Long Live Kucinich!

I found out a few days ago that Dennis Kucinich withdrew from the Presidential race. Since then, I have been very distressed. Kucinich was sure to garnish my vote, as well as several others from people who love him. His policies were amazing: national health care, anti-Iraq war, and not asking the underdog to sacrifice anymore.

About a week before he withdrew from the election, several news stations stated that they would no longer be covering Kucinich's progress in the primaries (along with several other candidates). After reading the article on CNN (which I can no longer find a copy of, sorry), I was livid. I wanted to know why.

And now I do.

Kucinich has a big mouth, and he's not afraid to speak his mind. This is both a terrible and terrific thing. After watching this Youtube video, it became quite clear why Kucinich was forced to withdrawal. He wants the rich to be the ones to sacrifice. If it's not clear how this speech had an effect on his candidacy, let me spell it out for you.

A) Kucinich makes speech.
B) Media hears speech.
C) Media feels threatened, being one of the big guys who would be called on their b.s.
D) Media decides to put an end to Kucinich before he can do them any harm.
E) Media cuts Kucinich's coverage.
F) Since Kucinich isn't getting any coverage, people begin to think he has already withdrawn.
G) Kucinich gets no votes in the following states' primaries.
H) Kucinich withdraws due to no votes.

It's a shame how some people have all the power, and the little guy has none. Kucinich is such a radical in his own way. I think he's about ten years ahead of his time.

And I think it's about time we, the little guys, stand up for what and who we believe in. I believe in Kucinich, and I think it's time for change!

An Armada of Whales

Today I felt creative!

I made things for the first time in a loooooooong while.

What you see above is a photo I like to call An Armada of Whales. Basically, I screen printed twenty-four cards to use as thank you notes for the Christmas and birthday gifts I received from my wonderful family. I decided on whales. I'm not sure why, but I think they're cute. Since I screen printed them, I still have the screen, which means I can make more for my Etsy shop.

Then I got really creative. I started my Valentine's Day collection. I made a few screens, and I also made these cards. I call them Lovebird cards.



There's four different backgrounds on them, so I'll be listing them all separately. The first listing will probably go up tomorrow, assuming I get to take the pictures. Hooray!

In my last entry I said I would talk about what made me switch my major from Music Education to Business Administration. So, here it goes.

A year ago, I embarked on an incredible journey. I was an unemployed twenty-one year old college student studying to become a music teacher. I forced myself to get up to go to classes, never enjoying a minute of it. Then, I discovered Etsy. I figured, what do I have to lose? I NEED to make some money. So I opened my shop, Less Than Three Designs. I had NO IDEA how absolutely gratifying it would be and how enamored with Etsy and the handmade process I would become. Since then, I have discovered new processes of creation, learned how to advertise, honed in on better photography skills, and above all, I have made friends. Friends with the same goals that I have: to better themselves through the handmade process. What makes the handmade process so special? Well, I guess it's different for everyone, but personally, I like buying from friends. I like knowing the person that made what I'm using. I like proudly telling people that I have something that's one of a kind and that I know what's in it and how it's made. It's thrilling. I like not supporting unfair labor. I like knowing people are receiving the wages they deserve for the work that they do. I am so in love with the handmade process that my life plans completely changed. I am going to open my own boutique filled with handmade goodness. I plan to consign with artists from Etsy as well as some locals that I know. It's going to be great. The more I think about it, the more I know I've made the right decision. Teaching isn't for me: I don't even really like kids that much. For the first time in four years, I feel like I've made the correct decision regarding my career. Thanks, Etsy! :)

That's about all for now!

With love,
xoxoxo

Teeth Love Cards

Wow. I haven't updated since October. That's kind of sad. I think I should probably start. Here goes nothing.

I think for now, since I'm so tired, I'm just going to do a little list which I will elaborate on tomorrow.

+ Serious plans for future renovations in my shop. Actually, all this is really referring to is the fact that I SERIOUSLY want a Gocco. Not only could I screen print cards, I could do t-shirt and just about everything under the sun. Even a puppy! Okay, maybe not a puppy, but... you get the idea. Only two things are keeping me from getting one: money and the fact that they are no longer in production so who knows how long the inks are going to be available... But I really, really want one!

+ Change of plans school-wise. I don't know if I ever posted here what I was doing with school, and I'm not about to read through it all to find out. I was a music education major. And I switched. I'm now a Business Administration major at a local community college. I will be done my associates degree after fall semester, and then I plan to transfer somewhere to finish up my bachelor's degree. It's going to be pretty sweet. My next entry is going to focus mainly on this topic, by the way...

+ Valentine's collection is almost finished. I should have, like, five different designs ready to go in the next three to five days. I'm VERY excited, because I'm trying a new technique on all of them! Yay!

That's about it for now. This time I'm seriously going to be more diligent about updating my blog! SERIOUSLY! <3

<3 <3 <3 ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT! <3 <3 <3

Craftjuice.com is holding a contest right now to find the coolest crafts on the net. Right now, I am in fourth place. I REALLY want to win this thing.

