the cat's out of the bag... I'm in Baltimore Mag(azine)

the december issue of Baltimore Magazine is dedicated entirely to the handmade scene in Baltimore, and offers readers insight on their favorite (and soon-to-be favorite) local designers, as well as suggestions on how & where to shop local. That, as you all know, is a wonderful thing in this icky economic time, when so many self employed, daring & risk taking independent artists are counting, more than ever, on fellow consumers to help keep them afloat. I am no stranger to this, of course, so i was EXTRA excited when they contacted ME and asked for an interview...



Jessica interviewed me over the phone and we talked for over an hour. Cory came to our house to do the photo shoot which turned the studio into a live version Jenga game, as we moved furniture and balanced lights and tripods on coffee tables and windowsills.




*look how official and "photo-shooty" the room looks!*

and the end result?
a full page interview & photo grouping AND the main image on the contents page!!!




If you live local, go out and pick up an copy--- there's SO much great work in there; Holiday shopping will be much easier this year, me thinks! And if you live not-so-locally, you can check out SOME of the interviews and info online, here: Baltimore Magazine

*******
remember, this sunday, Dec. 7th, i'll be at the Creative Alliance for Merry Mart. It's a great show with food, drink and FREE gift wrapping! So bring your reusable bags and head on over. I'll have plenty of soap, magnets, coloring books, ornaments, keychains, stickers, wood pieces, card games and more, including the very last of the 2008 Edition Knitimals, so get them while you can!

xo, danamarie

gettin' merry!

thanks to all the fabulous folks who came out to see me at Bazaart!
what a great day...

if you missed it, or if you've been thinking "i should go grab some more stuff", don't wait! Come to Merry Mart at the Creative Alliance this Sunday, Dec. 7th, from 11am to 5pm.

"No manic mall madness necessary! Do your holiday shopping at The Creative Alliance! 35 + handpicked artists sell some the best of Baltimore-made items. Gorgeous turned vessels, elegant jewelry, whimsical stuffed critters, origami lights, felt applique, hand knits, housemade soaps, wacky fly swatters, photos in jars, totally cool totes, and much more."

Artists:
Dina Alexander Art Jewelry, The Broken Plate Pendant Co., SPAGHETTI KISS, Daedalus Books & Music, Sweet Pepita, Megin Diamond Designs, this chickadee, danamarie hosler & greenstarstudio, Dandelion Blu Jewelry, Bowerbox Press, Devin Mack, MackWire, Jennyjen42, Nancy Ziegenfus-McIntosh, The Littlest Bean, Linda Moul, Rebecca Patterson Baked at 275*, PINK KISS POTTERY, Jill Popowich Designs in Metal, Tu Vida Jewelry & Design, heidiroland - daring earrings!, Elisa Shere Jewelry, Baltimore Glass Works, City Neighbors Charter School , Sugar Paperie, Mark Supik & Co., Stephney Wallace, Yummy & Company.

For more information, visit the Creative Alliance. See you there!

Happy Birthday to ME & happy savings to YOU!

yes, friends... today. i. am. thirty.

and i think that's great.
is a nice round number.
30.

and so impressive, right?
it's been such a great year, and i think, all told, a great 30 years.
SO, let's celebrate my birthday with a little economic stimulus, shall we?

all orders over $20 in my etsy shop today (through tomorrow at 4pm eastern time) will be 30% off, with the coupon code: BIRTHDAY08.
make sure to include the code in the message to seller section at checkout in order to get your discount! (i'll send you a revised invoice).

lots of love and here's to another 30...
xo, danamarie

wanna get Bazaar(t), Merry & Mauled this season!?

hello friends!

well, it's that time again--- time to lace up your shopping shoes and head to some of the best holiday shows the world has ever known. aside from the always available online shopping celebration that is my etsy shop, this holiday season provides THREE different up close & personal shopping opportunities for you:
*Bazaart : American Visionary Art Museum, November 28 & 29
*merry mart: Creative Alliance, December 7
*Last Minute Maul: School 33, December 21

looking for something truly unique this holiday season? i think i can help.


