Featured artist: VinK

I came across today's featured artist a few weeks ago as I was lost in the blogosphere. VinK is a true graphic artist who designs printable designs for paper, fabric artwork embellishment, papercrafting items as well as items for collage art. Once you've finished our interview, I'm sure you'll agree her art is fabulous! Her blog is here.
Q. Tell me a little about yourself:
My name is VinK ( aka Vinca Kumala ), I am a friend, a dreamer and a living mind. in daily, I work as a freelance illustrator - full time artist and as a designer for my "design by VinK" shop. I am Indonesian and I love creativity. I always see many artist and designer around the world can survive and live by their creation and artwork, So I wanna fulfill my dream as well and dig out the creativity in me.:)

Q. When did you first start desiging?
I've been designing since I was in the college and I also worked as a graphic designer several years ago. The first time I started to made my own design and open my shop was in May 2008, so I was a newbie in this business.
Q. Please describe your art in detail.
My design in "vink" shop is colorful, a little whimsy, cute, simply, fun to see and enjoy. Children-colour always been my concept in design, bright and cheerful. I also love to create floral images / pattern. I sketch by my own hand and design it in digital.

Q. How has your work evolved from your earlier work?
I love to explore my design and style through the ideas I find. My designs have evolved from my earlier work according to the concept I use in my designs.

Q. Where do you get your inspiration?
There are many aspects of inspiration. My inspiration could come from another artist, movie, music, person, book, dream, and more, but doodling is always the best part to explore a new idea for me.
Q. Where are your products sold?
At the moment I have my etsy shop and just started to open my t-shirt and merchandise shop at Zazzle and at VinK at Etsy

Q. What advice can you give other artists/crafters when selling their items?
I'm still a newbie in this business but I'll try my best to share anything I know.
Something that always be in myself when I start my own bussines are..
- Believing in yourself, in what you do and your work. If you have beliefs in yourself you won't stop trying. We never start anything to be failure, but to be success.
- Patience and perseverance.
- Never stop learning and always promoting
- Tolerance, forgiving and be friendly, because we will meet many people from different backgrounds and character.
- Be Creative :)

Q. Describe yourself in three words:
dreamer, unpredictable, cheerful
Q. Is there is anything else you'd like to share with us?
visit my design shop at : VinK at Etsy. You will find printable designs items for embellishment/die cut art project/papercrafting. At the moment I don't have freebies to share, but I'm planning to create a freebie printable coloring pages/papercraft for kids for personal use or charity program. So if you have any chance don't forget to stopping by my blog.

Also visit Million Minds , another part of illustration by VinK :)

Out of the Box Sampler: Out of this world!

For those of you who love handmade samplers, you must check out the Out of the Box Sampler. For those of you who don't know about the Out of the Box Sampler, I highly recommend you checking them out immediately! You can also find their blog here.

This year was my first year to learn about handmade samplers. I'm not only an artist who has donated samples to various samplers, but I'm also completely addicted to buying the samplers. I'm also a sucker for anything that smells or tastes good and the November Out of the Box Sampler had both gourmet cookies and lots of soaps and lotions that smelled really good.
Here are a few of the items that were included in the Out of the Box Sampler for November:

A great sample wax tart by Ugly Duckling Designs


Some tea samples from SBS Teas

Some chocolate covered Oreos from Twist of Taste. These are really yummy!

A bunch of really great samples from Skin Candy. They have the most amazing Cinnabun and buttercream frosting scented body butter and a rootbeer float scented shea butter lotion!


Each sampler comes with approximately 17-20 samples (at least mine did). The December Out of the Box Sampler goes on sale soon. Be sure to bookmark both the Out of the Box Sampler site and blog for additional details. December's boxes will have my vintage button rings from Mattie Reid Chicago.

Art League of Houston Gala, Jewelry, greeting cards, holiday orders, Thanksgiving, selling Lone Star Vintage Clothing: Goodness!

I'm usually really good about posting to my blog every day or every few days however, I've been super busy this week. This post is going to seem like an eternity!

Last Saturday, my friend Will's parents, Ann and James "Jim" Harathas, were honored by the Art League of Houston.

Click on this photo for additional information about the gala:

Here are some pics of us at the gala:



The gala was nice. Mayor Bill White of Houston was present and spoke to everyone about how important it is to support the arts in Houston. Yada, yada, yada! Of course art is important! It's everywhere! What would the world be without a bunch of crazy artists? I'm one of them!

