Scribble Nation

Saturday Night Special!!

Scribble Nation!! Kitschy, Crafty, Retro  - Bright, Beautiful and Bold Housewares, Jewelry, Art and More! Alway Unique and Sometimes Insane!

15% off your entire purchase
(Not including s&h charges or custom orders)
From 7:00 PM (EST 05/03/08) to 3:00 AM (EST 05/04/08)

Just mention "SNS" during checkout - but wait to pay until I send you a revised invoice. If you get trigger happy and pay by accident, I'll send you a refund for the discount amount. Feel free to convo me with any questions.

Happy Saturday!

Glamour Cross Tutorial

The long awaited Glamour Cross Tutorial is HERE!!! Woot woot. We've donned our chipmunk personalities to show you how to make the kitschiest crucifixes in town!

Daydreamer Self Portrait

Do you ever have days where you are just too creative for your own good?  I am a notorious day dreamer - to a fault!  I have had this idea in my head for years, but lately it just keeps itching me.

The Hat City Scissor Center
I dream of a wide open space nestled in downtown Danbury that would act as an arts and crafts community center.  Monthly memberships would buy local crafters and artisans unlimited studio time and a hefty discount on special classes and workshops. We would have a kickass selection of equipment for sewing, jewelry making, art, you name it. Monthly members would also have access to a craft supply swap meet, fueled by member donations.  And my dreams don't stop there.  I would LOVE to make it inviting to the hugely diverse culture of the area by having bi or tri-lingual staff on hand.  Best of all, I dream of this place being a non-profit operation so that I can make it available to the people who need it most: artists who don't have the means to purchase the expensive equipment they are dying to work with.  I would also have benefits for volunteers, teachers, and sponsors. We could also organize craft shows and events where the artists in the community can try to turn a dime on their creations, auction fund raisers, bake sales, and more. My heart skips a beat when I get caught up imagining this bustling center of affordable and accessible creativity.  If only I could fall into piles of money so that I could start this place up. Le sigh. Someday!

Boot-onnière Bonanza!

Michelle and I were lucky enough to be gifted a very special attic find recently.  Anne from The Scissor Squad found a ziploc full of old Barbie gogo, cowboy, and even army boots during a recent trip to see her folks.  She was kind enough to send them our way and I knew as soon as I laid eyes on them what they were meant to be:

But it was Michelle, (I think) who coined the name. Or was it another brilliant Scissor Squad member?  I'm not sure - they are all so damned fantastic. Who really knows? Anyway, the first batch you see above is already listed on The Scribble Nation Etsy Shop.  Next in line? Michelle's amazing variation below, The Button Boot-onnière!!

Keep your eyes peeled folks.  There are many more to come.

Pssssssst. What the "F" is a Boot-onnière anyway?

Oh darling, I am SO glad you asked.  A Boot-onnière is a charming bouquet of vintage and modern buttons, baubles and beads that has been permanently nestled inside of a reclaimed toy boot.  If Barbie could only see what's been done with her favorite go-go!  Each Boot-onnière sports a sturdy pinback so that you can easily dress up your ensemble.  Even the sorriest lapel will become a fashion frenzy with a Boot-onnière pinned upon it.

Each Boot-onnière is utterly and completely one of a kind.  Though we may duplicate color schemes, the final product will never be the same twice.

What is the biggest challenge of working from home?

You're looking at him. Sure, he may look innocent and adorable, but this cat is not only a villainous mastermind, he is a professional interrupter.  He knocks glasses of water onto electronic equipment, chews through speaker wires, switches off power strips. You name a way to interrupt my flow of work, and I'll betcha he has already tried it.  Sometimes he takes a cuter approach and tries to stop me from typing by sitting on my hands. 

Sometimes he'll simply meow one hundred times in a row for no apparent reason.  His favorite trick is to steal important items from my office than bat them around the house.  Nothing is safe from the orange kitty, and there is no escaping him either.  Recently, he figured out how to push the bathroom door open.  After he gets into the room, he proceeds to meow by the shower door.  Once he becomes tired of meowing, he simply slides the door open and jumps into the shower with you.

Bad Kitty!   

Turtle!

I just got these awesome pics from one of my Dad's latest dives.  This Hawkbill Sea Turtle swam right up to the camera! What a ham!

My Pops is quite the Cousteau. Check out the last picture he sent me, from a close encounter of a very much scarier kind. 

RME Revolution Money Exchange

Hi everybody! I just got $25 free for signing up with Revolution Money Exchange, a new Paypal-like online payment system.  It's starting to catch on on Etsy, so I figured what the hell. Why not? If you decide to join, do me a favor and do so from the link above - then I get ten bucks! Woo hoo.

