Etsy Craft Party 2013

It's been a week and we're still smiling from our Etsy Craft Party with the Academy of Handmade. This was one of the larger events we've hosted and it was beyond fulfilling to see so many people collectively crafting and having fun...in our studio! We hope you enjoy the photos below (whole album on our Facebook page) and join us again soon for another great event or workshop!

If you don't know already, we at Creative Outlet Studios love a good party! And it's probably safe to say our favorite part is theming and decorating. We've been loving bright tropical colors and you can't peruse blogs or pinterest lately without coming across an abundance of geometric inspiration. These tutorials helped us whip up some seriously simple but impactful decor:

Pretty Paper Party Balls by A Subtle Revelry

Geometric Mobile Tutorial by Paper Runway

Origami 'Bipyramid' Tutorial by Mr Printables

We were also lucky to have the fabled sister/daughter/graphic designer extraordinaire, Whitney (many over you have heard about our other 1/3 traveling through Australia), back to not only make our awesome graphics for the event, but to bring them to life with the gigantic folded paper sign for the party!

How about I let the pictures do some talking now?

KC's Natural Dye Reveal!

Trying out the magical Cricut & Cuttlebug from Provo Craft

Gift Bag station with the super talented Hydrangea Hippo
(tutorial at How About Orange)

Smiles courtesy of Epson's LabelWorks PRINTABLE ribbon!! 

Leather & Felt Scrap Pins led by fashion repurposing maven, Marisa Lynch!
Find photos of some uber creative finished pins on her blog, new dress a day,
as well as her own fantastic creations & tutorials!

Letterpress Gift Tags were guided by the lovely Desiree B. & Emma of Fiskars

Crafters got to choose fabric swatches including colorful remnants from Volcom (check out their New Future blog on environmental responsibility) and print one of 3 awesome designs, including a commemorative design from Hearts and Laserbeams! Thanks to the Meagan Segal of Mome Rath Garden & Miriam Dema for leading the screen printing station!

Rachel Hillberg of Elephant Dust Handmade led everyone through the basics of zine making with a "Craft for Community" theme. Check back here for a link to the finished "e-zine," or sign up for our newsletter to get it in your inbox!

In addition to a portion of proceeds benefitting local charity, Share Our Selves, the all-donation dessert bar was generously and yummily (??) filled with sweets by Cake Bar, Parchment, Bake All The Things, and Baker Bliss Maker.

The other big hit of the night was the Raffle Bar, curated by A Little Known Shop, which featured amazing prizes from a ton of local Etsy sellers as well as our other amazing sponsors! Find a complete list of contributors at the bottom of the post.

Hank and Her Ponies set the perfect tone for the evening!

Culinary awesomeness outside with The Wine Lab at The Camp & Piaggio on Wheels

Surprise performance by our friends Special Blend at the end of the night!

We can say with complete confidence that we can't wait for Etsy Craft Party 2014! We look forward to seeing Etsy shop owners grow and continue to foster the face-to-face community throughout the year. Here's a list of the fantastic people and business who helped make the night!

Thanks to our sponsors, volunteers & featured Etsy sellers!

                                   

ilovetocreate
Provo Craft
Epson
Fiskars
Volcom
Hearts and Laserbeams
Whimseybox
Kauzbots
Sheswai Nail Lacquer
Grow by Eleanor Whitney
Wine Lab at the Camp
Piaggio on Wheels
A Little Known Shop
New Dress A Day
Hydrangea Hippo
Elephant Dust Handmade
Hank and Her Ponies
Special Blend 
Merrily Yours
Cake Bar
hallojak
Desiree B.
Hello Beautiful
Miriam Dema Art
Mome Rath Garden 
Parchment
Bake All The Things
Baker Bliss Maker
Kellsworth Ink
SewMuch2Luv
Whimsy & Ink
Ruth Soap
Paper Jam Print Shop
iloveyoulikeyou
BOSS Girls Inc
Blooms in the Air
Corazones
The Sunshine Grove
Delovely Details
Athee's Designs
Audrey Miller Art
Minimalista Clothing

It's Happening!

We’ve been living so in the moment, that only this moment did we realize to announce…our soft opening is THIS FRIDAY!!! We are so thrilled to share with you not only the fruits of our labor, but of the family and friends who have given so generously countless hours of brain-racking and manual labor!! We hope you will stop by this weekend and help fill the studio with the creativity its been waiting for!

The studio is an evolving space that is ready for you to use and hungry to suit your needs. As we continue to add to our inventory and workshops during our soft opening, we hope you will pardon any quirks and kinks and let us know what you think!

Our new website is on its way, but Workshops are here now! Please check back as we add the Calendar and Workshop descriptions to the blog here and our Facebook page! Workshop registration is available by phone and in store.

Hope to see you all soon!!

Womannequins

Last week we took another trip up to LA, this time with stops at PGM and the fashion district to pick up some dress forms for the studio and some awesome knit fabrics for the shop! Not only do we love the dress forms we got, but the PGM warehouse was a treat in itself, so many shapes and sizes (we can't wait to expand to men's and children's soon)!

Below is a snapshot of our shiny new purchases in the back of the cargo van (that's right, we're renting so many trucks lately, I just might trade in my sewing machine for a big rig!).

More progress photos coming soon on our facebook page!

-Lauren

And So It Begins: My First Blog Post…..Ever!

It has taken me a long time to come to terms with writing a blog, saying “hello world, listen to me,” but the time has come and I’m finally ready to begin. A thought occurred to me recently, that I have always had a blog (called my mind) from which I post (via talking) on a daily basis, often minute to minute. So how am I any worse off writing than talking? I’m not; simple as that! I realized that the key laid somewhere in who I was talking to and finding my voice accordingly. Where in the past I crafted rather solitarily (minus a slew of Craftster posts!), I have a new community to craft with and talk to via Creative Outlet Studios. I expect the online community of crafters will join the physical community at COS and vice versa, and I could not be more ecstatic to open dialogue and share with you on here and in the studio, as I have evidently been primed to do all along!

With these realizations and a PHENOMENAL weekend at the Craftcation Conference in Ventura (post to follow!), I look forward to this new beginning. I hope you’ll stick around and see how it goes!

Lauren