It's almost time to start the 2012 fair tour of the country!

In two weeks my good friend the talented Misha Ashton-Moore of Misha Ashton Photography and myself are going to begin this years tour around the country hopping from craft fair to art fair and from coast to coast.

First stop is Seale Alabama the last weekend of March for the Doonanny, a art/folk/music event, which is run by Misha's uncle. We are super excited to be starting here. We're taking a road trip through the southern part of this country. Exploring caves and open landscapes, deserts and forest. I love road trips so much. I did a lot last year by myself, so this year will be awesome to share it with someone loving it as much as me!

And both of us will be revamping our booth designs and even beginning to join creative forces. What do you think of the dots on photos...? Yeah we think it's pretty amazing!

We are just beside ourselves in excitement for the next year full of dots and photos traveling all over this country together. And in a trailer!! Misha's picking her up and taking her home from Alabama. Make sure to keep an eye out for where we'll be next. We're gonna be photographing and filming everywhere we go!

Weeeee!!!

Dots on vintage photos. A dream come true.

This is the work of New York-based artist Sebastiaan Bremer. He took vintage photos from his childhood and hand-painted beautifully colored dots over top. I absolutely love this. Vintage photos. Dots. I want to go to the place where the photos are taken, be the girl in that first photo, be the one to take the photo, and also be the person painting dots on the photo.

Sigh.

There's a big article on him over at Bomb Magazine. A lot of his work is there plus some some different designs of paint on photos. “By drawing on the photographic image I change everything and add the real component of time. My associations, ideas, and changes of direction ― it all finds its way to the picture.”

The photos here are from Flavorwire and Grain Edit.

Next National Park on my list : Glacier

This picture is perfect.

If you know me at all or have looked through any of my flickr photos, you would know that I have a thing for National Parks. Going to craft fairs throughout the country is a great excuse to see them all and I make sure to make every trip I go on an adventure to a new place. Next summer I will make sure to head up to Montana and hang out in Glacier. This photo is from Chris Peterson's 100 consecutive days in Glacier National Park during 2009. I couldn't image how amazing that must of been... you can check out his whole journey at the Glacier Park Magazine website. He did the project as a celebration of the park's 100 year anniversary and used a whole variety of cameras that are from the 100 year time period. 

I've also been dying to drive through this park specifically so I can recreate the drive from the opening scene of The Shining. Yes.

New color patterns and homemade hot chocolate

Creating new warm soft color patterns with an ivory base while drinking homemade hot chocolate makes for a very nice Saturday evening. I'm going to get started on this new set of colors very very soon. It's time to shake things up a bit color-wise and I think all the dot fans will love it! Just picture those sections above inside a bowl with a glossy finish.... now that's what I'm dreaming about tonight with my tummy filled with chocolate.

I whipped up this simple hot chocolate recipe I found with a quick internet search on Allrecipes.com. It's pretty good and definitely rich, but not super sweet. I love it when I have all the ingredients at home to make whatever comes to my mind.

Ingredients
1 cup water
2 (1 ounce) squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups milk (just used the non-fat I had around)
1 teaspoon vanilla
threw in a hand full of semi-sweet chocolate chips
added more milk to tame it a bit after taking a few sips

Directions
- Place water and chocolate in heavy medium saucepan; cook on low heat until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring constantly with wire whisk. Add sugar; mix well.
- Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Boil 3 min., stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in vanilla. Reduce heat to medium.
- Cook until mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally.

The Bocket bowls soon to be sold at Tilde in Portland!

I am so incredibly happy to announce that the dots are going to be sold in their very first retail store! Yay! They will be at this super cute mid-century styled shop/art gallery in southeast Portland called Tilde. When I was in Portland the other week I stopped in to see the place and meet the owners, who are lovely ladies. They have tons of cute stuff including jewelry, paper gifts, pretty things for you home and even furniture (that I really want). They have wooden bowls all over used as displays and they said they even have a whole extra box of them in the back. I was quite envious of all the unpainted bowls....

