This Portland artist makes 3D models and gifts. From their About page:
Intricately detailed and mathematically designed our work is inspired by classic geometric forms that have been central to art, architecture and science throughout history. We also indulge our playful side with miniature Rockets and Architecture.
All of our products are designed by us and each piece is individually precision cut and etched by laser.
Grab some of these amazing models in their Etsy shop!
MCM
Today’s spotlight is Living Stones PDX, speciality garden design.
I was drawn to the tiny handmade planters holding adorable succulents. Their booth was decorated with tiny succulent planter bunting.
They will customize any order, and they also do garden design and installation and wedding decorations.
From the artists’ About page:
Living Stones co-owners Karla Havermann-Fulton and Rachel Hermansen create artful and personalized garden spaces, hypertufa planters, and living floral arrangements. Their unique style incorporates designs inspired by nature with a desire to help clients maximize the accessibility of their gardens. Born out of their shared passion for horticulture and education, this Portland, Oregon-based business plans to use plants to create employment opportunities for adults with disabilities as an integral part of their business strategy.
Lovely.
McM
Spotlight number two is Ladymade Shrinky Dink Jewelry, drawn and colored by hand from good old shrinky dinks.
What struck me were the bright colors and cute but not cutesy designs. Shop birds, flowers and anatomical designs in earrings and pendants. Bright cartoony mixed with more subtle and elegant.
From the artist’s Etsy ‘About‘ page:
… I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time… Portland’s craft movement was gaining momentum as I was beginning my craft business. At my first holiday Carft Fair in 2005, I offered a few simple designs such as kitty cat silhouettes and record players and by the next winter, I was offering dozens of different designs, all hand drawn and colored.
I have been approached by stores wanting to carry pieces in their shops, and Ladymade can now be found in 6 stores around Portland.
Click on the image above to grab yourself some beautiful Ladymade jewelry!
McM
B is for Burglar and C is for Corpse, books two and three in the Alphabet mystery series by Sue Grafton.
I must say Kinsey Millhone is growing on me. Or at least the writer’s style. These books remind me of the Evanovich series starting Stephanie Plum, which may have been loosely inspired by this series, wink wink.
Spoiler alerts for 30 year old books. You are warned.
In book two, B is for Burglar, Stephanie, er uhm, Kinsey is hired by a woman who needs to track down her sister to sign off on some legal documents. She didn’t realize her sister was missing for six months. Uhuh. And when Kinsey becomes so concerned she suggests filing a missing persons report with the police, the sister adamantly refuses. Uhuh.
Kinsey flies to Florida (Boca Raton) where the missing Elaine usually winters and we meet the other wacky neighbor and the crazy squatter living in the missing woman’s apartment, claiming to have a subletting agreement. Kinsey files a missing persons report back in Santa Teresa and meets a cute new cop Jonah (separated from his wife). We find out that the crazy subletter has disappeared, after thoroughly trashing the Boca apartment. Kinsey discovers that crazy subletter has filed for a driver’s license in Elaine’s name, and shortly thereafter Kinsey’s apartment is burglarized (title shout out!).
The neighbor of the missing woman was murdered and her house was set on fire, right around the same time Elaine was last seen, six months ago. Kinsey starts investigating that crime hoping to get a line on her missing woman, which leads to a grieving widower, altered dental records, switched corpses and ultimately the murder weapon and murderer. The cute cop is not the bad guy, but he does go back to the wife, and our hero solves the case and goes home alone with a beating and bullet wound in her arm.
In book three, C is for Corpse, Kinsey is at the gym rehabilitating when she encounters Bobby, who survived a horrific car accident nine months prior that killed his best friend. He approaches her about investigating the accident, thinking he was forced off the road by someone. Dead best friend’s family thinks Bobby is projecting to avoid the guilt of having killed his best friend.
Bobby is loaded and we meet the dysfunctional family, the creepy shrink, and grow to really like soft-spoken Bobby. So of course he has to die.
This pisses Kinsey off no end. You do not mess with Kinsey’s acquaintances. She discovers a former girlfriend who claims Bobby broke it off because he was seeing someone else. This leads to a cryptic old address book of Bobby’s, connected to a years old murder, connected to an anonymous corpse (title shout out!) in an old hospital, which houses the old murder weapon and is what Bobby found before the original accident. The shrink murdered his wife’s first husband, who discovered she was sleeping around with the shrink. They covered it up to look like a robbery, and Bobby found out.
Kinsey solves the crime and gets her butt kicked again.
I do enjoy these books. I get the audio books from the library and go through them in two or three days. I’m already on H. Stay tuned for more sassy detective!
McM
Our first crafty spotlight features Lisa Hasegawa’s ilfant press. I was drawn to her display at Crafty Wonderland because of her fun stationary sets and one-of-a-kind journals. She also does custom orders for business cards, weddings, etc.
