And now a sneak peek… the entire back will not be squares. I just want some bits of my ol’ school colors scattered about.
Can’t wait to pull this all together!
(Inspired by the Paintbox Blocks pattern at Oh, Fransson!)
Tag Archives: crafts
Checking out Upcoming Craft Shows
I’m going through some major writer’s cramp lately. Maybe it’s the start of school, maybe it’s me overextending myself, as usual, or maybe it’s Typical-Me expecting to write earth-shattering, life-changing posts all the time. Could be topic overload too. Could be burn-out or fallout from attending the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show. Everywhere I turned, incredible displays were in my face.
Display for Prima Products
Tell you what, I have a backlog including a couple of craft locations and restaurant visits. I just haven’t felt the initial inspirational spark to start writing. Look at that journal I saw from CHA… I’m pretty sure that was a Donna Downey sample. So beautiful. Talk about inspired writing… sheesh.
Before the school year and activities completely swallow me up, and before I get even further behind, I wanted to share these events to anyone interested out there!
- Coming to Chicago in September Renegade Craft Fair
- Also in September, Craft Social. While not a craft show per se, it’s a blast of an evening with make-and-take projects, light eats and lots of friendly faces. Check out the social from last spring.
- Urban Craft Uprising is out in the Pacific Northwest and is taking applications for their Winter show. I visited the Summer show while I was in Seattle.
- Keep a lookout for Indie Jubilee next year… I missed their inaugural show this past summer while I was away.
Reporting from Craft & Hobby Association Summer Show 2010
There’s something to be said about freelance writing for Craft Critique. Not only am I able to see what’s up and coming in terms of crafting products, but I’m surrounded by all these creative people and it’s awesome feeding off of each other.
Hanging out with the ladies yesterday was so much fun: met a few fellow Critique-ers in person, laughed a lot, learned a lot. I came home after twelve hours of walking around 260 booths of amazing craft product and inspiration… talking to lots of movers and shakers, taking pictures (150+ pictures!) of incredible projects, booths and watching demonstrations and make-n-take projects. I also came home with much reading and creating to do, not to mention WRITING. If you wander over to Craft Critique, get ready for some eye candy! I’ll be covering a handful of manufacturers and products. My first CHA Summer Show article on Jillibean Soup is already posted.
I really enjoyed seeing Tim Holtz in person, and meeting Donna Downey! Like the geeky crafter that I am, I brought along my book in hopes I might meet her. She was so nice and approachable, like we’ve met before, and I hope we meet again.
Awesome. “Live a life inspired.”
I have every intention, Donna. Thank you.
Some Festive Cards for anytime
I was busy last week getting a pack of cards ready for a silent auction. I hope the winner enjoys these and actually uses them. (Click on the picture for a better look.) Now I need to get crackin’ on a few mother’s day cards and one birthday card for a friend’s daughter who turns one this weekend!
StampScrapArt Tour
picture featuring InkyAntics
It was sort of a fluke that I happened across an ad for the StampScrapArtTour in a crafting magazine a month or so ago, and even more a fluke that it wasn’t too far away from my home. So, a few weekends ago with eight-year old daughter in tow, a friend and her daughter, I was off to my very first craft show. Our entrance fee was $6.00… well worth the 2 hours I was able to spend there.
The tour featured 21 vendors at the Clock Tower Conference Center in Rockford, IL, and it was the perfect size to break in my novice-ness. I was FLOORED at the card samples and artwork posted – in amount and creativity! Paper, crafting supplies, embellishments – you name it, it was probably on the floor. And, the amount of rubber stamps in the place was astounding: unmounted, mounted, rubber, acrylic, and designs for every occasion to cover a huge spectrum of individual personal style.
One of our stops was Bugawumps, where Laura Jacobs was holding a demonstration on liquid masking and another demonstration using glass paint. She had these cute glass pebbles you could use for embellishments or maybe a cute magnet. We brought one home.
Actually, I was really impressed with the number of technique and product demonstrations at the show. This one from Darcie showed their Shrink Plastic Project Kits. Passers-by were mesmerized, but who wouldn’t be? It reminded me of the days of “Shrinky Dinks” and my mom burning my permanent marker and plastic creations in the oven because we didn’t have easy-to-use heat guns at back then, but these shrinkies are much prettier than the ones I ever made.
Ruthie from Darcie’s is showing the technique here.
There were plenty of opportunities to purchase wares, too, from markers and inkpads to industrial adhesive rollers. Polkadots and More! from Mukwonago, WI brought displays to inspire easy and thoughtful gift-giving, and brought stamp kits from Unity Stamp Company.
We found this non-stamping demonstration really interesting. Tessler Stamps and Stencils showed how to stencil using daubers with ink pads. Then our demonstrator spackled embossing paste to make the image come to life.
One of our last stops included InkyAntics, a company started in 1997 by Jackie Lewis. InkyAntics features over a dozen artists… trying to make “the world a cuter place”.
And just to mention the other vendors, because it was just such a fun time to meet them all:
Just for Fun and their blog, Rubber Cottage, Peddler’s Den, Repeat Impressions, Seaside Stampin’ Ink, Lost Coast Designs, Pretzel City Paper, Stamp La Jolla, Art Gone Wild, Stamp Camp, Stampers Anonymous, Designs Unlimited, Close to My Heart, Stampit Crazy, Altered Arts and ScrapHD.
Thanks for showing me a little peek into your worlds.
PS: Don’t forget to check Craft Critique for your chance at a Donna Downey giveaway! Tomorrow is the last day to enter!
UPDATE 5/15: Donna Downey giveaway is closed, and this article is also posted at Craft Critique.
Celebrating Earth Day
Happy Earth Day! We try to do our part in our home to be kind to Mother Earth, but I know we can do more. It’s not like we’re the Begley family, hehe, but we’re learning. Conserving water and recycling are considered typical now. Last year, I brought the little ones to our local Earth Day celebration, but this year we missed it since we were celebrating First Communion.
So to combine efforts, I transplanted spider plants for last Saturday’s favors. Spider plants are so easy to take care of and have been known to actually help purify the air! I’ve started plantlets by rooting them in water and had good luck with planting them direct into soil which it what I did this time around. To dress it up for centerpieces, I used squares of plastic wrap (to keep water from spilling out, not-so-earth-friendly, sorry) and gift wrapping paper to cover up the plastic pots I saved from last year’s gardening. Reusing is good, no? They look like little Chinese take-out boxes, and looked cute on the tables. Even Martha’s doing it – check here.
Other earth-friendly projects to try out can be found below! Check them out! Let me know which ones you’re trying. You know me, I’ll try everything I can.
Earth Day Carnival at Craft Critique (my latest review is also here)
Gift Bow from a magazine at How About Orange
T-shirt necklace from chictopia.com (saw something similar on Martha Stewart recently)
