West Coast Crafty

Sorry for the short notice but if you haven’t heard, today’s the last day of Jennifer’s Administrative Professionals Week sale, and she’s even sweetened the deal: You need to shake a tail feather if you want to take advantage of our super duper, holy macramé are you serious, secretaries day sale going on at Naughty Secretary Club. Today is the very last day that you can enter the word SECRETARY into the voucher field and receive 30% off your order. That’s right, I said 30% we upped the ante for the last 3 days of the sale because we are crazy like that!

So of course I had to celebrate my Capricorn-ness with a fancy little necklace and bracelet set! I can’t wait to wear these two out on the town…

Everything on the site is on sale, and you can get free shipping in the US as well. Such a deal — thanks, Jennifer!

ps: if you haven’t heard, she also has an awesome new jewelry-making book coming out — details are here and you can pre-order on Amazon over here. Can’t wait to get my copy!

No baby yet, and I’m still chipping away at a tall stack of work that has been keeping me from posting (almost done, thank goodness), but I wanted to quickly mention that my lovely friends Jenn and Karina are offering up a copy of Bead Simple this week over at their fantastic blog, Tiny Choices! Just leave a comment on this entry by Monday, April 28, with a reuse idea for something you already own (there are some fun ones already) and you’re automatically entered to win. Yay, Tiny Choices!

I am so out of it (I got a wicked migraine last night that I’m still slogging through the residue of… not fun at all) but I’ll be back with some actual photos and craft posts very soon. Really!

As Kayte and Tricia also mentioned today, it’s finally official that Adorn magazine is no more. I’m really sad about it — it was one of my favorite magazines to write for, not to mention to read! I wish things had gone differently with it, but I feel so lucky that I got to contribute writing and crafts for the year and a half that it was out in the world… it was a lot of fun.

The blog and site are now pretty much gone, but the flickr group is still active if you want to check that out for crafty inspiration. I was especially disappointed that the spring issue never saw the light of day — including an article I wrote on Jill Bliss and Amanda Soule and their super-inspiring studio spaces. So now I’ll just be writing about each of them in other places, including here later this week.

p.s. for anyone who has subscription questions — I’ve heard that you can try calling Soho at (877) 860-6164.

ETA: just wanted to link over to Linda’s post on the subject and echo her excellent advice — and I couldn’t agree more that it was a great experience, and a really nice thing to be part of and enjoy while it lasted.

I had such a great time at Powell’s on Monday — thank you so much for the good-luck wishes, and to everyone who came out to make earrings with me. It was such a fun night! I loved seeing all the sparkly things that people made and it was fantastic to meet so many new crafty people.

First, I chatted a little bit about beading and jewelry design and showed a few pieces from the book from the forty or so I had out on display.

I have such a goofy expression on my face here, but what can I say, I was showing off one of my favorite designs ever, created by my nephew Julian! He was five when he made this necklace and I absolutely love it.

Then I asked my lovely Portland guest designers to come up so I could introduce them and show their gorgeous designs too… left to right are Bethe Mack, Tanja Alger, Caitlin Troutman, Diane Gilleland, and Torie Nguyen. Thank you, ladies!

I did a quick earrings how-to, and then everyone got to choose their vintage beads and pick up their jewelry kits…

…and people jumped right into making their pieces. My friend Ryan even created a fancy sparkly necklace using pipe cleaners and 24mm pink faceted beads!

I got to chat with so many people, admire lots of new designs, and even sign some books. I think this is one of the few moments I was sitting down all night… that was nice, I have to admit.

There are a good handful of photos from the event in the Bead Simple flickr pool… thank you so much to Lee and Andrew for snapping these great ones. And for another review of the whole thing, be sure to check out the guest blogger over at paperdollygirl, who created an especially gorgeous pair of earrings himself!

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who came out to get crafty with me and to Powell’s — it was so much fun to get to celebrate the book together. I’m so looking forward to doing it again at Church of Craft, Crafty Wonderland, and Twisted! Just give me a couple of months to have this baby in the meantime, and I’ll see you later in the summer for sure.

I’m so excited that Natalie Zee Drieu has turned her gorgeous Vintage-Style iPod Cozy into this week’s CRAFT: pattern podcast!

You can also find the lovely photo tutorial that Sarah Place-Minshall put together for sewing her amazing Circles in the Square Tote online, too!

I’ve archived both of the tutorials on the Bead Simple techniques + patterns page, so you’ll always be able to find them both on the book website…

Now that it’s right around the corner, I wanted to post again about my upcoming Bead Simple book event at the downtown Powell’s Books here in Portland next Monday night — if you’re in town, I hope you can make it over!