Well I'm glad they found me and love my bowls because I think they fit perfectly! They are getting their fresh shipment of dots this week. Check them out here: Tilde Shop or stop into the store if you're in Portland.

Staying local this holiday season

the dots and i are taking a little road-trip break this coming decemeber. it's a little bit tiring sometimes to drive around everywhere in this country, so we are staying in los angeles for the upcoming holiday craft fair season.... wow! i think this is going to be very nice.

come hang out with us for back to back weekends of crafting fun: Unique LA :: Dec 3 + 4 and Renegade Holiday Fair :: Dec 10 + 11

Back chilling in LA

I have been driving all over this country for the past month and a half or so with the dots and frankly we are beat! I had some great times. And as I always say, even if a fair isn't monitarily rich, it's always rich is other ways. New craft friends. New adventures. Even just finding a boat load of new wooden bowls to paint... I am constantly amazed.

There are a bunch of pictures up now of my drives to and from Chicago and Portland.  Check it! Here!

It has the shine :: flickr set

The Bad Yellow Teton Craters :: flickr set

Farewell Chicago

Thank you Chicago for such wonderful back to back fair weekends! I leave with a great feeling that there are a lot of you here with happy dots brightening up your homes. Don't worry we will be back soon enough with many many more!

check out the mini flickr set of the Brilliant Corners event here: turn of the (21st) century craft fair

Very lovely Renegade Handmade post featuring my new short film.

"Quick, what’s better than awesome handmade goods? That’s right, super awesome old-timey videos about the making of said awesome handmade goods!"

Thanks Renegade!!

It's that simple!

I just finished making a fun little silent film about how I paint all those dots on the wooden bowls.

Maybe now everyone will believe me when I say it's hand-painted...

Enjoy!



Watch it here: It's that simple!

Music by the lovely MKF.

The dots on the LA Times blog.

Two weeks ago (I know I'm a bit behind) I was happy to be posted on the LA times blog. Thanks LA Times!!

Francesca Balaguer :: Creativity is Contagious

I have been sooo slow on posting about this.... But let me introduce you to this wonderfully fun and awesome photo series I was in a few months ago.

Creativity is Contagious: Portraits of Handmade Success

A series of portraits taken in a pop-up photobooth, featuring local Los Angeles crafters, artists and designers.

Francesca became a good friend in the process, which I couldn't of been happier about. Now she has left the US to start her new crafting and married life in Manila, Philippines.

I'm still shocked by what she pulled out of me that day.

It took three of us an hour to paint my arm in dots and I would love any excuse to do it again!

You should take a look at all the other amazing photos of other very talented and just down right good people:
Creativity is Contagious

Make sure to see all of her other work on her site. You won't regret it!

Thanks to Francesca for everything!

New colors patterns available

i have finally begun to post my new dot colors on etsy. you should check them out... yay! let's rejoice!

square dish :: yellow dots

tall bowl :: dot triangle design

blonde wood circlular dish :: red accent dots

Back from Brooklyn

I'm back in LA from all my driving around the country adventures with the dots. We had quite a lovely time. You should see our photos!

Next stop San Francisco Renegade (after lots more painting...) :: July 9th and 10th.

flickr set :: the moon and surrounding environs

Renegade Austin recap + Road to Renegade

I had a wonderful time in Austin. Met a bunch of friendly crafty people. Ate yummy food. Explored a city I had never been to before. All in all it's why I love to do this!




Renegade Handmade has a nice little recap of the fair. There's a picture on there of people visiting the real life Bocket Store. The bowls performed so well! I'm so proud of them.





My road trip from LA to Austin got a little mention for Road to Renegade as well. We took 3 days to drive across the beautiful Southwest. Desert. Caves. Open Road. Lots of snacks. Mmmm.

See the full flickr set here:: LA to Austin

New dot color patterns.

So these are two new patterns I've started painting. (the one right and the one in the center top)

I love the yellow! I think that's the winner. But the simple aqua and grey with red accent is cute too.....

We shall see what works!

Desk Organizer

Small Circle

Heart with a Handle

Whale shaped dish