blocks and bunnies

i made two of bags of blocks last week. the material is vintage baby room curtains and inside is a set of simple wooden blocks. blocks had to be my favorite toy when i was 3-5 years old. there is just so much possibility.
no one bought them at the flea market. but i bet they will be a hit closer to christmas.

PRFM recap

So I did it. I had my very first show and it was super fun and very successful. I sold about 30 items mostly my vintage delights but I did sell one set of my reupholstered stools to a very lovely couple (thanks guys. i hope you love them)

I received a lot of compliments on my style which felt really great because i have a rule that i only collect and sell items that i love.

There was a nice presence from the Etsy Rain girls both at booths and shopping and it was wonderful to meet everyone.

Looks like the Punk Rock Flea Market will happen again the first week of December so if you missed it you have another chance.

Here are some photos. The full set can be found here.

check out mister Rudi. he was the star of the show.all the pretty little things. click to enlarge.

The paint by numbers went late in the day which surprised me because it was so lovely.
Fabric and Games! Drink like a Champ! Everyone touched but did not buy. they even came with a free beer! so if you would like to purchase these they are still available.

rudi shot

army pants purse

i made a little purse this week. isn't it cute? it will be available for purchase at the Flea Market on Saturday.

i like the way all you see is the flowers from the front

motel art

motels seem to be the hottest venue for art installations these days. this weekend you can find art in portland at the 2007 Affair at the Jupiter Hotel and many of Seattles finest can be found at Aqua Art Miami during the Art Basel Miami Beach in December. But guess what Seattlelites, on Friday a motel very close to home will be invaded by artists for one night only.

The Bridge Motel, the one just off the aurora bridge exit to Fremont is being torn down. Such a shame because it is a wonderful landmark, i love how it contributes to the landscape of a city fast becoming a townhouse farm. But before it is torn down Motel #1 will be happening on Friday form 5-midnight.

.. For one night, its last night of existence, the Bridge Motel will be dressed up and called to shine and dance ... Numerous installation/performance artists have been given full rein the week prior, to transform each dilapidated pocket into whatever they could imagine. The opening evening will reveal the Bridge's final blossom before its inevitable razing. And to top it off, every inch of the motel will be crawling with performance artists, injecting the animation and energy of truly ephemeral art."

There is no way I am going to miss this, I've lived close to this motel most of my time in seattle and it had been the topic of many "i wonder what's going on in there" thoughts." From the look of these flicker photos, just what you might think is what's going on in there.

Should be cool. I'll give you a full report next week.

Switch plates = instant design

Light switch plates are one of my favorite decorating tools that I always forget about. They take about two minutes to install but the effect on the room is great. They are a wonderful way to make a design impact on a rental that you aren't allowed to paint or put wall paper up.

If you are moving someone into a dorm room or their first apartment this month these would make a great gift and be something they can take with them as they move from apartment to apartment over the next few years.

Here's a few that I like from etsy.

mosaico

brightcolorart

glassfairy

robot candy

Anthropologie has this lovely one on sale, regularly $24 now just $7.95 !
or better yet make your own.

Coffee can light switch plates
Old Tie Upholstered plates

p.s.

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days. my hubby took me out of town to Sleeping Lady an amazing retreat center in Leavenworth, WA. I will post some photos later this week and maybe of a video of Rudi in the river which is priceless. Let's start a great week everyone!

what blogs you reading?

This is the first of what i hope will be many installments of "What blogs you reading?" where I will report on the 4 blogs that various interesting people are reading.

Our first subject is Lauren from Seattle Washington and editor of the blog Seattle Graffiti.

I will first say that Lauren has started this segment off in the right spirit, she reported *honestly* the blogs she reads most often and did not edit her answers out of what she thought might make her seem cooler or by what she thought you'll would like to hear. Bravo Lauren.

Here they are in no particular order:

Stereogum - music blog. no surprise this woman is all about music. don't even try to play the band name game with her. you will loose.

Slog- The Stranger's Blog - local weekly paper takes it to the web. very seattle. very opinionated. great place to keep your finger on the pulse of this area. smart yet hip choice.

Pink is the New Blog - now this is where she let's her gossip junkie flag fly high.

