Sprinkles!!

A sprinkle-centric holiday tale? - you know I'm all about that.

Enjoy this wonderful journey in dough by Christopher Niemann:

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/let-it-dough/

Two shows this week!

You can find Candy Calamity goods at two great shows this week!

First off tomorrow night 5-9 I'll be at at SqWires for Artropy -Thursday Evening December 2nd, 2010 

but if that's not a good night for you, you can also find me at the Missouri History museum on Saturday, December 4th 12-4  for the Third Annual Green Living Expo

I've got some freshly made christmas ornaments and pasticcio resin earrings.  With any luck I'll have some new book thongs done too!

Guest Post on Craft for Health

Hey everyone!

I'm trying to build up some inventory for a bunch of holiday shows I've got coming up, so blog posts will be a bit few and far between for the next few weeks.

In the mean time you can check out an article I wrote over at Craft for Health about the zen of candy wrapper folding:  http://craftforhealth.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/11/zen-and-the-art-of-candy-wrapper-folding-by-emily-ochiu.html

Halloween Smell

"I immediately experienced that overwhelming olfactory blast known as Halloween Smell; a free-floating bouquet of sugar, cocoa butter, and flavorings" (Steve Almond, Candyfreak pg 41)

On a good day, my craft room is filled with that delicious Halloween Smell :)

Candy Contest Results

Ok here are the answers to the halloween quiz!

H - hershey's
A - Brach's
P - Milkduds (tricky : turned upside down)
P - Tootsie Pop
Y - Laffy Taffy
H - Krunch! (by great american opportunities)
A - Take5
L - Tootsie Roll
L - Tootsie Roll
O - Dots
W - Wonka Exceptionals
E - Nestle (another tricky one - from a bag of chocolate chips)
E - 3 Muskateers
N - 100 Grand


Thanks to everyone who played!  By my count, with 9 correct answers Tina Gaulden is our winner!

Congrats Tina! - You have won a set of Candy Wrapper Fridge Magnets which say "Happy" Please contact me with your mailing address

Happy Halloween!

I've got a prize for whoever can identify the most candy wrappers used here (or whoever names them all first)
Leave your entries in the comments!

Trick or Treat

So, my favorite Spooktacular Holiday is coming up!

An entire night devoted to silly costumes and eating candy?  Sign me up!

It seems like a good time to ask for wrapper donations.  I can't do what I do without all of you kind folks who save up wrappers for me (I can only eat so much by myself).  I can't use foil wrappers or anything with chocolate or caramel or something stuck to it, but other then that I will happily accept any and all types of candy wrappers.  If you also manage to save the outside bag that the little fun size pieces come in, that would be awesome!  Those are really great to work with.

Thank you in advance if you think of me and collect up some wrappers.  I have a special candy themed holiday background I'll be sharing here on the blog this weekend, so stay tuned!

The Tree Huggers

Last July we were lucky enough to get two tree hugger statues installed at the 'entrance' to the neighborhood.

 Designed by artists/creators, Wiktor Szostalo and Agnieszka Gradzik, they are a tribute to sustainability efforts in the area.  Formed from tree branches and other organic materials, they give our trees a gentle squeeze.

I totally meant to take pictures to post here back when they were new, since I walk past them all the time on the way to the donut store, but I'm glad I waited.  Autumn leaves suit them.

Illustration Friday - spooky

10/15/10 Spooky

Actual conversation:
Me: "I'm supposed to draw something spooky this week, what's really spooky?"
The Hubs: "I dunno.... me, getting up in the morning?"



Yeah ..... it would be spooky if I woke up one day to find that my husband had become a decomposing, brain-eating zombie overnight.


and as a bonus:  Last weeks prompt 'transportation' which I drew but then because of a camera failure did not get a chance to post.

One Year Ago Today

I wanted to publish this at 10:10 pm on 10/10/10, but I missed my deadline by a little bit.


One year ago today, Candy Calamity was gearing up for it's second holiday season much better prepared then I was the year before.  I wrote this blog post http://candycalamity.blogspot.com/2009/10/craft-show-rules.html about my 8 craft show rules, and I'm still using those 'rules' today - they're keepers!


I had just invented the octagonal prism shaped recycled christmas card ornaments and was making those full steam ahead (they will be making a reappearance in my etsy store soon - I can't believe it's already that time of year)

I discovered Illustration Friday.  It took me a few weeks to get my feet wet and I posted my first drawing 'blur' on November 6th (Can't believe I drew it on an envelope back - I'm such a dork sometimes)

Two years ago today, I was getting ready to have a craft show table to myself for the first time.  Those were the days that six feet seemed like a lot of space to fill, now I can never get everything to fit!

