Support Our Schools: Arleta Craft Fair!!!!

On friday, I will have a booth at the Arleta Craft Fair. 20% of the proceeds go to support Arleta Elementary School. If you are in the neighborhood, come check it out.

SCRAP Happy

I am excited to report that I just got a new job. It is at SCRAP (the School and Community Reuse Action Project). It is a super awesome non-profit that collects art supplies and office materials that would have gone into the landfill and makes them available to teachers, artists and the general community. I will be working in the store where you can find all of the fabulous goodies at a fraction of the price you would pay for new supplies. There is all your normal art supplies like paints, mat board, fabric, markers and paper (to name a few) but also random cool stuff like violin cases, fencing masks, and holographic sheets. Anything that could be used in an art project. I have been volunteering at SCRAP for about 2 years and so I am really excited to now be part of the staff. SCRAP includes everything I love; art supplies, cheap stuff, and reducing waste. I am one happy girl.
If you live in the Portland area, you should check it out on:
2915 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.
We are open Weds 11-7, Thurs-Sat 11-6 and Sun 11-5

SCRAP was just featured on KATU our local news station if you want to check it out click on the picture below.

Talented People: Liz Flint-Sommerville

Do you ever have moments when you realize just how awesome your friends are and can not help but be a little proud? Liz is one of those people that I am proud to have as a friend. Liz is a super creative person. Her tofu nightlights have already been featured on this site. She makes crazy vegan concoctions that taste great (and I am not one to get too excited about vegan fare). But most important, she is a poet. I really wanted to showcase all kinds of talents so I asked Liz to give me one of her favorite poems that she has written.

A Needle Longer Than An Egg
for Tasha

She carries the egg tree
in a padded box in her brain,
like whale migration routes,
so we scavenge twigs
from the gravel
of the small playground
in a corner of the graveyard,
then rest in the basket swing
and find a sliding view
of beautiful yellow clouds,
and the feel
of the wide, crossed sea.

The eggs have a different name here
but the same, comforting shape,
she blows them clean as a new life,
the assemblage a ritual
solid at the center
of her spiraling snail-shell,
they’re light as mist now
and we wrap them in paint and ink,
she slides the thread
through the needle longer
than the egg,
ties a knot.

Suspended from twig fingers
the shells hum with air
while the sticks reach the glass bottom
of a repurposed decanter
like an anchor finds sand,
we are the circle of candlelight
at the table,
the bells beyond the window
swallowing the still night air,
the solid shell of the sea turtle
propelling strongly through the sea.

Tofu Containers: the endless possibilties

In an earlier post, I mentioned my friend, Liz, who was always looking for uses for her tofu containers. One of the things that she makes are tofu nightlights. I asked her for permission to show off her creation so here they are. She laminates her drawings and attaches them to the tofu container. A light is added though a hole cut into the bottom. Much more interesting then those store bought nightlights.

Pretty Posies

Right now the weather here in Portland is beautiful. 70s and sunny. In a few minutes, I am going to ride my bike to Laurelhurst park so I can sew in the great outdoors instead of my house. Before I left I thought that I would post some pictures have I have been snapping around town of all the spring finery.