(Inside A Black Apple)

The Worst Screenprinter in the World

I know that one question has been driving you crazy lately. You spend all your time wondering, (Snow-White's-Evil-Queen-Style):
"Who is the worst screen printer of them all?"

But not to worry, because I will be your obliging magic mirror and simply inform you:
Um,
Me.
It's me.
I'm the worst.

You know, I heard all the talk.
"It's super messy".
"It's really involved".
"It requires about 200 separate steps to take place from start to finish, all of which up the margin of error just another few notches".

Okay, that last one was actually me...
But seriously? I cannot believe how complicated it is. Over the last week I proceeded to mess up in every conceivable way my road to (hopefully) printing some simple little patches and tees. My Pre-existing respect for screen printers is renewed ten-fold, because so many of them rock so hard, and I couldn't even muster one decent screen.

However, it's okay. Really, it is.

I don't have to be a "Renaissance-Crafter", despite my desire to be. It is okay with me to know how to sew and paint/draw and design and that be pretty much it. I've been trying out all sorts of new media in the last few weeks, and that is a frustrating thing for me (as I'm sure it is for everyone) because I like to instantly be good at something, instead of toiling away trying new things that you really have no idea how to do well (or at all!)
Methinks that it might be best if I leave the screen printing to the professionals, at least as far as Black Apple, shop stuff goes...after all, in the massive amounts of time it takes for me to make a feeble attempt at creating a screen with which to print, I could easily complete a painting or two, and that just makes more sense. I'm going to hang up the squeegee for the time being, and just forget about the whole demoralizing deal for a bit!

This doesn't mean, however, that everything new that I've tried lately is in the rubbish bin...not by a long shot! I've still got some sculptural pieces that I'm working on/experimenting with that are really coming together well, and I'll share those soon, so's you don't think I've become totally inept.

There you have it, a big, gaping moment of humility, for you, from me...your never-to-be-Renaissance-craftista.

PS: The image at the top is of the few (bad) prints I managed to eek out of the one screen I managed to burn at all properly. The detail is all crummy and wierd, and due to a misshap with some of the screen-clearing fluid I had to apply to some areas that wouldn't clear, it has kinda dissentigrated. So the screen is now dead, much like this process is to me.

The one where I get to go fabric shopping in real life

Well, getting this:

together and out the door comprised the bulk of my weekend (and it means that everyone's orders from last week, starting with the update, are merrily on their way). What you're looking at is nearly 100 packages of various sizes!
Goodness.
Last week was so busy, and I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise when my lil' A emailed yesterday to let me know that the shop surpassed 4,000 orders yesterday!
In less than two years. Dang.
I felt proud & oddly humble.
It's strange to say, but The Black Apple has been pretty much a best friend for the last few years, even before I had my online storefront or blog. It has been my constant companion through two different wonderful-but-difficult-in-their-own-way relationships, the changing and shuffling locations and closeness of friends, and two big moves. People ask all the time for tips, or pearls of wisdom about the success of my cottage industry, and maybe it's as simple as that. It's my companion and if I'm not working for it, I'm thinking of it.

The highlight of the weekend was visiting the most adorable fabric store in my hometown with my mama on Saturday afternoon.  As amazing as Reprodepot, Superbuzzy, and Equilter are, there is nothing like shopping for fabric in real-life, which I rarely get to do, since Jo-Ann's is pretty much it (and our Jo-Ann's has an awful selection).

The treasure:

Amazing jumbo ric-rac, fabric for doll-legs, beautiful vintage reproductions, and (my favorite, of course) the dots. It's all a bit demure, but will help balance out all of the beautiful, vibrant japanese import fabrics I've stocked up on lately and overall brightness of my stash.

The biggest score was that one of my very, very favorite fabrics, which I know I've blogged before  (one that always sells out online in a matter of days) was on the 50% off row...so I got to really stock up on it! The elusive handwriting fabric...

Yesterday I came down with what my sources-in-the-know think was a baby-case of food poisoning, so there was alot of the confused stumblings of a sickie and some cat-naps with Miette (this is in between the hours and hours and hours of packaging). Today I feel a bit better, after accidentally falling asleep on the couch at the ungodly early hour of 10 pm and sleeping for a solid 12 hours.

