Hey, I found this by way of The Crafty Chica
Seems Ms. Martha Stewart is having herself a blogging contest.
Details here: The Martha Blog
She did a whole show on blogging, tips, tricks etc. The deal is, leave a comment on her blog, link back on your blog and she’ll choose a few to feature.
There you have it!
FINALLY, after waiting not so patiently for SO long, August 21 got here.
Why’s that important, you ask?
Well, yes, it’s my Mom’s birthday (Feliz Cumpleaños, mi Mommy!), but there was something else arriving on this date. Rather, someone else.
Last evening, The Crafty Chica brought her Spread the Sparkle Tourto San Jose.
Kathy is touring in support of her new product line, now available in Michael’s stores (yes, even one in Albuquerque).
I personally have dropped fat cash on glitter, hot hot papers, charms, bracelet kits and more.
Kathy brings a Dia del los Muertos vibe to her products (and her art) and she’s made it totally accessible for your average Josephine like me.
I got the chance to hang out with Kathy again last night and was nervous as heck! I was astounded that not only did she *remember* me, she called me by name.
Kathy has such a fantastic vibe and is chock FULL of energy. I get totally drawn in by her magnetic charm!
I think I’m so into The Crafty Chica because it’s amazing to see someone who’s made it by 1) having, yes, TALENT, 2) working hard, 3) and being a genuinely nice person.
There are folks who have “made it” and you wonder why or how they got there. Not so with Kathy. She’s earned every tiny glitter sparkle of her success and it shows.
I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t get any photos to share. I’d FULLY intended to get a picture WITH my Personal Goddess, but I got SO geeked out, I forgot.
I was driving home last night smacking hand to head over and over….
Oh well.
I’m sure in this crazy life, if it’s meant to be, our paths will cross again.
For now, to Kathy, you’ve given me NEW inspiration to kick my crafting back into gear. I’ve an Esty store to get set up!
THANK YOU!
Big celebrations and fiestas abound as the unstoppable Kathy Cano-Murillo is releasing her new Crafty Chica product line into Michael’s stores beginning tomorrow.
I admitted my crush on The Crafty Chica here and it just continues growing.
I got a sneak peek at some of the products at the local Maker Faire back in May and have been dancing like a caffeinated chihuahua ever since waiting to get my hands on the stuff.
For me, the highlight of the product line is her custom-mixed glitter. I look at the glitter in your average craft store and while it does well in basic colors, when you want that extra oomph, it’s just not there. Kathy is bringing the oomph. Like this one for example, Bollywood Blue. Delicious.
Kathy detailed in her blog about the process she took to hand mix colors to get the depth. Love it! Someone who actually cares about quality!
I got to meet Kathy back in May and was geeked out by her generosity. I get to “stalk” her again next month when she makes an in-store appearance in San Jose. W00t!
BTW, if you were to, say, visit her blog and scroll down a bit, you might find a photo of yours truly and some of my own Crafty Chica inspired creations….(I look SO exhausted in that photo….)
Here’s a photo of one of the first stores to get her stuff on the shelves. I’ve been manically visiting my local stores but they seem to be waiting for the “official” release date of August 1.
I. Can’t. Take. It. Anymore!
As you know, I’m a huge fan of The Crafty Chica, the one and only Kathy Cano-Murillo.
I read her blog faithfully and have watched with interest the developing “Safe Sparkle” campaign.
You see, Ellen Degeneres on her very popular show, put out a call for a president who would ban glitter.
She even went so far as to pose the question to presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.
For The Crafty Chica, whose motto is “Peace, Love, and Glitter”, this was a *gasp* inducing event.
So Kathy has taken it to the streets.
She held a Safe Sparkle rally outside of Ellen’s studios, but so far, no impact.
Her next salvo is this, a YouTube clip begging for peace and understanding. Kathy has asked her friends to help get the word out by posting it to blogs everywhere, and I’m happy to oblige.
It runs about six minutes.
Getcher glitter on!
Ah yes, I’m a firm believer that celebrations of one’s latest trip around the Sun are more than just a one day event. Oh noooo, there is way too much celebrating to get done that just 24 short hours cannot contain.
So though the actual anniversary of my birth (29 and holding and holding…and, uh, holding!) is tomorrow, the celebrations began Friday.
Tasty dinner and drinks with friends. They were in a bit of a scrap, nothing fatal. It just served to remind me that the greatest present I’ll ever know is the love of The Good Man. Oh, sure, we scrap, but not that night. We held hands and enjoyed the warm evening sitting outside.
Saturday we took a road trip up to wine country. I’m starting to actually enjoy wine country more, despite the hoity aspects of it. The Good Man and I have found ways to enjoy it on our terms. I may not be able to “taste undertones of black cherry and moist fern covered flat stone” in my wine, but I’m starting to circle in on what I think tastes good to my personal buds. Fruity better than dry. Light rather than heavy.
Last year for my birfday, The Good Man and I spent time in Calistoga and visited a small winery, on the advice of my boss (and took in a Cinco de Mayo parade). The place is called Vincent Arroyo Winery and they are a pretty small operation. Mr. Arroyo is a retired engineer who decided to take up winemaking, and he does a fine job of it. They don’t yet sell their product in retail channels, selling most of it by subscription to members.
This small winery has one open house a year where they pull out their odds and ends (called Library Wines) and sell them to the general public. This open house just happens to be the first weekend of May. Works out well as a nice place to celebrate roundabout my birfday.
TGM and I were a bit shocked this year to see how much the event has grown. Last year, the winemaker himself was pouring tastes and patiently answering all my questions. This year it was a really big event with cars parked down the gravel road and many of Napa Valley’s snoot out to play. About that I was displeased.
However, it took a few pours of wine to dramatically change my outlook.
And there was free food, so really, I can’t complain.
It was a gorgeous spring day and the drive was wonderful. We did just a day trip, but yes, oh yes…a good time.
Sunday we went to Maker Faire. I’d heard about this in years past and was emboldened to go this year, because My Personal Jesus, The Crafty Chica was going to be there.
She gave a talk on one of the stages that morning and I not only got her autograph on my book, she was very patient as I TOTALLY geeked out and asked her a sampling of my millions of questions. She gave me amazing advice that I will use.
I’m currently working on a project that someone is actually paying me actual real money for (photos when completed, I promise) and of course doing this “on commission” makes me nervous. The goddess that is Kathy Cano-Murillo reassured me, gave me hints and sent me on my way.
Yay!
And just because I could, I took Monday off. I mean, Cinco de Mayo oughta be a national holiday, am I right?
With all that running around over the weekend, my Monday off was nice and quiet. I even baked up a cake (from a box) and made up a batch of frosting (from a recipe found on the ‘net) that I plan to eat slabs of later today.
And tomorrow for the actual day? Dunno yet. TGM has sumptin’ up his sleeve and in our time together I’ve come to know that his surprises are ALWAYS worth waiting for!
So all in all….I got NOTHING to complain about. Even that whole being a year older thing.
Oh, this past weekend I even got to take out my camera and try out a few things. I’m a bit rusty, to be honest, need more time at this, but a few came out well enough that I’m happy when I see them…mainly for the memories.
Here is something I call “Soon”…as in soon enough those baby grapies are gonna be big grapies and will be squashed into wine and enjoyed fermented out of a bottle. YUM! Such anticipation!
Also, lately, I’ve been playing around with the black and white (or…monochrome) setting on my gear.
The wine tasting was in full gear and there was this HUGE pile of corks and open bottles in various states. I was endlessly fascinated by the whole scene and many folks wondered at the peculiar chick taking photos of, you know, the table. To them I say FEH!
