gO!bama! new products on etsy

Hey hey! We've got a new President today! I'll be watching the whole Inauguration do on BBC1 in just a couple hours . . . but before that, I had to post my newest items at cookiechang.etsy.com.

To mark this very special occasion, I've created gO!bama buttons (badges) and you can mix and match from six different colors.

Also, check out my "have a dream" buttons, featuring my digital illustrations of Barack Obama and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, you could probably live without these, but why would you want to? Especially when it's such a great deal! I mean, where else can you buy 3 high quality, handmade, 1" metal pinback buttons with full-color, laminated, original designs such as these for only $2.50? Well, cookiechang.etsy.com of course!

Happy Inauguration Day 2009 and congratulations to the 44th President of the US of A!

mert hoody doll on etsy treasury with banksy!

Hey, just a quick THANK YOU to Isabelle (ptitebaloue.etsy.com) for including my mert hoody doll with crumfiti action pack in her fabulous treasury! You can only view it HERE 'til Monday, 12 January 2009. But if you don't make it by then, at least have a look at this screen shot -- note I'm on the same page as banksy. Whoop whoop! =(V)

cookie in kolkata!

There's a wonderful gift store nestled in a cute little neighborhood a few streets north of the London Road Railway Station in Brighton. Located at 8 Grantham Road, BN1 6EE, Kolkata features handmade, fair-trade products including: clothing, jewelry, embroidered cards and tiny key chain bags, hats, toys and paintings from Kolkata India.

And now, on Sundays from 12-4pm, Kolkata is welcoming a handful of artists and craftspeople from the surrounding Brighton area (many from etsy) to sell their handmade wares in the Lazy Sunday Market – and that, mes amis, will include cookie chang!

At the moment I'll be displaying my 1" crumz and "keep brighton weird" badges (pin back buttons), as well as my zine, meet the crumz – a B&W, 16 page story of cookie chang, featuring each crumz' profile. But soon I hope to include a few more items – postcards, aceos, crumz bottlecap clips and dolls!

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say, "Hey!" to owner Siobhan and the ever-charming Mariana and Maria. And If you can't make it to Brighton, visit my etsy shop and check out the goods for yourself!
=(V)

cookie chang and red mutha

YOO HOO!!! cookie has her first retail outlet! That's right, folks, if you've got a hankering for some cookie chang badges ("buttons" to my stateside peeps) and you're any where near 92 Trafalgar Street in Brighton, then git yer bum into RED MUTHA and scream, "I NEED COOKIE!!!!" You might even get lucky and meet Red herself. She's da bomb – and the shop is as chock full of gorgeous "one-off, customised, recycled garments for those who dare to wear them!" Plus loads of other great stuff . . . now including cookie chang badges! Likewise, check out red mutha's myspace page . . . hey, while you're at it, check out cookie's myspace too!

Priced at just 60p for one or 2 for £1, you can kit out your bags, shirts, hats, coats, ties, knickers, shoes and anything else that takes your fancy with these little 1" babies.

If you're a little too far from Brighton to visit RED MUTHA and gotta get your cookie on, visit my etsy shop to buy them online! I'll be listing them all in the next couple of days . . . cookiechang.etsy.com.

Here's a peek at just a few of the designs . . .

(Shout out to Mariana for contacting Red Mutha in the first place!)

Viva Frida! (and Shrinky Dinks!)

In May, mel.e sent me a packet of Shrinky Dinks for my birthday. (I'd requested them because my stash was left behind when I moved from the US to the UK almost three years ago.) So this week, while kpie was away on biz, I indulged in a few late nights with a pile 'o art supplies spread out over the coffee table and reacquainted myself with Shrinky Dinks.

"Viva Frida!" is my ode to my favorite grrl artist ever -- Frida Kahlo. I drew her with a fine line Sharpie on the glossy side, then had to think "backwards" when shading and coloring on the sanded side with colored pencils. I'm quite pleased with the outcome! Frida's mounted on two wooden dominoes which I've glued together. I used wood filler on the sides, then sanded and painted acrylics and gel pens (another gift from mel.e).

I ordered a good handful of milagros from elsol.etsy.com in San Antonio and included the little silver flaming heart, so when you wear this necklace, Frida's heart beats next to yours . . . ahhhh.

Up next will be "Fighting Basquiat," my tribute to Jean Michel Basquiat -- hands down, my favorite boy artist ever. The Shrinky Dink part is done, but the rest is still rattling around in my noggin. Inspiration . . . .

NEW! crumfiti uk POSTCARD & BADGE pack!

check it out! cookiechang.etsy.com
Includes: all 7 crumfiti postcards, 1 crumz badge (pin-back button)
and FREE MAGNET in a glossy, 4-color pack ...are you kidding?
Get yours today!

cookie chang MAGNETS join the BRIGHTON FESTIVAL!!!

