Olympia townie

Putting on My Friends – Vanessa L. Torres

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One in a series: These lovely folks inspire me to be the artist that I am. We are all small business owners, creatives, and makers. Spend your hard earned money with any of us instead of the big companies! It means a lot when you #shopsmall #shoplocal. Please spread the love and help us all with our dreams! Visit their websites and make a purchase, follow, comment, or share their info. It costs nothing to put-on-a-friend. XOXO

VANESSA L. TORRES, YA author

Vanessa and I were housemates and business partners a long time ago. When I graduated art school I wanted to run a business. She had this cute tote bag she thought we could use as inspiration for our own bag line. That is when “Dos Chicas” handbags were born! She would take the oilcloth to her work at the fire station and hand cut what she could in between emergency calls. Then she brought them home and I would sew the cut pieces together. We had our products on buyolympia for a long time before they moved their business to Portland, Oregon.

She inspired me with her determination to be a writer when she would carve out few precious moments with her busy schedule. When she was writing her first screen play, she used one of my mannerisms for one of her characters. I was tickled my knee slapping made it into her art. I really wanted to highlight her because I understand what it is to work for decades on your craft, quietly, hoping someday your dreams come true. Hers definitely have. Estoy muy orgullosa de ti!! I am so proud of you!! XOXO

Pre-order Vanessa’s new book, “On the Wings of la Noche”. Click her name above to head over to her website.

Author Vanessa Torres with a jean jacket, smiling at the camera in an alley in Olympia, Washington

Olympia Loves XVI

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Yet another reason I love this goofy town; Theater. Collaboration. Diva-free zones.

Come see Bunnicula running through October 16. It is super-fun!

Front Row: Amaya Eckel, Andy Gordon, Sam Cori
Second Row: Shelle Riehl, Ted Ryle, Bunnicula, Angela Yoder, Steven Wells
Directed by Pete Kappler

Olympia Loves II

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feb-the smell of rain in the soil
thick mist over crowds of tall pines
when it feels like snow, but not quite
damp dirt, but not quite mud
sun sets a little later everyday
bigfoot is hiding around here
somewhere

Artswalk wrap up III

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What a wet evening! It rained cats and dogs and not as many people braved the weather, but for those of you who came to ‘a girl’s backyard’ and saw Come and Go, thank you! It was so much fun to have live theatre available for people to see and enjoy. If you ever get a chance to see a Samuel Beckett play, go. And remember not to take it too seriously. The guy had a wonderful, dark Irish sense of humor. No wonder I like his writing. tee hee

Ru, Vi, and Flo from Come and Go

On the visual art side, I sold half my show! It was great fun to see people react to my art and have it dislodge childhood memories. I heard wonderful stories of reading books on rooftops and that I wan’t alone wondering what it looked like down the chimney. Several people declared, ‘Me too” to my “I Wished I’d had a Sister” piece which tickled me very much. I tried some new ideas with photo reproduction and had art available for $5 and was a hit. I’ll make sure and do that again.

I have photo reproductions still available in my store for $5. First class shipping will make the total $5.42.

Chimney Dreams

Paperdoll

Getting Ready for Artswalk I

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Beads and beads
Bugle beads, Gold
And a few purple seed beads
All on oilcloth, which you know I love.
Nylon thread that mucks up my machine is now used to bead bead bead. It takes a while to do this process, but it is amazing.
super thin needle, beads, sample, and scissors. i luv scissors. july

Ode to buyolympia…

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bobbins and spools, circular blades and kenmore, time and lots of time where all my bags are loved…

Because of my affiliation with your wonderful website, i (dos chicas, rather) have received lots of attention and had money come my way which is always fun. millions saw my work. many fans and purchases kept rolling in. yet i stayed anonymous.

late nights and seinfeld, too much coffee, and 5 minute naps helped the production line keep going for deadlines. hundreds made by hand, one at a time. the quiet revolution no one saw coming…

I thank you pat and aaron for the initial risk you took with me. Our first meeting was positive and you were good with giving my bags a shot, even though none of us knew if they would even sell. How surprised we all were!

miles and miles of thread and football fields filled with oilcloth i’ve unrolled in my tiny studio…

Because of you i was flattered with attention from numerous magazines like SELF, ORGANIC STYLE, TU CIUDAD, SEATTLE MAGAZINE, and SOUTH SOUND WOMAN, and numerous blogs and websites like THIS NEXT, YUMSUGAR, WIST, POLYVORE, and APARTMENT THERAPY. all those people are very nice, too.

How can I thank you? The words just aren’t enough. I am sooo sad you aren’t in olympia anymore…I won’t ride my bike downtown and drop off my inventory anymore…I won’t see your smiles anymore… i hope portland treats you well and helps make your dreams come true.

an army of lorraines and tillys now grace the planet thanks to your little website. i hope people’s smiles carry with them afterall, that is why i make the things i do.

all my best to you…xo

Olympia Loves

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I love this crazy little town. Check out this new website: http://www.everydayolympia.com/. Get yourself involved in a free listing and paid advertisment. Brought to you by the owners of a very cool store, ‘einmaleins’ – Downtown Olympia.

Danke Mathias und Trixy!

Update 2021, I removed the links as they are obsolete now. -ang

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