I'm on the mend for sure. And oddly, the sickie-ness has made me feel like using what shreds of energy I have to straighten up the apartment. Stranger than fiction, I tell ya.

 

Doing things in real life can be wonderful...

Yesterday was one of those perfectly busy, only-during-the-Holidays-fun kind of days for me. Sara and I went to Atlanta to do a bit of Christmas shopping at the Anthropologie store and have lunch, etc. This was so wonderful, because as much as I love the convenience and options of doing loads of my shopping online, it is also a little sad to not take any real life Christmas shopping trips. And, hello, I got to go to the favorite store...the store where they do (almost) everything perfectly.
As I finished checking out, the sweet counter-girl threw a slew of these adorable yarn-balls (shown above) into my shopping bag...just because. They are these beautiful, chunky mini-skeins of yarn, wrapped around a little "surprise" (a chunky, wool felt snowflake)! Things like this are why, despite the sometimes absurd prices on plain jersey tops and the potential idea theft, I cannot have anything but utter love for Anthro. With them, we all know, the magic is all in the perfect, quirky little details. I'm happy to pay a bit more for those details. More than happy.  *Sigh* Love.
This all sent me down a little trip on memory lane, to a time where my mom had this amazing stash of "suprise balls" that we might be lucky enough to get if we were sickies or just feeling blue. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? They are wrapped in kind of a crepe paper, and have little stickers, tiny toys, etc. nestled in each layer.
Anyway, so now I'm thinking I should make some little yarn suprise balls as little gifts for the little Christmas party I'm hosting on Monday night. I will let you know if this idea becomes reality.

After shopping yesterday, I drove home to help the fam decorate the tree at my Mama's house. I was so looking forward to this little tradition, and it was really fun. I love my family. At my little home, I've been steadily wrapping presents and Christmas-ifying things, in between filling orders. It occured to me that I never showed off my cute tree, and now that it isn't naked below the waist (aka has a good smattering of presents under it) I thought I might show her off.

Do you see that I indeed have a hand-knitted mitten posing a tree topper? I just couldn't find a star that wasn't tacky or an angel that struck my fancy. So, mitten it is. And the two types of hedgie ornaments? The beautiful glass one is from my aforementioned shopping buddy, and the little stuffed one is from the adorable Craftpaca (whose shop is pretty empty right now).

Before I go, I have to tell you about the turn-for-the-worst of Tuesday, when I happily blogged away about cupcakes, dresses, pink vintage slips, beautiful mail....blah blah blog. It was a mega shipping day, so I was preparing packages.  And then I went to take out a huge box of trash that I couldn't really see over, and found myself... um falling down the stairs. It was very scary, but mostly because of two things that weren't really the injuries sustained to my legs from the accident. 1.) It is scary to live alone. Nobody knows if something bad happens to you. This had never occured to me. (and) 2.) I am a bit prone to fainting/blacking out. Which I did, twice immediately after the tumble.  I know, how terribly Victorian of me...it is just perfect. (wink). So, my shins look...um...unfortunate to say the least, but I am fine. And I wear knee-socks every day, anyway, so their hideous state is hidden away. I'm a walking cautionary tale, but I was saved by the power of Holiday shopping and Christmas-tree-decorating.

"But it's no use now," thought poor Alice...

..."to pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!"  I like to read Alice once every year or so, at about this time. It's such a small little book, and makes me so very happy. Perhaps "happy" is too simple a word for the way it makes me feel. Perhaps "understood" (which is more invaluable than "happy", to me anyway) is better.

But never mind the ennui, here are the lovely, newly-cherry-painted, wooden chairs for my kitchen:

and here is a little snippet of the cutest neckline a vintage sweater ever did see:

Lots of red today, I suppose!

On the movie front and I know you are missing my mini-reviews... My lovely friend Jenny and I saw "Stranger than Fiction" this weekend, and I have to say that is one of those rare cases in which the preview/trailer was exponentially less entertaining than the film. After seeing the trailer a million times, it had started to seem really tiresome, but I went to see it anyway, and loved it. It is very funny, not "people talking really loudly to each other and falling down alot" funny, but very funny nonetheless in its more subtle  way. And sweet. And pretty smart. Not super smart. But smart. We saw "Running with Scissors" last week, and it was not as good. It was fair. About a 6.5 out of 10. If for some reason you find yourself in a situation which demands that you choose between these two movies, go with "Stranger than Fiction". You will feel happier about your life, and that is a promise.

