So I’ve been following Melisser of The Urban Housewife and her journey to opening the doors of her San Francisco based vegan bakery, Sugar Beat Sweets. I was more excited when I saw Natalie of my beloved Bake and Destroy post about this opportunity for all of us to help out. The bakery will be the source for egg- and dairy-free artisan yummy goodness that uses organic and local ingredients whenever possible. Melisser started Sugar Beat Sweets back in 2007 as a custom order and wholesale bakery. She’s currently working to open the city’s first all-vegan and women-owned bakery storefront along with co-owners Jordan, Erika, and Jennifer. Exciting! Wanna help out? Check out this shirt collabo with Herbivore Clothing Company. A brilliant fundraising shirt. Proceeds from the sales will help in the opening process. These gals are not only talented bakers but also give a lot of their time to animal rights groups, so please help spread the word.
Hey, there, Monday. So, if you noticed I was missing {hopefully you missed me at least a little} and wondered about Friday Favorites, I’ll share a little something with you. If you are following me on Twitter {go on, do it} you may have seen my mention of The ART Weekend that I attended. So that’s what I’ve been up to. Three amazing days of learning. Hands-on art stuff and computer program things that make my head spin {in a good way, I think}. I have some poor quality cell phone pictures that I’ll post here and will give you more details later. I really want to share this with you all because if it comes around again, I think you should jump in and sign up for anything you have even the smallest interest in. It would be so worth it.
So, have a Happy, Happy Monday! I’ll catch you up on posts soon…
As I write this final Renegade SF Recap about the loot I scored, I’m still smiling. I’m smiling because I met Emily Martin. As in Emily Martin of The Black Apple. If you haven’t picked up on how much I love this girl already from all the past features, you’ll surely get an idea from this post.
Leading up to the fair, I knew that she’d be participating. Months ago when I noticed on her blog that she’d be here in San Francisco I knew. Knew that I had to make sure that I’d be off on at least one of the days of the Renegade weekend {preferably the first day so I could get first pick of goods}. It was in my calendar on my phone with an alert reminder and everything {as if I’d forget!}.
On Saturday I rode my bike to Fort Mason. I walked through the entrance and the excitement began to build as usual when I attend handmade fairs. I stood at the front for a second and thought to calm down and knew that this would be the first booth I’d like to visit. To my surprise, I turn and see this great sign reading “The Black Apple”.
I B line in the direction of that table. As I approach I see Emily and all of her creations. I already own some of her artwork and paper goods but always miss out on the dolls {trust me, everything sells out immediately during shop updates}, so of course concentrated first on those. I also picked up a print, two pouches made with custom fabric of her artwork, a roll of custom tape featuring her artwork and a brooch! Check it:
Alright, so I’m a big dork. But you know how you have a favorite artist {or someone} you want to meet in person and you have this image of how they’d be? Emily is just as sweet and lovely as I imagined. I guess my point in all of this gushing is that I wish you’d all have time to visit fairs like this. When you get to meet someone behind the product it’s fun and personal. I’m sure you’ll meet a designer or artist that you’ll dork out over just as I did.
While walking down one of the aisles at Renegade SF I saw something familiar. I had seen this before since I featured an item on the table sitting there before. Oh, joy! It was Shana of coo-koo-ri-koo! She was so nice and beautiful and fun to talk with and I, of course, had to grab something that had caught my eye. You know how I’ve been talking about my hair and its “in between” stage? Well, it only made sense that this come home with me to give my hair a little pick me up…
I met Chrissy of Boh Bon Soap Company this weekend! She was great and I picked up three bars of deliciously scented soaps. I’ve purchased from her before and loved them. My skin is very sensitive and doesn’t appreciate when I use things that aren’t natural or have too much scent to them. While the bars are scented, Chrissy uses pure essential oils which are absolutely friendly to both my skin and sense of smell. I chose two that I’d tried in the past {Spearmint and Eucalyptus and Lavender Rosemary} and a newer one {Tangerine Pomegranate & White Tea} that I can’t wait to use.
At this year’s Renegade I got to meet half of a very fun duo. Joel was so nice when I introduced myself. His fiance and business partner, Lauren, had just stepped away from the table so I missed her {hopefully next time}. Together as Old Tom Foolery they create super funny letterpress cards. Here’s the two I chose to gift my friends with…
You’ve seen me post about Leslie’s fashionable creations in her shop, Feisty Elle, for a while now. Of course, I was happy that I’d get to see her again and chat with her a bit at the Fair. I was also happy to see her newest designs in person. You know how much I adore the Orange Dahlia Earrings I own {again, mine are the larger size}, so naturally I would have to get another pair! Had to. It couldn’t be helped. I ended up going with the Large Magenta Petal Drop Earrings and know they’ll get plenty of wear-time! The color is fabulous, I love that she offers 2 sizes in her designs and that while I’m attracted to the larger, bolder pairs, they are so feather light because they are laser-cut felt!
{above is my terrible in-a-hurry photo (wanted you to see her lovely earring cards) and below is from her site}
What a weekend! I returned on Friday evening from my family trip {miss them already} and had a busy Saturday and Sunday full of fun, fun, fun. Saturday was the SF Renegade Craft Fair {second annual} at Fort Mason. This year was even better than last. There were more vendors and I had a chance to finally meet a few of my online friends and featured Mixed Plate crafters in person. I wanted to chat with more designers and artists that I recognized but missed out either because they were busy with customers {hooray!} or I ran out of time {boo!}. If I had a bigger apartment and more dough I would have had a bigger collection of goodies come home with me. But, here’s the loot I was fortunate enough to score {sorry about the terrible photo quality you’re about to see}…
ps – This is just the first post regarding Renegade SF because I have too much info to share!
Visiting Candystore Collective always brings a smile to my face. Anytime I’m in the Mission District I make it a point to stop in and see what’s new. If you haven’t been there in a while or if you’re not in San Francisco, here’s a peek of a few of my favorites…
Sorry for not posting yesterday. Technical difficulties. I do have to tell you that I was at 444 Jessie Street last night (Mezzanine). Can you guess what I was doing there? Were you there? I’ll see if any of my pictures came out and will post more about it later.
I saw Greg Laswell again here at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco on Monday. He was, once again, amazing. He and his bandmate, Brandon, played about 12 songs and I think know everyone was in love. In addition to having a great voice and playing the piano, guitar and drums (or using his guitar as a drum), Greg Laswell is super funny, too! He really does put on a nice intimate show and I, again, encourage you to see him if he’s in your neck of the woods. I cannot wait until he’s back in the area.
Some clips that other folks have uploaded from other performances:
oooh, someone put up one from the show I was at:
ps – I bought a shirt. I can’t recall ever buying a concert t-shirt before. I kicked myself last time for not having cash with me so I got one this time. And I am gonna wear it proudly!
Get out your calendar and save this date: Thursday, February 12.
Lisa Congdon (congrats on the new site!) will be showcasing her newest art collection full of gouache paintings, drawings and shadowboxes at BellJar. She touches on the theories of love in her pieces that will be on display starting February 12 through March 11. Stop on by and show her your support. A bonus? You’ll be at BellJar in the Mission District!
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 12, 6 – 9 p BellJar
3187 16th Street
San Francisco, California
415.626.1749
Aloha! I'm Liana. This is my site. I'm a Hawaii girl living in San Francisco. I am all about supporting handmade, independent and small business artists and designers. I really hope you like it here. Come, stay awhile... (...more)
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