Success!

The Girlie Show was a blast! Within the first half hour on Friday night, the place was packed shoulder to shoulder (or more accurately: shoulder to pink martini to shoulder). The music was great, the food was fantastic (well, the one bite of sushi I managed to get in was delicious), and everyone involved was super sweet. Definitely great to see some familiar faces!

Sadly, I'm still recovering from the mysterious allergy/cold thing. I completely lost my voice pretty early on. But I smiled so hard my cheeks still hurt!


My aunt, Shevaun Williams, captured some fantastic moments and I've uploaded a few into my flickr.

It's time I pick up my hustle

Here's a news clip about The Girlie Show. That's my little eggplant clutch.

Puttin' on the Rouge

There are 12 days until the Girlie Show in Oklahoma City. November 6th, we'll be loading up, driving up to the city and setting up for the first evening of a weekend in shopping, sipping, and tasting extravagance. Yep! Up, up and away! Weeeeee!

and then there was this:

In the Dallas Observer "Best of 2009" issue:

It's all new

I thought that I would have a slow summer to develop some new ideas and perfect my next favorite pattern. I didn't. The summer was intense. And then suddenly this week, it wasn't summer anymore and the intensity hadn't subsided. I've been trying to stay on top of things and keep a solid inventory and this has proven more difficult than I had imagined. Suddenly, about two weeks ago, I feel like my brain just decided "ok fine, so this is how it's going to be from now on? Well, I'm going to think of crazy, work-intensive, experimental projects, anyways". And THEN when my heart heard that something was going on, there wasn't any stopping my hands. I literally couldn't finish regular projects until I got these crazy ones out of my head. So instead of trying to describe them, I'll just show you:








i hope that these are loved. i'm still not sure what happened. maybe it's the weather. maybe it's being so exhausted that i'm not afraid to mess up. when you let go of that fear, your creative endeavors can only prosper. but sometimes we forget that.

in which I admit to kleptomania

PamelaMichelle, my usual partner in crime, is much more organized than I am in the blog world. I don't think she'll mind that I copied and pasted this straight from her blog because I'm lazy and disorganized really busy.

So come visit me and see everything I've been working on, feverishly, at these events:


Front Street Festival - Arlington
Date: Saturday, Sept 26th
Time: 10am-5pm
Location: Front Street, Downtown Arlington
More info: click here
Also participating: Dowdy Studio, PamelaMichelle, The Kessler Craftsman, and more
**Mylynka will also be there with information on the 3-Day Walk for breast cancer



Urban Street Bazaar - Dallas
Date: Saturday + Sunday, Oct 10 & 11
Time: Sat 12pm - 8pm, Sun 12pm - 4pm
Location: Bishop Arts District
More info: click here
See all the vendors: here

The Monogram Project

A while back, I participated in a blog giveaway with a very boisterous young lady named Bridget. I'm sure you all remember this, as I bragged about it for months. I was just so excited that I was able to curse like a sailor during an interview and I knew the audience would actually get a kick out of it.
During our exchange, I pretty much begged her to let me make her bridal gifts (even though my work load doesn't really allow for such custom work). After I sent booze and flowers, she finally said "yes" and was the best customer ever after. Seriously, she trusted my vision and was actually thrilled with the result! Seriously, so great, after it was all over, I maybe sent some emails stating "but, but... I thought you wanted to marry meeeeee!" and would totally crash the wedding if it weren't in Philly (But if YOU'RE in Philladelphia, hit up Open House, the most recent retail location to carry Cut Out and Collect bags. Then you can crash Bridget's wedding after she's good and drunk and she won't know the difference).

I suggested we do a set of clutches for her bridesmaids and she said yes. We then discussed if they would match, what kind of colors, or if we wanted to do some funny embroidery. She decided that the colors would compliment each bridesmaid. Bridget also went for a classy monogram for each of her lady's names. From there on, I had a ton of fun looking at fonts, planning placement, and coming up with how to work the monograms into the prints or sass up the letters themselves.

I really hope her bridesmaids love these as much as I do! Best of Luck, Bridget! I'm so happy you let me take part in your special day!

Now that feels nice!

Sigh... I'm just so overwhelmed with love, I must say.