I'm so excited to see the new V.2 of Etsy tomorrow! I will have a new, bigger, shop banner...and I think the images will be more front-and-center. That's supposing that there are still images to be displayed and my little gals aren't floating around the inter-nets in particles like Mike Teevee in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.
Happy Sunday evening, lovelies, I think I'm going to go make something really unseasonable but delicious. Unseasonably delicious, if you will. Key lime pie. That's right, you heard me.

The Camera Vanishes

Hello cantaloupes! Thank you so very much for all of the extremely kind well-wishing yesterday...I felt like pinching myself. If you were one of the first 5 commentors, you gotta send me your home address so that I can send you your presents sometime soon!
I did make the amazing Magnolia icing that was made for Elizabeth's birthday, but it was somehow less...amazing for my Etsy-versary! Still good, but I mucked it up a little somehow.

Anyway, in the world of picture-making, these two appeared in the shop last night:

 

The original of the one on the right sold, but the original of the "Grumpy Cloud" girl is still available here.  Oh! And the print incarnation of the birdcage heads is here.  I love these. Today is going to be a day of getting the apartment back into some semblance of working order, making the pilgrimage to the oh-so-scary-and-crowded Brooklyn Target, and (most fun) get to know my New Camera! 
I know that I didn't tell you guys this a few days ago (when it actually happened), partially because it is too creepy and real to be true. My old digital camera disappeared from the apartment sometime between Friday evening (when I was posting about the felt and the meeting, etc.) and Saturday AM when I went hunting for it. It is so mysterious. Liz and I turned the place upside down, no fooling...and it's nowhere. The USB cord was also removed from the computer, where I always leave in, which adds to my suspicion that some little evil elf (or maybe just the evil little child-of-the-Super, or something) crept in here while I was out...or worse, asleep! If you read my blog, camera thief, you are even creepier than I thought. And that camera is pretty crummy, so thank you for giving me an excuse to buy a nice, new one. But please don't steal anymore small electronics from our house. Please. Of course, it may be shoved into some mysterious nook or cranny that we missed, in which case I recant all of my ranting about any thieving elves.

New Samplers today at 2:00 EST, and that's about it for today! Now to clean and sweep and Target and fiddle-with-camera. Happy Tuesday!

This is what happens when one buys Expensive Jeans, A Tragedy in 3 parts

Gentle reader, are you ready for a tale of much woe? I hope so, because there's one a-brewin':

Part 1:The First Half of yesterday was shaping up to be just peachy and lovely, I was shopping in Soho with Sarah and Liz and Liz' sister Mary (who is an undiscovered comedic genius sometimes) and we went to Anthropologie, with various goals in mind. Mine was to celebrate my great shop-week by buying
A.) My first pair of "fancy jeans" (ie: jeans that cost more than $40 and make me look like a mod fashionista) and
B.) a cute outfit for my meeting on next Thursday with the Art Director and Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, about which I am really, really excited! Mostly I'm so happy that the editor, Nancy contacted me about a meeting, after purchasing some things from my shop, and says that the art director also loves my work. So the pressure is off, a little bit, because they already like me, and I like Nancy (via emails, anyway)...and that is good for a gal who is uncomfortable "selling themselves" (like I know that alot of us are).

So I bought these hideously expensive jeans that are just so sassy and adorable, a lovely gray skirt with sweet little front pockets, and a polka dotted blouse. All totalling to...well... alot of money, for me (remember where I am).

Part 2: The quality of the day began to sharply decline when I had an upsetting phone conversation in Ann Taylor Loft (whilst helping Sarah look for grown-up clothes for her new job), which ended in me bursting into tears in the presence of all the Ann Taylor shoppers, and for the next hour or so...crybaby central. But I started to calm down, and feel a bit better when we sat down for an early dinner at a resteraunt in Union Square. After all, things are really fine, and I did have my lovely new clothes to comfort me. When we finished, we paid and then waltzed out the door across the street to some shop ISO shoes for Sarah. After a few minutes in the shoe store, Sarah exclaimed: "Where is your Anthropologie bag? Did you leave it at the resteraunt?!" Oh, no. Oh, no.
Oh, yes I had.