this friday, i'll be premiering some BRAND spanking new greenstargoodies, including: *mix & match build a knitimal blocks, 2 hot of the presses hand made knitimal card games, hand painted wooden coat hangers, stickers & magnet sets, holiday ornaments in felt & paper, giant magnets (perfect for decorating your car or fridge) and coffee cozies.


maybe you're looking for wearable art? how about 3 brand new styles of Knitimal & BirchFriends pins? we've got hand drawn journals & limited edition prints; coloring books, Recyclimals & hand knit hats.


one of a kind, hand drawn onesies and t-shirts, screenprinted baby bibs, 10 new scents of Knitimal soaps, totes, cards, ipod cozies, pouches & wallets, brand new Knitimals and SO MUCH MORE!!!

And if you're looking to turn the unique dial up just a little bit higher--- now's the time to order your custom Knitimals & hand-drawn custom shirts. Order by Dec. 6th and get FREE SHIPPING by Christmas!!!

Hope to see you soon!
here's to a happy thanksgiving & a wonderful holiday season to you and yours.
xoxo, danamarie

**********
Bazzart:
Friday Evening • November 28 • 5:30–8:30PM: Bazaart PREVIEW PARTY & SALE
An opportunity to get the first shot at the original creations by 50 regional artists and craftspeople prior to the Saturday Bazaart extravaganza. Spend a relaxing evening strolling among Bazaart artisans and their wares while nibbling light fare, and perhaps enjoying a beverage. Music TBA. Location: American Visionary Art Museum, Jim Rouse Visionary Center, 3rd Floor. Admission to Preview Party & Sale: $20 at the door.

Saturday • November 29 • 10AM-5PM: BAZAART: Artful Holiday Shopping
A Holiday Marketplace of original creations by 50 regional artists and craftspeople. Painting, sculpture, papercrafts, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, mixed media, and other work that simply defies categorization. FREE ENTRY. American Visionary Art Museum, Jim Rouse Visionary Center 3rd Floor

places to shop-- on your feet, or from your chair

knitimal felt pin

well, it's official... it's time to shop and time to shop hard.
the holidays are coming and before you crack open your wallet and head to the mall, consider shopping local & shopping independent. i know, i know, you guys are very aware of this already, but sometimes you run out of new options and end up HAVING to go to an old standby, just because. so, here i am to help you out!

if you're here in Baltimore, you NEED to check out the women's industrial exchange .

"The Woman's Industrial Exchange is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation whose mission is to actively support women's economic advancement. The Exchange serves disadvantaged women, families, displaced workers, and others seeking to establish careers - particularly home-based careers. It provides them with opportunities for greater financial security by maintaining a sales room for their handcrafted items and by developing new programs and services."

at the end of October, greenstarstudio joined the already impressive list of local artists and artisans selling their goodies at WIE. Shopping at WIE is good for the spirit AND the wallet, so make plans to head to Charles street and shop, shop, shop!

Of course, as the weather gets colder, you might be less inclined to leave the house to shop, yeah? Well, I've got you covered there too. Naturally, the greenstarstudio shop is always a good first stop... but just in case you can't find what you're looking for there, be sure to check out the brand new ONLINE version of the Society of Arts and Crafts' retail store---SAC Online! I LOVE the Society of Arts & Crafts, and they LOVE the Knitimals (who fly off the shelves up there!). Well, if you don't live in Boston, don't fret-- now you can get the goods, from the comfort of your own home.

and, if you DO get frisky and feel like leaving the house and checking out something completely mind blowing... you can find me at any of these upcoming shows:
*Bazaart : American Visionary Art Museum, November 28 & 29
*merry mart: Creative Alliance, December 7
*Last Minute Maul: School 33, December 21

the first of many holiday shows...

