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Baby Yoshi is in da house
Click on the image to view it at its original size
Yoshio Benjamin Collins (in an 8-ball hat I knit for him) was born 7/20/05 at 10:02 am Texas time. Natural drug-free birth at home. 10lbs 12oz, 22" long, 14" head.
Are you an indie fashion designer? Are you a crafty business peep? Do you make really awesome things - like accessories, clothing, journals, gifts, jewelry, whatever?!! -- tell us about it and show it off at the 3rd annual Stitch Fashion Show & Guerilla Craft Bazaar! Deadline for applications: Oct. 1. Check out our website for more details:
P.S. Also pop by the website if you are interested in volunteering yo' bad self for anything and everything! Sponsor us, donate your services, your time, food, your stuff, whatever! Are you a HOT hair &/or make-up artist, poster designer, runway-architect-wizard, or other really useful genius-artist....we are talking to you!
Hi Ya Kids!
Guess who is having a trunk show this weekend? If you said Naughty Secretary Club, Sparkle Craft and Sweet Tooth Bags you win!
http://www.naughtysecretaryclub.com/
http://www.sparklecraft.com
http://www.sweettoothbags.com
Please stop by Blue Elephant Boutique this Saturday July 16th between 1 and 5 to peruse the goodies and say hello. We will all have new batches of items! Revamped Vintage Jewelry, sassy Belts & rockin' guitar straps, and delectable handbags.
WHAT: Trunk show with Naughty Secretary Club, Sparkle Craft and Sweet Tooth Bags.
WHERE: Blue Elephant Boutique (4001 N. Lamar – next to Central Market) 512-371-3259
WHEN: Saturday July 16th
TIME: 1-5 pm
Hope to see you Saturday and please be sure to spread the word and pass this invite along to anyone you know who might be interested.
Xo!
P.S. Can’t make it out Saturday? We three girls will also be splitting a booth at this year’s Austin City Limits Festival under the Austin Craft Mafia name!
I have a job opportunity that a friend asked me to help him spread the word about. I was sure friends of the Craft Mafia would have a lot of interest in these positions so I just wanted to let you all know about it.
It's make-up and wardrobe work for a feature length film shooting in Gonzales, Texas beginning in about a month. Interested?? Read on:
"August Evening, an independent feature film currently in pre-production, is
seeking assistance with both make-up/hair and wardrobe for our upcoming
shoot. Project will be shot in Gonzales and San Antonio this August -
September. Room and board provided if apropriate, and deferred payment
is possible for the right person(s).
We prefer individuals for each role with a mix of study in the field and desire to pursue a career in the business. If you're interested, please e-mail Jason Wehling at jbwehling@earthlink.net or Connie Hill at
hill.connie@gmail.com"
HEADLINE: ALL TOGETHER NOW ; AUSTIN'S UP-AND-COMERS ARE ORGANIZING TO FORTIFY THEIR POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE GROWTH.
By: Abby Tegnelia
Some emerging Austin designers have found that there really is strength in numbers. They've formed collectives in a bid to reach more customers and boost sales.
Austin Craft Mafia, a cooperative that features the styles of nine Austin designers, and Stitch Austin, which stages multidesigner runway and craft shows, are using their combined powers to highlight the city's growing fashion community.
Austin Craft Mafia members pay monthly dues. Once part of the group, they share ad space in magazines such as Bust, do group trunk shows, sell members' wares at craft fairs -- even if the designer can't attend a certain event -- and take on other responsibilities such as helping each other out with graphic design or marketing advice. Each member of the group also is able to link up their company's Web site to the group's main Web site, austincraftmafia.com, in order to cross-reference customers.
"When we met, we were a little starved for people to discuss our craft-based businesses with," said Austin Craft Mafia member Jesse Kelly-Landes, 28, of Amet and Sasha, which sells tops, skirts and dresses for between $ 29 and $ 47 wholesale. "Then we realized we'd be even more powerful if we joined forces, pooled advertising money and formed a group Web site with links to our own individual Web sites."
Karly Hand, 26, of Identity Crisis Clothing, which consists of mostly $ 10 to $ 110 looks, agreed. "We share business resources and creative tips," she explained. "I have become a better businesswoman and designer simply by being around these gals."
Austin Craft Mafia was the brainchild of Tina Lockwood, 28, of Sparklecraft Designs. She launched the group in September 2003 with Sublime Stitching's Jenny Hart, whose embroidery site sells patterns and craft kits, and Naughty Secretary Club's Jennifer Perkins.
"The three of us were mentioned in a book, and the author referred to us as a 'craft mafia,"' said Perkins, 30, whose brightly colored jewelry ranges in price from $ 10 to $ 215, with her wholesale prices staying at about half of that. "I can remember being at the gym with Tina, side by side on the treadmills, talking about starting the Austin Craft Mafia. By lunch that day, my phone rang, and she was saying, 'I just bought austincraftmafia.com, .org and .net. You owe me for half.' The rest is history."
The group is now up to nine members, all of whom own their own design companies and make between 50 and 100 percent of their income from their designs. Its members are Kelly-Landes; Hand; Lockwood; Hart; Jennifer Perkins; Vickie Howell of Ruby Goes Retro vintage resale and handmade clothing; Hope Perkins of Hot Pink Pistol, which makes blazers, jackets and dresses; Susann Keohane of All Dressed Up and Shy, which specializes in tops and skirts, and Jennifer Nakatsu Arnston of JNA Designs, which sells vinyl accessories. Aside from their Web sites, most of the women also sell at Austin's Parts and Labor boutique and other stores in the U.S. and abroad.
The members said their designs are different enough that exposing customers to their friends' lines doesn't take away from their own sales.
As testament to the group's success, Craft Mafias have popped up as far away as Philadelphia and the U.K. This, of course, has thrilled the original group, who don't require any permission to use the name. They want to eventually hook up all the different Craft Mafias for even more exposure to customers.
The women also are currently filming 39 episodes (three seasons) of their new TV show, Styleicious, on the DIY network. The craft program will preview in spring 2006. The show came about after Ruby Goes Retro's Howell developed a successful DIY show about her knitting.
"She's had so many doors open for her and her business because of the shows," Jennifer Perkins said. "Book deals, articles, interviews. I think we are all hoping we will get the same, which will in turn help our respective businesses."
Expanding at the same rate as Austin Craft Mafia is the indie fashion show and craft fair called Stitch Austin, run by Lockwood, Hand, Kelly-Landes and, starting this year, Perkins. The event started just two months after the formation of Austin Craft Mafia, in November 2003.
"The only shows in Austin at that time were retail or student shows at the University of Texas," said Lockwood, who makes most of her money from creative belts and guitar straps, priced $ 13 to $ 24. "There were no shows for independent designers. The clothes you saw on the runway? You could walk into five stores and find them."
To pay for the 30-minute show and same-day craft fair, the women charge admission and charge the designers (last year, there were 18) about $ 50 each to put about four to five pieces on the runway and set up a booth. Their first show sold out, so they moved to a bigger venue. That almost sold out last year, only their second show, when more than 800 people attended. The women each made a few hundred dollars from their booth at the craft fair. Each woman keeps her money from sales; they do not go toward the collective. Stitch Austin is hoping to eventually move the show up to twice a year.
"We decided to make it a big event," said Kelly-Landes. "Austin has so much talent in that area, and it now all comes together one night a year. I couldn't be more proud of what Stitch has grown into, and I can't wait for it to continue to grow."