This time on Craft 101 [01011010110], AJ is here to show you how to breathe life into an adorable plush heart.  After reading her bio and answers to our myriad questions, gather up your supplies from the list below and get stuffin’!

SUBJECT: AJ from AJthePurple

The Basics:

Name: AJ
Shop Name: AJthePurple
Story behind the shop name: Pretty simple – my name is AJ and I adore purple
When did you start selling online? Officially I opened my shop in the fall of 2008, but I really started working on it during the latter half of 2009.

Where were you born? Richardon, Texas
Where did you grow up? Tulsa, OK, and Fort Worth, TX
Where do you live now & why? Austin, Texas! I moved here for college (UT), but stayed because I love the city! (Not to mention my boyfriend – now husband – lived here
Fave thing about where you live now? The attitude, definitely. Austin is a very lively city, laid-back, open-minded, and…weird

Fun Facts:

What is your motto? Whatever makes you happy!
Do you have a fave craft to make? Knitting my Huggles and embroidery
Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall? Winter
What 5 things do you need to make it through the day? lip balm, a pen or pencil, chocolate, a good laugh, and my husband
Fave article of clothing to shop for? Socks (I’m famous for my crazy socks
What’s the last song you listened to? Who Dat? (I was in New Orleans this weekend)
What’s your guilty pleasure? Dancing around in my underwear
If money was no object and you could do anything you wanted for a living, what would you do? I’d have my own store to sell crafts, books, and games, and I’d go to school forever

Finish The Sentence Time:

Always…..question
Never….give up
Love.
Live….happily

To find more of AJ’s wonderful creations, visit her Etsy shop!

Supply list:

• Paper & pencil
• Scissors
• Fleece or felt
• Embroidery thread & needle
• Stuffing
• Paint (acrylic or fabric) & brush

(or simplified: Fleece/felt, embroidery thread, stuffing, paint)

Our first tutorial of the year is demonstrated by Abbey, a fellow Gocco lover. I had a lot of fun with her the day we recorded the tutorial. We started our morning with a meeting for the Artist’s Screenprinting Co-op, then had lunch at one of my fave local eateries, Veggie Heaven. She brought her Gocco over so we could compare, and hers is way better than mine. I must remember to get a Gocco upgrade. This tutorial is the first time I have ever filmed anyone. You will notice that my filming skills need a little work. It’s a good thing I am a quick learner, because the upcoming tutorial with AJ was shot way better. I was fortunate that Abbey was first; her gift for teaching counters my lack of filming skills. When I finished filming her, Josh (aka Robo, aka the PA for the day) told her she should do all the videos. I agreed. Thanks Abbey!

I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and that it inspires you to either purchase a Gocco, or just get reacquainted with yours. Make sure to check out the downloadable PDF so you can make the Valentine card shown in the tutorial.
If you don’t have a Gocco, and won’t purchase one in time for Valentine’s sign up for The Rocker in the box to the right or become a fan on Facebook to get a downloadable Shortcut Sheet of the design, in color for you to print, cut out and give to your friends. We love to give our friends something special for supporting us.

Thanks for checking out Craft 101[011010010110]; be sure to check back soon for another tutorial.

Love,

Renée

Supply List:

• Gocco
• Gocco screens, light bulbs and ink blocker
• Gocco ink for paper in pink, brown and black
• Laser printed Valentine template sheet
• #2 pencil
• Scissors
• 1 plate for color mixing
• 1 spoon for color mixing
• 1 plastic sandwich bag
• Cardstock, cut down to 2.125 x 3.375
• Paper towels or a cloth for cleaning up messes

“Stable Song” with Max Records from We Love You So on Vimeo.

This video is for my BFF Daniel. Yesterday was his birthday, I thought it was today. I am a bad best friend. Daniel is one of the greatest people I know. Shu is doing the graphics for Daniel’s graphic novel and they are both so excited. I met Daniel in the late 90’s when he was working in a record store. I actually worked in a record store at the same time, but a different one, and had forgotten to buy a CD before I left. I stopped by Daniel’s store to pick it up. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw a car with a Son Volt sticker on it. When Daniel asked if I needed any help I asked if he knew the owner of the car, it turned out to be him. I love Son Volt, and don’t know too many other people that do, so I was excited to see that sticker on a car. He helped me find what I came for, we talked about music for a bit, then before I left we exchanged email addresses. We have been friends ever since. Amazing that my need to have a CD the day it came out is what brought us together. If I would have remembered to buy it at work I may never have met Daniel.

This post is clearly for him, but also a look into the past of what budded an amazing friendship.

Happy Birthday Daniel! Sorry I am a day late.

love,

renée

I am pretty tired from the weekend, but about to head out to get more supplies for next weekend’s boot at E.A.S.T. We’ll have several of my encaustic paintings there, which we haven’t posted here yet.

We made lots of holiday items, as it is getting nearer & nearer. If you live in the Austin area, or close enough & want to do the E.A.S.T. tour come look for us at stop H1 on the 21st & 22nd.

Time for me to get back to work.

Stay rockin’!

-renée a.k.a. roku

Hope to see you this weekend!

stay rockin’!

