All posts tagged: maker community

fall pop-up.

Published by

I teamed up with Craft + Work to put on a virtual fall pop-up! We showcased 28 makers (including myself), and all weekend we hosted 22 creative demos, workshops, and meet the maker sessions, plus we had a huge giveaway. Check out this line up! And peep our giveaway prize packs! Two lucky fans were chosen to win. These prize packs were mega – worth over $250 each – thanks to our generous makers! I was mainly focused on helping produce the show, but I managed to also release a few fall and Halloween goodies including Hey Boo pennants and candy corn clips, plus a felt flower garland in my current favorite color palette, and these tiny Feed the Fish co pins! I also hosted a live pennant demo where I created custom pennants on the spot. I took suggestions from the audience and cut them live. Plus I answered all the felt and cutting questions. My cohost Roberta of Craft + Work and RENNIEGoods taught a leather tassel workshop. I got to join! I’ve …

sensory bins.

Published by

My friend Robin of Messy Play Kits asked me to create a few felt pieces for her new sensory bin kits. Eee, I love making cute things like these in bulk because they are fun to photograph. I made three shapes — Picnic Baskets I made 50 picnic baskets for her Picnic Sensory Bin. The original design was a 3-inch cube, but we made it even smaller (2-inch cube) for extra cuteness. Somehow, they fit perfectly in this box for shipping out to Robin. Each sensory bin includes one of five picnic basket colors. I might need to make these as little treat bins moving forward. Suns and Rainbows I made 50 suns and 50 rainbows for her Weather Sensory Bin. An additional 50 suns will be used for an upcoming bin — can you guess what the theme will be? Thank you to Robin for inviting me to collaborate on these projects! It’s so fun to see all the kits she comes up with; her ideas keep on flowing and keep the littles (and …

more baskets.

Published by

My basket instructor hosted her annual art pop-up in her home studio last month. The sales from this pop-up were 100% donated to Yes We Can, a program that provides mobile classrooms for migrant kids waiting at the US-Mexico border. Each year she showcases her basket creations and jewelry, and baskets and felted creations by Guatemalan artisans she has worked with on previous projects. Also at the pop-up were two guest artists: one creates ceramic pieces and the other was painting on-the-spot custom portraits. I snagged a couple of basket beauties for my collection. Thank you to Michele for creating and teaching how to make brilliant pieces of basket art and for sharing your talents to help benefit those in need! More caring and sharing all around in 2020!

pomander.

Published by

The crafty ladies got together for one last crafty lady night for the year. This time it was extra extra with a botanical craft led by Angel, a potluck, and handmade gift exchange at our friend An Li’s studio space. I set up the table with winter greenery and a macrame garland I made with a Modern Macrame pattern. Then Angel arrived with all the supplies for the botanical craft and I went to town with dotting the tablescape with height and color. We made pomanders that night so we had a table full of smelling good spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves) and citrus. I couldn’t stop taking photos! Before we started with snacks and crafts, and while waiting for additional guests to arrive, An Li gave us a studio tour. She has a studio for her screen printed apparel and a space for her ceramic making, and she shares the space with a few artists. Snacks! For snacks we had 80% cookies, a Korean fruit salad, ricotta that was basically cheesecake, chips, …so …

sj made – again!

Published by

This year at the SJ Made Holiday Faire was my fourth time in attendance, and I realized I have been a part of the event since it’s inception. Very cool. I was assigned the same booth as last year – front and center! This time I brought lots of workshop samples including weavings and I co-hosted a coloring station with my booth neighbor / craft friend Rebecca of Oodlebadoodle. She also brought Awreatha for her final performance. Rebecca printed off some coloring pages from our SF Etsy team coloring book, including the one of my face. In this rendition, I am so extra. This year was the biggest year yet for the holiday show with almost (or maybe over!) 300 vendors. We took up nearly the entire hall space. There were also lots of activities and community groups offering interactive experiences. On Sunday, the local kitten adoption group brought kittens for 15-minute play sessions. I made sure to get a glimpse before the show started. Per usual, there is so much to see. The hall …

tea | shop hop.

