Solsisters Studio Artisan Handmade Purses

Veteran's Day is not just a day off school

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:40:00 +0000

This Wednesday, take a minute to reflect on those who protect your freedoms. You know ... the freedom to say whatever we want about our government or our neighbors and not be dragged off and shot. The freedom to speak out against abuse of other humans without fear of being arrested in the night and vanishing. How about the freedom to send our children to public school and not have them indoctrinated with the beliefs of a tyrant or the freedom to worship in any fashion you want? Perhaps you're planning to travel this holiday season. Have you considered what the freedom to travel across state lines and out of this country really means for you? You know, those freedoms ... the ones that we so easily take for granted.

A solider secured them for you at high personal cost and they protect them every day. Say thank you. It's not too much to ask.

Vote for me on Craftster

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:24:00 +0000

My Queen Candy Cane costume is part of Craftster Challenge #44. If you are a member of Craftster, please consider voting for her majesty. I am sure she can slip you a few candy canes.

My soundtrack

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Train's golden-voiced singer, Pat Monahan and guitarist Jimmy Stafford (who lives part-time here in Las Vegas) do an incredible acoustic version of their latest single Hey Soul Sister with just a ukulele. I've loved them for years and of course, when I heard this song .... well they spelled my "sol" wrong ... but otherwise this so screams me with its infectious, cheerful vibe.

Still haunted

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:52:00 +0000

A few more pics of Queen Candy Cane

Tweetaways

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Do you have a small item in your shop you can afford giveaway? If you have a decent size twitter following - say 300+, a tweetaway is a superior means to drive traffic to your shop and your blog or facebook fan page. This is a very inexpensive way to introduce new folks to your store, just in time for holiday shopping season.

To conduct a tweetaway:
Decide which item you want to give away and copy it's URL. You will need to cover shipping costs, so don't pick something heavy or awkward.

Have 30 minutes or so available.

Select a question that readers can answer quickly from your blog or facebook fan page and note it's URL.

Alternatively, you can do a random winner from among the first 10 people to become fans of your facebook page or follow your blog.

Start tweeting and watch your Direct Messages and replies for the answer.

Here's how I use this:
My sister's website http://www.overallbeauty.com sells an up and coming brand of nail polish at $9 a bottle. She has a dedicated twitter following of 700+ that are into beauty and nail care/polish. We have her twitter auto-post to her facebook page. To start the Tweetaway, we do a series of three tweets...

"win a bottle of (Color Name) nail polish (short URL)"
"answer (trivia question pulled from blog/fanpage post). answer here (blog/fanpage URL)"
"first correct DM reply wins a bottle of (item URL)"

We kept re-tweeting them until we got a correct answer, which takes about about 10-20 minutes.

Kim was watching the site traffic live. Within 10 seconds of the first tweet she had 50 people on the nail polish color page. During that 10 minutes, she had over 100+ visitors to her site and blog.

I think that exposure is worth the hard cost to her of $8 for the item and shipping.

What do you think? Any suggestions you care to share on using Twitter for business?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Strangely, it's actually just about Halloween, but that hasn't stopped Her Majesty, Queen Candy Cane of Christmas Isle, from dropping by to help with the gardening. I believe we'll be planting peppermint .... by royal decree, of course!

This started with a white lace dress my mom made for Holly's 5th grade graduation earlier this year. Now where else is an 11-year old going to wear a plain white lace dress? The teacher insisted the dress be PLAIN white and of course, we couldn't find anything at the store.

So, making the best of money already spent, I added the sheer glittery candy cane underskirt right to the original lining in the dress. We had originally planned to be Snow princess but didn;t find sheer snow fabric ... so switched gears.

We made the scepter out of a cardboard tube and part of the reel some of the garland came wound on. It was covered in tin foil, tape, and the attacked with hot glue and a huge number of pipe cleaners, glittery snowflakes, Christmas garland, plastic peppermints, two holiday peppermint sprigs and silver bells, plus pipe cleaner candy canes on top.

The crown is a base of red and white craft foam that suffered a similar treatment with glitter glue and stick-on foam candy canes, 3D pipe cleaner candy canes, star garland and more plastic peppermints. I even used some odd white eyelash yarn around the base for a little snowy feel.

The treat bag was in my christmas box from last year. A few stick-on foam candy canes and some glitter glue to write with finished that up.

