Trying something new

I'm trying something new with my blog and switching over to wordpress.
So check out the new blog and new posts at http://nicoleleedesigns.com/blog

I knew them when...

Two of my very good crafty friends from the Richmond Craft Mafia, Dawn and Beth will be on Virginia This Morning, WTVR Channel 6 at 9:00 am today. They will be doing a tutorial on how to make your very own holiday garland. Have no fear, these are quick holiday garlands that can easily be made with minimum sewing skills. Here are a couple of tutorials from Beth and Kelly on how to DIY your own.
Felt Garlard
Holiday Banner

Turkey Day

Cranberries, dressing and pie... oh my!!!!!!!

6 years

Here is my 24 hour studio helper, which means he keeps me company and stares at me until I scratch his head or give him a treat. He'd prefer both, at the same time and hourly. As of Wednesday he turned 6 years old.

Improve your vocabulary and donate rice

I know you are wondering what in the heck does vocabulary and rice have in common. Well, I stumbled on this site, Free Rice. As you play the vocabulary game and learn new words or surprise yourself with words you didn’t think you knew, 10 grams of rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) for each correct word.
SAT’s don’t fail me now!

Its offical...

I'm a Dorky Nerd Queen. You may bow to my abacus. :-P

Pink Dyson Contest

I love gadgets. And what I love more than gadgets are gadgets companies that donate to good causes. Dyson is donating $40 to help Breast Cancer Research from each Pink Dyson Vaccuum Cleaner sold. How awesome is that! I could use one of these, I have thread bits and a cute but long haired dog to vacuum after.

Today is the last day to enter the contest to win won of these sweet pink Dysons. So head over to the Domestic Diva blog and get all the details and buttons. Spread the word.

I pledge to buy handmade...

The holidays are fast approaching and its time to start organizing your gift list. So why not take the pledge to buy handmade this year. Buyhandmade.org has kicked off this holiday season with a one-two punch to the big box stores. Buyhandmade.org is a collaboration between Etsy, Craftster, indiepublic, Craft Magazine, Interweave, Burdastyle, The Austin Craft Mafia, Design*Sponge, and The American Craft Council. Nine giants in the handmade/indie design realm.
Pluses to buying handmade are unique, one of a kind gifts, avoidance of mall crowds, quality... I can go on! So go to the Buy Handmade website, take the pledge and pass the word.

Below are some great resource links from the Buy Handmade site:

http://www.coopamerica.org/: Co-op America is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982. Their mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
http://www.sweatfree.org/: A Network For Local action against Sweatshops.
http://ilsr.org/: The Institute For Local Self-Reliance. The Institute’s mission is to provide the conceptual framework, strategies and information to aid the creation of ecologically sound and economically equitable communities.
http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Business/Allegedly_Unethical_Firms/Wal-Mart/ :
See what Walmart is up to in your community.

Now that you are informed and ready to do some shopping from handmade/ indie designers, check out some of these crafty peeps!

I feel the luv!

I can't help but always wonder if anyone is out there in internet-land, at least looking and hopefully liking what I'm making. Web counters such as Stat Counter show if someone visits your site (and I check once a day!) but it can't tell you if they like your site. Where as Etsy has a feature where a person can "heart" your shop or a particular item you have for sell. I use this feature a lot as I have a long wish list for Christmas and will directing loved ones to it this year. :-)

In the past couple of months, while my main website has been down for updating, I've been leaning heavily on my Etsy shop. I checked early this morning and saw that 85 people have hearted my shop.

This brightens my day and hopefully is a indicator on how today will go. :-)

An abridged look at my etsy "hearts" items.

Etsy Buy Handmade soleilrouge

Needles and thread

This time last weekend I was soaking up new sewing techniques and drooling over new sewing and craft gadgets at the Sewing and Quilt Expo in Northern VA. If you ever had a interest in sewing, quilting or fiber arts, this is the Expo to check out.
One of the 9 classes I attended was a class in crochet. I've crocheted a little, mainly just making knots, but had always wanted to learn properly. Below a picture of my crochet project in the same state as started the day of the class. I hadn't moved any farther than about 10 rows until I got back home Sunday.
and about Wednesday...
Behold! A finished scarf!!!

Crafters Anonymous Craft Swap

What to do with the extra buttons, or yard of fabric of a finished project?
Got a project that you never found time to do and now you are over it?
Bring your usable craft supplies to ArtWorks on Sunday, September 16th and maybe find some new supplies to be creative with.
Proceeds go to Art 180, "a Richmond based non-profit organization that creates and provides art-related programs to young people living in challenging circumstances, encouraging personal and community change through self-expression." So your craft addiction benefits a good cause too. Spread the word! For more info visit the website, http://www.rvacraftswap.com

A little bit of old, and a bigger bit of Nu!

The sun has set for Soleil Rouge and now is Nicole Lee Designs.

