Queen Anne’s newest artisan handmade shop, Absolutely Fabulous, which opened at 6 W Howe St Suite #2 (on the second floor) last month, will be hosting an in-store egg and candy hunt for the holiday this weekend.

Absolutely Fabulous combines the work of Pike Place Market vendors and local Queen Anne artists Emma Roscoe, who designs colorful handmade and custom bags through her line, Red Delicious, and Lynn Rosskamp, who thinks up funky whimsical fleece hats through her business PingiHats. This Saturday, April 3 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Roscoe and Rosskamp invite kids to their shop/studio space to hunt for eggs, candy and prizes hidden throughout the store by the “Fleeceter Bunny.”

In a press release sent out this week, Roscoe and Rosskamp detailed what the Fleeceter Bunny would be doing for the hunt:

She will be hiding prize-winning eggs among the amazing fleece hats, beautiful bags and goods from other Seattle artists around our store.

Easter eggs and candy will, of course, be among the prizes. You could also win valuable coupons for the Studio, and the top prize is a PingiHats hat of your choice (maybe a bunny for Easter?) or a Red Delicious clutch purse.

Emma Roscoe has been designing colorful handmade and custom bags through her line, Red Delicious, for seven years. Two years ago Lynn Rosskamp left a job in social work to create funky fun fleece hats through her business PingiHats. Both are Queen Anne residents and vendors at Pike Place Market. And as of today, Tuesday, February 23, they are Queen Anne’s newest shop owners!

Absolutely Fabulous (whose website is still in the works), located at 6 W Howe St Suite #2 (on the second floor) just off Queen Anne Ave N., is the brain child of Lynn and Emma, who decided to open the joint studio and retail space together, though they admit to having very different styles.

“Our work matches because it’s very different,” Emma said, noting that both love to splash lots of color into their work. “It comes from the same place in our hearts–a love for design.”

Emma’s handbags are crafted with designs and colors she selects to fit her style. You won’t find plain old black and white bags with boring lining here. Everything she makes is bright and cheery, sprinkled with upbeat colors and patterns. Why? “Life is too short to have boring bags,” she said.

“I hadn’t sewn in about 20 years when I started making bags. I was looking for the perfect bag and I couldn’t find it,” Emma said. “I’ve never used a pattern–I design bags to suit me, and if it suits me, it suits a lot of other women.”

(Red Delicious bags range in price from $12 to $100. Customers may choose from one of Emma’s designs, or have their own custom-made).

Lynn brings the same unique design to her hats, which range from colorful adult winter-wear, to customized hats designed to look like your pet (just bring in a picture!), and even a Halloween-themed zombie with a detachable ear (for realism, of course). Everything is made out of polar fleece, which Lynn has dubbed “the play dough of fabric,” because it’s fun and easy to mold into interested shapes and styles. (PingiHats vary from $22 to $34 each).

If you want something a little less eye-catching, Lynn says “You can go to Old Navy or Fred Meyer. I dare you to find a zombie with a removable ear!”

“It definitely assures people that they get something they won’t find anywhere else,” Emma said.

And though their styles often draw in different crowds, the pair say they share a lot of the same customer base. “There are people who buy both,” Lynn said.

Lynn and Emma held a soft opening at their new shop on Saturday, where they showcased their own work and that of a few other market artists who will have displays in the store, including Kim Sun Designs.

Both Lynn and Emma will be splitting their time between Pike Place Market, where their main clientele are tourists visiting the popular city landmark, and the new Queen Anne store, which they hope to make their more permanent, local crafting home base. Though opening up shop in the current economy was certainly a risk, both agreed that the chance to connect to Seattle and the local Queen Anne community was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

“The market is a business incubator for homemade crafts people,” Lynn said.”People in Seattle get that if you buy local, everything stays local.”

“If you look up and down Queen Anne Avenue, you can see the community is very supportive,” Emma said.

What’s most important is that it gives both of them the time and space to move out of their home offices and expand their businesses. Up until this point, Lynn has been using her attic as a craft room, while Emma’s been working within the confines of a small closet.

“This is a chance to move my work out of my house and make my cats less sad,” Lynn laughed.

Absolutely Fabulous will be open from noon to 6 p.m. today, Tuesday, February 23. Because Lynn and Emma have irregular schedules due to the market, the shop will not have definite hours each week. Check their website, Facebook page, and the sign post outside for an up to date schedule.