January | 2010 | West Coast Crafty

Sunday for Haiti

January 29, 2010 at 3:04 pm | Posted in craftivism, oregon | 1 Comment

There are two events for Haitian relief this Sunday, January 31st here in Portland. I’d love to see you at either of them!

First, from 11 to 5, Jeff Lorton, the organizer of the Portland Haiti Relief Container, is hosting a Super Sunday event to fill a second (!) shipping container with supplies and food for Haiti. There will be drinks, food and music and more volunteers would be greatly appreciated! Pearl and I brought some donations for the first container and I am happy to be able to do it again.

Here’s what they’re looking for:
Aid Items Needed: Peanut Butter, Baby Formula & Cereal, Medical Supplies & Hygiene-Sanitary Supplies, Small Dome Tents.

Financial donations for the container’s shipping expenses will be matched by US Bank. You can get more information from Jeff at jefflorton@gmail.com or on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Isa Chandra is hosting a Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti at People’s Co-op from 2-5, benefiting Mercy Corps. Bring something delicious to donate or buy some treats for yourself! Pearl and I will be bringing a pan of Isa’s chocolate-chip blondies and I’m sure we will be leaving with lots more too — just look at all the awesome stuff people have signed up to bring! And if you’re not in Portland, there are vegan bake sales going on all over the place.

If you go:

Super Sunday for Haiti Relief
11-5 with music, food and drinks
SE 12th + Ankeny St. in Portland

Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti
2-5 with delicious treats
People’s Co-op, 3029 SE 21st Ave. in Portland

Update: I have made a pan of blondies for the bake sale tomorrow and added little heart toppers, too! I’ll post a little how-to for the heart toppers if anyone is interested. I used this recipe from Isa Chandra for the blondies, but put in cranberries and walnuts instead of chocolate chips. All three of us like them — success!

A postscript to the Haiti Relief Container effort, too: listing the supplies the organizer has asked for (in my original post, above) has attracted some anti-formula comments and links (which I do not agree with, and have deleted). I personally am donating baby formula to the relief effort, along with several of the other things they’ve also specifically asked for. As a mother I think that infants, especially those who have lost their parents, desperately need safe, nutritious food and I trust the relief agencies and medical personnel to distribute it as they see best. I suppose my views are best represented by this article about a maternity ward in Port-Au-Prince, and especially by the quote from Dr. Carole Duboche.

My hope is that anyone who disagrees with me on this issue will not be deterred from supporting the collection tomorrow (or any other relief effort) because they may also be accepting formula. If peanut butter, soap, or help with the shipping costs are more compatible with your views on the subject, they certainly need those things too, and I hope we can agree to respectfully disagree.

With gratitude for all that we have,
Susan

the best kids’ art supplies for CRAFT:

January 25, 2010 at 12:57 pm | Posted in crafting with kids, crafty to buy | 4 Comments

I got a very fun assignment recently: I wrote a round-up of my favorite kids’ art and craft supplies for CRAFT:’s Bazaar section! Each product review also includes a handmade spinoff version like melting your own crayon discs, making an easel from a stepladder, and making a colored-pencil roll-up case (if you’re less of a buyer and more of a DIYer).

I was also excited to include a bonus list of my seven favorite kids’ craft books (past and present) for inspired projects to try with all ages. My all-time favorite is the Childcraft Make and Do volume (I’ve written a bit about how much I adore my childhood copy over here),

and of course I was so proud to put my very own nameplate in the front. Mine is the 1976 edition but I also picked up a 1980s one recently that has all different projects — kind of cool to have both!

So I thought I’d show one of our family favorites in action: the Melissa & Doug 24 crayons set. Pearl loves drawing — loves it. She’s had the set of 10 for awhile but when I handed her the box with all the new colors, she was so excited (another thing I vividly remember from being little, the day I got my first new box of 64 Crayolas was better than Christmas). She took each one out, saying “Wow!” and got started right away, and I ran for the camera!

She has her own sketchpad that we keep in the living room so anytime she wants to draw, things are all set up for her. She’s big on using every color in the box, gripping two crayons in each hand, steadying the pages with her foot, and pulling the paper out of the pad when she’s all done. I love seeing how excited she is about it all — one of my favorite things ever.

When the weather is a little better, it’s going to be finger-painting season. And I can’t wait to get her that easel…

Thank you to Natalie for this fun assignment — I would love to hear more of your favorite kids’ craft supplies to try, too!

homemade for Haiti

January 24, 2010 at 8:11 am | Posted in california, cooking is crafty too, craftivism, oregon | 1 Comment

I wish I could be in Los Angeles today… my friend Jenny is hosting a bake sale for Doctors Without Borders at her lovely shop, Home Ec, this afternoon!

