although i spent a good amount of my life in the south bay – including a friend in high school who worked here – i’ve never ever visited the winchester mystery house… until christmas eve 2010!

it’s done! it’s done! photographed in my longest-known friend’s floral studio [hunt littlefield] earlier this week…

i didn’t realize the similarity in our careers until i took these photos!

if any of you in the media would like a preview copy, i can hook you up with the chronicle publicity department. just let me know!

can’t wait to share copies with all of you in person soon! happy christmas!

oooh, one of the bonuses of recovering from the holiday shopping season is holing up at my family’s with my laptop and a steady wifi connection, and visiting the bookstore down the street. i think i strolled around the bookstore about 3 hours last night and then spent another 6 hours online before stumbling off to bed! ready to see some of the things i found?

renewed interest in terrariums is gaining speed, and these are a fun take on the trend! by twig terrariums. based in nyc, but you can also order kits with some of the tiny people, they ship worldwide!

the blog and magazine people may be upset because i didn’t take good notes about where i found all this stuff in the first place… sorry!

outrageous art illos from zhou fan!

so pretty! so impressive!

then there’s the intricate papercut books by brian dettmer:

amazing craftsmanship and patience!

next up we have the montanara sofa by gaetano pesce [ooh, i remember the source for this one! frame magazine!]:

and structures built entirely from books by matej krén [also via frame magazine:

one more thought-provoking book-themed project featured in this month’s frame magazine: the musashino art university library and museum:

lookit, there’s still plenty more room for books!

…even if the students favor getting their info. from computers these days!

hm, well, i think that’s enough for now! maybe i’ll watch a movie or something. i just don’t know what to do with myself and all this self-imposed free time!

hope you’re enjoying some unstructured time as well! happy christmas eve everyone!

ai-ya, this is a few days late as i haven’t had a readily-available wifi connection for a few days. there must be a way / a device to hook up an apple laptop to an i-phone to receive internet connection, no? or some other way to ensure my laptop always has a connection, even when i travel…

renegade was crazy busy and super fun reconnecting and/or meeting so many of you, so i wasn’t able to snap more than a few photos of the melee. despite the crowds, my booth neighbor made it a priority to watch the game and enjoy a beer on sunday. and a visitor to my tables was wearing a hilarious shirt!

besides not being able to take photos of some of my favorite things at the fair, i wasn’t able to really shop either! although most vendor’s online shops are closed for the holidays or depleted so you can’t really see what i’m raving about [and i can't really shop after the fact as i'd hoped!], here are some new-to-me highlights off the top of my head: a new wood bead and rope necklace from tanya aguiniga, striped fabric necklaces from muak, adorable bird drawings from small adventure, hand-drawn ceramics by pika hue, canoe goods by miss natalie, twig and bark jewelry by i am dorkas, fabric and paper goods by leah duncan.

meanwhile, email reports from portland testify that miss lucy is having a grand time with her pack of friends at dog camp! i love my lu, but it’s great not to have her with me to worry about during this year’s holiday visit to the bay area! last year she got sick for a few days after getting into our friends’ garbage, her favorite naughty past-time, which was stressful.

i’ll be hunkering down in the studio the next day or so getting ready for my last craft fair of the season – renegade! in san francisco! if you’re in the bay area this weekend, this is a show not to be missed!

come by my booth and ask to see a finished preview copy of my upcoming drawing nature journal! i’ll be picking up my copy at the chronicle offices the day before – can’t wait to see it after working on it all year long! what an awesome holiday gift!!! you’ll be able to get your own copies in march or so, sooner if i can get my hands on them!

the last two weekends of craft fairs, urban craft uprising and crafty wonderland, went so well sales-wise i treated myself to a few goodies. last year i was too broke, so some of these items i’ve been coveting for a full year!

