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. 

EtsyRAIN - Saturday, May 7th - Seattle, WA

This coming Saturday is the next installment of the EtsyRAIN craft shows. We'll be at INTIMAN Theatre in the Seattle Center from 11am-5pm on Saturday (your last chance to buy a Mother's Day present!).


The first 50 people in line will get a bag stuffed with free samples of the awesome craftey-ness that you'll find inside.


Check out a photo of the Swag Bag line-up. Oh yeah!

And if that's not enough to grab you -- Doug and I will be selling Shower Arts. YAY! 


The perfect gift for hella cool moms.

Renegade Handmade in Chicago

My pretties,

I took a trip to Chicago, IL earlier this year and paid a visit to Renegade Handmade thanks to the help of the very kind Sarah Moore from Craft Critique who dragged me around the city (and bought me a cupcake!). She rules!

I've been wanting to see Renegade since it opened so I was quite excited. Thought you all might be interested in seeing some pictures of the fabulous handmade goods you can find inside.

Commence drooling!

A whole wall of handmade clothes and screen printed t-shirts:

Some cuddly plushies:

A seeming staple in Chicago shops: Art by Laura Berger:

And my favorite-est things of call: Greeting Cards:

A basket of headbands I was drooling over:

Another view of said headbands (why didn't I get one???):

Supah cool: Skulls that are also chalkboards. Yes. Oh yes. I am home.

Hope you enjoyed this crafty tour of Renegade Handmade in Chicago, IL. Hot damn!

Texture Clothing: Comfortable, Sustainable & Pretty

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Teresa Remple from Texture Clothing. I've been buying Texture Clothing for years now - first at I Heart Rummage shows, then at outdoor festivals and most recently at Urban Craft Uprising. Her clothes are soft and comfy - exactly the kind of thing you want to slip on to run to Sunday brunch - or wear to work - or laze about the house in. Basically, you'll just never want to take Texture off.


Comment on this post and you'll be entered to win a pair of Knit Mitts! Heck yes! They come in all kinds of awesome color combos. And if you're all smitten with the rest of Texture, you can use the coupon code: pretty20 to get 20% off at checkout. Now don't say I never did nothin' for ya. Get on it though, the code expires one month from today.

Now, I can never seem to interview someone like a normal person so I ended up asking Teresa a bunch of weird questions. Following are the ones that she deemed okay to answer.

Q: To your knowledge, do you have all your teeth?

A: *Yes, even the 4 wisdom teeth I had to have pulled out.  I had my dentist drill holes in them and added them to a sweet macramé hemp necklace!



Q: How and why and when did you start Texture?

A: *I think it was about 10 years ago now…after studying design at night school, and thinking that I was going to get into costume design for the theatre, I decided to put a biz plan together and start a line.  I borrowed some money and started sewing!

The comfy skirt is one of my favorites.

Q: House or apartment?
A: House

Q: Do you have an evil cat?  
A: Nope, but the neighbours’ cats keep the rats away…

Q: If monkeys came down from space and told you that they wanted to take away your favorite thing - what would you tell them to take? (keeping in mind that they can read your thoughts and will demolish you if you lie) 
A: This is a difficult one! I sorta want to say my ‘morning cuppa coffee’.  So I’ll say that. final answer.

Q: What do you dream of doing that you're not doing yet?  
A: Speaking Spanish.

Q: What do you do besides run Texture?  
A: Hike, dance (salsa), can locally grown food, travel to sunny destinations in which to CHILL OUT.

Q: Where do you eat food and what kind of food is your favorite?   
A: As of late, a very rare steak is at the top of my list…I have also been enjoying Vietnamese food.  (the tamarind tree, in seattle, is amazing!)

Post Pants: I'm coming for you.

Q: What is the last class you took?  
A: A workshop on textile art (screen printing, among other things…)

Q: Have you ever been walking around and smelled feet and then realized that it was your own feet?
A: That just happened to me last night.  I promptly washed my feet.

Q: Do you have any clothing that isn't Texture? Where is it from?  
A: I like wearing clothing made by friends of mine!  Togs Design (Tabitha Savoie:Vancouver, BC), Rebe (Debby Weiss: LA, CA), Sweet Skins (Mira Farin:Eugene, OR)

Q: How do you celebrate things? 
A: By gathering with loved ones…eating well…drinking a cocktail.  The usual.

Okay, that is all people. Leave a comment on this post and you will be entered to win a pair of sweet Knit Mitts. One winner will be selected on Monday, March 21st, 2011.

And remember, you can get 20% off your Texture purchase by using couponcode: pretty20. It's good for an entire month from the date of this post.

Best Mail Day Ever!

I think some of you are aware of how very much I like to get mail.

Others of you might understand how awesome Chocolate is. Yes, I capitalized Chocolate and bolded it. It deserves to be capitalized and bolded. It's that good. 

And finally, there are those of you who may not understand it - but who have definitely seen my obsession with glitter and potty humor. 

Now, today - the mail brought me all of the above. Plus, it make me feel a little famous. Yes, famous-ish.

The first package I opened was a little painting I traded some Shower Art to She Said Pop for. Yes, it says, "Glitter Poop." Yes, yes it does. I'm the luckiest lady ever on the whole planet.

I'd also like to mention that She Said Pop also sent me two nails - so that I can hang up my painting right away. Those of you who sell art: take note. I didn't even know how much I would love and appreciate a gesture like this - but I do. I do. Whenever I buy art, I can never find anything to hang it up with so it sits around until I can make it to the store to buy nails. So - thank you. Thank you. thank you. Everyone should do this. 

The second package was a mystery. I wasn't expecting anything else in the mail. Although, I should say that with the caveat that I have just about the worst memory ever on the whole planet so it is entirely possible that I was expecting something in the mail.

Anyway, I opened the package and it was filled with goodies and treats covered with chocolate from the folks at Meylah. How awesome are they? They sent me chocolate and they made me feel famous-ish.

The best part: My husband is out of town this week so I don't even have to share any of them. Yes!

Unanimous Craft: Reporting from the Craft and Hobby Association Conference

Next weekend 1/29-2/1 is the Craft and Hobby Association Conference and Trade Show. Donate to my Kickstarter campaign to fund my airfare for the conference. Then, just sit back and relax while I send you valuable info from the conference via the Unanimous Craft blog. You get cool rewards for donating. You get awesome coverage of the conference. You get it all, baby.