Kitsch Café Studio Blog

craig's list picks

For the past few weeks on one of my other blogs, I've been posting weekly Craig's List finds. Many other blogs do this, but I thought it might be nice to copy the idea for my readers since it can be so specific to our area.

Here is some of the cool stuff I found this week:

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- Modern Eames Era Table and Chairs, $745. Modern smoked glass table and four bucket seats in mint condition
- Rare orange Eames Herman Miller Mid Century Chair, $300. Original condition.
- Mid-Century Credenza, $225. A dark walnut mid-century credenza in exc. cond. Unused.

- Two Vintage metal desks, $50.
- 42" Vintage Herman Miller Eames Round Dining Table, $199. Table is in great condition.
- Retro Donut Phone, $20. An original, yellow Western Bell Donut Phone.

- Mid-Century White Burke Chairs & White Tulip Base Dining Table, $150. Original Burke mid-century chairs in decent condition
- Retro 50's double light goose neck lamp, $22. Great deep tomato red color
- Two Herman Miller Eames Fiberglass "bucket chairs", $500. Mid-century classics. Dated 1957.

collage

Here's one of the pieces I created at a collage workshop I took a few weeks ago:

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The workshop was taught by this crazy talented man. I learned a lot and was happy I took the class!

my first craft show!

I had a great time at my first craft show this past weekend. It was held outside in an amazing historical neighborhood in Cincinnati called Over-the-Rhine.

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Besides it being fairly hot, everything went well. I sold more than I thought I would and had a lot of interest. There were many "oohs and aahs" from customers, which made me feel as though I am heading in the right direction with my products.

I am going to plan on attending at least three other shows between now and October, including applying for Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago. It was good this show was only a few miles from my apartment since it was my first. I can't image how crazy it will be hauling everything 5 hours to Chicago if I make it in to Renegade.

The café theme that I tried to establish didn't really come off as I had hoped. So, I am planning on making some changes with my set-up which includes possibly buying some all white, super minimal furniture from IKEA.

A good first showing!

bench monday, 22 june

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I didn't feel like standing on the bench today, so I thought I'd let the bench stand on me.

bench monday, 15 june

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My siblings and I used to play a game we called "Bee Sea" in which we had to get from once side of the room to another without touching the carpet, aka a sea of bees.

collage workshop

I am so excited! This weekend I will be attending "The Art of Collage: An Exploration of Materials and Techniques." Hosted at Northern Kentucky University and taught by Randel Plowman of "A Collage a Day", the class will be exploring various transfer methods, uses of glues and other mediums, and other techniques.

some of randel's collages from his blog | click to enlarge

I'm a huge fan of Randel's work, so I can't wait to see what he has planned. If you are in the Cincinnati area you can still attend this event. There are a few spots open. Click for more info.

i'm a celebrity! kinda, sorta...

Wow! My interview is up at Creature Comforts blog. Thanks so much to the author, EZ, for the interview. It was great fun answering her questions and sharing some info about myself. As I said in the interview, I hope that I can inspire others to be themselves, find their style, and be happy!

bench monday, 1 june

Here's today's Bench Monday photo:

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I keep asking myself what I could possibly come up with next. I guess that's part of the challenge of it all.

Oh, and I love my new blue blue jeans.

i heart tshirts

I spent the long weekend in Chicago... It was great getting out of town for a few days and being inspired by museums, architecture, city life...

I stopped by a cool little shopped called Penelope's on W. Division Street, which happened to be across from the Renegade Handmade shop (more on that, later.) I found the cool tshirt on the left, which is by a company called The Quiet Life.

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I checked out their website and found some other cool shirts:

images from thequietlife.com | click to enlarge

Penelope's was a cool little shop with a mid-century aesthetic, mod clothes, and some neat gift-y type items. I just wish some of their men's clothes cost a bit less as my newly self-employed salary can't afford $150 cardigans.

