Year: 2018

neighborhood christmas.

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This Christmas season Hubby and I discovered a couple of neighborhood Christmas time traditions. In El Cerrito (where we currently reside), the Shadi Holiday Display depicts a Bethlehem scene complete with the Angel of the Lord, the three wise men, and sheep. Mr. Shadi started the display in 1949 as a gift for his neighbors and over the years made more and more of the display items with upcycled materials. Talk about mega crafting! Now, the tradition continues via volunteers who put the display together each year for the neighborhood. It was really sweet to overhear older residents saying they used to come visit as children and are now bringing their own grandchildren to see the display. And in Chula Vista (where Hubby grew up), Christmas Circle has been a yearly tradition since 1957. Most of the residents on the circle decorate their front yards with a Christmas display and spectators can walk or drive through. It’s a short loop to walk; plus, going by foot means you get to admire all of the displays up …

pom pom and tasselry.

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For my last crafty event of the year I teamed up with my crafty friends of the Loome and Mischief to host a pom pom and tassel craft night compete with holiday cocktails. There was yarn everywhere and it was fantastic! Vilasinee of the Loome shared all her pom pom and tassel wisdom. All the pom poms and tassels! We also had mini pop-ups and a gift wrap decorating station. Aww, take me back to craft night! It was so fun I continued the pom pom and tassel merriment with my fambam over my Christmas break. Behold, pom pom and tassel mastery at Christmas Craft Camp! My Mommy got super fancy with braided straps. We also added beads, brass, and wooden rings. Who’s ready for more pom-tass in the New Year? Me!!!

tiny trees.

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Happy Christmas season! We had a mini Christmas tree decorating contest at work. My coworker gifted us with tiny brush trees and challenged us to decorate them for Christmas. I raided my craft supply stash for some mini tree decor inspiration. I gathered seed beads in pinks, felt, and snowflake confetti. I started with a garland of beads. Then I made a tree skirt out of felt and snowflake confetti. I added another garland. And finally some tiny bells. My coworkers decorated with a Feed the Fish co sticker, pushpins (so clever and functional!), a skateboard, and buttons. When it came to judging…Basically, I won. 😂 Thanks to my coworker Monise for this fun idea! I might need to recycle this project for next year, too.

you’re the flower crown lady!

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Yup! I’m the flower crown lady. That’s what people shouted at me at the SJ Made Craft Fair last weekend. Apparently, SJ Made ran a Facebook ad with my photo (above) so people recognized me at the show! This was my biggest event of the year. I set up a 10′ x 10′ booth with all my felt creations, a custom banner bar, a custom felt flower crown bar, and a sale basket. Big booth means I brought everything. I loaded up the craftmobile and snapped a photo so I’d remember how everything fit so nicely inside. My canvas: There were over 250 vendors at this show. And I got the booth right at the entrance, in the middle. Front and center! I wanted my booth to feel inviting because I felt responsible for greeting everyone who came in the door. Ha! And….after! The long table faced the entrance and displayed most of my product line. On the inventory list this year: wall hangings, pennants, surprise boxes, hair clips, tassels, ornaments, and of course, taco garlands! I …

projects lately.

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More fun custom projects on the horizon! Here are a few of my recent special projects. I made a fall wreath for my friend Nina of Gooseberry Designs. She was sad she couldn’t make my last wreath workshop, so she ordered one instead! Loving this colorway. Tally Sue of Shweet Shtuf requested a “Sweet” pennant for her visit to Candytopia! Plus, all of her sweet tooth plush adventures! She also ordered a Portland Trail Blazer giant pennant for her next trip to Portland. When I made the logo it was too big for the pennant so I turned it into a hair clip/brooch. Two custom orders in one! Crossing my fingers this one makes it on TV! 😉 A booth visitor at one of my events ordered a super special Warriors wall hanging. The convo went something like: Customer: “You can’t do the Filipino sun logo with the bridge, can you?” Hubby: “Yea, she can do that.” Me: [Looks at logo] “Yea, I can cut that.” 😎 [Inside] OMG, that’s gonna take forever. And it did. This …

holiday crafternoon.

