All posts tagged: crafternoon

dye party.

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It had been a minute since my crafty lady crew gathered for a crafternoon. We’d been dye-ing to create together, and we’d each been hoarding loads of fabric for the occasion! Here’s how it all went down. We prepped our materials. One day prior, we washed our fabric in natural detergent (for best results!). On the day of we mixed powder dyes plus warm water in squeeze bottles (for classic tie dye) and in buckets (for dip dyeing). We set up our work stations so we had an area for fabric manipulation and soda ash water soaking, an area for dyeing, an area for fabric resting before rinsing, a rinse station, and an area for hanging (and taking photos, let’s be honest). Next we folded fabric. I like to fold all my fabric at the same time, then dye all at once to limit having to rinse or change gloves too many times, and also the chance of me getting unwanted dye on the next fabric I touch. But the process is up to you! …

daisy chain.

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My friend and I met up for nachos and crafting – a winning combo! I picked up the daisy chain bracelet kit from Joann to share. Just add pliers and scissors – a bead tray and mat help, too – and you’re good to go. I’ve long been fascinated by bead weaving/sewing so to find a kit to walk me through a new-to-me technique was a fun find! The kit comes with cord, an assortment of beads, two needles, a lobster clasp, a jump ring, and instructions. You can make one full bracelet with enough cord and beads leftover to make 3-4 more bracelets or other projects. Or, you can add additional strands to the initial bracelet. My friend chose yellow, teal, and pink beads for her flowers; I went for more of a love day color palette – red, fuchsia, and pink; and I swapped the silver findings for gold. It took me a few daisies to get the hang of the project; by about daisy number five I was feeling a bit more …

bead thangs.

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As part of backyard birthday celebrations, in addition to tie dye festivities, my friend Angel led a beaded necklace craft. Ooo, there were so many beads to choose from. I ended up chosing matte black, white, cream, pinks, and gold. My go-tos. For this project we used Miyuki Delica size 11/0 beads, beading wire, bead glue, and spring loaded jewelry connectors (the black line in the photos). For mine, I went freestyle, but you could also plan out a pattern. Tahdah! I made a long necklace. It could also be a 5-wrap bracelet. It’s super delicate and fancy! 🙂 I’m always hesitant to use jewelry glue in my jewelry projects. I’m not fond of the smell, how if it gets on your skin it hurts, and I never trust that I will actually make my project sturdy for wear. But thanks to Angel (adult supervision!) I feel good about this project. Bead much? Share what you like to make below!

tie dye.

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I did tie dye for the first time! My crafty friend’s crafty daughter wanted to celebrate her birthday with a crafty party. Part one was tie dye! Tie dye is similar to indigo dyeing but with essential differences: (1) there are lots more colors, (2) instead of dunking into a vat we squirted color onto the fabric, and (3) these dyes have to sit longer before the big reveal for 12-24 hours (versus the 12-15 minutes per dip for indigo dyeing). We used Jacquard powder dyes and a tie dye kit from Dharma Trading Company plus some extra bottles, funnels, and measuring spoons/cups. We got the jewel tones color kit – super bold and gorgeous. We mixed urea with water and added dye powder to each bottle and we mixed a vat of soda ash solution. We dunked our fabrics in the soda ash solution before dyeing to help the color stick to the fabric. We folded, rolled, and tied our fabrics. We had socks, tees, sweatpants, headbands, and dish cloths. And I brought a …

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!

did you get the memo?

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I taught another felt succulent workshop at Rare Bird, but this time we designed memo boards. I had leftover wire pieces from some shelving and was thinking about how I could use them for an art project. And then it dawned on me – put a felt succulent on it! And a memo board workshop was born. It had been a few months since my last workshop at Rare Bird, and since then, they’ve consolidated their space. It’s half as big as before but still packed with lots of creative magic. My set up for class — For my succulent workshops I usually bring a set color palette, but this time I brought a rainbow of felt and let workshop goers pick their favorite colors. It’s so fun to watch people create and see them get excited when they complete a project. I had three people sign up for memo boards, but we had a no-show, so I ended up teaching a private class to a mom and daughter duo. They created such beautiful work. …

red, white, and indigo.

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I love me a good party theme pun, so when Fourth of July rolled around I was like, um “red, white and indigo?” Yes! I invited some friends to join me for an afternoon of casual indigo dyeing. My friend Laura laser beamed a bunch of shapes for me out of acrylic. I had been dyeing to use them. They are brilliant! And since they are clear you can see some of the color change on the fabric. The big reveal…     Not a lot of pictures here because I was busy having too much fun. Mostly I just wanted to share my pun with you. 😜 I leave you with these fun patriotic donuts. And this video…     Until my next pun party! Hope you all had a fun, happy, and spectacular 4th! Check out my previous posts about indigo dyeing, too: Ready, Set, Indigo / Indigo Magic

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 …

christmas craft camp.

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Happy day after Christmas! Family crafting has become a regular activity whenever I visit home. Everyone gets in on it, even if it means just sitting in the same room and watching others create. It’s nice to be in the space together. This year, our Christmas weekend crafting schedule included three projects: Wood Bead and Animal Keychains Fuzzy Ball Gift Tags Mini Grapevine Wreaths My niece and nephews had a collection of plastic animal figurines to contribute to the keychain craft — upcycling idea! We painted and drew on wooden beads, attached an eyelet screw onto the animals, and strung the beads onto a lobster clasp. Excited for how these turned out! For the fuzzy ball gift tags, we attached tiny fuzzy balls onto reindeer- and tree-shaped tags using glue dots. My nephew made all of Santa’s reindeer. And lastly, we busted out with the hot glue, mini bottle brush trees, jingle bells, and mini reindeer figurines to decorate mini grapevine wreaths. Up close! Hope you had a crafty holiday weekend, too!

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? …