From the artist’s ‘About’ page:
Artist StatementI am a printmaker at heart and have always been intrigued by any method of reproduction: photocopies, dittos, mimeographs, rubber stamps, carbon paper, etc. This fascination likely stems from childhood visits to my mother’s office and the hippie camp where my father lived, where I was enthralled by the production of a mimeographed newsletter. …my three-dimensional work is largely comprised of limited edition and one-of-a-kind artist’s books and soft sculpture. … Inspiration comes from various facets of my life: my collection of teddy bears and antique toys, vintage ephemera and office supplies, as well as stories and events from life. By combining humor, wit and a simplistic style, I connect with the viewer in dealing with subjects we all think about, but don’t generally discuss. I offer a little happiness and laughter; the most rewarding compliment is seeing someone smile or laugh as they experience my work. BiographyLisa Hasegawa graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking and received her Master of Fine Arts in Book Arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Lisa teaches letterpress and bookmaking classes in Seattle, and is sole proprietor of ilfant press. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has received several awards; including a Grant for Artist Projects (GAP) from Artist Trust and Printmaking Instructor of the Year from Pratt. Her artist’s books and prints are collected nationally in both public and private collections. |
Click on the image above to hop over to ilfant’s Etsy site and grab some delicious stationary today!
MCM
My first book review for Cannonball Read 7, A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. The first in her Alphabet mysteries series.
Detective and former cop Kinsey Millhone is employed by Nikki Fife after serving her sentence for the murder of her husband eight years prior. She hires Kinsey to find out who really murdered the bastard, a very successful divorce lawyer and philanderer. Her investigation reveals another death eight years ago using the same murder weapon (ground oleander-spiked medication), and leaves a trail of bodies in its wake, natch. Millhone also works for California Fidelity, investigating small claims insurance fraud in exchange for her office space.
I liked this book for the same reasons I like Stephen King and Agatha Christie novels, easy to read, well paced, not too challenging. What suspense there was did not last long, and it really took about 50% of the book to really build up to the tense parts. The main character is not the most engaging or sympathetic, and a bit too self-righteous for my taste, so I wasn’t overly concerned for her safety. First published in 1982, I was a bit distracted by the antiquated technology and predicted the villain quite early, probably because this book was the origin of that particular trope. I do plan to continue the series so I’ll be interested to see how the author incorporates emerging technologies. The series is up to “W” so at the very least it has been successful enough to warrant 22 sequels, which doesn’t automatically mean good books as we all well know.
Once begun half done! I’m excited to go for a my first full Cannonball this year! See you next time.
(Image Source: wikipedia)
McM
Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale, to be exact. The Red One and I attended the holiday show this year, wandering around the Portland Convention Center for 3 hours amazed by the creativity all around us. There were paper goods, beard balm, clothes, stuffed toys, laser cut 3D sculptures, free make and takes (sponsored by collage), and a whole row of kid crafters selling their wares.
From their ‘About‘ page:
Crafty Wonderland began in April of 2006 as a monthly art + craft sale at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR. … In the fall of 2009, organizers Torie Nguyen and Cathy Zwicker made the tough decision to transition the monthly shows to two large shows a year. …
Torie and Cathy first met as members of Portland Super Crafty, a women’s craft collective. … They are amazed and humbled by the growth that Crafty Wonderland has seen over the past 4+ years…it has far exceeded their wildest expectations.
I collected postcards and cards from all the wonderful artists and crafters I couldn’t afford to buy goods from, thinking they would make a great blog series. And so it begins, Saturday Spotlight every other weekend, taking a look at a Pacific Northwest craftsperson and their wares.
(c) MCM
Farscape – Lost in space with sexy, silly, funny alien fugitive buddies, John Crichton falls in love, dies, lives, and saves the universe. The Henson Company created some amazing creatures for this show, with wonderful acting and storytelling. Highly recommended. (Image Source)
Eureka – fluffy science hijinks with a dash of emotional relationship drama; cool inventions, routine End of the World avoidance, and Wesley Crusher as the office jerk. Loved it. (Image Source)
Battlestar Galactica – Cylons and skinjobs and prophecy, oh my. The final episode was not what I had hoped it would be, but what a great ride. Definitely worth watching. (Image Source)
Prime Suspect – Helen. Mirren. Kicks. Sexism’s. Behind. (Image Source)
Star Wars: the Clone Wars – This is how I wish the story had been developed in the ‘official’ sequels. Let’s see an Anakin we can care about before you destroy him. (Image Source)
Midsomer Murders – Murder most foul in very British Midsomer (Image Source)
Inspector Lewis – Ditto in Oxford (Image Source)
Supernatural – Hardy Boys of Generation X; classic rock, classic cars, and classic spooks. As you will. Yes, it’s on The CW. Season 9 is wrapping up now. (Image Source)
Sons of Anarchy – Violent, profanity laden, misogynistic poetry. Hurts so good. Seventh and final season premiere Fall 2014. (Image Source)
MCM
PS – Boo on Syfy <dot> com for having auto-play with sound on their sites. I would have used the official pages for Eureka and Battlestar Galactia, but HATE auto play sound with such a passion that I could not stand for it.
Let’s talk about Craft Inc, book and planner by Meg Mateo Ilasco.
These beautifully designed books are filled with interviews, thoughtful prompts, facts and legal considerations, pricing and marketing, and lots of forms, checklists, and calendars to take your business from start to finish.
The planner is my favorite, taking the advice from the book and turning it into a blueprint for you to brainstorm upon. Room to think about your collection cohesively, to write out your mission, vision and values. A year calendar at a glance to plan craft shows, holiday sales, marketing. Sample forms, budgeting worksheets, inventory tracking.
These books give you a head start. Highly recommended.
MCM
MamaCarrieMakes 