Old Mother Leary Left the Lantern in the Shed

And when the cow kicked it over, Marimello shrieked and said, GOOD GOD it's a hot time in the old town tonight.

OK not to pound it into your heads crafty friends, but it is still crazy here and it is a wonder that the poor little elves can type as you dear editatrix dictates. Their poor little eyes are swollen so, but you know we can't be bothered with typing ourselves with this washcloth over our eyes.

Speaking of washcloths! The Witch Fire shop is open for business and the donations are rolling in. Obviously it's time to put the red eyed elves to work photographing this luxurious stuff. So if you haven't already, roll on over to the shop on Etsy. And keep rolling back for more new stuff. The word has gone out to the fashionista friends of Marimello and we expect great things to be coming our way!

Check out the shop on the right over there and see what's happening. If you want to donate and get some FREE PRESS, head on over to the blog or give us an e-jingle.

Inferno in SoCal

Hey Crafties,
Wracking you brain for ways to help out the parched/burnt communities in Southern California? Know some one who's been evacuated. The Marimello clan alone has about 15 members evacuated from 7 homes. It's enough to make our heads spin.

And spin they did, until we settled on this idea for a charity raffle/donation site. We thought we would set up a collective to raise money for charities in SoCal. Through this new blog, Marimello is looking for donations of items that are less than $5-$10 (your cost), anything bigger will be put into a raffle. The drawing for these items will work thusly: names will come from a pool of anyone who donates, buys, or just sends in a good contribution story will be entered.
Email or leave comments if you can help!

Check it out here: witch-fire.blogspot.com

Show Etsy Some Love

Ellen has been in the news a lot these last couple of days. Let's just say we wouldn't be sad if she'd go into retreat for a while. But whatever, we'll let her live a little bit longer if it means we can get a slot on her show. We mean ETSY on her show. Go fill out the form, and if you slip up and, say, put in your favorite blogger we won't tell.

New Craft Spectacular: Get Right Outta Town

Marimello has been contemplating the necessity of a new Los Angeles craft fair. Wouldn't it be fun if you could go to a little indie craft shopping every weekend? Wouldn't mixing and mingling with other crafties be a swell addition to an otherwise football-filled coupla days?

We want to know your thoughts. What have you been dying to see at a craft fair? Any special vendor types you think are missing from the usual mix? What kind of howtos would have you hanging on the edge of your seat? Would you have rocking tunes ala DJ or live band? What part of your stash would you bring and leave or trade on a big table of free goodies?

Inquiring minds want to know...Leave a suggestion in the comments or email the elves at marimellodesign [at] gmail [dotty] com. And derrr, anyone who gives us feedback will be immediately enslaved to help out with the project. Or at least be subject to more brain picking.

We can't wait to hear from you!

Should I Stay or Should I Go: Weekend Plans

We here at Marimello are too bogged down with important work to even consider setting foot outside the house this weekend and if you're like us, you have a will of steel! However you also might need some distraction in between moments of inspiration. What a conundrum.
There, there, Marimello will make it all better…

You should stay:
International Fiber Collective needs your help to cover a gas station with craft. So craft a 3'x3' square and send it on in.
Craft and Adorn both have new issues out. Get thee to a bookstore (ok that means going a little bit out) and cuddle up with your mags.
But if the bookstore is too much of a trip there's always a bit of reading to do online. May we suggest you peruse Sisterhood of the Needle. Our favorite is definitely the mother-daughter team who both needed shoulder surgery after too much knitting. Cheesey? Yes, but Marimello likes it too.
Finally, nothing says distraction like a good i-cord project. And nothing says too much time on your hands like a headphone cord cozy. But surly you can think of something that needs an initial a la LaVerne and Shirley, or maybe some one you love needs a curse word emblazoned on a pennant.
Or you could do your work...sigh.