After nervousness and a little stressing out about making the big switch of names and finding one I wanted to switch to (at first not wanting to use my name) it had to be done. Soleil Rouge was a bit hard to spell by many, easily mispronounced by some and it didn't quite fit the direction I want to go in design wise. Now thats its done, I wonder why I hadn't changed it earlier. :-/

A crafty challenge

My friend Dawn has challenged me to do a craft-a-day during August.
It all ties in to the Use What You Have Movement of crafters. You see, one of the habits of crafty people is buying supplies with projects in mind, or a terrific sale or a happening of Oh My Thats Super Cute, It Must Be Mine. (I suffer from all three cases. ;-P) And for some reason the inspired projected doesn't get finished, supplies go unused. So, the goal is to use the supplies I have in house and finish a project from scratch or from partials that have some how managed not to get done each day. . Here is number one, a wrap skirt that has been cut out for a couple of weeks, no longer a UFO (Un-finished Object).

Back from Brooklyn - Fuggettaboutit!

Wow, Renegade was a such a trip! There were 5 of us making the trek by van and car and a 6th (smart to fly) member joined us in Brooklyn. RCM had never done a out of town group booth like that before. Talk about trial by fire! Everything went relatively smooth considering 6 personalities all in one place for pretty much 24 hours a day for 4 days. Renegade was a very good show and it was great meeting people face to face, some I've chatted online with for a year.

We ate at a great eatery that was just around the corner from McCarren Park, called Enid's. Exactly the sort of place you picture in a hip/artsy area of Brooklyn. Super cool place, great drinks (yay! Harrison!) and apparently mac and cheese to die for. They were always out of it when we got there. Sadness. And I don't know if they do this every Saturday, but at around 10pm, they started showing a movie! That night, The Neverending Story. Enid's Rocks!
It hurt my heart a little (ok, a LOT) that I didn't get to go over to Manhattan, (So near, yet so far!) but time was crunched. I think it would have been worse if I had got over there and then had to rush through. I would have wanted to see everything and take in a show. I'll have to take Manhattan another time. :-(

I almost forgot my Renegade goodies. The Adorn magazine booth held several raffles during the two days of Renegade and I won a goodie bag!

I've been fixed!

Jen over at IndieFixx, a favorite read of mine, featured one of my aprons in her most recent post on stylish hostess aprons. In honor of Memorial day weekend and what I consider the official start of BBQ season my hostess aprons are currently on sale.

Grill on in style!

Days of May

New stuff for May. I had a couple of shows in a row and now gearing up for Renegade Craft Fair. YAY!!!!! RCM will be there with a group both. Its a biggy and in Brooklyn, NY. Nervous? Excited? YES!!!! So, I've been busy sewing and adding more clothes. Tops and wrap skirts...oh my!

Crafty line-up...

Lots of activity happening in Richmond this week. Saturday we assembled the swag bags that we are giving out to the first 200 customers to Spring Bada-Bing. Lots of great stuff in there. Monday, we had our group picture taken by Jay Paul for an article in Brick weekly. Very exciting stuff and last minute. Miracles of miracles, all 10 members were there, and with crafty props. And we did what we usually do when we are all in one place. Talk about what projects we are working on, men, craft shows, news, men, crafts, projects to try... our photographer was very patient, needless to say. We also squeezed in one last meeting before Spring Bada-Bing, hashing out last minute detail.

Whats this all about you ask? It's all about Spring Bada-Bing!
When: April 22, 2007 ~ 10am to 4pm
Where:
The Marquee
3015 Cutshaw Ave - 2 blocks west of Boulevard & Broad Sts.
Richmond, VA

BE THERE!!

Sew crazy!

Good news!...Richmond craft mafia got into the Renegade Craft Fair! Which brings my show count up to 4 big shows this spring. Man! I have lots of sewing to do! Time to burn rubber on my old faithful Brother sewing machine. So far, I've added a new dress style to the Soleil Rouge collection. Stay tuned for more clothing as I go sew crazy. :-)

Also new is, Style Conspiracy, a blog I'm writing, highlighting other indie designers and artists of color. Go check it out and shop indie!

On the Road...

The Richmond Loves Raleigh Valentine craft affair was such a blast last weekend. Richmond Craft Mafia is heading down the road to the Handmaidens territory in North Carolina for Raleigh Loves Richmond.


Rubbin' out the mass produced, because mall is a four letter word!

Skirting the issue...

I've been busy behind the scenes at Soleil Rouge. New items added to Soleil Rouge...Skirts!!
I currently have four fabric options for this style.

Yep, I've been drawn to florals lately!

And more kitschy hostess aprons.

Richmond Loves Raleigh: A Valentine Craft Affair

Do you know how cool it is to find like minded people? I do! My fellow Richmond Craft Mafia familia. I feel very lucky to have found a group of crafty, talented and fun people to hang around with. Do you know how cool times 2 it is to find a whole separate group of crafty, talented and fun people to be around? The cool and talented Handmaidens. Bring them together in the same place for a joint event in Richmond? Freak'n Fantastic!