West Coast Crafty

I got the nicest surprise today — Nancy of Belle Epoque is hosting a fun giveaway contest to celebrate Bead Simple! She’s one of the book’s guest designers — she created a beautiful pair of earrings — and has been so supportive of the project all along.

And now she’s offering up a lovely selection of beads and jewelry findings as a prize to anyone who buys the book this week. All the details are here in her original post, but to enter, just pre-order the book on Amazon (or you can pre-order a signed copy on the Taunton website, if you’d prefer) and leave a comment on her entry, and she’ll draw the winner next week.

I also wanted to add to her generous prize for the winner, too — so I’m giving away a kit to make the jewelry on the cover, the Vintagesque Necklace (with blue sparkly beads, as shown in this version on the right).

It has beads, wire, and a clasp inside along with the instructions — everything you need except for the pliers. And since Nancy is giving away lots and lots of smaller and seed beads from her studio, I thought I’d add some bigger vintage Lucite beads to the mix! I’ll include these clear, black, pink, blue and brown sparkly beads organized in little bags for your next few projects, too.

So just comment over there by a week from today (February 6) for your chance to win. Thanks so much, Nancy!

There’s a nice assortment of cool things going on to spotlight today… but first I’d like to thank Harrell and the MFA department at Portland State for putting on such a fantastic event last night. Andrew’s lecture was so much fun and everyone welcomed us so warmly and put on such a nice dinner afterwards — thank you!

On the crafty side of things, I wanted to mention that I’ll be at the Craft & Hobby Association show in Anaheim in a few weeks.

I had a great time there last year (hosting Pink Craftie, no less — I wrote up our adventures here and all my CHA photos are here) and I’m really looking forward to attending Natalie’s paper beads demo and talk on indie crafts on Saturday, and walking the floor for a couple of days. I’ll also be part of a crafty launch party on Monday, teaching a free jewelry project, and will post the invite information as soon as I have the visuals to share — but if you’ll be at the show, please mark your calendar for the event, 5:30-7 pm on Monday, 2/11. Details to come ASAP!

And speaking of shows, CRAFT: has just announced the Call for Makers for their upcoming Maker Faire in the Bay Area in May.

I loved teaching jewelry-making there last year and I really wish I could do it again, but my due date is exactly a week before the show… so let’s just say that I’m looking forward to Maker Faire ‘09! All my photos from last year are here on flickr and my write-up on whip-up is over here if you are Maker-curious.

Last, my friend and birthday twin Christine also just passed on that she’s shifting from designing her marvelous Twospace line to working on an eponymous Christine Haynes collection. This paper doll sheet of her dresses and separates is so charming!

I love her designs, and I got to write about her work for BurdaStyle last month, which was a lot of fun… and most exciting of all, she’s writing a new book on sewing your own stylish clothes (without pesky zippers or buttonholes, even), tenatively called Hip to Hem, which will be out in Spring 09 from Potter Craft. Congratulations, Christine!

Back off the crafty, if you are a LOST devotee, did you know that ABC is re-broadcasting the final episode of last season tomorrow night? I cannot wait for the two-hour special on Thursday… and if you need a further refresher, there is an 8 minute, 15-second re-intro to all the characters and events up til now.

We woke up to a nice little coat of fresh snow on the ground, so it’s been a bit more tough than usual to buckle down and get all my chores, I mean freelance work, done today. And I’m really looking forward to Andrew’s lecture tonight, but I have a decent-sized to-do list to conquer first… and I really should get back to it.

But in the meantime, I wanted to wish my friend Quentin’s fantastic T-shirt company Monsieur T. a very happy 4th birthday! To celebrate four years of t-shirt bliss, he is offering an excellent four-day sale (now through midnight, 1/31) with 30-50% off regular prices.

He has tons of styles for both women and men, including artist collaborations with Ryan Berkley, Bwana Spoons, and Fernando Elvira. Andrew is an official Team Member so he is a loyal Monsieur T. wearer, and of course I love his women’s stuff too.

