coffee, chatting, and chocolates
October 30, 2008 at 12:20 pm | In art and craft, chatty, crafty events, oregon | 3 CommentsI wanted to preview some crafty stuff I’m excited about this week, and I’d love to see you at one of these events if you can make it. Please spread the word!
Next Tuesday (yes, election day!) Cathy Pitters, Justin Hocking, Diane Gilleland and I will be part of a round table discussion at Contemporary Crafts Museum in downtown Portland. We’ll be chatting with everyone about modern crafting and the community here, and we’d love to have you join us! In true Portland style, there will be plenty of coffee on hand.
From the museum write-up:
From craft fairs, etsy.com sellers and zinesters to the independent music scene, bike activists and “foodies,” Portland has a reputation as an epicenter for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) culture. Join guests Susan Beal and Cathy Pitters (PDX Super Crafty), Justin Hocking (IPRC), and Diane Gilleland (DIY Alert) for a discussion on DIY, its connection to craft and the contemporary resurgence of all things independent.
Museum of Contemporary Craft
724 NW Davis St., Portland
503-223-2654
12 noon, Tuesday, November 4
And hey, what are you up to tonight?
Cathy says, “It’s time for my annual Day of the Dead art show at Alma Chocolates! I’ve got some great new cut tin pieces chock full of wrestlers and Virgins and some woodland creatures thrown in there too. Hope you can come join me for the opening – it’s today!!!”
Thursday, October 30th
from 6-8pm
at Alma Chocolates
140 NE 28th Ave.
Just north of Burnside
Check out her blog for more info and a sneak peek at one of the pieces… rumor has it that there will be mulled wine and habanero caramel apples! And of course, Sarah’s sublime and incomparable chocolates.
update: Justin Hocking will also be on the Keeping Portland Weird! panel (which I added above), and I can report firsthand that Cathy’s show is completely awesome and that you should definitely stop by this month while it’s up!
Hope to see you at one or both!
altars and collages
October 29, 2008 at 10:36 am | In california, chatty, holidays, washington | 1 CommentI have been struggling to get my mind off Halloween (I’m still not finished with Pearl’s costume, naturally) and the election (shirts and onesie sent out, donation made, and fingers crossed!) so I can put some thought into making my Day of the Dead altar this weekend. Easier said than done with the sticky factor of the other two things in question. But if you are also thinking about creating an altar, or would like to, I wanted to mention a craft project I posted over at CraftStylish this week: an embellished Day of the Dead collage to stand alone or incorporate into a larger shrine.
The tutorial gives lots more details, but I used some really amazing craft supplies from the Crafty Chica line, including an image from one of her Inspiration Cards, along with vintage bits and pieces and sparkly acrylic rhinestones. Of course, you can use any family photos, personal images, or details you like to make it your own…
I’ve been thinking about the other altars I’ve made for inspiration, now that we’re in (yet another) new place, and I wanted to share my photos from last year’s and the year before (I wasn’t such an obsessive photographer earlier in life, it seems like, and I can’t find any pre-2006 Day of the Dead pictures right now) and from a really awesome outing that Jessica, Cat and I made to Olvera St. when I still lived in LA. I’ll post some pictures when I do make my altar this weekend. After I finish knitting and sewing for Harry Potter’s wardrobe, and before the longest night of the year, that is…
Lots more pictures here.
p.s. in a completely unrelated pair of Northwest updates, I am excited and envious that Ork Posters has a new Seattle neighborhood map in five colorways! Portland is coming soon… I can’t wait.
And pumpkin shakes have arrived at Burgerville!
postcards + t-shirts + onesies
October 27, 2008 at 1:56 pm | In chatty, craftivism | 4 CommentsThanks so much for the awesome and enthusiastic comments on my screenprinting for change post last week! I was so happy to read them and glad that some folks are liking the craftivism posts (you never can tell with these things). The five package-winners are Jacinda, Elizabeth H., nyjlm, jessica, and amy zimmer, and I will email each of you this afternoon to round up addresses. But there’s more…
I wish so much that I had enough postcards for everyone, but the run was very limited since they first went to party guests and Ohio volunteers (yay!), and I only had a small stack left to bring home. So I came up with a new idea: if Obama wins next Tuesday I will do a second run in a new color combination, and I will send a postcard to every person who took the time to comment last week, or comments on this post — thank you all so much! I am doing what I can for the campaign and I know you are too!
Speaking of the campaign, I have organized a quick little fundraiser partnering with the Obama Craft Project, who graciously hosted the print party. I am offering up two Obama t-shirts and one onesie that I printed with them for $15 each in my etsy shop, with the entire selling price going directly to the Obama/Biden campaign. I’ll cover etsy and paypal fees and priority mail shipping myself, so the purchase price is donated in full — I’ll make an immediate $15 donation through the Obama Craft Project fundraising page as soon as they sell.
