Crafty Wonderland!

I was struttin' my stuff at Crafty Wonderland in Portland, OR and I didn't even know it! My dear friend Eli snapped this photo of the Tinymeat set up for me, because she rules. Know this. I am so thrilled to see my work sitting right next to Emily Martin's! Woo Hoo!
I do not participate in many craft fairs unfortunately. Between the day job and running Model Citizen I don't have a lot of time. On top of that there are just so many to keep track of! Thank heavens for sites like Indie Craft Shows Dot Com and Taryn Hipp's Indie Craft Fair Guide. If it is crafty and happening on this planet you will find all the info you need on one of these two site. Incredible amounts of information! Color me seriously overwhelmed.
In 2009 I hope to do more shows, be a bit more free, travel more... If you are in Austin and would like to travel out of town for another show but feel that you can't afford the travel expenses and booth fee's then you should hit me up, maybe we could go together, split the booth, gas cost, all that stuff! What better way to make friends?

Dreams do come true

All my wanting and needing paid off. I am now the proud owner of one super cute pink soprano ukulele! My mister got it for my birthday, because he's the greatest human on the planet! He of course is incredibly excited because this means that we can finally start our band. Well, after I learn to play it we can start our band. Which could take a while. I spent most of my evening trying to tune it... only to make it *you guessed it* more out of tune. I will not let this deter me though. I can figure this out.
There are some pretty big plans for this tiny pink thing. So many covers to come! Currently "Making Whoopy" is at the top of my list. Old Blue Eyes is a good place to start right?
As always, I will keep you posted on the progress made.

You look like a monkey and you smell like one too!

Today I am 27 years old. While I was doing a little reflecting on where I've been these past few decades I stumbled upon this picture of me that I estimate to be about 20 years old. I'm climbing the tree in my parents front yard and yes, I am supposed to be dressed as Jem. That's who I wanted to be when I grew up. That didn't really pan out, but it's for the best. She had a lot of drama in her life. I am happy to report that my life is drama free. Looking at this picture I am reminded of how quickly I wanted to grow up and how far away I wanted to get from Dallas and Texas in general. Which I made happen. Long pointless road trips designed to "find myself" & moving thousands of miles away from home at the drop of a hat. All of those escape plans to end right here in Austin, Texas - the exact center of the state. Where I've never been happier. I'm proud to report that I am not so different from the little girl in the tree. Roller skating will always and forever sound like the best idea. Cleaning my room will never be top priority. I'm still boy crazy, just a bit more focused these days. I'm no better at math than I was then. I still give people the benefit of the doubt even when they no longer deserve it... Maybe the big differences are that I had better shoes then and more sleep overs to look forward to. Oh and boobs. I really wanted boobs back then and I now I have them. Go me!

So, I'm about to head off to the office, but in celebration of my birthday all orders placed today will be shipped with a little surprise that you can't buy in the shop. A little handmade surprise from me to you for being part of a world that I am happy to be living in. And remember - shipping is FREE until Christmas day.
www.modelcitizenclothing.com

Here are some pieces of the past 10 years. From dreads to all dolled up, tampax was there. *I just had to throw that in - its my favorite marketing campaign of all time*


*thanks Mom and Dad for putting me together! I love you both so much!*

I've got a lot of dancing in my future

Is it just me or has this been an incredible social holiday season? Every morning I say to myself "self, we are going to stay home tonight & we're going to hunker down in our creative bunker!" but this is a promise I seem incapable of keeping. There is simply too much going on! Too many great invitations to turn down. This past weekend went by in a flash. My friend AD and I went to see the Sound & Style show at La Zona Rosa on Friday, which was unexpected and a lot of fun. The Sounds from Sweden (love them!) played & then they wrapped up the night with a fashion show. Team Fabrication, Goodie Two Shoes, & Boudoir Queen all had new pieces to romp around. I kinda dragged my feet about going, but in the end I was glad I didn't turn down a free night of dancing and inspiration. Then Saturday was pretty full. Awake @ 8am to package up holiday orders and hit the post office line. Then I was off to help out with the Lions photo shoot before their show. Spending my afternoon crawling around Trophy's roof w/ Danielle Thomas, Cory Ryan & 4 half naked boys. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the shots that Cory got! She is one of my favorite Austin photographers. A few hours after cleaning up from the shoot I was back at Trophy's for the Lions & Local H show. Those boys are loud, proud, and ready to party! I think I crawled back to the house around 4 am. I know what you are thinking 'fashion shows and rock n roll, where's the pictures?' I'm very unhappy to say that my camera is currently out of commission. Sad but true. Getting it fixed is at the TOP of my to do list. Cross my heart.
Sunday I did manage to hibernate. I worked on some new designs for spring. They will be printed up next month when my social butterfly stops flapping her tired wings. I also worked on an illustration assignment for a story about Portland OR that will appear in Shebang, a music based fanzine out of the UK. It's no where near finished but I did finish some other drawings featuring knit and crocheted hair.
Once upon a time I was obsessed with knitting. I'd spend hours cruising around Hill Country weavers fawning over their impressive Japanese yarn collection, then my evenings purling my brains out... until one day I realized that I just wasn't very good at it. It was a hard thing to come to terms with, but hey - can't be good at everything, right? So I gave away all my yarn, my needles, my pattern books and now I think I'll just draw the things that I couldn't knit into reality. It all works out, my taste in yarn is a little pricey.
Anywho, while my list of things to do takes on monster proportions so does the list of things I want to do. Paleo, one of my favorite singer songwriters is playing on my birthday (Dec. 18th) @ the Parish) while The Dedringers & The Jungle Rockers are playing the Continental Club. That should be a late night. Then Friday Rio Rita is have a xmas dance party with all the Sock Hop Dj's. AND then there is the matter of the Trophy's annual x-mas party. It's a formal affair that I can't say no to.
My feet and liver are already tired. Maybe I'd just be happier if I stayed home...
or not.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures of my holiday escapades. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Hello Saturn

