Attempting To Build My Own Site While Suffering From The Michigan Winter Crazies

(Imagine me looking like the woman in that pic)

I live in Michigan. The winters usually last a really long time, but for a number of years it hasn't snowed too much, so they were somewhat bearable. Not This Year... It has been so cold (wind chills way below zero) that you don't want leave the house, but then you start to relate to Jack Nicholson in "The Shining." How can you not get a little off-kilter when you never see the sun and can't

breathe when you go outside?! Add that to the summer/fall/end of last year

being spent on crutches, and I am more than a little stir-crazy.

I figured that I needed an intellectual challenge to keep my mind from running away from itself, so I decided to build a new website. I know I have one, but I am not all that happy with the layout options, plus I want a shopping cart. I am very happy with my sales on etsy, but I really want a "free-standing" site as well. Not everyone belongs to etsy, plus I can make it my own style. DIYestores came highly recommended from a few artists I know, so I checked it out and signed-up.

Believe me, I can be a bit of a technophobe (is that a word?). I tried to build my own site a couple of years ago, and the results were panic attacks, crying jags, lots of wine, and an ok site. Needless to say, even the idea gave me anxiety. Hire someone, you say? But why? Can't I figure it out? I became determined to do it.

So, I started from scratch over the weekend, made some headway, hits some snags late yesterday that almost pushed me over the edge, but I did it! I only have 3 items listed so far, but believe me, that's the easy part. I think my plan is to sell my handmade goods on that site and sell supplies on etsy, at least for a while. I do want to sell supplies on my main site, too, but I am very happy with etsy, so that's going to take some planning.

I feel really good that I figured-out how to do it and went WAY OUT of my comfort zone to learn it, and on February 20th I will have my Grand Opening and you can judge for yourself. Please, don't really judge...

Trust me, if I can do that, anyone can.

(Now imagine me looking more like the woman in this pic)

Nearly Forgot About Becoming A Pink Artist

OK, this is a great collaborative project I'm going to tell you about!

I am a member of ZNE , and I found this through the blog of a fellow member, Shabby Cottage Studio. It is a group of artists joining together to create one art doll to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.When the doll is complete, it will be mailed in to Art Doll Quarterly™ before finally being auctioned off on eBay at a later date, and all of the proceeds will be donated to charity.

Each artist participant will create 1 or more 2"x2" cloth-based squares that will be made into the doll.

Please see Girl Gone Thread Wild for complete details.

Cake Toppers for Your Party!

I've been busy lately, FINALLY having time to create what I've been dreaming of for months: Cake Toppers. They are made of mainly vintage components, and I am thrilled with how they are coming out. What do you think?



I've also been stocking lots more vintage treasures and supplies in my Esty store, as there's no way I could ever use everything I find and just have to have! Check it out for newly added vintage printing stamps.

Women's Caucus for Art Postcard Project for the UN

I had a great afternoon on Sunday, and I can't believe I forgot my camera... I just joined the Women's Caucus for Art, and the Michigan group is also part of the Feminist Art Project. We (about 9 women) met at Tootsy's house in Ann Arbor, drank champagne, at chocolate, laugh, and make altered postcards. Sounds like heaven doesn't it?! It was.

The postcards are for a wonderful project by the WCA & an NGO of the UN- International Committee for the WCA- making altered postcards with the United Nations' Millenium Goal, "Sustaining Our Environment." They must be 4"x6" postcards made of recycled materials, and received by January 15th. OK, sorry, not much notice, but it's a very cool project.

On the back of the postcard, provide your name, address and materials used to make the card. Submissions will be exhibited during the February, 2008 WCA and College Art Association (CAA) annual conferences at Ft. Worth-Dallas, Texas. At the exhibition, works will be auctioned to benefit the United Nations.

