Meet the Folkies!

As promised... i'd like you to meet The Folkies!
Folkies are the newest addition to the greenstarstudio plush family.
Folkies wear their pajamas all day long and are ready for a good snuggle at any moment.
100% one of a kind, Folkies are made without patterns and can't be reproduced. Each one should be considered an original art piece, to be collected and loved. This sweet Folkie is hand stitched and machine sewn, made with ultra soft fleece and felt accents. stuffed with polyfil, so he's sturdy but totally huggable.

Each Folkie has been cut & pieced together by hand and features a small embroidered heart on their cheek. They are then machine sewn, with emphasis on the color of the thread against the fabric & the "drawings" the thread makes. The stitches are intentionally energetic and organic--- Folkies originated as characters in my illustrations and murals, and now, brought to "life" as soft sculpture, the stitch lines are meant to replicate the unique marks, textures and patterns of those paintings & drawings.

Christopher & Maximus are the first two Folkies to be listed in the shop and if you want to give them good homes,
you can find them here!


Or, celebrate Arbor Day with this little guy (for sale in the Plush Team Shop)

I'm Back... and I've brought you a SALE!

Well, friends, feels like forever right?
I've been playing catch up ever since ACC and still don't feel 100% back to normal. Filling orders, working on custom pieces and trying to re-design my website have taken over the bulk of my time. The rest of my time? sleeping. Lots and lots of sleeping.

Normally, there's a nice clean break from "Show Season" between the end of December and April, but with ACC smack dab in the middle of the break, it took some adjusting to get back on schedule. And, OH, whatta schedule.

I realize too that in all my excitement and flurry of getting ready for the big show, I completely overlooked some great press, some wonderful emails and some yum-tastic recipes I wanted to share with you... so I'll go ahead and schedule those in now, ok? Better late than never, yeah?

Onward and upward.
For those of you who came out to ACC, you got an eyeful of a LOT of new stuff in the greenstarline...

including these new block print felt pins:


and Block Print Plush, the new incarnation of Minimals & my brand new art doll, the Folkie (i'll be adding more of these to the shop as soon as I can).

In the meantime...



If that weren't enough, I've just moved a bunch of Recyclimals (like Re-Tilly, above), Knitimals, toys, books, housewares and more into the sale section of my shop. There's tons of items for dirt cheap in the sale section. I've gotta get these sale items cleared out, to make room for a whole slew of brand new stuff... so, now through the end of April (if it takes that long) every sale item will ship with a FREEBIE! That's right, a totally free, super secret surprise. Nice, right?

American Craft Council: Alt Craft!

You might be wondering why you haven't heard from me in a million years--- it's because I have been chained to my knitting needles and sewing machine making all sorts of new & wonderful goodies specifically for my debut at the American Craft Council next week! Aside from all the amazing fine craft you can find at the annual council show, this year the Alt Craft section will be lousy with BEST Baltimore Craft team members, including my good buddies: The Broken Plate, Dandelion Blu & Elisa Shere Jewelry. Alt Craft is very special, because it showcases 20 emerging "Alternative Craft" artists, and each artist can only participate in this section once. I'm very excited and feel very honored to be included... and a little bit sick and scared. But, it'll be awesome nonetheless.

SO, if you'll be in the Baltimore area February 25th- 28th, do come by and see me in Booth #6. You'll be amongst the first to see FOUR brand new additions to the greenstarstudio product line!

xoxo, danamarie

Even more dedicated than the Postal Service!

As you probably know, the good people of Baltimore have been hit might hard by a snow storm of epic proportions! (for us).

Schools, libraries, government etc have been shut down for days, but greenstarstudio doesn't rest! No!
The post offices are open, but the streets aren't drive-able, so they aren't coming to us.

So rest assured, good folks, if you ordered anything from me in the last few days, I just treked 2 miles in the unplowed snow, through streets only pedestrians could travel, often succumbing to 4 ft drifts and twice slipping on ice, to make sure that your packages will reach you AND your loved ones, by Valentine's Day.

No problem, guys. I love ya.
Let me know when you get them!

For now, I'm gonna trek back home, grab a beer and do some knitting.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Last minute Valentines Day gifts that wont LOOK last minute!

If you still aren't sure what to get that special someone... I might could help!
( I love saying "might could"; it makes me feel olde timey)

Let me play secret Cupid to someone!
These secret cupid gift packs come with all sorts of sweet goodies for 'kids' of all ages and will be shipped on Monday, February 8th (or later if you order after the 8th) and are meant to arrive just in time for Valentine's Day--- an unexpected little dose of sweetness in your sweetie's mail box.

