Mother’s Day Cards
Posted: 05/10/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: children's crafts, flowers, holidays Leave a comment »
This week in children’s crafts, I brought watercolors, paper, glue and whatever flowers I could scavenge on my way to the twin’s house. Pretty much any time of the year you can find flowers in Northern California, but the wildflowers are out now and I felt much better picking those.
This craft succeeded because it had the essential elements: something for mom (who we all love), glue, and real live flowers scattered all over the table.
I set out watercolors and some glue in a paint pot. The children enjoyed mixing watercolors into the glue, and using the flowers as paintbrushes.
Here’s the one I made for my own momma. Happy Mother’s Day!
New! Beautiful packaging for Sky & Light
Posted: 05/03/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Mother's Day, pendant, sky and light, stars Leave a comment »
Whether your Sky & Light order is a gift or just a present to yourself, each pendant comes beautifully packaged in a classic kraft box with delicate vellum inserts and a card explaining the stars on the jewelry.
Remember to order your personalized Mother’s Day pendant before Monday for ensured delivery by May 12th. This custom-painted pendant portrays the stars in the sky on a particular date and location, so buy her one with your birthday stars!
I’m one of those guest bloggers!
Posted: 04/29/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: guest post, relocation, trailing spouse Leave a comment »Today I’m featured on the awesome relocation blog Allegra Stein talking about the difference between lying to yourself and lying to other people about your accomplishments. Nutshell: if you have low self-confidence, you always feel like you’re lying. It took me a long time to own what I’m good at and say it with a straight face. I make giant vegetables! And I’m proud of that. What are your hidden talents?
The Horror! The Horror! Unicorn Ski Masks now available!
Posted: 04/24/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: costumes, etsy, halloween, unicorn horn, unicorn ski mask Leave a comment »Unicorn horn ski masks are definitely the most frightening thing I’ve ever made (maybe more so than the 1st draft of the mushroom cloud puppet, eek!). So much, that I’ve kept them “in the back” at the last two fairs, afraid I’d scare off my cutesier clientele. But they’ve gotten me a lot of attention lately. Behold!
This is the first picture I sent out onto the interwebz. Each ski mask comes in a one-size-fits-all adult size, fitting a little more loosely than an adult beanie. If you have glasses, you can still wear them but I think it makes the creepy-level go up 50%. The above mask has a custom horn and ears attached to it. You can get this new horn-upgrade for $9.
Or maybe you want a more classic look– black with a white horn. Now please, I have heard people make jokes about robbing banks almost 100 times now. Please do not do anything bad while wearing this! Not only are crimes, well, criminal, you would likely be caught very quickly if you were so unwise as to wear a unicorn costume while robbing someone. So please do not do that. These are great for face-warmth while snow-boarding, playing pranks on friends or doing things at FurCon that we shall not discuss here.
Also available in pink! Like I always say, if you have any anxiety about Halloween costumes, my unicorn horns are a wonderful antidote for HAD (Halloween Anxiety Disorder). But get them soon! Supplies are limited.
Bay to Breakers – Get Ready!
Posted: 04/18/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bay to breakers, costumes, foot race, san francisco, unicorns Leave a comment »Bay to Breakers is in one month! The craziest 12K in the Bay Area, set in San Francisco and from what I’ve heard and seen, is an excuse to dress even crazier than usual and hang with friends for a really long walk. As I’m writing this post, I’m trying to find an image that accurately portrays the race without alienating my younger or more demure readers. Let’s just say it’s hard, and if you can’t look at a Google image search of the race, you probably don’t need to go. There are other races without as many butts.
Here we go:
Unless this is a new subculture fetish I wasn’t aware of, I believe this is safe for work.
I want to see lots of people wearing my unicorn horns, not just because selling unicorn horns gives me the means to make more of them, but I love that I am helping put a little more fun and happiness into the world. I’ve heard such great things about this race, I want to be a part of it. I’m just not sure I can walk all day*!
So, in honor of Bay to Breakers, I am offering my unicorn headbands at a discount if you buy one for you and one for a friend. Two horns for $40.23! Why $40.23? Because $20.13 is a cute number, but unicorns don’t grow on trees. At $40.26, that’s a 20% discount for two horns. Go get two!
The race is May 19th, starting at the Embarcadero and ending at Ocean Beach. If you want to register, do it by May 16th!
*When I go to San Francisco, the thought on my mind is always, “Where the bathroom?” It’s given me a bad mental connection with Starbucks.