Part 3: I walked (briskly, though) back to the resteraunt (which was less than a block away) and went back to the table we were sitting at. No bag. Nil. I ask the frazzled hostess if she knows anything...she sweetly goes back to the back and asks around. Nothing. I ask the portly guys sitting at my former table if they know anything...nope. The manager comes to talk to me, and at this point I am really really sad, and the reality that someone swiped my beautiful clothes is settling in. I say in a wavering voice "I just can't believe that someone would do this! Isn't it a shock to you", to which the manager very calmly replies "No, it's not. I've had this happen to me twice before".
SO DEPRESSING. So, so depressing, because I am not a rich lady, and I really didn't need to have hundreds of dollars worth of clothing stolen from me. But even more depressing is that this was a nice resteraunt. All around me were little yuppies and middle aged, upper-middle class folks.
I was not in a bodega in Brooklyn, where somebody might've genuinely needed and been desperate enough to swipe that shopping bag. Whoever took my things (with the hope of returning for cash maybe? Thankfully, they can't do that because I paid with my card, and they can only get store credit if they don't have the card to refund the money to) didn't need those clothes.

I called the Soho Anthropologie and asked if I could give them my card number, so that they could flag the transaction, or something like that. They basically told me that there was no way that they could ever accuse someone of stealing...even if they are returning my exact 3 items in my size with MY reciept that has my info on it. Ugh.

So, that, my friends, is my sad tale. I think the moral of this story is "Don't be forgetful" & more importantly "Don't buy fashionista jeans" or you will meet a sad end. I just hope that whoever took my things feels a little bit gross when wearing whatever clothes they buy for themselves with their "store credit". Jerks.

More Isobels on the Move/Saddish Sunday

More Isobels added to the The Black Apple Shop ! I hope that everybody had such a wonderful weekend. I've been a little blue, I guess. These little ladies go a long way towards cheering me up, though! Especially the little one with the "quilt". And those dunce girls are good company, too.

I just feel a little bit on the sickly side, and a little on the lonely side. I have trouble with feeling isolated, and I rely on having people around (or at least feeling somehow connected with them) far too much for my own good. Ok, I'm sorry for the pity party...I have a basket of lovely baby-things to bring to my friend (about half were made my moi, so you might just get a peep sometime later on).

Dunces + Flying 500 miles away

I just ordered a bunch of new stuff for the store, and I am really excited about all of it. There will be 3 new postcard sets (2 with single images, and 1 with 2 images included) I decided on Curious Birdplane , A Good Egg is Hard to Find , and Snail Rider Pinup + Red Fawn Rider as a set.
Aaaand, I'm even more exited about the totebags I just sent off an order for! Your hint is this lovely little dunce to the left. I drew her way back in October, when I was New Yorking it with Sarah for the month, and I knew she was destined for greatness. She's being printed on sturdy canvas totes, which I think I'll line myself with lots of different cotton prints! Ooooh I'm excited! I wanted to go with a really minimal (for me) design, partially because I've become so in love with my Antler Girl Tote  from I'm Smitten....it's so simple, yet has this wierd elegance to it. My mom is in love, too...she's getting one for Mother's day!

I had a series of panicked dreams last night about my move to Broolyn in June (if you didn't already know about my relocation, I'm sorry you're discovering it in such a roundabout way!). They were nonsensical and disoriented, as all dreams are, but I woke up feeling for the first time scared and strange about it. Then, as the fates would have it, my dear friend Elizabeth emailed to tell me that she has procured an internship in New York for the summer! Such blissful news. Our talk of a commune (mine/hers/sarah's) will become reality for at least a few wonderful months! So that helped ease most of my wierd unnamed worries. Thanks, Liz. Thanks, Dunce Cap Girl. Also, thanks to all of the sweet crafty ladies who have been linking me and my baby-blog here! This community is both so addictive, but so supportive and self-sustaining. Amazing.