A Visit with the Hey, Day! Girls

by Jan

Psssst! Wanna know a secret? You can start every day of the next year with a smile on your face and a new thought to ponder or project to make all for the low, low price of $14.95. Send no money now! Just head out to your local bookseller, or click on over to Amazon and pick up the book Hey, Day! This little zine-styled tome is the key to adding a little zing to your morning (or evening or afternoon…) routine. It promises Super-Amazing, Funk-Da-Crazing, Ultra Glazing things to do, make, and ponder every day of the year, and it delivers! With ideas and instructions for everything from creating a mobile to celebrate your inner dork, making homemade beauty products, documenting your family tree, tying knots, declaring August 16th act like a body builder day, to giving you the skinny on cellulite, perseverance, and hickeys, this is one book that should be in every crafty gal’s library. The authors of this rockin’ read, Super Clea and Keva Marie, were kind enough to pay a visit to the Craftygal porch recently. Please join us for a fun-filled conversation.

Craftygal: You both seem to have carved out pretty creative careers from the start. Before you met, Keva Marie had her fun and funky clothing company, POOT! and Clea had her pop art store, Wonderama. Were these your first ventures into the work world? How did you each get started?

CLEA: I worked in an indie record store all though school and then I wrote about music for magazines and the San Diego newspapers before I opened the store. My old partner and I just had this idea for a fun little junk store, the kind that you just wanted to hang out in and buy everything.

KEVA: Well, POOT! was my first "grown up" venture, but I was always a girl on the go. Newspaper at 11. Painted tee shirts sold at local shops at 14. All I ever wanted to do was get busy and make business and produce stuff and make money. I guess they call that the real entrepreneur spirit and I had (and have had) it bad since birth.

CG: You met when Clea decided that her zine, Foxy, was ready to grow from a scissors and tape hobby to something bigger. Can you give us a little snapshot of how it grew?

CLEA: Keva can take this one, I came around in the middle. But I will say, for my part, I was completely inspired by all the girls who wrote in and had stories to tell. That just changed my life.

KEVA: Foxy… oh dear, dear Foxy. Well. First you have to say it all sassy like --with a tilt to the hips and a crinkle of the nose. "Foxy," got it? Okay! Well yeah, it was like my after work--work project with a mission of its own. Tape, glue, scissors and the zine lover’s fave, the Xerox machine.  You see Poot! was really taking off and I would get so much ruling fan mail. The girls who wrote me were all sooo amazing, they had such a spirit that we felt they just had to be heard, not just by me, but by the world. So that’s kind of how Foxy was born--as a vehicle to share the expressions of the girls' kickass movement.

Then of course when it grew and Clea came along--it just exploded! We both miss it a ton and it was really a HUGE reason why we are doing books together today!

CG: What kind of process did you use to write Hey, Day!? Collaborating and brainstorming together can be great fun, but then there’s the work part of actually writing. What did you do to get the job done and still keep things entertaining?

The whole [bookwriting] process was fun because the subject matter was fun and because well, not to brag, but we're fun.

CG: What has the response to Hey, Day! been like? I know the Craftygals and everyone we’ve shared it with love the book!

CLEA: The response has been wonderful and inspiring and hilarious and random, just like we think the book is. We get super excited by mail. Send us mail! Tell us what you think. It's the best part of the whole book writing dealy-ma-bob.

KEVA: Yes, and tell everyone you know. The more books we sell, the more books we get to keep making, and lordy do we have lots of ideas for more books.

CG: Speaking of which, how is your next book, Holidazed, coming along?

CLEA: It's written! Complete. Done. Finito. But we still have to design it which is so much fun but a lot of work. The stories and crafts and ideas are still way random but since it's about holidays it's not quite as all over the map, you know?

KEVA: Now we’re gearing up to design it, which we’re both really excited about. Plus I have a new puppy, Tuna. And he gets to be in this book, yippee!

CG: Clea’s Goddesses books, in which the ancient Greek Muses are banished to modern-day Athens, Georgia sound great too! When will they be out?

CLEA: Goddesses 1 and 2, titled Heaven Sent and Three Girls and a God are out now! And the next two come out, I think, in a month or two. They're called Muses on the Move and Ladies in Hades (actually they changed the name of the last one on me last minute and Amazon still says Ladies in Hades but I think it's going to be Love and Fate.) They are pretty funny, but hey, I wrote 'em. I am biased.

Q: What kinds of things inspire you?

A: Girls who create something out of nothing. (Crafty girls!)

CG: The two of you seem like you’re constantly bursting with ideas and projects. What kinds of things inspire you?

CLEA: Cool Girls doing cool things. Girls who create something out of nothing. (Crafty girls!) Strong girls who speak their minds. And beautiful music always inspires.

KEVA: Fearlessness. Confidence. Honesty. Girls who aren’t afraid to express themselves in any way they want to.

CG: We crafty gals do love to hear about each other’s projects. What kinds of crafty stuff are you doing these days?