hello friends! well, we're back from our tiny little honeymoon and yep, right back to work. i'm exhausted and sick and totally overwhelmed BUT, very excited because we are officially in the heart of the holiday shopping season! i have SO much to still tell you about, but i'm going to spread it out, so you can have time to plan and so i have time to make more stuff!

i'm happy to announce about a half a dozen brand new products this season... how about screenprinted Knitimal bibs? or, 5 new Knitimal soap fragrances? would you be interested in TWO new Knitimal games? that's just the beginning too, but i'll let you be surprised.

so, where can you find me this coming weekend?
a MonSteR of a StUdiO SaLe, that's where!

hope to see you soon.
xo, danamarie
(for a complete list of upcoming shows, see the links list on the left side of the screen)

Done and done...

We're married! And officially honeymooning! Want to join our cyber-reception? Go to www.inthisdaynage.Blogspot.com

Enjoy!
Much love, danamarie
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539 e. 21st... signed, sealed, delivered

you're looking at: 84 hours over 25 days. dozens of gallons of paint. and lots of muscle strain.
well, i put the last coat of the anti-graffiti sealant on yesterday and in so doing, OFFICIALLY, sealed the deal on the mural at 539. it'll be a while before the scaffold comes down and i can show you what it looks like behind all that metal. once the scaffold comes down, i will need to go back over with an extension ladder (EEK!) to paint 4 one-inch x 2 inch patches of bare wall where the scaffold was connected to the wall, 2 levels up. Until then, i thought i'd share the details no one will ever be able to really see... unless they were really, really tall.
So, starting at the top and working our way down... here's "Our Roots, Our Community".

where to begin?...

i'm sitting here, my computer on my lap, crying and smiling all at once. i'm thinking about the gargantuan weight of this election and feeling so epically relieved--- the phrase "it's over" keeps crowding my mind. i never really followed politics before, and frankly, beside musing over "W"isms on you tube, i never read an article or watched a debate; my government and i didn't see eye to eye. i've never used this as a forum for political conversation, and actually went out of my way to avoid linking to foolish Palin interviews or campaign messages from moveon.org, but i can't sit here and watch that number go from 207 to suddenly 333 and now, as i type this, 338, and not say anything. i can't cry like this and throw my window open, listening to the car horns & cheering on our block, feeling like a child listening for santa, and not talk about this. i believe that it's probably unlikely that i and my artwork would have drawn a closed minded individual here in the first place--- it's completely contrary to what i believe and what my artwork, what my LIFE is about, but i suppose it's possible. and i hope, if you are/were a McCain supporter and you do/did regularly read my blog this won't change things... and if it does, I'm sorry. 

not sorry that i said what i said, but sorry that affiliations would change things. 

on the flip side, the many hundreds of you who i know share my sentiments-- parents, artists, small business owners, and people from all over the world who just want to live happy, positive, loving lives--- how big your hearts must be tonight. we won. not the democrats-- the country--- we, americans, won. we won the opportunity for change, for positivity, for youth, for support, for REAL safety from REAL terrorists. we won the freedom FROM fear. we won strength, civic responsibility, citizens who feel inspired. we won history and future. we won a president you WANT to hear speak... and thank goodness... we won a president. how long has it been since you've felt you had a PRESIDENT? 

when the news broke, AJ and i sat speechless--- what happened? where did those numbers come from? did california come in? and as the sounds of cheers filled our streets, we held each other and cried. at the risk of being overly sentimental--- we cried the most cleansing tears we've cried in years. we live in a blue state-- we dream of moving to another blue state---our families live in blue states, but watching PA turn blue, then OH, and just recently, FL, and it was like watching a birth or a demolition, a wiping clean of a slate, a regeneration, a complete and total shift. i felt... i FEEL light. 

i'm watching him accept his position--- this man is what our president should look like. don't you feel that? when he speaks--- i believe him. he's clear and decisive. he looks like men i see all around me; he looks real. 

