introverted monster sells crafts

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 ~ TRISTA ~ 1 Comment

It’s craft-show season for me at Carrot Condo! The next one is: Llewellyn Holiday Market on Saturday, November 10th from 10am-5pm at 6301 SE 14th Avenue in Portland.

Image result for llewellyn holiday market

Then, on Saturday, December 1, from 10am-3pm I’ll be at the Lewis Holiday Bazaar and Tree Sale at 4401 SE Evergreen Street in Portland.

Image result for lewis holiday bazaar

Last weekend’s bazaar at All Saints in NE Portland was great!

I sold a lot of Carrot Condo creations–the tweet-sized stationery is going fast!! (See previous blog post.)

Friends stopped by, and I caught up with a bunch of lovely folks I wish I got to see more often. Hearing about career changes, new puppies, creative projects, and so much more was so inspiring!

I met new customers–one is named Trista! We’re about the same age, and we both said we’ve only known two other Tristas in our lives, so we’re each other’s third Trista. That was pretty cool.

And a man in his late 70s or very early 80s stopped by and admired my biking monsters (I have some framed originals as well as this card). monster on bike My illustrations sparked some memories for him, and he told me about “The Vegetable Man” that came through his neighborhood with a cart and mule when he was a child. The gentleman remembered the vegetable seller’s name and admired his Italian accent as his mother negotiated prices each week. I can tell you this for sure: when I drew my goofy, but determined, biking monsters, I did not expect them to deliver such great stories!

These craft bazaars can be a long day for a quiet introvert like me, but I am grateful for the chance to catch up with friends and meet such lovely new customers and fellow vendors.

I’ll hope to see you on November 10 or December 1st! Thank you, as always, for your interest in Carrot Condo and my creative work.

color owl card

b&w owl card you can color

tweet-size stationery: hoot hoot!

October 5, 2018October 4, 2018 ~ TRISTA ~ 5 Comments

A collection of empty Altoid tins inspired the most painstaking and rewarding project I’ve made yet: tweet-sized stationery. These tins are too sturdy and useful to send straight to recycling, so how could I re-purpose them?

I attended a meeting of the PDX Correspondence Coop, a group of people who gather every month to revere vintage typewriters, postage stamps, and old-fashioned letter writing. A co-op member demonstrated how to make tiny envelopes. —-Bing! The idea came together in my head but took weeks to figure out.

I did the whole thing analog, meaning: all by hand with a wooden ruler, measuring and testing and folding until it fit perfectly. Then, I took my drawings to the printer, then I hand cut every single page of stationery and envelope, THEN folded and glued.

I also painted the tins, cut out tiny pieces of felt, and patiently glued them to the top of each tin. One fun fact: visiting the “googly eye” section of a craft store is great fun. I turned the corner, saw the dozens of different sized and colored eyeballs staring back at me and started laughing so hard I could not stop. Definite pick-me-up.

These tiny owls leave you just enough room for messages that get straight to the heart of the matter, like: “I hope you have a good day. I love you. –Mom” or a haiku!

I’ve got these in my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/CarrotCondo: 12 sheets of stationery all with different owls, and 6 self-sealing envelopes also with different owls, that fit inside the re-purposed Altoid tin. They cost $18.50 plus shipping.

If you like these, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I have at least one more design in mind (monsters, of course), but I’m not yet ready to commit the time and energy. So in the meantime, I’m taking notes on anything I’d do differently. Ironically, I may not make the tins again. Still deciding.

Thank you, as always, for your interest in my creative endeavors! I’ll be in some craft shows soon and would love to see some of you PDX folks in person. More about that next month.

–TRISTA

What would you do for 100 days?

September 4, 2018September 4, 2018 ~ TRISTA ~ 2 Comments

Sometimes, I am most successful when I *think* the least. In April, I committed to completing an illustration every day and sharing it on social media for 100 days straight.

I plodded through my usual task-filled days, but all the while, I drew with little time to think about it other than “get it done.”

Before I knew it, 100 days were over, and I am only now making time to reflect.

This is me cheering myself on–the most valuable skill I gained from #the100dayproject.

In short? I learned much more than I realized as I was doing it. I discovered:

—if I did my drawing in the morning, a feeling of accomplishment followed me throughout the rest of the day, making everything else, even completely unrelated tasks, feel easier.

