Summer is here (finally!) and that’s worth celebrating. This weekend we’ll be kicking up our heels at the West Seattle Summerfest in the Alaska Junction. The free, three-day festival is in it’s 26th year and will feature booths from area merchants, works by local artists, and tons of activities and demonstrations for all ages.

Click will be setting up across from Northwest Art and Frame, showing off a sleek, new red loveseat and handing out coupons for 15% off in our booth or at the store. You can find us outside from 10am-8pm on Friday and Saturday and 11am-7pm on Sunday, taking advantage of the live music and food vendors and trying to appear as though we’re working. Come enjoy the lovely weather with us!

Yes it’s time again for Click’s yearly Independence Day Sale! Everything in the store is at least 20% off!!!!!! Now that’s celebrating. We’ll be open bright and early at 10am and doors close at 3pm. Take your first look for “must haves” on your way to the “4th of July Kids Parade“, then come back for some great deals.

Shopping Trolleys regularly $49,

25% off for mentioning The Cart Project $36.75

Surfing the West Seattle Blog (a favorite pastime here at Click), we were delighted to encounter an article about The Cart Project. This program encourages Westwood Village shoppers to use wheeled handcarts to run shopping errands rather than driving to and fro. Until the project expands to the rest of West Seattle, we’ve decided to encourage this great idea by discounting our lovely shopping trolley selection. Just come in and mention the The Cart Project and receive 25% off the purchase of one of these sturdy, stylin’ little numbers.

Personal Testimonial - John and I have had our trolley for over a year now. We carry quite a load between home and Click! Zara, (we’ve named her) has saved our backs. Farmer’s Market? Go ahead and buy a sack of potatoes, some beets and a bunch of flowers. It all fits and it will be a much more enjoyable walk home.

We left our hearts in San Francisco when we discovered Fluffy Co., a line of clever screen printed products from the Bay Area.  

$38 each  

These hand printed bottle openers are made with eco-friendly, water based inks and come with sturdy hardware and a waterproof finish.  Great for popping open a cool one on the deck…(whenever the sun decides to visit Seattle.) Choose from three equally adorable designs in painted or natural wood finish. While you’re at it, be sure check out the wallets, eyeglass cases, and passport holders that we have in store made with vegan Naugahyde.  All materials sourced in the United States.

These hanging lamps are made in Costa Rica by artisan Hennig Dyes from sustainably harvested plantation pine. There are two sizes and they come complete with wiring for either temporary (plug/switch) or permanent (”hard-wired”) installation. But the best thing is how warm and cozy the light is… even the cool light of a compact florescent bulb is warmed to a very pleasant glow. Small (pictured) $120, large $205.

We’ve been searching for a new handbag line for a while, and have finally found the one. GABS by Urban Junket are an amazing convertible bag… just a few snaps and your bag transforms from flat to an adorable boxy shape in an instant. They come in two sizes of two styles… one that is all leather, the other is leather and wool. Get them while you can.

Well, if not, it’s right here. And you can sign up over here.

For what it’s worth, that top image is Seattle jewelry artist Jennifer Bauser. There ought to be a post about her right around here any day now. Or, you can just come to our party Thursday night and meet her yourself.

It’s really exciting to have Dixie’s work in our Jewels in May show. Dixie was our jewelry production manager up until last January. Her reason for leaving the perfect job you ask?, so that she could make her own work. Well she has. We have her bold brass hooped earrings freshly spray painted and literally dripping with color, her meticulously sawed and shaded feather pendants and her amazing one of a kind felt rings. We are also thrilled to hang her Paper Doll series of paintings on the walls of Click! Dixie found some old paper doll books at a second hand store and gave the ladies a new life. They are all grown up now and they each have something to say.

Paper Doll Series #4 $350

You can meet the one and only Dixie Darling at our Jewels in May artist’s reception on Thurday, May 8th from 6 to 9pm. The show remains up at Click! through the month of May.

We’ve often said that we live in a parallel universe with our good friend Daphne. She and her husband make jewelry together, and have opened a contemporary home furnishings store in “the other Washington” (DC). They recently bought a home on Chesapeake Bay (does that mean we we get a place in the San Juans?) which has inspired her to do a line of “botanical” jewelry, cast from the wild plants and seeds she finds on the property.

Her work is carried by many of the same shops and galleries that carry Frances’s designs, which makes sense as they have a similar, clean aesthetic. We will be featuring Daphne’s jewelry May 1 through 31, along with a few more of our favorite jewelers!

