Rae Dunn

Rae Dunn is a California native who now resides in San Francisco (a local)!  After getting her degree in Industrial Design, working in graphics and fashion design, she finally turned to clay as a potter and artist.

One glance through her thriving Etsy business makes me crave more pottery in my life.

Rae's work has an unfinished, earthy aesthetic, but her designs are simple enough to look sophisticated in even the most elegant home.  In her website bio, Rae says, "I don't strive for perfection in line and form in my work, because for me the balance I'm trying to achieve can't be represented that way. The incompleteness and imperfection of my work is part of the story."

For more info on Rae Dunn, you can visit her website here.

Fashion Friday

This post actually came about while I was doing my Wednesday Winks and I noticed nearly every link I marked was about fashion!  With the start of school fast approaching, I suppose it is time for a post on fall fashion (even though in sunny California it doesn't really become fall until Halloween).

I'm a bit schizophrenic when it comes to fashion, always trying to walk a fine line between unexpected bohemian and classic minimalism.  As opposed to summer - where I'm wearing the thinnest pants possible and resisting the urge to strip in public - the cool weather offers more opportunity to layer (read: more fashion choices), and more chances to experiment with color and texture.  Good thing, cause there are a lot of exciting new fall lines out (Hello Brochu Walker and Orla Kiely!).

Check it:

clockwise, from left:

Orla Kiely raincoat (via Black*Eiffel)

Brochu Walker (via Bliss)

Bhalo silk dress (via Greedy Girl)

Amy Butler Knits (!) (via sfgirlbybay)

Les Marquis des Anges "Claudine" blouse (via Etsy)

Oh My Hell (Renegade Craft Fair Part I).

Oooh, Renegade Craft Fair, can I just tell you?  SO awesome. So overwhelming.  I will be updating with pics tomorrow (The Black Apple!  The Small Stakes!), but first, I have a matter of business:

TO WHOMEVER HANDLES BOOKING AT FORT MASON:
Please be advised, you are on my list. 

Forever.  

Since you are obviously not clued in, let me offer my assistance.  The Renegade Craft Fair is awesome, and pretty popular in a hipsterville like San Francisco.  People want to go.

However, the Zac Brown Band is pretty dang popular, as well. I'm not much of a country fan, but I am "with it" enough to know that they have won quite a few awards, like Grammy's n'stuff, and therefore people are going to want to see them play.  Enough to drive the cowboys to San Fran in droves.

When parking in the Marina area is already pretty hard to come by on a sunny Saturday, as a majority of parking spaces are reserved for boat owners, this becomes problematic.  Because both of the above events require parking.  

Like, I said, problematic.

However, when you book a Barney's New York motherlovin' SAMPLE SALE on the same date and time and location as the above two events... by the Will and Grace of God I'm glad my children were not with me.  Because I'm 99% sure a well-dressed gay man or a housewife with a residence on Chestnut Street would have murdered them for my parking spot.

Which, by the way, took an hour to find.  An hour.  Do you not know what I had already been through just to get to the city?  That it took an hour to drop my car-sharing husband off at work two hours early (bless his heart), and my kids off at the long-suffering in-laws?  That it took me an extra half hour to go buy formula because I forgot it at home? That it took me TWO hours to even drive to Fort Mason, thanks to a brush fire and a Giants game?  

Have you been adding all this up? Because I did, and it's a grand total of four. and. a. half. hours. 

Lucky for you, the fair ended much later than I thought it did.  Lucky for you, I eventually found parking and had two glorious hours of craftdom.  Lucky for you, I had an understanding mother-in-law who was happy to keep my kids twice as long.  Because when you put that "LOT FULL" sign up and I thought the fair ended in half hour, I was a woman scorned.  There were tears.  Lucky for you, I was triumphant in the end.  Otherwise, you would already be dead.

So consider yourself fortunate; you got off easy this time.  But be warned, I will be back next year. And if you ever, ever, EVER do this to me again, I will load up a VW bus full of renegade craftsters and drive them straight to your door for a smite-fest.  

Regards,
 ~Alyssa

WANTING

This clock

Or this clock

This pillow

This Lego Lamp (my husband would freak)

Oh, this bedroom (thank you sfgirlbybay)

This

 These

Or this pigeon lamp, all from Smallable (thank you Design Mom)

And last but not least, this lamp to go over my dining room table

(thank you Design for Mankind, I too, want them all!)

For the Love of Paper - Part 2

My previous post on artist Yulia Bordskaya got me thinking about all the other great paper artists I have come across as of late. I thought I'd share some more inspiring paper art:

Rob Ryan (who I posted about as a Midweek Inspiration here):
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Rob Ryan's blog here, Shop here.

Next up, my friend Cindy Ferguson (who I met during my lovely years in Seattle):

Shop Cindy here.

And last but not least, Su Blackwell, who does uh-mazing book cut sculptures (shout out to Cindy for introducing me to her work):

Sorry, no shop for Su that I know of!

I just love the feeling you get when you discover something beautiful and new - a new song, a new artist... Do you have any favorite artists to share?

Upholstery: A Dying Art

As I troll the web looking for DIY ideas for my current redecorating obsession, I keep coming across upholstery. Or reupholstery, to be more specific. With the big recession and all, people seem to be realizing that new doesn't necessarily been better, and "upcycling" old junky furniture is one of the best ways of recycling - and saving money!

Etsy just posted a TERRIFIC video by the gals from Spruce in Austin, who've updated the lost art of reupholstery.

Check it out!

Etsy Find!

K, let's ignore the fact that is in fact another Love. Want. Need. post, and concentrate on how cute this quilt is:

Really now. How cute is this quilt?

While we agree with Esty maker The Bobbin's Nest that the Wee Three Birds Boy Quilt would be perfect for baby boy nursery (it is, after all "crib sized")... we happen to think it'd be cute in a guest room. Or any room, for that matter.

And at $185, it's actually a steal for a lovingly handcrafted quilt.

Get it before it's gone!