The contest deadline is approaching quickly: October 31st. Please help me win!

If you feel so inclined, please click here to vote.

Thank you so much! :)

<3,
Less Than Three Designs

Vote for Me!

I just entered a contest on Craft Juice.

If you could just do me a favor and take a second of your time to go over there and vote for my item, I'd be SO grateful! All you have to do is click here to go to the page and click the word "vote" under the number of votes I have.

Thank you so much! :)

Oh boy. So it's been VERY busy lately...

I've been working on onsies for Wonder Cousins Unite. It's been a huge undertaking for me, but I'm pretty sure it'll get easier as time goes on.

In addition to this, SweetyPrize and I have been organizing a Red Room Cookie Swap. Basically, we're capping it off at about 16 people. This is a trial run, but we hope to do a huuuuuuuuuuge swap (maybe 50 people) closer to the holiday season. How it works is like this:

Step 1: Convo LessThanThreeDesigns to participate.
Step 2: Include your address and your likes/dislikes/allergies/etc
Step 3: When we reach 16 people, we will close it off, match people off, and convo you the address of your partner.

That's it! :)

In other news, I got a Treasury today. It's pretty awesome, and you should check it out!

That's about it for now. I'll catch you all later!

Forget ALL about the cards I was talking about in the last post. I've got something else that's pretty awesome... Check it out. Chat room pins!

Chat Room Censored Words Pinback Set

Oh God, YES. I'm so amused by this idea. I'm just surprised I didn't think of it sooner.

In other news, my cousin Vica (yes, the one who drew the comic strip that inspired the teeth cards) just moved to Philly to go to college, which is 20 minutes away from my house. I'm SO EXCITED. She, my sister, and I are opening our own Etsy shop called Wonder Cousins Unite. It's going to be reconstructed clothing (and we are going to have plus size in addition to regular sizes), pinbacks, plushies, purses, and maybe even some furniture. It's going to be awesome! We plan to have it up and running in two weeks or so (just in time for Christmas--haha). Yay! :)

Wow. I haven't made a new Etsy product in FOREVER...

I did revamp my shop not too long ago... I'm going to include a screenshot of the first page of my shop. You can see how the photography is changing and stuff like that. Plus, I also made an awesome new banner.

See?



So, maybe the picture's a little too small. You'd probably be better off just checking it out for yourself if you feel so inclined. That's REALLY not the reason for this post, though.

As I said before, I haven't made a new product in FOREVER. So, I was in the Red Room Chat on Etsy last night, and I was saying how I wanted to write Bryan an email completely in binary (which I did do--I used a translator. It was hard.), and another girl asked me if I was fluent. I said no, and she said that she was fluent in both binary and sign language. And of course, I was like, "That's so cool! I want to learn!" She told me that her mother was deaf, so it was really her first language. And then another girl in the room said that she, too, was fluent in sign language because her daughter was deaf. And then it hit me. Make sign language cards. So, right now, I'm in the process of making cards with a font I found that's all finger spelling. So far I have "Happy Birthday" and "I Love You". You know, the basics. I'm thinking about making some birthday invitations, though. They would be MAD cool...

I'm VERY excited about all of this. Pictures shortly. :)

In addition to all of this, I upgraded my Flickr. I'm now a pro! I'm in the process of joining lots of REALLY neat groups. Also, pictures from my Boston vacation are up there. Take a look!

I guess that's it for now. Last post left a bit of a cliffhanger... My knee is fine. It only acted up that one time. I don't get it, but I don't care. I figured out what to do for the The Crafting Patch Etsy Market, and I've started getting my stuff together for that. I'm not moving to Boston. Although my vacation was great, it is FAR too expensive to live there right now. I'd have to be homeless or something, and I don't think that'd be conducive for studying, you know? Work isn't as bad as it was before (although I did have a co-worker tell me I was fat), and I think it'll be a nice change of pace for school to start.

So, in a nutshell, that's basically it. I should be back in a while to add some pictures of the new line of cards. Yay!

Woooooooooooooow. It's been quite a long time since I last updated. What happened? Welllllll... basically life in general. I ran into some snags as far as time goes. Let's see... A list of things that have been taking up my time:

Number One: Knee Problems
Well, first of all, I've been having knee problems. I went to the doctor's office, and I found out that I have a deformed femur. How did that happen? Well, we're not really sure yet. It could have happened during an injury when I was young (but I've never had a real accident) or I could have been born this way. Who knows? All I know right now is that I have to go to an orthopedist and get an MRI, both of which I am dreading. I really need to figure all this out now, because I am 21, and I shouldn't be having knee problems for another 30-40 years...

Number Two: The Crafting Patch Etsy Market
I am going to be selling at The Crafting Patch Etsy Market in October. Because of this, I'm starting to get my inventory ready. I just have no idea how much/what to bring. Anybody have any suggestions? By the way, if you're interested in selling, I think there's still a few tables left. Contact SoCaliGirl for details.

