New, New, New!

Last weekend, I set up for my first show of the 2011 season. It was at a baby store, so I geared the items towards babies and little girls. It was my first opportunity to debut not only a whole new line of products, but a new display, tags, and sign. It's a complete visual make-over! Everything is green, gray, or cream. These delicate neutrals set the stage for the muted colors that I prefer and the wide range of colorful yarns that I use in my crocheted button pins (and now hair clips!). There is also a literary theme working throughout the display: pages from the class children's book Heidi are used in item tags, drawings and pages from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice are used on the new gray trays I made and on my new Modest Ambition sign. In addition, I have a new logo, sort of. I'm still working on it. It's my signature MA text, plus a few hand drawn flourishes in a nice fluid, yet brittle line. 

I'm very excited about all of these new items and I'm really looking forward to putting the new baby merchandise out with the new and returning favorites for adults at The Dallas Flea on September 24, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at South Side on Lamar. I'm planning on bringing a whole new line of crocheted necklaces -- in advance of my October 23 Crocheted Necklace Workshop at Oil & Cotton Creative Exchange, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. So... maybe I have a thing for seersucker right now?

By the way, I also have a new website. More on that soon.

2011 Etsy Craft Party

Etsy Dallas and Oil & Cotton present

2011 Etsy Craft Party

Celebrate the Craftiness in Your Community

Etsy Dallas and Oil & Cotton present “2011 Etsy Craft Party,” 7-9 p.m., Fri., June 10, 2011 at Oil & Cotton, 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208. Come celebrate the craftiness in your community as we mark the sixth birthday of Etsy, Inc., a Brooklyn-based global online marketplace and community for the handmade, with the second annual local craft party. This event is free, for all ages; open to the public.

The “2011 Etsy Craft Party” will include “craftivities” from Oil & Cotton including landscape necklaces, leather cuffs, and paper teepees, a community collage, spinning demonstrations by local artists, a community weaving project, an Etsy Dallas photo booth, handmade deserts from Etsy Dallas members, drinks, raffle prizes, and a screening of the documentary “Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design.” We’ll also be raising money for scholarships for kids in the Oak Cliff neighborhood to attend art classes or camps at Oil & Cotton.

Come meet local artists and experience the handmade scene in Dallas.

Etsy Dallas and Oil & Cotton present

2011 Etsy Craft Party

7-9 pm, Fri., June 10, 2011

Oil & Cotton, 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208

Free, all ages, open to the public

Etsydallas.com

Etsy, Inc., based in Brooklyn, NY, is an online marketplace for handmade goods, supplies, and vintage wares. This is the second year that Etsy has called for a global craft party to be organized independently in each city to celebrate their birthday. “Last year, over 5,000 people participated in over 500 meetups from Dallas to Romania, and this year our goal is for over 15,000 people to share in the spirit of Craft Party,” said Julie Schneider, a member of the Community Team at Etsy Labs, Brooklyn. “We envision Craft Party to be a celebration of the wide array of making and an expression of the diversity in your local community.” To find out more about the global impact of the “2011 Etsy Craft Party” visit http://www.etsy.com/storque/events/throw-an-etsy-craft-party-in-your-town-12650/.

Etsy Dallas, the original Dallas team and the first city team in Texas, is a cooperative, all-volunteer group of artists, crafters and designers living and working in Dallas who sell their work on Etsy.com. The team boasts talent from a range of mediums and crafts, and is independently run by its members. “Etsy Dallas" and the "Handmade Bash" are independently located in Dallas TX and are not affiliated with Etsy, Inc. For more information visit etsydallas.com.

Oil & Cotton opened in September 2010. Blending an appreciation of the past with current multidisciplinary art practices, our students are invited to engage in the expressive languages of both music and visual art. Our hands-on classes are taught by professionals with knowledge of traditional and contemporary practice. We provide creative space for education, exhibition, performance and exchange between the public and the art community. For more information visit oilandcotton.com.