Month: October 2017

hallo-WEAVINGS!

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Happy Halloween! Nothing spooky to share here, just another craft workshop inspired by a Halloween pun! This past weekend I debuted a mini weavings workshop at Makers Workspace and since Halloween was just around the corner: Hallo-WEAVINGS! I set up the tables with baskets of yarn in Halloween colors, sticks and dowels, and treat bags (of course!). Weaving progression… These lovelies made such lovely lovelies! Check out all the mini weavings! Some of them look like dresses (for Barbie!). Whether you’re out trick or treating or staying cozy indoors, have a safe and fun holiday, everyone!

magical makers.

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Super magical making happened last week at Rare Bird to gear up for Halloween dress up and celebrations! We had three crafting booths plus a fairy hair station and all-you-can-eat candy! I was invited to host a drop-in felt flower crown craft. I might have woken up at 4:30AM that morning to finish up my flower display, but it was totally worth it. Check out the lovely crowns! I was so excited to use my flower pot display again, too. Ruby and Erica of Rare Bird used natural branches, colorful ribbons, yarn and beads, and so much more for the magical wand craft. And for the candle station, there were endless scents to choose from and to mix and match. Fairy hair by Fairy Manda was a super big hit. I got in on these colorful hair extensions, too. Each session came with a sound bath and fairy blessings. So fun! And now I leave you with this super fancy slo-mo hair video… Yes! I wanna do this again! What have you been crafting up for Halloween? …

yay friends.

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When in New York, you must go shopping in the middle of the night! I was impressed and also confused that so many people were out shopping so late. It must be all the Times Square bright lights keeping us awake. One of the stores I visited was Line Friends which is kind of like Sanrio. My friend and I didn’t quite understand it, but we knew it was super cute and we needed to go. We had a seen a few people walking around town with their adorable bags, so when we found out it was close by, we immediately put it on our list of places to visit. When you walk into the store, there is a giant bear named Brown who you can pose with. You know those giant Costco bears; this is way more giant and way more awesome. He was also dressed up for Halloween. Like Sanrio, there are characters and they come in plush form… And in all the merchandise you can dream up. Like headbands… Also, backbacks, phone cases, …

NYC eats. 

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Well, well, well. My taste buds finally meet the eats of New York streets. All the foods we ate below! FRIDAY   Xi’an Famous Foods: Spicy and sour spinach dumplings, cumin lamb pulled noodles (biang biang), pork noodle soup / Highlights: house-made noodles, that dumpling sauce   Spot Dessert Bar: Matcha Lava (dark chocolate cake filled with green tea ganache, served with green tea ice cream, chocolate crunchy pearls, and cookie crumbs), Yuzu Eskimo (frozen Japanese citrus cream bar with Oreo crust, chocolate ganache, strawberries, sorbet, and chocolate crunchy pearls), mango passionfruit soda / Highlights: the crunchy pearls! SATURDAY Joe & the Juice: Breakfast Club (acai, avocado, banana, hemp granola, almond milk), Iron Man (strawberry, kiwi, and apple smoothie), and chocolate fiber muffins / Highlights: light and filling! Levain Bakery: Dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie / Highlight: melty chocolately goodness Shake Shack: Shack burger, ‘Shroom Burger (crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese, topped with lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce), crinkle-cut fries / Highlight: cheese ooze Halal Guys: Gyro platter / Highlight: Halal …

rainbow again.

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Mischief hosted a craft supply swap during one of my pop-up days and I snagged some fun yarn. They were already crocheted/knitted/woven into these nice tubes. Inspiration struck quickly and I made a rainbow wall hanging right away. (Yea, so I’m a little obsessed with rainbows right now….) Just my luck, there was embroidery floss up for grabs, too. I laid out my rainbow and sewed the pieces together at various points along the arch, tying knots at the back of the rainbow to hide loose floss. The pieces were held securely together with the floss, but the rainbow was still a little floppy. I ended up reinforcing the structure by hot glueing felt to the back. If I ever was to make another one, I would just hot glue right away. Viola! Rainbow! I enjoy the straggly yarn bits, too. Yay for craft supply swaps! Also, maybe I will be Cheer Bear for Halloween this year…

googly.

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I love packaging cute little treats for my niece and nephews. This one from a couple of Halloween’s ago is still one of my favorites. By the power of the googly eye, you, too, can make these fun gift tags for Halloween favors! All you need are: gift tags (I like black tags for this project) lots of googly eyes hot glue pen (use white or metallic for black tags) treat bags + treats coordinating ribbon Lay out the googly eyes however you wish. Then glue. Personalize it and add a message to the back. Package your treats. Wrap the package with ribbon; then attach your googly tag. I feel like I’m being watched now…. O_o Happy creating!

pennant party.

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Everyone. Gets. A. Pennant! As part of my pop-up at Mischief I had pennant office hours. Customers could select a blank pennant (from over 20 colors!), their favorite phrase or name, and any embellishments. Some people got a pennant for their kids or for friends, to rep their family name or a roller derby name, or to cheer for their favorite things. It was sweet to hear the story behind each pennant saying choice.   I loved making all of these! And this black and white curtain was the perfect backdrop! What would you get on a custom pennant? Share below!

keep on growing.

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Tiffany Turner, paper flower extraordinaire, released a paper flower book and it is gorgeous! Hard cover, beautiful photography, and all of them flower how-tos and tips! Tiffany recently spoke in Walnut Creek as part of her book tour so I got to listen to her share her story and process. She makes realistic paper flowers and larger than life paper flowers (so we can experience them zoomed in and close up!). I like how she pays attention to the imperfections from her flower specimens to create a perfect paper flower. They really do look more real when they have imperfections — a fallen or bent petal is the perfect touch. Tiffany did a quick poppy demo after her talk, and then I got to meet her and admire the paper flower display she brought to share. Flowers!!! Of paper!! They look so real. I’m super excited to add this book to my collection, and to attempt making some of the flowers in the book. Tiffany includes suggestions on what materials to use for each project, …

TERRORiums

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Local Take invited me to teach a Halloween-themed craft station as part of the Castro Art Walk. Twas the perfect time to make TERRORiums, terror-ifying air plant terrariums! This was my first time teaching a workshop with living plants. I had to do a bit of research so I could pass on plant care knowledge to all the crafters. I even made a care sheet! I set up rocks and pebbles, marbles, moss, glow-in-the-dark filler, mini pumpkins (to make jack-o-lanterns), skull beads, plastic spiders, mini chalkboards (to make tombstones), and the cutest Halloween food picks for people to use to decorate their terrarium. Everyone got super crafty! Clever tombstone sayings, skull towers…!! Check out all the TERRORiums! Real talk: I don’t think I can make any other kind of air plant terrarium. It must always be Halloween themed.

rainbow.

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I made a rainbow arch! It was so fun to put together and so sad to take apart. 😂 On my last pop-up day at Mischief I threw a free crafty party and thought some colorful decor at the entrance would attract passersby. Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly) I already had all the colors in my honeycomb and fan stash from previous events. I didn’t realize I owned so many until I made the arch. 😎 To assemble, I sorted my decor in rainbow order and attached the largest pieces first, starting from the center of the arch and working my way to the sides of the arch, filling in with the smaller honeycombs. All of the pieces are attached with zip ties. Here I am from across the way. And then I “made” people take photos in front of it! This needs to be a permanent installation somewhere…maybe in my future craft studio? 🙌🏼