Around the same time I was interviewing for a new day job and got it, I've been a clinical dietitian at my current hospital ever since.

Three years ago today, I was just starting to hear about a great shopping site called 'Etsy' and Candy Calamity was just a twinkle in my eye.


So what were you doing one year ago today?

Dandy Giveaway

Congrats to Sarah A. the winner of these fabulous earrings on the Dandy Giveaway:

I'm not sure when I'll be doing a giveaway again, maybe if I get really into the Christmas spirit....
stay tuned

Custom Pendant for a Wedding

I've made many a piece of candy jewelry but this one is the sweetest (sorry, candy pun!)

Requested for a bride by her bridesmaid Monica to be her something borrowed and something blue.  Monica mailed me this special fortune she found and I put it into a custom fortune pendant.

  

"You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough" What a wonderful sentiment to carry with you on your wedding day.

World's Largest Bar of Chocolate

Wowza!  Weighing in at 9,702 pounds there's a new winner for the Guinness Book of World Records for world's largest bar of chocolate.  It measures 224-inch by 110-inch by 10-inch and looks amazing.




What a sweet way to start the weekend.

Tiny Matchbook Notebooks

Look what I made!

Little tiny Candy Calamity matchbook notebooks!  They fit anywhere you might need a little extra scratch paper.  Plus the white paper is recycled (previously printed on one side) so who knows what surprises you might find.

Now you might be asking yourself: "How do I get my hands on one of those fancy little things?"
It's easy.  These are a free gift to anyone who donates to the upcycle exchange. (bring candy wrappers and coffee bags please!).  Once you get your donation coupon, come find me at any of the shows I'm doing this fall/winter.  You'll get 15% off any purchase, plus you can snag a matchbook notebook just for stopping by, or use your coupon code for a purchase at my etsy store and I'll be sure to include one in your package.

fun new supplies

Pony Snacks!!!

I haven't really decided yet what these will become, but I'm loving these gummi my little pony snacks wrappers that were recently donated.  So pink!

Eco friendly fall shows

I've got 3 great eco-friendly themed craft shows coming up.  This fall you can find Candy Calamity at:

1.  Green Homes Show - September 25th 10 am to 6 pm - This outdoor festival in the Grandel Square showcase exhibits and workshops about living green in St. Louis.  I'll be under the 'Made from Scratch' green marketplace tent. http://www.greenhomesstl.org/

2.  Green Craft Show - November 13th and 14th from 10 am -5 pm - Hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden in the Ridgeway Center (main entrance to the garden).  Come shop from some great local green crafters, and possibly stay to enjoy the beauty of the garden in the fall.  It really does look great year round. http://www.mobot.org/

3.  Green Living Expo - December 4th 12 pm to 4 pm - at the Missouri History Museum, featuring more than 30 local merchants offering locally produced, organic, and environmentally conscious products and services. http://www.mohistory.org/

Fresh Pita and Cucumber Sauce

Exciting news, today I am the guest blogger at Churros con Chocolate.

Check out my pita and cucumber sauce recipe

Illustration Friday - artificial

Illustration Friday for 7/30/2010: artificial

The problem with artificial emotions is that they so often go haywire

New earrings now available

My most recent generation of pasticcio resin earrings has been with me at the Green with Indie Craft Show and the Every Artist Market, but now they've finally finished their photo shoot and are ready to be listed up on Etsy.  Expect to see 2 - 3 pairs up per day for the next week.

What's really awesome about this group is all the different materials that found their way into my resin beads, along with the usual wrapping paper, tissue paper, and scrap book scraps; I used old sheet music, a plastic party table cloth, a wrapper from a Wonka Scrumdiddlyumptious bar (if you haven't tried this yet - you should it's amazing) and a few other candiy wrappers as well.

I love the intense jewel tones of the wrappers and paper come together with the embroidery floss and swarovski bicones in each of these earrings - they are some of my best yet!

Illustration Friday - breakfast

My balanced breakfast:  strawberries, fried potato cubes, one egg over easy, and two glorious strips of bacon.  Illustration Friday for 7/16/2010

Show Me Etsy membership drive

Deadline approaching!

We're looking for new members for Show Me Etsy - the St. Louis area Etsy street team.  If you live within 100 miles of St. Louis, sell handmade or vintage goods on Etsy.com and want to be a part of a fun, active, business focused team ,head over to showmeetsy.org to get the application info.  Due by July 25th (10 more days)

711 miles of Adventure

I took a wonderful trip last week through out the great land of Illinois: Chicago, Yorkville, Bloomington/Normal, Springfield - we saw it all.

