Some of my local friends have some great events coming up as well. Chris at Skip N’ Whistle and The Factory has a new schedule of fall screen-printing classes. There will be Saturday afternoon classes on September 4th & 11th, and Wednesday evening classes on September 8th and 15th. For more info on classes, you can check The Factory website, or call Skip N’ Whistle at 504-862-5909 or email thefactorynola @ gmail.com.
The ladies of The WorkRoom NOLA will also be hosting a party soon, to celebrate and promote their new endeavor. DIY Hard (With A Vengeance) happens on Saturday, September 18 at the Antenna Gallery in New Orleans. They’re calling it “a bitching night of booze, food, crafting, and music.” Check them out on Facebook to learn more.
My mom’s business, the Flea Market & RV Park at Menge in Pass Christian, Mississippi, is celebrating 15 years in business this weekend! She has some special events going on to celebrate, plus David & I have convinced her to host a Family Fun Fest this November 20-21! She’s currently looking for vendors for that event, and is also offering a limited amount of free booths to non-profit children’s and family organizations. The Flea Market is only an hour’s drive from New Orleans, and it’s right on Interstate-10 (seriously, you can see it as you pass, and it’s literally right off of Exit 24), so it’s really easy to find. Let me know if you want more details, or you can give her a call at the Flea Market office at 228-452-0590. (Ask for Michelle and tell her Mallory sent you!)
I recently discovered the sweetest online teen magazine: Hardly Magazine. Sure, it may be geared at teens, but it’s so well done that it’s a joy to look at, and there are some great articles. Thanks to the Moderne Press PR & Style Blog for putting this one on my radar.
Remember those customized one-of-a-kind fleur de lis guitar straps (pictured above) I mentioned a few weeks ago, that I made exclusively for my friend Aaron’s new French Quarter shop, The Guitar Bar? Well, I’m teaming up with him for a little trunk show next week to celebrate our collaboration! If you’re in the area, come and visit us on Saturday, September 4, from 12pm-9pm at his shop at 1205 Decatur Street. You can RSVP or share the Facebook event link with your friends!
One of the artists featured in my shop, John Doherty, has a statue being unveiled today in Slidell, Louisiana, to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. He was recently featured in the Times-Picayune! Congrats John!
Make Your Own Toys: Sew Soft Bears, Bunnies, Monkeys, Puppies, and More!
Want to find out how to make that cute little critter pictured above? Check out the new book by Sue Havens called Make Your Own Toys: Sew Soft Bears, Bunnies, Monkeys, Puppies, and More! In her new book, just released this week, Sue demonstrate how to make over 20 soft animals from recycled fabrics. They’re all so cute!
And I also have a winner to announce: the winner of the UPrinting.com Rolled Canvas Print Giveaway is…. #3 – Lacey! Congrats to Lacey and thanks to everyone who participated! I’ve got some other giveaways in the works, so stay tuned!
Designed by RJ posted some great images she’s taken during her travels in her post By the Water… I especially love this image of the Pacific Coast Highway in California, because it reminds me of the amazing trip that Dave and I took in 2006.
Chrissy from Indie Biz Chicks was in a car accident this past week and totaled her car. She’s offering a September Blogging Special to raise some funds to put towards a new car, so if you’re looking to brush up on blogging techniques and build a better blog, check it out.
I was browsing older posts by Jen Kiaba and I discovered this gem: Finding the Best Digital Camera for Your Budget. Jen compared three of her digital cameras, ranging in prices from $800 to $15, to figure out which one REALLY takes the best pictures.
Next week at my day job, I’ll be helping out with one of our events, Katrina 5.0: A Symposium on Technology & Blogging. It’s sort of a blogger / Twitter / tech geek meetup with some guest speakers talking about how blogging and technology was used during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to disseminate information quickly. It should be pretty interesting, and it’s free to attend, so if you’re in New Orleans stop by – it’s next Wednesday, August 25 from 5:30 – 8pm at The Presbytère (the building on the right side of St. Louis Cathedral if you’re standing in Jackson Square).
We’ve also got another cool event coming up next month – the Friends of the Cabildo is one of the non-profit fund raising groups which supports the Louisiana State Museum. We’re partnering with them to do a cool behind-the-scenes tour of one of our collections facilities. (Aka the place where I get to work every day that houses stuff like 19th century medical equipment, antique guns, Mardi Gras costumes from way back when and much more.) You have to be a member of Friends of the Cabildo to come (a regular membership is only $35 a year), and you MUST make a reservation to attend. Apparently they’re almost booked to capacity, so if you want to attend, get in touch with FOC fast! (Email Rachel AT friendsofthecabildo.org) If this is popular, they’ll hopefully do it again, so let them know you’re interested.
