Shop Small at Mayday Underground Crafts + Art

Be a part of something bigger by shopping small this Saturday at Mayday Underground Crafts + Art! This show features plenty of local, amazing artists who create hip and modern handmade goodies for all the people on your holiday shopping list. 

Shopping small is about supporting small, local businesses and artists for your holiday gifts this season. This actually does make a difference. A very huge difference! 

"The average American will spend $700 on holiday gifts and goodies this year, totaling more than $465 billion, the National Retail Federation estimates. If that money was spent entirely on US made products it would create 4.6 million jobs.  

But it doesn't even have to be that big. If each of us spent just $64 on American made goods during our holiday shopping, the result would be 200,000 new jobs." - ABC News

I have been working in the Rochester area for over 12 years doing my art thing. I personally have pumped an untold amount of money into the community during this time by buying my supplies locally and spending my profits on handmade goods over and over again. So, by supporting me you are actually supporting many, many local artists and businesses. You can't lose! 

When it comes to shopping small, you can't get any smaller than with Tiny Works of Awesome from In My Head Studios! I make ridiculously tiny original artwork on the backs of dominoes and other game pieces. So shop small by shopping even smaller!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Mayday Underground! Crafts + Art

10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

The Main Street Armory

900 East Main Street, Rochester, NY 14605

The first 50 shoppers through the door get FREE swag from the artists in the show! How cool is that?!

- Vickie

Holiday Craft Show Schedule 2012

Time to get your handmade holiday shopping done! I'm here to help with Tiny Works of Awesome from In My Head Studios! 

Want to know where I will be vending? Here is a handy list! Or you can print the above image to keep in your calendar, pocket, purse, or file of awesome things to not miss out on. 

Since I don't have a lot of work listed in my Etsy shop, these shows are the only places to get your Tiny Works of Awesome this season! Don't miss out!

I will update these listings as Facebook event pages become active so you can invite your pals.

Next week kicks it all off! See you at St. Rita's!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

St. Rita School Craft Sale

9:00 AM – 3:15 PM

St. Rita School

1008 Maple Drive, Webster, NY 14580

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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Holidays in the Vineyard

10:00 AM – 7:00 PM

* Plenty of time to shop after work! *

Casa Larga Winery

2287 Turk Hill Road, Fairport, NY 14450

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Saturday, November 3, 2012

Mayday Underground!

10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Main Street Armory

900 East Main Street, Rochester, NY 14605

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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Irondequoit High School Craft Sale

10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Irondequoit High School

260 Cooper Road, Irondequoit, NY 14617

- Vickie

Midsummer Mini Mayday Craft + Art Show

Did you hear?! It's time for a Midsummer Mini Mayday Craft + Art Show! Yippee!

The creators of the now famous Mayday Underground Craft + Art shows here in Rochester decided November was waaaay too long to wait to bring you more indie crafty goodness. 

Say "Yay for Midsummer Mini Mayday!" 

No, really. Say it. It rhymes. :)

If you are one of the 20 first shoppers through the door you get a FREE swag bag filled with goodies from the fantastic vendors! 

There is swag from me at In My Head Studios! I made handmade, tiny, original paper collage domino keychains! How cute are these?!

They are truly one-of-a-kind and Tiny Works of Awesome! I made them with my own handmade stamps, handpainted paper, and words from books. Right now only 20 of these exist so snagging some swag from me will be special!

Here are the details:
Midsummer Mini Mayday!Saturday, July 28, 201210 AM - 4 PMThe Decibel Lounge45 Euclid StreetRochester, NY 14604Plenty of free parking!!
Just over 20 of the most creative, indie artists and designers in Rochester will be there! I'm excited to see my crafty pals! 
I better see YOU there, too! 
Happy Saturday! 

- Vickie

Casa Larga Winery Craft Show: 5/3/12

Join me for an excellent craft show TOMORROW, Thursday, May 3rd, at one of the finest wineries in town - Casa Larga! 

"Spring in the Vineyard"

Casa Larga Winery

10:00 AM - 7:00 PM

2287 Turk Hill Road

Fairport, NY 14450

There is more than enough time to get there after your workday. Unwind with a glass of wine with friends!

