I apparently need to start reading this site again. The site has a few interesting posts about selling your designs.

I will be adding this to my daily reading list.

In researching beads for my friend Mar, I realized I hadn't listed my favorite bead suppliers here before.

Living in LA has some definite fringe benefits for us crafty people - one of them being the plethora of jewelry suppliers in the Jewelry District in downtown. One of my favorite finding stores is located in this area as well. Luckily, if you don't live in LA like me, you can order online from Bella Findings.

My favorite online suppliers are Art beads and probably the most famous e-tailer of beading and jewelry supplies, Fire Mountain Gems.

She's probably going to kill me for that photo up above - but isn't she pretty?!?!?!?! Mar is one of those ladies that I show my work to before I show anyone else. We used to work together on the same team and we started talking creative stuff about two years ago when she was prepping for her wedding.

I love her dearly, she's a great friend.

I found this through True up again...

Daisy Jane talks a little about her design process and shows off a few color variations of her design. pictured below. (I've copied the image from her site only to avoid bandwidth thievery)



Check out her other blog, Scoutiegirl, too.

I'm sure this has already made most of the big blogs already, but I thought this would be fun to post.

Creating Plaids for PhotoShop

And just because I have an Irish/Celt/English background does not automatically mean I like plaid... I'm REALLY picky about plaid and don't generally like the patterns. I do like Black Watch and the Cunningham family tartan (Convenient because my husband's tartan is similar to a combo of both).

What's a design need that not being met?

I have a tendency to create floral or swirly designs, but what else can I do? I want to stretch my drawing skills...

I'm thinking architectural and home/everyday objects are what I might start with. I took tons of photos of architecture on my last few trips and it's what I like to photograph at a non-macro scale.

On the macro scale, I've been taking pictures of textures which I want to use as design inspiration as well.

I found a fabric similar to the one I spotted in Japan. It's by Alexander Henry called "Perfect Pattern."

Found via True UP

Kingdom of Style is one of my favorite fashion blogs. The Queens are witty and funny mixing DIY and high fashion in a fun combination.


Kingdom of Style

I think I like them so much because they aren't as crazily unviewable as most fashion sites. User Interface design is not what Fashion people excel at and they should all fire their web designers to start all over again.

I really believe that fashion sites are why the technorati are all up in arms about all flash sites (that and all the accessibility issues - that aren't really a problem if you do it right).

Not sure why I have posted these links before but here are a few of the sites created by my fellow Los Angeleans:

L.A. Is My Beat - knitting, crochet and general cool LA stuff.
Miriam Dema - Prints and other Cool LA stuff
Sommer Designs - crafty business and great product photos
Paper Olive - my buddy and paper goddess.

Not really - but people's status are revealing their true politics.

If you're not into american politics skip down to the next post - if you are, keep reading.

The republican national convention is going on this week and after Palin's speech last night Facebook has gone CRAZY.

Let me just start by saying, I'm not a member of any political party. I agree most closely with the libertarians philosophy but the actual libertarians are a bunch of idiots.

I didn't support Hilary Clinton - too much baggage from when she was the First Lady and I have a problem with women who use their husband's positions to get themselves power. You want power? Go get it yourself. I feel like she set back woman's rights and standing in the human race back about 50 years. CRYING?!?!? wtf, seriously, if you want to prove yourself a strong person, don't cry in public, much less on national television.

Sarah Palin makes me ill - she is a move on the part of the republicans to get the Hilary voters, which is stupid because Palin stands for everything that Hilary supporters don't. I have a problem with her stand on abortion and a problem with her even being associated with a state separatist movement. She was nasty and mean and dishonest and lied about a lot of what the democrats stand for.

How can the republicans get up on stage and say that they want to reform the government? The government that they have controlled for almost the past 8 years. How can they get up on stage and lie? How can they trot out McCain the war hero when their last president dodged the draft by joining the reserves and NEVER SHOWING UP?

Simple - they think we are all stupid.

* I won't vote for Palin simply because she has a uterus, mamory glands, and has physical proof that she knows how to use them.
* I won't vote for the same people who have been in power for the last 8 years because I believe that the country is not in as good a shape as it was 8 years ago.
* I won't vote for McCain because HE HELPED START A WAR!
* I won't vote for McCain because his party has slowly chipped away at my rights and freedoms over the last few years using the war and terrorists as their excuse.


The democrats on the other hand have nominated someone who is more like the average american and someone who has a clear vision of how to make this country a better place.

* I will vote for Obama because he shares the beliefs I do on abortion.
* I will vote for Obama because he has campaigned honorably.
* I will vote for Obama because his vision of America is the America that I want to live in.


Frankly, if McCain wins, I will be embarrassed to be an American.

I think I know how I may have missed these people:

tinlark gallery

They are in the Cross Roads of the World center on Sunset. It's hard to see what's in there and I always assumed that it was just a small group of offices with a fancy name and decor.