Okay, I'm Old.

We live in a time where graffiti artists can have Etsy shops. The rest of this post should go something like this, 

"In my day..."

"Back when I was your age..."

"Something, something, up hill both ways..."

"Something, something, youngster..."

I'm old. I get it. I fell down and broke my ankle instead of popping back up like a string bean wearing a halter top. I get it.

But I didn't realize I was so old that graffiti artists could have Etsy shops. That's new. It's sending me into a mid-life crisis. And not just because Netflix created a category for me called "Mid-Life Crisis Movies." It's more than that. 

I have to say - I have a huge crush on starheadboy's work. He has a unicorn combined with a burrito character. That should be all I have to say to win you over. 

Here are some pics of my favorite pieces: 

Um yeah. raccoon operated robot? Yeah!

These little guys is cutes, cutes, cutes.

This is the one I would like someone to buy for me please. I need some stillness.

Something I desperately want to be able to do.

I just like this guy's little stance. Go get 'em guy!

And a burrito unicorn in found in the wild. Sweet.

 In short: I Like. I like.

Shower Art - Holiday Craft Show Schedule 2011

Doug and I are frantically getting ready for the holiday craft show season that is about to hit. We start getting ready earlier and earlier every year -- and it STILL always takes us by surprise. Sigh.

We have two new products to introduce this year: 

T-Shirts! Oh yeah baby. We turned a popular Shower Art piece into a concept for a t-shirt with the help of Barry Blankenship.

Soap Dishes! We got tired of people always asking, "So this is Shower Art? But what do you DO with it?" Ummmmmm.... NOTHING. You just look at it. Like you do with other art. (I have a bad attitude - that's why Doug does most of the customer service). Now you can have Shower Art in the shape of a functional soap dish. Yes, yes you can.

This year we are participating in three shows: 

EtsyRAIN Handmade Holiday Show - Seattle, WA

Saturday, November 26th and Sunday, November 27th
11:00 - 5:00 both days

Location:
Intiman Theatre
201 Mercer Street
Seattle, WA 98109


Be one of the first 50 people in line each day and receive a swag bag filled with crafty goodness. 




Urban Craft Uprising - Seattle, WA

Saturday, December 3rd and Sunday December 4th
11:00 - 5:00 both days

Location:
Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
305 Harrison Street
Seattle,WA 98109
(the entrance is on Mercer Street)

Be one of the first 100 people in line each day and receive a swag bag filled with crafty goodness. If you want one, plan to get there between 9:00 and 10:00 to wait in line. There's always a line around the block to get these.







 
One of a Kind Show and Sale - Vancouver, Canada

Thursday, 12/8 - 10:00 - 9:00
Friday, 12/9 - 10:00 - 9:00
Saturday, 12/10 - 10:00 - 9:00
Sunday, 12/11 - 10:00 - 5:00

Location:
Vancouver Convention Centre West
1055 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC, V6C 0C3
  
Tickets:
Adults $12.00
Seniors (65+) $6.50
Students (13-17) $6.50
Children (12 and under) Free

If you are around for any of these shows, come on over and say, "Hey!" If you can't make it to any of our events but still want to buy some Shower Art for your friends and family, email me to arrange a private peek in our studio inventory. We'll drink coffee and dig through bins. It'll be awesome.

In closing: We love you.

Art I like: Jesse Link

I saw Jesse Link's art for the first time this year at Bumbershoot. I remember just stopping and staring. I stumbled across his work again in Cafe Vita on Capitol Hill. I took a few pictures because I really wanted to share the magic. Enjoy.

My photographs don't really do the work justice. If you want to see more, you can read Jesse's blog or visit his Picasa album.

Good evening.

619 Western Documentary Funding Project

Seattle artists who rent studios in the 619 Western building were surprised when their move out date (required by the city for the viaduct replacement project) was moved UP from March 2012 to October 2011.  It seems a shabby ending for a building that has housed so much creativity and given the citizens of Seattle so much pleasure.

The building, once labeled for tear-down, will now be retro-fitted instead. Even if it goes well, I forsee crappy "improvements" that suck all the life out of 619. And - even if I'm wrong about that - I'm pretty sure those rents will be going up.