Our local paper has a nice write up of the show plus more information on Casa Larga's  events for Mother’s Day and Riesling Month. Enjoy the music of Chris Wilson while you decide what handmade goodies to buy from over 50 of the finest artisans around.

Be silly for your Tiny Works of Awesome! Cluck like a chicken at my booth for 10% off! 

- Vickie

It's A Craftmas December!

The Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST) has a month-long party of handmade goodness planned for December! I'm at a loss for words when it comes to describing my joy about these events. This is going to be gooood!

Several months ago the RNEST team decided to rent a space for a month somewhere in Rochester to hold shows, workshops, and community building events. The Hungerford Building became available to us a few months ago, but something fell through with that. Instead that was a blessing in disguise as now we have the space for December and we can focus on holiday shows and winter fun.

The extra exciting, really cool thing is that Etsy gave our team a grant to do this. Yes! Etsy gave us money to put all of this together. How cool is that?!

We've met. We've talked. We've planned. Now it's time to reveal the crafty month-long RNEST party we have in store for you!

All events are located at The Hungerford Building, Door 8,
at 1115 East Main Street, Rochester, NY, 14609. 

Craftmas Events are on Facebook! Click the links below to RSVP, then share with your friends!



Craftmas: Etsy Style! First Friday Holiday Craft Sale
Friday, December 2nd at 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
Saturday, December 3rd at noon - 4:00 pm 

A Handmade Holiday hits the Hungerford Building! Come shop from a selection of quality items made by local artists. Give the gift of handmade this holiday season!


Clothing Swap 
Monday, December 5th at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 

It’s time to clean out that closet! Bring in your unwanted clothing and take home some new-to-you pieces for your wardrobe...all for free! RNEST artists will also be available to teach demos with techniques for altering and upcycling your clothes into fun, new items! *Any clothing left over at the end of the night will be donated. Nothing will go to waste!


Creative Play Session 
Saturday, December 10th at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm 

Creativity boosting activities and exercises to spark your artistic inspiration and get out of a rut. Come with an open mind and leave with ideas for new projects! (For ages teen and up)


Open Craft Night: Etsy Style! 
Thursday, December 15th at 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm 

Demos: glass pendant soldering, knitting, bead weaving and MORE! Everyone is invited for a handmade, fun-filled evening of simple planned projects and unstructured time with RNEST artists. Bring your crafty works-in-progress, share our supplies, experiment with our tools, and ask us about tips and techniques. A small sampling of our works will also be available for sale.

I am part of the planning committee for Open Craft Night. We have a lot of cool projects lined up that are easy as well as more intermediate and low cost to make. No art experience required! Just watching all the demos alone will fill up the night. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait!!

Direct questions about any of these events to me at inmyheadstudios [at] gmail.com

We hope you can make it to at least one of these events! They will be a lot of fun simply because our team is a lot of fun!

What now? Head over to RNEST on Facebook to RSVP, then share the events with your friends! 

xoxo

- Vickie

T'was the Night Before Mayday! Underground

The nights before my craft shows tend to be busy with last minute projects and calculating how much glue I can get to dry by the following morning. Tonight is no exception!

I just got back from The Main Street Armory to drop off my tables. Oh my goodness, it was good that I did! I have a corner spot which means I can set up more than one table. Yippee! 

Now I have to pull out the extra displays from the basement and dust them off from last year. I hope there is room for the silver candelabra again. I think that looks awesome with pendants hanging on it. Oh, shiny!

I definitely have enough Tiny Works of Awesome to fill my tables! I made about 10 new domino pendants this past week. About 40 more Scrabble tile pendants were finished as well. Plus we have some new Reclaimed Hardware designs featuring rescued-from-the-scrap-heap metal nuts, washers, and other machine parts mixed with beads and wire. They are really cool mixed media jewelry with a funky steampunk style.

Yeah, I'm the girl at [big box home improvement store] staring at the Oh, shiny! displays of wing nuts, washers, gaskets, and hinges - and I look lost or possibly abandoned by the male who must have dragged brought me there - but I am only lost in thought as I dream up ways to use these beautiful shinies in jewelry. 