I also bought the yellow shirt at H&M. I don't usually wear yellow or any colors for that matter. I was willing to branch outside of my usual black, gray, white color palette since I really liked the typography and collage-yness of the artwork.

bench monday, 25 may

I was setting up my Bench Monday photo, stepping on to the stool, and this happened:

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I fell off. Thank goodness I didn't hurt myself, other than a bruised ego.

Instead of just submitting a photo, I decided to get all typographic with it and spent some time retelling my story through type so the Bench Monday gang would know why I wasn't standing on a bench, etc.

I'm off to run some errands. Happy Monday!

photo-tastic

I recently came across thepioneerwoman.com and her fabulous Photoshop action sets. One of them entitled "Seventies" creates a yellow glow in your image like an old photo from the 70s. I've been having fun with it:

who's that handsome guy in the middle? | click to enlarge

I posted a few more to my Flickr page. Check them out here.

bench monday, 12 may

Today's entry for the Bench Monday Flickr group:

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I am not sure who designed the chair. I found it at a thrift store. It's wobbly, so I only use it as a side table. The artwork I also found at a thrift store. It's a print of some sort of futuristic painting, probably from the 60s.

facebook

If you are on Facebook, you can now become a fan of my Etsy shop, Kitsch Café.

I am really excited about the Facebook page and look forward to keeping it updated and seeing how social media can help market my shop.

For more on how to use Facebook to promote your Etsy shop, check out day two of the five day Etsy Secrets course, written by Tim Adam from Timothy Adam Designs fame.

love

I was in the post office yesterday, and saw these way cool stamps:

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The stamp was designed by Derry Noyes and Jeanne Greco. From USPS.com: Artist Jeanne Greco, New York, New York, created the art on her computer for the two stamp designs, one showing the King and one showing the Queen, by using images from 18th Century French playing cards as a reference.

Of course, who could forget these cool stamps from 2008:

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bench monday

I submitted my first photo to the Bench Monday Flickr group yesterday and got a huge response. I am pretty flattered with all the comments. Thanks, everyone!

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The bench is a knock-off George Nelson bench that I found at an antique mall about 10 years ago. I love it for it's Mid-Centuryness. The yellow chair is an knock-off Eames molded fiberglass chair that my old boss found for me at an office furniture supply warehouse about 8 years ago. The squeak toy I found at a yard sale last summer. It makes the most quintissential squeak ever. The pillow I knitted- I will be selling them in the shop in the near future.

To be honest, I have already taken next week's photo. I'm excited to share it with everyone.

spring

When did spring disappear and summer arrive?

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For the first 18 years of my life, the trees were full of leaves by the third week of May. Now that I live two hours south of where I grew up, it's very surprising to me that the leaves arrive by May 1. It's funny how much of a difference 100 miles (161km) can have!

capp & roll

I had some yummy homemade cinnamon buns and cappuccino for breakfast the other day...

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I love making my own hours and being able to take the time to eat breakfast each morning. Now if I could only get out of bed before 9am!

hello

My first post on the new Kitsch Café Studio Blog! I am so excited to be creating this blog.

My name is Drew and I am a full-time Etsy seller, blogger, thrift/vintage-lover, crafter, photographer, graphic designer... The list seems to change daily. I just quit my job to take full potential of my creativity.

Quitting my 9-5 graphic designer job was part of my future plans- it just happened about 6 months before I was expecting. I just couldn't do it anymore for various reasons. While I am nervous (mostly about finances), I know I can and will be successful.

When one goes through a major change, goals and plans are written and rewritten. A few of my goals were to reevaluate my two blogs, spruce them up and to post more frequently. Going through that process made me realize that creating a third blog devoted entirely to Kitsch Café was necessary.

I'd like to explore the following on this blog:

- share new products and items posted to my Etsy shop;
- new ideas for the shop, promotions and give-aways
- share my daily inspirations and process;
- thoughts about being a self-employed crafter/artist;
- my personal crafts and endeavors, including knitting and crochet.

I hope that you find it interesting, informative and most of all inspiring. Welcome!