Her stole and cape is just more translucent fabric with glittery green, red, and silver dots. The big candy cane on the front was a foam kit that took about 5 minutes to glue and attach to the dress with a few stitches.

Thermal red shirt and gloves plus white long johns, awesome candy cane knee socks and silver shoes were purchased from Target or Walmart. All can be worn again after Halloween.

Minus the articles that can be worn again, this cost about $80 plus time. Had I shopped at the dollar store for the Christmas decorations instead of Hancock's and Michael's it would have come in even cheaper. The most expensive thing was those lengths of sheer fabric.

Tutorial: Dull Color fix with Duck GIrl

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:12:00 +0000

Photoshop Tutorial: Dull Color Fix: Duck girl
Level: Beginner
Demo in Photoshop CS4

Click on images to enlarge.

This picture of my daughter was taken by a professional photographer - my cousin Brian Pedersen. We went to a local park in Las Vegas. It was late in the day and the light was going, but it is otherwise a great picture — if we can fix the dull color. Although this seems challenging, it's actually a pretty fast fix.

The first step is a little clone on the face to even out the skin tones on the right cheek. This is done on a new layer and merged down once you are happy with it. To clone on a new layer, create a new layer using the sticky note icon at the bottom of the layers palette, select the clone tool and make sure Current & Below is selected in the options bar. Alt/Option+click on a clean area very near the area to be repaired in order to match the color and lighting.

Next you'll need to use a threshold adjustment layer to find the lightest and darkest points in the image. To do that, select threshold from the adjustments panel and follow the steps on my digital teeth whitening tutorial. You should end up with two of these small target markers.

Create a new curves adjustment layer and click the white eyedropper. Click in the center of target #1 in the duck's hair. Then click the black eyedropper and click target 2. Now comes the "eyeball" part. This image doesn't have an easy to spot neutral gray such as concrete paving or a metal object. I clicked around a bit and settled on a spot in the upper left by the very fuzzy car bumper. When you do this, watch the skin tones and anything that should be white. It's easy to introduce a color cast if you are not careful. It is also easy to turn skin too magenta or too blue.

You may need to reduce the fill or opacity of these adjustment layers to reduce the strength of the effect and create a more natural change.

Now this looks pretty good for 3 minutes of effort, huh? But we can do more. How about we pump up the yellow in the duck and her shirt?

I created a new curve and on the BLUE channel dragged the mid-point down. This brings in more yellow. On the red curve, I dragged very slightly up to warm it up even more. To have this only effect the shirt and the duck, fill the layer mask with all black then using a soft edge brush, paint over the shirt and duck with white.

Next, let's darken and enhance the green in the background to make the child pop out. Create another curves adjustment layer. On the green channel pull up slightly. On the composite channel, pull down slightly on the bottom of the curve, and up even less on the top half of the curve. Fill the layer mask with white and paint over the girl with black. To soften the mask, you can run a gaussian blur on it.

Next, create a new regular layer. Sample a dark green from the grass. Fill the layer with the dark green, Set the blend mode to multiply. Select the eraser tool and use a huge fuzzy brush to erase all the green except the corners. This darkens the edges and makes the kid pop to the front. Lastly, create one more curves adjustment layer and don't make any changes to the curve. Change the blend mode on the layer to screen and lower the opacity. Fill the mask with black and paint over her face with white. This creates areas of target lightening that preserve skin tones very well. See my Painting with Light tutorial for additional explanation.

Here's the final image.

Here are a few other before and afters using these techniques or slight variations on them.

This one had a trip through LAB to pull the colors out of the canyon and a sky replacement in addition to curves.

Questions? Post below.

Walking with History

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:07:00 +0000

I'm down in San Diego this week. One of our stops was Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery to visit the grave the Pearl Harbor Survivor who inspired Dana's book. Ben F. Boosinger was quite a guy and the cemetery is quite a place. The almost perfectly placed lines of identical stones stretching off into the distance surrounded by the huge sheltering trees wrapped in marine fog pierced by the late afternoon sun made for a somber, but beautiful setting. We saw graves of Generals and Commanders as well as veterans from every war back to the Spanish American War in 1898.

There are also monuments to notable events in San Diego's long military history. The obelisk commemorating the USS Bennington was especially striking. In 1905, an explosion aboard the ship while in harbor killed most of the crew.

