Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Downtown Holiday Market!!!!


The Downtown Holiday Market starts this Friday and I and the rest of the poppigirls will be there...well Dillon won't. She's on a sailboat in the Caribbean until next week....

An-NEE -way...

We are in booth #33 and we will be there for the duration- December 3rd -23rd. I am so excited to be back. I know..its cold and that last year we got our first taste of the snowpocolypse on December 18th with over 18" of snow overnight, BUT I'm not the type to panic. I like snow. I enjoy the break from the monotony of the daily grind here at poppishop. I'll get to be outside! see a bunch of my friends and fellow vendors!

If you work downtown, or if you're going to catch a Caps game or if you're just hanging out in China Town, stop by and check everyone out! it really is a fun and joyous thing to do to get you in the mood for the Holiday season!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

A few of my favorite things...


Hello Lovelies,

I realize the poppi girls have once again been neglecting our blog-- we're sorry! We've been busy pumping out a bunch of new work, but we miss you guys so I decided to combine a few of my favorite things--my iphone 4 hipstamatic camera, bright happy jewelry, the outdoors, and pictures of myself-- and say hello.

I wanted to show you a few of the things we've been working on... We're getting ready to add a bunch of new pieces to the website www.poppishop.com but *spoiler alert* here is a little sneak peek...

I'm wearing a pair of twisted earrings made of vintage lucite and sterling silver, and three (that's right, THREE--go big or go home) of my favorite new poppi rings.

The red petal ring is called "Rough Night" because it is a combination of reds and looks like my half-worn-off lipstick after a rough night of waiting tables (By the way, thank you for supporting poppi so I can make jewelry instead of waiting tables. Seriously. I hate waiting tables.)



The xlg multi-colored ring in the middle is called "Murano" because it reminds us of the amazingly beautiful, bright, brilliant colors of stained glass that Dawn and I saw when we visited Italy. (Dawn's baby brother lives in Naples and I studied abroad in Rome...)

The bottom ring is called "Fish Tank." I am the lone poppi girl who isn't a "dog person," (that's a whole other blog post) but I do love fish. When I was in college, one of my friends was moving and couldn't take his pet fish, a South American Cichlid, so he gave it to me. Of course, I thought my new fishy needed a few friends, so I upgraded and got a bigger tank and got him some buddies. I didn't realize, however, that there would be a love connection and the next thing I know, I've got one hundred tiny little baby fish and some kind of crazy full on guerrilla war between the mom and dad and other fish in the tank (for the record, Cichlid males have some seriously poor parenting skills).



Long story short, I ended up spending a huge chunk of my student loans on more and more tanks and gravel and little castles and a huge amount of time cleaning all these tanks during breaks between classes and the aforementioned dreaded crabhouse restaurant shifts (where I, ironically, served fish all night long). I was always a little hesitant to clean the tanks, though, because I love the colors and patterns of algae that grew on the walls of the glass. I had to finally get rid of all my tanks (and pass them on to some other sucker) but I think of my old pets often and fondly when I wear this ring.



Anyway, we hope you guys enjoy all the new stuff we've been putting our little hearts and soul into lately. We've been working overtime to get the site together before Christmas. Stay tuned!

<3
Dillon

Friday, September 10, 2010

a day in the life of a poppigirl

ok... this IS an exceptionally great day in the life of a poppigirl. Actually, three poppigirls.

Starring

Dillon Babington

Featuring
Melissa Cimino
Dawn Benedetto


cast, in order of appearance
herself.................Dillon Babbington
herself......................Melissa Cimino
shopper 1..............Monica Kornblatt
shopper 2...................Kris Anderson
herself....................Dawn Benedetto

Shot on location in my Studio, #226 at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA
Food provided by Bittersweet
Dillon's Flower brooch by The Devil Made Me Do It

Thank you everyone, especially, the 1970's

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Clark Institute of Art


Check out what we're working on for the Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown, MA! We love us some vintage Lucite--- these are dopey earrings in process.

Thursday, July 29, 2010


Poppi girls are once again gearing up for our biggest show of the year-- NYGIFT. We're burning the midnight oil pumping out some new Poppi bling for our fab wholesalers. Stay tuned for images of the new stuff!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Attention Minnesota!!!


We have a new account in Minnesota (thanks to the feature in Southern Living) - Elle Boutique! that means that those near White Bear Lake can fulfill their poppi urge instantly!

please go check them out and say we sent you! 