You should go:
Giant Robot NY is showing Susie Ghahremani's work and there is an opening tomorrow. You all know Susie from Boy Girl Party. The best part is Susie will be there handing out free copies of Craft and sample of the sampler.
Down New Zealand way, you can hit up Craft 2.0. Our noses have been pointed decidedly south ever since we heard about Lynda Dorrington's plans to turn Perth (yeah yeah we know, different country) into some sort of arts and crafts utopia.
Back on this side of the equator, there's a Recraft Fair happening in Somerville, MA on Saturday. Besides music and loads of free stuff, our friends from Magpie will be there.
Also free and also tomorrow, there's Craftanostra, hosted by the St. Louis Craft Mafia. If you had a private jet, you could make both events, because Craftanostra goes until 1 a.m. Best part? Drinks at the bar.
If you're in our neck of the woods, head over to Fiber Fest in Santa Monica. We might duck out for a moment and head over too. We hear there's an alpaca that needs petting.
And while alpaca-petting may get us out of the house for a moment or two, this Toronto event is our favorite. Maybe it's their offer of weenies, or maybe it's because 20 vendors are all cramming into some one's backyard. More likely it's that afterward, they having a clothing swap and chocolate tasting.

Oh did we say we were going to make your weekend easier? We meant harder.

Image Ann Taintor. She is hilarious.

Rocket Craft: This one time in autoshop...

It's true, the plushie world has left owlies and cupcakes behind. Well maybe not forever, but our new favorite branch on the stuffed creature tree is definitely the super replica cars and automotive parts of Rocket Craft.
Originally brought to our attention by Jalopnik (yeah? so we're obsessed with cars), Rocket Craft operates out of Sapporo, Japan. Their creations aren't just off the shelf either. Rocket Craft carefully crafts exact replicas of you ride. Of course it's a big hit back home in Japan, but just think of the possibilities. Personally we're dreaming of cuddling up with a stuffed version of our very first car.
So, in celebration of this new branch on the crafting tree, Marimello is offering a prize in the form of a feature post to the first crafties who can identify not just the engine type featured in the upper the left, but what model it replicates. And special bonus to any one who sends in a pic of their own plushie machines.

If You Want To Employ This Sweater

Do you have a band? Did you make your own instruments? Did your friend make you all matching sweaters? Do you make your own merch to sell? Are you the merch girl that every band needs?
Marimello needs to talk to you.
Don't ask why, we are mysterious curious.
OK, ask why. We're working on a piece about music and passion. We have a task for you and an ear to lend to any damn story you want to tell.
And don't just email us to make fun of our guitar. It's pink and your boyfriend didn't buy you one. And regarding the chord, so what? Marimello can't play guitar, but check out the fine fine ruffles on that mini dress! Hand knit baby!
marimellodesign [at] gmail

Ready, Set, Film: Marimello Spaces Out!

Oh NO! In all our anger and frothing at the mouth earlier about what a crap week it has been we forgot to send out the love for the very cool the 48 Hour Film Project happening this weekend in Los Angeles. If you haven't heard from you film school hottie this weekend, maybe this explains it all. Come out in droves next weekend, when the films will be screened. If you think you're on deadline, or you think the pressure for an upcoming event is too much, then you haven't lived through making a film in 48 hours. These people are indie hardcore!
In a nutshell, the 48 our Film Project is exactly what it sounds like only harder. Participating teams have an infinite time period to put together a crew and cast, but only 48 hours to write, edit and complete the entirely original film. The hard (or fun, depending on your yum/yuck threshold) part is keeping them honest. At 7 p.m. on Friday each team was issued a mandatory set of rules including a genre, a character's name and occupation, a prop and a line of dialogue. Films are due on Sunday at, duh, 7 p.m.
Now, Marimello likes a tight deadline as much as the next journo, but when it comes to crafting, we haven't seen much of this balls out, indie spirit. Just for spite, in the coming days Marimello will post a timed crafting challenge. We just have to think of something accessible and ludicrous enough to make you balk and pony up. Get your sticks out and dig through your most unappealing leftovers. You know that's where we'll be heading first.
Ready, Set, Craft.