Airstream Art

We're moving Stella to a different spot at Starving Art/E.A.T. this morning, so I've got trailers on the brain, I guess. Out of curiosity, I did a search for "Airstream" on Etsy & these are some of the cool things I found.

I love all of the paintings of Airstreams. One of these trailers is even named Stella, just like ours! The license plate art is really clever - the metal surface is perfect for a depiction of an aluminum trailer. I knew there would be a lot of art featuring the iconic silver trailers, but I didn't know there would also be such a variety of things like housewares, stationery, even doggie tags!

If you're looking for locally handmade Airstream art, don't forget that we carry some at Stella's! We have exclusive Stella soaps from Nepenthe's Bathtime, mirrored acrylic Stella necklaces by Diamonds & Guns, and baby bibs with trailer appliques by BabyBolt!

Renegade Re-Cap: It rocked and I bought some awesome stuff!

Last weekend's utterly amazing Renegade Craft Fair (in Austin for the first time ever!) was jam packed with awesome vendors and had a huge turn out to boot! None of us knew what to expect and we were blown away with the rush on Saturday morning. The organizers told us that 1500 people came through the doors in the first hour alone!

By Sunday evening, the crowd had dwindled, we'd run out of "timber" for our "Trick Out Some Timber" craft (luckily people still loved trying the image transfer onto cardboard). Around 6pm I took the opportunity to run around the fair to do my shopping and here is what I bought:


Two heart shaped bracelets from Verameat (I love hearts... I mean Paired Hearts represent!)
And two cutie onesies from harrilu. The toaster is in homage to my pup Toast and I thought the kitten was just adorable. I also ordered a custom clutch from Jenny N. Design, can't wait to receive it! -Like this but with a different leather:

My husband came and bought:


A cool tee from KDS Clothing, and a rad Tortoise poster from Empire Press.

Our booth was rocking it too, here are a bunch of pics to prove it:

Pre-opening, I'm up on the roof to do some cleaning & decorating.

From the time the doors opened on Day 1 until they closed on Day 2, our interactive area was hoppin'!

We showed guests how to "Trick Out Some Timber" with a simple image transfer technique, & then use decoupage &/or picks from our stash of cool ribbon, trims, buttons & baubles to give it some unique flair.

Here comes the Minor Mishap Marching Band!

A steady stream of shoppers enjoyed browsing the handmade goods inside Stella's Boutique (at times it was shoulder-to-shoulder in there!), & we had our famous design-your-own pinback buttons station just outside the door.

A big "thank you" to everyone who came out! We had such a fabulous time spreading the crafty love & made lots of new friends. Can't wait for Renegade Austin 2011! {Oh yes, I think it's gonna happen!} : )

Lantern Fest 2010

The WonderCraft is one of the awesome vendors at this year's Lantern Fest held at the Sri Atmanda Memorial School on Red River at 41st street.

We'll be bringing out Stella and doing a super fun and easy scratch-board printing craft. Bring your whole family ready to enjoy another one of Austin's unique and local events!

Want to craft your own lantern? Come out to the festival and learn how, or check out this quick and easy tutorial on Suite101.

Fabulous GO Vendors: Baby Bolt & Craft Chi

More vendor awesomeness! Baby Bolt & Craft Chi are two more local faves who'll have lovely handmade gift items on display at our Grand Opening tonight.

First up is Becka Spellman of Baby Bolt. In addition to the brand spankin' new & awesome trailer bibs she'll have at our Grand Opening, Becka also makes crazy-cute clothes & plenty of functional items to make life easier for parents and kiddos. Pacifier Bibs keep drool in check and the pacifier nearby. Crayon Rolls keep your little artist's tools on hand whether inspiration strikes at a restaurant, car trip, or the doctor's office.

New-Baby Gift Sets, available in custom combinations like this cute little cowboy, are the perfect, stress-free gifts that will stand out at any baby shower. What a great idea!

At BabyBolt you will find designs that combine new, upcycled/reclaimed, vintage, and imported fabrics - resulting in unique, one-of-a-kind or limited-run clothing and accessories.

Becka says, "Through my life I have attempted to find a home in all sorts of arts and crafts. From oil painting to photography to knitting to collage, I never really felt I had found my "thing." Shortly after my son was born I pulled out my mom's old Kenmore and started working on small projects and took a few sewing classes. As I gained skills and confidence, I turned our spare bedroom into my studio."

Come out & say hello to Becka tonight; she is super-sweet & also quite a funny lady. You'll enjoy meeting her and you will love her ah-DOR-able kids' stuff!

Next I'd like to tell you about the multi-talented Amy of Craft Chi, "the universalizing life force of craft." Love that! Amy makes all kinds of things, all handprinted with her original artwork. Her beautiful handmade wares include bags, pillow shams, tees and pretty linen tea towels.

I love the fluid patterns Amy creates & her screen-printing technique is impeccable. Amy also keeps a wonderful blog about her craft process that is full of great tips & interesting behind-the-scenes pics.




















In addition to her printed items, Amy sells cute rubber stamps made from her own drawings and screen-printing screens that can be custom-made with your own image on them. She also offers a wide assortment of screens for sale with all kinds of cool images that are ready to use. We carry these in Stella's boutique & they are awesome!



Tonight at the GO we'll be using some totally cool screens on loan from Craft Chi for screen-printing on neckties. It's gonna be super-fun! Join us, won't you?

