West Coast Crafty

Hey, if you’re in Los Angeles and you love glitter, Kathy Cano Murillo needs your help! The Crafty Chica is organizing a rally for a week from today, Tuesday, April 8. Why? Because talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres hates glitter and is (jokingly?) trying to get it banned.

So Kathy is doing her best to win Ellen over to the sparkly side. First, there’s a “glitter awareness” rally (with free craft supplies from Duncan) at Ellen’s television studio in Burbank on April 8. Jenny Ryan will be there in a glitter-painted CRAFT t-shirt, alongside the Crafty Chica herself, members of the LA Craft Mafia, and fun folks like TLC’s Mark Montano (author of The Big-Ass Book of Crafts) and Cathie Filian from DIY’s Creative Juice! Check out Jenny’s awesome post on the CRAFT: blog for more details, too.

If you’d like to join them, just come on by Ellen’s studio at 3000 West Alameda Ave. in Burbank, CA at 12 noon on April 8. For lots more info on this and updates as the rally gets closer, be sure to keep an eye on Kathy’s blog — the latest news is that she’s teamed up with Etsy to raise money for charity, too.

Speaking of Kathy, I got a peek at her marvelous (and yes, very glittery) Crafty Chica craft supplies line at CHA and I was wowed. I can’t wait until her line is out in the world — just a month or two from now, hooray! Here’s just one of her many beautiful products:

The new collection will premiere soon and I’ll definitely keep you posted!

When I was (super briefly) in Los Angeles before CHA, I was so excited to stop by ReForm School and see the Matte Stephens show… it’s fantastic. I got one of his small Gocco prints that reminds me so much of Alexander Girard — his work is gorgeous.

And if I had only had room in my suitcase I would have snapped up one of these mystery bargains for sure. Billie and Tootie have put together these big shopping bags full of cool stuff from the store and they’re offering them for only $25! How can you resist?!

Billie and Tootie also mentioned that they just found tons of new stuff for the store on a recent trip to New York so be sure to stop by to see it all! They have such a great eye for all things recycled, handmade, and above all well designed.

Sorry for the total lack of posts, I’ve been slammed with work and getting ready for CHA.

If you’re at the show, please stop by the CraftStylish booth #529 and say hi!

I’ll also be at Natalie’s fantastic CRAFT event on Saturday and stopping by to see Kathy Cano Murillo at #4001 and check out her sparkly new Crafty Chica line with Duncan!

I’ll post all about it with tons of pics when I get back — have a great weekend!

I am so pleased to announce that my friend Nicole Vasbinder’s beautiful new crafts and sewing studio, StitchCraft, is open for business today! I got a sneak peek at it a few weeks ago and it’s just gorgeous inside.

Nicole is such a talented seamstress and designer, and her classes look fantastic — she is an inspiring, encouraging teacher of all things crafty! Here she is at Felt Club XL modeling one of her Queen Puff Puff handbag and headband sets.

So if you are in or near the North Bay, StitchCraft is open Tuesday - Sunday every week, with new classes added all the time. And she’s offering hourly studio time, too — perfect for finishing up that project that has been on your back burner for way too long.

If you go:
StitchCraft
133 ½ Kentucky Street
Petaluma, CA 94952
707-773-4SEW

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.

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.

Maggie mentioned today that the post office is coming out with a set of stamps honoring Charles and Ray Eames this summer! I think they are absolutely gorgeous — I can’t wait to see them in person.

Eames Demetrios (of the Eames Office) says, “These stamps were designed by the remarkable Derry Noyes, who designs many of the stamps for the US Post Office. There is a wonderful familial connection there, as Derry is the daughter of Eli Noyes, who was an extremely close friend of Charles and Ray’s and the director of design at IBM.”

Eames, who is the author of An Eames Primer, also runs the DAS FilmFest and I watched his charming animated movie, “A Gathering of Elephants,” today for the first time. I won’t spoil it with too much description but it made me miss Los Angeles so much! It’s just the coolest thing — a herd of molded plywood elephants?! — and beautifully done.

Living in our midcentury house has made me more excited than ever about modern design, and seeing these gorgeous things has been a real treat today. Thanks so much to Charles and Ray Eames’ grandson, Eames Demetrios, for sharing this information with me, and for permission to use this image!

I recently got a note from Ellen, who is working on a very cool project:

I’m a high school student in San Francisco organizing a scarf drive in the city. You know, folks knit scarves, donate them, we get them to folks in need. (In this case, they’re being donated to the Bay Area Rescue Mission.) It’s my first try doing it — all the info is at myspace.com/warmandfuzzySF.