Shameless

This week for Self Portrait Thursday I thought I would do something a little different.  Instead of a macro shot zooming in on my cavernous nose pores I've decided to showcase the current state of my "office".  I'm only one craft show into the season and LOOK at the state of things.  Looks like I'll be cleaning before I can start crafting tonight. Le sigh. A far cry from the last time I invited you all into this room.

Details on the chaos:

1. Storage bins for all my fabric. It seems only yesterday the contents were neatly organized by color and material. Good times...
2. The aforementioned "poop chair". I painted this sucker many years back.  It horrified my father, but I thought the little floater added necessary detail to the piece.
3. My sewing machine safely tucked inside its case (but wearing a random crap hat.)
4. Yes, that is a coconut.
5. Go bulletin board! When I put this up I imagined a collage of neatly arranged swatches, sketches, and clippings. What actually wound up here? Not quite Martha material.
6. My favorite Minks to Sinks find ever, a freaky old cabinet made with cigar box drawers. It hold all of my little doo dads with suck style!
7. This is not coffee. It actually holds all of the little stray strings  from when I sew. They are kept safely inside this cup until so that this won't happen.
8. A giant bag of herb. No! Not THAT kind of herb. Come on, this is a family show.
9. Fabric scrap bags. I may be messy, but that doesn't mean I'm not O.C.D. I have all of my fabric pieces under 1/2 yard in color schemed ziplocks. This particular one is a mish-mash that I put together for a project. The rest are freakishly color coordinated.

And now, the control center!! The messiest place of all.

1. A plate full of kiwi.  Believe it or not, this and the coconut are actually work related.
2. Various Boot-onnière's waiting for pinbacks. Coming soon to a Scribble Nation near you!!
3. Packing tape! Amidst all the chaos I still get my orders out. (And my endless amount of SwapTree swap books.)
4. God damn allergies.
5. Upcycled Envelopes waiting to be sorted into "collections" and photographed.
6. Google Chat - the underminer of all productivity.
7. A golden chicken (and his friend the rubber cow). I don't really know the deal with the golden chicken. According to my Pops it's VERY important though, so I keep it right here on my desk.
8. Kewpie!!
9. Martha's free calender keeping me up to date! (It's even on the right month. I'm SO grown up.)
10. You could call this a cordless phone OR you could more accurately call it the charities begging for money device.  I know this sounds awful, but anyone who belongs to activist groups or has donated money from time to time will know what I mean when I tell you that I get called EVERY DAY by multiple charities. I couldn't possibly have enough to donate to all of them so I wish they would just LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!
11. My lucky Etsy magic candle. I wrote ETSY all over this pillar and I light it every time I list something new. Mojo anyone?

Punk Rock Flea Market!

This Saturday, April 19!! Noon to 5:00 PM / Admission $5.00
Heirloom Arts Theater - 155 Main Street Danbury, CT

Live performances by:
Arms and Legs
James Downes
Toby Goodshank of The Moldy Peaches
Deer Tick
Neil Hamburger

Tons of cool indie vendors including several of our very own CT Etsy Team members:
LAA Designs
Ms Kitty Fantastico
Ornametal
Scribble Nation

Other vendors include:
  CT Roller Girls
Trash American Style
WXCI
  Vegan Pitbull Rescue
and many more!

Craftastic Makes Scribble History!

I am happy to report that Scribble Nation's first craft fair went rather swimmingly.  It was a small show, with a relatively small amount of shoppers, but a great way to get our feet wet.  We sold a fair amount of stuff throughout the day, got to meet many of our fellow CT Etsy Team people, and overall had a faboo time. 

Here's Michelle showing off our fancy table! We didn't get to bring Godzilla this time, but we're hoping to have him fixed up in time for Friday's Sidewalk Sale in Bethel. 

We came up with a crazy idea while setting up to give away buttons to anyone brave enough to model our Scribble Nation Crown. I made this wacky hat one night while I was getting silly with a glue gun. I giggled for hours while I scared the bejeezus out of Scott Bobleo that night. Mwa hahaha. He begged me not to wear it in public, but I said "poo poo to you Scott Bobleo. I'll do what I please." And I did.

Here is Bobleo Senior modeling the hat in question.

And a fetching young lady who tried it on for size.

And best of all, this crazy kid who came with his mom. He had a hilarious joke for every item on the table and was cracking us up the whole time he was there.  We sort of wound him up. Can you tell?

For more pictures of the Craftastic Event please check out The CT Etsy Team Blog.

