Art Star Craft Bazaar This Weekend!

Don't forget to come visit us THIS SATURDAY / SUNDAY from 11-6pm at Penns Landing in the sunny city of Philadelphia.

More Baltimore Love on D*S

This week is Baltimore week on the design sponge guest blog, and I was so happy to see my good friend Kyle Van Horn appear there in an interview today. Kyle is a letterpress enthusiast like no other, and...well... he really will print for you.
Kyle has a love of Baltimore and knowledge of printmaking that each impress me greatly, and on top of that... he's been known to fix my t-shirt press after a year of problems... just by giving it a stern look.
Glad to see him get some credit for the amount of brain space he's reserved for printmaking information, and nice to have him in Baltimore (that is...when he's not in Italy - hoarding Italian printmaking equipment like he is right now).

Red Prairie + Jay McCarroll

Although we don't get cable, I was THRILLED to be contacted by Jay McCarroll, winner of the debut season of Project Runway, to begin selling some of our apparel through his online shop. Everyone talks about Project Runway, and I love the idea of the creative challenges and watching people struggle through the brainstorming process... and after watching a few video clips of him in action, I also kinda love Jay McCarroll. You can now find a couple of our shirts on jaymccarroll.com, along with Jay's own designs, and a handful of shirts and accessories from other designers. Check it out HERE!

We'll be in Philadelphia all weekend at Art Star Craft Bazaar. Saturday and Sunday 11am to 6pm. Penn's Landing. Come visit!!!

Art in Progress.

My BFF neighbors, Hailey & Rachel (ages 6 & 8) are seriously hilarious.
Upon our return from NH this weekend, there were a handfull of grubby envelopes addressed to "My Bast Naiber Rachel" in the mailbox, and when I opened them, they contained love letters, and coupons for (I'm not kidding) Men's Deodorant, and something called "Floral Fantasies Spray." Our front stoop has become a bit of a hangout for all the neighborhood kids, so I see them all the time and know all of their gossip - though I have no idea who is related to who, or who anyone's parents are.
The girls recently found out that we make tshirts in our basement. This THRILLED them and they wanted to come to the studio. Since I don't know their parents... I feel eternally too weird allowing them in our house... but I promised that if they made me some drawings, and gave me an old tshirt, I'd print it. (figuring their attention spans wouldn't allow this to really happen).
Within 15 minutes, there were little fists pounding on the door, and some crumpled up drawings thrust in my face.
Here are two of the drawings I've collected so far. It appears to be a big neighborhood event at this point, and I may just drag the screen outside and have them print the shirts themselves.
and I sometimes wonder why I don't get that much done in a week...

Rachel + Design Sponge

1). We're back! Phil ran the marathon in under 4 hours! I ran 3 miles (also in under 4 hours)! Hooray!!

2). Three years ago, I quit a job I hated, and started Red Prairie Press in our shed in northern Baltimore. I have met some pretty amazing people, and seen lots of wonderful things, and I feel more fortunate than I can explain, to still be doing what I love doing, and making it work somehow. I have received nothing but support from everyone in this city and beyond...and I can't wait to see what the next 3 years, and 6 years and 10 years hold.
This morning my heart skipped a beat when Felice Cleveland wrote me an email to say that our interview (conducted a couple weeks ago) had gone live on Design Sponge. I've been reading the Design Sponge blog since before I started Red Prairie Press, and it means the world to me to be associated with the talented people therein. Wow.
If you're meandering to Red Prairie Press for the first time, via Design Sponge... WELCOME! If you're an old friend and have been with us all along, well... you know how much I love you already. I won't rub it in.

Happy Wednesday. Off to explode with joy.

Snooze

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by bright colors. So I really like these Jenny Lee-Katz pillows. Her fabric is printed in environmentally friendly pigment inks and the pattern designs are named with Welsh words. I'm into how calm and subdued the colors are and at the moment, would like to find an extra $126, purchase one, and take a nap.
Speaking of patterns, I've been thinking hard about making some of my own, and printing some fabric from Spoonflower to cover a chair with. Has anyone used their fabric for upholstery, or know of anywhere to print patterns to fabric specifically for upholstery? I'd love suggestions.

