Kitsch Klothing News, Christmas 2007

Hello ladies and gents! Interesting things are happening in the land of Kitsch Klothing this holiday season, and I thought I'd let you in on the news. I have been working hard on setting up a new online home for Kitsch, away from cafepress. As Well, Kitsch will be taking part in three Toronto craft and gift shows this christmas, and we're hoping to see you there! Finally, What is coming up next year for Kitsch? Keep on reading to find out! Otherwise, feel free to grab a sneak peek of the new website at http://www.kitschklothing.flyingcart.com/

Home Sweet Home....

The reason I started working on Kitsch Klothing two years ago, was to do something different and something hand-made that people would really appreciate and be able to use on a daily basis. Because of my budget at the time, I had to step away from having everything made by my own hands or one of my friends. That bothered me, as I feel this is an important feature in a premium product, and something that the public (and myself) appreciates. I am happy to announce that through the new website, you will only be purchasing directly from me, my products, my labours of love. :)

There will be less style selection as we start off, but I will try hard to keep things fresh and new, and happening with new designs, new t-shirt styles (Girly tees or hoodies, anyone?) and more!

Something new that you will not have seen before: Journals!

I have never offered journals on the old site, as I felt they were of inferior quality. The journals featured on the new site are hand-made and as indestructible as a journal can get, really. I carry them around with me at all times - sporting style, and keeping a doodle pad with me are important things in my life!

Check out the current designs at http://www.kitschklothing.flyingcart.com/

Season Shopping for the Savvy Spender!

With it being so busy in malls these days, no one really likes shopping during the busy season unless it's an absolute drop-dead necessity. Even if you can take the crowds, the long line-ups at the cash are enough to frustrate even the most patient of us all. This is another way that online shops are here to help! Shop online, day or night from the comfort of your own home (If it's not comfortable - mabye you should be shopping for a new computer chair!) and get what you want with a few clicks of the mouse.

Internet shopping not your cup of tea?

Well... I have just the thing. No, seriously.

This season Kitsch Klothing will be taking part in THREE - count 'em - THREE craft and gift shows. This is a great time to come out, have a great time, see some of Toronto's most talented artists and do some christmas shopping for someone special at very reasonable prices. For example, no Kitsch Klothing product will be over $25.00

I'd be honoured if you all would come out, show your support for toronto's creative community, and celebrate this new and exciting time in Kitsch Klothing's history.


Kitsch Klothing's Social Calendar

Below I have posted the details on all three of the craft shows happening this Fall/Winter 2007. Following that, I have listed some exciting places you'll be able to catch Kitsch Klothing in 2008!

December 6th - Speakeasy's Holiday Sale at the Gladstone
Chestnuts roasting, sleigh bells ringing, and the season starts a-swingin’! Join us for holiday cocktails, a few good tunes, and another fantastic show at The Gladstone. It’s a chance to shop for hand-crafted holiday gifts. It’s an opportunity for the public to see the work of 40 local artists, ranging from quirky one-off ceramics to handmade soap, jewellery and hand painted Christmas cards.Cover: Pay What You Can, $4.00 suggested
Hours: 8pm until Midnight.

December 1-2,8-9,15-16th - The Artisan Gift Fair at the Tranzac Club
In the heart of the Annex, the TRANZAC is located at 292 Brunswick Avenue, just south of Bloor Street, between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue. This venue will feature one-of-a-kind items as well as handmade items - nothing mass produced! Kitsch Klothing will be there Saturday December 8th and Saturday December 15th only!
Cover: There is one, but I'm unsure of what it is! I believe it's $10 or less.
Hours: Noon until 6pm.

And in 2008...

Anime North, May 23-25, 2008

Fan Expo Canada, August 24-26, 2007


Thanks for reading - see you soon!

Anne McDonald
Creator/Designer/MakerMonkey
Kitsch Klothing

P.s., Questions? Comments? Custom orders? email me at mauig@hotmail.com

Hello again,
Much havoc is brewing in the world of Kitsch Klothing, but mostly it's positive havoc. ;)

So as I said, the Fan Expo went really well. I signed up for a corner booth next year. I am not (at this point) guaranteed to get a corner booth since I didn't have one this year, but here's hoping! That was my only complaint about that show: the people on all sides of me ordered a booth with curtains, and so I was completely curtained in in my little booth. It makes it hard for people to see my stuff from far away and go "hey, what is that neat stuff? Let's go over there and check it out!"