Highlights include: Chinatown, taste of Chicago, fantastic banana hats, hanging out in Millennium Park including a free concert we went to with Laura of Churros con Chocolate , Raging Waves water park, Grumpee's weenie wagon (at highway 71 and I-80 if you need to see for yourself) making sourdough bread with Jason of Breadnesday , (two Illinois food bloggers in one week!)

and last but not least Charlie Parker's in Springfield (our 3rd stop on the travel channels top ten places to pig out) my pancake was huge but manageable, Derek's was a 16 inch diameter monster.  I'm proud to say he finished but declined the Charlie's challenge to eat 4.


I would have made this post 5 days ago but I spent forever playing with the Big Huge Labs photo editors to make my mosaic up there.  Now that I figured it out (and now that I'm back to work in the craft studio) I'm hoping to have some new fancy product photos to share soon

What are you doing on the evening of Friday June 18th?

I know what I'm doing!  I'm going to the Etsy's birthday party, hosted by Made studio:

Let's celebrate! Etsy, along with ReadyMade and Meetups Everywhere (and MADE Studios), You can participate in the Etsy Craft Party, a global initiative to energize your local community, make art together, and throw a party. We want to celebrate crafting together on June 18, 2010 (which just happens to be Etsy's birthday) with as many celebrations across the globe as possible. Join us at MADE Studios where we will have craft projects & supplies as well as plenty of space to work on your own projects.

Come hang out and work on your own projects - you can also buy a project wristband for a small fee that allows to make and take as many of our funky & creative make-and-take projects as you like.


Check it out on facebook

Illustration Friday - ripple

The Ripple blog was started on the 45th day of the Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe. The oil spill in the Gulf is now over 50 days old with no sign of stopping. We may be too small as individuals to do some grand gesture- but together our small gestures can be grand. 

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Ripple"  and my watercolor and ink creation on a 2.5 x 3.5 inch card, along with those of all the other Illustration Friday artists, is available at http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com/
for a small donation of $10 to either the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies or The International Bird Rescue Research Center.

UPDATE:  my card was sold to a very nice guy in Maryland.  Thanks for supporting this cause!

Candy Calamity: Now with 100% more cat

We recently adopted a cat named Lily.  She has decided to make the window sills in my craft room her #1 hang out and I don't blame her; the view is awesome.  As such, she spends her days 'supervising' the production of my Candy Calamity goods.

Welcome to the team Lily!

Upcycled M&M ball gown

Apparently this gown debuted as a window display for Terracycle in New York for Earthday this year, but I just heard about it today.  All I have to say is wow:

More info from psfk here

Green with Indie

This Saturday I'll be at Green with Indie an all handmade, all eco friendly, awesomefest!

If you can't tell:  I'm a little excited! Hope to see you there.

Where I wish I was

Most days working in my craft room with the big windows overlooking a magnolia tree and the street below is ideal.  But sometimes I feel the city noise and pollution, the neighbors, the mailman and dogs out side are too much of a distraction.  I daydream a lot about the perfect place to make art, places of quiet inspiration.  Here are my top three:

My chateau in France:

My private beach front estate in Maui:

My free spirit sphere (haven't decided what forest to settle down in yet)

When I win the lottery I'll buy all three and just travel back and forth, you can come visit sometime.

I'm in the upcycle exchange!

If you are in St. Louis looking for a way to save good craft supplies (and by craft supplies I do mean candy wrappers, plastic bags, and other recycled goodies along with the usual stuff) from the trash then check out The Upcycle Exchange.  They've been hard at work, making a structure to filter craft supplies away from the landfills and toward lucky artists like me.

Look! here I am on the artist's page.

I often get asked what items I am looking for or would like to be saved for me.  I'm working on getting that information into my blog sidebar where I can update and keep current, but until then here is my upcycle list:

candy wrappers, starburst wrappers, dum dum wrappers, laffy taffy wrappers, candy bar wrapers - if no sticky stuff, plastic shopping bags (colors only - no white, beige, or gray) plastic food packaging, (i.e. large candy bags, oreo bags, fruit snacks packages, ramen noodle bags), capri sun pouches, buttons, felt, origami paper, craft paper,


Or if you are looking for the complete list for all the upcycle exchange artists look here: http://www.upxchange.com/wish-list/


I am excited to be joining the exchange, and so very grateful to the people who take the time to save their wrappers and supplies for me, candy calamity would be nowhere without you!

