Indie Crafts » Craft Shops

Buck Yourself – Zombie Edition

Minnie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:54:32 +0000

These cute deer head trophy pins are FLOCKED. I love flocking. This zombie edition comes complete with oozing sores, leaking brains and a googley eye. If you want less gore and more cute Kitschy Galore still has you covered with a leopard edition, a birdie edition and more!

Link via Faster Kitty Kill Kill!

Cute paintings and prints by Gemma Jones

Minnie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:57:33 +0000

Great silhouette paintings and gocco prints by Gemma Jones, a Melbourne based artist.

You can find her Etsy store here.

Her website has her bio, list of upcoming exhibitions and .more examples of her work.

She is also a founding member of the Kaotic Kraft Kuties a fun looking craft collective.

Kids can design own toys

Minnie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:58:25 +0000

This is such a fun idea. Shidonni is a company that will take a kids drawing and turn it into a toy for them. If you’re crafty this would be a fun thing to do for your kid yourself and if not here is this cool service that does it for you. However, I think it is too expensive and maybe I’m just a grump but am I paying for the “special pet ID card”? Or what? It does look like they create a nice high quality plushie and they have a nice looking online interface for drawing your toy.

Blue Moon Designs – Fancy Utility Belt Corset

Minnie — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:17:18 +0000

Katherine Becvar of Blue Moon Designs was at Bazaar Bizarre this year with her beautiful fancy utility belts. They all have generous yet stylish pockets and super sexy corset lacing in the back. They snap in the front so they are very easy to take on and off.

I traded with her and I am so in love with my belt! It’s perfect for my phone and some money and an ID. I’ve worn it to clubs but mostly I’ve just worn it out while chasing my 2 yr old. It pleases me no end for being so stylish and useful! The belts come in very fancy materials or more sturdy ones. Mine is a nice sturdy pinstripe!

Katherine is a costume and accessories designer and she takes custom orders. You can check out her web site and her Etsy shop.

Altered Shoes

Minnie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:21:27 +0000

I’ve been seeing altered shoes around recently including from a woman here in Oakland who does not have a web site apparently. How can that be? websites are pretty much free at this point.

Hippy of Doom on Etsy has some nice altered shoes. I love these hummingbird shoes.

There is also an entire book about altering shoes and I bet it has great tips on the kinds of paint to use, etc. The book is called Altered Shoes: A Step-By-Step Guide To Making Your Footwear Fabulous and was written by Marty Stevens-Heebner. Marty looks very interesting and is, I think, the creator if ReBagz, a line of handbags made from upcycled materials. you can read about them here.

I’m shocked that there is not an altered shoes flickr group! I have a few altered shoes stories from recently myself, although, does it count if the altering was done my my most excellent local cobbler?

Yoki the magic dragon – a plushie kit

Minnie — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:14:12 +0000

This dragon plushie is cute as heck. I need one. I like this kit because it includes the materials. Also, the dragon looks so huggable and… plush! The plushie toy is designed by DIYFluffies. She has quite a few other great kits

I saw this on Zombiegrrrl’s parenting blog.

DIY kid Halloween Costumes

Minnie — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:26:17 +0000

How adorable is this little kid in a lion costume? I think people go a bit overboard on kids Halloween costumes sometimes so I am in love with these DIY costume kits from DIYcostumes.etsy.com. She makes kits that help you turn a simple hoodie into a costume! brilliant! They are affordable and adorable!

If I didn’t already have a hand-me-down frog costume for Jack I would totally do one of these. The Shark would be my pick!

I saw this link over on Rookiemoms.com

Keep Calm and Sew Stuff at Urban Threads

Minnie — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:14:02 +0000

I now have about 3 ‘keep calm’ things in my house and that doesn’t include one of the original type posters that say Keep Calm and Carry On.

I want this “Keep Calm and Sew Stuff” patch from Urban Threads but I’m suddenly confused by the website. Do I have to have an embroidery machine? Am I just buying the design or can I buy the already made patch? I fear, for me who has no embroidery machine, that I can only buy the design. Ugh! Darn it! Now I need a serger AND an embroidery machine.

This is what Etsy Alchemy is for!

First order of business: Gnomes.