As we’ve been hinting about in our newsletter, we have something special planned for May. Beginning May 1, we will be featuring the work of five of our favorite jewelry artists (in addition to Frances). There will be an artists’ reception on Thursday, May 8, just before Mother’s Day weekend, where we will be serving cosmos and donating a portion of the jewelry sales to Northwest Hope and Healing. On a personal level, it seems natural for us to support an organization that assists women with breast cancer for Mother’s Day. It’s also exciting to get the chance to show off the work of some very amazing women!

We will highlight the individual artists here in our blog, but in the meantime you can view the postcard for the event here (front) and here (back).

This week for the West Seattle Art Walk we are having an official “opening” party for Brad Strain, who has been our featured artist for the last two months. Brad’s work will be coming down at the end of the month, but not before we hang his latest creations:
“Thoughts Left Behind” 11″ x 14″ $250

“Winter Talking Blues” 7″ x 7″ $80

The Art Walk is Thursday, April 10, from 6 to 9pm. We will have snacks and beverages and several more of Brad’s beautiful pieces… one of which might just find a home on one of your walls.

They’re back! After the Seattle Times featured them in their Valentine’s Day gift guide, demand has been pretty high. Sure Calla Lilies are nice, but these will last well beyond Easter.

$3.50 each, set of 18 $56

Click! will be closed this Sunday, March 23rd, for Easter. We plan to spend the day with family, most especially our four-year-old nephew Enzo (check out Enzo’s dad’s blog!), who will be visiting from Southern California. If Enzo has his way, we’ll probably ride a train.

We will be open our regular weekend hours Saturday (11-5), and closed Monday.

Not on the art walk or at Click! but worth mentioning: Friday night, March 14, several artists will be surfacing at 4221 SW Juneau, for an event they call “More Noise Please!”. T.S. Pew’s artwork has had us seeing the world from multiple perspectives for years, and we only just realized that the artwork Chad Steig makes is not limited to the beautiful cocktails he mixes at Blackbird Bistro. These are kids who are serious about their art, and we seriously love it.

Yes it’s true. We always have the best snacks and beverages on the West Seattle Art Walk (Thursday March 13, 6–9pm), but you have to when you’re a little off the beaten path. Of course it doesn’t hurt that we’ve got some kick ass art to show as well.

Our current featured artist Brad Strain has brought us some new work that takes some of his themes of home (and a longing for home) and incorporates them with polaroid images of local urban landscapes. He also brought more paintings, which seem to be gaining quite a following.

Our own “in-house” artist is featured this month as well: Frances is introducing new colors to her cork jewelry line. Fans of Frances’s jewelry will love the way the silver and gold light up with “ocean” and “sage” — two new colors of dyed cork, as announced in our recent email newsletter. (Sign up here)

Oh hai!

Adorable Doggy and Kitty cushions, good for hanging out on the couch with. With props to the teh cheezburger kittehs…

available in gray, orange, and pink $42

The groovy folks at Modern Twist who brought us the Amy Ruppel “Birds and Trees” table dressings are introducing new designs, including “Origami” and “Pebbles”. Made of non-toxic silicone, they are are a beautiful way to set your table.

They arrived today… Frances’s favorite are the pebbles and I suspect a set of them will follow us home.

Placemats $18 each, Coasters set of four $21

Everyone loves the botanical cheese plates that we picked up last year, but until now we had not been able to find a suitable knife/planer set to complement them. “Mingle” is a 3-piece cheese set designed by Peter and Eva Moritz, who have had their design studio in the south of Sweden since 1998.

We love the way they look and the way they feel in your hand. (The knives that is, not Peter and Eva — although they’re not bad looking either.)

set of three, gift boxed: $32

The folks at Town Graphics have just put out The Discovery Map of West Seattle, a 3D “bird’s eye view” map showing local businesses and points of interest. We have them free of charge at Click!, and I imagine many of the other featured businesses do as well.

When you’ve got friends or family in from out of town and don’t know what to tell them to do while you’re at work, hand them one of these and turn them loose!

We are very happy to have a new selection of coffee, console and end tables in stock. (Don’t worry - We still carry the awesome work of local designer urbancase!) Both of our new collections are from the boutique line, U+.
“Nestle” Nesting Tables, $548 I love the finger joint construction and gentle arched shape of these pieces. Arrange them all together as a coffee table or use them as accent tables throughout a room. At $238, the “Mimosa” Coffee table is a great deal. It’s got a lovely profile, storage for all your “must read” items and the sustainably harvested Mimosa wood is rich and buttery beautiful. I also love the long neglected fold up tray table in this line. You’ll have to come in and check it all out.