10-4 Good Buddy!

So I had this idea rolling around my head forever and was happy to finally get it designed and printed. I had bought a little Silhouette vinyl cutter about a year ago and was able to use that to cut the stencil (I laid out the design in CorelDraw). I had seen a tutorial about using vinyl as a screenprinting stencil and was a little skeptical - but it worked!

 

When I was a kid I wanted to be a truck driver like my dad, but the problem with driving a truck is that you have to drive a truck and I have a hard enough time trying to handle my mid-size vehicle. I finally came to grips with the fact that I am not "semi competent".

 

How I made my screenprinting stencil...

I cut a mirror image of my design. The areas that printed got pealed (weeded) away.

 

 

The vinyl was applied to the bottom of the screen - I took care to make sure all the little pieces were firmly applied. The rest of the screen was taped off so I didn't get ink all over my shirts (you can see that I did that in the next photo).

My screen is from the Yudu printing kit

 

 

I put a piece of tape in the approximate spot that I wanted the print to land. I marked on the bed of the printing unit (I have the Yudu) where I was going to put the shirts when printing. To keep the t-shirts rigid I used the t-shirt cardboard cutouts from the t-shirt craft section of Jo-Ann / Michaels. 

 

 

 

Once everything was taped and lined up, I printed my shirts!

 

Clothespin Bags - Yay!

I don't really have much to say other than - I got 'em done...

 

Back at it...

Hi - my name is Andrea and it's been 1.5 years since my last post...

After a few years of getting craft crazy, I decided to take a break and did very limited sewing/making/crafting in the past year. At the end of 2014 I came up with some new ideas and now I'm back in making mode!

In the year ahead I am hoping to get some more patterns put written, get my stuff in a couple more boutiques and design a few more items. I also have a few more design ideas for my Yudu screenprinter and if all goes well hopefully I will be able to have access of a little bit larger printing facility for larger runs.

Here are the items that re-sparked my interest at the end of 2014...

Old fashioned ornaments (a spin-off of my t-shirts)

 

 

Wine / bottle gift bags - designed and printed by me! 

 

 

Another batch of clothespin bags that will (WILL!!) be finished this weekend (I bought the fabric in June for crying out loud!)

 

Summer Updates

Earlier in the year I offered to assist a friend with there weekly booth at the Appleton Downtown Summer Market in exchange for being allowed to sell some of my wares in the booth too. Of course I could have easily worked on a little bit every week over the past several months, but as it was in high school, then in college, then anytime I have to fill out a form for work, I waited until about 10 days ago to go into a sewing frenzy. I must say although I'm a little burnt out, I am pleased at the progress I made. I wish I could say I was done, but there are two very patient ladies that have been waiting for custom bags that I plan on having done soon...ish.

 

The pile of fabric that had been sitting on my cutting table has been transformed into another group of big eyed clothespin bags, 6 of which have already found homes over the weekend.

I was kicking around the idea of getting a little vinyl plotter and found this Silhouette Cameo that is able to cut 12"W x 10'L. Of course I had to get it right away, but haven't had much time to do more than do a few test cuts to figure out how it works. I guess, like the rest of my crafting toys - it'll be here when I'm ready to use it :)

 

I printed up a bunch of cat toys - I printed some of the old favorites as well as a few new designs including El Gato, the kitty luchador.

 

 

Last night my husband and I hosted a party and Vertigo 1894 in Menasha to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We had a great turnout and a really good time. My husband (keyboard) and dad (sitting w/ guitar) took advantage of the open mic stage and entertained the crowd with a few tunes.

It's Eventually Going to be Sunny

I used the excuse of it being constantly gray outside to raid the shelves at the fabric store to find fun and whimsical colors to use on this year's set of clothespin bags. I have started to cut them out and will hopefully have them done in the next few weeks.

 

The fabric above will soon(ish) be clothepin bags...

