Tag Archives: spring

because it’s festival season…

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i just wore my “last night a brass band saved my life” t-shirt out to the downtown super sunday / keep n it real 2nd line and had several folks take my picture and ask about the shirt – yes i handed them business cards – so i though maybe it was time to offer it up again.

the campaign is live for 7 days. various brands (american apparel, canvas, bella, hanes), styles (crew neck, v neck, mens/unisex, womens, t-shirts, tanks) and colors (royal blue, several different shades of grey, and i think even one chocolate brown) of shirts here, so be sure to scroll through them all. i tried to change some of the offerings but apparently teespring won’t let me do that – i have to just run the same as i had last time- so this is what it is for now. (and please note that the hanes t-shirt does go up to size 5xl.)

also don’t forget i have the stickers available for purchase directly from me.

happy spring everyone!

****edited to add: i’ve decided i’m going to donate part of the proceeds to the roots of music program here in new orleans, an after school music education program for kids age 9-14. i’ve seen and heard the roots of music marching band in mardi gras parades and at other various events around town for years and think it’s an awesome program doing great work filling a gap in the new orleans elementary and middle school system post-katrina. check them out!

spring has sprung.

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oh i know. i have not been very good at keeping up with this blog, ever since i started the new one where i write about more varied and personal things other than my art/craft life.

it’s also been a fairly slow time for said art/craft life. post-holidays through mardi gras is always slow for me, since i don’t really make anything that is mardi gras-focused and the weather is usually crappy enough to keep me from any of the outdoor markets (and from wanting to work on making new stuff outdoors). i’ve had a slow-but-steady trickle of etsy orders, and did get a little bit of a boost from the publicity mentioned in the previous post. but it’s not been anything close to “normal” levels of business. it’s been beyond slow, really.

but here we are in mid-march (how did that happen?). mardi gras is over and st. patrick’s is tomorrow, with st. joseph’s day hot on its heels this weekend. the weather has been absolutely gorgeous for a few weeks; perfect new orleans springtime, with loads of sunshine and temps in the 60s and 70s. (apologies to all the northerners who have still been dealing with winter up until now.) i have been riding my scooter and bicycle a lot, and taking daily walks in city park for exercise, while enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.

i don’t, however, think i’ll be doing a lot of outdoor markets anytime soon. i’m just not making enough money at them to justify the ever-increasing booth fees. the only two i have on my calendar right now are on april 2nd, i’m helping miss malaprop out at the picayune street fair in picayune, mississippi… and then on april 16th i will be at tulane’s crawfest. the picayune street fair is actually a weekend-long event but i think i’m only going up on saturday, unless sales are just so good i can’t stay away on sunday. and crawfest is an annual treat for me; i’ve been doing it for years and it’s one of my favorites, due to the excellent music and all-you-can-eat crawfish!

i am starting to get back outside working on new stuff, though. and i’ll be stocking up for my friend jen’s annual funky lil’ art show in her home during jazzfest, which is just around the corner now. the opening for that will be april 22nd and i’ll have more info on that as it draws nearer. but you should put it on your calendar now to either come to the opening or remember to stop by her place on your way out of jazzfest any night so you can pick up some awesome, reasonably-priced local art and craft. she’s got an ecclectic array of creative friends and there’s always a party going on over there during jazzfest.

that’s about it for now. just a little hello to let you know i’m still here. still making stuff. still selling stuff. still available for custom commissions. and one-color t-shirt runs if it’s simple enough. and if you want to keep up with all my latest creations, bookmark my etsy shop and also my flickr page. i might not always think to make a blog post about things but i almost always take photos of anything i make and post it to flickr.

happy spring everyone!

almost april!