I got a lot of people inquiring about the website, can you buy online, how can I get ahold of you after the show, etc..

And it just reinforced my beliefs that I am not that confident (or rather, as confident as I would like to be) with people going to my website. I don't love the layout, it's a pain to update and I cannot put my beloved journals on there, or my colour t-shirts.

So here is the main deal. In the next few months I am going to search out a web developer to help me re-design the site to feature my own hand made products.

So what does this mean??

Well. Basically this:
- Everything available on-line will be hand-made by myself. Don't worry - in my opinion and in the opinion of my repeat customers lucky enough to grab my handmade stuff at Anime Conventions, it is of better quality than that currently available online.
- There will be less products available online, (At first, only one version of t-shirt, then hopefully girly shirts) but within those products, more variety. I have a kazillion different button styles. The buttons, they are endless.
- I will (hopefully) be able to much more easily update the site, add new products, etc. and since my "day job" keeps me retardedly busy, any little bit helps...!

If anyone has ever had a suggestion to post or email, now would be a good time. like, "Gee, I wish Kitsch's site did this..." or "I hate how this works, I wish it was like this.."

yeah. drop me a line at mauig@hotmail.com
:)

Fan Expo went really well, and people seemed to really like my stuff!

I will post delicious photos soon. (I have a cottage party this weekend, so I am not "around" yet)

I'm kind of bummed that I cannot apply for the Clothing show, as Mishky's shower is that weekend and it is of utmost importance. Anyone wanna watch my booth? ;p

FAN EXPO is fast approaching. In fact, the fun begins tomorrow night with setup between 5pm and 8pm.

Do I have any idea where I'm going or what to do? Of course not! Where is the fun in doing a new show, unless there is a little chaos involved?

Happily, it's almost like I know what I'm doing! (.... :) )

I have brand new shirts, I have tagged them with my new Kitsch Klothing tags, I have tons of buttons made, I have 70 journals...chris is picking up the grid system tomorrow...and wow. there we go.

I am liking how this is going. I've posted a few times about fan expo..CUZ I'M SO EXCITED!

:):):)

I'm gonna get Riker's autograph..*chant chant*

I really hope that particular want comes true.

*fangirl sigh*

(Funnily enough, I'm going to get him to sign my gargoyles DVD...unless I go insane last minute and get him to sign a photo)

And because I'm so excited by the new shirts, I put up a new splash page to the site.

http://www.kitschklothing.com/

check 'er out!

I think it might look a little bit like it's just holding the spot though, so I might have to add some nav or somehting to the bottom. I have plans to significantly alter the website though...which will mean a lot less product, but a lot higher quality...everything hand made by myself, hand shipped, etc. Something all-me and more personal, which I think people will really enjoy.

Here's a few shots of the shirts. I have no pics of my new silkscreen edition of Meat is Murder, but if there's any left after the show, I hope to lure my co-worker Jared into modelling it for me!

Here is one of Michelle wearing "Need Coffee. Now." and Ana wearing "Poo on you!"

Here is Leslie and Valerie sporting "Deep Thoughts"

And here's all of us together. :)

HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE!

.......This is what I want to achieve in my life. :)

brought to you by the crazy fun webcomic XKCD

...that is all. :)

As my friend Mishky would say...ZOMFG!





I just got accepted as a dealer at Fan Expo 2007, which happens August 24-26, 2007.

I will have a butt-load more of my t-shirts, especially the new limited edition ones that were showcased at Anime North this year. I am really hoping to make a special edition one of "meat is Murder" as everyone seemed to dig that one (I sold right out!).

More zany buttons will appear as well, which is always exciting. I really hope you can check it out.

On my fangirl list, I would love to catch a glimpse of a few of the people showing up as guests this year...

-Sean Astin (Samwise from LOTR, among other things..)
-Dwight Schultz (Lieutenant "Reg" Barclay of ST:TNG)
-Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay of ST:V)
-Yashuhiro Nightrow (creator of Trigun)

And of course...I'd like to have Jonathan Frakes' Babies. (Will Riker on ST:TNG, Xanatos on Gargoyles...what's not to love?! I will be bringing my gargoyles DVDs (awesome show..check it out on amazon if you have not already...There are even BRAND NEW COMICS for sale..!)for him to sign. And I want a picture. Rawr. I will be verra sad if this doesn't happen. I may even give him a shirt. Who knows, What type of shirt would riker want!?) ..(poo on you..heh.)