If you buy one by noon Pacific time tomorrow (Tuesday 10/28) I will ship them out priority mail that afternoon. I will also include one postcard with each shirt or onesie — I kept one for myself and after the giveaway last week there are exactly three left — perfect. There’s tons more info and more detail pictures in my etsy descriptions, but please keep in mind that these are lovingly hand-screened on secondhand shirts and onesie, not professionally made new pieces. In other words, you will never see another person wearing your exact same kelly-green Obama shirt unless you look in the mirror.
update: the three pieces are sold out! Thank you to Christina, Diane and Emily — I am making the donation right now…
Yes we can!
a last PS: Jessica thoughtfully mentioned in her comment that the Honolulu Obama office is accepting postcards for Barack Obama’s ailing grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. If you’d like to send her a postcard wishing her well, you can mail it to
Mrs. Madelyn Dunham
c/o Obama for America
Honolulu Headquarters
1050 Ala Moana Blvd Ste D2690
Honolulu, HI 96814
Screenprinting! for! Change!
October 22, 2008 at 2:06 pm | In chatty, craftivism, oregon | 24 CommentsThe screenprinting for change party was awesome! We had a capacity crowd of Obamans, printed up dozens and dozens of shirts, goccoed a round of cards for everyone, and raised a couple hundred dollars for the Obama campaign. Sarah and Josh even shipped 24 pounds of specially designed and printed Ohio shirts off as a thank-you to the tireless volunteers there.
So here is a little photo post from the party… thank you to Caitlin for lending me the Gocco pictures she took!
First, a magnificent green Barack shirt being screened (I like the peek at the screen itself in the third pic), from start to finish.
A clothesline of shirts drying in the sun (perfect weather, awesome) — an Ohio shirt is in the center. That design is so rad.
After a first round of screenprinting shirts, onesies and fabric I set up my Gocco printer, burned a screen with my postcard design, and gave a little demo — super fun.
Here’s one of the finished cards (on Caitlin’s fridge)…
Sarah also hand-cut some stencils out of Tyvek and we printed up lots of those. My favorites were the HOPE (sample print shown here) and baby-sized Obama circle:
And those are the ones we printed shirts for me and Pearl with!
Yippee!
So, I’m guessing if you got this far you are an Obama fan as well, and I’m offering up a mini-giveaway as a thank-you for sticking with me while I enthuse about politics. I have five little Yes We Can! packages to send out: a red-and-gold Obama postcard from the run we printed this weekend and a Nikki McClure VOTE! poster (which you can also order for free from Buy Olympia following that link). Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday night at midnight (10/26) and I’ll pick five people on Monday, and send them out after that.
Yes we can!
Milwaukie farmer’s market
October 19, 2008 at 12:32 pm | In cooking is crafty too, oregon | 3 Comments
We went today with Pearl and got apples, artichokes, zucchini, spinach, walla wallas, chanterelles, chard, peppers, brussels sprouts, snap peas, broccoli, green onions, and bagels. I’m so excited to make dinner tonight!
Screen Printing for Change – this Saturday!
October 16, 2008 at 11:58 am | In craftivism, crafty events, oregon | 3 CommentsIf you are in Portland and interested in getting into a little gocco and screenprinting this weekend, here is the party/fundraiser/all-around good time for you! Sarah of the Obama Craft Project is hosting a screenathon on Saturday to make your own custom Obama shirts and bags (or whatever you like that lies flat) and I’m bringing my Gocco printer so you can print up a new election souvenir postcard, too. I’m really looking forward to it — our postcard parties were really fun and I’m excited to do more printing!
Rachel recently hosted a similar event in Austin and it was awesome! Here is a beautiful shirt that she printed up for Pearl (thank you Rachel!!).
So, back to the Portland screenprinting party details! Here’s a snip from the invite/announcement:
1.) We ask for a suggested donation of $10 to the Obama-Biden Campaign via the Obama Craft Project fundraising page.
2) BYOT (Bring Your Own T-shirt); You can use an old shirt, and light or bright colors are better. You can also make a commemorative poster using heavy paper or print on a piece of wood or vinyl and make a unique yard sign! Get creative! Almost anything can be screen printed, if it can lay flat: bags, sun shades, most clothes, wood, paper. Bring whatever you want, and we’ll help you screen print it!
3.) Please consider bringing a T-shirt to donate to our effort to send Obama T-shirts to volunteers in Chillicothe, Ohio. This is our way to show support for the hard work they’re doing in that very important part of a very critical swing state. Inexpensive T-shirts can be purchased just about anywhere: Target, Kohls, Fred Meyer. If you don’t have time to pick one up, we’ll gladly accept donations to help purchase T-shirts to send to Chillocothe.
You can get more info and RSVP on the barackobama site, or please leave a comment if you have any questions and I’ll pass it along to Sarah.
Meanwhile, I have been doing a little screen printing of my own — while we were at Crafty Wonderland registering voters, Lise lent me one of her screens and we printed up a bright-colored banner that’s going up on my front porch. My childcare fell through today (I blame Mercury again) so I will be posting the tutorial later, but here is a peek at one of the 16 pennants for now…
pictures at last!
