springs chicks have hatched...

Vay-cay in L.A.

This weekend I went to L.A. to visit family and family friends. It was so gorgeous down there! Lola and I went to Disneyland and had an amazing time. It was my first time this year being out in the heat, trekking all over that park for 14 hours in 90 degree weather- I think I was a little delirious towards the end. We drank a few $4 bottles of water and ate about 20 frozen lemonade cups. I was really inspired by all the fantastical structures everywhere with dreamy shapes and colors, the intricate landscaping..oh, yeah, the rides were good too. I love all the rides on boats. I kept noticing the wallpaper, too, like in the new orleans cafe, or the haunted mansion- unfortunately, these pictures are a little blurry because I took them mostly with my camera phone in the dark. These pictures remind me of the games in the back of kid magazines, where they show you a super close-up of, say, toothbrush bristles, and you have to guess what it is. If you can't guess what these pictures are of, check the answer at the bottom. xo sk






1. exhibit tent roof, 2. ambient shapescape in "its a small world" (it made me cry (the ride, not the shape)), 3.underside of a tiki-room lamp, 4. wallpaper in the mark twain cafe (i think thats what it was called), 5. delphinia

new look for spring: a tan, and rain gear

I had fun taking photos in the shop today, everything looked extra appealing. I love the creepy porcelain doll heads! Lola was a good sport and posed with them for me. I think I might get one and plant a trailing lobelia in it, it would look so awesome growing out of the top like a wild hippie baby, or out of the eyes.. maybe too creepy. A flutter chia pet! I have been sprouting lots of plants, some in unusual places, like nooks in statuary in the yard and in broken pottery. I planted peas by the bus stop across the street from my house, and seeded some window boxes. Basically, everything looks like prime real estate for my seedlings. Unfortunately, the hail yesterday bruised some tender sprouts, but I am pretty sure that one sunny day will perk them up. I had a great weekend, the highlight of which was going to the Whitsell to see Muppet shorts and rare outtakes. Jim Henson and his crew were absolute genius! I laughed so much that I was crying. Check it out my favorite bit: Animal, Beaker and the Swedish Chef singing "Danny Boy"

Portland+Sun+La La Laurie=Super Duper Busy Flutter!

What a perfect day we had in Portland for the La La Laurie trunk show...the sun was gloriously shining and so many folks were out. Everywhere you looked people were smiling and enjoying the day at Flutter. Rizzo was chasing the leash of a visiting little dog all around the store. Violet, a little girl visiting from Seattle, was chasing Rizzo. Yma Sumac, the ultimate sunshine music, was playing and Laurie's beautiful paper flower boutonnieres, corsages and bouquets made the day even more special. It was such a special treat to collaborate with old friends....what fun we had and here's a few images Craig and Laurie snapped of the day!

SPRING FEVER!!

I love the expression "spring has sprung". It is so onomotopoeia, so bouncy. Plus I love improper use of the past-tense, like the classic "yeah, i never did that before, i just wung it". SPRING HAS SPRUNG and i am sporting the spring uniform, distinguished by what it DOESN'T involve: no socks, no scarf, no tights, no beanie, no sweater. it's liberating. I came home and saw my roommate's laundry fluttering in the breeze on the line, a row of dresses.
Last week at Flutter I made a date with my friends to come in and take victorian-style photos to put in the locket they got for their ma last month, a genius mother's day gift idea I thought. I styled their hair up into puffy buns and used the venetian armoire as a backdrop, I can't wait to see how they turn out. I guess the light must have been perfect for pictures, because there were a few other people in the store with huge, fancy cameras. I guess they had been strolling Mississippi taking pictures and wandered into Flutter. The store is a kind of curious photographer's paradise, sometimes I feel like a ringmaster or tour guide-"did you notice the stuffed goose? ..and over here we have the finch cage." It's not uncommon for us to show up in the pages of a fancy rag, as well as someone's travel photo album. Cindy sent me a link to an Oregon Live article featuring our Rizzo, looking especially adorable. Flutter made it into theLondon Observer too; read this article if you have ever wondered what kind of impression Portland makes on Brits. Spoiler alert: they love us. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to stroll in the perfect sunlight.

La la Laurie!

Oh happiness and how the world seems to just line up perfectly sometimes and that's how I feel about collaborating with my dear and very talented friend Laurie Cinotto! I'm so happy to be presenting her trunk show La La Laurie at Flutter on Saturday April 4th. Laurie and I are friends from those early days in Seattle (can you believe 15 years ago!). We met working at our wonderful neighborhood flower shop on Capital Hill. Being both from the midwest me from Kansas and she from Iowa, we instantly had a midwest connection along with a few other similarities, like our metal head banging youth (she's going to kill me for saying that!) She's always been an inspiration to me with her art, flowers, crafts, her amazing eye for junk, design & display talents, dedication to those kitties and her sweet and inspiring outlook on life.


