i’ve been hoarding polaroid film for 2 months now. it’s no fun if you don’t get to use it once in a while…

one last netherlands etsy find for april: zeepje. i am drawn to the pure, basic images of the soap, especially the lavender zeepje. i can almost smell the lavender oil, and my fingers can almost feel the texture of the slice and the dried lavender buds within…

i drew the tulips on my table, on my birthday. i finished the piece when i got home with a bit of paint, a scrap of a dutch newspaper from that day, and a stamp i had in my studio.

i had a burst of creativity this week. (yay!) one of the creations is a new journal for my etsy shop.

i found the big red button in amsterdam, at a flea market in the jordaan neighborhood. upon returning home from my trip, the order i had placed for the printed cotton tape from jesse (etsy shop: jezze) arrived. i love jesse’s block printing, and i bought the tape for another project. but i had ordered more than enough for my original idea, so i could use the extra tape for something else. together, the printed tape and the button were perfect! i decided to make what i know best with the combination: a journal. i titled it wanderlust, as i was inspired by the materials and where they came from. and maybe the journal will inspire some wanderlust in others!

happy weekend!

what a great weekend to live in minnesota! spring has finally made its slow arrival, and this weekend is packed with great art events. some highlights:

craftstravaganza rogue art & craft sale: saturday, 9am-6pm. i enjoyed it last year, and this year looks to be just as fab! 75 local artists & crafters, all under one roof. craftstravaganza.com

st. paul art crawl: friday 6-10 pm, saturday, 2-10 pm, sunday, noon-5 pm. the spring and fall crawls are always a great way to see local work. stpaulartcrawl.org

gallery 360: opening reception for in full bloom… a garden captured in clay: recent works by norma hanlon & kristen walstead. saturday 7-10pm. new works by michael pleau, sharon ulrich, michael sweere, and heather hambrecht will also be on display. gallery360mpls.com

if you’re not in the twin cities, what a bummer! anything arty happening where you are this weekend?

do i knit, then felt? or should i wet felt with roving? or use wool felt sheets? !?!

for those of you participating in the functional felt swap: your partner information should be in your inbox! if you haven’t received anything, first check your spam/junk mail folder, and if it’s not there, please send an email to functionalfeltswap {at} gmail {dot} com.

congratulations to jen c, in california! she’s the lucky winner of the tiny box with felted knob (pictured in this post), our sign-up promo give-away. we were 5 shy of an additional 20 swappers, but that’s close enough for me!

ok, swappers, time to start creating! you should have your swap item finished, and in the mail, no later than wednesday, may 28.

i have no idea what i’m making! arg!

a netherlands etsy find, and functional felt swap inspiration, all in one post…

etsy seller reyaveltman wet felted the bowl pictured above with wool roving, then machine stitched the swirl. it’s gorgeous…

reya has other great felted items available in her shop, if you need swap inspiration!

a week ago saturday, i had the honor of meeting one of my favorite artists, gineke zikken. (for a bit of back story, see this blog post.)

i walked about 2 miles to her apartment, which is right outside of central amsterdam. i was a little nervous, and when she invited me in, it was a bit awkward. but she offered me tea, and we chatted a bit about why i was there. then, up to the 3rd floor, to her studio!

it was so neat to see her workspace, and to see so many of her paintings in one spot. after much fawning by me and a few intelligent questions, i think she realized i wasn’t completely nutty, and we both were at ease, and were able to talk about art, traveling, and life. more about my visit, about gineke, and what i bought after the jump…

(more…)

it was so relaxing to have no schedule, no meetings, no dogs to walk, no internet, no blog… i almost didn’t come home. literally.

i was scheduled to fly back wednesday afternoon, but when i got to the tram stop i realized i didn’t have my passport with me. i always have nightmares before i leave for a trip about not having my passport, so i always triple-check. did it occur to me to look for my passport before i left? nope! i have no idea why.

