When you say, "Craftstravaganza," you've said it all!

Last year, I took in my first St. Paul Craftstravaganza as a shopper, in awe of the awesomeness at every single booth (yes! None disappointed!), and taking mental notes for what I might do were I to tackle my own craft fair booth someday.
This year, with a couple of shows under my apron, I will be on the other side of the booth as a vendor, hoping to meet lots of cool folks, hug lots of new friends, and sell lots of my neat-o work! If any of you are in the area, please, please come and check it out. You will not leave empty handed. In addition to all the tempting goodies crafted and otherwise, there will be make & take demos, and I'm giving out free hugs! It's going to rock!

*** this post is cross-posted from my shop blog***

Big, Honkin' Craft-acular News!

It's official!

My cards are now for sale at the Museum of Modern Art's Retail store in New York!

It's completely awesome sauce and a bag o' chips.

You can catch the full story on my shop blog here.



On the immediate to-do list: dance around the house and play some wicked air guitar.

November Novelties

O.K., so October was November, and November was October, got it? Good.

We've been relishing the warmer temps and clear, blue skies this past month -- things we missed most of the month before. I'd bet that we're enjoying it all even more because of the fact that October was so stinkin' cold and wet. Despite fewer wakeful hours, November has treated us well.

We let the back yard just get leafy this fall rather than blow the leaves into the woods and let the...ah...dirt and moss have its moment in the sun. This allowed for the girls to make a big 'ol pile of leaves at the bottom of their slide. I'm not sure it was as cushy as either of them thought it might be, but it made the slide "new" again and they spent hours out there. At one point, I coaxed them into lying in the leaves and letting me cover them up for a quick photo. Not perfect, but gosh darn cute, if I do say so myself:



Leah, in her wild animal way, loved being able to prowl around in the leaves, pretending she was camouflaged and stalking prey.



And Natalie, safe from the predators below, stuck to being adorable in the playhouse.



Last weekend, Matthew competed in his last cyclocross race of the season at the State Championships. As usual, it was a beautiful day, there was a small crowd, the course made for easy spectating, and the girls were "having none of it." Natalie was sad:



Leah was mad:



And their daddy kicked some butt and still had enough umph to smile brightly as he rounded a tight corner on the course:



What a stud! Matthew kept getting better and better all season, so we're looking forward to next fall already and the 2010 season opener. Matthew will be training on his bike; meanwhile, I'm going to put the girls through a 12-week cheerleading/anger management course. They'll be belting out obnoxious encouragement in no time.

Back at the ranch, I've been working on some new things in the studio, many of which are currently in the shop. New this week is this subtle "Koi" papercut:



And the third of three sets of "Mod Ornament" cards -- this one in all white layers with silver caps:



We hope this finds you well, enjoying sunshine wherever and whenever you're able, and saving up your calorie intake for the big turkey day "hoo-ha" later this week. Dig in!

Basement Booth!

* I "cross-posted" this blog entry in my shop blog too.

O.K., so here it is!



Leah, my number one fan, is modeling it, and hanging off the chair she's in is the apron I made for the event. Of course, there will be a canopy over the top and we'll most likely have the sides up with the 70% chance of rain (and thunderstorms - shhhhhh) prediction. I'm also going to hang a big, framed "Retro Poppies" papercut as well as a smaller, framed Topo piece for a little more vertical interest. But basically, this is how I think it will look. The Crafterall banner will be on the front of the tent once I figure out how to do so, and I'm still not sure where that little plant stand table will go.

Here is the table with the topography and art card pieces. There's a basket of one-of-a-kind items, and tiered displays of various cards that I will re-load as necessary. On the little easel, there's a single open card for some tactile interaction. At the recommendation of the some wonderful Etsy folks, this guy is out for folks to touch, open, and drool over. ;)



This is the "flower" side of things. I found the white memo-station thing for a quarter at a garage sale and re-fitted a ribbon board in the flat space. Got lucky with the three front pockets as they are the perfect size for the cards!



As an Uptown Market Exclusive, I'll be selling papercut topographies of the popular Minneapolis Chain of Lakes (Twin Lakes, Brownie Lake, Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, unnamed swampy area, and Lake Harriet). I hope these will be a hit with the local crowd.



Behind the scenes, I've got my credit card imprinter with slips, a hole-y box (50 cents in the IKEA as is section) for pens, and plastic bags for purchases. I've got a load of business cards, logo-rific postcards, and hard candy to hand out too.



I'm still undecided about using the kraft paper over the white tablecloth. I like that it sets off the white of the cards, but worry that it cheapens the look, and I'm not sure it will hold up in the forecasted precipitation. What do you think?

