(etsy) treasury tuesday: silkscreen prints.

back to the basics- i’m a silkscreen printer and here are some of my favorite prints on etsy right now- (many of them by some of my favorite printmakers right now!)

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Read Full Post »

art star craft bazaar, may 2012.

On Mother’s Day weekend of this year, I was a third time participant with Philadelphia’s famous independent craft fair, Art Star Craft Bazaar. Held every year at Penn’s Landing, the show is curated and run by the ladies of Art Star Gallery & Boutique, on 2nd Street in Northern Liberties. Also every year, it gets more awesome! This year, my booth was in a cluster next to the Seaport Museum.

It was super sunny on Saturday, so Katy and I soaked up the rays.

I also debuted my new plush kitty cats! They come in three colors and each is slightly different. Each color of kitty has a name tag with a little description about its personality. The orange cat is “Big Tig,” the purple cat is “Dr. Fuzz,” and the grey cat is “Kasey.” If you’re interested in picking one up, here’s a link to my plush kitty cat etsy listing.

On Sunday the 13th, I got to roam around the show, take photos, say hi to friends, and pick up some great items! Here are some of my favorites:

My booth neighbor was gioconda padovan, an artist who creates her own children’s stamp sets from original illustrations. Her products are super cute and whimsical- you can see from one child’s example, they’re easy to layer as well. She had a table set up for kids to test them out, which was cute entertainment all day long.

I’m psyched about this purchase, a print by Shawn Hileman of Philadelphia’s Masthead Print Studio fame. It’s currently living in my studio, naturally.

Just down the way from me was Laura of The Wind and the Sail, my booth neighbor from last year! She hails from Indiana and I cannot say enough how much I adore her work- last year, I picked up a kitty cat with a mole (just like my own cat) and a cute plush beaver friend. It was great to see you again this year, Laura!

One day . . . one day, I will buy something from Bubbledog. I love all of their colorful goods, so I can honestly never decide what I want to bring home!

I had seen a preview from Art Star about Betsy Olmsted’s work and I couldn’t wait to see it in the flesh . . . holy moly is it beautiful (and very inspiring). Who would ever want to actually use one of these hand towels?? They’re way too pretty to ruin in the kitchen!

To continue with artists from PA Dutch country (Betsy Olmsted resides in Lancaster), I picked up this sweet, springy thank you card from Ready the House, a design team based out of Lititz. Check out their etsy for some bright, locally influenced designs.

I’m so into this new coaster set by my friend Bryan of yardsale press- it’s the perfect housewarming gift!

At every show I see her at, I drool over Namoo‘s fabric goodies. This time was no exception.

Neogranny had such a colorful setup, packed with laser cut wooden embellishments.

As mentioned before, Heidi Kenney’s plushies are some of my all-time favorites. How hilarious (and well crafted) are these dirty bananas? Too much cuteness.

Courtney and Justin of Wider Awake Print & Design did such a stellar job with their first setup as Art Star vendors! I am a huge fan of their work and you should be too- make sure to check out their site and etsy storefront for colorful and quirky silkscreen goodies.

I’m a big fan of these new Overdue Industries bunting necklaces- a fresh departure from their other necklace styles.

To continue with necklaces, these chevron ceramic necklaces by Tasha McKelvey are really hip. I didn’t pick one up, but I did get this beachy ceramic dish from her, pictured below:

In the dish is a “surf and turf” pin set from yardsale press. Underneath is a silkscreen print on a wooden postcard by Melanie Linder of Spread the Love.

I always love work by Phil Barbato! Check out these new baby octopus plush- look at that rotten tooth on the back one! Too funny

Holland Cox featured a great assortment of bold, patterned clutch bags and wristlets.

Sun in my Chest’s booth made me so happy (just like their prints say) thanks to their assortment of mono-printed goodies. As I mentioned last week, as much as I love silkscreen printing, it’s always exciting for me to see older, more traditional printmaking processes at these kinds of shows.

I wish this ceramicist had a website, but alas I only found an art center profile on Tabitha Trolli, the girl who crafted these gorgeous vases. I seriously went back to her booth four times before I decided on what I wanted to purchase:

Sarah Lee Parker Textiles’ booth was near mine last year and I adored her designs just as much as I do this year. How fun are these tea towels?

It was such a pleasure to meet Becki and Chris, the creative duo behind Everyday Balloons. The pair from Pittsburgh are also silkscreen printers who do everything by hand – very admirable and very time consuming. I fell for their suite of owl prints and am so happy that I got to bring them home with me! I already have the hooties framed and ready to rock for a print/photo salon style wall I’m planning to hang soon. Not only are their prints awesome, but how cute are these business cards? I kind of want to frame these too:

Anyhow, the Craft Bazaar was a great success and I’m so lucky to have been able to participate again this year. A big THANK YOU goes out to Megan and Erin of Art Star, to my faithful helpers, my mamadukes, and to everyone who stopped in! Including the doggies who came for a drink:

Read Full Post »