered piece of foam into the bottom of the suitcase. Once that was in place I took the hollowed out piece of fabric wrapped foam and glued that on top of the bottom piece.

Next I let everything dry at least 24 hours and presto magic my new suitcase lap top case was born. After yesterdays long lines in customs and such I realized that I need to attach some sort of shoulder stra bad so that is my next project. When I get home.

Adding Goodies to Etsy instead of Working

You know how when you are really busy and really pressed for time you somehow seem to find yourself doing things of little or no relevance to your predicament. If I had a test to study for in college that was always the time I decided to scrub my toilets and dust under my vintage thermos collection atop of my fridge. Last night I had one of those moments. Instead of getting ready for my trip tomorrow, writing the instructions for the jewelry project due in 3 days or working on the jewelry for my super secret stealth project I instead added items to my ETSY store. Not that updating my ETSY store is bad, I have been meaning to do it for quite awhile now. I’m just saying that if I prioritized my to do list, adding new goodies to my ETSY store would be pretty far down and a C item on the list. But whatever they are there now so you should at least go over and check them out.

Since everyone got into the mood this week about leaving comments, there is no prize here but I am interested in what you think about the Crafty Curios. You can tell me honestly. On the question about craft kits some of you touched on the topic, but I’d love your input on what you would like to see more of in the Naughty Secretary Club line of Crafty Curios. Would you rather see more kits that are going to look like a necklace or bracelet when they are done rather than random color coded grab bags? I price them as if you are going to use them to resell them, do you think they are too expensive? Would you prefer I sell the kits through Naughty Secretary Club as well as ETSY? All this information is super helpful.

I have to give you the rundown on what we have in store for you over at the DIY Network this week. Hang out with Cat and I in the Craft Lab weekdays at 11am central and see fun stuff like origami, cast resin bobble heads, layered cards, 3-D cakes and fun fabric books. Remember if you heart the show write DIY and let them know!

Bead Bloggers

My Beading Blogger friends have some interesting jewelry related news on their blogs this week...

Katie Hacker went to Bead & Button and lived to tell the tale! See what she bought and read her rundown of highlights from The Show.

Tammy over at Jewelry and Beading is showing off a pair of her favorite pearl earrings.

Check out Jean Yates blog on her Simply Beads Magazine cover girl chain maille bracelet, and its whereabouts, now!

Margot Potter gives the 411 on her adventures (and her purchases) in Milwaukee at the Bead and Button show. A fun time was had by all.

Clearly I need to get myself to this bead and button show, looking at Margot's wares made me scream with excitement at my computer screen. I thought CHA was awesome, but Bead and Button looks like my Mecca.

So on this Sunday morning I am off to a garden party at my friend Tina's house. Sounds like fun but I was out until 2am last night going to another friend's Birthday Party and I need to do a million things before I go.

Oh and one last thing, don't forget today is the last day to enter all the contests from last week. I'll announce the winners on the blog when I get back from Vancouver.

Pretty in Punk - A Knitters Prize Pack!

I’m not going to lie to you, I can’t knit to save my life. Poor Vickie has tried to teach me more than once and even though it looks fun, I have just never had the patience to learn. I can crochet you a very basic scarf, but that is about as far as my skills in needle crafting go. This does not mean however that I can’t look through books like Pretty in Punk: 25 Punk, Rock, and Goth Knitting Projects by Alyce Benevides and Jaqueline Milles and not appreciate it. Right off the bat the cover with the girl in her knitted British Flag Mohawk hat caught my eye, as did a lot of things in the book.

First up I want to say that I love the photography. It reminds me of a cross between David LaChapelle and Pierre et Gilles, two of my favorite photographers. I love a craft book with highly stylized pictures. As for projects there are several cute ones that make me want to pick up the needles and give it another go. There are several variations on the mohawk theme on the cover my favorite being the Anarchist Courier Bag. It is a large knitted purse with a silhouette of a person with a mohawk, but the hair part is fringy yarn to give the bag some depth. There are a few Bum Patches and Bum Flaps the flap is like a wee little blanket that covers your butt and is worn over a skirt or pants. They would have to make it Afghan size for me, but I digress. The Bum Patch is my favorite of the two, it is a knitted piece that covers one pocket of your jeans. The picture in the book depicts an old Route 66 road sign. I might wear something like that. The obligatory wrist warmer/fingerless elbow length glove department is also covered in Pretty in Punk. The variation I like the best is the Death or Glory with the Skull and Crossbones because again there is spiky yarn representing the skulls mohawk. There are also plenty of patterns for tops, hats, wrist and neck warmers. For the edgy knitters out there looking for some new inspiration this book is something to look into.