Published by

My friend May of Timmy Mays hosted a studio sale at her maker space along side Cinq and Kaoru Sanchez so my friend Joy and I made a crafty lady date out of it. First stop: Malaya Tea Room in Alameda. Malaya is the cutest tea room I’ve ever been to – ever! Seriously. All the other tea rooms are too stuffy and old feeling. The space was so inviting and beautifully decorated. Even though most of the plants were fake, they still brightened up the room. The tea and snacks – brilliant! Especially the chicken curry sandwich and warm scones. I felt like I was on vacay. They even offered to take our photo on our way out. Then, to the studio sale! May has her studio space at Phoenix in Alameda. I had a pop-up here a few years ago and it’s supah fun. May creates leather goods including bags and belts, and also intricately painted wearable art! And this is her pup Mycroft, the shiest pup I ever met. Plus, jewelry by …

quilting 101.

Published by

Throoowbaaaack. Back in the winter time, my coworker Holly, quilter extraordinaire, hosted weekly quilting-at-lunch lessons at work for our friend Sahskkia and me. I never thought I’d have the patience to make a quilt, but I did it! Well, almost… In our first session, Holly reviewed quilting basics and showed us all the tools of the trade as well as some of her current projects. Beautiful! Holly picked an easy starter quilt pattern for us to try that would help us with our “piecework” or putting the quilt pieces together. Precision is key! Here’s the fabric I decided on using. From top to bottom: leftover fabric from wedding crafts, fabric from Holly x2, and more leftover wedding craft fabric that I had indigo dyed. Our next few sessions were spent perfecting our fabric cutting, and getting all of the pieces ready for sewing. And using this adorable travel iron! Then piecing, cutting up the pieced strips, and piecing them back together in a pattern. More sewing and pressing and piecing… …and sewing and pressing and …

make a wish.

Published by

Yay! We had another crafty lady togetherness night (remember kumihimo crafty hour?). I brought a wish bracelet craft to share and friends brought additional supplies for friendship bracelet making. Spend your summer making these with all your besties! Wish Bracelets Materials: Hemp cord Seed beads size 6/0 Ruler Scissors Clipboard or tape to hold cord in place For 6 inch wrist/bracelet you’ll need: 3 strands of cord measured to 16 inches 8 beads (you can add less/more) Line up all three cord strands. Tie an overhand knot at one end, leaving 3 inches of lose cord. Braid cords until you have ~2 inches of braid. Continue to braid, this time adding beads as you braid. String on a bead after every left cord moves to the center and “lock” the bead in place with each right cord moved to the center. (Or the reverse.) Continue this pattern until you braid on all 8 beads. Continue to braid cord without beads until you have another 2 inches of braid. Tie off this end with another overhand …

block party.

Published by

I was invited to lead a Make & Take station at the SF Block Party hosted by Civic Center Commons in partnership with my SF Etsy team! This was the first in their series of 1st Sunday block parties for the summer, and it was a special one because the Women’s World Cup Finals were happening (and they had a watch party near City Hall). I set up shop. Bonus – event staff set up all the tents for us. Easy breezy. I brought some sports pennants for the sporty occasion, plus surprise bags, flower crowns, more pennants, and wall hangings. Today’s best sellers: flower crowns and surprise bags! And here’s the Make & Take set-up: a paper pennant DIY to celebrate the sports – and a win for Team USA. There were also street soccer matches, games, food trucks, and music. Plus the farmers market across the street. The DIY was super popular and both little kids and big kids enjoyed creating flags. And since SF Etsy curated the vendors for the event, I …

ggc.

Published by

I kicked off my Feed the Fish co. summer crafty events with the Girl Gang Craft June Market. There were over 120 makers, a live DJ, food trucks, and a raffle. This venue though. The event was held at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center. I’ve attended some work conferences here so I was a little familiar with the space and how grand it is, but I didn’t realize how many vendors you could fit in there! Some images from set up… My booth! I was super excited that I got assigned to a corner booth with a wall! Double special. I brought a new sign holder (my letterboard has been knocked down too many times) for my felt flower crown bar sign and we were allowed to hang things on the wall with painter’s tape so hang I did. It all came together nicely. It was a long show (six hours!). My squad brought me snacks to keep me alive. Spicy tuna bowl and shrimp nachos from Bonito Poke (Thanks, Hubby!), iced chai by Bhakti …