The cemetery now has so many graves that they have begun to build long walls called columbariums that have spaces with elegant plaques to hold the urns. It is in one of these, overlooking the gorgeous San Diego Bay, that Ben and his wife Edith are laid to rest.

Of course, my handmade jewels come with me wherever I go. These lovely blue freshwater pearl drop earrings came from Jen at The Blue Dress. She included them with the Wild Vines Earrings I ordered as a bonus because there was a small snafu with my order. So elegant and beautifully made. The gorgeous multicolored gray freshwater pearls came from Cary's Boutique. I am also wearing my sister's handmade mineral make up in Chocolate and Summer Wheat.

Six quick holiday tips for handmade sellers

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Here's a few quick things you can do to get your etsy/artfire shop holiday ready.

1) Make sure you are set up with Paypal to accept credit card payments from those who do not have or do not wish to have a paypal account.

2) Review your item titles. Titles should be packed with every key word a buyer might use to find your items. This is also how Google indexes your items so make those titles count! You should also be using every tag you can.

3) Review your prices & shiping fees. You may need to raise or lower slightly. Do you have a good range of items and prices? Do you have a few things in the impulse buy range of $20 and below? What could you add to fill this need? Is your shipping fair and correct for each item?

4) Update your blog/facebook/twitter with any holiday specials you are offering. If you have a mailing list, now is a good time to send an early holiday special out to your customers.

5) If you have facebook, install the Artfire Kiosk or Sellit app.

6) Create a facebook fan page for your business and add lots of pictures. Once you get 100 fans, you can change the URL.

Any tips you'd like to share with other sellers?

Hagar bag found by Hagar the Horrible artist

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Hagar the Horrible mini-messenger Bag by Solsisters

This mini-messenger bag I made up a while ago is going to a new home. Of course, it's always nice to make a sale, but this one has a bit of a twist. The buyer asked for my number so he could give me his credit card over the phone. So he calls and tells me that it's Chris Browne, son of Hagar the Horrible and Hi and Lois cartoonist Dik Browne. His father passed away and he now draws the Hagar comic while his brother Chance draws Hi and Lois.

Chris says he remembers when this fabric was licensed and was tickled to find a bag made from it. He wanted the bag for his wife and would have been happy to buy three more if I had the fabric to make them. Shame mom just had the one yard piece!

How fun is that?

My vagabond Life

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:15:00 +0000

There has been a rather abrupt change in my life this last week. I made the choice to leave my boyfriend some months ago and move myself and my daughter out to a rental house near where she grew up. It wasn't an easy choice, but a necessary one. He is a good man, but just wasn't MY man.

Obviously, since I have a child and the better part of a house full of stuff that I was unwilling to abandon, this required planning and of course, it didn't all come together quite in the way I had hoped. Besides the emotional disruption and strain of ending a 2 year relationship with someone whom I no longer love, but do care about, you can't just up and rent an apartment or house when you have a foreclosure on your record. First you have to find a landlord willing to consider the whole credit picture, not just that black mark. Then you need to gather up cash for deposits and 1st month's rent - all the while keeping your bills current and paying your part of the expenses at the boyfriend's house.

I had to tell him several days before I had the final lease signed. As a courtesy to him, I moved EVERYTHING out of his house in just 2 days — before I knew if I had a place to go for sure. I had just put down the deposit. It turns out that my new house won't be ready for move in until this Tuesday because the downstairs carpet had to be replaced.

So now here I am, a capable adult, living at my mom's, while I wait. It's odd to be an adult kid at your mom's house (where my adult sister also lives) and even weirder - always having had a place to call home - to be in limbo like this. My stuff is living in a friend's garage and some at storage, plus some here at mom's. I feel so disconnected — heaped on top of the guilt and emotional upheaval of ending a long term relationship. Thank goodness for the support of my family and friends.

So anyway, if I didn't respond to something you sent me or asked me in the last week or so, I'm sorry. Things should be back to normal soon.

Low cost spay and neuter comes to Las Vegas

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Heaven Can Wait just opened their brand new low cost spay an d neuter clinic here in Las Vegas. This group is outstanding in their efforts to reduce pet overpopulation at the source by providing access to spay and neuter services and conducting those services for feral and abandoned animals all over Las Vegas. The new clinic's first few weekly feral cat clinics have sterilized almost 1,000 animals and they have already done 2,400 low cost operations for the general public.

