Craftivism

It's been awhile since I last wrote about my crafting projects. There's a good reason for that. It's because I haven't been crafting very much. So while I've been very good with my New Year's Resolution to not buy any new crafting supplies (I haven't caved in once, not even in Shanghai!), regrettably I haven't made much of a dent in the existing stores of fabric.

However, I do want to proudly, though belatedly, report that from January through February, I raised $513 from my craft sales for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation! A bunch of Sir Hamilton iPhone Cozies, hungry Alejandro el Legarto Pencil Cases, Cloudy Coin Purses, and those mischievous Change Purses, Bob and Dexter -- they all went to loving homes in return for some generous donations. Type I diabetes unfortunately makes a lot more money for certain healthcare corporations as a chronic disease than it would if it were cured. But it's good to know there are dedicated researchers out there working hard on a solution. I hope that the JDRF-funded work, coupled with Obama's recent executive order lifting the ban on federal funding for stem cell research, will lead to a cure this decade.

I've been a workaholic for the past few months, but now with some major design projects completed, and others in production, I finally have some free time again to play! This month I'll be restocking my Etsy shop and sewing up some new things. This is a great time to announce the cause that I'll be donating my Etsy proceeds to AND post about a trip to Ethiopia. From May through September, my Etsy proceeds (100% not including the cost of shipping) will benefit elderly in Ethiopia who are at a disadvantage because of having HIV/AIDS or being part of a family affected by HIV/AIDS.

And regarding the Ethiopia trip, no it wasn't I who went to Ethiopia -- it was my sister! All of my siblings are a constant inspiration to me, but Maria still surprised me when she suddenly announced last summer that she would be jetting off to Addis Ababa to temporarily serve with the Missions To The World AIDS Care and Treatment project. She's a doctor by day and a full-time mom, so the fact that she was taking her vacation time to work with HIV/AIDS patients in Ethiopia really made me feel proud and humbled.


Photos courtesy of Maria Lee

Maria found out about Missions to the World medical missions through her church. The logistics of her trip -- involving doctors and support staff from across America and suitcases full of medical supplies -- were handled by Bev and Andy, two missionaries in Addis Ababa. For several months preceding the trip, Maria and her fellow medical teammates raised funds for travel and gathered supplies. Then in February, for two weeks with the help of interpreters, the team set up a medical clinic at the ministry to treat and counsel HIV/AIDS patients.

You can read more about the amazing trip that my sister took on her church's blog HERE.

Photos courtesy of Maria Lee

Although the needs of HIV/AIDS affected children in Africa can't be diminished, there are comparatively very few funds allocated to the support of similarly affected elders. Lack of access to basic healthcare means that life expectancy in Ethiopia is only 41 years. Since my sister (both my sisters, actually) devotes her professional life to treating elderly patients, she noticed the compounded lack of care options for those elders in Ethiopia who lost their social and family networks because of HIV/AIDS.

In my sisters' words: "After my two weeks there, I spoke to the staff there and told them that my heart went out to the elders there who lost families. Elders there rely on families to take care of them but many have lost children and grandchildren to HIV/AIDS. I call them orphaned elders. I don't know what others call them. The current program is for HIV/AIDS patients and the immediate family members of that patient. Current monies coming in are not budgeted for needy elders but I think it is a big need."

"On the last Friday I was there, one of my elder patients shared her story about how her family outcast her because they couldn't accept her converting from the Ethiopian orthodox religion to Muslim religion. So she is without family also. She cried before me about how she had to sell all her household belongings just to buy food. She fears she will soon need to resort to begging. She reported significant weight loss. I "adopted" her and gave my "downpayment" to the staff to help her buy some food for the month of March. I plan to send some more. But there are many more who need this assistance as well. Would you be interested in being a part of my new pet project?" Of course, Maria!

So, there you have it. Proceeds from my Etsy shop sales from May through September will be going to the Missions to the World Medical Missions, earmarked to help HIV/AIDS affected elderly in Addis Ababa. Go buy stuff here!

Crafts & Arts

While my some of my work projects are lounging in "waiting for client feedback" purgatory, I decided to not let the creative momentum slip away and made some more stuff.