I hear there will be heart-shaped vanilla sandwich cookies and double chocolate brownies and all kinds of delicious treats. Stop by and pick out some favorites if you’re in the neighborhood!

Update: Jenny raised $1, 140 for DWB! Awesome!

Our vegan bake sale here in Portland is coming up next Sunday… I’ll be there. I don’t bake vegan too often but I’m excited to make something new for that!

craftivism for Haiti – Portland edition (updated x2)

January 15, 2010 at 5:50 pm | Posted in craftivism, oregon | 2 Comments

My first post listing crafty fundraisers for Haiti was getting pretty long after several updates (yay!) so I wanted to spotlight the local events I know about going on in Portland in a fresh post. Please check back there (and don’t miss the wonderful round-ups from Lee over at Threadbanger and from Victoria of sfgirlbybay) for many more links to crafty fundraisers! I’m so thrilled that there are so many generous people in our community.

ok, starting from the top, here are the Portland fundraisers I’ve heard about so far… please let me know more to add in the comments!

UPDATE 1/18/10:

Jeff Lorton is organizing Portland Haiti Relief, a local collection of donations and goods at SE 13th and Ankeny. He and a slew of volunteers are working tirelessly to fill a red 40-foot shipping container with water, non-perishable food, clothing, first aid kits, and other necessities to deliver to Haiti. Please bring donations (here’s what they’re looking for) by between 10 am and 6 pm daily from now til Thursday, when the container will head south on its long trip to Port-Au-Prince. Read more about it here in today’s Oregonian.

These are the items they’re most in need of. They’re also accepting checks to help with shipping costs and US Bank is matching donations! And on a personal note, Pearl and I brought our donations this morning and Jeff was one of the kindest and most welcoming people I have ever met. If you are local and interested in supporting this effort, please stop by — good luck, Jeff!

UPDATE 1/17/10:
Milagros Boutique has a great and impressively long list of local businesses donating to the relief effort!

•UPDATE: Lisa’s bake sale raised $450 for Doctors Without Borders! Yay, Lisa!

•Saturday was also “Paint the Pearl Red for Relief” Day with many participating businesses donating a portion of sales to the Red Cross. Check out all the details here.

•From Wednesday through Saturday this week (January 20-23), my friend Daniela will be selling the entire inventory of her SEEK yoga apparel line at the Bhaktishop, with all proceeds going to Mercy Corps. (Nike is also matching her cash contribution times two, which is amazing.)

•The local Vegan Bake Sale mentioned in the other post is Sunday, January 31st from 2-5 at People’s Co-op, with all proceeds going to Mercy Corps. (The Portland event’s Facebook page is here, and more cities’ info is here.)

ok, more to come soon (hopefully)!

craftivism for Haiti – updated with more links x3

January 13, 2010 at 1:41 pm | Posted in california, craftivism, oregon | 14 Comments

Like everyone else, I was devastated to hear the terrible news of the earthquake in Haiti this week. My thoughts are with everyone there and I hope that relief efforts will be swift and sure. I have an empty Etsy shop and no time to fill it with crafts or books to benefit those who need it most, but I wanted to share some really wonderful and generous fundraisers others in our crafty community are doing this week. Please let me know if you have more links I can add, I would love to!

Ryan and Lucy of Berkley Illustration write:

Please help us do our small part to help victims of the tragedy in Haiti. From now until midnight tomorrow (Thursday, January 14th), we are offering a “buy two, get one free” sale on all prints in our Etsy shop. 10% of all sales will go directly to the Red Cross in support of Haitian relief. In addition, we’ve released the above print, “Biggest Heart” as an open edition 8×10 and 100% of the proceeds from that print will go to the Red Cross as well. Find that print here.

To take advantage of the sale, simply buy two prints and leave us a note at checkout with the third print you would like (obviously of same or lesser value).

Leslie Yang of Feisty Elle writes: for every item purchased till 1/31, Feisty Elle will donate $15 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Let’s do this!

Midnight and Lulu is offering 50% of this week’s sales of handspun yarn to relief efforts in Haiti.

Sublime Stitching is offering 10% of today’s sales (1/13) to the American Red Cross.

Stephanie Congdon Barnes will be doing a shop update tomorrow, with 10% of all sales going to the Red Cross as well. update: her inventory is sold out, with the donation going to Mercy Corps!

And Portland’s own Super Phoebe dedicated all proceeds from the sale of one of her fantastic vintage-slide lamps to our local heroes Mercy Corps. I’m so grateful for her generosity and proud to say that I’m the new owner of this beautiful piece — thank you, Phoebe!

