Garage Galleries is coming up at the end of the month! As I say every summer, this is our favorite event of the year because we get to see (and meet) so many of our neighbors. It’s such a relaxed vibe and it’s just so Forest Park.
This year, we will be back in our own garage along with my craft show pal Andria Green. And in addition to Garage Galleries, we’re hosting Dive Bar Letter Writers in the backyard from 2-4pm. If you’re in the area, we hope to see you!
We celebrated Stationery Store Day with Paper & Pencil this year. They had a pop-up makers market and invited us to participate and, even though it rained all day, we had a great time meeting fellow stationery fans in Andersonville!
Paper & Pencil looked so charming all decked out for the holiday. The store was busy from open to close, proving that this silly little holiday is just what stationery fans needed to truly celebrate the paper and pencils and stickers that we love year-round. Isn’t it just fun to celebrate in community sometimes?
Sidenote: Let’s take a moment to admire this Journey of a Letter poster in the P&P shop.
My helpful assistant gave me a little break so I could go inside and buy some official Stationery Store Day merch. He also brought me coffee and snacks throughout the day and kept inching my frames out of the drips coming down from the sides of the tent. Truly Employee of the Year behavior.
In addition to the official Stationery Store Day items, I bought two cards from Submarine Paper Co, who was also part of the makers market. I love her style!
And in case you’re wondering why I didn’t buy more, well it’s because I was just shopping at Paper & Pencil last month. April, my pen pal from New Zealand, was here for a visit and we spent a day in Andersonville stationery shopping. Pictured is everything I bought that day (except for the Japanese mail frog, which was from Raygun, just around the corner from P&P!)
That’s a wrap for Stationery Store Day 2023! We’re already looking forward to next year. But for now, I’m back in production mode for Garage Galleries on August 26–this time we’ll be in my own back yard!
I’d love to hear how you celebrated Stationery Store Day!
P.S. Here’s how we celebrated the inaugural Stationery Store Day last year!
Garage Galleries 2022 is in the books and I’m finally recovered from a week of mad-prepping and a day of meeting new people and chatting with familiar friends about stamps, typewriters, letter writing, mail and more. I made a bunch of new cards (using the stamps pictured above) and I sold out of every one (except one design, which I am now convinced is a dud!) so I have to replenish my stock so I can add them to my website.
Here was our set-up, similar to last year (which I just realized I never blogged about!) I have so many styles of cards now that my two racks are full, and even my mini rack couldn’t handle the holiday overflow. I’ve come a long way since my very first craft show in 2016!
We did not host in our own garage this time like we did last year. Instead we moved into our friend’s garage with two other artists and Smokey Joel’s Red Hots. That’s right! We had a hot dog stand right behind us! This could explain why I have only a few pictures from the day–my assistant was too busy eating multiple hot dogs (and helping out!) to take pictures of the crowds!
Speaking of crowds, it was our most successful Garage Galleries ever–it was such a gorgeous day and we were in the center of town, so the foot traffic was incredible. Garage Galleries has become such an event–I mean how cute is this crowd of families and pups out enjoying art among the neighborhoods?!
This weekend, I’ll be participating (from a distance!) in the Madison Street Art Stroll here in Forest Park. Because of Covid, Garage Galleries was canceled and the wonderful organizers decided to try this instead. Several local businesses opened their windows to artists who will be displaying their work over the next week. My work is in the window of Local Yoga at 7234 Madison, a yoga studio right down the block from us.
Saturday, Naoto and I will be walking along Madison (wearing our masks!) to see the art and to wave to some friends we haven’t seen all summer. It’s funny how “normal” it feels to make some plans, even though it won’t be normal.
I’ve been working on setting up an online shop for my cards, something that is long overdue… It’s been a slow project listing everything…it’s fun work though! And I’ve made some new cards that I’ll be sharing on Instagram (@adamihasegawa) over the weekend and all next week.
I’ll share my window set-up next week, too. It was fun to put some of my window display skills to work again…though my display is much simpler than some of the concoctions I had to hang at my old job!
I hope you have a good weekend! Take care!
This week I’m preparing for another Petite Boutique! Prepping for this show always reminds me of how quickly the year goes…I can’t believe the holiday season is back again. This is my fourth year at Petite Boutique, which you may remember was my first ever craft show! Petite Boutique kicks off my holiday show season–I have three shows in November and one in December. If you’re local, this page has all of the information on where to find me this season.
I have two shows at the end of this month. First, on the 21st is the Brookfield Fine Arts Festival. We loved this event last year because it’s right next to the Brookfield Famers Market and Naoto was able to snack all day long. Naoto has been going to this farmers market all summer because the Mirai corn people sell there and also because I’m in love with the muffins. Also I should mention that the artists showing their work here are all really great. It’s a nice variety of work and all different price ranges. 
Then, on the 28th, we’ll be at Empowering Gardens for the Music, Art & Wine event. We love Empowering Gardens and it’s a joy to show at this event. For a $5 donation, you get snacks and wine and to peruse the plants and art while listening to music and mingling. It’s really great. 
