Great News

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to share some great news :) I've got some of my things in Twist n Pout, a sweet little shop owned by Marie Friddle, that's just opened in Sanford and Son Antique Mall, located in downtown Tacoma. I'm so excited, it's my first forray into local 'brick & mortar' stores & there's more to come!

Twist n Pout flapper style store front: All sparkly & shiny (I love sparkly, shiny things)

My Silk Skinny Festival Scarves, on a repurposed embroidery hoop display. The scarves are made from repurposed remnants of the garment industry, hand crocheted  in all kinds of great colors.

Little samsstuff wallets & bags, in a repurposed teaa box display, hand crocheted & hand embroidered. The crocet wallets are made from natural yarns, repurposed silk, vintage, repurposed buttons & fully lined in repurposed & vintage fabrics. The embroidered bags are repurposed found bags & embroidered in my own designs.

I love the floor don't you?

A built in cabinet, inside the shop

A detail of the shop facade

Inside the shop (aren't the dress & the ladder amazing?)

Stop by & check out this wonderful little shop, quickly filling up with upcycled, recycled & repurposed goodies (some of them mine :) SAM

Fun Summer Stuff...

Some of the new things I've been making lately :)

Hand Crocheted Skinny Festival Scarves in Silk. I've made different colors & used two different types of silk ribbon. This one is silk sari ribbon, made from remnants of the garment industry that are pieced together by women in India & Nepal, repurposing materials that would otherwise be lost & providing employment for the women of the area. This is black & I've made two other silk sari scarves, one in an ombre red ribbon & one in an ombre lavender ribbon.  Available samsstuff Etsy

This is one of the Silk Chiffon Skinny Scarves, in an orange color. Also made from remnants of the garment industry. These can be wrapped in lots of different ways, made great Hippie Style or Double Wrapped Belts & dramatic head wraps. I like to think of them as free-form necklaces & accessories. These are in an number of different colors, a retro pink, a turquoise or sky blue, a great retro chartreuse green & could be made in others not mentioned... Available samsstuff Etsy

Envelope: Hand embroidered, image from a vintage cookbook, vintage lace & seam binding, hand stamped lips

Front of envelope showing the floral print paper & another lip stamp (made for a Swap Bot Swap)

Two new bracelets: one hand embroidered (hand spun thread from dragonflylotus designs) & metallic look swavorski crystals, the other hand crocheted alpaca/silk yarn (from Firwood Farm Alpacas in Fife, WA Belle & Bella, to be exact) in a great retro blueish green shade & faceted gemstone beads. Available soon samsstuff etsy

How about you? What have you been busy creating lately? SAM

Cold Days & Warm Scarves

I hate being cold! I can't sleep when it's cold at night. I don't want to go anywhere when it's cold during the day. Maybe it has to do with growing up mainly in California & Arizona. Maybe it has to do with the cold, February day, in Ohio, when they first brought my brother home from the hospital (just kidding, I love my brother...now). I've always hated being cold, even when I lived in the gorgeous land known as Germany. I hate driving when it's icy. I even hate scraping the ice off my windshield before I can go anywhere. I can admire the cold, from afar. I love a good photo of an icy window. I love the idea of snow, I just have to bundle myself completely before I can step out into the cold. This is why I was excited to open my package from Lauren of "Handful of Stitches" & find a lovely, maroon red, crocheted 'circle scarf.' It was soft, pretty & most importantly, warm! Her shop is currently stocked with several little handmade bags, but lately she has been experimenting with crochet & this lovely scarf is the result. Stop by her shop & take a look. She uses mostly eco friendly materials (the scarf was made with recycled yarn!) & packing materials. Check out her little bags & maybe, if she doesn't have any scarves listed, you can convince her to make one for you;) You can also stop by her blog: Handful of Stitches
& say hi! While you're there, tell her hi for me too! SAM