This Valentine's Day card came about because I did a bunch of sketches for my friend's wedding invitation. I had forgotten that she really hates birds. Needless to say, she didn't choose this design, but I liked it, even though I kind of think the whole bird trend thing is over. If you want to send a handwritten message to your lovebird, you can buy it on Etsy now. If you have more than one sweetie, you can buy the set of 4, I won't judge you.



I made the travel journal and the passport holder fresh after our trip to Bangkok, feeling inspired by the whole romantic notion of travel. The travel journal is available in my shop. I'm considering re-making the passport holder in vinyl or industrial grade felt (or leather, but leather's expensive and a b*tch to sew by hand) to make it more durable...

I haven't gone to any exhibitions lately, but it's so cold out that it's been much comfier to browse art online while sipping hot chocolate... Some artsy things I bookmarked this week:

art made out of crayons
via it's nice that

art made out of chalk dust
via notcot

sculpture made out of a book
via ffffound

camera (and photograph) made out of a room
via... a vague memory i had of an article in the nytimes years ago + google

Inside and Outside

This is Babbette. She's a result of various converging events :
1) my favorite Muji sweater getting shrunk in the dryer. Bummer.
2) getting a brand new sewing machine that I wanted to try out.
3) it's freezing cold outside and I do NOT want to go outdoors until April. Or May.
I'm trying to decide what to do with Babbette. Should I put her on sale in my Etsy shop? Should I give her away? Should I keep her and add her to my growing stable of stuffed rabbits with personality disorders? I'll dwell on it for a few days and decide.

There's just a ton of scrap felt lying around that I can't bring myself to throw in the trash. So while I was testing out all the sewing functions on the new machine, they somehow morphed into... holiday ornaments! Anyway, here they are. Since I've no idea what to do with them now (we don't have a tree), I put them on sale at Etsy. They're super cheap at $15 for the set, plus they come with a free silkscreened holiday card / envelope set.


Some pictures to prove that I have indeed been outdoors this week:

It's the official electioneering season -- the Korean Presidential election is on December 19 (yay, Gavin gets a day off even though we can't vote!) -- and all these posters are up in the neighborhood. Portraits of 12 beaming Korean men promising to be the best choice to lead the ROK. Do they inspire confidence?


Japa, a bar in Sincheon with marbles in their bar. Actually I'm not too crazy about the atmosphere at this place. But our friend Hyungjin had a bottle of whiskey reserved in his name here so we went.

Makin' & Bakin'

Yesterday I went for a walk along the Cheongyecheon, the stream that runs through downtown Seoul.
It was beautiful and crisp out, the leaves were brilliant, and by the time I made it to Gwanghwamun from Jongno-5-ga, I was freezing my toes off.



The main purpose of the walk was to find a nice tree from which to hang some of my holiday ornaments to do a brief photoshoot . The leaves were all yellowing, but I kind of liked the contrast of the color and the bright light of the setting autumn sun.



When I got home, I was so cold, I promptly started baking. I made a pie crust, and I stewed some Korean pears in soju. Nothing more Korean than that, right? This morning I popped the pears into the crust and then the tart into the oven. So nice on a fall day...



I spend far too much time makin' and bakin' stuff. But it's all procrastinatin.' Sigh. Back to work.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Still here...

Nothing much to report... Been a little busy working on the odd freelance project here and there. I'm taking a break from it now because my application crashed after 5 hours of work which I didn't save. Yeah, I didn't hit Command-S ONCE for 5 hours. Real smart, eh? Being a diehard Mac user, what does this mean? Of course--it means I need to upgrade to a MacBook Pro!

I've been making iPod cozies. Well, it kinda started out that I wanted something to put my Nano in. And then they just kept on reproducing... So, I set up a little shop at Etsy. There's only 2 things there, but I was thinking of putting the extra Christmas cards I made up there, and anything interesting that happens to come off my knitting needles...

Sunny (The Breathing)
Originally uploaded by annamatic3000.

On Tuesday, I went to see a friend's band perform in Apgujeong. There are a few more photos here. They'll be performing again (along with other bands on Modern Life Entertainment's label) on February 3, so if you're in Seoul, definitely go! It's free! Listen to some of their music here.