Business license, credit cards, taxes, oh my....

Today I have entered the world of BUSINESS. I have spent the morning looking up the ins and outs of getting a business license. The entire process is WAY more confusing than I thought it would be. Not only is there a license needed for Washington state, but also for Seattle. I need to have my UBI number to open a business checking account at my credit union. I need to actually BE ORGANIZED which is really, really difficult for me.
First step - cleaning the studio up and utilizing one of the 5 sets of filing cabinets we have in here.

I am also looking at accepting credit cards for the Urban Craft uprising. Etsy members say that ProPay is awesome, and to forget about the iPhone apps. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not sure how comfortable buyers would be with entering their credit card info over the phone, but I want to be able to accept their business as well!

Off to clean!

Must. Knit. Sweaters. For. DOGS!

Must. Knit. Sweaters. For. DOGS!, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Ok. I should be working on embroidery. But the knitting bug is getting to me so bad. I found this book at Books Kinokuniya and I REALLY should have bought it. DOGS! in sweaters. A marriage so pure!

More in progress embroidery

More in progress embroidery, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

More progress on another embroidery pattern. I have made acetate templates for 12 patterns, more than I was planning on! I am hoping to make at least 12 more, and then pick and choose which ones I want to prepare for Urban Craft Uprising.
I am getting more and more excited by the day. I am pretty sure I have my packaging for the kits all picked out, I just need to do a little more pricing to make sure its the right choice. I found a display solution that is going to look AWESOME, I am so pumped about it! I need to design the Tako Fibers website too! I have a lot of work to do, but I work better under pressure :)

On a different note, I am trying to finish my Mrs. Darcy sweater while preparing for all this crafty madness. All of my sweaters have ridiculously huge holes in them or are not warm enough. I guess I could buy a new one, but when I have a sweater half made, that seems to be a waste of money...

But, in case you want to know... I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want KnitPicks Elegance yarn in "Jay," to knit myself a new cropped cardigan. mine is so very sad, the holes in the armpits are ridiculously beyond compare. What used to be my cutest sweater is now my only-if-there-is-no-chance-that-i-am-running-into-someone-who-wants-to-hire-me sweater.

I think I'm going to go to bed now and dream about satin stitch... goodnight!

Embroidery!

Embroidery in Progress, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Again, its been ages since I've written. I am in the lab at SVC, during break from my Intro to Flash class. Its so nice to be in front of a big, huge, nice monitor again! Note to self - computers are better with better equipment!

I have been accepted to the Urban Craft Uprising show in early December! I am so excited. I will be selling my embroidery kits. But how can I sell something that doesn't exist yet, you ask? WELL! I have been feverishly working on them, and plan to have at least 10 designs ready to sell in December! Yeah! Here is one in progress.

Hard at work lately

photo, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I've been hard at work illustrating, designing, and making art in general lately! I have finished my illustration for the Town Hall "Saturday Family Concerts" poster, and I am happy that it has been spotted all over town! The picture above is the original watercolor in its infancy.
I am working very hard on getting my website up TODAY. I just found a tutorial on making a CSS image gallery that I am going to adapt to my site. Hooray for hard work!

favorite bears

favorite bear, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I haven't written in a little while! I do apologize. Because I am not on my computer constantly at work, I haven't been very inspired to pick it up at all. My telephone has been serving as my computer, and I have yet to find a good app to post to my blog from my telephone. Do you know one?

Anyway, I have been drawing a lot of bears. Here is another one:



Its not a very good picture, but I do enjoy the bears.

I also painted a lot of little guys on tiles:



I think I am going to cover them with resin!

i am making rain

i am making rain, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I haven't written in a little while, but this is because I have been very very busy!

This is my latest letterpress project. It is not going very well yet but I like the idea of it. I am taking / symbols (slashes) and randomly scattering them. Its very challenging to put in leading and to get it even remotely close to locking up. The plan is to print this in a few colors on kitakata paper, and then use that paper to chine-colle on bigger prints.

I WILL figure it out!! :)

red bird

red bird, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

So here is my final little bird!!! The other colors are so subtle and I really enjoy it.

Here it is with the contrast boosted way up, so you can actually see the other colors:




I start my new/old job tomorrow, and I am very very excited about it! Except, I have come down with an evil sinus infection and sore throat. I will be very upset if I have to call into work on my FIRST DAY!

it left a bad taste

it left a bad taste, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

This is a silkscreen and woodcut. I made it for the Print Zero exchange. I am finally participating in it after being asked to for 3 years in a row!
This piece is a little darker than my usual work. I am not entirely sure what its about. Maybe about something that you used to like that now reminds you of something bad. Or maybe something as innocent as forgetting to brush you teeth in the morning.

