The Polly Danger Crafty Blog

Shop Shop Shoppin’

polly — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:42:05 +0000

Here are some of the super cute treats that made their way into my shopping bag at the Crafty Wonderland Spring Sale:

Washi tape from the mountains of tape at the Collage booth. Goodness do I love that store.

The dollar horse and kitty earrings were actually a gift from Pollyanna Cowgirl- look at those kitty faces! I can’t wait to wear them!

Print from Hjol Island- I Heart You, San Francisco!!!

Crafty Wonderland Crushes

polly — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Oh what a glorious, hot weekend we’ve had out here! I think that my weekend was really made better by the fact that I had decided not to vend at this year’s Crafty Wonderland Spring show. As difficult as the decision was to make, it was for the best. Among other reasons, I actually enjoyed this show all the more because I got to shop hand in hand with my sweetheart! This is something Eric and I have never, ever been able to do because one of us always needs to be in the booth. It was great! We spent way too much money, and leisurely walked up and down each and every aisle, chatting and shopping as we pleased.

One of my favorite booths was Whimsy Kitten- kitty pets wearing glasses, made from vintage fabric?!!! YES, PLEASE!! The booth was adorable and the kitties were even more so. In the end I couldn’t narrow down which one I wanted most, so we’ll have to save that for another day. Take a look at Melanie’s scrumptious booth!

Adorable, right?! Other great moments were meeting Katie Daisy of The Wheat Field, who I’ve e-met but never face-met, and seeing one of my favorite people ever, Polly Conway of Pollyanna Cowgirl. She really, really makes me miss California!

I like that we are color coordinated. You see, when you get two Pollies in one place, amazing things can happen. Oh, and that charming stuffed glasses chap? He’s some one I’ve wanted to bring home forever from Four Eyed Girl Designs. Such a great day! Next time I’ll share with you all of my wonderful purchases!

A Labor of Love (by which I mean a hand-sewn quilt).

polly — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:55:18 +0000

It seems like the space in between blog posts is getting farther and farther apart, but I promise you, my crafty friends, this is temporary! After my baby post it seemed like all I did was sleep and be nauseous. But now life is back to normal, with the exception of a baby bump, and I’m returning to fun things like gettin’ crafty!

My “current” project is also my longest crafty project to date. I started my hexagon paper pieced quilt about 4 years ago with the knowledge that it would take forever and with the intention to complete it in time for my first baby. So here I am four years later with a deadline finally in sight and I’ve pulled out my quilt to continue working. At this point I’m working on the edge pieces, starting to think about what bias tape to use for the edge, and what kind of stitch to use to quilt the whole thing together.

I wonder how many stitches I made to get this far. Each stitch is less than 1 cm . . . probably a lot of stitches. One of my favorite things about this quilt is the crinkly sound that it makes when I fold and unfold it to work on it. I also love, love, love the way the backside looks. I’ll be kind of sad when the time comes to cut my basting stitches and take the paper out. Although this was initially intended to be gender neutral, those floral prints and peachy pinks are definitely not gender neutral. I sure hope this baby is a girl!

If anyone has any advice on hand piecing quilts, please share! I’d love to hear what you have to say!!

Too Exciting to Keep Secret!

polly — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:19:45 +0000

I’ve never been very good at keeping secrets, and this one is just way too great to keep. Polly Danger and hubby LrHB Industries have joined together to create their biggest, most special project yet: a baby!!!

We are, of course, both over the moon about the whole thing. This will be our first human baby (I think dogs and cats count, but Eric says no), so there will be much ado about baby clothes, nursery design, and pregnancy. And while I’m sure that I’ll add relevant tidbits of baby info to the Crafty Blog, I don’t want baby stuff to take over this very special place. So Eric and I have started a baby blog for everyone who wants to keep tuned into our journey. Read all about the Polly Danger Baby over at the Department of Danger Baby Blog!

Polly Danger Flagship Store!

Back with Mini Folding Scissors!

polly — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:51:10 +0000

I’ve had over a month in Southern California, and while it was nice to get some sunshine, it sure is good to be back in Oregon! I had plenty of holiday show mess still left to clean up when I got home, but I took the opportunity to completely re-do both my office and my studio and get a head start on designing some Spring goodies. Aaand I have finally posted two of my most popular craft show items. You can now choose from a rainbow of Mini Folding Scissors and Thread Snippers!