I had a guest post up this week at the clothing menu. Kristen asked me “Who are some of your favorite independent designers and why?,” and while it was really tough to narrow it down, I went with 3 of my favorites from my own wardrobe.
I’ve posted about the cool halterneck hoodies by Dressed by Danni before, but now Danni has decided to close that part of her business to focus on her true passion – illustration! Check out her new site, doodlesbydanni and her online shop Stitch & Ink, where you can find her illustrations available for purchase on t-shirts and stickers.
Paper Treasure is a fun jewelry line I just learned about, created by hand by Jesseca McCloskey in Portland, Oregon. She combines vintage and antique bits and baubles with new chains to create unique and limited edition designs. Jesseca is fascinated by shipwrecks, as you’ll see if you visit her website, and each of her necklaces is named after an actual shipwreck and comes tagged with information about its namesake. Pretty cool, huh? I really like the way she does her product photography too.
Yesterday I noticed some news spreading around Facebook that my friend Kyle Berner, founder of Feelgoodz eco-friendly flip-flops, was in a bit of a bind due to the recently Gulf oil spill. I’ve mentioned Feelgoodz here on Miss Malaprop before, here and here; they’re a great local company based here in New Orleans, and Kyle is a really nice guy.
Apparently they had a huge order (10,000 flip flops!) en route to the U.S. from Thailand, where these all-natural rubber flip-flops are made, when the cargo shipment got stuck at a port in the Bahamas because everything was being re-routed because of the oil spill. These flip-flops were supposed to be delivered to Whole Foods stores across the country in time for summer, but they never made it in time, and now Whole Foods in most places are already switching out their stock for fall. You can read the full story at Change.org, but basically because of this whole situation Feelgoodz needs to sell those 10,000 pairs of flip-flops ASAP in order to repay a loan by August 18!
I contacted Kyle to see what I could do to help. He has graciously offered Miss Malaprop readers a special coupon code, MALAPROP, for $5 off PLUS $5 flat rate shipping on all orders at the Feelgoodz online store. (No expiration, no limit!) I have friends who have Feelgoodz flops, and they swear by them, and have told me they’re the most comfortable flip-flops they own. So if you’re in the market for some flip-flops, check ‘em out!
In other news, yesterday I also whipped up some customized one-of-a-kind fleur de lis guitar straps for my friend Aaron’s new French Quarter shop, The Guitar Bar! I think they turned out pretty cool, and these are going to be exclusive to his new shop. The Guitar Bar not only sells guitars and related equipment, but they also do repairs and offer music lessons (they do more than just guitars), and they’re open late for all you downtown musicians. If you’re in New Orleans, stop by and tell him I sent you – the shop is at 1205 Decatur Street.
And now, my weekly Indie Biz Chicks link round-up:
Designed by RJ is on a roll – last week I mentioned how she always posts the most delicious looking recipes, complete with pictures of her concoctions, and this week she turned out another doozy: Seasonal Fruit Pie, packed with nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums and blueberries. Sounds amazing!
Chrissy from Indie Biz Chicks always tells it like it is, and she recently went to the BlogHer10 conference. She posted her reaction to the event and to reviews by other attendees in her post If You Don’t Like It, Change It!
Jen Kiaba recently posted a link to some Photography Tips for Shooting in Full Sun. Whether you’re a professional or amateur photographer, or you’re trying to brush up on your photo skills for online selling, Jen always has great tips and links for making your photos look amazing!
Designed by RJ always posts the tastiest looking recipes, like this week’s Tri-Colour Potato Salad recipe. Doesn’t this look delicious??
Jen posted her Rocky Horror Cast “Pin Ups” this week. While I never really did much of the acting-out-in-front-of-a-movie-screen thing, I got to play Columbia in a live stage production of the Rocky Horror Show at Biloxi Little Theatre when I was about 18. During my theatre years, I did a lot of fun shows, but that was one of the most insanely fun – we had a great ensemble cast, and who wouldn’t have fun doing Rocky Horror? I wish I had digital versions of my pictures from that show… I might have to find them and scan them at some point.
Crissy from Indie Biz Chicks wrote a review of Mozy, an automated file backup system. Her computer crashed recently, but she wasn’t worried because Mozy had all of her files already backed up. I keep thinking about the need to set up something like this for myself, so her post was perfect timing!
MissMalaprop.com is where modern handmade meets sustainable design. I spotlight the best in independent designers & artists, eco-friendly and sustainable products, New Orleans & Gulf Coast based businesses and issues, and people & organizations who are working to make the world a better place.
I believe that one person can make a difference and that everyone can be that person.
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