Garrett Shirts

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Garrett Shirts. His step-daughter gave him one of my cousins for Christmas and he made this shirt for her. Do you see?? That's me on the shield! I'm so super honored to be included as part of their family. You should take a sec and check out his for sale shirts on his website: GarrettShirts.com. Thanks a lot dude!

Favorite Things

Ok.. so we're moving in like 3 days now and don't really have time for any real adventures but here's a list of some of our favorite recently discovered, or rediscovered, things.

1- Liquor store boxes
2- Willis Alan Ramsey
3-Shoestring French Fries
4- Proud parents that come to visit
5- Ross Stores
6- Pandora Radio
7- Friends with weddings out of state so we're forced to go on adventures

Back in Action!

Come hang out with us at Chop Suey in Capitol Hill for I Heart Rummage THIS Sunday from 12-4. We're headed downtown to Buenos Aires for drinks afterwards! This is our first show of 2008 help us kick it off right.

Valentine's Day

I just found out that MC Chris is playing the Show Box in Seattle on Valentine's Day. I think I'm going to ask Fort to be my date.. or maybe I'll try and find her a real date and third wheel it.. You should come with us if you live around here!

A New Year.

So, wow, its 2008 already. How did that happen? So much occurred in the past year it feels like time just flew right by. I thought that when you're as little as I am that the days were supposed to feel like forever, not feel like they're blowing past.
Since the holiday rush has cooled off, I've been trying to take more time to explore the city. I hadn't previously been able to do so with the crazy travel/craft show schedule we'd been keeping. Its funny the things you don't notice when you don't take the time to look. For example, I was walking up 1st Ave the other day and came across a completely smashed computer monitor and television. I laughed about it with my friend and she told me it had been there for several weeks. I feel silly for missing it as 1)its kinda hard to miss and 2)I walk down first fairly frequently.I spent a decent amount of time walking in the downtown shopping district, people watching. Even though it was post xmas it was a flooded Saturday afternoon. So much hustle and bustle, I can only assume for the After Christmas Sales, which when I took a peek didn't seem all that impressive to me.
When the immense crowd started to get to me I decided I'd pop on down to Pike's Place Market to pick up some veggies for dinner. Out of the pot and into the pan. I had forgotten that it was in fact the weekend and you can barely move at the Market on Saturday and Sunday. The flying fish, the giant piggy everyone wants to take their picture on, and all the great handmade shopping are pretty alluring for tourists and Seattlites alike. I wish I didn't continuously make the mistake of going down there on the busiest days since it is pretty fun to walk around. But I got my veggies (and some purple potatoes - my favorite discovery of 2007) and headed home.
Maybe its just 1st Ave that attracts the weird goings on, or maybe I just pay more attention when walking on that street. A few months ago I saw a man cutting his hair in the middle of the road, and its a main one. This trip I discovered the empty collection of minis the homeless folks in the neighborhood coax out of the patrons of the liquor store.
Oh, no, wait. Its definitely not just 1st. Sunday we saw a man panhandling in a dress and over the top make up. I love this city.

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!

BUST Craftacular!

So.. ummmm.. I think all I can say is wow, what a whirlwind weekend! 4 Days 3 cities. I'm not sure I could do much more... Let's just start with the BUST Craftacular.
What an amazing show! We were so busy the entire time I hardly got to walk around and talk to anyone! Our table was next to Lollibomb and Lemon Cadet and straight across the way from Brookadelphia. I don't think we could have asked for a better spot ourselves! Fort was been a long time silent fan of Brookadelphia, so she was totally psyched, and ended up getting one of her awesome "Crafty" pendants! She also got a "Bourbon" necklace from t8designs, and a couple of xmas presents from other seller (I'd tell you tell you but that might ruin the surprise for a couple people!).We had a few new toddler zip up sweater shirts with us, that haven't even made it into the shop yet since we don't have a model, that flew off our table! Along with new scarf designs and and a couple of paintings that Fort just recently did.
Seriously guys, if you weren't at this event you better make sure you're there next year! There was a line to get in until 3pm! 3pm! Those are some super dedicated shoppers! Oh and I think I forgot to mention(!), Amy Sedaris was there signing her new book and selling some of her super crafty wears! We went and got her autograph for Danger Cloudy, he's a HUGE fan.Lollibomb, Fort, and I didn't go out and cause too much trouble after the show since we had to be up at the butt crack of dawn to fly down to Florida for the Atomic Holiday Bazaar, but more on that later! Right now I need to grab something to eat!

