On behalf of MyRight2Write.com, I attended a vendor get-together this week for the upcoming Crafty Bastards crafts show… so I wanted to update the blog with a few more deets.

For some reason, I had it in my mind that the first annual Silver Spring Crafty Bastards show was the younger, smaller, more bastardier bastard child of Crafty Bastards The Adams Morgan Show… but NOOOOOOO. Folks, I am happy to report that this absolutely will NOT be the case!

Check out the Vendor Gallery to see 80 of the coolest DIY crafters in the Metro Area, very close to the same number that set up at the fall show downtown. Jewelers, clothing designers, monster makers, toy creators, stationers… a veritable plethora of talent. In addition, there will be a Supply Swap booth; bring supplies to donate and take some supplies home, free! There will also be bands, food… a whole day’s worth of stuff to do, see, and buy (including of course our fabulous journals and one of a kind handprinted clothing).

Located at Pyramid Atlantic (directions), 8230 Georgia Avenue, just a block or two south of the main Silver Spring downtown area.

Last year’s downtown Bastards event reportedly had an attendance of 20,000 people! Yes, you read that correctly. Wanna get the goods? Come early and come often.

…and we are gonna rock you!

The MyRight2Write.com Crew had such fun at the SOWEBO Festival in downtown B’more, we’re at it again, this time in our own backyard. One of about 80 vendors selected from hundreds of applicants, please join us at Washington City Paper’s Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Festival on Saturday June 28 10-5 at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD. Now in its 5th year, this festival is one of the hottest indie crafts events nationwide, with amazing handmade goods, food, and entertainment.

Just in time for the show, we are working our crafty little fingers to the bone to bring you some truly adorable new products including MINI JOURNALS!

If pocket-sized journaling is your thing, AND you love our OOAK vintage wallpaper covered composition books AND you dig the idea of your purchase making a difference to local school kids at Piney Branch Elementary… may we humbly suggest bringing home a truckload of these babies… just $3 EACH! Or buy them bundled in pairs, with one of our stylin’ black pencils for just $6. At 3.25 x 4.5 inches, these are just perfect for you poets on the go.

And oh my… the clothing is truly sparkling. Stripes and bright colors, pajamas, tees, totes and even a skirt (see below). Priced to sell, with two unadorned composition books donated to our school for each clothing item purchased.

The items pictured here (and so much more) will be available only at the show… these will not be listed on our site. As you know, our upcycled gently-used clothing pieces are  one-of-a-kind so arrive early for the best selection.

See you soon at Crafty Bastards!

The MR2W Crew rocked a beautiful sunny day at the SOWEBO Arts Festival last weekend! Our “Science Project” display board was a hit and gave attendees all the scoop about us. A big thanks to Molly Bess for inspiring our design with her own Science Expo board this year.

Kids stopped by to draw in our journal and we debuted our first pair of hand-printed OOAK Pajama’s.

On one or two (or three) occasions, we were grateful for the presence of our bodyguard, Micah, shown here with his massive and impressive “air pillow” musculature.

The tee shirt and journal combo packs made for a colorful backdrop, gently blowing in the warm breezes.

Our own Jess, workin’ the booth! And… one of the colorful characters that paraded down the streets of B’more.

Finally, what’s a trip to Baltimore without an art car on the premises? The one pictured above really defines the genre… a big old machine covered in blackboard paint, with plenty of colored chalk for everyone to express themselves.

THANKS BALTIMORE… WE HAD A BLAST and we appreciate your support!

PS: Did you miss catching us at SOWEBO? Not to worry! Come out and see us at Washington City Paper’s CRAFTY BASTARDS on Saturday, June 28 at Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring. More info to come about that soon…

Having designated Piney Branch Elementary School here in Takoma Park, MD as the first MyRight2Write.com recipient of donated composition books (Fall 08), PTA president and journalist (not to mention Piney Branch mom, herself) Sue Katz Miller penned a lovely article in the May edition of The Voice.

My favorite quote is the opening of Sue’s article: “Speaking of art, Takoma Park resident Jodi Bloom has created a funky mashup of her passions: crafts, writing, recycling and helping kids.” Indeed!

