mmm.... coffee.....

the morning sun has come and gone, get up get out & move along

slowly, but surely i'm putting my vinyl goodies up on etsy (click the image above to be transported directly to my shop)  i know, i know, i've been saying i'm going to do this for uh, a year, but it's actually happening this time.  i'm still working out the shipping costs so i apologize if they seem a little high, i'll adjust them as i figure out the exact costs.  i hope to get much more up there this weekend, keep checking in on it!

(i added a little update to the bunny post in case any of you are worried about the little cutie...)

an influx of thousands of kittens

this was my half of the table at the Alumni Sale saturday morning - we were steadily mobbed for the rest of the day.  sales were slow for me at first, but picked up later & amongst other things, i sold the slug messenger bag!  the weather was gorgeous, i had fries from the Idaho potato man & my thermos of coffee to get me through the day.  we had a surprise visit from alison of wonderlandQ which was awesome.  bob & ginny of OrangeBags came by with their new little baby, so did my former boss Michelle & i got to see anna of annabuilt who is totally pregnant.  am i finally at that age?  babies everywhere!

since the sale on saturday i have done nothing!  absolutely nothing!  okay, not entirely true: teresa & i went to our friend josie's house for a little bbq saturday night, but i didn't last long.  sunday morning we went to breakfast & were joined by stacy & allison.  afterwards we checked out a sewing machine/fabric yard sale extravaganza jenine had spread the word about & then there was a trip to savers.  i added to my button collection, stacy almost bought some cool shoes & teresa convinced me to buy a little round, turquoise suitcase.

your head is bent out of shape, but your feet are on the ground

to entice you to stop by the Risd Alumni Sale this saturday, here are the messenger bags i have made so far.  they are all fully-lined with an inner pocket, adjustable strap & heavy-duty velcro enclosure:

i am completely in love with the one i made myself & take it with me everywhere i go.  i put the pocket on the inside front so it's quick & easy to find my keys & cell phone.  the strap is strong webbing so it won't stretch out & stays put at the length you choose.  i added more velcro so the bag will stay closed even when over-stuffed.  this saturday i'll also be bringing a pile of ipod sleeves & tons of wrist cuffs in the favorite styles & a couple new ones, too!  here is a sneak peek a some of them:

i might have a few clutch purses with me - depends on how fast i can sew this week...  the weather is supposed to be really nice this weekend so come on by & check out my new haircut!  Benefit Street, 10am-4pm (rain or shine.)

and the words float out like holograms

it's a lazy sunday in the coffee-drinker household (i also had a wee plate of scrambled eggs with that coffee.)  that cute tree pattern is on my favorite flannel sheets, they are from target & i also have wrapping paper in the same pattern.  i think the flannel pjs are from target, too...  oh, and so is the sock!  it says "Naughty or Nice?" at the top.  yes, i do like that Target, they understand my need for things to be both affordable & well designed. 

it has been a year since i made my first messenger bag - i have used it every day & taken it everywhere.  it has been through the heat of summer & the cold of winter.  it's travelled from rhode island to maine, to nyc, south carolina & miami.  it gets tossed on floors, in cars, has been x-rayed in airport security checkpoints & crammed under seats.  i have worn it through rainstorms & spilled my lunch inside.  i can officially declare it a success!  not that i don't have faith in my craftsmanship, but i always test-drive my merchandise before selling it.  i have to know that they will last & are comfortable before i send them off into the world.  the immediate modification i made to my first bag was to switch the strap from vinyl to webbing, i also added a little more velcro on these new ones so they're easier to close when packed full.  i probably won't make very many of them, but here is a little sneak peek of what's in the works:

the colbert report's terror level has been elevated to brown, somebody spilled coffee on the chart

despite my coming down with a really bad cold (pretty much immediately after my last post) & teresa selling out at Crafty Bastards the weekend before, we managed to pull together a great table full of goodies for the alumni sale on saturday.  thank you to everyone who came by to shop or just visit!  i had a lot of people ask where else they could find my stuff so here is a little list of upcoming events:

Dec. 1-23rd, Craftland in Providence
Dec. 8-10th & 15-17th, Foundry Artists Sale in the Pawtucket Armory Bldg
Dec. 16th, Bazaar Bizarre Boston in the Cyclorama

and a few shops where you can find my work:
PlainMabel & My My and at Frog & Toad in Providence, RI

 
i have finally made significant progress in the whole studio cleanup!  (let's not discuss how long i've been working this)  there is still quite a pile of stuff on the side of the room you can't see from the doorway, but most of those drawers & cabinets are empty.  yes, empty!  the organizational possibilities are overwhelming...  with all this organizing comes inspiration to work on all my projects, which is good because, as you already saw, i have a quite a few tables to fill in the month of december!  and, yes, i have noticed that i arrange everything in rainbow order... isn't it better that way?