 

 

A few members of last year's clothespin gang

 

 

I only had to go as far as my "small piece bin" to find fabric for my mini-wallets. I hadn't made them in awhile, therefore I felt the need to make one of every color combination. I think I only finished about a third of them.

I know you are looking at my photos above and asking yourself, "where can I find Mauk's stuff?!"
Well, I'll tell you...
- I will be co-vending with my friends from Mind & Body Products throughout the summer at the Appleton Farm Market on Saturday mornings.
- Michelle from Dainty Daisies has decided to close her brick & morter location and move on to new adventures. Although I will miss Dainty Daisies, I am happy that Cathy from Blue Moon Emporium is taking over the space and will be selling all sorts of fun goodies, including handmade items from moi.
- I recieved a wholesale order for some wristlets and cat toys from Brilliant Stranger in Fish Creek / Door County (photo above). The retail store will open for the season in May

 

All that craftin' can wear a girl out, and what better place to relax than in the backyard (it has to warm up sometime). The best seat in the house, err - yard is under my big maple tree, so I was excited to when my new swing arrived today. I put on old shoes and trudged through the muddy lawn to hang it up. The only thing that could have made it better is if there was a little sunshine and a Berryweiss involved :)

Wristlets, Vines & Rushes...

 

I finished up my new batch of screenprinted wristlets for my first show of the year - Fall in Love with Handmade which took place last week. I must say in addition to how fun the wristlets turned out, the show itself was a blast. I got catch up with some old friends as well as meet some new crafty buddies. I was also pleased to find that there are so many other people out there that are fans of the old fashioneds (everyone who saw my "Old Fashioned" t-shirts had a story to share).

 

The front panel is screenprinted by me and the back is a fun/funky fabric.

 

 

This time around I made microbusses, cameras and the popular boomboxes (no batteries required).

 

Speeking of fun shows - Amy from Ripon Art-a-Fair saw my stuff at Christmas and invited me to vend at their spring show that's going to be held at Vines & Rushes Winery.

 

 

The Ripon Art-A-Fair is a seasonal art fair celebrating the talents of local artisans. The Spring Spectacular Art-A-Fair will be held on March 9, 10 am-5 pm, at the newly opened Vines and Rushes Winery on County Hwy E, North of Ripon, also the home of Prellwitz Produce. The art fair will feature an eclectic assortment of quality, handmade items from 14 vendors including jewelry, accessories, handcrafted wood pieces, candles, and so much more. Vines & Rushes Wineries' Wisconsin grown and produced wines will also be available for sampling and purchase.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

But new colorful shirts are so delightful...

 

 I need to restock my "Old Fashioned" shirts, so I ordered a variety of colors and sizes - I can't wait to get printing!

 

Lindsay was just happy to have a new box to sleep in

 

The snow on Thursday made driving conditions pretty precarious, so I opted to take a vacation day and work on some stuff indoors rather than in the ditch (I hate driving in snow). I used the unplanned free time to start a project that's been rolling around my head for the last year - a step by step pattern for my fun and sassy wallet. I would have finished it on Thursday had my sewing machine decided not to take a vacation day of it's own.

 

The cover page of my new pattern

 The falling snow piqued Anderson's interest, that is, until food was invovled.

 

Yay - the tree is up!

There is very few things that cheer me up more when the days are short and the weather is icky than putting up the tree.

 

 

 

Speaking of things that cheer me up, yesterday I participated in the 8th Annual Craftacular in Madison, WI. As always I had a great time met some fun new people.

 

I never know what the big seller is going to be and yesterday it was the "Old Fashioned" (another thing that cheers me up) T-shirts. I had originally printed all the girl shirts on unisex, but due to popular demand, I printed some on a women's cut t-shirt and the old fashioned girls of Madison loved them.

 

 

 

Meow!

By the time I was finished stuffing and stitching these little cat toys, I was about ready to roll around on the ground and act silly myself. Okay, I am exagerating a little, but the organic catnip (from Natural Earth Oils) is really potent! I had to put them in their own container, otherwise all my stuff would end up smelling like catnip.

