Renegade Austin Holiday show!

 

If you're in Austin this weekend, be sure to stop by the 1st Renegade Craft Fair holiday show, happening at Palmer Events Center from 11am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. I won't be vending, but several of my friends will be selling, along with the AIGA AIA Student Group that I mentor. My students have been working extremely hard on their booth, which will feature a super fun Time Capsule activity for the whole family. Be sure to stop by, make a time capsule for yourself, and check out their beautiful posters, prints, cards, and other goodies.

Also check out the booth of Leah Duncan, Fail jewelry (carrying our fail+Canoe collection), Son of a Sailor, Appetite, and MAKEatx. Can't wait to see what everyone is bringing and pick up some holiday gifts!

Renegade Austin Recap

Thanks to all our friends for coming out last weekend to the Renegade Craft Fair! We had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new ones. One of the most satisfying things was seeing the booth I've been working on fully realized. I've been planning this new booth for a few months, so it's so nice to see it go from sketchbook page to real life exactly as I had envisioned. It's taken a full week to recover from all the prep. 

 

Our good friend Gabi helped out on the first day to get us set up and keep sane. Luckily our vintage jib sail worked really well for our neighbor, Leah Duncan.

Ben built a beautiful (I mean rustic and manly) pallet wall to help showcase our mix of wares. Our friend Mary Kathryn of Loretta Flower created some beautiful bouquets to help soften the cowboy tablescapes. What, you've never heard of a cowboy tablescape? It looks like this.

We got to hang out with our friends the Berkleys,  Abby Try Again, Leah Duncan, and Paloma's Nest, along with meeting the talented designers behind Coatt Jewelry and Love Jules.

Also, the lovely gang at Renegade did a nice interview with me that you can check out here. Until next time, Renegade!

Renegade Austin this Weekend

This weekend we'll be showcasing our wonderful wares at the Renegade Austin Craft Show at the Palmer Events Center (900 Barton Springs Rd)! Stop by and visit us from 11am-7pm all weekend (free admission). Our booth is near the front entrance. The house is currently filled with wild props for our new booth design (including a vintage horse saddle), so expect some surprises.

You'll never guess what this might be--stop by the show and find out!

Countdown to Renegade Austin

Somehow May has snuck up on us and it's only a few weeks until our big summer show, Renegade Austin. Mark your calendars for May 21-22nd, from 11am-7pm at the Palmer Events Center (900 Barton Springs Rd at S.1st). A few weeks ago I decided to completely change the way I set up my booth, so expect some surprises this time around. We'll have both Canoe and Miss Natalie together, and I promise you'll want to bring your camera. Hopefully I do, as I'm notorious for forgetting that.

Our booth will be located up front and on a nice corner, next to the main entrance, so you can't miss us. We're pumped to be next to some of our favorite Austin ladies, like Leah Duncan, Abby Try Again, and Paloma's Nest.

In addition to the new booth design, I've got a ton of new products to share from both of our lines, so it may be a bit of radio silence on the blog as we go into serious production mode in the studio. I'll try and sneak some photos up here as we progress. Let's just say I'm spending a lot of time working with leather.

Holidays in Oakland & SF

Happy 2011, Friends! I am just back from our whirlwind trip to the Bay Area over the holidays. Our trip was filled with many friends, cocktails, adventures, cheese-eating, and shop browsing. I had an epic morning at Flora Grubb, where I got to meet Miss Flora herself, who was quiet kind and friendly.

I also got to meet many new faces, including several wonderful new kids. This is Silas, who is a handful of pure joy. He's growing up in Alaska with my friends Erin and Aaron, who never cease to amaze me. They were traveling down the west coast in a VW camper van, the same kind I grew up with as a kid.

Last month marked the debut of Canoe, our new line of vintage American workwear and accessories. It was a huge hit at the Renegade Holiday show and I was nearly wiped out of everything I brought! Hence the Canoe shop is totally bare right now, but give us a few weeks and we'll have that stocked back up again shortly.

I did live leather tooling for folks at the show who wanted monogrammed ornaments. That was a blast, as I got to hammer away and show folks a bit of how I make my work. Live leather tooling was quite the hit with kids, who love to watch me bang away and make quiet a scene. Many thanks to my neighbors Leah and Jocelyn who put up with the noise!

Stay tuned for some more Canoe updates, as I have some big plans in the works for an event here in Austin in early February! I can't wait to share, as we're planning something really special that will bring in some family and friends to the mix.

Whirlwind weeks

My apologies for going AWOL there, but the last few weeks has been a crazy whirlwird with poor internet service. The *big* news is that we have officially moved into our house!

YES!! 

It's an odd feeling to be living there after so many months of dreaming and planning and working our hands to the bone. It's somewhere between feeling like the project and home.

In between, we've had familiar faces come out to visit, which helped me stay sane. And right now we are getting ready to head back to the Bay Area for one of our favorite shows of the year, the Renegade San Francisco Holiday show.

We can't wait to be back in town to see all our old friends. Mark your calendars for December 18-19th in a new location, the Concourse Exhibition Center East Hall (620 7th street at Brannan), from 11am-7pm. We have some great new Miss Natalie products to share, along with the exciting launch of our new secondary line, Canoe.

