Lengua Viva in Truckee is hosting a Holiday Arts and Crafts Gathering December 12 with goods by “undiscovered Tahoe artisans,” and guess who’s gonna be there? Yep, I’m totally undiscovered, and have committed to a booth. I’m currently hunting for others to flesh out my puny wares, so if you live in Tahoe, have a craft and are mysterious about it, then let me know. The more the merrier!

Shop the fair and enjoy live music and tasty treats there, from 4–8pm on December 12. 10070 Frates Lane (behind Ace Hardware)


Ok, so scratch that whole “postcard of the month” idea. I have way too many postcards, and ones on the way thanks to my recent PostCrossing membership, to limit myself to one a month. I now bring you: weekly postcard viewings from my collection! This one is especially spectacular as it marks the first wooden postcard I have ever received.

TITLE: Penelope Pirate Owl

ARTIST: Night Owl Paper Goods of Homewood, Owlabama

SENDER: Lyndsey, who found this sustainably harvested wood postcard at an art walk in Bellingham, Washington.

DATE: November 2009


Get ready, the holidays are approaching fast! And to help you get your cards out in good, crafty fashion—and on time—Brickelltown Crafternoons is hosting a Holiday Card Making Class tomorrow, Monday November 23, 4:30–7:30 pm, at the Brickelltown compound in downtown Truckee. Linocut stamps, fabric and recycled paper are just a few of the items available to embellish cards, and the goal is for each person to make at least 15.

RSVP to truckeecrafternoons@gmail.com


a ray from my figurine collection (he's even traveled to mexico with me) and a smile i encountered on a boat

It rains gratitude around Thanksgiving, and rightly so. There’s just so much to give thanks to. My personal list is so long it would surely send you into a trypophane-like sleep.

Thus, for the purposes of being concise (and the ModCloth Thanksgiving Thank-a-Thon blog contest), I’m going to pick one thing today: quirk. You know those tidbits of uniqueness that make you smile? The oddities, the weirdness, the unexplainable attributes that make someone or something appealing, or perhaps appalling at the same time.

With out little quirks, what would we laugh about at home? What would our loved ones appreciate us for? What would we obsessively collect, or look at online? Cute Overload would cease to exist. Etsy’s wierdness category would be forever lost. Certainly, ModCloth’s items (like this Fresh Prints of Bel Air shirt) would be without their pop culture–inspired names.

I stumbled upon Spontaneous Smiley a few days ago and was amazed at the dorky simplicity of finding smiley faces in everyday items: bread, cookies, machinery, nature. Knowing that others also embark on silly adventures makes me happy. So thank you to all the strange things I do and collect, and to everyone else in the world who goes above and beyond normal!


PHOTOGRAPHER: JB Budny of JB Photographic

PLACE: somewhere in Tahoe

SENDER: none, this one’s from my personal collection of “too pretty to send yet.” (maybe I’ll send it out in the great white sea of mail now since I’ve properly documented it)

DATE: circa 2006

*I’ve been collecting postcards for more than 10 years now, and I’ve always been thinking of a clever way to display them. Now, thanks to the wonderful world of WordPress blogging, you can enjoy them, too.


she's crafty

hanni with her creations + the baby blanket we made together

Another month, another Moonshine. Yep, it’s time to check out my latest DiStill Life column in Moonshine Ink. While I try to put a personal touch on everything I write—by attending the art opening, taking the art class or simply covering an artist whose work I am really in to—this month’s musing on the North Tahoe arts scene takes the personal cake, you could say.

Hanni, one of my best friends and “partner in craft” (as I dub her in my story), recently moved back to Alaska. Bearing witness to her many talents over the past year inspired me to be more crafty, and I reflect upon our partnership and many other duos creating great things in our community. Read my column on page 69, or view it online (I’ll post the link as soon as it’s up).


up to dry
Next week’s Brickelltown Crafternoon brings the basics of screen printing with Bryan Hassemer of Green Bikes North Tahoe. I’ve admired his work for some time now (see his designs at Truckee’s Riverside Studios), and plus he’s just an all-around amazingly nice person. In fact, he was instrumental in helping my old roommate screenprint the save-the-dates for her wedding. Think of what he can teach you!
Here are the details for the class; RSVP today as spots fill up.

Basics of Screen Printing: how to print & make your own tools at home

Tuesday November 17 4:30 p.m. @ Truckee’s Brickelltown

*cost: $20 (additional supplies available to purchase)
*bring: paper to print on, stencil ideas, exacto knife (if you have one), high contrast b/w photo
RSVP to truckeecrafternoons[at]gmail.com

Man's head filled with wires and circuits, high section

Everything happens at once, they say, and for me, ’tis true this coming Thursday (November 12) when I’ve already RSVPed to the Artists Unite event sponsored by the Arts and Culture Council of Truckee Tahoe, and then this gem comes up at Sierra Nevada College’s Prim Library: A College Collective: Cyborgs and Dandelions.

A non-themed juried exhibition, A College Collective will bring student works from Lake Tahoe Community College, Sierra College, Western Nevada College, Truckee Meadows Community College and, of course, SNC. Though I’ll miss the opening reception this Thursday, the show runs through December 10. yeehaw!

Artists Unite is at Truckee’s Carmel Gallery from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and is like an artists’ mixer and plus they’ll be an update on the work of the Arts and Culture Council of Truckee Tahoe.


goodbye fall

09Nov09

eagle rockwinter tomorrow

It’s so sad to see the deciduous trees lose their leaves (well, they actually don’t lose them but push them off says NPR). Check out the same view off Eagle Rock, taken a few weeks ago and this past weekend—brings a tear to the eye doesn’t it?

Yet fallen leaves take on a life of their own for a brief few days, and I was lucky enough to catch some flanking the lakeshore on Saturday.

a fall shoreline

Yet with the departure of those fall colors we love comes the white stuff we love even more. Skiing is much more fun than tromping through leaves. (Though I would have to argue that raking leaves is more fun than shoveling snow.) Enjoy the last few days of the season!