Musings and Amusings

We spent a chilly but wonderful Christmas and New Year with my hubby’s family in Maryland. They live in a beautiful little town called Cabin John- right on the border of DC.  It was wonderful to see everyone, most of whom we hadn’t seen since the wedding. 

While we were there we also did some sight seeing. We went to the Edward Hopper exhibit in Washington and we stole Dad’s car one day and escaped into Baltimore for some one-on-one time.  O.K. so honestly I went to stalk Duff from Ace of Cakes.  I admit to having a huge crush on him, plus as an event planner I admire his talent and that just adds to the attraction lol.  Well my ever patient husband agreed to sit in the diner next door to Charm City Cakes “Dizzie Izzie’s” (you have to have an appt. to get into Charm City Cakes). Needless to say we did not get to see Duff (or Mary Alice, or Jeff or anyone!!!!) but we did have delicious food.  He had the Mediterranean Burger and I had a gooey, yummy Phillie Cheesesteak - because you know, when in Baltimore- get a cheesesteak :)  Before anyone else yells at me over my lack of seafood eating while in the northeast, I DID have crab cakes at Brewer’s Alley in Frederick and they were wonderful.  (Also the herford beef had flavorness like none other - nope, it’s not a typo - if you ever go to Brewer’s Alley please ask for Jacob - my brother-in-law- and ask him about the flavorness).

 Back to Baltimore though, we visited 34th Street to see their unbelievable Holiday Light Display.  Sadly we went during the day, but it allowed us to see the true craftsmenship and creativity these residents displayed.  I have put some photos below.  Check out the hubcap tree - it’s fantastic!

Finally we visited Atomic Pop - a blog favorite that I have only ever read about. Special thanks to Rachel who helped us find perfect gifts for everyone. It’s a funky, inspiring place - try to visit if you’re ever in Baltimore. 

The weather was amazing the entire time we were there (except for a lightly snowing 28 degree morning) and we both had a fantastic time.  We ALSO got to see our nephew Tyler. He is now 2 and he is such a cool little boy.  I had to sneak a pic in here to show off. 

Back to business - the site is being tricky so while it is being fixed visit our etsy store at www.prettyusefulstuff.etsy.com

Happy New Year!!!

XOXOXO

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful time with the family and now we’re looking forward to a nice long weekend of relaxing and finding creative ways to use all the leftovers.  With the holidays coming up I am hoping to have a little down time at work and I plan on adding some new art pieces to the store site as well as putting up some gift idea posts.  In the meantime, although it’s a holiday behind - I would love for you to see the photos from our Halloween Party this year.  The decorating took us about 3 hours but it was terribly spooky and definitely worth it.  For the full set of photos please visit our FLICKR site: www.flickr.com/photos/emandfritz

I don’t have to apologize for not writing recently because it occurred to me that no one reads my blog lol.  I am OK with that. I haven’t marketed or advertised or publicized it because my web site is not ready yet and I feel a bit iffy about inviting people to the site without it being done. 

 That being said, I continue to write because I want to get into the groove of all of this. I have important, wonderful, beautiful, touching, hysterical, amazing things to say - I just have to figure out what those things are.   

 Things have been crazy lately. I work 9-5 for a PR firm that handles the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. It is an amazing show and a wonderful job with the world’s best people but from August to November my life revolves around boats. I know, I know - how bad can a job around boats be? BUT I don’t get to ride on them - I only get to write about them.  And in October my hours become more 9-9 then 9-5 which leaves little time for crafting.  And just in time for holiday season - yaye …

 It is not so bad except that I do miss the artsy side of things. I was starting to get the new site up and running but it is slow going right now.  My house is cluttered beyond belief and the hubby is working non stop (more on that in a sec) too so not much is getting done. My life-saving mom might be coming by tomorrow to clean while I work - how saintly of her is that!?!?! (How sad of me!?!? lol)

I also just finished my husband film a scene for his new venture- Frank The Unicorn. He is working on an Internet TV bit about the only living unicorn - a man named Frank who was born with a Unicorn horn. Brilliant concept as he satirizes society in a cynical yet hysterical way.  I am his camera-woman and with a shaky but determined hand I finally got a good shot for him to use. He has even written a theme song- I love my creative (albeit wacky) man!

 I am just hoping to get through this month with my sanity (I have worked this show for 4 years and I say that every year hehe).  I hope that soon more people will be reading this because that will mean I am ready to open my site (and my soul) to the masses.  Thanks for being here now.

XOXOXOXOXO

I love the World Weekly News. It is filled with the most ridiculous, outrageous, insane stories possible which makes it a masterpiece in my opinion.  Not a subscriber by any means I have found it difficult to pass up purchasing issues with headlines about vampire babies, Manigator (half man/half alligator),  aliens working in the government, ghosts driving cars and my personal favorite- Devil Cat.  

On another level, the Weekly World News has been my inspiration for many a craft project.  I have used their pages in collages and cards. In fact, my first craft-as-gift project was when I made a Paper Mache Manigator for a friend (he is crazily obsessed with Alligators - he even works on the Reservation here in S. FL wrestling them). 

I am sad to note that their last issue was printed the week of August 27th.   RIP WWN.  I will sorely miss you and all your inspirational insanity. 

This past weekend the hubby and I and a few friends took in the Drag Show at Dude’s in Fort Lauderdale.  We love to support our friends in their efforts and our friend Nelson was performing as his alter ego Desiree.  Desiree is a diva - tackling everything from Liza to Fergie (Black Eyed Peas not Weight Watchers spokeswoman) to Bette Midler with fabulousness and sequins.   

