The Sampler - Contributors: May 2006

Super Mega 200+ Item Contributions - May

Bluebottle Art Gallery and Store

Bluebottle Art Gallery and Store is an art gallery and boutique located in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle, Washington. We exhibit and sell artwork and handmade functional works from local and national up-and-coming artists, designers and crafters. Our boutique section features items created in the do-it-yourself (DIY) style which are often one-of-a-kind pieces, or produced as limited edition runs. We showcase work that is innovative and well-crafted. Our goal is to support a network of artists and provide an opportunity for customers to purchase pieces that are unique and exclusive! We feature paintings, prints, plushies, t-shirts, magnets, cards, wallets, jewelry, any anything else crafty artists can come up with! We feature group and solo exhibition monthly in our gallery. We specialize in showcasing amazing and affordable artwork to a market that is just starting to collect work. Check us out at www.bluebottleart.com

www.bluebottleart.com

Emily Kircher Recycling Artist

Gimme that garbage! There are so many unwanted items out there that still have tons of potential. I save them from the garbage and transform them into new and functional items. Right now, I cut fabric salvaged from old clothes and linens and crochet it into purses and rugs, cut old plates and cups into tiles to mosaic found objects, use bottlecaps and books to make resin-filled magnets and pins, and thrift store yarn to crochet pouches and pet toys. However, I'm always looking for inspiration to use new types of garbage to make new things.

www.etchouse.com/ekra

Legacy
legacy

Legacy is the artisan jewelry business started by Darlene Jacobs in 1992. Once a creative, geeky kid, Darlene is now an old hippie artisan who's loving every minute of the current revival of homemade arts, crafts, and recycling of old materials. Most of Darlene's beaded jewelry features vintage beads that were rescued from old necklaces and given a new life in a new design. She also seeks out unusual new beads and findings, and creates female figure pins from PolyShrink. She has been wiring beads onto filigree backs, creating new designs based on techniques used in 1940s-1950s jewelry. Darlene's love of vintage items is shown in another one of her online shops, Mama Cat Vintage at www.tias.com/stores/mcv. She sells supplies, fabric, patterns, and more vintage items at NothingNew.etsy.com. From Monday through Friday, Darlene spends her days working (reluctantly) as a secretary, longing to be outdoors at an art show again.

legacy.etsy.com

ReadyMade Magazine

ReadyMade is a bimonthly print magazine for people who like to make stuff, who see the flicker of invention in everyday objects -- the perfectly round yolk in the mundane egg.

www.readymademag.com

re-conceived.com

www.re-conceived.com

The Clever Kitty

At The Clever Kitty's online boutique, you will find all sorts of items to adorn - from fun jewelry and accessories for yourself to adorable items for the little ones in your life. The Clever Kitty has a passion for creating, and a fun sense of style. She dabbles in a little bit of everything, always looking for new things to make, and new ways to make them. Whether the project is large or small, she always takes the time & care necessary to make a quality hand-crafted product.

www.thecleverkitty.com

Things That Make Scents

Things That Make Scents offers hand-poured 100% soy candles for both retail and wholesale, as well as beautiful gift baskets and irresistibly fragrant wax-dipped bears.

www.thingsthatmakescents.com

100 Item Contributions - May

Button Arcade

Free shipping on all $5+ orders (including international)! Custom buttons, mirrors, magnets, and bottle openers, as well as tons of in-house goodies!

www.buttonarcade.com

CROQ Zine

www.croqzine.com

Fern House Studio

Fern House Studio is the home of fun and inventive paintings, puppets and cards... and sometimes other creative surprises. My artwork is known for its bold, cheerful colors and inventive design and is part of my Master Plan to help bring some more happiness, beauty and fun to the world.

www.fernhousestudio.com

Little Pagans

Little Pagans offers T-shirts and bibs for babies and toddlers that celebrate pagan, alternative, and Earth-centered themes. You're not raising your kids the same way as everyone else on the block, so why should you dress them that way? Our bright, playful designs will bring a smile to your baby's face. Great for wearing to rituals and festivals, or just for hanging around and exploring the world.

We print our full-color designs by hand on 100% cotton T-shirts made by American Apparel, a domestic, sweatshop free manufacturer. Our tie-dyed tees are dyed personally by us, and are one-of-a-kind creations. We also do lovely hand-dyed silk scarves for unique fashion or imaginative play.

For supercute parent-kid matching outfits, or for the young-at-heart, we also offer our designs in adult sizes S-2XL.

www.littlepagans.com

purplepink&orange

Purplpeinkandorange.com is a community of creative individuals who love making crafts in their spare time. They sell their items through our consignment shop that offers many handmade items. The variety varies from jewelry, stitch markers, paper goods, bath products and so much more. We hope you will enjoy our products as much as we enjoy making them!

www.purplepinkandorange.com

The Glam Boutique

www.theglamboutique.com

Tobi Wood Designs

i believe in the power of paper. i believe that receiving beautiful things in the mail makes people happy. i believe that anything handmade is a gift. i believe that pez dispensers are truly something special. i believe that my daughter's laugh is the sweetest sound there is. i believe that building sandcastles is good for the soul. i believe that a new box of crayons, the smell of fresh cut grass and fabric swatches can inspire. i believe that my cards are fabulous and that they will make you smile.

www.tobiwooddesigns.com

75+ Item Contributions - May

Birdie Tweets Design

Eva B. lives nestled in an ingloo, far into the icy tundra of the great white north. When she is not ice fishing or playing with polar bears and other wild life she works part-time as a clerk and as an avid jewellery maker. This is her first contribution to The Sampler as Birdie Tweets. She hopes you'll enjoy her pins, all made from a variety of little toys and crafts. She doesn't have a shop yet, but hopes to open a etsy shop soon. If you'd like to contact her, do so through e-mail (birdietweets@gmail.com). Special thanks goes to Marie (for letting me pitch in) and KinRisu (all the way in Paris, France) who took the time to create the logo with her beautiful illustrations.

Fishcakes Designs & Mahar Drygoods

Fishcakes Designs is the work of Voz Perkins, a Massachusetts artist who creates everything you'll find in the Fishcakes store -- stuffed emotional monsters, fat mermaid bags, and book, button and patch tributes to all variety of underdog animals and delectable cakes. She shares her house and life with two funny humans, one elderly dog with a permanent head tilt, two guinea pigs, and six chickens whose combined intelligence wouldn't power a small nightlight. She suggests you eat more cake.

Mahar Drygoods is the work of more than two-dozen artists, designers and crafters who have been hard at work creating amazing goods for the little people in your life. Robert Mahar, crafty in his own right, is the lucky guy who curates and coordinates all of these toys, clothes, games, crafts, decor and bedding into one cohesive shop. He shares his apartment with one funny human, and the two of them have tried in vain to power small household appliances with their combined intelligence -- but find these just end up blowing a lot of fuses. He suggests you listen to Voz and eat your cake already.

www.fishcakes.net &

www.mahardrygoods.com

Flying Fish Design

Faythe Levine is the sole creative drive behind Flying Fish Design, a small indie compnay based out of Milwaukee, WI. Since 2002, Faythe has produced a wide range of work -- all handmade -- including plush novelties, postcard sets, accessories and unique household items.

Faythe is a strong supporter of the indie craft scene, founding and organizing Art vs. Craft, Milwaukee's hip art show. She also runs a brick and mortar shop in Milwaukee, which features exclusively independent artists, crafters and designers called the Paper Boat Boutique & Gallery. Her most recent project is producing and directing the Indie Craft Documentary.

www.flyingfishgallery.com

Lu Dandy

LuDandy.com is your one-stop shop for everything you never knew you always needed. I put a fresh new spin on everyday items, including kitchen accessories, home decor, jewelry, and stationery, all hand-made by yours truly. The site goes live on May 10, 2006, and to celebrate the grand opening, everything will be 25% off through the month of May. So stop on by and check out the new kid on the block -- you won't regret it!

www.ludandy.com

Mediaessence

www.mediaessence.com

Mellifluous Couture

www.mellifluouscouture.com

The Glitter Workshop

Cutting edge crafts for the 21st Century! The Glitter Workshop,owned by Naomi Richardson and Heather Johnson, offers wares from over a 100 local, national, and international artists and has now crossed over into the world wide web. Visit us in Madison, WI, or online www.theglitterworkshop.com

www.theglitterworkshop.com

Thimble Handmade Goods

www.thimble.ca

Traveling Rhinos

traveling rhinos is the happy result of a science degree, non-profit work burnout and the lifelong habits of creating, shopping, stashing, and being impatient. eling, the herbivores, and their offerings are heavily influenced by a love for food, travel, sparkly things, fiber, and cute fuzzy animals. at the new waterhole, you'll find unique, handmade, one-of-a-kind and limited-edition jewelry, accessories, crafty kits, handspun yarn, and more! stop by anytime and say hi!

www.travelingrhinos.com

50+ Item Contributions - May

12Punt3
12Punt3

At the Oneye shop you can find Dutch plush design from The Netherlands! The first Oneye characters saw the light back in 2005. Since then these fun and sometimes naughty but always cute and huggable plush characters have found their way to new homes in countries all around the world. They also participated in several international plush art shows. The Oneye characters are designed and handmade by Marianne Roosa, a graphic designer/illustrator with a strong love for plush characters. She founded the design studio 12punt3 in 2004 situated in The Hague, the Netherlands specializing in graphic design and illustration for print and multimedia. Later on in October 2005 she expanded her business with the Oneye shop. The latest additions to the Oneye shop are the Oneye cats and Oneye dogs. Wholesale and consignment orders are welcome.

www.12punt3.nl/shop.html

Barcelona Bath & Body

Drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean, Barcelona Bath & Body products are handcrafted in Grapevine, Texas from the finest ingredients. Fragrant soaps, soy candles and Room RefreshTM sprays are available in five distinctive scent blends -- Vanilla Lavender, Cinnamon Sandalwood, Grapefruit Ylang Ylang, Coconut Bay Rum and Lemongrass Fennel.

www.barcelonabathandbody.com

chicalookate

The motto for Chicaloo Photography is "From the silly to the beautiful and everywhere in between". I search out the unusual, the forgotten and the temporary. I am never without a camera, or three, for fear of missing the "perfect shot". I decided to break them free of my photo albums and put them to use. Hope you enjoy what you see.

chicalookate.etsy.com

Cute As a Button

cuteasabutton.etsy.com

Epiphany Candles & Designs

epiphanycandles.etsy.com

Gracie Sparkles

Bedeviled by an obsession with paper from a very early age, Gracie learned to embrace her affliction by creating handbound books and boxes handprinted cards. (But it's all really just an excuse to be stocking up on chiyogami paper constantly.) Graciesparkles.com showcases her range of work, from the ever-popular Christopher Walken card to custom-made wedding albums.

www.graciesparkles.com

Granny Square Woman

Anastacia is a knitter and crocheter, but considers herself a fiber artist, and not just a hobbiest. She began selling her items online only this year, but has been designing patterns for ions. Her first design was when she was 14, and wanted a new afghan for her bed and couldn't find anyone to make one. She also runs a distro, teaches classes on using recycled materials for craft projects, and writes a zine for crafters. You can see what she's up to at www.grannysquarewoman.com or www.grannysquarewoman.etsy.com

grannysquarewoman.etsy.com

Heather M Design

Business professional, student, and closet crafter, Heather Maietta decided one day that creating jewelry was much more fun then...well, just about everything else! As a result, Heather M Design was born. Creating unique pieces that sizzle, the pieces at Heather M Design are made for every day or every nigh. I combine classical elegance with contemporary style which makes my jewels not only unique, but timeless. From wood, to Swarovski, to leather, to semi-precious...at Heather M Design you'll find jewelry for all you're moods!

www.heathermdesign.com

Miz Mosa

MizMosa is a little something cooked up by Anna Buchholz. She offers handmade accessories, jewelry, goodies for your home, and other fun stuff. When she's not being crafty, Anna likes to bake layer cakes, listen to public radio, play Frisbee with her best Frisbee pal (AKA her husband Ed), and dream of someday owning a puppy.

www.mizmosa.com

Pimienta Negra

www.pimientanegra.net

Prairieland Herbs

Donna and Maggie are a mother-daughter combo that grows herbs on their 2 acre farm in Central Iowa. They concoct a wide variety of delicious herbal body treats such as body balms, bath teas, scrubs, soaks, milk baths, lip balms, and much more! Some of their specialty items include natural baby products, a line of all-natural haircare (including their famous shampoo bars), naturally colored cheek and lip glosses, canine shampoos, and their own farm-fresh hydrosols.

www.prairielandherbs.com

Sabrina's Charm

Sabrina of "Sabrina's Charm" is a newlywed from Massachusetts who's constant gluing, hammering and asking the question "How does this look?" drives her husband crazy, but he's learned to love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Sabrina has a way of taking things and turning them into the unexpected. To someone they see a scrap of paper to Sabrina she sees endless possibilities of what to do with that paper and it's usually not to use it for a grocery list. Self taught and learning along the way she combines her offbeat style with her love for the unconventional and has managed to create unique pieces for the like minded and for people who say "Wow I would have never thought of that!"

www.livejournal.com/users/sabrinas_charm

25+ Item Contributions - May

7Indigo Designs