October 15, 2008 at 4:23 pm | In chatty, craftivism | 5 Commentsokay, moving some craft videos over to another hard drive cleared things up nicely and now my new pictures are all set. I’m going to write up a gocco/screenprinting post tomorrow with a fabric-banners how-to but in the meantime I wanted to post about our beautiful new crocheted hats for fall:
Here we are at the grocery store this afternoon. Pearl is wearing a vintage one I found at a yard sale (along with the cutest matching sweater) and mine is handmade by the super-talented Linda. She is hosting a crafty fundraiser this week to support her family through a difficult time, and proceeds from each item sold from her Etsy shop will go towards helping her sister, brother-in-law and nephew. All the details are here and I can personally attest to the awesomeness of her work. Go Linda! I love my hat and it was so nice to take a long walk today all cozy in our hats.
In other Pearl news, at five months old she absolutely loves the swings at the park! I feel like every non-rainy day is precious now that we’re well into October, so we seized the chance to play outside on the way home.
mercury in retrograde?
October 14, 2008 at 1:26 pm | In chatty, holidays, oregon | 2 CommentsOkay, I have been struggling with my usually effortless camera –> computer picture transfer the last few days and so I don’t have any of the new photos I wanted to post! ugh. I’m not usually very on top of the timing of these things, but I heard someone mention that mercury was in retrograde so I’ll blame that. And if it’s back out again, I guess it’s just me. Speaking of astrology, I can’t stand the thought of a post with no photos at all so here is a picture of one of my prize possessions, a vintage Enid Collins Capricorn bag.
Anyway, hopefully I’ll get to post some of my favorites from helping out at Crafty Wonderland this weekend, and show some handmade stuff I’ve been working on too. But until then, here is a text-only update…
•Today is the last day to register to vote in Oregon if you need to update your address, change your name, or register for the first time. Ballots will be mailed out starting Friday (!) so now is the time! You can use the Oregon Votes site or Vote For Change online or get forms at Obama headquarters, the DMV, or the library.
•And with or without pictures to prove it, I have made knitting progress (hooray) so I can reveal the Halloween costume: it is a Gryffindor scarf and Pearl is going to be Harry Potter! Congrats to the three correct guessers, and I thought the other ideas were so cute (autumn leaves, candy corn or a giraffe) that I will definitely save them for figuring out next year’s getup. After I finish the scarf it’s time to start sewing a little black robe and a felt broomstick. I’m not sure how or what I might be able to coax her into in the way of glasses, but I am definitely going to draw a little lightning bolt scar on her forehead…
•The ArtBeat segment on crafting in Portland is online now and it’s awesome! Definitely check it out to get a good peek at the cool women behind Crafty Wonderland, DIY Lounge and Queen Bee Creations. I’m really happy and proud to see my friends spotlighted in such a great piece!
halloween crafting, well, craft planning anyway…
October 8, 2008 at 4:16 pm | In I love to make things..., chatty, craft to wear, crafting with kids, holidays | 9 CommentsI can hardly believe that we’re well into October! Halloween feels like it’s right around the corner. I’m making a costume for Pearl (well, I should say that I have thought of a costume, and gotten the things to make it, but I haven’t actually done anything yet…) and getting pretty excited about it all. I’m wondering if anyone can guess what it is, based on this clue:
I’m going to start knitting it tonight during the Blazers’ first game on TV! The only hint I’ll give is that I’m a truly mediocre knitter so it’s not any kind of elaborate suit or anything, more of a garter-stitch accessory. I’ll post another photo once I’ve gotten started.
Speaking of Halloween, I made a monkey costume for CRAFT: magazine last year, and they’ve re-posted the tutorials for it and four other easy handmade kids’ costumes on their site! You can make a pirate (designed by Nancy Flynn), a bee (designed by Cathy Callahan), my monkey, a Lego or a sushi roll (both designed by Diana Eng).
The complete tutorials are here if you want to check them out! I loved making that little monkey suit. It’s definitely on tap for Pearl once she’s walking solo and carrying her own banana-treat bag.
Okay, I’ll do my best to make some decent progress and post a crafty photo update… see you then!
Make it Pink: charm bracelet!
October 6, 2008 at 5:02 pm | In I love to make things..., bead simple, craftivism, projects to do | 6 CommentsHere’s a new project I just designed and wrote a tutorial for over at CraftStylish: the Make it Pink charm bracelet. This is a very beginner-friendly and completely customizable piece, loosely based on the Tangled Up in Blues bracelet I included in Bead Simple — use any beads you like to make it your own!
CraftStylish is also hosting a fantastic fundraiser this month: “The October Make It Pink Challenge invites everyone in the craft community to craft toward a cure for breast cancer. Whether you knit, sew, embroider, make jewelry, crochet, sculpt paper, or defy categorization with your creativity, this is the challenge for you! All you have to do is make it — PINK. For every project posted into the challenge gallery, CraftStylish will donate one dollar to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Now that’s something to craft over!”
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