Image by bobster855 via Flickr

A dog is just $115, which includes rabies and vaccinations. Cats are $75 (girls) and $50 (boys) which also includes rabies and vaccinations. No cost operations are available if you qualify. The location of the clinic is 546 N. Eastern Suite 175 and the phone number is 702-227-5555. This facility is being rented, but the City of Henderson just granted HCWS 2.5 acres to build a permanent clinic. It's about time Las Vegas/Henderson got serious about reducing the number of pets killed every year (approx 30,000 just in our metro area) because of overpopulation.

You can help raise some cash to put an end to this by bringing your dog (or just your kids) out the to the annual Lose a Pound with your Hound Walk on October 18th at Bunker Park. Note incredibly cute IBOL DOGGEH TAYLOR (owned by sister Norah) on the right. And yes, Team Norah will be walking and we'd love for you to join us. More on that later.

Art is eating an elephant on a pallet

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:12:00 +0000

You all might remember that IBOL project I've been talking about and my prediction that there might be a need for air support? The current bundle count is 3,436 and they are still coming in to the warehouse hundreds at a time! The pic is a full pallet of IBOLs from Art's latest post about distributing this outpouring of supplies all over Iraq: eating an elephant one bite at a time.

New shiney stuff

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:38:00 +0000

I was pleased to come home with two Bronze trophies from the AIGA Work Show X last weekend. One was for my VVBF signs and the other was for the Pearls of Honor Trailer Wrap.

Bronze doesn't seem like a big deal until you understand just how difficult this show is to place in at all. It is judged on the same exacting criteria as a national awards competition and there are usually less than 10 Golds in any given year. This one was no different with only 7 being awarded. In order to place at all, you have make it past the first in/out round and garner at least 3 (of 9 possible) votes in the second round.

This year's judges are "rock stars" of the design community. Joe Duffy is a well-known creative and AIGA Medalist. Lynda Weinman is THE LYNDA from lynda.com, the popular online training site and everyone knows the Walt Disney company, where Patricia Hallenbeck is the Director of Strategic Sourcing and Print Services. It's not easy to impress people at that level of achievement.

Congrats as well to all my friends in the community who won awards. There was a great showing from students this year in addition to some new faces in the professional categories.

Of course an evening like this calls for an unforgettable outfit. If you recall from a few days ago, there's my Santa Rosa Necklace from Santiam Designs and my opal earrings from Whirling Rainbow. They were the perfect compliment to this smashing dress that was... get ready... $18.99 at Ross Dress for Less! The purse was $16.99 at Target and I already had the shoes. The manicure was $7 and the fresh color on my hair was $12. So for about $60, I got more compliments than I could count. Who says a recession has to kill fashion?

Dana (owner of the Pearls of Honor Trailer) came with me to the show and brought his camera (these pics are all his). I was really relieved that we won an award for his work and he was overjoyed. As soon as I got back to our seats with the trophy, he was taking pictures - in the dark no less! He polished it under the warming lamp for the meatloaf for heaven's sakes! He took so many pictures one of my friends asked me if I had brought my own paparazzi!
Since the Show was held at the Fifth Street School where my friend Richard has his office, it was kinda like a great, casual party at your friend's house. The entire show team did a stunning job producing one of the chapter's best Shows ever — on what was about 1/4 of the "normal" budget for this event. The turn out was wonderful and the venue was perfection! It was also a huge joy for me to have Richard there to see his VVBF signs win as well. See how happy he was?

I think it is important for client's to see that your peers also feel the work you do is of value. It sure helps in price negotiations!

A good example of customer service compromise

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:22:00 +0000

I was looking for some interesting silver hoops and I found these Wild Vines oxidized silver hoops in an etsy treasury. They are unique and just a little quirky, plus I love the organic feel of them. They sold out the next day, but the seller Jen at The Blue Dress was happy to make me up another set. They arrived quickly and I was pleased ... until I wore them the first time and discovered I had two rights. So I dropped her a convo letting her know what the issue was and she apologized profusely and promptly offered to send out a new pair at her expense with a postage paid envelope to return this set.

