Baltimore! (or bust.)

I'm pulling an all-nighter getting ready for the show.  I will be leaving early tomorrow in order to miss that famous D.C. area traffic.  I should be back next week with pictures and stories and all that good stuff, I just wanted to sneak in a little "blog-buddy coupon" in before it was too late!  So PLEASE print out (or just mention the coupon) to me at the show if you can make it!!!

What is a gnome pin?  (you might be asking.)  Well, it's basically a wearable version of the gaudy cupcake toppers that I sell in the Emporium.  They are Guardian Gnomes, something I've been meaning to put together for a while.

I even put goofy saying on the back of the cards about how the gnomes watch over and protect you.  Yes, I am a dork.  I also made super-cue magnet sets with them too.  Packaged in tiny Tera cotta pots.  All of these will also be in the Studio next week (Wednesday-ish), if you can't make it out to Baltimore. 

Another surprise project I have for the show are these beachy-type cover ups with nautical printed designs:

These are made from thrifted slips that I dyed, then screen-printed.  I used to wear vintage slips as beach cover-ups waaaay back in the day, and I never had much luck when I tried to dye them.  A while back, I found this lovely gal Dottie Angel who was doing BEAUTIFUL things with old slips, and it inspired me to give the whole dying-thing another try.  After some help from other bloggers, I finally got the hang of it and sort of got addicted.  I had a giant pile of the slips and I though, "I wonder if you can screen print on nylon?".  My hubs, Mike, manages a screen printing shop, so he hooked me up with the proper ink (which came with a lengthy lesson about catalysts and heat settings....snooze...)  But, I'm ever so grateful for his help, because I really like how they turned out.  Very simple, very bright and sunny.  They have a strange, pirate-like quality that I shouldn't like....but yet I really do.  I can't explain it.  Oh, and I was also heavily inspired by an old seventies gem that I've had stuck in my head for months now: Brandy, by Looking Glass.  The refrain goes a little something like this:

"Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my love and my lady is the sea"

(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda)

You can also listen to the whole song on a very creepy website  by clicking this link here.   Have I scared off all of my readers yet?  I told you guys, I'm totally nutso.

And, for once, I'm even keeping one for ME (shocking, eh?)  And it's the most pirate-ish one of all:

Well, ahoy there.

Happy weekend to you all,  or as Captain Quint would say, "here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women."

Comments

[lorraine rose]

help! which show~ i will be in baltimore tomorrow and dont want to miss it.

[rachel]

I love those shirts! Maybe we'll see you there.

[Sarah]

My husband just looked over my shoulder and said we needed one of those gnome pins. Since they aren't on Etsy, please tell me how to get one! LOL

[Sarah]

Oh, I see it now. Sorry, that's what I get for trying to read with my husband blabbing at me. :-)

[stephanie]

Argh! I love those slips! I hope you have a great show. :)

[carole]

This Maryland gal MUST have a crab slip!they are terrific ;) have fun this weekend and big sales!

[papertrail]

yay! i'm going to be at Pile of Craft, too! those slips look great. see ya there!

[Tara]

Aw, I live in DC but can't make it up to Baltimore tomorrow! It would have been my first chance to confirm that one of the bloggers I peek in on actually exists in the real world... ;)

And I would have snapped up and treasured both your slips and your gnome pins. They're fantastic! Hope you have a pile o' sales at Pile of Craft.

(And hope to see you at Crafty Bastards here in DC in September? http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1460)

[Nice]

hahahah you are so funny haha bow legged women and that brandy song haha i have to say that brandy song has always given me the creeps!! haha i dunno i guess maybe it's his voice? haha but anyway your slips are so cool! a great idea! i bet they will be snatched up quick. and the gnomes also!! so great, amanda!

[tammy g.]

you crack me up - ha-ha. On a M.A.S.H episode the colonel is singing, "I like to swim with bowlegged women and swim between their legs" or something like that.

Hey, Brandy is one of my all time fave songs - I got it when I was 12!
Cool idea for the slips...I love when things are repurposed.

[Debbie]

Oh, I wish...I wish...I wish...I leaved closer...how fun! So much good stuff!

[Stephanie Coop]

You are very creative! Fun fun!

[Tessa]

Aw, I wish I lived closer to Baltimore - what fun!! I hope you have a great time. :)

[Tiffany Harvey]

Beautiful! I am jealous to hear your husband works at a screenprinting shop!

I've done a few prints in the past, just painting on Mod Podge as the filler ~ http://pmthreads.livejournal.com/tag/screenprinting ~ but I got some light sensitive emulsion for Xmas. I keep procrastinating, though, when I see the cost of blank shirts :(

[Rachel]

Hey there, I've been reading your blog and am finally posting.

I love those screen-printed skirts, what a creative and great way to recycle! I see vintage slips sometimes and they are so cute but I'm like "where/when am I going to wear this..." and now you have the answer;)

Also, how great are those gnomes? I was making necklaces out of them on my Etsy shop for a while but I guess they got kinda popular haha; they are too fun! I love their ridiculously bold colors.

Anyway, I'm Rachel! Nice to "meet" you=)

[Suzie Sews]

How did you die your nylon slips...Man I have been pulling my hair out with the ones I have tried to do, not to mention all that waist of money and die, which is more money than the slips cost...or is that my problem...
Suzie Sews