Canoe is a collaboration between myself and my talented butcher husband, Ben, of Salt & Time. Aside from renovating a house together, our first year in Texas was filled with shopping adventures where we uncovered an amazing selection of vintage men's clothing--Pendelton's, Woolrich, LL Bean--just to name a few. Canoe's focus is on quality American workwear with a sartorial bent, along with modern leather accessories. It's true, we live in Texas now and own a truck and boots. I'll be posting more sneak peeks on our twitter feed, so follow us to get the latest. See you in San Francisco!

Miss Natalie in Chicago!

After years of traveling with the Renegade craft shows from coast to coast, we're taking it back to where it all began--Chicago! This weekend you'll find us at the Renegade Chicago show happening in Wicker Park. Stop by Saturday and Sunday from 11am-7pm. Our booth will be located on Divison and Honore, near the main stage and food courts.  It's our first time vending in Chicago, so be sure to say hello and check out our latest and greatest.

Summertime

This photo, taken by Lena, makes me happy. Somehow it's almost the end of August and I am dreaming of sweaters and scarves. Not likely for another two months--oh, Texas. Started this week with a milestone birthday and ended with a crazy photoshoot at the butcher shop. Pics to come soon, after I'd edited down the 400 images. The studio is about to get crazy as we prep for Renegade Chicago, which is only 2 short weeks away! I'm looking forward to a trip back to the midwest.

Miss Natalie with Nous Savons and Ciuccio (a fabulous croquet trio!)

Renegade Austin was fabulous, especially thanks to these 2 ladies. Jocelyn of Nous Savons flew down early for the show and we were up to our old shenanigans. To wit, we barged into a run-down haunted house in Uhland, scored free appetizers around town thanks to our meat man (Ben), and went on a wild tubing adventure down the Comal River. Jenny of Ciuccio (and Christina of Heat Press, not pictured) kept us on our toes, as we found less than 2 degrees of separation between all of us (outside of the craft world). So much fun. I'm now on a full-court press to convince Jenny & Christina to move to Austin.

We also met folks we have admired for a while, including Christine of Small Magazine and the lovely Joslyn of Simple Lovely. Both are Dallasites, which means that Dallas got cool when I wasn't looking. Apparently I need to get myself up there soon, maybe for a Dallas Flea? Will keep you posted!

Next up is Renegade Brooklyn! Mark your calendars, New York. I'll be coming to town June 5-6th. Find us at McCarren Park between 11am-7pm selling our wares and dispensing advice. The doctor is in.

Renegade SF Recap

Renegade SF was beyond words--such a wonderful mix of new and old friends, and some fabulously talented vendors. It was, by far, the best group of vendors I've ever shown with. We had a killer corner booth in the center aisle, which we flanked with bunches of red balloons. Whenever I got a chance to sneak away from the booth, I would overhear folks saying, "Yes, meet me over by the red balloons," b/c they were one of the few landmarks in the huge hall. Totally worth the splurge. I'll definitely be using red balloons at future shows in similar spaces.


Thanks to all my wonderful customers who came out to show their support--it means the world to me to meet you all and hear how excited you are about Miss Natalie. We wouldn't be doing what we're doing without you. Also, big thanks to my dear friends who helped me pull off a solo show--Clarissa, Scott, Margaret, Nichole, Jocelyn, and Ben. You all are life savers.

In all the chaos, I forgot to bring my camera, so didn't get many pictures of the other wonderful vendors. During the last day, I was trading goods like a mad woman, and came back with a great set of loot. Will share that in another post--stay tuned!

Renegade SF this weekend!

We're counting down to Renegade San Francisco this weekend! Only a few short days left to prep for our last show this season. Come on by this Saturday and Sunday, between 11am-7pm @ the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. Our corner booth will be in the center aisle, just past the first row of vendors. We'll have lots of goodies, plus some great vintage items for sale as well. Just look for the red balloons and you should be able to find us. See you there!!

Treatzone Portraits + L.A., I'm Yours

Gorgeous new portraits by Treatzone! Available at Renegade San Francisco, July 18th-19th. I love Sandy and Matthew's work. I can't decide which one I want to scoop up, but I know I need to swing by their booth early for these beauties.

Don't forget! This weekend we'll be down in LA for the 1st annual Renegade LA show, July 11-12th, from 11am-7pm at the California Market Center Penthouse. We'll be around the corner from the Reform School booth, so swing by and see us! Can't wait.

Oh Fringe

While I was in New York, my best friend Kathy gave me the best birthday present ever--a haircut at Fringe Salon. Now, if you ever read Bust magazine, you'll recognize Fringe from their killer ads. I've wanted to get a Fringe cut since I was a wee teen, so the prospect of this cut was a dream come true. When I got there, I met the fabulous Amy Schiappa, owner of Fringe, and she and I chatted about the look I wanted. We were perfectly on the same page, which is such a wonderful feeling when you're talking to someone about to wack at your head with scissors. Normally I don't post photos of myself here, but this is by far my favorite haircut ever.

Funny enough, while we were at Renegade, I met an editor from Time Out New York who really liked the 'do. She and I chatted for a bit, and I ended up with this funny bit of press on their weekly Friday "Street Style" section. Icing on the cake to our Renegade weekend. Maybe I should get back to New York more often?

Renegade Brooklyn, Part 2

Renegade Brooklyn, Part 1

All of my luggage is still packed. I am catching up on sleep. I'm still smiling from seeing so many loved ones and meeting new faces. And the pizza. Oh, the pizza. Many more photos to come.