But here was my problem, I REALLY like these and I know that my friend Laura will just adore them for Christmas. So I asked Jen if she wouldn't just send me a set of lefts and I'd pay for them and we'd all be happy. I think she was a little surprised, but gamely agreed and went one futher by listing them at 20% off the original price. Now, that's GREAT customer service. Both of us are pleased and Laura is gonna love these!

I'll go shopping with Jen again and you should too :)

Patriot Day

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:10:00 +0000

Today is Patriot Day. Please wear your American pride shirts, fly your flags at half mast and remember those killed on 9-11-2001.

Kickin' it handmade

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:26:00 +0000

Not only do I make my own items, I'm a pretty frequent supporter of the handmade community as a whole. Here are a few of the wonderful handmade things I'm pleased to own and links to the talented artisans who created them.

Custom Engraved fine silver guitar pick by Andros Creations

This is actually my boyfriend living handmade. I had Andrew make up this pick for his 4 year sober anniversary and engrave it with a message marking the day. He plays a Les Paul guitar just like this one. Andrew even went the extra mile to make a new cast just for Eric's pick. He likes his blunted and more squat shaped than standard. I sent Andrew a plastic pick he had filed down and he duplicated the shape perfectly. Eric says the picks play well without drag or distortion. Andy even sent along several metal blanks in the shape Eric likes. Believe it or not, forgetful man hasn't lost ONE of them and it's been over a year!

Right now, I have Andrew working on a Remember Pearl Harbor silver bracelet to replace cheap on Dana has. He makes wonderful, simple wedding rings too.

Santa Rosa by Santiam Designs

Debbie and I have become good friends through a series of trades on etsy. Her jewels, especially this elegant copper necklace are among my most favorite and frequently worn.

Hemp Lip Balm by Flame Works

I always have a tube of her Chai Tea balm with me. It's very smooth and the flavor is subtle.

Green Goddess All Over Balm by MonAmiga

I've extolled the moisturizing virtues of Ami's marvelous green goop before, but I was reminded just how wonderful it is when I got a painful sunburn over Labor Day. The balm soothed and healed it in record time.

When in Rome Earrings by Adornment Designs

I have two pairs of these, both custom created in copper, rather than silver. One set is bright and the other is patinaed. I lost one set and was heartbroken because they are my favorites, so I had her make the second set. Of course, the day the new ones arrived, the old ones came out of hiding. These are such elegant but not overstated earrings that they go with many of my favorite outfits. I wear one set or the other at least three days a week.

Caravan by Sparta Soap

All of her soap is the best you can buy, but this bar is hands down my favorite! It latheres up beautifully with the exotic allure of spices and desert winds. I'm not sure what they are but it has tiny grains for gentle exfoliation and makes bath time a tiny vacation.

I also really like DaisyCakes Soap in her citrus varitaions and switch between the two makers depending on which bar I grab from under the sink.

Lilac Opal Oval Earrings by Whirling Rainbow
These were so affordable and so elegant. Great for everyday wear!

Orange Carnelian Earrings by Shiney Adornments
I don't usually wear big earrings, but I can't resist Kristin's orange marmalade dream.

Octopus Tee in Ocean by Michael Phipps
This shirt is sooo soft and comfy. The screen is perfectly executed and the design and placement make it memorable.

IBOL Sundae

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:19:00 +0000

As ordered by Mjr. LaFlemme (creator of the Iraqi Bundles of love project known as I.B.O.L.), my sister and I dutifully participated in I.B.O.L. Sundae on 9-6-09. In fact, we insisted that our boss, Dana, make a special stop on our trip home from The Honor Run to visit Peggy Sue's 50's Diner in Yermo, California.

The diner is a real "roadside attraction" built in 1954 with memorabilia all over the walls and even a "diner-saur" park out back. But it's real attraction (for us, anyway) is the 50's style soda foundation in the gift shop.

Why, yes, it is time for I.B.O.L. Sundae! Where's the soda fountain?

She decided against the hat, but tried them all on anyway.

As you can see, sister Norah was very excited about the prospect of eating sundaes under orders. She's former Army Reserves and takes commands from Majors very seriously. Dana was also ready to indulge our request. I am not sure if it was the tag-team nagging.. err ... requests or the fact that he loves ice cream and chocolate, but really as long as we got our way ... whatever!

