Survival Annex - Plant Exchange!!

Come one, Come all!!! In conjunction with her amazing Survival Annex shop within the Shoppe, store manager Aurora Crispin will be hosting a Plant Exchange tomorrow, SATURDAY JANUARY 22ND. We've arranged for a break in the rain, so please arrive promptly at 5pm at Mission Playground Park (directly across from the Shoppe on Valencia btwn. 19th & 20th) with your favorite Cuttings, Clippings, Starts, and Foraged Plants.
See you there!

Making

We have been crafting up a storm around here, and I'm excited to share some of our recent projects with you! Unfortunately when our computer died in November we lost tons of photos of our apartment redo, (we've completed the living room and made some serious progress on the dining room) but I'm planning to reshoot some stuff this week. In the meantime here is my first pair of socks, made with "Mega Boots" wool that D gave me for Xmas.

"New Trees"

I was flipping through a recent issue of Condé Nast Traveler (is anyone else getting subscriptions to all kinds of weird magazines now all our favorite ones are closing?) and came across these photos of "new trees" by photographer Robert Voit. Every once in a while Derek will point out a cell phone tower disguising itself as a piece of the natural landscape while we are out driving, and I find them so interesting. The evergreen "tree" with the streetlights coming out of its trunk is my all time favorite. A new book from Steidl comes out at the end of the month, and there is currently a show of this work up at the Amador Gallery in New York.

Survival Annex Opening

We had such a great time at the opening of the Survival Annex on Friday night! Thanks to all who came out, and congratulations to Aurora and all the amazing artists who created work for the show. More pics here.

Survival Annex Shop within the Shoppe!

Signs advertising the wide array of objects for sale in Aurora Crispin's Survival Annex (a shop within the Shoppe) that opens tomorrow, Friday January 8th 2010.

2010 is definitely starting off with a BANG here at the Curiosity Shoppe! Our wonderfully talented Shoppe Manager Aurora has curated an insanely ambitious show in our gallery space. A super artist herself, Aurora has wrangled up a long, long list of the most exciting and talented folks around to contribute to her shop within the Shoppe called Survival Annex. She and the awesomely talented Jesse Schlesinger have built an amazing structure in our gallery space that looks like some sort of surreal Gold Rush-era general store. It's beautiful and jam-packed with all manner of creative and unique and gorgeous objects. To learn more about the project, and see the list of participating artists/vendors check out the Survival Annex blog. Lauren and I also contributed to the Annex. I'm offering up 100% Raw Honey from my beehive ($10), and Lauren has created a series of crocheted spiderwebs ($25).

We hope to see you at the Grand Opening of the Survival Annex tomorrow, Friday January 8th, from 6-9pm inside the Curiosity Shoppe (855 Valencia St. btwn. 19th & 20th sts.)

Calendar-of-the-Month Postcards

In my opinion, you can't ever have enough calendars (I've already got 3 going for 2010) and you know we love wallpaper, so this monthly "calendar-of-the-month" postcard subscription featuring a different vintage wallpaper on the front of each one is right up our alley. A one-year subscription is only $15 and is available for purchase at the mail order pals etsy shop.

We're back!

Happy New Year, friends! I didn't realize how long it's been since our last post here at smartsandcrafts until I sat down at the computer this morning. December is always a bit nuts for us at the shoppe, and we hightailed it out of town as quickly as we could on the 24th for our annual week away from all things work-related. Headed up to our favorite cabin on the Russian River again for 7 days of relaxation, hanging out by the fire, watching movies, taking walks among the redwoods, and visits with family. We have lots of exciting projects planned for 2010, and we're looking forward to a great year!