i found my p outside of my local post office. i usually hate going there, but was in and out in under 5 minutes. whooo-hoo! normally the line drags on and on and on…

alex’s letter this week is h. see it here.

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i know this is last minute, and that most of you aren’t reading blogs over the turkey day weekend… but this weekend is the 11th annual mcad art sale! buy great student and alumni art, priced between $10 and $1,000. friday 6pm-9pm ($40 at the door), saturday 9am-5pm (free).

i’m making borscht. happy turkey day!

my favorite sign so far. and perfect for the official kick-off of the holiday season… wheeeeee!

i’m not normally attracted to plushies or stuffed animals, but i just love penguin & fish’s kitties! maybe it’s the marew and reow balloons? or the color combinations? i can’t pinpoint it, they’re just awesome. and they’re made locally in minneapolis!

photo credit: penguin & fish etsy shop

last thursday, i met jenn, jean, and anna at the minnesota center for book arts for an art lunch. it’s been months since we’ve had an art lunch due to busy schedules, so it really was a treat! we all had soup at coffee gallery before viewing new work by the mcba/jerome fellowship artists. it’s good, small show, perfect for a quick lunch. i would have loved to also see the show at the rosalux gallery, but for some reason it wasn’t open. any way, it was fun to do an art lunch after a long break, because nothing is better over the lunch our than viewing art & eating soup with friends!

the jerome show is up until january 10. go!

today’s letter, y, was taken outside of one of minneapolis’s best bars (and landmark!), nye’s polonaise room. i had my first legal drink there, at 12:01am, the eve of my 21st birthday. it was a raspberry kamikaze, purchased for me by my ex-babysitter.

alex has an s from the southern hemisphere. it’s pretty sweet. and she also has some great bacon and egg cushion covers for you breakfast fans… see them here.

but friday’s post does not end with letters! i received a package yesterday that contained the most awesome voodoo doll, ever, and her name is dorkiss:

my amazing friend ayama made me this voodoo doll, and she knows me well, and knows i could put dorkiss to good use. can i say i love her boobs and belly button? (ayama posted a fabulous tutorial on how to make your own dorkiss, it really is a great read, check it out here at her blog!) she also knows i love fish, and she decorated some dish towels with koi, using her new embroidery machine, aka sister therese. i must also note that she sent me chocolate, and i promptly devoured half of it, and then went bonkers from the sugar rush. and she also sent me some pretty sweet postcards, of ink drawings by xu beihong which featured nekkid men. she knows how to treat a girl.

really, friends can completely make your day. i cannot say how fortunate i am to have made the friends i have via the interwebs… before i get weepy, i wish you a happy weekend!

a few new coptic journals are in the shop. i love these papers… and have been waiting for a good use for them.

please, do not give your friends empty bottles of wine!

it’s no secret that wine is my best friend. and as we approach the holidays, it’s something i bring to hosts/hostesses of parties, and as gifts for friends.

inspired by rebate tags on bottles at my local liquor store, i decided to make some custom wine tags. you can too, with minimal supplies. the key ingredients: favorite paper(s), label sheets, a circle punch… and that’s about it. instructions after the jump…

(more…)

a few weeks ago i saw this poster on etsy’s recently listed items section on the home page, and instantly the pixies were singing in my head. i clicked on the pic for the description, and yup, it is the refrain from one of the best pixies’ song ever, la la love you. i’m instantly 17 years old again and watching them at first avenue, and really, if you’re going to have any songs replaying in your head, the pixies are the best. more posters, in different colors, are available in sparkle power’s etsy shop for you pixies fans.

photo credit: sparkle power etsy shop

one of my favorite jewelry designers (jaime jo fisher) is having a resin earring sale! there are 13 pairs listed, and it’s first come, first serve until this friday (the 22nd). for more details, visit this post on her blog.

photo credit: jaime jo fisher

our days have been endless grey. but this morning there is sun.

happy monday!

last weekend i played in 2 hockey games, “up” in duluth. i found alex’s a on the ice, on an advertisement on the boards of the rink, after the first game. (i was scouting a’s as i was playing. bad.)

alex’s letter this week is i. see it here!