Veggielution presents: Avant Garden
Posted: 04/18/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amy brown, avant garden, community farm, jumbo jibbles, San Jose, SJMADE, veggielution Leave a comment »
This Friday, Veggielution will present a lovely fundraiser for its urban farming non-profit, filled with art, crafts, music and local food. All local. Homegrown! It is charmingly called Avant Garden. I heard about it the first autumn I was living in California, and was sad I missed the deadline to be in the crafts show. Talk about up my alley! I’ll be there this year with my giant carrots and other monster veggies, eating yummy snacks grown in these parts. Veggielution has teamed up with SJMade, so there will be a great assortment of local vendors, including my new friend Danielle of Lucy and Mabel. It’s $10 to get in, then you can sample yummy local dishes and listen to music from Cado! (He’s wonderful).
Check out the details on the Veggielution site, or on their Facebook event page.
April 19th, 2013
7 – 10 pm
The Armory
240 N 2nd St
San Jose, CA 95112
Just an idea for Mother’s Day– give her the stars
Posted: 04/16/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: astronomy, jewelry, Mother's Day Leave a comment »
My mom (in the green) with one of her many lovely sisters, on our trip to San Francisco.
My mom has everything– she’s smart, creative, holds her liquor well, has a great husband, two daughters that love her (but should call more) and a questionable collection of Santa Claus statues. What do you get a woman like that for Mother’s Day? Don’t tell me to make a pack of paper coupons for foot rubs and mowing the lawn (we don’t live in the same state, and I hate giving a coupon to a family member). If I was there in Arkansas, I’d make her dinner, because that crazy woman has a set of dishes for every occasion and I’d like to give her a chance to use them.
Obviously, I can’t say what I’m getting her (Hey Mom! I bet you’re reading this) but I can take suggestions. I’ve already given her one of my favorite gifts, which was made from an idea she gave me.
The hand-painted astronomy pendants I sell at Sky & Light were my mom’s idea. I don’t pass up an opportunity to tell people who’s idea it really was. Not only did she come up with it, she let me have it. She didn’t even make me sign a contract or give her royalties– just wanted me to have fun and be successful. Thanks Mom!
If you are looking for something new this year that will knock your mother’s fuzzy house socks off, consider a personalized pendant of the stars on your birthday, or on your sibling’s birthday. Better yet– her birthday. Without that date, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post.
My pendants show the exact stars in the sky from the location of your preferred event (birthday, anniversary) at the time you want. What would she have seen in the sky if the roof of the hospital had been lifted like a jewelry box? Each comes delicately painted on a vintage optician’s lens with a sprinkle of stardust and backed with a translucent blue sky. The lenses are made of medical-grade stainless steel and glass, dainty to look at but durable enough to withstand the grabby hands of a toddler.
Each pendant takes about a week to make, so order one now for Mother’s Day delivery! She’ll never have seen another like it– just like you! And to sweeten the deal, I’m offering a coupon for 15% off all my merchandise on Sky & Light. You can find the coupon on the Nerdwallet page. You may even find something for yourself!
Check out the Nerdwallet Contests page for more great Mother’s Day gift ideas.
Get your mom, wife, friend, girlfriend or daughter one here!
San Jose Bike Party Purple Ride!
Posted: 04/11/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bike party, bikes, unicorns Leave a comment »
April’s Bike Party theme is PURPLE– there’s something for everyone there, right? The reds and the blues can finally come together. Unfortunately, I can’t make it out on my half-purple Surly Cross-check (it’s blue) because I’ll be at a Veggielution fundraiser hawkin’ my giant veggies. Please do not be sad, because you can get a purple something ahead of time, with a discount!
Use coupon code BIKEPARTY for free shipping until 4/20/13. Here’s a selection of lovely purple things you can put on your head for the ride. And remember– my unicorn sweatbands fit all the way around a bike helmet! Please respect your brain.
Be safe everybody! I wish I was there.
Bazaar Bizarre! Cherry Blossoms!
Posted: 04/07/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »
Hey y’all! Things have been busy behind the scenes and Jumbo Jibbles and Sky & Light! I’ll be selling my vegetables and unicorn horns at the Bazaar Bizarre Artist Village during Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco. It’ll be at a neat store called New People.
So that’s next weekend. But before I have time to freak out about that fabulous festival, I’ll be busy teaching visual arts at a great non-profit called Starting Arts. I’ve got a great set of painting, drawing and sculptural projects to do with K-5 kids, and I just can’t wait. It’s going to be the craziest week. Crazy good!
There’s new stuff in both of my store, so check it out!
Big things and tiny things: Sky and Light
Posted: 03/29/2013 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »There comes a time in an artist’s life where she must ask herself: what do carrots and constellations have in common?
Apparently, not very much in a brand-sense, so I am opening a new Etsy store to feature my space-themed merchandise, namely my wonderful custom-painted star pendants.
I’ll have custom pendants with the option of rosary bead or silver chain, and the option of buying the pendants on their own. Also featured will be read-to-mail zodiac constellation pendants with the usual star signs. But the sky’s the limit (literally) on what you can choose for your pendant.
You can follow Sky and Light on Twitter and Facebook.