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Let’s get into Mischief! Holiday Crafternoon at Mischief was a huge success. I wish we counted how many crafters came through to our DIY stations – that would have been good business stats. 😉 My friend Tally Sue and I set up two crafty stations in the studio space. She led the felt candy cane mouse craft and I led the paper ornament craft. It was a colorful mess! Carolers came, too! And Santa – I ran away. (Santa IRL is not my cup of tea.) Mischief also set up a hot cocoa bar for all. It’s super impressive to see a kid create a hot cocoa concoction and then consume it all. I mean, they put everything on there – whipped cream, sprinkles, hella marshmallows…. All. The. Toppings. Thank you to Mischief for always inviting me back for more crafty fun! What kinds of crafty holiday fun are you getting your hands on this season? Share below!

wunderfaire.

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Another show in the books! I’m on fiah this craft season, and it’s getting easier and easier for me to just pop in somewhere with one cartload of goodies, meet all the fun people, then roll out. One of my favorites – Wunderfaire – was last week at IDEO. They went with a wonderland theme for their 10th annual event! This year was my second year participating. The show is open to the public, but it’s largely an event for IDEO staff to shop small for the holidays. Plus, the booth fees that are collected are always donated to a local organization. This year all the booth fees went to Rebuilding Together San Francisco, an organization that provides safer and healthier living situations through home repair and renovation programs. My booth! I set up so fast I had some time to visit maker friends and meet new ones ~ Timmy Mays (I met her at a West Elm Local event!), Moonwalker Things (I totes Instagram stalked her! :)), and Batsu/Maru! (we met and even did a crafty …

sip & shop.

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I coordinated a lil private jewelry shopping party at Covet! Something about having a whole store to yourself feels so fancy! Shop owner Adrienne is a long-time jewelry designer and shop keep. And she’s my maker friend! 🙂 Her space boasts a jewelry bar where you can mix and match your favorite charms, her whole collection of jewelry, assorted locally handmade goods, and special finds from all her travels. The shop check-out area doubles as her work space. Brilliant! We looked around the shop at least three times each. It’s a small shop but there’s much to see. I made a gift list so I could shop for specific people and occasions, which was really helpful because – oh, look at this cute sparkly thing. Yea… Thank you to Adrienne for hosting a fun event for me and my crew! If you’re in the SF Bay Area and want to host your own Sip & Shop, contact Adrienne to set it up! Sip & Shop birthdays, graduations, just becauses, Wednesday nights, …. And then we …

broad room.

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Welcome to Broad Room! I made a pennant for the occasion! 😉 The Broad Room is a community, co-working space. They host tons of creative workshops, wellness events, pop-ups, and social activities. I got to participate in their first annual Holiday Market! Behold, my lil set up. I was among one of twelve vendors invited to set up shop. I love participating in crafty events in new spaces! Smaller events are really nice, too, because I get to walk around, meet the other makers, and be a shopper! I was especially super excited to meet Leah of L Nickson Designs. She makes crocheted adorableness; spot her stuff below. There was also a taco truck and a raffle! I contributed some felt goodies – a Pizza Me wall hanging with a trio of matching pizza pennants. Before heading to the craft show I made a shopping list! This is super helpful when your main focus is selling, but you also want to get some gift shopping done. I made sure I wouldn’t miss out on all the fun …

winter pop-up.

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Oh hi, it me and my God-sis. This year, I’m participating in the Makers WorkSpace Winter Pop-Up Shop – three weekends of handmade crafty fun! The pop-up is set up like a gift store and boasts over 60 artists! For the 2nd annual pop-up market, they invited a few makers to host interactive Meet the Maker experiences for each pop-up day. I got to set up a lil DIY station for opening night! Behold, mini felt succulent gardens, complete with tiny Christmas tree and reindeer decorations. I met some fun, crafty peeps, including someone who just moved to the area from none other than my hometown. Small world! I’m so thankful I get to share my love for craft with the community. Here’s a peek into the shop’s offerings… So good, right? A big thank you to Kyla of Impressed by Nature and Jenice of California Native Jewelry for organizing the event! There are still six more days of pop-up left ~ go get your handmade, local, and crafty on. A few featured makers: Feed …