Nesting for Winter!

Chikabird is nesting for Winter with some cozy new items available in the shop!

Mamabird Nests - a great catch-all for keys and treasures - or holiday/everyday decorative display. Handwoven by my talented mom in Boston!

Linen pouches - made from supple Vera Wang linen and cute canvas prints. Handy for gathering all the necessary bits rattling around in the bottom of your bag.

Custom Monogrammed Slippers!!! - A little something fantastic Jean whipped up in the shop while my back was turned. I have my double C's on order!

Plus new patterns and prints added to our popular notebook lineup!

I know, it's almost too much.

Used Banners + Totes = BOTE

Chika and I just recently made a batch of reusable shopping totes using salvaged banners. We're calling them BOTES!...get it? banner totes!
We have a good amount of these banners and you can get them on our etsy for $30 each. We make each of them so that every single one possesses the unique graphics and distress marks from its previous life. Which makes them all that more appealing!

Most importantly, we like to support the reusable bag philosphy in order to lower the usage and production of plastic & paper bags. I do feel amazingly good when I whip out my own bags versus using 10 plastic bags that just rips apart right away. I hate that.

So here's to reusable shopping bags! It feels good to be good!

New randL+Slow Loris Notebooks

Don't they make a handsome family?

Our buddies at Slow Loris printed up some new books for us to show at POOL in August, and we finally posted them on Etsy and Supermarket.

The pocket notebook also fits a passport, so it's perfect for use as a spy sized travel journal.

News!

We moved! To a great neighborhood in Seattle called Ballard. There's more to it than that - Jean and I, plus our steady fellas, bought a duplex together. Some say crazy, I say GENIUS!

We'll be trying to keep up a home improvement blog at http://www.thirtythirtytwo.blogspot.com/ - so far we've just posted an intro entry, with plenty of links to pics. Oh boy!

Now our studio is in the garage/basement of the new place. A little colder, a little less natural light, but it feels pretty cool to pay ourselves rent, and you can't beat the commute. Actually, I think I need to come up with a routine that forces me to leave the house regularly. Morning jogs to the beach? Unlikely. Afternoon walks to my favorite coffee shop? Very likely. Jean and I are highly motivated by treats, so the nearby world class pastry shop will offer some deserved (and not so deserved) rewards.

Notebooks on Poppytalk!

I sent over our fabric notebook covers for Jan's back to school theme and she kindly shared it on her lovely Poppy Talk blog. Big thanks to Jan!

See us at Renegade SF!

If you're in the Bay area this weekend, come check out the Renegade Craft Fair - San Francisco edition! You're sure to see some goods by the best & brightest in DIY, and the latest from us. We'll be sharing a booth with Nam Kim - who is always GREAT company. We're also looking forward to squeezing as much shopping and dining into the hours we're not (hopefully) selling.

We pretty much booked an extra day in town just so we could visit the Heath Factory Store in Sausalito. I've promised Jared to only get one small thing. We're trying out this "budget" thing I've been hearing about. It sounds like a smart thing to do but is such a shopping buzzkill.

Hostess with the mostess!

Is that still cute? Let's pretend it still is, and move onto more interesting topics.

Such as: Herman Yu's studio opening party! Where the most interesting folks in Seattle design and beyond mingled with... us? What a space! What a spread! As you can see in the pics, Herman's new studio feels like the waiting room to heaven. Flooded with light, open and airy, homemade Vietnamese food, and a sweet loft. I swear the egg roll and mango salad platters kept refilling themselves.

We're lucky enough to know Herman through her incredible work and locational coincidences (she and my fella were studio neighbors). We've Wii bowled together! A really cool lady, who's so warm and generous (and modest!), and great fun to chat with. I won't embarass her by gushing about her work, I'll just say she creates the most beautiful images you will ever see in your life. That's all.

New Bike Notebooks!

Here are some lovely and awesome bicycle notebook covers just printed by Slow Loris. The great artist, Jessica Lynch, is always drawing and sketching where ever she goes! She's crazy! Crazy GOOD that is! She documents all her drawings and printing process on their flickr site constantly, and it's always so inspiring to see.

I especially love the women's bicycle tee with the bunch of bicycles going across in rows!! I gotta order myself one of those for sure!
-jean

New randLFabric Notebooks

This is a new limited run of randLFabric notebooks using various printed cotton fabric. Both Chika and I have an affinity for cute printed fabric, and we're always looking for new ways to apply our fabric collection to Chikabird products. After we launched the new randLCanvas line, we thought why not cover it with adorable printed fabrics, too!

So here they are...colorful and lovely notebooks! This makes me want to go sit outside and just sketch all day...actually, I think I'll do that this weekend! Yay! T.G.I.F!

Have a good weekend!

:-j ean

Birdhouse News!

Hello!! Welcome to the Birdhouse. This is where you'll read about the latest Chikabird happenings. This is where Chika and Jean brew up new ideas & designs, and where their little creatations are made!
Here's a little sneak peak of Birdhouse..it's still a little messy :P

Enjoy!