Please join us: 
Saturday April 4th, 2009
11 AM to 6 PM
Flutter Presents La La Laurie

Laurie Cinotto of La La Laurie will be revealing a fanciful collection of corsages, boutonnieres and bouquets. Her spring collection is hand crafted using imported papers and ribbons,  buttons and vintage notions.  It's lively and bright, filled with bunnies and birds, feathers and flowers.     The corsages and boutonnieres are for every day wear and dress up occasions.  The bouquets can accent your home, or be carried by a bride. 

Laurie Cinotto is an artist, turned florist, turned artist again. She enjoys creating delicate things for you to wear, and objects to dress your home. Even though she’s not a florist anymore, she still finds inspiration in the glorious colors and textures found in flowers. She has a fondness for old things , and loves incorporating vintage bits into her work.

This is her very first trunk show, and she’s thrilled to be collaborating with long time friend, Flutter’s proprietress, Cindy Rokoff.

vagabond opera/ flutter mash-up

Vagabond Opera came in last week to borrow some stuff for a photo shoot, and when I got the link to the photos I was really impressed. They turned out so good!! Their new singer Ursula Knudsen looks amazing in the Frocky Jack and Urchin dresses. Eric Stern from V.O. played a Flutter party once, he sat in the rafters and serenaded everyone with his accordion- here's a link to the video if you missed it the first time around>>>>>. Alisha Rose did the pictures for the shoot, she is the genius behind the Beast photo shoot with culinary it-girl Naomi Pomeroy. Check the Vagabong Opera website (>>>) for info about dates in town and to hear some of their songs.
-sara

pink slips, etc

NO, NOT THAT KIND OF PINK SLIP!! The silky kind, the kind you want to see. we've got lots. We've got slips in other colors, too: tangerine, scarlet, black and cream, but you may notice by the photos that pink is the theme of this blog. Oooh, i hate the word blog. It's such a dense word. But that's off-topic. I went around taking photos in the shop and everything that caught my eye was the same rosy tone. It is spring in Portland, most emphatically. Our weather is spectacular, warm enough to wear a skirt and sunny enough to coax the irises out (and the daffodils, and the crocuses..). This is the magic hour, before hayfever starts in earnest, when outdoor activities hold the most appeal for me. Plus, I can bike to school and not come back in the dark (thanks to daylight savings). I've been rocking my Pandora station in the store and people are really commenting on it. It feels funny when people ask me what's playing and I shrug my shoulders- it played the Ryan Adams song "firecracker" a few days in a row before I finally made it back to the computer to see what it was. I was totally surprised, I didn't expect to like Ryan Adams so much. Here's a link to Flutter's pandora radio station online, and I think to connect you have to make an account with them. It's free, and completely rewarding, and then you can listen to our stations whenever you want. Former unknowns may become guilty pleasures, and familiar musicians will show you sides you've never heard. It played a good Bowie song I'd never heard, and I have every one of his bbc/b-side/live/studio/compilation recordings up til the late 80's. Yes, that means it was late-late-era Bowie, and yes, I did say it was good. Also, I'd never heard John Doe's gorgeous solo stuff before, or Bobby Bare. Or Smog. If you find even one new artist you like through this site, then they've done their job. And then you can tell me all about it.
-sara

Interview with Vintage Indie

A big thanks to Gabreial for including Flutter on her wonderful blog, Vintage Indie. Check out the Flutter interview here!

Discourse on the importance of a good chair

American writer Mary Heaton Vorse (1881-1966) famously said “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” If that is true, then anyone with pants can get some writing done at Flutter, because there's a great assortment of chairs. For fun, let's extend the metaphor to suppose that the chair upon which your seat is applied will affect your writing. One of the dusky blue velvet wingback armchairs, for instance, might foster the writing of some noirish fiction or purple sci fi. Roald Dahl didn't write at his desk; he sat in a wingback chair with a piece of wood across his lap. He used his desk to house tangled sheaves and framed pictures of his children (I read about that in this month's Cabinet magazine). The divine half-dozen of turquoise chairs with bronze studs would be perfect for those who do their writing at a table, making full use of the surface area to spread out books and magazines, coffee, tea, maybe a sandwich. Kitchen table writing is productive and luxurious, great also for group projects or zine assembly. Another chair conducive to writing is one you can curl up in, notebook in hand, maybe with your legs kicked over the side. There are a few riffs on that theme right now in the store: a black and ivory chair like a teacup, or a tulip, with brass tacks and carved legs; also a broad and cozy but slightly worn aqua and gold brocade chair that once made its home in an overly fancy sitting room. That one reminds me of sitting in Mary Poppins' lap. I don't have trouble writing lately, but I am having serious momentum issues when it comes to studying and homework. I like the kitchen table method, and the "open book, insert nose" technique.
*Sara