Crafty Table Test Drive

I tell ya. You never know how much crap you have made until you try to pile it all onto an eight foot table.  I tested out our display the other day. We still have a LOT of work to do before Sunday. We need to sign, tag and price everything. We need to make a banner, and we need to bake the Day of the Dead cookies!! Eye yi yi. We also need to make an inventory of everything we're bringing with us, make vendor aprons, and... oh yeah - thin out the herd! This table is over stuffed. We'll need to thin it down a bit so people aren't overwhelmed. Wish us luck that we can get this all done by Sunday!

Left side: Coloring books, softies, pin cushions

Center: Earrings, manisters, jewelry, cards

Right side: Cocktail hats, toilet cozys, glamour crosses

Popeye

Self Portrait Thursday 04/10/08

 

I yam what I yam. Hyuck Hyuck Hyuck.

Playing with color.

Mazy, The Too Fat Elephant

I made a new elephant this weekend! I drafted a new pattern and had to test it out before creating a whole herd. I'm glad I did because Mazy may be adorably cute, but she is a bit overweight. Hee hee. She's so fat she can't even stand up! So, Mazy the too fat elephant will be a one of a kind creation. I gave her some lazy eyes to match her attitude. What do you think?

I'm going to take some real photos of her later for the shop, but I couldn't resist posting one shot of her sleepy face in the meantime.

Bobleo's Birthday Cake

It was my dear Scott Bobleo's Birthday on Thursday! He turned twenty seven! Wowzers! We are getting so old. It will be my turn to be 27 in July. I know all of you 30+ folks are cursing me for bitching about 27, but after 25, every year that gets you closer to 30 feels kind of heavy.  The pressure is on if I want to keep up with the five year plan I imagined up two years ago when we turned 25. 

Big goals by 30!
-Find Job Working From Home
-Launch Craft Business to Build Capital to Launch Soap Business
-Achieve some semblance of financial stability
-Achieve ACTUAL financial stability
-Get Married
-Move to Much Cheaper Area (It's looking like Bangor, Maine)
-Launch Soap Business
-Be Making a PROFIT on soap business before babies
-Have Babies

Phew! That's some list, but at least we're on our way. 

Scott Bobleo has his own list of goals, one of which we took care of last week.
-Own Dirt Bike
-Get Promoted at Work
-Get Promoted at Work Once More
-Move to Much Cheaper Area (It's looking like Bangor, Maine)
-Make Enough Money So That He Won't Have to Work TWO to THREE Jobs Anymore
-Get Promoted One More Time
-Own Our Own Home
-Buy Snowmobile
-Buy Quad
-Buy Twin Kayaks
-Adopt an Entire Dog Sled Team to Keep Gracie Company

So all in all we are making fairly dandy progress - and Scott's turning twenty seven is just another kick in the ass to make us re-assess our goals for the remainder of our second decade.  To celebrate, I baked him a cake. Not just any cake, the most kick-ass Peanut Butter Lover's cake ever!! Get ready, people, I'm about to BLOW your MIND.

I un-cozied Edna, and revved her up for the big day.  "You've got a lot of work to do today Edna", I said.  "Better get your ass in gear!"

As soon as she was ready I set to work making a Classic Yellow Layer Cake using the Yellow Cake from this recipe from Martha Stewart's website. 

I made two round cakes, one of which split when I turned it out of the pan!! EEEk! Z'ok though, luckily it split in a way that was easily overcome.  I just used the unstable cake on the bottom so the top would stay pretty.  Next, I made up a batch of Peanut Butter Frosting from this Whoopie Pie recipe. 

This stuff was so delicious.  It will definitely be making appearances in other baked items sometime soon. Yum yum yum.  After that, I cooked up some Rich Chocolate Frosting.  This stuff was a little more liquidy than I had expected.  I suspect I either did something very wrong, or the picture from the cake recipe was not using the same icing.  I had to drizzle this frosting over the cake.  It was far from the light, fluffy frosting pictured in the recipe.  Luckily, the dark flavor of it offset the peanut butter filling very nicely. 

After it was all frosted I sprinkled the whole thing with Reese's Pieces.  My man loves his peanut butter.

And it looks like he loved his cake too! Happy birthday Bobleo!!

