Sticking a toe in the water….

Before the economy crashed, things were pretty awesome.  I was able to run my arty business from home, have the money and time to do pretty much whatever I wanted, and had the freedom to make whatever clothing I thought was cute and fun to sell.  I had my dream job of staying in my pajamas all day long, painting and designing clothing for all my adorable customers.

Then the economy crashed.  And the first 2 things that came to a complete standstill were sales of art and sales of non-necessity clothing… which is everything I did.  Sucks for me!!  So with that, I came to a screeching halt on making anything new until things got better and jumped into day-job land as an art director at a fantastic sunglasses company.

Fast forward 2 years…. guess what?  Things are better!  People can bitch all they want about Obama- but things are better than they were 2 years ago.  People have started spending again… and that’s a good thing.  When the media instilled financial terror in our society (whether it was warranted or not… and in a lot of cases it wasn’t), pocket books closed.  When an entire nation shut their wallets, business’s lost money and had to start firing people.  Those people weren’t able to pay their bills and lost their homes and there was less spending, which lead to more downsizing and more people being broke and more downsizing and homelessness and people being broke, etc etc etc.  The one thing that actually stimulates the economy (spending) is the thing that the media made people too terrified to do until people were actually at a place where they couldn’t do it.  Thanks, media!!  But that has gotten better.  I’ve seen it in the daily lives of the people I know, and on a national scale.  Is it great, or anywhere near where it was before the crash?  Of course not!!  But it is better.

So now that it’s better, I’m getting back into the game.  I wasn’t about to go into production on ANYTHING unless things looked a little brighter because going into production on ANYTHING is expensive, and I was broke.  But because of my amazing day job at the sunglasses company, and because of a few tips from glorious friends… Kristen Ferrell Clothing is getting a makeover and hitting it hard once again.

Last night I was up until around 6am with the flu putting my new sunglasses line on the webstore.  Here are a few examples of my new fun that I am SOOOOOOO excited about!:

Forrest Wayfarers- these already sold out, but more are on the way!

Daisy- which are one of my favorites!!

The cases all the frames come with (and these cases make me giggle)

And here's a preview of one of the new pendants that I'm making. This is made out of wood, and there will be oodles like this... and I LOVE them!!!

So good things are happening.  Finally.  This year has been a rough one so far and filled with lots of crappy drama thrown at me by terrible people and health bullshit and money woes…. but it’s all seeming to turn around.  And it fills me with smiles.  I hope all of your days are filled with smiles, too…. because you’re all fantastic bunnies!!!

And this is my personal message to the past stint of struggle that I’m starting to see my way out of:

Dear Past-5-Months... ya see that fat middle finger? It's all for you!! (but those glasses can also be found on my site to anyone who fancies them!)

Big love to you all, dearies.  And gigantic hugs for staying tuned and giving support!!!  I kiss the foreheads of each and every one of you. And you.  And you.

Things may not be coming up roses yet….

…. but at least they aren’t covered in maggots anymore.  It’s a step in a better direction, right??

So I got a bunch of my samples back from my embroiders today…. holy cow, I fucking love those people!!!  Not only did they get my stuff done at lightening speed- but it all looks so damn good!!  I’m sending them “care bear stares” right now… I hope they get them.  I’ve got to go and check on my screenprinter and see how that’s coming along- but I have faith that she’s doing great… so it’s all getting better.

But I’m still a frayed nerve.  I exploded on my husband today.  Full blown nuclear meltdown.  Due to a misunderstanding because we have “problems with communication”, he didn’t do something that I assumed he knew to do.  I found myself pulled over on the side of the road, standing by my car on the street, and screaming at the top of my lungs through the phone “WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING STUPID?  WHY DON’T YOU HAVE COMMON SENSE??  YOUR GENDER IS FLAWED!!  FUCKING FLAWED!!!!!” (much more was said, but I’m afraid I’ll get kicked off this thingy if I repeat it)… people were actually slowing down while driving past me to watch the show.  I have since gone to great lengths to apologize to him, and made him dinner (which is something I normally only do for Sully… I’m not a “cooker”), and have been using my most soothing “inside voice” around him all evening.  But he understands (and on many occasions I’ve been on the receiving end of his nonsensical scream-fest… so we’re even).  He has watched the deterioration of my mental state over the past few weeks, and knew it was coming.  But I will admit, I felt much better after my verbal spewings.

But for the entertainment of whoever gives a shit…. here’s a little peek at a few of the things in the new line.  I’m soooooo ignorant when it comes to the “do’s and don’ts” in the fashion industry (I’m a painter, not a “professional designer”… so I don’t know the rules… nor do I really care), so I don’t know if I’m supposed to show pieces of the “new line” before it hits the trade show…. but fuck it.  Are any of you going to run and tell on me?  I doubt it. 

So here’s the new limited edition plate set:

To get a more detailed view of them, just go to my flickr page (there’s links to it on here).

And now for a few of the shirt bodies I designed.  I’m really excited about these (they came out great… but I still really wish I had the samples of all the other colors that I wanted them to come in… ugh!). These ones have the embroidery on them…..

And here’s one of the little fellas that can be embroidered onto the shirts…….

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, there will be boy’s shirts this season.  And I’m going to have all these available in X-Larges for the ladies who have the fun curvy figures. And I’m even going to have onsies for the little ones.

So that is your window into things to come…. or at least as far as my bullshit is concerned.

Back to catalogs, and promo stuff, and dishes, and laundry, and painting, and and and and and and and…….. you get the idea.