Or you could just win a copy right here. Not only will you win a copy of Pretty in Punk: 25 Punk, Rock, and Goth Knitting Projects but you will also win two balls of yarn from the Vickie Howell Collection. Not just any yarn, the hot pink color named Mafiosa after the Austin Craft Mafia (there is also a wonderful aqua named Jen after me!). Anywhoodle as you know I don’t knit I make jewelry, mother mosaics and my sister paints. Everybody does a little something different and I want to know what it is. What kinds of crafts tickle your fancy? Do you love basket weaving, potato stamping or macramé? Leave me a comment here and your email if you do not have a blogger account and I will pick one winner tomorrow to get the book and two balls of yarn.

In other non-contest related news I feel like I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I leave for Vancouver on Tuesday to film She's Crafty and am trying to get about a million and one loose ends tied up before them. Jewelry to make, instructions for projects to write, orders to fill, packing to be done, passports to find. I am also feeling a little sad that I am not in New York this weekend for the Renegade Craft Fair. It is the first time that I have not gone. I wrote a little blurb about it over on the Stitch blog if you are interested.

Chris Boehk - The Day I Realized I Might Not Make It.

Did you know that once upon a time I co-owned a record label with my husband Chris. I guess technically on paper I still co-own Has Anyone Ever Told You?, but the truth is he has run the label without me for years. When Naughty Secretary Club started taking off there was no more time for the label. Anyway, Chris is still running the label and his latest release is his new solo CD The Day I Realized I Might Not Make It. Now I’m biased to the record because I’m married to the singer, guitar player, drummer, keyboardist and bassist (No this is not an episode of Big Love, Chris plays all the instruments on his solo CDs). But even if I didn’t know Chris from Adam I think I would love his new CD. My favorite song on the CD is “All Wagon No Star” with "The Saddest Story Ever Told" being a close second. Chris has been in a whole lotta bands and released a bunch of records. I made this pretty mosaic to prove it.

Another interesting fact about Chris’s new CD (which in the mosaic is the top left hand corner brown CD) is that he got crafty on them. No really. Remember Chris was a guest crafter on an episode of Craft Lab once, the kid knows how to craft. He bought these CD jackets that he folded himself and then he stamped each one. First he had an image of himself done that he stamped on all the covers. Then he got into my Just Rite stamps that I got to keep after doing that Inside the Craft and Hobby Show for DIY. He took my chapstick and some double sided tape and attached each letter of his name and stamped out Chris Boehk by hand on each case. I was so proud. We made the CD jackets for his first Our Own Somewhere release out of paper we bought in San Francisco.

Speaking of being rock and crafty I also found a picture of this sign that Chris and I made with glue and glitter to set up at the merch booth when he would play shows with his old band The Search for Saturnalia. That was probably 8 years ago. Another intersting crafty fact was that one of the guitarists for this band was Tina Lockwood, AKA Tina Sparkles of Sparkle Craft! The second guitarist and one of the singers was Dave Denosowicz who now lives in Brooklyn and runs Bang with his wife Maggie. Look for Bang at the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend. If you stop by their booth, tell em I sent ya.

So what you win today is a copy of not only Chris's new solo CD, but a Has Anyone Ever Told You? prize pack with a sampling of 5 other CDs. I told Chris it would be funny if there was a song about crafts. I was thinking heavy metal, but rap might be fun too. "Baby Got Crafts" (I like messy crafts and I can not lie, you other crafters may deny) leave me a comment with your best crafty song title. If you don't have a blogger account leave an email too. Chris and I will choose our fave song title and send you over a slew of new music.

Fred Flare Next Big Thing

Can you believe it Naughty Secretary Club has been selected one of the 27 winners of the Fred Flare Next Big Thing Contest!

