Crafty Wonderland Pop-Up Shop

Multnomah County Central Library & Finnegan's Toys has a new neighbor for November & December. The City of Portland has asked Crafty Wonderland to participate in their Pop-Up Shop program. Basically they fill vacant storefronts downtown with local talent over the Holidays. The Crafty Wonderland ladies have exclusively hand-selected 80-some awesome crafters & artists to sell their hip handmade work at their storefront in downtown Portland. They call it a "pop-up shop" because it is only open temporarily, from November 9th through December 30th. I was pretty stoked to be asked to sell my artwork and jewelry there, along with all the other local talented artists & crafters.

The shop is located at 802 SW 10th Avenue in downtown Portland. It's on the corner of SW Yamhill & 10th.

There's a SmartPark parking garage right across the street. Oh so very convenient. There is also parking available at metered street spots. The shop is open from 10:00am – 7:00pm, Monday through Saturday and 12:00pm – 6:00pm on Sundays. There are going to be some fun special events at the shop. For example, wacky holiday photo booth on December 4th, which is this coming Saturday. For more information about events, visit www.craftywonderland.com/pop-up-shop.

I took lots of snaps of the shop and have posted some below. If you would like to see more of them, hop on over to my Flickr here.

Give the gift of handmade this year. Instead of giving your dad a clichéd sweater, give him some something creative and unique!

Support a local artist. Viva handmade!

Holiday craft show season is here

Here are a some snaps from the Lewis Elementary Holiday Bazaar that was on Saturday!

:: My booth ::

I displayed a vintage suitcase holding framings of Herb Series & Standard Movement Series drawings...

I decided to go simple this time around with the table display...

:: art prints, button rings, and more ::

My most recent vintage store purchase, a fisherman's tackle box...

Bingo chips, buttons, cabochons, and Scrabble rings...

Quiet the Humming Robots earrings on faux mossy rocks...

:: lunch time ::

Lewis Elementary's PTA made awesome soup! I couldn't resist...

Many thanks to the friendly parents and teachers who made a great event. I enjoyed meeting you! I'll be back next year! Better yet, I'll be signing up for the Lewis' Garden Fair in April. I had so much fun doing last year's. I think it's awesome that an elementary school has a garden program! For more info on Lewis Garden Program, go here.

Also, thanks to all artists participating in this sale who gave a portion of the their proceeds to Lewis Elementary School.

Lastly, thanks to those who attended and supported local & handmade!

An Arrested Development Halloween

Annyong.

For  Halloween my husband & I decided to be Maeby & George Michael from Arrested Development!

Arrested Development is one of our absolute favorite television shows. Sadly it only aired for 3 seasons, from 2003 - 2006.

Storyline...

"Michael Bluth, a widower with a 13-year-old son, named George-Michael, is forced to keep his large and dysfunctional family together after his father is arrested for shifty accounting practices at the family-owned conglomerate and the Bluth family assets are frozen, making each member of the eccentric family panic. Michael's snobbish mother, Lucille, finds herself living alone in a penthouse without the financial means to maintain it, while Michael's two brothers, GOB and Buster, and his sister Lindsay with her husband Tobias and her daughter Maeby also find themselves having to recreate their lifestyles to fit their new financial status." -IMDB

The thing I love about Halloween is being creative and seeing others be creative. I really enjoy the process of making the costume, down to the finest details from dying a shirt yellow to rebuilding a banana logo so I can iron it on fabric. I hunted for the perfect pieces at thrift stores and on the internet.

For more photos from our Halloween night, visit my friend Camp Smartypants' blog. She has some excellent shots of our dinner, appetizers, and photo booth time!

Justin & I already have a bunch of ideas for next year's costumes!

Finland Folk Dancers

Lately I've been intrigued of my ancestry. During my visit home to Nebraska, my grandma sent me home with some books about Finland. I've been having fun skimming the glossy pages of pictures and drawing in my sketchbook. My old high school art teacher, Ms. D would be proud of my continuous lines.

Poppy Seed drawing print has a slight new look. It will be released very very soon. To pre-order a 5"x7" or 8"x10" print be sure to drop me a line.

I heart buttons. I have so many buttons, it's ridiculous. I have a vintage Pyrex bowl filled with them. Speaking of items soon to be released, I will be listing little surprises in the shop like button rings. Each ring has a antique brass band and is topped off with eye catching buttons.

I did a print & framing custom order last week. Aren't they exquisite? I love these 16" x 20" frames with their milky white mats. From left to right: Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Poppy Seed.