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well, last weekend was a busy one, between the friday night show at one eyed jack’s (toshi rocked the house, of course, with a surprise appearance by ani difranco!), the elysian fleas market on saturday (slow sales but a gorgeous day), and the road food fest on sunday. yes, fae and i decided to be tourists in our own town and ride the streetcar down to the quarter to partake in the road food fest, walk around a little, visit with our friend s’aint n.o. lady at her cute jewelry boutique filthy rich, and enjoy yet another picture-perfect spring day in new orleans.

road food festival

we ate and drank ourselves silly: hand-cut seasoned fries from que crawl (aka the purple truck), a meat pie, the most delicately-battered fried catfish and crawfish rice from dunbar’s, and a pulled pork w/purple cabbage po-boy from que crawl again. oh and a delightful turtle to top it all off. fae got a yummy daiquiri and i enjoyed a few tasty local beers. it was a good day.

pulled pork po-boy

this week, for me, has been all about listening to cds for my upcoming music column. i think i have it narrowed down to a handful, including new ones by sia, pieta brown, a greatest-hits collection from k.d. lang, and a few others. i’ve still got a ways to go, though, on the stack of discs on my desk. fae’s been on spring break, which is nice for her. usually we travel to louisville to see friends and family on her breaks from school, but we just didn’t have it in us this time; that 12-hour drive is intense and with fae having been so sick over the first part of the semester, we just decided it would be best for us to stay home, to allow her to rest, relax and get caught up on school. so far, i’d say it was a good choice. the weather has been perfect, we’ve done some spring cleaning, she’s done some gardening, and i’m hopefully going to turn my music column in relatively on time. yay!

and now it’s almost april, which will be a crazy-busy month. i’ve got tons of markets/festivals scheduled, and of course jazz fest is almost here – my favorite time of year. here’s a brief overview of my schedule, for future reference:

this coming saturday, the 3rd, i will be vending at the freret market, my regular monthly appearance. it’s my favorite regularly-occuring local market, with a good mix of flea, art, craft, and food vendors plus community organizations, free live music, kids activities, good beer (abita!) and just a great general vibe. lots of the new orleans craft mafia gals will be there, so come by and say hello if you are out and about.

the following weekend is french quarter fest and i’m thinking about picking up a day vending at elysian fleas again, as it is well-situated close to the quarter.

the third weekend in april is both the alternative media expo and crawfest at tulane; sadly, i had to make a choice about which one to vend at this year since they are both on the same day, but there was no way i could turn down the opportunity to be at crawfest. i had such a successful day there last year and it was a blast, so that’s where i will be. the craft mafia will, however, be well-represented at the alternative media expo: we are co-sponsors again this year and will be giving out the free swag bags loaded with goodies to the first 100 paid attendees (so get there early!), and several of our members will be there vending. if i could figure out a way to be in both places at the same time, i would.

that friday night, the 16th, is also the opening party for my friend jen biniek’s annual jazz fest art show. this is the fifth year she’s opened up her living room to all her artist friends’ “funky lil art,” as she calls it – small-sized, affordable, eclectic folk art, photography, jewelry, crafts and all other kinds of stuff. i’ll post more details about the opening in a separate blog entry, but pencil it in on your calendar now or at least make a point of stopping by during the two weeks of jazz fest, because it’s quite a sight to behold.

then on the 22nd, which happens to be earth day, the new orleans craft mafia is cooking up a fun event at whole foods on magazine street. we’re still ironing out the details, but it will be both a vending situation as well as a recycling demo, teaching folks how to turn old t-shirts into new funky reusable grocery bags. again, more details coming once everything is worked out.

and then it’s jazz fest and hopefully i get to relax for a bit. i won’t be doing any markets during the two weekends of jazz fest (though my stuff will be up at jen’s) and freret market’s may market has been pushed back to the 8th, the weekend after jazz fest, so as not to conflict. so hopefully i will have made enough $ at all the april markets to be able to partake a bit in jazz fest revelry, if not inside the fairgrounds at least on jen and mary ann’s porch.

i have, however, applied for a job with the census. i go to take the entrance test tomorrow and then find out more details. not sure if it will be a good fit for me or not, particularly since i have so much going on april on the weekends, but i guess i’ll see how it goes and if i can work it out schedule-wise. because goodness knows i could use the money.(i’m all ears for other job tips and offers if you know of anything.)

so that’s what’s going on for me. i’m sure there will be intermittent updates throughout the month, but if you don’t hear quite as much from me, you’ll know why. i’m just busy, hustlin.