new travel toiletries bag by slide sideways
bias striped fabric ribbon by midori
veggie bag set by wonder thunder
tiny trucker hat barrette by ana todaro
macrame ring by amira
beaded tshirt necklace by urban creatures

a few other awesome vendors that i didn’t get a chance to purchase items from, but want to…

ceramic gem necklaces and irreverent doilies by ladies and gentlemen

beautiful ceramic cups and delicate earrings by michelle summers

necklaces made from hand -cut and -filed vintage dishes by material + movement

the folks at cw pulled out all the stops this year! not only do they have a pop-up shop downtown this year [see below], but they also had the event map/zine inserted in every copy of the portland mercury this week [above and below]! oooh, my usual 1/4 page ad looks so snazzy on newsprint [below]!

this is so great – attendees can pre-plan their shopping routes before the big days, possibly while waiting in line before it opens to get one of the coveted goodie bags for the first 100 people each day!

if last year’s event is any indication, expect a huge crowd looking for local and hand-made goods! i’ve recruited booth help this year, summer intern dan, so i can actually take a bathroom break this year, and maybe even get some of my own holiday shopping done! i can’t wait!

thanks to blog reader aimee h. who snapped the photo above of my ucu booth this past weekend. this will give you an idea of what to expect this weekend at crafty! see you there!

i actually ran across gimme refuge the last time i treated myself to a few days on the coast. i’d already spent my money on other books, so i put a hold on it at the library. i picked it up yesterday, and finished it this afternoon.

yes, yes, i’ve been working like a crazy person prepping for crafty wonderland this weekend as well! and working on a few client projects that have refused to wrap up for a few weeks now. oh, and packing daily orders from my online shop – the final deadline for christmas delivery is this wednesday, dec. 15! when i’m this busy, taking 10-20 minutes every few hours to read a chapter of a book helps keep the holiday madness panic attacks at bay.

the book was a great, fast read from an oregonian teacher-turned-writer about his experiences teaching kids, restoring a house and the land on a coastal nature preserve, figuring out how to take repeated leaps into the unknown to pursue a creative endeavor, learning from nature, and becoming a better person as the result. several times i laughed out loud in recognition from my own experiences as a teacher, my childhood years spent on an orchard farm with my family building our own house and learning how to tend the land, and in my own relentless pursuit towards doing what i do.

“okay, so what’s up with the ribbon next to the book?” you say? oh, that’s one of my hurry-you-have-5-minutes-to-shop-before-the-doors-open purchases from urban craft uprising that i found today when i finally unpacked! i have no idea what i’m going to do with 3 rolls of striped fabric bias ribbon, but i swooned when i saw these and had to have them! i’m super into stripes this season. and bias color stripes take it over the top!

[ack, i was too busy to take any pics, so i stole this one from here. thanks hugh!]

yes, my trip to seattle this past weekend was amazing! some highlights:
1. carpooling there with inger from meme cosmetics
2. staying in a motel down the street instead of the usual couch at a friend’s
3. an early morning run along the sound in myrtle edward’s park [above]
4. almost 10,000 visitors to urban craft uprising [at least half of whom i spoke to, and have the hoarse voice to prove it]
5. hearing so many personal stories about how the things i make are a part of people’s daily lives

so many times this past weekend i had the thought “wow, i am so lucky to have this life, and to be here experiencing this right now!”

…recognize certain posters in the circle above?

thank you seattle for a great weekend!

portland and san francisco: you have big shoes to fill these next two weekends while i participate in the crafty wonderland sales event and the renegade craft fair event!

…oh, but i think you’re up to my challenge! see you soon!

i’m running errands all over town today and hunkering down in my studio tonight to make and pack for the urban craft uprising event this weekend! i’m excited to show all of you up in seattle my full line of goods, walk around that fantastic sculpture garden again, and smell that salty sea air!

coincidentally, there’s a little interview with me and giveaway on the urban craft uprising blog today…

it would be awesome to show seattle one of the anima originals, so one of the things i’ll try and bring is the original pacific octopus shoreline drawing, beautifully framed in custom handmade maple made by a local craftsperson here in portland. i wish i had an easel for it!