The holidays are approaching us and sometimes it’s nice to get a more creative gift rather than a sweater or a pair of socks. The theme here is D.I.Y. We posted a few links from some of our favorite artists, crafty websites and a few book ideas.

These holiday gift suggestions are for girls, boys and everyone in between!

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One of the first sites I should mention is Threadless. It’s a site full of really great t’shirts designed by artists who submit their designs to the site. Whoever wins the votes gets their t’shirt printed. Until Dec. 16th they are having a $10 sale!!!

POKETO WALLET, $20

http://poketo.com/shop/

Poketo’s claim to fame began with wallets, and their line has expanded to apparel and stationary. Wallets (and other items) come from many emerging artists with so many styles leaving something for everyone. Wallets are very thin and durable with enough room for cash, credit cards, and change. Check out the site and pick one up for yourself, too!

STORYPEOPLE PRINT, $30

www.storypeople.com

“I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.” (taken from print)

Brian Andreas has been one of my favorite artists and writers since I was just a young melodramatic teen. There is truth and humbling beauty in his “stories”. His sculptures and are handmade from found wood and each letter of the selected story is handstamped. Those are beautiful, but not the best choice for someone on a budget. A less expensive alternative is to opt for a print of your favorite story. Take your time and read through the stories until you find the one that leaves your heart aching and saying “Yes, exactly”.

Etsy- $5 to whatever you are willing to spend.

An amazing website that was launched not too long ago but has caught on with different DIY artists and shoppers is Etsy. You can do a search on the site by typing in an object, a color, an artist, a category, etc. It’s very easy to navigate and once you find some things you like you can view them in the categories of low to high price, most viewed, recently posted. I used this site last year and bought my g/f a couple art prints and pins.

One of my favorite artists on Etsy is Matte Stephens. He has several prints for sale at really inexpensive prices. He also has his originals posted but you will have to pay a lot more for those.

Indie Fixx is another online shop similar to Etsy. It has a smaller selection but still really good. It has categories of jewelry, bath & body, art, etc.

Eleanor Grosch who owns Push Me Pull You Design is a local artist based in Philly, she has done posters for several bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, Architecture in Helsinki, etc. I have been following her work for the past few years. When Jaime and I first met I knew there was something to be said for a girl who owned 3 of Eleanor’s prints and had them hung on her livingroom wall. Eleanor has a very unique style and now on her site she offers a variety of things such as posters which are screen printed, mugs, tote bags, baby clothes, and much more!

Susie Ghahremani at Boygirlparty.com is another great artist we should mention. She does really great artwork and has a lot of gifts on her site with her signature illustrations that have been featured in several magazines and art galleries.

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Here are a few book ideas. They are continuing with my D.I.Y. theme here. Enjoy!!!

1. A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book: A book full of handmade postcards mailed into Frank Warren. This book is the latest of the Postsecret editions.

2.D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself: If you are not a graphic designer this book is pretty handy. Even if you are a graphic designer I still recommend it.

3. ReadyMade: How to Make [Almost] Everything: This book is a best of from the ReadyMade magazine which is full of house projects. It’s hard to sum up all the great projects in this book so check it out!

4. Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See: The title explains it all. I saw this book at the bookstore the other day and couldn’t put it down.

5. The Guerilla Art Kit: by Keri Smith–Keri is another great illustrator, writer and guerilla artist. This book is full of step-by-step exercises, cut-out projects, sticker ideas, and has both fun assignments and handy tips to help you unleash your creative energy into the streets where you can really make an impact.

It would be nice to see some more street art here in the Lehigh Valley.

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This is the end of my extremely long post and just let me say that Jaime and I have been working on this for a few days. So I’m hoping that some of these links in this post have sparked some gift ideas for you, your partner or whomever.

Happy Holiday!!! xoxo

The Lehigh Valley Gay Men’s Chorus will be doing a holiday concert on Saturday and Sunday. One is in Allentown and the other one is in Bethlehem. They have all the details on their website http://www.lvgmc.org

Make sure you make your reservations as soon as possible!

Support Queer artists and check out the PA Diversity Holiday Art and Craft show. I really didn’t hear anything about this until I went to their site through Pride’s site. Here are the details:

If you are a musician, a poet or just someone that likes to hang out and drink coffee…come check out the Open Mic at Mas Cafe every Thursday. It’s also
BYOB for 21+

This is Allentown Brew Works first brew festival ever! If you are into trying different types of beers and taste testing them this is well worth it and sounds like a lot of fun! I am really into trying different types of beers so I’m upset that I will miss it and be in Pittsburgh that weekend.  Here is all the information on the poster:

Today we are sitting down and coming up with different names for the discussion group. I just typed the word “homo” into my thesaurus and here were the terms:

cave dweller, cave man, homo sapien, HUMAN and cavewoman. It’s funny to me how people take words like Homo and turn it into something negative when all it really means is HUMAN.

