Pop-up Shop(ping)

Welcome.

Craft Lake City sponsored an adorable little pop-up shop a couple weeks ago. There were a handful of local artists and DIY craft vendors in a space no bigger than a living room. It was cramped and cute and flooded with sunlight and smelled like waffles.

S to the L to the C. Or something. No one actually says that. 

Excuse me, I moustache you a question...how many waffles is too many waffles for a Saturday morning?

Festive.

No idea what you'd do with them, but they sure are cute.

I wasn't sure what I'd find at this tiny market, but I did acquire a few treasures (no surprise there). I discovered Darlybird and learned she is opening a store front in an old pioneer house in Provo, Utah. I feel comforted knowing I have such cute jewelry options within 45 miles of my SLC home. A south-bound field trip is in my future.

Darlybird. Seriously, I could've walked out of there with every pair.

A bit fuzzy on the focus, but the awesomeness is still evident. 

My favorite find of the day was Michelle Christensen's shop my little bellville. She is an illustrator who grew up in China as the daughter of a diplomat. You can definitely see the Asian influences in her work. I find it really whimsical and delicate.

Check her out on etsy!

The artiste herself.

my little bellville illustrations. 

I decided on a sweet boy/girl plate set. 

Flea Fabulousness @ Vintage Whites Market

I'm behind on life. Like, far behind. Every year, like clockwork, March and April are the peak of chaos and stress at work. It's all I can do to just hang on and get through to the next day. May always has a bit of residual madness, but soon life will go back to being just very busy instead of incomprehensibly busy. 

Blahblahblah, all of that to say I've wanted to blog photos of the Vintage Whites Market since I went in March, but I haven't had a spare five minutes since then. Pics may have posted instantly on Instagram, but stuff doesn't feel wrapped up until it's blogged. Better late than never. 

Welcome...

They held the market in the Grand Building at the Utah State Fair Grounds. I think I maybe have been there once before, possibly. At any rate, I've never seen it all decked out like this. It was beautiful and girly and antiqued to the max. 

Bunting for days. Also, I have a chandelier fetish.

It was adorable booth after adorable booth. I mean, seriously. The cuteness. 

A Pinterest wet dream: #globe #tufting #typewriter #distressedtable #yellow

Those little golden spines bring back so many memories. 

Don't sew, or do whatever you do with yarn, but still played with it forever. Gorgeous colors.

Awash with light. Can I just move into this booth?

I have a weakness for handmade soap. I've never found any that compares to Timber Mountain Soap Co. in Idaho.

Who doesn't love granny glass?

Oh, meta trends: Instagraming a photo booth hipster moustache profile photo at a vintage flea market.
Hashtag cliche.

Two of my fave finds: metallic jewel-toned globe and complete set of 1963 Golden Book Encyclopedias.

Final thought, people do this for a living. They do this. This happens. It's a thing. So while I was grinding away 60 hour weeks for the past couple months, without five minutes to blog, there were people who made a living thrifting and exploring dusty treasures. This is cause to re-evaluate my entire life. I'm not kidding. How rad would that be?

Photo Series: Portland & Oregon's Coast

Portland + coast (04-2013), a set on Flickr.

I was in Portland last week for work, but that never stops me from spending every spare moment I have in search of beauty and beautiful food. I spent the weekend at the coast with my friend who lives in Portland. It's moody and raw and stunning.

I still have over a hundred photos on my phone that I'll play with for days to come, but for now...enjoy!

Guest Post: Crafting a DIY Community

Hello Readers, 

How are you? I have exciting news to share with you. You've ready my individual blog posts about various Craft Lake City workshops, but they recently invited me to do a guest post for their blog...sort of a meta post about my experience with the whole series. First of all, I was totally flattered and happy to do it. Beyond that, it was a great reflective exercise for me to summarize the energy of the workshops and try and explain why I love them so much. 

An excerpt: 

There was something electric, almost subversive, in the act of gathering around a tablewith complete strangers and creating something unique, together. I say “subversive” because the paradox of our hyper connected culture is that we aren’t really connecting with each other at all. With a flick of my finger on an iPhone screen I’m connected to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, Yelp, Blogger, LinkedIn, Gmail, etc. etc. ad nauseum. I run this exact cycle of connectivity every day, multiple times a day, but when was the last time I started a conversation with a complete stranger?

In a collaborative effort to drive traffic to each other's sites, click the link below to read the full post. 

Crafting a DIY Community


Love, 
me

Every water bottle needs its own tote.

We're all long past the one-use plastic water bottle phase, right? Please. The next step in our eco-evolution is totes for our favorite re-usable bottles. Behold...

Neighbors on Pierpont Avenue, Tissu Fine Fabrics hosted the latest Craft Lake City workshop.

BYOB: Bring Your Own Bottle. All other necessities provided. 

Tissu is a gorgeous store. Made me wish I knew the first thing about sewing. 

#putabirdonit

Step One: A foam core, held around your bottle with a "frankenstein stitch"

Step Two: Stitch the fabric to the foam core.

Step Three: Ask the Cricut workshop sponsor guy to cut out a gold glitter bird for you.

Step Five-ish: Rethink the color selection of your ironic bird.
Then, once your gold blob is ironed on (Step Four), stitch a bottom on your tote. 

Step seven or so that I never got around to because I'm slow and new to this whole needle and fabric thing: Sew on a handle / strap. You're ready to hit the crowded farmer's market walkways, hydrated and handmade.

My water bottle is on a date with the water bottle belonging to @heathengoddess.

Meanwhile, can we take just a moment to freak out over the beauty of this store. I mean, seriously.

Handmade chandelier so girly and fabulous I can barely stand it. #covet

Again, if only I knew how to sew and what to do with all this. Other than touch it and photograph it.

Ibid.