WANELO

Are you on WANELO yet?  WANELO is an online product catalog similar to Pinterest, but specifically for products that are available for sale.  Open Sky is another similar curated shopping site that allows you to follow celebrity or expert shopping recommendations.  They even have a visual survey to help you narrow down who to follow.  WANELO on the other hand allows you to follow stores, popular WANELO people and your Facebook friends.  The name WANELO is derived from the words WAnt, NEed and LOve.  Just like Pinterest, they have a browser bookmarklet that can be easily dragged and dropped right onto your browser page.  They also have iPad and iPhone apps making it easy for you to post on the go.  If you are an online shop owner, you can also add buttons to your product pages.  

Check out my WANELO page and follow me if you like...

Leslie Janson - Repurposed Ornament Collection

The lovely Leslie Janson curated a wonderful collection of repurposed ornaments on her blog yesterday and... included my "twenty 12" ornament collection!  Make sure to visit her blog to see the whole selection and pop over to her Etsy shop to see her beautiful repurposed Home Goods and Jewelry including this piece below:

Leslie Janson

Daily Favorite + Free Shipping

Simply June is featured as a Daily Favorite on Papernstitch today!  So, to celebrate I am offering free shipping on any item in my shop.  Enter "PNSFREESHIP" at checkout and enjoy!

Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sale!!!

Make sure to pop over to visit the SimplyJune shop for a VERY special sale!  I am offering 30% off EVERYTHING in the shop from Friday 11/23 - Monday 11/26.  This is a lovely time to purchase your holiday gifts as well as a little something for yourself!

Enter "BLACKFRI2012" at checkout...

2012 Simply June Ornament Collection

The Simply June 2012 Ornament Collection is now up in the shop... These are made with carefully collected vintage tins - are hand embroidered and decorated with imported German Glass glitter... so I have a very limited run of this collection - grab yours over in the shop now! :)

Hand Embroidered Repurposed Vintage Lockets

These lovelies are back in the shop.  Each locket is unique and inspired by these beautiful vintage brass lockets that I discovered.  Their naturally aged patina creates an immediate connection to the past.  The asymmetrical design draws a line to the present.  Enclose your special photographs for a treasure that will last forever...  

Scalloped Wrist Warmers with Embroidered Buttons

The week after a big craft show, I usually treat myself to a new non-work craft project.  It helps me clear my head and renew my creativity after being in production mode for so long.

On my weekly jaunts to my local library, I had been eyeing the beautiful patterns in this book.  With a Nor'easter blowing through town, these woolen wrist warmers seemed like the perfect project to delve into.  My crochet skills are a bit so so - mostly because of my inability to follow the gauge of a pattern.  But for what I lack in skill, I tend to make up in ingenuity.  So, if you happen to pick up a copy of the aforementioned book don't be surprised that my wrist warmers only slightly resemble theirs.  

To make these I used Martha Stewart's Extra Soft Wool Blend in Gray Pearl.  They are super soft and warm and I sewed on some hand embroidered buttons that I made as an extra little detail to finish them off.  

Photo by Kolya Grant

Etsy Gift Cards

Did you know that you can buy Etsy Gift Cards?  What a brilliant gift!  They can be sent by e-mail making them perfect gifts for friends and family living far away.  You can also print them out and bring them to a celebration as a last minute gift.  

So, just in time for your holiday shopping... Simply June is now accepting Etsy gift cards!  

QR Code Embroidery

I love browsing image rich websites such as Pinterest and Craftgawker to see what others are doing with embroidery.  The possibilities are endless and are really only limited by our imaginations.  It is exciting to see where each artist's creativity and aesthetic takes them.  

I recently came across the work of artist and crafter Kathy Lewinski on Craftgawker.  (You can learn more about her and her work on her website Just Crafty Enough).  A while back Kathy participated in  QR-3D, an exhibit in Manchester, UK featuring textile QR codes.  QR codes are typically 2D images similar to a bar code and are usually designed in a black and white square pattern.  You can create a QR code for anything from a website address to your alpha numeric contact information using code generators such as KAYWA and QR Stuff.  Once you have created a QR code, you can apply it to just about any online and print media.  Users can then scan the code using a scanning application on their mobile phone and link directly to the website or information you provided.  

The uses of QR codes are fairly endless and that is exactly what inspired the QR-3D exhibit.  This exhibit challenged textile artists to see if textile versions of QR codes could work.  Submissions included media from knitting to quilting and everything in-between.  Kathy's piece "Lullaby Pillowcase" was embroidered using a backstitch outline and french knots.  I eagerly took out my iPhone and scanned the code to hear Brahm's Lullaby.  Brilliant!  I'm inspired by the idea of traditional handcraft meeting modern technology.  You can read more about Kathy's project and see more photographs here.  

photography by Kathy Lewinski

photography by Kathy Lewinski

Instagram Profile Pages

Instagram has just launched their new profile pages!  They are slowly converting the accounts to this new format over the next week or so.  So, just type in http://instagram.com/[username] to see if yours is ready.  While you are at it, pop over to mine and start following me... I'll make sure to follow you back!

Little Man Silhouette

This little man is looking quite dapper in his suit, tie and newsboy cap.  His name is Jr. and his sister June is also in the shop ... make sure to pay them a visit!  They will also be over at Papernstitch until November 18th.  Make sure to enter the code "PNSfreeship" for FREE SHIPPING at checkout.  

