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After Renegade I was floored with how exhilarating it was getting to meet so many of you! Blog/Zine making is such a solo act. I still don’t really understand what “40,000 unique visitors a month means” because if I did, I think I would have a panic attack.

But going to a distant city and having a dozen people come up and say they’ve been reading my blog for years and are happy to get to meet me makes my month! So, I’m doing it again! Not Renegade (yet), but Chicago! Ah, I do love that city!

This weekend I’m leaving Iowa for another adventure there to sell zines, meet folks, swap zines with other zine makers, and in general have a good time and get inspired.

That’s right, I’m tabling at the Chicago Zine Fest!

I’m super excited, dare I say it: *stoked*, to be doing a zine fest. I’ve only ever done fine art and indie craft shows before, which are awesome fun, but not quite the same as a zine fest. It will be interesting to see the response I get from other zine makers. Having Craft Leftovers looked at from that perspective will be, well, I’m not sure. Hopefully good!

There’s going to be 150 exhibitors there, I’m in booth #70 on the 8th floor (Conaway Center Columbia College). And there’s also a load of workshops on Saturday on the 8th floor too! I’m actually a little jealous of Jill who will get to wander around and do all these things. Happily I’m getting there in time on Friday to attend all the talks, readings, and the after party.

I’m going to be taking orders for the book, box sets, and subscriptions and I’ll have a pile of the current issue on hand to sell. And I’ll have every zine I’ve every made there so you can thumb through them when you stop by my booth. I actually built theses sweet wood displays for the zine so it’s set up like a little library.

Oh, shoot, I should take a picture and show you, it’s pretty neat. I got a bug in my bonnet about it the night before I left for Renegade and went nuts building them in the basement. Ha. Well, I think it was worth it. Here, just snapped this photo for you:

While I’m in town I’m going to check out a few local craft shops. I’m particularly interested in going to the Needle Shop. And I just have to have one of those amazing grilled cheese sandwiches from the Heartland Cafe at some point while I’m there. Any other must see craft places/indie clothing shops I need to check out? Let me know, your local knowledge is a treasure!

I hope to see some more of you there. If you do, I’ll have a special little something something just for you!

Happy Crafting and Zine Making!
Kristin M Roach

Last year I signed up for the Sketchbook Project – and only started three drawings, and didn’t finish a single one. I felt like an epic failure. Me, I draw all the time (or so I thought), not able to finish filling out my sketchbook. I fill a sketchbook no problem like every 2 months just by doodling and writing random things. What happened?

1. Intimidation – yeah, I got scared.

The idea of putting my sketchbook into the line up with amateurs and greats alike scared the heck out of me. Would anyone think it’s worth looking at? Would anyone seek it out? Was what I had to say with my visual language worthwhile?

2. Too Personal – I picked the theme “nightmares”.

Which was good for me because I have loads of them. Heck, between the ones I can remember and the ones I have on just about a nightly basis, I should have had no problem filling that little book – or so I thought. But it turns out having enough subject matter wasn’t the issue, dipping into the imagery kind of scared the crap out of myself. While all drawings tend to have a personal autobiographical nature, the idea of exposing all that twisted sludge in my head turned out to be a valley I really didn’t want to hike into. I’ve long thought about illustrating my nightmares. But, sadly, no. I was not ready for that challenge.

Honestly I think those were the two big things that held me back. The personal thing more than the intimidation one now that I write it out.

I love the idea of archiving my drawing in the Brooklyn Art Library. I love the idea of collecting up sketchbooks from around the world, what an asset to historians of the future (having studied art history enthusiastically myself, I know how important this kind of thing can be). So yeah, I want to toss my hat into that ring.

So, knowing that, when I received an email about signing up for the 2012 Sketchbook Project Limited Edition Vol. 1 today, I opted to jump into it and try again. But this time picking the theme “How to Spell and Other Things to Learn”. In a spark, 20 pages of drawings and collages ideas came to mind, a very good sign.

When I signed up they sent me a coupon code to share with my buddies, which I consider all of you. My crafty blog buddies. I know some of you must be like me and enjoy drawing too. Or collage Or painting Or fabric art. You get the idea.

Use the coupon code: ADDAFRIEND to receive $2 off. It costs $25 to participate.

I hope you’ll join me in filling a sketchbook for the project which in turn helps to fill the sketchbook archive.

Happy Sketching!

Kristin Roach