Thursday Photo Assignment: Trees

Phew- these 12 and 14 hour work days in December are a doozy! Sorry I didn't get these up earlier! Looking at these beautiful tree photos, which are so lovely and quiet, are the perfect way to end a very busy day. Thanks to everyone who sent in their pics!

Next Thursday's photo assignment is: "blue". Please email your pics to smartsandcrafts@gmail.com before next Thursday if you'd like to participate.

Derek's photo


Lauren's photo

Natalie's photo


Brooke's photo


Leigh's photo


Kalli's photo


Caroline's photo


Beth's photo


Caitlin's photo


Kathy's photo


Tom's photo


Joelle's photo


Sparkie's photo


Andrew's photo

Mission Holiday Block Party!!

We are so very thankful to have a shop in such a wonderful, vibrant, and unique neighborhood. Much of what makes the Mission District of San Francisco great has to do with our fantastically creative and hardworking neighbors. We are very excited to be participating again in this year's Mission Holiday Block Party. Please come down this Friday, December 11th and visit each and every one of the friendly, independently owned businesses in the neighborhood participating in this festive and fun event. From 5 to 10pm we'll be offering 10% off everything in the Shoppe, as well as free drinks and snacks. We've got tons of great new stuff arriving every day, so now is the perfect time to come say hello and pick up a little somethin'somethin' for all your friends and family. See you Friday!!!

Wooden Gift Tags by Miss Natalie

The holiday season is in full force, and we are hard at work packing and shipping orders, making sure we have lots of fun items in stock, and helping customers pick out the perfect gift items for their loved ones this year. You all know by now that one of our very favorite things is working with artists to create exclusive items for the shoppe, and we are so excited that our friend Miss Natalie created these special, limited-edition wooden gift tag sets for us this year.
Natalie created a set of 4 hand painted, wooden gift tags that can be used to adorn your presents, and then be kept as Christmas Tree ornaments for years to come. There are only 36 sets available and they're going fast, so get yours while you can! (Click here to purchase.)

Stencil 101 Workshop this Thursday

Ed Roth knows a thing or two about decorating with stencils. His how-to books, Stencil 101 and the new Stencil 101 Décor, are favorites of ours at the shoppe, and not only include awesome project ideas and instructions, but tons of plastic stencils that are ready to use. And we're not talking grape leaves and teddy bears here- Ed's designs include muscle cars, birds, and houndstooth prints. Actual patterns that we'd be happy to decorate our walls and furniture with.

Lucky for us, he will be stopping by the shoppe this Thursday. December 10th, from 7-9 pm to host a Stencil 101 Holiday Card Making Workshop. It's free to the public- no reservation required. Just stop by after work for a glass of wine and a little craftin' with Ed. It's guaranteed to be a blast.

Strange States of Matter Opening Reception Tonight!

We have spent the past week ooh-ing and aah-ing over Tom Bonauro's amazing prints in the Shoppe gallery, and we'd love for you to join us tonight from 6-9pm to honor Tom and celebrate the holidays with a glass of bubbly. What makes this show particularly exciting for us is that Tom has created a variety of works that are not only beautiful, but affordable. From the framed works, to the limited edition "What the Hell" prints, this is the perfect opportunity to join the ranks of the SFMOMA and add a piece of Tom's work to your own personal collection.

Oh yeah, and we're offering 10% off all items in the Shoppe!!

Here are the details:
Tom Bonauro/Strange States of Matter Opening Reception
at the Curiosity Shoppe
Tonight! Saturday, December 5th, 6-9pm
855 Valencia Street, San Francisco
415-671-5384

Hope to see you there!

Coin Purse Love

One of my favorite new items in the shoppe this holiday season is the handmade Kisslock Coin Purse from eleen. (I plan to "gift" one to myself for Christmas.) We met Eleen at the Renegade Craft Fair last year, and she was kind enough to make some of her lovely coin purses for us to sell in the shoppe. They are made out of grey wool with a cute wool ¢ appliqué on it, and you know we're all about appliqué right now- and she even let us choose the interior fabric design. (We chose woodgrain of course!) I have had a kisslock coin purse closure in my craft bucket for a couple years now and still haven't made anything with it, and these little purses have inspired me to find the perfect fabric and give it a try.