I, for one, am sad to see this part of Seattle history leave our fair city without even a proper, "So long." I stumbled across this fundraising campaign to raise money to film a documentary about the building so that the spirit can live on a bit. I'm donating. For sure. You should too.

Mad Homes - A Virtual Tour of Something Awesome

Last weekend we tried to get out of helping a friend move by going to an art show called Mad Homes. Little did we know that her old apartment was right next to the installation. We had to hide in some bushes while she finished loading up her truck and drove away. It was worth it. 

Mad Homes is an art installation by Mad Art. They have taken over several houses in the Capitol Hill neighborhood and allowed artists to create installations. The houses are being torn down for condos anyway - so why not, right? It's a magical idea.

Artists include: Troy Gua, Julia Haack, Meg Hartwig, Luke Haynes, Amanda Manitach, Ryan Molenkamp, Allan Packer, Jason Puccinelli in collaboration with Elizabeth Potter, Sutton Beres Culler, Laura Ward, & Allyce Wood.

Mad Homes is located on 711 Bellevue Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102

July 16 - August 7, 2011

Open 12 - 7 P.M. Daily

Below are some images from my visit: 

This Weekend: The Second Best Weekend of the Year

This weekend is the Urban Craft Uprising summer show. It is second in wonderfulness only to the Urban Craft Uprising winter show. Literally: my two favorite weekends of the entire year.

If you're looking for awesome, crafty and innovative gifts for yourself or those you love - you need to go to Urban Craft Uprising.

Am I overselling it? Have I mentioned how much I love Urban Craft Uprising?

No?

Really?
Are you sure?

Because I pretty much think that I did.

Get there early - FREE SWAG BAGS FOR EARLY BIRDS! 

Hot Tip: Get in line about an hour before it opens in order to get a chance at one.

We'll be there selling Shower Arts. Mmmmmmm... waterproof art for your shower.

Two Trips to the Sculpture Park, Ahhhhhhh

I made two trips to the Olympic Sculpture Park in the course of a single week. It was lovely. The first visit, with my awesome husband and our jam makin' second wife focused on the stunning water view.

Yes, those are mountains.


And this is Betsy. She makes jam and is one of the nicest people I have ever met. She recently ran her first 1/2 marathon.


Here she is staring at the lovely view.

My second trip to the sculpture park was with my lovely friend and ex-stand up comedian, Stacia. 


She spent the last six weeks in Peru and stopped in to our place for a visit before she moved to Oregon. I haven't seen her for about three years and it was so much fun. I forgot just how much I missed her company. Sniff.

Stacia and I walked around some of the actual sculptures in the park instead of just taking in the view (it was a bit cloudy while we were out and about). I like these big, rusted things. It's cool to walk inbetween these big structures. And I like the fact that their natural reaction to being outside - rusting - is an integral part of the art.

Here's some mini peoples walking around amidst the giant rust things.

And finally. I'm not sure where I saw this scrawled into the sidewalk - but I thought it was a good reminder so I stopped to take a picture.

And if you DO lose your soul - be sure you get something good in exchange like: ice cream, pizza, cheese, 1000 kittens and/or a vat of mashed potatoes.


Do you think it says something about me that 4 out of five items in that list are food. 


Yes, I think it does. Snicker. 

Garage Sale Find: Fake Rhinestone Fruit

Recently I found out that the Greenwood neighborhood was having a huge garage sale day with over 100 sales taking place from 9am to 3pm. I convinced my husband and three other hilarious men that it would be fun to spend the day walking around and looking at other people's garbage. It didn't take nearly as much convincing as I thought it would.

My purchase was made at the first sale we visited. A bowl of fake fruit caught my eye. Each piece was painstakingly covered with rhinestones. I just glanced at it longingly - assuming it would be way out of my price range - but it turned out to just be $6.50 for the whole set of at least 10-12 different pieces. 

Urban Craft Uprising, Winter 2010

 

Okay, so to say that I went a little over board at Urban Craft Uprising is putting it lightly. For sure. It can't be helped though. When one sees a bowl supported by ceramic baby arms, one has to purchase it immediately. Kniffin Pottery. They're neat.