—completing the daily challenge at night felt much harder, and I almost always disliked the result. BUT…

—done is better than perfect. It really and truly is. Repeat that: done is better than perfect.

—but also, Carrot Condo followers gave me much support and frequently liked an illustration I’d found unsatisfying. I learned that just because I feel bad about something doesn’t mean it is bad. Set it aside for a day or two and then assess.

These lessons apply to most anything, not just creative work. Something else I do every day is make meals for my little family: breakfast-lunch-dinner day in and day out. One night, I lamented that I wasn’t making anything particularly good. Supportive soulmate said, “ It’s fine.” Kiddo sits down to the table, takes a couple of bites, looks up at me: “Mommy? Is this dinner?”

Done is better than perfect. Done is better than perfect. Done is better than perfect.

Thanks to this challenge, I now have 100 illustrations I would not have otherwise. The pressure of daily practice forced me to try new things and follow through whether I loved it or not. The challenge out-paced perfectionism.

The cake my friend gave me to celebrate completing 100 days!

You can see all 100 illustrations at: #100daysofcheer, and you can still comment to let me know what you think. You’ll certainly be seeing variations of some of these at craft shows this winter. More on that next month.

Thank you for your interest in my work at Carrot Condo. Your support keeps me motivated!

—TRISTA

monsters lost: love found

March 15, 2018March 15, 2018 ~ TRISTA ~ 3 Comments

It worked out to tie finger-puppet monsters to my Valentine’s Day cards for my kiddo’s class:

We had two left over that we raced in little cars after breakfast Valentine’s Day morning. The cars’ license plates said: “B.YOU” and “JUSTB.” Good Valentine’s Day messages, which made us think of “Our Person” at the gas station.

First, you must know that in Oregon, we are not allowed to pump our own gas. You pull up to a gas station, roll down your window, and wait for an attendant to help you. I’ve never liked this process, but a few years ago, we started going to the same gas station because of one particular attendant.

She’s petite with naturally wavy graying hair, and seems shy until she smiles. Her smile says a lot, full of genuine care and attention. Because I didn’t know her name, I started calling her “Our Person,” and now, if she’s ever not there, my kiddo laments with true concern, “Where’s Our Person?”

Racing cheerful monsters in even more cheerful cars made us think of her, so the kiddo colored my “It’s fun to share with a friend” card in vivid pink for her, and we attached it to a chocolate bar. On our way out the door, the kiddo insisted on bringing his two finger-puppet monsters by stowing them away in the hood of his coat. I figured he wanted to show them to our friend.

At the station, we hopped out of the car (we didn’t need gas), found our attendant, and gave her the treat. She appreciated the surprise and took time to admire the enthusiastic coloring. As we left, the kiddo realized his finger puppets were gone. We looked everywhere and decided they must have fallen out at home on the porch. When we got home hours later, the kiddo glanced around the porch but didn’t ask about the missing monsters. I decided I’d better not bring them up.

Two full weeks later, we pull up for gas. It’s crowded and someone else helps us, but through the mash of cars, “Our Person” glides over, says something to the other attendant who moves away, and there she is, smiling in our window. We chat, and then she says:

“Oh, I almost forgot. I have something that is yours. I’ve been putting it in my pocket each day in case you stop by.”

And out she pulls the two finger-puppet monsters! There they are, waving their sinewy arms excitedly. I notice a smudge of black on each of them and realize they must have fallen out of the car right under a tire, and, well…I probably drove right over them as we left the gas station.

The kiddo and I are both thrilled, but what he’s too young to ponder is this: Every day, for two weeks, “Our Person” has been putting the little monsters in the pocket of whatever pants she wears that day, pulling them out at the end of the day, and putting them in the next day’s pocket, just to be sure she has them ready for when we stop by.

It’s a small gesture that says so much about attention, kindness, care, and concern for others.

Her thoughtfulness and deliberate kindness fuels my hope in humanity as a whole. I’ve never liked Valentine’s Day, but for this year it turned out to be a good chance to celebrate friendship and kindness and to appreciate people for who they are. JUST B.YOU

monster love

January 26, 2018January 25, 2018 ~ TRISTA ~ 1 Comment

Hello and happy Valentine’s Day! My monsters want to wish you a light-hearted and colorful day because sometimes Valentine’s Day is just too much pressure.

