All posts tagged: maker community

weekend out west.

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Earlier this month I spent a weekend popping up shop at West Elm in Emeryville. I’ve popped up here before and even taught a few workshops. I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and the design inspiration everywhere. Here’s my booth on Day 1 and on Day 2. Spot any differences? 🙂 During my pop-up I met some lovely makers! Laura of Aetas (she makes nature-inspired jewelry) and Joslyn of Mixed Bag (she handknits and sews all kinds of goodies). Yay, maker community! One of my favorite things about popping up shop in pretty spaces: I get to take lots of product photos! This is also a great space for scheming my next crafty moves. There is inspiration everywhere, like this pink/ochre/green planter. Ooh la la! And speaking of scheming, I’ve already planned my next West Elm event! I’ve been invited back to teach a Weaving Basics workshop on Sunday, July 14. For tickets and more information check out my craft biz page. Hope to see you there! It’s gonna be so pretties!

all the crafts!

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There were so many classes to choose from at Craftcation – over 50 for each day! Most required pre-registration, but there were others that were drop-in and you could also get waitlisted for classes, too. Here are a few I got to take on a whim! Each day there were casual crafts set up poolside – what a lovely setting! They were less structured and more open play; you could stay for as little or as long as you wanted. I taught one of these casual sessions (my mini succulent terrarium craft) and attended two others: terrazzo jewelry (above) with Jennifer Perkins and fabric dye coloring pages (below) with friend roomie Rebecca! I don’t play with clay much so it was fun to learn a trendy technique – I would love to create some clay beads and charms to use in my pomtass crafts. For fabric coloring, we used rainbow patches and Jacquard liquid color. I’m thinking I’ll make a mini plushie with my rainbow patch. After teaching back-to-back classes, I still wanted to make …

craftcation.

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Hiyee! I’m back from a whirlwind craft vacation ~ Craftcation! There is so much to share…so get ready because I’m flooding the interwebs with all the fun craft magic! Here are some Craftcation highlights. Craftcation is a conference for makers and creative business owners. It’s hosted by the awesome crew at Dear Handmade Life at the Ventura Marriott. I spent five days teaching and learning, and getting inspired! More on all the workshops I taught and took soon. (Oh, there are a lot of them!) Biznez. I took one business class with Marlo Miyashiro of The Handmade Showroom on how to develop wholesale line lists. There were so many other business classes, too (but I was busy with all the crafting!!). You could also schedule a one-on-one consult with experts to discuss your handmade business. Fabric wall. There were sewing classes, dyeing classes, textiles and embroidery…so many things to choose from. For all of the sewing classes, there was a fabric wall to select your class materials. For all other classes, all the materials were …

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 …

crafty hour.

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My crafty lady friends and I met up for a crafty lady crafty hour. We met up at Casa Latina, one of my preferred nacho places because they get the chip to topping ratio right all the time. 😉 First we ate foods; then we did the crafts. My friend brought pom pom trim guides / kumihimo cord makers by our friends at the Loome. We made kumihimo cord keychains. Materials are simple: yarn, key ring + clasp, scissors, and optional beads and needle. Tahdums! Check out the kumihimo cord tutorial we followed on the Loome. Finally, a crafty lady crafty hour in the books! It’s so nice to hang out with my crafty ladies not at a craft show – even tho that’s fun, too! We’ll have to make this a regular thing.

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!

make.

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Earlier this week I popped up at the Museum of Craft and Design with my SF Etsy teammates as part of National Craft Month and the museum’s inaugural after-hours event “Make.” My booth above: I kept my display minimal for this show because there was a high chance of rain and I didn’t want to lug around too much stuff. To my surprise I got everything to fit in one carry-on luggage and a small tote bag. Winning! Fastest set up and clean up ever. Winning some more! My teammates’ booths below (left to right): Coffee n Cream Press by Leah Jachimowicz, Oodlebadoodle by Rebecca Saylor, and Matilda’s House & co by Anna Engstrom. Throughout the evening visitors could try their hand at the crafting stations including finger crochet, button and magnet collage making, and silk screening. There was even a make your own bitters station and a free photobooth. Plus, everyone got to enjoy the current exhibit. My booth was right next to the photobooth so a handful of folks got creative and asked …

le petit elefant.

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Yays! I visited my friend Genevieve – owner and designer extraordinaire at le petit elefant – at her first open studios event of the year. It was super major cute! Her space is set up like a shop and is also where she creates and does all her biznaz tasks. I love seeing Genevieve’s work at crafty events, but at her studio you get to see the entire collection – shelves and shelves of awesome! Greetings for every occasion, original art, prints, books, … And my fave section: the sticker table! Oh look, more stickers! And more cards and stamps! I grabbed a few items to add to my collection, and a few cards and gift items for loved ones. Can’t wait to gift all the cute! Until next visit! Have you visited any maker studios lately? 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, …

swap.

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My friend Angel and I hosted our very first art and craft supply swap! We had never been to a swap before either so we had no idea what we were doing, but we knew we wanted makers to be able to get rid of unused items, perhaps pick up some new materials to try new creative endeavors, and to meet fellow creatives. Overall, I’d say it was a success and well-received. We will probably host another in the new year. This way to the swap! We held the swap at Makers Workspace and invited the maker community to join us. We also posted the event on Eventbrite so we could keep track of interest and contact information. The swap was free for swappers and we requested a small fee from non-swappers. This worked out great because we had enough paid participants to purchase some light snacks for everyone. I scored these fun balloon arrangements from crafty friend Rebecca at her art installation earlier in the month. She was so happy to see they were …