See Saw

Small Equals begins

Phil The Wonder Assistant Priming at Small Equals, Burlington Vermont

Everything's falling into place. Aaron Stein, artist/builder, has been constructing a beautiful 90 sq ft store for Small Equals. Phil The Wonder Assistant and I have been busy packing up Pine Street Art Works. Downsizing from 2,000 sq. ft to 90 sq. ft is a daunting challenge. It's not so much designing the small space, as much as getting rid of everything in the large one.

Meanwhile, I've been shopping for fun products to put in the Keepsake Card Kits:

Keepsake Card Kit: Happy Bird Day with card by Liza Cowan, Seed Bombs by VisuaLingual.

 

I went to the NY International Gift Show, which was amazing. I had only one day, which wasn't enough, but I found some sweet products for the shop.

Magnets from iPop, pouch and robot from Wilde and Woolf.

I also ordered more cuteness from Shinzi Katoh, vintage image products from R. Shackman and beautiful classic plastic boxes from AMAC.

I'm kind of in a magnet mode these days, so it's no surprise that I was attracted to iPop Magnets.

Also in the magnet mode, I've been selling these fabulous pieces by Uno Industries. 40 inches of magnetized chain and a cute little magnet to hold it together as a bracelet, ring or whatever. So fun and endlessly playable.

Uno Industries Magnetic Jewelry

And the magnetic item that got me started on the magnet kick: Canetti Magnet Frames. I finally met Nancy Halper, Canetti's owner, at NYIGS, which was great. I've been doing land office business selling the 5x7 frames, which I will continue to sell at small equals, along with some smaller versions.

Canetti Magnet Frames. Photos by Liza Cowan.

 

SEED BOMBS AT PSAW

Spring is here and it's time to practice random acts of gardening.

Pine Street Art Works is now carrying Seed Bombs made by VisuaLingual, a small design and print shop in Over-The-Rhine, Cincinatti. Seed bombs have an honorable history as part of the guerrilla gardening movement, and are now coming into vogue as a part of the Green retail movement.

It's a great idea, gorgeous packaging, economical, and hey--what fun to use! Throw some in a vacant lot, a barren patch on the roadside, or your own yard and make a neighborhood more beautiful. That's an idea I can get behind.

 
Seed Bombs by VisuaLingual.

 In addition to making Seed Bombs, VisuaLingual makes wonderful screen prints and has a great blog.

The bird-, bee- and butterfly-friendly wildflower mixture includes Baby Blue Eyes, Baby’s Breath, Black Eye Susan, Blue Flax, California Poppy, Cornflower, Dame’s Rocket, Gloriosa Daisy, Lance-Leaf Coreopsis, Mexican Hat, None-so Pretty, Ox-Eye Daisy, Perennial Gaillardia, Perennial Lupine, Plains Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, Red Poppy, Rose Mallow, Scarlet Flax, Shasta Daisy, Siberian Wallflower, Sulphur Cosmos, Sweet William, Wild Annual Sunflower, Wild Cosmos, and Wild Larkspur. These wildflowers were chosen because they're native to the East Coast, but many are actually native to much of North America.

The muslin bags were made in the USA and screenprinted by hand by VisualLingual with the East Coast Seed Bombs design. 

Inside each pouch is the full list of the seeds included. When you've used up the seed bombs, reuse the pouch or frame it!

 
Seed Bombs in production. From VisuaLingual blog. Click image to go to story.

Think about Seed Bombs for Mother's day, graduation, teacher gifts, birthdays, and random acts of kindness. Make your neighborhood a more beautiful place.