so, i panicked for about 3 minutes at the tram stop, then told myself to stop because it wouldn’t help the situation. i assumed that the passport may have gotten stuck in a magazine or book i was carrying at some point, and could have fallen out, or it could have been in the apartment i had just left (but the keys were tossed into the mail slot, and my host was gone for the morning). so, i decided to walk to the us consulate, about 15 minutes from where i was, and start the process of getting a new passport. damn, this current administration really makes me mad, but if you’re in a pinch in a foreign country, the us government will bend over backwards for you. it’s not like the dmv! anyway, i started filling out the forms, they called klm for me and i rebooked my flight for the following morning. one last day in amsterdam! i didn’t really want to leave anyway…

an hour later, i was finally able to reach my host, and yup, my passport was stuck in a book i had left there (i hadn’t planned on taking it home with me). so i canceled the emergency passport application, bought myself a good bottle of pinot noir, and spent one more night at artacasa.

lesson: always carry a copy of your passport, and know where your consulate is! or, triple-check to make sure you have your passport before embarking to the airport…

to come home and see the wonderful birthday wishes from my friends (old and new), how fun! and how cool is it to see you all still read my blog when i leave and have my little sis fill in… thank you all. it was fun to read everyone’s comments, while eating the amazing cake lil fish left for me.

more amsterdam pics are up on flickr. enjoy, and have a wonderful weekend!

an exciting new exhibit is opening this weekend at mcba. the official announcement:

day and night. life and death. black and white. explore your own dualities at the opening of black/white [and read] in mcba’s star tribune foundation gallery. this exhibition of artists’ books explores history, memory and narrative in only black and white, and features over 25 nationally and internationally revered artists including doug beube, inge bruggeman, béatrice coron and robbin ami silverberg, as well as local artists philip gallo, elisabeth paper and larry welo.

the opening reception is saturday, april 19, 6:00-9:00pm. free and open to the public; refreshments will be provided. black/white [and read] will be at mcba until june 22. visit the mcba web site for location and hour info.

the minneapolis/st.paul international film festival opens today! film festival, schmilm schmestival, you say? ask yourself the following questions:

• did i find the story of the fatal poisoning of former kgb agent alexander litvinenko intriguing?
• do i know anyone who fled laos after the communist pathet lao takeover during the vietnam war and want to know more?
• do i love pond hockey?
• was i really into public enemy back in the day?

if you answered yes to any of the questions above, or if you have any interest in seeing what’s going on in the world, or you just like movies, please go see some films! my husband (yay!) and i will be working a bunch of shifts and when not working, will be watching the movies. see you there? you can view the over 130 films and buy tickets online on the festival’s website - enjoy!

thanks everyone - today’s my last day of babysitting! big fish returns later today with my wheels of gouda. hope she brought enough for everyone….

Hello World! or: How I Learned To Stop Listening and Love The Noise
christopher baker

good morning, faithful readers! lil fish still here; it appears that the big fish decided she wasn’t quite ready to come home to us and is staying one more night in amsterdam, so you’re stuck with me for a little while longer!

a few weeks ago, my friend carrie invited me to the university of minnesota’s mfa show opening; our friend laura has an amazingly gifted and smartypants artist husband, christopher baker, whose piece “Hello World! or: How I Learned To Stop Listening and Love The Noise” was my favorite. i’m not going to give his piece justice with this explanation, but he basically created a computer program to stream 2,000 videos of individual people talking to their web cam from youtube. he then created another computer program thingy majiggy to stream what they were saying, and projects the images and streams the voices in a way that’s mind-boggling, artistic, and thought-provoking. the geek in me was awed!

the show runs through april 24 at the katherine e nash gallery - check it out!

i love this pea bag!

this amazing bag is larger than it looks. it’s perfect for a quick over night trip, or to carry your knitting. made in the netherlands by etsy seller ttpeasandcarrots, this style is available in other colors, along with other styles she calls carrot and bean!

must resist…

[comments from lil fish: hmmm….i wonder if she was able to resist? today is big fish’s last full day in amsterdam - she better not come home without my wheels of gouda!]

number three in my my stuff series. number two, number one.

i’m a little meh on this one.

lil fish here once again; i hope you’re having a great weekend!  i baked this deeelicious cake for my wonderful sister for her birthday; sorry sis, we couldn’t wait for your return to dig into it, but there is some waiting for you in the freezer. i hope you’re eating lots of cheese, seeing (and buying) lots of art, and drinking lots of wine - happy day!