I’ll do a short reading and show a bunch of the 150 jewelry projects from the book, and my Portland guest designers will be there with their work, too. Plus everyone who comes is invited to make a pair of Solo Earrings to bring home as part of a little jewelry 101 demo! I’ll bring pliers, supplies, and a big stash of vintage beads from my collection (like these sparklers) for you to choose from…

Please pass the word on to friends and I hope to see you next week!

Bead Simple event at Powell’s (upstairs in the Basil Hayward Gallery)
1005 W. Burnside St., downtown Portland
Monday, April 7 at 7:30 pm

I’m also planning some book events later in the year (with husband and baby in tow) in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, so stay tuned for updates on those…

I am so excited that Bead Simple is out in the world today! Yay!

I’m so happy that after two years of designing, writing, obsessive Excel-sheet-updating, proofreading, and waiting, it is finally out. I hope that if you buy it, borrow it, or see it at your library or local bookstore you’ll enjoy it thoroughly, and I’d absolutely love to hear what you think.

I’m really looking forward to doing some fun events, starting next month when I dip into my crazy collection of vintage beads to start hosting a few free jewelry-making parties. Here’s a sneak peek at one of my favorite beginner-friendly projects — sparkly Solo Earrings, as modeled by one of Moxie’s delightful monsters!

I’m working on the details for my Powells event (Monday, April 7 at 7:30, more info to come very soon!), and really looking forward to doing book events at Twisted, Crafty Wonderland, and Church of Craft later in the year. I’m also planning some fun out-of-town stuff in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Raleigh, and I hope a few other places too!

Last, a couple of quick things… if you make anything inspired by the book, I would really love to see it — please add it to the Bead Simple flickr group I set up!

And if you are looking for a copy, you can find it at your local bookstore, any Michaels location, or on Amazon. You can find signed copies at the Taunton website or directly from me via my Etsy shop, too. And hopefully it will be on the shelf at your library branch!

Huge thanks for the support from my family, all my lovely friends and guest designers… and to everyone who reads my blog, thank you for putting up with my shameless self-promotion in between spotlighting other people’s cool crafty stuff.

ps: a special thank-you to my in-laws, Paul and Nancy, for surprising me with these beautiful flowers to celebrate the book release, and to Andrew for bringing me breakfast in bed today!

Just wanted to add an exciting update about the CRAFT: release party that Diane and I are hosting on Sunday…

We’re unveiling some of the raffle prizes for party attendees! First, we’re giving away these three awesome craft books: Get Your Crochet On, I Heart Felt, and The Pillow Book.

You can also win one of two CRAFT: box sets of magazines (valued at $60!) or some lovely merchandise from our wonderful venue, Twisted.

The party is from 1 to 4 pm and we’ll be giving away prizes every hour on the hour. You can see Moxie’s monster demo in action and make yourself some pretty little Pantyhose Flowers to take home, and we’ll have plenty of refreshments on hand, too.

Please stop by if you’re in town, we’d love to see you! Check out the CRAFT: blog for info on the events in other cities… can’t wait to hear about them all.

Portland CRAFT: release party
Sunday, March 9 from 1 - 4 pm at Twisted
2310 NE Broadway, Portland, 97232
503-922-1150

And don’t forget to stop by Crafty Wonderland from 11-4 at Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside St, Portland while you’re out and about!

What are you doing on Sunday, March 9th? If you’re in any of the cities listed above — including Portland — then I hope you’re coming to the CRAFT 06 Release Party! Diane wrote the party up yesterday, so I’ll just borrow her tantalizing preview…

Diane and I are co-hosting the Portland bash at Twisted, from 1-4pm. Moxie will be on hand, too, demonstrating how she makes these adorable monsters, the cover models for CRAFT 06. We’ll also have a hands-on craft table, where you can learn to make Pantyhose Flowers from the magazine.

We’ll have snacks on hand, and Twisted carries a delicious assortment of teas and juices. And if you haven’t visited Twisted, you’ll love it — they carry embroidery supplies, vintage buttons, tons of new and vintage craft books, felting materials — and Shannon and Emily, who co-own the store, are the nicest women ever.

So please come by, have some afternoon tea, and CRAFT with us! And please spread the word to other crafty types while you’re at it…

Don’t forget that the March Crafty Wonderland sale is the same day, from 11-4, so you can hit both for a super fun afternoon out!

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!