felt up

Ignoring not a few public service announcements, we braved the acrid, smoke filled air of L.A. on Sunday and went to "Felt Club".

For those of you unfamiliar with Felt Club, it's a huge, shopping event featuring the indie crafts movement that's come to the forefront of the creative community in recent years.

With on line sites such as etsy and trunkt, it's so easy these days to buy and sell really great art. Felt Club offers a space to come see the quality of the work and get an idea for the vibe behind the movement. The line was long but moved quickly and once inside, it was a crazy, circus like atmosphere.

DJs spinning tunes, food, cocktailing, random performance artists. Much to the embarrassment of my children, I had to sidle up to Yo Gabba Gabba DJ, Lance Rock for a photo op. {because you know I'm just that kind of a, star *friender* }

one of my favorites, miriam dema, from whom we bought that really cool 'wish' print she's handing us here,

along with a great bike calendar. Her booth was absolutely packed and things were flying.

of course the super talented collage artist, michelle caplan ~below~was there {I'm not sure it would be a proper felt club experience without her booth}

and probably one of my absolute favorite etsy designers is miss natalie {oh, oops. her eyes are closed. I didn't realize that until just now. ~sorry Natalie!}

{I did a posting on her growth chart several months ago}

loved, loved these little hand painted eggs.

and a pirate supply kit! who doesn't need a few pirate supplies in their bag of tricks? I love this!!

All of her items are so, incredibly innovative, creative, beautifully designed. I highly recommend checking her out on etsy

this sign, of course, caught my eye and her work really was 'rad'. rings hand carved of different woods. gorgeous. gorgeous.

If you don't know about mahar dry goods. oh. seriously. Go right now and check out Robert's site. It's a mecca of Vintage and Artisan goods. Might be one of my top, top go to sites for gifts {especially for kids}

I'm not sure why I didn't take more photos of his booth. I think I was too mesmerized with everything. We did love these little snow globe jars:

handmade looking but so well done, that no way could you make these and have them, end up looking this cute. They come in their own little gray flannel pouch.

more cool stuff from various artists:

And of course, this whole experience wouldn't be complete without the debut of the new book:

HANDMADE NATION. The Rise of DIY, Art,Craft and Design

'the book that Chronicles the makers of the emerging indie crafts movement by the filmmaker {Faythe Levine} responsible for the documentary of the same name'

one of the co-authors, Cortney Heimerl

If you're unfamiliar with the work of Levine and Heimirl you really need to check out their work *here*