Keith and Chris at Fred Flare are such sweeties and Naughty Secretary Club has sold jewelry with them before through the years, but to be chosen as a Next Big Thing Winner next to people like Jay McCarroll from Project Runway – who,what,me? Are you sure?

I whipped the boys up a charm bracelet kit that is pretty dang cute if I do say so. What you get are these vintage already carded gold toned bracelets, 5 head pins and 10 jump rings. The really good part is that I raided my stash of vintage crafty bits and pieces to make each random baggie equally fabulous. I tried to make sure all colors of the rainbow were represented as well in each bag. There are 5 beads and 5 charms and most times all 10 are vintage! Kind of like my line of Crafty Curios, but different.

Some of my favorite goodies from the Next Big Thing Contest are:
Candy Wall Decals by Bored Inc. (I have a giant purple glittery popsicle hanging in dining room so these would perfect in there!)

Girlie Ring by Cicely Margo (I remember adding these to my faves when I saw them on her Flickr account)

Super Stamper Friend Necklace by The Small Object (Holy cutest thing ever and if you are a stamper crafter type you are gonna flip out)

Mini Deer Plaque by Nice (I need to get one of these for my sister since she loves the deer heads so much)

Emotibles earphone charms by Futuronomie (I’m so over my plain white IPOD ear buds)

So this brings me to the contest for the day, actually it is contests plural. One person will win a collage pack of crafty curios with doggies (that’s 50 pieces of vintage paper with images of cute doggies – greeting cards, cut outs from books, playing cards and more!) Another person will win a bag of Crafty Curios in Teal. That comes with beads, plastic flowers, big cameos and more! Since I’m celebrating being one of the winners of the Fred Flare Next Big Thing with my Charm Bracelet Kit I would love to know what are some of your favorite craft kits? If I were to do more kits what would you like to see? Do you skip right by the kits or buy them for friends? Answer any or all of these questions in the comment field here along with your email if you are blogger accountless and let me know if you would prefer the jewelry or paper crafty curios! You have until this Sunday!

Also if you live in Austin please stop by Moxie and the Compound tonight between 5-8. Why? Because Susanne from All Dressed Up and Shy and I are having a trunk show there. Jewelry, awesome clothes and free beer, how can you say no to that.

Send Me a Picture and Win Some Free Jewelry!

The Naughty Secretary Club customer gallery has a new addition…Michele from Fat Thumb Originals. She scored herself a pair of Maskins Earrings from my collaged line and doesn’t she look adorable in them. She sent me this picture of herself that she had doctored up with a sweet little message! I heart having new additions to my customer gallery. It gives me something to blog about, makes me feel warm and squishy, makes my Flickr customer gallery look full – all kinds of important things. I also love it when people send me pictures of what they have made with their Crafty Curios from the Etsy shop.

This being the case today’s contest is a little different. Sure I would love for you to leave a fun comment but in order to win the prize of the day I want you to email me a picture of yourself wearing a piece of Naughty Secretary Club jewelry or a picture of a completed project you made with your crafty curios. Send the pics to info@naughtysecretaryclub.com and put customer gallery in the subject line. You have until Sunday to send one in! There wil be only 1 winner which I will just choose randomly from whoever submits.

What are you going to win? Well besides getting to see your name and face in lights on my blog and in my flickr group you are also going to win $50 worth of Naughty Secretary Club jewelry. Dealers choice, but I promise I will make it lots of good stuff and a nice mix so that there is a ring, necklace, earring, bracelet, hair goodie and more!

Wreck This Sock and Glove and more Freebies!

I have hoped and prayed for this day to come and it finally has. I have made it to that point in my craft career where publishers are sending me free craft books, I have officially hit the big time :) This is like pure heaven for me because well frankly I love craft books and the two that Penguin just sent me are no exception. My hook up here was that I participated in the book Tease: Inspired T-shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft, and Design. I made a necklace out of a T-shirt and ping pong balls for the book and last Christmas I talked about it on a DIY Holiday special. Lucky for me this put me in the publishers good graces and I had two new and exciting books waiting for me in my po box. Oh and if you want to send me a book to blog about check my Amazon Wish List.

