All posts tagged: berkeley

earth day.

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On Earth Day I hung out at the Makers Workspace Open Studios event for fun creative times. The space was set up with free activities and some of the artists and makers in residence had their doors open for visitors to browse and shop. Kyla of Impressed by Nature had a flower pressing workshop. We used her travel size flower presses and she shared all the basics of flower pressing. We pressed jacaranda, daisies, hydrangeas, and bougainvilleas. I can’t wait to open up my press in a month to see the end result! Christie and Veena of Floretta Designs hosted a flower crown making station and had bouquets for sale. It was all kinds of lovely. Plus, they had a backdrop for a post-flower crown making flower crown photoshoot (of course!). My kind of booth! It is safe to assume I wore my crown around for the rest of the day (and then I hung it on my front door afterwards!). Katie of Wandering Falcon held a nature drawing session, too. She had an amazing collection …

swap…and make!

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Spring cleaning! My friend and I hosted our second craft swap last month. OMG, so much good stuff and so many good people! Per usual, we set up areas for each type of art or craft supply (e.g., painting supplies, paper craft supplies, jewelry making supplies). Swappers placed their unwanted items on the tables and were free to grab whatever other items they wanted. We also set up a free make and take station – felt flower gardens for all! Highlights: I met a felt mouse friend, I scored big on the swap (yarn, sushi fabric, dominos, a giant basket, beads…I’ll keep you posted on the things I make!), and all the unclaimed items went to three awesome places that support educators, creativity, and reuse! Shout out to my God-sister for helping get stuff to places after the swap! For next time, we’re dreaming up ways to make it a more social and creative event. A crafty challenge mayhaps? What new/fun crafty item have you scored lately? Share below!

stop, body time.

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The Body Time warehouse sale! I come yearly to Body Time to pick up a scent refill for my Mom – her fave here is plumeria – but this was my first time at the warehouse. It’s apparently where all the product for the stores gets divvied up. I felt like a total insider. A lot of the stuff on sale was overstock or seasonal. Product was marked at least 40% off, and they had an assortment of furniture and display items, and other giftables. I almost purchased an uncut block of soap… I ended up scoring some mango fragrance, a walnut peppermint scrub, spray-on moisturizer, two heart shaped soaps, and two tote bags all for $20. My friend got all kinds of goodies, too, including this bird statue for $1. Odd, but awesome, and perfect for her garden. Warehouse sale much? Share below!

tinsel.

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Step right in to Tinsel in Berkeley! I frequently pass by this shop thinking I must go in someday. Someday was last Saturday, finally! Tinsel is known for their vintage trim so I was expecting to see lots of ribbons, tassels, and fun things for decorating. I was correct, but oh, there was so much to look at and my brain went into overdrive as I started to think about all the projects I could make with everything in the store. What an amazing collection of things on spools – fabric ribbons, metal ribbons… They had bottle brush trees (I love these things!) for every occasion. This handy passementerie (art of making elaborate trimmings or edgings) guide needs to be an art print. A wall of passements… If I was a master seamstress I would be ALL OVER these trims. Everything looked so elaborate, detailed, well-made. There were bins of vintage appliques, beads, charms… Spools in all the sizes… My family’s cigar company ;)…plus golden scissors… These flower middles reminded me of my childhood and …

pip pip hooray!

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Earlier this week I had my first crafty biz pop-up of the year at Pippa & Co in Berkeley. It was all the cute. Owner Lisa had the front area of the shop set up with some display items and once I arrived I filled it with all my felt creations. This corner was totes meant for me! It was so fun to hang out in the shop all afternoon. I got to share my creations with the community and got to dream up some new ideas, too. Since it was a Valentine’s pop-up I had lots of love themed goodies. I also had my pennants on demand station up and ready to go for any custom requests. There had been a bloom bar the day before and Lisa paired one of my pennants with this lovely bouquet. It was a semi-gloomy and semi-sunshine kind of day – the lighting was perfect for product photos! And when my friend Masako came to visit, her fancy nails got her recruited as a product model. Can’t get …

make your mantra.

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Hey, be you tiful! An evening at Paper Source for their Make Your Mantra mini workshop! Lucky me, I was the only one who signed up for the mini workshop so I got a private lesson! The project for the evening was to paint and decorate a plant print and to include a personal mantra. Teacher example above –très cool. What’s fun about Paper Source workshops is that you get to try out supplies and materials before committing to buy them. I got to play with watercolors (including metallic watercolors!), an aqua brush, Prima Press letters, a heat embosser, and a watercolor resist pen. Paper Source preprinted images of plants. I chose this lil guy – so trendy. I absolutely loved the metallic watercolors. I didn’t know they existed before this workshop. Look at the shimmer…. I ended up getting the palette after class. Here’s my instructor Erik demoing all the tools and supplies, and getting crafty. The watercolor resist pen is pretty fun to use, too. It’s basically like removable glue blobs. You can …

shop feature: black squirrel.

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I finally ventured to Black Squirrel in Berkeley after hearting so many things on their Instagram. What a lovely sight! There are walls and baskets of colorful yarn in all the textures, weights, and materials. They have an extensive collection of hand-dyed and locally sourced yarns, too. Super impressive!   There’s also a fabric section. I love prints (another one of my dreams is to be a textile/pattern designer) so you can always find me drooling in the fabric section.   Black Squirrel is truly a destination for every crafter, and they’ve got some great gifts for the maker in your life, too. I don’t knit or crochet, but the tools they carry are first class and make me want to pick up some new hobbies. There’s also a selection of other giftables like these miniature nature scenes (so tiny!).   And since it’s Christmas time, there are ornament cross stitch kits (I snagged one!), letters to Santa embroidery kits, greeting cards, and lots more. Bonus – the owner is super friendly and awesome and …