we are civic minded people. we want to raise civilians--- tonight, i feel so full of love and light and possibility. THIS is the president i want for my children. There will be little girls in the white house. There will be a puppy in the white house. This is my first family--- loving, HONEST, faithful husband, sober and un-pregnant children; people who don't shoot animals from helicopters; people who read newspapers (or at least know how to PRETEND they do). i feel, for the first time in a long time, that the air COULD get cleaner... the polar bears might just keep their glaciers... the war really could end... being an artist might actually be viable... people could finally be treated equally, no matter their color or sexual orientation; love & commitment might FINALLY define a marriage. this country will feel un-broken. 

he's quoting Lincoln and it sounds right. 

the other night, AJ & i were out at the mall, and happened to come back out to our car at the precise moment a young boy-- maybe 14, was peeling the Obama sticker off the back of our car. He had, as we'd come to find out, discarded it on the ground behind the car, and then quickly walked off WITH his mother. Neither of them looked back or acknowledged what had happened until we ran after them calling "hey! give it back! where is it". The mother very passively told him to give it back to us, but didn't make eye contact (and she certainly hadn't stopped him while she was standing next to him as he was doing it). He told us it was on the ground and they kept on going--- anger and outrage took over and i ran after them, calling to them and asking "is THIS how you teach your child democracy? is THIS how you want him to vote?". She never responded, except with expletives and a finger gesture. Well, the chances are incredibly slim that she would ever read this, but in case she does... I would want to say this:

"thank you. 

thank you for showing me your true self. thank you for showing me your fear. i won't try to guess what exactly you were afraid of--- a black man? a pacifist? a family man? a lawyer? a real leader? change? a believer? an optimist? I'll never know. what i DO know, however, is that running after you that night, fueled by my frustration--- this terrible feeling of being powerless; of working my tail off to do what's right; of giving and giving and giving of myself and feeling like i was alone; watching idiots make decisions with no accountability; watching hatred dictate everything--- fueled by the frustration that stems from being a democrat, a liberal, a pacifist; that stems from being "made" to sit back and play nice--- running after you and feeling like every single fiber of my body had been devalued, tarnished, vandalized and stolen by you, by your child--- i needed that run. i dare say there's a lot of us out there who have NEEDED to run after you and people like you. people who dare tell us how to live our lives-- who preach God & country, but act Godlessly and with no sense of democracy. i needed to follow when you gave chase, to let you know that no matter what you might believe in and no matter how low you might stoop or how hard you might fight, i would fight just as hard. I needed you to know that i wasn't afraid of you. Not of you. Not of your president. Not of your war. Not of your racism. Not of your hatred. Not of your bigotry. Not of your sexism. Not of guns. 

i wasn't afraid of you. 

i'm not afraid of you. 

but i am afraid of your ignorance. 

i'm afraid of your infection. 

i'm afraid of your tactics. 

i'm afraid of your parenting. 

if you're reading this tonight, i thank you. And i beg you--- please encourage your son to read, speak, act and think on his own. And if it turns out that he does in fact, on his own, agree with your politics, I welcome him to the race. I look forward to voting with him in the next election. But i would ask you to teach him what it means to be an American. 

What would you have said or done to me, if i had stolen your McCain sticker?"

******

to everyone else--- imagine what we could do if we lived every day the way we're feeling right now? what could we accomplish? what could our children gain? what more could we change? 

it IS possible. We can do this. 

yes we can. 

changing subjects ever so slightly--- we need to celebrate this. we've earned this... SO, let's reap what we've sown. In honor of the Future & the campaign of change, i'd like to offer all you vigilant optimists a chance to celebrate your good deeds. 

from today through November 15th, please enjoy:

*free shipping on all US orders

*AND (in honor of the current electoral vote count) 33.8% off all orders over $10. 

to cast your vote for greenstarstudio goodies at a sweeping discount, visit my etsy shop, fill your cart & check out. Include the code: "CHANGE08" in the message to seller box, and wait for an updated invoice, before you pay. I'll re-tally and send you a new invoice.

here's to change!
xoxo, danamarie

Please...

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