 Drag shows are so inspirational to me as an artist - the passion, the rehearsal that goes into it - and then the costumes, hair, make-up, and all the work that goes into transforming onesself.  I love the glitter and the glam and the campiness of some of the performances.  It goes to show that you really CAN be anything you put your mind to!

Although I am currently working on a glasses order for a store in the Hollywood Hard Rock Casino here in Florida, as soon as those are out the door I am hoping to create a line of art dolls inspired by my favorite Drag Queen friends.  I will post pictures as soon as I get them started.

In the meantime I’d love to hear from you - what was your most recent artistic inspiration and what did you create from that?

 XOXOXOXOX

Had a wonderful time this past weekend at the NY Int’l Gift Show.  We met some amazing people, saw some gorgeous pieces of work, and made some great connections.  I spent Sunday walking on Fashion Ave, visiting Bryant Park, and trying to walk in the footsteps of my Gay-Man-Crush Tim Gunn.  We visited several boutiques in the area and we’re hoping to spend the next few days selling Pretty. Useful. Stuff. products to some adorable shops.   Here are some of the many sights we saw in the city:

From Left to Right:

• The Colbert Report studio.  We waited outside for a few minutes to see if we could get in but they weren’t taping that night. BOOOOOO - I love Colbert.  Love Jon Stewart even more but couldn’t get a good pic of his studio because of the rain.
• The Javits Center - home of the gift show - This is a shot from the front entrance.  We weren’t able to take pics inside the show but there were so many amazing artists and designers there.  Check out the web site http://www.nyigf.com/attendee/search.html and search for any of the number of exhibitors. 
• Fashion Avenue- This is the corner where we met a buyer for Moss.  She and I talked and with fingers crossed we have an appt. to talk this week again about selling our glassware in their store!!!!

Did any of you get a chance to get out to the show? Who was your favorite vendor? I was impressed with the level of booth decor - it is fascinating to see the creativity that goes into a simple booth space.  What impressed you the most?

We are so excited because next week begins our first Art Class for Adults. Our classes are a co-op concept - Crafters can take a class, teach a class, bring their own projects to work on with other crafters- we’re creating a Crafting Community. 

Our first class is titled “Wine With Me”. Come enjoy various types of wine, cheese, and fruit while making your own set of wine glass charms. A little fun to break up the tedium of the workweek.  It’s a crafty happy hour!

Check out the classes link on our site www.prettyusefulstuff.com for more information or to register for the class.

 I will be posting pics of the class after next Tuesdays class!

This took me forever to post, but we did make it back from the Kwik-E Mart and it was so much fun.  The road trip itself was fantastic. The hubbie and I made great time (no 4th of July traffic YAYE!) and got there in a little over 2 hours.  Jamie met us there and the whole place was jam packed with Simpson fans.  The exterior was recreated to look like a cartoon and the interior was overrun with Simpson related advertising, posters, signs and of course all sorts of Simpson characters. I put my favorite pic below but check out the rest on our flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/emandfritz/

One of the things that interests me aside from art / decor and such - is marketing and advertising. It makes my day to see a really creative ad or a brilliant marketing scheme.  The internet has made such exciting marketing opportunities available and it’s always fun to see a company really run with it.

 My previous obsession was watching the campaign for Burger King. From hillarious commercials to their web sites : www.submissivechicken.com and www.petmoustache.com to their tie in for video games they have done an amazing job reaching their target market.

Most recently though I am blown away by the marketing for the new Simpsons movie.  The film itself is bound to make a ton of money. My prediction is that it will make more money in the opening weekend than any film previously because of the amount of people who grew up watching the show and the cult following it has.  It may not make more money overall because people will be able to watch it online with all the bootlegs and such - but definitely the first weekend. BUT my amazing psychic prediction aside :)….

The marketing for this film is unbelievable. The idea to tie it in with 7-11s across the country is so smart because the Kwik-E Mart is such a central location to the show.  It would have been impossible to create Moe’s Taverns or Simpson Houses throughout the US and implausible to have McDonald’s or someone become Krusty Burgers (mainly because Krusty Burger has such a bad rep on the show), but the Kwik-E Mart/ 7-11 partnership is pure brilliance.

Every 7-11 is now selling key items from the show-  Squishees, Krusty-Os, Buzz Cola - even Homer’s famous doughnut with the purple frosting and sprinkles! Add to that the fact that 11 7-11s across the United States allowed for their stores to become actual Kwik-E Marts is just amazing.  It is such a logical idea and yet so obvious that most companies wouldn’t even think of the idea. It takes a marketing team with a lot of creativity and persuasion - and a company like 7-11 who is willing to take a big chance and make the changes for the short term campaign. 

Now granted, 7-11 will make tons of money off of this - especially the stores deisgned to look like the cartoon, but it’s still mighty nice of them to take part in this. 

The hubby and I are actually going with some friends on a day trip to see one of these 7-11 Kwik-E Marts. We’re heading out tomorrow morning and we will be back tomorrow night to take part in the fun.  Hopefully I will have lots of fun pics to post on Thursday. Happy 4th of July to all!!!!

xoxoxoxo

Em

Party time! Worked on the cutest family picnic this weekend.  I have so much love for the Burtrum Family - especially Grandpa Dan who showed me how to shake my groove thang. I have never seen a senior citizen get funkier than that man. We did all the decorating for the party and luckily they had loved our idea to add little plastic ant invaders to our beautiful picnic themed tables.  It was fun and laid back but beautiful and everyone had a blast.  Thank you to my team of event decorators (they like to have a title)- Mom, Mark, Fritz, James - all family that gets roped into my wacky plans.  This wouldn’t have worked without all your help and  I love you lots!

“If ants are such busy workers, how come they find time to go to all the picnics?” - Marie Dressler