Here’s to a Wonderful Crafty Grandma!

polly — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:24:34 +0000

Heavens knows that when I spent the last few weeks working till 1 am every night and prepping for back-to-back holiday shows I had no idea that I wouldn’t even be there for the second one. Just a few days before the Crafty Wonderland show I got the very awful news that my grandmother was about to pass away. I got on the first flight home and I was able to be there for her very last moments. I didn’t give the show a second thought, but I feel so incredibly grateful to Eric for staying behind to run the booth, even though I know his own heart was breaking. Thank you so much to Eric and Sherry and Liam and Jenn and Jenny for helping take care of things so that I could be here with my family.

My grandma had an incredible sense of style that I think has been passed on to me, and was a master of recycling before it was ever cool to recycle. Grandma set me on my very first craft adventure when she taught me to crochet as a little girl. She showed me how to make crepe paper flowers, how to propagate plants, how to cook enchiladas, and she let me have a creative space in her house for as long as I needed it. Polly Danger exists because of the support she offered while I was getting off the ground. I hope that all of my work honors her efforts.

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent kind words and condolences. They are very much appreciated.

Crafty Wonderland Booth Photos!

Urban Craft Uprising Lovins

polly — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:07:11 +0000

It is 4 am and I am still so pumped up from this weekend that I couldn’t sleep! What an amazing weekend! Not only was the show fantastic and the customers just dreamy, but it was really great to see my vendor friends again after months of being holed up in my studio, prepping for holiday shows. I swear I tried to take pictures of all of the amazing booths, but it was such a hectic weekend that in the end I only got a few photos of the show, and a few photos of my own crazy booth.

Eric and I decided to stay at the super swanky Maxwell Hotel, which is only a block away from the UCU venue, and I am so glad that we did! Not only was it incredibly convenient, but I felt so fancy staying there! Plus we were walking distance from the Metropolitan Market ( I wish we had one of these in Portland!), Bartell Drugs (again, why don’t we have one in Portland?!), and all of the adorable and scrumptious eateries that I miss when I’m at home. Which eateries? Well how about Dick’s Drive-In (the fries are a dead tie with In N Out), Pho Viet Anh, where I not only got fed a giant, and fresh meal, but got introduced to some awesome Vietnamese dance music, or how about Citizen, which has given me a gift beyond all gifts: their bread pudding style french toast. I honestly believe that my french toast and bacon there was the best food experience of my life and I am counting down the days until I can return for more. Anyway, on to the photos!

When I was preparing my product and booth setup I didn’t really understand that of the 10,000 people who attended the show, half of them would end up in, and purchase something, from my booth. I also had the very happy challenge of creating a booth with traffic on 3 sides! This was a first for me and although I did not take this task lightly, I feel like I could have done way better. Still, I had a few space-crafting tricks up my sleeve.

The plus side of a U shaped booth is that you get tons of traffic- yay! The down side is that you have to decide how to let all of that traffic into the booth, and if you opt for more that one entrance, then you loose some floor space for product. To solve this dilemma I used one corner for some brand new shelves, and left two entrances, while leaving the third wall with no entrance, but a clear view into the booth.

On the outer side of the shelves were a variety of brand new kits. And on the other side I made room for buttons- it’s so thrilling when I can get multiple uses out of one display!

I also found room for a table display, including my crafty Christmas tree, decorated in Polly Danger stocking stuffers. There are many things that I plan on changing for my next booth, which you can see in person this weekend! Crafty Wonderland is coming up in mere days and I’m so looking forward to seeing my vendor friends once more, and shopping like crazy! If you’re going to be in Portland December 10 & 11, you MUST stop by and say hello! I have so many amazing things during the holidays that just don’t make it to the online shops, plus I will be right next to some of the very cutest vendors in Portland! My partners in cuteness, Jenn and Jenny from Chet and Dot/ Robot Candy will be a few booths down, and for the first time ever the amazing Four Eyed Girl Designs will be boothing it right next to me! I first saw Trisha’s work in person and let me tell you, her booth was mind blowing! So much cuteness might make your head explode, so take a deep breath and brace yourself ^===^.