Wowza!

More press to share! Wow, this month is insane. Big shout out to the United Kingdom!

daily mail - UK

Telegraph - UK

Metro News - UK

Indie Quarter - UK

Female First - UK

Times of the Internet

Thank god for google analytics. For any of you out there not yet using this free google service to track your website traffic, you should.

Hooray for press!

I have a full page spread today in "the Metro," a free newspaper published in the UK. I haven't seen it yet, but thanks to Rachael of Hannah Zakari, my stockist in Scotland, for letting me know the article ran! Visit their website to see whats currently available for sale across the pond.

Also, the UK's Sky News did a feature on my work yesterday with a pretty cool slide-show on their website: check it out!

Rambo Barbie meets 101 Dalmatians?

While hunting around etsy this morning I found this hilarious listing and couldn't resist posting it here:


Is it just me, or is this one of the oddest "fashion doll" sets you've ever seen? There are so many strange elements to this, where do I begin?

She looks pretty dangerous alright, with that oh-so-menacing grin, cowboy hat and, um… dalmatian. Since when are dalmatians considered hunting dogs? Perhaps she's meant to hunt the eagle AND the dog and then cook them up in a bean stew? Hope she brought along some bug spray - that halter top's not gonna cut it.

It's nice to see a doll branching outside the "dress me up in pretty clothes" category, however I'm not convinced Rambo Barbie is going to be a number one seller. If you're interested in purchasing this gem hop on over to Geopillow's etsy shop. (I'm tempted to just so I can add it to my freak collection!)

The Creative Habit

Since becoming a full-time studio artist back in August, I'm not reading for pleasure nearly as often as I used to. I find myself dearly missing those subway rides to and from work if only for the fact that I could lose myself in 25 minutes of uninterrupted reading time. So it took me a while longer to finish reading Twyla Tharp's book: The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life , however I can't recommend it enough. Inspiring and insightful, this book will make you look honestly at your own creative work habits and strive to better them.


I have a confession to make: I'm an Underliner. When I buy a book - and love a book - I underline my favorite passages so I can go back to it and re-read sections when necessary to refresh my mind about its' messages. Some of my favorite underlined sections from this book:

"Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life."

"Every artist faces this paradox. Experience - the faith in your ability and the memory that you have done this before - is what gets you through the door. But experience also closes the door. You tend to rely on that memory and stick with what has worked before. You don't try anything new."

"Inexperience provides us with a childlike fearlessness that is the polar opposite of the alleged wisdom that age confers on us, the "wisdom" telling us some goals are foolish, a waste of time, invitations to disaster. In its purest form, inexperience erases fear. You do not know what is and is not possible therefore everything is possible."

"More often than not, I've found, a rut is the consequence of sticking to tried and tested methods that don't take into account how you or the world has changed."

"Repetition is a problem if it forces us to cling to our past successes. Constant reminders of the things that worked inhibit us from trying something bold and new. We lose sight of the fact that we weren't searching for a formula when we first did something great; we were in unexplored territory, following our instincts and passions wherever they might lead us. It's only when we look back that we see a path, and it's only there because we blazed it."

Lately I've been feeling a big change coming on in regards to my work… can you tell? In going back through the book for quotes just now I realized almost everything I underlined speaks to me about that.

Creepy… but Cool

This is the phrase I hear most often in response to my work. So I decided it had to be the name of my new tumblr page (yep, yet another web 2.0 application for me to manage!)

I get a kick out of reading the responses I find online when someone posts about my work; the people who get it, the people who don't, and everything in between. I've learned that if nothing else, my work always manages to invite reaction, and that's a beautiful thing.

So I decided it might be fun to find a forum for which to compile the many varied responses publicly and enthusiastically offered up online. Tumblr is the perfect format for this because it allows for quick and easy updating. So without further adieu… my new side project:

Creepy… but Cool

web press

My work has been making some blog rounds again lately, generating some interesting responses as usual, which got me thinking about a new project. I'll reveal what's up my sleeve soon, but for now, cheers to all this web press… thanks internet, you're the best!

jezebel Nov. 12

boingboing Nov. 11

craftzine Nov. 8

cool hunting Nov. 5

zipper artist extraordinaire

My uber-talented friend Kate Cusack (whose zipper jewelry I blogged about back in September) has finally opened an etsy shop where you can purchase amazing zipper jewelry directly from the artist herself!



Kate has also started a news blog called Kate Update where you can get the latest on Kate's happenings. Check it out!

It is a happy day!

I am so proud, relieved and more than anything, hopeful, about where our country is heading.

Because it's important.

Positivity

It's not easy to stay positive given the current economic situation in our country. Alyson Stanfield has just created this