There's plenty of other Valentine love to be found in the shop too.



Like these tear & share, color your own Valentines!


Or these sweet pins!

A look at what's to come...

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The Knitimals and I need your vote!

In the midst of award season and with the growing anticipation of the Olympics, acknowledgement and praise is in the air, and the Handmade Community (never to be outdone) is finding more ways to join in on the fun!

Early in the year, the fabulous website PoppyTalk announced a new (hopefully annual) competition called "The Poppies". They describe The Poppies as "a virtual awards ceremony of sorts celebrating the Handmade Community!"


Nominations were made in several categories and I'm happy to announce that the second category up for voting is "CRAFTERS (Embroidery/Crochet/Knitting/Quilting) Artist/Designer/Shop)" and i have been nominated for my Knitimals!

Anyone can vote, and everyone is allowed one vote per category, per computer, per day, so please take a minute to vote each day, if you can. You don't have to register or sign up for anything--- its very easy. The voting ends on January 26th at 11:59 pm.

You can vote here! Please bookmark the page and visit it every day.

The prizes include all sorts of press & praise and FREE advertising on a very heavily trafficked blog. Plus bragging rights.
Please pass this along to anyone you know who supports the arts or has ever been affected by my work.

If I win, we'll be celebrating with a 40% off coupon code-- so when you vote, post a comment here and let's get some people in those virtual voting booths!

Love and Knitimals are in the Air!

It's beginning to look a lot like Valentine's Day! And, what better way to say "I Love You" than with some super sweet, ultra adorable, Valentines?

I'm sure this won't surprise anyone, but I was actually designing these little cuties back in November (what? doesn't everyone think about their Valentine merchandise at the Thanksgiving table?). And, it's been very hard for me to hold back sharing them until now.... but, I think half way through January is a perfect time to unveil them.

Just like the Holiday & Thank You & "Say What?" Blank cards before them, these cuties start off black and white, but with a very specific goal in mind... they want to be colored! By YOU!

(And those little guys got a LOT of press... here, for example!)

Available in Card, Postcard & Mini Card sizes, there are 4 different designs to choose from.
Enjoy.
xoxox, danamarie

New Year, New Cards, New Sales!

I'd be remiss if I didn't first come clean about something...

As much as I love the fanfare and excitement of getting a new calendar (and i DO really, genuinely enjoy that), I'm not a fan of New Years Eve/Day etc. Call me a scrooge, but I think it's a little overblown. I don't disagree with the sentiment of starting anew, or making life goals, or even the idea that you could stand to improve some... heck, we all could. But I don't agree with the whole "waiting for one particular day each year and only doing it then and if you mess up on Jan 4th, the whole year is ruined and the goal was stupid in the first place" thing that seems to accompany much of the hullabaloo. I mean, any day is a new day, right?

If people were half as motivated to make a change or even a quarter as committed to enjoying the day on, say, March 28th, as they are on January 1st, maybe I'd get behind New Years. Otherwise, to me it's just another excuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say "meh, guess its all down hill from here".

Well, i dont believe in down hill!
Every second of the day you can make a change. Its not always easy, sure; I have down days... down hours. Down minutes. But I would never write off a day entirely--- and i certainly wouldn't write off a year.

So, there you have it. My admission--- I'm not a fan of New Years. EXCEPT of course, that i get a chance to buy and fully organize and highlight and color code a brand new calendar.

Nevertheless, a new year is upon us, and if you're like me, you likely got some wonderful gifts this holiday season. Maybe they were gifts of experience (rather than gifts that come wrapped in boxes and bows). Now would be the PERFECT time to say thanks! Why not bring back an old, and sadly oft lost, tradition of letter writing and card sending? Why not incorporate the kids into the deal? Afterall, you're never too young to be thankful, right?

In addition to a slew of new goods on sale in the shop, visit the Cards section for tons of cool cards you can use to let people know you're thankful for them, there for them, love them and support them, EVERY DAY!

And of course, if you're looking for a sweet deal-- maybe you'll want to stock up for NEXT Christmas with some adorable ornaments? Everything in the HOLIDAY section of my shop is an additional 40% off if you use this very special code in the Message to Seller section at checkout. Code: "BLOG40". Due to volume of sales, I can only honor the discount if you include the code, so remember: BLOG40.

Happy Shopping... and happy new EVERY DAY!
xoxo, danamarie

Happy Holidays!

it had to be done.

happy holidays folks!
xoxo, danamarie