Elle Boutique
995 Wildwood Rd, White Bear Lake, MN 
(intersection of County Rd E and Hwy 120 ... look for the RED door)  
651-704-9999

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

nice write up in the Gazette

Here is a nice write up in the Mount Vernon Gazette , a Connection newspaper, about the Torpedo Factory Art Center, featuring our visiting artist program
We are having a reception for the visiting artists this Friday July 16th at the Torpedo Factory Art Center from 6-8pm.


We are also participating in the Christmas in July  Promotion put on by the Christmas Attic.  They will be hosting a trunk show this weekend, and Poppi has been invited to participate... come on by. I will be at the attic from 2 - 6PM on Saturday.


A list of our visiting artists:

JUNE

Megan Coyle  Collage – Studio 30
Robin Childers ( Mt. Ranier , MD ) Screen-prints – Studio 301
Erica Raby ( Cuyahoga Fall , OH ) Sculpture – Studio 332
Julian Parker-Burns ( Silver Spring , MD ) Mixed-media & collage – Studio 333
 

JULY

David Alfuth ( Washington , D.C. ) Collage – Studio 4
Corwin Levi ( Alexandria , VA ) Mixed-media painting – Studio 25
Megan Coyle ( Alexandria , VA ) Collage – Studio 30
Wan-Ju Wei ( Allston , MA ) Oil & acrylic painting – Studio 223
Kazaan Viveiros ( Alexandria , VA ) Large-scale painted panels – Studio 301
Erica Raby ( Cuyahoga Fall , OH ) Sculpture – Studio 332
Julian Parker-Burns ( Silver Spring , MD ) Mixed-media & collage – Studio 333

AUGUST

Cherie Redlinger ( Alexandria , VA ) Oil painting – Studio 4
Corwin Levi ( Alexandria , VA ) Mixed-media painting – Studio 25
Bonnie Lebesch ( Alexandria , VA ) Acrylic on panel and or paper – Studio 30
Wan-Ju Wei ( Allston , MA ) Oil & acrylic painting – Studio 223
Robin Childers ( Mt. Ranier , MD ) Screen-prints –Studio 333

so... things, they may be 'a changin'

So, last spring, I was elected VP of Marketing here at the Torpedo Factory Art Center.   I am stoked about this.
I have already, with the help of my secret agent graphics girl, gotten a kick ass, in-house marketing brochure together.  I have decided to go with the whole Torpedo Factory theme and titled it "Bombs Away" I am hoping to get everyone in the building excited, hopeful and empowered to take control of their own destiny and success.
Last Friday I gave a workshop on using Facebook to promote yourself, your art and hopefully, improve your business.  I was totally surprised at the number of people who attended. From what I can tell, it was really well received and people seem excited. YAY!
Anyway... I am excited to get a chance to test some of my material that I will be using this fall at Towson....

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Ohmy!! Its really happening!

so... Dillon and I have been ripping it up on Photoshop. We are working really hard to update the website and get all of the new colors up and out there for you to see.... I am not the photoshop queen by any stretch of the imagination, so, its a long process.  you all have been very patient. thank you for that.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

we got written up in southern Living!!!!

ANYWAY.....Here is the link...We have been going crazy trying to keep up with the orders since being featured in this issue!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

last summer's Italian trunk shows...




I know, this is long over due, but finally, downloaded my pictures from a trip I took to Italy last summer. that is the down side of 8 GB SD cards - they don't fill up.....
anyway, last summer I went to Italy and coordinated a few trunk shows with the help of my sister-in-law Julie.
here are the high lights
this is the first of three poppi showings. It was at NATO in Naples.








































The most beautiful setting a poppi trunk show has ever been.
totally crazy amazing.






this was my room in Rome....

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A message from John Click! in Seattle


John Smersh left me this voice mail yesterday. All he wanted was poppi logo, but he got my heart.
Oh yeah... poppi is having a trunk show at Click on May 1st in Seattle. details to follow.... xoxox

Thursday, April 8, 2010

blogging for us.


Not much this week....today we are the subject of a photo journalism shoot. Stacy Rausch is taking a class at NOVA and we are one of the artists that she will be documenting for her final project. Check out Stacy's photos on flickr.
A shout out to my friend, Page Carr, Stacy's photo instructor!

Monday, March 29, 2010

just found my sound track for spring.


So happy to have "found" YIMINO.
OK, the story is that I kind of hijacked my friend's ipod and have been shuffling it all day. I came across Yimino and I immediately googled them and bought/ downloaded all I could find. A chill, happy, kind of retro sound....that seamlessly floats from innocent bliss to dark pockets in my head...whatever. I can get lost in it and listening to it puts my head in a good place.
happy spring!!!

thanks Shaun for leaving your ipod in my car....