Come see them for yourself at Mayday! Underground Crafts + Art on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at The Main Street Armory in Rochester, NY from 10 AM to 5 PM!

 
    <3  Vickie

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

No, it's not an I-ate-too-much-Halloween-candy distress call! It's Mayday! Underground Crafts + Art: the coolest indie craft show in Rochester, NY! I am super excited and humbled to be included in this bi-annual show for the fourth time!

This show was first held on May Day in May a couple years ago celebrating many things such as the end to the cold winter season (well, in milder climates. Not so much here.). November marks the half-way point in the year from May Day to May Day and is also the beginning of the cold, winter season.

We begin to settle in for the cold, nesting in our homes with the comforts of warmth and loved ones. Historically, the time for farming was finished and leisure time was turned to more domestic chores such as making clothing and repairing equipment. 

These activities called for skill, technical ability, and a lot of time invested in mastery. Unbeknown to many of these people they really were craftsmen, craftswomen and artisans. They passed these skills down through the ages. 

Join us at Mayday! Underground Crafts + Art as we celebrate generations of skill and mastery coming together to meet modern materials and fresh design. 

Saturday, November 5, 2011 

Mayday Underground Crafts + Art 

10:00 am - 5:00 pm 

The Main Street Armory 

900 East Main Street, Rochester, NY 14605 

The BEST indie craft + art show in Western NY

The fabulous organizers, Amanda and Casey, have put together a slide show of all the different crafts + art you will find at this show. You will see it's an amazing collection of of innovative material use and awesome talent.

Mayday! Underground Crafts + Art: November 2011 Artists

Entirely too much fun will be had by all! 

Free swag bags to the first 50 people (there will be a line so get there early)! Plus raffles!

Before you come to the show enter HERE for the Mayday Underground sweepstakes! Up for grabs are three $25 Mayday Moolah Prizes and three swag bag prizes housed in the newest pirate-themed tote bag! It’s all on Facebook, so invite your friends to join in on the fun. Even if you don’t win, you can still print out the entry confirmation and exchange it for a free raffle ticket!

Also, you can help support Sample Soap, a local non-profit that collects unopened soaps, shampoos, lotions, sewing kits, diapers, cosmetics, toothbrushes and toothpaste and distributes them to the neediest citizens of the Greater Rochester, New York area. Bring your donations to Mayday Underground! You'll earn a raffle ticket!

Be there or be unhappy for the rest of your life be square!

- Vickie
xoxo 

Success at St. Rita's Craft Sale

Our craft show at St. Rita's School was nothing short of a huge work of awesome! We were busy all day, which is just how I like it to be. Unfortunately that meant I didn’t get to walk around and mingle with my fellow crafters and Rochester Artisans. I’m sure there was amazing work to see and I missed it. But that’s also better for my wallet! 

The St. Rita’s Show is a very well-known show in Rochester and always well attended. The parking lot was filled all day. The organizers are more than, well, seriously organized. They had the kids from the school stopping by to ask us if we wanted food or raffle tickets all day.

We were set up in a classroom this year instead of the gym where we are usually located. I didn’t get my show application in soon enough and the gym got filled. I think we did way better than we expected to do in a classroom and I am very, very pleased with our show total. 

This was our third show here and we've gained quite a few repeat buyers. They came by saying they were afraid we weren’t there because we weren't in the gym. I have to say that made me fly up to cloud nine! People were looking for us! I am always deeply humbled by positive responses to my work. How lucky am I to be doing this?! Yippee!

 

New display for domino pendants. Very vintage cheese stand.

This year we are trying some new display ideas. I love this antique wood Kraft Cheese display stand. The slanted shelves have little lips at the ends - perfect for holding a lot of domino pendants (it's looking empty because I took this photo at the end of the day). The back of it is open so the cords hang out, and it makes for easy loading. But it's a little awkward for customers to pick up the dominoes. The cord comes pulling out and the viewer can't put it back on the shelf themselves. Quite a few women acted like they broke something when they picked one up. Not the kind of feeling I want to promote here. I'm wondering if this may be better suited to show Scrabble tile pendants as they don't have cords on them.  