UPDATE (4:00 pm, 1/13/10):

Fernworks is offering 15% of all sales on the website through February 1 to the Red Cross.

Here’s an ever-changing list of the Etsy sellers currently offering their handmade work for the relief effort in Haiti.

And if you’re in the Bay Area, Chronicle Books is hosting a bake sale to benefit the Red Cross this Friday. Guinevere de la Mare writes:

San Francisco, we need your help! Please visit our lobby this Friday, January 15th, for a bake sale to benefit the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

Chronicle staffers will be whipping up cookies, muffins, cupcakes, bonbons, and an assortment of sweet treats to raise funds for the Red Cross. Pop in for dessert on your lunch break, pick up a snack with your coffee, or just drop a donation in the jar if you have New Year’s Resolutions to keep in check. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

Haiti Earthquake Relief Bake Sale
Friday, January 15
11am-2pm
680 2nd St (at Townsend)

UPDATE (1:00 pm, 1/14/10):

Textile Fetish is donating 50% of January sales on the website to Episcopal Research and Development’s Haiti fund — choose from her bags, clothes, and accessories.

Bird and Little Bird is donating all sales made today and tomorrow (1/14 + 1/15) to Partners in Health — check out the sweet patterns and handmade toys.

Vickie Howell is donating all proceeds from sales of her knitting patterns for the next 48 hours to the Red Cross.

Vegan bake sales are being organized in lots of cities, including Portland, LA, Sacramento, San Francisco, New York, and Washington DC — check this link for more details.

Etsy and Indie Fixx are organizing several handmade fundraisers to benefit the Red Cross and Partners in Health. Go here to see a list of links to the shops participating — and Etsy is matching what the company’s employees raise! Meanwhile, Indie Fixx is hosting a silent auction with new handmade items daily.

For Portland folks:

Faryn Davis of Fernworks (in addition to her direct fundraiser mentioned above!) is donating 40% of the sales from her art show at Redux.

Xtabay vintage boutique is offering 10% of today’s sales to relief efforts.

And Tangerine Samurai is organizing a sale of all of her Seek yoga apparel through the Bhakti Shop. (More details to come soon — I will be there!) Daniela writes,

The entire inventory will be sold with all the proceeds going to Mercy Corps. All articles will be sold at 20%-40% off retail price. All garments are made out of a Soy/organic Cotton/Elastan blend. I worked with local pattern makers and seamstresses and production was placed out of Los Angeles. Click here to go to the website to have a look at all the available garments.

UPDATE (8:00 pm 1/14/10)

SFGirlByBay has a great list (with more in the comments) of crafters donating to Haitian relief causes.

Thank you to these generous crafters for supporting the organizations doing this much-needed work, and to those of you spreading the word about it all too! We appreciate your generosity so much!

a birthday present from CRAFT:

January 11, 2010 at 12:26 pm | Posted in chatty, house crafty, I love to make things..., projects to do | 2 Comments

Thank you to CRAFT: for posting up one of my favorite little projects from awhile back this week: felt needlebooks with appliqued covers!

This was originally a Quick Craft project I contributed to their print issue 06, and they were nice enough to republish it on the site this month as a flashback. It’s good to see those little guys again! This is a super easy project, and a nice present for a beginning sewer (especially stocked with pins and needles and threaders).

And today (in a nice coincidence, my birthday!) Natalie posted a little interview about my craft room with photos and a few tips and tricks for keeping my collection of craft supplies organized.

Since I’m in full-tilt sewing mode on a big project right now, I can attest that my fabric does NOT look anything like that at the moment… so it’s encouraging to see those neat stacks and know I will eventually get there again. Someday.

Hope you are having a nice Monday… and thank you to CRAFT: for making mine even nicer! It’s pretty gray here today and this was a sweet and colorful pick-me-up.

goodbye 2009, hello 2010!

January 4, 2010 at 2:06 pm | Posted in button it up, chatty, I love to make things... | 2 Comments

Happy new year! I hope you had a lovely holiday season and plenty of black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day — we had three servings each, including firsts and seconds at Paschal’s in the Atlanta airport on our long trip back home.

After a busy December with lots of travel, I’m so happy to be back in Portland and reunited with my laptop and sewing machine. We spent the weekend organizing things and playing with Pearl and it’s really good to be home. I’m really excited to make some new things. First on my list are new bedroom curtains (from this Ikea fabric lined with blackout material. I’m so excited after more than a year of looking at bare mini-blinds) and some new pants for my tall toddler – she is in the 24m size now!

Speaking of making things… it’s been fun to do mosiacs of my favorite craft projects I’ve made every year, so I thought I’d try it again for 2009. (Here are 2007′s and 2008′s if you want to see. I’m apparently very themed year to year!)