As we enjoyed the HUGE treats in the lovely soda fountain glasses, Norah amused us with a anamatronic dog vs. gorilla battle on the counter. The dog danced to some 50's tune and the gorilla snorted in just the right places every time the dog danced into him. Surprisingly, the staff didn't seem to care and after most of the day in teh car, we found this gigantically amusing.

Yes, sir! Eat sundaes, sir. Whatever you say, SIR!

Spoons up for greater I.B.O.L. glory!

These were so good. I "forced" Dana (under extreme "glass completely empty in two minutes" protests) to finish mine.

Thanks Art, for the fun that was I.B.O.L. Aside from the sundaes, my whole family has really enjoyed being part of your crazy scheme. We've enjoyed the fun updates on the IBOL blog and the feeling of doing something to make change in the war on terror. My daughter loved the note you sent from Iraq and I.B.O.L. gave my mom (Ms. Mauri) a much-needed lift and something to cheer for when she seriously needed it. My sister loved the idea of space bagging all that yarn. Plus, the opportunity to clear out both of our sewing rooms and my kid's drawers for Old Mother Hubbard. Oh wait, the chinook fabric delivery copters! That was a huge laugh, too!

I said it before, and I'm gonna repeat myself. Your wife is one lucky woman and your daughter has an enormously great Dad. She is going to go on to do wonderful things with an example like you in her life. Have a safe trip home and thank you, again!

LONG LIVE the spirit of I.B.O.L!

p.s. will you be issuing any more orders for sundaes? I mean, we can go back to Peggy Sue's....

Voting for Education

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:31:00 +0000

As soon as my daughter gets home from school today, she'll be watching every minute of this speech. When our President feels strongly enough about the value of education to take time out of what can kindly be called a "challenging" job, I think my child needs to hear what he has to say. Does yours?

I ran off to join a biker gang!

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:54:00 +0000

The 2009 Honor Run bike column as it crested the hill into Las Vegas.

I've been missing in action for the last few days because I ran off to join a biker gang! Me and my sister, Norah, went with my client, Dana, and joined up with the last three days of The Honor Run as it went from Mesquite, NV to Oakley Sunglasses HQ in Foothills, CA (just outside San Diego.)

As you may have gathered from my profile picture, someone I know owns a really bitchin' Harley Davidson. That someone would be Dana and his Harley, Metal of Honor, is indeed special — in many ways. The entire bike has been engraved by hand with over 100 images that relate to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that drew America into World War II. We were invited by the event organizers to exhibit Metal, and let me tell you, she stops people in their tracks. In the sun, she sparkles like a jewel and people cannot help but be drawn into closely examining all the engravings and hearing her story.

Norah and I in the truck with cameras rolling as the bikes pulled out of the Casablanca hotel in Mesquite, NV. Although the ride was for bikers, we all cheered when Bridget joined us outside of Victorville, CA in her son's truck with her lights blazing. Bridget is a Gold Star Mother. Her son Spencer Karol (Army Ranger) was killed in action, so she has had his truck tricked out with a wrap in his honor. She is a Patriot Guard escort for many pro-military events.

Bikes staged at Biggs on Saturday morning.

Bikers in one of the 3 large waves that rode from Biggs Harley Davidson in San Marcos, CA to Oakley HQ for the finale of The Honor Run - a coast to coast ride to build a Fisher House. (Photo by The Honor Run)

Although I haven't seen an offical count, I estimate they had about 1,500 riders for the last leg.

Metal of Honor fulfilling her mission to draw people into history.

Dana snapping a picture with my red headed self feeling like a tourist with 3 cameras going in the background. (Photo by The Honor Run)

Dana checking over Metal of Honor with our set up in the background. Yes, I designed that wrap :)
Note to self - next time bring sunshade and cases of sunscreen! Photo by The Honor Run.

Norah and I both got painful sunburns watching Gary Sinese and his Lt. Dan Band rock the house, but it was so worth it. Great show!

We also met the great guys from CTS and, if the stars all align, we'll have Metal of Honor on display when they perform on Fremont Street for Bike Fest in October.