Northampton Rocks

The final TWIST was a great show... a huge thank you to Lexie Barnes and her team who always organize an amazing weekend and another huge thank you to all of you who came out and made TWIST a success.  I love the opportunity to meet so many like minded artists and lovers of art and handmade wares.  There is nothing better than the feeling one gets when someone falls in love with something you have made or really gets the inspiration behind your work.  Northampton... you bring that in spades!  

My other favorite part of doing a show is SHOPPING!   Here are a few of my finds at TWIST... make sure to check these artists out!

The Rise and Fall - LOVE their screen printed designs!  This fox had to come home with me and he is now happily curled up on my bed taking a nap.  

elle.paisley - Artist Lisa Scrivner creates the most amazing steampunk jewelry using "vintage watch movements and clockwork, brass, antiqued silver, victorian and elizabethean stampings and castings, turn of the century decorative hardware and special charms & adornments."  I was especially drawn to this bracelet made from a vintage watch whose innards had been repurposed and replaced with a vintage butterfly stamp. Please don't ask me the time! 

storied eye - Artist Deb Noyes creates incredible photographic pieces.  Her imagination and the little worlds she creates reach out from her prints.  I was immediately drawn to her work and wish I could step right in to one of her worlds.  This lovely piece came home with me!

bright lights little city - Artist Heather Wells creates a whole variety of unique and vintage inspired work.  Her vintage glass photographic negatives caught my eye and this gal had to mine.  I love how the light plays with the image from different angles and for some reason her striped skirt reminds me of a birdcage.  

TWIST

If you are in the Northampton, MA area this weekend, make sure to stop by and visit Simply June at TWIST!  

Friday Nov 2, 2012
5 pm - 6 pm VIP Reception*
6 pm - 9 pm 

Saturday Nov 3, 2012 
10 am - 6 pm

Admission
Adults $4.00
Kids (6-12) $2.00

5 and under FREE

Northampton Center for the Arts*
17 New South Street 
Northampton, MA USA

Twist is an exciting craft and art show created and curated by designers Lexie Barnes and  Cory Barnes.   Founded in 2008, Twist is held twice a year (May and November) in Northampton, MA. The show features a multitude of talented and unique vendors, a groovy DJ, entertainment, and refreshments in a fun and lively festival atmosphere.  

Jackalope Silhouette

I've been really drawn to silhouette work lately.  I have my own little collection of paper family silhouettes  and I am absolutely in love with these stitched ones.  I thought I would add a dash of humor to the collection with this cheeky little jackalope silhouette.  It was awfully nice of him to sit still for his portrait!

Little Lady Silhouette

This little lady is hand stitched in black thread and I love her striped hair bow and lacy capped sleeves.  She is framed in a repurposed vintage metal frame and I added a bit of scalloped trim.  I'm absolutely in love with this piece and tempted to add her to my silhouette collection... but lucky you she's in the shop! 

Harmonia conformis

This little ladybird (classification: Harmonia conformis) is the latest in my series of entomology displays in vintage tins.  I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to real insects so these little specimens are the perfect addition to my collection of curiosities.  

Visit this gal in the shop...

Interesting Vice

" I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores."  - Moliere

I stumbled along this quote a while back and love that this bit of wit is just as relatable today as it when it was penned by Moliere in the 1600's.  When I came across this kitschy gal I knew they had to be paired together.  I wonder what her vice is?  

Papernstitch

Pop over to Papernstitch for a visit where I am currently exhibiting my work... and if you place an order, I'm currently offering a coupon for FREE SHIPPING!  Enjoy!

If you haven't visited Papernstitch before, it is a lovely curated online shop featuring hand-picked artists and I feel really honored to be among them!  

Bookmark Business Cards

A while back I did a photo shoot featuring some of my current designs.  I wanted to communicate my aesthetic and sense of style.  I wanted to share with you how I see the world and how I connect with the objects I surround myself with.  I wanted to be able to look at the images I captured and connect with them.  

I have a favorite store that I frequent.  When I walk through the doors I am immediately transported into another world.  I feel connected and at home there.  I wander through the displays and experience the different colors and textures.  I'm inspired.  I connect with the items and the way they are presented to me.  It can be a challenge to give my customers this sense of connection when they can't hold my designs in their hands or experience my process.  I hope that these photographs can bridge that gap and tell that story.  

My new website features these photographs, but now I want to share with you my new bookmark business cards that tell the same story and even have a nifty spot to record your "must reads" or clever thoughts on the back.  I'll pop a couple of these in with each order.  Enjoy!

Type

I love vintage typewriters.   I own a black Remington that hangs on my kitchen wall in a vignette coupled with some black and white photography I took of the same piece.  I'm drawn to the contrast of the black letters and numbers on white keys  as well as the sleek style of such a utilitarian piece.  I love the clack of the keys and the zip of the platen as you return to the next line.  It seems that words typed on a typewriter have so much more soul than those tapped out on my laptop.  Of course technology evolves and I'm thankful to be writing to you on my MacBook.  So, in a nod to the past I've created a pendant necklace with a typewritten font.  Enjoy!