Flea Market Finds & Other Exciting Additions

We braved the 110° scorcher this past Sunday for a trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market, and although delirious from heat and piles of shiny objects, we were lucky to pick up a couple of great pieces for the shop. The magazine rack on the left will showcase some great craft reads (you can catch a glimpse of our display shelving-in-progress behind!), while the awesome black storage cabinet is awaiting its use designation...so many possibilities!

And.................machines are arriving!! Take a look at our shiny new additions below, the Baby Lock Grace sewing machine, Brother 5234PRW serger, and Baby Lock Evolution coverstitch (this machine is amazing, two words...Air Threading!).

Commence drooling.

We have a location!

We are one step closer to opening our doors...now that we actually have them! After an exhaustive search, we stumbled on this space and got that fuzzy feeling inside. We love it's industrial feel with wide open workspace and can't wait to see it filled with creative projects! Here are a few pictures of our little remodel, courtesy of our friend Simon Rotkopf.

 

You can't miss the giant work table in the bottom right image, but what you can't see is the equally giant cutting mat covering the top! We are beyond excited to begin filling the space with the equipment of our (and hopefully your) dreams. More pictures to follow as we progress and add furniture and machines!!

Patchwork Santa Ana

Last weekend we attended the super awesome Patchwork Indie Arts & Crafts Festival in Santa Ana. This year's new Arts District location was amazing with each unique booth tucked between the beautiful architecture and liveliness of the neighborhood. With live music, crafts, and special touches throughout (i.e. a bike valet!!) I could have stayed all day.

There were so many amazing vendors...a few of my favorites being Fruition Jewelry, with gorgeous metal worked jewelry that would be the perfect staple to any wardrobe, Yellow 108, whose booth was as charming as their sustainable (and especially fashionable) hats, and Reclamation Dept with their reclaimed rubber bags for the arm and bicycle...seriously awesome! We had the pleasure of saying hi to Delilah and Nicole as well, the amazing ladies who are the brains and, i don't doubt, the brawn behind Patchwork and Craftcation (happening again Spring 2013!).

If you missed the Santa Ana Patchwork, there's still one more for this Spring on June 10th in Culver City!

Lauren

Cinco de Derby

With the Kentucky Derby falling on Cinco de Mayo this year, the party possibilities were plentiful and my friends did not disappoint, throwing a hats-required Mexican-Derby fiesta. I love any excuse to make a costume, so I went to work immediately on a Mexican themed derby hat!

The original hat had a great woven pattern, 

but I had some more exciting fake flowers in mind...

Shaping the brim to get a classic derby silhouette,

I used a light wire around the edge and tacked the brim up with some thread. 

I think there are better techniques out there, but it did the trick!

 A few tissue paper flowers later, with some tulle because it just wasn't quite loud enough yet!

Having made it fairly last minute, I would have loved to try some other techniques on shaping the brim and added more craziness, but I'm pretty pleased with the results! Just trying to figure out if I will ever get to wear it again...

Lauren

Knitting al Fresco

After a leisurely Sunday lunch with family, the dishes are done and there's just enough time to enjoy some knitting on the balcony with a crisp breeze. I'm loving daylight savings time!

I picked up this amazing organic wool & superfine alpaca yarn in Italy but, as usual, had trouble committing it to a project. The first attempt was a scarf, but the variation in the thickness of the yarn was creating a really unintentional popcorn look. I've finally found a nice balance of stitches and the thicker part doesn't pop out as much on the knit side (vs. the purl side). It should be a lovely, albeit small, pillow when finished (and blocked!). This yarn has convinced me that it's better to start a project and take it apart rather than have its wasted potential buried in my closet.

On a side note, I bought a loaf of bread earlier this week and while the crust usually forms a nice crest on top, this one was exceptional...it made a bunny shape! 

I almost felt bad to toast it!

Happy Easter!

Lauren

Back From Craftcation & Full of Inspiration

Now that my head has stopped spinning from the goldmine of information I received this past weekend, I’m happy to revisit my trip to the Craftcation Indie Business & DIY Conference in Ventura. It bears repeating from post numero uno, that it was PHENOMENAL!! After 4 days of what were essentially business workshops, I still feel like I was on vacation. My only regret is missing out on some of the awesome hands-on sessions ranging from sewing and textile surface design to jam making and fermentation. The creators and organizers, Delilah Snell & Nicole Stevenson put together something really special of which I am in awe of and truly grateful for!

So, how did my weekend begin? After eagerly waiting for the day to arrive, my partner in crime, aka mom, and I set out on the road for the 2-hour journey up the coast. Pulling up to the hotel where the conference was based, I was overcome with giddiness, ironically not because of the weekend at hand, but because it immediately struck a chord with me:

This is where they filmed Little Miss Sunshine, ha!

At check in we received amazing gift bags filled to the brim with awesome stuff from the sponsors.

After the very first panel we attended we knew the weekend would far exceed any expectations we had. Delilah, Nicole, and Angharad (of The Urban Craft Center) provided invaluable insight for a start-up indie/diy business. Angharad, especially, was extraordinarily generous with her advice, thank you again!! If you make your way to Santa Monica, her shop is bursting with creative inspiration! At the BBQ and opening celebration that night we were greeted with abundant food, drink, music, and speeches with the opportunity to meet fellow diy-ers.

Craftcation lost no momentum as the weekend progressed and I was inspired by the surroundings, people, and information….

the view from City Hall & new friends,

the Hollywood frontier on Main Street,

even finding beauty in the train tracks right outside my hotel room…

What's more, I got to attend a panel and lecture by one of my favorite artists, Jenny Hart. Her embroidery art is exquisite, and her Sublime Stitching patterns are so fresh and fanciful! I can’t resist including a picture of her Camp Out pattern I stitched up for my nephew's first Thanksgiving (we go camping every year!).               

So with the skies beginning to weep, I too was sad to leave, but excited to put to use everything I gained to help make Creative Outlet Studios an amazing space for community & crafting. If you have the opportunity to attend Craftcation next year, don’t miss it!

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