My First GIVEAWAY! Will You Be The Winner?

When it comes to hair accessories, what kind of hardware do you guys prefer?  For my crazy curly hair, I like the single prong alligator clip (w/out the chompy teeth).  I like these because i can also clip them on to a lapel of a jacket or the brim of a hat.  Several of my friends with baby fine hair cannot even get most hair accessories to stay in their hair.  

What about YOU?  Do you like Alligator hair clips... with or without teeth?  Perhaps you like the double prong alligator clips. Or do you like the french spring loaded barrettes?  Maybe you like combs or headbands.  Or do you hate wearing stuff in your hair altogether? I have an inquiring mind & i want to know!

    

So, Dear Reader, as you have probably figured out by this point, I have been designing & test running some hair accessories. I adore these sweet little machine stitched felt flowers.  I began making them as pins about a year ago, which are sold in a local boutique & continuously receive rave reviews about them.  Since I love wearing pretty stuff in my hair it was a natural progression to turn my felt garden into adorable adornments for my mane.  

 
Did someone say something  about a GIVEAWAY?!  You bet your sweet bippy I did!  The winner of this momentous & maiden PuNk rAwK pUrL giveaway will receive a custom made Felty Flower Hair Clip & matching Lapel Pin.  YES, I DID say custom made, as in I will make it just for YOU... the winner.  What a prize!  The giveaway ends Friday November 5th, 2010.  I will announce the winner on November 8th, 2010.        

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment here on the blog telling me your thoughts on hair accessories.
2. Want a 2nd entry?  Tweet on Twitter OR Share on Facebook this blog post & then come back here to the blog & leave a comment w/ a link to the tweet OR FB post. (You can use the links in the white boxes at the bottom of the post to tweet/share... or use your own method.)  
3. If you would like a 3rd entry; Follow me on Twitter OR "like" my Facebook page ( & then come back here & leave a comment to let me know)

Good Luck!  & if you have any questions... shoot me an email. ❤

New Items in The Shop

I am super dooper excited to announce that 

The Sew & Sew Owl Note Card line has landed in The Shop

This is Oscar

I have created these little guys & gals using vintage buttons from my Grandmother, colorful papers, threads, & lots of love. I cut all of the paper pieces by hand & arrange them according to color & texture. Then the extra-super-fun-for-me part begins... I use different colored threads to stitch it all together. The final detail in cuteness is applied when I hand sew the button eyes on. Depending on the mood of the individual owl, sometimes the eyes match; sometimes they are adorably wonky.
Although I can recreate similar Owls, no two Sew & Sew Owl cards are the same.

Presenting Otto, Ogden, & Orlando

  Orson

 Are your walls a little bare?  Or just lacking in over the top adorableness? 

You can request any of my cards to be framed.  Most of my A2 sized cards can be purchased for just $20, which includes the card & the frame.  They make awesome affordable art!

& let's not forget Sweet little Odessa ❤

Under Construction...

Late last night I had the bright idea to overhaul my blog template. It's not quite what I had in mind... yet. So please bear with me over the next few days or so, as i tweak & rearrange things. Feel free to share any thoughts, feedback, constructive criticisms. I am always open to feedback!

If you are savvy with coding & all that jazz & are feeling generous, please contact me . I would love to step outside of the templates a little further & make some bigger changes. But alas, my inner geek is fairly limited.

hugs & kisses

- t

p.s. I don't like posting w/out photos... so here is my chief Snooper-Viser, Rosco P. Coltrane

Rosco

I am Over the Moon

I was having a hectic day yesterday, not a bad day, just hectic.  Lots of errands, & a visit to a government office, not as much fun as I pride myself in striving for daily.  Mid afternoon I peeked in on my etsy shop... yes, to count how many item views & shop hearts I have tallied since the day before.  (I know, I know, a watched shop never boils.)  As I was poking around, thinking about rearranging some items, plotting out the items that were awaiting my camera to be listed next, I noticed that I had new feedback.

My hectic day had instantly become one of my favorite days of all time.  My first customer, that is my first customer whom I didn't already know, had left me the most truly amazing review/feedback.  I mean this is primo praise!  I actually got watery eyes while reading it.  I truly do enjoy creating things that people will love, that will bring them joy.  And with her permission I will share it with you now:

"Incredibly proud and pleased to have been Tammy's first customer, and an international one at that! Tammy is extremely friendly, lovely and eager to help you create custom designs. I'm over the moon with my custom Lotería card, which Tammy very kindly created in custom colours for me to match my wedding colours as this card is intended as a wedding anniversary card for my husband. The card is beautifully made, excellent quality and the mix of textures are both pleasant to the touch and the eye; so much so that I'm very tempted to have it framed afterwards! I can highly recommend these cards to anyone wishing to make a purchase from this shop, you won't be disappointed! It's been a real pleasure purchasing from you, Tammy, thank you ever so much for patiently communicating with me and creating something very special! I can't wait to purchase more cards from you in future, and thank you ever so much for the early anniversary wishes in another of your splendid cards! I wish you all the best with your endeavors :)"

Thank you Nina for being an amazing first customer! & thank you for using one of my favorite phrases... I too am over the moon! ❤

 

a quick iPhone shot of WHOOOO is coming to the shop next.

 

Monkey Wrenches... Not as Cute as They Sound.

So I had a wee setback in my master plans for the the first half of the week.  I started feeling a little low energy Sunday afternoon.  Late that evening I was doing my best impression of Linda Blair... circa The Exorcism.  The 24 hours following that... let's just say that my boyfriend is a flippin saint for sticking around to take care of me.  It's Wednesday & my energy continues to go up, but my body is a little weak still. 
But I am strong enough to blog... which is saying a lot for me... having not blogged regularly in EONS.  I really do enjoy it.  & I really did miss it.  & I was really quite good at it. (please don't go by this post, remember... I am still recovering from violent illness). 

