Fundraiser Stitched Mini Munny

I started working on this mini munny the day before the earthquake. After hearing about the devastation in Port Au Prince I decided to make this piece a fund raiser. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. While I am sure many of you have already helped the cause, please consider giving a little more and getting a one of a kind stitched leather mini munny as a thank you. Lets send the people of Haiti as much help as we can!
You can bid here

here are some pictures of the process

Final project of 2009!

So here it is, my final project of the year! I was asked once again to make flash drives, this time for the cast of The Cleveland Show. Since the drives are so small its very tedious work but now that its over I feel very accomplished.

I'm Alive! Back from the wedding abyss!

Weew! It has been a long haul but finally I am all done with my wedding! After months of planning it all came together beautifully and I thought I would take this time to post some pictures, talk a bit about the process, and acknowledge my amazing vendors. First Installment:

Bridal Attire

The Dress- Ok, so I did try on some 'regular' wedding dresses at Alfred Angelo. I knew we were going to have a beach wedding and they had no shortage of pictures showing bride on the beach in huge $7,000 dresses, but it just didn't seem right to me. On the other hand, I didn't want this occasion to be too casual either. Finally after weeks of searching I found Wai-Ching. Chrissy is an extremely talented designer in Seattle and I just fell in love with her look, particularly 'Eucalyptus'. Her dresses feel elegant and youthful but without looking too hippy (at least to me).

It was definitely a bit scary to just send my money and email her my measurements without trying anything on first, but I was so in love I had to have faith. When it arrived 3 months later it fit perfectly (I opted for a lace up back) but it had a boo boo. There was a brown dye spot on the dress that I thought looked too much like a stain. Since its hand dyed thats bound to happen. I contacted Chrissy and she was super helpful. I was able to send it back and have the dye removed without any problems.

My only complaint was that while Chrissy is an amazing designer, I get the feeling that she may need a personal assistant or at least more 'office type' help. When I sent the dress back with the dye issue I also asked for it to be hemmed. When the dress came back the spot was gone but no new hem. I'm sure she just forgot but thats what production people are for, so the artist is free to make art and not worry about details.

Overall I can't thank her enough! I got my perfect wedding dress and I simply adore it :)

Shoes - I didn't actually wear shoes on the beach, but I did have the lovely Tommy Bahama sandals for the reception. They were both elegant and comfortable.

Necklace and Earrings - All I can say is Thank God I have a

sister who is good at this stuff! She helped me narrow down what I should be looking for in a jewlery/hair/dress combination. The dress has a shear halter top which I decided to wear on the beach, but wanted a nice necklace for the reception. Once I had a direction I went straight to etsy and found Deb Pattyn.

She makes stunning sea glass necklaces and since sea glass was sort of a theme for the wedding it fit perfectly. I was able to work with her by sending picture of my dress so she could find just the right shade. The necklace and earrings are is so beautiful and I know I will treasure them always.

Anklets - I also wanted sea glass anklets for myself and my bridesmaids, so once again I went online and found Sarah of Camano Creations. I was actually able to send her some sea glass that I found, in addition to her own, to incorporate into the pieces. She made them specifically for each dress and she was super fast! They turned out great.

Hair - Last but certainly not least, Mariela Hellewell did all the hair for the wedding party (thats her in the picture) and she did an amazing job! She works at Carlton Hair Salon in West LA, so if you live on the Westside hit her up. I made the flowers by just gluing fake ones from Joann Fabrics onto the ends of bobby pins. It was a simple and inexpensive accent.

Stitched Cow

After a solid month of working on wedding projects I needed a break! My Mom's birthday was around the corner and she had mentioned wanting one of my stitched figures. Since she works on dairies I thought a little cow would be appropriate. Took me about a week and it was a great way to unwind. Now its back to the wedding stuff, but I really enjoyed my mini hiatus.

Raj - The Stitched Elephant

All done! I took too long on this guy, but I was having a hard time getting a clear idea of what he was supposed to look like. I could have stopped when he was all stitched, but I liked the idea of decorative painting. Leather is an unforgiving medium to paint on, but it was exciting :) Now I'm sending him off to Phoenix for the 'Munny Grubbers' show in August. I hope he finds a home!

Slowly yet surely

Since Chelo and I have really started to crack down and work on wedding stuff, the progress on this piece has been pretty slow. I was able to log a few hours this weekend and i can finally see the end in site! Once he's all stitched I want to add more  'decorative' elements, which will be a new thing for me. 

Sometimes when I start projects I have a clear vision of the outcome (Anubis, the deer spirit mask, mog) and other times I just have an idea and hope that it fleshes out (stitch the lion, tropical fish mask, this elephant) It doesn't always turn out as well as I hoped, but I always learn something from the process and I always have fun doing it. I'm still not really sure where this elephant (whom I named Raj) is going, but I enjoy being along for the ride  :)

Big Cartel

Finally got a big cartel account:

http://mesmithy.bigcartel.com/

i only have Mog posted at the moment, but i hope to have a few things go up over the next few months