Number Three: Possibly Moving
That's right. I might move. I've been fighting too much with my family. We have a much more pleasant relationship when I'm out of the house. Therefore, I've been looking at a ton of options for where I can go/what I can do. I need to finish my undergrad, so I really have two options: transfer or become a resident assistant (free room and board) on the campus that I go to now. I'm still trying to decide which one. The soonest I'd be moving would be January, but this requires a TON of research.

Number Four: Preparing for Vacation
My brother and I are taking a road trip to Boston starting on Sunday. I am so stoked! I have been there twice before, and I love the city (it's actually a consideration for where I'd transfer to). We're going to see two Red Sox games and just hang around the city. It's going to be great. In addition to this, we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and saw Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr get inducted. It was an eleven hour drive. We did the whole thing in one day. And by we, I mean, I drove the whole thing. It was crazy. And fun.

Number five: Work
I've been covering so many other people's shifts. Apparently, everyone else can take off two or three weeks during the summer, but if I take off four days, I get crap. What the hell? It's crazy. I turned in an application for another job, but it's a half hour away from where I live now, so I'm not sure if it'll work out. We're getting a new manager, too. And by this I mean, the owner of our store demoted our old (amazing) manager in the middle of Starbucks at lunch hour and then asked her to train the new manager. The kicker? He was the assistant manager at the owner's other branch that closed due to bankruptcy. Oh yeah. This is going to be REAL good... o_O

Number six: Enjoying My Summer
While I haven't done too much or gone too many places, I have been enjoying my time. It's great. I know once September rolls around, I'm not going to have as much time to myself, so I'm trying to get everything in now!

Well, I hope this satisfies your curiosity for now. Until next time! <3

Skiingweaver

Oy. What a day. It has been SOOOOO busy. I don't really have energy for, like, ANYTHING. All I can say is... make sure you check out my Lucky 7s sale which is going on in my shop tomorrow (7/7/07)! If you need more info, please check out the entry before this.

Since I have no entry and no will to even try to segue into this, here's an interview with a great Etsy seller. Without further ado, here is the wonderful and talented Skiingweaver!

Pink and Brown Ms and Os Handwoven Merino/Silk/Bamboo Scarf

1) Your shop name:
Skiingweaver

2) Your real name:
Kristin Kelley

3) Your favorite breakfast cereal:
I've been eating a lot of Multigrain Cheerios lately, but I really like Special K, too. And granola when I get around to actually making some (and not burning it). Crunch crunch. LOL.

4) When did you begin creating?
Well, I started weaving about six years ago, but I've been into fiber arts since college-ish (twenty years ago! EEKS! How the heck did *that* happen??). My roommate was into cross stitch so I did that for a while as stress-relief, though I got fed up with all the hokey cutie-pie designs pretty quickly. Another housemate taught me how to knit, which I still really enjoy but have a terrible time actually finishing anything. And I stumbled upon weaving more or less on my own, while I was working as a lawyer at a huge Boston law firm with way too little time for a new hobby but a real need for a creative outlet. I bought and built my little four-shaft loom, wove some really hideous dishtowels as my first project, and have been hooked ever since!

5) Got a day job?
I used to be a (very unhappy) lawyer (a litigator, no less). Now I'm a stay-at-home-mom, a day/night/weekend/forever job, I suppose, and I'm a lot happier, though probably more sleep-deprived.

6) Your inspirations:
Fellow weavers. I belong to the Boston Weavers' Guild (the oldest in the country!) and attend monthly meetings, always a huge inspiration. Otherwise, I like to keep my eyes open and really observe the colors in the world around me - I've starting dying yarn (had to stop for a while when I was pregnant with my son) and it's really amazing the color combinations you can come up with when you open your eyes... My mom's garden is a HUGE inspiration!

Stone/Fiber Mixed Media Magnets

7) Weirdest thing you've ever made:
Weirdest? Apart from those hideous dishtowels? Hmmm. Well, I did knit a pair of giant mittens once, intending to felt them into normal sized mittens... They stayed pretty giant and wound up potholders.

8) Creation that you are most proud of:
Daughter Bella (3 years old) and son Conall (four months old). :) Hope they count.

9) Explain your shop name:
It's skiingweaver because they're two of my favorite things to do! Hubby and I are absolutely fanatic skiers/snowboarders/telemarkers (I can wax lyrical about Alta for hours on end) and we've got our daughter on little cross-country skis already too. A perfect day for me would be some fresh tracks in the morning, preferably at Stowe (Vermont) followed by a productive day in my weaving studio... Hopefully someday we'll be able to move further North!

10) Final thoughts?
I'm so happy I found Etsy! The folks here are wonderfully supportive, kind and friendly. It's just a great community, I think. And it's great that it seems to be helping people get their handmade merchandise out there - I love owning something that someone has put time/thought/hard work/love into instead of just another mass-produced widget from Target.

Handwoven Wool/Silk/Bamboo Scarf

Please go visit , and keep checking back for more interviews with amazing Etsy sellers!