Fabulous GO Vendors: Sweet Wolf & Nepenthe's Bathtime

Nepenthe's Bathtime and Sweet Wolf are two of our awesome vendors at the upcoming Grand Opening celebration. We've gotten to know the two of them well from the numerous events and EtsyAustin meetings we've all been together at, and they are certainly some talented, creative, crafters!

Samantha Hlavaty of Nepenthe's Bathtime creates some awesome soapy goodness, of the likes you've probably never seen before! Check out our favorite: the airstream soap of course! For sale in the Boutique, only $6!
About the history of Nepenthe's Bathtime Sam says "Creating soap and bath products began about 5 years ago as a hobby and a way to diffuse after a stressful day of work, and has managed to morph over the years into a full time business".

Despite the fact that Nepenthe's Bathtime is relatively new, it sounds like she's always been on this path "As a child, I loved to raid my mom's gardens and make little concoctions out of the flowers and herbs. Unfortunately for her, at that age I had absolutely no clue what preservatives were. To this day, I am uncertain of how many moldy jars of mush she discovered throughout our home. I’m afraid to ask! Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot over the years. In general though, I have always loved bath products, aromatherapy and botanicals. Mixing with this a passion for art, design, and colour ... it was a natural fit!"


Another favorite is her popular Sushi Soap! Come see and smell them in person on Thursday at the Grand Opening!


Sweet Wolf is the creation of crafty gal Cathie Fuentes. She's a self proclaimed "nerdy gal who loves to get crafty." Her whimsical creations include flower brooches (above) handbags & clutches, scarves, and even tartan plaid bows, my favorite.
About her craft Cathie says "I have always made things for myself and friends and family. I have dabbled in many, many crafts over the years but I have always loved to sew. I learned how in 2nd grade when my parents bought me my first sewing machine. I then had my first
little entrepreneurship, making and selling tooth pillows. I still have one of the first ones I made and am still proud of it!

I really like to make people happy and giving them something I created helps me do that!
And for a long time, friends have been telling me I need to sell the things I make -- so here we are!"
Check out her Etsy shop Sweet Wolf, and come meet her and see all the wonderful sewn things she makes, Thursday at the Grand Opening!

Rockstar Sponsor: The Cupcake Bar

Get this guys: we've got not one, but TWO amazing local bakeries sponsoring our Grand Opening! Trust me, you don't want to miss out on all this deliciousness! In addition to those amazing bourbon bites from Blue Note Bakery, we'll also have a gorgeous spread of mini-cupcakes from The Cupcake Bar.

The Cupcake Bar is a full-service cupcake catering company that's always a hit at parties. They're a new fave of ours since meeting them a couple of weeks ago when we hosted an Austin Cupcake Meetup. It was so much fun! Jackie, the fearless leader of the cupcake meetups, wanted to combine cupcakes & crafting. What could be better?



So we led the guests in a cupcake-themed sponge-painting craft, and Rachel from The Cupcake Bar was our fabulous bartender. She was so sweet & helpful & the cupcakes were super-tasty. You can see all of the pics from this event in our Cupcake Meetup set on Flickr.



The Cupcake Bar offers 12 delicious varieties of cake, fillings, icing and an array of toppings that is simply astounding, including cotton candy, Pop Rocks, mini Oreos, and even pretzel Goldfish for those who like a sweet-salty mix.



It's so fun to choose & create your own custom cupcake. I had the Tres Leches cake topped with Rice Krispie Treats & silver shimmer dust. Yum!



Don't miss your chance to sample the delights from The Cupcake Bar at our Grand Opening!

Come Tie One On at our Grand Opening!

For all the vendor & sponsor links, see our handy-dandy clickable poster.

This is going to be a blast, y'all! We hope you'll come out to craft with us, peruse the awesome handmade goods in our lovely little Airstream boutique, and learn about our craft classes & parties. We'll also have some of our favorite local makers vending at the event, so you won't want to miss all of this amazing handmade goodness!

While you're there, you can enjoy tasty treats from our fabulous sponsors, including Blue Note Bakery, Apothecary Cafe & Wine Bar and The Cupcake Bar.

We'll be posting features on each of our sponsors & vendors from now up until the Grand Opening, so stay tuned. Be sure to check out the write-ups we've done recently on Squid Ink Kollective and Merritt Gade if you missed 'em!

Not Your Average Neckwear!

Last night, The WonderCraft gals hosted a little party at our new space at The Art Pad as a trial-run for the fabulous Grand Opening celebration we're planning on Feb. 25th. Stay tuned for more details on that - you're gonna love it!

The theme of our GO party is "Tie One On" & we'll be doing techniques such as embroidery & screen-printing on thrifted, possibly super-ugly, neckties all night long. Here are some more pics from our experiments last night:

Our crafty pals from the EtsyAustin team, Samantha of Nepenthe's Bathtime, Cathie of Sweet Wolf & Camille of Diamonds and Guns, checking out the beautiful selection at Lapis Lane Beads.

Camille sported one of the pretty crystal-adorned fascinators she's making now - love it!





See all the pics from our pre-party in our Soft Grand Opening Flickr set. And be sure to mark your calendar for Thursday, February 25 so you can come out & embellish a necktie with us, enjoy fantastic local makers of handmade goods, tasty local food & drinks, plus lots more!