CLEA: I just made a whole wall of photos. Here's what I did: I took photos of my friends and family, pictures that have just one person in them, so they're fairly close-up. And I went to the color copier but I put it on a black and white setting and I blew them up about 400% onto the 11x17 paper. I trimmed them on their paper cutter to 10x15 and I cropped them kinda funny, like I took an ear off or I came in close to one eye. Then I went out to an art supply store and I bought a bunch of matte boards. The smaller size, I think they're 15x20 or something like that. And I spray mounted my blown-up photos to the matte boards. I made a ton of them, like 25. They look like really expensive black and white art photos. Anyway later today I'm going to the hardware store and I'm going to buy some wood molding, the kind with a groove in it. I'm gonna cut it into four strips the same length (probably around 4-5 feet long) and I'm gonna screw them to the wall horizontally with the groove facing the wall. The distance between each molding piece is equal to the vertical length of the matte board. That way, the matte boards slide in between two strips of molding and stay on the wall. You can then change out your pictures, move em around, that sort of thing. Did that make sense? Oh and I am also planning on painting a glossy stripe on my bedroom wall. Just down one wall. The paint on my walls is a matte finish, but my stripe will be the most shiny paint ever. Yeah. And since summer is coming, I'm planning on decking out my backyard with lanterns and streamers and a big plastic pool. That might not sound "crafty" but I'm gonna make it look like a little island back there with sand and everything! I love summertime.

KEVA: Um, Clea you just out crafted yourself. Me? What am I doing that’s crafty? Lots of organizing. I love to organize in crafty ways. Oh and I’m crocheting a blanket. Yes Clea, I'm still doing it…bet you thought I forgot. Think again!

CG: Wow! I’m still blown away by Clea’s craftiness. Impressive! Share some of that creative energy with the rest of us--what's the best advice you've ever been given regarding your creative endeavors and/or best creative lesson learned?

CLEA: Re-writing is part of the process. That's a good lesson. I felt like a failure the first time I wrote a story that I really thought was good and I had an editor rip it to shreds. But you know, in the end, it was published and better than ever. Also, it helps to know what you're good at. That doesn't mean that we should not do things we're not good at, but when you know what your strengths are it's a heck of a lot easier to go out and try new stuff.

KEVA: That persistence is key. That passion is really important. That having talent is one thing, panache another. And that both are to be equally paid attention to. And honed. Oh, and also that the warm fuzziness that I feel inside me, well, that I should let it out and share it with the world!

CG: Good advice! Now I’m feeling all energized and thinking about how I can adapt Clea’s photo system at the Craftygal clubhouse. When we work on projects, we generally have the music pumping. Does music play any role in your creative process?

CLEA: Oh my word, yes. When I feel blocked all I have to do is put on some fantabulous music for inspiration. Sometimes it's the turn of a phrase in a song; sometimes it's simply the energy. But my biggest dream to date is to be a rock star, so yeah, music holds the key. To me, it's the most powerful art there is. But that is super subjective and just my humble opinion.

KEVA: Yes and no. I mean don't get me wrong; I have like a zillion CDs and records and listen to tunes all the time. But sometimes I have too much going on in my head that I often find silence to be a warm welcome. It calms me. Back to that focus things again, but its true. Happiness in my solitude is happiness in my work. Also, I love my iTunes on my laptop and listen to an oldies 50's station much of the time as of late: Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennet... I just love all that stuff!

CG: Okay, let’s dish. I’m gonna throw you some of Craftygal’s patented either/or questions… Martha Stewart--devil or angel?

CLEA: Neither. She's hard to digest, too stiff for words, but she does make everything look pretty and well, easy. I like that. I mean, she is crafty, right? Or at least her staff is crafty and you got to give her credit for rounding up a great crafty staff.

KEVA: Marketing genius! (But sadly, a bore to watch on TV.) Clea and I are still trying to figure out a way to raid her library. Oh imagine all those books the staff uses for reference! We drool just thinking 'bout it!

CG: I’m with you on the reference library. I often dream of being one of the "Ask Martha" writers, myself. Researching all the stuff would be so much fun! Next question, country and western or hip-hop?

CLEA: I love the kinda country dubbed alt-country like Whiskeytown and the Old 97s and Wilco. So I might choose country. Plus, Patsy Cline and the original Hank Williams rocked. But I like to shake my booty too and there is some fun dancing hip-hop that moves me. Still, first choice would be punk pop.

KEVA: Depends on the day. And my mood. I love Alicia Keys and Destiny’s Child sometimes but then give me The Cramps and The Ramones for a week and I'll forget all about Alicia. I'll take disco any day though--I just love to boogie.

CG: Okay, last question--sugar or salt?

CLEA: Salt!! Salty pretzels and tater chips, salty nuts, I even like my sweets salty.

KEVA: Sweets! I'm addicted to gummy bears, sour candies, hard watermelon candies, ice crème and Popsicles! Help!

CG: So you’re all in balance snack-wise; you’ve got the ying and yang covered. Very nice. Can’t wait to see what the two of you cook up next! Thanks for stopping by, ladies.

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