In less than a week I will be turning 27. This will be the beginning of my Saturn Return. Which I had never thought about or even actually been aware of. I know that for many people (celebrities & us regular folk) this has proven to be a time of serious struggle. I have friends who are even fearful of it, worried of what it will bring, & maybe a little resistant to it. I'm not going to give into any of that though. I'm just not. This is going to be the time where all my hard work pays off and by the time my 30's hit I'm going to be living large. I'm not saying I'll be super wealthy or have my name written in lights, but I will be happier, healthier, more successful & better traveled. That's my forecast.
In the future when I feel like I need some sagely advice I'll be reading Goddesses Are People Too which is written by my friend Ash D. She is a wealth of inspiration & has a lot of great life experience under her belt. Not only that but, she tells it like it is. Truly one of the loudest and proudest I know. Go forth and love her as I do.
So what are your 2 cents on this thing they call the Saturn Return? Did you feel it? Did you get your boat rocked? I'm dying to know.
Well, I had better sign off. In efforts to keep the positivity/productivity train moving forward, today I am filling an order for a new store. Hovercraft! on Congress Ave will now be carrying Model Citizen. I also just changed the look of my website. Tell me what you think.

Lions & Tigers make for a messy household

My household/life is taken over with the two mightiest members of the jungle kingdom.
Model Citizen's designs are heavily dominated with Tigers & Tigresses then there's my manfriends band, LIONS. The evidence is everywhere. Stacks of posters, albums, T's, random promo materials, jewelry, etc. Everywhere you look there is a fierce cat staring you in the face. It's empowering but all these things are making a mess at the house these days. I'm in the middle of holiday season & LIONS are re-releasing their second album No Generation and gearing up for some dates with Local H & The Toadies.
I did manage to clean up a bit the other day and take some photos @ the house with my dear and talented friend Knoxy. I normally don't shoot in the house, but she convinced me that we should use my funky interior as the back drop for these new designs. I'm pretty pleased with how the pics turned out. Once all the craziness of this season is over & order returns to our lives I plan on shooting the house to show off our little corner of the world. I mean, why not? It's my favorite place on earth. We've lived in this house for almost 5 years now and it says a lot about who we are.... but like I said right now it just says that we are messy. It's impossible to do it all, i.e. be organized, work a plethora of odd jobs, follow your dreams, do yoga, eat well, relax, create, party, shower, show up on time, grow up, keep the kid inside alive, pay bills (once again, on time), keep the car clean, ship out orders, read books, etc... So, for now I guess I can just be okay with total lack of organization. Either that or I'll have to be put in the looney bin. Padded walls are cool right? I mean even Jane Lane was jealous of Daria's padded room. Speaking of Daria, why oh why have they not released the entire series to the public yet? You can purchase the Beavis & Butthead collectors edition or even complete seasons of The Hills (um, yuck) so why won't MTV give the people (ME) what they want? Which is Daria! I've become re-obsessed since Halloween if you can't tell. Anyway, I digress. I'll be posting more new items soon as I am about to undergo another jewelry making extravaganza!
In other news you can now find Model Citizen goods at BookPeople (the largest independent bookstore in the country), East End Craft Gallery, & Hovercraft on Congress (same owners as Creatures Boutique) . All of these stores are located in Austin, TX. If you know of a store in your home town that you think would like to carry Model Citizen please pass along the info. If it turns out that they carry the line I will send you a "Thank You!" surprise in the mail.
Okay - I'm going to put the coffee down, stop rambling and start marking things off my to do list....

All items pictured here can be found online @ www.modelcitizenclothing.com
I'm offering Free shipping in the US for the holy days!

Limited Edition?

For a many moons now I have been thinking of offering limited edition prints of the Tiger Ladies
featured on many of my T's. Lately I've been fed a some more inspiration to do so, see my "All Things That are Good" post.
They would have "built in" frames. So here's a mock up - what do you think?
Should I go for it? Print them on paper? Wood? Glass? Plexiglass?
So many options! I wanna hear from You!