everything goes wrong

I had hoped for a super chill birthday last month, but even simple things always get stressful and I ended having to postpone plans so I could search desperately for my cat for two hours because he thought it would be cute to go missing.  

I still think it was a birthday success once it got started, though!  Nature + people I like + a dog I love + Bouldin Creek with their heavenly chipotle pecan pesto and $2 glasses of flavored champagne is kinda foolproof.  

kitten around

I had a very stupid day yesterday, so I'm glad that I already had some kitten/friend time scheduled to take the edge off. Melissa, who is actually helping out on the new cat zine (forever making cat zines), is fostering a mom and her kittens for Austin Pets Alive right now!  I love APA - I've had a few friends foster with them and I adopted my little love Beaker from them last year and they were the best, so if you're in Austin, I definitely recommend supporting them in any way you can! Of course, these guys will be up for adoption eventually, too, and I plead for you all to snatch them up before I do something irresponsible, like adopt all three.

I initially met these tiny, tiny creatures last weekend when they were even tinier, but got a lot more quality time with them today and had my camera handy, so naturally I snapped away furiously.  Xylophone, the littlest kitten with the pink nose, took a particular liking to my hair, and when it was time to leave, she would not let go of me and I obviously wasn't feeling too good about leaving her, either. 

Overall, a pretty great Caturday. 

baby, my head's full of pictures

Sometimes, when you are very exhausted from the combination of an especially nasty sinus infection and a lot of exciting things, what makes the most sense is photographing everything new that you don't think you will ever get around to showing anyone in real life because when you're pretty damn sure that when you fall asleep tonight, you might just decide to finally commit to eternal slumber.

I bought this little terrarium at Renegade from Simply Planted.   My bedroom is teeny tiny, and the wall I face when I'm in my bed only has room for this window without much of a scenic view (mostly a wooden fence) and a mirror that wouldn't quite make sense anywhere else, so I'm thrilled to have something nicer to look at. 

 This little print clothesline is another new-ish addition to my bedroom. It features work by Caroline, Kensey, Stephen Eichorn, and The Disaster Life. 

Beaker looking pensive next to a couple old & new things.  The shirt was a thrifted cream silk blouse that I spent $2 on and wore about a hundred times before the various tiny stains all over it seemed to be a bit much and I decided it would make a good tie-dye experiment.  I like how it came out, and the fact that it's a shirt in the style I wear most frequently (a soft, collared button-down) means that it might get worn quite a bit despite being out of my normal, very limited comfort zone.   The necklace is my Little Pancakes collab, and I'm happy to (finally) have one of my own!  My friends Maggie and Joyce both purchased one over the weekend, which is really awesome because obviously cool girls matching each other is my favorite thing ever.  Dana, Ana, and Venice all have this necklace, and I like to think (and maybe have confirmed????) that they're able to send good cosmic vibes to each other whenever the necklaces are being worn. 

Melissa and I each made ourselves a couple one-of-a-kind necklaces together to commemorate her visit.  Hers features a mint green bear accompanied by dangling brass triangles and mine this cool crystal & chevron thing that I was really bad at photographing on myself because I forgot how hard it is to take pictures of yourself with a 35mm lens when you hate self timer. 

Finally, new reading/oogling material!  The stack on the left came arrived all the way from Dublin today...tons of independently published goodness courtesy of my pal Liz!  The next two were purchased today when Caroline and I took Melissa to a few of our favorite spots around town before she caught her flight back to Boston.  Apartamento via Spartan & Becca Stadtlander's volume of Living Things via Domy. 

cut path x little pancakes / renegade!

I promise this is NOT a blog about my jewelry, but here is one more post about my jewelry.
 
Internet circles being as tight-knit as they are, I know some of our readers are already fans of Little Pancakes jewelry.  Melissa's designs are sweet and fun...perfect to wear every single day of your life if you're interested (as I hear some people are) in feeling less sad!

 
So when Melissa brought up a possible collaboration, I immediately, enthusiastically said "yes".  Our first piece is kinda exactly what you would expect from the two of us together (in a good way!):  her popular brass bunting necklace meets up with a motif near and dear to our hearts...a kitty cat, naturally.


Here is Melissa herself rocking one:

And you can check out the listing here!


BUT the fun doesn’t stop there!  Melissa is coming to Austin this month for Renegade Craft Fair (May 19 -20). She’s staying at our house and we plan on making more jewelry (probably including one of a kind pieces!) to sell.  I’ll be hanging out at the Little Pancakes booth, so come say hi if you’re in town!  


MAKEatx is also setting up shop, so check out their booth!  I've seen a bit of what Kristen and Eve have up their sleeves for the display, and I think it's gonna be pretty rad.  


You can buy stuff like this from them:

 

south by southwest was a lifetime ago, but here is a post about it today

It's not-so-affectionately nicknamed South by South Stress for a reason, but everything has been so crazy in my own life lately that SXSW was easy breezy in comparison this year.  Of course, I don't recommend manufacturing a personal crisis just for the sake of enjoying a music festival, but you know, do what you gotta do...

hey friends hey

I missed seeing every band I actually have an emotional connection to who played shows that week, but SXSW isn't really the greatest place for music you care about, anyway.  What it is great for is sampling a bunch of acts you wouldn't necessarily pay to see, free alcohol, and coaxing out-of-town friends to come for a visit...all of which, god willing, manages to ease the pain of the absolute worst in corporate sponsorship if you dare venture to 6th Street (not recommended, not even for the Free Vodka Trolley.)

 

Bleached

Jennifer and Jessica Clavlin make me hate my sister/BFF for never forming a punk band with me like I begged her to so many times.  Prior to forming Bleached, they were part of the notorious group of rabble-rousers Mika Miko until the band split and Jennifer played with Cold Cave for a bit. I loved their set and very much wanted to be up there with them in matching maroon ankle boots, but I guess I'll wait for the formal invitation to join the band first... 

