Renegade Craft Fair Finds

This weekend is the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale in Chicago, so my sisters and I made our way over to Pulaski Park Fieldhouse this afternoon to see what we could find.

There were so many talented artists there, over 150, including some Chicago staples such as Circa Ceramics and Ork Posters. I noshed on a delicious vanilla cupcake from TipsyCake and also bought a few prints from a new favorite, Delicious Design League.

This print will be a Christmas gift for my sister, Jessica, the newest Chicago resident in the family. It's called "Chicago Style - 1893":

It will look cute in her kitchen next to her "St. Louis Style" print by Dan Zettwoch, which she also already owns.

The next print is one which I purchased for the nursery and is called "Cutie Bear". I think it lives up to its name:

Each 18x24 print was priced at only $20 and contains 3 colors/screens. And best of all, if you choose to frame the prints, they are a standard size so no custom framing costs will be incurred. What a great deal! Check out what other prints the Delicious Design League has for sale on their online store. All in all we had a successful trip to the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale.

Next weekend is also the Bucktown Holiday ArtShow.

It is held at Holstein Park Fieldhouse, 2200 N. Oakley Ave. in Chicago on December 11-12, 2010 from noon to 5pm each day. I hope to make it there as well and will report back with any purchases :-)

STL Illustrator: Dan Zettwoch

My sister gave me a completely awesome screenprint for my birthday from a talented St. Louis Illustrator/Artist, Dan Zettwoch.

The print is called St. Louis Style and it features all of the famous, local fare from my favorite hometown:

Of course my favorite feature is the STL style pizza and the equation for provel cheese (no, not provolone, provel).

Man I miss that cheese! My mother-in-law brought us two pounds of provel when she came up for Thanksgiving just because we can't buy it here.

I know many St. Louisans read my blog so I wanted to share the work of this local (to you) artist. This new print is a 3-color, hand-pulled screenprint on wheat-colored Canson Edition paper, edition of 100, 30" x 11 1/4" and he's selling them for $25 apiece while they last.

A great addition to any kitchen or rec area :-) Now I just need to get mine framed and hung.

A lil' bit of Lill for my Lull

It's that time of year again. The time of year that I will fall into a drastic post-holiday, missing-my-busy-season-CPA hubby, windy-city-winter LULL if not otherwise thwarted by a bright, shiny & new creative outlet. Luckily, my sister was kind enough to get me a gift card to the Lill Street Art Center which I can put towards a new class again this year!

Last year I took a First-Time Screen-Printing for Paper class there and made a few, fun prints. But I'm torn if I should continue in the screen-printing route or if I should try something new?

I could take the First-Time Screen-Printing for Fabric class and learn how to replicate these pillow cases I have been most recently coveting, among other cool fabric crafts.

Or I could jump on either the Sewing or Knitting bandwagon, but unfortunately I just don't think I can make it there by 6:30pm on a work night for the sewing sessions so the knitting course is probably more feasible.

Or I could really splurge for this 10-week course, Introduction to Letterpress Image And Text.

I think my hold-up with Letterpress and Screen-printing is that they are both very interesting to me, but I lack the at-home-studio space to put my new found skills into action once class is dismissed. And while knitting is a bit less interesting to me, it might be a more useful skill to have down the road and a more affordable, maybe even therapeutic, hobby to take up.

Decisions, decisions. What would you do in my shoes?

Leave a comment to vote for the next Lill Street class I should enroll in!

a vintage typewriter

I'm officially on the hunt for a vintage manual typewriter that is still in working condition. I am not a highly knowledgeable collector, so the age and brand are not that important to me. I do however have three criteria.

1) It should work and I should still be able to purchase ribbon for it so that I can actually use it.

2) It should look nice on display or come with a fun case to look decorative when not in use.

3) It should be affordable, preferably around $100 or less.

So, of course I check out etsy and find some serious contenders...

This one from etsy seller 'vintagejane' is exactly the color and and look I was hoping for at a rather affordable price, $49.00 + $20 for shipping.

I like it, but it does not come with ribbon so I'd have to search for a supplier for that. Also, after a quick 'google' I think this is technically a child's typewriter but it looks to be only an inch or so smaller than some other models I'm eyeing so it still seems to be a great option.

The next one in my price range is from etsy seller 'kewpiesfarmhouse', $63.00 +$23.71 for shipping.

Royal is a good brand, but it's just an okay color & style. However...

...this case makes up for that! I love the vintage luggage feel of it.