Bucket o' Doughnuts

My very sweet friend Elaine and I took a trip to Voodoo Doughnut Too the other day. I bought a bucket of doughnuts. Crazy huh? And no, I didn't eat all of them by myself. I like to share, I really do. I bought them with the intention of sharing them with my coworkers. At Voodoo they have a photobooth...

Elaine makes wonderful and very intricate crocheted jewelry. If you are interested you can check out her Facebook Fan page here.

Here's a quick drawing of Monkey Flower I did the other day at Drawing Club. I love Gelly Rolls' pen series called Moonlight. I really love that they are opaque, waterproof, and you can draw on vellum to. I only have a few pens of the series... blue, white, and turquoise. I saw on Amazon that there is a pack of 10 assorted colors. Weee! I'm adding these to my Art Wish List.

Lastly, the earrings that I made titled, "That time my toes met the shoreline" are being mailed out to their new home all the way from the West Coast to the East Coast, New Jersey! Shortly after that order was made another order was placed. So exciting that these cute little earrings are selling like hot cakes today. I have a few more left. So if you've had your eyes on them, you may want to make the jump!

Breakfast for Lunch

My love and I took a bike ride to Mississippi Avenue for the weekend. It's one of my favorites. There are so many shops and street art.

We were so excited to see that Cup & Saucer opened a location on Mississippi. We couldn't resist eating there for lunch. If you haven't ate there I totally recommend it!

Check out the delicious grub we ordered...

Garden Omelet with scone & potatoes Broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, mushroom, spinach and cheddar

Lucky Scramble Bacon, mushroom, green onion, cheddar cheese scrambled with three eggs on top of potatoes

Lastly, here's a recent drawing I did when I was visiting Nebraska. I finally snapped a photo for you to see. Enjoy!

Roadtrip to the Oregon Coast

My husband, Justin and I drove out to the coast this last Saturday. We finally celebrated his birthday, it was in the beginning of July.Here are lots of photos! Enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment.

Out on the open road - Hwy 99W

Rectangle shaped stacked hay bales

We are almost to the finish line!

Look! It's a deer!

Standing on Proposal Rock

Looking up at Proposal Rock

Looking up at Proposal Rock - close up

Crevice in Proposal Rock

Seaweed find

Where's Proposal Rock?

Close up of the orchids on Neskowin Beach

Looking out Siletz Bay in Lincoln City, OR

Crafting at Siletz Bay in Lincoln City, Oregon

My sandy foot and crafting/drawing tools

Looking out Siletz Bay in Lincoln City, OR

Sea Lions at Siletz Bay in Lincoln City, OR

I cheese sandwich you

I have so many things to share with you about my recent visit to my homestate, Nebraska. Being there for 2 weeks, I couldn't help taking lots of photography. I plan on dedicating a few future blog posts to the highlights. Above is a shot I snapped in rural eastern Nebraska. I do miss the drives; being out and about between Columbus, Lincoln, and Omaha. It was nice to be reacquainted with the rows and rows of corn stalks. One thing I didn't miss was the 90° - 100° humid mosquito infested summer weather.

When I left Portland at the end of June I began reading my friend, Kim's novel suggestion... The Time Traveler's Wife. Wow, it was such a good read. It's confusing at first with all the time traveling dates. I don't think I have ever read a novel (that was not a mandatory high school or college requirement) so fast. Niffenegger's writing is to die for. I fell in love with her writing style. This is really her first book? I didn't notice. Very well done Niffenegger. Before I read this book I wasn't fond of the name Henry. Felt so old-fashioned. After reading this book, let's be honest, I have a new appreciation for it. I loved the dreamy character Henry. Who wouldn't. He's compassionate, dashing, and a time traveling adventurous stud. I don't normally read chick novels but this one went well under the radar for me. I give it 5 stars. I'm a little leary of watching the movie. It seems like when books are made into movies they are just not as good.

Chick novels... chick flicks... I only like a handful of either of them. Maybe 3 or 4.  Love & Sex is an adorable and funny one. I watched this flick a couple times this week. One of my favorite quotes is when Adam says to Kate, "I cheese sandwich you." If you haven't watched it, the 2 were discussing, that after a while, saying "I love you" is like saying "cheese sandwich".  Saying "I love you" starts to lose it's meaning.

This is off subject, but I'll give you a little heads up of what I have been crafting up these days. I crafted these... "Handpicking La France Pears In Japan" earrings. When the day comes that I get to visit Japan, I do hope to visit a pear orchard. I love how the La France Pear is uniquely spherical, like these lemon jade beads. I have listed a few pairs in the ol' Etsy shop. Click here to be directed to my shop.