Best Coast

I'm pretty sure I come across as super sarcastic on the internet (and in person, but to a lesser extent) because people don't understand that I'm genuinely a superfan of hype and enthusiasm. I love seeing people really into something, which was my main objective sticking around to see Best Coast after Bleached and Spectrals, and I was not disappointed!  I mean, I do like Best Coast just fine and I've seen them twice before and had a great time, actually, but I'm not going to pretend there aren't tons of other bands that came out around the same time (or earlier) and did pretty much the same thing as Best Coast (sometimes better) with a fraction of the media coverage. For whatever reason, people are really into this band in particular, though. And I'm not immune - I totally watched Bethany lookin' cute in her Rachel Antonoff romper and hanging out with Wavves' Nathan Williams out of the corner of my eye prior to their set like the creeper I am.  But when Best Coast took the stage (Bethany had changed into her new line for Urban Outfitters, of course), my eyes were mostly focused on the front row, full of well-dressed girls eagerly singing along about boys and the sun and boys.  And you know what? Their happiness made me happy.

I also saw Blouse (dreamy as I imagined!), Dive (favorite SXSW discovery this year), Craft Spells (dude who had drawn flowers on his mint-green guitar was my favorite), and others that I can't remember now.  But like I said, as many bands as you actually see during any music festival (this one in particular), there are gonna be a million more that you miss even if you wanted to see them more. 

Hangin' out with these girls really was the best of the best of South by Southwest, which is why I look so smug here.  Magdalena & Caroline, please come back!

ATX Zine Fest, etc!

Hi, first off, thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of 40 Cats Drinking 40s!  I sent off the first few copies this afternoon, and I can't wait for them to reach your paws.  

More exciting news:  next weekend (December 10-11) we'll have a table at the ATX Zine Fest and (hopefully!) we'll have ANOTHER brand new zine available in addition to our previous releases and maybe some fun stickers and prints.

 The event will be held Saturday and Sunday December 10th and 11th from 12-6PM at Bernadette's Bar (2039 Airport Blvd). 

ALSO we'll be at Cheer Up Charlie's the two nights preceding the zine fest - on the 8th for The Vagina Zine Winter Issue Release Party & on the 9th for a zine event thrown by print Revival which we'll be tabling at.  

If you're in Austin, please come and say hi! We're nice people.

renegade craft fair

Over the weekend, Carly, Joyce, and I stopped by the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair for some gift buying.  I couldn't purchase anything on Sunday, but I picked up some well-designed business cards for when my pockets are a little fuller and a few ideas for our upcoming craft/zine faire tables.

One of our favorite vendors was Son of A Sailor, who sells adorable painted jewelry & prints.  Carly bought a leather bracelet, and I was mighty tempted to purchase a necklace for myself.  

We also loved Yellow Grey, from Indiana based Kristina Kostur, who makes jewelry out of materials like sea urchin spines, stones, and various metals.

Overall, I'd describe it as a sometimes vanilla, real-life Etsy since the cost of tabling ($300) keeps a lot of the scrappier, more eccentric vendors from participating whereas selling online requires little overhead.   However, I definitely enjoyed discovering shops I wasn't familiar with (such as the two I mentioned here) and meeting people I had previously only corresponded with online. Arts & crafts talk forever, please.

leah duncan

We're thrilled to be featuring one of the many talented folks based here in Austin for this week's artist interview.  I became familiar with Leah Duncan's work when my roommate Sara added one of her charming prints to our growing collection of bear art, which is getting quite impressive!  Her illustrations, which can be found on a variety of textiles, home goods, and paper products in her shop, feature colorful patterns and elements of nature, from mountains and flowers to swans and jack rabbits.  You can read more about Leah on her blog.

How would you describe the creative community in Austin? How has your location influenced your work?

The creative community in Austin is very vibrant and diverse, yet I think there's still a sort of "Austin" feel that you get from artists who live and work here. That certainly comes from the colors and sights of our surroundings. I live in east Austin which has brought a unique voice to my work in my color palettes, style, and themes I've explored. 

Can you elaborate on your creative process from the idea of a project to the final piece?

The creative process can be ever so messy and fulfilling at the same time! It normally starts with a thought, a moment, or an idea that I want to communicate which inspires me to make. Sometimes it comes out easily, other times it's a grueling process and I begin to panic because my thoughts and vision are not the reality of my work. If I do end up in a panic situation though, I've learned that it too is a part of the process, and once I get through it I generally end up with something even better than my original idea. It's always a tiny bit agonizing in the beginning, because I so want it to work out perfectly.

Do you have any advice for people hoping to teach themselves creative techniques? Are there any easy craft projects you can recommend?

I learn best by doing, so I'd say if you're interested in something give yourself time to try it and work through the process. Sewing is actually quite easy and sewing machines don't cost much! They're also super handy when you need to hem your pants.

Do you have a favorite piece or project that you have completed?

They're all a small part of me, so it's hard to choose just one. I think my favorite drawing recently has been "I'll be your swan". It's one of those pieces that happened perfectly without too much effort and it makes me smile every time I see it.

What can we expect to see from you in the next few months? Do you have any dream collaborations or projects (however unlikely!) that you would like to accomplish in the long-term?

I have a fabric line that will be released through Anthology fabrics in February, which has always been a dream of mine. I'm also working on a few collaborations with fellow artists, including Austin local Sarah Wymer of Studio SloMo. In the long term I'd like to open a brick and mortar shop, keep expanding my home goods line, and create an overall recognizable brand of my work. All very possible dreams. If I'm going for an unlikely dream it would be to do album artwork for Arcade Fire. : )

 Thanks, Leah!