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local weekend events:

7th annual book arts festival : minnesota center for book arts. over 40 artists will be displaying and selling handmade books, journals, paper, prints and gifts. saturday 10 - 5, sunday 12 - 5.

fall studio open house : traffic zone. 21 artists: painting, sculpture, photography, prints, ceramics. saturday 12 - 8.

holiday shop & stroll : gallery 360. 20% off storewide. saturday 10 - 6, sunday 12 - 5.

happy weekend!

i was bored, bored, bored at work last week, and after reading every single blog in the world, and i ended up browsing my own photos on flickr. i came across my printed circles on book pages photo from july, and ding-ding-ding! i decided to make a couple of coptic bound journals with the printed pages for the covers. one sold within an hour of posting to etsy, but there are still 2 left, and i’ll add another this weekend… available in my etsy shop.

other etsy news: martha of uniform studio is uploading her holiday collection today at 1pm cst: uniformstudio.etsy.com.

part 1

yokoo was a featured seller on etsy a few weeks ago, and i’ve been fascinated with her ever since. the big knits, the quirky photos, the fashion, the glasses… browse her shop (the pumpkin spice warmer above is really yummy) and check out her flickr as well.

photo credit: yokoo etsy shop

we had a wonderful indian summer last week for 4 days: 70’s and warm, about 30 degrees warmer than average. work is slow, so last tuesday i took a long lunch and walked around the warehouse district, looking for orange:

a few more will be posted wednesday… happy monday!

warning: i’m obsessed with orange right now.

this d was spotted on a sign board outside of a furniture shop on washington avenue in minneapolis.

alex has an f for me, from wellington new zealand. see it here!

locals: don’t miss art attack this weekend at the northrup king building. i am over-committed (ack!) and may not make it, so please, someone go for me, and report back!

happy weekend!

mobile with leaves collected in the beginning of october.

many years ago, my mom made a mobile with leaves encased in wax paper and hung from a small tree branch. it was in the living room window forever. it may still be there. i wanted to recreate that memory from childhood… but the wax paper just wasn’t melting for me. it pulled apart, and the air pockets were unsightly. however, kristin left me a comment that her preschool dipped them in beeswax. so i did that instead.

i let the leaves dry overnight on wax paper. it’s been 2 weeks since i’ve dipped them and they are still as bright and brilliant as they were when i picked them up. i love beeswax, thanks kristen! i used linen thread to attach each leaf together: i used a needle to create 2 small holes, and created one stitch with the tread and tied it off with a square knot. the leaves hang from driftwood (collected in michigan’s upper peninsula), and then i used smaller pieces of driftwood to get the balance right. it still was slightly crooked, so i super-glued a small stone to one of the pieces. and so far, after a week, the cat hasn’t destroyed it. i am happy.

want a simpler tutorial? design*sponge posted a leaf mobile dyi yesterday, sans beeswax.

today i am celebrating yesterday’s historic, momentous event.* and to celebrate, i am wearing my new fizz scarf, made by my purple crayon. miss crayon originally made this scarf of felted circles (from old sweaters) for the functional felt swap last spring. yum. when i saw it, i was shameless and begged her to make me one. i would have promised to name my first born after her, if it came to that. when autumn started making some noise and my neck got a little chilly, i meekly sent her an email to see she’d still make me one. and i ruined my surprise, since she was almost done with it. the fizz scarf arrived 2 weeks ago, and i looooove it.

*i would like my little blog not get too personal and i prefer to focus on creativity, but damn, i am soooooo excited about the changes to come.

i recently stumbled across local artist emily dyer’s etsy shop. i’ve been admiring her ceramics for a while now (she has a studio in minneapolis), and this plate is perfect for celebrating a momentous event.

locals: see emily’s work, along with hundreds of other artists, this weekend at art attack in the northrup king building. details here.

photo credit: emily dyer etsy shop