West Coast Crafty

It’s a fairly unexciting day here weather-wise, but with the longer, brighter spring days approaching, and daffodils and even some little azalea buds peeking out already in our yard, I have just fallen in love with these gorgeous spring-y crafty things my friends Jessica and Christina are making!

I have two of Jessica’s chocolate bunnies and they are the cutest things ever. I love all the great color combinations she’s made this year, along with the rest of her amazing stuff!

And Christina’s jewelry is so lovely… the new bird earrings she’s been making are especially charming.

I could just look at those super cute photos all day — I think I’m particularly starved for pretty things since I’m down to stretchy clothes only and there’s a total lack of vintage and handmade cuteness in my current wardrobe. I’ve been wearing totinette earrings and Charcoal Designs necklaces to counterbalance the plainness, since bright, pretty colors and interesting shapes just look so good after the unrelenting stretchy t-shirt/sweater + maternity pants/skirt combination day after day. Oh well, only five weeks or so to go, and then I get to have fun with baby clothes! They’re considerably more exciting than late maternity options, to say the least…

Andrew and I unpacked a lot more stuff this weekend (including 40 or 50 boxes of books-!) and I had fun making some little arrangements of collectibles here and there. It’s been three years since we lived somewhere with enough space to have my favorite things out instead of mostly boxed up and I was pretty excited to unpack them and arrange them in little mixes! All the details are in the flickr descrips, just click on them to see what’s what if you’re interested.

In the kitchen:

In the dining room:

In the pink princess bathroom:

And on my dresser:

I have a ton of stuff to do today but after I cross enough work things off my list, I plan to attack the craft room again. I had a little light bulb moment, and I’m going to try to pretty up the blah cardboard boxes that fit into an Expedit so nicely. Let’s see if it works!

Thanks so much for the nice comments and emails about my new craft room! I’m so excited to have more work space, but almost more so to get the big stuff I don’t use everyday stashed in the basement, and out of my way — so I’m not navigating around bolts of fabric or bins of lip balm supplies to get to my sewing machine (which was an everyday menace in our old place). Since the room is so big, it’s actually going to be dual-purpose and the shelves and work tables will be for crafting, while the area closer to the door will be dedicated to other stuff (more on this later when I get things set up and can show photos).

I’m slowly but surely plugging away at reorganizing and putting things away, and after a couple of years of looking on eBay and scouring Portland craigslist I spotted a vintage card catalog section this week. I’m so excited! I have always wanted one and the ones I found online were usually pick-up only or $100 shipping from the East Coast or Midwest. And this one was just twenty minutes away!

I am going to relabel it soon once I figure out exactly what will be in each drawer (Tricia’s card catalog-turned-craft-wonderland has always been super inspiring) but in the meantime I really liked this random little alphabetical trainwreck:

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.

Diane and I went to Amy Karol’s Bend-the-Rules Sewing book party at Bolt last week and it was so much fun! As promised, Amy had plates of donuts out for everyone to enjoy and prizes for the first five crafters with completed projects in hand. I really love her book, so it was a lot of fun to come to her party and see some of the gorgeous finished projects…

My lovely friend Daphne was in town from Seattle and brought in her beautiful lap quilt, which is shown off here with its handsome recipient, her nephew Henry, and a little corner of the fabulous prize she received: a Small Object needlecase and some of Amy’s beautiful notecards!

I got to see Melissa and Sam, meet Sally for the first time, and chat with Mariko, who had been back from Japan all of 12 hours or so at this point. Instead of falling prey to exhaustion and jet lag (as I am sure I would after that flight!), she was polishing off multiple donuts with impressive enthusiasm. I can personally attest to how fantastic the donuts were.

Amy was such a delight! I had never gotten to meet her in person until now, but she is the sweetest, loveliest person and it was so nice to get to say hi and chat while she signed my book. Thank you, Amy! If you’re interested, her super nice write-up and pictures are here.

One of my favorite designers, Torie Nguyen of Totinette, is having a trunk show this Thursday night at Mabel & Zora! It’s part of Alberta St.’s Fashion by Flashlight, a special evening of trunk shows and sales up and down the street. She’ll have tons of designs for sale like earrings in fall colors with vintage and new materials — so new they’re not on her website yet.