I have a thousand plus more pics to sort, but right now ... it is time to take my daughter to the Lied Discovery Children's Museum for a look at Grossology :)

My VVBF signs just won a national award

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:04:00 +0000

This is my good friend Richard Hooker from City of Las Vegas Cultural Affairs office standing next to one of my signs I did for last year's Vegas Valley Book Festival as part of the AIGA Las Vegas design team. He loved these so much that he's kept this banner and poster in his office since last November! I was so delighted to be involved for a number of reasons — the chance to work with several other designers I much admire as well as my favorite photographer, the opportunity to support the cause of literacy which I am deeply passionate about and of course, being a huge Neil Gaiman fan, the chance to meet him in person was for me, a once in a lifetime joy! I even asked Neil to sign one of my event posters for his book signing and The Sound of Her Wings handbag I made up just for the event.

So why am I going on about this since it went on last year? Well in today's mail, I received the award letter and certificate letting me know that I won an American Graphic Design Award for the festival directional signage.

They made an error on the certificate listing the client (VVBF) as the designer, but no worries, I'll give this copy of the certificate to Richard for him to hang in his office and order a corrected one for my office. After all , great clients make for great design and this is certainly a case where I am so pleased to be associated with a GREAT client and a great cause!

The Graphic Design USA Annual in which it will be published will not come out until December and this year's winners won't show up on their site until just before the Annual is mailed. The contest (something like the Oscars for graphic designers) received 8,000+ entries this year. That's down a lot from years past and I can only guess the economy takes the blame for that. Only about 15% in any given year are chosen for Awards. It seems like a big chunk get recognized, but with that many entries, you'd have to get a lot of good work.

I won one of these in 2006 and 2007, but skipped entering in 2008. Each time I have only put in one or two entries and have won each year I have submitted. I am not sure if I am lucky or just picked well. I also entered the trailer I did for Metal of Honor this year, but it wasn't recognized. Shame that, but so it goes with these shows. You never know what will place and winning one competition does not necessarily mean you'll even place in another with the same piece.

For example, the CD cover & associated items which I won the GD USA Award for in 2006 did very well in the ADDY awards, snagging a gold in the same category as the "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" campaign, and placing in the district finals, but it didn't place in the AIGA Workshow.

Same story in 2007, the Summer Squeeze slot tournament got the GD USA Award, but didn't place in the Workshow. Different judges, different judging criteria, different results. You just can't take it personally. Design has a lot of the subjective in it.

This was the sign I created for Neil's Keynote address, which was wonderful to hear.
I still owe Suzanne for the excellent seats she saved for me and my family.

But back to this year ... The design of signs for the festival was based on a few things. Richard asked for something mysterious and film noir. I wanted to pick up the pattern of event listings that Joslyn had established in the ads she did. You can see it running through the large black areas on each sign. I also wanted to show off how books are an open door to adventure and new worlds, so I worked with my friend Nate to created these collage photos of books appropriate to the subject matter on each sign. Lastly, I did not want to overshadow the lovely logo that Victor and Randy created. That is why the book panels are desaturated and gently tinted. All the Neil Gaiman books and most of the other books on the signs came from my personal collection. I only had to hit the library for Michael Chabon (the other keynote) and poetry books. I told you I liked books!

Hopefully, the signs and my other entries will be recognized at the AIGA Workshow on 9/12. That show, although local, has been historically very difficult to place in. It would be a huge honor to win a Silver or Gold, as the highest I have ever placed there was a Bronze. Because they do one round of in or out, followed by a placement round in which you can also get knocked out, it is no easy feat to take home a trophy. They usually have 10 or less golds in a fields of 200-300 entries. So wish me luck, ok?

Why, Mrs. LaFlemme, your son has the best manners!

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Art (the I.B.O.L. guy) sent us the nicest thank you note all the way from Iraq this week. My daughter SHRIEKED like it was mail from a rockstar when I told her we had a letter from that funny guy in Iraq that Mommy and Nannie sent the boxes to. She sits with me at night and listens while I read aloud Art's blog posts of the day.

It's been a huge feeling of "job well done" to see me and my mom's bundles arrive in pics on the blog ... but it was a whole 'nother order of magnitude to get a handwritten thank you note. Old-fashioned manners and class! I tell you Kristin LaFlemme has married quilter's GOLD in her choice of husbands! And Art's mom — the quilter who raised this boy who is now trying to figure out what to do with the deluge of generosity he's unleashed? Well ... she must be grinning from ear-to-ear in pride over her son's accomplishments and his ability to inspire a veritable HORDE of strangers to do good.