photo credit: my sister

my sister and her husband(!) asked their friend chris, of yellow owl workshop, to design and create their wedding announcements. chris wrote a sweet post about the announcements on her blog on tuesday, titled “apples for lovers“. wow, oh, wow, they are beautiful. and perfect for j&j. i need to get married so i can have her create an announcement this fabulous for me! oh, yeah, i could just have her create me some stationary. that i don’t need to get married for. ha!

anyway, visit chris’s shop to see more of her amazing work: in addition to commissioned stationary and announcements, she has prints, gifts, and fabulous tote bags.

i leave for amsterdam tonight, for a little birthday vacation. i plan to go offline, read, sketch, drink, see art, walk 5 hours a day, eat lots of cheese, turn a year older, have cake, relax… i’ve packed lightly, but do have my handmade travel journal, camera, reading material (beautiful children & play as it lays), requisite black t-shirts…

but my blog isn’t going on vacation! i’ve asked my lil sis to be my guest blogger while i’m away! she’ll be posting about a couple of topics that are already in the queue, and she may even write a few of her own posts. please welcome her on friday, and be nice in the comments section!

have a great week! i’ll be back online april 17.

{ don’t forget, sign-up for the functional felt swap closes april 16! }

how is it that i am the co-organizer of a swap, in which the chosen subject matter involves materials i rarely work with?! i have no idea what i’ll be making! ack! i did do a little wet felting last weekend, using wool roving from birdie. but i still haven’t decided what type of felt to work with. i guess do have a couple of weeks to figure it out, so i shouldn’t get too worried about it yet. anna’s got some great swap inspiration on her blog today, which i’ll take advantage of.

swap news: there’s one more week to sign up for the felt swap! so far we’ve got a wonderful group of crafters/artists signed up, and anna and i are really excited! but we’d like to try to get a few more to join us…

as a little incentive, if we get 20 more people signed up, we’ll put everyone’s names in a hat, pull one out, and send the winner a tiny box, pictured below, made by me. it features a felted ball lid handle! yay!

the winner will be announced april 23, which is also the day all swappers should have their partner info. so don’t be shy, join us! and remember, it’s not a contest, it’s an opportunity to be creative and meet new people… it shouldn’t be a stressful event, it should be fun!

i’m not much of an interior designer. my house is a mix of cheap furniture that must be pet proof, and none of it is design*sponge-worthy, with the exception of this beautiful chair. i’ve always scratched my head at the abundance of throw pillows available out there… if i don’t put my head on it, do i really need it?

but absoluut’s shop has really cool pillows, and most are made with vintage fabric. just one is enough to funk up a room! for proof, check out skinny laminx’s absoluut chair on flickr.

a package from my amazing friend ayama-chan arrived on saturday. and it was so much fun opening it — it was just like christmas. (see my last post for a bit more background, and to see what i made for her). she made me so many beautiful things, they all deserve to be shown and mentioned here!

1. chernobyl. this little fish mono-oki (thing holder) is made of recycled chirimen furoshiki (um, don’t know what that is). he snaps together at the top, and he was full of amazing little beads. the name? apparently he was quite a challenge!

2. origami paper! a little package of chiyogami and printed papers for folding.

3. sushi. this golden fish is to rest under my wrist while i am working on my computer. he is coming to the office with me! ayama-chan hand embroidered the details. i love him!

4. a postcard by ayama-chan’s favorite japanese artist, yoshitomo nara. and the card she sent is a detail of the tale of genji.

5. fudge. another fish mono-oki, made from an old kimono! he has a zipper on top, and he will keep my rings and earrings safe. his name is fudge as apparently his zipper is fudged. it looks perfect to me!

6. this little guy didn’t quite make it. ayama-chan refers to it as a disaster, but i know what she was trying to do: fold kimono fabric origami-style to make a fish. sadly, most of the pins came out of place during shipping, and this is the current state of the little guy.

7. another mobile! yay! for this one, ayama-chan made fish out of organza and painted it with thread, using a sewing machine. there are little chinese acrylic beads in between each, and a beautiful bell at the bottom to catch the breeze (a japanese superstition). the mobile hangs from a copper spiral, with a little red bead that looks like a fish.

i am so spoiled! everything is so beautiful. thank you so much ayama-chan! and yes, your creations are definitely etsy-worthy! go for it!

update: ayama-chan has posted a blog entry about everything she made me. check it out to read about her creative approaches to each piece!