My friend Sophia has ordered quite a few holiday gifts from me as well as some holiday cards. Here are a few of the items I made for her:




The photo's above are only a few of the things I made for her. I actually made her a total of 20 handmade holiday cards and 4 additional hand embroidered children's garments. She's also in a family grab bag for Christmas (she's Jewish however, has gotten sucked into a family grab bag for Christmas) and the spending limit is $50. She told the person who drew her name that she wanted more cards. They contacted me last week and are going to place an order for her. Yay! I love making the cards. I'm going to make the next batch of cards cutsy, all purpose cards.

I also made this cute little felted cuff bracelet. I purchased the felt body at an estate sale. I'm not quite sure what it used to be, but I immediately saw beauty in the item and just knew I could make something with it. The body is made of black felt and there are copper grommets on the outer edge. I added a piece of black velvet for a strap as well as a clasp.



I'm keeping this one for myself and I have one additional piece that I will make to sell. If anyone is interested, I will sell the additional felted cuff for $20. I'll add it to my site within the next few days.

Thanksgiving was good. I invited people over for dinner because everyone already had lunch plans. I made a ton of food and by the time everyone came over, they were so stuffed from lunch. I didn't take any photo's of the food, but everything turned out so yummy! I made a turkey with a basil/rosemary butter paste, ginger and nutmeg smashed sweet potatoes, bleu cheese mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade cranberry/apple/walnut sauce, stuffing with roasted chestnuts/celery/apples, deviled eggs, stuffed celery and two pumpkin pies. I took the pies up to Justin's work today because I'll eat them if they're here and that would be no bueno!

Lastly, several weeks ago I posted that I was selling my vintage clothing business. I was going to try to sell off my entire inventory to one person however, I don't see that happening. I'm open to selling the pieces off individually or in lots. If anyone is interested in getting some great vintage for a steal, let me know.

Featured artist: Krazy Fashion

Today's featured artist makes absolutely adorable totes, wallets and jewelry. Brittany Torres is the designer behind Krazy Fashion. I highly recommend visiting her store because her stuff is really cute! Here's her blog.

Q: Tell me a little about yourself.

A: Well I am a designer and creator. I love to sew and create patterns. This is my passion and I enjoy it very much. I currently live in Florida but I am looking for a change. I have lived here pretty much all of my life. I am dying to leave or move away from the busiest part of Florida which is Central Florida, where all the crime and bad drivers are. Lol, I know it will happen soon at some point.

Q: When did you first start crafting?

A: I first started crafting when I was very young. I learned a lot from my grand mother. She was the creative one in the family and it rubbed off big time.
I was always drawing and writing before I started sewing and designing. I started sewing my sophomore year of high school and I have learned a lot as well as taught myself a lot. You develop your own technique either way.
Q: Please describe your art in detail. What's your favorite type of crafting/art?

A: I get inspired I get inspired by fabrics, colors, shapes, etc. If I see something someone has made, I try to figure out a way to make it my own and manipulate it into something I can call my own. My favorite part of my crafting would probably be selecting the fabric to work with then drawing the pattern up. However, I LOVE seeing the final product.

Q: How has your work evolved from your earlier work?

A: My work has evolved quite drastically actually. I came from learning how to make a simple square pillow to knowing how to make more intricate items like wallets, purses, etc. I've taught myself a lot and learned some really cool tricks.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration?

A: I get inspiration from a lot of different things. I love straight clean lines.
I get a lot of inspiration from Etsy. I love colors, patterns and items that stand out.

Q: Where are your products sold?

A: My items are sold (solely) on Etsy at the moment. I am looking to create my own website at some point. That way, I'll feel more professional and established as a business.
Q: What advice can you give other crafters when selling their items?

A: I would say use all 14 of your tags. Take clean clear pictures. Use natural light and never use a flash from a camera. List often, take yourself seriously and never doubt yourself.

Q:Describe yourself in three words.

A: smart, easy-going, thoughtful

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

A: Shop hand made at Krazy Fashion! Take care everyone! =)

Winner of the vintage fabric blog giveaway

I just selected a number for my vintage fabric giveway at
Random.org. The following is the winning number:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

14 Timestamp: 2008-11-23 05:52:54 UTC

Congratulations to Yoga with Gaileee! Thank you for entering my blog giveaway! Please contact me with your address info (I've already sent you a message).

Thank you to everyone else who participated!