I had the Weirdest Dream Last Night

I was a frat boy whose buxom girlfriend (played by Jenny MCcarthy) was bitten by a vampire and than won a hamburger eating contest. Right after that I switched from being in the frat boy's point of view to being in my point of view.  Now I was in Brooklyn at Etsy Labs going to some class. I met some of my old friends there and was all "I didn't know you worked at Etsy Labs!" and they were all "Yeah, duh. Of course we do. Let us show you where we all live." So they took me to this crazy Condo Complex. It was a series of buildings with four apartments each, in a horse shoe pattern.  In the middle was a huge courtyard, with a really cool pool that everyone called "The Grotto". It was a really fancy pool that incorporated a lot of stone and natural shapes. It was actually very similar to the playboy mansion pool which is also called "The Grotto". Very cool. My friends show me their apartment and explain that everyone who works at Etsy in Brooklyn lives in this fancy gated community that they call Etsy Town.  Each apartment building also has a rooftop garden and a huge art studio for the people that live inside.  After my friend's show us (now Scott is here too) their apartment they take us down to the pool. We are all having fun and drinking fancy cocktails when I look at one of the people and recognize an acquaintance I have that has always seemed to dislike me.  I was in the middle of asking her why when the sun went down!! All of the sudden the Jenny MCcarthy vampire started running a muck in Etsy Town! My memory gets a little foggy after this part, but I think my point of view kept switching from me to frat boy in a strange attempt to restore order while saving Jenny MCcarthy Vampire Girlfriend's life.

Dreams are wacky, yes?

Come on Guys!!

I'm trying to work!!

These two never quit.

The Bird and the Bee

I am loving The Bird and The Bee lately.  Disco vocals against modern indie electronic. Sweet.

A Child Atfer My Own Heart

Feedback is fabulous.  And speaking of it, (How's THAT for a segue?) I recently received some of the BEST EVER!  A short while back I ran a promo on this blog giving away some of our kickin' Scribble Nation Coloring Books.  I sent out quite a few coloring books, one of them to Kimberly of MBOI Chainmail.  She told me how her son was always disappointed with the variety in standard coloring books, and was looking forward to giving him the one from Scribble Nation.  I have to admit, I was a little weary that no kid would "get" the humor in these books.  They are kind of weird.  Was I ever wrong to doubt!  Kimberly's six year old, Nathaniel, was apparently captivated with the coloring book, so much so that he refused to color on the pages! (For fear of ruining them.  As a coloring book enthusiast I recognize that feeling! It's the ultimate coloring book compliment. I STILL have a few books that are yet left untouched due to their coolness.) Instead of coloring in the book, he used plain white paper to trace the designs.  At last count, Kimberly had six pickle pictures on her fridge! And he added a bunch of baby olives to the olive picture!! Nathaniel, you are truly a king in the world of coloring.

My coloring in The Scribble Nation Coloring Book.

Nathaniel's Pickle Picture.

Is that the cutest thing you have ever seen or what? Because we heart Nathaniel and his coloring so so much, Michelle and I have decided to do something special for him.  Very soon, Scribble Nation will be offering custom coloring books on our Etsy Shop.  We'll be making books for other shops to sell or give away as promos.  Every time we make a new book we are going to send one copy to Nathaniel.  Now, I'm not sure how often we'll get sales on this item, but when we do Nathaniel will have a new book to color in. We salute you Nathaniel, the king of coloring!!

P.S. to Kimberly.  I don't know if you've heard of these, but one of my favorite coloring books is from the Anti-Coloring Book series.  They are very different that normal coloring books because they prompt kids to draw, create, and invent rather than just color inside the lines.  You and Nathaniel would love them!

Gearing Up

We're getting closer and closer to the first craft fair and I'm uber excited (and a wee bit nervous) about our first show.  At T-Minus ten days I the subject on my mind right now is display and table setup.  I have a few tricks up my sleeve that should make our table hard to miss. (One involves Godzilla. Hee hee hee.) Other things are similar to our friend on the right here. ---------------> (That's a ceramic Jesus figurine with a head transplant in case you were wondering.)  But one thing I cannot decide on is how to display the earrings.  In an earlier post I showed off a neat display using cardstock. The only problem with that idea is that wall space will be limited. Even if we bring two easels to the show there is no guarantee that there will be room for either, and we're going to need somewhere to put all the magnets too. :P Decisions, decisions.  Here are a couple more ideas that I've cooked up for the earring displays. (Pardon the lousy pictures, I took them at night so I had to use a flash - bleh!)

Upside down mesh file holder. Very neat, orderly display, but is it too low? I wonder if people will see them sitting so low on the table like that.

Earrings on card stock. (As shown in this video earlier.)

My craziest idea yet - I poked holes in an old painting of mine and hung the earrings all over it.  Bobleo liked the concept but suggested placing the earrings against contrasting colors to see if it brought more attention to them instead of the painting.  Good point, Bobleo. The earrings don't seem too interesting in comparison to the swirly rainbow background. Plus this doesn't help if we don't have floor space. :P

Le sigh. My next scheme is to find a mesh waste paper basket for the earrings.  Maybe that will work. :P

Spread The Fug!!

Let's face it folks, Project Fugway won't be any Fugging fun unless we get plenty of fugly fashions coming our way.  Help me spread the fug with this fuggging fugly attractive button! Post it on your blog, MySpace, Ning page, Facebook, or wherever you are feeling the fug!