My family has sent 12 boxes so far ... and I think my mom has another two in the works. I got members of my bag team to send some. I tweeted, I blogged , I facebooked and shared Art's address with those who asked. Many hundreds of other quilter's did the same. Bundles in the 10's has turned into bundles in the HUNDREDS and I'd bet it'll end up being over 1,000.

Then Sew, Mama Sew SOLD OUT of 150 I.B.O.L. bundles they created for non-sewers in a mere 48 hours!

"Going viral" is about to get redefined ... now that it has met the right leader .. with a cause that people can easily embrace .... and passionate crafters with huge stashes and huge hearts.

There's still time before September 7th to get your I.B.O.L. in the mail. Even the International Quilt Festival in Houston is part of the I.B.O.L. gang now! Maybe Art will need more than one Chinook?

Storm's blowin in....

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:55:00 +0000

and I'm in the treasury! Gorgeous homage to summer showers by etsy seller Golden Needle Creations features my Typhoon Storm at Sea tote bag.

Moms gotta stick together

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:12:00 +0000

I was driving home today by a completely different route than I normally take. I wanted to hit the grocery store for dinner stuff. So, I see this woman in a church parking lot with the hood of her car up and two little kids sitting despondently under a tree. The lady and kids both look tired and very, very stranded.

I figured they'd probably called someone, but something told me to stop and ask. So I turned the corner and drove up to them and asked if they needed help.

You should have seen the gigantic smile of relief on this woman's face! Her truck had run out of gas and she'd left the wallet at home in the rush to get out the door to pick it up from the mechanic after being without it for a month. Her family was all in other parts of the city and she and the kids had been there in the 95 degree Vegas afternoon for over an hour. NOT ONE PERSON stopped. Someone at the church had let her use the phone but apparently, they couldn't go get her some gas or call a roadside service for an unknown reason.

I piled them all in the car and we went to Smith's a few blocks away and got a gas can and drinks for everyone, then over to the service station for gas. As we were heading for the Smith's, my daughter called to report her successful boarding of the bus on her first day of middle school. I picked it up on handsfree, which comes through my car stereo. (BEST UPGRADE EVER!!) The little boy wanted to know how I talked to my daughter on my car radio. He was just entering first grade and hadn't ever seen a hands-free cell phone. :)

When we got back to her car, we got the gas in ok and it started right up . She wanted to pay me back, but seeing such relief on another mom's face was all the payment I needed - along with her promise to pay it back to someone she encounters that's in trouble. She kept saying thank you over and over again. But really, it was nothing .... a few bucks and 20 minutes out of my day. I just kept thinking, "if it was me and my daughter stranded, oh I hope someone would help us like this!"

It's been such a good few months for me, after a few REALLY horrid ones earlier this year. No money worries and steady work. These opportunities to show gratitude for my good fortune keep dropping in my lap and I'm getting the message! I'm not much for the big presence in the clouds (by any name you wanna hang on it/him/her) but I'm listening .... and I'm very grateful ..... and I'm doing my best to let it shine!

Calling for air support

krystal@sparkcreative-lv.com (Krystal Hosmer of Solsisters) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Can you imagine this bird landing outside a village in Northern Iraq being off-loaded by smiling soldiers ...... delivering bundles of fabric, yarn, buttons, beads and notions?

(My mom said "no" on the gunship pic I had eariler. Art will need Chinook cargo 'copters to do the really heavy lifting!)

It could happen. Army Major Art LaFlemme's Iraqi Bundles of Love Project (I.B.O.L.) is running out of storage room for the many boxes already flowing in ... and Ramadan just started! Art had to go to his commander to get "official approval" as the need to call for air support to deliver the bundles to nearby provinces is becoming more of reality by the day.

What is this I.B.O.L. thing? Simple, get an APO flat rate shipping box and fill it with any combination of new and used thread, fabric, yarn, sewing notions, sewing and crafting magazines. (Please remove CHRISTMAS related articles). Then, send it off to Art by September 7th. Please do not send any christian-related materials either. Both are offensive to Muslims. This project is about spreading generosity and much needed supplies and both items would defeat it's purpose. He'll see that it is delivered to a small sewing co-ops in Iraq to help the women provide for their families. Clean out your stash and give women a world away a boost. It's that easy. Shipping one box is $12.65. Surely you can afford that?