Well I hope you lovelies have a great weekend. If you are in Portland... stay cool. It's going to be a warm one! It would be a good time to go to the coast.

Show of Awesome, this Saturday!

Here comes... SHOW OF AWESOME!!!

It is this Saturday, the 19th from 10am to 3pm. And like old times it will be at the Doug Fir Lounge.

Come shop and meet crafty superstars from across the country selling handmade goodness! - Featuring 40 local and national vendors and a few authors too! - Free DIY project at the Make Something Awesome Area. - All ages and free admission.

See the vendor list here: http://www.hellocraft.com/summit/the-show-of-awesome/

Come buy gifts, or maybe a little something for yourself!

This event is happening in conjunction with the Summit of Awesome and is sponsored by Crafty Wonderland, DIY Lounge and Hello Craft.

I do hope you'll come!

She's crafty!

This last weekend was incredible. I'll cherish it in my heart always, as mushy as that sounds. I want to send out a huge thanks to Cathy and Torie for organizing such an awesome show! And lest we not forget... to you all that came out and supported it! Crafty Wonderland is definitely a staple in making Portland what it is. I'm so thankful to be able to experience it. So much creative talent at the event. It was so cool to see the faces behind shops that I have favorited on Etsy. I wish I had a chance to go around and meet more of you!

I took many photos of the weekend. You can check them all out on my Flickr. I posted a few below too.

Thanks to my friend Heidi for capturing this shot! www.heidihoffmanphotography.com

Make Something Awesome Area organized by Hello Craft

People a shoppin'. I got to sneak out of my booth when it was quiet for a moment to snap a photo.

First day at Crafty Wonderland

I had a ball today meeting new friends and visiting with old friends. Looking forward to the 2nd day!

My booth...

A clustering from the Month of Love

The month of February has flown by. One single post won't even cover half of what I have been up to this month. Hopefully next month I will be better about updating more often. Cluster o' items...

I love cameras. I've been giving my digital Rebel some attention this month. I'm sorry to say that in the past 6 months it has taken the backseat. I kinda forgot about it and have been distracted with a convenient digital point & shoot that can be easily slipped into my pocket. I started missing the quality of Sir Rebel, so this month I made it a priority to snap photos left and right with it. Actually all the photos posted on this entry are taken with it. I've been thinking about getting back into photography. I've had my eyes on another camera too... ever since I saw Zooey with her jogging camera club crew in Griffith Park in the flick, Yes Man. I did some research earlier this month and discovered that they use a Fujifilm Instax mini7. I can't wait to get my lil' hands on one of these some day.

I love Thursdays. In fact every Thursday morning of this month I've had coffee+drawing club with some lovely friends. To be exact, I have drawn 7 herbs in my sketchbook to be included in my Herb Series. Most of which haven't made it yet from the sketchbook... to the scanner... to the Illustrator. Thus far, rosemary is the only one that has gone through the steps.

Rosemary print :: 8" x 10" :: View in Etsy Shop

"Primarily a meat herb, as used on the roast of beef, rosemary is the leaf of an evergreen shrub and shaped like a curved pine needle. It has a fresh, sweet flavor, is better fresh from the garden than when dried. It is excellent with lamb, fish, and poultry."

I love Spark Cards. I'm thrilled to announce that my greeting cards are on their sleek shelves, ready to be snagged by the nearest set of hands. Spark Cards features greeting cards created by local artists. Many are printed using artisanal methods — letterpress, screenprint, lino block, and hand assembled one-of-a-kind collage.

Spark Cards :: 4430 SE Hawthorne Blvd :: Portland, Oregon

Herb Series & Standard Movement Series greeting cards

I love earrings. I handmade a bunch of new earrings over the month. They will appear in some upcoming craft shows this spring in the Stumptown area. Some will gradually be listed into the Etsy shop.

Little Beavers, Little Tree Stumps v. 2 :: earrings :: View in Etsy Shop

I thought I'd end with some bulleted miscellaneous items that I have discovered & hearted over the month.

• Calimyrna Figs from Trader Joe's • Design Milk article on Wayne Coyne's (of The Flaming Lips) bathroom (more info...) • Happy Sparrow on Belmont • Community meeting about Last Thursday on Alberta (more info...) • Snapple Green Tea Mango • WEST exhibit at Land Gallery on Mississippi (more info...)