What do you think?

Domino pendants all in a row

The cute little girls are a new design this year. They're really funny. The close one here calls out the girl on the right because she "eats paste". The clip art of the girls are from Lisa's Altered Art. 

Scrabble tile display

I better get busy making more tile pendants or we won't have many to show at Mayday Underground in two weeks!

Mixed media collage on a small shipping tag

Also new this year - small original pieces of mixed media art on shipping tags. This one measures 4 3/4" x 2 3/8". It's the perfect size to make original art that is affordable for most people. They can be set up on a shelf or used as a bookmark. You can do lots of things with them for display. They make really nice gifts, too.

Game piece charm bracelets and domino/BINGO earrings

Reclaimed hardware mixed media earrings : New this year!

Reclaimed hardware mixed media bracelet : New this year!

I think this nice old wood drawer needs something lighter behind the jewelry. The dark wood is swallowing the pieces. A nice tan fabric or handwritten ledger paper will fix that!

This was a great show to start off our holiday craft show season. I'm really looking forward to the rest of our shows. The next show is:

Saturday, November 5, 2011
Mayday Underground Crafts + Art
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
The Main Street Armory
900 East Main Street, Rochester, NY 14605
The BEST indie craft + art show in Western NY
First 50 people to arrive get a FREE swag bag of handmade goodies! 
Get there early if you want swag. There WILL BE a line.

- Vickie 
xoxo  

St. Rita's Craft Sale: This Saturday

What a busy week! I am gearing up for this Saturday's show - the first one of my season. I always get a little nervous about the holiday craft show season. It means I have to leave my studio and talk to people. I'm just a tiny bit socially awkward. Shhhhhh... don't tell anyone. That's between you and me. 

So if you want to find some of the best handmade around, you can find it St. Rita's Craft Sale - where you will also find me being socially awkward behind my table. :)

Saturday, October 22, 2011
27th Annual St. Rita School Craft Sale

9:00 am – 3:15 pm
St. Rita School
1008 Maple Drive, Webster, New York 14580

** Our booth is located in a classroom, Room 14, this year (not the gym) so be sure to check out the classrooms, too! **

 

Now more than ever, I believe that supporting local small businesses (that includes artists and crafters) this holiday season is that can help our community become stronger economically. 

Your dollars could be making a day job out of a part-time art gig. That, in turn, not only makes the dreams of an artist come true, it helps families in our community to pay for food, housing, or medicine. It also creates jobs for your neighbors, family, friends, and maybe even you. And right now, Rochester needs you. 

Please think about how spending your holiday shopping dollars at the big box chain stores or the big online shopping sites means those dollars won't be supporting the "little guy" in our community.

A handmade gift, even if it wasn't handmade by you, is always a classy, gracious, and generous way to go. It means so much more to the recipient when you give handmade, especially these days where gift cards and electronic gadgets rule. Yes, that new gadget may say "I love you!" to your loved one, but wouldn't a handmade gadget case be a great choice to go with it? 

Giving handmade is giving love. Love to your loved one, and love from the artist who put their hard work, time, and energy into the creation of something out of nothing. With your purchase of handmade you are also spreading joy to the artist so they may keep spreading joy and love in an immeasurable way. 

See? It's not just about money. 

See you at St. Rita's!  

- Vickie

Upcoming Shows: Get Your Tiny Works of Awesome!

While I grieve summer's warmth ending, the cool, crisp air of October heralds the art and craft show season here. This is a busy time in my studio.

The finished dominoes start stacking up. Sometimes I want to line them all up in a long, winding row like I did as a kid and then knock them all down. They are just too stinkin' cute to do that though!

So while I am crafting like crazy here, you can take a moment to pull your calendars out and schedule trips to my upcoming shows.

We (I say "we" during craft show season a lot as Mr. M helps and other family members do, too) won't be going far from Rochester, NY and the surrounding suburbs for shows this year. If you live within 50 miles of Rochester it's really worth it to come to these shows. Some fabulous artists will be there!