PerezHilton.com - hey VH1 is giving him a tv show, there has to be substance here right? just kidding he's pretty funny. come on you perez fans, let's see you come out from the closet. if you don't come out yourself he might just do it for you.

lauren

i'm going out of town for a few days, so i'll leave you with these links to entertain yourself until i'm back. have a great weekend everyone.

whatdoyathink

check this out....do you know what it is?
it's a seesaw! what a wonderful sleek design for a classic toy. i wonder if it's big enough for me? if you have a kid i think that you must buy this. it's only $50

thanks for the tip notcot.

simple, natural

Artist Courtney Skott work in furniture design is absolutely wonderful. She uses materials that project a handmade natural feel but the pieces I have seen also have a clean modern aesthetic.

These days I have been working on figuring out how to gracefully combine my desire to represent the beautiful patterns and colors of nature in a clean, bright, crisp way. Courtney's work is going into my inspiration file.

i wish these stool were available to purchase. don't you?


and this bed placed in a room with the perfect color green wall, a cream colored shag rug and a good stereo system would be heaven. it's very reminiscent of an exhibit i saw at bumbershoot this past weekend, Nooks: If You Lived Here You'd Be Home by Now, by Instant Coffee

three reasons yelp works

do you use Yelp? if you live near a major metro area you really should. not only is it a great place find reviews of just about anything in your area, you can also use it in the following ways.

-Directory- How to get there, how to contact them and a link to the actual website.
-Events- Post your event. I've seen everything from Bumbershoot to someone's garage sale.
-Events- Find an event. It's fun to just see what's going on in town.
-Connect with people in your area- It' definitely a social network.
-Find what's hot or new in your area.

This is all useful stuff. Stuff that I do everyday and I'm finding that yelp is a constant dependable resources to find this type of information.

There is also something so not commercial about it and this since of grassrootsness makes me feel comfortable and puts me in an open mood ready to believe the reviews, and creating a desire in me to contribute.

In terms of the design and functionality of the site there are a few things that they just do right.

Everyone gets to be the star.
On the home page in the most prominent location you will find the most recently added reviews. This is awesome because as soon as you post a review you can click to the home page and swell with pride as you see your words front and center. This is also awesome because as a viewer when ever you come to the home page you find the most up to date, unfiltered information in less than a second. You feel like you have your hand on the pulse of the city as you watch what your fellow city mates are writing about make there appearance on the page.
Feedback is given and received
Nothing feels better than someone telling you that what you wrote is cool. Yelp has 3 forms of super quick feed back you can give or receive. Useful, Funny and Cool. Who knew that a simple counter of this feed back could be so motivating. I come back to the site offten for the admitadly embarrassing reason of seeing if someone rated my reviews today.

It works and it is simple, just how it should be. Oh, and what makes it even crazier is that you can't tell who left the feedback, it's just a number no name attached. Take note social network sites, do people really need to connect with someone specific or just know they are noticed and acknowledged?
Non committal interest in an event
I think this functionality is key for event functionality to work in a large community. If you find an event that interests you on Yelp you can say that you will be there, but you can also just say that you think the event sounds cool.

Most online event interactions give you the regular Yes, No and Maybe options. These options force the user make a commitment of Yes or No or give the event creator a useless false hope answer of Maybe. Who wants to say Maybe or get maybe responses. It's like saying, "well I will if nothing better comes up" or "I don't want to say no to your face but there is no way I'm showing up."

Also giving one of these answers some how implies that you are a member of the group that is having this event. This can be off putting to someone who isn't interested in making a statement of inclusion.

Being able to just tell the event organizer and participants that the event "Sounds Cool" sets the stage for buzz to start happening without giving false hope to the organizer that these people are participating. It allows the users to indicate what type of events they find interesting which can drive the creation of more successful events in the future.
One last thing, every site is always working to keep people engaged in the site and with so many sites doing a lot of the same things figuring out how to get a community to gel in a more permanent way is a often a really difficult ongoing task. Yelp is helping to solve the "sticky" site problem by rewarding and connecting the most active and model users. They hold regular parties and events for their "Elite Squad" in all of the metro areas that they serve. Meeting cool people around a free beer would keep most people engaged in a site don't you think? See their blog for wrap ups of their events.

So if you haven't tried Yelp go sign up and tell me what you think. If you are already on Yelp doesn't it rock?