With the help of 13 separate buyers, I was able to raise $90.00* for my donation to Mylynka's 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. As it turns out, people really do want things with the phrase "I like boobs" typed on to them. So much so, that I'm happy to say you'll see it as a reoccurring theme throughout the next month or so. The men asked for wallets, the ladies asked for more zipper pouches, there just wasn't enough time to make them all over the weekend. Watch for more in the shop so I can continue my the contribution to breast cancer research and awareness!
(*On top of this donation, a close family friend directly donated $50.00 to Mylynka, over the weekend.)

I must also brag a bit because I have a big crafter crush on Jessica, of MiniatureRhino, and she totally gave this little experiment an excellent shout on her fab blog, little is the new big.

Again, thank you all for the love and support, which I will be able to give on to Mylynka, on her journey. I think my heart may burst...

Sizale!

My team is having a killer group sale to "sale-a-brate" our second birthday. Check out the deals here on our BLOG

I've divided up my shop into regular bags, free shipping items, and PINK items. Pink items are the select little things that will have a 100% net profit donation to Susan G. Komen. Make sure to read the post below this for more info. I will be adding new PINK items as I make them, throughout the weekend - but make sure to snag something you like this weekend before my free shipping offer is over!

Next week? I can't wait to tell you all about my adventures and how I made this:

My own 3-Day

What can I say? I like boobs. I mean, who doesn't, right? They're magical. They are pretty, they feel nice, and they TOTALLY MAKE BABY FOOD for baby geniuses.

Know what I don't like? Breast cancer. I'm not particularly fond of breast cancer. I'm not good with numbers, but the CDC website presents some scary graphs and statistics. And the point is clear: breast cancer kills too many women and affects too many lives for us to not talk about boobs.

There are very few times I wish that I had a big bag of cash in my corner: when there's a new line of Japanese fabric released or when I want to donate to a cause I believe in. If I was looking to be muy rica, I'd have chosen a different job. I love what I do and wouldn't trade it for the world... but when friends of mine are walking the Breast Cancer three-day, my heart breaks to find myself unable to donate money to the cause (because I have to eat).

So I spent a good long time thinking about how I might be able to help out. The weekend of September 11-13, I will be donating 10% of my sales to the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I will also have a few special items with a 100% net profit donation to the same organization. 10% may not seem like much, but it's what I can give. Maybe if it doesn't seem like enough, you'll donate directly in the name of my friend, Mylynka Kilgore.

Another bonus? I'll be offering free shipping on all pouches, wallets, aprons, and comp books during those three days to encourage that 10% to grow as much as possible. Tomorrow night, I'll be putting up a special section of these items along with the "PINK" 100% net profit donation items. I hope that you'll help me donate to this important cause or find a way to become involved, yourself.

For those of you new to my blog and business, my shop can be viewed here: www.cutoutandcollect.etsy.com and you can read more about me here: www.cutoutandcollect.com

New Composition Books!

I've been experimenting with little composition book covers. My best friend from high school used to compulsively collect comp books whenever they were on sale. I seem to have caught that same sickness! I decided to make some Japanese linen covers specially for the Dustbowl this weekend. We'll be just across the street from the OU campus - somebody will need an adorable new notebook for class this year, right? I know I do and I'm not even in school, anymore.



I've also been busy with my collaboration with Pamela Michelle and Dowdy Studio. After some nice local Oklahoma press mentions (or so we've been told), we decided we should really put together a few more items. We're all very pleased with the results of our efforts. I love this project because it allows me to fawn over something I've made and not sound completely vain. because let's be honest, it's not me who is responsible for the awesomeness.

And if that weren't enough, Thomas is helping me repurpose a shelving unit to make a somewhat collapsable display case. Mmmm, saw dust and paint fumes! Can't wait to show you!

Collaboration!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it: www.sneakycollaboration.blogspot.com

it's my party

...and I'll go to austin for two days if i want to!

Cupcake Treasury

So! I wanted to make a treasury on Etsy to go along with my birthday sale theme. OMG it was sooo much fun! Who knew that there would be so many fantastic sellers with adorable pink and blue cupcake items!?

check them out here: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=74917 (link expires in 2-3 days)

Now Now Now!

My birthday sale is LIVE!