Quentin’s other half is the super-talented Torie of Totinette, also known as the co-organizer of Crafty Wonderland. So while you’re browsing t-shirts, be sure to take a peek at her Etsy shop if you’re looking for just the thing in the sparkles department!

p.s. Did anyone else watch that unbelievable Blazers game yesterday? What a crazy fourth quarter! Brandon Roy was absolutely spectacular when they needed him most, but the Hawks were so tough — my compliments to my fellow UNC-er Marvin Williams who had an awesome game, too. I’m still asking myself how we pulled that one off.

Wow, thanks so much for the congratulations on the baby news! I really appreciate it. I’ve been a little shy to make the big announcement for some reason, and with being so busy (house, move, work, etc.) lately it was hard to find the time to sit down and write an actual personal, chatty post. For some reason it’s so much easier for me to write about other people’s cool stuff going on, you know? But I am very happy to be out about it, finally! And I’m getting very excited to meet her in a few months.

So while I’m dwelling on all things personal, I would also like to announce a lecture by my favorite artist, who, lucky for me, also happens to be my husband: Andrew Dickson. It’s part of the current Portland State MFA lecture series, which is free and open to the public on Monday night.

AC Dickson: eBay PowerSeller

The lectures so far have been stellar — Harrell Fletcher and the MFA department are hosting such a great weekly series and keeping it so accessible, too. In the upcoming line-up, I am especially excited to see Marie Watt’s event on April 14, baby permitting.

Sell Out

Andrew will be showing video clips and photos of his past visual, film, and performance work and previewing some new projects as well. I am admittedly quite biased, but I think it will be a very cool event!

Beck’s Nausea video

The other lectures have been pretty crowded so come a bit early if you can make it over! I will be front and center and would love to see crafty friends afterwards.

me and Andrew at the Birthday premiere

If you go:
Andrew Dickson artist lecture
5th Avenue Cinemas, 510 SW Hall Street in Portland
Monday, January 28th at 7:30 pm
Free and open to the public

On a personal note, I am very happy to make a pretty big announcement: Andrew and I are expecting a baby girl in late April! So far everything has been going really well, and I feel very lucky. And I’m so glad that we’re settled into the new house now that I’m six months along… the last few months have been pretty hectic, to say the least!

I had such a great time in California this weekend — after a fun day out and about button shopping in the East Bay, I got to go up the coast with a group of crafty friends to hang out for the long weekend. We all originally met on the glitter boards at getcrafty seven or eight years ago, and have been friends ever since. And while we were at our rental house, these sweet girls threw me a crafty baby shower one afternoon, complete with beautiful homemade cupcakes!

It was just lovely. There was a craft table all set up with a sewing machine, stencils, fabric paint, embroidery thread, and fabrics, and everyone embellished colorful hand-dyed onesies, shirts, bibs and booties. I came home with a bag full of cute little things — I still can’t believe it.

I have been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to make anything for her myself yet… and with two more long trips and a big work deadline next month, that’s what March is for, hopefully. But now she has this beautiful collection of clothes and I feel so, so spoiled. Thank you so much, ladies.

And speaking of thank yous, I am just thrilled that people are liking the sneak peek at Bead Simple! I really appreciate the very kind comments and responses I’ve been getting. I can’t tell you how much the cool, supportive people in the online crafty world mean to me, and I feel so lucky to have a chance to return the favor whenever I can. So thanks again!

I’m still in San Francisco after a super fun weekend up at Sea Ranch, so here’s a quick little announcement before I head out to meet Nancy, Natalie and Christina:

Fabric in the City (1034 S.W. Taylor in downtown Portland) is closing its doors and this is the last week they’ll be open, with everything in the store marked down. Toni Lynn writes: “Our last business day will be Saturday, Jan. 26th. Please stop by during our last week and say hi. We still have some really good stuff in the shop at a good discount.” The shop will have tons of fixtures and furniture as well as fabric and notions up for grabs, and that beautiful Michael Miller dot quilt is for sale, too.

I’ll be back in Portland tonight and posting again tomorrow!

ReForm School has a lovely art opening this weekend, Fossil Fuel Fun. Billie and Tootie just announced: “Our first art show of the year opens this Saturday night, January 19th at 7 p.m. Our latest Student Of The Month, Matte Stephens, will be showing original works. Come by and have some “Fossil Fuel Fun” and enjoy our retro candy bar, cupcakes and old fashioned soda pop ( we’ll have the hard stuff too!).”

And don’t forget to check out the new ReForm School blog for shop updates, artist interviews and interesting tidbits. Billie and Tootie are the two most charming girls imaginable and I’m excited that they’ll be posting regularly!

Meanwhile, the fabulous Tinlark Gallery is having a first-anniversary celebration: a solo opening featuring Brooks Shane Salzwedel, and “Time Flies,” a group show including work from one of my favorite artists, Ryan Berkley. Ryan illustrated Super Crafty and has a gorgeous collection of paintings, illustrations, and comics. Congratulations, Ryan!

Well, I’m in California but a few hundred miles north of the parties, unfortunately! Luckily, I’ll be in LA in a few weeks and I’m very excited to see the shows while they’re still up.

I’m so excited — I just got my advance copy of Bead Simple this morning! I had a B+W galley to look over before, which was great, but the glossy, colorful, real version is just so amazing to see. I’m so happy to hold it in my hands and flip through the pages… I love how it turned out.

Here are a few sneak peeks at it…

The cover has been final, and out, for awhile, but it is pretty cool to see the real thing!

This is one of my favorite things in the book: a lush arrangement of vintage and new beads compiled by Burcu Avsar and Zach DeSart, to accompany all the front-section info about jewelry-making materials. I just want to look at that picture all day.

And here is a project spread — I liked how the earrings photos and the text are such a lovely mix. These are two of my favorite earrings projects, I am always drawn to circles and symmetry and negative space.

I’ll be updating the Bead Simple site soon — I have my first two events planned, which is exciting! I can’t wait. The book is out on March 28 but if you are interested, you can pre-order it now on Amazon. And I have asked Multnomah County Library and the Los Angeles Public Library to order it, so it will be check-out-able. If you are also a library person, and have a minute to make the request, I would love it if you asked your local branch to carry it too.

Thanks for letting me go on a little self-promotional tangent, and I’ll be back to other people’s crafts and events tomorrow. I’m heading to San Francisco in a couple of hours so I’ll catch up with my regular posting from there!

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes last week! I had a really nice day — pretty relaxed, which was exactly how I wanted it. We ended up going to Burgerville for lunch, seeing Juno, finding a vintage couch at Era in Sellwood, and going out to the Farm for dinner. Then I finally got my cupcakes on Sunday (I like to stretch my birthdays out a bit) from Saint Cupcake… divine.

And I was very lucky to get a whole stack of amazing books as birthday presents!

Andrew read my mind with eerie precision (ten years together will do that, I guess!) and surprised me with The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest, a book I had been longing for after flipping through it at Powell’s. It’s absolutely beautiful. He also gave me Atomic Ranch, which I had out of the library — I’m really excited to have my own copy to pore over. Our house was built in 1949-1950 so it is very inspiring to see what other people do with their spaces.

And speaking of house ideas, my in-laws (with a little help from Andrew, too) gave me Mid-Century Modern, which is another gorgeous collection with great ideas for mixing 1950s and 60s pieces with other eras, which I love doing.

Tanja stopped by and left me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and these two lovely Japanese pattern books, which I’d been coveting since I saw them at Canoe a few weeks ago! They’re so sweet. Each one has a CD with jpgs of the entire collection of patterns and I can’t wait to do something crafty with them.

And Cathy gave me this set: a vintage Complete Library of Needlework volume, plus this revamped blank book from Attic Journals. I have a few of the make it yourself books (which I love) so that was especially cool!

Just a quick note to let you know that Kristen Rask, the author of Plush You! has donated three copies of her book to give away this week! I posted all about it and did a mini-interview with her over at Adorn, so comment there for your chance to win. She’s also accepting entries for the next Plush You show through January 20th, so be sure to submit your work for consideration if you’re interested.

My hands-down favorite project in the book is her Sasha the Whale Pins… so cute! I bought the green and pink one at the Plush You show last fall.