Speaking of Renegade, they are putting on some holiday craft fairs this month in Chicago and SF. Check their website for more info!

Thursday Photo Assignment: Hands

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving- was that already a week ago?? These "hands" photos are great! Next week's theme is: "trees". Email your photos to: smartsandcrafts@gmail.com before next Thursday if you'd like to participate!

Derek's photo

Lauren's photo

Andrew's photo

Tom's photo

Joelle's photo

Caitlin's photo

Janet's photo

Hana's photo

Beth's photo


Sparkie's photo

This Just In!!!

As we mentioned in our last post, our friend Lea of Leafcutter Designs (and the World's Smallest Postal Service fame...) is a never ending source of wonderfully creative ideas. To prove that point, Lea just invited us (and therefore YOU) to participate in a super exciting and fun new project.

This one involves the 500 Colored Pencils Subscription Set from Felissimo that we've been drooling over. Well, Lea won herself a couple subscriptions and would like to share the love with all of us. Instead of keeping the beautiful set to herself, she is going to be sending out pencils to anyone interested in contributing to "With A Pencil In My Pocket". She explains the project in detail on her site, but basically you sign up (for $35) and each month (for the next 20 months) you will be sent one of these very special pencils. You will then be tasked with doing something that you feel represents the color of your particular pencil, and then writing a very short story about your experience. Check out her site for some really good examples.

Spots are limited, and filling up quickly, so head on over to Lea's site and sign up now!

We can't wait to get started! This is going to be awesome!!

Lea's Curio Search

You may know Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs from her monthly visits to the shoppe with the World's Smallest Postal Service. She is also the brains behind the ever-popular wiggly eye dice and earrings for spontaneous seeding that we sell. Every time we see Lea, she's got a new brilliant idea that she executes to perfection, whether it's a matchbox theater, a teacup lending library, or a"noodle performance kit". A new service that Lea offers through her website is the Curio Search, which operates as follows:

You give her a list of 20 descriptive words and a price limit, and she will search high and low for the perfect curio to send to you in return, along with a letter explaining the history of the object. Genius, right?

Here are some examples (and results) of recent searches:

Words: new orleans cat vintage paper lantern flower lunch box texture floaty pen creative mermaid shoes tea towel art flirty romantic

Result: Mermaid Fishing Lure

Words: Josh, creative, orange, green, glasses, left, loved, loving, diligent, hilarious, gadget, Apple, Fall, Christy, Cade, Clara, parent, fourteen, cat, computer

Result: Folding Heart Glasses

Lea will be at the shoppe this Sunday, December 6th with the World's Smallest Postal Service (her last visit of the year) from 1-5pm. Stop by, say hello, and don't forget to bring your holiday notes and addresses for Lea to transcribe onto microscopic stationery and envelopes!

Craft-a-thon

Our friends Jen and Josh came over last Friday for Thanksgiving leftovers and an evening of crafting. Lucky for me, they left their felt beet and pie pins here, and I've enjoyed wearing them on my sweater the past couple days.

Holiday Windows!

Last week, our friend Kate Pruitt (a regular contributor of incredible DIY projects to design*sponge) came by with a car full of amazing props to deck our our windows for the holidays.

She whipped up this cozy, miniature bear den, complete with a chair, gift pile, pendant lamp, and (best of all) framed Wayne White and Curiosity Shoppe Small Stakes prints.

These ingenious paper trees were a breeze to make, using fringed paper, wooden dowels, and our trusty hot glue gun.

Bear paws by Derek, and wallpaper background by Lena Corwin!

Here's Kate, among her forest of paper trees.

Apple Place Settings

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, and used apples as our place settings.

Scenes from the workshop

Thanks again to Kayte Terry for a great workshop last Saturday!
Make sure to check out her amazing book and craft kits, now available in the shoppe.

They're Baaaack!!

It has become a holiday tradition here at the shoppe to showcase the work of our pal Jason Munn of The Small Stakes during the month of December. This year we have 10 new posters from on display, all screen printed by hand in beautiful Oakland, for bands such as Andrew Bird, Death Cab for Cutie, The Dirty Projectors and the Monsters of Folk. Awesome!! I mean, just look how excited Derek is in the photo!

Available in the store only (if you'd like to purchase them online, please visit Jason's site.) C'mon over and check them out!