Art Star Craft Bazaar 2014

Divine weather at Penn's Landing.

Awesome articulated stained glass puppets at Le Puppet Regime.

A hand cut and hand printed paper insect from the dapper dudes at New Academy Press.

Crafty friend and boothmate Sarah-Maria of Meerwiibli.  I came home with that fantastic fox dress!
(sorry for the blurry photo, I don't know what happened here)

Fun patterns and cute animals at The Wind and The Sail.

A Tadpole Creations headband.  Turn yourself into one of Renee's adorable stuffed animals!
(Modeled by the lovely Megan of Art Star.

Stitched wood wall decor from Little Green Things.

The annual Philadelphia Art Star Craft Bazaar took place at Penn's Landing, May 10-11th over Mother's Day weekend (even my Momma came to the show!).  It was a great fair, seeing some familiar faces and meeting new people!  Sarah-Maria from Meerwiibli and I requested to have our booths next to each other.  It was great fun to catch up with her and her hubby.  We both wore cat dresses of her design on Saturday... and it was pretty darn cute.  

The weather took a turn for the worse late afternoon on Saturday.  A crazy rain storm rolled in, blowing in intense winds and dampening the day.  Thankfully I had invested in a brand new EZ Up pop-up tent, before the show, with roll down flaps.  Though there were times when I thought our tent might take flight, the Horrible Adorables stayed put and dry.  Sunday's weather was beautiful and sunny, almost making the ickiness from the previous day a distant memory (almost!).

I've snapped some photos of some of my favorite vendors from the show above with links to their websites.  There was a super diverse mix this year, and it was nice to see some totally original and unique wares that I've never seen before! 

With a belly full of vegetarian comfort food, and a lightened car load from the many creatures adopted, I bid Philly a 'good bye' and an 'until next year!'

Super Button Mashers

Planning on staying in and playing video games on your Friday night?  If you live in Chicago, why don't you combine your love of games with art and make your way over to OhNo!Doom gallery for the fantastic video game themed show, "Super Button Mashers."

I am excited to participate in this show with my Oregon Trail inspired piece "Meager Portions, Grueling Pace."  If you are not familiar with the game, it is based off of the real Oregon Trail trek across the United States and is filled with rattlesnake encounters, dysentery and broken wagon wheels.  Does that sound fun or what??  It's quite addictive and best of all, in elementary school, we got to play it off of floppy disks on our green screened Apple computers, because somehow, it is also educational.  

Growing up, my siblings and I owned a copy of the game for our home computer, but instead of strategizing on how to make it to Oregon and navigate the Dalles river, we would compete on how little miles we could travel.  This new way of playing the game also involved strategy, namely by quickly killing off the entire pioneer family by ignoring illnesses, buying the max amount of food for the wagon (and then letting it rot), setting food rations to 'meager portions' and the pace of the oxen to 'grueling.'  Doing this would ensure writing silly epitaphs for your characters with names like "Ima Goner" before even leaving Missouri.

The piece I made for OhNo!Doom is a trophy mount honoring one of the exhausted oxen from our sort of twisted way of playing the game.  It's quite large in size, about 13.5"x11"x14".  My favorite element besides his down turned head, broken horn and purple eye bags is it's giant tongue.  I wont be able to get to Chicago to see the show, but I am looking forward to seeing the pictures and how the other artists interpreted the theme!

The show runs February 11th-February 25th 2012.  Get all the details for it here!

Gotta love those Crafty Bastards!

The Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair in Washington DC is my official marker for kickstarting the fall season.  However, instead of beautiful autumn weather this past weekend, we got rain.  Lots of it.  All day!  So, the weather was kind of a bummer, but the crowd did not disappoint!  

There were a ton of enthusiastic shoppers filling up our booth all day!  It was so great to see so many people out and about, purchasing lovely things even though it was cold and rainy.  Lots of creatures have new (warm) homes too!

My new display worked out even better than I hoped for (thanks Chris)!  However, I could not get a good picture of it because of a longer than expected set up.  I was able to fit every creature on one wall, instead of splitting them up among several boards.  There is also a little shelf that folds down to display free standing items.  I promise to get a better photo of it at the next fair!

My boothmate Wooden Coasters did really well too!  I suspect that people have already starting their Christmas shopping.  His coaster sets and prints make great gifts and stocking stuffers.

A photographer from The Feast came around to snap some photos.  I was really excited to show off my outfit, because I had been bundled up in a long coat all day, and I really dig this new skirt.  Unfortunately I had to wear flip flops because of a broken toe and I felt like such a dummy.

The Mossy Meewog wanted to add something, " Psst.. there is still time to vote for Horrible Adorables as THE Craftiest Bastard!  Just follow this link!"

"Horrible Adorables" xoxo's "Worker B"

This month has been filled with custom orders of all shapes and sizes!  However, my favorite collaboration has been on the "Queen B" for Worker B.  Worker B is a small company specializing in lotions and balms made from organic ingredients and locally sourced beeswax.  Because "your skin takes a beating every day," "Worker B skin care helps you fight back by providing a lasting protective barrier and [is] the ultimate in skin repair."

The "Queen B," seen here tipping her crown, is going to be used as a display for Worker B at their product booth.  Hopefully she helps to sell lots of their great chapstick and scented lotions!

I stitched the detail onto her wings.  I really enjoy how this came out and am brainstorming how to use the sewing machine to create details in my other 'horribles.'

Best of luck in all your crafty adventures Worker B!

Renegade Craft Fair - Brooklyn

It's now less than a week away before I travel to New York for the summer Renegade Craft Fair!  I am going to be bringing a lot of new creatures with me, including the critter pictured above.  It is called a "Sugar Canine," because she is so sweet (like sugar cane) but also has dog-like features... get it???  I know I can be a little silly in choosing names for them, but I have fun with it anyways!

I'm also excited because this is the first time that my boyfriend (and official 'Horrible Adorables' handyman) is going to be splitting the booth with me!  Our work is pretty different, but there is a commonality in the usage of wool felt and a warmth of colors that surprisingly makes our artwork look quite lovely together.  To check out more, visit his Etsy site:  woodencoasters.etsy.com

Click on the image above to visit the official webpage for Renegade Brooklyn.  You will find directions to the event there and also a complete list of the wonderfully talented artists that will be showing off their wares.  See you in Booth #97!!!