Colored for you and some to color yourself!

Color these creatures however you wish (or get them already colored by yours truly). Attach a piece of candy, sticker, poem or joke, and show your friends some love.

You can also use the backside as a postcard:

Turn it into a postcard. (Our local post office confirms they’re the right size and weight for a postcard stamp.)

My family plans to color these ourselves and tie on a finger-puppet-monster for each kiddo. I think I can punch two holes in a corner, push some yarn through, and tie on the finger-puppet. I’ll share a pic in Instagram once I’ve got it figured out.

Happy day of love!! Or…if you want to be really cool…tell everyone, “Happy Oregon’s Birthday!” because my state’s birthday is also February 14th. I know, some might say that’s more nerd than cool, but not me.

the deep satisfaction of snail mail

December 19, 2017December 18, 2017 ~ TRISTA ~ 4 Comments

One of my favorite projects at Carrot Condo right now is my Customized Letters: two handwritten pages, both illustrated, and tucked into an envelope (also illustrated) and mailed once a month for five months.

So far, most of the letters have been purchased as a gift to someone. The customer tells me a little about the recipient: they like coffee, their non-profit work keeps them busy, they love books and the beach. Then, I write.

The recipient receives cheerful, fun mail each month and an excuse to put their feet up and read for a few minutes. No need to write back. All the fun of a pen pal without any of the obligation.

What is not so simple to describe is how deeply satisfying these letters are for me to create. I have a real audience to write to (not a vaguely imagined editor), a real purpose (letter due February 5th), a prompt (he loves dogs), and a length limit. And, once the letter is created, I send it off. It’s not tucked away on a shelf or on my hard drive waiting around for a place and purpose.

Sometimes the illustration inspires what I write; sometimes the other way around, but the process always begins with looking at the recipient’s name, reviewing what I know about them, and just thinking about them for a few minutes before I start.

And except for one subscriber, I’ve never met any of the people I’m writing to.

A 70-year-old man named Tim Johnson recently wrote and mailed 108 handwritten letters in 108 days. He’s the first to come close to describing my experience (and I read four books about letter-writing before putting Customized Letters in my Etsy shop).

He says a lot of great things, but this was spot-on: “these letters demand more time, thought and effort than the typical email, but my reward is a sense of creative satisfaction as I come up with a soliloquy custom-made for a particular person.”

Creative satisfaction, yes. And because each letter is unique and shared only with that recipient (the most anyone else sees are the pictures here), I don’t draw the same thing or tell the same story more than once, which gives me a rewarding creative challenge.

Fascinating how such a simple thing, a handwritten letter, can be so fulfilling. If you want to give it a try, egg press organizes a letter-writing challenge called write_on every April. Keep an eye on egg press’s blog for details. Taking part last year is what inspired my Customized Letters, and I plan to take part again this year.

Perhaps this Customized Letter project is only beginning …

Happy writing! (And, as always, thank you for reading and for your interest in Carrot Condo; I’m so glad you’re out there!)

last craft sale of 2017 & snail mail?

November 28, 2017 ~ TRISTA ~ Leave a comment

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving weekend. We sure did, but I’m kind of exhausted from all the eating and merry-making. Back to working! Speaking of which, I had an incredible time at the Llewellyn sale a couple of weekends ago. I met three more amazing artists, and went home with a print one of them gave to me.

This Saturday, December 2nd is the Lewis Holiday Bazaar and Tree Sale, 10am-3pm, at 4401 SE Evergreen Street in PDX.

One thing that’s difficult to show at these sales is my Customized Letters. Since they’re all personal letters, I don’t share them, just snippets (like below … I’m thrilled about these snails and slugs and very surprised to be so excited about snails and slugs!)

Version 2

One customer thought I wrote letters on behalf of someone else. Like, rather than being from me, written by me, signed by me, I’d write it as if I were the recipient’s friend and sign it, “love Joelle” or whatever. This made me think, maybe I ought to change their name. Maybe call it: Snail Mail Subscription…?

Well, it’s a fun challenge to have. These Customized Letters/Snail Mail Subscriptions are the most time-consuming product I have, but incredibly satisfying work!

Perhaps I’ll see some of you Saturday!