Personalized stuff is the best

We're planning a little 1 year anniversary party for the shoppe on October 10th (details will be posted tomorrow!) and I briefly considered getting some custom balloons printed. Just had to post this awesome photo from a balloon website- it gave me a chuckle.

Cake and sugar craft workshop tomorrow!!

Please stop by the shoppe tomorrow (Sunday) for a free cake decorating and sugar craft workshop with local artist Alexis Iammarino.

Alexis has installed a wonderful show in the shoppe gallery space that revolves around her obsession with sugar- from assemblages made of sugar packets collected over an 8 year period to ceramic sugar packets to sugar sculptures and cake decor made from marzipan and fondant... it is the sweetest show we've had yet!

She will be here tomorrow from 12-5 with an array of cake decorating supplies and will be demonstrating various techniques for making cake toppers and other sugar crafts for people to drop in and try out. The workshop is free, so please stop by!

You can see more photos of Alexis' beautiful installation here.

Free cake decoration and sugar crafts workshop with Alexis Iammarino
Sunday, September 28th, 12-5pm
at the Curiosity Shoppe, 855 Valencia St. between 19th & 20th, San Francisco

ph: 415.671.5384

ReadyMade issue launch party tonight in SF

The new issue of ReadyMade just hit the stands, and to celebrate, they're having a launch party at one of our favorite neighborhood hang-outs this evening. Please swing by if you're in the Mission to say hello, grab a beer and pick up an issue of the magazine. This issue is all about Small Spaces and it is soooooo good!

Our pal Lea Redmond will be bringing her World's Smallest Postal Service to the event, so don't forget to bring your sweetheart's address and a short message with you so she can transcribe it onto a teeny tiny piece of paper and put it in a teeny tiny envelope... Seriously, you won't believe how small these letters are!

Hope to see you tonight!

Where: The Latin American Club, 3286 22nd Street
(between Bartlett St & Valencia St)
When: Tonight, 6:30-9:30pm

Also, we're hosting a free cake decorating/sugar sculpture workshop at the store this Sunday, so save the date! Details to follow...

Photo assignment: Black & White

Such beautiful takes on "black & white"! Thanks everyone... Next week's theme is "fruity". All you need to do if you want to submit a photo is email one to us (at info@curiosityshoppeonline.com) by next Thursday. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Lauren's photo


Bev's photo

Chris' photo

Laura's photo

Erin's photo

Leigh's photo

"...we begin to learn a craft."

Our hero Dignan's big plans, transcribed.
via: kottke

Park(ing) Day, phase 2

Photo courtesy of Inhabitat

Park(ing) Day was so much fun! Lots of folks came out to relax on our little patch of grass on Valencia Street, and we were surprised by the amount of people who dropped quarters in the meter to help us pay for the spot. We served up some lemonade and ants on a log in the afternoon, and were able to divvy up our leftover sod between two people who will be using it to prettify their back yards. More photos from SF parking spots can be seen over at Inhabitat, and we posted a couple to our flickr site, with more to come in the next few days. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

Park(ing) Day, phase 1

Today is National Park(ing) Day and here is our spot outside the shoppe! (From the Trust For Public Land's website: "National Park(ing) Day is an opportunity to celebrate parks in cities and promote the need for more parks by creating temporary public parks in public parking spaces.") We thought it would be the perfect opportunity to create a mini picnic area and spend some time lounging on the grass.

We're giving away free donut holes this morning and will have lemonade and ants on a log this afternoon! Please stop by if you're in the neighborhood! Valencia Street between 19th & 20th in SF. More pictures to come...

Photo assignment: sky blue

Here are this week's "sky blue" photos! Next week's theme is: "black & white". If you'd like to participate, please email your photo (to info@curiosityshoppeonline.com) by next Thursday!

Derek's photo


Lauren's photo

Caroline's photo

Joelle's photo

Tom's photo

Nicole's photo

Laura's photo

Conn's photo

Bev's photo

Leigh's photo


Gregory's photo
9/19- blogger was acting funny yesterday and I wasn't able to get Gregory's photo up until today! Enjoy!

Index card extravaganza

I admit that I am a productivity nerd. Any excuse to read a book that promises to help me organize my environment and my to do lists (and therefore become a better, calmer, less stressed person) and I'm there! I've finally settled on a combination of OmniFocus, 43 Folders and 3x5 notecards for my copious list making, which seems to be working ok. Now if I could only add a few extra hours onto each day I might feel like I'm able to accomplish everything on those lists...

I visit my local OfficeMax every couple weeks to pick up supplies for the shoppe, and always seem to leave with a new pack of index cards. My favorites are the striped cards from Oxford that come in 5 great colors, and the Post-It sticky cards. So awesome!

I Want This!!

What could it possibly sound like??!! via BoingBoing

the nest home tour, and more!

Last Spring when the nest was here shooting us for their most recent issue, they brought a videographer along to film a little house tour, which has just been posted on their site. So if you'd like to see a narrated tour of every single inch of our home and shoppe you can click here to check it out.



Also, here's a sneak peek of the Fall issue of Mini International magazine, featuring yours truly on the cover. Eek! Mini International is a lifestyle magazine created for Mini Cooper owners, and each issue focuses on a different international city. The next issue is all about San Francisco, and will also include a little interview with Derek and I.

Photo assignment: Read & Write

Thanks for all the great "read & write" photos! Inspired by our post from earlier today, next week's theme is: "sky blue". If you'd like to contribute a photo to next week's post just email it to info@curiosityshoppeonline.com by next Thursday!

Derek's photo


Lauren's photo


Tom's photo


Leigh's photo

Bev's photo

Conn's photo

Joelle's photo

Paige's photo

Parnell's photo

Cloud Cones

Just read this post about creative cloud photos over at Photojojo and am loving these ice cream cloud photos! You can click on the photos to see the flickr pages where they were found. There are lots more great cloud images to explore. (Top photo from i5prof's photostream, bottom photo from hb19's "SkyPlay" set.)

Go see this show!

A Moment For Reflection: New Work by Lydia Fong at Ratio 3 Gallery. We stopped by the opening last Friday night and it was amazing, amazing, amazing. (All images from Ratio 3.)

Photo assignment: Wheels

Here are everyone's wheels, going round and round... this collection looks great together! I love the muted color palette of all this week's photos. (Of course I had to go and ruin everything with mine...) Next week's photo assignment is: "read & write". Please email your pictures to info@curiosityshoppeonline.com by next Thursday if you'd like to participate. Thanks!

Derek's photo

Lauren's photo


Liz's photo

Bev's photo

Erin's photo

Leigh's photo

Rachel's photo