And finally, I got accepted again to Petite Boutique at Pleasant Home this fall (November 8 & 9.) Petite Boutique will always be special to me because it was my first show back in 2016 and I love the local maker vibe and the variety there. I can’t wait. I’ve applied to a couple of long-shot shows this fall/winter, so hopefully I’ll be able to update with a couple more events before Christmas.
In other business news, I finally opened an Instagram account strictly for Galaxie Safari stuff. It was time. If you feel like following, you can find me there at @galaxiesafari (and still updating all things Presley, random like, cocktails, and more at @adamihasegawa, too!)
My last show for August was Forest Park’s Garage Galleries. It was my second year participating and this year was even better than the last. 
Our garage host, Mary, was fabulous and welcoming. She created a whole little snack station for our guests to enjoy, even bringing out a tray of pigs in a blanket around dinner time! Naoto manned the food and drink table, offering snacks and water and wine to all of the garage visitors. I shared the garage with Carolyn Dunn and Kennedy Shenberg. The Garage Gallery organizers are always so great about varying the types of work in each garage. 
I’m really liking my new double rack set-up. I don’t have as much space for my framed pieces though, so I’m still working on making that less crowded, but my cards are the bread & butter of the business so it makes sense to give them the most real estate. I’m hoping to have a new logo and sign before the holiday shows start up in November…eeks!
The top picture is a “limited edition” postcard I made for Garage Galleries. No one bought them so now they’re going to be thank you notes for the GG organizers and our garage host. Sometimes you try something and it doesn’t catch on…I really love that stamp though, so I’m going to bring it back as a “You’re a work of art” card again.
Next week, I’ll start preparing for the Brookfield Fine Arts Fest and Empowering Gardens Music, Art, and Wine event. I’m trying to be more proactive with my preparations so that I am not cramming at the last minute, or so I have time for last minute ideas. “Always trying and failing to be more organized” is going to end up on my headstone, I swear.
The reason I haven’t been reading is because I’ve been watching too much television and prepping for last week’s Art Dans La Rue. It was my first show of the summer and it went really well! It didn’t rain–the forecast was sketchy all day, but it ended up being hot and sticky but dryyyyy thankfully!
It was my first show sharing a booth with someone and it was so much fun! Alicia was such a great partner and even though we were selling the same product, our styles are so different that it didn’t feel like we were competing for customers. At one point, someone came into our booth and fawned over Alicia’s fabulous illustrations and funny pop culture cards and as they were leaving, the woman said, “Honey, your dad would love these!” about my cards. I felt very on-brand in that moment. 
It was also my first show testing out two card racks. I outgrew my first rack a long time ago, but I’ve been waffling between a floor spinner, a tabletop spinner, or just getting another rack. I don’t love that my set-up is less interesting now, but as long as I have a six-foot table, I can fit most of my frames along the side. Alicia was nice enough to let me use her tea crate for my extras. But I really think it helped my sales to have all of my designs visible. (I had been putting overflow cards in a bin.) I sold out of some designs that I didn’t think were popular. Apparently, if people can see your product, they might like it and buy it…who knew?
Alicia had to leave early, so we moved our table to the center of the tent to finish out the night. 
As usual, I regret not taking more pictures. The street was crowded with people enjoying beignets, crepes, wine, baguettes, carrying flowers and browsing the art. It’s such a joyous little fest!
I need to work out my merchandising plans for Garage Galleries later this month. And I need to refill my card and envelope stock so I can make more product…it’s going to be happily busy around here for the next two weeks!
August is almost here and I am breaking out the tent for some outdoor art shows! I’ll be back at Art Dans La Rue on Tuesday, August 6 from 2-9pm. I’ll be sharing a tent with my friend Alicia from Spotted Kettle Studio and we’re calling ourselves The Mail Truck because we want to buy a mail truck and sell cards on the go…but we need a truck first. (Seriously, if you know anyone with a spare mail truck…)
Last year it poured during Art Dans La Rue so hopefully this year the weather is better. In spite of the rain, it was one of my favorite shows last summer. Beignets and French wine and a poodle parade…what’s not to love? 
And at the end of the month, I’m returning to Garage Galleries here in Forest Park. Another favorite, we’ll be back in a Forest Park garage with other artists showing (and selling) our work. It’s such a great local event for Forest Park and I just love how casual it is. I haven’t heard where I’ll be placed yet, but I’m looking forward to meeting more new-to-me artists and neighbors in Forest Park.
As always, I update my Upcoming Shows page as I schedule them. I have two in September then I’m done until November unless something changes. I’m always looking for new shows to add to my list so if you know of anything (especially in Chicagoland or the Midwest,) I’d love to hear!
This Saturday I’ll be at The Lantern Loft in Forest Park for the brand new Maker’s Market! I’m very excited to do a local show. It’s fun to meet fellow neighbors who love handmade. There will be a light focus on Mother’s Day since it’s the next major holiday but I’ll have some new cards and framed quotes for Teacher Appreciation Week (coming up May 6-10,) graduations, and Father’s Day. And, as always, a mix of sweet and snarky handmade greetings for everyone else on your list.
kimberly ah 