That is all...for now...!

WOW. That's all I have to say. :)

This year I did not make the cut for Artists alley at anime north. It was full about an hour after registration opened. After being pretty annoyed by this, I ended up biting the bullet and getting a Dealer's table. Still being fairly new to the whole Dealer's Room concept, I was worried about the rather large investment I had to make...but thanks to my Sweetie's encouragement and help with some of the costs, I thought, well, here goes nothing!!So on day one, we set up (after I fled to work and made about 20 more journals, realizing I hadn't made enough..oops!) and man was I nervous! I wasn't sure what to expect when I got there! But, we did get there on time and checked in without any pain (phew!...organization was very good!!)

Setting up my booth was interesting. I've never really had a "booth" before. Table of stuff, yes. But actually Displaying things and having more product and a banner behind me? no.

One of my customers actually lent me a mannequin torso to have on the table, as well as a grid system behind my table. SO AWESOME! It looked really great when we were done. It took about two hours in total to get it all set up...raar!

Anywhoo...The con was very busy both friday and saturday. All the money spenders were out then! Saturday night it slowed down around dinner as the masquerade got under way, and sunday all the bargain hunters were out. We did manage to make almost as much on sunday as we did friday though, so that's not shabby at all!

People really went nuts over my buttons and the new silk screened shirts. Especially poo on you! ....another big hit was "meat is murder. (Delicious Murder)."So I think I may get that one silk screened for future conventions. Purrrr.

I got to see Jessie a few times, as well and shared a room with countess and her 2 friends. I basically missed the whole con except the dealer's room, but there was so much excitement in the dealer's room I did not feel cheated..lolI will post soon with photos...I got a few great photos of costumes..bwaha!

Meow! ^_~V

P.s., Scholastic's Lawyers have contacted me about "Grumpy Bunny" infringing on their Grumpy Bunny's Intellectual property copyright or some such nonsense. I didn't know the word "grumpy" and the word "bunny" could no longer be used to describe a design. And so, I may have to change the name of that design. Damnit. My bunny is nothing like theirs though, so I'm not sure I agree with this alleged infringement.

As such, the grumpy bunny merchandise will not be available for purchase until this issue has been resolved. Sorry about that :(

I'm Not Dead Yet!!!

Sorry guys. I am teh laaame.

I have been doing very crazy things (like gaining a boyfriend)...! And it (he) is keeping me busy!!

BUT I HAVE COOL NEWS!!!

I will once again be at Anime North, this time in the Dealer's Room.

I will be bringing SILKSCREENED T-SHIRTS that are super awesomely special...So please do stop by and (buy them) check them out!!

I am really excited about these shirts...finally I can share my "grand vision" with you all. I will also have note cards, and more designs available that have not made it to anime north yet...(I got a lot of requests for "Under-Wear" last year...it will be there this year!)

So, yes. New products, new button designs, new ultra-cool t-shirts. I really hope people will like the new stuff and all will be well. It's a big step financially and mentally, moving up from Artists Alley to the "Grown up" dealer tables...but I am really excited for it.

Did I mention I'm excited by the silkscreened t-shirts? Did I yell loud enough?

Watch out for Eat The Rich, Evil Makes Me Sad, Poo On You!, Coffee Now. and perhaps one more...I will keep that a secret!

Talk to you all soon. Happy Spring! :) :)

New Shirt Added!

So, new shirt in it's shirty goodness.

Shopaholics (like me) will love this new design...It's a two-sided item which means I have to be selective about which products it goes on, but I will be designing it for things like mugs and buttons as well in the future, never fear!

I just couldn't wait to show it all to you, so take a peek!

"It's my money and I'll buy if I want to! You would buy too if it looked good on you!"



Special Thanks goes to my sister, Val for coming up with this catchy phrase :)

New Shirt Randomness

So. I just switched over to "new blogger". Cool.
But really what I was blogging about is a few things.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And MERRY CHRISTMAS! and almost..HAPPY VALENTINES!

Woah. I got three holidays in one post! Go me! ^_^V

*Ahem*...

I have added a new shirt...it's a ZOMBIE!!!

ooh. exciting. ;)


I also added another shirt last week for all you (non) vegetarians out there...
Support a cause!! Tell the world MEAT IS MURDER!!!...DELICIOUS MURDER!

Don't kill me! >_<


So I am working hard to get up some more shirts. Lots more coming. Enjoy. :)