busy busy saturday

i managed to haul my butt out of bed on a sunny saturday morning and hightail it on over to the ferry building to have a etsy meetup & coffee with beth (etsy admin) and a group of local etsians.


after the meetup, me and nadine (theseawithin) headed over to the east bay and went to explore ikea and the east bay reuse depot!



i found a mail box which i immediately had to have. here in sf, we dont really use mail boxes, our door has a mail slot and thats it. so ive always wanted a classic mailbox. i was happy with my finds, and it was a little bit of a drag though, once i realized i would have to carry it on bart and muni, but i managed with my handy etsy tote.

then it was onto the screening of the 1000 jorunals documentary. i had heard about the film a year or two ago, and was excited to be able to finally see it. it was a very moving and many interesting and funny stories emerged in the film. what was even cooler was that after the show - someguy - who created the project brought out some of the journals from the project and we got to page through them and add in our own words and art.


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note: pages of art done by various participants in the 1000 journals project. the journals that someguy had were not completely filled up yet.

art journaling

ive been art journaling like crazy lately. ive recently started writing and scribbling on my pages and it is so fun.

the backgrounds are acrylic paints (the cheap craft kind by plaid) that have been diluted with water to give a sheer watercolor look to them...

sf bay area etsy meetup

i had a fun time last saturday meeting a group of etsy sellers for coffee in berkeley. around 10 people showed up, which was great! we chattered and talked all about etsy and selling for about 2 hours in an otherwise quiet coffee shop (except for our group) and it was fun, i think it would be great to meet up once a month.




the attendees were: shopwhimsy, theseawithin, beetlelady, ohmay, audelaine, shellmitchell,chunkyandfunky

recent things

recent things:
1. i am going to peru! its finally confirmed - from may 24 to june 14 :) it will be my first time in south america, i cant wait to see peru...

2. i have a big project: a non profit called writerscorps, which teaches creative writing to youth in san francisco is celebrating their 15th anniversary this year.

so what does this have to do with me? well, ive been a student at writerscorps for about 5 years, since i was 13 and my writing has grown so much because of the program.

they are doing an exhibit, highlighting 10 students (which includes myself) but the biggest honor is that i will be doing a collage installation piece, on a wall that is possibly 5 feet tall, the dimensions arent confirmed yet but its a huge honor to be chosen! and ive never done any piece in such a large scale, so this will be a challenge for me...i am very excited though.

3. i will also be curating a small exhibit at the sf public library in their teen center space, i am thinking it will be a mix of zines i have collected over the years and possibly my own art journals. a possible workshop in conjunction with the exhibit may happen as well.

4. i applied to a juried craft fair but didnt make it in. i was kind of disappointed, but maybe it is a good thing i didnt get in since now i have all these other commitments happening. i love craft fairs but they are hard work and can be draining to me. even though i wont be a vendor at bazaar bizarre, i am excited to check out the maker faire in san mateo, happening may 3 and 4.

5. i had a bowl of pho at a restaurant on irving. what was disappointing was that they only gave me one measly meatball and it didnt taste that great either. it reminds me next time to just go to the other restaurant across the street.

6. i love guava juice especially the kern's nectar kind. i think i am addicted to them...

7. more journal pages done recently:





8. and finally take a peek at the newest anthropologie catalogs. they're always a source of inspiration for me.

spilling open

i've been revisiting sabrina ward harrison's book spilling open which is simply her mixed media journal of trying to find herself and exploring her identity. i love how raw and expressive her pages are. i keep finding new inspiration from her work.







i am also reading her 2nd and 3rd books - brave on the rocks and messy thrilling life, which are simply a continuation on spilling open.




i love all three books, the whimsy of sabrina's handwriting, her use of paint and paper makes for a completely intimate peek into her life and thoughts. for more about her work go to: sabrinawardharrison.com

indie craft vs. established craft

today i found this fascinating discussion about what the alternative/new wave/indie/diy craft movement (what ever you wanna call it) from the perspective of someone who is an outsider to this movement, but is within the established crafters. here is the full speech. reading the speech it made me a little angry - mainly because i felt it was such a generalization about the quality of work being done (percieved as being low quality and the crafters untrained. and i feel like just going to one or two craft shows barely scratches the surface of what the diy movement is about. hnmm just my .20 cents. definitely read the comments on the first post i linked up. it is a great discussion.

poor neglected blog

i'm still here. i just fall behind on blogging and all that sometimes.





ive been playing with adding words to my journal pages and its fun. i hate it when the pens clog up though.

atcards.com closing

i was shocked to read in one of my favorite mail art forums atcards.com that the owner of the website had decided to close the site down by the end of the month. actually i was pretty disappointed and even a little angry since all the swap commitments were left hanging and of course confusion ensued. swap hosts either canceled the swaps or we were to move elsewhere. a million different online atcards groups sprung up overnight.looking at so many new groups confused me even more to be honest. i know atcards is just a forum, but it was a great forum of friendly people, well organized swaps and the majority of the atcs i have in my collection have come from that site.

thankfully, the swaps i am in have decided to continue at another site and a new atc forum is going to come online: atcsforall.com when it emerges, you should all join! i will definitely be there. :)