The cat toys are among the many items I will be selling at Handmade for the Holidays in Oshkosh on 11/17 which is put on by Michelle of Dainty Daisies. The show is only 2 weeks away... where did the time go!

Wristlets!

Yay! I wanted to get at least a few wristlets together to see what the final look would be, and I accomplished at least that much. I used a couple of found images that seemed condusive to a wristlet shape and printed them on the front side and then the back is a fun patterned fabric. This picture has an effect applied to it from rollip.com - the effects make everything look just a bit cooler (I think these wristlets are cool as is, but the effect turns them up to an 11).

Prints...Camera...Wristlet! (and cat toys)

It's always a treat when the items that you have been putting together in your brain com together in real life. I guess I would say it's half of a treat at this point as I have my current projects printed and have been doing lots-o-cutting, but I am still in the process of assembling.

What you are looking at in the photo above, besides my awesome franken-mug of coffee is the fronts of my new wristlets (cameras and larger stereos) and the fronts of my new kitty toys (lobsters, moonshine jugs and small stereos). The backs are going to be some funky coordinating material.

I was hoping to have one assembled by time I was ambitious enough to write this, but alas, I am more in the mood to type tonight than sew, so this is all I have to SHOW for now.

What?   Did somebody say "show"? Speaking of that, I have a couple of Holiday shows I am looking forward to. On Sat 11/17 there is the Handmade for the Holidays show in Oshkosh from 10-4 and then on 12/15 there is the Holiday Craftacular from 10-4 in Madison, WI.

MAUK RULZ!

I was trying to think of something fun for a goodie bag stuffer for the annual Summer Craftacular in Madison, WI tomorrow and then it came to me - decals - hmm... and how would my decals look?
Answer: self indulging of course ;)

I would like to thank my former employer for letting me use their "laser" to cut them out. How is it after 7 years of using a "laser" that  saying "laser" like Dr. Evil never gets old? (Thus the quotation marks)

The photos below are of a custom wristlet that I made for a friend as a wedding shower gift. She had a bunch of photos of her and her fiance posted on face book that were soooo cute that I was inspired to pick one and make her a wristlet.

Let's Here it for the Boys er.. or Guys!

As I had mentioned in an earlier post I bought a Yudu screenprinter and a large assortment of shirts and was working on a few shirt designs. I was happy to finally get my "Old Fashioned Guy" shirt printed. So far I have three designs and many more ideas "rolling around upstairs" (aka in my head).

In addition to getting the remainder of my shirts printed, I finally finished the batch of clothespin bags I started back in March (there are actually twice as many, but some are on consignment). My favorite part is turning them right-side-out and seeing how there faces and ears turned out - it's like they all have there own personality - and if you don't think I'm dorky enough for saying that, I also give each one a name on their price tags.

It was actually the Summer Craftacular that motivated me to get my stuff done. When I signed up it was months away and now it's only two weeks. It's a great show with a lot of talented people and if you happen to be in Madison, WI of 7/29, you really should stop in!

Everybody I know will be getting t-shirts...

because I bought a bunch of t-shirts so I could play with my Yudu screenprinter.

Here are a couple of my new designs:

A homage to Wisconsin's (or at least my) beverage of choice - I am going to make a few adjustments to the artwork then make the "guy" version

This is my "affirma-tee". The idea has been rolling around my head for some time and I was happy to finally do it. If you are wondering whey the message is backwards it's because I want the wearer to be reminded that they deserve more every time they look in the mirror (okay, I'm easily amused)

A fan of Mauk asked me to make her a new purse. Her parameters were owls, pockets and purple. It was a good excuse to come up with a new design - this one's called the Tracie POP! (POP is for plenty of pockets as there are 2 pockets on each side of the outside, 2 more divided pockets on the inside, plus there is a divider in the purse that is actually a zippered pocket).