If you’re in the San Francisco area this weekend, please come out and support Bazaar Bizarre SF!

(Hey, you might even find some great last-minute gifts at the show … and who doesn’t love something unique, crafty and/or handmade!)

BazBiz SF Holiday is Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park. Admission is $2, with half the proceeds going to support arts & crafts programs in the SF area.

There will be 120+ vendors at BazBiz, including myself (Rosebud Designs) and the lovely Amy of Peptogirl Industries. There will also be craft demos/classes and all kinds of other goodness.

More details here.

Take a look at these (which literally did make me laugh out loud):

(Sadly, I wasn’t able to give these cards out for people’s birthdays, but I am keeping them in my stash for next year.)

While the front covers are pretty funny, what I love best about these cards is that they carry an entire story throughout. Shame I didn’t photograph the inside of the Low Expectations and Facebook cards because the rest of the story is great.

And how can you not love someone who can make a card about tyrants?

If you’re in the Los Angeles area, keep your eyes peeled for the Fomato cards. Or buy one online. Or browse to get a good laugh. You won’t regret it.

Here’s the 411 for August:

On the Third Saturday of every month the Sacramento News & Review transforms Downtown Sacramento into a bustling creative district with fashion, music and art at the forefront.

Discover some of Sacramento’s greatest DIY artists while supporting downtown businesses. With over 50 local art & crafts vendors, community art projects, and live entertainment this FREE event promises something for everyone.

What:
SN&R presents Third Saturday, Design Downtown, A Creative Block Party

When:
This Saturday, August 15th from 4-9pm.

Where:
Downtown Sacramento (on K street between 10th and 11th)

Other:

- Free, all-ages event, open to the public

- Over 50 local art & crafts vendors create an exciting and unique shopping experience.

- Live music performances by Live Manikins, Cowboy Killers, Lite Brite, Scientific Remedies.

- Other performers include Autumn Sky, Jazz Ghitan, Core Dance Collective and more!

- Live art projects by Crocker Museum

- Beer Garden at Cosmo

- Twin Soup after party at Social by Shaun Slaughter, Jon Droll and Crookone.

- Fashion shows by Miko Bella Designs, Dee Aguilar Designs and Atelier

(For the record, yes, I fawned like a schoolgirl. OK, kind of.)

Anyway, here’s what I picked up from this talented duo (they were sharing a booth):

Screenprinted poster from Frank. I’d seen it on one of the graphic design blogs I frequent. And yes, it’s going on a prominent place in my home office because it’s hilariously true.

Terrific concert poster by Micah. (Ugh, sorry for the crappy photo.) Such a great design. (I’d also seen this online somewhere.) And I do like The Get Up Kids. It was a win-win situation.

Frank and Micah were really nice guys. And they’re pretty big in the graphic design world. But they seemed thrilled that someone who appreciated their art form bought their stuff. As Micah put it, “It looks like this stuff is going to a good home.” Indeedy. Both are already framed and ready for hanging!

While you’re at it, visit Micah’s shop for more awesome gig posters and wearables, and check out the awesome States series by Frank.

San Francisco-based 3 Fish Studios is the husband-and-wife team of Eric Rewitzer and Annie Galvin. Both artists, Eric does linocut prints of everything from modern furniture to robots to San Francisco landmarks. Annie paints — including the 49-Mile Scenic Drive sign paintings that were a hot ticket at Renegade SF — and does original collages.

Here’s what I picked up from them:

A bear collage by Annie. Bears were collaged onto the paper and the background hand-painted.

Linocut print by Eric. Probably one of my favorite things I got at Renegade. I laughed when I first saw it.

Eric and Annie often have events and classes at their studio, and always encourage folks in the San Francisco area — whether you live there or are just visiting — to stop by.

In addition to being fabulous artists, I have to say that Eric and Annie are also fabulous booth neighbors and people! They even gave us a beer during Day 1 of Renegade. Now that’s a good neighbor!

Here was our booth before the doors opened on Saturday:

It was a pretty good weekend for me. Saturday was better than Sunday. I did sell out of hats (yay!) and the coffee sweaters went fast on Saturday.

I also had a kindly older man request I knit him a hat out of some of my handspun yarn that I had on display. That totally made my Sunday!

There were so many amazing artists there and I didn’t get to walk the entire grounds (even with two days to do it). I did end up walking out of Renegade with quite a haul of art prints and posters, and I’ll be writing about those artists here all this week.

That artist list is:

• 3 Fish Studios
• Frank Chimero
• My Associate Cornelius
• Leia Bell
• Big Stone Head
• Fomato
• Dee & Lala

Stay tuned for features (and pictures)!

Renegade is always a great time, and there are more than 200 artists there. Holy cow! That’s a whole lotta good stuff!

Many artists who have been previously written about here at indie*galore will be there, including Sweet Meats, Peptogirl Industries, Roxycraft, and Goody-Goody. The full vendor list is here.

(Shameless plug alert: I’ll be there as well with the lovely Amy of Peptogirl Industries. So come by and say hi!)

It promises to be a pretty sweet weekend, so do come by and check out the goodies! And did I mention that it’s FREE?

Don’t despair. You can do what some of the cool kids do: Carry a journal around. Lots of people I know do it. (I actually carry two different-sized Moleskine journals around myself.)

But if you want your journal to stand out from the rest, maybe you should check these out:

(I especially like the bingo journal. I have fond memories of playing bingo with similar-looking cards as a kid. Plus, the journal is great for those bingo! moments. [And now I'll stop with the awful puns.])

If you’re loving these journals, you can pick them up at Create a Thought. There are journals of all shapes, sizes and kinds there! The Robot Love journal (the bottom one) is just about as big as a business card, so it’s perfect for your pocket or purse. And each journal is made in small batches, so you can be assured that a million people won’t be walking around with the same kind of journal (and if you lose it, well, you’ll recognize it more easily).

But Create a Thought is more than just journals! It’s a store built around the concept of creating thoughts and manifesting those thoughts into cool stuff. For instance, you can get this art journal kit to feed your artistic side. Or you can get a finger art ring like this one:

There’s plenty of stuff to look at, so do check it out.

So, if you’re going to get a pet rock, at least get one that’s cool:

You’ll find these lovely rocks — real Montana river rocks, no less! — at Samaria Project.

These rocks come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and are handpainted. In addition to the birds and monsters, there are also some jellyfish.

If you’re still looking for a low-maintenance pet but want something more animal-like, do check out the amazing selection of plush animals in the shop. This one is very delightful:

If you like collage, you might want to check out Giesla Hoelscher of Inkblots Art:

These are all digital art collages turned into functional pieces, though there are also good old-fashioned digital collages for display if you fancy something for your walls.

Giesla also runs a non-Etsy site, inkblotsart.com, where you can see — and purchase — her fine art collages, location-inspired collages, photo cards and photo prints. Do check it out.