-renée

I have been meeting with a lot of people recently, and it seems some big, exciting things are on the horizon. There are a lot of collaborations in the works. Robo Roku is going to be partnering with a local handbag maker & another artist to create a different sort of character line. Robo Roku is still working on furthering our current character line. Robo (a.k.a. Josh/Shu) is doing some illustration work on a graphic novel. Roku a.k.a. Renée is doing some web consulting. We have been busy bees. Don’t worry lil’ rock stars, we will not be pushing Robo Roku aside. In fact we will have a booth at an event next weekend & will post further details about that on Monday.

Right now we are in organizing mode to have time for all these ventures. We don’t want our designs to suffer because of all these things happening, so with a plan in place our design integrity will be safe.

We appreciate all the feedback we’ve received. Thanks to the rock stars that let us know the cupcake shirt link went wonky, since that is a rock star favorite. If you’re on our RSS feed, I must preemptively apologize for the hits that will be coming as I transfer over the blog posts.

I look forward to sharing all these exciting ventures with you this fall. October 31st was our 3 year anniversary, it looks like we are starting our 4th year in business with brownies. What I mean by that is, we are getting ready for the party.

Thanks for being our rock star friends!

until next time, stay rockin’!

love,

renée

We are sharing our space with a friend for a few months to help him out, and so with that has come LOTS of rearranging. The studio is quite a mess right now, but I can see the end now, and that is relieving. We have some partnerships in the works, and that is exciting. We have some items sitting in our “upload bin” that have been haunting my dreams with their shouts of “take our pic & upload us already we want to be free”. We just haven’t had the time with all this moving around.

It’s been hard to hold onto some new ideas, since my sketchbook has gotten temporarily lost in the mix. I even had a brief scare when I tripped over the plug to my computer and it wouldn’t come back on, thankfully it’s working now – yay! I would take a pic of my desk if it wasn’t so embarrassing. It seems I get the most creative when I don’t have the time to let it out. I just wanted to write a note so you know we haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. Once I get this mess straightened I will be able to get the Robo Roku train back on track. My OCD self loves being on track.

until next time, stay rockin’!

Here’s where I go off topic. When I was younger my mom made me join a bowling league, and I was terrible.  One time I went to see a friend play baseball and I kept shouting “get a strike!” because I assumed that was a good thing in all sports….not so.  At the end of the summer league I was on we all got trophies, I was so bad that my trophy read “Most Improved Bowler”.  Sorry I went off topic there, but my mention of baseball and bowling in the same sentence brought up old memories.

Back to Psych. If you know a lot of 80’s pop culture you will most likely love Psych.  I would recommend watching the series from the beginning, because they do tend to reference old episodes.

Now onto other things…..

This week has been busy. We’ve been working on more characters, one in particular just doesn’t want to be drawn right, he’s a stubborn little not telling you.  I hope we can put some new items up this weekend.  We’ve volunteered to help our friend out this weekend, so it’s just a matter of how much time we have to photograph and list.

I am caught up with Top Chef and Project Runway.  I don’t have a favorite on Top Chef yet, but I do think there are a few that need to go home already.  Project Runway has been interesting thus far, it seems as though the judges are trying to send a message to designers interested in submitting their portfolio. The message is this: “the more mainstream your designs are, the longer you stay in the game”.  Ari did need to go, we don’t need to watch another person with their non-sketching, not following direction craziness.  I am not saying Ari was crazy, I am saying not sketching and making an outfit completely not appropriate for the red carpet is crazy.  Her outfit didn’t suck, it just wasn’t fit for the red carpet.  Malvin was pushing the envelope, and I think he deserved another chance. I was happy that Shirin won (and not just because she is from Texas) I thought her dress was pretty and the jacket was gorgeous.  I am really liking Models of the Runway, I think it’s interesting to hear their opinions on everything.  I am glad they thought to do a show, I have always wondered about the model side of Project Runway. I hope your week was good, and that my recommendation doesn’t let you down.

until next time, stay rockin’!

As you know I was planning to add the jewelry this week, but time got away from me. I know I haven’t blogged about Top Chef or Project Runway like I did last year, but I will, hopefully this week. I am excited about the jewelry I have been working on, I think some of you might really enjoy it. I have been sketching some so I can add paintings next month.

We did modify the shirts for fall with darker colors & lower prices, you know you want to look cute for less when the fall comes rolling in.  I will be working on darker colors on the shoes for fall soon.

I saw Inglourious Basterds, those of you that actually know me, know I am not a fan of QT, but this movie wasn’t bad.  He did steal stuff from other movies, blatantly at times, but Brad Pitt was amazing.  I am not a girl that goes crazy for Brad Pitt, so don’t underestimate my endorsement.  It was too long, but certainly worth a matinee screening.  I saw Ponyo last week and thought it was funny and cute. It dragged at first, so just give it some time before you write it off.

Watching the trailers before I.B. made me think hard about how much the song in the trailer can persuade me to see a film. The Placebo cover of Running up that Hill by Kate Bush is lovely and haunting.  I wanted to listen to it when I got back in the car, but didn’t want to subject the guys I was with to my proclivity for moody music. I know Snow Patrol songs in trailers have gotten me to see a movie I never would have thought twice about. I really need to get better about resisting that pull. I have lost money on films that just weren’t as good as the music in the trailer.

I need to do boring domestic things like laundry & cleaning for the week now.  I promise I have not forgotten about you, I just want to give you the me that you deserve.  Sparkly, fun and fall like things are coming your way, and you can take that to the cute bank!

until next time, stay rockin’!