I got up early this morning to drive down to Brighton. My mission? To disperse FREE cookie chang MAGNETS!! The Brighton Festival is happening through May, so it only seemed fitting that free magnets advertising my handmade art be an unofficial part of this amazing month-long festival devoted to visual and performing arts!

So did you find one? I left them on magnetic friendly surfaces all over the North Laines. In fact I'm here right now, drinking a faaabulous cup o' joe, looking down Kensington Street, where this photo was taken.

If you found one in your shop and would like to carry my products or artwork, leave me a comment and I will gladly contact you.

If you're not a shop owner and found one on the street, please leave a comment as well. I'd love to know where you found yours.

And please don't forget to visit my etsy shop: cookiechang.etsy.com. Don't be put off by the US dollar pricing. Paypal will convert it for you. Besides, the dollar sucks right now, so you can basically halve the price ($8.00 = £4.00). That means REALLY GOOD DEALS on ORIGINAL HANDMADE ART and art byproducts.  

OK, now on to the seafront to leave the rest of my magnets . . . . Maybe I'll see you down there? 

Could it have been any more gorgeous today? mel.e took in some sites:

Prickly Prunella grabbed some rays:

Mamey Beergarden checked out the Royal Pavilion:

. . . and hit an all-time low in the loo. Oh Mamey, ya gotta stop cheatin' yourself!

Chicken of the Woods in May. Heh?

I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday as Poppy and I walked through the woods just down from our house in East Grinstead. There, on a muddy little stream bank, lay a log teaming with fresh, juicy Chicken of the Woods (laetiporus sulphureous)! Translated, this means MUSHROOMS! On May 6th? Who knew?

The earliest I've found them in Oregon was late late summer. But mostly I've found them in the autumn while picking Chanterelles (cantharellus cibarius). I guess like most similarities between the US and UK, you just have to tweak a little here and twist a little there to fit one into the other. (Well, kinda sorta.) At least we share many of the same edible species.

Poor Poppy. She thought she was on her way to chase squirrels up trees all afternoon. But as soon as I spied this log (where I'd seen little orange blobs only a week before), I flipped us around and back up the tree-lined incline home for the camera, a paper bag and my brand new Carluccio's Mushroom Knife  -- an inspired birthday present from our wonderful friends Janne and Christine!

Is it not just the sexiest mushroom knife ever? And the only thing more exciting than finding Chicken of the Woods at the beginning of May was using it for the first time! Was it actually Antonio Carluccio who designed this masterpiece? I don't know, but it's brilliant! Brush, blade and little tweezers -- all in one perfectly balanced, wood-handled tool . . . and that rhymes with COOL.

And now back to the laetiporus sulphureous . . . . When discovering these mushrooms in the past, I'd have to trim only the outer edges, leaving the tough and chewy majority on the stump. Not these babies. They were moist and springy and, well, perfect really!

Now all I have to do is decide how to cook them.

cookie do whatcha make of it. (heh?)

It's a rainy, dreary day in Southeast England and my youngest sister (mert) is no doubt tucked up safe and sound in her bed in Seattle after her long flight home yesterday. For the two faaabulous weeks she was here with us, I did very little work on cookie . . . so today I followed my other little sister's (mel.e) lead and got me a spot on blogspot.

Since I launched my website (cookiechang.com) and opened my etsy shop (cookiechang.etsy.com) last May, I have admittedly done little to promote them. And how stupid! I spend so much time creating things: making dolls, painting, illustrating, writing, yada yada yada . . . how is anyone going to know they exist and are available to purchase if I don't actively tell them? Duh.

Joining the UKTeam on etsy has been really helpful and I'm learning about the importance of networking sites, etc. Talk about time consuming though! It's hard to divide my time between creating and producing art and promoting it -- but, as I'm learning, there ain't one without t'other.

So I'll end this entry with a couple pictures of my recent work.

This is my Mamey Beergarden doll. Look familiar? Like someone else we might know? You can have her for your very own by clicking on my etsy link on the right!


I've also had limited edition ACEOs of some of my paintings printed. In case you don't know what an ACEO is, it stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals and must always be 2.5" by 3.5" -- the same size as baseball and other trading cards. They're meant to be an affordable way to collect art. And at just $8.00 for 4 signed edition prints on etsy, I'd say that's pretty affordable!


You can also visit cookiechang.com and learn about cookie's "crumz" -- the naughty little characters who like to do their virtual crumfiti on various landmarks in the UK. You can even hear their voices (god knows I do).