What did you buy today?

So I stumbled upon Kate Bingaman-Burt via Indie Craft Documentary on Flickr and I totally dig what she does. It seems like I may be the last person to hear about her, (apparently she was just a featured buyer in the storque, see above photo) but she keeps a daily visual diary of things she purchases via black ink drawings. She puts them together into zines which she sells in her etsy shop and titles them "What did you buy today?"

She has branded it as Obsessive Consumption and it all started in 2002 when Kate decided to photograph all of her 
purchases and in turn created a brand out of the process to package and promote. Oh, the irony - I love it. She is currently hand drawing all of her credit card statements until they are paid off, which I find totally hilarious and painful all at the same time. Maybe this would be a great exercise for anyone in chronic spending debt?

In addition to drawing something she purchases each day, which she often posts to her blog, she makes other crafty things like pillows, photographs, and dresses that go along with the theme of constant consumerism.

She's an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Mississippi State University which I thought was so cool that such talent could be found not only in a fellow southern state but in Mississippi of all places (not that there's anything wrong with Mississippi - it's just not the beacon of indie culture these days) but THEN I just found out that she's moving to Portland, Oregon to be on faculty at Portland State University. She also co-founded the Public Design Center which will also be moving to Portland with her. Bummer. Why do so many creative Southerners move to such cool cities further north? Of course if I got a kick-ass job in a cool city like Portland or Seattle or Chicago I'd move pretty quick, too (not that I need a job - I just need a studio). Although I love Nashville. Hmm....

Kate’s work has been featured in The New York Times and in multiple magazines including Print, Adorn, Dwell and How not to mention a few books including one on my wish list, Hand Job: A Catalog of Type.

So what's a good consumerist to do? I purchased two of her zines about her daily purchases. I can't wait to get them!

I heart South Park

And I totally heart this video. It was about time South Park had a really great episode and this is a great homage to it!

Mamamade Market this Saturday!

Be there or be square people!!! I'll be selling my jewelry at Lillie Belle's along with a lot of other fabulous ladies including: Beth Howard, Knit Owl Toys, and...

Urban Hen

Plus many more cool items for you & your babies (or kids or nieces or nephews)! For more info and for directions, please visit the Mamamade Blog.

With love from me to you

So here is a random fact about me - I am really bad at geography. Really, really bad. It was my worst subject in high school and I always feared it coming up in history classes, which was sure to be the part of the test that I did miserably on. I went to Wyoming once and had to look it up on a map and I'm still surprised that it's above Colorado. And capitals? Fughettaboutit. So I have been wanting to put up a cute U.S. map in my office to cheerfully remind me of where everything is now that I ship across our amber waves of grain. Alas, I have been unable to find one for months so today I decided to make one myself. It's happy & colorful and includes one of my favorite things - lots of fun fonts! I also included all of the state abbreviations since when I enter shipping addresses into usps.com, it doesn't allow you to enter the abbreviation and my cart program only gives me the state spelled out. I know - big problems, right? So here is my map and it's free for you to download and print out (it prints nicely on 8.5" x 11" paper) - it's perfect to hang in your office or other space in need of geography!! Enjoy!

To download, simply click on the above image and it will open in a new window or tab. Then right click and save!

front page of etsy!

Yay! The Large Eclipse Necklace made it to the front page of Etsy on Sunday. Woo hoo! Here is the direct link to the actual treasury, before it expires. Thanks for FormFireGlassWorks for creating such a beautiful treasury!

Back from Vacay!

Greggles and I did a three day show in Knoxville, TN (the Dogwood Arts Festival on Market Square) which rocked it out - it was much better than last year when the weather dipped below 45 for half of the show. This year it was just really windy and I fear that a few potters lost some items in the gusts. It's a fact of mother nature that has to be taken into account when you're setting up your craft show display, that's for certain. The wind was just really nerve wracking - every time a big gust would blow up you'd hear someone scream and then something break. Yikes. My jewelry blew around a lot but only one piece got broken and I'm pretty sure it's because someone stepped on it after it was blown off of my branches.

At the festival, I bought some amazing soap & body butter from Misty Mountain Soap and have been loving the body butter on my bit of sun burn that I picked up on our vacation to Holden beach, North Carolina. That's right - I said Vacay!!!

We spent 5 nights by the ocean with Greg's family and our house was right on the beach with a beautiful view. We took a day trip to Myrtle Beach, which was about an hour and half away where we enjoyed the tasty Hurricane pictured above and ate a smörgåsbord (that's blogger's translator kicking in) of fried shrimp which was excellent. Spending time with Greg's family was great, including being woken up our 3-year old nephew very early every day who loves to say "I awake!!!!" when he wakes up in the morning and "Surprise!!!!" when he greets us all after his nap.

We also got ample opportunity to make our niece Ella smile & laugh since she's generally pretty happy and easy going at 4 1/2 months old... Not to mention she's adorable!


Since we are newleyweds, I am still getting to know his parents and the rest of the fam. Luckily, they're all very fun to be around and I enjoyed a nice, relaxing week with my in-laws. Now it's back to the grindstone! I've got a bunch of web orders to fill plus more shows coming up! I foresee a week of little sleep...

NYC baby!!!

That's right - I've been accepted into the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn baby!!! Aw yeah!! Do you have questions about it? Well I have answers below: (from their website of course!)

What is the Renegade Craft Fair?
The Renegade Craft Fair is a unique, D.I.Y. event showcasing over 200 of the best crafters around. The event, organized by Sue Daly, is now in it's fourth year and better than ever! Click here to read more about the history of Renegade!

When and where is the fair being held?
This year's Brooklyn event is being held Saturday + Sunday, June 14 + 15 from 11AM - 7PM each day at The McCarren Park Pool, which is located on Lorimer St. between Driggs & Bayard Ave. Click here for directions.

What kinds of crafts will be there?
The Renegade Craft Fair draws vendors from all over the country and abroad, showcasing the coolest crafts around - including DIY knitting, jewelry, sewn items, paper goods, silkscreening, comics, zines and more! Check out our scrapbook to get an idea of what the fair offers!

If you live in Chicago, you should also visit the Renegade Handmade storefront on Division St. in Wicker Park. It's a great shop with a lot of awesome indie vendors! Otherwise, get yourself to NYC in June!

Photo shoot 2008

I met with my lovely model/friend Kelley on Sunday and got a whole bunch of new shots for the website (and a Bust ad!). At the beginning of the shoot, we realized something was wrong with the photo light I was using - the photo bulb was growing some sort of giant wart on top and making a loud humming noise. I've never seen a light bulb change shape before and it was quite scary. Fortunately, we caught it before it could explode, and since it was beautiful outside we ended up using the natural light. Keep your eyes on the website as I slowly add her lovely face to a lot of the new pieces!

I signed up for Trunkt

Does anyone know much about this website (www.trunkt.org)? It is an online portfolio and I paid for the "standard" one so that I get 9 images on the site and supposedly people will be looking at my profile all the time. So far I've had 79 portfolio views since I signed on, which I think was last week after I read Whitney Smith's interview on etsy and she mentioned the website (I just love her and her interview solidified it!). I had heard of it before but I'm totally new to it so if anyone has any tips or tricks I'm all ears! Please come by for a visit and sign my guest book! If you're crafty, sign up and try out the "basic" account - you can upload three photos for free!

5.12.08 Update
I haven't gotten jackola from Trunkt yet - no wholesale inquiries, no sales as a result of it or anything! Does anyone have a success story from Trunkt that they would like to share?