Crafty finds in PDX

Speaking of Portland , no visit is complete without stopping by the Saturday Market downtown.

Portland’s market is a lively affair, with dozens of different options for food and crafts, not to mention some great live music.

A few of the vendors caught my eye with their clever offerings. You might like them, too:

(UPDATE: Here’s a link to a slideshow of photos I took of some of their products. I’m having difficulty displaying the correct slideshow at the top of this post. )

-Kathy Bachman of Bella Mi makes artisan soaps that look good enough to eat. Seriously. Some of her products are shaped like truffles and “served” in cupcake holders. Gorgeous stuff. Kathy doesn’t have a Web site, but you can e-mail her at bellamisoap@earthlink.net and she’ll send you a photo menu of her offerings.

-Nicole Flood of Flood Clothing makes clothing and accessories from secondhand materials. Her colorful caps made from old T-shirts are adorable.

-The screenprinted creations from Appetite were also lovely. The artist behind the designs—whose name I unfortunately didn’t write down—creates each image herself, hand prints them onto textiles, and then turns the fabric into something useful, like a purse or shower curtain. She blogs here .

-Winning the award for best business name is Hankie Tankie . The creative force behind this clothing line (again, no name. I’m sorry. It was crowded and hot) sews vintage hankerchiefs onto tank tops, which she hand dyes to match the colors in the hankie. You can watch a short video about her company and creative upbringing here or view the items for sale in her Etsy shop here .

-And finally, a booth full of very sweet children’s items from Lolly-tots (another great name, don’t you think?). Graphic designer and illustrator Mary Kelly was as colorful as the products she makes. One of her creations is a T-shirt with a little monster in his underwear that simply says “no pants!” I know a certain toddler who needs one of those. Mary’s silly chefs’ hats were cute, too (when you watch the slideshow , you can catch a glimpse of one in the background of the photo of her holding a fabric ice cream cone).