Recycler Rant

Dear Recycler Men,

Do you really sit outside my window and dump glass bottles into your truck every Wednesday at about 7:30? Does it reeeeally take you about 45 minutes to do so? There aren't that many apartment builds on this street. I'm starting to become convinced that you bring all of the bottles from the surrounding streets to our happy little cul-de-sac just to wake me up. I don't really want to be up this early. Do you really find it necessary to play with all of the knobs, buttons, and levers on your vechile while being parked outside my window? Don't you already know what those do? Would it be possible for you to do this on 4th Ave next week? I hear those people like to be rudely awaken at ungodly hours of the morning. I've tried sleeping in different rooms, but your clanking and clattering seem to resonate throughout all of the apartment. So please guys, please, let me sleep in a little for once. Thanks

Sincerely,
A very tired, slightly hungover, fairly irritated Ninja Fetus

Where to find us...

Good news folks! This weekend you can find Fort Cloudy on BOTH coasts!

If you live in the Baltimore area, head down to St. John's Church at 2640 St Paul St tomorrow (Dec 1) for Holiday Heap! A kick ass show brought to you by the Charm City Craft Mafia. For more information go to the CCCM's website! Make sure to go say hi to Danger Paul, it'll be his first show by himself.If you happen to find yourself on the other side of the country, come hang out with Fort and I at Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. We'll be there Saturday AND Sunday from 11a to 5p. Go to their website for more!We hope to see you getting your Holiday shopping on at one of these great events!

Always Learning...

Today I learned....
"baby jesus cries when you don't use a turn signal"

Don't upset baby jesus. C'mon people! ;P

STITCH!

TODAY, that's right today, Saturday November 10th come find Fort Cloudy and I down at Stitch in Austin, TX. The show has an amazing line up of sellers you do not want to miss. So come out and play with us. $10 with doors at 4pm and a fashion show at 9:30p. Seriously people, if you're in the area you will not want to miss this show! Just think about all the wonderful handmade goodies you can buy to finish off your xmas shopping or just get a little something for yourself. Since we just talked about how you need to sign the Handmade Pledge *cough cough* this is definitely the place you need to be. We'll see you there!

Take the Handmade Pledge!

In case you haven't heard of Buyhandmade.org, I want to strongly encourage you to check it out. So far over 4300 people have pledged to buy handmade goods this holiday season! I signed a couple of weeks ago and it was half that. So join the masses and bring a little extra handmade love into your home this holiday!

Spelling Bee

So, what's a fetus to do on the first Monday of a month? Join his good friend Kate (zoo1023) down at Re-Bar for a Spelling Bee! For just $5 you can go and participate in the (what will likely be) utter humiliation (I know I would have been slaughtered) or just go and watch.
Sign up starts at 7p and the spelling gloves come off at 8 sharp! Though word master, Josh, pulls out some pretty (ok, very) obscure words out for you, he seems genuinely excited for you when you get them right, and extremely nice about it when you don't.And what's the best part about the Spelling Bee being located in a bar? You can drink your embarrassment away! If you place in the top 2 you even receive drink coupons for the bar. How sweet is that?! The contest runs until about 10pm, providing 2+ fantastic hours of "what did he just ask her to spell??", "is that even a word??" , great laughs, and loads of fun!

Etsy Halloween Party

What's a fetus to do the Saturday before Halloween? Why fly to New York for the Etsy Halloween party, of course! So, Fort and I hopped on an airplane and headed to the Big Apple to hang out with all our super cool crafty friends.
In true Etsy fashion there was a ghost pinata handmade by the girls at the Labs! It was pretty awesome, and a lot of fun to take a swing at!
And a ton of gift bags to be handed out. I took a peek and saw that they even contained samples from Lollibomb Beauty! She definitely has some of the best lotion ever.There were a lot of really great costumes too! Anda from stopsandstarts was a pregnant skeleton, Jen from sweetestpea came as a Hug Robot, Sarah the Lawyer donned an awesomely snarky Hello Kitty costume, and Lollibomb and Fort were Etsy cheerleaders! I also spotted a unicorn, a Mexican wrestler, Laura Bush, Tammy Faye, and a couple of bunnies.
Since the Portland Street Team was in town for the trunk show they had the previous night, Urbana decided to set up shop again, offering Jager shots with the purchase of her cute small bowls. I wish Jager treated me a little better, because I would have loved to join in on the fun. Ruffeo Hearts Lil Snotty also had a couple racks out. They have some really awesome stuff! Going on the wish list for sure.
The Majestica Collective has been hanging out at the Etsy Labs for the past week offering workshops and performance art. The piece in the above photo involved a wooden frame, a large plastic bag, a shop vac, and a women. I would describe it past that, but I just don't know what to say. It was amazing, and I'm sure a bit windy :)Overall, it was an awesome party as all Etsy parties are. Definitely worth the hellish airport conditions it took to get there! Tomorrow is our last day in New York so we'll definitely have to squeeze out another awesome adventure before heading back out west for I Heart Rummage in Seattle.