I have to admit that knitting is about my sixth craft and though I love it, I’m not especially good at it — but I will be starting my (garter stitch!) scarf for the drive during the Blazers game tonight. Here’s the first scarf I ever made, seven years ago, which was a Christmas present for my brother David:

If you’d like to make and donate a scarf to Warm and Fuzzy SF too, the drive is going on through Valentine’s Day — just drop your scarf off at — or mail it to — one of these lovely establishments:

Imagiknit
3897 18th St (at Sanchez)

Greenwich Yarn
2073 Greenwich St (at Webster)

Atelier Yarns
1945 Divisadero St (between Pine and California)

Mendels/Far-Out Fabrics
1556 Haight St (between Clayton and Ashbury)

The Gables
5636 Geary Blvd (at 21st Ave)
(415) 751-8152

Wishbone
601 Irving St (at 7th Ave)

Thanks, Ellen!

If you’re in Seattle or the Bay Area, be sure to mark your calendars for some stellar craft fairs on the horizon. I wish I could go myself, but I’m here in Portland this weekend…

This weekend (Dec. 1 and 2) Urban Craft Uprising is going on at the Seattle Center with over a hundred vendors, daily fashion shows, and goodie bags for the first 100 shoppers both days.

If you go, keep an eye out for Cathy of Bossa Nova Baby, Torie of Totinette, Quentin of Monsieur T., Rachel of Lucky Loo Loo, and Ryan and Lucy Berkley — in a crafty rock block*, no less! Yay Portland!

Then, on Tuesday, Dec. 4, Christina of borrowed bought stolen will be selling her pretty jewelry and accessories at a sustainable-crafts sale at Ambatalia Fabrics in Mill Valley. It sounds just lovely — stop by for a glass of wine and shop for eco-friendly gifts, what could be nicer?

I better run, there’s a Trail Blazers game on TV tonight — go Blazers!

*aka: with their booths all in a row for maximum awesomeness

I had such a great time in Los Angeles the week before Thanksgiving — and of course one of the biggest highlights was teaching, shopping, and hanging out at the magnificent Felt Club Holiday XL event! The night before, I helped tireless organizer Jenny stuff goodie bags for the first 250 shoppers (everyone got a copy of Adorn, and there were also lovely giveaways from Chronicle Books, Sublime Stitching, and Bossa Nova Baby, among many others).

Alexis and I got there bright and early to help with goodie bag detail, and I got a chance to walk around early, before the crowds poured in at 11. I snapped pictures for my upcoming indie fashion article for BurdaStyle, and got to see lots of friends and some of my favorite crafty vendors from near and far.

I got to meet Monica of White Peacock Designs and see one of her lovely tiaras in person — hi Monica!

And here are a few dozen of Cathy of California’s beautiful mushroom pincushions — some of my all-time favorite crafts. I love mine (it’s hot pink like the beauty in the front row!).

My Bead Simple demo started at 1:00, and it turned out to be amazing. It had filled up well in advance and then another 20 or so people showed up as well! I wrote up a recap over at Bead Simple with more photos in case you’re interested… here are my little handmade necklace and earrings kits and some photos of me with my fabulous students, modeling their new earrings (bottom left) and necklaces (bottom right). Thank you so much to everyone who came to the class!

Once the class was over and I was a free woman again, I got to walk around to check out Maker Square and shop. I won’t post photos of the gifts I found, but here are some of the non-surprises I can show off:

I love Cathy of California’s work — it is so amazing. I found two bundles of vintage fabric (from her mother’s collection) and this fantastic ribbon straw flower kit with loom. I also got one of her handmade ribbon straw brooches and wore it all day (as you can see on me above).

I also found some super fun Christmas ornaments — the gingerbread boy is from My Paper Crane and the tree is from Cathy.

I picked up two adorable whale notebooks from Rock Scissor Paper and a set of awesome cards from biggerKrissy…

…and this sweet sock monkey card case from Textile Fetish, and the vintage scissor-print sunglasses case from Jekbot. I also got several packages of her lavender shortbread but those vanished long before I had a chance to photograph them!

I also picked out this stunning carnelian necklace from Hannahmade. I absolutely love carnelians and I thought this piece was gorgeous!

I was about to pass out by the time we left, but it was an amazing day! Thank you again to Jenny for inviting me to teach and I can’t wait until my next visit to Los Angeles.