This pair of wood earrings is one of my all-time favorite things in the world — I wear them all the time, and they go with everything. Torie has a great eye for color and shape, and I can’t wait to see her new work! And Mabel & Zora is a fabulous store to check out if you haven’t been by yet.

(sorry this photo is a bit grainy, my camera isn’t being too cooperative!)

If you go:
Totinette Trunk Show
Mabel & Zora
1468 NE Alberta St., Portland
Thursday, October 11th
6-9 pm

While Cathy of California was visiting this week, of course we had to make time to stop by Queen Bee Creations world headquarters here in town. Queen Bee recently opened their studio doors for visitors to stop by and shop from 9-5 every day (instead of making a special appointment) and they have tons of wallets, bags, and accessories — including samples, one-of-a-kinds, and discounted seconds — up for grabs. It’s so inspiring to see all the colorful vinyl combinations in one place (though the website is a lot of fun to browse, too).

Owner-designer Rebecca Pearcy painted these super cute murals running all the way up the stairs, so you know you’re in the right place when you walk in the front door.

Here’s a little sampling of the dozens of vinyl bags for sale… plus these adorable screenprinted t-shirts from Rebecca’s Chickpea line for parent and baby.

I have carried a Queen Bee bag just about daily since 1999 and I wholeheartedly recommend the quality and design of Rebecca’s work. She and her talented staff handmake every single piece in the line here in their Portland studio, and they are so gorgeous that you will get non-stop compliments on your good taste in accessories: I have written her website URL down on cocktail napkins, cash register receipts, and bus transfers at least twenty times when people fell in love with my cute handbag or wallet and just had to have one for themselves.

Yesterday I found two more things to add to my collection — first, since my adorable wonder boy whale wallet needed some time to rest after near-constant use for the last few years, I was happy to spot this pretty chirp version.

And I found my dream bag, which has been on my list since the new spring designs came out, as a second, too!

If you go:

Queen Bee studio
open 9-5 weekdays
1847 E. Burnside St., Portland
503-232-1755

Kayte was in town this weekend, which was so much fun! One of our first stops after her train got in was Cupcake Jones, a new mini-bakery in the Pearl. By mini, I mean not only that more than five customers couldn’t possibly cram in there, but that they have tiny versions of all their cupcakes, too. I got a Pearl, which was vanilla topped with a teeny-tiny pearl, and Kayte got a Belmont with a blackberry on it. It was a fancy but not very economical treat at $1.50.

Kayte had her camera with her (unfortunately I didn’t so I don’t have a corresponding photo of her!) and snapped this picture of me wearing my gorgeous new Totinette wood jewelry I got at Crafty Wonderland. I love the jewelry Torie makes — it’s sleek and pretty at the same time. These earrings are on heavy rotation and every chance I have, I wear the necklace too. She has some lovely stuff up in her etsy shop and at Mabel and Zora here in Portland, so if you are looking for just the thing to wear with a sundress, she’s your girl.

More on our Portland crafty adventures coming soon to the Adorn blog!

This Saturday is the Jill Bliss opening at ReForm School — I can’t wait to see her new work! I’m really looking forward to the show. Lovely co-owner Tootie mentioned that there will be a mix of pieces, from terrariums to original drawings and limited-edition prints, and Jill wrote about some of her ideas for the artwork here, which was so cool to read.

I love Jill’s illustrations — I have a journal and address book of hers, plus her native flowers notecard set and her Farm Life calendar with Saelee Oh. I’m especially fond of her recycled and reclaimed fabric pieces… and did you know she has a whole gallery of vintage sheets on flickr?

If you go:

Forest Coral by Jill Bliss
opening Saturday, April 14, 7-10 pm
ReForm School
4014 Santa Monica Blvd (at Sunset Junction), Los Angeles
323-906-8660

When I went to Reading Frenzy yesterday I was extra excited to choose some new postcards from one of my favorite artists, Carye Bye of Red Bat Press. I love her designs — they’re woodcut and letterpressed, then hand-colored — and she introduces new pieces every month or two. Since I love Portland bridges and Year of the Pig so much, these two were my instant picks!

Carye’s bridges series is my favorite of all her work. Ross Island is the latest one, and I have all the others at home. You can shop for her cards online, or at stores in Portland and beyond.

She also organizes the annual Bunny on a Bike ride, and this photo from last week’s Easter Sunday outing is so super cute…