If you do a lot of shipping, I suggest you read the rest of this article from the Consumerist. Straight from a Postal worker’s mouth, there’s advice to keep yourself from getting wallet raped at the Post Office.

On December 6th and 7th, 2008, over 100 indie crafters will be selling their work at the fourth annual Urban Craft Uprising, at the Seattle Center in downtown Seattle…and you could be one of them!



Urban Craft Uprising’s third annual revolutionary craft fair, held in December of 2007, brought in a mass of talented vendors from all over the Northwest and over 6,000 fans excited to see fun, fresh, and funky urban crafts. UCU’s phenomenal success has captured the eye of local and national organizations alike.

Applications are available now!

Deadline: September 8th.

doug stanhope, one of my favorite philosophers, sent out a myspace bulletin with the following idea. it made me laugh, please make it happen:

Subject: Free Idea… Please Use

Please make a Youtube video of Death courting John McCain in a “You’re My Type” kinda way – like the Obama Girl.

You only need rudimentary lyric writing. Its the filming – the figure of Death playing a shy, playful teen-crush with that corpse of a candidate – that’ll take work. A couple hours anyway. And I dont have that kinda skill or time.

You might.

Easy network coverage.

Get on it.

stanhope

p.s. i met stanhope after his gig last year at the heinously located laugh’s comedy spot. as he came near, he broke into a huge grin and muttered “i love it!” and we shook hands. i think he appreciated my style amidst a sea of frat boy baseball caps… but he was also the better (or worse) for substances so it’s just as possible that doug thinks he hallucinated me.

watch this video and you’ll know why i love doug stanhope. clicky.

want to help some 1st and 2nd grade students learn about the postal service and the creativity of strangers?

my pal nick‘s sister is a teacher and has sent out a call for postcards of all kinds. their class will be collecting stamps and keeping track of the location of senders.

i don’t want to post the address online, so if you’re interested, leave a comment and i’ll drop you the info! viva mail art!

photo credit: mquest

having mentioned before what i refer to as my “perverse, white-knuckled humility,” regarding accomplishments of any kind, i’d like to take a moment also to speak of the seemingly widespread inability to accept compliments.

a friend mentioned to me recently that when someone tells me they like my work, “shut up” might not be a a gracious or appropriate response. i am genuinely enthusiastic about other people, making sure i tell them how i feel, and have come to realize that i’m not the only one who has a hard time accepting that kind of attention. (k…and b…i’m talking to YOU.)

we could get into all kinds of reasons and therapize all day long, but i came across this post on lifehack that deals with some concrete yet nurturing list of compliment-accepting techniques. here’s a snippet from the intro:

Think of the good we might do ourselves by easily accepting every compliment that’s offered us, even if we’re not entirely sure the person complimenting us is totally earnest. Instead of undermining our self-confidence, we would feed it. Instead of denigrating our achievements, we would promote them. And instead of tearing down relationships, we would strengthen them. A compliment is, after all, a kind of gift, and turning down a gift insults the person giving it, suggesting that you don’t value them as highly as they value (soon to be “valued”) you.

it’s a great read and, even better, completely actionable. clicky. <via>

if you’re in seattle, come spread your surplus with us:

Did you clean out your house for the new year? Have craft supplies you don’t want anymore? Don’t know what to do with them? We have an answer for you. Come meet Kristen, owner of Schmancy and curator of Plush You and Moxie, needle felting master and local artist for our first, Sunday Swap Smackdown.

We know how it feels to have tons of “potential projects” sitting around your house and taking up room. But is it really worth it? It makes you feel bad to see all those possibilities that are not being put to good use. Don’t feel bad anymore. We will be setting up along with other local crafts people to swap out the old with something new (to you).

It’s a perfect way to clean up your studio and not let things go to waste. You will each set up and then swap with someone you want something from. It’s easy and free and you get to meet some like minded people in the process! If you have a table you can easily bring along, bring it. Or just bring yourself and the things you want
to get rid of. We will also set up a FREE box for those that just want to get rid of things.

We will also be happy to take anything left over at the end of the meet to donate to Girl Scouts Beyond Bars. (GSBB keeps mothers and daughters connected face-to-face while providing girls a safe, supportive space to persevere through their challenges together.)

We will be meeting up at at Uptown Espresso (500 Westlake Ave N) on
Feb 3rd from 11 to 2.

when you try to listen to some this american life online, most of which is awesome AND free, and you type in .com instead of .org, you are met with:

– the phrase “sex offender”

– a generic, not-smiling pretty lady

– an elderly woman who has fallen down and, indeed, can’t get up

– the startlingly disapproving face of c. everett coop

don’t believe me? here…take a big steaming gawk for yourself:

don’t be like me: .org when it’s .org. and while you .org, listen to this or this or this.

hi. my name is moxie and i am a supply hoarder. i’m not proud, but it’s something i tend to do. when it comes to art supplies, it’s easy to over-hoard because colors and shapes are so inspiring and you just never know what you might need when the creative urge strikes.

so, i used to be a bead person and these photos are the result of my 10 years of bead related hoarding. i haven’t used any of what’s here for over a year and thus i conclude: i’m done.

but i’m too lazy to use ebay and i really really want you to take it. please please somebody get these wonderful bead-stuffs out of my home. if you’re interested, email me at destash{.at.}weareallangry[..]com, make me an offer and we’ll work something out. for real. more photos and detail: clicky.