In My Head Studios' 

Upcoming Art + Craft Show Events

Saturday, October 22, 2011

27th Annual St. Rita School Craft Sale
9:00 am – 3:15 pm
St. Rita School
1008 Maple Drive, Webster, New York 14580
Our booth is located in a classroom this year (not the gym) so be sure to come look for us!

 
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Mayday Underground Crafts + Art
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
The Main Street Armory
900 East Main Street, Rochester, NY 14605
The BEST indie craft + art show in Western NY
First 50 people to arrive gets a FREE swag bag of handmade goodies! 
Get there early if you want swag. There WILL BE a line.

Thursday, November 10, 2011
Holiday in the Vineyard Art and Craft Sale
10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Casa Larga Vineyards
2287 Turk Hill Road, Fairport, NY 14450
Open until 7:00 pm so stop by after work! Wine tastings!

Saturday, November 26, 2011 
35th Annual Irondequoit High School Art and Craft Sale
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Irondequoit High School
260 Cooper Road, Irondequoit, NY 14617

The Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST) is potentially cooking up some hot, hot, heat for December events! Stay tuned for more about our plans for world domination extreme crafty fun soon!

Giveaway Alert: Click over to the RNEST blog to win one of my handmade domino pendants! The giveaway runs until Tuesday, October 11th!

Happy Friday!

xoxo

- Vickie 

Shows!! There Are Shows!

Networking locally and, well, just showing up has netted a few shows for my calendar for the next two weeks. Yay for just showing up!

Thanks to my buddies on the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST), I finally made it to a monthly RNEST meeting. One of our members, Chrys from aDifferentView, still needed some folks for b’Zart: a community celebration & art/craft sale to benefit Golisano Children's Hospital.

b’Zart is not going to be a stuffy “black tie” fundraising event. This is a party! I love that when I go to “work” I’m really going to big parties!

Expect an evening of festivities and entertainment, complete with drink specials, skee-ball, and darts. Skee-ball!! They are also offering a raffle with great prize packages; all ticket proceeds to benefit the hospital. I put a domino pendant into the raffle. Really, isn’t that all the incentive you need?

Several of my crafty RNEST pals will be there along with local musicians. It’s going to rock!

Come get your Tiny Works of Awesome from In My Head Studios!

b'Zart

Saturday, May 28, 2011

5 – 11 PM

The Firehouse Saloon

814 S. Clinton Ave (corner of Meigs St)

Rochester, NY 14620

15% of In My Head Studios’s sales will benefit the Golisano Children's Hospital

I'm giving out a secret coupon code for b'Zart on the In My Head Studios Facebook page sometime this week. "Like" me and you'll get it as an update!

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I am humbled and honored to be invited again to be at reHatched: Female Artist Showcase Series on Saturday, June 4th at Tango Café. Amanda has a great line up of female musicians, poets, and artists. I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment at the last reHatched show I did. It’s well worth the ticket price, which also gets you into another upcoming reHatched event. So it’s two for one!

reHatched: Female Artist Showcase Series

Saturday, June 4, 2011

7 – 10:30 PM

Tango Cafe

389 Gregory Street

Rochester, NY 14620

$10 pre-sold tickets*, $12 at the door*

*Please contact me at inmyheadstudios[at]gmail.com to purchase your pre-sale tickets.*

*Ticket sale includes (1) complimentary glass of house wine (red or white), free admission to (1) additional upcoming reHatched Event (the first Saturday of each month through September), AND a jam packed evening full of live entertainment and art from some of the area's most talented women*

I just might give out another secret coupon code for reHatched on the In My Head Studios Facebook page sometime next week. "Like" me and you'll get it as an update if I do!

Start supporting your community by supporting your fellow local artists, musicians, and poets. It not only helps them keep doing what they love, but it really does bring money to our area by creating small indie businesses and jobs.

I'll see you Saturday!

- Vickie

It Got Better... Way Better

Today kind of started off in “meh”-mode. Just could not wake up today and focus. I reserve these days for goofing off.

“How can you tell?”, you ask.

