Tag Archives: crafts

Artist & Craftsman Supply Tacoma

The Artist & Craftsman Supply Store at 612 St. Helens in the Antique Row area of Tacoma opened in November 2016. Dear husband and I finally made our way down there and really we were very impressed. Dear husband has been in many an art supply store, but he declared this to be the best stocked that he has ever seen. We picked up some Easter basket stuffers, a book, some paint and some photo-transfer sheets. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable and I’m positive we’ll be back.

Artists & Craftsman is an employee owned company with  many stores, mostly along the country’s coasts. There is a website for the company. The Tacoma Artist & Craftsman store has a Facebook Page with information on upcoming events and sales. Educators receive a 10% discount.

The building, constructed in 1928, was originally the Wagner Motors Building with Silas E. Nelsen as the architect. It was the dealership for Studebaker – Erskine. It continued to have an automobile orientation until 1949 when it became a carpet distributor. I remember it being the Mandarin Antiques Store. Artist and Craftsman occupies most of the lower level of the building.

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Update one week later. It finally stopped raining for a few minutes and I got a photo of the outside of the building.

 

Folk Art in West Seattle

Dear husband and I were recently in West Seattle and I took the chance to check out some folk art, roadside attractions. The first stop was at 5274 44th Ave. SW, Seattle, WA and that home had some wonderful tree carvings in the front. Dear husband especially enjoyed the fairy hanging out on the chimney. The roadside attraction info can be found here. This is a private residence, but the art can readily be seen from the street.

The second stop was the nearby Walker Rock Garden at 5407 37th SW, Seattle, WA. I remember going to see this rock garden more than 20 years ago when it was open one Mother’s Day. I was so impressed. Here are some older photos from when I begged a peek. The amazing rockery was created by Milton and Florence Walker and the property has since sold. I’m not sure of any future plans, but it would be so wonderful if it was again opened up to the public on special occasions. The roadside attraction information can be found here and there is an Atlas Obscura entry, with some good photos, that can be found here. This is a private residence and not open to the public.

 

 

Fremont Sunday Market, Seattle, WA

image1(4)Dear husband and I had a quick day trip up to Seattle and we stumbled upon the Fremont Sunday Market which operates every Sunday from 10 to 4 (5 in the summer). It had a great selection of crafts, vintage goods and clothes and some wonderful food trucks all at one end. It even had a dinosaur eating a meatball! I walked away with the scarf for myself and a holiday present for my friend Susan. Of course since I was there I snapped some other Fremont photos 🙂

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Granville Island, Vancouver BC

During our last Vancouver visit many years ago, we explored Granville Island, so I was eager to return and see if it is as wonderful as I remembered. It was even better. We took the SkyTrain into the city and then caught the bus to the market entrance.

19919280216_d4d7793528_k The first thing we did was go to the market building to grab some lunch, which we enjoyed along with the stunning view of the harbor and city.  Dear husband and I shared the mushroom pot pie.

19379968373_1c47338dce_o(1)19993094492_21c5710e37_oLater we strolled through the busy market with its many buildings, enjoying the unusual produce, delis and gift items. It is a foodie mecca. In 1915 the island was created from reclaimed land and became home to industrial uses and in the late 1970s it developed into its current mixed use.

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Tinkertopia, Tacoma’s Creative Reuse Center

IMG_5272The Tacoma Studio Tours happened on a rainy, windy weekend but I was determined to go to at least some of them. Tinkertopia at 1914 Pacific Avenue is really delightful and it would be easy to spend a great deal of time here, but not a great deal of money since everything is so reasonably priced. To get a sense of the place, check out the photos below and the website which has plenty of links to articles and a free mini poster! Tinkertopia is a Spaceworks Project and when their Spaceworks funding expires they will be able to continue with the generous support of University of Washington, Tacoma.

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Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia

Childhood’s End at 222 4th Avenue West in Olympia is one of my very favorite galleries. They feature Northwest and national artists and have a delightful combination of unusual and lovely decorative and functional items. Today I bought a pair of earrings that feature a tree design.The exterior wall of the store has this dramatic mural.

http://www.childhoods-end-gallery.com/

 

RAGS Wearable Art Sale & Show

Each year the YWCA has a benefit for their domestic violence prevention & intervention programs. This year it was at Larson’s Mercedes-Benz of Tacoma at 1701 Alexander Avenue in Fife. It was great.Their showroom was filled with more quality wearable art then I’ve ever seen in one place and it was an added bonus that it supports the YWCA’s excellent mission. I walked away with a lovely necklace and a pin for my friend. While I was there I checked out a new Mercedes-Benz (I can dream!).

What was funny is that when I came home I took the Fife exit onto I-5 and pulled in right behind my husband’s blue truck. Really, what are the chances?

          

Toadilly Scappin’

My friend took me and dear daughter to Toadilly Scappin’ at 6820 Kimball Dr., Ste 7, in Gig Harbor for a card making workshop. I was a tad worried about it since I am not especially good at things like this. But each of the five cards came in its own little baggie and there was a picture of how it should look and the great teacher was upbeat and great at guiding us through the steps, especially considering the students were at all different levels. Besides being pretty much useless at tying bows, I did alright. There are all kinds of wonderful papers and other scrap-booking supplies at the store and we walked away with less than we wanted and more than we planned

http://toadillyscrappin.com/

Artco has the best sketchbooks!

I was informed today that dear daughter had to have a new sketchbook and that Artco was the place to go! Well, OK.  We went to the Artco on Sixth Avenue and purchased the sketchbook, some Halloween decorations, some art paper and some markers. I looked longingly at the art inks, but really don’t have a use for them at this time. Maybe later!

For some JuNkTaStIc Fun!

 

Today’s new place of the day is the “JuNkTaStIc SuNdAyS” Market, which is held on Sundays through December 19th from 9am — 4pm.   The market is located at the Studio 6 Ballroom, 2608 6th Ave, Tacoma, WA, 98406.  There were plenty of interesting vendors and the owner told me that they switch out regularly, keeping the stock of available goods fresh.   We were enchanted by the vendor selling Hex Bugs, delightful mini robots!  We picked up two as stocking stuffers and a larger one as a holiday present.  I need to go back after payday to pick up some of the fun jewelry!

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