Making pouches from fused plastic

I love fusing household plastic (shopping bags, product packaging, newspaper bags) to make a new fun material to work with. In the past I've used fused plastic to make fun flower buttons and magnets, but I'm ready to take the next step and move on to something bigger. Bigger sheets of fused plastic can be used just like fabric to make wallets, pouches, and purses; but first I've got to learn how to sew on it. Here are my first attempts:






I learned a lot along the way, but still have some tinkering to do before I come up with a final design I'm happy with.

Illustration Friday - Fearless

Craft 365 - day 245
Originally uploaded by candy_calamity

For this weeks Illustration Friday theme 'fearless' I drew a girl walking on a tight rope over chaos, we can see where she came from, but where is she going?

I decided to be more fearless with my art, and gave up my usual tiny workbook and tight controlled ink lines, instead working with pastels making lose free marks on a really big piece of paper (and I did not pencil in anything first)

Smile!

I haven't been crafting or blogging as much as usual, I'm in a slump of sorts, but am working to get some momentum going to get back to my artsy upcycley goodness.


This Lipton Tea commercial staring Hugh Jackman makes me squeal with glee:



I hope you find some glee in your day today as well!

Free desktop background cupcake

I have a lot of fun making new yummy backgrounds for my computer and decided to share one with you.
 I made some delicious cupcakes with marshmallow frosting the other day.  After spending a long time trying to get the little curlicues of frosting on top to look just right, I realized they looked soooo cute I needed to take a picture.  It took a lot of patience to pose the cupcake and take a few shots when all I wanted to do is eat them all up.  The cupcakes didn't last long, but I really enjoy how this desktop background turned out.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

It's sized to fit my 17 inch laptop monitor when I set the background to stretch with out distorting the picture.

DOWNLOAD HERE


Warning:  Staring at this desktop background photo for extended periods may cause intense cupcake cravings.

Earth Day Recap

Yesterday was my first time trying out being a vendor at Earth Day St. Louis since starting Candy Calamity.  I love Earth Day and the festival in Forest Park is one of my favorite free events in St. Louis, it's awesome in a way that's really hard to describe.  Here's a quick recap.

Lowlights:

• the wind
• the rain
• getting there at 7:30 (waaay too early for this procrastinator)

Mostly I would say yucky weather this year was the only drawback for me (Dear Earth, it's easier to love you when it is warm and sunny)

Highlights:

• all the people who came to hang out at earth day and stopped by my booth despite the bad weather, you rock!
• getting to meet some new friends in the eco-artists village
• the all species parade led by Joia world percussion!  I love the earth day parade with no set route and no set participants - and this year a piece of the parade wound its way through my booth - so exciting

and finally the highest high of all:

I got to meet Captain Planet!!!!!

Earth Day St. Louis

The 21st Earth Day St. Louis is coming up this Sunday!  This is the first year I'll be a vendor there as Candy Calamity, you can find me in the eco-arts village.  Here's how to find me:

The eco-arts village is represented by a brown paintbrush on this map.  It's just northeast of the Muni covered walkway:
http://stlouisearthday.org/images/stories/2010Fest/stl%20earthdayprogram2010.pdf
Specifically my booth will be right on that little circle walkway you see in that area.

And here's some great info on how to get there/ find parking:  http://stlouisearthday.org/content/view/159/234/

Including lots of info on how to get there by bike or metro which is great if you are going for the earth day challenge:  If you bring your own shopping bag, reusable water bottle, or take alternate transportation (2 out of 3) you win a prize at the info center.

Artropy is coming up this Saturday!

Artropy is a unique art & craft show that features a number of artists with diverse talents in many areas including: jewelry design, painting, textile arts, photography, mixed-media, glass work, eco-fashion and illustration.

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Time: 10:00am - 3:30pm
Sqwires ~ The Annex
1415 South 18th Street



I'm putting the final touches on everything today and tomorrow, then I'm ready to go! I can't wait, hope to see you there!

How to make a jewelry display from old shutters

I spent a long time looking for a great way to display my earrings at craft shows and couldn't find anything I really liked, so I made my own display instead. It wasn't very hard and relatively inexpensive, so I decided to post a tutorial so everyone could see how it's done.

Supplies: two shutters, sand paper, cleaning rag, spray paint, a tarp or other paint protection layer, small hinges, drill, screwdriver, and a pencil.

1. Find some old shutters. You need the kind with actual slats and not just shaped plastic. I found mine on craigslist, but you might already have some at home, or can find them at a flea market or junk shop.

2. Take off all the old hardware. If the shutters have any large or unsightly holes fill them with putty. I left mine as they were because I think it adds character.