Speaking of blogs... and scary things.... check out BuNnY MoNsTeRz blog to win one of these SUPER adorable  scary zombie bunnyz! 

And whilst still on topic of blogs & not having used one in a very very long time, I realized just how outdated & ridiculous this one is... the appearance & link content.  Being somewhat limited in my techno-bilities I did some stripping away of old buttons & links that weren't really pertinent to me or what I'm literally selling these days. The next step on operation blog-over is to replace the banner... & fix the issue with the body of the blog shifting to the right of the screen... this however will require some assistance. I am actually looking to build a website that will link to the blog... among other cool PuNk rAwK pUrL links.  Soon my pretties... soon. Oh... also talking about a change up in the colors.  sooo darned exciting.
 

PuNk rAwK pUrL Goes All Etsy & Stuff!

It took me ages longer than I had planned. And, it doesn't yet look quite how I had envisioned it. BUT... I have FINALLY opened my Etsy shop! I am very open & eager to receive critiques & feedback.

There is only one line of note cards in there presently, the Loteria Line (read about them below). More note card styles are coming very very shortly, like next week. AND... I will also be announcing some options to purchase them framed. I adore doing custom orders, so convo me on etsy!

Loteria note cards in a picture frame... instant & affordable art.

What else will she be whipping up for us besides note cards, you may be asking yourself. Boy oh boy, I am so glad that you asked that question! Atop my giant craft table I have been watching some super adorable hair accessories, & pins duke it out to debut in the next spot in the shop. A little further down the road you can look for pillows & some other home decor goodies.

Birdie & Arrows Cards

The Loteria line is created using actual pieces from the game. No photocopies here, no siree Bob! I hand cut all of the pieces, & then arrange them according to color & texture. Once I am happy with the layouts... the super fun-for-me part begins. Using different colored threads, I continue my story of color & texture by stitching all of the pieces together.

Oh Deer! & High Five Cards

Day 33

Day 33, originally uploaded by PuNk rAwK pUrL.

news:
- etsy store is actually going to happen very soon here. i am photographing product & writing the item descriptions this week. & planning to get the actual uploading into the shop this weekend!

- still having fun being a goofball with my self portrait project on Flickr.

Day 15: The Bangles

Day 15: The Bangles, originally uploaded by PuNk rAwK pUrL.

Day 15 of my 365 day self portrait project.

Moving Right Along....

i have been super busy with some amazing stuff the past couple of months. This will be a short post to fill you in. Once the magic dust settles a bit, i will be back on blog track!! all aboard!


#1. i am working on a top secret project, designing a knitting pattern for an upcoming book.

#2. i participated, as a vendor, in my first street fair. The 6th annual Temescal Street fair in Oakland was earlier this month. The photos in this post are just some of the goodies that i had up for sale. see #5 for more info on this. & click here for more street fair photos.

#3. my dear old Powerbook G4 finally took the big dirt nap a couple of months ago & i have been essentially without a computer. i am happy to report that i am typity tappity typing this post from my sexy new 15" MacBook Pro.

#4. i am moving again. i have been one year in my cool warehouse loft. it has been mostly fun living here, aside from a freezing cold winter, more dust than you can shake a stick at, and the inability to watch movies without the subtitles on... due to XTRA loud soothing sounds of BART. don't get me wrong... i truly love the sound of BART and the train... not my first time living close to the tracks... but in this non insulated building... the sound level is insane!!!

#5. the street fair gave me such positive feedback... and i had SOOO much fun making the goods to be sold... that i am finally ready to launch my etsy page. I should be launching in about two to three weeks... once i am all moved out of my current loft.

I shall be posting again in just a couple of weeks. until then my lovelies.... XOxOxoXoXo

Knitting Naughty Deer

Using the same earflap hat generator as in the post before this one.... and the fornicating reindeer chart (by Anne Rutten) from here... and i made a fu**ing reindeer hat. I believe that you have to be a member of ravelry in order to view that link. This was my second project using the stranding technique, and my first working from a chart. I had to re-chart the deer and trees from the original 32 stitch repeat to a 36 stitch repeat in order to accommodate the sizing for the hat. I basically flushed the trees out, adding one extra stitch to each half of the trees, and added an extra space in between each tree and deer. I also made up my own border design... that part looked better on paper.

Other fun stuff is the conversation whether these are reindeer or moose. Apparently some very straight men were upset that both reindeer have antlers... which would make them gay. Some husbands actually insisted that the front deer have the antlers edited out, to be sure no confusion would be made. Hell... makes me want to make one in rainbow colors.



It is a little big on me... but should fit the recipient like a dream! I love this hat generator...pattern.. thingy. Can you call a generator a pattern? A hat generator pattern? Whatever it is... it is fabulous! I was a little concerned about the reindeer chart being so high and that the seam created by sewing the inside hem down was going to create an unsightly bulge that would land directly across their cute little fu**ing noses... see note below about blocking



I used ella rae classic (#132-dark charcoal) for the main color of the hat & cascade 220 (#8401-light heather grey) & cascade 220 (#8400-medium heather grey) for the contrast colors. **side note... i did not like working with the ella rae, mostly during the short rows, when you un-knit or slip stitches back and forth the yarn splits like crazy** I used #7 addi turbos. I might actually use a #6 with this weight yarn for future stranding projects. After blocking it relaxed enough that it could stand to be a little tighter.

If i weren't a believer in blocking before... this project alone would sell me on it. Every single little lump and bump literally melted away when i dunked this mofo into a bath of water & woolwash. Of course i waited til days AFTER the heatwave had passed to block... so it is taking several days to dry... but oh so worth it.