I am at the point in my life where if someone does call me a dyke, a fag, or homo, I really don’t get offended at all. I just laugh and say something smartass back to them and let them know they really aren’t insulting me. They are taking terms I use to describe myself and attempting to put a negative spin on it which is ignorant on their end.

When I worked at the bookstore I would always hear teenage/college boys say: Don’t be so gay!  If they say it a couple times I would tell them to stop and ask if they even know what the word “gay” really means.  One kid got angry and told his friend I had a rainbow coat on to show people how gay I was.  I over heard him again and went over and asked him if he was color blind and that my coat only had orange, green and blue on it.  He wasn’t amused again and looked embarrassed.

I’m glad that it seems like more queer people have taken back a lot of these terms and put a positive spin on them so they are not so hurtful.  There are still hate crimes and people still get called names but we are making some progress compared to a few years back.

If you haven’t scrolled the local links I have posted on the right side, well you really should! I have to say I have been really impressed with The After Work Chronicles blog. They post A LOT of GLBT events. I was more on top of this blog at the beginning of summer and now I feel like a slacker because school and work take up a huge amount of my time. I plan on writing to them to tell them how great the blog is.

Also it seems like a good group to join if you are an independent business owner. A good way to network with other young professionals.

I also really enjoy Beyond Scrapple -A Guide To Lehigh Valley Ethnic Restaurants.
This is a great reference for different ethnic restaurants in the valley. I have tried different places that Michael has mentioned. Plus it just seems a lot of good finds are hidden around the valley. So this is nice reference for restaurant ideas.

If you live in Allentown’s West End District check out the West End Neighborhood Blog for happenings. Even if you don’t live in that area it’s always great to know what is happening in that area.

There are a lot of ones that follow the local politics but I don’t read those ones as often.  So let me know if you know of any other good ones that I have not mentioned.

You can probably tell that we are big fans of Queer Pulp, since some of our profile pictures are from different Queer Pulp book covers. I found a book in Pittsburgh’s Half Price Book store for a couple dollars. It’s filled cover to cover with really great queer pulp book covers from the 1920’s and onward. You can get it on Amazon for just a few dollars. It’s also one of those good coffee table books that our friends like to pick up and look through.

I found this book while visiting Northampton, MA. I picked it up and couldn’t put it down. It’s a photography book filled with photos of people called in acts of all stages. The photos are black and white and have a vintage feel to them. If you are really into photography or know someone that is, this is a great book! Check it out on Amazon.

After browsing through the Lehigh Valley Style magazine for a few fall ideas I found a couple more pumpkin patches and farms to check out:

Strawberry Acres
This place is super cute, check out their website to see what they offer.
www.strawberryacres.com

Unangst Tree Farm
7317 Bethlehem-Bath Pike, Bath
610-837-7531
Seven acres with a custom-carved maze with pumpkin picking,
fresh raspberries and more!

Donaldson Farms
345 Allen Road,
Hackettstown, NJ
www.donaldsonfarms.net
A little drive out of town but this 400 acre farm sounds like a perfect
fall day. They offer hot cider, hayrides, hand painted pumpkins.
Also an amazing corn maze!

The last couple of months have been a bit hectic. We took a few trips, I had an art show, started classes at NCC and a new job at a coffee shop. Fall has arrived and I have to say its both mine and Jaime’s favorite time of the year! If you feel like you are not sure what to do I have found a few options. So take a look! And feel free to comment and let us know if you know of anything happening in the valley this weekend.

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Emmaus Front Porch Art Walk
October 6th and 7th, 2007
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
“Experience small town charm and old fashioned
sidewalks,while strolling through preserved historic
neighborhoods and our downtown triangle. Visit
numerous porches on 3rd and 4th Streets hosting
artists and their work, plus many downtown Emmaus
merchants who have special activities planned throughout
the weekend event.
www.emmausarts.org

Harvest Festival
Oct 6-7, 10am-5pm
Located in Stroudsburg, PA
more info is here

Grims Greenhouse & Farm Market
Fall Festival
Located in Breinigsville, PA
Oct. 7-8; Columbus Day Oct. 9
Open Sat. 10am to 6pm
Sun. 11am to 6pm
www.grimsgreenhouse.com

First Friday
Southside Bethlehem
6-9pm FREE!
www.artsquest.org

I couldn’t find many listings for Autumn Festivals in this area. I thought there should be a lot more. If you know of any please email them to me and I’ll be sure to post them.

Another great thing to do this time of year is to check out our local wineries. I just found this website with a listing of local ones and it has a ton of information on it. www.lehighvalleywinetrail.com

We are planning a trip to Doylestown, PA which is only 45 min to an hour drive. If you haven’t been there, they have a great little downtown area with shops and restaurants. My friend owns a winery near there called Winecomb Vineyards. They are having a harvest this Saturday!

I hope that helps and sorry for the delayed post. I have some other things I will posting this week.

-Mundania