Monday, March 22, 2010

ok.. I did nothing today.


the Art League girls came down the hall into my studio, singing "happy birthday", so joyously and in a volume that made others in the building jealous. that's right people, they love ME! they love you too, but they brought me elvis cake and ice cream. I love them too. thanks girls!!!!!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

congrats to Lindsay!



Lindsay, one of the infamous poppigirls, just works for us for the money. Her heart, soul and god given talent is down with the mud people. By that I mean, she is a mad crazy ceramist. After graduating from Alfred, she has been keeping a studio at Red Dirt, a collective run by Margaret Boozer. If you get the chance, check out Lindsay's work this month at the Brand New Brentwood Art Center....

the two pieces here are ceramic, encaustic and thread.

Monday, March 15, 2010

flooded...but really.. its ok to come on down!


we're flooded here at the factory....but that makes for a productive day for me!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

I answered the phone on my day off...

Look for an upcoming write up in the Washington Post Express
this is NOT the cover of the issue poppi will be in....
I will let you all know as soon as I know when it is released.

Yesterday morning I answered the poppi phone, something I typically don't do on my day off.
Anyway, when the woman introduced herself as being from the Express, I kind of was put off because I had been getting sales calls from the advertising department asking if I wanted to buy an an in the issue that they were doing that was going to feature Old Town Alexandria. But as she talked, she wanted to know if I was going to be in at my studio at the Torpedo Factory, since she was asked to do a few shots because they were going to feature me in the Old Town issue...now, that's more like it....an editorial...YAY!!
I have no idea what they're going to say...but a picture is worth a thousand words. I will post it here and on facebook when it comes out.
by the way...are you poppi shop's friend on facebook?

Monday, March 8, 2010

Its not all fun and games,,,


some days are spent re-finishing shanks....
...but, since the buffing machine is in the back of the studio, I use a mirror to keep an eye on the shop....


this is the wall with a cut out to help me see the retail section of my studio....
my dad said that it couldn't be done, but I convinced him to go ahead with it anyway, and it looks great..

Friday, February 26, 2010

I just put out some of the new Lucite -




Here is a shot of the new Orion pieces that I just put out in the case.





























ok...I actually did work on shooting the new rings for the website and an update will be happening in the next few weeks. Here is a pic of all of the tiny balls of Lucite. I love my little tray of these parts.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

we had a bit of a snowstorm....


I think they're calling it a blizzard.
whatever, its really pretty. kind of snowed in. at least I now have no excuse, I have to put my booth away and hopefully take some photos of the new work so it can get uploaded onto the website.

I also just realized that its too late to have a valentine's day sale... things just got a little craz over here in poppi world.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

New York INternational Gift Fair 2010!!!!


So, I am in NY and here are a few shots...
the big light show is the lobby of the Javitz Center, where the NYIGF is being held.
the second shot is of the poppi booth... pretty grown up and snazzy. then, of course, is the obligatory photo op in Times Square with Dillon! We picked up the SF MOMA - so exciting!
xoxo

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Carolyn in the Peace Corps

my sweet pea is happy in Africa. We were lucky to have Carolyn in between her teaching gig and her Peace Corps volunteering in Burkina Faso, Africa. I just thought you all might want to check out her blog... its pretty wild to see what life is like elsewhere.... go, Carolyn GO!!! we miss and love you!

Friday, January 22, 2010

I was seen in public....


.....sporting my new hat. It was at the "don't look now" opening at Civilian Arts Projects in DC last week....my mug was on the Brightest Young Things blog....goofy face though... but, hey, whatever. I'm ok with that.
The show was pretty sweet. Jayme McLellan has done an amazing job with the new space.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

OK people - please vote for my friend!


ok, I met the most amazing woman at a show I did last fall...Danamarie Hosler. This woman ROCKS! She does it all... amazing illustrations, fun felted stuff, hand made cards and valentines. She knits funky wear-ables as well as free form knitted animals that she sculpts from thin air....totally wild, fun and adorable! anyway, she's been nominated for a poppie!!!

please click on the link and vote for her "GREENSTAR STUDIO"

Go DANA!!!! xoxox

Thursday, January 14, 2010

its a new year!


Ok, its two weeks into 2010 and, honestly, we've been taking it easy.
but not for long! The New York International Gift Fair is just a nano second away and we've been gearing up. I came up with a new necklace / earring design and I must say, I kind of like it. there are new rings, and as promised, we are photographing everything to update the website really soon. we were shooting for the update to be launched this month, but it looks like it will be February. just in time for valentine's day.

Here is a shot of the new necklace -any ideas on a name for it?
looking for a style name - not color combination.