Designers from Appel and Frank

I got some earrings for my mom from Christmas from this designer Mediums to Masses. Dar got a necklace from her.


I got chocolates from Coco-Luxe Confections; the box to the left is a Christmas gift for my mom (no worries, she doesn't read this blog). I also got a smaller box from my bro Mark, coffee flavored. I've seen their website before and always wanted to buy from them :)




I LOVE meeting the designers when I buy their pieces - love the connection and talking to them about what inspires them. And they're all Bay Area based - go buying from local artists!


I loved the cards from Motormouthpress and bought a ton for Christmas cards and presents (and of course saved a few to send out myself, hee hee). I couldn't transfer any pics from her site over unfortunately but they're really really cute. Click "Homemade Goods" at the bottom of the main page. Laurie Coughlin designs the prints - she was super sweet and cool. I'll be saving her site as a Favorite under the category "Designers." I LOVE cool original cute stationary and cards, one of my biggest weaknesses but I do mail out about 3-4 cards/letters a week so I think the splurging is usually justified :)



I got this amazing necklace from Eliza Designs. The matching earrings weren't available there so she's making and shipping them to me. I think I left most excited about this set! It matches a nice dress I got last month.

I got earrings from Peggy Li designs including some really cool purple quartz (?) see-through ones that I'm wearing today. A lot of the designers offered wholesale prices, cheaper than their website prices.

And then I got this bag from Flowie Designs - wow, a lot cheaper than her website price. The designer was there with her husband - really sweet and cool, too. Yaling Hou, the designer, creates the textile design herself.

Dar and I were at her booth forever, with me trying on her different bags and figuring out which to buy. There was another cute one but bigger for like farmer's market shopping. In the end, I just kept going back to this brown bag throughout the night and decided this was the one I'd regret not getting if I left without it. We decided it's a "library book bag." It's hanging from my front door, ready for a library adventure.