Don’t get smart.

So I answered emails, edited photos, and poked around in the mess on my work table. I tweeted. A lot. Maybe too much. But can you blame me? Today, the local paper listed me as a Rochester Young Professional “Tweep” To Follow (in the slideshow). Yeah. Uh huh. I’m a big deal on Twitter. That’s right. Make way.

Then the postman rang our doorbell (just once) because he didn’t want to leave a big box on my porch (for once). It was my new digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS6. Joy! Alas, I was too excited to open the box. Seriously. I was all thumbs and knew I would either rip one of those thumbs open with the box cutter or drop my new precious the moment I got my sweaty thumbs on it. Trust me, I know all of this from experience. I made Mr. M open it. And oh, it’s so shiny and pretty. I finally own a Leica lens!

The day kept getting better.

My artsy pal Kelly (aka @craftyb) met her Kickstarter funding goal for Once Upon A Time. I adore the work she and Larry Moss do with balloons, photography, and illustration. I donated because I want to see the amazing they are going to make.

I had an awesome phone call with my friend of about 13+ years, Christi (aka Rain). We seem to be on some parallel/crossing/same paths lately in a woo woo, get-out-of-my-head way that I am thoroughly digging. So we pow wow a lot about it. Today was nothing short of a powerful pow wow.

Christi knows everyone in town. You need it, she can find it. Arts, music, poetry… She knows who you need to know or can point you there. She is an extremely talented poet, musician, singer/songwriter, and visual artist. She invited me to her performance Saturday night. Mr. M and I planned to attend and to meet the organizers as Christi thought these events would be a good fit for my art. I wanted to promote Christi so I sent a short Facebook message to the organizer about needing a higher resolution image of their poster to put here on my blog.

Then The Universe stepped in.

One of the female artists they showcase Saturday needed out and they needed someone. I was just in the right place at the right time. Or The Universe shoved me into the right place. I don’t know. But it’s woo woo, right? Luck? Hard work paying off?

I am nothing short of thrilled to be asked to be part of this show! Woo hoo for female artists!

Please come down to the delightfully charming

Tango Café

on

Saturday, May 7, 2011

from

7 – 10:30 PM!
389 Gregory Street
Rochester, NY

I’ll have my Tiny Works of Awesome in case you missed us at Mayday Underground! Your pre-sale $10 ticket ($12 at the door) gets you a glass of wine and admission to another reHatched event (every first Saturday through September) in addition to the rocking awesome music, art, poetry, food, and wine! Tickets can be purchased through local participants, at Tango Cafe, and also through the Local Visionaries website (www.localvisionaries.weebly.com)

If The Universe is bringing me there I think you should pay attention, too! Be there! Bring your molecules where my molecules will be having a fun party!

- Vickie

Mayday Underground Crafts + Art: Spring 2011

Mayday Underground Crafts + Art is my favorite show ever! That’s not hyperbole!

The Main Street Armory, where Mayday Underground Crafts + Art was held, is an enormous and beautiful venue. I, in the 22 years I have lived in Rochester, have not had cause to go there for anything, thus solidifying my hermit status even more. Luckily I trusted my gut about lighting. I was worried it might be dark in a big, vast space like that so I checked off “yes” for electricity on the application just in case, even though I don’t have a light set-up ready to go. Yep, day-of-the-show improvisation. That’s me, much to my mom’s and Mr. M’s chagrin. Of course, I didn’t actually pack the lights or extension cords, and I had to politely ask Mr. M to go home and get them. He politely obliged. He rocks!

We were sort of in that no-man’s land at the far end of an aisle past the point where people would turn to cross over to the next aisle. They would have missed us completely because we were in the dark under the balcony overhang. Amanda so very nicely said we could move out a little on an angle. We were very careful not to take too much advantage of that though, as it wasn’t super fair to the other vendors under the balcony. I think everyone in that aisle should have been moved out about five feet and into the light.

The extra lighting we brought made a huge difference. I believe it contributed greatly to the near-record breaking show total we made. Lighting is definitely on the list for future shows. I hope to find some battery powered halogen lights, if they even exist. (My dad could have made them for me if he was still around, goshdarnnit.)

