Buy Local By Local – Handmade Goods

Tomorrow Saturday December 5 is Indie Chic @ 10th Street at the ASU Art Museum in Tempe. There will be over 30 participants including me! The fair is at  Southeast corner of 10th Ave. and Mill St. at ASU Art Museum in Tempe from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. I have been having so much fun in the studio making goodies for this event at the museum. Stop by and visit! Here are some pics of just some of the goodies I will have on hand – plus there are still many more. These could not be included in the photos because they are still wet and drying but they’ll be ready in the morning!!

YUDU printed Hot Pink Sully Greeting Card with Vintage Buttons

YUDU printed Monsters on Tees

YUDU printed Bird out of the cage baby bib

YUDU printed Owl Greeting Card

YUDU printed Woodgrain and Cuckoo Clock Greeting Card with vintage button

Many many barrettes with vintage buttons

Many many Lapel Pins with vintage buttons

YUDU printed Robot Baby Onesie

I shopped local and I’m feeling good

It was Christmas decorations day yesterday. It was 70 degrees and we were in the holiday spirit so we went on a search for a live tree. Hey – I am from Michigan you can’t take the smell of fresh pine from a girl during the holidays! We ended up visiting with Frank at Tree Time Christmas Trees, his family has been in the Christmas tree biz for 43 years. He sets up annually in the lot next to Harpers Nursery on Hayden south of Thomas. Sure this lovely tree we choose cost more then going to a big box but I feel so much better knowing the money went to a local business owner. Plus the trees at the big boxes looked bad, brown and crappy. Not that I was going to buy there anyway! We had a great time decorating with the short one.

Tree Time Christmas Trees

Tree lot located next to Harpers

So many trees to choose from

Our choice loaded on the roof

The tree - decorated by the short one (age 3)

Playful fun – Get ready to shop local

I am having a great time in the studio making new pieces for the Indie Chic @ 10th Street at the ASU Art Museum. It will be from 10 am to 5 pm on Sat. Dec. 5th. I will start taking pics and putting them on my flickr. For now here is just a teaser of some of the goodies. This year look for a lot of color – per usual but also I have gone vintage button crazy! Loving the buttons right now. There will be cuties and creatures and robots and cuckcoo clock themes – oh my!

Girly Ornament

Bird Ornament

Paper Journal

Flea Market Finds

Today was the parking lot flea market at the Trove in Scottsdale. The tall one was selling mid century furniture, I was there as support. Unfortunately it was a rare day of rain in Arizona. It was cool and felt lovely but was not such a good thing for wood. I did roam around and pick up a few bargin finds. The short one loved playing all day in the back of the pick-up who would have guessed that one? She is creative! And now for my finds:

Wooden fish pin for $1

Colorful musical instrument pin for $4

Box of vintage Christmas paper tags for $2

Plants of different deserts of the world

Every year Veterans Day and my birthday always take me to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ. I love the mountainous area, the plants from deserts around the world, the little streams of water scattered around and this week a small waterfall was trickling. At the front of the Arboretum they have a couple of demonstration gardens that are always so lovely and welcoming. I enjoy the Arboretum for it’s roughness in a way that is so much less theme park than a botanical garden.

About the Arboretum: Colonel William Boyce Thompson found his greatest interest in a house he  built in the Arizona hills, near Superior. This is where he built his Picket Post house. When a friend asked him how much land he owned around Picket Post House, he replied, “I own it all as far as the eye can see, because I love it.”  Thompson is reported to have been happier in his Picket Post home than any other time before.  He picked Franklin J. Crider, University of Arizona, to establish the Boyce Thompson Southwest Arboretum on a portion of the 400 acres he owned. The initial mission of the Arboretum was to study the plants of different desert countries and to make the results available to the public.

Some photos of Veterns Day 2009

Fall Orange at the Arboretum

Waterfall at the Arboretum

birds nest in a tree

cactus garden

pomegranate tree

Lovely Orange Somethings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain view

Purple softies

little fire cracker of color

single pomegranate

Orange berry bush

warty tree

coral color berries

yellow aloe bloom

root wrap around

naked tree

If you’ve ever slipped on a banana . . .

If you’ve ever slipped on a banana then you know what the action of STREB is all about – Elizabeth Streb

Tonight the action packed slip, fall, spring, bounce, physical adventure that is STREB opens at the Herberger Theater at 8 pm  COST – $5 student tickets, $10 general admission

View a video of the action from this mornings performance.

This morning nearly 800 High School student from all over the valley came to a performance.

A Halloween Costume Situation

On a “that’s creepy note” I ask why we gotta jump as opportunists on someone’s death? I found this display in a craft store. It does not name the deceased but instead says – Make a Thrilling Costume. The display has red and black duck tape and instructions on how to make a “Thrilling” jacket. They are also selling companion white glove, gem stone stickers to decorate the glove, a black hat and sunglasses. This just isn’t right.

If A Halloween Party . . .

Happy Halloween! I love Halloween. Dressing up, passing out candy and cute tricker treaters. Orange is my favorite color and I love all things pumpkin. I collected some images this past month of stuff I would use if I were throwing a Halloween Party. There will be no Halloween at the Lab5 casa this year. Sad, I know but this mama is just too busy to take it on. So instead I can think about it through pictures.  Hmmm there is a lot of alcohol – maybe I need a one person party to get some drink on. Here goes . . .

Be Brave – See BRAVE

STREB: BRAVE showcases beautiful bodies that engage with wild, new hardware in show-stopping pieces. There will be a rotating floor turning continuously throughout the performance. There will be no stage “front,” but instead, an array of points of view and angles of perception are altered throughout. The performers constantly will be space-shifting their positions and their actions as the ground slips out from underneath them.

STREB: BRAVE commissioned by F.A.R. (Future Arts Research) @ ASU

Friday Nov. 6 and Sat. Nov. 7, 2009 8pm

Students; $5; General Admission, $10 (Tickets are generously underwritten by F.A.R) Buy at Herberger Theatre, 222 E. Monroe St., Phoenix, AZ 85004-2335; 602.254.7399

Motorcycle Freedom Hippie

Driving up the 51 the other day I saw this Motorcycle riding, freedom loving hippie cruising along with his dog riding in back. I had to risk it and take a picture. When I rolled the window down to get the shot I could hear music blasting from his radio on his bike. Flying High was playing and that dog was looking so happy! It sent my imagination off wondering where he was headed.

A man on his bike with his dog

Riding off on an adventure