xmas bats and rats

it's become a tradition. i've been making xmas bats for at least five years now and this will be year three (or four?) for the rats.
my own dad even has said, "it just wouldn't be christmas without them." we take christmas cookie-making very seriously in my family. my mom and sister and i usually get together for Christmas Cookie Weekend and make way more cookies than we can eat or give away. This years's scheduling was rough, though, and didn't allow for us to have the whole weekend-before-xmas together -- so we have to improvise. we will each be making a dough or two at our own homes and bringing it ready to roll, cut, or drop when we get together on sunday. i couldnt wait to make the bats and rats, though. i wanted to share them with my friends. (and now they are almost all gone already! yes!)
i got some help this year from jay - to whom i have to give credit for giving life to the funny little bats.



rats are so much more festive in striped scarves!

done!

bizarre bazaar was a good time. dana and i had a totally crazy fun day. we did the whole trip in one day - leaving nyc at 5:30am and getting into boston a little before 9. by the middle of the day, we were delirious from our lack of sleep all week - that delirium actually made the rest of the day all the more fun. we did a lot of high-fiving and dancing like weirdos -- but hey - people even told us that we were great for that - so there. sales were good. the music was bad (well, not all of it, but a whole lot of it). we then got to eat at brown sugar and then zoomed home to the soundtrack of beyonce, jt, and then a whole lotta rock and roll. we got more coffee and danced in the car like maniacs. it was a great time.
thank you, friends and co-workers and family, for putting up with me in the couple of weeks prior to this event. i know i was super-busy and distracted and not so good about returning phone calls or making social plans.
i still have some products left over -- (except the city gloves -- they sold out like mad!) -- if you want anything, let me know (call me or email me) and i'll see what i can work out for you. love love love -kj

curious specimen

i was quite happy with the tags that i came up with for the bedbugs.


(there are more pictures of my little bedbugs in a previous post on here.)

oh eleventh hour inspiration -

these were a total accident --


i was stuck for an idea for the tags of my little stuffed birds (pictured in previous posts) and somehow came up with these --


and then, i was so into that shape that i sat there absentmindedly cutting out dozens and dozens more.
and then i turned them into little gift tags.



i love when that kind of thing happens.

skull crayons

these are pretty funny. i had fun making them

map books

blank books with map covers

dishcloths

these are a little bit of a strange thing to make, no? it seems so old-lady-ish. but really - i have been using these for almost two years now and i swear i won't go back to stinky sponges.

craftingcrafting mania

the big craft fair, bizarre bazaar, is this weekend. dana and i will be making a crazy trip out of it, rising early in the morn on saturday, drinking extra tall coffees, and zooming up to boston to make our 9:30 am load-in time (ouch, yes.) we hope to sell all of our stuff and become instant craft millionaires (HA!) or be offered our own tv network just like martha stewart.
in preparation, i have been making tons of stuff and putting way more time into the packaging and presentation than i should. it's gonna take multiple posts, but here is this year's product line.

starting with the hairpins -- new packaging this year (i am doing everything under chez-sucre-chez and leaving ruby love for my more, um, dangerous (for lack of better word right now) projects.

wicked bizarre

bizarre bazaar is less than a week away. i am definitely stressing about getting everything finished and packaged to my liking. it is starting to come along, though. i still have A LOT to do this week, but here is a little preview of some of the finished packaging/products. i'll post more as it happens. xoxo.

love-ly lettering

my latest stress-buster

i found this on the street while walking home very drunk over a month ago. i brought it home and put it in a corner - thinking that i couldn't hula-hoop. well, i tried it out today, and it turns out, i can hula-hoop! in fact, i can hula-hoop like a champ. so now, my new favourite thing to do is to put on The Sonics, shake my hips, and feel my stress melt away.

sweet find

dana and i are doing bizarre bazaar again this year and it is coming up fast. so i have been crafting my little hands off and trying to get things organized and packaged and ready. in doing so, i came across these hair pins that i made for last year's sale. i made a whole lot of them last year and these were all that were left. maybe i will whip up some more for this year.

leggy

yeah.

who will take my dreams away

this scene in "girl on a bridge" is... i don't even know what word to use. it rules.

gobble gobble

we did thanksgiving at janna's. it was great. everyone made food and brought it over and we really chow-ed down. i drew these turkeys on the chalkboard wall and greg finished it up with the landscape. (i dont know who to give credit for the whistling turkey on the left.)

eeeks!

i knit up a bunch of these little catnip-filled mice to sell at bizarre bazaar last year but they didn't really sell. i know that emil likes them, though, because he sought them out and stole two of them (even though i had already given him his own).

what's black and white and red all over?

my favorite dress from high school with blood on it!!!

i love the blood so much i had to take it into the photobooth with me.


and so did dana.

bleeding is contagious.

and then REAL halloween came. and i was feeling a little lazy - but still bloody inspired. this is the day that i took it to the next level.

bloody french. (which i've been doing for what, three years now? lazy. lazy. lazy. -- and, as i found out at that studio b party, it must not be the most original idea - as there were at least FIVE other frenchies there! i had no idea it was such a popular costume.)

and then i started making other people bleed.

flavio.
suzy and her friend.

and, you may have noticed - there are a lot of others out there bleeding, too.

i bleeeeeeed.

these are screenshots from godard's WEEKEND - which (along with other godard movies) was the inspiration for my halloween costume concept (and oh, it was a concept -- but i didnt get around to making happen exactly as i invisioned it -- on account of my missing technicolor turquoise skirt).


and this was v.1 of BLOODy clothing. and i fell in love with it. (as did my mogollon mates and our associates.)



and this was the extent to which i carried it out for halloween. like i said above -- it wasnt as good as i had intended - but it was still good. at least i thought it was.
and then it just kept going. (as you will see in the next posts.)

saint series

saint colleen.

oh the french

finding inspiration in french films... (elevator to the gallows, cleo from 5-7, le petit soldat)

sad pretty face

i'm working on a little 'zine/book project kind of thing. this is to be a page from it. i'll post more info about it as it gets closer to completion!

bird-brained

another series of birdies -- i was happy that i was able to add some branding to these ones.