Today is our last day home before heading to NH/VT for the Burlington Marathon tomorrow!!
Have a great week, and a great weekend. I'll be back next Tuesday/Wednesday, if not from the road.

Weekend Recap

(image from Margaux Lange)

Exhausting, but great weekend. Saw the MICA undergrad shows on Saturday (if I have time, I'll post some photos of my favorites this week), and then Phil and I drove to Brooklyn yesterday and vended at BUST Craftacular. The show was a lot of fun - we were placed right next to Kelly & Kasey of Biggs & Featherbelle, who helped us stay entertained through the day. Also got to see regular craft show pals Tugboat Press, Margaux Lange, Via Bags, squidfire,Saltlick, and many more. Barely walked around, because we were sort of secluded in an island of craft, and the show was so crowded, it was hard to crawl under the table too often, for fear of being trampled.
The B&F sisters were kind enough to take us to a classy well-designed diner they knew about off the turnpike on the way home, which made our night. But about 45 minutes after leaving the diner, I realized how tired I was, and how we still had a couple hours to go... and I had to pull over at a rest stop. Phil and I proceeded to nap in the car, in the parking lot, for an hour. Then we purchased the biggest coffee that Burger King had and plowed the rest of the way home with the windows down and Feist blasting at full volume. Not quite as classy as how the night started out, but the team made it home in one piece.

BUST. IT. UP.

Saturday, May 16th - 7pm-midnight
Come see Phil's video of him BUSTing through a wall.

In partnership with the Washington Film Institute, Art Outlet presents Arthouse1,an art and film exhibition including a feature selected by The Washington Film Institute and multimedia projections and installations curated by Art Outlet. The selected artists for Arthouse1 are Aaron Quinn Brophy, Andrea Collins, Rosemary Feit Covey, Phil Davis, Patricia Goslee, David London, Carolina Mayorga, Joseph Reinsel, Duy Tran, and Lloyd Wolf.
Arthouse is a new film and multimedia art series initiated by the Washington Film Institute to bring cinema and art audiences together.

Cash Bar; Film Screenings $10
Free Art Exhibition, Artist Talks, and Live Performances
Yoko K. with special guest Kolai (Asahra Music )

12th and U Street (Green line U St./Cardozo)
1939 12th Street NW
Washington, DC 20002

Sunday, May 17th 12-7pm
BUST CRAFTACULAR!

The Warsaw
261 Driggs Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222

CLANCY!!!!!!

(image by Sam Holden for City Paper)
Phil and I have only been to a handful of baseball games at Oriole Park, but we HAVE had the pleasure of being in the section of this man, Clancy Haskett, who is featured in an article in the City Paper this week. I have never had so much fun at a baseball game, and have never been so impressed with someone for their ability to sell a product without annoying anyone, and making the advertising of that product more entertaining than the baseball game itself. In fact, most times Phil and I find ourselves drinking a beer together, we exclaim one of Clancy's one-liners in a deep Clancy-style voice: "HEY!!!!!!! IT'S - O - KAY to have a BEER at a BASEball GAME!!!!!!!" He wears a fliptop cap that says CLANCY in all capital letters on the underside, and sprints around on the stairs shouting and heckling and teasing everyone around him. At the end of the game we sat in his section for, he shouted goodnight and thanked everyone, and everyone gave him a standing ovation. How many other times have you given someone selling you overpriced beer a standing ovation??
To find out that he doesn't even do the vending because he needs the money (he's partner in the company that runs all the beer vending for Camden Yards, and would make plenty just hiring other people to do the physically demanding job) truly inspires me. This just proves there is fun EVERYWHERE if you allow it. I love when people love their jobs and love life. What a guy. Read the article at www.citypaper.com

Fry things! It's Ride Your Bike to Work Week.