This typewriter from etsy seller 'iamanie' also peaks my interest, at $90 and seemingly $0 for shipping! (I'll have to check with the seller on that). I love the color, style...

and the great, albeit damaged, carrying bag!

I think those are my best choices from etsy that fall within my requirements. I could always go the local antique store route as well to save money on shipping and actual touch & feel the typewriter before I buy, but that takes serious scavenger time that I'm not sure if I am willing to invest. What do you think?

And lastly, I'll leave you with these great pillowcases from etsy seller 'bpoetic' that tie in nicely with the theme of my post and would look great on our bed.

I know they are handscreened, but can I bring myself to spend $40 on two white pillow cases? I'm not sure yet.

Love Nest

I can finally share the first framed fruit of my labor from my screen-printing class.

I started with one layer of a dark turquoise/jade green colored ink that I mixed and then I printed over it in white with a photo emulsion layer of a nest and the word "love" that I had designed in PhotoShop. 

Next, I bought a simple and affordable white frame from Target and voila! We have a new, handmade piece for our bedroom/love nest!

I have a few more different prints from my course, but this is definitely my favorite. Most of the time was spent learning the techniques on the spot, so there wasn't a lot of concepting time to think about exactly WHAT I wanted the end product to look like. I do hope to take another course though soon, and now that I know the basics I can come armed with lots of other fun ideas.

Which Ork Poster Should I Pick?

I just posted about my love for Chicago neighborhoods here (#5) and I have come to find that much of the art/wall decor in my home revolves in way or another around geography of some sort. (Unless you are talking about my bird room.)

I already have this piece from Dolan Geiman in our bedroom:

And I have two canvases in our main hallway, from Etsy Seller "geministudio", the Chicago Streets Canvas Art (where I live) and then I had him custom make me a matching St. Louis piece (where I am from) that he now sells in his shop.

But know I think I want a more colorful piece to put in our main living area and I came across Ork who makes some very cool City Neighborhood posters. I especially like a few of the Chicago prints.

Right now I am trying to decided between this printed poster in teal:

Or one of these two screen printed pieces in yellow/blue or orange/blue:

(You know I have a new found love of screen-printing.)

I think they would all look nice with a white frame. So which of those three would you choose?

Snow. Sunday Brunch. Screwed Tire. Screen-printing.

What a Sunday! To start out, we woke up to a snow storm this morning and then hubby surprised me by saying we had reservations for Sunday Brunch at The Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock center downtown! This is a big surprise because 1) Dave never plans things and 2) He hates going to brunch. So this was a very special, and greatly appreciated gesture. 

The weather made the visibility sparse, but we still had a lovely view, scrumptious mimosas and I ate more snow crab claws than one should ever eat in one sitting.

Next, we headed into the overpriced parking garage to find our tire on our car was completely flat :-( We got out and found a large screw protruding out of the tire.

 

Great. Luckily, our Volvo came with free roadside assistance, so we dialed the number and found out it was a THREE HOUR wait due to the snow warning in Chicago. Boo. So we decided that I would take a cab home and Dave would work from his office downtown until they called to say they were on the way to fix it.

I feel so bad that the weather and the flat tire put a damper in Dave's whole little morning date he planned for us, but I still had a great time. And while I wait for him to get home with the car, I am now mentally preparing for my first screen-printing class tonight at the Lill Street Art Center, that I first mentioned here. It says to "dress for mess" but I'm still not sure how messy I want to show up on the first day. I think jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt will suffice.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

I think I got my mojo back.

It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post, and honestly... I thought I had lost my creative mojo. I have been uninspired, a little stressed and somewhat mopey. It's been a combination of work, lousy weather, missing my hubby since it's his "busy season" and really just a bit of a general funk.

So, I decided I needed to get off my booty, get inspired and get another creative outlet! Last night, I went on the search for a class to keep me occupied & otherwise inspired, and I ended up enrolling in a beginner course called First-Time Screen-Printing for Paper at the Lill Street Art Center.

I. CANNOT. WAIT.

No, I have never done anything like this before. I consider myself to have a good "eye" for art & design, and I am crafty in my own right, but I hesitate to consider myself a hands-on artist. But that's about to change! I figure I spend so much of my time searching for awesome artwork to adorn our place on Etsy and other sites, that I might as well try my hand at creating my own!

Wish me luck! The class starts Sunday, March 29th, so I hope to come out of the 5 weeks with some inky hands and maybe even a piece that we can frame.