Coolest candy ever.

Generally I curse countertop items for purchase at coffee stores due to the temptation that arises. BUT! These I'll take any day. They're like legos but candy.. that you can eat... and build with.. Pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen.. and eatten...
Fort kinda shook her head at me for a while and then gave in and joined the fun. And let me tell you, it was fun!

Crafty Wonderland

Yesterday, Fort, Lisha (our friend from Baltimore), and I, drove down to Portland to attend Crafty Wonderland. Its a nice little show with about 40 vendors, mostly local, held at the Doug Fir Lounge on Burnside.

The show was in the downstairs portion on the Lounge where they have concerts. (The Go! Team is playing there in a couple weeks and I kinda want to go...) I really liked the way they used the space in the room, having vendors on different levels made it very visually appealing.

The variety of the vendors was really neat, and it was nice to see a few paintings there as well. The group of vendors reminded me of a creaft-heavier Big Art Show. Mona, from Tinymeat / Mamadelic, was there! It was really nice to see a familiar face as well as meeting all those cool new vendors.
Our spot was on the stage so we were able to utilize the fun stage lighting! Maybe not the coolest thing in the world, but it sure amused me!

Burlesquin' it Up!

Wednesday night we head down to The Bedroom Club in Pioneer Square to catch the Burning Hearts Burlesque show. Miss Anita Goodmann hosted the evening. She just got through her divorce and was eager to put on a fantastic show (she succeeded).
There's not much better than cocktails and women tastefully taking their clothes off to pep up your Wednesday night! The performers were great! Ms Luna Nocturna did a really awesome Day of the Dead inspired number, as well as one with Absinth and the green fairy.
Sara Rose was there keeping our ears super entertained. She has a spectacular voice! Her microphone didn't work for the first half of her first song so she just belted it out as loud as she could! I was very impressed. Miss Elaine Yes came out for a few sets, as well as Miss Cassie O'Hara, and Miss Goody Goody! The show was all around fantastic!

Oh! And I forgot to mention that they made Fort get up on stage and gave her some birthday spankings. HA! I'm not sure if there's a good picture of it.. I'll ask around... She made me go with her so I couldn't get one.

Happy Birthday, Fort!

It's Fort Cloudy's birthday today! We're going to a burlesque show tonight!! There will be awesome pictures on flickr tomorrow ;) Hopefully it'll be a blog worthy night!

Stitch Rock!

This past week we headed down to South Florida to participate in Stitch Rock in Delray Beach and hang out with Luca of Lollibomb. Saturday morning we headed up to the show.There were a LOT of great vendors there. Some we had met before, like, Lollibomb, Owl Movement, Ragamufyn, Tuff Betty Bags, Erica Burns Designs, 75 Rabbit, and others
And we met some awesome new vendors, too: Snitches Get Stitches, Ciara Loves You, With Sugar on Top, Humble Bumble B, Backbone Music, and tons of other great crafters!There were also some local shops and boutiques at the show. We got to meet the cool folks from Bear and Bird Gallery and Pink Ghost! If you're ever down in the Delray/Fort Lauderdale area try and check them out!

The folks from ThreadBanger were also about checkin out the craft show for one of their episodes! Have you checked out their site before? I'm really excited to see this episode! They interviewed a lot of really great crafters including Lollibomb and Snitches Get Stitches.Stitchrock put on a really awesome fashion show, organized by Adrianne Ruffin. And one of my favorite things at shows... CUPCAKES! Which I bought a bunch of... so I'm gonna go eat one now.

Crafty Bastards!

This past weekend, had you been in Washington, DC you would have found Fort and I at Crafty Bastards, one of the East Coast's most rockin' craft show! We had a fantastic time meeting everyone that came out and stopped by our booth. A big thanks to them!
We were SO busy the whole day that I didn't get a chance to leave the table to take photos to share with you all. Partly Cloudy was going to come out to help, but the poor dear got food poisoning :(
So I don't have any photos for you.. but I can tell you that you should definitely try and check out the show if you ever can. The level of awesomeness will blow your mind.

Oh, and so you guys know: Fort has a bunch of new items that are about to drop in the store so check it out soon, if you get a sec! FortCloudy.com

Back to Seattle for us! Later!