First of all, it's true! It's Ride Your Bike To Work Week! (at least in Baltimore).
Second: Do you read SIX COURSE DINNER, like I told you to a while ago?
My friend Angie and I have been making dinner together on Tuesday nights, and we decided to make something from 6CD this week to salute our friend Storephil, who writes the blog. The funny thing is, there is usually something a little remote in his recipes, and this one was no exception. We had just been to the grocery store, and didn't want to go back in search of Panko Flakes. So instead, we looked up what they were on the internet, and then sent my husband out to Royal Farms in search of the closest thing he could find (which turns out, is Ritz Crackers). It worked out so well, and the cooking was such a success, that we decided it would be funny if we ALWAYS took one of Store's recipes and substituted the most elite (ie - hard to find) ingredient for something from Royal Farms. We could call these nights something like... Hampden does Charles Village. or... Hampden Women's Gourmet Food Bastardization Project.
Luckily, I ran this idea by Store Phil, and he seemed pretty eager to see it's development. So now it's our duty.

In any case, these corn cakes were SO GOOD. Corn, Radish, Egg, Camembert Cheese, Salt, Pepper and.... Ritz Crackers.
Mashed into patties & pan fried. Eaten with a variety of condiments, but mustard was the all round winner.

Visit www.sixcoursedinner.com for your own delicious meal.

BUST craftacular! Brooklyn! on Sunday!

We will be scooting out of Baltimore in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday to make it to NY in time for the BUST Spring Crafttacular! If you're in Brooklyn, come check it out and say hello! We'll be selling all of our designs, drinking coffee and handing out free high fives with all purchases of $1999 or more. (and to you).

Sign up for the Red Prairie Press mailing list to get a free coupon for the show!

Sunday, May 17th
12-7pm
The Warsaw
261 Driggs Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Craft Corps!

A while ago I took part in a book called "Craft Corps" which profiles a huge number of independent artists & crafters all over the country. The book is coming out soon (not quite published yet), but the website, which also features crafters, is up! I was humbled to see there's a little blurb about me (which quotes something I must have babbled to the craft corps folks, but don't particularly remember saying). Most of the crafters in the book are NOT featured on the website, so their names will be fresh and new when the book comes out.... but they told me I slipped through the cracks somehow, and might as well stay online since it's already up there (works for me!)

Click through the website. Very cool to find some new crafters in there!
VISIT THE SITE HERE

I have been realizing something new this week. Our house is not photogenic. It's cool (in my humble opinion) but not photogenic.
oh well.
Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen in time for Phil to come home with the following:
-3 boxes of Oreos
-a carton of milke
-5 boxes of pudding
-a bin of cool whip
-butter
-confectioner's sugar
-gummy worms
-a plastic flower pot and a bouquet of fake flowers
He set about to using every bowl & electrical appliance in the kitchen and came up with the biggest pot of his favorite dessert, (Dirt) that I've ever witnessed.

I have eaten this before, but when I made it, it was chocolate pudding with oreos. Maybe a gummy worm. this was......epic.
He had made some sort of deal with the student staff at Hopkins that if they kept order over the office for a full week, he would prepare them a heart attack... and they had complied. I wish this photo showed just how enormous the pot itself was. over a foot in diameter and about 20" high.
One of the funniest things I've ever seen.

The good kind of monster.

Why can I not get enough of cotton monsters? I love them in all their goofy recycled glory.
So much so that I harassed their maker until she gave up and befriended me back at some point, and now I find it hard to imagine Baltimore without her.
www.cottonmonster.etsy.com

There are still a few monsters left in the online shop, so grab one up before someone else (me) gets it!

It must be summer.

Dear Bonnie,
I blatantly ripped off this photo from your facebook page.
Dear Everyone Else,
It's true. I now have access to facebook.
Wanna "friend" us? Just look up Red Prairie Press.