Minnie — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:11:40 +0000

What’s the best crafters crack you can think of? For me it is the Hancock’s of Paducah fabric catalog. Vim comes running in waving it over his head whenever it arrives in our mailbox, sometime’s it’s good for the WTF? factor and sometimes for the omgosh I need that right now rush.

Let’s start with the new Michael Miller Flower Garden line. What’s in a flower garden? GNOMES, of course! There are three new gnome fabrics and all of them are cracking me up.

More from Michael Miller: Doughnuts and tea. You can’t go wrong and I’m pretty sure my brain has decided to go get doughnuts tomorrow. I guess I’ll go along with it.

Robert Kaufman has some new fabrics designed by Robin Pickens called Deco Park. Her color choices are amazing and these remind me of stained glass windows.

The Apple line designed by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures. Whoo! The Cream Orchard Owls fabric, Dotted Daisy and Fashion Apples all are great fabrics with a vintagey 70’s feel.

Spectacle ring – Keep your glasses on your finger

Minnie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:48:45 +0000

These cat eye glasses on a ring are so stylish! There is also a mustache ring and so much other cute jewelry.

The ampersand necklace is very pretty and all is quite affordable!

You can find other Isette creations on Ponoko and Etsy

…

Arrrr! Walk the plank Mr. Pirate Cupcake!

Minnie — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:10:29 +0000

This yummy pirate cupcake t-shirt is for sale by Dog Bone Art as seen on Indiefixx Galleria!

The geek in me – mini tools and such

Minnie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:47:29 +0000

For whatever reason I googled ‘ tiny level necklace‘ this morning. What?! It’s funny, wearing a level necklace is. I found geek after my own heart in YOUnGEEK on Etsy.

I love tiny things and I love surprises. I am a huge spy fan and I wish I could work with Q and outfit James Bond agent 007 with neat little gadgets. I often wonder to myself, what would MacGyver do? What tools would he love to have on hand? I love miniaturizing useful tools and wear them unsuspectingly. If something is useful to me, I will try to find it or make it as small as I can and put it on a necklace or ring.

I like the mini salt and pepper earrings, the levels and the Mini Working Harmonica Necklace with Tiny Music Stand and Ity Bity Sheet Music

Hello, Underdog Ink!

Minnie — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:11:19 +0000

While looking at cute kids clothes online I came across this cute t-shirt by Underdog Ink! Aw,! It’s a bird saying hi to a giraffe. I love the stripey sleeves.

Underdog Ink is owned and operated by Lisa Solomon, a Bay Area artist and crafter. After looking through some of her links it turns out she is the artist behind the most recent Mix Tape, a great craft zine, cover which I have been particularly admiring ever since I received it in the mail a few weeks ago.

Do you love your locally owned fabric shop? Project 95

Minnie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:03:35 +0000

Did you know that 95 percent of fabric shoppers make their purchases at chain stores? That’s right, only 5 percent shop independents. Let’s change that.

Lauren Venell of Sweet Meats recently turned me on to this great project called Project 95: Fabric Shoppers Unite—Shop Independents is a worldwide network of independent quilt and fabric shops, that have joined forces to promote shopping independents.

I occasionally shop at chain crafts stores like Joann’s and Michael’s but mostly prefer the smaller local shops, they have a higher quality of product, more knowledgeable staff and best of all it helps people in my community.

Project 95 and your local craft shops need your help!
The first thing you can do is to help Project 95 keep their database up to date. ( I have to say that the techie in me is cringing a bit at how they are going about this. But I’m not judging!) Email their tech person at sarah.moon@fabshopnet.com with a list of the name of all your local shops.
Second, tell all your crafty friends to do the same.
Third, check out their database to find a local shop! Shop local!

Nudibranch and Narwhal Publications – Love a Voroidae

Minnie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:27:50 +0000

Cryptozoologist Caroline Smith goes treats us to an in-depth study of the Voroidae, published by Nudibranch and Narwhal Publications. Her cladistic analysis is in full color and starts with a shared characteristic, the Blaberblemious Gland.

My sister gave me Voroidae and I have been swooning with the sheer nerdy fantasticness ever since. I’d like to see some plushies to go with this book!