I still cannot believe the positive responses to my work. I am so lucky to be doing what I do. Art can be a solitary life with little to no feedback on a day-to-day basis. Then you do a show and you get filled up with about six hours of happy dance from customers. It makes the solitary confinement worth it! It gives me an answer to the times I am in the studio asking myself,

“Why am I even bothering with this?! Does anyone even care?!”

So I have to work to hold on to the feelings of show days to remind myself that I’m not just pushing paper and paint around on canvas or dominoes.

I am creating joy.

I lose sight of that until I see smiles when people are looking at and buying my work.

The talent at this show was unbelievable. I think it was the best collection of artists I have ever seen at an indie show. The number of young indie artists was greatly encouraging (I think I have recently aged out of the “young” category, I’m afraid). Nice to see the newbies getting their feet wet! Of course it’s always fun to hang with my Rochester NY Etsy Street Team buddies! I was next to my pals Michelle from The Quilted House and Stefani from Pine Tree Designs!

On a side note: The doors to the stalls in the bathroom at The Armory were gorgeous antique wood doors. Tall and slim and carved with really ornate designs. But they left me feeling more like I was walking into a church confessional than a bathroom stall! It kind of creeped me out and made me laugh at the same time.

"We Are Queens"; original mixed media collage on 6"x"8" gallery wrapped canvas; available for sale

Rochester needs more shows like this. Amanda and Casey and all the Mayday vendors have proven three times now that this city supports indie shows. Let’s have more!

The next Mayday Underground is slated for November! See you there!

- Vickie

From Under My Rock

Has it been more than three months since I've blogged something? Time is making less and less sense to me.

I can fill you in pretty quickly on what's been going on the last 3 1/2 months. It's been a whole lot of very little. The death of my father has kind of thrown me for a loop, the latter of which I find to be an appropriate expression because I do kind of feel like I am tied to the end of a rope that someone is just swinging in wide loop-the-loops nonstop 24/7.

To cope with everything I have pretty much just thrown myself into art... coming up with new projects, some new designs, and delving into some new mediums.

I find that if I need real diversion from reality through art I require very strong immersion into the new work/play… something that takes up a lot of my brain so that it is not thinking about things other than art. I need my brain to just be doing, not thinking. There's entirely too much thinking going on here lately. Dangerous stuff.

Since I have been unable to get upstairs to my own studio (hemiplegic migraines), I needed to bring some of the studio downstairs to the living room. I attempted to keep the needed supplies for the project I wanted to work on down here to a minimum so as not to make a great big mess. Sometimes that's hard to do as a mixed-media artist.

So I grabbed the bare bones of paper crafting supplies: scissors, pens and pencils, eraser, ruler, glue, and tape. But the thing I really wanted to get into was PAINT, which I haven't worked with much for quite some time and have longed to experiment with more as I have been playing with it in my art journal.

Of course doing something with just paint wasn't enough. My desire to do something with printmaking has been growing again. I decided to create my own stamps out of Fun Foam. It's super simple to make your own stamps out of foam, and I want to show you how I do it. But that's for another post!

I'm sure Mr. M is not keen on how much of the living room is over taken by the art studio currently, but I'm having a really good time!

Business is still running mostly as usual. Please bear with me as illness is preventing me from checking e-mail as frequently as I would like to and also from being up in the studio as much as I need to. Currently, it is taking me a few days to answer e-mail and other messages, so please be patient. I’m here but moving at a snail’s pace sometimes.

I'm so looking forward to some insane indie crafty fun at

Mayday! Underground Crafts + Art Show 

Saturday, April 30, 2011

10 AM - 4 PM 

The Main Street Armory 

900 East Main Street in Rochester, NY! 

I, In My Head Studios, will be there with my Tiny Works of Awesome domino and game piece jewelry and accessories plus some NEW stuff! Yay for new! 

I should mention that the vendors at Mayday have created ridiculously excellent FREE swag bags for the first 50 indie shoppers that arrive! Get there early! There will be a girl fight line!

- Vickie