3. Use a little sand paper to sand down any rough spots or chipping paint, then wipe clean with a damp rag.

4. Spray paint the shutters, be sure to spray from different angles to get all around the slats, plan on doing a few coats. I picked a flat black color because it will show off my bright jewelry best.

5. Attach the hinges. I did this by closing the shutters right sides together and laying them flat on a table (make sure the slats tilt the same way on both sides) That made it easy to just hold the hinge where I wanted it and pencil mark where I would need to drill to put the screws.

6. Stand your shutters up and open them at a 60 degree angle. Congrats you are finished! You can place hook style earrings straight on the slats of the shutters or use earring cards. Hang the earrings from the front of the card and stick the back through the slat.

A day spent in planning

This post inspired by Jessica Rose at Vol. 25. I stumbled upon her post about doing her first craft show last fall, her booth turned out super cute, as was the pre-show diagram she made to plan it all out.

As I am in the process of overhauling my display anyway I thought I'd make a mash up of how I think it will turn out.

Voila!

Here is my old set up for reference: http://www.flickr.com/photos/candycalamity/3373828681/

So my top 5 to-dos for craft show domination:
1. raise up the magnet stand to make it closer to eye level, and give me a good place to hide things like snacks and pens

2. after a few scouting trips to home depot I've decided to make my new main display from chicken wire and pvc pipes - it's going to be awesome and will also give me a spot for

3. a banner and

4. clip on lights

5. with the new hanging system my eventual goal will be to have uniform tags on everything with my name, logo, and the price (maybe even inventory numbers).


I'm super pumped about the new plan, but with shows fast approaching in April, I have no idea how I'm going to pull it off. I guess we'll see.


p.s. Just so you know I'm not planning on selling poorly scribbled flowers and circles in the future - I just hit the limit on my photo editing skills on this one.

My Irish eyes are smiling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Sometimes (though I try to make it not too often) I make a piece and like it so much I decide to keep it for me instead of selling it. I rationalize by saying that it's good for marketing, and it makes me happy.

Yesterday I made this pendant, and its green - just in time for St. Patrick's day (and my favorite color):


I used a prismacolor pencil to continue the blue vines from the background paper over the overlapping fortune. The effect turned out really neat, I'm definitely going to be making more of those.

The fortune text says: Tomorrow your creative side will shine forth with exceptional ideas.


Yes, yes it will.

Illustration Friday - subterranean

Illustration Friday - I was inspired by all the subterranean bulbs pushing up, up, up to become flowers some day soon. Then, remembering my Bob Ross I gave him a happy little friend.

Artropy Call for Artists

There are still spots available for Show Me Etsy's spring show Artropy (April 17th 10:00 - 3:30)
I'm supper excited for this show. We'll be back at Sqwires, it will be a beautiful spring day, things will be great! Application information is available at www.showmeetsy.org , but everything must be submitted by Marsh 25th so don't wait!

It's going to be a crafty weekend in St. Louis

I can't wait for this Saturday because I got my tax refund back just in time for two fantastic craft shows coming to St. Louis.

The first is the Every Artist Market at the Masonic Temple, 12 E. Lockwood in Webster Groves. They have an art market on the second Saturday each month from 9-3.

Then I'll head over to the Craft Mafia's Indie Craft Revolution. They'll be at Oak Knoll Park Saturday and Sunday. http://revolutioncraftshow.com/

Illustration Friday - brave

This damsel does not need a shining knight to save her, she can do it herself and still look good too.

Apolo Ohno buys handmade

I'm writing this while watching the closing ceremony for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. For the past 2 weeks I've been glued to the screen because I am an Olympic junkie. I love the pageantry of the opening, closing, and medal ceremonies; I love seeing the world come together to compete; and I love cheering for Team America.

I also love the little factiods I pick up about Olympic sports and athletes along the way. Did you know that the speed skates Apolo Ohno used to win his record breaking number of Olympic medals were handmade in Rock Hill, Missouri? (Just 8 miles west of here!) I didn't either until a few days ago. It turns out a former speed skater who was tired of skates that broke or didn't fit well set up shop and started making them in his backyard using carbon fiber composite and titanium on custom molds for each skater.

Higher quality materials, customization, greater care of workmanship, Olympic victory - all the benefits of buying handmade.

Illustration Friday - propagate

Illustration from 2/19/2010. Theme Propagate. Still working on a good way to get my drawings into the computer.

Show Me Etsy membership drive

Are you an artist living in or near the St. Louis area who would like to join a local group of business minded artists? Well you are in luck! Show Me Etsy the St. Louis area Etsy street team is currently doing a membership drive.

Go to www.showmeetsy.org for more information. Applications are due Feb. 24