The reality is solidifying and I have my booth number assigned! I'll be representin' in booth #49, just west of Bryant Avenue. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by for a hug!

Early May Update

Hello? Are you still there? You are? Really? Alright! Let's get started.

One of the perks of living closer to family is being able to drive up for a weekend birthday party. Here's the recent birthday girl and her cousin Leah being pretty darn cute.



Natalie spent a litte (too) quiet time with a crayon and was very proud of the art she drew on two walls of the house. Hard to be upset with that face shining back at me. And thank gourd for Magic Erasers.



I found a rainbow in the sink after a load of dishes. How nice!



Leah, in her ongoing quest to care for all animals while simultaneously organizing the world, found a little niche for each of a bunch of her toys. I didn't ask but there was probably a logical and lengthy explanation as to why each animal was placed where it was.



This year, Mother Nature had an April Fool's Day trick of her own. We were greeted in the morning with over an inch of wet snow, most of which, thankfully, was gone by sundown. It was pretty, though. Maybe it was more of a treat, then.



One of the highlights of my extended blogging hiatus was a trip back to Madison to see some great flics and be uber-crafty. Mrs. Happy Stuff and I tried our hands at some screenprinting using professional screens and contact paper. Way cool.



Just a bit of the fun and lovely things we made:



I took the girls to the park on one of the glorious Spring days we've been having. Here, Natalie contemplates the park as a metaphor for something important.



Riding a pig - don't think she can catch H1-N1 this way.



Leah preferred the Toucan:



I completed a fun custom "Topo" piece that incorporated some islands and ended up being 26 layers thick and a solid half pound!


I'm beginning to tackle the wallpaper border in the girls' room. It's in fine shape, but I'm not fond of the pastel/Aztec design. I'm planning to paint some uneven stripes in different colors and add a little chair rail about a quarter of the way from the ceiling around the walls.



I purchased four classy, little, hand printed chair cards from Etsy seller LeiLiLaLoo. I inteded to find a pre-matted frame with four openings. IKEA had one with three and one with five. So, five it was, and I added a little hand cut table in the middle. I think it turned out pretty well!



I stumbled upon another of Leah's little organizational displays. Using two halves of a styrofoam cup holder, she has divided her small animals into soft (in the background) and hard (up close). She then divided them further by putting babies with females and males by themselves. I asked her why there was a rabbit with the mother and baby lion. She said that it couldn't be with a male because the males are mean and of all the mothers, the lion is the nicest.



For another custom request, I cut out the entire San Francisco Bay. I must admit I enjoyed marrying the two hemispheres of my brain as I learned a little about the bathymetry of this body of water and crafted it into paper as accurately as I could.



Leah colored this piece of paper she brought home from our fellowship. I get the feeling that the Earth in this picture is sort of giving up, hands raised in defeat, while still keeping a sense of humor. "Earth Day?" it asks. "Whatever."



Whew! That's it. If you only look at one picture a day, maybe it won't seem so long until my next post! Thanks for being here!

Up To My Eyeballs...

... and lovin' it!

The new year has brought in a wonderfully consistent flow of fine folks to my Etsy shop and business has been good! While I cannot yet supplement the family income and convince Matthew that this could indeed be my new job, it's a start and I welcome it with open arms.

The first of many big shop-related events came in the form of a wholesale inquiry. The lovely Suzy of the Soo Visual Arts Center in Uptown contacted me and purchased a whole bunch of Topo cards and Wall Topo pieces to sell in the SooVAC shop. Once again, I was excited and nervous, but the process was ultra smooth and the shop is a great fit for my work. Here is a look at the loot before I hand delivered it.



Later that week, I also received a request for a commissioned set of papercut houses like this piece. In the meantime, I was gearing up for a feature article on the Apartment Therapy blog by writing an artist statement, taking some work-in-progress photos, and stocking up on Wall Topo pieces. I was contacted about it and given about two weeks to prepare. I appreciated the time, but it ended up being a bit hard keeping the pieces in the shop - definitely a good problem.



The article was published on Wednesday, the 4th of this month and I had a banner day of sales, interest, and requests for custom work. It was so much fun to be a celebrity for a day and to feel at least a bit of what it must be like for some of Etsy's superstars who sell five times as much as I sold that day on any given day. I worked out a system of assembling orders, printing mailing labels, writing thank yous, and getting everything packaged and ready to ship the next day. This was my "mail bag" to bring to the post office on Thursday:



Since then, the daily sales have slowed a bit, but the custom and wholesale requests contine to come in. I found out today that a piece of my topo work has been added to Etsy's Gift Guides in the Travel category and that's been bringing in new hearts.