Mail postcards to P. Otani, Curator, Sustaining Our Environment, 263 Laidley Street, San Francisco, CA 94131 USA

Women's Caucus for ArtThe Women's Caucus for Art, founded in 1972 in connection with the College Art Association (CAA), is a national member organization unique in its multi-disciplinary, multicultural membership of artists, art historians, students /educators, and museum professionals.We are committed to:....education about the contributions of women.....opportunities for the exhibition of women's work.....publication of women's writing about art.....inclusion of women in the history of art.....professional equity for all.....respect for all individuals without discrimination.....support for legislation relevant to our goals.

As an NGO of the United Nations, The International Committee of the Women's Caucus for Art supports the UN Millenium Goals: 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equity and empower women 4. Reduce child mortality 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Women's Caucus for Art http://www.nationalwca.org/
UN Millenium Development Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
UN Development Fund for Women http://www.unifemusa.org/drupal/

I'm going to make some more postcards for this and will post pics here later.

Wow, I'm embarressed at the long silence...

I cannot believe that you haven't heard from me since September...

Most of the problem was a heel fracture from June that didn't heal, so back on crutches I went, so I didn't feel like doing much that I didnt' have to do. I had a couple of art fairs/events that were crazy busy (luckily had help from a good friend), and orders kept me busy until the last minute before Christmas.

One of my New Year's goals is to regularly post here with on-going projects and new fun products.

I am actually changing the name from MLou Is Pink to Pinky LouLou, so after my new web-store is up and running the name of this blog will be Pinky LouLou, as will my web-store. I am using DIYestores to build my store, and I really like their set-up. The biggest hold-up is taking pictures of all of the wonderful vintage treasures I've found for creating altered art and altered books. I think those will be listed first, then I'll list the books, etc, that I've made to sell. Lots to do, gotta clean that studio first! I have only been off of crutches for a few weeks, so I'm still catching-up on my life.

I am very excited about pop-up books, and that's a direction that I've meant to go in for a while. I have recovered from the holidays and my heel, and it's time to get organized to start 2008 well. I have some great resources on making pop-up books, and I've had fun playing. I made my first p-u book for my friend Audrey who helped my with a huge event while I was using a walker for my heel, and while it's not technically difficult, I am so happy about how it turned out. Unfortunately, the pictures aren't the best, because while I got an amazing SLR for my birthday, it was only a couple days later that I took the pics, and I hadn't experimented enough. You'll get the general idea, and I'll just have to make more and take better pictures.

Have a fabulous and fun New Year's, and happy altering!

Playing Hookie & Handmade Papers

Today was the first day of both of my kids being in school all day, as the youngest will be 3 days a week, and I had big plans. Those three days are for work work work on my designs, as I have a couple of big shows coming up, plus I can finally spend more than half an hour at a time being creative.

The oldest was safely on the bus and the youngest was dropped off, but I didn't head back home, I headed for Ann Arbor. It was time to reward myself for surviving the summer with young children! Our friends Dave and Mary own Everyday Wines and Everyday Cook in Kerrytown, and I hadn't seen the kitchen store yet. Plus, I could always use more wine. (At this moment I am drinking a yummy French Voignier from EW) Oh, and Hollander's is in the same building, as is Found, who is having a Sally Jean weekend that includes a trunkshow and workshops (!) that I wish I had been organized enough to register for...

Anyway, I happily fondled handmade papers for about an hour at Hollander's and made my pile. Here are some close-ups of them, just waiting for me. The striped ones are some of my favorites, as they tear beautifully.




Then it was back to Everyday Cook a birthday present for my brother, who is a much better cook than I will ever be, and a really fabulous lunch. Chicken, bacon, asparagus, polenta, yummy... I was very impressed and getting hungry again just thinking about it.

I didn't get any work done in my studio, but I got a lot of creative stimulation and a lot of inspiring papers to play with tomorrow, when I will get back to work.

My Favorite Goodies On Etsy

This holiday weekend is busy, but I wanted to post something new. I decided to show what my favorites are on Etsy. These are my most current favorite items. So hard to choose...

Etsy Buy Handmade MLouIsPink