Swap-O-Rama-Rama in Los Angeles!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 28th because Swap-O-Rama-Rama is back in LA for the second time! What is SORR you ask? Basically it's a huge clothing swap which encourages creative reuse of recycled clothes. First, clean out your closets and come to SORR with a bag of clothes you don't need anymore. All of the clothing for recycling is sorted into piles by volunteers and then you get to search for new clothes to take home. We'll have DIY stations set up for specific projects as well as sewing stations run by clothing designers who will help you alter and refashion your clothing picks to create something new. It's only $5 if you bring a bag of clothes and $10 if you don't and you get to leave with all the clothes you can carry!

Lori from Hip Line Media is producing the event again this year, this time with the help of AfterCraft, a newly formed group of crafters focusing on recycled and upcycled crafting. (That's where Four Idle Hands comes in!) Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a non-profit organization and all events are run by volunteers. We're still looking for help for the June 28th event so please email Lori if you can help.

Great Minds Think Alike

I recently ran across the web site of illustrator Melissa Kojima and discovered she's a kindred spirit when it comes to a wonderfully offbeat and quirky aesthetic with some dark humor thrown in for good measure. Her illustrations are filled with the most interesting characters and if you look closely you'll find some pretty amazing details. (I'm talking to you, girl with 4 legs in the illustration below!)
She has a terrific web site (check out the illustrated rollovers on the homepage - love those!) and she even shares images from her sketchbook. (Don't you love when artists let you see their sketches?) She also has a great blog where she features artsy finds and local happenings here in SoCal. Go check her out, you'll be glad you did!

Best Cookie Site EVER

Seriously, how can you go wrong with a site named Cookie Madness? I've been craving a certain type of chocolate chip cookie lately. Something thick and chewy with some good heft to it; not a flat crunchy type of cookie. After a few failed attempts at new recipes I finally figured out that maybe I should be looking for bar cookie recipes to get the type of texture I wanted. BINGO! The Cookie Madness site came up in my search results and my wonderful similarly-cookie-addicted husband found this Congo Bars recipe for which we just happened to have all the ingredients on hand. They were absolutely delicious! They're super easy to make, which is part of the appeal of bar cookies of course, and they received rave reviews when I took them to my crafty-superfriends meeting. (I'm sorry to say this isn't a photo of the ones I made. It's from the Cookie Madness site.) For our cookies we omitted the coconut and ended up baking it longer than 25 minutes but we a) have a wonky oven and b) used a glass pan so that probably explains it. Next time I think we'll try milk chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. And really, the basic cookie part of these bars is so good it seems suitable for all kinds of different combinations of chocolate and nuts and who knows what else. This weekend we'll be trying the S'mores Bars and next on my list will have to be Sweet and Salty Double Nut Toffee Brownie Bars. [drool]

Who Doesn't Have Boogers

I absolutely love these little tissue holders from our insanely creative friends at Social Studies Design. It's the little green beads under the nostril that really *make* this piece as far as I'm concerned. Check out their web site to read a great post-Maker Faire/Bazaaar Bizarre write-up complete with tons of photos!

More Non-Creepy Body Part Art

As long as we're on the subject of body parts, have you seen Margaux Lange's work? She makes beautiful jewelry using everyone's favorite childhood style icon, Barbie. And it looks like Ken is showing up in some pieces as well.
I love how adept she is at creating a well designed piece of art that integrates the doll pieces perfectly. She has an Etsy shop and you should check out her blog too!

Oppose the Orphan Works Bill With One Click

I posted about this earlier, and now the Illustrator's Partnership has set up a site which allows you to easily email your Senators and Representatives letting them know you oppose the Orphan Works bill. Please help spread the word!

Printmakers of Etsy Unite!

I recently joined an online group called Printsy. It is made up of Etsy printmakers who have banded together to talk about, share, and promote printmaking. The nice thing is that they are including only Etsy sellers who create original hand-pulled prints; not digital inkjet prints or other reproductions. Marissa of mLee Fine Art has just posted the first in a series of member-to-member interviews on the blog and she did a great job. The first interviewee is another Marissa, or fustian as she is known online. I always enjoy reading about other artists and how they work. Printsy also has a Flickr group if you'd like to see more!

Another Handy Item

Continuing with our hand theme, I can't believe I haven't yet shown you these little beauties! I absolutely *LOVE* these hand soaps by Foliage on Etsy. They're hand soaps that look like little baby doll hands.
Isn't this the best idea you've ever seen for hand soap? I've heard that some people think they're a little creepy but I don't see how they could be....they're BABY DOLL HANDS! They should flood your mind with happy, nostalgic, childhood memories. Don't you love how fat and chunky they are? I'd also like to see a bunch of these cast in ceramic so that I could display them all over my house. THAT would be even "awesomer."

Lend a Hand

Found these really great candles while surfing around on Apartment Therapy. As you might imagine we like almost anything and everything having to do with hands around here. They're from a company called Wakey but they only have a placeholder for a web site. Looks like I'll have to plan a trip to France to pick up these lovelies. Twist my arm!