So, yeah, I've been a little busy. Not too busy to keep me from playing animals with Leah or from bustin' out some beats on the keyboards so the girls can boogy. I've been trying to consciously pace myself and so far, it feels great. Have you seen my shop lately? :)

New Gnome

Maybe it's the kid in me, the girl in me, or the nerd in me, but I like gnomes. And I like miniatures. And I like handmade. So I pretty much had to buy this little guy from the talented and wonderful, Etsy seller, Dannielle.



I took this photo of him as soon as I pulled him from the shipment wrappings, and I sent it to Dannielle to confirm his arrival. She said it brought tears to her eyes. He's made out of bendy wire wrapped with thread, handstitched pants, shirt and hat, and a handpainted wooden bead head with a soft grey beard. My new gnome now lives among my other miniatures in one of my three old type tray shadowboxes. I like to think that when no one's home, they all jump out and play together.

Dannielle's taking a little time off from her shop to work on other projects, but I think there may be a buddy for my dear gnome in the not-so-distant future.

My Name in Lights

Hooray!

While many kind folks have been sweet enough to feature my Crafterall pieces, my first, official "artist interview" has just been published. You can find it here, on the blog of the fabulous and talented Nicole, creator of beautiful jewelry under the name Lillyella.

Check it out -there's a giveaway and a discount attached!

I am thrilled, honored, humbled, and doin' a little happy dance.

Ya-hoo!

In the Bag and Outta the Sack

Happy Oh-Nine, Everyone!

I think I've spent my quota of craftiness at my craft table lately, so rather than delight you with witty narrative, I'll just post some pics, a video, and some informative captions to illustrate our last two weeks. Ta-Da!

Christmas 2008 found the four of us and Jack-a-Roo, in our own home as our own family unit for the very first time EVER! It was precious and low key, and the coffee I pressed that morning was especially delicious.



Here the girls are coming down the stairs to see what may lay under the tree. This is an annual tradition that Matthew has done since he was a squirt. We four Karger kids used to come from three different levels of the house to converge upon overflowing stockings on Boxing Day while Ma and Pa caught a few extra zzzz's. I guess Santa hit Nymore a little late every year... :)
Natalie was just a little excited - perhaps it was the novelty that the rest of us woke her up and escorted her down the stairs. Either way, she was pumped.



The aftermath, taken using my new toy: a little Gorillapod hooked on the top of a chair. Sweet.



We spent two nights near Park Rapids at a nice resort with Matthew's extended family. It was super snowy and while we didn't get a chance to tear up the trails on snowmobiles, we enjoyed the company, singing karaoke, and swimming in the (indoor) pool. After that we had a long weekend in Bemidji with my fam. Massive meals every night, more fun gifts, and great opprtunities for the girls to play with their cousins. It rocks so much to see our kids playing with my brothers' kids. Leah had them all running around like cheetahs in no time.



Natalie "posed" for some pics while her Nana created her a couple of turkey pies (my all-time, number one, favorite meal).



Every year, we light the bonfire that Dad builds throughout the year with fallen branches, salvadge lumber, and other burnable scraps (one year we tried to light it using gasoline-soaked rose chafers - but that's another blog post). This year's fire was awesome, and it was further enhanced with some fireworks. The little kids didn't enjoy the hiss and pop, but we big kids thought it was rad. Check it:



One of the highlights for me was a visit to Anderson Fabrics Surplus Outlet store.



Stacks of high-quality fabric remnants at unbelievably cheap prices. It's a fabric scrap paradise. Drool with me.



What am I going to do with all of this fabric? I'm not sure, but here's a little of what I've done so far:



"Topo" Pillow:



Arrow Pillow:



Both pillows employ a reverse applique technique that was fun and fairly easy to do. I hope to make more of these, and maybe even sell them in my shop. We shall see. I also have some plans for a new informal dining table cloth, and a formal dining table runner. Too. Much. Fun. :)

All for now. Take care, and remember, that is SOoooooo two thousand eight. ;)

It must have been the cookies...

We are a happy happy household tonight. Most of our good cheer is due to the events of tonight that be printed boldface in history textbooks henceforth. Some of it is because we're all on a sugar high.

Leah and I made "Obama Cookies" this afternoon in hope that they would become victory victuals after the polls closed and the results were submitted. The recipe is a basic butter cookie set from Martha's Everyday Cooking. We rolled out the dough, cut big circles with a drinking glass, and cut small circles from the larger ones using the removable center part of the blender lid.



The recipe made two tall stacks of "O"s plus a couple of flag experiments.



I ran out of powdered sugar so I couldn't make a royal icing, but I did have some leftover cake frosting and it worked, more or less, in a pinch.



They're tasty with or without frosting, look pretty cute, and totally did the trick. Yeee-haw!

January 20th can't come fast enough. We are so proud of you, Barack!