I was vending at UCU -  selling Shower Art with Mr. Gale - so I didn't have as much time as I wanted to wander around all the booths. I did make sure that I took several quick passes through everything and that afforded me enough time to at least spend twice what I had budgeted so I guess I actually had more than enough time to look around.

Urban Craft Uprising is my favorite show. Hands down. Crafty Bastards and Crafty Wonderland (next weekend in Portland) are tied for a close second (only because they both involve travel). Oh, wait. But then there's the Renegade shows. Ugh. Okay. They're all so good.

The first day of Urban Craft is my favorite day of the year because it's the day when I know there will be another whole day of Urban Crafting.  Yay~! The second day of Urban Craft is the saddest day of the year because I spend the whole day thinking about how it's almost over. Sniff.

It's a great show in many respects. It's well run and organized. Everyone really seems to sell tons. There are bazillions of people around (9800 this year!). Great vendors are selected through the jury process. Lots of help from volunteers. Crafty book author signings. Crafty demonstrations. And this year - FOOD vendors! Yay!

Normally the concession stand at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall is open and food sales aren't permitted. This year no concession stand (What? No pretzels and hot dogs? Okay by me!) and instead there were vendors selling awesome soups (5 different kinds each day!), cookies, candies and breads. I had soup from Got Soup? both days - Pumpkin Coconut Thai soup on the first day and Chicken with Wild Rice on the second day. Both delicious!

Here's my one piece of constructive criticism: The food was on one side of the room. The tables were on the other side of the room. The soup bowl was really full. I had to walk my soup through the crowd to get to a table. Dangerous. I made it - but not without yelling, "Hey, I've got soup here. Watch it!" a couple of times. Luckily it's a problem easily solved by either moving the food or filling the soup bowls less full. One of those solutions has to be devoid of red tape and bureaucracy. All that said, there were probably tables right next to the soup that I just didn't see. Let's not remove that from the realm of possibility, okay.

Our two days were filled with inspiring, creative vendors and the nicest customers ever. A friend of mine came by the booth and exclaimed, "People are waiting in line to buy art!" Pretty cool. Pretty darn cool.

Some Stuff I Bought:

Oh my. I got a handful of these "You Shitty Cat" cards. How could anyone resist? Well, anyone with a cat anyway. Especially my cat.

I plan to give them to my cat for every holiday. (and if you're looking for a really loud, annoying cat - please do let me know!)

These are made by Kyle of Power and Light Press. She is in the process of raising money on Kickstarter to build a mobile print shop in the back of an old delivery truck. Help her out.

My awesomely hilarious friend Moxie  (who is also the President of Urban Craft Uprising) wrote this book, I Felt Awesome.

It's super Funny. Perhaps - and I do not say this lightly - the funniest craft tutorial book ever written.

Moxie is not the most excited about shameless self-promotion which is why it was super fun to buy her book and wait in line to make her autograph it. Bbwwwwwahahaahahahahah! Squirm!

Awesome!

This is Moxie.

She is obsessed with needle felting. For reals. She makes fantastic needle felt sculptures and sells kits so you can learn how to needle felt too.

It's like she's sort of the needle felting champion of the world.
If that kind of thing existed.








More Stuffs I Bought and People I Met: 

Emily from Tako Fibers: http://www.takofibers.com/	Texture Clothing: http://www.textureclothing.com/	Tender Loving Empire: http://www.tenderlovingempire.com Tiny Boat Sculpture by www.cartoonmonster.etsy.com
Old School Stationers letterpress calendar: http://www.oldschoolstationers.com/	MeMe Cosmetics: http://www.memecosmetics.net/	Bag from Xobruno (who inspired me to start framing my embroidered doodles) http://www.xobruno.com/ and my new Urban Craft Uprising apron.
This is for reals the best soap in the world. Estrella: http://www.estrellasoap.com/	Awesome headband from Schmancy: http://www.schmancytoys.com/	Vegetable bag from Wonder Thunder: http://www.wonder-thunder.com/, Truffle Sea Salt by Secret Stash Sea Salts: http://www.secretsalts.com/ and Crewel embroidery kit from Tako Fibers: http://www.takofibers.com