First up is Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith that I am totally smitten on. The book is cute, clever and inspiring and for the first time I think I might actually take the leap and make myself an art journal. You would think after all that time on Craft Lab hanging around with people like Traci Bautista I would have one already, but besides gluing in inspirational pictures from magazines to my “to do” spiral I really don’t “journal”. I guess I do it online here, but that is not the same thing. This journal holds your hand and encourages you to be artistic with blank pages labeled with things like: Scribble Wildly using only borrowed pens, Tongue Painting (eat some colorful candy and lick the page) and cover this page using only office supplies - I liked that this page had a secretarial like feel to it. I can’t wait to get started with my new journal and just don’t know what page I will start on first. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime if you are having a hard time starting that art journal you always wanted to do Wreck This Journal is like the cliff notes and a step by step guide on how to get started. Be sure to check out Keri Smith’s equally craft-tastical blog Wishing Jar.

The second book in my stash was Sock and Glove – Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori. I guess I myself have a thing for vintage softies in the dream pet and rubber faced doll department. I have never attempted making any myself, but if I was going to this seems the book to start with. The instructions seem clear and simple enough. On Craft Lab we have had some real plushie pioneers visit like Jenny Harada and Krissy from Bigger Krissy. I was always jealous that Buttons by Sappy Moose Tree got to go to Uncommon Threads and not Craft Lab. I want to see the giant sock monkey. Anyway, Sock and Glove - it does more than show you how to make the traditional sock monkey. You can learn how to make sock and glove zebras (my favorite), birds and panda bears. Who knew that the whole sock animal thing extended so far and wide. The photography in the book is lovely and has a subtle and stark feel about it. For all the plushie lovers out there you should pick up this fun how-to book, or you could just win it free here.

That’s right kids today’s contest is to win a copy of Sock and Glove and not only that I am throwing in a pair of Hand in Glove Earrings since it seemed fitting. A book and jewelry, I mean really does life get any better? Today all you have to do is leave a comment here about what your favorite craft books are. If you don't have a blogger account be sure to leave your email with your post so I can get ahold of you! If you are the winner of Sock and Glove it might soon go on your list. You have until Sunday to enter to win.

Don’t forget all week long there is a new contest on the blog everyday to celebrate our 500th post!

Chicken Poop Bingo and Free Jewelry

Before we get to the blog contest de jour, let’s talk chickens and bingo. Yesterday afternoon I made my first pilgrimage to Chicken Poop Bingo out at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon here in Austin. This is a wee little bar that is a bit of a local legend. Twice a week silver fox Dale Watson plays his Rockabilly Country and people sip the $1.50 Lone Star Beers. Sunday is the big night of the week, it’s Chicken Poop Bingo. What happens is they bring out a big wooden board with numbers all over it like a Bingo card and place it atop the small bar’s one lone pool table. From there they add a cage that fits snuggly below the Budweiser light above the pool table and add a chicken. There is a chicken coop behind the bar where the stars roost all week long preparing for the main attraction on Sunday afternoons. People buy Bingo tickets and bet on a number of the wood and then you wait. People feed the chicken who seems un-phased by the drunk people trying to coax him to poop on their number. After about 15 minutes he finally pooped on a number and an excited young gal next to me won $100. Quite the adventure this bar. However everyone else in town thought so and since there were 200 people crammed into a bar that is smaller than my house we took off after one round. If you are in Austin on a Sunday afternoon I really do have to recommend Ginny’s, Dale Watson and the Bingo.

TODAY'S CONTEST revolves around some recent press I recieved. Over the weekend I found out that I had two bracelets and a necklace featured in the June/July issue of Justine Magazine. In the picture below my bracelets are #'s 6&9. I also found out that one of my Scrabble Bracelets is in the current issue of Fashion Dallas!

So what do you win and what do you have to do to get the fantastical prize your asking? I want to know how you first heard about Naughty Secretary Club. I get a lot of new customers and friends through editorial coverage and I am curious if that is how you found me and my little blog. Leave a comment in this post and give me the scoop.