We had a great weekend, albeit exhausting. Thursday night we made it to the opening of the MD Film Fest (and proceeded to attend screenings all weekend. Saturday was the Squidfire Art Mart, which was fabulous because it didn't rain and although Phil was off at the film festival, I got to be neighbors with Jenny Strunge on one side, and the ladies of B.E.S.T. on the other. A great day, I met lots of people, and ate a fair amount of ice cream. Sunday Phil and I made it to a bunch more movies - my absolute favorite being Stingray Sam- a series of connected shorts by Cory McAbee (whose work I was admittedly already smitten with). If you ever get a chance to see McAbee's work, or better yet, hear him talk... drop everything and go for it. In the above photo, Phil is reenacting one the dances McAbee (starring as Stingray Sam himself) does in the movie, during a song about being pregnant with a baby stingray. (I mean...if it wasn't obvious).

Next weekend we're off to NY for BUST Spring Crafttacular...with shows to follow in Baltimore, Philly, DC, Brooklyn, and beyond... coming soon. It occured to me this morning that I haven't felt like it was summer in about 3 years. Summer used to feel like it was vacation time, with nothing to do but swim and lay in the grass. Now I look forward to the season for different reasons. It's my busiest time of year (save the three weeks before christmas), and we are constantly on the go. I love the excuse to travel and leave my basement studio to be out in the sun on weekends. But every once in a while, when I can't remember what city I'll be in next, and live by my daily planner.... I miss the feeling of an empty schedule... just a tad.

Don't forget to enjoy the sunshine...
I know I'm doing my derndest...

This Weekend - Come Visit Us in Baltimore!

In case the scroll bar on your computer broke... I'll post this again.
We'll be at the Squidfire DIY Art Mart in Mt. Vernon Park this weekened from 11-6pm
Come to say hi, check out our new designs, say hello to our older designs, and shop for a mother's day gift, a graduation present, or baby shower gift. Or... just shop for yourself while supporting your local art scene.

Buy handmade, Buy Local. Be a winner.
see you there!!!

Protected by...

Our neighbor has a big pickup truck with numerous unfortunate bumper stickers (including one that says "Highly Dangerous Mother f**ker" which spawned our nicknaming him The HDMF) but our personal favorite has to be the protective license plate cover, which reads "Protected By: I just Whooped your Ass" Go ahead. read that sentence again. No? Still doesn't really make sense? Ah well. Still my favorite.

Anyway, after a long productive day followed by a long productive night last night, I can FINALLY say I'm having a heck of a good week, getting everything done that I wanted to, and liking the results. My poor darling friend Angie posed for some painting photo references a while back by agreeing to dress up nicely and be pushed off a bicycle in our living room. I'm nearing the finish of the paintings today and am feeling very pleased! Above is a sneak peak of the whole debacle.
I found a time in the day yesterday where it wasn't raining, and I could spraypaint some rustoleum on my outdoor craft fair display, and printed so much that my wrists feel like they punched someone this morning. I hit 700 sales on Etsy, I got asked to do an interview for one of my favorite blogs (coming soon)... It's only Thursday, I am already packed for Saturday's craft fair and done with the paintings I thought I'd never finish and actually have time to go to the MD film fest opening shorts program tonight. Unprecedented!!!

Protected by: I just whooped this week's ass.

This Weekend You Simply MUST...

Come visit Red Prairie Press and many many many of our local crafty pals at the Squidfire Spring Art Mart in Mt. Vernon.
Buy handmade, buy local, meet the artists, see nice things... be outdoors doing it all! Superb.
Our craft fair tour has already begun for the summer, but this is our first outdoor show of the season, and even though 2 out of 5 weather related sources I've looked at seem to be under the impression it might rain....... they are misinformed, and it will actually be sunny and beautiful. Bring optimism, cash, and an umbrella...... because everyone knows that if you bother to pack the latter... it will never rain.


Go to the MD Film Fest. How stoked are you that the festival is finally this weekend? It's also FINALLY on a weekend when I'm actually in town, which thrills me. A handful of my friends (including my husband, who is currently dubbing the shorts programs together as I stay up late working on some paintings) have been working hard at festival headquarters to make this festival happen, and I will be thrilled to see all of their work pay off. I'm excited for too many of the programs to mention, and of the movies not least of all the new Cory McAbee film (I think I've mentioned how fond I am of American Astronaut on this blog before), there seem to be quite a few to anticipate. Plus, once your eyes start hurting, you can take a break, and walk down to Mt. Vernon Park for the above mentioned craft fair! Nice how these things work out.

