Bumbershoot 2007

2 blocks away from my apartment, at the Seattle Center, Bumbershoot, a 3-day concert/art festival is taking place. The last two times I went, it was HORRIBLE! A lot of bands play, its insanely crowded and in no way you get to see every show because you have to wait in various lines all day. IT SUCKED and it was a let down! So why the heck would I go this year?

I wanted to check out FLATSTOCK – a poster/illustration convention that takes place within the festival every year. I also wanted to check out the huge market of independent crafters selling their stuff. I made no effort what-so-ever to see any shows (well except one) and it turned out to be a great day for me.

I got into the festival around 2, roamed the poster convention, bought a really cool illustration from a local artist and then met up with my old cube-mate/fellow Philadelphian Charles and his friends at Solo in Queen Anne for a drink. What a great idea since it was a block away, empty and much cheapier than the beer gardens inside the festival.

When we re-entered the center, it was INSANELY packed so I said goodbye to the crew and went on a solo adventure to see what I wanted to see without dealing with the crowds. I ventured through the various indie market sections and met a lot of cool crafters.

One booth was Chronicle Books Publishing House, they are based out of San Francisco and publish one of my favorite artist/crafters Jill Bliss. Some of you know I carry around a journal book that I keep random notes, to-do list, concert schedule, and so forth in– its created by her. As a designer, I found a lot of this publisher's items inspirational. There are so many talented people out there that it constantly inspires me to do more creative stuff. I ended up buying a bunch of stuff from Chronicle Books.
This is what I bought:
– Jill Bliss's Notecard set
– Lotta Jansdotter's Notecard set
– Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter
– STYLEPEDIA by S. Heller and Loise Tili, a book that tracts the history and various style trends, mannerisms and so forth of the graphic design world.







The gals at the Chronicle Books was super sweet. Based in San Fran, one of the gals and I had a small chat about a boutique I love there called Doe that I found through Jill Bliss's site. She recommended another place to check out on my October trip to San Fran.

ETSY also had a booth at the festival. Cheryl, Kaitlyn and my mom are aware of Etsy from me yapping on about it. Its a site that lets indiependent crafters sell their work. Maybe one day, when I figure out what crafts I want to focus on, I can sell stuff on there too. But in the meantime, I plan to support the passionate crafters and buy gifts from them. Check it out and if you tend to like making stuff....get your items up on the site!

After spending too much money, I met up with Katie, Leanne and Seth at the Block Bottle for some yummy food and drinks. Afterwards, I ran back to the space needle to see Devotchka. If you saw "Little Miss Sunshine" their music was featured through most of it. Super talented, fun band to see. So many people were dancing! Its the type of music that captures the heart of all ages. The violionist is AMAZING! I filmed some of their performance but unfortunately due to my ass shaking to their catchy tunes, the video is quite shaky. Check out their music... .DEVOTCHKA