By the way, I quit my job and now I have a new job! Hooray!

bird wing

bird wing, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

In the Continuing Letterpress class that I am taking at Pratt (taught by the wonderfully amazing Miss Lisa Hasegawa), we learned about proper justification of type with this exercise - create a shape out of type.
I had high hopes and big dreams for this - my original setup took me several classes to set - 8pt Spartan type with a multitude of facts telling you all about birds.
But, we are nearing the end of class. Next week is our last class, and I was falling behind. So I scrapped it and made this guy out of 20 different faces/sizes, and I am way happier with it than I was with the original.
I decided to go with the shape on the left. What do you think?

letterpress/anniversary

letterpress, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I don't have much to say right now, except I am going away for the weekend with my benjamin, for our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary. What! Geez! I can't believe its been a year already!

So I am making us a little present, some buisness cards that we can hand out as a duo, on "hello my name is" stickers. Since they come in sets of two and all. Each one has our different information, but our joined website on the bottom. When we become more awesome than we are now and start to actually update that website, it will be very handy, i'm sure!

Bobmas!

Bobmas!, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Yay! I gathered a few dear friends who knit to celebrate Bobmas, the founding of Ravelry on April 11th! Hooray! We had cupcakes and knitted.



I made tiny baby socks...


and Keren made mutant booties.


Hollie did a very good job at her first re-learning knitting project! (She has since frogged it all and reknitted it)


I finished one of my baby socks after we had eaten dinner. Baby feet are tiny! Here it is compared to Tater:


Happy Bobmas!

Alpacapalooza!

Alpacapalooza!, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Alpacapalooza was AMAZING. Last Saturday, we all met up and enjoyed a full day of adorable, amazing, beautiful animals! (We all being me, Ben, Liz, Astrid, Caley, Bre, Brian, Julia and Harper!)

Ben and I are planning on living in a green house and having alpacas one day, as illustrated in this picture:


While we didn't get to roll around in the pen with them this year, it was still a wonderful time. We had a picnic lunch, looked at all the booths, and watched the judging in the show ring too. We even saw little kids leading their alpacas through an obstacle course! Jumping over hurdles! Be still, my heart.

If you would like to see the whole Flickr set, this link will take you there!

Close up of Resin City - In Progress

Close up of Resin City - In Progress, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

So, although you probably don't know me, you may have gathered from this blog that I like doing a lot of things. I like painting (watercolors, acrylics, gouache, encaustic...), I like knitting (with fancy, beautiful yarns), I like printmaking (letterpress, silkscreen, woodcuts...) I like embroidery (preferably my own designs), I like sewing (blouses mostly), I like cooking (with fresh vegetables)....

Because of this, I have a hard time concentrating on any one project. I will usually dedicate myself to one project per week, and switch between them. I recently finished my cloud embroidery project, I am almost done with my blouse, and I am working on a knitting project (blanket pieces) while I watch movies at home. These little paintings have sat neglected for a month now.
They are acrylic and resin on panel, with many layers of paint and resin. I am really, really pleased with them, but the layering on this piece is especially lovely and unexpected.

So tonight I am going to work on these, and save my other projects for the weekend. But on Saturday, I will be celebrating Bobmas and knitting all afternoon :)

Scarves 1-20

Scarves 1-20, originally uploaded by willpowergraphics.

This is a photograph that my dear friend Will took. I taught him how to knit last year, and this is his amazing assortment of beautiful scarves that he has made since. I am in love with his color sense! YAY WILL!

Knitting WIP

DSCN5479, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

After cleaning my studio in an effort to make room for many many silkscreened envelopes, I realized that I have, like, 15 or 16 WIP pieces in my knitting stash. what.

its a building! yes it is

its a building! yes it is, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I have been making more prints lately. I carved valentines, and sent out freshly printed cards to a few friends.
This print is from a show that I was in 2 years ago. 2 years ago! I can't believe its been that long! I need to show my art somewhere again. Its such a thrill to prepare for a show.

Liz and I have our studio almost all fixed up!!

A whole lotta prints

A whole lotta prints, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I am going to put quite a few of these in my Etsy store soon, me thinks!

Lettering

sketchbook, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Lately I have seen a lot of write ups, blog posts, and general hubbub about hand lettering. I've been playing with hand lettering a lot lately, but I don't think I am very good at it. I do like my "me or you" at the top of this sketchbook page though.

Zink

zink7, originally uploaded by maybeemily.