PS- Kudos to both Kevin Sherry and Orange Element for designing such rad flyers for the Squidfire fair and MD Film Fest respectively.

Win More Stuff!!!!

My friend Annie is raffling off a necklace (worth $150) on the Creature Comforts blog!
All you have to do is leave a comment on that blog, and say how you would wear the necklace, and you'll be entered for a chance to win it! Also, if you have a blog (like I do. right here. see it?) you can POST about the contest, and have TWO chances to win! (what? is it that transparent that this is why I'm posting about it? puh-LEASSSSEEE! I'm SO not that easy to sway into writing a blogpost. pssshhttt. ahuh. heh.....ha...? ho hummmmmmmmm).

Anyway, if you want to get in my way of winning this beautiful piece, visit HERE

We Have a Winner!!

(image from travel.nationalgeographic.com)
Well THAT went quicker than I thought it would!
congratulations to SARAH T. for guessing the correct states (Idaho & North Dakota) to which we have never sent an order (at least...that I have record of). Where's the L-O-V-E Idaho & North Dakota? Should I offer up a prize for the first person from each of those states to place an order? Maybe. I'll wait a while though.

Anyone else see the irony in the two places that have no interest in us... both being Prairie covered? Well.. no time to dwell on it.

Sarah has won her choice of tshirt or scarf from the Red Prairie Press shop!
(Sarah - please email rachel@redprairiepress.com for more info on this)

Where's the love? Win a Prize!!!

A few months ago, my mother-in-law sent me a map of the world (Although it's a known fact that I am geographically challenged... I've gone ahead and assumed the gift was because I'd mentioned it would be fun to put pushpins in the map to see where we're sending t-shirts all over the world, and not a jab at my inability to remember where the 50 states are located).
The other night in a fit of procrastination, I pulled out the map and stuck it to a bulletin board and with the help of order forms from the last couple years, I put pins in every state & country we've sent one of our garments. Really fun!
As it turns out, there is a lot of Red Prairie love in the MD/DC/PA area (not surprising, but still pleasing) as well as random states like Ohio, California and Texas. We also send a lot of packages to Ottawa and Vancouver in Canada, as well as Australia!!
In all, only TWO U.S. states have yet to be sent a package.

Can you guess which two states have never placed an order from Red Prairie Press?
Comment with your guess, and win a prize, if you guess correctly!!

Weekend Recap

Hope you all had a great weekend. We sure did!
Twist Fair was a great success. We had loads of fun, met some wonderful people, and got to see many dear old friends too.

Also got to spend a lot of time with the above two jokers (Nate Duval & Jen Skelley), who are among the most talented artists New England has to offer, and who are also marrying each other soon (CONGRATULATIONS!). If you don't already know their names, you really should. They are my absolute favorite craft fair neighbors. So much so that we requested the same corner we had at the last Twist Fair and managed to maintain it's coolness all weekend as a team. Our faithful mannequin, Miss Skelley Duval, was even affectionately named after them (well... and also after Shelly Duvall). Nate & Jen sell gig posters as well as illustrative art prints, tshirts and baby clothes with their original illustrations and collage work. All hand printed in the great state of Massachusetts.




On Sunday, Phil and I got to squeeze in a visit with our beautiful families, smooch our favorite nieces Annie (2) and Ollie (1 month) and breathe in some fresh NH air before driving home to Baltimore. We had a great trip, and it the driving itself was made all the better because we got to listen to Harry Potter books on CD from our local library :) So good to see everyone, and I can't wait to see them all again in a few weeks in Burlington, when we're running in the Marathon!!!

This coming weekend will be the Squidfire Art Mart in Mt. Vernon Park (Baltimore City), as well as the MD FIlm Fest, which I'm equally excited for!

Happy Monday.