So Fred Flare's Snail Mail charity is up and running- if you missed my post earlier, you can learn about right here. My valentine will be sold (for just 4 dollars!) online or in their Brooklyn store (I don't know where it is, but if you get it you should let me know!)...here is what it looks like..

You can view many others in the Fred Flare Snail Mail Flickr Pool. And if you made one too, comment here with a link to a photo of your Valentine!!

Hello all.. I hope your new year is off to a great start.
I'm not gonna lie, my 2009 is off to a kinda crummy start...so what do you do when you're feeling down and out?
Make Valentines for strangers? That's what I did today. I got an email from Fred Flare saying they are seeking our love. Make your version of a Valentine (they even suggest a mix tape..I might have to throw that in, as well) to be sold online or in their new store and the proceeds will go to Elder Craftsmen, an organization that brings craft workshops to senior citizens in Nyc. How much fun would it be to volunteer with that?? I'll have to see if Chicago has something like this set up.. Anyway, they are to be postmarked by the 15th of January! Read all the details right here and be sure to spread the word. Be sure to show me photos when you have yours made!

I've been meaning to make sure you all know that Fred Flare is now taking submissions for this year's Next Big Thing! I'm excited to see this year's crop..let me know if you do it! The deadline is May 2!

Hello! Phew! These days have been hectic! Today they announced the winner of Fred Flare's Next Big Thing! Supayana was the winner by a long shot! She seems like a nice girl (she seems to smile a lot and I'm always a fan of that haha) and quite the entrepreneur! ..Nice kinda finished in the middle, I guess..not too shabby I think considering I'm still kinda new to all of this. After all, Fred Flare was my first wholesale order ever! And by the way, if you stop by because you found me through Fred Flare, be sure to say hello! Thank you to everyone who voted! ..And thanks to those who never got around to it thinking I didn't need their vote to win ; ) hahah I have to say a special thanks to Amanda (she did a blog mention and had my badge up), and Chandra (she had a really sweet post about me on her blog AND mentioned my need for votes in her shop's newsletter! ..Chandra was one of my neighbor's at the Renegade fair last year and is very nice, and funny!), as well as all of my Mom's friends who came over from her blog! haha I know my deer may not have been your taste but you were all very kind!!

Good things are coming up for Nice, so keep on the look out!

...James is doing well. He had a cast put on yesterday and hopefully most of the pain will be over by the end of this week. He's back in the city now and doing well on his own! Guess he had it with all the fuss - he had his Mom, his Grandma, his Sister, my Mom, and myself all ready to help him out, all of the time, and I guess it got to him a tad haha.

I'm working on a shop update..some vintage items..feel like staying up a bit so maybe it will be done tonight.

Today and tomorrow is your LAST CHANCE TO VOTE!!! I need all the votes I can get, so if you've been delaying or have just plain forgotten, here's your friendly reminder! Head over here to vote for NICE!

Hey guys..I am back. Been catching up on blogs and things.. Before I left I sent a heads up to Apartment Therapy Chicago about the Next Big Thing and all the girls from Chicago - you can see it here. Someone made some lame comments about Fred Flare and cuteness and it was just like "ok good job you are 22 and grown up and can't have fun." No one is saying you should crowd up your life with kitsch, but if you choose to, who cares? How can something that is generally a happy thing, annoy you so much, you know? haha

My bday was fine. Friday we did family stuff.. went go-karting with Mom, Dad, Doug and his girlfriend Monica, and of course James. Both Monica and James had NEVER been on a go-kart! It was pretty hilarious. James lost so bad- I lapped him! He was afraid of the gas pedal. What a lame-o. ...Came back to the house and had dinner and dessert. It was nice and laid back.

Saturday James and I went to a minor league baseball game.. it was fun but we kinda had a relationship talk like "hey this is great and I like going to this game but maybe not ever again for my birthday cos remember I am a girl and actually this is more of a really great gift idea for me to give to YOU" hahaha. It was a friendly lesson and we had fun, of course. I had to let it slide too because we weren't able to really do anything spectacular for his bday back in March. Anyway, the point is, he is a good boyfriend. A great boyfriend.

Sunday we headed to Michigan and I'll probably talk more about that later on..

Here are some photos now..

If I don't have the chocolate molten cake from William Sonoma, I have a
chocolate peanut butter ice cream pie..sooo delicious. Because it was an
ice cream pie, I didn't really go crazy with cake toppers. Just ended up
using the cute deer from Amanda, and a cake candle.

I surprised James with White Sox cupcakes.. I was going to make homemade
cupcakes but things got hectic and when I saw these at the grocery store it was
a sign haha. Good thing I grabbed them because I couldn't even find the
baseball cake toppers I had planned to use for the homemade cupcakes.
Anyway, these have White Sox helmets and baseballs..and I made a little flag
that said "Yeah Jim Thome #1" because he is our favorite baseball guy. The
goodies below are just things that James loves haha.

And finally, me playing in balloons.

It was a good weekend.

Ok! So you can now cast your vote!

This is the back of one of the plaques. My brother screened my logo onto the wood. Notice there is also a hole for wall hanging ease- I even hung mine up with just a sewing pin! They are light. ..I love these mini deer plaques because they are an unexpected detail. Picture them hanging near a bed, a chair, light switch, above a door, near your computer, on a bookshelf, in a child's room, in an entryway, alone or in a cluster of artwork.

And again, feel free to use this image.. Spread the word!! I need your help!

Link the above image to:
http://www.fredflare.com/customer/nextbigthing_vote.php

Thank you all so much! <3

Kristin from The Pink Shower Curtain found these great vintage cake toppers and thought of me!! An early birthday mail surprise! It was so incredibly thoughtful and I of course love them. I will for sure be using these on June 23rd haha. THANK YOU SO MUCH, Kristin! I am thrilled with these little guys.

All 27 of the Next Big Thing designers are up! ..Which means I can share another little secret- I have a friend who is also 1 of the 27...Mia Santiago! Neither of us knew we were in it until a couple days ago, after receiving an email from Fred Flare with a list of names haha. It's pretty exciting. You can see her cute design here! The bio's for the last batch aren't up there yet..probably will be by the morning. Did you spot this year's celebrity?

I'm still very excited about all of this. It' s just really cool to see something I made in a shop. Call me a newbie, a newb, hahah but I've still got butterflies.

Thanks again so much for all of your happy comments!!!

THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE BIG NEWS WHICH I COULD
HARDLY WAIT TO TELL YOU!!

Your pal, Caitlin Holcomb is 1 of 27 awesome creative people to be chosen for Fred Flare's Next Big Thing. I have butterflies in my tummy as I'm typing this! Today they are introducing 9 designers, myself included. They will introduce 9 more tomorrow, and on Thursday.

Voting apparently will not begin until a week from now, however, Tuesday June 19. ..So I'd love it if you make a mental note or something, though of course I'll remind you haha.

If you'd like to help spread the word about Nice, feel free to download the animated image shown below and pin it on your blog, myspace, etc. I'd be thrilled and honored!

Windows/PC Users:
- Right click, save as (save the image to your computer)
- upload it to your flickr or other image sharing website
- link the image to: http://www.fredflare.com/customer/nextbigthing_vote.php

Mac Users:
-Click/hold down your mouse over the image and save as (save image to your computer). ..You can also hold down the Ctrl key and click the image to save as.
- upload it to your flickr or other image sharing website
- link the image to: http://www.fredflare.com/customer/nextbigthing_vote.php


THANK YOU GUYS!! it feels like my birthday!