the script actually called for me to say yes, but I put a little spin on it

 

damn, i wish i'd taken one more photo...  oh well, anyway, here are some swank new ipod sleeves just in time for the RISD alumni sale!  there are three sizes; original, mini & nano.  'original' fits both the early generation fatter ipod & the newish slimmer one, but i haven't tried it on one of those wicked fancy video screens.  i made about 30 different ones & i only repeated a couple designs so they're even more one-of-a-kind than usual.  that last one with the trees & orange birdon mustard is inspired by an enid collins' money tree purse.

i finally clicked into production mode this weekend, or at least on Sunday...  Saturday was severely comprimised by Friday's martinis & sushi with kristin.  i hope to take a couple days off from work this week: one for sewing cuffs & one for sewing purses.  it's amazing how much i can get done when i concentrate!  as my elementary school teachers said, "erica is easily distracted and constantly plays with little toys, when erica is able to concentrate on her work, she does well."

time for flying rockets, for silver jets

hey there, some of my vinyl is in stock at MYMY whom just turned 2!  if yer hankering for an ipod sleeve or a cute little tree clutch & missed them at Renegade, pop on over & snap em up:
       
(photos taken by taryn of mymy, thanks taryn!)

the way you parked your car sideways

(that's your view + my view)
wow, renegade was great!  the weather on saturday was perfect & we lucked out with a lovely spot in the shade.  sunday got a little stuffy, but still not the "oh my god, i'm gonna pass out" kind of heat we had last year.  much thanks to everyone who came by, particularily lynn who i hadn't seen in almost 9 years & erin fae who i hadn't met before!


we drove down to my sister & jo's apartment friday evening, teresa & kristin had a little late-night preparation to do before we could sleep.  driving in & setting up went smoothly, they hadn't mowed the grass so teresa did a little pruning.  to one side of us was the lovely annabuilt & her husband who tried to drown out the ice cream truck with some great music.  we had the fabulous department of craft on the other side.

there were some assorted film crews wandering around talking to people, they didn't come by our table, but i did get my photo taken supposedly for a taiwanese newspaper!  i wore my new skirt both days & hopefully the bugs didn't creep out tara of plainmabel too much as she came by to say hi with her boyfriend!  i ran around a little saturday & said hi to mypapercrane, carryboo, mymy, misshawklet, jillkilljoy, qylaar, badbuttons, wonderland q, my fellow rhode islanders fishcakes, rainbow sugar, if'nbooks+marks & jen corace, oh too many more to name, sorry!  i saw stella of momomoogie, but missed dayna the crafty scientist!  new people i was enamored of were Dale Hunt who had super cool creatures & creature painting things, also a tent of amazing screenprinters from Pittsburg (etui, mike budai & strawberry luna) that made me nostalgic for the bygone days of Fort Thunder.


we finally got to see lee & jo sunday night, they took us to dinner with Stephan to a little italian place.  sadly i wasn't feeling too good, but the walk through Morningside Park was surprisingly beautiful, well, except for all those damn stairs!  no one told me there'd be stairs!  teresa, kristin & i spent monday walking around downtown.  i bought soda candy & chocolate pocky at Pearl River Mart, i also dared to enter the marc jacobs store to procure a bottle of the eau de parfum, but please don't ask how much i paid for it!

so there it is, my little synopsis of the weekend.  sorry for not posting right away & thank you thank you to everyone who attended, especially if you bought something!  now may i test drive that amazing avocado colored sewing machine?

i walk between the raindrops

in true erica fashion, i have found my inspiration & motivation at the last possible moment.  i'm experimenting with colors & new designs & thoroughly enjoying myself!  i'm still refusing to be stressed out & it seems to be going okay.  weird.  very weird.  i agree that light blue vinyl would be perfect for these new spring trees, but the only blue i can find is dark blue.  i really need to stop posting at night with these badly lit photos, i swear that they look sweet in real life - you'll just have to come to the sale & see for yourself!  should i make more of these swank little ipod sleeves?  and, if so, how does $10 sound?

(can you see the neat little ribbon label i finally started adding to things?  it's very simple, don't know why it took me so long)

then the stars went out & the moon fell from the sky

hey look at me i'm sewing!  there was another near meltdown earlier today when that cheap new foot pedal turned out to be too cheap, but teresa scooped me up with my little sewing machine & drove us over to get another one.  and, sweet, i even got a new old necchi pedal this time so it's all nice & matchymatchy.  (i like everything to be matchymatchy.)  while i was at Spirito Sewing, though, i fell in love.  yes, i know, the last thing i need is more stuff, let alone a third sewing machine!  (fourth if you count the tiny hand-crank singer from '42, but that's really just decorative) and lets not talk about how many typewriters i own...  BUT!  i am in love & what can you do when you fall in love?  i'll tell you what, you say screw saving money up to buy a real computer, spend it on the most incredible avocado green singer sewing machine with little typewriter-like buttons on top for fancy stitching.  it's love i tell you!  LOVE!  quick, i'll distract you from my potential un-wise purchase with these sneak peeks of some purses i'm going to have with me next weekend:


edit: and now i just made this one & i think it sure is somethin special, do you like it?  i need to try some other color schemes because i have very little of that tan color: