rhymes with twee: la de blog

This past weekend was the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair. It was the best I’ve done in the three times I’ve done this particular Renegade. I had a great time selling with my boothmate and good friend Eliza of Purse-onality. I had a meet & greet with Hermione on Sunday, but somehow did not take pictures. It was hard relaying the news of Hoggle passing away to customers who were such big fans of him. I haven’t blogged that, but he passed away August 1, 2009. The sad details are in this listing on my Etsy shop. Many of my favorite crafter pals were selling this weekend. It was awesome getting to see them all and hang out with them. Esther (Essimar) gave me the custom piece she made of Hoggle. It’s really perfect. Sofia Masri gave me these awesome hedgehog clips she found at Paper Source. The high point of my weekend was hanging out with Jess Gonacha and her friends and friends of friends (A Bardis, Swear Jar Design, and Vital Industries) at Jerry’s. It was awesome being in the company of such unique and inspiring makers.

The low point of the weekend came when I was standing on a plastic IKEA chair (putting my banner that had fallen down back up) and I fell right through it and my leg was stuck in between the plastic and the metal and somehow I hit or scraped my ear on something. It was embarrasing more than anything, but I felt off the rest of Sunday. Zachary pointed out that I have a weird bruise on my left ear that is tender to the touch.

I have some great news to counter that last bit though! Brooke Timm, a craft pal came by my table. I met her when she was selling at Handmade Market at the Empty Bottle under the name LadyRocket. Now she’s opened this store Rudy’s Roundup. Brooke and her store manager picked out Rhymes with Twee onesies, greeting cards, and artichoke stuffies to carry. I can’t wait to go check out this store, which has been on my radar for awhile now, but I’ve too busy making stuff to stop by!

On October 3rd, I’ll be at Crafty Bastards in DC selling with my buddies Les & Oscar. I’ll be driving out there with Miss Alison. I’m so excited because it’s one of my favorite fairs and I’ll get to hang out all day with friends I don’t see very often. I’ll also get to meet internet pal Becky of Glue & Glitter.

Lastly, my most recent craft project is pictured above. THE ROOM – crowd participation & quotation button set is up in the shop for all you Tommy Wiseau fans. It’s playing in Chicago at the Music Box on September 26th at the midnight showing, of course. It will be my fifth time seeing it.

Well, I had a fantastic time at Crafty Bastards in DC last weekend. It was the most I’ve made at a fair so far. It’s really great seeing my stuff go into the hands of really nice people.  Everything I make is stuff that I really like, so it’s kind of funny to see what the general populace likes.  After taking SO MUCH time making those “sew rockin” band cards, I did not sell a one at CB.  There were some bigger indie bands in there too, so I am at a loss.  I think they may sell better online, but that will be a huge undertaking to photograph each one since I made over 100 different ones.

Something I have noticed that sells a lot at craft fairs is onesies and with a good friend being preggers, I jumped on the bandwagon.  I made onesies with these previous designs but no words: artichoke, mixtape, and the boo ghost.  Hoggle approves:

These new cards I’ve been working on are made with old band photos taken before I went digital. Most of the photos had some slight imperfection (the back of a head in a shot, not a great action shot, etc.), but they look great sewn onto a card. I’m still thinking of a good name for them, but as for now I’m calling them band photograph cards, because I’m not feeling clever right now. I’m rather feeling like a zombie, having made 78 of these babies. I had an entire under the bed storage box filled with (mostly) band photos I’d taken. I really like combining photographs with bits of fabric or rick rack. This is one of the most enjoyable crafts I’ve done thus far. I also made a rather cool pillow, but I haven’t stuffed it yet. I’m just gearing up for Crafty Bastards! Reba Rar Rar Press and I leave on Thursday morning for DC. Wednesday night is The Lucksmiths at Schuba’s. Things feel like they’re on the up and up.

Left to right: Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), Hayden, and Eric Axelson (Dismemberment Plan)

The first day of Renegade Craft Fair (Chicago) was so excellent that on Sunday morning, I went to breakfast at Sweet Cakes (cupcakes are sort of sustenance) with friends staying with Zachary and me; Melissa of Dearest Inez/The Makery and her gf/bf friends Hillary of Beejeezus Zine and Will who runs Lebowski Fest. We saw them off to RCF and then I made 100 broccoli xmas cards in more traditional holiday colors. Also, I breathed some new life into a year old design. I used my cutie fanged ghost from the “you’re the best boo” cards and screened him onto tote bags to make trick or treat bags and onto shirts because they are cute as hell and remain one of my favorite creations. I’m pretty excited that I’ll have some stuff other than cards to sell at Crafty Bastards.

Since rhymes with twee has been going strong for a couple of years now, I figured it was time to start a blog and have that blog up on the RWT website. I’m Leigh. I love all things twee. My name rhymes with twee. That’s how the name of my wee craft company came to be. I live in Chicago with my boyfriend, Zachary (often referred to as “my boo” or Z) and our African Pygmy Hedgehog, Hoggle, pictured here after trying to crawl up my jeans the other day: