Favorites last week: did you know?

Apparently, it’s been a week for noticing things or being informed of things. In no particular order, here is what I’ve learned since last Saturday.

1. It is difficult to eat one’s hot sauce and/or salsa without chips. When one is too lazy to get chips, one must then attempt to find other things for the hot sauce and salsa. Sometimes these are good ideas, like mixing hot sauce with ketchup. Sometimes these are bad ideas, which then are not spoken of aagain.

2. Shiny Shiny tells me that more women than men own gaming consoles these days. I understand. I bought a Wii. Urged by Husband, but still. There were high-jinks involved in the purchase, and I was an enthusiastic participant. ANYWHO, this probably explains why Crafty Crafty (Shiny Shiny’s sister site) was able to dig up so many hand-crafted covers for DS Lites. However, to further confuse our often-pointless gendered stereotypes, not all the covers were made by women. So there.

3. I had not previously taken a look at Indie Fixx’s Fall Jewelry Guide, but I should have. Nice stuff on there. Indie Fixx is great. And apparently I’ll soon have to add the Indie Fixx Shop to my Index of Indie, ’cause something tells me their shop selection will fit my requirements for the guide. (The woman who made this bracelet just got chosen as one of Baltimore’s best local jewelry artists. Nice!)

4. Adams Morgan is the best part of DC (sorry, Dupont). I know. In the 10 years or so since I left, it’s apparently gotten better, as it now has an annual shindig called the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair, which took place yesterday. I’m sooo jealous of people who get to go. Instead of Crafty Bastards, it should be Lucky Bastards.

5. Some people (not me) really DO have the patience 0f saints. Such as the woman who made Blythe Manor. The pictures here (right) are of a miniature craft room. All those tiny teeny little bolts of fabric! And what she put ‘em in! I don’t even have that much patience with my real-life craft room.

So far as I can tell, each detail is perfect in its miniature-ness.

Ridiculously Cute: The Search Term?

So, I was apparently bored after spending too much time messing about on the internet. On Fridays I like to post something that I’ve found that week that rates high on my cute scale. This week, I wanted to see what ranked high on others’ cute lists, but as a result of my Google search being overrun with articles from teenaged girls about cute boys, I have abandoned my project. <shiver>

Instead, I give you Mr. Tiny Handsewn Deer and Ms. Tiny Handsewn Fieldmouse. Both from Blossom Hill. And there are more. Check out the kitty, there, too.

Indie Outfit: It’s Still Summer in Texas, folks

All over the web people are talking about fall, thinking about fall, designing fall stuff, talking about cool fronts … but I’m living in the middle of Texas, and it still gets to over 90 every day at the end of September. So this is for people whose weather isn’t thinking about cooling quite yet (or for another 2 months), or who miss summer already.

Everything today is from Lov.li - a craft marketplace that’s in my Index of Indie.

Elizabeth and Kirsten make fabulous clothes. They’ll even make stuff for you based on your measurements. How nice is that? Meanwhile, this beautiful pair is the perfect one last nod toward summer. It’s from the June/July collection of these designers. The sundress, right, is what she’s wearing under the long kimono jacket, left. They’re sold separately, and indeed would be good on their own, but together they’re really amazing.

I had kind of a hard time with jewelry, as I felt that really specific things were needed here - casual but unique, things that wouldn’t compete but were neat on their own. I eventually decided on this pair of flower earrings to go with it from Cindy of Starry Designs. And this lovely lampwork bracelet from Dusty Johnson. And you should really check out Dusty’s page and see where the jewelry is made

Last but NOT least, this Peruvian inspired handbag is nearly too much matching (I seem to have gotten taken in by bright pinks and greens here), but I really love the bag, so … here it is! It’s a quilted, embroidered, appliqued wonder of a handbag, all based on a vintage napkin. It comes with that cute little mushroom keyfob you see. Made by Hyena in Nashville, whose work I may feature again ’cause I like her shirts, too.