What you are going to win for taking the time to comment is two fold. First up you get a copy of the June/July issue of Justine Magazine that features the bracelets and pop rock necklaces. Second you get a copy of the new issue of Ready Made. I’m not featured in this issue, but since I have an ad in there I get sent an extra copy that I am giving to you! BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE… You are also going to win the 3 pieces of jewelry featured in the issue of Justine Magazine. Well pretty close anyway. You will get one yellow Pop Rocks Necklace, One Black Polka Dotted Bracelet and One Hot Pink Polka Dotted Bracelet (except this one won’t have the flowers attached to it). Remember you can still enter Sunday’s Blog Contest all week long to win the crafty prize pack. Same with this contest you have until Sunday June 17th to enter!

Contests All Week Long on the Blog!

Can you believe that this very blog post is my 500th! How could I have possibly had that much to say? As my mother says I am the girl that never had an un-uttered thought so I suppose it is possible. To celebrate I am having a week long contest here at the blog every day this week until next Sunday there will be all kinds of fun prizes for you to win. Things like books, jewelry, craft supplies, music and more. Check back all week long to score yourself some goodies. I’ll tell you all about today’s contest in a minute, but first let me tell you what is on crafty TV this week.

In case you forgot Craft Lab comes on the DIY Network weekdays at 11am Central. This Monday I will be having crafty adventures with Heidi Reimer-Epp as she and I make some recycled paper. Tuesday Seth Savarick and I screen print a polymer clay light switch cover. Wednesday Walter and Gwen Knabe stop by and we paint fabric and guitars! Thursday learn how to make some relaxing spa treats for men with Sabrina Collins. Friday we wrap the week up making soap shaped like little Hawaiian shirts with Anne-Marie Faiola. More crafty goodness than you can shake a stick at. Don’t forget on Tuesdays and Thursdays you can catch me hanging out with my Austin Craft Mafia buddies on Stylelicious also on the DIY Network, but on at 2pm.

Ok, ok so back to the part about the free stuff. Since today’s blog post is all about Craft Lab I thought it was only fitting to give away a prize pack of craft supplies so you can play along as you watch the show. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post about Craft Lab. You can tell me what your favorite episode of the show was, what kinds of crafts you wish we did more of, what guests on the show rawked your face off, really anything will do. What will you get for your comment, well if you win you are gonna score everything in the picture below which is…
Collage Cards – 45 Great Greetings by Matingale and Company
Ready to Go Blank Board Book by C&T Publishing
A package of Sticklers and some 3-D Glaze Pens by Sakura
Simply Spanish Chipboards by Spanish Memories
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad in Frayed Burlap by Ranger Inks
Fusible Iron-On Threads by Kreinik
Bright Orange Paint Pen by Krylon

That’s some dang good crafty stuff! You have until next Sunday to leave a comment here and win and remember every day this week will be another contest!

Bead Bloggers

I have recently joined a group of lovely ladies in a Bead Blogging group. Every week we are going to be posting links to each other’s blogs and each of those blog posts in theory should have something super duper exciting to say about the world of jewelry. This is our first time so there are just a handful of us this time around, look for more coming soon. Right now we are calling the group Bead Bloggers, if you can think of a more exciting name please leave a comment and I’ll suggest it. Not that I hate bead bloggers, but the posts are about jewelry and not always the beaded kind. So anywhoodle happy reading. Some of the participants are people like Margot Potter author of the Impatient Beader series, Kathy Cano Murillo of Crafty Chica and Katie Hacker from the PBS series Beads, Baubles and Jewels!

1)Katie Hacker fills us in about Beading Daily which is starting in Summer 2007, Interweave Press will unveil a new online community for bead lovers. Beading Daily offers a free e-newsletter, free beading projects, tips and techniques, a daily blog, galleries, artist interviews, event updates, and more.

2)The Jewelry and Beading Blog is celebrating a new e-course for fiber lovers or old hippies. Learn macrame with Tammy Powley's great new macrame e-course!

3) Margot Potter tips us off about The Glitter Box Absolutely amazing collection of vintage jewelry including Miriam Haskell and Margot de Taxco pieces. A veritable wonderland of design inspiration. If you're feeling blah, this is a fabulous place to go drool, dream and get inspired.