So, whether you live in Takoma Park, or elsewhere in the world, help us supply this fantastic and diverse elementary school with our 300 composition books (or more!) when school opens in late August. Remember, for EVERY journal sold on MyRight2Write.com from now until end of August, whether you are a Piney Branch parent or not… we donate a plain black and white marbled composition book to the school.

And, if you DO live here in the People’s Republic of TP, we will gladly refund your shipping should you wish to pick up your journals at designfarm’s office in the Takoma Business Center. We’ll email when we get your order.

Photo of Jodi by Julie Wyatt.

KidsHaus and MY WOODEN ROBOT are both Blogs, just like this one! They just so happened to sift through the millions of cool products and sites out there on the web and chose to write about us! It’s fun getting blogged about…you feel special and you want to pay back the favor by sending traffic back to their cool sites.

The KidsHaus motto is Blending kids + design. The goal of this blog is to “search for that unique find that has been undiscovered and bring it to the forefront so that it might inspire something for your home” in the realm of children’s decor. A quote from the post about us: “The idea is simple and the repercussions are great…I could feel Jodi Bloom’s excitement jumping off the page which is inevitable when you’re making a difference in a child’s life.”

MY WOODEN ROBOT is run by a blogger and crafter…who realized [her] love of design and began a line of paper goods products beginning with stationary and leading into clothing in Fall 2008. She also likes to feature special items and other creative minds on her blog and that’s how she came across us!

Feel free to share with us some of your favorite blogs or one that you write yourself. Better yet blog about us! If you let us know when a post is up, we just might blog about you in return!

We just this minute added a new package deal to our product line called THE COMBO which includes a specially hand-selected 1-of-a-kind gently used recycled Tee with a screen printed googly-eyed monster + a Plain Jane Journal + two unadorned composition books that will be donated. Whew! How cool is that? We will continue to go thrifting for adorable tees for both your child and yourself. So be sure to check the site for new additions that celebrate the recycling of formerly owned items in support of a great cause!

Check out more tees being sold on MyRight2Write.com!

Come and say hi to the MR2W crew at the 2008 Sowebo Festival on Sunday, May 25th in Baltimore, MD. We’ll have a booth at this year’s festival and we’re bringing all of our Monster friends with us. No worries, the Plain Janes will not be left behind! The Monsters have agreed to share half of the table with them for this festive day. So, come and check us out! We’d love to meet you!

Ok, so I’m the owner of MyRight2Write.com and my daughter, Molly, is a 5th grader finishing her last year at Piney Branch Elementary, our first donor school. All that means is that we are the guinea pigs for road-testing the journals, and seeing how they can make a difference in our lives!

One day, Molly was telling me that while creative writing came very easily to her, it was harder to write something on demand (in class, for example)… that was an immediate response to a question. It was hard, she said, to think of something on the spot.

I suggested we use a pair of MR2W journals and that we make daily entries together in our own books. Each evening after dinner, one of us would think of a question and we’d both write an answer. Then we’d trade books. It was Molly’s idea that we write little comments in each other’s journals about our entries. This would give us practice not just in writing our ideas and thoughts, but in reading and commenting on other’s.

Here is one of our first questions: Why was your day so hard? We had both come home feeling tired and moody and maybe a little bit cranky. You know how that is after a long day at school or work! An unexpected bonus to writing in our journals was that we felt so much better after putting our feelings down on paper and sharing with each other. We decided to go out for ice cream to make us feel even BETTER and below you can see Molly’s comment on my journal entry. Great idea!

We are thrilled to announce our first donor school–Piney Branch Elementary–located in Takoma Park, MD. You may have heard of “The People’s Republic” of Takoma Park; Utne Reader once dubbed it the leftiest ‘burb in America! Progressive, diverse, and home to designfarm, parent company for MR2W, we decided keepin’ it local was the write thing to do.

There are other reasons that PBES met our criteria.

With 500+ 3rd - 5th grade students, PBES is a highly diverse school. Approximately 72% of the population is minority, with approximately 66% being Hispanic and Black. Approximately 40% of PBES students are disadvantaged and eligible for free or reduced meals.

MR2W has close to 100 books to donate as of this writing. With the support of the PBES PTA, and some PR outreach into our community, we hope to at least TRIPLE that number by September 2008!